Monday 15 September 2014

Well, that didn't work out.

I specced my 67 marauder in SC to this planned build.

Didn't work, not enough DPS. No, not really. DPS was...not spectacular, could clear docks, didn't do as well in maps as I'd've liked but it was more a survivability issue than a damage one. Also the single target sucks.

See that post for skilltree. Links: flicker - multi - prolif - increased burning - WED. Got to about 10k armour with Grace, I think. Realised I rely a lot more on block than is actually visible, most of the time. Tooltip DPS is no good for burn builds, didn't count it.

I tested with splash (prolif gave higher clear speed and takes its place pretty well), never needed chance to ignite, got more straight damage from the combination of WED and increased burning than from fire pen in either of those slots. Tested without multistrike and it was unbearably slow. So much for that.

Vulnerability self cast is too much micromanagement - works fine for stationary type builds like poison arrow, but when you're flickering all over the place it's trigger gem or nothing. Not sure putting it on trigger would work either but it's gotta be worth a shot.

Used blood dance boots, because didn't have a fire leech anything handy. Didn't really matter because I was taking way too much damage. Two ways to solve that, and one might get me killed on reflect because I'm pretty sure the other already hit diminishing returns. In any case, I'm very map mod limited on this build, so it's not much fun there.

Really, the essential problem here seems to be that prolif builds are once and done, whereas a flicker build relies on constant motion. Therefore, I'd need disproportionate DPS to play flicker proliferate.

You know what? This was a non crit build and I can clear docks with it. Might be a crit version has enough damage to manage the other. Gotta plan that one to try. Might be I can put splash instead of prolif because damage is sufficient, and then I'd get the benefit of culling strike.

Friday 12 September 2014

Finding that perfect balance

not quite my build, but close enough

There was a point in Cruel where I realised my DPS with cascade had dropped sharply. Pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen with absolutely no gear changes...but wait, there was a passive change, I'd taken another AoE node.

Conc.e fixed that real quick.

Character is currently 77, running EB+AA without MoM, no trouble holding his own in a map group. Links are GC - added lightning - conc.e - PCoC.

Saturday 6 September 2014

Oro's Sacrifice flicker multi for HC

What do you mean it won't work, not enough DPS? Try me.

Concept: flicker multi with Oro's Sacrifice. It's been done before, though there are no 1.2 updated builds.

skill tree

RM - Grace - Herald of Ash?
flicker - multi - splash? - prolif? - increased burning or WED, or both, or chance to ignite, or fire pen
CDT - the usual
Vulnerability, that leech curse, TC, enfeeble

- Current tree doesn't do AA, but we'll see, some way of getting around increased damage taken would be cool
-  Lots of HP nearby if this proves insufficient

- Ideally I want something with fire leech. If I can corrupt the sword to something useful, like fire leech, so much the better.

- Multistrike isn't nice, considering loss of damage, but it's probably a necessary sacrifice.
- I have no idea how to level this character up, but I bet it will be fun! Fire traps probably.
- 5L dropped for me in the right colours, so I'm planning for a 5L

Mostly I'm thinking about the links after flicker strike. If splash gives multiple frenzy charges with Oro's the way it does with power charges and Voll's, then sustainability is not an issue and multi is not necessary. Probably. At the cost of attack speed. There's 15% chance to ignite on the tree, 20% more from the sword, 10% from a q20 increased burning if I'm doing that, 40ish from chance to ignite but let's try not to go there.

Oh well we'll see.

Thursday 4 September 2014

Nothing is legacy any more. Almost nothing.

This has consistently been one of the most popular previous posts. I'm glad to say it's no longer relevant.

Most recently, with Forsaken Masters patch, Zana offers the chance to run maps as though you were in a previous league - including legacy drops from that league. Recently confirmed, though I've suspected something was up from day one of the patch when Shavronne's Revelation was updated in patch notes.

And hell, I'm glad they did something about it. I'd rather see my "investment" values dropping than not, because of what it represents. I don't know that people will consistently run anything but Onslaught and in 6-groups, considering Nemesis costs 2ex, but prices are easy to tweak, and even if they aren't tweaked, when headhunter prices go high enough people will start trying.

As usual, GGG has come up with a better solution than I could ever have thought of. Major props to them, and this is why I'm a player and not a dev.