[3.16 - RETIRING BUILD] VD Brands: S-Tier Bosser, A-Tier Map! -- MURDERED BY GGG_INTERN SOMEWHERE--

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vomitscream wrote:
What's the deal with the levels on the gems in the PoB? I am not sure what to trust and what not to. Why are so many gems at lvl 19, or 18 or 13? CWDT I understand, but the rest? Any advice appreciated.
Which gems in which POB?

If it's pretty much every gem in the budget build it's showing what damage would be like at that stage in progression. If you leaguestart or ssf the build you won't be able to snipe cheap corrupted lvl20s or 21s so nice to see what the damage is like before you're able to max it out.

The only gems you couldn't max level in this build are the CWDT setup. You might hold off on leveling a gem while leveling your character if struggling for mana sustain or on attributes to manage it, but eventually you'd want most maxed out (within reason... Leap Slam we only care about speed not damage, Ball Lightning we only care about hits so can be left level 1, WoC is there for exposure so can be left low to avoid Phys Reflect issues) other than the CWDT when you can.

Pretty much all the gems, which is not very helpful I know. But you answered it perfectly so thank you!

I've played long enough I should be able to make my own decisions but despite hundreds of hours with PoE I still rely almost entirely on others builds.



Another question for the group: I just made the switch and am certainly a beginner to this playstyle, but I feel like I am having issues keeping the balls alive, they perish after a few seconds. Is this just my playstyle or are they only lasting that long?

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vomitscream wrote:

... I feel like I am having issues keeping the balls alive, they perish after a few seconds. Is this just my playstyle or are they only lasting that long?

VD hits in two parts. The corpse explosion that hits first, the big damage that we scale as high as we can, and the spell, the ball part that comes after.

The balls are nice. They'll add ~20% more damage and give a little more sustain while helping with clear, but outside of directing you to where the next enemy is to toss the next brand wouldn't worry about them too much. The corpse explosions normally eat up all the enemies so you'll have a good few balls hanging around and expiring without hitting an enemy most of the time.

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The balls are nice.

Nice.

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VD hits in two parts. The corpse explosion that hits first, the big damage that we scale as high as we can, and the spell, the ball part that comes after.

The balls are nice. They'll add ~20% more damage and give a little more sustain while helping with clear, but outside of directing you to where the next enemy is to toss the next brand wouldn't worry about them too much. The corpse explosions normally eat up all the enemies so you'll have a good few balls hanging around and expiring without hitting an enemy most of the time.

I see. After reading your answer I read through the core mechanics section further and watched the boss showcase which helped me compare my gameplay to his.

Thanks for taking the time to respond again! Now all that remains for me is leveling up and gearing up. I saw that the author has a different setup in his current character on league, so I'm following that for gear ideas.

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vomitscream wrote:

I saw that the author has a different setup in his current character on league, so I'm following that for gear ideas.

Careful jumping to the endgame setup too soon.

The build comes in 3 parts:

1) Leveling 1-80ish (some folks switched at 75ish without problem, I'd suggest going later rather than earlier. Pre masteries 85 was required. It's still not a bad benchmark for where you'll find it an improvement on damage rather than going backwards for a while): Can do whatever, Arma/Crema a straightforward transition.

2) Dual Wield EO 80ish to 90ish: Tree in the guide is ideal. Can melt conqs and aw8 on 1c weapons. Not super tanky, but more than enough to farm T16s and stay in very positive xp still leveling.

3) Crit Staff 90+: Needs higher level for enough crit nodes to make it better than the EO setup. Once you can transition with all the staff nodes and crit nodes it absolutely slaps.

Rushing the jump from 1 to 2 or from 2 to 3 hurts a lot more than making it late, so I'd deffo suggest taking your time at both steps. Jumping straight to 3 in your 70s will leave you slapping your head against your desk more than actually playing.

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Careful jumping to the endgame setup too soon.

Yeah, I'm taking my time with it. Except for the fact I jumped in on part 2 around lvl 70 once I could get most of the cast speed nodes. Definitely a bit early, but it works. (this based on the author leveling as Necro)

It will be some time before I'll have maxed the build per the guide and can move on to part 3 and the crit staff setup.

But I'm curious, is there a guide for the end-end setup? I'm not going there yet, but I'm looking to get there, and it would be helpful to know there is a guide or assistance available. I saw some mentions strewn about in the guide, but nothing concrete.

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vomitscream wrote:

But I'm curious, is there a guide for the end-end setup?

Haven't seen anyone take the time to drop the base setup into a specific POB to share with tweaked config settings, but Prima has shared the base setup in an image with some nice TLDRs on why.



Deffo a build where you tweak it to how it feels though. If you have overkill damage on your gear don't be afraid to drop a little damage for more quality of life or faster clear speed type of stuff. A really flexible tree with a few comparable options available to tweak it to your liking when you reach end game.

settle for these suffixes (as in, cast speed) or do i gamble with keep prefix+veiled orbs until clear suffix+unveiled multi so i can craft cast speed manually?

might get expensive xD

last slot is augment crit and pray for a decent crit multi roll.

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falagar112 wrote:

settle for these suffixes (as in, cast speed) or do i gamble with keep prefix+veiled orbs until clear suffix+unveiled multi so i can craft cast speed manually?

might get expensive xD

last slot is augment crit and pray for a decent crit multi roll.

Man, wish I played enough this league to start a passion project like that! Looking sweet. What are you going to wear for the chest piece then? (extra curse like you said?)

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primaeva wrote:

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falagar112 wrote:

settle for these suffixes (as in, cast speed) or do i gamble with keep prefix+veiled orbs until clear suffix+unveiled multi so i can craft cast speed manually?

might get expensive xD

last slot is augment crit and pray for a decent crit multi roll.

Man, wish I played enough this league to start a passion project like that! Looking sweet. What are you going to wear for the chest piece then? (extra curse like you said?)

Probably offering effect (or aura effect) + frenzy + extra curse. If I finally manage to make one that has a free suffix so i can reforge crit for spell crit, that would be nice.

Unfortunately the market is very empty otherwise I would consider one with +1 support gems on it on top - this would bump my enlighten to 5 and with a slight reroute on the passive tree (picking up brand equity manually) and annointing charisma, i could fit in purity of elements for ailment immunity.

I see on your gear you've crafted some less effect of chill/shock so I think you noticed how these two things (and the occasional ignite) are very dangerous this league.

So I think fitting in purity would be huge honestly.

I did it bois!

Finally finished this. Primaeva, TsuDhoNim, anyone, please see if i can still optimize this further??

FEATURES:

- 5 auras
- ailment immunity
- 10.6k armour
- 12% of phys taken as lightning (watchers eye)
- rare explody staff
- dual curse
- *no mana problems*
- 4 link desecrate
- 78/78/77 res
- sick body armour
- crit capped at all times
- culling strike
- 80% non-damaging ailment effect (120% at lvl99)

HERE IS POB:
https://pastebin.com/z3pnJBpN

(Yes i had to reroute a lot and fix mana so i could get rid of inspiration on desecrate)

MANA: Desecrate costs 1, Cyclone costs 1, every other spell including trigger spells costs 0. You literally cannot run out of mana.

/// Next 2 levels gives 85% damage!, 35% from megalomaniac last passive and 50% divine judgement.

Gear in spoiler for easy acces:



now just need to farm enchant on 2nd conc effect helmet and get those last few levels done since it gives a ton more damage.

edit: my glorious vanity makes arcanist dominion give 31% fire dmg and 10% of phys to fire.


suggestions welcomed!