[3.17] Energy Blade Lightning Strike Berserker
|
Hello and welcome to my Energy Blade Berserker guide using Vaal Lightning Strike!
With Scourge not going core we are losing the -lightning resist modifiers from that, but in the video guide version of this build I was not using any scourged items anyway so the build still works very well without them, this only impacts the high end gear version of the build. Speaking of high end version, the addition of the new jewel Melding of the Flesh is absolutely insane for this build, but I reckon it will be quite expensive but if you can get it, that will more than compensate for losing Scourge mods. Energy Blade is a new skill that removes your old weapon and replaces it with a new one that has flat lightning damage based on your energy shield, and also removes 50% of your energy shield. So its just basically a buff skill that gives you a weapon, not a main skill to deal damage, for that we are using Lightning Strike but you could slot in any melee skill if you wanted to, like Blade Flurry or Static Strike. But I think Lightning Strike works the best since it has really good clear and single target aswell, especially with Vaal Lightning Strike. And with Energy Blade being 100% lightning damage, I decided to use Doryani's Prototype to negate enemy lightning resistance. So this build avoids getting any lightning resistance, and stacks a lot of armour to mitigate lightning damage instead. This build can reach millions of DPS and tank shaper slams and is one of my favorite builds that I've ever played and can do pretty much all endgame bosses and still have great clear speed on a medium budget. Although what you consider to be low, medium or high budget will probably differ from person to person. I've personally spent around 15-20 ex on my character, with about 10 ex of that being on the Bottled Faith flask which is by no means needed for the build. If you like playing melee and want to try out the new Energy Blades, I think you will enjoy this build! Path Of Building https://pastebin.com/9N7cF12v 3.17 Video Guide https://youtu.be/rMuFh0zBbTQ Uniques
Spoiler
All these uniques are pretty much mandatory for the build to work effectively with Energy Blade. Doryani's Prototype requires your lightning resist to be as low as possible, so avoid lightning res and all res like the plague. Aegis Aurora is what lets us sustain energy shield, and Crown of the Inward Eye gives a huge boost to life and ES. Choir of the Storm lowers your lightning res to make Doryani's Prototype more effective.
Rares
Spoiler
On rare items you want attributes for your gear, life, Energy Shield and Fire + Cold res to cap your restistances. You also want a shaper ring with Assassins mark to apply your curse. Having a -mana craft on one of your rings is nice to be able to max rank your precision but not needed if you don't mind keeping it on low level
In 3.17 they have removed assassins mark on hit rings, so I suggest you use an unset ring instead and put flame dash in there, and replace leap slam+faster attacks with Assassin's mark + the new Mark on hit support. Jewels
Spoiler
Glorious Vanity with Doryani gives us corrupted soul which is a huge boost to ES, and for Watcher's Eye you want a precision damage mod with either phys taken as Cold or Fire with purity of fire/ice and use your purity accordingly
Flasks
Spoiler
Bottled Faith is a big damage boost but can be replaced with a diamond flask if you're on a budget. Try to get some ailment immunities on your flasks, and atleast bleed immunity on one of them. There's a lot of options for ailment immunity in this patch between flasks, pantheons and crafts on jewelry, so find what works best for you in different situations, dont be afraid to switch around flasks and pantheons depending on what content you are doing.
