[3.10]Semi-Auto Self-Cast Volatile Dead, Tanky, Easy Awakener lvl8.
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For any questions regarding this build, please use this thread. If you see any mistake in the guide, please notify me about it. Also if you have any suggestions for improvement, feel free to post them here. Do not PM me, others may have same question. Read FAQ!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.10 Update Flask got nerfed. The build should be fine, since mana recovery from flask was relatively minor part of whole mana regen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Index
1. Intro 2. Pros/Cons 3. Videos 4. Mechanics 5. Gear + Gems 6. Passives 7. Leveling process 8. Possible upgrades. 9. CwC Cyclone 10. FAQ 1. Intro I started this build with an intention to use Poet's Pen all the way through. To try an relive, at least somewhat, the glory days of Zerphi's PP. But since 3.9 update my PC can't handle VD + Cascade and Desecrate + Cascade spam, when i really need it. Slide shows when metamorphs spawn mobs with allies can not die aura or proximity shields, opening legion and similar. So i decided to refurbish that build into this one. If you are interested in PP build, you can find it here. This is very synergistic build, which requires quite a bit of specific items and tree progression. But will reward you for sticking with it till endgame. 2. Pros/Cons Pros: - tanky. Can face tank at least 95% of the game with ease. - good clear. - uses a lot of synergies Cons: - to feel good, needs significant tree progression and with it higher level (at least 80) - strong gear requirements. Not SSF friendly. - without Corpse Pact rolling, roots the character in place for at least 1.3 sec, when VD is used. - boss dps is not top tier 3. Videos
Spoiler
Awakener level 8 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIrMHqp0XYY&t= Shaper - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdQvDPdxPg4 CwC showcase - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pbp7XT55_I 4. Mechanics
Defense
Both videos (Shaper and Awakener) highlight the tankieness of the build. - 63% Dodge, 50% Spell Dodge, 31% Block, 23% Spell Block - A LOT of regen - some evasion - Good HP pool through MoM, 8-9k, 50% MoM (if i could get more MoM, i totally would) Main defensive mechanic is the High Templar Venarius Militant Faith Timeless Jewel. This jewel transforms any Keystone in range into Agnostic (in this build Elemental Equilibrium). It does: "While not on Full Life, Sacrifice 20% of Mana per Second to Recover that much Life". Buy stacking mana, this build gets quite a bit of life regen. 50% of damage is transferred to mana. High mana regen + mana flask recover lost mana very fast. Life usually gets recovered so fast, that no life flask is needed. Mana regen comes from a lot of sources, this is main cause for gear and tree requirements.
Offense
I chose to use Volatile Dead as my main damage skill, because it is good with out full dps investment and synergies very good with necromancer ascendancy by constantly consuming corpses. By utilizing Scold's Bridle everything else is automated. Only at start of the fight 1 cast of Desecrate is needed. Most of the time VD balls from 1 pack will travel to the next and kill it and this dead pack can be used to summon more balls for the next pack and so on. This build could probably be done with other spells also, but how effective, i can not tell. 5. Gear + Gems Gear:
Necessary Gear
This staff gives very good mana boost, while providing good damage as well. Great mana and mana regen boost, extra 10% MoM, saves 1 point on the tree by not needing to allocate MoM keystone. Automates most of the stuff. Makes play self cast VD actually nice. Huge mana boost. Budget anoint is Dreamer notable. Increased mana recovery is the important mod here. Flask recovery rate is not needed. Enduring prefix is the important part. Suffix can be something else. Clarity jewel with extra MoM. Damage rolls or resist are a nice bonus. Need to be careful with those jewels, they can transform important Notables into something useless. But also may transform not used Notables into something very nice. Best slot for it is between Witch and Templar, right under MoM. Alternatively scion start slot can be used, i use it myself, since this jewel i have bricks Essence Extraction for me.
Great Gear to have
20% Dodge and Spell Dodge is amazing. Permanent Onslaught is very nice too. Socketed in Ranger area, this jewel provides nice mana boost and 10% movement speed for extra mobility. This item is not optainable in leagues anymore, only as legacy version. Split Personality unique jewel with mana and life roll is actually much better in that socket now.
