Realyn's release EK Marauder build. Tanky as Hell! Level 20 gem/gear update!

yeah definitely understand in nemesis. I only went crit nodes when i was around 75 because there was nothing that really helped besides more health.

100 points used =/= Level 100

I'm 71 atm and my clearing speed is really meh with the setup, a 5 link with faster casting seems essential. I might try the dual wand trick as I'm pretty much using a a crap spell dmg shield atm anyway for extra dps. Tooltip says 1800 with hatred.

Thanks SO much for this thread, just what I was looking for.
I decided to make a slightly less tanky version, starting as Scion.

My EK Scion:


Stats summary:


Stats of Realyn's marauder build (do note, 5 less points invested):


The differences: compared to Realyn's marauder, the Scion gets:
(keep in mind it does use 5 more points to make this happen)

Idea behind the build
If you roll a Scion you get access to spell damage and cast speed and you can drop Golem's Blood (south of duelist) and all the connective nodes to it because the Scion already gets 2.2% regen right at its start.*** Dropping Golem's Blood frees up several nodes, two of which I invested in Elemental Resistance with Shields nodes to the top left of the tree, which didn't require connective nodes to get to. These compensate (20% all res while holding a shield) for dropping the 12% all res node below Golem's Blood.

***starting out, I recommend taking the mana nodes instead and respeccing these later, when you can use blood magic. The marauder doesn't get this opportunity, use it!

About cast speed
I would have liked to spec more cast speed than I did (in theory), but I didn't want to sacrifice more life, so it will require leveling up a bit more to grab the cast speed nodes directly north of the scion start. Keep in mind that with blood magic the faster you cast, the higher the life cost per second. Once you've leveled beyond the passive tree I made, then there are no more life nodes nearby anyway, so you can then safely go grab that cast speed. If you know beforehand that you'll be leveling higher, you might decide to take the extra cast speed early on.

About int/dex/str
I carefully planned the amount of dex and int. Dex had to be at least enough to wear a "full dragonscale" armor without sacrificing node efficiency (which is why there's more dex in the build than strictly necessary). Full dragonscale should give you the best chances of getting the right socket colours because it's roughly 3:2 str:dex aligned. Grace, Hatred and (if you want it for the cast speed) Haste require a little more: about 150 dex at level 20. The highest int gem used is enfeeble, and the build has enough int that you'll most likely (with +4 int on gear) get to use that gem at a high enough level (level 10, 29% lower damage) that investing in more int passives just for an additional 3% would be pointless. If you really want to, you can get +20 int by taking the nodes north of the scion start, like this:



Accuracy
The 3 accuracy+run speed nodes to the bottom right of the tree get the accuracy up (above what you would get with Raelyn's Marauder passive tree) for viper strike and as a bonus they add to movement speed. While the added accuracy may or may not be necessary, I expect it will be.

Defenses
I specced more armor % because I expect to be running around with terrible gear. If you think it's too much for you, drop some of it.

My EK Scion with Mana (no blood magic), with faster cast speed and -1 linked socket required.

Stats:

Compared to my first Scion, this gets:


The obvious advantage is you don't need a 5L chestpiece before you can add the faster cast support gem, because you don't need blood magic. You can make do with a 5L at endgame instead of 6L. Please share your thoughts on this one, let me know if you think it would work. Would you have enough mana left over for EK, after the auras?

How do you feel about both these builds I propose?

A) Realyn's marauder: extremely tanky
B) Roenie's Scion: tanky, more aggressive
C) Roenie's Scion with mana: less tanky, even more aggressive, -1 link required

B is my choice. With 4 more points that build can grab a further 9% cast speed (cluster of 3 at scion start, north), for a total of 15% (without dropping Harrier). You would have to level up to almost 90, or drop a few nodes elsewhere though. I'd probably get the cast speed early on (when you can't use faster cast support yet) and later respec those points because the support gem adds 39% at gem level 20. At that point the 9% doesn't matter that much.

Disclaimer: sorry I didn't have time to read the entire thread.
Finished editing.
Edit: yea, right. Added info about dex for gems.

So honestly I'm not that impressed with Cast when damage taken, and would rather level all the gems attached to it. Rather than let them cap at level 10. I feel its just lazy and I should replace cast when damage taken with blood magic.

Blood magic, Decoy Totem, Molten Shell, Endurying Cry
What do you think?

is it ok to use tabula rasa as an early 6 link or would you not recommend it?

How viable is this build for endgame?

Cant this thread die already? The build with safeel as main shield and no block investment is absolute fail, the tankiness is non existent, EK dps is mediocre. This build aint suitable for a hc build. I feel this thread was more of a non stop CWDT FAQ for noobs that cant think for themselves, and need to be spoonfed everything. Tanky as hell and died to a non -max res piety, lol

What a childish post. I strongly suggest ignoring it. (free to play, anyone?)

Meanwhile, my Scion based off of this build is doing very well at level 44. Maybe the strongest character I've done so far. EK damage scales strongly with every gem level.

I've been using clarity to cast EK with a mana leech support gem. Blood magic hurt my hp too much without life leech which I have only just picked up in act 2 cruel. Now all I need is the right sockets to try it out (more red ones). That should open up other aura options.

"

Roenie wrote:

What a childish post. I strongly suggest ignoring it. (free to play, anyone?)

Meanwhile, my Scion based off of this build is doing very well at level 44. Maybe the strongest character I've done so far. EK damage scales strongly with every gem level.

I've been using clarity to cast EK with a mana leech support gem. Blood magic hurt my hp too much without life leech which I have only just picked up in act 2 cruel. Now all I need is the right sockets to try it out (more red ones). That should open up other aura options.

I agree, I've had a lot of fun with this build. My first Nemesis char (this build) RIP'ed in a map because I was checking my inventory...now I'm building it up again after a couple other deaths.

I've gone marauder just for the ease of getting life nodes early. I really like your scion build, and if I was starting at level 1 I would definitely use it, specifically because it lets me skip the golem's blood/life down at the bottom past IR like you said, lots of wasted nodes getting there. (though some of the dex is helpful with EK/grace/faster projectiles etc)

How much INT do you think we can get? Would totem skeletons benefit our build? or is decoy totem enough? I want soemthing to keep mobs off me...

Keep it up Roenie! Loving this build.

PS: I've been using blood magic/ek/added fire/life leech and my 5th link was faster casting. Was working alright for me, though I might try out clarity/mana leech as that was working well on my summoner. (not sure if I have enough mana though)