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...are now allowed. Go nuts with it, but keep your comments civil and nondestructive or I will remove them.

Playing keep-away with knockback

Some days ago, I did a critique on someone's build concept...somewhere in there, I mentioned something about concepting a crit variant of his staff spectral throw build.

I'm not sure how well "variant" applies, as I've basically taken out everything except the spectral throw skill, which links are pretty well universal anyway.

ST - xMP - AFD - LL/LoH - ICD, etc

But the build, now this one gave me hours of trouble. First I started with the Marauder, because that's where I left off last post.

build link

Totaling up the crit, on an 8% crit staff I'd reach a little over 50% crit rate. Shucks. Now, the rest of the crit nodes are over on Shadow side...so I figured I'd go all the way, make it CI VP and build a Scion.

build link (where points go over the limit, note that the last place to put them is the crit nodes, ok? only makes sense to do it that way.)

...and yes, that's a lot of points over the usual recommendation, so what I did was pick Duelist and take a slightly shorter traveling path.

build link

And then, you know, it came back to me: why am I even making CI?

build link

So of course then I had to make it over on Scion.

build link

I'm still not entirely satisfied with it. Might end up making CI anyway, because VP's safer against reflect, and reflect is the bane of crit builds. Not to mention, that way I'd save on a LL gem. (Though with over 5% HP regen, I might have been able to run BR on HP anyway.) Or I could go full circle, back to Marauder start, and use it as a character to reach 65 for the challenge. If I decide to go for that challenge. In any case, tabling it for now, to be refined and built at a later unspecified date if ever. I have too many projects already.

Searing Bond

Shock Nova totem (for shock value, obviously)

Lightning Warp totem (because why not)

whatsitsname that triple totem chest, with the appropriate hexproof flasks of course

Curse on Hit (ele weakness maybe, but this one's always fuzzy) (maybe)

But in terms of totem placement? Time spent placing totems is time spent not dealing damage. I mean, obviously you're going to get right up in their faces because of the way searing bond works, so melee (searing touch is still a staff) but the majority of damage is still going to come from assorted spells. (The rest is from traps. Ancestral Bond is a given.)

CDT + one or another of the totems, not sure which. Maybe arc totem. Depends how much crit I can get, or something.

3 totems + self = quadrilateral with a cross? I'd still like to see the exact numbers on 1.0.2 Searing Bond damage, but it's actually an option now...right? I'll be pretty annoyed if it only casts from the SB totems and not between my lightning totems, that'll change the strategy just a little. Or a lot. Bah.

Maybe I should have ele equilibrium. Throw down some coldsnap traps or something. Was thinking of CDT icenova, but that doesn't work with dual totems, does it?

Probably EB and double curse. Probably not crit. I doubt I'll reach IR anyway. HP return will be a problem, so...life on hit would probably be the best (only) way to handle that.

They need more unique staves.

Speed leveling builds

thread 1 Xequi challenging people to beat his 1-69 time of 10:34:11

thread 2 started by vombat911, the winner of the challenge with 10:16:34

One player did it with 2h spec-throw, and considering the original challenge was completed with a 2h axe equipped, I'm going to guess it was either spec-throw or cyclone and more likely the former. A lot of "leveling" uniques were used, along with Foxshade which has added movespeed (and anyone who's raced before knows how important MS is.)

Now here's the question. Is it possible to solo speed-level at this rate, or something approaching it, using a different skill combination? If so what, if not why not?

Firetrap/poison-arrow until LMP then switch to LA, maybe. Storm Cloud -> Death's Harp -> ??? It's a pity about the lack of leveling unique bows past that. Quillrain/EA/Tabula setup, never change gear ever? EA has the well-deserved reputation of being pretty much the most independent skill in the game. Not sure how it does on speed though.

A spellbuild of some sort? Given DoT changes, I imagine a firetrap build with Searing Touch would scale really well, especially if one had a leveled Empower. Now there's a thought, Searing Bond as a burn damage trapper. It's still a support skill, but...oh, I digress. I don't think there are any leveling uniques for other elemental builds. EK's got this stupid long cast time, it's out for sure. Ditto, well, pretty well everything else with spells. Oh dear.

Given DoT changes again, maybe Viper Strike could do something? Flicker, splash, cast vulnerability, move on? Possibly with PA on weapon swap? Someone who's run the Chaos Acolyte build would know more about this than I do. But I don't think that's the solution either. Depends how well it all scales, and multiple leveled Empowers would be necessary.

