Build Guide
OLD BUILD HERE: http://www.diablofans.com/builds/85778-thorns-of-the-invoker-gr95-in-depth-guide (with OLD video! Check it out for FULL OLD VERSION of the build!)
GENERAL TIPS:
The build is less density dependent now but killing trash is still important!
1) Avoid fighting lonely elite/blues. You need to generate Thorns procs from BLOCKS. No packs = no blocks. Lure them into the packs of trash and let your area damage work for you.
2) Try to maintain at least 50% cdr and AS MUCH ATTACK SPEED as possible. The faster you attack, the faster you apply thorns damage/area damage through HACK and 2pc Invoker.
5) Since in density you will reset cooldowns fast with Akarat's Awakening, it is possible to sacrifice even more CDR for attack speed/all res.
5) RGs without adds will take more time to kill (less 2pc stacks).
6) Arcane/Frozen is bad as usual. Also skip Shielding and Illusionist.
7) Area Damage is pretty strong in this build. So i suggest sacrificing some CDR for AOE on weapon, and CDR/AS/AOE gloves would be great too, as well as AOE shoulders wtih CDR.
8) Thorns secondary rolls everywhere
9) As much all resist as possible
10) Watch for COE physical rotation. Never miss it.
11) Try to find balance between Life on Hit and CDR/Area Damage/Attack Speed. I personally recommend to have LOH on bracers/helm and weapon.
SKILL OPTIONS:
1) Decaying Strength instead of Invincible. Much more damage mitigation, but less recovery and lower DPS (lower attack speed). Recommended to use with paragon less than 1000-1500. Sometimes i get annoyed with frequent deaths and switch to Decaying Strength..The difference in survivability is HUGE.
2) Provoke - Too Scared to Run/Cleanse instead of Hit Me. More CCing of mobs, but less damage reduction. Better be used along with Invincible.
3) Bed of Nails instead of Provoke if you will use Akarath's Awakening + Pig Sticker/Hack and cube Blood Brother. This will compensate some damage loss from the Spiker/Provoke. Not as good as it was in 2.4.1 though
GR100 CLEAR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzdCxTnmeU0
Thank you!
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More elites per GR would be better for progression? More elites, and close to a pylon is nice... (sorry for my English, I don't know if I am choosing the right words...).
Jesus, it's incredible how much stronger this set is now. Could hardly do 80's before will really good, all augmented gear in HC, and now in SC, mediocre gear, melting down everything at gr75.
I'm struggling to parse the prioritization of Pig Sticker being required and Hack being recommended. Hack seems superior, especially with Reflective Skin boosting the amount of thorns damage it deals, but I haven't gotten the 6 piece set bonus yet, so the extra attack speed could wind up being better?
(Also, if it's just about attack speed, what about something like Blood Magic Edge? Or the post-patch Wizardspike?)
EDIT: Ditto the choice of shields. I can see use for either of them, but I'm not sure which one is prioritized.
Pig Sticker is the king for dispatching elites. It's not all about move speed, it's about 5 stats it can roll, as well as extra damage to beasts and demons which are most rift guardians. akarath's awakening shield should always be prioritized
woot old build back to life! this build still rocks
Pig Sticker gives a damage boost to beasts and humans, though?
EDIT: I'll have to get hunting for that shield then. I'm currently using Coven's Criterion for the extra damage mitigation and it's brought me into the GR70s with no trouble, but I can see how being able to use Akarat's Champion and Iron Skin more often would be beneficial.
The shield is kinda hard to get, but it's a build defining item. It will make sure your iron skin is always available when COE roll phisical dmg. This + akarat's champion will melt any elite very fast. I reached GR 88 with Pig sticker + Voltoya's, then i got a nice ancient Akarat's awakening which made me cube a blood brother.
It made me reach GR 92. I also prefer to use Laws of justice - decaying strenght. I feel that the damage can take me further, but i was dying a lot with Laws of valor. Decaying strenght is a huge toughness boost.
I feel like a reached my max (GR 92) with my current gear. I'm working on augmentations to take me further, but i'm greatly satisfied! I always loved the thornsader but it always felt subpar compared to my demon hunter. Now she is as strong (or even stronger).
Both Pig Sticker and Hack are good, but it's hard to get a good fast hack with triple stats and high thorns value, while Pig Sticker is very easy to get and is much more affordable option. Rolls with 5 stats and also rolls with extra beasts damage which are most rift guardians
Hiya Angry,
Should I do Area Damage on hit or Socket or STR on the Pig Sticker? I already got the other 3 roles, just wondering what should be more helpful.
https://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Zoo-1498/hero/83123425
So for the paragon points in strength and vitality, what is a good ratio? 2:1, 3:1 , etc.
I have a question. With Thorns not scaling off our strength, couldn't we drop the Finery Passive for the Hold Your Ground passive? Crusaders naturally have 0% dodge chance unless running with another class who has a buff to dodge, and well we want to be blocking anyway with this build. Plus while the 16.5% strength is nice; it doesn't really affect our survivability too much. Only amounting in a small loss in armor, with a trade off of an additional 15% flat damage reduction from the Justice Lantern legendary passive.
I know this puts our block chance easily above the 75% cap, with +block on ring, Blood Brother cubed, Hold Your Ground, and your shields natural block %. Then we can add in Punish's additional 15% block chance. While this puts us well over that max block, it doesn't appear to also hard cap the damage reduction you get from the Justice Lantern passive. Theoretically this means we could cap out the damage reduction to around ~82% from Justice Lantern passive. Thoughts?
Easiest to use a variation of this build I have seen so far and the easiest build I have found for this class that can reach gr100+. Highly recommended for those who dislike having to strategize/think allot since you basically just use steed charge to move from group to group and spam all skills except for steed charge while in the middle of those groups. I did find the chains on the steed to be unreliable most of the time (even if the mobs got chained allot of the time they wouldn't get dragged) and ended up swapping my rune to endurance instead because of it but I must admit that if the chains worked more often they would have been a better choice for me. All in all, this is my favorite build atm (I even recommended it to a bunch of friends) and I am hoping it remains as amazing next season. I don't skip illusionist packs though I have a trick to help find the real ones easily enough so the illusions just help me block more. I never have problems with frozen (not sure why but I never get frozen as far as I can tell). Arcane can be annoying if its cast right on top of me or if multiple beams hit me 1 after the other before my loh has time to get me back up and shielding is a pain but not horribly so. I have made it to gr 97 solo even though my gear is missing area dmg (have none on any of my gear but got it maxed in para). I probably have more cdr then needed but love riding the pony lol. Seems to do fine in mp gr and can carry others through gr 80 easily (have done up to 90 carries but not as easy). In mp I often act as a scout/tank (lots of cdr, as, and loh on my gear, but 0 area dmg) for others who do tons of area dps to trash but are more squishy and not as fast moving (I mainly focus on elites while they destroy whites).
You never get frozen because when AC is up you can't be affected by any effects