[2.0.1][Tempest] Begsplosive's BM Solo-MF EA Duelist of Frugality [Cheap and Beginner-Friendly]

@Transfigure,
I agree with Wisky, you need much more life on gear with this build if you're to reach the desired totals. Your chest has 5 life (out of a possible 120), your helmet has tier 2 CRAFTED life, your gloves have 9, your belt and boots have none, and your jewelry barely has any. Keep in mind that for this build you do not need things like crit or elemental damage with weapons, or any added damage to attacks. The only regularly available mod on rares that would improve your dps is attack speed. The gear I highlighted in the build is an example of stuff that has life and resistances.

In terms of jewels, if you're looking for damage you want jewels that grant increased fire damage, increased projectile damage, and increased area damage. Ideally a jewel has two or more of these attributes in addition to life.

@Akris it's tough, and as mentioned the main weakness of this build. I find that once you get enough jewels and/or if you can get a +skills bow, the damage gets much better. Some people choose to go with a weapon swap but I elected not to do so...I don't see puncture doing too much damage anyway since your points and gear haven't been invested into any kind of physical damage or other weapon buffs. Sometimes you just need to hit a surface at or near the boss, as you mentioned with frost wall, and/or just accept it as a tradeoff for your good pack clear speed unless you get a specific secondary setup for it. Swap out aoe gems for single targets like slower projectiles, and that should help too.

Hey Begxiled, having some serious fun with this build in HC. Currently level 76, and haven't had any real trouble yet. What do you suggest I work towards with my gear though?



My three biggest problems:
1. Very little IIR (only 20%)
2. Pretty low armor (4966 without flask)
3. Cold res is capped, but only at 75%. Makes it difficult to switch out some

Should I work towards a 6L, or focus on upgrading other parts of my gear first?

Also, here are the Jewels I currently use (with Brute Force Solution on standby to replace Bramble Prism in case I have to get rid of my int gear)



Thanks!

Hi Maurezekiel,
Glad you're enjoying it! Love the dragon splinter jewel, that's basically the ideal for this build. It seems there are slots for rarity crafts on at least one of your rings as well, so you may want to do that in the short term if you seek some self MF.

As far as gear goes, I don't know whether hardcore league prices are high since I don't know the economy/player base situation there, but you should be able to relatively cheaply upgrade everything! Your armor will go up significantly when you are able to replace your hybrid ES pieces and grab higher ilvl tier pieces with comparable or better life/res for each slot.

Your chest is really nice for life and resists, but it is still a hybrid eva/es which contributes only 424 pre-multiplier to your armor. So it is both your best piece of gear, and the one most in need of replacement if you want to add that extra potential iir link/lots of armor. I'd replace gloves and boots first, then amulet and the topaz ring before trying to get a solid hybrid 5/6L.

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Hi, im using this build and loving ea, i wanted to ask you if you think is better to get pure armor pieces or hybrid pieces, and if hybrid with more evasion rating or armor?

Glad to hear it Ulath. Since the end goal is as much armor as possible, it's technically better to have pure armor pieces, especially because you can then save the IR skill points and any defensive evasion points you were going to get - but these armor pieces will be more expensive to roll, because you need lots of off-color links for your main skills. They're also more expensive to buy this season because of the strength and demand for armor. So the use of hybrid or evasion pieces helps keep costs very affordable for the same benefits of armor.

Hello again,

Want to share something I found in different EA build that could make the build even stronger.

9-10 link Explosive Arrow - from Vyvanne's 9 Link Explosive Arrow Build - EE, BM, Dual Curse. [Tempest]



My current setup:
I have only 5L Armor

Conc Effect can be changed with IIR or IAE.
And 4 link on the bow

If I have 5 L will add Blind , 6L - Faster projectiles
The EA on the 4L can be lvl 1 but I found the setup when was already lvl 15 :)

Hope this will help you to make this amazing build even better.

Cheers,
WD

Hi, I think I will try and do my first HC build in tempest so I can get my tempest challenge done. Do you have any tips for a first time HC player, and with this build specifically?

I love the idea of a 9-link LOL. Kudos to the above poster that pointed that out.

"

Shinare wrote:

Hi, I think I will try and do my first HC build in tempest so I can get my tempest challenge done. Do you have any tips for a first time HC player, and with this build specifically?

I love the idea of a 9-link LOL. Kudos to the above poster that pointed that out.

Hi Shinare,

This is my first HC character also, so I will try to give you some tips from my experience.
More experienced players are welcome to add/correct them, I'm still learning to play HC.

Most Important!!!
- Cap your resistances as soon as possible!
- Invest first passive skill points in life (will try to give you skill tree for every 10 points)
- Always be min 4 levels over the area level.
- Be patient and careful, don't hurry up.

Now some details from my experience.

For leveling (and even after that I used Flame totem as main DMG source(as described in the guide) and Split Arrow for the trash mobs.
Flame Totem(at lvl 4) + Faster Cast (at lvl 18) + Fire Pen( at lvl 31) + Faster Projectiles(at lvl 31) - this configuration I used.

Around lvl 33-34 I bought 5L armor for around 1-2 chaos and switched to EA - Flame totem I kept using till lvl 60 for distracting mobs and bosses.
Find asap CwDT (at lvl 38) and connect it with Frost Wall - huge defense boost.
If you have 4L for it I can recommend - CwDT (lvl1) + Frost Wall (lvl 10) + GMP (max) + Arctic Breath (lvl4)
When leveled I tried to use items to cap my resistances first, then to increase Life.

With caped res and so much life everything till Normal - Act 4 is easy.
I asked a friend to kill for me Kaom , Piety and Malakai - maybe was possible to do it alone but is my first HC char and was a bit scared :)
Same I did on Cruel, on Merciless I just took the point from the quest in Mines lvl 2 and start farming and mapping.

Here is the tree I used for leveling per 10 points:

10 points
20 points
30 points
40 points
50 points
60 points
70 points
80 points
90 points
100 points - I'm here somewhere.

I guess is not very optimal way but worked for me :)

Hope this will help you to begin your journey in HC.
If you need help, find me in the game, will try to help you.

Cheers and good luck.
WD

Thank you WD for that very through reply!

Will start this weekend if I can get warbands kills done. (not even going to try for divination card challenge, too poor)