Do you think Coven's Criterion would help? 45-60% damage reduction on block, combined with the high block chance of the build could mean some pretty serious damage reduction, especially when combined with the high damage and uptime of Iron Skin.
Wow i havent thought of coven criterion that sounds like a great idea. Covens criterion plus 50-60% cdr and use shield glare, provoke and law of valor for wrath regen. I have seen a build on youtube that doesnt use piro. He was trying to prove that piro is not a must for infinite wrath. Wouldnt this build provide more survivalability?
If you are using BK I think the best setup is using F&R. Because unity is not necessary to reach higher grifts such as 55 grift. If you insist on using unity, try using it with COE.
But this is the build i suggest you try.
get cdr from as much items as possible (hopefully from all the items where you can get cdr), use gogok gem with at least level 25, get cassius belt with 6 sec increase, use ignorance is bliss for survival. You will find yourself turning into a zombi even with F&R instead of unity.
superstition is a very useful passive so its definitely not a bad option to consider but sockets on jewelry are very important as well. So if you want to use the hellfire amulet i suggest you reroll 99%chd into socket. Are you wearing another black thorn set item such as black thorns notched belt? Anyways i think hellfire amulet is a better choice here. Assuming your chd is 400~500% and chc is 40~ 50% without the amulet and the only other item with increased physical skill damage is the wrist item, damage increase you get from additional physical skill damage should be higher than additional chd assuming you get the fifth passive as an offensive one.
Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping akarats awakening would reduce enough cooldown but i guess its not enough for infinite prophet. Then what about the damage reduction? I was always wondering how damage reduction on shields work? Is 75% block chance meaningful at all?
For shield bash setting did you use focus and restraint or unity and elements?
One thing i really like about sweeping stirke is that with sweeping strike + apd combination you can get really beefy. I see people taking damage and surviving with sweeping strike + apd in grifts over 55. Would something like this be possible for shield bash? The problem i have with shield glare is direction. Some times monsters come from both ways and i have hard time figuring out a way to blind all of them. So is there an alternative crowd controlling method?
Roland set is given two options to play with, Sweep attack and shield bash. So far I think the biggest problem with Shield bash is survival. Could this problem be solved with Punish (15% shield chance) + Hold your ground (15% shield chance) + Akarats awakening (16~26% shield chance) + Blood brother (is this shield chance? if it is another 15~20% shield chance)? Maximum shield chance you can get is 75% (once again assuming Blood brother option is talking about shield chance) and with Akarats awakening cooldown reduction option I think it would be possible to shoot for infinite Prophet?
What do you guys think? ( I was never able to try it because I was never able to get an akarats awakening. I seems to have the lowest drop rate)
Also how does the block amount work exactly? is it total damage taken - blocked amount, or is it total damage taken - ( some coefficient * blocked amount ) ?
How about try changing glass cannon with Arcane dynamo. When playing try using Energy Twist first and then electrocute*5 -> hydra -> Blizz -> electrocute *5 -> hydra -> blizz (yeah forget about powering up blizz with arcane dynamo) and add Energy twist in the middle when ever the monsters start running away.
But really for GR below 45 I don't think hydra is good idea at all. SInce you are facing monsters with low health why don't you try changing hydra with some other skills that can give instant damage?
I don't know why I don't see alot of people do this but you don't really need unity for barb.
The build I use is Bulkathos double blade set + WW6 no IK. Go max CDR, get Cassius pride with 6 sec cooldown and Gogok (level25), Whirlwind blood funnel. It should give you infinite Ignorance is Bliss. (You can add Ground stump Wrenching smash + APD but that would be an over kill)
OR
Same item as previous except go max attack speed (0 CDR), eye of Etlich, String of ears, Over power - Crushing advance, Esoteric alteration, and whirlwind blood funnel. With this build I recommend getting some Life per fury from belt and weapons if you feel like blood funnel is not enough when fighting against 1 opponent.
For both build use Focus and Restraint to boost DPS which mean you will need either primary skill or Furious charge ( recommended) Also for both build you don't have to worry about not enough fury since bulkathos double blade set + Furious charge is more than enough for generating fury.
