To Lightning Coil or Not?

I'm debating whether or not it's worth using Lightning Coil for my build (2H Physical Spectral Throw)

For the sake of argument, let's just assume I'll be able to cap resists from other gear + Purity of Lightning. Given that, I have three options:

1) Travel up to the Sovereignty Cluster / Elemental Adaptation area. This will cost me 15 skill points which otherwise would go into Life / Armor / Physical Damage. Along with Alpha's Howl, I can run Hatred / Grace / Purity of Lightning.

2) Keep current tree, but drop Grace to run Purity of Lightning.

3) Don't get Lightning Coil


I'm not sure if the potential damage reduction from Lightning Coil is so good that it's worth it for the first two options. What are people's thoughts on this?

Lightning Coil is always worth it.

Is it possible for you to run Lightning Coil WITHOUT Purity of Lightning? May cost you less Passives that way.

You could even use a Cloak of Flame if you can't run Lightning Coil just yet, it's half as effective (without AA), but doesn't have negative Resists.

I suppose Cloak of Flame is a possibility, but that's almost the same as doing Lightning Coil without Grace, considering I'd be dropping from a 1000+ Evasion chest. I might test it out anyway since the Ignite is interesting with Added Fire...

Also, it's potentially possible to run Lightning Coil without PoL, but it'll be a lot tougher to make up for the negative res and also I'd be missing out on the +Max which reduces the effectiveness. I'm not confident that I can make up that much res, especially since I'm using a 2H so I don't have the shield slot to get resists....

Purity of lightning synergizes well with coil because of the +max res it grants.

Example :

100% lightning resist + Coil = 40% less physical damage taken.

84% lightning resist + coild = 40/100*84 = 33.6% less physical damage taken

80% lightning resist + coild = 40/100*80 = 32% less physical damage taken

75% lightning resist + coild = 40/100*75 = 30% less physical damage taken

One thing I'm not completely clear on - does the conversion happen before or after the Armor reduction happens? An interesting point here is that which is better depends on the size of the hit. For bigger hits, it's actually better if the Armor reduction happens after the conversion (and thus doesn't apply to the portion converted to lightning.)

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SorakPoE wrote:

One thing I'm not completely clear on - does the conversion happen before or after the Armor reduction happens? An interesting point here is that which is better depends on the size of the hit. For bigger hits, it's actually better if the Armor reduction happens after the conversion (and thus doesn't apply to the portion converted to lightning.)

It happens before the Armor reduction, which is a GOOD thing. The best thing. Because the ONLY reason you're using LC is to mitigate BIG hits. Since it then reduces the Physical Damage you take, exponentially increasing the efficacy of what Armor you DO have. You don't want it to happen AFTER the Armor reduction. ~.^

The +Max helps, but it's not necessary, LC is still good with normal Max Resist. The main issue is making up for the negative Resists.

But I'd say drop Grace. On my Duelist using LC, I dropped Grace for PoL. (Though he is an Evasion build, so Grace is even MORE relevant.)

IR+Grace on a build running LC does almost nothing in the way of additional mitigation vs big hits, only against small hits. And Evasion helps vs both.

So it comes down to what are you worried most about? Small hits, or big hits?

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Sheriff_K wrote:

Because the ONLY reason you're using LC is to mitigate BIG hits.

With high lightning resists, lightning coil effectivly reads 35% physical resists(except its better than that). The fact that armor is applied afterwards is gravy. And the fact that arctic armour is then applied is icying.
Lightning coil trumps legacy kaom's when dealing with physical damage. The fact that it still can be 6linked makes it objectively the best unique in the game for defense.

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SkyCore wrote:

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Sheriff_K wrote:

Because the ONLY reason you're using LC is to mitigate BIG hits.

With high lightning resists, lightning coil effectivly reads 35% physical resists(except its better than that). The fact that armor is applied afterwards is gravy. And the fact that arctic armour is then applied is icying.
Lightning coil trumps legacy kaom's when dealing with physical damage. The fact that it still can be 6linked makes it objectively the best unique in the game for defense.

Exactly.

Too bad there's IC gem.

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SkyCore wrote:

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Sheriff_K wrote:

Because the ONLY reason you're using LC is to mitigate BIG hits.

With high lightning resists, lightning coil effectivly reads 35% physical resists(except its better than that). The fact that armor is applied afterwards is gravy. And the fact that arctic armour is then applied is icying.
Lightning coil trumps legacy kaom's when dealing with physical damage. The fact that it still can be 6linked makes it objectively the best unique in the game for defense.

Exactly.

I'm just saying that LC is one of the only ways to mitigate big hits, so that's what is most important about it. It still mitigates small hits, but the fact that it is a blanket damage mitigation, that even affects big hits that Armor doesn't, makes it really powerful.

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tinko92 wrote:

Too bad there's IC gem.

Too bad Immortal Call doesn't protect you from a one-shot. :P

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Sheriff_K wrote:

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tinko92 wrote:

Too bad there's IC gem.

Too bad Immortal Call doesn't protect you from a one-shot. :P

What?