[1.1.2] Ultimate Self-Cast Arc Tanky Witch / 21k dps x 5 (with a Video)

Adding a gameplay video (Soloing a lvl 70 map and dealing with a reflect elemental rare) :

http://youtu.be/oi6pu2gCmCg

Bump. I updated the guide with more details, including the new section "How to deal with elemental reflect".

Sorry, maybe this will be a dumb question, but what activate the power charge? im following this build, lvl 43 and never saw one power charge active

They have the Power Charge on Critical gem linked in the Chest.

Whenever i try to create a build using arc i eventually realize that simply using fireball/ ice spear yields equivalent/better results.
Shock is nice but whenever it matters(difficult rares/bosses) higher base dps + burn/freeze seems much more useful

I'd really like to know what Kaikua's (tooltip)dps is, just using fireball,lmp,PCoC,concEff ,CritDmg

edit: if i'm not mistaken your character should do at least 15k dps(1.69 multiplier from conc effect OP) per fireball while being able to hit multiple enemies with each of the 3 projectiles and applying nasty burn effects on a crit - even without optimizing the passive graph.

I mean no offense, I'm just trying to figure out if it is possible to rely on arc alone without having incredibly expensive gear. so far it doesn't seem like it, but i'd be really happy if you could 'prove' me wrong.

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Jackdaniels2377 wrote:

Whenever i try to create a build using arc i eventually realize that simply using fireball/ ice spear yields equivalent/better results.
Shock is nice but whenever it matters(difficult rares/bosses) higher base dps + burn/freeze seems much more useful

I'd really like to know what Kaikua's (tooltip)dps is, just using fireball,lmp,PCoC,concEff ,CritDmg

edit: if i'm not mistaken your character should do at least 15k dps(1.69 multiplier from conc effect OP) per fireball while being able to hit multiple enemies with each of the 3 projectiles and applying nasty burn effects on a crit - even without optimizing the passive graph.

I mean no offense, I'm just trying to figure out if it is possible to rely on arc alone without having incredibly expensive gear. so far it doesn't seem like it, but i'd be really happy if you could 'prove' me wrong.

You can't simply dismiss the very high chance to shock by Arc (73%) and its built-in auto-target chaining. With a high casting speed, 3 shock stacks is very easy to get which effectively double (+90%) the actual dps. I'm not sure why that would be less useful than burning or freezing. If snything, its more useful!

Also, compare to projectile spells like Fireball, Arc reach its targets instantly instead of losing time traveling. This travelling time isn't include in the tooltip dps, but if it was, dps of spells like Fireball, Arctic Breath and even Ice Spear would be lower.

I haven't check the dps with your suggested Fireball setup, but its missing one important support : Fire Penetration. Its hard to compare 2 spells, one with Elemental Penetration and the other without. The spell with elemental penetration (in this case Arc) will be much more efficient against elemental resistant monsters which are, as we know, very common. So, to be fair, you'd need to replace Concentrated effect or Critical Damage by Fire Penetration, which would reduce your calculated dps to approximately the same as Arc.

Oh, and btw, Kaikua's gear isn't incredibly expensive. I estimate the value of her gear at about 15 exalted. I consider that amount very reasonable for a level 86 character in standard league. Most importantly, she doesn't have a 6L. With a 6L, her dps would be much much higher, making the build even more powerful than it is already.

the instant damage and auto targeting are the most obvious differences, so yes, this is indeed why i like the spell in the first place.

There seems to be a break point of gems/gear where suddenly you have enough mana(AA)/armor/hp which allows you to not use life leech freeing up a slot which in turn pushes the build from ok to great...
(to explain myself: expensive when thinking of 4 month leagues; freeze helps with mitigation; burn becomse cast time efficent(->effective dps) if you can't cast dps spells 100% of the time ->enduring cry/devouring totem/running)

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CharanJaydemyr wrote:

But we need more than one path to high level self cast Arc before we can give the skill a gold star.

Arc is already a good (not just viable) self cast spell simply because it shocks so reliably (even without crit). Supplying minions/totems/party members/yourself (RF?/traps?) with 30-90% bonus damage easily justifies casting it yourself (instead of totems which deal a lot less damage per hit).

I'm merely checking if arc should be one's only source of damage.(with a few exceptions)

have you tried switching out possibly the haste aura with purity of lightning to deal with reflect maps and such? Is that viable instead of switching over to firestorm?

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LostForm wrote:

have you tried switching out possibly the haste aura with purity of lightning to deal with reflect maps and such? Is that viable instead of switching over to firestorm?

I don't think the additional 5 lightning resistance from Purity of Lightning would be enough to deal with reflect. I'd also need to switch one of my damage support (lightning penetration, most likely) with Life Leech. Problem is, I don't have the available red socket for Life leech. And I can't easily switch Haste for Purity of Lightning either because they are not the same color.

Most importantly though, Firestorm works very well. Arctic Armour and life regen absorb almost all of the reflected damage and the dps output of this Firestorm setup works fine.

Would this build be viable from a Templar starting point? I have a Witch and don't really wanna make a second to use this build. Wanted to make an Arc based build for quite a while, and this one also includes Storm Call. ^_^

I'm thinking maybe switching the Lightning Damage from Witch tree to the Templar side. Or maybe something like this?