[2.6] NoPants Raiden - Pledge of Hands, Ball Lightning/Storm Call INQ - Beginner Friendly

Hi there!

This is my first guide. I'm relatively new so I've tried to write it with a lot of detail for other players like me that may not be as familiar with all of the depth in the game. If you're a seasoned veteran, then feel free to skip lots of the explanations.

This build is focused on Ball Lightning, but it is very flexible and will also work for other lightning skills like Arc, Storm Call, & Storm Nova with little to no modifications necessary.

Pros

-Fun playstyle, first and foremost. I love warping/running around the map, shooting balls of lightning all over the place, and blowing things up (including the very satisfying Herald of Ice explosions).
-Decent clear speed. Not amazing, but pretty solid.
-Can run most content.
-Very flexible set up. Can sub in basically any lightning spell and it will work well with some minor modifications to links. Arc, Shock Nova, & Storm Call are the main ones and they all work. Shock Nova seems to work especially well for early leveling then falls off whereas Arc and Storm Call really come alive once you get Spell Echo at level 38. Honestly, I think Storm Call might overall be the strongest b/c of the safety the range provides but I prefer Ball Lightning. Arc is also a lot of fun.
-You get to run your core skill early on/as soon as available. If you want to run Ball Lightning as your core skill then you can start as soon as it's available at level 28. This is huge for me since I hate having to run a leveling set up or play a totally different playstyle until level 70 or 80 when some builds become viable. And I definitely hate having to do big respecs of my tree.
-Can work as a starter, isn't crazy expensive, and scales well. I probably spent 20-25c for leveling gear (the bulk on Tabula Rasa) but none of it was really necessary; it just made leveling much smoother. Then, for my end game items, I spent about 100c (the bulk on Pledge of Hands and Chest armor). Again, you don't have to have these to be viable. You can start running Dried Lake with solo self-found and farm for the currency needed for the big ticket items if you must (namely Pledge). I also didn't buy the perfect Pledge outright, my Circlet could be much better, you can spend a ton on flasks, etc. I also went for a cheaper, higher DPS set up but you could drop a lot of the uniques and go for the expensive ES/Spell Damage items. I could easily drop 10e+ and I would feel the difference every step of the way.


Cons

-Not really HC viable and will struggle with the hardest end-game content where one-shot risks are high. Ultimately the much pricier CI route is better (unsurprisingly) and it requires relatively minor modifications to the tree. However, it would be way more expensive than this build and there are much better builds for the money.
-Can't run Ele Reflect without Vinktars.
-If you want to run Carcass Jack then getting the Dex can be tricky. There are some solutions listed below (Dex on Circlet or a Careful Planning jewel) and there are other good options for the chest, so it's not a huge deal.
-I wasn't crazy about Lightning Warp when I started, but you get used to it and once you get Less Duration it's actually kinda nice. It also does surprisingly decent damage. If you really don't like it then you can run Leap Slam+Fortify (or Faster Attacks) if you want. The Fortify provides little extra tankiness, but I opted not to b/c your items become noticeably more expensive with the need to have that extra Red skill gem. You might not think such a minor change would make a big difference in costs, but it does because of the focus on ES/Evasion items which tend not to have multiple Red links for cheap.
-No totem. They're generally pretty OP and can be super useful in some situations (e.g., continuing to wear down bosses while you flee and regen like a coward). But there really isn't a place for them in the build.
-Tendrils looks pitiful and isn't very fun. It brings the single-target DPS though. Thankfully it isn't our main skill.


Why Inquisitor? Why Staff? Why Pledge of Hands?

