[3.10] Max Block Storm Brand Ascendant: Budget Friendly, Ultra Tanky, Fast Mapper, Deathless Sirus 8

I think one reason this build currently works particularly well is because the large mana pool serves both survivability via MoM and damage via Archmage. Without Archmage we wouldn't be getting the same value anymore.

Devs say that during playtesting, the brand location dropoff change doesn't feel like much of a difference.

The biggest difference will be from Brand Recall cost and brand lifetime not getting extended by Recall. I know some people generate brands at the start of the map but I'm in the habit of constantly generating new ones and it hasn't really caused problems for me, since I get mana% on block and significant mana regeneration bonus from tree and gear.

Since we won't have permanent brands anymore, it might be worth looking into what kind of boost would Swiftbrand Support give us. A single brand can already do significant damage to a T16 map pack in fire and forget mode, so with this support it should do much better.

Also, perhaps instead of SB + Chain + Archmage we could do Arcanist Brand + Arc + Archmage? There's decent change there would be some other skill that works out really well with Arcanist Brand + Archmage, and this build with its great mana regen would be well positioned to take advantage of it.

One thing I'm wondering is whether Corrupted Soul will still be accessible the way it is now. It wasn't on the list of notables that are being added to the regular tree.

Also, perhaps Penance Brand will work well with Archmage, seems like it spreads itself very well and might not need Chain Support. So maybe replace SB + Archmage + Chain with Penance Brand + Archmage + Swiftbrand, should take out a pack fast.

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NoGoodNik wrote:

Also, perhaps Penance Brand will work well with Archmage, seems like it spreads itself very well and might not need Chain Support. So maybe replace SB + Archmage + Chain with Penance Brand + Archmage + Swiftbrand, should take out a pack fast.

Penance brand + swiftbrand sounds promising for clearing but we don't really know good or bad it is for bossing :/

I dont know if brands are still the way to go.
The whole playstyle is similar to totems now.

Arcanist brand gets alot of restrictions like limits on range, chain and projectiles.
With Arc it looks like a gimped Storm brand.
Maybe there is some odd combination that works.

Penance Brand looks like a dot spreader, a bit slow and Swift Brand makes it faster.
Probably nice for clearing but it doesent look good for killing bosses.

Maybe in the end it will be better to just selfcast something like Archmage Ball lightning with Unleash to get most out of your mana.

I really wanna try this with the new Brand that casts linked spells. Bladefall + Blade Blast combo on brands sounds fun!

Hello, are you planning on updating the build for 3.11? I am thinking about using it as a starter.

Hi guys. I think this build is excelent for HC. Lets think together what skill, and what stones actual in 3.11

Triple nerf from the manifesto - fevered mind, brand recall, archmage. May be more in the patch notes. Was fun while it lasted.

From one of thread

3.11 Brand Changes
1. Brand Recall no longer refreshes duration of brands and costs a portion of brand mana to cast.
2. Brands drop at their original cast or recall location when the monster is killed instead of traveling away from us with successive kills.
3. Passive Tree is being reworked, likely changing our pathing.
4. Agnostic is added to the skill tree, dropping the need for timeless jewels.
5. New Brand cluster could add more damage and/or utility for us.

How we are compensating
1. Reducing Fevered mind count to make mana manageable for brand recall.
2. Reducing target brand count to 4. This will allow us to summon all brands on each cast.
3. Swapping lightning penetration for spell echo. In conjunction with Greater Spell Echo on our staff, this will grant us a single cast for 4 brands.
4. Swapping Chip away on clusters for grand design to increase brand duration.
5. Pathing to potency to increase brand duration.
> Steps 1-5 cause us to summon all 4 Brands in ~1.6 seconds every 41 seconds, with a manageable brand recall casting cost.
6. Sacrificing, now unneeded, jewel slots in order to path to Agnostic on tree
7. Considering glancing blows as well if an easy path.

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Rembovoz wrote:

From one of thread

3.11 Brand Changes
1. Brand Recall no longer refreshes duration of brands and costs a portion of brand mana to cast.
2. Brands drop at their original cast or recall location when the monster is killed instead of traveling away from us with successive kills.
3. Passive Tree is being reworked, likely changing our pathing.
4. Agnostic is added to the skill tree, dropping the need for timeless jewels.
5. New Brand cluster could add more damage and/or utility for us.

How we are compensating
1. Reducing Fevered mind count to make mana manageable for brand recall.
2. Reducing target brand count to 4. This will allow us to summon all brands on each cast.
3. Swapping lightning penetration for spell echo. In conjunction with Greater Spell Echo on our staff, this will grant us a single cast for 4 brands.
4. Swapping Chip away on clusters for grand design to increase brand duration.
5. Pathing to potency to increase brand duration.
> Steps 1-5 cause us to summon all 4 Brands in ~1.6 seconds every 41 seconds, with a manageable brand recall casting cost.
6. Sacrificing, now unneeded, jewel slots in order to path to Agnostic on tree
7. Considering glancing blows as well if an easy path.

The capability of stacking mana cost is severely reduced:

We've changed most items that increase mana cost. Fevered Mind has been reworked, and is now limited to one. Voidbringer and Apep's Rage now add a flat mana cost, rather than a percentage modifier. These items provided too great a damage multiplier from a single unique, as their once downside had become an upside.

According to this, we simply won't be able to get very high mana cost in the first place, and would need to look for other sources of damage increase.

Or use an Indigon. Brands might not be the best spell for Archmage Indigon next league though.