[3.8] Fast Storm Brand Leveling Guide | League Starter | HC/SC

we can use also early new flame holy totem as additional damage

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Walach_ wrote:

Did it? Its damage was slightly lowered, and the radius upgrade is progressive so we'll only get +1 radius before we can switch to lightning spire.

The parts where modifiers to its radius now also affect the spread of its explosions + increase in damage effectiveness was where I saw the nice little buff. As you say though, it will end up being little to us when we have Lightning Spire Trap coming along.

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Walach_ wrote:

That's the only source of crit chance for spell we have though if I'm not mistaken, so that means our crit chance goes from 5% before the change to 1.1% (5.5 base multiplied by (1 - 1 from controlled destruction + 0.2 from light of divinity).
Wouldn't that be a bit too low ? Edit: There's a cluster of crit chance for spells nodes that we can get right from the start, without travel nodes, in order 20/25/50% crit. So for 2 points invested, with the +20 of light of divinity as well, we get to 3.6% crit chance, which should be good enough, and we can get to 6.3% with one more point if we want.

I have been considering all day what the options are, we can choose to take the nodes upto Annihilation for the 20/25/50 increases to Crit Chance before taking Elemental Overload. Or we simply delay Elemental Overload in favour of rushing to Templar's powerful early game notables.

We may also get away with not using Controlled Destruction later into the acts, but the benefits that CD + EO give just outweigh removing one or both. Another option I considered was changing Faster Casting link to be Increased Critical Strikes Support to counter the decrease from CD and end up with a net increase for EO.

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Walach_ wrote:

Also, unrelated question : how far do you think we can reasonably get on a 4-link right after leveling, assuming I keep playing brand? Am I crazy if I try to complete yellow maps without tabula in the first weekend?
Spending 4-6 hours farming tabula in blood aqueduct doesn't seem very efficient. Maybe the currency from early maps can let me get it faster by buying the div cards?

I think you could do the entry yellow maps no problem, but going to and past Tier 8 is going to feel 'meh' with a 4l. The best advice I can give you (if you want to avoid farming Blood Aqueduct) is to take any corrupted zone you come across in act 6+, there is a good chance that these will reward you with 5l/6l corrupted items. From there your options are to use the item, or cash in on the early market and sell for high prices.

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omgree wrote:

we can use also early new flame holy totem as additional damage

This is 100% an option, however I'm not confident enough to advise or recommend people to use this before I get some playtime with it myself and try it further into the league. If you wish, try it out, and bring back some feedback on your experience with it! That would be great!

Great news! Passive tree has been updated for 3.6 (Synthesis), find the new images for the tree throughout the guide, and in the Path of Building link!

Best of luck for league start!

What about Onslaught changes? IMO it's pointless to pick it.

OLD: Supported Skills have (25-44)% chance to grant Onslaught for 8 seconds on
dealing a Killing Blow

NEW: Now grants supported skills a 10% chance on Hitting a Unique Enemy to grant Onslaught for 3 Seconds.


Picking new node DARK ARTS should compensate the Onslaught nerf in some part. Going on the right side of the circle by picking DUAL WIELD CAST AND MOVEMENT SKILL COOLDOWN RECOVERY should speed up flame dash recovery and proc buff more frequently.

DARK ARTS:
5% increased Cast Speed while Dual Wielding
10% increaased Attack and Cast Speed if you've used a Movement Skill Recently
30% increased Manaa Regeneration if you've used a Movement Skill Recently
+10 to Dexterity and Intelligence

DUAL WIELD CAST AND MOVEMENT SKILL COOLDOWN RECOVERY:
4% increased Cast Speed while Dual Wielding
15% increased Cooldown Recovery Speed of Movement Skills

This is only for leveling part while we dual wield ofc.

I was under the impression that this was actually added to the Onslaught Support gem, nothing should be different here.

Why no Lightning Walker node?

3.6 update already? your a mad man. TY!!

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Chardness wrote:

Why no Lightning Walker node?

Lightning Walker is a fantastic node, but I do prioritise minion damage nodes over lightning damage. I think Lightning Walker is fantastic as a filler for resists after Kitava, and I often will take it early maps, but for the purpose of leveling I exclude it.

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Extåcy wrote:

3.6 update already? your a mad man. TY!!

Luckily we weren't hit too hard! Any future updates/changes will occur during the league after more testing on the new patch. Hope you have a great league start!

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I do prioritise minion damage nodes over lightning damage

Do you realize that these two have the exact same effect with spiritual aid? Like X% minion damage has the exact same impact on all the formulas than X% lightning damage, it's all added together in the "increased damage applied to storm brand" category.

Unless I'm forgetting something or the increase damage to lightning golem is particularly relevant?

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Walach_ wrote:

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I do prioritise minion damage nodes over lightning damage

Do you realize that these two have the exact same effect with spiritual aid? Like X% minion damage has the exact same impact on all the formulas than X% lightning damage, it's all added together in the "increased damage applied to storm brand" category.

Unless I'm forgetting something or the increase damage to lightning golem is particularly relevant?

Does Spiritual aid include minion attack/cast speed also for us? Knowing GGG wording im confused. It could be anything, even a boat (C)