My dual claw/energy shield solo build

Do you mean your low level shadow or the main one?

Low level, the main one has so many points in claw damage that even godly non-claws aren't more dps. This is a good example of why Repartee is good at low levels, my only points in claws right now are Claws of the Pride and the node before it. So my early weapon choice gets to be based on how good the weapon is, rather than just claws only.

Come to think of it, this build could be made as completely weapon-neutral up until ~level 50 when there are life leech claws, and the leech cluster.

What you said is true and also the reason why you won't see me take specialized nodes during 3-hour ladder races: You will rarely ever find 2 1h-weapons of the same weapon type that are not outshined by other onehanders you can use while leveling.

Well, I'm not familiar with end-game dungeons, but from what I see on YouTube you die pretty fast. Keeping that ES up with all the speed you can (Vaal's Pact) will probably make a difference...was it worth it Victo?

Concerning Repartee, I think it's better to go for the second One Hand Damage than for the second Dual Wield Block. Having 4% bonus block chance will probably do nothing, but then again, I would like to know your opinion.

I've been looking at Mental Acuity for a while now and I guess I can make it work. Same goes for the Witch ES node. I actually forgot that one when I was reworking the build. Thanks for the heads up :D

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Aplier wrote:

There's so many good options in this game that there is no obvious best build, just what works for each person.

You are obviously right, but I believe that this discussion will result in a near-optimal Dual Claw ES build :)

Edit: Oh, the leveling up thread is here. Feel free to check it!

I am still at work with one hour to go and then I will play some soccer with my colleagues, so I will start streaming in about 3 hours from now. This at the same time is when I will first experience the worth of Vaal Pact for a whole map as I just made it to level 62 at the end of a map this morning and couldn't do another one after.


E: rereading this I feel like a nerd, but these changes really got me heated up for the game again, lol.

Unfortunatelly I lose my shadow in HC race at lvl 52 to Ruthless boss of Chamber of Sins. I had 75% lightning resistance and around 1800 ES and about 650 dps with one claw (don't know total dps as other claw was different level and type then first) with 14% ES leech per hit and about 2.5 attack speed. He still managed to kill me with Lightning Strike lol. He 4shot me :(

Lessen I took away from this race is that hybrid ES/EVS armors suck big time. I was using a lvl 35 ES/EVS armor before and had about 37% dodge at lvl 51 and 1300 ES. Then I exchanged it for lvl 45 ES armor (nothing special) and lost 3% dodge but had 1800ES. Against enemies in ruthless my dodge was probably closer to 45% since they were still lvl 45 or so.

I also learned that lvl 36 is not a good level to switch to CI and GR. I used that level to switch as you get those 6% leech claws then. But my ES was so pathetic lol. I probably should have just taken GR and use life on hit claws and still use Blood rage and get that life back with life on hit.

From lvl 36 to lvl 52 when you get next leech claws is a looong way. Funny thing lvl 52 claws have less leech, a bit more speed but not that much more base damage. I consider leech claws weak weapons after this experience.

Also I noticed ES leech is always late. I would hit my opponent and then slowly see my ES rise. Even with 1800 ES I should have gained 380 ES per second but it seemed slower then that.

Now I got a new shadow, but going claws + Acrobatics + lots of life route + shield + frenzy and frenzy charges. I plan to combine life on hit and claw life leech passives to stay alive in fights :)
I learned the hard way you do need those emergency life flasks in HC.

iirc your regeneration for ES is still capped at 20% of your characters maximum life. I can be wrong though.

Ok, I am finally at home so the stream will be up in a couple of minutes!

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Torin wrote:

Unfortunatelly I lose my shadow in HC race at lvl 52 to Ruthless boss of Chamber of Sins. I had 75% lightning resistance and around 1800 ES and about 650 dps with one claw (don't know total dps as other claw was different level and type then first) with 14% ES leech per hit and about 2.5 attack speed. He still managed to kill me with Lightning Strike lol. He 4shot me :(

Lessen I took away from this race is that hybrid ES/EVS armors suck big time. I was using a lvl 35 ES/EVS armor before and had about 37% dodge at lvl 51 and 1300 ES. Then I exchanged it for lvl 45 ES armor (nothing special) and lost 3% dodge but had 1800ES. Against enemies in ruthless my dodge was probably closer to 45% since they were still lvl 45 or so.

