[1.2.3] Sid's Ball Lightning - EB/Crit /2 Curse on hit/ 4 Auras with Herald of Ice
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Hi
Note: this is a shadow tree, but it is just because i had only shadow to salvage. Witch build starts with Spell Damage nodes and then is identical to this build. Spell nodes are better than elemental when one uses Added Chaos gem that is a spell but not an element. This is my second attempt at Ball Lightning build. Build is designed and created in standard league but in current 3m leagues there is nothing that invalidates it so it is league-agnostic. I consider this build 'cheap' compared to some other BL builds floating around here. It uses some uniques but in fact nothing is REALLY necessary. POE changes between 1.1.5 -> 1.2 that heavily impacted me: Curse Changes. Crit weakness providing power charges mainly. This change invalidates PCoC and allows usage of Power Charges without Volls/PCoC/other stuff. Assasins Mark is now a mandatory curse for any crit build. Life/Mana on kill isnt bad. Dual Curse It is cheap now. Get it. 3 passives for second curse? A STEAL. New Tree. Dexterity and Strenght is more difficult to get by cheaply. Be prepared to 'waste' some points on it. Crit nodes are streamlined so they are cheaper to get. What got worse is the 'travel cost'. Witch area is costly to cross, no matter what path is chosen. New decision point: take/not take the 'lightning cluster'. For now i decided against it. Mana changes. I cannot replicate math but ofc mana costs went down but somehow my mana base grew from 3300 to 4200.. and i havent changed gear. If respecing into this build - do it very carefully as the mana values/thresholds you are used to - changed. Btw i can perfectly well run this build WITHOUT clarity now.. " There are many ways of scaling BL but the wisest choice is to use all of these if possible starting from these with highest returns. BL can be scaled with: - zap damage (includes crit and penetration + added damage) - number of zaps per mob - number of mobs zapped per ball - number of balls per time unit for a total clear speed one should scale BL with 2) 3) 1) and finally 4). In this order. Most people start with 4) and then complain that this skill sucks. " Lvl86 Discussion: I decided to go auras. Discipline, Purity of Lightning, Clarity are pretty much a given. I decided to add Herald of Ice (strongly and I mean STRONGLY buffed in 1.2.3). It works great with Glacial Hammer ofc, but it also works nicely with crit spells. Going 4 auras required investment into aura nodes. I did not want to go echo/faster casting/cast speed first and decided to avoid most cast speed nodes. These are up to anybody discretion but from my experience this is the least effective way of increasing damage output (not paper dps - this cast speed increases phenomenally). Rest is pretty much standard stuff - 3600 life, 4200 mana. Standard life nodes and damage nodes. Atziri flask is MANDATORY for reflect maps. Flask nodes make Atziri' Flask really really godsend for reflect/tough situations. "
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Catalyst currently is empty and i have no idea what to put there.. Two jewelry pieces wait for Catarina or Elron to craft something nice on them Gear is not great and the most important part is the Belt with Lightning Leech. " Ball lightning: Knockback (q) AOE (q) Lightning Penetration Added Lightning (q) [Faster Casting] / [Added Chaos] (Added Chaos is worse than Lightning due to little 'spell damage' scaling available) [[Echo]] (for the lucky 6L Pledge of hands owners Vaal Storm Call: Echo Arc Totem:(optional) Spell Totem Faster Casting Added Lightning (q) / Lightning Penetration (depends on chance to shock from the tree) Elemental Proliferation from Catalyst Auras: Purity of Lightning + Discipline + Herald of Ice + Reduced mana (in Goefrey's Crest for +1 bonus) Clarity (no reduced mana! - i have no links for it and frankly it is not needed) Curses: Curse on Hit Ball Lightning Conductivity Assassin Mark (Warlords Mark for TOUGH maps) Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 1) Conductivity Enduring Cry Immortal Call Arctic Armor " For people that do not like to manually cast curses (due to tedium or simply mana cost) there is an option of Curse on Hit now. We will ignore 'increased effectiveness of curses' bonuse from the gem and treat it only as a convenience method. Still - bonus is there. There are two options available for this build: Ball lightning + CoH + curses Pros: works perfectly with ball lightning, can pre-shock enemies if you crit Cons: small coverage without huge aoe investment, ball takes some time to reach the target Ice nova (quality!!) + CoH + curses Pros: freezes are very nice, survivability increase Cons: more suited for close range engagements. BL plus knockback produces little of such. Close quarters application method means a bit more risk involved Currently i run CoH setup and there is high chance it is the final setup I'll use. Its main selling point is that it means there are ALWAYS both curses applied for one click. " This char is extremely safe. Combination of Knockback and BL makes one almost untouchable to melee - including bosses. Bosses like Oak or Vagan Master are slapped around and do not pose any threat. Depending on mobs - curse with Assassin Mark only or both curses, spam FEW balls (up to lvl 72 mobs need 1-2 balls MAXIMUM) and move on. Clear speed initially is a linear function of player casting too many balls at dead targets. This is difficult habbit/vice to cure. Desync. This is medium-class desync build. Be prepared to /oos when fighting a tough mob, esp one with 'proximity shield'. These are the most annoying mobs. Corrupting blood. 'removes bleeding' flask is MANDATORY. " lvl70 map with irrelevant mods (was testing something not-build related) Herald of Ice in action. http://youtu.be/Oy6VMauUJG8 and another take with newer gear etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DAEY4VQ1sw " I wanted to revive this build for 1.2 with Pledge but decided to first try it with 'old' setup and then move to much more difficult staff build. Original post, only for archive purposes.