Current Gear
Swap in for ele reflect maps, if i really need to run them. Also need to allocate MoM on tree for that. Awakener flasks. Gems(links in order of importance):
Spoiler
Volatile Dead - Spell Echo - Arcane Surge - Concentrated Effect Elemental Focus - Fire Penetration CwDT lvl 20 - Bone Offering - Curse of choice(Flammability, Elemental Weakness(if playing with poeple who use other elements), Enfeeble) CwDT lvl 1 - Unearth max lvl 8 - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Greater Volley CwDT lvl 1 - Desecrate max lvl 7 - Wave of Conviction max lvl 7 - Combustion Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Fortify Clarity, Vaal Righteous Fire, Desecrate, Herald of Ash. Optionally Aspect of the Spider from gear. If it is used, Clarity should be lvl 1 extra HP pool is more important, then gained mana regen. 6. Passives
Spoiler
PoB - https://pastebin.com/Cjzg10fZ PoB minimum base tree - https://pastebin.com/XMazHVLe Ascendancy in order of progression Plague Binder -> Corpse Pact -> Essence Glutton -> Mistress of Sacrifice(alternatively Commander of Darkness). Bdandits: Help Kraityn. Alternatively kill all. Pantheon: - Major: Solaris, 2nd upgrade, Capture Eater of Souls, very important. - Minor: Shakari, can be swapped for anything else, accept Ryslatha. 7. Leveling process Disclaimer: This is just a suggestion.
Spoiler
Tree Progression: 1. Straight to Elemental Overload. 2. Quick Recovery. 3. Straight to Heart of Flame. 4. Straight to Phase Acrobatics. 5. Fill up necessary life and mana nodes as shown in base PoB 6. Fill up rest of the nodes. Progression in PoB - https://pastebin.com/qMKVgjVH Gear and Gems: Acquire 2 Pot's Pen wands. Till lvl 12 anything goes to kill mobs. At lvl 10 Clarity(if no -mana cost items avalible) Flame Dash - Arcane Surge At lvl 12 Poet's Pen: Wand 1: Unearth - LMP - Combustion Wand 2: Volatile Dead - Added lighting - Combustion Barrage At lvl 16 Barrage replaced by Frenzy Herald of Ash Wand 1: Desecrate - Spell Cascade Wand 2: Volatile Dead - Spell Cascade - Combustion At lvl 18 Wand 2: Volatile Dead - Spell Cascade - Concentrated Effect Frenzy - Faster Attacks - Combustion - Culling Strike At lvl 24 Curse At lvl 68 Can swap to staff. 8. Possible upgrades.
Spoiler
The list is in order of Magnitude of upgrades. 1. Volatile Dead consumes up to 1 additional corpse helm enchantment. Huge DPS boost of 33% more. It ss very expensive. My enchant is 2nd best for DPS and gives only about 4.5% more DPS. Herald of Ash has reduced mana reservation is a good defensive enchant, if Aspect of the Spider is used. Can utilize full 50% MoM and have Clarity higher level. 2. A Agnostic jewel with 2 damage or 1 damage 1 resist mods, which doesn't brink any notables around the socket between witch and templar. 3. Replace Ruby Ring with Opal Ring, similar to what i have already. Requires resists from jewels, tree, and/or respec from Mistress of Sacrifice to Commander of Darkness. 3. Doeuble/Tripple Clarity Watcher's Eye for even more mana regen. 4. Flat cold damage when hit or ele pen if didn't killed recently boot enchant form eternal labyrinth. 5. Awakened Spell Echo, slight DPS boost. Not worth buying. 9. CwC Cyclone
Spoiler
I tried a version of this build using Cyclone Cast while Channeling and Doedre's Malevolence gloves. I liked it very much. Pros and cons compared to the original version. Pros: - better clear speed. - doing damage while moving. Very high DPS uptime. - On top of already very tanky build, can get away from dangerous skills when they are used and not get hit at all. - extra 11% block. If using Martyr of Innocence. - doesn't lock the character in place for long time. - better CwDT setups, due to only needing 1 Desecrate + Cascade setup for corpse generation. Cons: - harder to gear. Hard to cap resist due to loosing gloves as one of the sources. - requires one extra uniq. - significantly higher self damage. Very hard to run no/less regen maps, harder to tank(may die) Awakener "Die"-beam, etc. - significantly less paper dps. Compensates due to high dps uptime. - significantly less HP. Significant loss of mana from not using Pledge of Hands anymore. Important remarks. 1. I did not optimized my gear for this build. I needed to take Ash, Frost and Storm cluster and Militant Faith jewel with resists per 10 devotion to cap my resists. And use Militant Faith in sub optimal slot, because it changes Essence of Extraction. 2. Pledge of Hands is 34% less DPS and 709 unreserved mana compared to Marty of innocence for me. It is better to drop Aspect of the Spider or Herald of Ash, if more HP is desired. For me it would give about 1100 extra HP vs one shots. Stone Golem compensates somewhat the loss of life regen form loosing max mana. 3. Martyr of Innocence is very good, but a rare staff could be better. 4. It is possible to get good rare staff with 0 or very little DPS loss, have it 6L and craft "Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill". Then Armageddon Brand could be socketed in there for exta DPS. Must have gear. Pledge of Hands is no longer needed. Everything else stays the same. New additional must have item: My gear with gem setups.
