[3.0] The Azure Knight (Flurry/Frost Blades/Multi-class/Budget/Crit/Life/Conversion) Shaper/Uber

Haii :3

I'm trying this build, still haven't done maps yet cuz I've been busy with side quests for extra passive points. My gear isn't great but i have all res. Capped and 5.9k hp so im fine for now. However i have few questions i'd like to ask you.

a) How on earth are you using Hatred, blasphemy + elemental weakness and Arctic armour? It's impossible to run these 2 auras and the curse at the same time (not even with enlighten lv 3) unless we take reserved mana nodes which we don't.

b) Why elemental weakness over frostbite?

c) What nodes should i take after following the sample you provided? I'm between melee phys. Dmg, attack speed or just more life (best choice i guess).

d) We have 3 curses (assassin's mark, elemental weakness and enfeeble) but we can't apply more than 2. So what's the point?

e) What would be the most safe curse setup for high endgame content and bosses, Enfeeble and Warlord's mark maybe? Btw, do you have to cast enfeeble and enduring cry manually?

Thanks in advance

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a) How on earth are you using Hatred, blasphemy + elemental weakness and Arctic armour? It's impossible to run these 2 auras and the curse at the same time (not even with enlighten lv 3) unless we take reserved mana nodes which we don't.

Perfect Form provides -100% mana reservation for Arctic Armour, letting you run it for free. If you don't have it, you can just run Hatred + Blasphemy.

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b) Why elemental weakness over frostbite?

Once you get quality on Elemental Weakness, it provides you with more damage then Frostbite. We also use Elemental Focus in our main attack skill, meaning that we can only chill with our secondary setups (Vortex/Arctic Armour).
Frostbite might be useful if you are using Hypothermia for easier coloring -> I need to update the guides at some point to let people know about this option, as it takes around 300 chromatics on average to get appropriate colors on a 6 link, and over 530 to get best colors on a 5 link (according to Vorici calculator).
Also, for abolute best efficiency, we can get Elemental Weakness on gloves as a corruption, allowing us to run either Herald of Ice or Herald of Fire for added dps.

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c) What nodes should i take after following the sample you provided? I'm between melee phys. Dmg, attack speed or just more life (best choice i guess).

Past level 90 or so? Depends sometimes on the build version, but if you are playing Occultist, Will of Blades and Sleight of Hand provide great dps boost if you have 4 spare points, if 3 points, then either Strong Arm or Aspect of the Lynx + Weapon Artistry.
Unless you feel like you need more life, then there are always multiple life nodes on the tree (I think 6k life pool is comfortable enough).

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d) We have 3 curses (assassin's mark, elemental weakness and enfeeble) but we can't apply more than 2. So what's the point?

I'm not using Assassin's Mark, only Weakness and Enfeeble. I think I might have mentioned in one paragraph that we could use 2 offensive curses instead of Weakness+Enfeeble, but that still leaves us with only 2 of them.

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e) What would be the most safe curse setup for high endgame content and bosses, Enfeeble and Warlord's mark maybe? Btw, do you have to cast enfeeble and enduring cry manually?

Enfeeble should be enough, you have to remember that top end game bosses (Guardians/Shaper) have 80% curse resistance, unlike normal map bosses (60%), meaning that curses aren't doing very much - they are helping, but they don't make as much difference. Enfeeble + Weakness is enough for the end game.

I prefer having Enfeeble in Cast when Damage Taken, it is quite reliable and will always work when you need it most. You can always self cast it if you prefer. Enduring Cry has to be cast manually, since warcries don't work with CwDT. Warlord's Mark has restricted use against bosses, since you need to kill trash to get the charges, and most of the time there won't be enough of them to keep your charges topped up.

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I must say it's fun to play although the dps is noticeably lower than in 2.6 (I rolled the necro scourge ci during 2week turmoil race).

Flask nerfs meant rouhgly 14% less dps and Abyssus nerfs another 14-16% less dps of that. Damage will be a bit lower, unfortunately. Altogether we are looking at around 25% less dps (I know that 14+14 =/= 25%, but that's how math works).