Gem Links
Spoiler
The only support gem used for Energy Blade is Enhance to give it more quality, which gives the Energy Blade more critical strike chance. I'm using Purity of Ice because I have a Watcher's Eye that gives 10% of Physical Damage taken as Cold Damage while affected by Purity of Ice, but you could also get one with Purity of Fire instead and use that. Determination and Defiance Banner gives us a lot of armour which is what mitigates our lightning damage (and phys) taken thanks to Doryanis' Prototype, and also replenishes ES thanks to Aegis Aurora
In 3.17 they have removed assassins mark on hit rings, so I suggest you use an unset ring instead and put flame dash in there, and replace leap slam+faster attacks with Assassin's mark + the new Mark on hit support. Passive Tree Kill all bandits Use Soul of the Brine King for freeze immunity and stun/chill mitigation for your major power. Switch your minor power around depending on what content you are doing, I like soul of abberath or yugul for general mapping. See the PoB for leveling trees. I recommend using Splitting Steel early on, with Onslaught and Chance to Bleed support. Then using Lightning Strike with Elemental Damage with Attacks, Faster Attacks and Added Lightning Damage support. Use herald of thunder, war banner and precision as auras during leveling, and blood rage to get frenzy charges until you get Disciple of the Slaughter from Thread of Hope. Take Flawless Savagery as your first ascendancy node, then Crave The Slaughter, then Blitz and Rite of Ruin lastly. You can help Alira at first but you should change to kill all once you get Doryani's Prototype. More leveling notes and gem links are in the PoB, aswell as a tree and some notes for if you want to play this build, but dont have access to the required gear yet. In which case you can use Rebuke of the Vaal with a Trinity setup, Hyaon's Fury or a rare foil before you have enough energy shield to use Energy Blade effectively. You want about 3k ES and Doryani's Prototype before switching to Energy Blade in the endgame. Last edited by Frost666#2593 on Jan 21, 2023, 8:58:05 AM Last bumped on Dec 2, 2022, 11:19:05 AM
|
|
|
seems like a great overall build good amount of defence and playing into the ES+Armour aspects i think could end up being insanely strong nowadays thanks to divine shield and aegis aurora.
have me tempted to start leveling a berserker even though i had just rerolled a witch :D so maybe ill start collecting some gear for it as i have been wanting to mess around with lightning strike recently. |
|
|
Would love to try this build. Started with berserker general cry/blade furry build, but now that i am at early maps (tier 4 - 5) i feel that its too squishy (have to constantly look out for life). Usualy i die 2- 3 times per map. Getting paradoxica would be a huge investment.
I would love to respec into this build, but i dont have the currency for Doryani's Prototype. Rest of the uniqe items could be done in relatively short time. Could this build work without Doryani's Prototype in tier 4 - 5 maps? |
|
" you would probably just play the trinity version in the pob. from my experience trinity+rebuke of the vaal carries a lot of damage |
|
"Correct, Rebuke+Trinity can be used into early red maps. |
|
|
A little update.
Speced out of my general cry/blade furry zerker and into Rebuke+Trinity and i must say, i am feeling wonderfull. 100% tankier than generals cry and t5 maps are easy now. Havent speced my ascendancys yet, but will soon when i have the currency. In regret orbs and almost all the uniqe items (no choir of the storm and Doryani's Prototype) spent about ~80 c. In short, thank you for this build guide, you saved my scourge league :D |
|
"Great to hear man, glad you're enjoying it! |
|
|
When should we swap off from shattering steel to lightning strike for leveling? It says in the notes but should we do it at the end or when reaching act 2? Also for leveling when I swap to lightning strike should I be looking for elemental jeweled foils? Not too sure what weapon to use before rebuke of the vaal.
Also, is there a vendor recipe we could use for a leveling weapon once swapped to lightning strike? Last edited by xNinjakiller#0664 on Nov 3, 2021, 9:40:32 PM
|
|
"Blacksmith's Whetstone + Rare rustic sash + weapon will give you a phys % weapon. As far as when you should swap it doesn't really matter if you do before or after you kill merveil, you will be able to down her anyway. Rebuke of the Vaal is lvl 64 so you can equip it by the time you get to maps, and pretty much any old weapon with decent damage can take you through the acts and you dont have to worry about Trinity until you get Rebuke. I'd say don't overthink the leveling process too much, you can level with shattering steel to maps if you want to, melee/attack based leveling is pretty much the same any way you do it. Spectral Helix is also a good option, Bladestorm aswell. You can always level lightning strike and support gems for it on your weapon switch. |
|
|
grab a limbsplit use that to 40, then pick up the prophecy to upgrade it and continue to use that till 64 its easy and carries you no matter what skill u want to level with.
|
|
