[2.0] Tempada's AAA EK: An Ethereal Knives Guide | 30-60k+ Non-Crit DPS | Affordable | HC Viable

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jxfaith wrote:

The biggest problem I'm having is getting an established high level character to build wealth with, hence why I was leaning towards IR. Everything I've read about acro paints it as a high wealth option, can I succeed on a tight budget (~1 exa) with acro?

I understand that. This EK character was the first one of mine out of many attempts that I was able to farm and level reliably with.

When it comes to cheap gearing, you can do both IR and Acro fairly cheap here. The issue is really convenience. You can run a high level Arctic Armour with Acrobatics and average gear using my tree because I take a lot of mana/regen nodes, but you'll have to use Lightning Warp to move around so you don't drain your mana, which can be annoying if you prefer to run in a lot of situations. With great gear, on the other hand, you can use that Arctic Armour + Acrobatics combo without worrying about mana drain.

Going IR pumps the AA convenience up by a lot since you don't have to deal with lowered energy shield from Acrobatics, but you don't get the benefit of Phase Acrobatics, so you need something like Rainbowstride/Rathpith + Lazhwar to take care of it, plus it takes more points on the tree to make an IR build.

http://poeurl.com/zg05gVW


So, tempada, im running this build(started yesterday, still working on it.) I'm currently lvl40ish just picked up dreamer, and either going for the mp regen past the scion es wheel or straight to ir and then continue with mp regen, it depends really on how i see fit. I plan to start getting the aura nodes by level 60 so i can run all auras with a good reduced mana gem. So, my question is, since i got a lightning coil in stash, what is your opinion on using it on top of mom? assuming good mp regen/max mana nodes so im not hurt by not having an es chest in terms of using arctic armor. The other thing im thinking about is, maybe my unreserved mana becomes too low, making MoM ineffective.i plan on using purity of lightning, so i will have to drop an aura(grace?) which could backfire leading to useless ir. have you tried something like this before? it sounds super tanky, almost broken tanky,if it ends up working as i plan. Cheers!

P.s: i spent the whole evening yesterday planning my build motivated by how ek "scales itself" without investment in tree nodes, just end up 40 levels later finding out an almost(exactly?) same build posted in this thread! i mean really, how could they be so identical? i hope i will say a "goodjob" to both of us(if i dont rip ofc)!

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trimpourdelo wrote:

So, my question is, since i got a lightning coil in stash, what is your opinion on using it on top of mom? assuming good mp regen/max mana nodes so im not hurt by not having an es chest in terms of using arctic armor. The other thing im thinking about is, maybe my unreserved mana becomes too low, making MoM ineffective.i plan on using purity of lightning, so i will have to drop an aura(grace?) which could backfire leading to useless ir. have you tried something like this before? it sounds super tanky, almost broken tanky,if it ends up working as i plan. Cheers!

Hey, glad to still see some interest in this build! I have to be up front and say that EK is a pretty unpopular skill right now because it's comparatively weak (I'm really hoping for a buff in 1.4), but an EK build can still be very tanky and allow you to take on high level maps no problem.

In my opinion, MoM is a problem. I used to use it (legacy Cloak of Defiance) and it was awesome in terms of tankiness with Life and Mana Leech (I was practically unkillable), but it ultimately gimps you because you give up a good deal of dps so clear speeds are low. I wouldn't use MoM at all with EK since EK's an already weak skill.

I've never tried Lightning Coil with MoM, but if you want to go Lightning Coil, I'd use it with Phase Acro (and the highest level of Arctic Armour you can comfortably run) instead of IR so you have greater protection from a wider range of abilities. Or you can skip IR and Acro and try something like this instead.

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P.s: i spent the whole evening yesterday planning my build motivated by how ek "scales itself" without investment in tree nodes, just end up 40 levels later finding out an almost(exactly?) same build posted in this thread! i mean really, how could they be so identical? i hope i will say a "goodjob" to both of us(if i dont rip ofc)!

