[2.0] Elemental Reaver: Acro | Mana

Edit: I'm abandoning this build. It can get a decent amount of dps, but life is low and relying on mana with the type of tree/gear I want isn't fun.

With The Awakening almost here, I wanted to create a thread for one of the new Dreamfeather builds I'm working on: a mana-powered elemental Cleave/Reave Scion. There are many concerns about mana sustain, so the goal is to create a character that can overcome the challenge without resorting to Blood Magic or a low level attack gem.

Blood Magic builds are going to be very popular (it's even looking like my original build will convert to the gem), but I have an unusual RRRBBG Queen of the Forest that I want to preserve.

Five off colors that are perfect for a lightning elemental Cleave character. Luckily you don't need a 6L, much socket color luck, or even Cleave to successfully follow this build now that Reave has been buffed.


Between the Scion start, Shaper, Quick Recovery, Coldhearted Calculation, Primal Spirit, and Druidic Rite, there should be plenty of mana and mana regen to sustain skills. Three (or four) jewel slots provide flexibility (Static Electricity is perfect if you go with a lightning build), and you can still use tricks like a low level Clarity + Blood Magic (+ Enlighten), Elreon accessories, and mana/mana regen on gear if necessary.

Unique Gear

Dreamfeather x2
Alpha's Howl
Hyrri's Ire or Queen of the Forest
recommended: The Blood Dance (pair with Blood Rage) or Atziri's Step

Gems

In Alpha's Howl: Grace + Wrath + Herald of Thunder + Enlighten

Cleave/Reave + Faster Attacks + Weapon Elemental Damage + Multistrike is mandatory. After that, Added Lightning Damage + Lightning Penetration is optimal but hard to roll in a pure evasion chest. Added Cold and Culling Strike work well as replacements.

As a 6L, would you not consider Life Leech? Or perhaps use Dyadian Dawn on a Cold Damage build? I feel you may find the lack of leech upsetting on 2.0 with the leech changes. Added Lightning is great, but not being dead, well...

Anyhow, when I get a pair of Dreamfeathers, this is the build I'll try :)
Or perhaps with a Dreamfeather + Doryani's Catalyst (for the Leech) using Reave with just the Dreamfeather.

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CantripN wrote:

As a 6L, would you not consider Life Leech? Or perhaps use Dyadian Dawn on a Cold Damage build? I feel you may find the lack of leech upsetting on 2.0 with the leech changes. Added Lightning is great, but not being dead, well...

Life Leech is certainly an option in a 6L, but I wouldn't use it with fewer links. Dyadian Dawn... Maybe? The complete loss of physical damage might be bigger than you think between Dreamfeather's recent physical buff and the fact that the phys damage scales with evasion. I doubt I'll miss the quick leech I got from Atziri's Promise too much. I think of the build as a "potion popper" (frequent use of a single life potion, Atziri's Promise, Jade Flask of Reflexes, and Taste of Hate/Granite), and as long as you refill your charges quickly (*wiggles eyebrows at Primal Spirit and Druidic Rite*), it works very well, even in live without Atziri's Promise.

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Anyhow, when I get a pair of Dreamfeathers, this is the build I'll try :)
Or perhaps with a Dreamfeather + Doryani's Catalyst (for the Leech) using Reave with just the Dreamfeather.

Yeah, this tree should be solid for its mana and jewel slots. I hope you like it! I need to go test out a Doryani's Catalyst now to see how much damage you lose... That might be a good option if you find the leech necessary.

Dyadian Dawn would be better with a Frost Blades build, if I'm not mistaken. I'd consider doing a Phys to Light Frost Blades build with a "Physical" tree, allowing you to benefit from both Elemental and Physical nodes almost the same, and retaining 90% of your "physical" damage. Not needing a Life Leech gem would be a huge DPS boost, as long as the Chill is reliable.

Frost Blades / Multistrike / Phys to Light / Faster Attacks / WED / Hypothermia or LMP, perhaps? This certainly sounds like a decent option for a semi-elemental build, and lets you use most of the damage passives well.

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CantripN wrote:

Dyadian Dawn would be better with a Frost Blades build, if I'm not mistaken. I'd consider doing a Phys to Light Frost Blades build with a "Physical" tree, allowing you to benefit from both Elemental and Physical nodes almost the same, and retaining 90% of your "physical" damage. Not needing a Life Leech gem would be a huge DPS boost, as long as the Chill is reliable.

Frost Blades / Multistrike / Phys to Light / Faster Attacks / WED / Hypothermia or LMP, perhaps? This certainly sounds like a decent option for a semi-elemental build, and lets you use most of the damage passives well.

I could see that working with Frost Blades (I can't wait to test the skill). That's probably the setup I'd try, well everything except maybe LMP. Have to see the skill in action first.

Ok, so in my first round of testing on a lvl 92 character, I'm not liking what I'm getting. It's fine to sustain mana in a 4 or 5L, but you sacrifice so much to do it well in a 6L. Damage (with Frenzy Charges) is about the same as on my old character (43k dps), but without Frenzy Charges it's only around 32k dps in a 6L, life feels quite low for my level (4k), and you need flat mana on gear to increase your pool. I have about 90 unreserved mana without flat mana on gear thanks to lvl 3 Enlighten and Conqueror's Efficiency (I'm also using Survival Secrets), and that's not enough if you have your attack gem at its highest level (unless you have crazy high regen). Ideally you don't want to use any jewel nodes on mana-related things because you need them for life (first and foremost) and Static Electricity.


TREE

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CantripN wrote:

Anyhow, when I get a pair of Dreamfeathers, this is the build I'll try :)
Or perhaps with a Dreamfeather + Doryani's Catalyst (for the Leech) using Reave with just the Dreamfeather.

Just tried it out and Ice Crash with one Dreamfeather and one Doryani's Catalyst is definitely viable (I did it in a Blood Magic gem build). I actually gained a tiny bit of dps with Doryani's.