Dave/Kripp's 400 str Ethereal Knives Maraader

So far this spec is a nightmare ^^

Any ideas on a good single target nuke? EK seems to lack severely right now. I used Quill Rain for the very low lvls (because it's hilarious AS and all you need to do is stack a couple +dmg x-y dmg stuff to pwn anything with 3+aps. Also it has 100% projectile speed <3) but that doesn't work anymore and I really need a bigger bang right now.

I also rushed for Blood Magic, which might not be all that smart. With my good HP regen and Rejuv. Totem I can still tank and spam my stuff but it could obviously be better.

Another problem is my lack of dex as well as of green sockets. Both could be solved by rushing Iron Reflexes. But I also need all the health nodes to stay alive while hurting myself with casting. Hrm...

€:

Finally attached Iron Will to EK, it's getting better and better. Once I get my hands on a couple more green sockets I should be fine. Will probably add Bear Trap for ST support, should do the trick I assume.

Well Dex is fixed via items early on, maybe even using a dex amulet instead of the common onyx. Sockets I think you'd just use evasion gear for a while, or at least hybrid armor/eva gear, they have a lot of green sockets this way. Using pure str armor would be rough on green sockets.

As for single target, on my EK builds I used Ice Spear. Decoy.Zombie to tank stuff away and Ice Spear at full range, does decent dmg even with no supports. Add Cold pen and Crit dmg and it does really good dmg with nothing much. Faster casting too is good. Eventually though EK does good single target dmg too, just takes a while to get there(probably even longer with a marauder build).

Yeah I finally stumbled upon some gear I had on my LA Templar. Turns out he had all my +dex stuff ^^ So I'm good with that for now.

Problem was I was like really low so I couldn't even wear dex based gear for more green sockets (I couldn't even use Projectile Weakness or Bear Trap).

Guess if I had found that stuff earlier (I only got the base 4 stash tabs, so stuff is spread across my gazillion of chars - hard to keep track sometimes ^^) I wouldn't have made the rush to IR (because of the dex nodes on the way to it), which I started now. Might stop at Troll's Blood and take care of resists and hp first, since I'm getting quite a bit bashed by mobs right now - which is not exactly cool when you also need your life to fight back :P

It really feels different than a "standard" caster EK build though (which I played as well). Quite hilarious with all the life and regen. Can't wait to see what happens once I got my defensive stuff decked out. I can already oneshot most mobs with EK which I think is pretty good, given the tankyness of this char. Plus Iron Will still hurts my cast speed, so it's good to have things dead after just one or two casts I guess.

Now the int problem remains, but I have quite some big nodes pretty quickly available so I'll probably go for them next, to finally be able to wear some decent wands with proj.speed.

Haven't thought of using something like Ice Spear. I might actually do that, since I stack some spelldmg anyway this sure couldn't hurt. Might look into it.

Thanks for your input.

Can someone explain why he took Steel Skin + other armor nodes if he is planing to use evasion armor+Iron Reflexes? Did something change on Alpha ?

I don't know exactly how it works but seemingly the conversion from evasion to armor comes before any percentage based bonuses for armor. So basically you get evasion rating as armor and that is multiplied by your various bonuses.

However it works exactly, it gives you a shit load of armor :P

Seeing the game gets harder and harder + this spec has HUGE defense I might start with this build in OB.

What do you guys think? Also, leveling up what weapons and skills would you use? Cause EK won't be available for a while.

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buks wrote:

Seeing the game gets harder and harder + this spec has HUGE defense I might start with this build in OB.

What do you guys think? Also, leveling up what weapons and skills would you use? Cause EK won't be available for a while.

A character like should be an alternate character if you ask me. I think it makes most sense to play characters that are self sufficient at first. That means the quest rewards will cover (most) of the skills you need. Once you have extra skills and items stashed it will be easier to make builds like these. IMO of course

just use a bear trap for a high dmg single target nuke , etheral knives whle its charging up. not ideal vs bosses but good for rares it does insane damage , and gets bonus from spell damage same as etheral knvies.
its funny i was panning pretty much this build for a while havnt made it yet though

Pretty much what kirbs said.

I'm running Bear Trap and EK for a while now (lvl 50ish now). The beginning is a real nightmare. With no mana passives whatsoever and given the cost of EK, trust me, the beginning was really horrible. I could like use EK three times in a row and had to pot my mana. It works though, since it deals a decent amount of dmg right from the start and has fairly good aoe potential. Once you have Blood Magic and some life regen, it gets better.

I started this build (as I mostly do nowadays) with Quill Rain. This bow is just ridiculous at the very low lvls due to the speed. Throwing in occasional EKs for biger groups and that's it. You can use whatever weapons you want (since you most likely won't have a QR ^^). I'd say going melee for the first levels would be best for the obvious reasons.


Concerning what Cruxation said, I tend to agree. On the other hand you can easily start a Witch or Shadow and do the glyph wall quest for a EK right there. The support gems are mostly available to marauders anyway (added fire, reduced mana, life leech), so you should be good. Whatever else you need should be tradable quite soon I guess.

Wait can you get EK with a witch early on in act1 ? I'm talking about OB. I know Kripp made a spreadsheet but I don't remember.