[2.6] Stormtrooper - Orb of Storms Raider

INTRODUCTION ___________________________________________________________________

What should probably be cleared up right off the bat is that this isn't a power build, the goal wasn't to create something other builds can't do better and we certainly aren't going there. The challenge was to take two of the least popular lightning skills in the game and cobble up something serviceable that uses both of them at once.


MECHANICS ______________________________________________________________________

Two of the least popular damage skills in the game by current polls are Shrapnel shot, which is heavily eclipsed by Lightning Arrow and Orb of Storms, which is actually fairly popular as a utility spell but almost completely unused as a damage dealer. So, we go with those, a bow skill and a spell, not really the best combo but anything is possible these days.

Right off the bat, it becomes evident that Orb of Storms needs more work to get anything out of it, so we will focus on that. A small review here - Orb of Storms is a spell that creates an area and zaps a monster inside it, after which the arc splits onto four nearby targets which don't have to be in the area themselves, the arc can also chain but doesn't do so by default. Considering the fairly slow hit rate and the fact we can have only one out at any time we can see right away that the spell has very low autonomous firepower. However there's another property it has, every time you use a lightning skill inside the zone it will branch the bolts off yourself, so that's the way we're going, we're trying to max the number of skill activations per second.

So, we got three options of note there, dual wielding fast weapons, using a fast spell like Storm call or getting a fast bow. The selection of weapons that are fast and also give significant bonuses to both spells and attacks is slim so that one is out, using a spell is a good option because of ease of damage scaling but the amount of cast speed bonuses is ultimately lower than attack speed and there are bows that would fit very well here so we'll go with that. It's also important to note we aren't losing anything by locking away multistrike and echo, only skill activations count so repeats trigger nothing.

Aside from attack speed we also need a fair amount of AoE bonus, and that's because Orb is hella cramped by default, we're increasing the AoE not because of faster clearing but to give ourselves more breathing room. Most of our damage scaling comes from frenzy charges, attack speed and jewels, going for elemental or lightning damage bonuses where possible and weapon elemental damage where not. With the build covering that much of the tree it would be unrealistic to scale crit too and it would be hard to stack enough generic crit bonuses anyway, so we're going for elemental overload instead, with this kind of attack speed it's pretty much always on.

The build solves resource problems by taking attack leech cluster in duelist area on the way to last frenzy charge, another option is taking extra curse in witch area and using Warlord's mark. Another thing to keep in mind is that Orb of Storms costs almost 100 mana in a 5 link so having around 200 free is recommended for comfortable playing, fortunately that isn't an issue, we got a solid amount of base mana and the witch life/mana cluster solves that problem.

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Gotta say, a crit caster with Storm Call would probably work better overall but I'm thinking this feels more like pushing the limits of Orb, and we still have that 'two crappiest skills' limitation to work with.


PASSIVE TREE ____________________________________________________________________

The tree should ultimately look like this at level 90, you got 111 points + Kraityn in Cruel and Merci for extra attack speed and frenzy charge.

One thing you might want to do is swap two nodes of your choice for Point Blank, you're doing most of your damage with Shrapnel Shot at close to medium range so you aren't really losing much and the damage bonus is substantial.

The pathing during levelling should go like this
1. Head for the witch area for AoE bonuses and Overload
2. As soon as you start doing enough damage to leech reliably, go south for the leech cluster, that should happen sometime during cruel
3. It goes without saying that you should pick all life bonuses as you go and we're covering a lot of ground so the amount of life the build has at major levelling points is above average
4. Go for frenzy charges next, no need to take much damage scaling as Tempest has us covered for a long time
5. Take jewel sockets if you have good jewels available, they give you more for two points than regular nodes do.

Lab bonuses are clear enough, Frenzy branch first and then Onslaught even though it's honestly crap but we're going full speed demon here.


GEAR ____________________________________________________________________________

The best chest we can stick here is probably Carcass, it has some base stats and the AoE bonus is invaluable, helps with the breathing room problem and gives Shrapnel Shot more coverage.


We probably can't go better than this, the bow is fast and lightning damage bonus is significant so we can go full scrooge on damage investment for most of the game. Quillrain is another option but it has a few problems, it will give you more Orb activations but leech won't be able to cover for the mana spent anymore, you lose the damage bonus and a lot of dps on Shrapnel. So tempest it is, weapon problems solved for the rest of the game.


Quiver is a bit of a dud shot, we don't have anything too good to stick there, the ubiquitous Drillneck is probably the best for the automatic 100% damage increase on Shrapnel, but we're kinda running a battlemage here and the manual says this is what we should be using, the item is utter crap but we'll play along.


