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I want to submit my level 28 999% crit mult ranger but that just seems way too boring to make a video about :D

I have to level my witch up before she'd be interesting to you.

On an unrelated note (which isn't actually unrelated at all), does bonus elemental damage (e.g. cold) on minions apply the Equilibrium effect if you have it? What about Minion Instability? I want a build where the minions apply the -25% resistances to lightning/fire, then they explode for increased fire damage while I zap stuff with lightning spells which also have +cold damage.

That's the build : ( I guess I could probably use one of my Legacy witches...

Ok let's resubmit this from the previous thread, except now with a PvP twist.

Luikuri - lvl 65 low life Ethereal Knives & Shield Block Shadow (Legacy league)

Skill Tree

This build is about being quite defensive while dealing huge damage with Ethereal Knives and utilizing low life uniques. This is achieved by combining several unique items and keystone passives.

The most important item for the build is the unique shield Daresso's Courage:


With this shield and a lot of shield block passives, the character reaches a total of 72% block against attacks and 75% block against spells, because it is built to be on low life all the time. This makes combat pretty safe despite having low life. Also the blocking is used offensively with Tempest Shield, inflicting lightning damage on attackers on a successful block. The skill is supported with Elemental Proliferation and Increased Critical Strikes to spread shock states on groups of monsters. Dealing with Ranged mobs becomes very easy as the shock states from Tempest criticals greatly amplifies the damage causes by other attacks. In PvP, Elemental Proliferation is replaced with Increased Critical Damage because Proliferation has less use there.

Main attack skill for the build is Ethereal Knives. This is chosen because I wanted to get some mileage out of the +20% physical damage on Daresso's Shield and it is hard to avoid for enemies in PvP. The build uses unique items The Magnate and Redbeak and Hatred aura to further amplify the damage. Naturally the build has the Pain Attunement keystone. The spell is supported with Faster Projectiles for a much needed range increase, Faster Casting, Added Fire damage and Mana Leech to sustain a constant barrage of knives. In PvE Added Fire and Faster Casting are replaced with Item Quantity/Rarity gems for efficient farming.



Three defensive auras are linked with Blood Magic to force the character below low life threshold all the time: Discipline, Grace and Clarity. They are not leveled to the cap to keep mana reservation at just the right level to reach low life. Defensive measures have also been taken in the skill tree, by taking Arrow Dodging and Alchemist nodes, as well as plenty of extra movement speed.

Other skills used are Viper Strike to deal with single targets and evasive PvP enemies. The character can spend short amounts of time in melee range thanks to high block chance. Whirling Blades is used to bounce around to avoid attacks and move to safety to recharge energy shield. In PvP the build also uses Bear Traps supported with Added Fire damage and Increased Criticals. The damage is significant since the traps benefit from all the same damage boosts as Ethereal Knives, both being physical damage spells, and binding enemies to place is always useful in PvP. Temporal Chains is used for curse because well, if you dont youre toast in PvP.

In PvP the build uses the Sin Trek unique boots to counter enemies relying on leech. in PvE Wondertrap are used instead to get a massive increase in Item Rarity.



Overall the character has fared quite well in PvP arena today. Only really nasty builds have been those with heavy chaos damage, as expected. Viper strike can be avoided relatively easily (update: after I found out that shield block does not help vs. Viper this is no longer true, no wonder I kept dying to those so much...) but playing against a Poison Arrow archer is a total pain. Also since the build needs quite a few auras to function the small size of the arenas is troublesome at times, especially if a caster blitzes in immediately (no spellblock until Discipline, Grace and Clarity are up).

In PvE the most dangerous enemies are of course poison archers and chaos aura bears. Physical reflect is a problem, but can be worked around by sipping a Granite flask before applying Ethereal Knives. Bear Traps can also be used to avoid damage reflection.

This build has been a lot of fun. Many a character has asked what my secret was when I mopped the floor with their 10+ levels higher character in PvP today :P.

-Ropetus

EDIT: Since posting this I have added a couple of things to my build. First, a friend donated me everything on legacy, including a Dream Fragments Ring which was a welcome addition to my build.