Sad to hear that, I got oneshot the other day from a "multiple projectiles" lightning skeleton while at 1500 ES with 75% resist, I guess he crit and the shocks stacked up. Thank you so much for trying build and sharing your experience!

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I also learned that lvl 36 is not a good level to switch to CI and GR. I used that level to switch as you get those 6% leech claws then. But my ES was so pathetic lol. I probably should have just taken GR and use life on hit claws and still use Blood rage and get that life back with life on hit.

From lvl 36 to lvl 52 when you get next leech claws is a looong way. Funny thing lvl 52 claws have less leech, a bit more speed but not that much more base damage. I consider leech claws weak weapons after this experience.

The 55 claws have the same 6% leech, the higher leech claws have lower dps for their level. I probably wouldn't switch to CI/GR so soon just because it means being stuck with the same claws for ~15 levels. Pre 9.12, that was about the level that you went from the 15 life on hit claw to the almost useless 1% leech, so switching to CI that early let me upgrade claws based on dps instead of being held back by the life on hit, but now it's the opposite and I suggest taking CI late (or not at all in hardcore).

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Also I noticed ES leech is always late. I would hit my opponent and then slowly see my ES rise. Even with 1800 ES I should have gained 380 ES per second but it seemed slower then that.

Don't forget that that 20% is just a cap, you have to be actually leaching more than that to be down to it. Doing the math on your 650 dps and 14% leech, you'd only be leeching 91 health per second.

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Now I got a new shadow, but going claws + Acrobatics + lots of life route + shield + frenzy and frenzy charges. I plan to combine life on hit and claw life leech passives to stay alive in fights :)
I learned the hard way you do need those emergency life flasks in HC.

Double Strike is very good combined with life on hit, because it procs twice per attack. Double Strike also only uses the mainhand, so you can put your strong weapon in the mainhand, and get an offhand that has good non-dps stats (I think the character info is bugged and doesnt know it only hits with mainhand, but it does.)

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Victo wrote:

iirc your regeneration for ES is still capped at 20% of your characters maximum life. I can be wrong though.

The cap is 20% of max ES, that's the very first thing I checked with Ghost Reaver =)

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boneraiser wrote:

Well, I'm not familiar with end-game dungeons, but from what I see on YouTube you die pretty fast. Keeping that ES up with all the speed you can (Vaal's Pact) will probably make a difference...was it worth it Victo?

Concerning Repartee, I think it's better to go for the second One Hand Damage than for the second Dual Wield Block. Having 4% bonus block chance will probably do nothing, but then again, I would like to know your opinion.

I've been looking at Mental Acuity for a while now and I guess I can make it work. Same goes for the Witch ES node. I actually forgot that one when I was reworking the build. Thanks for the heads up :D

"

Aplier wrote:

There's so many good options in this game that there is no obvious best build, just what works for each person.

You are obviously right, but I believe that this discussion will result in a near-optimal Dual Claw ES build :)

Edit: Oh, the leveling up thread is here. Feel free to check it!

You only die very fast if you're doing something wrong. I've never run into a problem with not leeching fast enough, but having played from before GR was implemented, I have a very cautious playstyle and never let myself get surrounded. With CI, you dont have flasks for emergency healing, so you need to play differently because of that.

Dual wielding gives a base block of 15%. Again I'd say the choice between 2% block and 6% is a personal choice for defense or offense. This discussion may lead to optimizing specific ways to make this build, at specific levels, but I'm not sure if there even is an "optimal" build for all levels, and that's how I like it! =D

No, my dps with one hand was 650, but I was using Dual Strike and you said the game does not know how to add both weapon damage into total DPS. I just didn't want to double it in my post because in one hand I had lvl 36 6% leech claws and in other lvl 52 3% leech claws.