Inquisitor gives us lots of crit, lots of elemental damage, and enables us to ignore elemental resistances thanks to the ascendancy passive Inevitable Judgement. This latter piece is HUGE since late-game stuff tends to have high resistances. INQ also synergizes very well with Staves since it has good access to really big crit nodes in Counterweight and Serpent Stance. We then take advantage of these stregnths by using Pledge of Hands, which gives a free level 30 Spell Echo bringing a massive DPS boost to any core skill we choose. In effect, INQ+Pledge is like we're running an 8-link spell with 6 links plus free Spell Echo and Lightning Penetration gems. Also, everyone knows pants are overrated. What a better place the world would be if pants were optional...


Items & Links


Really only Pledge is absolutely core to the build. But this set up works very well to give you maximum DPS (around 50% crit chance and 600% crit multiplier!) while still getting you lots of Life, ES, & max Resistances plus 30% Block (7% for Spells), a few Endurance Charges, and a splash of Armor & Evasion. Stat-wise you'll sit around 3.8k Life, 3.2k ES, and a pool of roughly 2k mana for Mind Over Matter to give you a little extra tankiness. Pretty solid for a hybrid approach (though, again, CI is the better option if you truly want to min-max).

Call of the Brotherhood is the next most core item and it synergizes very well with Berek's. Marylene's is great for extra crit plus the Culling Strike is nice in a high crit build. Doryani's, Voidbringer, Geofri's, & Rainbowstride help round out resists while also giving nice boosts to damage and ES. The circlet is key for capping resists.

Please be aware that the selection of links is very deliberate for this item set-up. It's designed to make for the cheapest purchases possible so I highly recommend you follow socket colors and links exactly (with the obvious exception that more links are better for Pledge and Geofri's).

Explanation of Gem Links & Core Mechanics

Ball Lightning: This is your core skill and it has some unique mechanics that this set-up leverages to optimize for a balance of damage and clear speed. The key thing to know about Ball Lightning is that it's a projectile attack where each ball has a small AoE damage effect that ticks repeatedly as long as an enemy stays in its range; HOWEVER; two balls fired in the same cast do not overlap in damage. In turn, it has some neat interactions with support gems:
-Spell Echo: Each cast is treated as an independent source of damage so the balls stack both from the spell echo trigger and from each independent cast of the spell. This is what makes Pledge of Hands so great. It's a total game changer for your DPS and the fun factor.
-Slower Projectiles: More time spent near the ball means more ticks of damage, so this can give a big boost to DPS. The downside is that the balls don't travel as far so it can feel slower and you can feel more exposed (closer ranged) when you first slot it in. If you don't like the feel then you can try replacing this with Added Cold Damage (since it's of the same color). It doesn't actually give as much of a DPS boost and doesn't scale as well but it's not a big deal early on. Later on, you'll definitely want Slower Projectiles and it also feels better as you get Spell Echo, more cast speed & AoE nodes, Pledge, etc.
-Multiple Projectiles: Two balls from the same cast DO NOT stack thus this skill actually nerfs the single-target damage on the spell a decent amount. However, the extra balls mean more targets hit and a better chance to catch moving targets with every cast, so it more than offsets with clear speed. If you want single-target with the same slot colors (e.g., when facing bosses) then you can swap out LMP for Added Cold Damage and you'll see a pretty big DPS increase in the tooltip. However, we don't really use Ball Lightning for single-target and Lightning Tendrils is still much stronger so it's not really necessary. Lastly, I opt for Lesser over Greater Multiple Projectiles b/c the mana costs get really high and it becomes hard to sustain, plus LMP doesn't reduce damage quite as much (i.e., LMP balances the trade off between DPS and clear speed).

Lightning Tendrils: This is your single-target DPS skill for bosses, rares, etc. It works totally fine as a 4L though obviously the extra links help as you hit end-game. I haven't found it necessary to have Life Leech but it definitely helps and you want it as your 5th link particularly as you head into end-game maps.

