[2.0] Wukong - Acrobatics Crit Staff: Wild - Lightning - Flicker Strike & More (w/ MF and Atziri)

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Disclaimer: With Acrobatics and Flicker Strike, this is a very mechanically advanced build to learn.

About the Build
Endgame
Skills
How to Gear Up
Bandits and Skill Tree Progression
Magic Find
Atziri & Endgame Content
Credits
End notes (Physical defense, Mana)

About the Build


This is a versatile build.

Because it is a crit-based 2H build, you can use any melee skill and still do lots of damage.

With acrobatics providing the bulk of its defense, it takes barely any currency (<1 ex) to be effective.

Due to how flexible this build is, it takes time to learn and play to its full potential.



Endgame
In progress: I still have a lot to do before I reach the actual endgame for this build (only using a 5L staff).




Skills
1. No flasks used in pictures. I don't want to just show off crazy dps numbers. I also included the dps at midgame.

2. Do not be discouraged by the midgame-endgame gap, endgame gear will come naturally: refer to the How to Gear Up and Magic Find section.

Because the build is very versatile with the attacks it can use, these are 2 solid choices to start with.

As your gear improves, you can use more skills effectively.

Bring out flicker strike for some solo fun and excitement.



Rest of the gems:
Hatred
Ice Golem
Blood Rage
Arctic Armor: extra defense for endgame content

How to Gear Up
When starting out, ignore crit and just go for the highest dps 2h weapon available.

By level 65, you will want to start looking into Blood Dance boots, a 300+ pdps 7%+ crit staff, and one 5-link. For everything else, just make sure resistances are capped, and pick up ~400 accuracy along the way.

Once you have the above, focus on incremental improvements, starting with the weapon.


Finally, at endgame you will want:
1. Hegemony's Era (or a 500+ pdps crit staff) 3. Taste of Hate
4. 6-linked weapon

Do not get an Abyssus: this build deals more than enough damage without it and you want to level up as quickly as possible to get skill points.




Bandits and Skill Tree Progression
Bandits:
Kill all (A, C)
Help Kraityn for Frenzy Charge (M)

Skill tree progression:
Pay attention to the skill tree progression; this build has key points where it switches between going left and going right. I have provided a skill tree at each of these "pivot points."

~Lv25 ~Lv40 ~Lv50 ~Lv61

By Lv81, the build is "complete":
Lv70
Lv81

If you take it all the way, the build will change (use reset points):
Lv85
Lv91
Lv100 Disco Build

Magic Find
While this build has an expensive endgame set of gear, it also has insanely high solo MF. As a result, I had all of my endgame pieces (-6L) halfway through the 1-month Flashback.

MF is not just about IIR/IIQ, but also the clear speed. This build doesn't have insane IIR/IIQ, but it does have arguably the fastest clear speed with 2H flicker strike. This more than makes up for the low IIR/IIQ (~150 IIR).
Video tutorial showing how this works (taken from this reddit thread)
-Note that I personally don't alc maps that aren't T5+.
-Also, I wear moderate IIR

Setup:

Go for 20+ iir on helm, rings, and amulets, but do not sacrifice too much clear speed.

This takes a lot of practice to play efficiently: when to recharge frenzy, what to do when there is a Nullifier Rare, using targeted vs untargeted flickering, dropping decoy totem, etc.




Atziri & Endgame Content

Video guide of how the atziri run works as melee
-Using Lightning strike, Wild Strike, or Ice Crash is similar to a run with reave.
-Reaction/experience is the most important part of doing Atziri.
-Codenameoverkill's full guide here.

The hardest part of the Apex of Sacrifice is killing the Trio Bosses.


In endgame maps and content, Cyclone and Ice Crash are the easiest skills to use. However, if played correctly, flicker strike has the best clears.




Credits
[2.0] "Crusader" Critical 2H Sword Ice Crash by wraithe_au
-This build helped me craft my build path. I might not have written this guide if not for the key synergies a crit staff build has over a sword build.

Guide to wealth generation Solo non-MF by /u/theguyfromgermany

[2.0] - [Super cheap] Reave double claw extravaganza [174k dps update][Atziri viable with video] by Codenameoverkill
-This guide has the best melee Atziri run video I could find, for 2.0.

