[INV #1 SHADOW] EXALTON'S BLOODSEEKER GUIDE

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avp_ wrote:

Can you explain a bit how we should pick our offhand if we can't afford a soul taker? Should we take a claw with the claw passives or any 1h will do?Thanks

If you don't use Soultaker you will use a claw instead, like explained in the video. There's no way that another weapon could beat the 15-18% LL that you get from claw (3-6 implicit)(12 nodes).

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T_Vyp3r wrote:

Hey there,

I have one question about the auras. You only need 20% reserved mana with hatred or grace. Well, when you have a lvl 20 red. mana gem and all the reduced mana reservation notes, that save you another 46% my calculation says, the mana reservation for hatred should be 23%.
Maybe you can help me, what I miss?!

Calculation:
60% for hatred x 0.71 red. mana = 42.6 ~ 42 (as you round down).
Then 42 x 0.54 = 22.68 ~ 23 (as you here round up). To explain the 0.54, its just 1-0.46 from the notes. You don't multipli with 0.46 (!)

So something is missing and you don't use the Alpha's Howl to cast hatred.

The mana reduction on Alpha's howl is global.

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Hpsychen wrote:

Snip~
In sum the efficiency of the build comes from the gear, just a shame that MF isn't optimal =).
Thank you Exalton.

Actually, much of the defense is coming from the passive tree. I am lvl85 and got 5500ES with lvl21 Discipline in Alpha's Howl(5118 with a lvl17 Discipline) and I still have 16% effect to auras to pick up in the tree which will boost my ES a little more. Edit: Almost all of my armour(currently 15798, or 60%) comes from Grace and Alpha's Howl(increased with passive aura/AR/EVA nodes). My chest adds 1% physical damage reduction for me, lol.

Without my chest piece(which is pretty damn bad) I have 4000ES. So yea, gear matters, but you can get pretty descent defenses just through auras and the passive tree to start mapping.

Also, the gems and link# matters a lot when it comes to your damage indeed. I have 17,150DPS with 5L and 23,500DPS with 6L(Tabula rasa :P). Quality on all damage support gems also makes a noticeable difference.

I got my Soul Taker today(FINALLY! :3) but before that I was using:

Bloodseeker in main-hand and one of those in off-hand, together with the Mind Drinker passive for mana leech. It wasn't optimal, I would suggest getting 1-2% extra mana leech from gear/off-hand if you can't afford Soul Taker or a 300+DPS weapon. I had to use a lvl 5 Dual strike gem with my 300DPS axe, so if u wanna run lvl20 gem you will need either a much better weapon or more mana leech with a bigger mana pool.

I never had any luck finding a good Claw so I can't speak for the claw leech/dps passives, but Exalton mentioned in the build video that it is a good choice. Edit: Forgot to mention that I had high life leech from amulet/rings pretty early on. If you have a tight budget, going with double claw and claw passives is probably a much better choice.

So my conclusion would be this: to start farming maps, if you don't have a lot of currency to spend, level your character to collect as much ES/EVA/AR nodes and aura nodes as you can to get a solid foundation for your future gear as you start affording/collecting better. This makes every gear upgrade much more noticeable, especially when it comes to defense. Get quality damage support gems ASAP after you're comfortable with your ES/AR numbers to start boosting your DPS. The aura passives also help your Hatred aura, which means more damage! :)

Hope that helped someone.

To Exalton: thanks for the build! This is the first time I play melee late-game and I found your build video extremely helpful.

Cheers!

Edit: Oh, and remember what he said in his video, you want life leech and #-# physical damage on your amulet/rings as well as resistances where you can get it. This really helps your offense and defense a lot. Especially before you reach the resistance nodes and aura nodes to be able to run 2-3 resistance auras.

How much ES and dps do you need before you can do maps using this build? Currently lvl 66.

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LadyLoriana wrote:

How much ES and dps do you need before you can do maps using this build? Currently lvl 66.

Like 4000 ES and 3k dps for low maps. :)

Note: I don't recommend using Alpha's until level 90+

First time for me doing a melee build in this game and I am using this one. It's extremely fun; more interesting than spamming spectral throw :). I don't have the greatest gear (12k DPS with a 5L and 5.1k ES);~5-6 exalts worth of stuff.

My gear


Gems are still only level 17/18 and I'm still using an eye of chayula as I need a few more levels to get unwavering stance (level 76)

It's a great build to progress with because each and every skill point is so valuable. Looking forward to getting the last reduced mana node and getting my reduced mana gems to level 20 so I can use a purity aura for end game map boss fights (I can run a purity now but lack mana to use double strike; I don't have a soul taker), among other nodes I want to get.

Thanks for coming up with the build, Exalton.

I just read the patch notes and they're buffing dual wielding! Does this mean other skills are viable since they're also nerfing dual strike slightly? I guess ggg is trying to tell me to finally make this build xD I think this really deserves to be featured in build of the week!

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agentvenom1 wrote:

I just read the patch notes and they're buffing dual wielding! Does this mean other skills are viable since they're also nerfing dual strike slightly? I guess ggg is trying to tell me to finally make this build xD I think this really deserves to be featured in build of the week!

No, the reason dual strike is mandatory for this build is that it's the only skill that gives both your weapons instant leech when Bloodseeker is in your mainhand.

The DPS buff is very noticeable btw :0

Cheers

Updated OP with the new increased damage.

Damage increase with dual strike is equal to 8% more damage.

New DPS = 29700
New Haste DPS = 35640

Hey bro! is it possible to DO dagger and Bloodseeker??