Death's Oath CI
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This build focuses on getting the most out of the new Death's Oath unique Astral Plate as a CI character, mainly by getting shield nodes to maximize our ES.
Why Death's Oath?
The main disadvantages of going Death's Oath are: 1. Chaos Damage to Self. This will be dealt with by going CI. 2. No ES for a CI character. This will be dealt with by getting a high ES shield and close to 200% increased shield ES from the tree. The main advantages of going Death's Oath are: 1. Attack speed. This is good because the build gets very little attack speed from the tree. 2. High +all attributes. This is helpful as our tree gets low Dex, Int benefits our ES and Mana, and Strength benefits Iron Grip (which is good for Lightning Strike) 3. Armour. This is great for this build as it gets Body and Soul nodes. 4. Life Leech. Always good with Vaal Pact, and especially important for this build as it converts half of its physical damage into elemental damage, so Blood Rage isn't enough. 5. Chaos Damage. Since we'll be using Lightning Strike with this build, as shocked mobs get close to you they'll take extra chaos damage.  Link to Passive Skill Tree Unwavering Stance version Notice the relatively low number of ES nodes and high number of shield nodes, this is because getting ES/Defence from shield nodes is much more beneficial when you're using your chest for armour instead of ES.
Active Skills
1. 5L/6L Glacial Hammer with: Melee Physical Damage, Faster Attacks, Melee Damage on Full Life, Multistrike, Weapon Elemental Damage. Get Additional Accuracy if you can't get the accuracy from gear (it has become a lot easier now though). 2. 4L Lightning Strike (Quality) with: Lesser Multiple Projectiles, Faster Attacks, Weapon Elemental Damage. Get Pierce instead of WED if you can't get Quality Lightning Strike, and Additional Accuracy if you can't get the accuracy from gear. Sidenote about Multistrike and 5L Glacial Hammer: I've chosen to put it in Glacial Hammer instead of Lightning Strike because: It hurts physical damage scaling when you don't have the melee physical damage gems, the leveling bonus from multistrike doesn't benefit lightning strike's projectiles, and finally Glacial Hammer gets to proc freeze more often with multistrike. I suggest using Added Fire Damage over Multistrike if you really want to 5L Lightning Strike instead of Glacial Hammer. 3. Blood Rage (need it for the life leech since we're using glacial hammer). Linked with Increased Duration. 4. Enfeeble for those boss fights. Linked with Increased Duration. 5. Auras: Discipline, Hatred, Determination/Purity depending on the map. Tempest Shield isn't worth the mana cost IMO, not with this build anyway. 6. Leap Slam to move around. 7. Enduring Cry is always good to have.
Gear Choices
1. Weapon: Since CI Vaal Pact builds go great with crit, I have chosen Scepters as the weapon of choice. Daggers are also fine, but Scepters aren't as popular and they let you use Glacial Hammer. 2. Shield: You want a very high pure ES shield, at least 500 ES. This is very important because most of our ES will come from the shield. After ES, you want added block chance since our build gets a lot of block bonuses from the tree. 3. Chest: Death's Oath of course. 4. Boots: Rainbowstrides. This has everything you need including the added spell block (since this is a block build). 5. Amulet: Eye of Chayula. 6. Ring: Dream Fragments. Anything else is on a "get what you need" basis. Mana leech is needed from either a ring or gloves.
Bandit Quest Rewards
Normal - Skill point. Standard for a CI build. Cruel - This is the most difficult choice. Since our build gets a lot of physical damage increase already and very little attack speed increase, the 18% phys damage comes pretty close to the 8% attack speed but 8% attack speed takes the cake. Merciless - Skill point. Endurance charge if you're really into that sort of thing.
Numbers for Cruel Oak reward
Base = 100% Skill tree (with galvanic hammer considered) = 240% Strength (400)= 60% Glacial Hammer level 19 = 72% Multistrike level 19 = 54% Total = 526% 18% turns it from 526% to 544%, which is a 3.4% increase in DPS (a bit higher for lightning strike).
Numbers for Cruel Kraityn reward
Base = 100% Skill Tree = 4% Items (Death's Oath + Gloves) = 25% Level 19 Quality Faster Attacks = 53% Total = 182% 8% turns it from 182% to 190%, which is a 4.3% increase in DPS.
Build Weaknesses
1. Shock is still an issue for CI builds (get dem flasks). 2. Life Leech even with Death's Oath and Blood Rage isn't huge, since we're using glacial hammer which converts half our physical into cold. 3. The signature CI items (dream fragments, rainbowstrides) are quite expensive. 4. As with all CI builds, you can't do blood magic maps.
Build Strengths
1. Glacial Hammer and Lightning Strike on a crit build gives you good coverage for any mob type. 2. You get pretty decent armour for a CI character, which lets you tank the small hits. 3. The high amount of block (and a decent amount of spell block) makes a lot of content significantly easier. 4. The ES is still quite high even without an ES chest, due to the shield nodes. 5. Dividing your damage between ele and phys, and using vaal pact makes you completely immune to reflect. Pricy but efficient, this is a build that will net you stable performance in pretty much all content. Once the 3D model for Death's Oath comes out, you'll look damn cool as well. Last edited by Novalisk on Aug 7, 2013, 2:19:53 PM
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And how well does it work for you?
