Someone correct me if I am wrong, but WITH INVUL WIZARDS FOR OVER A MONTH, AUCTION HOUSE EXPLOITS, ETC, ALL USED BY PEOPLE IN THE KNOW TO NET BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF GOLD, HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY BEGIN TO EVEN START TO PONDER A COMPETITIVE ANYTHING IN THIS GAME?
What would be the minimum crit hit chance % that makes this build viable? Would 20% do?
I did OK in act 2 with 16% to start. That said, this is one of the most important stats to increase quickly; the fewer targets you have, the harder it is to tank at lower crit rates (meaning that packs are harder in general).
That said, if you can get at least 8% from shield, 6% from gloves, 3% from bracer and 8% from blue LoH/crit rings, you have 30% already; I think that this is a reasonable goal to shoot for.
Want to try this build. Like idea and such tank very much. Maxyim, may be you will create link to most "standart" build in your 1st post of this topic when you begin Spec-section???
It is comfortable for reader to click fast and see it(before read all your text). I know that build can be changed(little), but it will be nice for user to click "change rune" and read hints when he read your instructions. Especially if they don't know class and abilities very good, or play in different language(and don't remember english names).
Just an idea. May be you will like it.
I think that I actually prefer forcing people to read through the logic. That said, good point about different languages. I will put a link in.
I finally managed to clear act 2 after getting myself a new weapon, problem is. When I tried act 3, I was getting pounded like hell.
Know what the issue is though kinda, to low crit, AP on crit and resistances yet. And should probably get a bit more LoH as well.
Not having enough crit is really bad I found out (no shit), As I am starved of AP, and can't keep diamond skin up as well as keeping the mobs frozen in place
Keep changing my build all the time, when I use a signature spell (have used spectral blades and shock pulse with various runes, in addition to wicked wind. But then I end up with more AP then I can spend, and while not using any signature spell then I got to little AP again.. sigh.
At least now I should have no problem farming act 2, getting tired of act 1...
Not sure what to say to help...can you share all pertinent stats?
In my opinion spamming frost nova takes up too much cast time, a perfect situation would be one where you can kill rares without having to use nova so much.
Also getting high end upgrades for this build is impossible TT
Considering that FN has no mana cost and helps to keep elites in your WWs, I tend to disagree as well. Not to mention the +20% damage from Cold Blooded.
I wanted to add my two cents to this thread and give the OP some props for the guide.
I am only on act 2 progression haven't been lucky with any drops that were upgrades or worth selling for enough to buy better gear but i've got myself up to 20k damage so far by sacrificing the life on hit. I find that its better to prioritize critical hit and critical damage in order to increase the speed in which you can obliterate enemies. I only have 350 life on hit from my weapon which is a 700 dps, +70% crit damage + 10 arcane on crit wand. I use a shield with 20% block, 10% crit and 120 intelligence
I have built up to 1300 intelligence and 800 vitality, currently sitting at 35,000 hitpoints and 20k damage, with 800 resists buffed
I can clear act 2 without any problems, act 3 is a no go yet. Keeping Diamond skin up at all times is the key to survival, obviously, and I very rarely take any damage and when I do I can quickly recover by getting back into the groove with keeping Diamond skin up.
One thing that I did try for fun was drop teleport out of the equation simply because it was a "luxury" spell in my mind. I dont' really use it during fights primarily as I just don't find the need for it except maybe to get better position on ranged champs or nightmare affixes. That being said I understand its value. I swapped it out for force weapon though for the damage boost. I also wanted to let you guys know that if you've got a lot of resists/armor built up naturally on your gear and want to try a more damage heavy build there is the option of dropping energy armor for storm armor. The shocking aspect rune allows your crit hits to electrocute a nearby enemies for 35% of your damage. Needless to say this is really fun to watch and can lead to some ridiculous dps that isn't even factored into your sheet. the 70% damage back to attackers is also nice.
Again thanks OP for the guide, it was informational.
Thanks. Yeah, shocking aspect can be a lot of fun, particularly with a barb in the group (for the resist shout)!
Why are you having problems in Act 3? Your gear sounds equal to if not better than mine, actually (well, I have a bit more AR, and you did not list your armor). Have you considered trying to squeeze out 400-500 more life on hit out of jewelry? 4% crit / 200 LoH blue rings can be had for fairly cheap while you build up to something more fancy.
Of note - your on-paper DPS figure seems a bit lower that I would expect it to be with that much crit damage. I am guessing that this is because you are either using a <600 DPS weapon or do not have much int on gear; my suggestion at this point would be to do act 3 runs with a few glass cannon friends so you can hold stuff down while they kill it, and upgrade your gear over time starting with the weakest piece while keeping your defensive stats where they are (a tad more AR and armor would not hurt).
