Zorro's DANMAKU-Discharge - Absolutely INSANE DPS (Updated 4/22/14)

I_Am_Zorro here...First let me start off by saying thank you to DonaldF and Oro. This is a mash-up build of their DANMAKU and Ceaseless Discharge builds respectively. Without their ideas and proof of concept I may have never ran across this build.

DonaldF's DANMAKU Build

Oro's Ceaseless Discharge Build

If you have any questions or need help or just want to see this build in action, please feel free to add me on either of these In Game Names.
I_Am_Zorro
DANMAKU_Ranger
Zorros_Oro


WARNING: This build can be a GLASS CANNON! (It does an INSANE amount of DPS but can die very easily if you ARE NOT careful.) Due to the high DPS, there is no amount of REGEN/LEECH/GAIN that you can achieve to make up for running full force into a pack of REFLECT mobs. I HIGHLY recommend you play this on Standard, at least until you feel comfortable you won't die; yet I still don't believe this to be Hardcore viable unless with a really good party at an 80+ level.



YES I KNOW...This Passive Tree is almost identical to DANMAKU, and for good reason as I will explain in the MECHANICS Section of my Thread. There are two different ways to level this character up. You can do as I did and go straight for all the damage nodes and Crit Chance nodes and save most of the survivability nodes for level 60+ to prepare for mapping. Otherwise you can reverse it and hit survivability first and get your damage as you level up in maps but your initial leveling will be much slower.



DISCLAIMER: Because most of the Skill Gems you use for this build require lvl 31, it's best to use a bow with Rain of Arrows and Burning/Split Arrow to quickly level up to 31+.











This build is definitely NOT that gear dependent and the gear it does take to make it work is absurdly cheap. I clear maps and still use a Tabula Rasa and that's mainly because I'm able to swap out gems and try new combinations without spending 1000 chromatic orbs trying to find a proper 6-link set up with the right colors. First I will Post the key gear and price range for each piece and then a few examples of some good stats to look out for on daggers and jewelery.

















OK strap in and keep up! Obviously this build is based mostly on a HIGH Crit Chance Via Nodes and daggers. Because of Cyclone's high hit rate (Especially in large mobs as it hits with both weapons in a circle, hitting everything around you while traveling short distances.) you are able to ABUSE Cast on Critical Strike and Power Charge on Critical Strike. This combination activates Ethereal Knives AND Discharge which in turn may ALSO CRIT and do massive amounts of damage in a chain of spraying knives and explosions which are not only POWERFUL, but fun to watch!

With Power Charge on Critcal Strike you almost ALWAYS have at least 1 power charge per discharge; but to add to that, when running in a huge mob I like to manually cast Enduring Cry for that extra burn damage, which will hurt EVEN more if your Powercharged Discharge causes shock damage. If you find your self running in a party with someone who has Conduit, you will notice an amazing DPS boost for your Discharge especially if you gain Frenzy Charges as every time you Crit, everything around you will be frozen. Also, Ethereal Knives AND Discharge have an increased base stat for Critical Strike Chance which when they Crit will also have a chance to resupply you with another powercharge; however it will not activate Cast on Critical Strike again as it can only be activated by ATTACKS.

The ONLY aura I run while leveling up at first is Clarity,(UNTIL MANA LEECH BECOME SUFFICIENT! Around level 65 or so) I know...WTF??? Well let me explain. =)
If you wanted to use Blood Magic like in DonaldF's DANMAKU Build, you would have to sacrifice Discharge or Ethereal Knives because you would definitely need to run Blood Magic AND Life Leech on your 6 Linked Chest. This is too huge of a DPS Sacrifice for a minimal Damage Aura or Protective Aura. Plus while running with parties, most everyone else will already be running both helping you even more.

Due to the fact of low resists because of the specific uniques I use to stack charges and deal the most damage, I like to run a Purity of Elements aura which is an easy swap out after you ditch Clarity as they are both blue...No chromatics needed to change around gear.I have recently changed out clarity because with a raise in DPS I just got + Mana Leech leveling up, all I need is Mana Leech and 1-2 Mana pots just in case.

At the moment I use 1 of 3 options will in a party:
1. Rat's Nest + Maligaro's Virtuosity - The highest CRIT chance = More DPS.
2. Rat's Nest + Lochtonial Caress - CONDUIT gives everyone near you constant full charges.
3. Alpha's Howl + Maligaros Virtuosity - Allows 3-4 auras to be run.

With Alpha's Howl you can run Reduced mana-Purity of Elements-and a specific Purity of your choice depending on what you're low on or what you need, then run Clarity on Blood Magic on another piece of gear. Running Alpha's howl and Lochtonial Caress is viable but you sacrifice A LOT of crit.


DEALING WITH REFLECT:

Because this build uses 2 main skills to pump out damage, Ethereal Knives (Physical Damage) and Discharge (Elemental Damage). Each one can be swapped out interchangeably with another gem when facing a reflect map or even reflect specific bosses. So it's a good idea to keep these other gems either in your inventory or on your second set of weapons so that they gain XP and level up as well.