Spoiler
Passives.
Spoiler
PoB - https://pastebin.com/vwdjC2Y2 Bandits: - Kraityn or kill all Pantheon: - Major: Solaris with Eater of Souls(no extra damage for crits) - Minor: Gruthkul or any other. 10. FAQ Nothing here yet. Last edited by 1337fun#2733 on Apr 15, 2020, 12:45:12 PM Last bumped on May 24, 2020, 10:51:11 AM
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Reserved
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Hello,
this build looks tanky from the videos. I was wonder why are you not using spell cascade support on volatile dead and desecrate. I kinda want to try this build but have a important question. have you ever tried using Doedre's Malevolence glove and use cyclone + cast while channeling in your volatile dead link. I want to know if your mana regent will be about to sustain that setup. |
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" Because you can not produce enough corpses per cast to have cascade running with pledge of hands. With this setup i need at least 12 corpses per cast, with cascade i would need 36 corpses. I did not tried that setup. |
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" I tried it now, and as expected, easy sustain. |
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The build feels really great when levelling, poets pens are still OP.
Hitting 68 though and switching to the staff, the damage and survivability is nice, but being locked in spot for the Echoes to trigger...it feels really awful. Switched to the cyclone build and it's good, but it's just another CwC cyclone build at that point and loses so much of the survivability that makes the build fun. Any suggestions to make either the Pledge version more reactive or the cyclone version more 'tough'? Character is 'Lolwhatever' with In stash to use the non-cyclone version. |
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" To make self cast feel better, need to change the staff. It's the only way, i can think of. Either use martyr or some nice rare staff. Soulwrest could also be a very interesting alternative, haven't tried that. Bonus for changing the staff, you don't need whole unearth setup anymore(same as with CwC). Desecrate + cascade is enough. To make cyclone more tanky, need gear and extra life regen. That's why i use stone golem, purifying flame(for consecrated ground) and life regen enchant on boots. The enchant is proced by scold's bridle, so it's always on. Rings with life, mana and mana regen. If you miss one of those stats, you feel it. But most importantly, you need level. Level gives you points, flat life and mana. When you reach 90+, you will feel the difference. When you reach that 4k life, is much much better. Basically every point of life you gain now is actually 2, since you have much more unreserved mana, then life and 50% MoM. And as a final note, dream fragments is shit, unless you really really need that anti freeze. Flat mana on rare ring will give you more and on top you get also life. |
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Work in progress, and yeah, it is fun haha. That's a fire slinger for sure and the mana concept is pretty cool. It is always nice to learn some mechanics so thanks. I totally was confused for a minute why I could equip DEX gear past my requirements, then I realized the mod on the Amulet. The Righteous fire is a sweet add. This build already looked good from the armor, without MTX Did you self craft your fire opal ring and belt? Last edited by EvilSlayer420#3396 on Feb 5, 2020, 1:08:35 PM
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" I bought both. Belt without aspect, crafted it myself. I was actually trying to craft elder base opal ring like that, to pair it with mark of the shaper, but no luck. |
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I will gladly try to craft such a beautiful ring. Market is scarce, I'm gonna try these, and possibly some Fire essence later down the road.
 Ok I failed but I did get a usable ring for now so far: 50 reso used ( 6 chaos per pop ) -got fairly decent mods just jambled, but especially not many fire % dmg - Essence of Anger ( Maxed ) -20 trys. Very spicey dps, but low defense on all rolls. Almost had one, might continue to buy them up at a low price slowly Last edited by EvilSlayer420#3396 on Feb 5, 2020, 1:11:25 PM
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