Also, inspired by Invalesco I went ahead and tried out Conversion Traps. In PvP those are absolutely crazy, you can convert their minions and totems to turn against them or steal their bear traps if you see where they're thrown (and opponent might not realize you converted it). Converting the other player is most evil, especially if you have applied 4 viper strikes on them. In PvE they're very useful too (never realized their potential before): against Rare mobs its useful to convert the rare and quickly slaughter the mob, then focus on the lone rare. This is especially useful on aura rares or for eliminating dmg reflect auras.

EDIT: Latest patch I respecced out of Iron Reflexes and went Arrow Dodging instead. Build works much better now.

Introducing my evil, evil oh so evil Level 28 PvP characters Invalesco_PvP in the current Default League and InvalescoHC in the current Hardcore League.

I affectionately call this build Crouching Kiter, Hidden Viper.

Unlike some of the current Level 28 PvP Characters who make use of high DPS uniques and Gear, thereby ensuring that Gear > Build, this is a character which I tried to create which would effectively make sure that Gear DPS is not as important as the benefits given from the Build.

Currently, he is still using 2 uniques: Meginord's Girdle and Crest of Perandus Buckler but he is not dependent on them. Indeed, he is aiming to replace the shield and belt with rare counterparts with higher +life mods.

Within 30 Skill points, he effectively makes use of 3 Different Keystones: Eldritch Battery, Hexmaster and Whispers of Doom


Eldritch Battery allows him to run many different auras, including a levelled Clarity at once. This has many benefits:

1. High level clarity ensures that he has enough mana regen to sustain his skills, thereby negating the need for mana flasks. This ensures that he can fill all of his 5 flask slots with Health Flasks

2. At level 28, physical damage scales very poorly against elemental damage mods on weapons. Similarly, there is the availability of the Weapon Elemental Damage support gem which can be used to amplify elemental damage attacks. This character hence makes use of his high mana pool to run all 3 different elemental auras and amplify their damage with a weapon elemental damage support gem. This gives him the edge in terms of DPS were he to face an opponent with a similar weapon.

Hexmaster and Whispers of Doom allow him to permanently double curse opponents. This is very useful as the 2 curses he primarily makes use of are Temporal Chains and Vulnerability which synergises well with his primary attack Viper Strike.

Temporal Chains increases the time duration of debuffs on an opponent which increases the duration of Viper Strike Charges on his opponent. Vulnerability amplifies the damage over time effects on his opponent by 40%, thereby increasing the damage over time that his opponent takes.

In addition, Temporal Chains which slows opponents down, when combined with the cold damage that hatred aura gives him, ensures that his opponents are constantly moving slowly/attacking slowly.


Core Skills
Viper Strike is linked to Weapon Elemental Damage for reasons mentioned above, as well as Blind and Stun.

Flicker Strike is linked to Weapon Elemental Damage and Added Fire Damage for double amplification of a skill specialising in burst damage.

Bear Trap is linked to Added Fire Damage and also benefits from Hatred aura.

He makes use of skills such as Bear Trap to lock opponents in position while he mercilessly piles viper charges on them, or to lock them in position while he runs away and Conversion Trap to wreak havoc in team fights as well as to render opponents helpless when they have viper charges piled on them and are unable to retaliate. He also makes use of Whirling Blades, Flicker Strike and Phase Run to increase his mobility, thereby amplifying his Kiting ability.

His other curses include Enfeeble to improve his survivability as well as Rejuvenation Totem.

1v1 and 3v3
He is extremely effective in kiting opponents in 1v1, but adds an extra dimension in 3v3. by being able to double curse opponents permanently, as well as running so many different auras, he is able to disable opponents for his team as well as support his own team mates with the different elemental auras and levelled clarity, thus boosting their DPS and mana regen. In team combat, the idea is very much similar: mainly to go around piling up viper charges on his opponents and keeping them constantly under the effect of Viper Strike.

