[0.9.13] Arc and Flame Witch

Elemental Equilibrium does following:

When you hit a monster with ONE element, that monster gains a buff with following properties: +25% resistance to the element you hit it with, -25% to other two resistances


When you hit a monster with TWO elements, that monster gains a buff with following properties: 0% resistance to the elements that you hit it with, -50% resistance to the other element


If this seems counter intuitive, it's not. Here's the math for how it works out, using our example of Lightning and Cold Damage:



Because of this, Elemental Equilibrium never increases resistances for us, only lowers. Hope this explanation was better.

I hope that this is proven. In terms of theory. So basically the added cold damage itself is enough for it to be -25 CR

It can be proven to work at some extent by looking at monster's attributes.

For example, Merciless Kraityn's Aspirant that dwell in Crossroads have only Resists Chaos. If you shoot them with Arc that does not have Added Cold Damage, they get Resists Lightning because that pushes their resistances above the required threshold for the attribute to show. Now if you link Added Cold Damage to Arc and shoot them, they do not get this attribute.

Also, if you go to Ruthless "The Forest" and shoot a small ape there without Added Cold Damage, he still retains the Resists Fire attribute. Shooting it with Arc plus Added Cold Damage removes this attribute.

Furthermore, if we go to Ruthless Old Fields and find a Ruined Titan, it has Resists Lightning attribute. If we let Flame Totem shoot without Added Cold Damage, it doesn't remove the Resists Lightning. However, with Added Cold Damage this attribute is removed.

All of this can't be exactly proven to pinpoint the amounts of resistances that get removed or added but it works as expected in every case so there's no reason to believe otherwise.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I understand EE is that it says when you hit an enemy with elemental damage it increases the resist of the element you hit with and reduces the other elements.. But if you are using arc + cold damage + fire totem wouldn't all three be attributed?



lighting damage = +25LR -25CR -25FR

cold damage = -25LR +25CR -25FR



or

cold damage = -25LR +25CR -25FR

fire damage = -25LR -25CR +25FR


EDIT - I'm assuming depending on which element is debuffed on the mob either Arc or fire totem will do more damage.

Arc and Flame Totem are two different damage sources, so they each create their own EE debuff and remove the previous. Here's a post from Mark that confirms this. That's the whole point of Elemental Equilibrium, to encourage multi-elemental builds by using two or more different spells.

Basically, with this build using Flame Totem with Added Cold Damage and Arc with Added Cold Damage, Flame Totem hits the target(s) every 0.08 seconds, constantly applying -50% Lightning Resistance Elemental Equilibrium debuff. When we hit with Arc, it applies -50% Fire Resistance Elemental Equilibrium debuff for a very brief time until Flame Totem hits the target again, removing this and adding it's own Elemental Equilibrium debuff.

Hello, your build seems very fun to play si I will indeed give it a try.
Could you please post your passive skill tree? Thanks

There are several passive skill tree snapshots in the guide, see "Passive skill tree progression" chapter (Normal, Cruel, Ruthless, Merciless and End game are links).

Oh sorry! I thought the underlined "normal" "cruel" "ruthless" "merciless" were title only, as I am used to passive skill tree links to be ridiculously long! Thx for the answer

I may have missed it, but what bandit rewards did you take?

If my memory serves me right, Normal rewards are Life, Mana and Elemental resists. Cruel rewards are Physical Damage, Attack Speed, Cast Speed. Merciless they are extra charges.

With that in mind, on Normal I'd pick Life. Resists are good, but we already get lots of them from Purity and will probably cap at least some of them. On Cruel I'd pick Cast Speed. 4% is still better than one skill point, although barely. Merciless would be skill point since the build doesn't use any charges.