[0.10.0] HP/ES Spork Shadow Battle Mage (Twinkle twinkle deadly Sparks!) [Videos included]

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BazzV5 wrote:

Hey Inva

Did you try Elemental Proliferation in place of one of the other support gems?

If so then why did you drop it from the chain?

Heya nope bazz I didn't try it coz I was speed levelling and didn't have enough time/links to explore all the possible combinations nor did i manage to get my hands on an ele prolif gem.

It's great that canhaspants will be trying it out so we can wait for his feedback! :)

also, been a little busy lately but will try to update guide asap

Thats an amazingly cool build man! How did you tackle norm Weaver's Chamber? If this build rock'n rolls in there it could be awesome for races. All the FP builds I've messed with have trouble there. I pretty much rely on proximity pulling and Fire Trap/Firestorm. Its painfully slow going for me w/o LMP.

Spark looks like a great way around this. Guess I always disregarded it because of the randomness of the projectiles.

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Cordite wrote:

Thats an amazingly cool build man! How did you tackle norm Weaver's Chamber? If this build rock'n rolls in there it could be awesome for races. All the FP builds I've messed with have trouble there. I pretty much rely on proximity pulling and Fire Trap/Firestorm. Its painfully slow going for me w/o LMP.

Spark looks like a great way around this. Guess I always disregarded it because of the randomness of the projectiles.

thank you :) this build rocks in all the indoor areas, but is weaker in outdoor areas. It is pretty awesome for the longer races. It might be great in 4h races or more if you intend to grind in indoor areas such as waterfall caves 1 and 2. However, it only really starts to rock when you reach level 15 and gain access to the fork support gem. Before that, it can be slower going compared to other builds hence it might not be the best choice for 2-3 hr races. Beyond that however, I imagine spork should be able to make up for lost ground

Well, I think spark/spork are what I've been missing. Definately going to add it to my next HC build for Pre-LMP tough spots and for easier kiting in general. Perfect for AOE kiting and mobility considering that stuns & interrupts can ruin an HC casters day quickly...more persistant than Firestorm and much greater area of effect. Your build is almost the exact same tree I have found works best for me as a shadowcaster regardless of which elemental skills you rely on most. So no, I don't think it will be boring end-game...although I haven't really gotten there yet consistantly on HC. I keep biting it around lvl 50 or lvl 30. The lower level trees also have some gems in there that should help me survive pre-merciless.

Edit: Oh hey, had you considered trekking down to Arrow dodging and grabbing an extra frenzy charge node along the way? I was thinking you could eventually drop some of the cast speed nodes and grab the elemental nodes near the start point if you pick up Blood rage for cast speed. (after taking CI of course)

Oops, I see in your gear you are already using Blood rage. After lvl 49, the base numbers on hybrid ES/EV gear seem to make it a possibility in gear selection if you can get enough ES mods on them. Has anyone been successful with the hybrid gear? Maybe its a bridge too far but I hate seeing the EV nodes go to waste if gear can give you enough ES to survive. The couple of EV builds I messed with during early levels made it impractical vs. ES but maybe end-game gear could make it work. EV is so nice though when it works.

how exactly does fork work? if all three sparks hit the same target will that great 9new projectiles or just 3?

if all three initial sparks hit 3 different enemies will all three fork? just the first? basically does spork output 6sparks or 12sparks? either way it's a big damage boost, but from my testing I cannot quite tell! the sparks are just too hard to keep track of with my eyeballs as they cover the screen.

Been trying your build but instead i make my Spark to link with Mana/Life Leech, I could tank mobs spamming Sparks while summon Spell Totem with Spark behind me.

If maps with flicker mobs, i could just spam my Spark form off-screen and it still leeches Mana, works pretty well.

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namad wrote:

how exactly does fork work? if all three sparks hit the same target will that great 9new projectiles or just 3?

if all three initial sparks hit 3 different enemies will all three fork? just the first? basically does spork output 6sparks or 12sparks? either way it's a big damage boost, but from my testing I cannot quite tell! the sparks are just too hard to keep track of with my eyeballs as they cover the screen.

you'll only get 2 new projectiles per projectile that hits so it'll be x2. it is quite a big damage boost and if you play it right and fight bosses in very tiny enclosed areas you'll be able to knock them out very quickly.

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heatzz wrote:

Been trying your build but instead i make my Spark to link with Mana/Life Leech, I could tank mobs spamming Sparks while summon Spell Totem with Spark behind me.

If maps with flicker mobs, i could just spam my Spark form off-screen and it still leeches Mana, works pretty well.

yup that it does :)

Mate i have one question. On the first lvls what gems from quest should i take and what weapons should i use ?

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ShekaSIO wrote:

Mate i have one question. On the first lvls what gems from quest should i take and what weapons should i use ?

All you need basically is Spark and Fork to start doing well :) Usually I start off by creating a templar for spark, and then using my shadow to get fire trap. After that I tend to get phase run, bear trap, raise zombies and summon skeletons. that's basically all you need to be honest. The subsequent gems you'll need such as spell totem and faster casting don't come till later.

Just use any spell dmg weapon that boosts your dps the highest, such as wands/daggers/sceptres. Also, bear in mind that if an item has the %increased projectile speed on it, that automatically makes it very desirable and even if I have a better spelldmg weapon which would boost my dps comparatively, i would still stick to the increased proj speed item

Well I've been running my sporker a bit more, and she is seriously strong. The only thing that holds any danger for her is ele reflect, of course. But I think I've worked a way around that. Given that ele reflect mobs tend to take about 4-5 hits to kill me, assuming I don't shotgun them, then I now carry around a Topaz flask for situations where I see my ES draining down quickly.

Petrov.