I have decided to switch back to Necromancer so anyone looking at my build should be aware that it now diverges significantly from the guide. Damage as Elementalist was good but I was just dying too often in high level maps and was still running out of mana periodically. I have not played a lot since switching so I am not saying Necro is better yet. I can say that damage dropped by a ton at least at first but last league I was able to get it pretty high and I hope to do so again this league. Mana regen is absurdly good after the change and it is always full so I might be able to make some changes there for more damage. I am hoping that the changes will allow for a less panicked playstyle where I can cease having to worry about random one shots during regular mapping. I am also liking not having golems running about messing up the works or having to worry about them getting blown away and having both damage and survivability go into the dumpster without much warning.
I tried looking at your PoB yesterday, but I'm pretty sure you were still in the middle of respecking so it wasn't a truly accurate snapshot. The one concern I remember having was your ability to proc EO. Are you keeping it up consistently?
It is not proccing often which is an issue, not sure how to fix it. Crit chance is only 6.35% with Controlled Destruction. When EO is up then damage is at 3m, when it isn't down to 2m. On the other side though I think keeping RF up is possible and that makes up the difference. Survivability is really good though, mana is there to take hits and recovers almost instantly to take another if it makes it past dodge and block.
I am thinking about trying to path over to Supreme Ego because I pick up enough dex on the way to use Chain which brings crit chance up to 11.35%. Not sure that the change to Necro will be able to put out the damage I want but the survivability is there to get to level 98 and I can always switch back to Elementalist for a big damage boost. I can say unequivocally that I do really like not getting one shot on a regular basis. You can actually see the health bar moving, it's no longer full or you're dead.
I have decided to switch back to Necromancer so anyone looking at my build should be aware that it now diverges significantly from the guide. Damage as Elementalist was good but I was just dying too often in high level maps and was still running out of mana periodically. I have not played a lot since switching so I am not saying Necro is better yet. I can say that damage dropped by a ton at least at first but last league I was able to get it pretty high and I hope to do so again this league. Mana regen is absurdly good after the change and it is always full so I might be able to make some changes there for more damage. I am hoping that the changes will allow for a less panicked playstyle where I can cease having to worry about random one shots during regular mapping. I am also liking not having golems running about messing up the works or having to worry about them getting blown away and having both damage and survivability go into the dumpster without much warning.
I tried looking at your PoB yesterday, but I'm pretty sure you were still in the middle of respecking so it wasn't a truly accurate snapshot. The one concern I remember having was your ability to proc EO. Are you keeping it up consistently?
It is not proccing often which is an issue, not sure how to fix it. Crit chance is only 6.35% with Controlled Destruction. When EO is up then damage is at 3m, when it isn't down to 2m. On the other side though I think keeping RF up is possible and that makes up the difference. Survivability is really good though, mana is there to take hits and recovers almost instantly to take another if it makes it past dodge and block.
I am thinking about trying to path over to Supreme Ego because I pick up enough dex on the way to use Chain which brings crit chance up to 11.35%. Not sure that the change to Necro will be able to put out the damage I want but the survivability is there to get to level 98 and I can always switch back to Elementalist for a big damage boost. I can say unequivocally that I do really like not getting one shot on a regular basis. You can actually see the health bar moving, it's no longer full or you're dead.
https://pastebin.com/34DYT7fX
Try looking at Elemental Penetration, it might give better damage than Chain and comes without the dex requirement. (Or you could try running SB...) Yeah, RF is totally as good as a 7th link, even though you have to be fussy about your map mods. I would also try going for more cast speed to get your DPS up, especially now that you have the mana to support it. And you are not kidding about those 1-shots...I don't know what else I can do to get more mana recovery that doesn't also hit my DPS pretty hard, and I'm getting fed up.
Supreme Ego could be worth it if your mana recovery is good enough without Clarity, plus then you could run Clear Mind. I always thought it was overrated when you had to use a timeless jewel to get it, but it might be worth the skill points if you're running out of ways to boost your damage.
