[2.1 Medium budget] Life-Based Dual Claw Non-Vaal Pact - BoR, 100-130k dps, 5-5.5k HP, Atziri Viable
 This build is for a non-vaal pact life-based dual claw shadow. *************************************** ************ Update for 2.1! ************ *************************************** It seems the 2.1 update provides an upgrade to this build. This is because mana leech is much better positioned (vitality and spirit void) and we don't have to take as many nodes to get a proper mana leech / regen going, meaning we can spend those points elsewhere. The other changes are quite a buff to dps (and some other nifty things like increased movement speed). First I should mention, my build originated in 1.3 as a variant to ninedeadeyes' awesome Dead End King vaal pact dual claw build, which also has an updated passive skill tree for 2.0. So, much of the credit goes to him! This build is capable of doing all maps and all map modifiers. Also normal Atziri is a regular kill for me. Some bosses like Dominus together with an Elemental Weakness mod are still hard though. Video (tier 14 Shrine):
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Here is a video showcasing this build in a tier 14 Shrine map with extra mob damage (from start to finish). Although you see I got a few big hits from mobs (which is to be expected), the build can stand its ground. Note that I forgot to chisel the map. Silly! This video also showcases why evade-based builds are risky and why you need at least 5k health. Sorry for the potato quality: Note that this video uses an older, less optimal build. The current build is even stronger! Tier 14 Shrine clear Advantages and disadvantages:
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Advantages: - Like ninedeadeyes' build, this build does not require you to have top gear from the start. My own gear right now can be considered to be medium-high end. - Great for bad computers: not much stuff going on visually. - Fast clearing speeds where you can essentially get away with using 2 mouse buttons and the hotkeys for your quickslot bar. Even so, it's an interesting playstyle for bossfights (quick and nimble). - Atziri viable (never tried Uber). - No more desyncs is a HUGE buff to this build. This build relies on moving around quickly, which is exactly what sucked in 1.3. No more! - Pretty versatile build. I recommend looking at ninedeadeyes' build guide for more in-depth analysis of alternatives. Disadvantages: - Low chaos resistances. Hard to cap with BoR. - Facetanking is slightly dangerous. You will need to figure out the game mechanics of mobs that can hit super hard (for example when Malachai will give you a 4-5k hit). Also means (like a lot of Eva-based life builds) that it's difficult to run in HC. - If you want to stick to what I'm doing, you will need a BoR. So that's 2 slots already filled in (head and body). New Passive Tree:
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EDIT: After a valuable comment by b1Rd89, I've changed the passive tree into this beast: Level 91 Build (184% maximum life) Analysis:
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For this build, I did not go for Vaal Pact. This is because a lot of the life nodes you come across also have a life regen component and I thought it was crappy to waste the regen. Also, the build uses Whirling Blades a lot. While you are whirling etc., you will regenerate quickly (4.4% life regen). You will notice I have a legacy BoR which adds 15% block chance, and also Acrobatics, which reduces block by 30%. Does that mean I have 0% block leftover? No. Interestingly, I found out that the 30% is reduced from additions to block change, i.e. 30% of 15%, which is 4.5% less chance to block, so still 10.5% chance to block left! This is really handy. Some other node choices: - No assassination. This was because I was close to Twin Terrors, which I feel is much better. I also went for the Magpie node, but you could get rid of that and pick assassination instead. - I feel Ambidexterity is really great and worth the extra two dexterity nodes inbetween. Fencing seems like a poor choice (it's worse than Deadly Dilettante, for example). - I went all the way to Born to Fight because I really like that part of the tree (extra life regen and strength). Of course, if you don't need the strength, you could just add some more HP nodes from the Scion wheel and spend the remaining points elsewhere. Some suggestions for the passive tree:
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There is a lot of flexibility with the nodes. If you need more life / mana regen / offense, you can just swap out nodes (there are plenty of unused nodes for all these things nearby). If you are leveling, this also counts: try and balance dps and survivability. Don't be afraid to take some nodes that you later want to swap out. Also, what I did was first get a 5L Carcass Jack when levelling. They are much cheaper than the BoR, so you can grind until you have enough to get the BoR (and then grind for a 6L if you want). Bandits:
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Note that this doesn't matter so much. Because there's a lot of flexibility, you can adjust the passive tree to whatever choices you make. Normal - I took Alira for the extra mana (which is pretty helpful), but you may want to go for Oak instead. Cruel - Kraityn. Merciless - Kill all. Gem setup and strategy:
