Spectral Throw staff build critique

Update: apparently my understanding of the MKB interaction was wrong. Specifically, it was most likely carried over from when added phys on accessories didn't scale properly...but still wrong, at the present time. Learn something new every day.

I got a particularly detailed PM about a spectral throw staff build. You know who you are. Well, effort will be repaid with effort, why not, since I have the time today.

I'm going to start with a bit of a rant.

Next time, flippin' well follow the format given, thank you very much. Also, it makes absolutely no sense to ask me for build advice and then write as though I have no idea what MKB (that's Pillar of the Caged God) does, or about the math and mechanics behind the game, or what is and isn't viable to build. Especially if your math is wrong. (I haven't tested the specific MKB interaction mentioned, but I understand that others have. More importantly, I stopped believing you knew what you were talking about when you emphasised freeze locking on an RT build.) And though I definitely appreciate knowing the rationale behind your choices, I do not need or want to be told that "this is the only viable way", because it is not. (Unless it is, but that would imply that you've tested every other alternative...yeah, no.) Going further, let me suggest that I know what I'm doing when it comes to the skill tree, I do not need or want a summary table, I can read the tree perfectly well and if I really want exact stats I'll paste it into the application myself.

General comment: doing really detailed math is generally not required for this game. Or in general. I'm an engineer, and the first draft (what first build plans generally correspond to) is sometimes done order-of-magnitude while the final draft (corresponding to running the build at level 80-odd) has like 50% margin of error anyway even before we do exact math on that one. The formula and keywords are important, the working to 3 decimal places is not.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, here's a quick summary of the build.

Idea: spectral throw, knockback, shocking/freezing (well, with RT it'll probably just be shocking) and staying safe. He really wanted to use MKB, but see above comment re: math, so for now I'll assume a standard staff build. In the end, it doesn't make a lot of difference.

Skills:
ST, LMP, AFD, WED (expected fifth link: BM, for mana management reasons; also I would run LL/LoH over WED for safety reasons.)
RM - Hatred - Wrath - Grace/Determination (and Haste if possible)
Projectile Weakness for knockback and more damage
CDT - EC - MS - frostwall or coldsnap or whatever (maybe PW, saves on cursing)

Items: no special enablers (see above re: MKB), priority on flat added physical (which honestly I feel is misplaced, but there you have it) - so Meginord's - and added elemental. At least, that's what I was told.

build link

As you can see, it's a scion start going for a lot of WED, ias, RT on a HP build. Now I'll post a slightly revised version (just a small change) and you can see the difference in priorities.

build link

Specifically, I cleaned up the inefficient roundabout in templar, moving it to an end charge, HP regen, a little bit more int and dex (there wasn't quite enough in the original, unless Astra or some other statball) and staff block. I like block. Though obviously you would spec out of that cluster if you weren't using a staff. Also removed the whole Lava Lash bit just because.

This is not the be-all-end-all, it is not the most efficient tree for this build, it is likely to run into trouble...but it is still better than the original I received. I would prefer to start from marauder, it would let me clear aside the whole loop above duelist, then I could go below instead and get fun stuff like HP/regen, end charge, master of the arena, etc. Similarly, I doubt the WED nodes are all that efficient (exception of Catalyse) unless you're already passing by, and even then I often skip them, but meh.

For that matter, if I was doing a spec-throw knockback build with staves, I would run crit. Staves are really, really good for crit, there are a ton of crit nodes and a power charge right here, and accuracy nodes are right next door. Expect a concept post of that to come out sometime soon, since I have a 5L crit staff currently available to me. Why not. (It was pretty much between ST, LS and flickermulti anyway, staff knockback on crit is a pain with real melee builds.)

I hope that was informative.

A note to anyone else who wants me to critique their build.