Physical Reflect - Swapping out Ethereal Knives with Elemental Proliferation, Increased Critical Strikes, or Concentrated Effect are all pretty good choices depending on what you want to do. EP is going to spread Shock/Burn/Freeze making enimies easier to kill, where ICS will allow you to crit and discharge MUCH more, and CE will cause you to do MORE damage per discharge. It's really up to how you want to play.

Elemental Reflect - As this build closely follows DANMAKU, just swap out Discharge for a second Ethereal Knives and everything works the same as that. I keep a second EK with me on another set of weapons so it is the same lvl as my current one, thus they are both doing the same amount of damage.

Double Reflect - Some maps can roll Physical Reflect AND Elemental Reflect...Do a different map, simple as that. If you get an Elemental Boss inside a Physical Reflect map or vice versa, I suggest skipping that group or letting someone else kill them. I have also, while soloing had to just use Whirling Blades over and over to kill the boss as it doesn't do as much damage and your health can be controlled through regeneration and pots.

Lightning Thorns - I still have not found a way to encounter this except to back off and lure Black Guard Soldiers away from the Mages and kill them once the Lightning Thorns wear off.



NOW! For all that Cast When Damage Taken...
CWDT-Enduring Cry-EK-EK
This allows you to Auto-Cast even more EK and an Enduring Cry to refresh any Endurance Charges.

CWDT-Molten Shell-Concentrated Effect-Discharge
This particular CWDT gem is much more efficient if it has QUALITY, as the Quality+Concentrated Effect both increase the damage of Molten Shell and Discharge.

CWDT-Decoy Totem-Increased Area of Effect-Critical Weakness
Increased Area is a must for these two gems as it allows for MORE mobs to be tagged by your Critical Weakness Curse and helps your Decoy Totem attract the attention of more mobs AWAY from you.




WHY ETHEREAL KNIVES?
Ethereal Knives is BOTH a Projectile AND a Spell that does immense amounts of Physical Damage.
This allows you to pick up Spell Crit Nodes such as Doom Cast, and Physical/Projectile/Spell Damage Nodes if available.

WHY NOT JUST MAKE AN ORO'S CEASELESS DISCHARGE BUILD?
The reason I wanted to do something different is because with Oro's Spectral Throw build you attack outwards in a cone limiting the mobs you can hit around you at one time unless you are ranging and letting everything come to you, by doing so you are also limiting the possible damage you can do per discharge as you are not taking full advantage of your AOE, which I believe is the main reason it picks up so many increased Area of Effect nodes and gear. By sitting still to cast Spectral Throw you are and easier target to Ranged and Magic monsters for a short time and you are sitting still causing slower clears. Also the main reason I steer away from it is because of GMP and the fact that Spectral Throw travels beyond your target hitting nothing for a short period of time, single target monsters such as bosses tend to be much harder to crit on unless minions are around it. With cyclone, you are able to move around while attacking making you less likely to be hit but not completely of course, and by moving while attacking you can hold down the attack button and travel in a long straight line and take out all mobs around you and keep moving, leaving a wake of explosions, a ton of gear, and dead bodies...I find it more fun and advantageous, try them both and tell me what you think. =D

*****Reserved for UPDATE Information*****

1/19/14 - ADDED Vaal Pact version of Passive Tree as requested
..............ADDED Chaos Inoculation version of Passive Tree
1/20/14 - ADDED a MY CURRENT GEAR spoiler to GEAR section as requested
1/26/14 - SWAPPED out Dervish Node to pick up blinding speed and 8% Evasion/Life Node
1/29/14 - UPDATED: My CURRENT GEMS Section and IDEAL links within that.
..............ADDED EXTRA Power Charge to Passive Tree 61 and above.
..............ADDED info on Lochtinal Caress and Alpha's Howl to GEAR, GEMS, and MECHANICS.
..............FIXED a few issues with Passive Trees having different nodes.
2/01/14 - ADDED a 4-5 AURA VERSION and explanation in the Passive Tree Section.
2/17/14 - FIXED a forum crash issue that caused GEAR and GEMS Sections to get mixed up.
4/22/14 - FIXED passive trees after passive tree update.

Feel free to comment or ask any questions I will be checking this thread pretty often to keep updating and reply to others.

"

FstnFurius07 wrote:

This combination activates Ethereal Knives AND Discharge which in turn may ALSO CRIT and activate each other again causing a chain of spraying knives and explosions which are not only POWERFUL, but fun to watch!

This is not how Cast on Critical works... The gem only procs for Attacks.

"

FstnFurius07 wrote:

Bandit Rewards:
Normal: Kill Oak (+40 to Base Life)
Cruel: Kill Oak (18% Physical Damage)
Merciless: Kill All (Passive Skill Point)

Did you mean Help?

I don't see the advantage of this over the standard CoC-discharge builds or the standard CoC-EK builds, adding EK in this case is pretty pointless, here's why:

in your main 6L, EK won't crit much, thus won't generate many power charges to feed your discharges... This is because EK only has a base 5% chance to crit and most of your crit passives are focused on dagger crit which won't boost EK's crit rate at all.

