The Easiest of the Easy Beginner Build Guides [1.1 SotV UPDATED]

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BigG4mer wrote:

Any build containing 2 6 links should not have the right be be called "for beginner".
If it can't be bought from a vendor reliably, it's for intermidiate / advanced players.

I've had this comment quite a few times - It doesn't need two 6 links. I just list the supports out so people have an idea of what to use if they do progress into 5 links and 6 links later on. 4L frenzy and 4L LA is fine for progression and it's not too hard to trade for a 5Link for lightning arrow when moving into Merciless Act 3.

To use the support lists correctly for skills follow it like this:

Main Skill
- Second Link
- Third Link
- Fourth Link
- Fifth Link
- Sixth Link

As you add gear with X number of links proceed to add the relevant gems in order listed.

Any build that requires uniques, a 5 or 6 link or l20/q20 gems or even l20 gems that are not from quest rewards is not beginner friendly.

The best beginner build requires 4 links max und uses quest rewards for that specific class only.

The only thing that I find bearable is getting a quest gem from another class up to breaking the eggs on normal. This just takes some time running there.

That is why I like the races so much. One can learn a ton when reviewing the race strategies people use. Because every race is like a fresh start.


Full list of quest reward gems if one would do the first 3 quests on any char


Basically pick one or two of those skills (single target and aoe) and try to get them going.

If you can farm lvl67 library or lvl66 maps with that build it is fine. If you can farm Piety, even better.

So imo the best beginner build is one that can farm Merciless Piety while only using 4links with quest reward gems only.

Once you have that char established the currency and item income will support all your other chars.

Hehe, thanks a lot for answering and reading that wall of text. I didn't know that PPAD was introduced in patch 1.0.3 (so is younger than the last updated version of the guide).

This wasn't meant to be tutoring anyone, just thoughts I came up with when trying to min/max the build to my best of knowledge.

You are probably right about the points I questioned, I had my own version of the build in mind and I couldn't really afford spending those in favor of other nodes you didn't take (at least at 83 points spent) like 2 extra endurance charges and elemental adaptation. When calculating heavy draw a while ago, I was comparing it to the 5 points for aspect of the eagle and then 2 life nodes I think, those aren't anywhere near standard though. Heavy draw is ~7% phis dmg per node and 2,3% life. If taking one standard life node (8%) and a standard phys dmg/bow dmg node (12%) that would be 6% dmg and 4% life on average which i deem superior. However, there are no good and accessible points in your version of the build anymore so that argument is invalid. I think you took it before the aspect of the eagle cluster in your survival guide series, though don't quote me on that.

I indeed missed the last 12% node :>. Though I rather take additional damage reduction in the form of endurance charges and elemental adaptation that more life, since we have quite a bit increased life already.

I may be underestimating chaos Resistance.

As I said, I am facetanking most mobs if I'm able to (which i currently am) because im too lazy to kite and it's faster. Since I play softcore I don't really mind dying once in a while. That way I'm almost always at max endurance charges, as long as I fight packs since they get refreshed with each new enduring cry.

I guess most of this is personal taste, really, but I just wanted to share my ideas. Thanks a lot for the build and the survival guide since they improved my understanding of the game and I really like the build. No, this isn't my first build but my second, after screwing up my first char (witch with CI, the idea was to focus on burning damage and crit with fireball, I later added elemental proliferation and an arc totem with static blows for shock stacks. Once I crit, the dps is quite nice but I can't handle reflect and <2k ES with no physical mitigation is just way too low).

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zorker wrote:

Any build that requires uniques, a 5 or 6 link or l20/q20 gems or even l20 gems that are not from quest rewards is not beginner friendly.

The best beginner build requires 4 links max und uses quest rewards for that specific class only.

The only thing that I find bearable is getting a quest gem from another class up to breaking the eggs on normal. This just takes some time running there.

That is why I like the races so much. One can learn a ton when reviewing the race strategies people use. Because every race is like a fresh start.


Full list of quest reward gems if one would do the first 3 quests on any char

Spoiler

Animate Weapon 1
Bear Trap 4
Burning Arrow 3
Cleave 5
Cold Snap 3
Decoy Totem 4
Detonate Dead 5
Double Strike 4
Dual Strike 7
Ethereal Knives 2
Fire Trap 6
Fireball 3
Firestorm 3
Freezing Pulse 5
Glacial Hammer 3
Ground Slam 3
Heavy Strike 6
Ice Nova 5
Ice Shot 2
Ice Spear 2
Infernal Blow 3
Poison Arrow 5
Rain of Arrows 4
Raise Zombie 4
Reave 4
Shield Charge 5
Spark 5
Spectral Throw 1
Split Arrow 3
Storm Call 3
Summon Raging Spirit 2
Sweep 7
Viper Strike 4
Whirling Blades 2

Basically pick one or two of those skills (single target and aoe) and try to get them going.

If you can farm lvl67 library or lvl66 maps with that build it is fine. If you can farm Piety, even better.

So imo the best beginner build is one that can farm Merciless Piety while only using 4links with quest reward gems only.

Once you have that char established the currency and item income will support all your other chars.

I designed this build to require some trading as I think all beginners can and should trade - it's a big part of the game. Playing any sort of self found character is a much more advanced playstyle.

Trading is not very hard but people place a lot of fear on it and I've seen a lot of newer players become unreasonably afraid of even the simplest trading because of what other people say. Hopefully this guide also helps people overcome that (especially when coupled with me showing how I trade in the survival guide series).

I did go with something that would only require some basic trading, a couple skill and support gems and weapon upgrades. Learning to trade for such things is an essential skill!

That said, a self found character guide could be pretty cool to see! I like your work on the list. If playing self found I do think it's viable to go for Brutus or even merveil gems, it only takes 30-45 mins to run for them. So I'd include those in your list/guide.

Hey ziggy! Been watching some of the lets play for this build and just read the post, thinking of going with it in the new 4 month. Obviously it's all subject to change when the new 4 months start but just wondering if your going to be keeping this updated/ updating the videos for the corrupted changes? Keep up the awesome work man!

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ccrosleythorne wrote:

Hey ziggy! Been watching some of the lets play for this build and just read the post, thinking of going with it in the new 4 month. Obviously it's all subject to change when the new 4 months start but just wondering if your going to be keeping this updated/ updating the videos for the corrupted changes? Keep up the awesome work man!

Yeah, it might take me a week or two to get all my builds updated but I'll do my best!

A question about Static Blows cluster: can other types of damage (physical, fire) help to proc shock stacks?

I presume it isn't the case, so does it work if I get
1) A bow with added lightning damage
2) A conductive quiver or
3) Added lightning damage support gem (linked to Frenzy)
such that Frenzy can proc shock stacks on its own (and deal more single target DPS)?

Made it to Act 3 Merciless and now I'm starting to miss auras quite a bit. Interested to see an update to spec out of blood magic.

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blueblacklogcake wrote:

A question about Static Blows cluster: can other types of damage (physical, fire) help to proc shock stacks?

No. Although the wording of the node doesn't suggest that, you can only shock with lightning damage you deal. Where this comes from doesn't matter though, so yes, added lightning on Frenzy and lightning damage on gear helps with creating longer shocks (or creating them at all). Phys Damage does work too, but only indirectly through the damage conversion on lightning arrow.

Do you have a progression tree past 80 points for "HIGHER DAMAGE" LIGHTNING ARROW VARIANT also what's the reason for taking "RESOLUTE TECHNIQUE" I would think crit's would be quite important to DPS?

Also what white named items would you recommend picking up if any?

Cheers