How to make a build: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/510084
Current guides: N/A | |
" Works great in my head! Sadly I don't play enough to afford those items. | |
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I bought one just for fun. It's terrible.
I actually have a very unique niche build for the chest piece in mind, but I'll have to acquire certain pieces of gear and gems to make it work. Probably have to redo my tree as well. This chest piece honestly has a cool looking aura and that's about it. The downside makes this chest just outright terrible at the moment. I was screwing around with jewelers to make it 6 socket and then 6 link it. But I've gotten lazy/too poor at the moment. IGN: Zanyu **-=Zanyu's Jewelry Shop=-** Buy 2 get 1 free special! http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/424110 -=Zanyu's Weapon and Armor Shop=- http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/417148 Last edited by Zanyu on Jul 13, 2013, 10:09:27 AM
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" It is terrible unless you build around it. This build does just that. The Frenzy charge regen boots? If you're going for frenzy charges, you're probably better off getting Darkray Vectors instead. High regen build? Even with high regen, you need a lot of chaos resistance to mitigate the damage. CI with shield nodes is the best way of making it work IMO. Last edited by Novalisk on Jul 13, 2013, 11:02:25 AM
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Tried CI with it and it sucks.
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/462900 I mean yeah go ahead, spend 10-20, hell maybe even 40ex+ if you really think it'll work. I think a 500+ es shield is easily worth 10ex+. I'm not trying to boast or anything, but yeah I can afford some above average if not the top end of items in the game available, and just from my initial tests/impressions. It is not worth it. Not even close. Also I've practically tried the chest at the highest end-game possible available right now. You're thinking way to highly of the aura itself. If you want to go CI, buy an ES chest with 400 es and it'll be better and cheaper. IGN: Zanyu **-=Zanyu's Jewelry Shop=-** Buy 2 get 1 free special! http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/424110 -=Zanyu's Weapon and Armor Shop=- http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/417148 Last edited by Zanyu on Jul 13, 2013, 11:36:40 AM
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" You did not try getting shield nodes with a high ES shield. " Not easy to get, but not nearly as expensive as you make it out to be. Most people like having spell crit/damage on their ES shields, so the demand isn't huge. " I'm not thinking highly of the aura, it is nice to have but it doesn't make the build. It is the combination of the aura with all of its other stats. | |
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Hey man, all the power to you if you still want to try it.
I'm just saying, I tried pretty much an alternative method of what you have posted. And I just checked, you're right, 500 es shield can be around 2-5ex, which isn't too bad. I don't know if I'll buy one, just to what, increase my ES around 5k. Your es is your life essentially. Essentially you are trading about 2-4k es for 5% life leech, 450 damage aura, 12-15% attack speed. You can increase 20-40% of your ES pool with a chest piece, are the other stats really worth it for you? I think you are just deluding yourself into a mediocre build around an item that isn't even that great, which if you simply replace with a different item can easily be better. There are already CI melee builds that work out really well and all use ES chests or even hybrid chests. Regardless until you try it, I'm holding everything you say just a simple theory. Send me an update and tell me how it works out if you do, I could be totally wrong about the chest. But as of now, the chest is complete trash and there isn't really even a niche build. I've pretty much given up to make this chest to work, that and I've just been doing other things, game has gotten somewhat stale, and I'm just holding onto currency until the next time I come back and try out a new build, maybe buy new uniques. Edit: I'm someone who likes to promote innovation. Get this build to work, post a video of you being able to solo clear 70+ maps and I'll even throw some exalted your way. IGN: Zanyu **-=Zanyu's Jewelry Shop=-** Buy 2 get 1 free special! http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/424110 -=Zanyu's Weapon and Armor Shop=- http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/417148 Last edited by Zanyu on Jul 13, 2013, 1:44:37 PM
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" Let's assume these numbers: 600 ES Shield 700 ES Chest 400 ES Helm 150 ES Boots 200 ES Discipline 100 ES From other sources Without the chest and with my build, we get: ( 850 * 2.8 + 600 * 5 ) * 1.2 = 6456 With the chest and with a build that gets 80% more increased ES (instead of shield nodes): ( 700 + 850 + 600 ) * 3.6 * 1.2 = 9288 Which is just like you said, 20-40% of my ES pool. Now let's take block chance into account. The 9288 ES build with just the 30% block from the shield = 9288 / 0.7 = 13268 EHP against attacks before resists/armour The 6456 ES build with 60% block chance = 6456 / 0.4 = 16140 EHP against attacks before resists/armour. The shield build also gets about 20% spell block, which makes the EHP difference not so big for spells. This is where you say, "But you don't have to get Death's Oath to use shield nodes" and you would be correct. However, Death's Oath gives armour to mitigate the small hits, something a pure ES build does not. You have to get the Grace+IR combo for Armour if you're using an ES chest, which costs a lot of skill points and an important aura slot. Last edited by Novalisk on Jul 13, 2013, 5:27:13 PM
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