† - † Help me to improve my arc witch - detailed post †-†

Hello guys, ive come to this forum because i need some help

actually im level 72 with my witch and i trying to play with arc / aura / 1 totem - arc only

I ll explain you my build, my stats and my goal and maybe you ll be able to help me to improve my dps and my stuff :)


so lets begin

My build atm :


Like you can see i've try to get all the cast spell and all the % spell dammage for get high dps with arc, for this part i dont know what can i really improve about it, ive looked and i think ive got all the usefull spell atm...




My stuff :


Like you can see i have lot of " bad items " but keep in mind ive started this game like 5 day ago , im a veteran of Diablo 2 and i still trying to fully get this game,

And since i dont find any good support gems for arc since nothing work on it except lighting pen and fast cast... im really aware for some suggestion abotu getting redirect to some better item



Some screen :


My Stats :

1136 HP
1245 Mana
1245 energy shield
60/70 % all resist ( except chaos because yolo )


My games play in map farming / dongeon / anywhere :


Cast clarity > put my totem who dealing 1k5 dps > Conductivity > start to using arc myself dealing 3k4 dps > raise spectre for helping me to tank and get the aggro for me > using light warp for teleport and get item > repeat x infiny


- Skill DPS

Arc : 3.4 dps : 0.35 cast speed
Arc on totem : 1.4 dps : 0.40 cast speed



Resume :

I can tank lot of thing with-out problem because monster focusing my spectre and my totem , alone i can kill anything really fast and in like 3 / 4 hits , i can clean the dock in like 5 minutes, i can solo lot of thing, but i still thinking my dps is light weight... i know arc doesnt dealing high amount of dps..

So any suggestion about specifique items ? or anything related to stuff ?

actually ive lot of chaos so i can probably buy some item suggested by you guys, im just listening :)

Have fun and thanks for the time !

I'm making a arc witch as well and curious on somethings like does my critical strike gem work with arc or no because it doesn't say cast?

I'm only level 50 but I've notice you haven't put any of your passives into Crit and Crit chance, how come? Am I missing something because I thought that was one of the biggest factors for increasing DPS. I notice with my power charge gem helps alot with ARC. I'll be following this thread to see what others have to say.

Thanks alot Nick for your reply

I'll try to answer to your question,

For the critical gem question i cant really answer you, ive try to get the shrine who make you critical at every hit but the dps on the monster doesnt really changed... so i think the crit build or crit gem / item doesnt properly work on arc or maybe it doesnt even work at all

BUT i can be wrong, if someone can confirm ?

That's why ive not put crit and crit chance into any of my spell

Ive try to focus on spell casting who is my main increase DPS and % spell dammage

How the power charge gem work with arc ?

Thanks

Keep in mind, im yet another new player :)

@Ocatt

Your stats are too low and too mixed up for your character level --> in act1 @cruel you should have ~1.5k HP and at least double for endgame (end of act3 @merciless +3k HP, for farming maps) IF you are a life based build. Reason: Chaos Damage goes through Energy Shield (ES)

OR you go for a ES based char, that means at some point Chaos Inoculation (CI)for chaos immunity; CI-builds are depend more on special items than life-builds (and ofc ES items are more expensive).

BTW, you should have already maxed your resistances --> 5% to have or not to have makes a big difference.

Skill build: rule of thumb for beginners --> keep your nodes close by and only use a quarter of the whole tree. Spread-out-builds are for experience players, who are building around special gear.

For example: Source: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/524483/page/3 [Xtort_ build]

This is a life based Incinerate build, which can easily translate into a lightning based build (just ignore fire and take lightning nodes instead)

You don't have enough % increased Lightning Damage nodes a far to many % increased Casting Speed ...and ofc your build has not enough +HP and +%HP nodes.

Furthermore you can easily tweak Xtort_ simple build, f.e. take Whispers of Doom and use Conductivity AND Elemental Weakness.

Because Arc doesnt count as projectile you have few possibilities to incrase the damage: Empower, Lighting Penetration, Faster Casting, Proliferate and ofc Conductivity and Elemental Weakness. Use quality gems, where it inc the damage. Gear with lightning bonus and maybe +1 to lightning gems don't hurt either.

BTW, Arc is a unique spell, because your can support the skill with Chain --> maybe a quality Chain improves the damage output.

@NickVK9

Critical Strike works with Arc, BUT its only a base-multiplier and Arc has one of the lowest critical strike potentials of all spells (only 4%, whereas Ice Spear has 7%, thats huge!)
My advice: if you want to use Arc as main skill, dont bother with crits at all.

power charge on critical hit makes you gain a power charge when you crit. probably raise zombie would be better for tanking than specters i would say. other than that, try to get a reduced duration support for you warp it's rlly faster.

Crit builds on a 4% base crit skill are pointless. If you have 600% inc crit from gear and skill (not that easy) you just hit 28% crit .... thats really not worth it imho. So are power charges with that crit chance.

Arc is not very popular because it was not very strong in open beta - didnt see much about a positive change in 1.00. But it can at least shock - with shock stacks being nerfed in 1.00 ;-).

The OP has my fullest respect to reach lvl 72 with that gear and stats - both are really not great (kindly spoken).

To support Arc on a 4 link you could try: Arc - light penetration - lifeleech - faster casting; to push your survival chances.

And focus on a life build! CI with that gear sounds like total suicide to me.

ty alot !

I use a triple totem arc witch for MF. Your build is all over the place. Stay away from 6% nodes, and only take them to get to the bigger nodes. You always need survivability. Here's my build at level 70:



Here's my gear:



I'll either dual wield the wand and dagger, or go heartbreaker + shield. Might swap to Reaper's for cull on bosses, but won't bother with rares.

I don't invest into crit with this build because the crit chance on arc is really really low. Shock stacks are going to be your main boost in damage.

I use a triple totem arc witch for MF. Your build is all over the place. Stay away from 6% nodes, and only take them to get to the bigger nodes. You always need survivability. Here's my build at level 70:



Here's my gear:



I'll either dual wield the wand and dagger, or go heartbreaker + shield. Might swap to Reaper's for cull on bosses, but won't bother with rares.

I don't invest into crit with this build because the crit chance on arc is really really low. Shock stacks are going to be your main boost in damage.

As for support gems on Arc, the goal for me is to 6L it with:

Arc + Light Pen + IIR + Faster Casting + Elemental Prolif + either Added Lightning Damage or Iron Will

Ty katet !

Its possible to know with this build how many HP :mana / energy / dps by totem do you have :) thanks !