Ethereal Knives CI/Low Life Flask Based Build

How does this build perform with a 5-link Shav's? And which link would you drop?

Also curious how this compares to a Mjolner discharge with Voll's. Less damage I assume but better defenses? The talisman trick seems to be a pretty huge boost to this build vs bosses.

Nice build

I'm playing a variant of this in TSC. The difference is that I use Bladefall instead of EK-chain, I use Vinktar for leech, and I use double curse Poacher's + Assassin's to generate flask charges, PC/FC, and help shock.

The coolest thing I've done with this build so far is a -max +fire +cold +lightning crematorium. There was a voidspawn of abaxoth pack in the boss room who spawned Haast. So I had to fight Haast+Magera at the same time in this map. ES didn't drop below 80% and the kills only took seconds.





Suggestions are welcome.

I was going to experiment with Bladefall when\if I get one to lvl 21 for fair comparison. But right now it feels like EK will end up more flexible in what I can do with it just by swapping gems without recolouring the chest: Slower Proj for nuking, Life Leech or Added Fire\Phys to Lightning for reflects, Empower.

From what I've read, your variation locks you out from doing a lot of map mods. You don't have Clarity nor Warlord's Mark to run lower\no regen maps. Both reflects are a no go too, I can imagine.

Vinktar flasks seem risky to me without any noticeable benefit over leech that can be provided Warlord's Mark + Atziri's Promise and Vaal Pact which is on the way.

Poacher's mark feels wasted as flask charges are always plenty and life\mana on hit portion of the curse only work with attacks (GGG, please).

Nonetheless, I am excited to see what you will end up with considering your previous build creating efforts! Please report back.

I'm rolling this as another character on THC but wasn't entirely sure how the progression would look like. Right now I'm only sitting on ~3 ex worth of gear, so I'll be picking up the flasks first. What I wasn't sure of is what I'd be looking for to run in the chest slot in the meantime. I'm sure something like a belly or whatever would work fine.

I was also curious how this build manages status effects. I've never run a CI/LL build before, and there doesn't seem to be anything in the tree/gear to suggest how things like perma effects are mitigated. Since I figured I'd naturally go Life>CI with a good chest>LL with the eventual 5/6L shavs, I'm not sure what I need lined up to make the life>CI transition safe.

Prior to getting a shav's, would it be better to go LL with a solaris or go CI with a cloak of flame?

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gwarlek wrote:

I was going to experiment with Bladefall when\if I get one to lvl 21 for fair comparison. But right now it feels like EK will end up more flexible in what I can do with it just by swapping gems without recolouring the chest: Slower Proj for nuking, Life Leech or Added Fire\Phys to Lightning for reflects, Empower.

From what I've read, your variation locks you out from doing a lot of map mods. You don't have Clarity nor Warlord's Mark to run lower\no regen maps. Both reflects are a no go too, I can imagine.

Vinktar flasks seem risky to me without any noticeable benefit over leech that can be provided Warlord's Mark + Atziri's Promise and Vaal Pact which is on the way.

Poacher's mark feels wasted as flask charges are always plenty and life\mana on hit portion of the curse only work with attacks (GGG, please).

Nonetheless, I am excited to see what you will end up with considering your previous build creating efforts! Please report back.

Thanks for the feedback.

First about Vinktar, it actually enables me to run all mods. No regen no problem, it grants 30% instant mana leech. I've even done -max ele ref and vuln phys ref without changing anything about my setup. Just gotta play a little slower in those maps to make sure I have flasks up. With the penetration Vinktar 31% of my total damage is lightning. So I have 31%x39%=12% instant leech compared to 2-2.7% with WM+Atziri. With the conversion Vinktar 50% of my damage is light so I have 19.5% instant leech there. This goes along with Ghudda's theme of getting pre-nerf values for nerfed stats. Also I run a grounding ruby, so the downside is no Atziri's promise, not permashock.

I'm not sure about Poacher. I feel safer with it, but I could try trading it for something else. 3 FCs are also nothing to scoff at.

I currently got a 21/0 Bladefall (my guild & I think less AoE might be better for this skill). TT with 5PC, 3FC is 189k (no Atziri's Promise because no space for it). Hoping for that sweet 200k once my gems hit 20 20. We've found that with -10%ish final AoE this will hit most mobs at least twice, and bosses 3-4x. For instance a large boss like a dried lake voll I'm able to kill in 1 cast (well two with echo). I think EK still has the better clearspeed because BF is quirky to aim, but my main struggle with other variants of this flask build (I played reave & LS with ) was single target so low that I would run out of flask before killing bosses. I think BF is the best skill to solve that issue. Maybe BV, but that would require changing the tree up.

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Think you might have gotten culled Aostrol, and then you blocked the culling attack or he didn't use it again.

Core malachai

Shocking ground, boss life/aoe, fire res.