Skill Tree Progression
His skill tree primarily aims to go straight for Eldritch Battery and Hexmaster + Whispers of Doom while taking care to buff up his HP to ensure that he does not get one-shot and has time to pile charges on his opponent and run.

This is his skilltree: Invalesco_PvP

This is a video of his virgin battle: Invalesco_PvP in action!

Overall, this kiting character very much symbolises what a shadow at lower levels is like: A mobile, deadly and poisonous assassin and makes very much for a very very fun long and drawn out PvP combat which does not comprise of one shot kills unlike his higher levelled counterpart.

What does he look for in terms of gear?
Priorities in descending order are:
1. +life mods on items
2. mana regen mods on items
3. Resists
4. a total of ~200 ES on all items

Any weapon with fast attack speed will do. Indeed, even a white Sabre will do as well. But the higher damage you have on your weapon, the faster you kill as well, naturally.

Gear Invalesco_PvP is currently using as well as links


Gear InvalescoHC is currently using as well as links


He is still currently unoptimized in terms of gear, gem levels and socket/links on his equipment but is still able to employ the basic idea of what this build is about: the art of long, drawn-out poisonous torture inevitably leading to death.

Cheers,
Invalesco

"

Ropetus wrote:

The most important item for the build is the unique shield Daresso's Courage:

Unavailable

That shield is just flat out overpowered bullshit...

Since you are looking at pvp builds as well I think mine might be interesting. It's also different from most builds you'll see because it's very focused on defense.

Meet Rythandaras - level 69 legacy sword and board ranger.

This build is designed for high level pvp against attack users. I didn't manage to find too many opponents but so far only non spell caster I lost to was Invalesco's crit shadow (BOTW #14).

I would love to do some more pvp but there's not too many people in legacy. If you want to test my defenses please PM me and we'll arrange something.

(Just a note that my gear is very mediocre at the moment, I don't even have a 5 link.)

At level 69 I have roughly 2.6k life, 10.5k evasion, 74% block chance and (Phase) Acrobatics with Arrow dodging. All of this supported by level 10 20% quality enfeeble. Oh and around 250 physical/elemental dps :) But that's remedied by viper strike and a few other options.

You can see me messing around and surviving for a while in Invalesco's pvp footage here at around 2:30. Keep in mind this was my first hour at pvp testing things out.

Ok, onto the build.
What it does? Avoids getting hit by attacks. Even by guys with resolute technique. And it does this for a bit while you figure out how to kill you opponent. Viper strike is my attack of choice because it enables you to run around like a headless chicken while the damage ticks down your enemy. Couple that with high attack speed weapon and you have to spend very little time next to your opponent.

Key items,skills and passives:



(Phase) Acrobatics, Arrow Dodging, Quality Enfeeble, Viper Strike, Blind, Tempest Shield and Grace

This is the key setup and from here you have a lot of options.

I got +22% block from passives and additional 4% from Tempest Shield puts you at nice 74% with Crest of Perandus.
The sword has 2 best mods for viper strike - + gem level and attack speed. I don't bother with increased duration because I got +45% from passives and mana managment.
Enfeeble is an amazing defensive curse especially against people who don't have Resolute Technique. Level 10 with 20% quality reduces accuracy by whopping 59% not even considering reduced crit chance and overall damage. It can be rotated with Vulnerability for increased viper strike damage.
Blind can be attached to stuff like Whirling Blades, Double strike and so on for added miss chance.

From here you have loads of options for one more situational aura, traps, maybe molten shell, puncture for keeping CI users from regening and so on. I would love to get my hands on unique shield and amulet for spell block and see what can I do against casters. Sadly I'm pretty damn poor.

Mana management can be tricky with this build. Blood magic is far and mana leech doesn't cut it because of low direct damage output. I tend to look for mana on rings for the bigger pool and regeneration. Know when to use low level gems because your physical damage is low to say the least. I got around 650 mana and can spam skills for a good while on regen.