End notes (Physical defense, Mana)
Physical Defense:

"

prospecial wrote:

so acrobatics really is good for this build? since 2.0 i am not really a fan of this anymore for melee when you get a hard hit you end up as a 1 hit wonder without armor

Melee got fortify and the reworked Arctic Armor to make up for this. In addition, this build generates endurance charges with Smashing Strikes passive (better than Daresso's Defiance).

If an attack can 1 hit this build when it is played well, it will 1 hit most armor builds too.

40% dodge and 30% spell dodge gives better overall survivability. Lightning Coil is always an option.



Mana:

"

PrisonPrincess wrote:

How are you sustaining your mana with only 25% unreserved and no elreon or leech on jewelry? More expensive skills like cyclone and ice crash seem like they would run you dry pretty fast

I use a Surgeon's Hallowed Mana Flask of Warding, which only requires 4 charges per use. I would change to a Divine Flask (5 charge/use) with a 6-L.

1. Surgeon's affix + high crit = infinite flask usage.
2. Suffix gives 1 status immunity of choice (immunity to Curse or Bleed is especially useful).

The tricky part is testing how much %Q you need on the flask to sustain the skill, but don't refill mana so quickly that you lose your status immunity/mana regen prematurely.

i like the build, leveling a similar right now for fun in the 1month

so acrobatics really is good for this build? since 2.0 i am not really a fan of this anymore for melee
when you get a hard hit you end up as a 1 hit wonder without armor

Hi, nice to see you trying out a similar build. Let me know how you do with it =).

Armor is actually weaker than acrobatics in this build because of the synergy with endurance charges and fortify.


This build (50% dodge, 40% spell dodge) has better overall survivability because this game's rng formula protects against lucky and unlucky streaks.

PS:
I'll try to finish this guide this weekend.

Bump.

Guide is up now.

This is now a wukong build.

Cleaned up text. Fixed endgame (lv85+) skill tree.

Added short section about Magic Find.

Edit: Fixed target endgame gear.

Hah, Wukong was one of my favorite characters in LoL, along with Garen and Diana :)

However i don't count Acrobatics as a reliable defence at all.
Any physical spike = u dead.
Atziri trio = u dead.

Spin to win =).

Acrobatics, fortify, regen from frenzy charge, life leech and hp pots+immortal call are more than enough.

1. Physical spike:
There is no unavoidable spike damage that can one shot. The immortal call trigger gives plenty of time react (either pot, leech, or kill in that time).
2. High physical damage bosses in general:
I rush down what I can with potions (ex: Na'em and Bameth). If low on pots, use lightning strike.

The problems you suggested with Acrobatics are either due to a lack of hp or differences in *playstyle.
*I mention playstyle because this is actually my first Life-based character over lv75 and I don't find those 2 points to be much of a problem. In general, life-based characters are easier to play due to hp pots, which could lead to different ideas about tankiness and risk. If Acrobatics is hard to play, I recommend trying out one of the many ES-based builds (preferably melee) to learn the mechanics.

At endgame, Kaom's Heart makes things even easier.

"

Zhen wrote:

Spin to win =).

Acrobatics, fortify, regen from frenzy charge, life leech and hp pots+immortal call are more than enough.

1. Physical spike:
There is no unavoidable spike damage that can one shot. The immortal call trigger gives plenty of time react (either pot, leech, or kill in that time).
2. High physical damage bosses in general:
I rush down what I can with potions (ex: Na'em and Bameth). If low on pots, use lightning strike.

The problems you suggested with Acrobatics are either due to a lack of hp or differences in *playstyle.
*I mention playstyle because this is actually my first Life-based character over lv75 and I don't find those 2 points to be much of a problem. In general, life-based characters are easier to play due to hp pots, which could lead to different ideas about tankiness and risk. If Acrobatics is hard to play, I recommend trying out one of the many ES-based builds (preferably melee) to learn the mechanics.

At endgame, Kaom's Heart makes things even easier.

