ELE LIGHTNING STRIKE - ALL T16s, Shaper, Uber Atziri, HOGM, Chayula, Elder

culling strike - good suggestion!
Updated index to guide discussion:

INDEX TO THREAD DISCUSSION:

Spoiler
Page 1 - Guide, FAQ, changelog, initial tips for hardcore
Page 2 - Blood Dance boots suggestion, Crystal Skin nodes discussion, level 71 - 74 map videos
Page 3 - Mana leech, hardcore ideas
Page 4 - How to attain max block and max spell block simultaneously with Rathpith, level 77 map videos added
Page 5 - Evolution of the build and how I developed the character, Low Life Righteous Fire with Dodge discussion, armor discussion
Page 6 -7 - Armor vs. Evasion + Life/Survivability + Dodge discussion, hardcore tree variant, Duelist variant, level 76 map video added
Page 8 -9 - Ghost Reaver, Dodge debate, level 76 map video added
Page 10 - Frenzy, mana leech - Slitherpinch gloves
Page 11 - Mana free build variant with multiple auras (using Prism Guardian), highlight video and level 74 map video added
Page 12 -13 - Alternatives to using Bringer of Rain, speculation on new trigger gems, further discussion on determining if Dodge is worth it
Page 14 - Path 1.0.0. notes discussion (trigger gems, reduction in shield defenses from tree, nerf to Soul Taker, nerf to Rainbowstrides, aura mana reservation increased and aura effects increased, Dodge buffed), Temporal Chains
Page 15 - Temporal Chains, effect of 1.0.0. comments
Page 16 -17 - Level 78 map discussion, tips for new players to the build
Page 18 - Mana leech discussion. Update on tests: Temporal Chains vs. Enfeeble, Dodge, Cast When Damage Taken. Switch to Leap Slam from Flicker Strike
Page 19 - Level 72, 75, and 78 map videos added
Page 21 - Discussion on weakness of the build. Use of Lori's Lantern
Page 22 - Dominating blow demonstration and feedback as alternative skill
Page 23 - Patch 1.0.1 notes discussion (Cast When Damage Taken nerf, Enfeeble nerf). Scion path suggestion. Why link CWDT to Temporal Chains and keep Enfeeble separate
Page 24 - Low-life build speculation
Page 25 - Experience with hard hitting bosses. Feedback from Nemesis users on the build. Thief's Torment suggestion for mana
Page 26 - Cast on Melee kill discussion, slight changes to the tree I made for level 88, Temple Piety tips
Page 27-28 - Saffell's Frame build, incorporating armor into the build
Page 29 - a little discussion on legacy Soul Taker and mana
Page 30 - Evasion vs. armor discussion, Bringer of Rain benefits
Page 31 - Evasion entropy counter, list of mana tips, how Cast When Damage Taken does not really fit with this build
Page 32 - Double Strike tooltip DPS change (later reverted by GGG), Level 76 Academy map boss tips
Page 33 - Magic-find and farming tips for good drops. Low-life build discussion
Page 34 - Cast When Damage Taken alternative (2x arc with Blind for those without Bringer of Rain). Low-life ES build theorycrafting. How this build is different from "tank" builds. Wings of Entropy variation. How to improve DPS
Page 35 - Low-life build discussion and findings. Wings of Entropy trees
Page 36 - Wings of Entropy possible build
Page 37 - Daresso's Courage vs. Atziri's Mirror. Dominating Blow tips. Converting build to armor. Tree up to level 100
Page 38 - Discussion on new incoming unique: Daresso's Defiance chest piece (high Dodge enabling item, but armor mod is wasted)
Page 39 - More Wings of Entropy discussion
Page 40 - Low-life build findings and observations on metagame. Diamond skin and Vaal Pact
Page 41 - New Level 72 Torture Chamber boss changes
Page 42 - Poorjoy's Asylum video added, level 76 Academy map video added + tips. Briskwarp (new low-level evasion chest piece) - early item suggestion. Temporal Chains + Enhance + Chill observations
Page 44 - Late 90 level trees, variants of the build (Ghost Reaver + LGOH build; Saffell's Frame build). Chaos resistance and chaos damage
Page 45-46 - Armor in the metagame, mana tips, new unique for leveling (Screaming Eagle)
Page 47 - Using build without Bringer of Rain. Cyclone tips
Page 48 - Consolidated mana tips. Key gems for quality. Level 72 Torture Chamber map video added for Dominating Blow. Experiences on Reave
Page 49 - Evasion vs. armor in the metagame. Dual Wield/Wings of Entropy build suggestions
Page 50 - Tips for Lightning Strike
Page 51 - Discussion on Dodge effectiveness and point investment
Page 52 - Glacial hammer and freeze
Page 54 - Spell block versus some cases of explosion
Page 55-56 - Discussion on Patch 1.1.0
Page 57 - Atziri's Step - new evasion + life + dodge boots discussion, Vaal Double Strike. Attempts to try Spectral Throw
Page 58 - Lightning Strike discussion - build and gems. New video - Olmec's Sanctum. Respec into Dodge. Discussion on Atziri boss
Page 59 - Bino's Knife, Lightning Strike update. Rearguard (unique quiver) discussion
Page 60 - Apex of Sacrifice - Atziri boss fight and suggestions. Stone of Lazhwar (amulet) corrupted mods
Page 61 - Level 80 map discussion, update on Lightning Strike and discussion on Lightning Strike gems. Highest elemental avoidance chance calculations. Reflect vs. Lightning Strike. Vaal Double Strike links.


