*-*[2.2 PHC] Dual Wield Molten Claw Striker -T15 Twin Tank -225K Shotgun - 78%/78% block -Budget*-*

Hi,

thanks for the guide, I'm having lot's of fun with it even if my gear is... beyond bad ^^

Since I get my fair share of oneshots I wonder if it might be beneficial to go for Iron Reflexes and remove the Acrobatics passive. That would still leave us with 40% block I think. What are your thoughts on that?

"

Nefel wrote:

Hi,

thanks for the guide, I'm having lot's of fun with it even if my gear is... beyond bad ^^

Since I get my fair share of oneshots I wonder if it might be beneficial to go for Iron Reflexes and remove the Acrobatics passive. That would still leave us with 40% block I think. What are your thoughts on that?

I ran a quick test with my talisman passive tree respec going for iron reflexes instead. I took a quick video with the same gear i used with acrobatics and ran an alch'd T13 excavation map. I panicked a little bit and tp'd to town to refill pots during the boss but it seemed pretty safe overall. I would recommend iron reflexes if physical one shots are a problem. Just remember it won't be as good for elemental based attacks and spell damage.

Awesome, thanks for your quick reply and testing it. As soon as I get an alternative to my chest, I'll run an extended test. Atm I have Queen of the Forest, and I don't want my move speed to drop that much.

Also thanks for the video!

Do you think Arctic Armour is really worth it instead of something like, say, Herald of Ash? What about using Blasphemy + Poacher's Mark? That would put us at 85% mana reservation. I wonder if 15% free mana would be enough to attack without interruptions.

As for the Iron Reflexes: i tried that with a Standart Char too, it works, but it is not really my favourite. And won´t be.
It is more save for physical damage spikes, yes. From the feeling i got with it you trade in one bad for another here. With iron relflexes you can smooth the pyhsical spikes and open yourself to receive more damage from spells on the other side, especially since we do not run an awful lot of spellblock.
In Talisman i actually run something with 4,4k life, 110 resis, -20ish chaos and 14k dps with hatred and artic armor, 4 endurance charges, Vaal Grace and depending on situation immortal call.
Artic armor and the Charges feel smooth enough in Terms of pyhsical spikes - But i am Stuck at T7-T8 atm.

As for the Movement speed: pretty much all my Movement is done with Whirling blades, so i have no Problem when i wear Boots with no Speed.

Mana is not much of an issue either, 5 Link is still spammable for a good while without Mobs to hit and leech from. As soon as the Orbs hit Mobs i am pretty much full all the time.
Been looking for a way to fit in Herald of Ash too, but atm its only an option in easy maps - where i do not need the damage either :D

Hey thanks for the build! I'm currently leveling in hardcore talisman and having a blast!

Just wondering, have you thought of any other skill where this could be used? It's true that molten strike is a bit clunky cause you have to wait for the projectiles to fall down, which also results in a bit of a delay for when all the LGOH kicks in.

I have done some brief experiments with other skills.
Once i get a second Armor to play around with (atm 4 red sockets on a pure dex-Chest) i will try some more.
Frostblades and Lightning Strike should both work at least ok with pretty much the same gear and Tree.

Really great input on this page:

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Necrol wrote:

I have done some brief experiments with other skills.
Once i get a second Armor to play around with (atm 4 red sockets on a pure dex-Chest) i will try some more.
Frostblades and Lightning Strike should both work at least ok with pretty much the same gear and Tree.

Excellent idea. I've tried lightning strike point blank prior to 2.1 but because of the limited range of point blank it was not effective. But with PB being massively buffed (along with frost blades/LS), this may prove to be a better skill for mob clear. Let us know your results.

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kyuuza wrote:

Hey thanks for the build! I'm currently leveling in hardcore talisman and having a blast!

Just wondering, have you thought of any other skill where this could be used? It's true that molten strike is a bit clunky cause you have to wait for the projectiles to fall down, which also results in a bit of a delay for when all the LGOH kicks in.

Glad to hear you are having fun! Frost blades and lightning strike are projectile skills that work well with life gain on hit. I will test them tonight.