Anyways I have completed Grift 52 with the first build and I've seen people go up to Grift 55 with both.
If you really want to combine IK with WW I suggest changing unforgiving with weapons master, Insanity with striding giant, and sprint with blood shed.
so i have been enjoying melee talrasha wizard lately but I started to wonder is melee talrasha better or melee firebird better.
The reason why I ask is I know Talrasha gives you alot more resistance to 4 elements but really the element that bugs me the most is poison. Also based on my experience I feel like even with melee talrasha build most dps actually still comes from mammoth hydra. And mammoth hydra suites better with firebird than talrasha. So what do you guys think? Am i doing something wrong?
I just started melee wizard today so my sustainability is just below 10mil without any buffs (about 9.2mil) (I do get knocked out about 3 times in average inorder to beat GR40) health is 460,000
Currently my CHC is 46 and CHD is 410 while wearing the ancient APD. I am desperate for more sustainability so I feel like I should keep wearing the ancient APD but I really do see the need for CHC cause alot of my meteors are not giving critical hits. What should I do?
Also for melee wizards I would like to ask what is your armor and AR? And how do you confront poison damage champions + bees (the bugs that shoot out baby bees).
If you are talking about T6 and low Grifts you don't really need to care about sustain, its all about clearing the map ASAP with high dps., and Mara definitely out puts more dps in your case unless your str is below something like 4000.
If you only have one gift how about waiting for next item to appear? I personally have very very hard time finding a gift as well. I mean what if your seldom use wizard drops an ancient serpent tomorrow?
I'm not sure if you are trying to go dashing strike build or sunwuko build but anyways assuming its sunwuko build
1. since you don't have a mantra in your 6 skills you don't need chant of resonance. I suggest sixth sense.
2. If you need more sprit ask Kadala for Crudest boots, take out Crimson's waders and exalted soul, change them with with Crudest boots and Beacon of Ytar.
3. Once you reroll items with some more CDR, changing fists of thunder with epiphany should be a better choice. Or you can change fist of thunder with blinding flash and replace one of the passive, of your choice, with relentless assult.
4. I never needed diamonds until I reached GR50 so try changing your diamonds with emeralds?
since you said 20% phys I am assuming you are only playing with physical barb build. In such case 20% phys is definitely better. Assuming your str is at 10k, 700 str will only increase 7% damage and very little armor. plus there is no other item other than weapons that can boost your dps more than the amulet, so why not boost your dps as much as possible?
I know there are some people who only kill trash and don't worry about champions at all. In such case Helm could be better. However, most of the time, especially if you hate leaving champions unkilled, meteor boot would definitely be a great choice. Honestly unless you are playing melee wizard 3 out of 5 runes, for slow time skill, are practically useless. if you are not playing melee you will not enter the bubble so stretch time is useless, Exhaustion will only reduce ranged monsters damage since you are outside the bubble (and anybody should be able to evade projectiles that are flying at you with 80% reduced speed, especially since you will be kaiting around alot), and time shell? why do you need to slow down monsters even more when you are going to stun them for 3~6 seconds total with point of no return? So in the end, again if you are not melee wizard, its about do you want 15% more damage semi-permanently for all skills or do you want to double your meteor damage?
how about replacing all your diamonds to emeralds? (except for the one on the head) all resist is definitely a great way to increase sustainability but emeralds increase your sustain + damage. For skills try using tsunami over wind blast (with tsunami you really don't need to worry about melee damage so you can definitely switch string of ears with witching hour), and Forbidden palace over Impending Doom? Impending Doom definitely helps boost your damage but keep in mind it drains spirit as well. I would rather use that spirit on one more dashing strike. Also keep in mind dashing strike works just like barbs furious charge so technically you can use it to hit more monsters than Impending Doom with double the damage. Lastly I personally prefer LpH over HpS because LpH can heal you at all times but HpS can only heal you when you are using dashing strike and with my experience I spend more time regenerating spirit with primary skill than hitting enemies with dashing strike.
