Need help on my EK'er [Reflect]

I'm currently running a low life crit EK'er.

I'm able to maintain a 11k DPS tooltip with a 372% multiplier and 77% crit rate.

The problem is, I almost two shot myself on reflect mobs. As a caster, i have little defense because I'm using unwavering stance and no Iron reflexes, therefore the only def I manage to get is from granite flasks.

My gear currently looks like the following:




Could any veteran EK'er give me any advice on how to deal with reflects (beside using inconvenient ways such as sporking). In most CQC maps, due to my low-life, I can't even see the reflect mobs before it's too late.

A friend suggested I could spread out my physical DPS a bit by using added Fire dmg instead of crit chance gem. But I haven't tried this yet as I've had no luck rolling 3 green on Shavs. [Can anyone confirm if this works?]

I can't answer most of your Qs as I'm not an experienced EKer:

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zinova wrote:

A friend suggested I could spread out my physical DPS a bit by using added Fire dmg instead of crit chance gem. But I haven't tried this yet as I've had no luck rolling 3 green on Shavs. [Can anyone confirm if this works?]

If you are two-shotting yourself without crits, then this won't fix anything. All it does is add extra damage as fire, it doesn't reduce your phys damage. It will reduce your crit chance, though, of course, so if crits are the problem, this might help.

Also, added fire damage is a red gem. So you'd need BBRRGG.

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dudiobugtron wrote:

I can't answer most of your Qs as I'm not an experienced EKer:

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zinova wrote:

A friend suggested I could spread out my physical DPS a bit by using added Fire dmg instead of crit chance gem. But I haven't tried this yet as I've had no luck rolling 3 green on Shavs. [Can anyone confirm if this works?]

If you are two-shotting yourself without crits, then this won't fix anything. All it does is add extra damage as fire, it doesn't reduce your phys damage. It will reduce your crit chance, though, of course, so if crits are the problem, this might help.

Also, added fire damage is a red gem. So you'd need BBRRGG.

You're right, I didnt bother checking that spell, and I've never played anything else than caster so forgot it was red.

But a question, does the 20% swapped to ELE dmg, would that be enough to sustain the reflect by healing myself of that amount?

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zinova wrote:

But a question, does the 20% swapped to ELE dmg, would that be enough to sustain the reflect by healing myself of that amount?

not counting resists and armour etc..., a level 20 added fire dmg adds 39% of your dmg as fire. It works just like hatred but for fire dmg.
So it basically increases your normal damage by 39% if you aren't using Hatred. Since you are, and since you might not use lvl 20 straight away, it's more like a 25-30% overall increase. So you'll leech around 25-30% more health each hit, while still getting reflected for the same phys amount. If you're not using Vaal Pact, that won't help very much, but it might be a decent boost if you do have Vaal Pact.

PS: Note, it won't be an increase of 25% dps, because you're losing crit chance to get it.

Added fire damage won't improve the situation as the mechanics of reflect is first leech, then damage taken. Higher leech won't help if you are one shooting yourself on reflect as the reflected physical damage is not reduced with afd. Critting with 11kdps = oneshot nomatter what armour you have. (BTW A quill rain - blackgleam quiver setup would accomplish converting phys to ele but that would pretty much kill the power charge-high crit-high dps idea)
Sorry to inform the OP but the only way to handle physical reflect is to get your armour and es/hp pool up and your damage down. Atm there is no loophole for glasscannons to escape reflect.

Try using Bear Traps on reflect, or just swap out EK for FP.

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Bada_Bing wrote:

Higher leech won't help if you are one shooting yourself on reflect

OP said they were two-shotting themselves.

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dudiobugtron wrote:

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Bada_Bing wrote:

Higher leech won't help if you are one shooting yourself on reflect

OP said they were two-shotting themselves.

Either he has Vaal Pact then there is no two shooting yourself. You either one shoot yourself or you are fine. As he mentioned two shooting i guess he hasn't taken VP. In that case upping the leech via afd won't help as he very likely is gonna hit the 20% cap. With the additional leech being postponed bigger reflect crowds will kill him.
The only way to handle the problem (without abandoning the whole build) is to get VP and then balance the ES pool and damage per cast so he can survive the first reflect. The OP can do the math on how much extra ES he would need on a crit (or how much less crit multiplier he can afford). Otherwise he just has to bite the bullet and die every now and then.

Swapping your attack skill or using traps as Acrosis said is usually a viable strategy except for low life builds. With the small light radius you just won't see them before it's too late.

I thought of another potentially viable solution - arctic armour. This should reduce the dmg you take from each reflected projectile by a significant amount.

you get no physical damage reduction
not even arctic armor will help you


i have an EK shadow, but he runs on EB and IR + cloak of flame