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btw. gloves are converting 50% of dmg and we get 40% from the tree but how about the remaining 10%? can we convert it or have I missed something and it's already 100%.

We just leave it at 90%, I don't think there is any reliable way of converting the remaining 10% tbh.

nice build !
which souls would you use ?

I think Lunaris and Gruthkul supplement this build well :)

Have you considered "15% reduced Hatred Mana Reservation" helm enchant?

From my hypothetical calculation (failed to get it in lab, thus my math may be wrong) with this enchant it should be possible to add Herald of Ash or Arctic Armour to Hatred + Blasphemied Curse setup on mana.

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Sarunastm wrote:

Have you considered "15% reduced Hatred Mana Reservation" helm enchant?

From my hypothetical calculation (failed to get it in lab, thus my math may be wrong) with this enchant it should be possible to add Herald of Ash or Arctic Armour to Hatred + Blasphemied Curse setup on mana.

It would be hard for me to list all available options for mana reservation, I know some people use a bit different setups (Herald of Ash and Ice with corrupted gloves, as one Necromancer plays for example), and since some of them rely on Uber lab enchants, I don't list them, but if you happen to have such a helmet then feel free to use it, guide is not written with the rule "you have to do absolutely what I say" :D Just like CwDT setups, I listed Immortal Call as an option but don't use it myself.

I'm having a lot of trouble reaching that kind of dps from the build. Is a good bit of that from Abyssus? My tooltip with the cold setup is only 3.5k at max

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SHMASHMORTIONIST wrote:

I'm having a lot of trouble reaching that kind of dps from the build. Is a good bit of that from Abyssus? My tooltip with the cold setup is only 3.5k at max

Abyssus adds a lot of damage to the build, roughly 60% more, so from 3.5k it would jump to 5.5k or so. In 2.6 my tooltip in hideout was around 9k with a golem and totem active, after abyssus and other nerfs it would be around 8k. You need to make your character public if you want more advise :)

Oh sorry lmao. It should be public now. I really like this build but even without abyssus I feel like I'm doing something really wrong

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SHMASHMORTIONIST wrote:

Oh sorry lmao. It should be public now. I really like this build but even without abyssus I feel like I'm doing something really wrong

Ok, lets start with a few things first:
- your level is only 78, as you level up your dps is going to grow as well. Your tree uses as much points as you would have at level 69, which further hurts your build. Either you have a lot of unspent points, or you haven't done any quests granting free skillpoints.
- Evasion/Life nodes are good, but I think getting 5% life around Scion life wheel is better then 4% life and evasion, so you could fill that wheel faster if you delay getting life/evasion nodes for later.
- you have grabbed Conduit node, but not the nodes behind it. I guess you want free Power charges for your party? Nothing wrong with that, but remember that is 3 points that you don't have for other passives.
- Apart from resists, one of your rings has literally no life (+5 life), the other one has good resists but no other damage mods.
- Dragon Ornament jewel has only 1 stat beneficial for this build, you need to replace it asap. There are plenty of 4 damage mod jewels that you can buy that are anywhere from 2-10c, quite cheap. Life on jewels dramatically pushes the price up, and you should have quite a few spare life nodes on the tree, so you might want to go full on offense with the jewels.
- Melee Physical is a superior gem to Added Cold, but I understand you are using it because of coloring troubles.
- You aren't using Hatred aura, I know that you probably use Grace since your life is low at the moment, but once you actually spend the spare points you have (or should have, you miss like 9 points) and get more life, you won't need added help of Grace aura. This will boost your tooltip and real dps by quite a bit.
- Get a Diamond flask. It lasts long, it provides great dps, seriously, just get it :)
- If you are currency starved, delay getting jewels - get other life/damage nodes instead. If you cannot afford a 4 damage stat or 2 damage + life jewels, don't unlock them.
- Finally, your gems are only level 18. Once you hit level 20, get quality on them, and level them up back to at least 17/20-19/20, your dps will increase again.