Claw Bloodseeker Build Brainstorming

Thanks for all the input - great community :)

I'm in no rush with this character - still enjoying my lvl 76 duelist in Anarchy atm (and still have a full respec on my lvl 65 shadow in standard so might just use that?). So plenty of time to think it through properly (and save up some more for gear).

Gearwise (if I'm going CI) I'll definetly need a hybrid chest as it'd be pretty much impossible to get the melee socket colours on a pure ES chest.

Regarding skills and wether or not to use a shield I'm still unsure (although I think I'd prefer two claws - just for the looks haha).
Double strike would work well with only one claw (+shield) but I'd deal less damage.
All the others would go well with 2 claws.

While I lean more towards the CI build atm (mainly because all my other melees are life based), I will keep the Bringer of Rain build in my mind (especially if I happen to find one haha - that would make one sick dual wielding duelist).

And regarding stun/freeze - Obviously dreamfragments/chayula would be nice, but I don't think they are essential (I don't have any of them on my other characters and they do ok). Unfreeze can be on a flask for example.


@Autocthon just had a look at the Essentia Sanguis claws. That would be a great addition to a CI claw build and could even save me a few points (which I could potentially spend on Static Blows + Shock for 25% chance to shock for even more damage?).

I can't believe how much potential there is in claw builds...

"

Pes_Planus wrote:

@Autocthon just had a look at the Essentia Sanguis claws. That would be a great addition to a CI claw build and could even save me a few points (which I could potentially spend on Static Blows + Shock for 25% chance to shock for even more damage?).

I can't believe how much potential there is in claw builds...

I desperately want a pair of the sanguis for my shadow. +20% block, with the eventual (far off) goal of capping dual wield block.

They aren't too expensive afaik, should sell for around 4-5 GCP

Not sure if it was already mentioned but you can't use infernal blow with claws.

Of course life leech gem is completely skippable. That's the point of playing claws, especially with Blood Seeker. If you go shield you can grab the 4 claws nodes for better life leech. With dual Blood Seeker that won't even be necessary (that's my current setup). You can compensate the not so high damages of Blood Seeker with flat physical damages gear relatively easily.

Dual Strike has amazing dps but if you plan to gear item rarity, surviving can be freaking difficult without the defensive stats of a shield.
Another advantage of Dual Strike is as both weapons are calculated independently, playing a crit build with hatred aura can allow you to freeze mobs consistently as long as your damages are high enough. With 25% crit, you'll have 43.75% chances to crit with at least one of your weapons each attack.

The main negative point of claws build is the lack of variety in attack skills. Lightning Strike, Double Strike and Dual Strike are the only decent choices around (unless you want to risk your life with Cyclone desync) and there are not exactly "fun" to play. Though Flicker Strike and Frenzy could be viable, I didn't test.

"

SmilingCat wrote:

Not sure if it was already mentioned but you can't use infernal blow with claws.

No, you are absolutely right! Didn't check that... ;)

Possible skills with claws for AoE:
Cyclone or Whirling Blades
Or with Melee Splash: Double Strike, Dual Strike, Frenzy, Flicker Strike, Elemental Hit, Puncture.


Elemental Hit probably wouldn't work well, as claws are mainly physical.

Cyclone would mean I could use an additional support gem.
Double Strike would be nice if I'd use a shield.

Not too sure about the others...
Dual strike would obviously be nice if I'd use a second claw with high damage, Frenzy for really high attack speed.

Not too sure about puncture, but it comes with a nice physical damage bonus (76% @ lvl 20).

"

SmilingCat wrote:

Not sure if it was already mentioned but you can't use infernal blow with claws.

Of course life leech gem is completely skippable. That's the point of playing claws, especially with Blood Seeker. If you go shield you can grab the 4 claws nodes for better life leech. With dual Blood Seeker that won't even be necessary (that's my current setup). You can compensate the not so high damages of Blood Seeker with flat physical damages gear relatively easily.

It is always worth getting the claw leech regardless of whether you have dual wield or shield setup. 12% leech is massive.

"

Dual Strike has amazing dps but if you plan to gear item rarity, surviving can be freaking difficult without the defensive stats of a shield.
Another advantage of Dual Strike is as both weapons are calculated independently, playing a crit build with hatred aura can allow you to freeze mobs consistently as long as your damages are high enough. With 25% crit, you'll have 43.75% chances to crit with at least one of your weapons each attack.

