<Bloodlines> LVL 65 shadow getting rekt by phys

Ok. so basically I'm having survivability issues in Act3 Merciless involving physical damage and the occasional chaos damage. Despite having 79% all res, taking elemental and reflect damage don't seem to be an issue at all. The only issue I have left with this build is surviving high amounts physical damage from various scenarios including white mobs.

The build I'm running is a pure lightning melee/caster hybrid with a pure evasion gear setup, with the exception of the unique shield(I think you know what that shield is by now).

Basic stats

Life: 3192
mana: 645 64% reserved for herald of thunder and Wrath supported by reduced mana
ES: 109

Armour:97(LOL)
Evasion:2682(before frenzy charges applied)

All resistances: 79%
chaos resist: -60%

STR:123
DEX:275
INT:186

Heres my current gear



heres my passives


1st of all, yes I know ball lightning is not a good choice for ranged spells. I'm aware of that. I'm considering fixing that shotly. Secondly due to my build committed to lighting damage only, and thanks to a select few uniques, I can use most melee skills at lvl 1 because there is no real benefit past level 2.

And finally im willing to try and spend whatever it takes to get the gems/gear needed as suggested by the community. Any and all suggestions deemed helpful will be taken into consideration.

Edited for punctuation and slight grammar errors.

I think that's the problem most evasion chars have. Since they have negligible armour (and even less, when acrobatics are added), there is no damage mitigation and although you won't be hit often, one hit often is enough.

Using a granite flask when near hard hitting monsters might be a good way to reduce the incoming damage. Other than that, there are some unique items that convert physical damage taken to lightning/ fire damage.

Endurance charges also are nice, so why not use enduring cry in one of those red sockets in your sword? Alternatively, use Warlord's Mark instead of Conductivity. I don't know how much damage you're doing, but if you don't strictly need conductivity, Warlord's should be fine. Life leech + chance to gain an endurance charge on kill. 3 of them up will mitigate physical damage by 12 % and give you resists, although you don't need those, obviously.

Waiting for the pros to comment might be a good idea.

Edit:
Regarding Ball Lightning, you might be better off ditching faster projectiles and using LMP instead. I'd also link HoT with Curse on Hit and whatever curse you want to use.

It's a pretty weirdo build and weird builds usually meet their end at about where you are now. There seems to be a few choices done that kinda contradict each other but let's not go into that if you're happy with the build overall. Having fun is what matters, right?

A way to reduce your physical damage taken would be to use Lightning Coil and then try squeezing in a Purity of Lightning (PoL) to counter the negative resistance provided by Coil and also to get extra max lightning resistance for even more reduction (both phys and lightning damage -> reflect is lightning too for you).

Another piece of gear would be Alpha's Howl. It would work really well in synergy with Wrath and PoL and help you squeeze in the extra aura. You could then link your Herald of Thunder with Red. Mana - Curse on Hit - Conductivity for "automatic" and mana-free cursing.

Finally, a Cast when Damage Taken set up with Enduring Cry and Immortal Call would provide you some Endurance Charges and periodical immunity to phys damage. I also heard (didn't really play since 1.3) the counter-attack gems are good so you could dedicate a link combo for that as well (with Endurance Charges on Melee Stun to help gather those Endurance Charges?).

Best of luck!

Ditch saffell's if you can handle reflect without it. Saffell's is the same as not wearing a shield as far as attacks go.

lightning coil would help the most, without changing passives or anything else. coil+purity of lightning would make you so much more tanky, grace aura also would help alot if you could fit it in.

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vvooee wrote:

lightning coil would help the most, without changing passives or anything else. coil+purity of lightning would make you so much more tanky, grace aura also would help alot if you could fit it in.

The chances of me getting a 3rd aura without relying on alpha's howl is impossible :P

And getting a 6L lightning coil is far beyond my reach in currency expenses.

At this point I'm pretty much done with the character for the time being. He could do 66 maps but no sketchy packs of any kind.

Time to figure out my next build...probably a mine/trapper.

Your biggest issue here is being melee AND evasion. The two of those don't tend to work so well, especially without CWDT + EC + IC + Increased Duration.

You should make use of your spectral throw.

Something like ST + LMP + Faster Attacks + WED would seem appropriate.

In this way you don't have to get close to enemies, and you don't need any spell passives or anything.

I would highly consider ditching Saffel's for a Crest of Perandus or strong life + res evasion shield.

This build should be salvageable. I didn't look at your passive tree, but the fact that you've gotten this far without dying shows promise.

If you could scrounge up a lightning Doryiani's, this could be pretty sick.

-Savage