[3.14] Odif's Old Obsolete Skel Mage Guide, New one is in a new thread

Ok, ty!

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NaineNoire wrote:

To clear up, additive minion damage (usually found in Abyss jewels) is desirable as long as it not the element we use to proc EE (in my case lightning through Storm Brand)?

On topic, I see several use Arma brand and a few Glacial Cascade. Pros & cons of each?

PS- Linking Life Tap Spectres takes care of their casting needs. If we instead use max Clarity are we ok as well?

ad 1 - no, minions cant mess up our EE

ad 2 - i'm the one using glacial cascade, reason for it is cold (weakest skelemage dmg), its ranged, it has great aoe for packs which is IMHO better for ultimatums then brands. Brand is probably better on single target, as you dont really need recast it so often, but i have nothing to do there anyway, so i dont mind.

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evilmindcz wrote:

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NaineNoire wrote:

To clear up, additive minion damage (usually found in Abyss jewels) is desirable as long as it not the element we use to proc EE (in my case lightning through Storm Brand)?

On topic, I see several use Arma brand and a few Glacial Cascade. Pros & cons of each?

PS- Linking Life Tap Spectres takes care of their casting needs. If we instead use max Clarity are we ok as well?

ad 1 - no, minions cant mess up our EE

ad 2 - i'm the one using glacial cascade, reason for it is cold (weakest skelemage dmg), its ranged, it has great aoe for packs which is IMHO better for ultimatums then brands. Brand is probably better on single target, as you dont really need recast it so often, but i have nothing to do there anyway, so i dont mind.

Thanks for the prompt reply, will give Cascade a try.

Any input on the Life Tap/Clarity question will be appreciated.

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NaineNoire wrote:

Thanks for the prompt reply, will give Cascade a try.

Any input on the Life Tap/Clarity question will be appreciated.

Well, i dont think Clarity will help them at all. Life Tap will cost you one gem slot (plus one less support gem for spectre link), and i tested it, and i dont think its worth it. I can only judge by the charges i've got from them, and even with life tap i never ever had 3/3 in fight. So i guess neither did skeletons. Plus, i'm there all the time, skeletons are only alive for 4-5 seconds, there is no way they can benefit from these charges, with the cooldown apes have.

But i'm still using both apes so far, i just dont really expect much from them, looking for replacement. I'll probably test these guys casting defensive curses, they're supposed to be rather squishy, but i have spectres in 120k HP AG link, so they should be quite tanky aswell. Since the infamous T19 Veritania incident, non of my spectres ever died.

Should we use Death Attunement or Ravenous Horde, and why?
Also can I swap out Storm brand for something else? Feels kind of pointless casting it at the moment.


ALSO: on path of building my skele lightning projectile is hitting the most (196k dmg currently with fire hitting 178 and cold 142k), so me casting storm brand would increase enemies lightning resist right.... shouldn't I use a fire or cold spell?

Thanks

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Wakeling wrote:

Should we use Death Attunement or Ravenous Horde, and why?
Also can I swap out Storm brand for something else? Feels kind of pointless casting it at the moment.


ALSO: on path of building my skele lightning projectile is hitting the most (196k dmg currently with fire hitting 178 and cold 142k), so me casting storm brand would increase enemies lightning resist right.... shouldn't I use a fire or cold spell?

Thanks

Arma brand or Glacial cascade would do the job well, although you still gimming your fire/cold skelly variant. That's the thing I dont like about EE, there's nothing guarantee that you wouldnt summon more fire/cold than lightning skeletons. Totally up to RNG. So I say fucked it and go the Fleshcrafter way. Dont need to worry about manipulating resistant anymore.

Thoughts on Sacrificial Heart with Vaal Skellies? I seem to die less but not sure what I am giving up vs other Amulets

I'm getting into areas I haven't thought of before!

I have a tabby with the Storm Brand/Hextouch/Elemental Weakness. Also Vitality, Bone Offering, and Increased Duration. (using a Femur of the Saints for the Skeleton setup. Peirce/Vaal Skell/Minion Damage/Elemental Army/Elemental Focus. It's a 5L and on a slot is not linked and empty (Red)).

Just picked up a Fleshcrafter 5L. It says if Minions have Shield then their hits ignore Mob resistances. Does this mean I can ditch the entire Storm Brand/Hextouch/Elemental Weakness thing? Do negative resistances increase damage?


*edit
Boots are still Generosity/Skitterbots/Infernal Legion/Minion Damage. As I get stronger they are less effective. Even though I do have an Enlighten Support cooking in the Alternate Weapon, it's not ready yet. Maybe it's time to swap for Zealotry? They are kind of helpful for shooting out as an early warning system for packs :) Also of course the Curse support. And it all still ties in together nicely.

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FarVision wrote:

Thoughts on Sacrificial Heart with Vaal Skellies? I seem to die less but not sure what I am giving up vs other Amulets

Sorry but how is this usefull at all?
It seems totally useless!
10% movespeed kinda useless...
powercharges totally useless...
10 life per hit kinda useless even with stormbrand...
and it only works for about 4sec!
I really dont see how it increases your survivability at all?
Specifally when there are amulets with a lot of life and res and other offensive stats

I would ditch it immediately for any other mediocre amulet

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FarVision wrote:

I'm getting into areas I haven't thought of before!

I have a tabby with the Storm Brand/Hextouch/Elemental Weakness. Also Vitality, Bone Offering, and Increased Duration. (using a Femur of the Saints for the Skeleton setup. Peirce/Vaal Skell/Minion Damage/Elemental Army/Elemental Focus. It's a 5L and on a slot is not linked and empty (Red)).

Just picked up a Fleshcrafter 5L. It says if Minions have Shield then their hits ignore Mob resistances. Does this mean I can ditch the entire Storm Brand/Hextouch/Elemental Weakness thing? Do negative resistances increase damage?

Yes, you can drop the whole ee and curse setup.
you can use a defensive curse or go for spectres to improve your bossing dps

Edit: as long they ignore resistance... they ignore negative resistance as well