8k armour and 5.5k hp - oneshot by a fancy girl of Atziri trio (crit Rain of arrows).
IC lasts for split-second and does'n work with attacks, animation of which started before IC proc.
The problems with Acrobatics are due to 2 factors:
1) you can't manually evade all the attacks;
2) entropy, which increases your chance to be hit with every evaded attack.
From my playing expierence i coud say that acro build has far-far less survivability than armour+block build (with the same HP pool size).

The way i see to use Acro is using it with Mind over matter + Eldritch battery + Ghost reaver and maybe Lighning coil. 27% phys dmg migitation from LC + 30% all dmg migitation from MoM + some nice claw with 34 LGoH could make us pretty tanky.

"

AAlex12 wrote:

"

Zhen wrote:

Spin to win =).

Acrobatics, fortify, regen from frenzy charge, life leech and hp pots+immortal call are more than enough.

1. Physical spike:
There is no unavoidable spike damage that can one shot. The immortal call trigger gives plenty of time react (either pot, leech, or kill in that time).
2. High physical damage bosses in general:
I rush down what I can with potions (ex: Na'em and Bameth). If low on pots, use lightning strike.

The problems you suggested with Acrobatics are either due to a lack of hp or differences in *playstyle.
*I mention playstyle because this is actually my first Life-based character over lv75 and I don't find those 2 points to be much of a problem. In general, life-based characters are easier to play due to hp pots, which could lead to different ideas about tankiness and risk. If Acrobatics is hard to play, I recommend trying out one of the many ES-based builds (preferably melee) to learn the mechanics.

At endgame, Kaom's Heart makes things even easier.

8k armour and 5.5k hp - oneshot by a fancy girl of Atziri trio (crit Rain of arrows).
IC lasts for split-second and does'n work with attacks, animation of which started before IC proc.
The problems with Acrobatics are due to 2 factors:
1) you can't manually evade all the attacks;
2) entropy, which increases your chance to be hit with every evaded attack.
From my playing expierence i coud say that acro build has far-far less survivability than armour+block build (with the same HP pool size).

The way i see to use Acro is using it with Mind over matter + Eldritch battery + Ghost reaver and maybe Lighning coil. 27% phys dmg migitation from LC + 30% all dmg migitation from MoM + some nice claw with 34 LGoH could make us pretty tanky.

Hey there, I don't have as much time during weekdays. Sorry for the late reply.

Armor is less effective for bigger hits: 8k armor is at most 667 reduced physical damage taken.

IC lasts at least 1 full second because crit staff generates endurance charges passively. When mapping, my 70% crit chance+attack speed means I have either 3 endurance charges or IC active almost all the time. Extra attacks that start before IC proc, especially as a melee character, are negligible.

For the two weaknesses:
1. The point of acrobatics is on-average damage reduction, so that potions, life regen, and life leech have time to do their thing. It is not about reduced damage 100% of the time.
2. We have access to fortify, endurance charges/IC, and Taste of Hate, which provides sufficient reduction against physical damage spikes. Also, this is one of the places where mechanical skill and experience comes in: you have to have enough awareness to have your damage-reduction ready before a possible big hit can happen.

As for tougher content, I use Kaom's Heart+arctic armor. This gives me 5.5k hp, -20% from fortify, -13% from AA, -12% from passive endurance charges. Which is nearly 40% passive phys damage reduction for the big spikes.
-All smaller hits get leeched/regenerated.
-With fortify, this character is tankier than a 6.8k (5.5k/0.8) ES caster.

The idea of using Legacy LC + EB + GR + MoM with Acro places tremendous restrictions on the build and is far less effective than just going hybrid. Non-legacy LC+MOM will only reduce phys damage by 45% (1-.775*.7).

Again, I highly recommend playing an ES-based character first if Acrobatics is difficult. They both have the general playstyle of reducing big hits before they happen, and leeching/regenerating life before another big hit happens. As a result, both Acrobatics and ES characters require more reactiveness and mechanical skill than a tank and spank armor-block build.
-I haven't had any problems with any of the beyond bosses (Na'em, Bameth, Enji, Haast, fire dude) in 75+ maps. I've also solo'd Abathox every time I have seen him spawn, without dying (most recent was lv74 jungle valley).

Also, keep in mind this entire discussion only relates to physical damage spikes.

PS:
If I have time, I will try to update the endgame for this build over the weekend.