[3.0] [HSC] 10 Mil DPS Wander Showcase

Q: Why not Esh's Mirror with Vaal breach? Its OP!!!

A: Lycosidae has comparable damage, is more consistent, and makes it easier to gear. According to PoB, I would need to kill 30 shocked enemies to match Lycosidae's damage (With a slightly modified tree for accuracy, the same rings with 395 accuracy on both, a level 26 ice golem). 30 enemies within 4 seconds isn't too hard with Vaal Breach, but you have to keep in mind that the damage buff for killing a shocked enemy only lasts 4 seconds. I've done testing with both Lycosidae and Esh's Mirror and prefer the benefits and feel of Lycosidae. Lycosidae also feels better when mapping because you will one shot packs regardless of the shield, but occasionally you will miss shots with Esh's Mirror.

Q: Why Marylene's Fallacy? I thought that thing was straight trash?

A: Marylene's Fallacy is cheap, so getting +1 Frenzy Corruption is affordable. A +1 Frenzy Marylene's gives more DPS than a 4 x Tier 1 amulet with perfect rolls on flat lightning, WED, Crit Chance, Crit Multiplier. If you want to beat +1 Marylene's, you would need a 5 x Tier 1 amulet with those mods or maybe a 4 x Tier 1 amulet corrupted with +1 Frenzy or maybe IAS/WED. This will probably cost 100 to 200 EX versus a +1 Marylene's, which costs about 5 EX. Marylene's also has Culling Strike on crits, which is just icing on the cake (In reality the culling strike doesn't really do anything with this level of gear. If you crit on any monster under 10% HP, it will die whether you had the culling strike or not).

Q: Why Thunderfist instead of GG Gripped Gloves?

A: The reason is along the same lines as Marylene's. You would need an absolutely insane rare Gripped Gloves to outperform +1 Thunderfists. Also, running thundefists allows us to put our Wrath setup in the gloves rather than in the shield. This means we get to keep the 20 life implicit on Lycosidae and the Enchant implicit on boots. If you're curious, an example of GG Gripped Gloves that outperform +1 Thunderfists can be found in the Perfect Gear version of the build.

Q: Why %IAS Boot Enchant instead of the more popular 10% Penetration Enchant or Adds Lightning Damage Enchant?

A: The %IAS Boot Enchant is more versatile and gives the most damage. Let me explain. In order to get the benefit of the penetration enchant and the flat lightning enchant, you must not have killed anything in the past 4 seconds. This means that you cannot use Vaal Breach,
which means you won't have any Frenzy Charges or Onslaught. This brings my DPS down to 7.78 mil from 10.2 mil with the %IAS Enchant with Frenzy Charges and Onslaught. The %IAS Enchant also makes mapping more comfortable, and you get the benefit of the enchant in 99.99% of the time. Only in the 0.01% of the time, when the boss spawns no adds and you do not have Vaal Breach, will the Penetration Enchant or Flat lightning Enchant be superior. (As a side note, the Flat Lightning Enchant gives more damage than the Penetration Enchant in this build.)

Q: Why Tempest Binding over Rat's Nest?

A: The trade-offs are not worth the gain. With a perfect Rat's Nest, the build's DPS increases from 10.2mil to 10.7mil. For this tiny DPS gain, we lose 80 life, 15% all res, a 6-link slot for Kinetic Blast, and an easy way to generate frenzy charges. I would need to shuffle some gems around and probably drop Curse on Hit with Poacher's Mark for Frenzy Charges and generate Power Charges via weapon swapping and rallying cry. This would be extremely uncomfortable to play. Overall, the small gain in DPS and movement speed is not worth it.

Q: Why are you using that trash wand Ghoul Scratch instead of Phoenix Song?

A: Because I'm n00b. With Phoenix Song, my DPS increases from 10.2 mil to about 10.4 mil. I may get it at some point.

Q: In the Perfect Gear version of the build, you take the wand damage nodes in the top wand wheel, but in the recommended version, you take the attack speed nodes. Why?

A: The wand damage nodes give more DPS than the attack speed nodes, even with the fact that you are forced to take the Tempest Blast node, which sucks. If I took the wand damage nodes instead of the attack speed nodes, my DPS increases from 10.16 mil to 10.20 mil. The downside is that I lose 15%
attack speed, and 4% attack speed from having to drop the node at the ranger start. This makes mapping noticeably more uncomfortable so I chose the wand attack speed nodes. I like having high attack speed because when you are one-shotting packs, your clearspeed is limited by your movement speed and attack speed (how long it takes to attack once with Kinetic Blast).

Q: Why do you get the Forces of Nature node? What about the 2 nodes at the ranger start? I see most other builds don't take that node.

A: Man just try changing the tree into Path of Building and see for yourself. If you find out a better passive tree, write it in the comments or message me.

Q: Thoughts on Damage on Full Life support in Barrage?

A: Dropping Blood Rage and running Damage on Full Life instead of Slower Projectiles boosts my DPS from 10.2mil to 11mil. It also frees up a gem slot, which I would then run Projectile Weakness.
This pushes my DPS up to 12.3mil. In order to reach this DPS though, you need to be on full life,
and self cast the curse, which is annoying and takes time. If you are not on full life, for even half a second, you lose so much DPS. Any burning/desecrated ground, monsters poison on hit map mod,
will be very annoying. In the end, the Damage on Full Life setup has more DPS but is less consistent. I chose to go with the Slower Projectiles and Blood Rage setup.

Q: Why Increased Critical Strikes instead of Elemental Damage with Attacks linked to Kinetic Blast?

A: At this gear level, you will one shot packs with either setup. Elemental Damage with Attacks gives more DPS (which is not really needed since you one shot packs either way) or Increased Critical Strikes, which boosts my effective critical strike chance from 77% to 94%. I value the more consistent crits, which provide the nice shatter sound and gives extra flask charges via Veteran Bowyer, over the additional unnecessary DPS. Another option would be Faster Attacks, if you really want to clear fast.

Q: Why Vaal Clarity instead of something like Vaal Grace?

A: You need Vaal Clarity if you want to actually output the DPS shown on Path of Building. Each attack with Barrage costs 51 mana, and with an attack rate of 6.20, it costs 316 mana/sec for full DPS. The capped mana leech rate in this build is 184 mana/sec. This means that I will run out of mana and shoot default attack "blanks" which will severely decrease the DPS output. I solve this by running Vaal Clarity.

Q: Why not Herald of Thunder instead of Herald of Ice?

A: Herald of Thunder provides much more DPS in theory but lacks the utility and consistency of Herald of Ice. Herald of Ice generates maximum Power Charges instantly and easily provides the Onslaught buff. Herald of Thunder will struggle at providing both Power Charges and the Onslaught buff.

Q: Why Slower Projectiles instead of Increased Critical Damage?

A: It's just more damage in this build. Plug it into Path of Building yourself.