Yeah, keeps on coming back to easily available uniques and all that. So. Sweep, groundslam, cleave? The usual, basically. Good 2h uniques are freely available. Same applies to this challenge as to races, it's either dw or 2h because 1h/shield is just too slow. Therefore probably not cleave, not any more. I'm pretty sure ST is strictly superior to the other two, too. Bah.

Cyclone rather than ST, or just use an LA build? ST's damage scaling is...not the best, let us say. Cyclone is level 24 requirement though, so there's still something to be done for the earlier leveling. Ditto LA, which only gets good after LMP.

Reave? Of all the stupid things...but I did spend an afternoon (including trading, chatting and miscellaneous time-wasting) clearing 1-50~ using a couple of good rare claws on ST/LMP because I was bored of Reave. Reave is almost always faster, in my experience, but ST is safer by quite a long shot. Did swap to cyclone at level 43 and it's actually really fast given my weapons and I MIGHT BE BIASED HERE BUT CLAWS ARE AWESOME OKAY. If I was going to try this challenge, I'd get a pair of Last Resorts, buy a couple of Cat's Paws from the indexer, and go claw crazy with those + the ones I already have. Bonus points because Whirling Blades is a scary-good movement skill.

Now there's another thought, running using good rares instead of uniques. Ungil's Gauche, Mightflay, Al Dhih. Mortem Morsu is strictly inferior to Mightflay, too bad for it. No unique leveling claws/daggers above that, and 1h swords (Reave, remember?) only have Prismatic Eclipse and Rebuke of the Vaal. Yeah, definitely needs to be rares once you're past Mightflay. Shucks.

In my experience, flat added damage is one of the most powerful things one can get hold of, early game. That makes it a really good idea to run Ignomon, Sadima's, Meginord, and yes Foxshade. Berek's X (pick two) would be ideal after level 20 and until merciless, provided resist caps are met. It's not much by way of added HP, but you know what? I really don't care. Claws are broken and it's not like HP matters until cruel a3 or later. Bonus points, flat damage scales really well with LA, which is a safe (ranged) build too. Only it'd run into boss trouble, or I could just call in a guildie to save like an hour total on act bosses.

Might be that stacking bonus damage is more important to early speed-leveling than a specific skill is. Hm. And that would make weaponry more important to later speed-leveling than skill choice. No, that's wrong, skill choice is important for general area coverage, just that it has to be well supported by good damage availability, from flat +dmg earlygame to good weapons later.

I'm going to pick up a bunch of these things now. Not Meginord, too expensive for me, but I'm willing to spend a few chaos to make leveling any new characters easier.

Bringer of Rain + Anvil

...+ bow

= 25% block chance with a bow, the last time I checked. Hmm...

About that Darkscorn build

or Why I Love This Passive Tree

link to previous Darkscorn theory crafting and reasons I'm doing this

LA - GMP - chain - LL - ML - WED (or knockback, that'd be cool) GGGGRR, exactly right colours!
CDT - EC - MS - enfeeble/TC
RM - Discipline - Grace - Determination (hopefully!) maybe Hatred if I turn out not to need those. Clarity?
the usual, it's a pretty standard LA tankbuild...for some definition of standard.

build link
alternative build link

Not sure how well the knockback cluster would work in practice, but I'm effectively shotgunning a whole lot with the LA chain-effects so I imagine it'd be quite a bit more than the displayed 15%. Hopefully I do enough damage to make the LL work out. Maybe include a shav's revelation, because why not.

If that doesn't work out, I'll spec the alternative link, get some shock/chill avoidance too. Shock avoidance is pretty big, but I expect to use a Fragments anyway so just the chill avoid will do.

I actually want to head into templar and pick up Catalyse, another end charge, and that ES grouping. It's quite a lot of points, though.

In all probability, this would work better with a Chin Sol. Of the damage avoidance trio - acro, block, evasion - I'm running none, so I might still be taking too much damage. Depending on the armour values I can get. Still, a flat 25% reduction before armour is probably going to be awesome.

With a HP build, Chin Sol is pretty much strictly superior and...yeah. Glare is almost definitely superior anyway on damage, but for survivability on enemy hits (and on reflected damage), I wouldn't know. Glares tend to get their owners killed almost as much as Shavs.

Probably needs some mana, and no I'm not going to take EB, that'd be suicidal and then some.