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" Hi This is another take at the new gem - Ball Lightning This spell is very different compared to all (maybe except Firestorm) spells released up to date. It deals damage over time but in ticks and these ticks happen in a moving area. This knowledge is the key to successfully scaling it. " " " " " " " " Have fun and enjoy this gem. It is really very very fun to play with. But beware of it scaling and behaving very different to all (almost) previous spell gems. Old tricks wont work. Last edited by sidtherat#1310 on Sep 30, 2014, 3:04:10 PM
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It's really too bad that chain and multiple projectiles don't really do anything for this spell. If chain made each of the shocks that came off the lightning ball bounce around, this might be the most fun spell ever.
"Can't talk now, bro, I'm three-totemin'!"
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Nice guide !
I'm using a templar with Slow Proj instead of Knockback, at least for now until I can change my sockets, and a combinaison of uniques that allows me to double curse with Temporal Chains and Conductivity. Got a ton of mana that allows me to run with the three auras, and Arctic Armor for a bit of extra phys and fire res. I don't use Lightning Pen for now, just arrived Act III Merciless and it is still not needed, my clearing speed is great, and I don't had any trouble with bosses so far. Maybe Cage/Brutus is a bit long to kill, but the Arc Totem is helping a lot. I can't wait to get some quality on my gems man, only got 5% on added lightning damage. I should go for quality Conductivity but it's already level 16, maybe I can wait for level 20. Also, instead of Vaal Storm Call I'm using Vaal Arc and Vaal Ice Nova combined with Life Leech for added freeze and shock. It's really fun, level 66 and going up :) My tree is pretty similar to yours, that quite reassuring ^^ Thanks for all the tips, and good luck, we'll see how it works endgame ! https://www.youtube.com/user/PeipeMasta
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OP, no offense but while i think you have a good idea of what to support ball lightning with, you also are completely missing an opportunity: spell echo. It has been confirmed that when you use spell echo the 2nd ball lightning casted is treated as though it was casted from a 2nd person. That is to say that ball can hit the same target as the first ball in between that 200ms timer. If you really think about it, with increased AoE and slower projectile this almost doubles your damage because you have 2 balls hitting the target 8-10 times each at the same time rather than just one.
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" tried it few times. im saving to get Pledge of Hands. in current setup replacing lightning pen makes fighting rare mobs PITA, replacing added lightning also cuts down 'real' effectiveness and finally - i absolutely hate that immobility period spell echo forces on me. but - i shall try it again anyway, have leveled spell echo somewhere slower projectiles has another issue - dex requirements. im really 2 points above my dex requirements and without great pieces with dex on it there is little hope for more. witch area has notoriously bad dex supply Last edited by sidtherat#1310 on Jul 15, 2014, 2:18:09 PM
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tried spell echo - replacing added lightning (non quality). replacing lightning pen is out of the question. just dont.
and clear speed is.. exactly the same. tried it on a low lvl map and a mid lvl map and i cannot see the difference what goes for echo: - easier shock stacks (but shorter) - a bit better single target performance - better knockback interaction. way better what goes against it: - immobility (it gets on my nerves as i already play this char 'cast/run/cast/run/lightning warp/cast' etc. this is the main reason i find this build SO FUN to play - overkill. that second ball for most white mobs is completely wasted and one CANNOT aim it. it goes the same way as the first one i shall stick to my setup for now but shall periodically check echo while doing tough maps (+75% resist/no curse..). this is definitely a 6th link tho. little update: there are only few sources of damage that are dangerous while playing with Knockback: - porcupine mobs (These that send spikes on death) - flicker strike mobs (esp black widow class of bosses) all other mobs can and are pushed away - pretty often mid jump - and never deal any damage. i created a short video of me toying with fracture mod that also included two exiles - fighting them (and probably invasion bosses if/when added) is so easy with BL+Knockback |
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I understand the issue, the staff would do away with most of the immobility though, and the slower projectiles makes the distance traveled shorter than with out so it makes it easier for you to be hit. Personally, id just take all the AoE nodes on the tree and drop increased aoe in return for a item like a carcass jack or something. My current setup in the one month league uses spell echo, Q added lightning and lightning pen, at a certain point you dont notice the immobility of spell echo and it definitely makes up for it in damage if you have enough aoe and cast speed to put out balls quickly enough. im also saving for a pledge of hands my self, since it seems like it just is made for this skill.