If you are currently using a weak wand with LoH / AP on crit, you may try to upgrade to a stronger weapon with just LoH and possibly a socket and/or native crit damage; I currently have only 9 AP on crit from helm and am able to hold my own perfectly fine.
You hit the nail on the head - my weapon only has 560 DPS.
The notable stats on my current weapon are:
+619 Life on Hit
+7 AP on Crit
Socket (with +60% Crit Damage gem)
I have considered upgrading my weapon to something with more damage, but what stat can I afford to lose?
Dropping the LoH seems out of the question, so that really brings it down to dropping AP on Crit or Crit Damage.
You don't run out of AP with only 9 on Crit? Considering I also run with Astral Presence, this might be the choice for me.
Very simple IMO, borrow a higher DPS weapon with EITHER a lot of LoH OR a bit of LoH and crit damage from a friend and test it to see how well it works for you. At the same time, you could experiment with a +crit and AP on Crit source (may need some additional AR gear though as you will probably lose a lot from the shield).
I am currently using a 750 DPS wand with native crit damage, a socket with a crit damage gem, and like 300 LoH; I usually wish for my life ball to refill faster, but am not really at a loss of AP by which to generate CM procs.
Article fails to mention that poor dude was probably working...
/endtroll
Very sad news; they will be adding video game overdose as a cause of death at some point. I guess it will probably be up there statistically with getting hit by a plane while jogging...
I am able to tank him till 30% and after that he one hits me without going enrage
I just pass from able to tank to one shoted in a sec
I have a section on him in the OP; basically change your spec to get as much mitigation as possible and have your teleport fractures tank for you. Rakanoth landing successive melee hits on you for more than a few seconds is as much damage as you are ever going to take in a short time period, barring standing in sentry/molten/desecration. Hope you have decent Life on Hit from gear.
Why are you using a source?? Lol @ 4k armor and zero life on hit...
Oh, and NOBODY uses Safe Passage. Bone Chill is also a waste for elites; Cold Blooded + Cold Snap is more efficient. Short Fuse is also the inferior version of EB compared to Chain Reaction, as the latter does significantly more damage with zero cast time...
So I've been busy working on my defensive stats up to the point where I cant viably increase them any further, my dps has suffered a lot though and it's down to 17k and I'm going to try to get the most out of it while still looking for ways to get it to 25-30k at least somehow, probably by getting a crit dmg weapon or something like that.
Anyhow what variation of this build do you think does the most dps by means of more casts or higher % modifiers? I'm using the same spec as when i started a few weeks ago : http://us.battle.net...XROY!agT!aZabcY
I'm finding it useful in almost all situations but I find it hard sometimes to keep dps up vs fast or packs that kite you.
Anyhow here's my stats any insight would be helpful
Well, you're not really using the most optimal build... SB/Meteor still works, but WW/EB is quite simply far more effective. Your crit is a bit low, so I would increase it before considering switching to a crit damage weapon. Your DPS is actually fine, and your raw defenses are some of the best that I have ever seen! (providing that you are getting enough CM procs to keep DS up).
I would consider giving WW/EB a try; also try to swap around a few pieces (gloves/bracers/jewelry) to get some more crit. By the way, what is your AP on crit?
I just wanted to say that after using this build since Inferno Act 2, I beat Diablo today. My gear is far from amazing. My stats are as follows (**with Energy Armor and Enchantress):
-30k health
-1.43 APS
-30.5% Crit chance
-170% Crit damage
-864 Resist All
-8791 Armor
-797 Life on hit
-16 Arcane Power on Crit
-10.7k DPS
As you can see, my stats are not exceptionally great. My damage is really low (although it is actually a good bit higher using this build), and my resistances aren't even that high. In my opinion, that is what makes this build so great - you don't have to have incredible gear to do well with it.
Thanks, Maxyim, for creating this guide!
EDIT: The only thing I changed from the OP build is Evocation -> Astral Presence. For me, this meant more tornadoes = more crits = less downtime on CDs so that it was nearly the same as having Evocation, except I was able to do more DPS.
Thank you, I am glad that you are having good success!
Astral Presence is decent, however with your crit chance and AP on crit, it is probably not all that necessary, especially considering that you are essentially making things harder on yourself by losing potential casts of EB / DS / nova / teleport.