Orb of Storms: This is used to generate charges and leech. Power Charges generate a lot of extra DPS for the build. The Curse on Hit + Warlord's Mark additionally gives you life & mana leech you need for sustain. The Endurance Charges can be nice for a little extra tankiness (and help give your Immortal Call a little extra time so you have more breathing room when a big hit unexpectedly comes your way). It would be nice to have Assassin's Mark since it works so well with the build but there really isn't room for it. I experimented a bit with running Blasphemy but even with Enlighten you reserve too much mana. The trade-off in tankiness isn't really worth it due to MoM and the fact that a lot of the itemization and skill tree is offensive focused.

CWDT: Your defensive set up. Immortal Call is for the one-shot prevention. Enfeeble could be swapped out for other skills like Temporal Chains or Vortex, though I don't recommend it since Enfeeble does the best job of preventing additional damage after IC pops. The others are more noticeable/fun though.

Herald of Ice: In terms of tooltip damage, Herald of Thunder is technically the better option. However, HoI works very well for the extra AoE to help with clear speed and combos great with Call of the Brotherhood and all the crit. I also find the crit-ice explosions one of the most satisfying things in the game.


A Word on Carcass Jack

You can run Carcass Jack with this build though I ultimately don't recommend it, particularly if going Ball Lightning. It gives a minor boost to your clear speed both b/c it gives you a bit of a DPS boost and b/c it doesn't have as large of an implicit movement speed reduction. However, the DPS boost isn't as big as you might think since “Area Damage” increases don't affect the DPS on Ball Lightning (increased Area of Effect does though as you're more likely to catch things for longer and thus get more ticks of damage). The major challenge in this build is the high Dex cost relative to our tree. The tree only gives 54 total Dex so you've got to come up with 42 additional Dex. Getting extra Dex from the Circlet is the most efficient path, though you also want ES, Life, Fire Res, & Lightning Res, which means it will be hard to find/won't be cheap. If you have the time/money then it's definitely the best option. If you can't get it all from the circlet then the next best option is to get all the Dex from a Careful Planning Viridian Jewel. If you place it in the jewel socket near Melding it gives a minimum of +16 base Dex plus converts 3 Intelligence nodes to Dex for a total of 46 Dex (see the "Jewels" section for an image if that's not clear). And since the worst roll on the jewel will do, you can get one for very cheap. You won't miss the Int and it gives you all the Dex you need after you pick up the core skill tree nodes. It's a great temporary option too as you save/wait for the perfect circlet. However, at the end of the day there are lots of great jewels you could be using that have a much more noticeable impact on your tankiness and/or DPS and Geofri's extra tankiness is very helpful.

All that said, if you're running Storm Call then the decision is harder as the “Area Damage” buff does apply. The extra Dex also means several extra levels for key green gems and thus more damage. Given the added range of Storm Call means you're more safe, it makes CJ pretty attractive. I still think the tankiness from Geofri's is more valuable though.


Flasks

You've got a lot of flexibility and room to scale here. As you level, the only thing I really recommend is a Quicksilver for the move speed. Nothing really gives you problems or is “necessary” though obviously flasks to remove bleeding/burning/poison should be in your inventory. In terms of Prefixes you want "Surgeon" so Eternal Life Flasks offer the best rates. If going Seething, you want Divine Life and Eternal Mana for the best rates.

I highly recommend these three Flasks. All are very cheap and give you a lot of extra DPS/utility.


Great early game. Zealot's Oath can be very nice. Consecrated Ground also doesn't hurt. Obviously not as useful once you get Geofri's.


This is such a good item. Great damage, plus leech, plus Chaos Res. And it's super cheap. Obviously you want max % elemental damage. Also, why is this thing so cheap?! All praise the Promise!


Love this flask. The Consecrated Ground is kinda nice but it's the utility where this flask really shines. And, as mentioned above, it's very handy when running Geofri's + Ghost Reaver.

-Diamond Flask: The "Lucky" crit chance can give a huge big boost to DPS by taking your Crit chance from around 50% to 70% for nearly a 33% increase in DPS thanks to all the crit multi.