Also it might be worth it to consider empower as a 5l because the levels on this gem really do make a huge difference. Last edited by draakisback#3953 on Jul 15, 2014, 4:50:33 PM
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after considerable testing the 5Link setup i use - for my build - is optimal
Slow Proj deal more damage but provide zero added defense. after playing a map when my cwdt triggered ZERO times one start to appreciate safety knockback+BL provide (ofc that was an extreme situation but it really works) light pen is mandatory i consider AOE mandatory too - and i use Carcass and most AOE passives. there is significant difference this gem provides that im not keen on not using that leaves us with added lightning - and this might be the weakest gem. but spell echo is at most en par with it. and i do not have lvl3 empower (not mentioning lvl4..) anyhow - shall try to buy that staff. it is going down in price already so there is hope |
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my witch at 70 in the 4 week sc league is doing quite well with these links, Spell Echo/Added lightning/Lightning penn/faster casting. Believe it or not faster casting is a decent combo with the SE because it allows the balls to simultaneously hit the target at the same time. And with a divinarious + carcass jack and all the AoE nodes i don't need added aoe. As is, the ball hits almost half the screen with its tendrils. What makes it extremely strong in maps is its ability to instantly shock stack entire packs of mobs with out having elemental prolif (this includes most bosses ive encountered.) due to the rapid fire nature of the ability and static blows. I considered picking up the 5% chance to shock from the shadow tree but its more than enough as is with just the static blows cluster. Also i cant stress enough how much cast speed helps with this skill, it seems useless at first because the balls cant simultaneously hit the same target with out spell echo but once you have spell echo the added cast speed makes the balls come out closer together than with out which lets you "shotgun" mobs with it. I was using slower projectiles but i really didnt feel safe with the shorter cast range and knock back while a good choice just didnt make enough of a difference compared to the set up i have. I could see its use in a HC situation but in SC it is unnecessary because the balls hit for 8-12 shots per target as it is right now. Just to note, my 6th link when I get it will be empower, Levels on this spell are too strong to ignore such an opportunity and if i can get a pledge of hands, ill drop spell echo and maybe add added aoe back in or try something else like added chaos for more impact damage. The obvious downside to Pledge of Hands is the lack of a shield slot but with all the aura nodes taken (aside from the ones on the bottom of the tree) I should be able to make up for the lack of shield with any number of the purity auras. As is I can already run 2 40%s, clarity and discipline (Of course spell echo helps quite a lot in that respect since the 2nd cast is free.)
I'm not saying the choices you are making in supports are wrong because they certainly make sense and work well. It seems there are certainly more than 1-2 viable ways to build this skill. Also just to note, Ive been leveling arc for an arc totem to add some damage in my build, a few times i decided to swap Ball lightning out and self cast arc with the proper support gems but it seems to taper off a lot more then Ball Lightning does at this level, i cant imagine how it will look in the even higher levels by comparison. I love how the general consensus is that ball lightning is bad but in reality its much stronger then the fotm spell atm. Also another thing to consider. I found a thief's torment. The thing does wonders for survivability with ball lightning because of how fast you hit targets. At first i intended to get a cloak of defiance for MoM but because i wanted to use a carcass jack for the added AoE, that obviously wasnt possible. the thief's torment completely makes up for it and then some also making it possible to get rid of EB in favor for something else, though I like running a high level AA. One more concept I thought about was using an incinerate/flame totem or maybe a nova totem to proc Elemental Equalibrium for more penn on targets though im not sure how effective that would be. Ill let you know if it bears any fruit. Last edited by draakisback#3953 on Jul 16, 2014, 3:58:02 AM
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but Thiefs Tormet gets mana/life just from 'attacks' not spells. or is there a new version? as for the cast speed - i know about it. this is a linear multiplier to damage that is always good. however i decided to first turn wet blanket into a solid hammer and only after that work on increasing frequency of hits. previous attempts at BL were 'it is weak! lets cast MORE of it'. and while cast speed is a linear damage increase it is just linear. AOE/Slow Proj/Knockback is an exponential damage increase so i started there (much easier to reach 200% base damage with them than with cast speed) im 82 now - in 4-5 levels before i shelve this char i can get ~20% cast speed from the tree (and hopefuly that staff..) as for AOE - i have (iirc) 101% increased AOE atm. with Carcass Jack and witch and templar passives. and 19/20 AOE gem. i do not know what level your AOE gem is but this is an explosive synergy - it starts to really (and i mean really) multiply itself after certain +AOE% level and knockback% level. best way to count how many times a mob is hit with your setup is to go merciless ledge and find that totem (normal, not kuduku). kill all mobs around and equip lvl1 BL gem (without added lightning) and experiment. 8 hits with your ~65% AOE and no SProjectiles/Knocback seems unrealistic to me. i manage to get 8 hits with knockback and 101% aoe and even then it is not guaranteed (mind that some 'zaps' hit the ground - it is just cosmetic gfx, not damage). btw - completely ignore paper dps. it means NOTHING for this skill whatsoever |
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