Of note - your on-paper DPS figure seems a bit lower that I would expect it to be with that much crit damage. I am guessing that this is because you are either using a <600 DPS weapon or do not have much int on gear; my suggestion at this point would be to do act 3 runs with a few glass cannon friends so you can hold stuff down while they kill it, and upgrade your gear over time starting with the weakest piece while keeping your defensive stats where they are (a tad more AR and armor would not hurt).
If you are currently using a weak wand with LoH / AP on crit, you may try to upgrade to a stronger weapon with just LoH and possibly a socket and/or native crit damage; I currently have only 9 AP on crit from helm and am able to hold my own perfectly fine.
I did OK in act 2 with 16% to start. That said, this is one of the most important stats to increase quickly; the fewer targets you have, the harder it is to tank at lower crit rates (meaning that packs are harder in general).
That said, if you can get at least 8% from shield, 6% from gloves, 3% from bracer and 8% from blue LoH/crit rings, you have 30% already; I think that this is a reasonable goal to shoot for.
I think that I actually prefer forcing people to read through the logic.
Not sure what to say to help...can you share all pertinent stats?
Considering that FN has no mana cost and helps to keep elites in your WWs, I tend to disagree as well. Not to mention the +20% damage from Cold Blooded.
Your Critical Mass build pros and cons are all wrong, and the comment about either Prismatic OR Diamond Skin / Nova made me giggle a bit.
Also, for further reference, you really may want to be a bit more specific with regards to how to gear each build...
Seems like slots such as gloves/bracers/helm would be more profitable, particularly as they can come with offensive stats.
Thanks. Yeah, shocking aspect can be a lot of fun, particularly with a barb in the group (for the resist shout)!
Why are you having problems in Act 3? Your gear sounds equal to if not better than mine, actually (well, I have a bit more AR, and you did not list your armor). Have you considered trying to squeeze out 400-500 more life on hit out of jewelry? 4% crit / 200 LoH blue rings can be had for fairly cheap while you build up to something more fancy.
Very simple IMO, borrow a higher DPS weapon with EITHER a lot of LoH OR a bit of LoH and crit damage from a friend and test it to see how well it works for you. At the same time, you could experiment with a +crit and AP on Crit source (may need some additional AR gear though as you will probably lose a lot from the shield).
I am currently using a 750 DPS wand with native crit damage, a socket with a crit damage gem, and like 300 LoH; I usually wish for my life ball to refill faster, but am not really at a loss of AP by which to generate CM procs.
/trollalert
Article fails to mention that poor dude was probably working...
/endtroll
Very sad news; they will be adding video game overdose as a cause of death at some point. I guess it will probably be up there statistically with getting hit by a plane while jogging...
I have a section on him in the OP; basically change your spec to get as much mitigation as possible and have your teleport fractures tank for you. Rakanoth landing successive melee hits on you for more than a few seconds is as much damage as you are ever going to take in a short time period, barring standing in sentry/molten/desecration. Hope you have decent Life on Hit from gear.
Oh, and NOBODY uses Safe Passage. Bone Chill is also a waste for elites; Cold Blooded + Cold Snap is more efficient. Short Fuse is also the inferior version of EB compared to Chain Reaction, as the latter does significantly more damage with zero cast time...
You have no idea what you are doing.
Look at the guy's post history, you'd think that he works for Wall Street with all the speculation going on.
Well, you're not really using the most optimal build... SB/Meteor still works, but WW/EB is quite simply far more effective. Your crit is a bit low, so I would increase it before considering switching to a crit damage weapon. Your DPS is actually fine, and your raw defenses are some of the best that I have ever seen! (providing that you are getting enough CM procs to keep DS up).
I would consider giving WW/EB a try; also try to swap around a few pieces (gloves/bracers/jewelry) to get some more crit. By the way, what is your AP on crit?
Thank you, I am glad that you are having good success!
Astral Presence is decent, however with your crit chance and AP on crit, it is probably not all that necessary, especially considering that you are essentially making things harder on yourself by losing potential casts of EB / DS / nova / teleport.
Of note - your on-paper DPS figure seems a bit lower that I would expect it to be with that much crit damage. I am guessing that this is because you are either using a <600 DPS weapon or do not have much int on gear; my suggestion at this point would be to do act 3 runs with a few glass cannon friends so you can hold stuff down while they kill it, and upgrade your gear over time starting with the weakest piece while keeping your defensive stats where they are (a tad more AR and armor would not hurt).
If you are currently using a weak wand with LoH / AP on crit, you may try to upgrade to a stronger weapon with just LoH and possibly a socket and/or native crit damage; I currently have only 9 AP on crit from helm and am able to hold my own perfectly fine.