And if you're rich then you probably don't need to be told that these will do wonders:
-Vessel of Vinktar
-Dying Sun


Skills & Bandits

I opted to rush all the tanky nodes first and didn't find much of a problem with my damage throughout. You pick up some damage/crit/AoE nodes along the way so it ends up being a pretty easy and solid approach. From there, it depends on your choice of chest. If going Carcass Jack then you need to get the final Dex nodes plus the Jewel Socket so you can equip Carcass Jack at 62. If not, then the extra Power Charge, Ghost Reaver, & Counterweight are good to work toward. From there it's picking up stuff here and there opportunistically to max out your damage. Light of Divinity and Doom Cast are the two best sources of DPS, then Serpent Stance.

Level 56: http://poeurl.com/bb0e
Level 68: http://poeurl.com/bb0W
-if you're going Geofri's Sanctuary then you don't need the Jewel Socket. Instead go for Ghost Reaver (assuming you have all the gear) like this: http://poeurl.com/bcd3
Level 90: http://poeurl.com/bbXF

If going CI, you probably want to modify the tree to something like this: www.poeurl.com/bedG

A Word on Ghost Reaver: You really don't want this until after you have all your items and high ES otherwise it's not worth it. At a minimum, you shouldn't get this until you get your final Chest armor but you can wait til Pledge no problem.

Bandits

Oak, Alira, Alira
We need the tankiness from Oak, then Alira provides the best DPS with attack speed and power charges (one of our core build components).



Enchants

The major obvious one is increased Ball Lightning Area of Effect helm enchant.
Edict of Tempest (or another AoE elemental damage trigger) is really fun since low level mobs will get cleared from the proc on Edict + HoI.


Jewels

Lots of good options here. Spell Damage (while wield Staff), Cast Speed (with Lightning Spells or while wielding Staff), Life, Projectile Damage, Increased Crits (with Lightning Skills), etc. Life is the top priority for the three slots, and that can push you into the 165% increased Life range, which is pretty solid in conjunction with the ES and MoM.
Jewel Placement if running Carcass Jack





Leveling Guide

Start

2x Lifesprig (3B): Freezing Pulse-Faster Casting-Controlled Destruction
Tabula Rasa
Wanderlust Shoes (2B2R)
Asenath's Mark Iron Circlet (3BR)
Elreon Amulet and Rings (for mana issues): Life, ES, Dexterity (for Maligaro's), Strength, Crit Chance
-You should have no mana problems with this set-up thanks to the regen and reduced mana costs. Freezing Pulse is really strong early game.


Early 20s = Key Early Items/Spells

Berek's Grip Two-Stone Ring
Call of the Brotherhood Two-Stone Ring
Maligaro's Virtuosity Deerskin Gloves (2BGR)
Bated Breath Chain Belt
-Can take BL at this point but will also need to start using Clarity. Order of priority is: BL-LMP-Ele Focus-Inc. Crits-Faster Casting-Added Lightning
-If you're loaded then get Xirgil's Crank. It can honestly carry you all the way to Pledge of Hands.
-To get Maligaro's you'll need a little Dex early. This is why I recommend Dex on the Elreon jewelry. If not running it then obviously you don't need the Dex.


