[2.3] Vaal Berserker - a different flavor of mjolner discharge



I wanted to share an alternative marauder ascendancy for the classic mjolner/discharge - berserker! Taken primarily for the 'more' damage modifier and leech from *all* types of damage you deal.

Juggernaut is currently discharge marauder FOTM for a number of reasons, not least of which being its instant max endurance charge generation / kingsguard armor interaction, however if either of those gets nerfed (which seems entirely possible) it would likely cripple their dps/survivability. If that ever happens, this build may be a viable alternative!

Showcase
T15 abyss twin bosses, -15 max res & other
T14 conservatory -max res, tempchains & other - 155% quantity
5 min Atziri run
Open to requests for videos




Passive Tree
Zeekinator level 94 berserker




Highlights

[+]
  • endgame viable
  • typical mjolner/discharge damage (very high)
  • Tanky: 7k+ life, permanent fortify, 80/80/84 resists (unflasked), 28% spell block
  • Instantly leech 1-3% of life & mana from all sources of your damage
  • Minimum of 34% flat physical damage mitigation (thanks to lightning coil: 84% LR * 40% LC = 34%)
  • reflect immune
  • 6 gem slots taken & lots of 30pt attribute passives pathed through make it somewhat flexible


[-]
  • Can't run "0% leech" map mod - anything else and you're good to go
  • I've never run uber atziri, I'm sure this build could probably manage it, but you'll have to judge for yourself (unless you want to donate me the fragments - haha yeah right :-))
  • You take 1.1x damage from all sources (due to the berserker ascendancy), this negates some tankyness but can more-or-less be ignored
  • Not really a cheap/budget build
  • I make use of league specific items and some legacy uniques - not using legacy items doesn't make a *big* difference, but every little bit counts when min/maxing
  • Build is attribute hungry for strength/intelligence. Trying to fill it out with gear/jewels (so you don't need to waste passives) can be tricky and/or require a high level character
  • Degeneration/DoT effects (like corrupting blood) can be dangerous if you're not paying attention, staunching flask is an absolute *must*





Required Items

Weapon:

Mjolner: You know the drill, the item is broken

Amulet:

voll's devotion: This is your endurance-charge generator, used in combination with IC to avoid ever having to manual cast to activate immortal call

Ring:

romira's banquet: Your power-charge generator for powering your discharge skill

Other Items slots
Spoiler

These unique items are not required, a nice rare would replace them in most situations, however the more you replace, the more bonuses you may miss out on.

Helmet

If you can (somehow) max your resists from other peices, an alpha howl for buffed auras/reduced mana consumption would work well.

Shield

Legacy saffel's: increased maximum resists and spell block which helps negate elemental reflect damage - using this with vaal pact you should have no trouble with reflect. The +max lightning resist also synergises with lightning coil. If you can't get a legacy version it's not a big deal.

Body Armor

Legacy lightning coil: as far as physical damage mitigation goes, this item is BiS by far - with this baby you can tank those big phys hits without fear of being one-shot. It's not hard to see why it was nerfed.
6L is not required, but it's handy for those who are lazy and don't want to have to swap around their attack skill for bosses.

Gloves

Repentance crusader gloves: These gloves add the equivalent of ~82% spell damage, which is ~7 passives in a single item. Very nice!

Belt

Headhunter: No build is complete without it, right? /s
Adds some nice stats and the buff-stealing from rare monsters is brokenly strong. Totally not required, somewhat gimmicky, but very fun to use.

Doriyani's invitation (the lightning variation!): is a more sanely priced alternative.


My Current Gear
Spoiler





Bandits / Jewels
Spoiler

Bandits: passive / passive / passive OR 40HP / passive / passive

Jewels:
There are *so* many good mods you can get, here is a list of some mods to aim for:
  • spell damage while holding a shield
  • attack speed with maces
  • % increased maximum life
  • elemental resistances
  • lightning damage
  • spell damage
  • area damage
  • increased damage
  • +attributes






Skill Gem Links

Helmet:

(1)Faster attacks, (2) Leapslam
Movement skill for traversing ledges etc.
(3) Vengeance
Acts as an activator for mjolner spells - coupled with vaal pact & leech this helps survivability a surprising amount
(4) Portal
Who wants to carry around scrolls of town portal!? :P

Weapon:

(1) Lightning penetration, (2) Arc, (3) Discharge

Body Armor:

(1) Lightning strike, (2) Faster attacks, (3) Greater multiple projectiles, (4) Multi-strike, (5) Fortify, (6) Molten strike
Lightning strike is used for clearing packs and molten strike for single target. If you can't affort a 6L, 5L will do, but you may need to gem-swap for single targets which don't instantly melt.


Gloves

(1) Elemental weakness or Enfeeble lvl 20, (2) Curse on hit lvl 20, (3) Cast when damage taken lvl 1, (4) Ice nova lvl 1
The gem levels are important, you want a level 1 cwdt to proc as much as possible to get enemies cursed.

Boots

(1) Cast when damage taken, (2) Molten shell, (3) Flame golem, (4) Immortal call
Pay attention to gem levels - you can max these out if you want, but having slightly de-leveled cwdt & supporting skills means more efficiency with the number of casts.

Molten shell - free damage/armour/life leech
Flame golem - free 18% increased damage
Immortal call - physical immunity

Shield

(1) Herald of Thunder, (2) Wrath, (3) Purity of lightning
These are your auras - if you drop portal or vengeance, for a level 4 enlighten you can save 4 passives off your tree - since you would then not need the mana reduction talents, however I'm currently too poor (lazy) to get one.
Herald and wrath buff your damage significantly, and PoL synergises greatly mitigating reflect damage and buffing your L-coil's phys mitigation.




Changes
* Added atziri run video




Well, that's about it! I hope you found something interesting and if you have any questions or comments I'll do my best to address them :-)
"there is no spoone" - The Matricks
Last edited by Zeekin on Jul 31, 2016, 4:31:59 AM
Last bumped on Jul 31, 2016, 4:39:10 AM

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