We're using acrobatics so Atziri's step works nicely, though you can certainly use Darkray Vectors if you're happy with 12s frenzy duration instead of 17, I kinda like the extra long duration but use whatever you like. For gloves and helm you can go for rares or whatever you can fit in.


And the jewelry is rare too, just go for some solid bonuses all around, either lightning damage or WED.


And also jewels, you want two damage bonuses and attack speed with bows or one damage and two attack speed bonuses, whatever you can get.

Use whichever flasks you like best, if you're a flask enthusiast you can easily snatch ranger and witch flask clusters.

One thing to note is you could stack some accuracy, on jewelry, gloves and helm, there's plenty of room available, however, this is a stormtrooper after all and they just don't make them very accurate at the imperial military academy.

The total cost isn't high, none of the items used was over 5c including jewels, add linking cost and that's it.


SKILLS ___________________________________________________________________________

Fairly straightforward, Orb will never be a good single target skill so you mod that one for faster clearing and Shrapnel for single target goodness.

Trigger attack
Shrapnel Shot - Faster Attacks - Weapon Ele Dmg - Lightning Pen - Added Lightning - Slower Proj

Orb
Orb of Storms - Chain - Controlled Destruction - Lightning Pen - Elemental Focus - Added Lightning

Mobility and Backup
Blink Arrow - Increased Duration - Faster Attacks - Blind
If you drop your charges Frenzy will get them back up in a jiffy and blinding a boss is handy too.

Support setup
Wrath - Herald of Thunder - Curse on Hit - Temporal Chains
You can use blasphemy for more reliable cursing but herald and CoH give you a mix of offense and defense that's a bit more useful for taking out the trash

Buff - Debuff
Vaal Haste - Temporal Chains - Inc Duration
A boss setup, you'll go over 7 attacks per second with that and Manual temp chains is handy if the boss fight drags on.


Q&A _____________________________________________________________________________

* What's the point of all this?
- Nothing much, just using some unused skills the way they aren't meant to be used, and then again, maybe devs buff Orb of Storms one day and you start kicking ass.
* What does a build feel like?
- It kinda grew on me. You're playing a goat on a rope, there's an area on the ground where you perform better and you always need to consider staying or leaving, it's a pretty engaging build and we don't have many similar mechanics in the game.
* Why this and not that?
- It's just a personal preference, it isn't an end-all build by any means, if you think something else would work better you should go for it.


VIDEOS __________________________________________________________________________

Don't have anything higher to run it on, high yellows or low reds are its comfort zone.
https://youtu.be/Kc5mzwSXH9A


FINAL WORD _____________________________________________________________________

This build is dedicated to LucasArts, may it rest in peace.

Oh god I haven't posted on these forums in years.

Neat build, found it through Lioneye's Watch, I actually tried a very similar thing independently using Elemental Hit/Orb of Storms/The Tempest/Carcass Jack I wrote up on reddit the other week, but as Assassin to scale both skills with crit instead of Frenzy charges. I got stumped midway through Yellows too.
link

Yup, seems we got the medal for snowflakery. The thing about Orb of Storms in dps role is it could be useful, there are skills with poor coverage which it could extend, or it could give you some instant damage with delay skills like Storm Call which would help with its bursty leeching profile. Unfortunately, devs went really careful with it so the thing doesn't even start to do damage until early merciless and its area is too small to get locked down into.

Another thing is we don't really need the dps assist these days except on some bosses and OoS isn't really good for that, probably not even worth the time to cast. It all ties to the game being a bit too fast currently, I suppose, if a damage boost that needs manual refreshing isn't worth your time it means something is wrong.

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Of course, big thanks for the spotlight to the Lioneye's crew, you're doing a good job there.

Not much is new in 2.5, Raider got buffed and we can drop Frenzy as a backup charge generator, everything else is the same.

Wouldn't you rather run as Templar (Inquisitor) and get more spell damage over attack speed?

double

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Quakespeare wrote:

Wouldn't you rather run as Templar (Inquisitor) and get more spell damage over attack speed?

Yeah, I mentioned the possibility, Storm Call is a very fast spell with 2 casts per second base, Orb would provide some instant damage which it lacks, it would probably be stronger.

One more thing to keep in mind is that the AoE feels a bit cramped in 2.6 so taking both AoE clusters would help. Ran some rare 13-14s to test and it still clears decent enough because it was never really dependent on AoE for it, but it did lose some quality of life with that and the duration nerf. Shrapnel shot is probably bigger, though.

You know that feeling when you pick a crappy skill, absolutely sure it can't get any worse.

EDIT:
Skill tree updated for 2.6, we do save a few points.

No, I actually meant sticking with Lightning Arrow and going Templar.