0
Wow i havent thought of coven criterion that sounds like a great idea. Covens criterion plus 50-60% cdr and use shield glare, provoke and law of valor for wrath regen. I have seen a build on youtube that doesnt use piro. He was trying to prove that piro is not a must for infinite wrath. Wouldnt this build provide more survivalability?
0
If you are using BK I think the best setup is using F&R. Because unity is not necessary to reach higher grifts such as 55 grift. If you insist on using unity, try using it with COE.
But this is the build i suggest you try.
get cdr from as much items as possible (hopefully from all the items where you can get cdr), use gogok gem with at least level 25, get cassius belt with 6 sec increase, use ignorance is bliss for survival. You will find yourself turning into a zombi even with F&R instead of unity.
0
superstition is a very useful passive so its definitely not a bad option to consider but sockets on jewelry are very important as well. So if you want to use the hellfire amulet i suggest you reroll 99%chd into socket. Are you wearing another black thorn set item such as black thorns notched belt? Anyways i think hellfire amulet is a better choice here. Assuming your chd is 400~500% and chc is 40~ 50% without the amulet and the only other item with increased physical skill damage is the wrist item, damage increase you get from additional physical skill damage should be higher than additional chd assuming you get the fifth passive as an offensive one.
0
Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping akarats awakening would reduce enough cooldown but i guess its not enough for infinite prophet. Then what about the damage reduction? I was always wondering how damage reduction on shields work? Is 75% block chance meaningful at all?
For shield bash setting did you use focus and restraint or unity and elements?
One thing i really like about sweeping stirke is that with sweeping strike + apd combination you can get really beefy. I see people taking damage and surviving with sweeping strike + apd in grifts over 55. Would something like this be possible for shield bash? The problem i have with shield glare is direction. Some times monsters come from both ways and i have hard time figuring out a way to blind all of them. So is there an alternative crowd controlling method?
0
Roland set is given two options to play with, Sweep attack and shield bash. So far I think the biggest problem with Shield bash is survival. Could this problem be solved with Punish (15% shield chance) + Hold your ground (15% shield chance) + Akarats awakening (16~26% shield chance) + Blood brother (is this shield chance? if it is another 15~20% shield chance)? Maximum shield chance you can get is 75% (once again assuming Blood brother option is talking about shield chance) and with Akarats awakening cooldown reduction option I think it would be possible to shoot for infinite Prophet?
What do you guys think? ( I was never able to try it because I was never able to get an akarats awakening. I seems to have the lowest drop rate)
Also how does the block amount work exactly? is it total damage taken - blocked amount, or is it total damage taken - ( some coefficient * blocked amount ) ?
0
How about try changing glass cannon with Arcane dynamo. When playing try using Energy Twist first and then electrocute*5 -> hydra -> Blizz -> electrocute *5 -> hydra -> blizz (yeah forget about powering up blizz with arcane dynamo) and add Energy twist in the middle when ever the monsters start running away.
But really for GR below 45 I don't think hydra is good idea at all. SInce you are facing monsters with low health why don't you try changing hydra with some other skills that can give instant damage?
0
I don't know why I don't see alot of people do this but you don't really need unity for barb.
The build I use is Bulkathos double blade set + WW6 no IK. Go max CDR, get Cassius pride with 6 sec cooldown and Gogok (level25), Whirlwind blood funnel. It should give you infinite Ignorance is Bliss. (You can add Ground stump Wrenching smash + APD but that would be an over kill)
OR
Same item as previous except go max attack speed (0 CDR), eye of Etlich, String of ears, Over power - Crushing advance, Esoteric alteration, and whirlwind blood funnel. With this build I recommend getting some Life per fury from belt and weapons if you feel like blood funnel is not enough when fighting against 1 opponent.
For both build use Focus and Restraint to boost DPS which mean you will need either primary skill or Furious charge ( recommended) Also for both build you don't have to worry about not enough fury since bulkathos double blade set + Furious charge is more than enough for generating fury.
Anyways I have completed Grift 52 with the first build and I've seen people go up to Grift 55 with both.
If you really want to combine IK with WW I suggest changing unforgiving with weapons master, Insanity with striding giant, and sprint with blood shed.