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This is also very flexible. Say_Ten likes to run Lightning Strike with Curse on Hit, and it seems to work well. Because of the Proliferation nerf, I am running Melee Splash and have unslotted Melee damage on Full Life. So far, it's been great. This build can effectively run Herald of Ash, Herald of Ice and Hatred, but it requirs a level 3 Enlighten gem. I've included this setup as well, because it's even stronger than the one without Herald of Ice. BoR: Melee Splash + Multistrike + Dual strike + Added Fire Damage This is the way to go for great dps. The Added Fire Damage can be slotted out for something else, but remember that if you slot Melee damage on Full Life, that won't work well with Blood Rage! Claw 1 no HoI: Hatred + Herald of Ash + Increased Burning Damage. Claw 1 HoI: Phase run + Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call. Claw 2 no HoI: Cast when Damage Taken + Bloodrage + Vaal Grace Claw 2 HoI: Bloodrage + Cast when Damage Taken + Warlord's Mark Blood Rage is pretty manageable - you won't receive a lot of damage. When it's triggered, the frenzy charges are a great addition! Vaal Grace helps a ton during difficult boss fights and is an excellent substitute for Rumi's Concoction. Boots / gloves: Whirling Blades + Curse On Hit + Assassin's Mark + Fortify. This is really the bread and butter for this build. Your main strategy should be to run through mobs using Whirling blades, then killing some mobs (and getting others to burn), then whirl around to other nearby mobs that are not on fire yet, and do the same thing. Because whirling blades is an attack, you will always get the Fortify buff and Assassin's mark when you whirl through enemies, so plenty of power charges. Boots / Gloves no HoI: Cast when damage taken + Immortal call + Warlord's Mark + Enfeeble. Boots / Gloves HoI: Herald of Ash + Hatred + Herald of Ice + Enlighten Unset Ring: Because we lack 6 useful sockets from the chestpiece, this build benefits greatly from using Unset Rings with extra sockets. I use one at the moment for Flame Golem. Chest: If you use Tabula Rasa, you can actually level gems in your chest even if you can't use them (or the Rasa). Gear:
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What to aim for:
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Life > DPS. You have high/decent dodge/eva/block, but lack armor. As any build that lacks armor, what this means is that you WILL at some point get hit for a lot. Just bad luck. When that happens, you want to make sure you are meaty enough to survive, hence why life is important. With the new fortify buff, I think you can get away with 4.5k to 5k hp. Of course, you should cap your resistances, which is surprisingly difficult when using BoR. Other than that, just try and accomodate your needs: get more accuracy if needed, more crit if needed, etc. My current gear and budget alternatives:
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Claws: Aim for claws with DPS > 150 for endgame stuff. The new Gemini Claw is awesome and you should try to get a good one if you can, because it has flat mana leech AND life leech! Also, there is a new claw with a crappy base that has a 2% life leech (eagle claw). Note that all current claws have low life leech percentages such as 0.6%, so that is a really significant difference that may be worth considering. Alternative budget gear: Bloodseekers. Work really well, not much to add. Or any claw that deals between 150-200dps can work fine. Headpiece: It's cheaper than a 6-Link! You can definitely get away with cool 5/6L armor pieces. Alternative budget gear: When leveling, start with a 5L and work your way to the BoR from there. Gloves: Note that my Maligaro's are off-color (a happy accident). You could always try and get these colours on your boots instead. Boots: Not much to say. Alternative budget gear for gloves + boots: Get a decent set of rare gloves and use Gang's Momentum as boots. They work really well (unless you have super low HP)! I used to run them before I got my Maligaro's. You don't really need Maligaro's. They just add a lot of nice things to the build. Belt: Best-in-slot if you ask me. Just get 'em. They're pretty cheap. Jewels: Use jewel slots to fill the leftover gaps in your build. You should prioritize resistances, then flat life increases, then DPS. Always make sure you hit the resistance cap or something close to it. Try and select your jewels lastly (i.e., first pick decent claws, then boots & gloves, and then see what you still need (resistances, life, etc.) and get that stuff from your jewels. These jewels were pretty expensive. That's because they are the last pieces that I select for the build, meaning that they have to be very specific (i.e. if I need ~25% lightning resistance, ~40% cold resistance, and also want some life and dps, I'm going to be in a position where there are only very few jewels that suit my needs, so they will be expensive if you run into bad luck). Alternative budget gear: Ditch the added phys DPS. Go for jewels with nice life and resistances. Flasks: Use 3 life flasks, 2 with instant recovery. Also use 2 +evade flasks. Spam them! Alternatively, swap 1 evade flask for Rumi's Concoction. EDIT: Lots of useful additions by Say_Ten. He's running Rumil's Concoction for a flask & a Flame Golem. Also Melee Splash instead of Melee Damage on Full Life, which seems pretty good because it opens up the use of Blood Rage. I've adjusted the build based on these suggestions. Again, many thanks to ninedeadeyes for laying the foundation of this build! Last edited by grindst0ne on Jan 25, 2016, 4:45:36 PM Last bumped on Mar 18, 2016, 10:38:33 AM
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GOOD Job sir video pls
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Heloo,good job until now,i will test your build,i start now a new game with shadow and will see in future for rewies.But u should do a modification here and split the skill tree,will be a little hard for me to know in what direction i must go first.PM if u can.thx
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Thanks for the feedback! I added a brief video (it's a bit crappy - will update when I get fancier maps and stuff. My first time ever recording a video!). And also added some skill trees for lower levels (50 and 70). Please note that these lower level skilltrees are not tested because I leveled my character in 1.3!! Feedback on these is really welcome!!!
