[3.15]Archmage Ball Lightning Hierophant, will it work in Expedition?

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Stormzerker wrote:

I wish you didn't have your profile locked so ican look at it! Do you have a PoB to your account? I would love to see how you have basically 2k more life and 3k more mana etc. It would be helpful.

Opening it now (but i just changed char abit trying to cap block with Glancing blows and still testing it, so you can just skip large Thread of hope and block nodes taken with thread jewels).

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faraddox wrote:

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Stormzerker wrote:

I wish you didn't have your profile locked so ican look at it! Do you have a PoB to your account? I would love to see how you have basically 2k more life and 3k more mana etc. It would be helpful.

Opening it now (but i just changed char abit trying to cap block with Glancing blows and still testing it, so you can just skip large Thread of hope and block nodes taken with thread jewels).

Hey i cant see your character, still private to me :(

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Tecken1407 wrote:

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faraddox wrote:

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Stormzerker wrote:

I wish you didn't have your profile locked so ican look at it! Do you have a PoB to your account? I would love to see how you have basically 2k more life and 3k more mana etc. It would be helpful.

Opening it now (but i just changed char abit trying to cap block with Glancing blows and still testing it, so you can just skip large Thread of hope and block nodes taken with thread jewels).

Hey i cant see your character, still private to me :(

Yeah he must of Privated it again. Mines open with almost all the adjustments i was told ( I don't like to really use Vaal Cold Snap so i got rid of it to put in Clarity/Due to no gem spots since i have Slower proj in my gloves for switching to bosses ( Swap GMP to Slower ) that way it still gets xp and i don't have to weapon switch. cause im super lazy.

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vladimars wrote:

wonder if any sources of increased max resistances will be worth getting. Can anyone think of one we could take in our build?

Could anoint Crystal Skin on amulet

I was trying to decide between mind drinker and adjacent animosity for my annointment and I've decided that mind drinker's quality of life is outrageously good.


Any bosses with the exact same amount of hp always (that don't phase?) i want to figure out the time difference when chain casting between controlled destruction and unleash setups.

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vladimars wrote:

I was trying to decide between mind drinker and adjacent animosity for my annointment and I've decided that mind drinker's quality of life is outrageously good.


Any bosses with the exact same amount of hp always (that don't phase?) i want to figure out the time difference when chain casting between controlled destruction and unleash setups.

You and I have discussed this before, and of course, I play on Standard, so there's obviously some differences in our build's as a result, but the big thing between controlled destruction vs unleash is purely playstyle.


If you're someone who stands stationary in one spot holding down your BL key and always tries to machine gun down everything with a barrage of BL's until it/everything is dead, then controlled destruction or lightning penetration are the way to go (If you're going for crits, then LP > CD. If not worried about crits, then CD > LP).

But if you have the playstyle of launching a single cast of 7-9 BL's, then moving/strafing (which is about a 2s process from originally unleashing seals), then casting and moving again, continuously, then Unleash is absolutely more damage.


For instance, on my build right now (which I go for crits), if I slot Lightning Pen over Unleash, I get 4 BL's at ~700k average hit. 4 * 13 = 52 * 700k = ~36.4M damage per cast, or ~18.2M DPS.

But if I slot Unleash, I get 7 BL's at ~530k average hit. 7 * 13 = 91 * 530k = ~48.2M damage per cast, or ~24.1M DPS.

HOWEVER, with Unleash, it takes ~2.1s to regenerate 3 seals. But this works out perfectly with the cast-move-cast-move method of fighting. If I stand there trying to machine gun, then of course I do less damage. But standing in one spot against bosses is a bad idea on this build. So moving and doing 7 BL bursts, IMO, is the better way to play this char.

Not to mention, who can really just stand there and chain cast like that on this char without running out of mana? And use arcane cloak in between, too? Mana sustain is already an issue for most even without trying to machine gun cast. So burst-move-burst-move SHOULD be the default playstyle out of necessity. Hence... Unleash > CD/LP.


And, I use to do 4 seals, but that took 2.8s to regenerate, and I realized that I was missing that 4th seal too many times, so I took the 4 points out of Thunderous Salvos and I put them in Whispers of Doom so I could add an additional curse. Which for me turned into Enfeeble, which has greatly increased survivability. (Now using Assassins Mark, Proj Weakness, Conductivity, and Enfeeble)


People also need to understand that Unleash has this added benefit of bypassing your spell echo's when needed. Such as when you're map clearing. The ability to hold down your movement key and tap your BL key, which launches 1 BL + all your unleash BL's, and allows you to keep moving without locking you in place by your spell echo's, is a really nice feature. I can't express how much faster this speeds up your map clearing.


Also, because I'm a crit build, I've gotten a ring with Assassins Mark on hit on it, and this guarantees me +2% mana recovery and 30% mana regen on EVERY kill from the Cursed Concoction wheel small passives. Not to mention the +21 life and mana AM gives on each kill, too. This has really helped mana sustain, so it's something to consider.




Also, don't forget, that even if you're using Elemental Focus in your BL/staff setup (which everyone should be), you can still potentially hit minimum hp/damage threshold (0.32% of life) to shock with your Storm Brand and/or Wave of Conviction. So shock effectiveness and things that are only granted when you hit shocked enemies might still be viable affixes on gear, too.


Anyway, just some stuff to maybe spark some ideas in some of you.

