[LLD PvP] The Pantsless Elemental Bower

In LLD, a bower's primary weakness is typically a sword-board-acro-ondar build, which is very popular in the SC LLD scene. In an attempt to counter against such a build, I concocted this build, which utilizes Resolute Technique and the mass of elemental damage nodes of the Templar. It ends up performing very well in team or FFA settings, and does okay in 1v1, but requires alot of practice to properly pilot.

Achievements

I played alot of pvp towards the start of S1, but trailed off after the holidays ended and real life started happening again. However, I did manage to net a good number of demi's, mostly from FFA events. I was only able to play in one swiss event, but I went 7-1 in that event and ranked 5th.



Gear and Links

As we all know, gear is basically the most important part of a pvp build. Admittingly, my gear isn't super-optimal, but works pretty well.



Available swaps:

Barrage is a very interesting swap-in for nado shot. It has the power to 1-2 shot almost anyone. However, it is very slow and hard to land. The only good time I can think of to actually use it is against a molten-striker who's trying to all-in you. You can get an easy kill for one round. Any decent player will figure out how to dodge it though, so I don't recommend continuously using it.


Passives

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUABLMJqhhdGjgnLzKJRtdXKVfiWfNo8nGFcql35XzZgpuLjJBVogCsqq3xsULAGsBmwJrZ_OFz7DjtIPAf8xH3Mvnd


1v1 Play

In general this build is pretty straightfoward and you have two main abilities: Tornado Shot and Blink Arrow. My typical approach is to cast 1-2 auras. Run up, and namelock the opponent. I generally move using "bullet hell" principles: don't move unless you have to. If they seem to be hitting you fairly hard, or they're throwing traps at your feet, move a little bit. A little bit of movement can mitigate alot of damage. This build can simply all-in most opponents, but for those that it can't, blink arrow is the best way to mitigate damage. Don't bother with tricks like bear traps or mirror arrow too often, though I do keep them around. Just rain down constant heavy damage onto your opponents with nado shot until they die.

Against a melee character, the best thing to do is to avoid EVERYTHING. This is primarily done by well-timed blink arrows and the occasional mirror arrow. Smoke mine should always be down and one should always be in line of sight of it. A single flicker->cyclone can kill you.

Against another bower, you may be able to just all-in them. If not, there's not a whole lot you can do besides more blink-mirror tricks.

Against a caster, you also may be able to just all-in them. The exception to this is a freeze-pulser who wants to flicker/leap in for heavy shotgunning. If this is the case, do NOT let them close to you. Always be ready to blink around and smoke mine.


Some notable decisions

Elemental Weakness: As you may have noticed, I don't run elemental weakness. This is mainly because it was way overkill against people I don't need it against, and didn't do anything against people I needed it against. Temporal chains is a much safer and surer choice. I have tested extensively using a CoH Mali's, but in the end, I decided that it wasn't useful.


Armor: I was young and foolish when I crafted my armor set. I believe evasion gear would have been much better, but alas, I couldn't afford to craft new gear, so I stuck with armor.

Last edited by ZenithStar on Jan 23, 2015, 4:19:13 PM

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info