[3.6] Critical Ball Lightning Dual Shimmeron Trickster [SC]

Hello guys,

In the Bretayal league I tested two builds: Ball Lightning and Shrapnel/Lightning Arrow. With Ball Lightning I really liked the results, I was afraid, I had never played with this skill (but I always wanted) and there are practically no builds with it in the forum for Shadow, but I relied on simulated numbers in PoB and played.

Actually, I do not know what the damage caused by the build is because it is highly complex to calculate BL (Ball Lightning) damage, but it destroys enemies very quickly. It is a build, at first, to have fun, because BL is a very smooth and cool skill to play, so be warned. ;P

I intend to play with this build again in the 3.6, even more in the expectation of GGG giving an improvement on certain skills (I hope Ball Lightning is included) and self cast in general.

Why use BL instead Arc? Because that I like of BL. ;)

Goal with this build:
- Very easy to play. Good league starter (with alternative wands/daggers).
- AoE enough to have a reasonable area of damage, more damage (?) and QoL.
- The basic defensive set based on Trickster + MoM + Weave the Arcane.

Pros:
- Easy to play;
- Cheap;
- Hit enemies behind things before to be attacked;
- 360 degree protection when casting;
- Funny.

Cons:
- Degen can kill you if you're not careful or make you completely no mana combined with hits taken;
- Not recommended for hardcore because the amount of life is low, even with MoM. Around 4.3k life (full set) or 5.9k EHP at level 92 due to the fact that it will use many unique items with no life (at least 4).
- Cannot run maps with no regen, no leech, stuff like that.
- The balls cause a lot of hits, this can be a problem from time to time on computers with less resources.

Ascendancy
Trickster:

1 - Weave the Arcane > 2 - Patiente Reaper > 3 - Swift Killer > 4 - Harness the Void

Why Patiente Reaper? To increase your life leech. With 1 abyssal jewel with flat fire damage added to spells is enough to gain this bonus.

Mecanics explained
Instead of using LMP or GMP because it reduce the damage done and do not give any advantage (shotgun effect rip for a long time), we will accumulate the maximum of IAoE, This is enough to clean packs of monsters.

Although AoE does not increase tooltip damage, this is a modifier that can be considered a "more". With more AoE, the balls deal damage longer, as they touch the farthest enemies and even if they go farther, until the very last moment they are dealing damage while the enemies are within their area of damage.

So theoretically, if Ball Lightning hits an enemy at a standard value of 22 units around it, that value may eventually increase by at least 50% on how much was invested in AoE. Just so you have notion, with enough AoE you do not have to worry about targeting the spell on your rear, any enemy that gets too close to you the moment you are casting Ball Lightning it is destroyed in the distance.

For those who are not understanding, this drawing shows best how it works, with 50% more damage at the "entrance" and 50% more damage at the "exit":



About Shimmerion degen, you'll have 2 Shimmerion and 4 power charges (Swift Killer), then will have 400 * 4 = 1600 degen per second. With 75% lightning res it drop to 400 life degen per second. Do you'll have 3,8% of regeneration on the tree, with life leech and Patiente Reaper and 30% this degeneration taken on mana (MoM) with clarity max level this degeneration not is a problem (at least softcore :P), we are taking some points of increased damage on the tree for put in life regen, as it pays to do this.

Pantheon
Major god: Soul of Solaris
Minor God: Tukohama

Leveling Guide
DAMAGE

As we have already said, simulating BL damage is very difficult. But considering that o PoB show the hit damage for each ball, probably not considering that the beams are repeated every 150 ms, consider that each ball hits the enemies for at least 1 second. 1000 ms/150 ms = 6,6 times for second.
6,6 times * hit damage = damage
Damage * cast per second = damage per second

Maybe 740K dps? If the balls hit the enemies for at least 2 seconds? 1.48 kk dps?


As I said, I am doing a very simple calculation that, as I said, disregards for example AoE damage that can be considered a "more". If you want to consider this an addition to the damage, add 50% more (I think this value is realistic) to the damage.

Passive Tree
- With MoM no Acrobatics (highest damage)
Level 92

To full tree take the jewels nodes.

Path of Building for simulations

- With MoM and Acrobatics:
Level 92

To full tree take the jewels nodes

Path of Building for simulations

- With MoM, Acrobatics and Eldritch Battery
Level 92

To full tree take the jewels nodes.

