[Archived] Archmage Hexblast | 4M+ Ignite DPS | Budget Options League Start to Endgame
" PoB is looking good. You can also use the Malevolence Watcher's eye and if you get the Enhance lvl 4 then the max doom will be 55 - resulting in 4.5M dps. The max block with Glancing Blows is just such a big change that it is hard for me to say how good it is without properly testing it. If you go this route, then I would also grab the mana on block modifier on the shield and if you actually try it out, let me know how it went! Wave of conviction adds fire exposure only when your arcane cloak is not up which sucks but I haven't found a way around it. It is not a problem for the armor version using Molten Shell. I was actually thinking of dropping wave of conviction completely and replacing it with something else - probably a quality of life change. The fire exposure is definitely not needed for the 10M+ dps version but it is nice to have for the earlier versions when your dps is not that high yet. The best alternative would probably be using Scorching ray linked to a spell totem support but totems tend to die quickly so I'm not sure how good it is. All other sources of fire exposure add only -10 fire res and that is usually not worth taking. |
|
|
thanks! totally forgot about that watchers eye, lol. i would probably go with 'unaffected by bleeding' malevolence jewel to begin with as the damage version is insanely expensive.
btw with the block version of this build, get an elder OR crusader shield - the '1% dmg per chance to block attack dmg' mod is insane, gave like 12% ignite dps and almost made up for removing wave of conviction. speaking of wave, not sure what to replace it with? cant think of anything good. only thing i saw was tempest shield so far but that doesnt really do much. i just tried using that vigilant strike and hoooo boy does it suck to use lol. ur pretty much required to have a vigil jewel to make it work. unfortuantely the generals cry setup with vigilant strike isnt possible in the block version due to lack of gem slots. as you get a 35 second fortiy it isnt too bad, but definitely an annoyance. so i would have to swap out one of the life/mana jewels for a vigil, or use the next couple passives to get the jewel slot for it. Last edited by rozakk#4688 on Mar 29, 2021, 6:22:22 PM
|
|
|
i'm puttin together this block version soon. need to see how viable it is before i actually try a league start on it. are you interested in selling a good weapon for this build? or any other gears for it if so please let me know.
im going to forego wave of conviction and blind support, move storm brand to the main hand, so can just clear out the helmet slot this way. generals cry unfortunately doesnt work well because the bone offering eats the corpses. just personal preference but i think ill put a fortify setup there with cyclone/cull/fortify/enduring cry , and toss the vigil back outta the tree. or may consider shield charge too. it'll be annoying to have to fortify so often but atleast cyclone gives u some mobility Last edited by rozakk#4688 on Mar 29, 2021, 10:37:29 PM
|
|
|
hey just an update - wanted to share with you the max block version i just put together at end of league -
https://pastebin.com/xeNnqUbd i've got it clocking in at 3mil sirus ignite dps assuming 50 doom (i cant hit 55, dont have +2 support on shield) this took me around 50 ex. 10 ex of that was a corrupted blood intuitive leap that was totally unnecessary lol but i already had the watchers eye sittin around so thats normally 10ex, so that balances out. keep in mind most of that price was the jewels + gems. also me being impatient and not caring about overpaying to make the build work just to save time (for example, that belt i think i paid 6ex for? which is totally ridiculous) i'd say in an early league scenario and harvest craftable weapon (non influenced so is no prob) the build in that pob is considerably doable for 10-15 ex, minus the watchers eye. i also got sort of meh large jewels because i needed resists and had to go with prismatic heart instead of cremator to reach resist caps. if i had more time i could maybe fix resists better but then again maybe not, this build uses a lot of uniques without any resists. in that case, the prismatic heart nodes carry some serious weight in fixing resists and i highly recommend just that and nothing else on the clusters. As you can see i went with some ridiculous megalomaniacs that were way too cheap ( i think 0.5 - 1ex each) as its end of league but not realistic for an early league scenario. so the +max res nodes on those megalomaniacs i wouldnt expect that early on lol. even though this isnt a molten shell version i decided to still go with stubborn students on the megalomaniacs also, as getting the phys dmg reduction higher still feels pretty good even if its sorta fake as its from armor. i also use enduring cry in this build on bosses which helps. in a league start scenario, i would probably just try to get some life small clusters or medium clusters with fire dot depending on dps situation. having said that, so far ive only done a phoenix on it. dps felt..lacking . this probably has a lot to do with me mis-playing so as i toy around with it i'll see how it goes. Overall, this max block version with bone offering seems incredibly tanky, i highly suggest you try it out yourself and see how it goes. My pob is clocking in near 3mil dps but it feels more like 1-2mil which is probably something im doin wrong. i could definitely use a better weapon still lol its been hard to find one so far but will see how it goes. im looking forward to eating sirus beams and seeing what happens. I'd say another 100-200 life would help the build in a huge way. this should be very attainable as my shield is trash and has no life but will see how a few more bosses feel. if i am getting one shot a lot will try and get my life up edit - shaper down very easy. will be abit till i do harder bosses tho Last edited by rozakk#4688 on Apr 1, 2021, 1:55:43 AM