Level 38 = All Skills Unlocked

4L Staff w/ 4 blue sockets (Spell Damage & Crit Chance for Spells): Tendrils-Controlled Des-Conc. Effect-Spell Echo. Ele Focus then Faster Casting are next if you have the slots. If you can afford it then a 5L is ideal. This will enable you more flexibility as you hit low 60s since you'll be able to equip your final chest at 62-64 then your Pledge at 68. If you only have a 4L then you're stuck with a great chest you can't use for several levels. That said, if you're just grinding Dried Lake then it's not a big deal.
-Keep your Lifesprigs and put them in your 2nd loadout so you can continue to level the extra Blue skills in case you want to experiment later.
-Alternatively, you can run Heartbreaker + Shield from 50-69. It's a great dagger and works really well with the build. In that case, you have to have at least a 5L chest. You'll also need extra Dex, which you'll have already solved for if going CJ.
-Kaom (and to a lesser extent Daresso) can be a bit tough at this stage b/c we have low Fire res with our base items and they have ele res while we don't have our pen yet. Slotting in Lightning Pen and a Res Flask can do wonders. Subbing out one of the rings or the amulet for Res is also a good option if you're struggling. Overall the build starts to fall off as you get to the end of A4 so you have to play safe. Once you hit 38 you get a huge upgrade via Spell Echo and Curse on Hit.
-Be careful with Gem leveling on the Green gems as you get to level 40. If you got a good Dex amulet for Maligaro's and then swap out for Marylene's at 40 you'll lose a good chunk of Dex so don't over-level your gems.


Level 55 = Key Late-Game Items

Marylene's Fallacy Lapis Amulet
Rainbowstride Conjurer Boots (3BR)
Voidbringer (2B2R)
Circlet (2BGR): Life/ES, Fire Res, Lightning Res
-If you had the wherewithal to get all your early-game items with the same sockets as your late-game items then you can start bringing them online as you level into them. Obviously this is ideal. If not, you'll need to wait from 48-55 until Voidbringer is ready then equip them all at once. You may find as you get close to 55 that some mobs are very dangerous (especially depending on your Leaguestones) as your defenses/res is a bit low. You should also plan to pick up a decent but cheap 5L with Life/ES/Res at some point to replace the Tabula as a stepping stone to the final chest in the 60s. You'll really be glad you did as you get into the high 50s/low 60s just before you get your chest as you'll really want that extra defense/Life/Res. If you don't, expect random deaths. Also, you want decent flasks at this point for status effects or else you'll also be very susceptible to dying.
-Again, keep an eye on your Dex. Maligaro's Virtuosity gives +30 Dex so you want to avoid outleveling your gems.
-Also, deaths are most likely to come from being stationary for too long either from allowing spell echo to trigger too much, from not using lightning warp enough, or from not allowing your ES to replenish. Keep on your toes! Don't hold down your attacks too much and use Lightning Warp a lot.
-Again, hopefully you picked up a 5L staff at some point. If so, you'll ideally want to equip your BL on the staff then put your final skill set up for Tendrils in your chest at 62-64 and ensure a smooth transition to Pledge at 68.


Level 68 = Final Form

Pledge of Hands (5L, 6 Socket w/ 4B2G, need all but 1 blue linked): BL-LMP-Slower Projectiles-Ele -Focus-Increased Crits(-Faster Casting)
Doryani's Invitation Heavy Belt
Carcass Jack/Geofri's Sanctuary (6 Socket w/ 5B1R): LT-Conc Effect-Spell Echo-Life Leech-Ele Focus(-Controlled Destruction)
-If you're working with a 5L on Pledge then it's pretty close on Increased Crits vs Faster Casting for higher DPS on Ball Lightning and depends on your nodes. It's worth experimenting to see which you prefer. In terms of fun factor, I don't find Faster Casting to be that noticeable of an addition due to all the speed you get from the Spell Echo from Pledge so I opt for Crits.
-This is ideally also when you pick up Ghost Reaver, which should give you a lot of extra sustain.
Last edited by ProfP on Mar 29, 2017, 10:17:48 PM
Last bumped on Jul 8, 2017, 9:19:03 AM
Reserved.
some quick thoughts:

Serpent Stance?

I'm quite curious about your gem links. You claim that Herald of Ice is producing nice crit-shattering with it and call of the brotherhood, and yet in your 5 link ball lightning setup you have elemental focus which disables that skill from causing elemental status effects.

How is it shattering? >_>

You also have two curses in the build that somewhat overlap, yet you aren't running a corrupt necklace or whispers of doom. Are you satisfied with the two competing?

