[2.0] Purple Knives - Phys to Light Ethereal Knives - Voltaxic Rift - 6+ Frenzy Charges

This build is still a work in progress as I haven't figured out the final tree and gear yet.


Current Status

I'm a level 80 Ranger at the moment and the clear speed is quite good. I have yet to get hands on a drillneck to further increase the damage. Although a crit version might be better than the non-crit approach. For the passive skill tree I have not decided to go Acrobatics or Iron Reflexes yet and just picked up life nodes so far.




Discuss the changes in the thread if you find any improvements or suggestions for the build.
Additionally, I’m not a native english speaker. If you find grammatical errors or stylistic improvements feel free to write me a private message.

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Motivation

Voltaxic Rift is probably one of the best designed uniques in my personal opinion and as its price has dropped below 2 ex on Warbands I decided to build a character around it. The critical strike chance and the physical damage of the bow is low and there are already plenty of builds with Lightning Arrow. Even though the Thornflesh Bloodline mod was removed dealing non-reflective chaos damage is a viable damage source as most of the monsters have none or low chaos resist. Lightning projectile spells like Ball Lightning or Spark have a high damage range and because I wanted more consistent damage Ethereal Knives linked with Physical to Lightning was the preferable choice.


Strengths

+ Decent AoE damage
+ Fast movement speed
+ Not prone to elemental reflect
+ Less physical reflect damage due to 50% conversion to chaos in comparison to other EK builds
+ Most monsters have low chaos resist values
+ Customizable with 5 jewel sockets


Weaknesses

+ Might be expensive
+ Average single-target damage
+ Issues with chaos resist monsters
+ Dodging and kiting playstyle
+ Not fully ranged in comparison to an archer
+ Small benefits from damage curses


Defensive Mechanics

Unwavering Stance and Iron Reflexes if using a Rearguard

or

Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics Keystone with Drillneck

Decent health pool with % increased maximum life

High life regeneration from tree and with The Blood Dance

+ Gear variation
+- Lightning Coil – conversion of 30 % physical damage taken
+- Cloak of Defiance – Mind over Matter

Offensive Mechanics

Ethereal Knives has 100% damage effectiveness to damage additions and we run Herald of Thunder and Wrath to increase the lightning damage.
6 and more frenzy charges
With 6 charges we have 30% increased cast speed and 24% more damage

+ Gear variation
+- Victario’s Acuity – 30%+ increased projectile speed
+- Drillneck – % increased projectile damage per % pierce chance


Skill tree [Work in progress]

Scion or Shadow are also possible and a better character for increased damage

30 Skill Points

54 Skill Points

78 Skill Points

95 Skill Points

111 Skill Points


Bandits

Normal – Help Oak for +40 life or Kraityn for +10 to all elemental resistances.

Cruel – Help Oak for 16% increased physical damage.

Merciless – Help Kraityn for +1 frenzy charge or kill all if you don’t want to use frenzy charges.


Gem setup

Quality on our gems is quite important and can be expensive.

5L Chest: Ethereal Knives + Physical to Lightning + Spell Echo + Life Leech + Added Lightning Damage

6L: Faster Projectiles or Pierce (Drillneck)


Frenzy + Faster Attacks, Blink Arrow, Enfeeble, Temporal Chains, Enduring Cry

Vaal Lightning Trap – Vaal Haste - Increased Duration

Cast when Damage Taken – Increased Duration – Immortal Call – Phase Run

Herald of Thunder - Wrath - Clarity


Gearing

Focus on 1. Life, 2. Resistances, 3. Evasion, 4. Mana and Mana Regen


Bow

Voltaxic Rift


Quiver

Rare Quiver - high life + resists + projectile speed, unfortunately only the life mod in the pool of possible prefixes is useful

Unique options
Rearguard – increased projectile speed, damage and block chance, block and stun Recovery
Drillneck – life, evasion, damage, pierce


Helmet

Rare Helmet - high evasion + life + resists

Unique options
Alphas Howl
Geofri’s Crest/ The Vertex


Chest

Rare chest piece - high evasion + life + resists

Unique options
Queen of the Forest – evasion, life, resist but low movement speed without Grace
Hyrri’s Ire – evasion and adds (spell) dodge chance to (Phase) Acrobatics
Cherrubim’s Maleficence – increased chaos damage, evasion, life and leech rate
The Restless Ward – life, evasion, frenzy charge duration and movement speed with frenzy charges
Lightning Coil – probable best choice, 30% converted physical damage taken, decent life and evasion
Cloak of Defiance – Mind over Matter, layered defenses, good mana and mana regeneration
Belly of the Beast – high life and some resist


Gloves

Rare Gloves - high evasion with life and Resist


Boots

The Blood Dance to generate Frenzy charges

If you don’t use charges pick up rare movement speed boots with life and resist

Unique options
Atziri’s Step – life, evasion, movement speed, spell dodge
Mutewind Whispersteps – added cold damage, movement speed, cold resist


Amulets

Rare amulet with spell damage, life, % increased evasion or + maximum mana as prefixes,
Cast speed, resist, mana regeneration or % increased lightning damage as suffixes.

Unique options:
Victario’s Acuity – frenzy and power charges on kill, increased projectile speed and damage with charges
Warped Timepiece – cast speed, movement speed, life leech rate


Rings

Rare rings with life, mana and evasion as prefixes,
Cast speed, resist, mana regeneration or % increased lightning damage as suffixes.

Unique options
Mings’ Heart – high chaos resist and extra chaos damage
Brinerot Mark – spell damage, lightning resistance and socket for chaos/flame golem
Le Heup of All – some stats, resistance, increased damage
Berek’s Respite – increased lightning damage, mana, shock nearby monsters


Belt

Rare belt with life and flask recovery rate, Tora movement speed mod as prefixes,
Resistances, flask duration/charge generation as suffixes

Unique options
Doryani’s Invitation – physical damage, resistances and small leech
Belt of the Deceiver – increased physical damage, life and resistances, critical strike reduction
The Magnate – increased physical damage, strength

Hey, i was thinking about doing something unique like this, and your build seemed to interest me, i have a few concerns about your build though, for example, you use Added fire damage in your links? whats the point if your doing Lightning to chaos conversion to be immune to reflect, your just converting more to fire damage, which does not convert, what is the point going to all the trouble of using conversion, and even using voltaxic unless you are going 100% chaos damage, your just gimping your damage, as much as i would love to play a build similar to this i just dont see the point

Thanks for the comment. You are right, one point using Voltaxic Rift is not to have trouble with reflect and added fire doesn't really make sense.

My character is only level 51 at the moment and i have yet to figure out the right links. The current idea is to have Ethereal Knives - Physical to Lightning - Life Leech - Added Lightning Damage - Added Chaos Damage - Faster Casting in the chest piece. I don't like spell echo as it roots the character longer. Faster Projectiles are not needed with a quality Ethereal Knives, quiver and skill tree.

Heralds of Thunder and Herald of Ice are going to be used next to arctic armour and clarity, as wrath does not scale well enough.

Furthermore, the unique quiver Rearguard is used and i'm heading for an Iron Reflexes build. The end game tree will look like this Ethereal Knives Iron Reflexes Tree 113 Points.

Imo it's way better to go fire > chaos


phys to lighthning
infernal mantle
dagger with 75% fire > chaos
chernobog shield 25% phys > fire
hrimsorrow glove 25% phys > cold
Pyre ring & call of brotherhood or double call of brotherhood and cold to fire

this way

100 ek phys > 50 ligthning/25 fire/25 cold > 25 lightning > 75 fire

end of conversion > 25% lightning 75% chaos