ZiggyD's Etheral Knives Mana Shield Scion/Shadow Build Guide - Hardcore (Updated for 1.1)

Oops, my bad =)

Certainly never had problems with piercing with EK because of the range/positioning but I guess you could use it if you like, still don't think anyone will use the Pierce support.

"

joint77 wrote:

Kilikx1x, I think your build looks pretty OK... Will see about how life nodes nerf and base life increase influence this build when the expansion will be live. Maybe we can drop that life wheel from scion, but will be pretty hard. Me, personally, i'm aiming for 4k life at lvl 83~85.

Approximate Life Comparisons Pre 1.2 to Post 1.2
130% is slightly worse than 190%
140% is slightly greater than 200%
150% is slightly greater than 210%
160% is slightly greater than 220%
170% is greater than 230%
With a level 75, 80 STR character with poor to average endgame gear.

New Max Life Calculation:
Maximum Life = (42 + (Level * 12) + (Strength / 2) + additive modifiers) * (100% + multiplicative modifiers)

Hey thanks for that health comparison chart, it will be really helpful. And I agree that there are some nodes that I didn't grab that look really tasty. My build is unrefined rite now (Mostly because I am not the best theory crafter) but I'm going to be going back and reworking it.

I appreciate any help I can get.

Hey Ziggy,
Can you update your Passive skill tree for Scion MoM build?
Thanks~!

i dont see this posted elsewhere, so just a heads up on ziggy's revised tree for 1.2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OluuGm1CJnE&list=UU4mLMb49hqk4y9lVFtfanlg

"

LonePuppet wrote:

i dont see this posted elsewhere, so just a heads up on ziggy's revised tree for 1.2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OluuGm1CJnE&list=UU4mLMb49hqk4y9lVFtfanlg

I really appreciate what Ziggy's trying to do for newer hardcore players, but the dps is even more miserable after the patch.

I posted in a thread on the shadow forum about a crit based EK build, here's what I came up with. Any feedback would be very much appreciated.

Here's Ziggy's build, and the bonuses he gains compared to my build.

+10 to Dexterity

25% increased Projectile Damage
50% increased maximum Life
36% increased maximum Mana
15% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
52% increased Physical Damage
52% increased Evasion Rating
+20 Life gained on Kill



And here's one I whipped up real quick, probably can be more refined. The below bonuses are what I have over Ziggy's.

+60 to Intelligence
+30 to maximum Mana

6% increased Cast Speed

215% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells
110% increased Critical Strike Chance
20% increased Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells
35% increased Critical Strike Multiplier
32% increased Spell Damage
20% increased Elemental Damage
+12% Energy Shield



As expected, losing flat damage and lieu of more crit. It's been a year since I played POE and I came back for the expansion to give it another whirl, so please forgive the newb question, but IIRC global crit/critical strike chance does stack with spell crit correct? So I would have 325% increased crit chance and 55% crit multiplier?

Got my own guide up and running again (see sig), over at Shadow. Similar design goal to this, no IR, though, and no MoM.

My Crit-less tree goal for level 80:


At 7K DPS at level 61 so far, so it seems to work. Granted, my gear is quite good.


Buffs:
Clarity / Hatred / Haste / Herald of Ash / Arctic Armor

-

No need for Iron Reflexes, unless you're playing in HC and prefer it. It's quite tanky without it, but the sudden damage spike will happen. Instead, I'll be getting a HUGE pool of Life.

I think I've found my favorite non-crit build, suitable for soft or hardcore:



Why yes, that is a level 100 tree. Obviously you can modify it to your level, leaving out dps-related things like the Inner Force circle and some Witch damage nodes.

You can save a point by avoiding Lord of the Dead (in which case you should take the two "avoid interruption while casting" nodes below it), but I use a skeleton totem all the time, so it's completely worth it for me.

You might be wondering why I took Blaze instead of saving a point by grabbing the two basic intelligence nodes above it. The reason is simply dps: you are going to get the most damage by including Herald of Ash and Added Fire Damage in your setup, and Blaze will boost that fire damage even more. Luckily it is possible to run Clarity + Grace + Hatred + Herald of Fire without Alpha's Howl or without heading over to Sovereignty, although it's hard to do. Your best bet is to avoid Sovereignty (it's a lot of points to get over there) and use Alpha's Howl in combination with the 4 reduced mana reservation nodes near the Shadow area. Unless you have some crazy mana numbers, you shouldn't use a Herald gem with Cloak of Defiance.

If you want more information on the build, I have a writeup here.

Hi,
Can anyone update Passive skill tree for Scion for hardcore?
Thanks.

Started using your updated shadow tree for this, would you say links and gear would still be the same ? :)