Try looking at Elemental Penetration, it might give better damage than Chain and comes without the dex requirement. (Or you could try running SB...) Yeah, RF is totally as good as a 7th link, even though you have to be fussy about your map mods. I would also try going for more cast speed to get your DPS up, especially now that you have the mana to support it. And you are not kidding about those 1-shots...I don't know what else I can do to get more mana recovery that doesn't also hit my DPS pretty hard, and I'm getting fed up.
Supreme Ego could be worth it if your mana recovery is good enough without Clarity, plus then you could run Clear Mind. I always thought it was overrated when you had to use a timeless jewel to get it, but it might be worth the skill points if you're running out of ways to boost your damage.
Realized Corpse Pact and Commander of Darkness were doing about the same thing except CoD would get me resistances, a lot of them. Was able to switch over to my favorite gloves which are nice for damage in maps with the explosions helping take care of any larger enemies that my damage is now a bit lacking for. They are about 1/4 the cost this league and come with some defense as well. No longer get the awesome 30/30 but it's just not needed with the regen on Necro. Still have to figure out the bosses because as you know the single target damage isn't wonderful. Only running T16 with careful attention to mods and no sextants but sitting about 40% of the way to 96 with no signs of imminent XP drops on the horizon. Once I get the level I will see if it can do Simulacrum and at least 60% delirious maps as that's how I like to generate income. Seems very possible to run white contracts to get from 96 to 98 if I want to spend a bunch of hours hacking away at it.
Damage still low, 2 to 3m, which is about 1/2 what the Elemancer was doing, but it feels nice and no deaths since the respec and once I get the level and turn on RF it will go up a lot.
https://pastebin.com/FDX0KYaU
Try looking at Elemental Penetration, it might give better damage than Chain and comes without the dex requirement. (Or you could try running SB...) Yeah, RF is totally as good as a 7th link, even though you have to be fussy about your map mods. I would also try going for more cast speed to get your DPS up, especially now that you have the mana to support it. And you are not kidding about those 1-shots...I don't know what else I can do to get more mana recovery that doesn't also hit my DPS pretty hard, and I'm getting fed up.
Supreme Ego could be worth it if your mana recovery is good enough without Clarity, plus then you could run Clear Mind. I always thought it was overrated when you had to use a timeless jewel to get it, but it might be worth the skill points if you're running out of ways to boost your damage.
Realized Corpse Pact and Commander of Darkness were doing about the same thing except CoD would get me resistances, a lot of them. Was able to switch over to my favorite gloves which are nice for damage in maps with the explosions helping take care of any larger enemies that my damage is now a bit lacking for. They are about 1/4 the cost this league and come with some defense as well. No longer get the awesome 30/30 but it's just not needed with the regen on Necro. Still have to figure out the bosses because as you know the single target damage isn't wonderful. Only running T16 with careful attention to mods and no sextants but sitting about 40% of the way to 96 with no signs of imminent XP drops on the horizon. Once I get the level I will see if it can do Simulacrum and at least 60% delirious maps as that's how I like to generate income. Seems very possible to run white contracts to get from 96 to 98 if I want to spend a bunch of hours hacking away at it.
Damage still low, 2 to 3m, which is about 1/2 what the Elemancer was doing, but it feels nice and no deaths since the respec and once I get the level and turn on RF it will go up a lot.
https://pastebin.com/FDX0KYaU
I think you're losing more damage than I'd want to in dropping Corpse Pact, but I do see your point with the number of uniques we rely on.
I also think you should try swapping Elemental Penetration in for Controlled Destruction and see what it feels like--the damage might be less in PoB, but I'd bet it's at least as strong, if not stronger, in practice. I've got over 200% increased spell crit from my weapons, and Arc is still only at 13% crit chance. That's just not enough, in my opinion, if you're relying solely on it to proc EO.
Last edited by WorderMostFoul on Feb 9, 2021, 2:01:29 AM
I also think you should try swapping Elemental Penetration in for Controlled Destruction and see what it feels like--the damage might be less in PoB, but I'd bet it's at least as strong, if not stronger, in practice. I've got over 200% increased spell crit from my weapons, and Arc is still only at 13% crit chance. That's just not enough, in my opinion, if you're relying solely on it to proc EO.
10%+ crit chance should be enough I think.
