Arc - making it the most effective

Feel kinda stupid not figuring it out myself but was just dying to know what is was, thanks :D!

haha i didnt know what FP was either untill i looked it up XD

anyways, i see there are some differing opinions. I am currently lvl 33 and trying to acquire some gear, to complete my half-assed wanders respec into an arc build. My arc is still level 1, and i am basically lacking a proper wand, glove and helmet, and i am still pretty happy with the way things are looking.
my cast time is at 0.5 sec, and like i said, am still missing a proper wand (more cast speed), but i definitely see the problem with single targets, will have to find a way to fix that. as far as groups goes however, the chance to flee thing sounds very interesting, there isnt even a damage or mana modifier on it, hmm.

anyways like i said, from where im standing the damage potential seems fine, i am killing things a couple of levels below me at a reasonable pace, and my arc is at less than half the dmg it could have been if it was leveled to my level. with the additional cast speed and chance to shock on hit nodes ill be getting, i dont see the build falling short just yet.

any comparisons between different versions of arc, rather than between arc and other spells? ill be doing the build untill i die or it just starts performing horribly, and would love your insights on making the most of it :)

also i am playing on hc, which is why i didnt go full on dmg nodes, also the cast speed makes it easier to maneuver the character to dodge stuff. currently my biggest concern is, when damage/survivability is balanced for hc, will there be enough damage left.

please, keep up the discussion, it is very helpful :)

The thing is,arc is very unique spell on how it can be used,you click in the middle of the crowd and you will have to go closer,thus risk getting killed,however,if you use for example right mouse button and keep it pressed few feet away from closest mob to you,you will remain in decent range and still hit every mob,it's useful for soloing bosses as you can get extra range,so all in all as far as range goes,arc has the longest range of all skills within the game,as it can chain mobs two screens wroth of a distance.

The damage is decent as well,where it really shines is on two mobs as it will bounce,i currently run at lvl 59 with 1.2k dps on chain (and that's just with zero quality cast speed+light pen supports)

In fact,the damage was decent enough that i put a spark on totem,and use arc for both,single boss and aoe damage.

The best thing is that i have gone 40% def/60% off in passives and i still don't have any problems,in fact only now i will actually start to invest in heavy ele dmg/light dmg/spell dmg nodes,so i imagine that at the end,with proper gear and slightly modified passives (since when i am done grinding levels i won't need as much def nodes) i will be able to push some decent DPS out of arc.

At the end i plan to go heavy mana regen,get 6 socket chest and go for eventually 20% quality Arc+light pen+light dmg+crit+cast speed+reduced mana cost,if i had a chest like that already,i think my arc would clock in at 2k dps....that's not bad considering my passives are rather heavy in defense for a glass cannon,which,as i mentioned will eventually change.

Although i must say,my build without zombies would not work as good,it would involve a whole lot of running around,which tends to happen from time to time even without them.


So all in all,for me,with my passives and play-style,arc is perfect,i wouldn't trade it for nothing.

I am currently lv66, was using arc since lv34.
It has base 5% crit rate which doesn't grow with lvl (at lv16 arc has same 5% crit rate, fireball/firestorm has 9%), so imo going crit build is pointless for arc.
Arc has the weakest single target damage and is kind of useless for boss / elites fights because of lowest damage and inability to stack debuff.
If you hold shift before using arc it will shoot off-screen and kill everything around, even behind the corner, before it reaches you. Also arc has auto target, it never miss.
Lightning penetration adds 40% damage to arc, a very useful rune (in solo game).
Elemental Proliferation is the best rune for ark, it adds a debuff aura for every target shocked, mobs become a walking debuffers and debuff all mobs (even elites) in 30 range. Its like a +120% damage rune.
Currently i have regen of 95 mp/s and cannot spam ark having only 9% cast speed from talents and 0% cast speed from gear/runes. My wand and shield give +130% spell damage, imo its more efficient than cast speed. Also in merciless mobs has much shorter stun duration.
Your build seems to be focused on casting speed while lacking ele/spell damage and defensive talents. I would take all 8-10% ele/spell dmg talents, but would ignore 5-6% dmg talents. Being 1-shot cannon may be difficult in solo, but in party probably could work. Imo firestorm with +aoe dmg, chance to burn and added lightning damage (for +120% debuff) would be more suitable for glass cannon. Alternatively can use shock nova, in my case with concentrated effect it has 2400 dmg (max) at lv16, but is a melee spell.

So ark has the highest attack range and is the most efficient vs moderate groups of mobs due to chaining, also is great vs fast mobs. Ark is useless vs very large groups of mobs or single targets. I am not sure if going solely lighting build is viable.

I feel like "Lightning" alltogether just lacks a Spell.
Shock Nova and Arc alone seem not to be really versitail... Where is our Lightning Storm (bosses use it ffs)?

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Velr wrote:

I feel like "Lightning" alltogether just lacks a Spell.
Shock Nova and Arc alone seem not to be really versitail... Where is our Lightning Storm (bosses use it ffs)?

That lightning storm is newly added. players might get it eventually.


But there are more.
Lightning warp, shock nova, spark, tempest shield, arc. these are the outright spells. there are of course lightning attacks as well.

I still count only "2" maybe "3" that are regulary used and "active". Just seems lacking :).

Take a look at the default ladder, non summoner/totem witches are out of the game right now since they nerfed CI. They might come back ultra late game when people can craft 1k+ ES gear, but until then, stick to....well, anything else.

I say this with great sadness, I was this close <-> to rolling up my Mrs Sparky witch.

Petrov.

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mrpetrov wrote:

Take a look at the default ladder, non summoner/totem witches are out of the game right now since they nerfed CI. They might come back ultra late game when people can craft 1k+ ES gear, but until then, stick to....well, anything else.

I say this with great sadness, I was this close <-> to rolling up my Mrs Sparky witch.

Petrov.

I am rolling a Sparky witch :( i have to say that the dps is low but the survavibility on cruel end act 2 is fine atm.

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Qlimaxita wrote:

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mrpetrov wrote:

Take a look at the default ladder, non summoner/totem witches are out of the game right now since they nerfed CI. They might come back ultra late game when people can craft 1k+ ES gear, but until then, stick to....well, anything else.

I say this with great sadness, I was this close <-> to rolling up my Mrs Sparky witch.

Petrov.

I am rolling a Sparky witch :( i have to say that the dps is low but the survavibility on cruel end act 2 is fine atm.

Wait until you get to high 60 maps. I don't say this from personal knowledge since OB began, but from what the top Witches on the ladder have indicated.

In CB, my sparker was my best killer - safe and deadly. She could 1-2 shot (max) Merciless Act 2 Gneiss.

Petrov.