[2.0] THOR'S RAINBOWNUKE: DO ALL MAPS, UBER ATZIRI, AND EXPLOSIONS!

There is also the potential of not using a reduced mana gem in one of your items. I know it sounds crazy initially, but the skill tree actually has a few mana reserved nodes literally 1 point away that are available. If adding Herald of Thunder is going to be such a huge boost to damage, it would make sense to give up 2 skill points on the tree to get 8% more mana reserved so you can use it without losing anything else. Giving up a couple elemental damage nodes for example would pale in comparison to the benefit you get from adding 2 mana reserved nodes so you can use Herald of Thunder.

I notice the ShatterChuck guide has been updated for the no brainer use of HoT and HoI. I just can't see why a character relying on spell damage wouldn't want to find any and all ways necessary to add a massive boost to damage. But again, to each his own :)
At least for my build, it would cost 6 passive points to get over to Charisma to get the additional reduced mana reservation necessary to run HoT (not 8 because one 6% increased aura effect node could be respecced, and one +30 dex node could be respecced also) , and it's not worth 6 passive points IMO. I also think it would need to be linked with a Reduced Mana gem, which would involve rechroming my shavs to get RRRRBB or sacrificing vaal discipline or my CWDT/warlord's mark setup, and I don't feel like doing any of that to get an inconsequential DPS boost.

For what it's worth, my build just isn't lacking in the damage department IMO. Once white/blue mobs are getting basically 1-shot, rares die in a second or two, and bosses die in 2-5 seconds, DPS just isn't an issue.

You are correct that HoT is desirable, but it's neither mandatory nor necessarily optimal depending on your build variant.
The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard
The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard
Last edited by tackle70 on Nov 4, 2014, 6:39:46 PM
You keep saying inconsequential damage, but honestly dude it's massive. There really aren't many single gems or single buffs in the game that will add as much damage as we are talking with Herald of Thunder.

Anyway, yours sounds like a very unique skill tree. Care to post it, just for curiosity sake?
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tackle70 wrote:

21/20 Arc DPS

21/20 Discharge DPS

Defenses; 23 Purity of Fire/Lightning & Discipline


Final gear/gem setup


Final tree @ level 96



This is tackle's build that he posted a short while back, and as he mentions, it is very hard to sacrifice any gem slot to run HoT, as he deos not run BM+Mortal conviction. Hence, HoT is not optimal for his build without making sacrifices.
Last edited by iSo1iD on Nov 4, 2014, 10:49:16 PM
I just did some messing around with my gem setup. I found out that enhance+HoT gives me more damage boost than HoT+HoI. My arc with HoT and HoI deals 2496 toottip damage, but my arc with enhance (16% bonus quality) deals 2507 damage. A very slight increase, but with less life reserved. Right now, i cannot run both an enhanced HoT and an un-enhanced HoI, as I simply do not have enough life to use my lightning/molten strike.
Well thanks for posting Tackle's build. Now I see why. Very.... unique build :) Not something I'm interested in, but to each his own. But, Vaal discipline?
Vaal Discipline is very handy for boss fights, as the huge bonus to ES and the constant ES recharge can really pull you out of near death situations. I myself was recommended by others to swap out curse on hit and ele weakness for conc effect (combos with molten strike) and vaal discipline when doing atziri runs. So far the vaal discipline has worked like a charm in preventing my death in close calls during the triple boss and atziri split phase, thus letting me plow my way through the apex of sacrifice without worry. As such vaal dsicipline is a very handy survival tool that can be worked into the build.
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iSo1iD wrote:
Vaal Discipline is very handy for boss fights, as the huge bonus to ES and the constant ES recharge can really pull you out of near death situations. I myself was recommended by others to swap out curse on hit and ele weakness for conc effect (combos with molten strike) and vaal discipline when doing atziri runs. So far the vaal discipline has worked like a charm in preventing my death in close calls during the triple boss and atziri split phase, thus letting me plow my way through the apex of sacrifice without worry. As such vaal dsicipline is a very handy survival tool that can be worked into the build.


This is correct; Vaal Discipline is incredibly valuable in this build, particularly if you are interested in Atziri/Uber Atziri farming and you don't want to die. It's basically 3 seconds of invulnerability, and since the DPS is so high that basically everything except Atziri dies in 3 seconds or less, it's a perfect boss killing tool as well as panic switch if you ever do something dumb in a dangerous map (20 stacks of corrupting blood and empty staunching flask? No problem!).

For what it's worth, while I initially avoided BM due to expense when I put this build together back on page 53, I've avoided ever respeccing into it because I'm concerned that BM/MC will get nerfed post-1.2 due to it being a bit OP/flavor of the month right now, and FOTM stuff tends to get nerfed. I've tried to keep my build as basic as possible to hedge against likely nerfs.

If act 4 hits and BM/MC is still as good as it is now, I may gear/spec into it if it still enables use of an extra aura and if the expense to do so isn't insane (I'm not going to rechrome all my gear unless it's necessary, for example... just a pain in the ass).
The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard
The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard
Last edited by tackle70 on Nov 5, 2014, 8:09:31 AM
That I agree with. As of now, I think there's no question that BM/MC is easily the best way to go which is why I'm kind of surprised to see how you built your character. You get points for uniqueness and not following the crowd that's for sure, but in the end I just think it's harder to build and has a less effective outcome. But maybe that's just me, and maybe your build is the best I don't know...

However I am also in the camp that feels blood magic is about to get nerfed in the next major update. I don't think it's the intention of GGG to have characters running around with 8 active aura's with total ease, and having the benefit of easy ES as opposed to harder to get life, AND having the benefit of all that "low life" entails. It's really just incredibly OP and will definitely be addressed.

My guess for the next patch. ES will be scaled back, making it more inline with life, or life will be boosted. Low life builds will get a nerf of some kind, likely through changes to blood rage gem. Lastly, I'm sure BM / MC will be scaled down so if you want to use 7 or 8 aura's you can still do it, but at a cost. Right now, it's free and easy 8 aura's, and you can quite easily do 10 if your build required it.

That's why I'm not actually going to buy a Shavs until the next patch. If low life builds make it through ok I will then, but right now I'll just play with this low budget version of the character and see what happens in a few months.

Last edited by VixTrader on Nov 5, 2014, 11:39:35 AM
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VixTrader wrote:
That I agree with. As of now, I think there's no question that BM/MC is easily the best way to go which is why I'm kind of surprised to see how you built your character. You get points for uniqueness and not following the crowd that's for sure, but in the end I just think it's harder to build and has a less effective outcome. But maybe that's just me, and maybe your build is the best I don't know...


Only real differences between my build and the OPs that I'm aware of:
Pros:
-slightly higher ES regen
-immunity to freeze
-higher leech using CWDT+warlord's mark
-Needs a little less STR on gear to be able to drop meginord's for an ES pair of gloves (can rely entirely on master crafted +str)

Cons:
-Lose one aura
-No enhance on Blood Rage
-No reservation room for HoT


In practice, I'd say my build is as strong as what's possible with the OP's build, but it's a little slower since there's no room for running Haste. That's by far the biggest drawback. Loss of enhance / HoT are noticeable but somewhat less significant than the inability to run Haste.
The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard
The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard
Last edited by tackle70 on Nov 5, 2014, 12:50:42 PM

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