That way you lose out on attacks/sec, but gain in ele dmg.

Ah, right, dunno about that, I think you'd lose too much attack speed, that's why I was considering a caster. You can try checking in Path of Building how much you can squeeze out with optimal gear.

Heya,

Been playing something along these line this Legacy SSF league, thought i'd share!

I'm not sure whether your version or mine does things better, but there's bound to be some differences where we can learn from each other!

Take a look over here https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Toverkol/characters - The character is called UrbiEtOrbi. Yes, things have been going very ethical, i have the Void card to thank for that chest.

First off i went Deadeye. I know, nobody likes her, but she felt like a perfect fit for what i wanted to do here. That being primarily the massive AoE node (50%) being enough to not need any more on the tree, The +1 projectile (with a corrupt quiver that will be 3) so Shrapnel Shot still has some coverage outside the orb/cone. Secondarily i want go to +1 Chain for the Orb so it gets lots more coverage without losing a link and adding a damage penalty. (Uberlab is still at least 3 trials away)

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Main reason to post here however is to discuss the bow of choice for a bit. I targeted prophecy full-time with this character, and bee-lined for Strand for the divcards and got my The Tempest yesterday. However, i've also found a Quill Rain which i was using before that, but honestly it seems the slightly better of the two. It's new 2 mana on hit, combined with the Essence Sap cluster leeching all attack damage seems enough to sustain its 7+ attacks per second. Do note my Tempest is only 38% attack speed - i'll divine it today (ethical!) and see if that might tip things in its favor.

These seem the unique targets, but i also have a few buzzsaw type Thicket & Highborn bows lying around waiting for Tora 6 to craft attack speed on them, and they too seem competitive with The Tempest, even without trying to essence them with a caster affix on top. Lastly i'm thinking about the Porcupine card. I imagine a +2 lightning 6link buzzsaw type shortbow could be a very good idea for Orb.

Outside bows there might be some more options to get some extra links. I'm thinking about Thunderfists for a 5link Orb in my gloves, or a nice corrupted glove essence like the more attack speed one or a more elemental damage helmet. Yfleban's Trickery also seems interesting with its flat dmg to spells/attacks rolls. Same goes for the new Berek Rings. Of course there's also Shrapnel's new treshold jewel. I have no real ssf way to obtain that, but i'm sure it would be quite nice.

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Then there's gem and tree choices. We've made some different choices there too. Seems you've went all lightning, using % rolls that scale both Orb and Shrapnel, and allowing you take full advantage of any lightning penetration. I've decided to take a more full-elemental approach, using added cold gems, and herald of ice. I for now am forgoing lightning pen, instead cursing with ele weakness and picking up both new wed clusters that pen. I'm in doubt though, could be its still a good 6th link.
[edit]Just noticed i have chain in my links in the profile, that should be added cold as well, but i was going to test today if chain isnt better while i dont have my last ascendancy points yet[/]

Herald of Ice also means i pick up Charisma. This has made mana tight from the get go. I managed to get enough free mana for one orb and one shot, Essence Saps amazing leech covering the rest. That was before i got that amazing chest from the void though. I've been trying Slower Proj in that link, but another 140% multiplier almost requires me to invest in mana again. As such i opted for Ice Bite for now, with its 110%. As i have no frenzy charge generation elsewhere it outdamages Slower Proj, while also working for Orb and Shrapnels AoE Cone. Its nice, but i feel i should try and find another way to get frenzy charges and free up that link. Lpen could be nice as my damage is still 3/4th lightning, but if mana is too much of a problem even something like Culling would be nicer. I'd like to hear your thoughts on full lightning vs adding some other elements like my cold damage or any flat roll on gear being helpful. Elefocus could work too, but i feel two herald-side effects are better.

Getting enough Int also is a slight problem with my tree compared to yours. Forgoing Elemental Overload and Witch AoE saves me a lot of points that i invested in wed, speed, accuracy and some lightning damage. It does require 1-2 int rolls on gear and 3p in my tree just for int/mana to max out Wrath/Herald though.

Point Blank is one last area of doubt for me. Of course, it seems a perfect fit for being inside your Orb and for Shrapnels Cone. However, i kited Abaxoth up and down a t6 Strand yesterday - trying to get back inside your orb is way too dangerous there, and i don't want to know how many extra coastal strolls we'd had to take would i have been Point Blank. How did things feel for you?, is PB worth the danger you put yourself in? Do you have any chance left to offscreen things when you do?
Hmm come to think of it, if i go there, how about Graceful Assault? I feel running a Silver Flask is too offensive for this build - but some onslaught sure would synergize nicely.

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Hope you had fun reading another approach to your build, and would love to hear some of your thoughts on the things we did differently!