More consistent power charges

Currently, I'm using Assassin's Mark - Curse on Hit - Herald of Thunder - Warlords Mark.



It generates charges but it takes a while. Some monsters (a lot actually) die before receiving a curse. I have Enduring Cry and some increased duration nodes to help keep Endurance Charges at 6.

I'm at the point now that I'll either spend the next 4 points on Power charge nodes or I won't use them in my build.

Would Power Charge on Crit work, in place of Increased Duration in this 4 link?

The two spells go off often enough b/c a strong wind can set it off... But can such a low lvl skill (or even combo of two) crit on a boss?

I'll likely swap out Warlords Mark for a different curse, when I recolor a much needed upgrade.

Monsters die too quickly to get cursed with Assassin's Mark. It works but it's hit and miss. Will low lvl skills crit often enough for PCoC? Oh, my crit chance is pretty low.
Is there a better option?

Yes, there are more reliable ways to generate power charges.

Tempest Shield + Power Charge on Critical is decent if you have good block chance. It doesn't matter which level your skill is (crit chance is the same from level 1 to 20) or how much damage it deals or whether the target is a boss - if you have a high crit chance from passive tree and gear you will trigger Power Charge on Critical often (even though you won't deal much damage with the Tempest Shield). If you have a high crit chance and some spare links you could also put in something like Cast When Damage Taken (level 1) - Ice Spear - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Power Charge on Critical.

The currently best way for charges though (if you don't have the mana for Blasphemy + Assassin's Mark) seems to be Blade Vortex + Power Charge on Critical (+ Increased Duration + Faster Casting). Cast it eight or ten times, run to the nearest mobs, and watch your charges appear. Repeat when you run out of charges.

After taking a look at your tree though, it seems you didn't take any crit nodes (chance or multiplier) on the tree. This means that Power Charge on Critical won't trigger often, and that power charges won't boost your damage much due to very little critical strike multiplier. Endurance charges are almost always strong, but power charges need to be built around to get their full potential.

The level of the skills and bosses is irrelevant for your crit purposes, as is whether they deal any damage; All that matters is whether they hit, which generates a standard crit check, and spells always hit.

The standard approach for generating power charges via CWDT critting is to use CWDT (lowlevel, ideally level 1) - Ice Spear (lowlevel) - PCoC (highlevel) - and a fourth spell with higher than normal crit chance if a 4th slot is available for this purpose (preferably one hitting many targets), because Ice Spear has a high 7% base chance of critting and its second form has 600% increased crit chance.

You can only gain one crit per triggering of Ice Spear, likewise any optional second spell, but a crit check is performed individually on every enemy hit, so the point is to hit with spells that have either high base crit chance or hit many targets - or both. Ice Spear is in a class all by itself.

Done correctly, when you are fighting groups and taking damage odds are good that you'll sustain max crit charges this way if you have some critical strike chance from passives or equipment, and even help you out with crit charges most of the time even if you do not but do receive a pounding - but unless you have substantial critical strike chance, it will not reliably keep you maxed out on power charges when fighting slow-hitting bosses.

I see absolutely no reason for your having an Increased Duration in that skill link in the first place, so replace it by PCoC immediately.

As an alternative to Herald of Thunder cursing, level 1 CWDT - Ball Lightning - Curse on Hit - Assassin's Mark, bears mentioning.

One can even combine them and do both in separate CWDTs - that way you'll also curse bosses with Assassin's Mark when there's nobody else around, granting the full +9% chance to crit for the PCoC linked skills, and pretty much guaranteeing that your CWDT-PCoC will keep up power charges on them despite their being nobody around to provide power charges (assuming that bosses hit you regularly, that is).... but this does take up a considerable number of your links.

EDITED: Was duplicate post. Silly forum.

OP, what's your main skill?

If you struggling with cursing I suggest replacing your herald of thunder with a spell (like arc, or one of the nova skills).

Cast once before going in and curse the entire pack. You can also keep curses up on bosses with this.

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zSavage wrote:

OP, what's your main skill?

If you struggling with cursing I suggest replacing your herald of thunder with a spell (like arc, or one of the nova skills).

Cast once before going in and curse the entire pack. You can also keep curses up on bosses with this.

Arc is my main skill. I shock plenty. Harold of Thunder reaches close to the edge of the screen but HoT may not hit them b/c of it's random nature of targeting.
I watch HoT kill mobs on low life, when a full life monster gets missed. If I stop casting for a fraction of a second, it can have a better chance of cursing a few targets. Then Assassin's Mark doesn't guarantee a charge.
I'll put my next point in charge increased duration and see if it helps. After that, I'll probably try something like pcoc linked to cwdt.

Or maybe I'll just leave power charges alone... I just got 5 blues using Vorici's guaranteed 3 blue crafting on this.


I had been using Iron Will instead of Controlled Destruction, in a different 5-link.

I guess this question was answered by RNG and will be something to look into at a later date.