Are Shavronne's Wrappings, Soul Taker and Aegis Aurora overcentralizing?

A legacy Soul Taker can have its advantages given that you could potentially squeeze in another aura on mana (possible to run 3 60% ones with passives), and its damage is decent. I know since I have one and use it on my 1h + shield IB build and not needing the Blood Magic gem offers more flexibility in terms of what I can run for support gems. I take less of a damage loss if I need to use a LL gem as well, but even so I wouldn't mind having a well-rolled rare axe over it and have to use the BM gem, and could even run a crit build that Soul Taker just can't quite reach. Plus, I run Hatred so I'm always dealing cold damage, which means the added chill effect doesn't mean much on ST.

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SEXYSUPERSATAN wrote:

What I mean by this is that there are not many (that's different from 'zero') builds that will be better off without these items, assuming you are going to be using a shield and an armour (BoR and 2h builds obviously won't use them).

Why do you think BoR builds won't use ST?

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TheBigNasty wrote:

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SEXYSUPERSATAN wrote:

What I mean by this is that there are not many (that's different from 'zero') builds that will be better off without these items, assuming you are going to be using a shield and an armour (BoR and 2h builds obviously won't use them).

Why do you think BoR builds won't use ST?

You can definitely go one h+ shield with bor but u don't want to go bor+ st because you're wasting the melee physical dmg support essentially making it a mere 5l with blind.

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run_it wrote:

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TheBigNasty wrote:

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SEXYSUPERSATAN wrote:

What I mean by this is that there are not many (that's different from 'zero') builds that will be better off without these items, assuming you are going to be using a shield and an armour (BoR and 2h builds obviously won't use them).

Why do you think BoR builds won't use ST?

You can definitely go one h+ shield with bor but u don't want to go bor+ st because you're wasting the melee physical dmg support essentially making it a mere 5l with blind.

You may want to reexamine that.

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gilrad wrote:

I think the "chaos damage does not penetrate shields" affix is squandered on a piece of gear that is as rare and powerful as Shavs.

It would be nice if there were an amulet or ring that had the same affix but worse stats and/or a downside or two. Then any non-CI ES-based build wouldn't have to go through this phase of "can't start maps until I hit the jackpot and get a shavs"

This. I am not a fan at all of shavs, and I think it's dumb that es based RF, and Pain Attunement are both gated behind it. I have owned a shavs, and could own one again if I wanted to liquidate one of my other builds, but I just plain don't like it, and would like to have other options for my witch.

I am currently running a low life RF Incinerate build that does roughly 40k DPS. I was able to build it for pretty cheap, and I'm pretty pleased with it, but until I get a shavs I'm stuck farming Piety.

There have been several threads complaining how witches are under powered right now, and I think a lot of that could be solved if GGG reevaluated the mechanics behind low life.

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ciel289 wrote:

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gilrad wrote:

I think the "chaos damage does not penetrate shields" affix is squandered on a piece of gear that is as rare and powerful as Shavs.

It would be nice if there were an amulet or ring that had the same affix but worse stats and/or a downside or two. Then any non-CI ES-based build wouldn't have to go through this phase of "can't start maps until I hit the jackpot and get a shavs"

any shav build should be able to farm maps when they spec into CI
ofc it is not as effective as low life shavs,but its easy to archive and possible

That's not entirely accurate. Any ES based RF build needs a shavs to map with as all regen and life leech is redirected to the shield, leaving them very vulnerable to chaos. As long as they leave the "stops at 1 life" thing in, RF can't be used with CI.

Not to mention, if you're an aura build, going CI means you're losing five or six auras. That's a significant loss of capability.

Soul taker and Aegis I can agree with, as both are the king of cookie cutter builds atm. Soul taker far more than Aegis as it can be utilized in every non 2h melee build.

Aegis is a different kind of abuse. You must do 1h/s combo, which many dislike. But if you do choose that style, Aegis is the BiS of all shield builds, not even room for debate.

Shav is definitely not BiS, in fact its very underused. Going Shav means you are CI, and that's enough reason to not use it for 90% of the builds out there. For the rich Shav is very powerful with low life builds, but unless you have a min of 50 exalt in your stash you are far better off doing life build no matter what you do. For those that do have the money, Shav is just another item, because with that much cash you can pretty much do whatever you want.

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thinkingofaname wrote:

Aegis is a different kind of abuse. You must do 1h/s combo, which many dislike. But if you do choose that style, Aegis is the BiS of all shield builds, not even room for debate.

I think you'll find plenty of room for debate. Like most gear choices, they are best when used in the proper situation. Aegis is not an all around BiS shield for chars with no ES and against physical damage. Lioneye's, Saffells, and Rise of the Phoenix can all be superior depending on what you're fighting. Against physical, for example, Lioneyes will give you an extra 1% block chance and 1300 base armor. Not to mention the extra +life and - to physical projectiles.

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gilrad wrote:

Not to mention, if you're an aura build, going CI means you're losing five or six auras. That's a significant loss of capability.

That's not true.

I have made an 7 auras build (LowLife shockwave totem) and an 5 auras (CI shockwave totem).

CI version has no IR, that's the real difference.