161% es and 145% hp are very low totals individually, and I understand you're going hybrid, but getting enough base es and hp in hybrid builds is very difficult. You still end up only having 3.2k hp for MoM to interact with. That's one-shot territory, and you don't really have any evasion or armour, and only 30% block to help with that. Seems dramatically squishy. Can you show off the build in some harder content?

It might be gem socket starved, as I noticed you only have lightning warp on a single speed increase support. Thoughts?

How high have you managed to get with this character? Can we see a skill tree farther along, that picks up the obvious power charge in the shadow area you pathed over for? What about the 3 jewel sockets you skipped? Are you planning on running an Energy from Within in the witch area, should you choose to go CI?

I am interested in adding the build to the listing, please take some time and reply to these when you feel like it.

Cheers
Hot Flashes: poeurl.com/bPZT
Balance: poeurl.com/btzp
Shocking EleHit: poeurl.com/bZXo
"
Kwitch wrote:
some quick thoughts:

Serpent Stance?

I'm quite curious about your gem links. You claim that Herald of Ice is producing nice crit-shattering with it and call of the brotherhood, and yet in your 5 link ball lightning setup you have elemental focus which disables that skill from causing elemental status effects.

How is it shattering? >_>

You also have two curses in the build that somewhat overlap, yet you aren't running a corrupt necklace or whispers of doom. Are you satisfied with the two competing?

161% es and 145% hp are very low totals individually, and I understand you're going hybrid, but getting enough base es and hp in hybrid builds is very difficult. You still end up only having 3.2k hp for MoM to interact with. That's one-shot territory, and you don't really have any evasion or armour, and only 30% block to help with that. Seems dramatically squishy. Can you show off the build in some harder content?

It might be gem socket starved, as I noticed you only have lightning warp on a single speed increase support. Thoughts?

How high have you managed to get with this character? Can we see a skill tree farther along, that picks up the obvious power charge in the shadow area you pathed over for? What about the 3 jewel sockets you skipped? Are you planning on running an Energy from Within in the witch area, should you choose to go CI?

I am interested in adding the build to the listing, please take some time and reply to these when you feel like it.

Cheers


Thanks for the thoughts/questions! I'm not at home so can't give fully thought out answers at the moment, but this should answer your questions (or at least get most of the way there). I welcome prodding and suggestions!

1. Serpent Stance = This is the single biggest source of Crit Multi and also gives a lot of Crit Chance. It's actually slightly more DPS than Doom Cast but less efficient since you have to pick up one extra node. I don't think it's worth picking up until late due to the pathing but it's very strong.

2. Herald of Ice = I didn't start running the Elemental Focus until recently but, yes, you're right that it means less shattering. I'm still experimenting, but I think I'm going to switch to Herald of Thunder and keep Elemental Focus. I was initially planning to run more Dex and Carcass Jack plus no Ele Focus, which made Herald of Ice make a lot more sense, but with the low total Dex it puts a low ceiling on the gem level. Edict of the Tempest on the Voidbringer is the main source of shattering at the moment and it works pretty well as a clean-up skill for trash mobs. I think HoI is still great for leveling purposes though so HoI may get relegated to the leveling section only.

3. Curses = I think it's worth the trade off. The Enfeeble is really only there for the "oh crap!" moments and it works really well for that. As I mentioned in the Items & Links section, I experimented with other skills like Vortex and Cold Snap but ultimately I think Enfeeble is still better even with the curse overlap. It's just so much more effective in those moments where you take a big hit and need those precious milliseconds to react. And in those moments the Warlord's Mark is irrelevant so overriding it isn't an issue. Still, if you don't like it in principle then I think Vortex is the best alternative (and requires no change to sockets).