You're casting quite a few Arc's in 8 sec, so the uptime of EO should be sufficient (and that is not counting any chains, which can also crit).
I'm doing the math atm for a Hierophant Arc Archmage build with much of the same gear and tree, since GGG is about to deploy a fix for the Arcane Surge problem.
With the same gear (except 1 wand -> 1 shield) I seem to be doing 15% more damage, with (I think) more defences:
- +10% Mind over Matter
- 4 permanent Endurance charges
- Shield with %mana on block + glancing blows for 70/75 permanent block chance and instant 450-500 mana 75% of the hits to refill mana pool after Mind over Matter and The Agnostic drains
- Shield charge to apply Fortify
Added bonusses of full use of:
- Pure Talent (Templar + Scion + Witch)
- Transcendent Mind 24% recovery
- 4 permanent Power Charges to solve my crit problem for EO
- 5 'free' gemslots from golems (Shield charge 3/4 link + Enlighten on my aura's)
I'm really considering to test it out after the upcoming bugfixes.
Only the swap from Flame Dash to Shield Charge isn't a nice QoL, but I could run both if I drop Increased Duration on my Arcane Cloak setup...
Another option is a CWDT taken setup instead of 4-link shield charge, but I need to think about what to put in it (Tempest Shield + ? + ?).
I do think it has a lower theoritical maximum dps with mirror gear, but I don't think I'll get 2 mirror worthy wands in a league anyway.
I also think you should try swapping Elemental Penetration in for Controlled Destruction and see what it feels like--the damage might be less in PoB, but I'd bet it's at least as strong, if not stronger, in practice. I've got over 200% increased spell crit from my weapons, and Arc is still only at 13% crit chance. That's just not enough, in my opinion, if you're relying solely on it to proc EO.
10%+ crit chance should be enough I think.
You're casting quite a few Arc's in 8 sec, so the uptime of EO should be sufficient (and that is not counting any chains, which can also crit).
10% was kind of my marker as well. I think I am going to use two points to get over to Annihilation which will accomplish that. Not sure yet where I will get the points, probably pull my flask related medium cluster. Then I think I will use another point to the right of Practical Application which helps a little with defense but would also get me enough dex so I can white socket the Cloak and switch between Controlled Destruction and Chain Support at will. The trick from last league of XP boosting from contracts doesn't seem to be working any longer so the options to get to 98 seem to be buying a bunch of contracts and getting the XP from single runs or just running a ton of maps. I think the latter is what I will do and I will do it in the Harvest areas to work on getting better gear.
I also think you should try swapping Elemental Penetration in for Controlled Destruction and see what it feels like--the damage might be less in PoB, but I'd bet it's at least as strong, if not stronger, in practice. I've got over 200% increased spell crit from my weapons, and Arc is still only at 13% crit chance. That's just not enough, in my opinion, if you're relying solely on it to proc EO.
10%+ crit chance should be enough I think.
You're casting quite a few Arc's in 8 sec, so the uptime of EO should be sufficient (and that is not counting any chains, which can also crit).
10% was kind of my marker as well. I think I am going to use two points to get over to Annihilation which will accomplish that. Not sure yet where I will get the points, probably pull my flask related medium cluster. Then I think I will use another point to the right of Practical Application which helps a little with defense but would also get me enough dex so I can white socket the Cloak and switch between Controlled Destruction and Chain Support at will. The trick from last league of XP boosting from contracts doesn't seem to be working any longer so the options to get to 98 seem to be buying a bunch of contracts and getting the XP from single runs or just running a ton of maps. I think the latter is what I will do and I will do it in the Harvest areas to work on getting better gear.
Now I am remembering that the flask cluster gives a 25% chance for power charge every time the mana flask is used so now I don't want to pull it. I think I will try using the mana flask more often and if that still isn't proccing EO often enough then I will take a little mana away to path to Annihilation. Also considering pulling the other cluster with culling and putting in another flask cluster to generate power charges with mana flask use.
This is where I am at so far. Next Im going to regal it. How do get the same mods in the tutorial? I want to add "trigger a socketed" and "Chance for Double damage" from the workbench.
How do I add the electric damage modifiers from EnKIs tutorial? Thank you for the help
