[3.5] Pure Uniques Molten Strike HOWA. 4 Mill Shaper DPS, Good Defences

"

sqvirel wrote:

Well, it's only my personal opinion but levelling tree (in 20 or so point increments) would be a nice touch. Also maybe levelling skills and equipment?

I could recommend a setup from my personal experience:
Til lv28 just use Tabula Rasa, Goldrim, Wanderlust, Lochtonial Caress and Karui Ward. For weapons two Last Resort claws until lv 22, then switch to two of Hand of Thought and Motion.

For skill, the best to level with is IMO Frost Blades, but that;s just personal preference.

A leveling guide is definitely something I would need to puzzle on. I leveled as whispering ice using a tree that is only somewhat similar to this one as even after I transitioned into HOWA the tree I was running was drastically different to this one that I gradually optimisised as I changed my mind on the most efficient gear and nodes to use as I played the character into late game

In theory the last resort claws would be the best way to level it but I've never actually used them myself only the upgraded versions so I can't speak from authority there

Mentioning the standard leveling uniques seems like it would be a bit patronising, if they haven't heard of those items then they would be better off reading one of the more well dedicated guides on how to level a new character

Frost blades is pretty comfortable to play with after you get multistrike and generally its damage don't start falling off until late mapping

Can I play this build with Spectral Throw instead of BF?

"

piedro wrote:

Can I play this build with Spectral Throw instead of BF?

Yep just take ballistic mastery instead of amplify in the tree for some projectile speed instead of the aoe. The build can change between main skills pretty easy

Buying gear to try this as I type this. Do you think Rainbowstrides with %stun enchant is a good enough replacement for skyforth? (also helps overcap resists)

"

Necrogenesis wrote:

Buying gear to try this as I type this. Do you think Rainbowstrides with %stun enchant is a good enough replacement for skyforth? (also helps overcap resists)

Yeah that should be fine. I wrote up a section on stun in the build. I prefer Sin Trek over rainbowstride for better ES evasion and Int but either work

One more question, why no Iron reflexes and why Elementalist (seems like almost no dmg)?

What would the gem links for spectral throw be?

"

Necrogenesis wrote:

One more question, why no Iron reflexes and why Elementalist (seems like almost no dmg)?

Iron reflexes takes 2 points and armour isn't really better then evasion so there is no reason to spend points to take it unless you are using kaoms roots

Elementalist has an Int path towards it and gives 30% damage, 5% pen and 4% less elemental damage taken. This isn't wonderful but its more damage then scion-berseker or any of the other options and as a whole the scion still gives us more then we get from other classes


@Lannic
Every gem setup includes the main 4 gems

Lightning Penetration - Weapon Elemental Damage - Elemental focus - Faster Attacks

Then depending on your main skill you need to use

Spectral throw - GMP/Slower Projectiles (for bosses)

Blade flurry - Increased AOE/Conc effect (for bosses)

Frost blades - Multistrike

One more thing, in what order to get ascendancy points?

"

sqvirel wrote:

One more thing, in what order to get ascendancy points?

None of the ascendancy stuff is real mechanics just stats so it doesn't horribly matter. I'd probably take heirphant first as ES builds tend to hurt for ES until they can get gear.

I actually didn't bother doing the lab at all until I was wearing the claws and then did all 3 at once