ZiggyD's Etheral Knives Mana Shield Scion/Shadow Build Guide - Hardcore (Updated for 1.1)

thanks a lot for clarifying man -)

Hey ZiggyD, sick guide! I've been wondering, since your video is from the scion tree, when should we pick up EB and MoM on the shadow tree?

Hey guys,



My gear right now. Level 81, 6.5K EK DPS running Clarity, Grace, Hatred and Haste.

I don't have MoM specc'ed right now, or Arctic Armour active since I don't have nearly enough mana to do it.

Thoughts on improving the build? I'm currently thinking my next purchase should be a well-rolled Rathpith Globe and better boots with a good life roll. Rings and Amulet I'm not sure if an upgrade there would significantly boost my damage and defense, unless they have some serious mana.

I'm also glad to give some tips. I'm currently comfortably doing 70 maps.

Are you comfortable with +0 projectile speed from equipment? Knives range must be way short.
Getting projectile speed wand may help here a lot.

Rathpith Globe is great, but some good rare shield (~90 hp ~200 ES + resists) can be just as good. Actually you get more hp from high flat roll, rather then from Rathpith %.

Repalcing body armor and shoes for hybrid ES can give you just enough mana to run AA and MoM, which are both very good for survivability.

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Stas88 wrote:

Are you comfortable with +0 projectile speed from equipment? Knives range must be way short.
Getting projectile speed wand may help here a lot.

Rathpith Globe is great, but some good rare shield (~90 hp ~200 ES + resists) can be just as good. Actually you get more hp from high flat roll, rather then from Rathpith %.

Repalcing body armor and shoes for hybrid ES can give you just enough mana to run AA and MoM, which are both very good for survivability.

Thanks for the feedback mate.

For the projectile speed thing, oddly I can hit things from really far away. I estimate approximately 1.5x the range of a Spider's Flicker Strike. I'm rarely outranged by anything solely from my Faster Projectiles support gem. I can probably get a better wand with projectile speed but I have a feeling it would cost quite a bit and would lower my damage unless I'm paying 3-4 exalts.

Thanks for the pointer about the rare shield. I wonder how much a +HP, +ES, +Resists and around 50% spell damage shield would cost? I can consider it as an alternative for Rathpith since I do agree that Rathpith really doesn't provide much defense.

I'll definitely get on to trying to get some half ES gear. Thanks for the advice.

HEY CAN YOU TELL WHICH POINTS YOU PUT FIRST IN THE PASSIVE TREE

Why would Discipline be used? At one point, the percent amount of mana reserved is more than the amount of ES/Mana it gives.

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MrBossMan007 wrote:

Why would Discipline be used? At one point, the percent amount of mana reserved is more than the amount of ES/Mana it gives.

Discipline gives more mana than it reserves in endgame after you've taken all the aura nodes and have a high level reduced mana gem.

I personally don't use it right now but I can see myself using it later for the increased mana regen (part of your mana regen is a percentage of your total mana. More mana = more mana regen) and increased mana so I can run MoM and Arctic Armor comfortably.

I have one question: why don't you take inner force? wouldn't 15% increased buff be great? I mean you use grace, hatred, clarity, and discipline. if all that gets boosted by 15% that would be amazing, or do the auras not count as buffs?

Great build ZiggyD, I'm having a lot of fun playing it!
Just reached lvl86, my current DPS is ~8k. I'm using Iron Will lvl19/20% in 6L chest.
Is Empower +1 lvl a huge improvement over my Iron Will?
Or maybe I should save a little more and purchase a +2 lvl Empower...?
I don't wanna spend my exalts to find out it's only little dps increase.

@TRSO: I specced into Inner Force and afaik it boosts aura's!