[2.5] CI Witch Scorching Ray CWC Whispering Ice - Version 2.0 Released - Now with more damage!

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Mathoddie wrote:

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AceLegend90 wrote:

Hi, I was wondering why Scorching Ray isn't 4-Linked with CWC + Controlled Destruction + Elemental Focus. Brings the mana cost up to 24, still manageable, but SR gets a huge buff in damage at next to no cost for the Icestorm (took out Fire Pen).

There are a few reasons why this isn't the optimal choice:

The math part

Scorching Ray DPS = 5000
Icestorm avg. damage = 10.000 (just to make it easier)
Critical strike chance = 10 %
Our fire penetration = 30 % (mastermind + 5 % skill tree) 54 % (with scorching ray fully stacked)
Our targets Fire Resistance:
1) 0 %
2) 50 %
3) 75 %

Controlled destruction = 45 % more modifier (level 21)
Fire penetration = 38 % (level 21)

1) 0 % resistance (mostly white trash mobs)

Controlled destruction puts us at 14.500 avg dmg
10.000*1.45 = 14.500

With 30 % Fire pen (schorching ray wont stack up on white trash)
14.500*1.3 = 18.850

With fire Penetration we have 68 % fire pen (92 % with scorching ray)
10.000*1.68 = 16.800 damage

Controlled destruction wins

2) 50 % fire resistance (bosses/rares and such/map mod buffs)

Controlled destruction:
We have 30 % fire pen with CD, so the mob still has 20 %, so we do 80 % of our damage:
14.500*0.8 = 11.600 damage

Fire penetration:
We have 68 % fire pen, so the mob has -18 %
10.000*1.18 = 11.800 damage

Fire pen wins

3) 75 % fire resistance (Buffed bosses/map mod buffs etc. We can probably stack scorching ray here)

Controlled destruction:
54 % Pen with Ray still leaves the mob at 21 % resists.
14.500*0.79 = 11.455 Damage
Without Ray the mob has 45 % resist
14.500*0.55 = 7975 Damage

Fire pen:
After 92 % pen the mob has -17 %
10.000*1.17 = 11.700 damage
Without ray the mob has 7 % resist
10.000*0.93 = 9300 Damage

Fire pen wins

Other Reasons
The numbers are small in difference (except the last part without ray) but controlled destruction also halfs our crit chance, giving us less elemental overload (40 % more modifier) which is a major damage boost. And we get a higher mana cost, that might be managable, but still higher.

Thanks for such a thoughtful and detailed response! I see why Fire Pen is more useful in lots of cases, but is the damage gained from having a 4-Linked Scorching Ray not offset this? I see the benefit in having lower mana cost and higher crit though.

Hi, I was wondering which gems were not worth getting 20% qualities for? Doing it for Controlled Destruction, Concentrated Effect, etc. seems obvious enough but I'm unsure about Scorching Ray and some others.

Also just got the Avoid Being Stunned if You've Killed Recently boot enchant, but its from Cruel Lab so should I just stick with this enchant or try for the Uber lab version? Thanks.

did merc lab at 62 lvl without cwdt setup, wow. pretty much face tanked izaro, thanks to flasks

I'm really enjoying this build!

I changed around a few gems to experiment a little. My chest piece is currently set up with Curse On Hit - Warlords mark - Enfeeble - Increased Duration - Herald Of Thunder.

What do you think about using herald instead of Blasphemy to spread curses? It seems to me that my Heralds lightning bolt effect is up 90% of the time and stays active between packs. It also seems to have a larger AoE than blasphemy, but I could be wrong.

I proc Heralds every 6 seconds from Shaper of Desolation, plus I replaced the blasphemy - warlords slots in my boots with Cast on Damage - ball lightning just in case (and because I haven't decided what else to put in them :P)

EDIT : I've switched back to Blasphemy. Was just a pain having to gem swap for boss fights. I love Herald of Thunder so I had to give it a shot :/

Thanks for the great guide! I'm level 86 at the moment. Here is my gear currently. Any suggestions? I know my flasks are all fucked, going to take care of that soon :P Currently I have 9,600 ES and my buffed Icestorm tooltip DPS is listed at 3k. I'm having some mana issues while Arctic Armour is up, and I usually have it off. When it is active I have about 65 mana left. I can only sustain my Scorching ray channel for about 8 seconds, and when ranged enemies are hitting me out of range from my blasphemy AoE my casts begin to stutter.

Hit level 78 and can easily clear tier 11-12 maps, didn't try 13 maps yet.

I still strongly suggest using controlled destruction rather than elemental focus till higher levels (60-70) because SR's burn damage is material and it looks cool af on white trash :).

Also I recommend using "perandus signet" for leveling (%2 experience) and high dps for lower levels.

Recommendation on my gear will be highly appreciated. I'll replace "perandus blazon" with a crystal belt on lvl 79.

your Unwavering stance setup uses a Jade flask, why?

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Haddoq wrote:

your Unwavering stance setup uses a Jade flask, why?

That is my bad, that should've been a basalt flask with remove bleed, gonna update it later.

Hi! First huge thanks to Mathoddie for this super great build! I just want to get help regarding the fertile mind jewel: When I put a fertile mind jewel in the right side of the shadow tree beside the blood drinker and mind drinker nodes, I only get a +28 increase on my int. I have 1028 int and when I put a +24 implicit fertile mind, my int only increases to 1056. Is this a bug or something? When I hover on the dex passives they are already transformed to int. Plz Help

Having a blast playing this build thanks to you Mathoddie, very well thought out, solid and above all fun!

Been clearing things at my own (slow) pace and improving gear as possible, but since the essential requisites for the build aren't that over the top in currency we can actually get things going pretty smooth right away and then be able to start improving specific parts with the more expensive stuff.

Was having some difficulties in some of the Breaches, but i got lucky with the 65% stun enchant on boots which has helped a lot.

Another thing i started using that has been working pretty well is an old option i had previously tried in an incinerator build which consists of using Lightning Warp in a CWDT setup (Using it with the cwdt/IC/Inc Dur).
This allows us to be allways casting (and leeching) while also moving us of harms ways here and there giving time to leech back.

I've replaced Vaal lightning trap in this setup which ends up using lightning damage as well.

Sadly this won't work in every situation and won't be to everyone's liking for sure. In Lab runs for example it's definitively too risky to use, and will annoy more that actually help out. While in Atziri it worked wonders against the mid trio and didn't feel of any use against Atziri herself.

It's a valid option though (no idea if of any value for higher content)


Thanks again and have fun all o/

What would be a good build that synergises with this one? I imagine something else that does a lot of fire damage would be good with scorching ray.