2nd, the tiny EK's linked to a lvl 1 CWDT are doing nearly nothing, they barely tickle mobs.

Also the fact that you don't use any hatred severely gimps your EK's anyways

I commend you for trying to take 2 successful builds and merge them, but in this case it's a waste because there is nothing "bullet hell" about this build, it does not deserve the danmaku title IMO.

This is not how Cast on Critical works... The gem only procs for Attacks.[/quote]

I'm sorry, you're right. I read the gem wrong. Although while playing this build it seems that way as I'm simultaneously activating multiple discharges.

"

Did you mean Help?

Yes I'm sorry I was in a rush and added that section at the end before I logged off for the night, thank you for seeing that.

"

I don't see the advantage of this over the standard CoC-discharge builds or the standard CoC-EK builds, adding EK in this case is pretty pointless, here's why:

in your main 6L, EK won't crit much, thus won't generate many power charges to feed your discharges... This is because EK only has a base 5% chance to crit and most of your crit passives are focused on dagger crit which won't boost EK's crit rate at all.

2nd, the tiny EK's linked to a lvl 1 CWDT are doing nearly nothing, they barely tickle mobs.

Also the fact that you don't use any hatred severely gimps your EK's anyways

I commend you for trying to take 2 successful builds and merge them, but in this case it's a waste because there is nothing "bullet hell" about this build, it does not deserve the danmaku title IMO.

I commend you for trying to be a successful critic, but this build is highly based off danmaku which means I added Discharge, not EK. So yes the Discharge may not have Ele Prolif/Inc Burn Dmg or some other gems attached that help out only discharge, but it abuses the power charge on crit and shocks stacks mobs constantly causing EK to do even more damage, as for the CWDT EK, that was the only thing I could put in my Rat's nest because you CAN NOT chrom it without it having 2 green it seems. I wasted a ton of Chromatics and finally gave up on R-R-G-G. Now as for leveling it up, I may just do that but I don't know how far to go with it, as I only have like 2.7k life at the moment. I will look in to lvling it up. I have not found a way to run hatred on my own but as I have said, this build is best played in parties as there are many auras already in use. Although while saying that, it is still solo viable as you can tend to kill big mobs faster than they can hit you once. If you have a problem with my passive tree, its the same as danmaku except I took off mana reserved as I can't run multiple auras and use BM/LL which forces me to use clarity/ML. Now if I were to get a Soul Taker, it could be my secondary and I could run Grace/Hatred. Doing so would take a huge cut to crit but allow me to continuously cyclone and run a DMG and a Protective aura all while adding some chill to my Physical DMG which doen't hurt.

"

FstnFurius07 wrote:

I commend you for trying to be a successful critic, but this build is highly based off danmaku which means I added Discharge, not EK. So yes the Discharge may not have Ele Prolif/Inc Burn Dmg or some other gems attached that help out only discharge, but it abuses the power charge on crit and shocks stacks mobs constantly causing EK to do even more damage, as for the CWDT EK, that was the only thing I could put in my Rat's nest because you CAN NOT chrom it without it having 2 green it seems. I wasted a ton of Chromatics and finally gave up on R-R-G-G. Now as for leveling it up, I may just do that but I don't know how far to go with it, as I only have like 2.7k life at the moment. I will look in to lvling it up. I have not found a way to run hatred on my own but as I have said, this build is best played in parties as there are many auras already in use. Although while saying that, it is still solo viable as you can tend to kill big mobs faster than they can hit you once. If you have a problem with my passive tree, its the same as danmaku except I took off mana reserved as I can't run multiple auras and use BM/LL which forces me to use clarity/ML. Now if I were to get a Soul Taker, it could be my secondary and I could run Grace/Hatred. Doing so would take a huge cut to crit but allow me to continuously cyclone and run a DMG and a Protective aura all while adding some chill to my Physical DMG which doen't hurt.

The reason the Danmaku build is named such is because the CoC EK simulates the look and feel of the Bullet Hell games (such as the Touhou Project games). By shifting the focus off of EK and onto Discharge you've made a very non-Danmaku build.

As for if it works, I can't say much about that. I'm not very savvy when it comes to builds like this. Just wanted to point out a bit more clearly what the other guy was getting at when he said it didn't deserve the title.

*BUMP*

"

The reason the Danmaku build is named such is because the CoC EK simulates the look and feel of the Bullet Hell games (such as the Touhou Project games). By shifting the focus off of EK and onto Discharge you've made a very non-Danmaku build.

As for if it works, I can't say much about that. I'm not very savvy when it comes to builds like this. Just wanted to point out a bit more clearly what the other guy was getting at when he said it didn't deserve the title.

I see, I see. Yes I agree that there are less EK's Flying around, I absolutely agree. I left the DANMAKU in the name to pay tribute to DonaldF as I mostly used the concept of his build as base for Crit and I still use the EK which still activates often enough to do loads of damage.