Path of Building for simulations

- Theoretical hardcore version:
Level 92

To full tree take the jewels nodes

Path of Building for simulations

- Theoretical CI version with 1 Shimmeron: (probably a shit build)
Level 92

To full tree take the jewels nodes and Throatseeker cluster

Path of Building for simulations

You maybe want to play with Ball Lightning, but not with Shimmeron, so just choice the tree of your preference, remove the points invested in life regeneration and use on damage nodes and put the gear that you prefer (unique/rare wands/daggers/scepters with or no shields).

Unique items
Main itens (must have):
Shimmeron: initially you can use only 1, but as soon as you can use 2. Shimmeron is currently a cheap item but will only start appearing in new leagues after a while. Until then you can alternatively use Divinarius + Heartbreaker, dual Eclipse/Corona Solaris (its critical chance is global) or good rare items.


If corrupted with "5-7 chance to gain a power charge on critical strike", is better. The price of Shimmerion with this corruption will vary, I bought mine for 5 chaos, but had 1 exalted prices. This is not mandatory (you have Swift Killer in merciless lab), but it helps a lot, BL will cause so many critical hits that you will have perma power charges as if using Assassin's passive notable Unstable Infusion.

Call of the Brotherhood: initially you can use only one, until optionally you can use only one if you want. But with two you greatly increase damage, in addition to Frost Bomb helps greatly increase your damage. The regeneration of mana provided by this item is a great help in keeping your mana regen high.


Carcass Jack: item devalued, but with increase in the area of effect is excellent. Remember, although the tooltips do not consider AoE a damage, the proper features of the BL make it a multiplier (more) damage. Area of damage don't work with BL, then ignore this mod.


Optional, but can be useful:
Mark of Submission or Elder's ring with Warlord's Mark on hit: This option is for those who do not want or are not yet using dual Call of the Brotherhood. With dual Call of the Brotherhood you can use Warlord's Mark manually or other curse of your preference against bosses.


Doryani's Invitation: if you're using dual Call of the Brotherhood, you've use this for gain life leech.


Optional:
Voidbringer: critical chance to spells and helps do proc level 14 Arcane Surge in each cast.


Maligaro's Virtuosity: global critical chance and critical multiplier. If you want to have few concerns about degeneration affecting your mana pool, you should use this item. With this you can proc level 14 Arcane Surge every 2 cast. The damage, compared to Voidbringer, is slightly less.


Ylfeban's Trickery: flat damage and shocked ground (15% more damage). A rare helmet can be used instead, Shaped (flat lightning damage to spells), Elder (flat fire damage to spells - dispensing the use of abyssal jewel with flat fire damage to spells for procs Patiente Reaper) or Helmet Delve mods (-9 cold resistance).


Rare items
Life, resistance and, if possible, life regeneration in percentage %. Mana regeneration is plus. If you can craft/get some interesting mod in items like Talisman, Shaped, Elder, Delve, Essence, Veiled, etc, so do. Example:


Jewels
Use at least 1 abyssal jewel with flat fire damage to spell to procs your Patiente Reaper (more life leech/regeneration). Prioritize Lightning damage whenever you can, as conversion to cold will do more damage to your build.

Bandits
Help Alira.

Links
5L: Ball Lightning + Increased AoE + Spell Echo + Hypothermia (using Call of the Brotherhood) + Slower projectiles
6L: + Arcane Surge level 14

Other Skills
4L: Lightning Warp + Faster Casting + Less Duration + Swift Affliction.
4L: CwdT (Level 1) + Immortal Call (Level 3) + Frost Bomb (level 10) + Increased Duration (max level, if possible q20%)
4L: Fire Golem, Minion Life, Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance Support + Blind
3L: Clarity max level, Vaal Lightning Trap (against bosses) + Increased Duration
3L: Warlord's Mark or other curse (Projectile/Elemental Weakness) + Vaal Impurity of Ice (nearby enemies' cold resistance is ignored by hits) + Increased Duration

Flask
You can have at least a Diamond Flask and Atziri's Promisse to gain higher damage against bosses. If you want, The Wise Oak. Do you dont need Quicksilver Flask, use your Lightning Warp to move quickly.

Hello


How far have you pushed the build?

Have you done any guardians / elder guardians?
Uber atziri?
Shaper?
normal/ yellow / red tier elder or even uber elder?


Do you have any video clips of those boss fights, i you have done any just yet :) ?

