Dominion's Hardcore Dual-Spark CI Witch - UPDATED for 1.0.1

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william2433 wrote:

How gear dependant is this build? im lvl 43 right now.

I only have around 1exalt 3-4gcp~ equivelant to put into this char.

Thanks

probably the least dependent on items actually, except for the chaos inoculation part

by the way thx for answering the question dominion, now another one, how important is quality spark?

i'm thinking it's pretty good against ranged monsters that kill your totems really fast, but not sure.. with freezing pulse it's essential, but spark?

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Zaffax wrote:

• You grab elementalist and body and soul in the Templar tree as opposed to going into the far superior Shadow tree (and grabbing the additional ES cooldown).

ES cooldown isn't as important on this build as it is on most CI builds because you have an easier ability to walk away from the fight. Especially if you're using cold instead of lightning.

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Zaffax wrote:

• You grab spend 3 points to grab elemental adaption instead of the 1 point for elemental resistance (2 points for both).

It has been mentioned but elemental adaptation raises your maximum resist level, as in it raises your resist cap, and is possibly the single best passive talent available.

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Zaffax wrote:

• You spent a ton of points to grab whispers of doom.

Additional curses are awesome in groups, they add a lot to a dual totem caster, but I guess it's mainly personal preference.

I don't see why your build wouldn't work though. It'll deal less damage since you won't be shock stacking and you'll lose a curse, but the additional ES + ES recover speed and the fact that you're using cold will give you more survivability. I'd personally trade some of the pure ES recovery talents for more damage and crit, and I'd probably spend two points to get the extra trap passive since you pass right by it in the shadow tree.

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Zaffax wrote:

Maybe I'm missing something here, but some of the passive decisions you made make little sense to me.

Your Suggested tree

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAP0BbwLjB6UMfRB_EVAUsBZAF1AaMh0UHdkn7SlPLJwspyy_LR80CjlSOjA62DvhPI5DVENjSbJMLU3YTm1PfU-_UWBXK1fJWAdY9VnzWitfKmaeZ71r220ZcH1xTXNTdFV2EXzOfll-r3_GgFaBb4IQgh6Cm4RIhX2IQot6jHaNGY9Gms-boZ3Enjyj8qcIpyuplayYrKq3MbiTu9a8N8AawFTBtMHFwfPDbcae0NDa3d2M37DgEuL35Ozmgevk6-7sGOw47m_z3ffX-tI=

My Suggested tree (Note: Ice instead of Lightning for reason of preference and nothing else)

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAW8C4wdjB6UMfQ5IEH8RLxFQEZYXVBoyHNwdFB3ZHwIigSycLKYspzQKNsU3ZjeDO-E8jkNUQ2NJskw1T31Pv1FgVkpXK1fJWPVZ81orZp5tGXFNc1N1ini6f8aAVoIQhEiFxYhCiGuLeo48j0aTJ5UEmZqaz53EnqGfe6Kjo_Km66cIpyupla-btve3MbiTu9bAGsBUwcXB88Ntxp7UBdgk2t3esN-w4vfjguOE5nzmgecL6rrrY-vu7BjyHfrS

On your tree:

• You miss the 3x 30% ES increase with shield under elemental equilibrium.

The 30% ES from shield nodes are definitely not worth it. A 30% ES from shield node with his equipped gear is worth 63.76% as much as a 8% ES node. For that 4 point investment, you're getting the same benefit as 1.91 8% ES nodes in his gear. That comes out to .48 of an 8% ES node per point invested, with a bonus 2% shield block.

By comparison, if you went for the 2nd nullification point by taking the path through the power charge near the shadow starting area, you would get .625 of an 8% ES node per point invested, with a bonus of 50% evasion, 10% ES cooldown recovery, 10% resist all, 20 dex (maybe be able to drop the 30 dex node depending on gear), an additional power charge, and 15% power charge duration.

The Body and Soul node near the templar starting area is .61 of an 8% ES node per point invested with a bonus of a power charge, 15% power charge duration, 10 int, 20 str, 44% armor, and 10% resist all.

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Zaffax wrote:

• You grab elementalist and body and soul in the Templar tree as opposed to going into the far superior Shadow tree (and grabbing the additional ES cooldown).

Agreed. I believe going to the shadow tree is a superior build. It's very similar though.

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Zaffax wrote:

• You grab spend 3 points to grab elemental adaption instead of the 1 point for elemental resistance (2 points for both).