Last edited by Ceryneian on Mar 17, 2014, 1:39:58 AM
Lightning Strike build below. I will also create an improved Double Strike build that still uses dagger + crit.

LIGHTNING STRIKE BUILD:

For those looking to push the original build even further here is my Lightning Strike build where it stands. I tried to combine the original build with the playstyle of a crit spectral throw build that I played as a Scion - the result is this LS build.

High DPS
- Shocks from LS doubles the damage
- Freeze from crits gives some crowd control
- Extremely versatile - play upfront as melee for much higher DPS, or play ranged to kite using projectiles (shift + attack button) to play safe (i.e. vs. Mageara, Olmec's Sanctum)

High defenses
- 30% base evasion, boosted to 54% with Jade flask that has high uptime due to recharge on dealing crit
- 40% chance to dodge attacks
- 71% chance to block
- 30% chance to dodge spells (46% with Atziri's step)
- 75% spell block
- 30% stun avoidance


**Things to Consider**
- Less evasion than original build
- Need a high phys damage dagger with high crit chance (need a strong dagger in order for the LS projectiles to deal high damage.
- Resistances - you will most likely have to run 1 aura to manage the resistances, unless you have a lot of $$ to get near perf resists on rings, gloves and belt. This is a lot easier now than before in the original build because the int. is no longer a problem since we get int. nodes.
- Dodge - takes a lot of points so you will have to either remove life nodes or damage nodes, or skip dodge. I have 2 alternative trees below: current base tree, and a defensive tree with +250% life but less damage


Current Stats:
Defense - is with Purity of Ice, and also Jade flask up. Without Jade, tooltip evasion = 30%. I use Enfeeble more often to help compensate for this.
Offense - I no longer have my legacy ST but I got a very strong phys dagger. Stats below are with Hatred and 3 power charges up which I generate through Whirling Blades. Without the Power Charges and with only Hatred - DPS = 37K. Lightning Strike tooltip is a bit misleading because the projectile damage is not fully accounted for. Note - I do not have any crit multiplier / crit chance on rings/amy but that will add A LOT of DPS. Shocks from Lightning Strike also increase our DPS.




Reflect: no issues with reflect at all, I have tested on phys refl maps with double phys, maps with both phys and ele refl, as well as maps with double ele refl map with -max. I do not even notice any reflect damage taken and this is partly because of how LS works as well as the high dodge and block.

Mana regen
: very good. You will need Primal Spirit or Eldritch Battery to sustain mana in 50% less mana recovery maps. EB helps convert ES which we do not use to mana (thanks to JunKx for the suggestion). I found EB to give better mana sustain, but Primal Spirit also gives +Strength which adds some life and DPS.


Tree:
Current tree:
http://goo.gl/hefuii

Defensive tree with more life (+250% life) and evasion at start and Ranger life circle:
http://goo.gl/CkM4Rs

Leveling:
- TBU - trying this build in Ambush and starting off early levels with Spectral Throw.


Gear and Links:

Same as before except with the new dagger and no longer have a Soul Taker:








Last edited by Ceryneian on Mar 17, 2014, 2:10:42 AM
What do you guys think of the Scion starting nodes on the south side? (check the ones I highlighted in the spoiler).

