[1.1.5] Whaitiri's Shocking Pulser - [no update for 1.2]

Hello, welcome to my Shocking Pulser guide!

I've originally posted this guide in shadow subforum, but since i think witch subforum is more active, the passive tree is basically the same and witch simply is my favorite class, i've decided to post an adapted version here too.

If my name is familiar to you, you may know two things: I love experimenting with new uniques, and i'm under the impression that selfcasters are the greatest thing ever. Period!

I had the general idea of a staff Shocking Pulser for a long time, but neither Avatar of Fire nor Cold to Fire in combination with Three Dragons left a satisfying result. The new Pyre ring changed this completely! With the addition of Spell Echo on top, it all blends together and the concept is finally viable.

The build combines the mechanics of Pyre and Three Dragons with a fast, critting GMP Freeze Pulse to shock enemies quickly. Eldritch Battery helps sustaining the mana cost, while Arctic Armour and a huge life pool add the defensive aspect. All this results in a powerful endgame build that, besides me using high-end gear, works well at a low price point.

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1. Passive Tree

no update for 1.2!

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2. Bandit Rewards

Help Oak
Kill All
Help Alira

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3. Equipment

The most important stats to look out for are Life, Mana and Mana Regeneration. Energy Shield is valuable too - Eldritch Battery converts all our Energy Shield to Mana! Dexterity and Strength rolls help meeting gear requirements.

Here's a little breakdown of which uniques or stats on rares i recommend in each slot:

Weapon: This build is designed around the use of staves, or more specifically Pledge of Hands. It comes with a huge spell damage bonus, increased mana and most importantly, a free Lv30 Spell Echo gem which enables us to run a 7L Freezing Pulse.
While Pledge of Hands is truly powerful, it is also costly. On the other hand, finding a solid rare caster staff isn't going to be cheap either and you will be limited to a 6L.
If you are on a budget, i'd recommend a Searing Touch - decent damage, cast speed, low requirements and all that for a couple of chaos.

Chest: Kaom's Heart is the optimum. Its massive life makes up for the missing life rolls on other uniques, while the fire damage is a huge boost to our dps.
If you can't afford a Kaom's, any chest with life and resistances will work.

Helmet: The Three Dragons. This helmet is one of the core uniques and irreplacable for this build. Together with Pyre's damage conversion it enables our Freezing Pulse to shock on crit. On top, it comes with good resistances and some energy shield.

Gloves: Maligaro's Virtuosity or Atziri's Acuity. While the former pair is clearly cheaper and comes with needed dexterity and crit multiplier, the ladder scores with life and instant leech. Use whatever you and your budget prefer.

Boots: Focus on life and resistances here. Movement speed is good to have, but not necessary as we mainly move with Leap Slam. A good strength, dexterity or mana roll can be helpful too.

Belt: Another important slot mainly for life and resistances. Try getting strength and energy shield on top. I recommend Leather or Heavy belt bases.

Rings: First ring slot is for Pyre, the second core unique of this build. Aside from solid resistance rolls, Pyre comes with a 100% Cold to Fire conversion, which in combination with The Three Dragons enables our Freezing Pulse to shock on crit.
The big affix pool of rings gives us a lot of good possible rolls for the second ring slot.
Focus on life and mana regeneration, any resistances, mana, energy shield, strength, dexterity, cast speed, cold% or fire% rolls will round it up. Try getting a Diamond base.

Amulet: Our main slot for crit mods. Crit chance and crit multiplier are mandatory, life and mana regeneration important. For the last two affixes, check the pool of desirable stats on our second ring, add spell damage to that pool and try to get any of this on your amulet.

Flasks: Get two Life Flasks, one Granite Flask against heavy physical hitters and one Ruby Flask to counter reflect. Roll Surgeons on all of them, useful suffixes are bleed removal, curse removal and shock removal. Use the last flask slot for a unique flask of your choice, or another Granite Flask.

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4. Links

6L: Freezing Pulse - GMP - Life Leech - Fire Penetration - PCoC - Inc Crit Damage
4L: Reduced Mana - Discipline - Clarity - Vitality/Purity of Elements
4L: Cast when Damage taken Lv4 - Enduring Cry Lv7 - Immortal Call Lv5 - Increased Duration
4L: Arctic Armour - Critical Weakness - Leap Slam - Faster Attacks

This setup is for Pledge of Hands + Kaom's Heart. Gems in order of importance, on a 5L drop Inc Crit Damage.

6L: Freezing Pulse - GMP - Life Leech - Spell Echo - PCoC - Fire Penetration
6L: Molten Shell - Vaal Molten Shell - Life Leech - Blind - ? - ?
4L: Reduced Mana - Discipline - Clarity - Vitality/Purity of Elements
4L: Cast when Damage taken Lv4 - Enduring Cry Lv7 - Immortal Call Lv5 - Increased Duration
4L: Arctic Armour - Critical Weakness - Leap Slam - Faster Attacks

This setup is without Pledge of Hands and Kaom's Heart. Gems in order of importance, on a 5L drop Fire Penetration.

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5. Leveling

One really cool thing about this build is that it starts working very early. You get FP after killing Hillock, Pyre has a requirement of Lv11 and Three Dragons Lv35. A Searing Touch will increase your leveling speed, and can even last you in endgame.

