The Nemesis CoC Experience

Alright, here it is, your chance to learn from my suffering in an endeavor to faceroll hordes in any map with any map mods.

1. What kind of suffering, exactly?







2. The Build: Spectral Throw CoC Arc EK Hatred with Evasion/Acro/Phase Acro/VP on a life based character



3. Cons (because these should be discussed first)

There are two problems this build will always face: Corrupting Blood, and Big Scary Single Targets i.e., most bosses.

It is fitting perhaps that there is exactly one "nemesis" for this particular build, and that is CB when combined with a particularly nasty set of properties: A high base damage monster, Extra Damage, unfortunate map mods like Vulnerability, and Allies Deal Sub Damage aura. You will know when you find one just like this, because you will be seamlessly teleported into the Standard League.

The only advice I have is, don't spam on them. Even in the 1/100 chance you run into a horrible CB rare like mentioned above, you will typically have plenty of time to observe and stop before it is too late. Perhaps 1/100 of *these* times, you will not be able to avoid it.

A perfect example is devourers; they have high base damage, and they have a pleasant habit of popping up right under you while you've already got a number of spectral throw's in the air. You can't "un-throw" that shit, so you're in for a ride whether you like it or not.

Oh and lastly, it's an expensive build on the order of 30-40ex(+++) unless you compromise on the helm, ammy, and gloves.

4. Pros

* Damage scales with mob density & count, in a better than linear way also thanks to Arc and shock stacking
* Extremely evasive even with pots down, and nearly impossible to hit with pots up
* Total impunity towards all reflect and lightning thorns
* Unparalleled mob killing speed. In most maps you will carry the party for 95% of the time, stepping aside for CB rares and bosses

5. How to deal with Vaal Pact

The first thing that needs to be said about VP is that it is the only end game method to properly address two major problems that high hit rate AOE builds have in Hardcore modes: Lightning Thorns in high level maps, and Ele/Phys reflect.

The lack of regen poses a problem for life based characters, however there is a very neat way to deal with this: The Devouring Totem. As far as I know this is the only passive method to replenish life on a VP character, and it does so with great effectiveness. The healing from Devouring is instant just like your life leech, and it is reasonable to get the gem up to the mid teens (depending on your final strength figure) which will heal for just shy of 200 life per gobble and the mana is not bad either.

This single skill suddenly permits you to do chaos degen maps, and really helps sooth the soul if you need to back out of a fight for any reason (did I mention CB?), are at half life, and don't want to engage balls to the wall; pop a totem on the piles of dead bodies in your wake and you're set. The range is also excellent and will regularly heal you up from a few rooms away in dungeons, and over a screen in the open field. Monsters don't even seem to want to attack it.

So that's how to "deal with" the downsides of VP. The benefits cannot be ignored, you will face tank the most insane amounts of damage while you're critting and only a one shot will throw cold water on the party.

6. Why Arc? Why EK?

Arc: This is probably the most effective way to shock stack the entire screen, and when coupled with Berek's Grip this means unlimited mana. I highly recommend having *some* mana leech on a piece of gear along with a "semi reasonable" amount of dagger phys damage because this will be enough to keep you running through the first few throws. The best part however is that it essentially doubles the damage of itself, EK, and your whole damn party by instantly shock stacking everything. You will get used to seeing monsters coursing with marbled lightning.

EK: This in conjunction with Hatred is hands down the highest damage Hardcore viable spell to use with CoC, perhaps Fireball comes in a close second via Barrage, but the phys+cold damage synergy just cannot be ignored and here's why:

A) With Berek's Grip you get another 5% life leech on frozen mobs, so you're looking at 13% total life leech with Vaal Pact. This means you're going to be healing for your entire life pool for each shot of EK + Arc into a pack of regular density (6-7 mobs.)

B) It is most uncommon to find monsters that are both resistant to physical damage (armoured) AND resistant to Lightning, whereas it is very common to find those resistant to all elements, or two elements. So in this respect, having two elements (Hatred + Arc) and Physical damage outputs offers a very nice way to always do strong damage to everything.

7. Don't you need 7 sockets to pull of two spells on Spectral Throw CoC?

I thought so too until recently, as without a Voll's it is necessary to use PCOC. What i learned is that it is more than viable to setup a separate 4 link specifically for PCOC; I recommend spectral throw + pcoc + gmp + increased critical strikes.

In this manner you will be critting on that spectral throw 95% of the time. I previously stated that gmp was not useful, but I have since learned better... Once you get up to max charges, the routine becomes throwing once into a mob, quad potting, mowing it down, then quicksilvering to the next mob and repeat. So you only need one pcoc to keep you topped off, and GMP provides 5x the chance to hit and basically removes the need to aim, so is the better option than added accuracy or faster attacks.

You use this loop as a kind of "Power Siphon" but one which is vastly better than power siphon because you don't even need to kill the monster to get the charges. You should also notice in my build above that the route up from Acrobatics is taken to get into the Shadow tree, going through the extra duration on Power Charges which is quite handy when using this approach.