0
so i have been enjoying melee talrasha wizard lately but I started to wonder is melee talrasha better or melee firebird better.
The reason why I ask is I know Talrasha gives you alot more resistance to 4 elements but really the element that bugs me the most is poison. Also based on my experience I feel like even with melee talrasha build most dps actually still comes from mammoth hydra. And mammoth hydra suites better with firebird than talrasha. So what do you guys think? Am i doing something wrong?
0
which APD is better?
1. ancient
-fire skill damage 20% (re rolled)
-int 600
-vit577
-LPS 8500
secondary
-poison resist 200
2. normal
-arcane skill damage 15%
-int 430
-vit 477
-CHC 6
secondary
-gold find
I just started melee wizard today so my sustainability is just below 10mil without any buffs (about 9.2mil) (I do get knocked out about 3 times in average inorder to beat GR40) health is 460,000
Currently my CHC is 46 and CHD is 410 while wearing the ancient APD. I am desperate for more sustainability so I feel like I should keep wearing the ancient APD but I really do see the need for CHC cause alot of my meteors are not giving critical hits. What should I do?
Also for melee wizards I would like to ask what is your armor and AR? And how do you confront poison damage champions + bees (the bugs that shoot out baby bees).
0
If you are talking about T6 and low Grifts you don't really need to care about sustain, its all about clearing the map ASAP with high dps., and Mara definitely out puts more dps in your case unless your str is below something like 4000.
0
If you only have one gift how about waiting for next item to appear? I personally have very very hard time finding a gift as well. I mean what if your seldom use wizard drops an ancient serpent tomorrow?
0
I'm not sure if you are trying to go dashing strike build or sunwuko build but anyways assuming its sunwuko build
1. since you don't have a mantra in your 6 skills you don't need chant of resonance. I suggest sixth sense.
2. If you need more sprit ask Kadala for Crudest boots, take out Crimson's waders and exalted soul, change them with with Crudest boots and Beacon of Ytar.
3. Once you reroll items with some more CDR, changing fists of thunder with epiphany should be a better choice. Or you can change fist of thunder with blinding flash and replace one of the passive, of your choice, with relentless assult.
4. I never needed diamonds until I reached GR50 so try changing your diamonds with emeralds?
0
since you said 20% phys I am assuming you are only playing with physical barb build. In such case 20% phys is definitely better. Assuming your str is at 10k, 700 str will only increase 7% damage and very little armor. plus there is no other item other than weapons that can boost your dps more than the amulet, so why not boost your dps as much as possible?
0
I know there are some people who only kill trash and don't worry about champions at all. In such case Helm could be better. However, most of the time, especially if you hate leaving champions unkilled, meteor boot would definitely be a great choice. Honestly unless you are playing melee wizard 3 out of 5 runes, for slow time skill, are practically useless. if you are not playing melee you will not enter the bubble so stretch time is useless, Exhaustion will only reduce ranged monsters damage since you are outside the bubble (and anybody should be able to evade projectiles that are flying at you with 80% reduced speed, especially since you will be kaiting around alot), and time shell? why do you need to slow down monsters even more when you are going to stun them for 3~6 seconds total with point of no return? So in the end, again if you are not melee wizard, its about do you want 15% more damage semi-permanently for all skills or do you want to double your meteor damage?
0
how about replacing all your diamonds to emeralds? (except for the one on the head) all resist is definitely a great way to increase sustainability but emeralds increase your sustain + damage. For skills try using tsunami over wind blast (with tsunami you really don't need to worry about melee damage so you can definitely switch string of ears with witching hour), and Forbidden palace over Impending Doom? Impending Doom definitely helps boost your damage but keep in mind it drains spirit as well. I would rather use that spirit on one more dashing strike. Also keep in mind dashing strike works just like barbs furious charge so technically you can use it to hit more monsters than Impending Doom with double the damage. Lastly I personally prefer LpH over HpS because LpH can heal you at all times but HpS can only heal you when you are using dashing strike and with my experience I spend more time regenerating spirit with primary skill than hitting enemies with dashing strike.