Haha, thanks, and good luck with the build.

Dunno about weak, man. My EK (level 93) has 6K Life, 40/45 Dodge, AA level 24 (+26% Effect...), 46K DPS (50K if I upgrade some gear to run HoA again), and ridiculous range / clear speed.

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CantripN wrote:

Dunno about weak, man. My EK (level 93) has 6K Life, 40/45 Dodge, AA level 24 (+26% Effect...), 46K DPS (50K if I upgrade some gear to run HoA again), and ridiculous range / clear speed.

Aren't you running lvl 21 EK with lvl 4 Empower in a +1 to gems chest with no Life Leech? This isn't like Incinerate where you can get some surprising damage (and solid defenses) with more ordinary gear. Maybe I'm out of the loop, but I think most people with either of our trees (unless yours has changed) would have a hard time hitting above 27k or so tooltip dps, and that's low in the current meta for a skill that doesn't pierce, chain, shotgun, shock... It's adequate for facing endgame content, but the damage for the investment doesn't seem to match other spells (and it certainly doesn't compare to attack skills).

I still stand behind this particular build because of its defenses, I just feel like EK has fallen behind.

Well, true, I do have some silly good gear. Still, the clear speed is on par with the best AoE skills, even with no Pierce.

EK could certainly use a boost for base range, but I think it's otherwise a solid skill, and as you mention, allows for VERY solid defenses (and Reflect immunity, even without Life Leech).

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CantripN wrote:

Well, true, I do have some silly good gear. Still, the clear speed is on par with the best AoE skills, even with no Pierce.

How does it compare to Arc? It certainly doesn't compare to Incinerate, many Righteous Fire combos, some prolif builds, especially Flameblast, SRS, Lightning Tendrils is killer for leveling, some people swear by totems, and then there are AoE attack skills like Cyclone, Tornado Shot, Cleave, Static Strike... I think EK is unpopular for a reason.

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EK could certainly use a boost for base range, but I think it's otherwise a solid skill, and as you mention, allows for VERY solid defenses (and Reflect immunity, even without Life Leech).

Range! That's such a good point. Without Faster Projectiles, range is majorly gimped, even with projectile speed on a wand and Sniper + Ballistic Mastery on the tree.

I actually think EK is in a good place for the game, it's just in a weak place damage-wise in comparison to other skills and in a comparable place defense-wise to other builds, so all-in-all it is far from the most efficient option.

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Tempada wrote:

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CantripN wrote:

Well, true, I do have some silly good gear. Still, the clear speed is on par with the best AoE skills, even with no Pierce.

How does it compare to Arc? It certainly doesn't compare to Incinerate, many Righteous Fire combos, some prolif builds, especially Flameblast, SRS, Lightning Tendrils is killer for leveling, some people swear by totems, and then there are AoE attack skills like Cyclone, Tornado Shot, Cleave, Static Strike... I think EK is unpopular for a reason.

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EK could certainly use a boost for base range, but I think it's otherwise a solid skill, and as you mention, allows for VERY solid defenses (and Reflect immunity, even without Life Leech).

Range! That's such a good point. Without Faster Projectiles, range is majorly gimped, even with projectile speed on a wand and Sniper + Ballistic Mastery on the tree.

I actually think EK is in a good place for the game, it's just in a weak place damage-wise in comparison to other skills and in a comparable place defense-wise to other builds, so all-in-all it is far from the most efficient option.

If EK had like +30% MORE Range, it would be in a perfect spot, imo. With the extra DPS gem (Phys to Light) you reach the adequate DPS marker without crazy gear (I'd pass 65K, maybe 70K...).

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CantripN wrote:

If EK had like +30% MORE Range, it would be in a perfect spot, imo.

More range and some pierce chance would be great if it's ever to compete with shotgunning, chaining, piercing, and aoe builds.

It's an interesting build and I m thinking of doing it in the 1 month race, should I? :p
Can u do some videos of the build doing maps?

Thanks