Freeing up this 6th socket on your 6 Link allows you to run Life Leech which is mandatory for Vaal Pact, or conversely allows you run the second spell in this case Arc which essentially triples your damage and doubles your party damage (unless someone else is already very effectively shock stacking.)

8. Playstyle tips and tricks

A small piece of optimization on the tree that I routinely see people miss is around the Pressure Points critical multiplier node. Instead of going up/down to the right, go through the One Handed Attack Speed node. "But that's for melee weapons moron!" I hear you say. Yes, it is. Like the dagger you're holding. It applies for spectral throw and is a nice way to pick up much needed attack speed for a net zero skill point cost. If you come out from the ranger via both evasion and the projectile damage nodes, you can skip this and the adjacent dex node completely and be one point more efficient getting to the shadow+witch and the duelist/VP area.

Pot before you engage and you will have a full pots again instantly, to that you can use them again for a tough pack, and never run into a situation where you're completely dry on pots as you end a fight. You do not want to be moving to the next mob (of who knows what!) without those pots.

The build will start to work around level 50 and to really make this possible you *need* this item:



This thing is basically god mode for the regular game. You hit so much so often with GMP Spec Throw that the healing is capable of dealing with anything bar Merc Vaal, Kole, and Dominus. The mana steal is instant, which is a very nice capability while you're leveling up and haven't quite got your shock stack thing going on yet.

Use whirling blades for mobility while fighting. It moves much more quickly than you can run for half screen distances; and you can use it to cause your GMP ST to break their synchronization which results in many more hits on individual monsters.

Attack high life single target monsters with a wall or pillar behind to stagger the return of your GMP ST. A staggered return permits all 5 (GMP) STs to hit the single target if they pass through it, and in turn permits separate triggering of CoC.

On reflect maps, use CWDT and the curse of your choice as a free Curse On Hit. I use a q20 Crit Weakness w/ Enhance for +76% MORE Crit Multi. Other good options are enfeeble or vulnerability depending on your party. This is basically like having a free 7th and 8th socket on your chest as everything you hit with ST, EK, or Arc (depending on reflect) will be cursed instantly. Top end crit dmg per EK projectile will be 10k with this method, *with* GMP.

9. Stats and whatnot







10. Videos and crap

CB Surprise
How not to fight Devourers
VP makes Jungle Valley boss easy
Courtyard

4K HP, 3K ARMOR. I am impressed you run this on nemesis without any rips so far.

EDIT: Nevermind, you ripped 3 times already, and on your way to number 4. Eva / dodge / low hp jus doesnt belong in hardcore. How many times must you rip to understand this?

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sixxinchesfromtheground wrote:

4K HP, 3K ARMOR. I am impressed you run this on nemesis without any rips so far.

Vaal Pact solves everything.

3k with pots..

This is defence tab w/o pots:



Will happily fire into phys reflect map mobs w/o pots up...

BTW here is how a 4link pcoc works (super easy content solo): http://www.twitch.tv/mcm375/b/502878833

It's a little more to think about, but it's worth it to free up that 6th socket.

"

sixxinchesfromtheground wrote:

EDIT: Nevermind, you ripped 3 times already, and on your way to number 4. Eva / dodge / low hp jus doesnt belong in hardcore. How many times must you rip to understand this?

Deaths are a learning process.

See above for lessons learned.

But man, you're so right. I should just make whatever 400% life zero movement speed strength stacking plodder you recommend.

Wat.

No, vaal pact doesnt just solve everything. I just got off an argument in another tread about glass cannons, so I just dont feel like another one. But I will just say, why do you show me those horrible defenses? Joke?

Your 100th rip will come in due time, and you will realise why everyone runs high hp and block / armor in hardcore, and evasion / acro just doesnt belong there. You cant change what is set in stone.

"

muir wrote:

"

sixxinchesfromtheground wrote:

EDIT: Nevermind, you ripped 3 times already, and on your way to number 4. Eva / dodge / low hp jus doesnt belong in hardcore. How many times must you rip to understand this?

Deaths are a learning process.

See above for lessons learned.

But man, you're so right. I should just make whatever 400% life zero movement speed strength stacking plodder you recommend.

lol stick to scrubcore,

PS who said I will recommend anything to you from my knowledge? All my builds and chars are top fucking secret. I am an innovator, I take the best builds and push the envelope, perfect mix of dps and defense. The only thing I recommend you is a cup of 'stfu and l2p'

"

sixxinchesfromtheground wrote:

"

muir wrote:

"

sixxinchesfromtheground wrote:

EDIT: Nevermind, you ripped 3 times already, and on your way to number 4. Eva / dodge / low hp jus doesnt belong in hardcore. How many times must you rip to understand this?

Deaths are a learning process.

See above for lessons learned.

But man, you're so right. I should just make whatever 400% life zero movement speed strength stacking plodder you recommend.

lol stick to scrubcore,

PS who said I will recommend anything to you from my knowledge? All my builds and chars are top fucking secret. I am an innovator, I take the best builds and push the envelope, perfect mix of dps and defense. The only thing I recommend you is a cup of 'stfu and l2p'

Haven't lol this much for ages!

Love the descriptive narrative on your journey through Nemesis.

Shame the asshole's gotten to this thread as well.