The video can be viewed Here. |
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Nice job, i got inspired by your build and now i'm testing dual claw on my shadow. I'll let you know later how it is going :)
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Great, I'm very curious - keep me posted!
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Well, i reach 91k dps with only hatred and herald of ash, ir turns to 99k with bloodrage and fire golem, and i didn't saw how much with 3 power and 3 frenzy charges but it must go further. Sadly that dps wasn't wearing BoR. With BoR i reach about 85k with hatred and herald of ash.
This is my gear, don't pay attention to some gems, i was just leveling them.
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I have an evasion based 6l chest, but after 600+ chromes i got tired trying to get 3red and 1 blue socket xD so i switched into that armour based chest, on monday i think i will test the build with iron reflexes instead of acrobatics, i'll tell you later hoes does it works :)
As a suggestion, i like the gem set up on my gloves, CWDT + IC + ID + Molten Shell. It works pretty well. The survivability is quite good, i died like 3 times but 2 were my foult and 1 because an excess of graphics that lagged me. Edit: i forgot to mention that i did some changes on the tree. Last edited by SybDarret on Jul 25, 2015, 4:36:49 PM
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" Hi, thanks for the comments. Good to see some alternatives out there. Nice claws ;-). You don't seem to have much HP on gear - what total HP are you running around with? I wouldn't go for anything less than 4.5k personally with evade (but with armor it should be OK). BoR dps is indeed somewhat lower than when you're donning a 6-link. Unfortunately, I don't have one. My build is therefore focused on making use of BoR as much as possible. I like the bloodrage idea - initially I didn't go bloodrage because I use a Melee phys on full life gem. However, I think bloodrage + some other gem might be a good alternative. Going to try that out. |
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Hello, I was wondering if you could share what gem setup/gear ideas you used while leveling. I'm loving the build so far. Just hit 41 and things are going smoothly, but getting the links/gems you suggest isn't really feasible at this level. any thoughts?
I'm using viper strike, knockback, increased crit, and faster attacks for my single target and reave, faster attacks, and blind for my AOE. My whirling blades is linked with added lightning damage at the moment. | |
" Hey, cool to see you're trying it out and that it's working well! As for gear and gem setups during leveling, I have to say that I leveled during 1.3, so my perspective is a bit different. Your setup for single target and AOE seems solid to be honest. I used reave a lot, and also cyclone (works great) for AOE when I did not have gem slots for whirling blades (cyclone gives you some of whirling blades' mobility and some of reave's dps). For single-target DPS you might consider switching to dual strike if you find 2 equally cool claws (otherwise make sure your main hand claw deals most dmg - check the difference @ character sheet). The reason is that dual strike uses both claws per attack (not even reave does this, which is the main reason for not using reave at endgame). The easiest things you can do for leveling is try and get gems that are (somewhat) independent of builds. For example, vaal gems like vaal grace and vaal cyclone will always be useful because you can slot them in spare gem slots and they don't really require any links to be useful. So definitely try and get those as soon as possible. Additionally, gems like faster attacks work great because if you get some new gear and have to remove the faster attacks gem, it won't be such a huge deal - you might even be able to slot it somewhere else (i.e. it works well with *any* melee attack, so it's never lost). As for auras, running around with both herald of ash and hatred is really end-game, so during leveling I would focus on just 1 of those, preferably hatred (because your aoe damage source is reave for now). Whirling blades works great on its own, so don't worry too much about it. The easiest and best thing (without doubt) to combine with whirling blades is Fortify - you whirl through enemies and gain the fortify buff - so try and get that up and going. It'll make you take less damage! In order of importance when leveling: Single target dps when you have BoR:
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1 slot: Some dps gem (viper strike / puncture / molten strike, etc), pref. dual strike 2 slots: dual strike + multiple attacks 3 slots: dual strike + multiple attacks + added fire/lightning/cold damage 4 slots: dual strike + multiple attacks + added fire/lightning/cold damage + melee damage on full life The last melee damage on full life one is the most questionable. I want to experiment with bloodrage, which means melee damage on full life won't work (unfortunately work has been very busy lately). Single target dps without BoR:
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1 slot: Some dps gem (viper strike / puncture / molten strike, etc), pref. dual strike 2 slots: dual strike + multiple attacks 3 slots: dual strike + multiple attacks + faster attacks 4 slots: dual strike + multiple attacks + faster attacks + added fire/lightning/cold damage 5 slots: dual strike + multiple attacks + faster attacks + added fire/lightning/cold damage + melee damage on full life AOE dps endgame will be Herald of Ash + Increased Burning Damage. When you use reave or cyclone, you can slot gems similarly to single target dps (as I wrote above). However, as you said as well, blind is really useful too. I would consider adding it if you need the extra defenses. For whirling blades:
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1 slot: whirling blades 2 slots: whirling blades + fortify 3 slots: whirling blades + fortify + faster attacks 4 slots: whirling blades + fortify + curse on hit + some curse you'd like to use Hope this was helpful! Let me know how it's going. |
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