Spoiler


In total they grant:

* 6% additional block chance
* 28% to elemental resists
* 24% to armour and evasion
* 10% extra melee damage

It seems like these would help with gearing in a big way. As a non bringer of rain player, those extra block nodes would let me max out my block and maybe switch out tempest shield for grace. Those resists are significant enough that I could switch out a resist ring for one which adds dps. The 24% armour and evasion and the 10% melee damage help the build in a straightforward way.

The downside is that they're at best 3 nodes out of the way and are an 8 point investment after that.

Thoughts?
Quod efficax non stultum
"
elindred wrote:
What do you guys think of the Scion starting nodes on the south side? (check the ones I highlighted in the spoiler).

Spoiler


In total they grant:

* 6% additional block chance
* 28% to elemental resists
* 24% to armour and evasion
* 10% extra melee damage

It seems like these would help with gearing in a big way. As a non bringer of rain player, those extra block nodes would let me max out my block and maybe switch out tempest shield for grace. Those resists are significant enough that I could switch out a resist ring for one which adds dps. The 24% armour and evasion and the 10% melee damage help the build in a straightforward way.

The downside is that they're at best 3 nodes out of the way and are an 8 point investment after that.

Thoughts?


Hi, nice idea - problem is that the Scion start is not really ideal for this build in terms of damage and evasion, but you can still make it work. Maybe try this tree where you grab life on the way to the ranger, and you can also access some axe nodes:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgABvryzP09WHt-C5JARiq9KyD8nKk0VIIPb_EvOcWwWLOndDTqzkAr8xWegh3ZKfbcXOJZW-nRBd9d_K9aK7g4a29fLt9M94kjuG61MYASxlWZ4rtN-fXX-uiP27_BaSPljFfA6WAR-hxkF-aOKmyYyAbIZz3ro1usUjb95SCEDu3xl8d722j0nYQbpCSHndGHih9umf-1BsbO1SG17VUsmletjmZq29xEvvqduaYTZZU1HfljbU9-bg6yv55HDhl4TG8hDMbZBTipbrw==

If you wanted to use Dominating Blow with this build - then Scion would have the better start because you can easily grab:
- Increased skill duration
- Reduced mana cost of skill nodes
- Necromantic Aegis & minion block nodes

Last edited by Ceryneian on Mar 17, 2014, 10:51:52 PM
Thanks. I agree that it's weak as an actual starting class in terms of core offence and defence stats. I was thinking more of picking it up after starting as another class, however, to round out vital stats which are more difficult to get on gear.
Most builds I see ignore getting resists from the tree, but if any resist nodes are worth it it's these four, IMHO.
Quod efficax non stultum
Best build out there,i'm following this build from domination,i went till the end buying BoR and a ST and i'm sure the LS build is the same.
At the moment making the same build in ambush working hard to get the currency all over again.I had to come to say thank you for all your support and advice and taking the time to share this with the community.
Kind regards,Mina
Always be good to others you gain nothing by being mean!
"
Praf wrote:
Best build out there,i'm following this build from domination,i went till the end buying BoR and a ST and i'm sure the LS build is the same.
At the moment making the same build in ambush working hard to get the currency all over again.I had to come to say thank you for all your support and advice and taking the time to share this with the community.
Kind regards,Mina


Thanks! Hope you like it. If you can get a good phys dagger, the Lightning Strike build is very strong.

To be frank, there are some spell and degen bosses which can be very hard for melee mode - Olmec, Mageara, etc. so having the ability to switch to ranged attack is very helpful and improves survivability. You can then switch to melee Lightning Strike for some very high single target damage.

Leveling this build is also easier so you can use Spectral Throw for leveling with a 2H which is very safe and does good damage.

Here are some other things I tried with my Ranger before settling on Lightning Strike:

- Barrage Wand - need a high crit chance wand, can increase DPS by not needing LMP and relying on spread of barrage projectiles. Problem: wand nodes are far near the witch, while the strong block nodes are by the Ranger, so I struggled to get high block and evasion, while also getting wand damage and crit.

- Power Siphon
- much higher damage than Barrage, but I had the same problem of having low defenses and it did not feel optimal since the Wand nodes are near ES nodes, so Power Siphon is better for an ES build. If I somehow got rushed, I would die easily, so I always had to play at range.