I have to mention the sad part though - pve. It wasn't that hard getting to 69 but I can't imagine this build climbing over 75 by itself. AoE options are pretty limited so what I did was just run through everything tagging every mob once or twice with viper strike. Slow and steady - this char was raised in one of the weekly HC races and died only because I accidentally bound a totem to my left mouse button at Vaal Oversoul.


Okay, sorry for the wall of text, I just don't have anyone else to share this with :)

To sum up I think this is a very flexible base for a PvP build. Depending on gear passives are pretty flexible. You can always choose between life, mana, avoiding stun/status ailments and tailor it to your needs. Skills are pretty flexible as well depending on your opponent.

Hello, here is my PvE shadow that got 6th spot on the 1 month race, i thought i'd share this build since people were curios about the specs:D

WytchfinderGeneral-level 83(can be achievable easily at lower levels by not getting the extra 6% and 12% lgihtning dmg nodes as well as the cold dmg nodes, dex nodes etc)

Passive skill tree:Passive skill tree build

As you can see i have taken the chaos inoculation keystone and the resolute technique keystone.

One might ask himself why would anyone take resolute technique on a shadow when you have a lot of critical nodes by the starting area, well, resolute technique deals a consistent amount of damage and never misses and you do not have to sacrifice survivability for critical chance nodes and accuracy.

Resolute technique is also close to the Catalyze nodes(that give very high elemental damage) and the Body and Soul passive that gives 20% more es and 10% more resistances(this is a huge plus for any ci build).

If you can't get high critical chance and have high es, don't get critical chance at all, is what i said to myself :)


This build leaves very little room for mistake, you do not need endgame gear to achieve it, just some elemental damage weapons and decent es gear, it only utilizes one unique at the moment, which is: since this is a melee build, i strongly advise on getting this unique since chaos inoculation is quite sensitive to stuns.

Another unique that would do very well is Wake of Destruction boots, these boots will boost your elemental damage by a considerable amount, but you will have to sacrifice the energy shield you could get by wearing a normal pair of boots.

This build is a dual wielder, i use the skill Dual strike for single targets (the dps on this skill is 13.3k) and for larger mobs i use Cleave (dps is 9.5k)

Dual strike and support gems:

Cleave and support gems:

The damage on these skills is quite big, and the best part is that i got 11.200 energy shield (admittedly with good gear, but you can get at least 9.000 to 10.000 energy shield with mediocre gear). So big damage, big es what else would one need?:D

One of the big advantages of taking chaos inoculation (besides the big es increase) is that you can use Bloodrage without any consequences, i have taken an extra frenzy charge whilst i went for Nullification(another passive is strongly suggest on getting), this gives me 4 "free" frenzy charges, that up the dps even more[ on dual strike with charges up i do ~14.900 dps and on cleave ~10.600 dps]

With the frenzy charges from bloodrage this character can reach 4.4 attacks per second on dual strike and 4.5 attacks per second on cleave.

I also use the Elemental Weakness curse, this curse gives a huge advantage over monsters since almost all of the damage from this build is elemental

I also use the decoy totem to get more monsters to gang up so they can be easily cursed all at once and be dealt with.
Elemental weakness and decoy totem are supported by reduced mana cost and faster casting on my circlet

For quick movement and for getting out of sticky situations or even for getting into mobs if you want to do some fast killing i use Leap slam supported by Faster attacks and knockback gems on one of my 1h ele weapons.


As auras go i use Hatred,Discpline,Anger supported by reduced mana cost and Wrath Supported by reduced mana cost (along with bloodrage) on the other 1h ele weapon. I have taken a few extra mana nodes to be able to use all these auras, in total i have 780 mana, but i get left with neat amount of mana:)



There is a downside to this build, the energy shield delay is only 45%, so you might have to wait a bit more for the energy shield to regenerate.

As pvp goes i just replace cleave with flicker strike, and use as supports added lightning damage, weapon elemental damage and mana leech on my 6l, then i simply need to flicker near the enemy and dual strike them.


The best part is that you can respec your dexterity nodes or elemental resistance nodes according to your gear without losing the core of the build.

I hope you like this successful twist i have put on shadow builds :)

Gear