[2.4] [Assassin] Qwark's Shock nova build - Cheap, Very high DPS, HC viable, 7,5k+ EHP.

Welcome.

Pros of Shock nova


SURVIVABILITY



MANAGING MANA

Doedre's damning and soul siphon both provide +5 to mana on kill. Equip a mana flask until you can 1 shot content.

SKILL TREE



Tempest Gear



1MHC FLASHBACK GEAR @ 85




HARDCORE TALISMAN GEAR @ 90 <-- Most up-to date gear


If you're poor or starting a new league I suggest you get 3 stacks of alts, get 1/2 ilvl 59 golden kris, roll 65+ spell crit chance and master craft spell damage. This is your endgame weapon. Once you build up some currency you should invest in a dagger/s with crit multi on top of those 2 mods. Spell damage is the least important mod.

If you want to use doedre's damning over a rare ring, curse with poachers mark.



DAMAGE PER SECOND

NON-BUFFED 4L 2.0


BUFFED 4L 2.0



NON-BUFFED 6L 2.0



BUFFED 6L 2.0



Buffed 6L 2.1




Worth noting that Atziri's promise adds only a few K fully buffed, in no way mandatory.

Due to the nature of shock nova, enemies standing in the second ring take an additional 50% damage, meaning that with proper positioning you do 1.5x the tooltip displayed and that also applies for enemies which you crit and shock, increasing the damage to very high numbers.


LINKS

SHOCK NOVA - Spell Echo - Lightning Penetration - Increased AoE - Faster Casting - Increased Critical Damage

HERALD OF THUNDERCurse on hit - Warlord's Mark - Poacher's mark

WHIRLING BLADES Fortify - Blood Magic - Faster Attacks

VAAL CLARITY Vaal Haste - Increased Duration

WRATH


CALL OF THE BROTHERHOOD



F.A.Q

Q: What gloves should I use?

A: There's a number of options.

Facebreakers are great for 1 shotting mobs in higher lvl maps but they offer no defence.

Voidbringers offer up to 9% crit chance, a great chunk of ES on kill and are a great place to put your shock nova links until you build up to a 5L. There's the argument of whether you want raw crit power or more often crits. I find voidbringers much better for maps where your crits do over 70% of mob health, which is pretty much anything below 78.

After 2.1, they're not worth it. It's better for the build to sustain off of Soul Siphon and the node itself gives too little mana to mitigate the huge mana cost increase. Stick to facebreakers.

Surgebinders are 1c gloves which offer a very good DPS increase.




Q: What about reflect?

A: Use a topaz flask, add life leech or/and added chaos instead of crit multi, only hit once to determine the type of reflect and pot after every hit. You will die if you spam shock nova on a high HP mob without a topaz or 2 instant flasks.


Q:

"

TRIwofl wrote:

Also is there any reason not to take crackling speed or throat seeker nodes?

A: Yes. Both clusters are a 4 point investment, the points of which go to 2 jewels. The selling point of the jewels is life. Even a blue jewel with life and a damage mod can rival up to 70% of those clusters while adding 14% max life which is a considerable amount.

I used to take them in 2.1 but with the release of ascendancy classes you should crit almost 100% of the time so any more damage is overkill IMO. Critting nearly always guarantees a shock against most things in the game which provides an additional multipler in cases where your crit was realistically at 60% previously.

Survivability is great but the up-close nature of the build always translates to taking T11+, which can be rolled as cancer, cautiously. So extra life is better clearspeed than a small bit of extra damage.

Generally, the build doesn't go out of its way to take damage clusters, just crit, aoe, life and jewels

VIDEOS
- Dried Lake, Tempest.


- Promenade, 1MHC.


- Tunnel, 1MHC.


- Dry Peninsula, 1MHC.


- Canyon, THC

"

This character does NOT use the skilltree of this guide

can you update the skill tree? thanks

"

Mephos wrote:

"

This character does NOT use the skilltree of this guide

can you update the skill tree? thanks

Should be respecced now.

I can't use all the buffs at once, I don't have enough manna any suggestions?

"

Bayeasy wrote:

I can't use all the buffs at once, I don't have enough manna any suggestions?

You need to have at least 900 ES to sustain a 6L shock nova, I also wouldn't run arctic armouc until I had that amount of ES in favor for a mana flask.

What exactly are you having problems with specifically? You shouldn't be having mana issues unless you're on a 6L and not yet running EB/ZO/MOM.

I'm only level 65, I just can't have clarity on at the same time as wraith and herald of thunder, I don't have enough mana. I've spec the same exact thing as you so far I could post screenshots

"

Bayeasy wrote:

I'm only level 65, I just can't have clarity on at the same time as wraith and herald of thunder, I don't have enough mana. I've spec the same exact thing as you so far I could post screenshots

Can you make your "characters" page public so I can take a look at your gear and skilltree? You shouldn't be having any mana problems as long as you have sufficient ES.

Clarity isn't an aura you want to run. If you have low ES then you'd want to get deep thoughts until you have 800+ ES.

"

Qwark28 wrote:

"

Bayeasy wrote:

I'm only level 65, I just can't have clarity on at the same time as wraith and herald of thunder, I don't have enough mana. I've spec the same exact thing as you so far I could post screenshots

Can you make your "characters" page public so I can take a look at your gear and skilltree? You shouldn't be having any mana problems as long as you have sufficient ES.

Clarity isn't an aura you want to run. If you have low ES then you'd want to get deep thoughts until you have 800+ ES.

You should be able to view it now, those weapons are temporary I have 2 good ones in the bank but they are for level 66

"

Bayeasy wrote:

"

Qwark28 wrote:

"

Bayeasy wrote:

I'm only level 65, I just can't have clarity on at the same time as wraith and herald of thunder, I don't have enough mana. I've spec the same exact thing as you so far I could post screenshots

Can you make your "characters" page public so I can take a look at your gear and skilltree? You shouldn't be having any mana problems as long as you have sufficient ES.

Clarity isn't an aura you want to run. If you have low ES then you'd want to get deep thoughts until you have 800+ ES.

You should be able to view it now, those weapons are temporary I have 2 good ones in the bank but they are for level 66

Your ES is extremely low, this build solves the mana problem by having 1k+ ES pool which through regen nodes on the tree and from the blood dance regenerates at 4.8% per second + enduring cry which is 300+ per second at higher lvls.

I suggest buying a 400-500 ES chest with a decent life roll and using it instead of carcass jack. The int you picked up from the tree coupled with the life/es hybrid nodes will ensure you have at least 1k ES which can sustain even a 6L.

You're using a doedre's damning, I used to use that to dual curse with warlord's mark to solve my mana problems before I specced into EB/MOM/ZO, do it as well. Warlord's mark provides massive mana and life leech. Once you get to ZO I'd drop the ring for the blood dance boots and you should be fine from then on, provided your gear gives you ES.

Also, don't use Marylene's fallacy, it's a horrible unique and it lowers your dps by tons.

B