"

hyyyben wrote:

Hello


How far have you pushed the build?

Have you done any guardians / elder guardians?
Uber atziri?
Shaper?
normal/ yellow / red tier elder or even uber elder?


Do you have any video clips of those boss fights, i you have done any just yet :) ?

Hello. As far as I tested (level 90) this build worked well. I do not give guarantees that it will work well with end-of-game content, since I have not tested enough, the most I did was tier 12 map.

The reason is simple, with my other character I started farming Syndicate to accumulate currency and pay pure breachs runs to achieve level 100. I continue to farm today and I will farm until the end of the league to open as many veileds as possible and buy items for myself upload my grandmaster, which has not been done until today.

In the next league, yes, I will play with it again because I liked the style and then test the end-game content.

Heeeyyyy... come 3.6 patch. :D

Well, small buffs to Ball Lightning:

Ball Lightning
- Mana Cost at gem level 1 is now 13 (was 14).
- Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 25 (was 27).
- Now has a cast time of 0.75 seconds (from 0.8).
- Now deals 3 to 48 Lightning damage at gem level 1 (from 2 to 35) and 22 to 426 Lightning damage at gem level 20 (from 22 to 420).
- Now has an added damage effectiveness of 40% (from 35%).

And buff to Arcane Surge:

Arcane Surge Support
- Now causes supported skills to deal 10% more Spell Damage while you have Arcane Surge at gem level 1, up to 19% more at gem level 20. This is separate to the spell damage multiplier granted by the Arcane Surge buff itself.
- Now has a Mana Multiplier of 130% (from 110%).

For now it is not possible to know if it is worth it or not to use the new support gems, in theory it has to be worth it. For example, it's only worth removing hypothermia for the new supports if it actually gives you any further advantage in terms of damage and/or usability.

Because the gem slots that I see possibility of exchange in this build is hypothermia, arcane surge and (if worth much) slower projectiles.

With the addition of leech ES in the tree, I see the possibility of having the option Eldritch Battery or CI with block chance in the tree, the night I update the topic with these options. :)

Updated with eldritch battery and CI version, if it will work, I do not guarantee. :)

About the new support gems, it's still not clear to me if they're really good, I'll test in practice and put my impressions here.

Could you update skill tree please? :3

This build looks so amazing bro :3
Will give it try on Synthesis :)

I'm trying a Crit ball lightning Trickster as well. Entirely different build, but the skill links should remain the same. I'm going to refrain from using the new gems. Intensity only works if you stand still. We do not benefit from Area of Effect damage.. so no use there. Only the area of effect is nice, but I don't see it viable enough to get enough extra hits in that it should beat a different gem.

The unleash gem is viable for boss fights perhaps where you are constantly moving to find that opening. But for normal mapping I will only swap out Multiple projectiles for slower projectile (boss).

I also choose to use a bigger Arcane Surge most likely as a 6-link will give a 100 mana cost. It's quite easy to use up 400 mana this way. At least every 4 seconds I reckon? Can even pre-cast on bosses to activate it early.

"

jswietys wrote:

Could you update skill tree please? :3

This build looks so amazing bro :3
Will give it try on Synthesis :)

Hi the links are updated. But this links will work only apps with 3.6 tree, like Path of Building until the lauch this new expansion.

"

TotemLols wrote:

I'm trying a Crit ball lightning Trickster as well. Entirely different build, but the skill links should remain the same. I'm going to refrain from using the new gems. Intensity only works if you stand still. We do not benefit from Area of Effect damage.. so no use there. Only the area of effect is nice, but I don't see it viable enough to get enough extra hits in that it should beat a different gem.

The unleash gem is viable for boss fights perhaps where you are constantly moving to find that opening. But for normal mapping I will only swap out Multiple projectiles for slower projectile (boss).

I also choose to use a bigger Arcane Surge most likely as a 6-link will give a 100 mana cost. It's quite easy to use up 400 mana this way. At least every 4 seconds I reckon? Can even pre-cast on bosses to activate it early.

Yes Intensity is out of the question. About Unleash, from what I could read it will depend on the cast speed amont you have, less cast speed seems to work best. In fact, it looks like it's going to be very useful against bosses, but I ended up testing this build at the end of the Bretayal league on some red maps (t14 and t15) and killed the bosses very fast, I suspect it was causing close to 1 million DPS. At first I will keep the original settings of this, but I can change as I play. I'm going to play with this build again. :)