"

Necrol wrote:

As for the Iron Reflexes: i tried that with a Standart Char too, it works, but it is not really my favourite. And won´t be.
It is more save for physical damage spikes, yes. From the feeling i got with it you trade in one bad for another here. With iron relflexes you can smooth the pyhsical spikes and open yourself to receive more damage from spells on the other side, especially since we do not run an awful lot of spellblock.
In Talisman i actually run something with 4,4k life, 110 resis, -20ish chaos and 14k dps with hatred and artic armor, 4 endurance charges, Vaal Grace and depending on situation immortal call.
Artic armor and the Charges feel smooth enough in Terms of pyhsical spikes - But i am Stuck at T7-T8 atm.

As for the Movement speed: pretty much all my Movement is done with Whirling blades, so i have no Problem when i wear Boots with no Speed.

Mana is not much of an issue either, 5 Link is still spammable for a good while without Mobs to hit and leech from. As soon as the Orbs hit Mobs i am pretty much full all the time.
Been looking for a way to fit in Herald of Ash too, but atm its only an option in easy maps - where i do not need the damage either :D

I agree with iron reflexes vs acro; i think acro is the better option for this build once you have the gear/gems in place.
The Mana buff was amazing :)
Originally i had recommended herald of ash but changed the guide. It was a difference of 11% more DPS or 13% less physical/fire taken. Because of physical spike one-shots we decided AA was the better option.
That's interesting to hear you are stuck on t7-t8 maps, what do you think is missing? Can you post your gear?

"

lussiano wrote:

Do you think Arctic Armour is really worth it instead of something like, say, Herald of Ash? What about using Blasphemy + Poacher's Mark? That would put us at 85% mana reservation. I wonder if 15% free mana would be enough to attack without interruptions.

see quote just above for herald of ash.
I think you are right for blasphemy instead of AA, with 2.1 mana buff, reserving 85% instead of 75% mana is definitely an option. I will test blasphemy tonight. i think you are also right in that blasphemy + poacher's mark will be the best for trash mobs, mapping in general, and some bosses (i.e. Courtyard trio,arena trio, bazaar trio)...and be much smoother than curse on hit + poacher's mark + whirling blades. i feel like for certain bosses (i.e. Dominus, precinct boss, crematorium boss) arctic armor will be a tankier option though, it's not too difficult to whirling blade through a single boss to get Poacher's Mark on them and fortify for you.

Edit: just realized blasphemy + poacher's would overwrite cast when damage taken + enfeeble, we can only have one curse. You could just do blasphemy + enfeeble for extra safety incase enfeeble is on cool down or triggers on the wrong area.

I tested lightning strike and blasphemy (with temporal chains) in a video below. I also tested frost blades but did not take a video.

The three projectile based melee attacks break down like this at level 20:
Lightning Strike = 160% DPS, 7 projectiles, 25% less projectile damage = 120% effective DPS per projectile
Frost Blades = 122% DPS, 7 projectiles = 122% effective DPS per projectile
Molten Strike = 146% DPS, 6 projectiles (with GMP), 40% less projectile damage, 26% less projectile --> 66.58% effective DPS per projectile

From a single-target perspective (and i think the video highlights this at the boss fight where i use both lightning strike and molten strike) molten strike is better if at least 2 of the 6 projectiles hit. it can be 3x better than LS/FB if all projectiles shotgun, which the video highlights.
From a multi-target perspective, lightning strike/frost blades have an extra gem slot available because they do not require GMP gem. I utilized chain gem in the video. Theoretically the projectiles can hit up to 21 times per attack. I think the video shows lightning strike is better than molten strike for AOE clear speed. not outrageously better, but better.

I did NOT like frost blades because you have hit a melee target in order to launch the projectiles, with lightning strike you just have to attack the ground in order to launch the projectiles which is much more effective.

As for blasphemy, with 85% mana reserved i had no mana problems and i run a 6 link. Temporal chains with blasphemy also made it pretty easy to aim the lightning strike projectiles at close range without the monsters getting into melee range which was kinda fun.

I am currently stuck because i can´t get higher Level Map pool build up. I could easyly buy some, but where is the fun in that.
Jungle Valley with relfect phys/reflect ele/+80% monster Damage as lightning/Temp Chains and some other mods was no problem with my current gear, including bossfight.
But if the Maps don´t drop, i can´t see if i can handle higher with this Build :)