Call of Zeus - Spectral Throw/CoC/Storm Call - The True Storm Herald Build - Videos Included

Call of Zeus - Spectral Throw, Cast on Crit, Storm Call, Herald of Lightning Build

I always really liked Storm Call, but overall it felt really clunky and the style of play wasn't to my liking. So I thought about combining it with Cast on Crit. So naturally I set off to find if someone else had made a build of this already. The closest I could find to what I wanted to do came from when I found Mark Huff's ST/CoC/SC build. So I have to credit the original idea to him.

However this is my take on his original build which I believe I have improved on. This build is good for solo and for party play. I know what you're thinking if you've read this far, "a CoC build, no way is that good for a party, it kills people's fps". That's true, however storm call is like EK in that neither spells destroy fps the way that artic breath, freeze pulse, and fire ball do. After the Forsaken Masters patch the build overall took a hit in dps due to the nerd to shock stacks. With the new herald of lightning skill introduced I decided to come back and update the build.

Videos


WARNING, this is not a build for beginners

General Build Description




This build has two versions two it. There is a solo play version and a party play version.



Party Play Version


Solo Play Version


Witch Start


Ranger Start


My Current Gear:



Thanks so much for reading! If you have any other questions that I didn't address let me know and I'll try to answer them as well as I can.

This build looks nice. Do you think it is viable on Invasion?

Also, would you care to elaborate how exactly did you improve the original build?

Yea I think its viable, there are certainly some spots you could pick up more health. Id aim for a lightning coil for sure, and probably use a bloodseeker for extra mitigation. I mean you definitely have to be careful of reflect at times and lightning thorns.

Well Mark's original build didn't make use of the MoM/EB/AA combo, didn't utilize as many auras, didn't use a shield, and used blood magic. I should have some videos of my build soon, I just haven't had a chance to sit down and play the last week. Also this version pumps out way more damage than his. So seeing as how his didn't aim for a lot of these defensive mechanics and he still made it through nemesis, Id say mine work for invasion.

any progress with your build?
it looks kinda nice and thanx to block/mom/eb/aa i think in some cases can be HC viable but i wanna know how it roll on endgame.

Interesting build, I'm building one up atm (currently lvl 60), running an Ungil's and a Cybil's Paw (dual wield, so I'm substituting some shield nodes for dual wield nodes).

I've found that arc does way more damage than storm call, as well as being faster (don't have to wait for it to hit), is there any particular reason you've chosen storm call over arc?

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MetaSynapse wrote:

Interesting build, I'm building one up atm (currently lvl 60), running an Ungil's and a Cybil's Paw (dual wield, so I'm substituting some shield nodes for dual wield nodes).

I've found that arc does way more damage than storm call, as well as being faster (don't have to wait for it to hit), is there any particular reason you've chosen storm call over arc?

I've been playing a build similar to this, up to merciless ledge, when i could switch from my leveling setup to CoC-SC consistently. I noticed that SC is definitely subpar as a CoC spell, because of the overkill factor.

Even if it's very fun to see a cascade of lightning (i must admit), a simple Arc performs way better because the damage is applied instantly. SC instead stacks all the damage for a single burst which, in almost every case, is simply overkill, making you waste DPS/time. Also, delaying the life leech from SC can put you in some sketchy situations.

And this is from me playing it in act 1 where mobs generally aren't fast enough to escape the stormcalls...

My conclusion is that SC, although fun to use, is unsuitable in a CoC setup (and honestly for as much as i've tried to make it work, i find it unsuitable in every setup when compared to other spells) simply because of the intrinsic DPS loss caused by its delay mechanic.

I couldn't try it with reduced duration, which would surely mitigate the problems, but is it worth it to spend a sixth socket just to make something viable, when you could use it to add anything that would be really useful?

Bye

@pocieraka - yea man, the build is updated. I actually changed a lot from the last time I wrote this guide and it has much better survivability. I have some videos I recorded too, just need to upload them onto YouTube. Even my normal ambush set up could take hardcore, but you'd definitely need to pay more attention. But I also have a HC specific build that uses lightning coil among other uniques. It can do most bosses, most map mods, and all level maps 66-78.


@Metasynapse - yea arc is really good, no doubt about that. I chose storm call instead of arc more for a couple reasons. The first being that it was the basis of a build I had wanted to do long ago but hadn't finished and at that time it was much better than arc. The second being that I just like storm call better, I find it more visually appealing than arc and I like the way the spell handles better than arc. What I mean by that is with arc and a lot of other CoC spell set ups its more like a shot gun blast in front of you. Arc chains and all that, but with storm call you can tag every single mob in a pack at a time. Just covers more ground. Also I just find the gameplay to be more engaging than arc. So mainly I choose it for selfish reasons :)


@ThePlash - I totally agree with you, Storm Call is a subpar spell to Arc and generally as a CoC build due to that delay and overkill factor. That was always the biggest problem for me, I really liked storm call when GGG first announced it, but it just felt so clunky. Then even with it in a CoC set up its still very clunky because of the delay. Which isn't that long in reality, but during gameplay it feels almost excruciatingly long. So I'm totally with ya there. But to answer your question, yes, reduced duration is completely worth the 6L and is the best 6th gem to use. It gets rid of a lot of the delay with storm call and for the most part negates the intrinsic dps loss from the delay and burst. Instead of being a shotgun burst of damage from the delay, it becomes more a machine gun of strikes. The effective dos gain from Reduced Duration is better than any other gem you could use. The only monsters that can out run the storm call marker when you used reduced duration are Avian Retches (the corpse spitters) and the super fast puncture snakes. Ill upload a video of me using conc effect and another of me using reduced duration and you'll see what I mean. Even still, Arc is still the superior skill and better dps can be attained, but hey maybe storm call will get a buff one of these days.


***Also just want to discuss a couple changes I made from the last time I updated this build. I switched from grace to haste and started to use enfeeble as my main curse. Haste really changed the overall feel of the build. It made my dps and my survivability many times better because I was able to throw my ST much more quickly and thus crit and leech more effectively.

I also switched my tree up and went down to the duelist area to grab the block and life regen nodes from there. One of the biggest set backs of my build was corrupted blood mods. With another regen node the build can better mitigate corrupting blood damage.

I switched my single target from EK to Flame surge in order to do more damage due to the synergy that is gets from the fire damage of my dagger. However I get a new dagger that does not have fire damage I would go back to EK.

Updated with a game play video and explanation. I have another video of me doing a temp chains 75 bazaar map on the way.

Updated with a couple more videos

updated