When going for 21 corrupted gems - in which order are the most impactful ones (I just finished Ball Lightning).

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People also need to understand that Unleash has this added benefit of bypassing your spell echo's when needed. Such as when you're map clearing. The ability to hold down your movement key and tap your BL key, which launches 1 BL + all your unleash BL's, and allows you to keep moving without locking you in place by your spell echo's, is a really nice feature. I can't express how much faster this speeds up your map clearing.

100% this. With enough cast speed, it's not strictly necessary but still big QoL improvement.

Have you considered using a small Thread of Hope to reach Whispers of Doom? Would also allow you to grab Mental Rapidity and Dark Arts. As well as drop the first Staff Crit Node. At least that's my plan once I get my hands on it (playing Private League).

I have also been testing Vigilant Strike with the threshold jewel for 30s+ Fortify, similar to Akane's BL Miner. So far it's been quite nice but has decent opportunity cost.

Hoping to transition towards your Crit version. It should have more raw EHP, and better mana regen (no RF/Agnostic/half mana cost). With good gear, damage should be higher too...

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Saieli wrote:

When going for 21 corrupted gems - in which order are the most impactful ones (I just finished Ball Lightning).

Raising these gems from 20 to 21 gives you:

Ball Lightning = ~1.4% more dmg
Archmage = ~1.4% more dmg,
Arcane Cloak = ~1.3% more dmg and ~1.6% more EHP
GMP = ~1.4% more dmg (map clearing)
Slower Proj = ~0.8% more dmg (bosses)
Vaal Righteous Fire or Righteous Fire = ~0.8% more dmg
Conductivity/Elemental Weakness = ~0.9% more dmg (curse dependent)
Projectile Weakness = ~0.8% more dmg (curse dependent)
Controlled Destruction = ~0.7% more dmg (non-crit build/instead of LP)
Lightning Pen = ~0.7% more dmg (crit build/instead of CD)
>>> [if you're going Unleash then ignore CD/LP]
Elemental Focus = ~0.6% more dmg
Spell Echo = ~0.6% more DPS and ~0.6% faster cast speed (overall DPS, not average hit)
Arcane Surge = ~0.6% more DPS and ~0.4% faster cast speed (overall DPS, not average hit)
Zealotry = 0.2% difference (only if crit build)
Wrath = 0% difference
Unleash = 0% difference (only slightly faster Seal regeneration, which is actually quite meaningful if you're an Unleash build)

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kaktus99 wrote:

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People also need to understand that Unleash has this added benefit of bypassing your spell echo's when needed. Such as when you're map clearing. The ability to hold down your movement key and tap your BL key, which launches 1 BL + all your unleash BL's, and allows you to keep moving without locking you in place by your spell echo's, is a really nice feature. I can't express how much faster this speeds up your map clearing.

100% this. With enough cast speed, it's not strictly necessary but still big QoL improvement.

Have you considered using a small Thread of Hope to reach Whispers of Doom? Would also allow you to grab Mental Rapidity and Dark Arts. As well as drop the first Staff Crit Node. At least that's my plan once I get my hands on it (playing Private League).

I have also been testing Vigilant Strike with the threshold jewel for 30s+ Fortify, similar to Akane's BL Miner. So far it's been quite nice but has decent opportunity cost.

Hoping to transition towards your Crit version. It should have more raw EHP, and better mana regen (no RF/Agnostic/half mana cost). With good gear, damage should be higher too...

I've thought about Thread of Hope there, but I'd have to alter my gear somewhere to make up for the lost resists, and I'm not sure where I might do that yet. Maybe I'll try to do it on a jewel. But that's a project to work towards for me next, I think. Good suggestion.

I'm not sure about Vig Strike, though. I'm not too keen on getting inside melee range AND adding yet another button/skill I have to worry about. Not to mention I have no idea where I'd slot it. I already got Enfeeble added to my setup, And because I don't have to use RF/Agnostic, I'm still a hybrid with 3k ES on top of my 4k Life, 4k MoM EHP, and 4.5k Arcane Cloak EHP.


Also, don't forget that because I'm only playing this on Standard, I still have access to a single +100% mana cost Fevered Mind. If you don't have access to one of those, then it'll be very difficult to get close to the damage I can do on my particular build design without RF & EO.

That Fevered Mind allows me to still do Sanctuary of Thought, which means I don't have to spend 12 or so passives on +AoE nodes/RF/EO, and instead can put those into +crit strike nodes. Which also means Assassins Mark curse (Windshreik boots/lvl 5 awakened curse on hit/whispers of doom), Zealotry, Bottled Faith, +crit Cinderswallow, +crit gear/jewels, etc. etc. It's quite a bit different setup in many ways to what people HAVE to do on league servers without that Fevered Mind.


Edit: I just ran the Thread of Hope scenario through PoB, and I can do better without it.

The additional cast speed isn't that big of a deal for me. I don't ever just stand there stationary holding down my BL key. I cast my 7 BL's and strafe, then cast 7 BL's and strafe again, etc. etc. And the difference in animation speed is like 0.21 vs 0.19 seconds. It's virtually unnoticeable. The average hit doesn't go up, and the overall DPS is about +10%.

Meanwhile, I can put those points towards Throatseeker or Doom Cast and add 12-16% more damage, instead, with the same point expenditure.

And, I don't have to worry about making up for the lost resistances from ToH.