|
|
" To answer your previous question, I will try to replace Wave of conviction with Scorching ray + spell totem support + multiple totems. I will drop arcanist brand and second wind so my dash link will be Flame dash + Storm brand + faster casting + blind. This should be a reliable way how to apply fire exposure assuming you keep re-placing your totems frequently. You have 4 totems thanks to the ascendancy so that is nice too. Also, I'm not sure if you have seen it, but I have sent you a PM. I can give you one of my endgame weapons if you want to test stuff now. I don't play much now, but I can log in pretty much whenever after 13:00 CET so just tell me the time you will be online and your character name. Your gear in the PoB seems pretty good - except the weapon as you have said and the +2 level on the shield would also help. If you think that you do less dps than you should then it is most likely because you don't use hexblast on max doom (I'm just assuming, it is hard to tell with no video or sth like that). To fix that, you could try using Doomsday and then max doom will be obvious since the circles on the ground "pop". Otherwise, you just really need to do your rotation right. It can be hard to tell since doom is an invisible stat so you need to rely on your timing. You have only one doom gain rate passive meaning that your doom gain rate is 15 doom per second so after casting Flammability, you need to wait over 3 seconds (4 to be sure) to reach your max doom (50 doom) - that should not be an issue as it corresponds with your ignite duration. So the rotation is as follows: Flammability > wait 4 seconds > Hexblast > immediately after it, re-apply Flammability > wait 4 seconds > etc.... Other than this, there might be a problem with the build idea itself. It might simply be too much to try going for max block AND armor stacking. You should probably choose one and go with it - otherwise the dps will be lacking. This would free up passive skill points and it might not solve only your dps but also the resistances. I got a lot of resistances and dps from rare jewels for instance. You might also not go for large clusters but 2 medium + 2 rare jewels or 2 small clusters. I don't want to try out any big change like this right now, because I want to come fresh to the next league and play a lot then. Testing a big change like this properly would require a lot of time (buying all the items, killing all the bosses etc...) |
|
|
Thanks yea ive been mostly offline but will try to find you, a good weapon would be a huge dps boost from my calcs. i think you're right, the armor nodes arent the way to go here, its not enuf armor to make a diff on the type of phys hits that kill me. i'll see what mix of clusters i can do to maximize deeps. i really want to drop arcane guarding for a better anoint like command of steel too (12% dps boost) so i am going to see if i can flesh out block+ add dps in clusters instead of the armor. will edit this post once i worked it out.
I've decided i probably wont league start on this build, i just cant get over the need of so many uniques from agnostic mom based builds, and as they are gaining in popularity the league start price of stuff like cloak, atziris, essence worm is just goin thru the roof. also this build has the disadvantage (i think?) of not being able to do several map mods like hexproof,, avoid elemental ailments, no regen, probably no reflect too. however i'll probably do some spellslingerey thing that'll be cheap and get me to red maps and maybe transition to this once ive accumulated a big map pool and doing my first sirus, as i think this will be a great build to boss on early league |
|
|
thanks for the weapon man!
so with your help and by giving up on trying to build armor, got pob dps up significantly. have yet to play on this version but will soon. i expect the 60% dps increase should be noticeable https://pastebin.com/DCYETLyn Last edited by rozakk#4688 on Apr 1, 2021, 9:39:22 PM
|
|
" Looking good. I hope you'll have fun with the build in the future! |
|
|
https://pastebin.com/pG6KVsRM
thought i was done here lol but i found one more optimization that i felt was worth sharing. see above pob. thanks to your feedback, you made a good point i didnt have much doom gain rate. i decided it made more sense to allocate whispers of doom, and instead travel to command of steel - 12% dps node in a max block setup, plus u get dex on the travel which is actually super needed in this build. i was determined to get over that 5 mil dps hump and i finally managed it, all while sitting at 74% spell block 75% attk block. Whether this is worth losing ~5mil dps for a similar level of investment is still to be determined. regardless, i think im done as far as the pob optimization. any minor changes from here will just be gear upgrades, or tweaking small passives like life/mana depending on whether i can fix resists. as before, a shield with life would be a huge tankiness boost but the +12% dps that the elder affix gives just isnt worth losing in this version. shaper guardians with ~80 iq down deathless just now, and i must emphasize how bad i am at this build, ive played it literally less than 30 mins so far lol. so if there was a questiona bout its tankiness, i think its resolved now EDIT - welp, a9 sirus down deathless (i tanked a triple DIE beam btw), plus had an awakeners orb and an awakened GMP drop which just paid for the entire build lol Last edited by rozakk#4688 on Apr 2, 2021, 7:17:04 PM
|
|
|
"- active playstyle, it is not a brain-dead one-button build"
That's very much a pro. If there is something that quickly kills a game it's brainless one-button builds. |
|
