Enki's Arc Witch Memorial Page

How 2.4 will affect arc build? Especially elementalist?

I thinks this build will not be especially affected. The major change for ele is elemental conflux (here we don't use it for freeze).

I was afraid about power charge on crit but it seem's i's not modified as coc.

So, I think i will go for a thid season with this start build :)

Yeah, no skills were touched, and shaper of desolation is the last choice.
I think we still choose shaper over mastermind.

"

Danilovitch wrote:

So, I think i will go for a thid season with this start build :)

Same here. The Shaper of Desolation nerf doesn't really hit us that hard, imho.

I've never gone arc witch before and I'm gonna try it for the new season. For the Elementalist skill tree, why Assassination over Elemental Focus? I understand the other crit chance nodes between then and Vaal Pact are in order to reach that delicious mana/life leech area, but what is the purpose of Assassination here? Is wandslinging a significant enough part of the build to pass over all that ele damage, or am I missing something with how crit strike chance affects the build?

edit: never mind, I just found out that Assassination is global crit chance.

@Lodamar: Like the others said, the build is pretty much unaffected and that for a reason.
I intentionally don't abuse any broken mechanics or anything that will very obviously get nerfed. That unfortunately also means this will never be a T1 build, but it will always be one that reliably works.

I will keep this build unchanged for the start of 2.4, but as always a new unique or skill might find its way into the build if appropriate.

@Saltpeter: Like you figured already, Assassination is global crit and thus very valuable for us to reliably crit. Elemental Focus is not nearly as strong for us for the amount of points.

Thanks for the info

I started this build this past league and loved the playstyle. Went Elementalist and loved it. This league I'm wanting to push the envelope a bit. Offensively & defensively.

I'm not concerned with the cost of a build or setup as I like to have something to work towards and build for.

I am considering a Low-Life Variant, preferably Assassin if I can build it right, though Occultist is better defensively.

My main concerns are: LL-Occultist damage is too low & LL-Assassin is too squishy.

Damage too low is relative. Any LL build will probably have higher damage than Life based in general.

Squishy is also relative. LL-Assassin should be able to get at least 7-8K ES, Vaal Pact w/Ghost Reaveer, running 3-4 Endurance charges, and warlord's mark on blasphemy. With the option of dropping a Herald for Arctic Armour.

The concern is that the offensive/defensive power gained by going Low life isn't enough to Justify it. Life Based Elementalist did very well last league and I feel Life based Assassin will do great this coming league.

If anyone has any experience in this subject I'd love to hear from you.

@Grownupfun: A lowlife version would totally work, but it'll be exponentially more expensive and require so many changes, that the end result has nothing to do with this build anymore aside from using Arc and CotB.

When comparing both versions at the high-end spectrum, the main difference is giving up Coil and MoM for a ~60% higher hitpool (assuming you get around 10k ES). You'll also have to completely rely on leech to survive - while it can be really powerful, there are some cases where you'll be unable to leech and get into danger (lab traps are a prime example). You'll also probably lose the ability to run BM maps, if that has any importance to you.

The only reason to go LL instead of CI or Lifebased are in my opinion auras, so heavily invest into that. I haven't made a tree or any calculations, but you should be able to run Wrath, Purity of Lightning + Ice, Discipline and Warlord's Mark. You might also be able to fit in another curse, PoF and maybe both relevant Heralds.
Gearwise, Shavs + Skyforth + CotB are a given. With a gg helmet and shield you should also be able to run Acuity and still crack 10k ES.

Occultist would be the most obvious class, but i can see Assassin work too. You gain lots of offense from that ascendancy, so you could skip most of that in the tree and stretch it more to get all aura nodes and enough ES.
Another good, often overlooked ascendancy for LL is Guardian. You don't gain as much offense from it so you'd have to get a little more on the tree, but what you do gain is lots of phys reduction to make up for coil, ES regen with ZO and even more aura effect. Definitely worth considering, i might even roll that myself now when i think about it!

Hey Enki,

Gotta say as a player since Alpha and a longtime Arc fan for early league starter, this guide is just so well made. Concise, informative and easy for a newer player or even a vet to just use and build upon.

To any new players, if you want to LEARN how to make a build, read and use this one and pay close attention to all of the little choices here and there. It's so well-balanced and adaptable.

Anyways, you rock!

-Wayleran