4. Squishiness = You're right that the total effective life pool is a bit low and such is the way of hybrid builds. You definitely want 7% Life on the 3 jewels, which helps, but it still is a challenge for end-game. As I mentioned in the Cons, that means it's not HC viable (and I already edited the Cons to explicitly mention the one-shot risk for end-game content in general). I also already have notes in the Cons & Items section that if you really want to push the build to the limits then CI is the best option.; however, that makes the build way more expensive and the goal was to make something relatively affordable. It's also part of the reason why Storm Call is so attractive; the extra range and mobility gives more safety. That said, thus far I've taken it to level 75 and have run T7 Rares, which is pretty solid (i.e., shouldn't have any problems grinding to 90 on mid-tier maps). At the moment though I'm still farming around 100M xp/hr in Dried Lake.

5. Skills = This section includes a tree all the way to level 90. I actually don't plan to pick up the Power Charge in the Shadow area. It requires 3 points so I don't find it to be efficient enough. The only obvious candidate is to lose Serpent Stance and then pick up a couple of loose nodes or Sniper. However, Serpent Stance is really strong in this build to maximize crit so I don't think it's worth it.

6. Lightning Warp = It's definitely better with a Faster Casting and/or Rapid Decay link but as you noticed the build can't really spare the sockets. Giving up Clarity or Herald just doesn't seem worth it. Usually Clarity isn't necessary with Warlord's Mark, but in the occasions where it is needed it's a must-have. A Herald brings a lot of extra DPS/utility so a small quality of life addition to LW doesn't seem worth the trade off. I find Less Duration alone to be pretty adequate regardless. I think Lightning Warp takes adjusting to mostly b/c it's rarely played and not b/c it's "unplayable" without multiple support links. As mentioned in the Links section, Leap Slam is an alternative but means the build gets a little pricier due to the color change.

7. CI = I haven't put too much thought into it but glancing at it briefly I'd probably ditch MoM, Cruel Preparation, Discipline & Training, Heart and Soul, & Devotion. You'd also swap Blood Siphon for Soul Siphon. And, yes, I think you would use an Energy From Within jewel around the Melding cluster. I just did a quick tree (www.poeurl.com/beaf) though it probably needs to be optimized a bit to get a little more tankiness (potentially from the Unnatural Calm cluster) in exchange for DPS.

8. General = I like tinkering and plan to keep playing the build and updating the guide as I push to end-game so this will definitely be a "living document".
Excellent, thanks for the replies.

I actually did intend for you to consider an energy from within in the witch socket if you go ci. Cruel prep + heart and soul are both within radius.

Posting the build onto the listing now.

Cheers
Hot Flashes: poeurl.com/bPZT
Balance: poeurl.com/btzp
Shocking EleHit: poeurl.com/bZXo
"
Kwitch wrote:

I actually did intend for you to consider an energy from within in the witch socket if you go ci. Cruel prep + heart and soul are both within radius.


Oh, I see! It actually didn't occur to me that it would catch both. Looking at that in particular, here are some additional thoughts on running CI:

If I were trying to run CI and get more tankiness I'd probably ditch everything after the Templar jewel all the way to Counterweight. You don't need the Block as much with the ES build and the Crit isn't as big of a loss as it would be anywhere else in the tree. That would get 9 points back. From there, I'd probably just pick up the entire Unnatural Calm cluster plus the stray point in Life & Energy Shield. That would give you 203% ES not including any jewels. 8% ES jewels in that slot and the other two plus an EFW by Melding would bump up to 242% ES.

It would be 6 points to get Cruel Prep + Heart & Soul then run the EFW jewel. With the leftover points you could pick up something like the Life skill above CP, the last Life & Energy Shield point, and a couple of stray damage nodes (no real ES skills left to pick up). All total, I think that would get you +67% ES from all the jewels for a grand total of 222% ES.

Here's the "Full Tank CI" build: www.poeurl.com/bedG
Last edited by ProfP on Mar 28, 2017, 7:40:02 PM
Hi !

Thank you for your work and this build !

I'm interested in this build, but before begin I would like to know approximately your dps for lightning ball ?
And your crit chance and multiplier please ?

