MF Ethereal Knives [IQ 141%/IR 193%][Guide]
 This build is a re-roll of my previous dedicated MF Shadow which was posted here. That build was made before the 1.0 release and relied on Righteous Fire to provide all the damage. Once RF was nerfed, the build was far too weak to continue playing. The Scion starting tree introduced more possibilities to remake the build and have one that offsets the loss of RF with enough DPS to effectively farm Merciless bosses and low level maps (66-70). The build will work equally as well starting as either Witch or Shadow. Please keep in mind that the intent of this build is to only accomplish the above, a boss and low level map clearer. It's made to generate currency through drops/selling items/chaos recipe. It will not have enough survivability to handle end-game content.
F.A.Q
Why Ethereal Knives over totems/summoner?
The build comes down to personal preference. Totems/Summoners are very effective (My first MF character was Spork Totem) but I feel they are more passive builds and I wanted something more active and fun to play. This build makes grinding enjoyable because you have to stay on your toes while killing enemies and is just another optional playstyle while still getting a lot of loot. Will the build work as Chaos Innoculation (CI)? It can be adapted to work for CI but you lose out on the 100% rarity bonus from wearing Wondertraps and will not be able to take the Pain Attunement passive. You can still make a very good MF build wearing the Goldwyrm unique boots and getting rarity on jewelry. How do you deal with physical reflect? Carefully. Seperate the rare and kill him with Bear Traps or just get him singled out from the rest of the pack and granite up and kill him. Most reflect deaths come from complacency and not checking the pack that you're firing into. Just be aware of the reflect aura at all times and you won't have many problems. Now reflect maps are another story and I'd just reroll the map if it comes up. The physical resistance on monsters mod is not really a problem though. Just use your curse more often and they'll still die quick. What are the build dangers? As you have little to no armor/evasion and a very small ES pool your defense mainly comes from your offense/flasks. With the life leech gem you'll be able to keep your ES pool up high as long as you continue to fire into enemy packs and hit multiple targets. If you're fighting against just one enemy life leech becomes less efficient and you'll need to rely on your granites more if they are physical based enemies. Elemental based single targets are countered by Whirling Blades and dodging their attacks. As Eye of Chayula prevents you from getting stunned, your flasks will have to roll mods that counter these status ailments: Bleed Shock Freeze/Chill It's very important to counter these as soon as you notice you are affected by them, most especially BLEED. With your low armor, being crit by a puncture enemy can be a very quick death. Which is more important, item quantity or rarity? This is personal preference. From my personal experience, emphasizing quantity over rarity is the better bet if you run solo. If you play the build in a group, having a higher rarity is probably better.
Passives/Rewards
I took all 3 skill points from the Bandit Quests. The only optional point I would take is the 4% cast speed from Cruel Alira.
Here is the 'finished' build at level 80. All further points gained from leveling can be spent on whatever you prefer for your build.
Leveling
Leveling for the build is entirely up to you and dependent on what gear you have.
I personally level all my ES based characters with The Searing Touch staff along with Fireball, Fire Traps and the Flammability curse. I dislike having to use all my respec points and extra Regret orbs on respeccing out of life nodes so I strictly played as ES and rushed the main ES nodes in the build while supplementing it with damage nodes as needed. With the Searing Touch you'll notice that as soon as you start to feel the damage fall off it will get a boost shortly after once your gems level. Make sure to start leveling a Fireball/Firetrap gem right away. Searing Touch will easily carry you through Merciless and when you can make the transition into EK. The enemies that will give you trouble are: -Chaos -Flicker Strike/Discharge -Weavers Chamber boss -Dominus Fight in Cruel (I recommend fighting him in a group or just paying for a kill) I did not switch to using Ethereal Knives until level 68 as that is when I could equip the 20/20 gem and Prism Guardian. You can switch to it at level 62 though if you have the Shavronne's Wrappings as you can spec into Pain Attunement and get a big boost in damage. Level all necessary gems as early as possible or you can buy up once you reach the proper levels.
Gems
BOLD gems are recommended to be 20% quality.
Ethereal Knives Faster Casting Item Rarity Item Quantity Life Leech Mana Leech Optional for more DPS: Added Fire Damage Increased Critical Strikes Increased Critical Multiplier Faster Projectiles Slower Projectiles Whirling Blades (Level 1) Faster Attacks Bear Trap Added Fire Damage Culling Strike -or- Bear Trap Added Fire Damage Increased Duration Arctic Armor Discipline Clarity Purity of Elements Hatred Haste Tempest Shield (Optional) Vulnerability Enfeeble Projectile Weakness Arctic Armor (The 20% quality bonus is 7% increased movement speed which is very nice. You can level up as high as you can sustain for some added defense but leaving at level 1 is also an option.)
Gear
If your focus is on rarity instead you can substitute in : MF stats wearing these. With a GG helmet/ring 400%+ rarity and 100% quantity is obtainable. Last edited by MikeOxlittle#7521 on Mar 23, 2014, 7:14:37 PM
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After gaining 2 more levels and messing around with the tree a bit I respecced out of a 5% aura mana reserve/8% effect of aura node and put them into the mana nodes on the left side of the Scion start.