I'll probably run into gear issues, my best ES body armour is some 480ES? Give or take? Meh, no big deal, I'll just roll something bigger sometime if I find I need it. And oh snap, this is a really bad time, I don't own a Dream Fragments right now and who knows how much they cost these days. Never mind, I'll run the analysis using an Alpha's Howl first.

Alternatively:
Split Arrow - Fork/Chain/Pierce - LL - ML - who knows? Maybe RoA. Got a split arrow gem too, I think. I'd rather not go iceshot, since the majority of damage is done on the aoe conversion and there's no reason to run Darkscorn with it. Burning Arrow doesn't have enough inherent AoE to work with, neither does Frenzy and anyway I'm CI. Still, I think LA is the best option where I am.

I have no idea how this build is supposed to level. Likely an independent skill, so EA/summoner/trapper, either that or statball accessories to provide the necessary dex. Question is academic anyway, as the witch to be specced is level 80. Might do that this weekend, since I have most of the necessary gems at reasonable levels already.

Flicker + 20q Splash + Multi + CoC + (some AoE spell)

Playstyle would be flicker in, use all the stacks and get some nice AoE going, whirling blades out and watch them die (regaining stacks along the way) and repeat. Spell dagger with local crit. Etc. Might work better than that wander I was going to make, in coldsnap terms, but we'll see. And I want a wander anyway so I'm still going to make one of those first.

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.

Time-limited unique items. THIS IS WHY NOT.

So I was talking to this one guy, and he was telling me about the discharger he was making. And, well, he said the price of a voll's devotion amulet on SC was 17 ex the cheapest he could find.

Wait, what?

A quick search on xyz turns up 31 results, of which 4 have buyouts set, one of which is 10 ex. Clearly, he was wrong. But 10 ex, really? I got mine for 2 gcp when Anarchy was running, and they were in the 2 ex range a couple weeks after it ended.

Generally speaking, legacy uniques are just alternate versions of their current forms, with the same effects if not on the same scale. I'm cool with that. Kaom's still fulfills its purpose as a big ball of HP, even if it's less HP than before. But completely removing all inflow of a particular unique item with an effect unique to it? (pun intended) That's not cool, in my book.

While I recognise that new short-term leagues are free of the effects of no-longer-available uniques, and greater focus is (rightly or wrongly) on these as opposed to the permanent ones, surely that isn't an excuse to completely neglect them. Dumpster economy or otherwise.

Gifts as a race reward is great. But GGG better have a consistent plan to make these uniques more readily available again, one way or another, because gating interesting/useful content by date of signup is one of the worst things a developer can do to its players. There is empirical evidence of what, exactly, happens to content gated this way. Look it up if you want. Magic: the Gathering designers whine about it. Riot Games, of League of Legends fame, faced this issue and recently made a really difficult decision (in the opposite direction of Magic's decision, I should point out, though equally much taking context into account.) And how much do Runescape party hats sell for on Ebay again?

It doesn't affect gameplay if it's cosmetic items or if the functionality can be duplicated another way, but unique items with unique effects really? You're going to gate gameplay by signup date?

Seriously, there is no good move from here except to reintroduce the items, some time some way. (Suggestion: chance orbs. I can come up with half a dozen more, but this isn't my job.) At least GGG has specifically made a point of refusing to say whether they will be reintroduced. They flippin' well better do it.

Kiri owns 4x death rush, 2x victario's acuity, 1x voll's devotion, 1x shav's revelation, 2x gifts from above (will be 3 after racing this season), and 1x daresso's salute. That's enough to craft any build that uses any of these items. I don't stand to benefit from this recommendation, okay?

Darkscorn...?

It's high time I did something with my 6L Darkscorn. The bow has been repeatedly suggested to be good for tanks, let's see how that works out.

1. conversion of 25% incoming physical to chaos: CI build
2. conversion of  25% outgoing physical to chaos: damage conversion the rest of the way
3. therefore CI GR VP, acro is not an option, etc etc

or the other way

1. It is known that a LA/chain standard setup with GMP and LoH is ridiculously tanky on BM keystone (source: anecdotal from months ago)
2. conversion of incoming damage reduces the amount on physical anyway, so armour is more effective
3. blind and acro work remarkably well together, the more so because bows don't really do block; maybe IR with acro for bonus points, then!

I figure I'll have damage issues no matter which way I slice it, but maybe that's fixable?

4. going to take point blank
5. possibility of going crit