[2.0.] "Scioney Spierce": Spark coming to PvP (PvE viable)

Hey there,

Ofcourse we don't have all the info yet about 2.0., but with what we've seen from beta I feel comfortably enough to theorycraft my next (PvP-oriented) all-round build together. I do this on the forums, so I can have comments and feedback.

Scioney Spierce is the obvious name of the build, as my character will be a Scion, so a blond rich girl that got into trouble due to the way she handled her private life, and Spark + Pierce = Spierce.

Spark damage is buffed a big deal in the Beta, the damage effectiveness is now 70% AND Wrath works with spells, so it should be back in business despite the shotgun nerf (and Spark can still semi-shotgun after bouncing).

Tree:

http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAAAx4D7gSzBbULYQxfD6sV5xa_GFYZihynHNwdvh9BIuokiyaVKlstqDBxMtEzhzWSOkI64TwtPydBh0M2Q8hFR0V8RZ1KyEt4TeNS7FNSU6VVS1ltW6BfmF-wYeJirGh0aPJsjG6qb55zs3n2e8N8DoKbgseDCYNfg8yExYqvjDaNv48akBGUoJcGl5eaO5rgm7WdqqIAplenVa9ssZC0xbXytz631rvjvoDAZsLswzrEosauykrPMtQj1abYTdi92mLbWd2o4XPo1usU6-7tPPAf8GvyRfno_gr-j_66

From this tree we get:

=> 57% spell dam, 72% elem dam, 65% proj dam = 194% total spark dam
=> 30% cast speed, 90% skill effect duration, 40% pierce, 30% projectile speed
=> 145% life, 8% liferegen, 22% all resistances, 18% lightn/cold resistance
=> 125% manaregen, +30 INT
=> 40%/30% dodge/spelldodge, 6 (six!) jewel sockets

Gear:

I aim on using several uniques:

Pledge of Hands => 160% spell damage is sweet, 100% increased mana stops us from watching the blue ball, and it's a 7-link for the rich and a 6-link for the poor.

Atziri's Step => Puts you at 46% spelldodge, especially important against reflect in PvE and very useful against PvP spellcasters. Adds some perfect move speed and a bit of life.

Belly of the Beast => Puts me over 180% life so I can reach 5k life. Some resists too.

Doedre's Damning => Because I want to dual curse.

The rest: life and resists mostly.

Links:

(Spell Echo from PoH) - Spark - Lightning Penetration - Faster casting - Added lightning - ?

=> Not sure about the 5th link, and don't have to worry about the 6th because I will never have that. I'm thinking about many things: LMP, Faster Projectiles, Empower, Added Chaos damage (because lots of spell and projectile damage boosters), Fork, Block Reduction,... .

Herald of Thunder - Wrath - Clarity - Enlighten

=> The first two are pure damage, Clarity as needed.

CwdT (level 1) - Firestorm - Curse on Hit - Projectile Weakness - Temporal Chains

=> This one goes in the belly. Only 2 off-colours. It should trigger all the time. Firestorm has a nice AoE and will last long with the skill duration nodes so everything should be double-cursed most of the time. Projectile Weakness puts the pierce chance at 99%, drastically augments your spark damage (29% more!) and lets you even knock back your enemies: awesome! Temporal chains is a personal preference, but as we don't have leech and rely on kiting, acrobatics and life regen in between the few hits you'll take, it can really help you out a lot. In PvP TC remains strong even after the nerf. Everybody brings their curse immune flasks ofcourse, but if this forces them to use up their flasks, that's still good. And we can always run around a bit till the effect expires.

Spell Totem - Spark - Lightning Penetration - Faster Casting

=> Your small brother. Free damage against targets that last for a while. Throw it behind you and it won't die.

Your 3rd 4-link: I don't know yet. Many options here but I'm doubting between a high level CwdT with Cold Snap or a good Golem buddy.

Your feedback:

- What support gem should I put in my 5th link?
- What should I put in my remaining 4-link?
- Jewel suggestions. I have SIX jewel slots in the tree!
- Do you see any problems with this build?
- Any other ideas/suggestions?

Bear in mind that this character will be my Standard main. I will mostly use it to run my dailies fast and to compete in HLD.

Why are you not taking any spell crit?

"

Why are you not taking any spell crit?

Many reasons:

- My priorities were:
=> Defensively: life, liferegen (because it's very useful in PvP) and Acrobatics/Phase Acrobatics.
=> Offensively: skill duration, pierce and projectile speed because it all buffs spark by a lot. Decent damage and cast speed is always mandatory for any caster because everything scales from that.

That pretty much took all my passive points, no room for crit.

- Crit requires a lot of dedication to become good. Crit chance gets stronger with more crit multi and vice versa. So crit is a bit an all-or-nothing choice: either you get a lot of it, either nothing at all. A low crit investment doesn't pay off. Ask people who level as critters: early investment isn't very noticable.

- Shocks are not that powerful in PvP. Against players the intervals between doing damage are much larger, making shock status wearing of before you can hit again.

- Spike damage (like shocks and big crits) is heavily punished by the pvp formula. You can calculate yourself. Let me give you an example with wrong (but easy) numbers but just to make my point:

=> 10 damage becomes 8 damage in pvp
=> 55 damage becomes 35 damage in pvp
=> 100 damage becomes 50 damage in pvp

So it's better to do two times 55 damage (=70) then once 10 and once 100 (=58), even if the paper DPS is the same.
Lightning damage already suffers from a wide range. Let's not make that worse by adding inconsistent shocks and crits. Better invest in reliable damage.

- I really like my Pledge of Hands, it's a great staff. You miss a potential 300%+ crit by wearing it so you might just forget about crit.

- Enemy players in PvP have acces to specific passives and items that reduce the extra damage from criticals.

- I'm sure I'll still be thinking of other reasons...