- Spectral Throw - here you can mix it up since the dagger nodes are very close and you can get a strong block cluster by the Shadow. However here is the problem with Spec. Throw - it has very low single target damage, so you either need a separate 6L single target skill, or you need to boost ST damage through Crown of Eyes and auras. With Crown of Eyes you are forced into getting a Shav and playing an ES build which is a) expensive, b) you cannot get evasion because you will need to get Unwavering Stances to prevent stun-lock or use Eye of Chayula, c) you cannot get Dodge (since it halves your ES), and you will not get that much block since you cannot get 15% block from Bringer of Rain - so you will have low evasion, no dodge, and low block - which will cause a LOT of problems with reflect -> leading to the need to get Vaal Pact, which is very far on the tree. It can be made to work, but it is very expensive and to me it just did not feel optimal.

- Lightning Strike - I finally settled on this skill and I love it. I am a melee player at heart and Lightning Strike is perfect for me. I like to play up front and close, but I also like to have similar flexibility as Spectral Throw to kite from a distance should the need arise - Lightning Strike is the only skill that can give you that. It also benefits excellently from Additional Accuracy (which gives a large boost to damage at no mana cost) since if your melee attack hits the projectiles will not miss targets they hit behind your strike. You will also have little problems with reflect because you are dividing your damage as part phys, part lightning - which is afterwards further divided into the 3 projectiles.

As far as I know (could be wrong), there are no other builds like this that can play at range with evasion, in-built blind, dodge, and max block and max spell block, and still having the flexibility to play as melee, with high DPS (& freeze and shock).

Then if you throw in Atziri's Step into this build with Phase Acrobatics - wow. The difference between 25% spell avoidance and 14% spell avoidance is like night and day.
Last edited by Ceryneian on Mar 18, 2014, 10:19:16 PM
Thanks, it's really a great build.

After reviewing the LS build from Cery, I just changed the tree a bit with my current gear. I use the original ST since I don't have much currency to get a nice dagger atm :( , and might be good for transitional period to LS build.

DPS: ~15k (after hatred)
HP: 3.8k
ES: ~300
Mana: ~600
Evasion: ~5.5k in town & 24k (grace + after flask)
Block/Spell Block/Dodge/Spell Dodge stat are pretty much the same as Cery's LS build.

Resist:
Fire:75
Cold: 68 (need flask to boost to max 75 or 85)
Lightning: 75
Chaos: -60



Gear


I got this
, but can't equip because not enough intelligence to hold Globe.

Still thinking of corrupting the Atziri's step.... :)
Last edited by 1up1up1 on Mar 18, 2014, 10:48:32 PM
Spoiler
"
1up1up1 wrote:
Thanks, it's really a great build.

After reviewing the LS build from Cery, I just changed the tree a bit with my current gear. I use the original ST since I don't have much currency to get a nice dagger atm :( , and might be good for transitional period to LS build.

DPS: ~15k (after hatred)
HP: 3.8k
ES: ~300
Mana: ~600
Evasion: ~5.5k in town & 24k (grace + after flask)
Block/Spell Block/Dodge/Spell Dodge stat are pretty much the same as Cery's LS build.

Resist:
Fire:75
Cold: 68 (need flask to boost to max 75 or 85)
Lightning: 75
Chaos: -60



Gear


I got this
, but can't equip because not enough intelligence to hold Globe.

Still thinking of corrupting the Atziri's step.... :)


Nice, hope you are enjoying the build. I've been trying to get good corrupted mods on Lazhwar stones like you have xD Closest I have gotten is 20% chance to avoid ignite. The +1 curse for both Temp + Enfeeble, or the 8% attack speed mod would also be awesome.

Also - I'm surprised at the prices of Atziri's Step. Hopefully the price continues to drop before people realize how good these boots are. If these become the only item in the game with spell dodge, which it might per dev quote below, then they will surely get way more expensive.

"
I removed the Dodge (Which was already a stat that could be found in another form on a unique pair of boots) and improved only the Spell Dodge Chance (A very impactful stat, as it was previously available from only one source, Phase Acrobatics). This will be one of the only, if not the only, item to have Spell Dodge Chance on it, as it’s a stat that is very dangerous at high numbers, and is very powerful against many bosses.
Last edited by Ceryneian on Mar 19, 2014, 8:21:40 AM

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