1)Dual Wielding isn't that much squishier than weapon and shield, especially with claws. Because leech is global bloodseeker+(insert rare claw here) ends up with 30+% of damage as LGoH.

2) That isn't how DS works. DS only rolls crit once, and check it against both weapons (they crit independently but use the same roll).

"

The main negative point of claws build is the lack of variety in attack skills. Lightning Strike, Double Strike and Dual Strike are the only decent choices around (unless you want to risk your life with Cyclone desync) and there are not exactly "fun" to play. Though Flicker Strike and Frenzy could be viable, I didn't test.

Claw Flicker and Claw Freenzy are both viable, and borderline degenerate in Flickers case due to the pure throughput of massive leech.

I don't know if I could handle flicker strike - too stressful to watch :D

Frenzy would probably work quite well if you can keep up with the mana cost (BM would probably be better suited, idk).

Edit: Double strike (using only one claw) would double the chance to blind (if using that gem) but wouldn't change the chance to crit.

Edit2: Regarding cylcone - during the attack the player is immune to knockback and stuns (useful). Would each hit have the chance to blind when using that gem?

Crits are calculated once when initiating the attack - would every single hit with cyclone be a critical hit then? With shock that would seem a little OP - no?


How about static blows - here shock is calculated for each hit right? So in combination with cyclone (a large number of hits) - triple stacked shock would be quite likely right?



If that would be the case I think I'll go cyclone (fuck desync) with static blows but focus on physical damage.

Then link Melee Physical Damage + Melee Damage on Full Life (CI) + Added Fire + Blind with cyclone (and maybe WED if I can get my hands on a 6L). I know getting RRRGG on a ES/EV or ES/AR chest is very hard but probably not impossible.

That should provide a decent amount of damage. With blind, leech on gear/passives survivability should be decent as well. What do you think?

I was actually planning a Duelist duel wielding these claws. The focus would be getting mostly damage with passives, because the attack speed of the claws + duel wielding would provide both survivability because of leech and DPS. Was gonna plan it as a crit build.

Dual Strike+ Melee phys damage+ Melee Splash+ Power charge on Crit

Perfect Dual strike has 80% crit, passives near duelist would provide 125% crit chance, 3 power charges would be 150% and then you could use Crit Weakness then spend some points in crit multiplier.

Shadow would be more effective of course, its just I like to play Duelist.

I had a dual claw Ranger in Onslaught that was doing quite well, until I had a bad spot of latency. Was close to L50 and was doing quite well. The plan was to go Bloodseekers, like yourself. I went Ranger since I wanted to try a high Evasion build, while also trying to get as many DW Block nodes as possible. Ideally, I would have gone with Bringer of Rain, assuming I could ever get a hold of it. Here's the build I had going:



You could also start as a Duelist or a Shadow, as there are a few nodes in the Shadow area I was planning on getting (Haste and Blinding Speed). The plan was to head up the right side of the tree, grab the Acrobatics branch, then go up for Spirit Raker, grabbing Thieves Craft and Prowess on the way, then pick up Blade Barrier down south, and the two 2% block nodes near Berserking.

I had as much evasion\health gear as I could get, though my resistances were lacking a bit. I kept rings on me to swap out as needed, but was starting to focus on getting my resistances up a bit more as a whole. I did have to be very careful around the flickering dischargers.

Main gems were Dual Strike + Melee Splash + Life on Hit, Clarity, Enfeeble, Whirling Blades (as an escape). I also kept Bear and Fire Traps around for annoying enemies where being melee isn't too friendly, like Brutus, Kole and Vaal.

It was a very fun character, and I've already remade her. One thing I will change is that I picked up Weapon Artistry early on, and I think I will push that back until later in the build. I will also try and pick up Mana Flows and Master of the Arena from the Duelist starting area while I'm there. Mana was always a bit of an issue, and MoA is an easy grab.

Cyclone shadow dual claws here! Good to see someone else doing it.

I deal only straight up physical. No crit points, no shock stacking. My Cyclone is linked to Blind and Faster Attacks (sue me, I'm lazy and I don't have endgame armour.) With 1.3k HP in merciless A2 it was a cake walk. Not even kidding.

Not sure how well Static Blows would work, it's pretty far away from most other stuff and you have only 20% damage effectiveness on cyclone, but you are welcome to try. Do let me know the outcome?