Elemental adaptation is one of the best skill nodes in the game. You're insane if you think resist is superior to max resist.

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Zaffax wrote:

• You spent a ton of points to grab whispers of doom.

It's a significant investment, but 2 curses is extremely strong. The point investment for 2 curses can be used both offensively and defensively, which is versatility not offered by investing in passive damage or ES nodes. You can use a 2nd offensive curse to increase clear speed in easier areas, and a 2nd defensive curse when things get rough. You can even switch to two offensive curses when things are really easy. Passive offense/defense is static, so either you'll be clearing slower when things are easy with more defensive passives, or you'll be at more risk when things are hard with more offensive passives.

It's up to you if want to make the investment for whispers, and it really comes down to preference/playstyle. Keep in mind that you need some investment to get to the left side of the skill tree anyway, so be sure you're subtracting the cost of getting over there with another route. I also think that Static Blows is definitely worth it with this build, and it's close to whispers, so the investment to get both + head to the left side is shared a little.

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Zaffax wrote:

• You didn't pick up doom cast (not sure if it applies to totems.)

Doom cast is good, but I believe he has addressed this elsewhere and he intends to take it eventually.

I recommend something like this if you go into the shadow starting area:


Some supplementary investments could be:

• The 3x 3% cast speed, 9% and 10% spell damage nodes at the shadow starting area.
• Nimbleness cast speed nodes near CI.
• The 25% crit node near the witch start.
• Throatseeker crit damage multiplier nodes.
• 15% buff and debuff duration nodes near Ancestral Bond/Elemental Adaptation if you rely heavily on cold/freeze.

The investment in the Nullification nodes in the shadow area offset the loss of the 15% shield resist nodes on the left side of the tree (you have 10% less resist all with this build). You do lose the shield block% and 12% of block applied to spells. You could still make adjustments to the build to pick up these shield nodes if you want them, or if you want to go for insanely high passive resistance. Also keep in mind that the spell block% node isn't 12% chance to block spells, but 12% of your block chance, which should be around 30%. So 3.5-4% chance to block a spell for that point, which mitigates damage multiplicatively with your elemental resistances (and is more RNG).

The 2 extra points for Freeze in the shadow starting area could be good if you alter the build and use freeze pulse or another cold spell (and then you have your choice of using 6% cold or 6% lightning to get to Mental Acuity).

You could also drop some of the damage-related skill nodes in the shadow starting area to go for the 5x 8% ES nodes in the center of the tree below the witch starting area. This route is worth .71 of an 8% ES node per point invested and grants access to the 2 20% mana regen nodes, but grants no additional bonuses other than +20 int. Just depends how you want to balance your offensive/defensive investment.

How you clean bleeding with CI?

I love this build, my first Witch died because I learned a lesson the hard way in Cruel Chamber of Sins. But I'm now level 61 and playing much more carefully, I am about to spec into CI, I'm sitting at about 2.8k ES.

Here's my question: You stated earlier that you don't have to resummon zombies often, but I am finding that I have to resummon them constantly. So often that they need their own spot on my bars. I'm having a difficult time with bar space with this build, I'm currently only using a single curse because I have yet to find an Elemental Weakness but I have to constantly swap a button between Raise Spectre and Raise Zombie, something that is very time consuming and, for lack of a better word, annoying.

Is keeping minions alive at my level something that is more difficult? Will my minions become more durable later on? I dread the day I get Elemental Weakness because I honestly don't know where I can put 2 curses on my bars right now, I'd probably end up dropping a bear trap in favor of it.

Any suggestions?

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Fireknight wrote:

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Malefica wrote:

I know arc totems are fairly popular in the PvP scene currently. Why is Arc/Totem not commonly used for PvE? A Faster Cast - Chain - Dual Arc totems seems viable to me, what am I overlooking?

Here's my analysis of arc vs spark.

Arc totems are great in PvP for 2 primary reasons: They do instantaneous damage, and they do unavoidable damage. These traits are far less useful in PvE.

Arc and chain: Assume arc his for 100 average damage. Arc naturally hits 3 targets. That amounts to 300 damage in this example. If you add chain to arc, you incur a 50% damage penalty but hit 2 more targets. This means you will hit 50 average damage on 5 targets, that only amounts to 250 damage. Couple in the heavily increased mana cost, the loss of one of your links on arc, and the fact that you now only do half the dps to single targets and the decision becomes obvious.