This allows me to still run the same amount of auras and add in Tempest Shield for a little more defense (and offense when I block). This also maximizes the mana usage as I had a lot of it being wasted. With my mana regen around 105% or so I can run Arctic Armor at level 9 fulltime with no regen issues. Once I hit level 80 I will probably respec out of the mana nodes, run a lower level AA and invest the points into more damage. Farming Piety is very safe at the current state of the build and I just need to find the right balance for safely doing Dominus with the next few levels. Here is the updated tree at level 71. |
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Build is currently at level 75 and I switched a couple pieces (helmet/ring) to get more MF. Switched a few gems also to get some level 19's up to 20.
Mainly farming Piety for levels at the moment with about 3.6K ES and 83/370 MF stats and everything is going well enough. I've done up to 68 maps with no real problems but will wait to do anything higher as I figure out my final gear pieces. Current EK tooltip is 9.3K. Should be at the 10K mark within the next two levels and switching back to the 20/20 Faster Casting gem. |
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Was planning on a MF Crit EK build for my next toon, Seen your shadow post, and was thinking of turning it into a Scion, Glad you started this :P Today I finally got the Shav's To make this build possible, Time to start leveling! Might I ask though, Why Redbeak over a high Crit Wand/Dagger?
Here is the Gear I have Stashed for the Build:
Spoiler
And if its better than my wand: Also, Wouldn't you need Zealot's Oath and/or Vaal Pact? "Just because you can't see the path through the forest doesn't mean using a bulldozer is the most efficient way through." -Rhys Last edited by zakktb#2914 on Dec 15, 2013, 12:36:32 AM
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" I just realized this build will do equally well starting off as a Shadow again but with the leveling build I chose (Searing Touch Fireball/Firetrap) I think the Scion start will make things a little easier with earlier access to projectile/trap damage nodes. Ultimately you'll just have to pick the start based off what you level with. I use Redbeak so that I can use Whirling Blades as my 'getaway' skill. A good wand will give you more damage but you'll have to use Lightning Warp and I'm not a fan of the skill. I initially overlooked Redbeak but found that it does more damage than more expensive items like Heartbreaker/Divinarius. Zealot's Oath and Vaal Pact are not needed because the Life Leech gem along with flask usage will keep you alive in most situations. If you get in a really bad position use Whirling Blades to make a hasty retreat and regen your ES. |
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" Ahh Ok, I'm not a fan of Shadows myself, so Scion is a better choice for me :P Yes, Whirling blades is nice for a getaway skill, and makes sense to use it now that I think about it. "Just because you can't see the path through the forest doesn't mean using a bulldozer is the most efficient way through." -Rhys
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Here is the current tree at level 75.
I respecced out of the projectile damage nodes in the Shadow start because the 5% elemental damage nodes to go to them were very inefficient. I put the points back into crit nodes to get even more damage than initially invested into the projectile nodes. |
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Reached level 76 and after a discussion with a friend, he convinced me that I was wasting points investing into the projectile damage nodes. The 6% ones in the Scion tree on the way to Sentinel are especially inefficient.
Because Pain Attunement scales multiplicatively off of other spell damage nodes, dropping the projectile nodes in favor of spell damage nodes should gain me more damage. After respeccing and testing it does indeed work better to scale off the spell damage nodes. This opens up the build to now start as either Witch/Shadow/Scion. I'm now undercapped on resists but for leveling it is not an issue. Sacrificing a little MF will get me resist capped by switching out one ring. Here is the tree currently. |
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Hit level 78 and the XP is slowing down from doing Piety runs so I've been focusing on 66-69 maps.
The damage fall off is slightly apparent in 69 maps and with the low ES pool I'm not confident with the build in any 70+ maps at this point. The potential loss of low currencies in rolling 70+ maps is not worth it. I'm pretty set on maximizing the MF stats of the build and not willing to lower them for more ES as that was not the original intention of the build. Dominus runs at this point are also not worth it. I wouldn't really try to run him without at least 4.5K ES due to the spike damage that his fight presents. I tried him a few times with 4.1K ES and there were too many sketchy moments to turn me off that quick. The build is winding down and if focused on just running Piety and 66-69 maps the build is 'complete'. The remaining points I get from leveling up will be put into the ES wheel above the Scion start. There are also 4 projectile damage nodes within reach to get the DPS around 11K at level 81-82. Here are a few screenshots of the damage/MF stats at the current level of the build. Ethereal Knives (MF) Ethereal Knives (DPS - Added Fire + Increased Crit Multi) Magic Find Here is the current passive tree at level 78. |
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I've decided to take a slight turn and focus more on item quantity than rarity at this point.
I've been grinding the past 10 levels or so with above 350%+ rarity and the amount of unique drops has been pretty unimpressive. The one good unique that did drop is these : I'm going to switch from the Wondertraps to those and try to balance the build to have 100-110%+ quantity and right around 300% rarity. The difference between 4X as many rares/uniques and 5X does not look to be that significant when rarity has diminishing returns and quantity does not. The 60% mana regen will most likely allow for a single level higher Arctic Armor as well. The fire resist is also a help and will open up more ring choices and I'd just have to focus on getting enough cold to cap all resists. |
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