On the passive tree, aim for life and mana nodes first while pathing out the tree skeleton. Around Lv60 start getting crit and aura nodes, keep minor stuff like Elementalist, Shaper or Nimbleness for Lv80+.

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6. Gameplay

Start off with casting Critical Weakness on a pack to build up charges faster, then just burst through and don't bother cursing, unless you meet a high resistant pack or a high life rare/boss.

Always be ready to flask, when you see heavy physical hits incoming, use your Granite Flask, when you see a reflect pack use your Ruby Flask. Move mainly with Leap Slam, this way you won't suffer from Arctic Armour's additional mana drain while moving. If your Arctic Armour should run out for some reason though, remember yourself to get more mana regeneration on gear/tree and recast it.

As for maps, you can run basically anything besides Half/No Regen maps. Be a bit cautious on reflect maps, and take atleast two Ruby Flasks with you. On Blood Magic maps, don't activate Discipline and Clarity.

I can't say much about Atziri viability yet, but i want to mention that this build was not planned for this fight in the first place and will most likely not work well there.

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7. My Gear




Example of Budget Version

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8. Screenshots

Offense @Lv82

Defense @Lv82


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9. Videos

Lv82 @ Shipyard
http://youtu.be/qv4blWzAVVo

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Thanks for reading my guide, hope you enjoyed it! Don't hesitate to comment if you have questions, suggestions or anything else to get off your chest!
twitch.tv/enkivt
Last edited by Enki91#7725 on Sep 14, 2014, 1:52:58 PM
Why you posted the same in shadow section ?
"
FruitLeader wrote:
Why you posted the same in shadow section ?

It's explained at the top of my post. I started and fleshed out the whole build for Shadow, but since Witch basically can pull off the same tree and Witch subforum is more lively, i've decided to share a copy of it here aswell.
twitch.tv/enkivt
not to be a downer, but it seems like a big investment just to get FP to shock, a ring you use for a single stat and a helm also for a single stat, why not use Added lightning gem and shock passives?
Mark_GGG 2012
If you put on your full plate mail, and I throw hundreds of toothpicks at you, you'll basically not feel it.

If someone catapults a whole tree at you, don't expect the Armour to prevent as much of the damage.
"
Auxion wrote:
not to be a downer, but it seems like a big investment just to get FP to shock, a ring you use for a single stat and a helm also for a single stat, why not use Added lightning gem and shock passives?

The damage of ALD is too small to make it past the shock threshold in endgame content.
Personally i find the idea of pyre + three dragons quiet appealing as it gets freezing pulse out of the low-damage-corner.
Last edited by Bada_Bing#4191 on Jul 15, 2014, 3:34:36 AM
In addition to what Bada_Bing said, ALD comes with a few more disadvantages.

First one being a high mana multiplier. If i switch out PCoC with ALD, the 7L setup bumps from 139 to 178 mana per cast. This would require even more investment into mana/mana regen, and i'd have to generate charges with a secondary skill. This secondary skill would require atleast 2 sockets, so i'd either had to drop Leap Slam or couldn't use Kaom's.

Sure, i could also switch out Life Leech and use a Berek's Grip, but i wanted the build to be accessible for all leagues, and that for a fairly low entry-level price. The current 1-month and coming 4-month leagues won't have access to Berek's Grip besides race rewards, which on the other hand are limited and won't be cheap, or in other words not accessible for most of the playerbase.

I also wouldn't necessarily say Pyre and Three Dragons are wasting slots only for a "single stat". Both come with a huge resistance bonus. Really the only thing they don't have is life, which can be negated with a Kaom's once your budget allows to.

I'm currently leveling the char a bit more, then i'll work on some videos.
twitch.tv/enkivt
"
Enki91 wrote:
In addition to what Bada_Bing said, ALD comes with a few more disadvantages.

First one being a high mana multiplier. If i switch out PCoC with ALD, the 7L setup bumps from 139 to 178 mana per cast. This would require even more investment into mana/mana regen, and i'd have to generate charges with a secondary skill. This secondary skill would require atleast 2 sockets, so i'd either had to drop Leap Slam or couldn't use Kaom's.

Sure, i could also switch out Life Leech and use a Berek's Grip, but i wanted the build to be accessible for all leagues, and that for a fairly low entry-level price. The current 1-month and coming 4-month leagues won't have access to Berek's Grip besides race rewards, which on the other hand are limited and won't be cheap, or in other words not accessible for most of the playerbase.

I also wouldn't necessarily say Pyre and Three Dragons are wasting slots only for a "single stat". Both come with a huge resistance bonus. Really the only thing they don't have is life, which can be negated with a Kaom's once your budget allows to.

I'm currently leveling the char a bit more, then i'll work on some videos.


Fair enough, all good points.
Btw i'm following your CI incinerate build, also my fav spell in game, can't wait to pickup IR hope that helps with the stun a bit, but good fun ty :)
Mark_GGG 2012
If you put on your full plate mail, and I throw hundreds of toothpicks at you, you'll basically not feel it.

If someone catapults a whole tree at you, don't expect the Armour to prevent as much of the damage.
Looks funny yet a bit costly.
Could you add some screenshots of the offensive / defensive tabs ?
To learn is to live...
Added screens of current stats, an example gear set of the budget version and finally, a video. Sorry for all the lag, my laptop can't handle PoE + recording that well.
twitch.tv/enkivt

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