Spark, on the other hand is extremely effective at damaging packs, and can also be placed on top of single targets to shotgun.

Yup. i made the same build with shadow with focus on cast speed, as you say spark is good for pve also crit more, but in bosses i preffer arc,

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omgitskae wrote:

I love this build, my first Witch died because I learned a lesson the hard way in Cruel Chamber of Sins. But I'm now level 61 and playing much more carefully, I am about to spec into CI, I'm sitting at about 2.8k ES.

Here's my question: You stated earlier that you don't have to resummon zombies often, but I am finding that I have to resummon them constantly. So often that they need their own spot on my bars. I'm having a difficult time with bar space with this build, I'm currently only using a single curse because I have yet to find an Elemental Weakness but I have to constantly swap a button between Raise Spectre and Raise Zombie, something that is very time consuming and, for lack of a better word, annoying.

Is keeping minions alive at my level something that is more difficult? Will my minions become more durable later on? I dread the day I get Elemental Weakness because I honestly don't know where I can put 2 curses on my bars right now, I'd probably end up dropping a bear trap in favor of it.

Any suggestions?

Minions don't become a worthy investment until after lvl 45-50. Before that I would use them on rare mobs / bosses only. Same for skeletons.

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glh5 wrote:

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omgitskae wrote:

I love this build, my first Witch died because I learned a lesson the hard way in Cruel Chamber of Sins. But I'm now level 61 and playing much more carefully, I am about to spec into CI, I'm sitting at about 2.8k ES.

Here's my question: You stated earlier that you don't have to resummon zombies often, but I am finding that I have to resummon them constantly. So often that they need their own spot on my bars. I'm having a difficult time with bar space with this build, I'm currently only using a single curse because I have yet to find an Elemental Weakness but I have to constantly swap a button between Raise Spectre and Raise Zombie, something that is very time consuming and, for lack of a better word, annoying.

Is keeping minions alive at my level something that is more difficult? Will my minions become more durable later on? I dread the day I get Elemental Weakness because I honestly don't know where I can put 2 curses on my bars right now, I'd probably end up dropping a bear trap in favor of it.

Any suggestions?

Minions don't become a worthy investment until after lvl 45-50. Before that I would use them on rare mobs / bosses only. Same for skeletons.

I'm 61, and having this problem. Even in areas I am overleveled for I have the same problem with them constantly dying. >.< Using level 13 gems, minion speed + life supports.

@gooter100 - No base armor. 16k armor with a granite.

@VernoInferno - I'll look into posting a video later this week since I've had so many requests.

@XZLayeD - Even hitting GMP point blank won't do appreciably more damage with ice spear. Couple in the shock stacks from spark and it's not even close. I have no issue shock stacking the vast majority of mobs.

@Zaffax - I've tried the 30% ES shield nodes - they give me less than 8% ES nodes.
- ES cooldown is not as significant with a totem build -Repetitive damage does not occur.
- Elemental adaptation amounts to a 25% raw damage reduction from elemental attacks.
- Whisper of Doom is a fantastic skill on this build. You do not travel out of your way to get to the top of the tree, and it's only a 5 point investment to get permanent curses as well as an additional curse. Since totems are doing the majority of the work, double cursing is a great investment
- Doom cast does apply to totems, but crit chance does not scale well with this build until crit multiplier is added as well. When I have the ES to support a large change, I will switch to crit. Until that is possible the point isn't worth it.


@William2433 - It isn't expensive to get started, but it scales extremely well as the gear becomes better.

@1235 - Quality spark is pretty important. I always try to get a 10+ quality spark to begin leveling before merciless fellshrine so I can phase it in before maps.

@Hopkins - Fantastic insight, I'll give you my thoughts. The ES nodes in the shadow tree may be marginally more ES per point, but I utilize the armor% for my granite flasks, whereas I have no benefit to the evasion and minimal benefit from cooldown reduction.

@Fartuna25 - If you mean puncture, it's one of the more difficult issues to confront. Because base armor is 0, puncture hits extremely hard if you're hit before you can granite. I take the extra damage at the beginning to pull back and drop totems between me and the mobs if I'm punctured.

@omgitskae - Good call, I forgot to clarify that. I don't switch to using zombies until late, perhaps level 70. The spectre is mainly a curiousity, I could easily go without it.

@danielm1978 - But spark still outdamages single targets as long as the totem is placed on top of the single target (usually a trivial task against bosses)