Thank you in advance ;)
Last edited by Rom17rom on Apr 2, 2017, 10:07:14 AM
"
Rom17rom wrote:
Hi !
I'm interested in this build, but before begin I would like to know approximately your dps for lightning ball ?
And your crit chance and multiplier please ?


At level 90, Crit Chance can get to around 67% if using a Diamond Flask, if not then it's about 47%. Crit Multi is 630%. Lots of big crits all the time!

DPS is a bit tricky to calculate. Tooltip DPS is very underwhelming and the maximum you can possibly hope for is around 50k, though under most circumstances it's around 20k. However, that only assumes you hit once per skill use, which is way off for a Ball Lightning build. It's "real DPS" is [tooltip DPS] times [average number of hits per mob] times [casts per second]. Casts per second is in the 3.75 to 4.4 range and hits/mob can be in the 5/sec range. I fiddled around with the Ball Lightning DPS calculator that was made a while back and it suggested true DPS was somewhere in the 300k-700k range depending on your setup.

In practice, it definitely melts whites (and yellows as you get to end-game) and presents no problems when mapping. The only time it has an issue is with single-target, which is what Lightning Tendrils is for. LT's DPS is in the 200k range, easy, and can climb to about 500k.
Hello,

Right now i just changed the build that i was making to use flameblast totem to the ball lightning totem in this league.

This is my thoughts on the passive tree for my char(or close to what i already have, it's an hp based with 4k hp right now(+ 1553 energy shield with the discipline), with rly lame equips(or i think they are).

Spoiler
http://poeplanner.com/AAcAAPcVFwB5-d3AZjwFn9-aO-987TzVpqIA8B9o8gSz5CIabDbpJKoWb-Nq-tJmnljlWiuj8ioTna6nCNgkNsWD806usTauEh8CBAeD21XGOljr7prgRZ1TUhzcjxpMs66zQZbQ9ZeVUlM9X5f0bRkI9MBUakO86iL0bAuTJ1M1UEKMNha_JpVh4lVLf8YRlgcelS7w1UlRj_rr9WSd8h3QH-_rOw2-iqEvi4zAmtn8Cap8g6eUXl3R_Y9GXqUTcViuJy-QVRo4WfM-8dWLSi6npUFym1EgblAw215mVJRvcg_viPk3189JsQKW0nySbrxW7WGce6i5DFIAAAAAAA==


My build is going around the base with the Sire of Shards staff
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Sire_of_Shards

This give me two totens with 5 projectiles each...
I reach the problem when i discover that spell echo does not work with the toten mechanics(the support does not occur)

So since i got a 5 link Staff with nice rools, i need a better understandig on which equips should i use, i'm quite new in the game(not played for years) and i didn't know exactly what to do.

Also i see my dps on the skill and it shows around like this i think that's pretty low:
Sorry the portuguese prints but i'm brazillian
Spoiler


Cast Speed + 48%
36 - 710 ice damage
54 - 1065 lightning damage
calls one totem
do not cause elemental afflictions
totem range 60
can call 2 totems
totem lasts 8 seconds
Spell have 30% less speed on conjuring

Offensive
Damage per second 3241,41
Cast's per second 2,36
Total combined damage 143-1864
Ice damage 89-799
Lightning damage 54-1065
Cast speed modifier +89%
Critical chance 21,7%
Critical multiplier 270%
doesn't matter
Number of projectiles 5


PS:
Is there a way so i can show my full set up on here?

Thx for the help.
Last edited by renatokun89 on Apr 29, 2017, 11:59:52 PM
Hello, this builds looks awesome and im very eager to try it since I got part of the equipment and I buy the rest, but I got a question, it's posible to change this build to fire or maybe to icei using the same staff and body armor?
Thanks for your good work.
Last edited by cristianrrd on Jul 8, 2017, 9:46:43 AM

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