[3.16 - RETIRING BUILD] VD Brands: S-Tier Bosser, A-Tier Map! -- MURDERED BY GGG_INTERN SOMEWHERE--

Day 5 Update - managed to clamber out of bed a bit to see how far the build can go on EO and shit weapons like Doryani's Catalyst.

Glad to report: Did a 117% Quant T16 with Sirus Dominated Mobs - deathless. Getting Stoneskin Flayers and Lithomancers just before i tried this made it SO much better.

Here is the item set for reference!



From here on out, here are the upgrades available to everyone and what they cost.

OFFENSE

#1 Awakened Spell Cascade - 4.5ex. Already down from 6/7 ex yesterday. This gem boosts your DPS by at least 40% - mostly because your skill ramps to max SO MUCH faster on top of popping many more corpses at once. It also makes mapping much safer since your full burst mode is always up and running. Do note you only need ONE.

#2 6L Helm - I've seen some as cheap as 1ex floating around. This represents a ~25-30% DPS increase and also a mana cost spike. Hold out for a good combination of stats - ES + Life and a resist or two is the dream.

#3 Lithomancers/Flayers - FREE. If you are already on my flist just come into my HO and grab em.

#4 Leadership's Price - Well. They're going for about 6-10ex rn. I'd say hold out and the prices will plummet. But if you have the exalts and want an insane burst of power, go for it. It is also all around a good defense thanks to 20% Sap. Do note you will have to rejig a LOT of gear to support the Str=Int requirement so make sure you aren't spending ALL your exalts on this right away.

#5 Frenzy + Explode + %Life Gained as ES Chest - 10-20ex - The holy grail of this build. Frenzy on Hit = a ton of damage and cast speed by itself, paired with Rotgut, = perma onslaught. This should be your final buy but it makes everything better.

DEFENSE

#1 Glorious Vanity - 4ex - ~1k extra to your tHP pool and crucially, unlocks your on-hit rings. So this makes potentially more than twice as tanky if you don't get one-shot. Couple with 3 Recoup Nodes to make this truly ridiculous.

#2 Explode + %Life Gained as ES chest - 10-50c - With Scourge, you 100% want some form of explodey chest. Inpulsa is cheap and we are blessed with innate Shock, but once you go Leadership's Price youre going to want to look here for decent explosions. (Actually, with Leadership, the natural clear also improves.. I'm just not a fan of the lag).

The clear isn't as good as Inpulsa's but it's a small price to pay for the massive ~1-1.5k ES boost imo.

#3 Watcher's Eye ES on Hit (Discipline) - 8-10ex - Way too expensive. Just use Fenumus' Spinnerets + Aspect of the Spider like I am. 5c belt + 10c craft + 8c boots = 23c vs 10ex? Easy choise, plus Aspect of the Spider is REALLY GOOD in Scourge.

Long time VD fan of various forms since i first played that with poets pen.

This is a bit off topic but as i never really played brands and this league i find myself leveling with armageddon brand a lot i got a question about brand recall. Is the idea to save on mana and casts? With arma brand i toy around with brand recall but the recalled brand often expires after a few seconds anyway and i was wondering how that works with arcanists even shorter duration.

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lordchopf wrote:

Long time VD fan of various forms since i first played that with poets pen.

This is a bit off topic but as i never really played brands and this league i find myself leveling with armageddon brand a lot i got a question about brand recall. Is the idea to save on mana and casts? With arma brand i toy around with brand recall but the recalled brand often expires after a few seconds anyway and i was wondering how that works with arcanists even shorter duration.

Haha you've come at the right time! Scourge doesn't really allow standing still so this build pops off hard against em.

Brand Recall is primarily used for big burst against mega groups of enemies. You won't really see much use for it till Act 5-6+ where mob density increases, and certainly when mapping and when you get 5 brands instead of 3 - the Recall button is just a way to quickly nuke a dense area with an instant cast so you don't have to stop moving.

Especially in the case of this build, Brand Recall can be used to "correct" two wrong brands being on the Boss. We always want one Desecrate and one VD brand out rather than two Desecrate or two VD - Recall "plucks" it off the boss so correct ones can land. The alternative is running around for 6 seconds while you do absolutely no damage - which can be quite common when getting used to the 1-2 playstyle.

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primaeva wrote:

Haha you've come at the right time! Scourge doesn't really allow standing still so this build pops off hard against em.

I just made the swap from armageddon brand at 83, and I'm loving the aranist playstyle. It feels almost like a minion build, with an army of heat-seaking fireballs, but the mana sustain feels like the agnostic mom bane pathfinder I used to love.

My gear is still terrible and I don't even have all my sockets colored correctly, but really enjoying the playstyle and excited to start farming. I knew there was a reason I upgraded my GPU last year.

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GERWARIC wrote:

"

primaeva wrote:

Haha you've come at the right time! Scourge doesn't really allow standing still so this build pops off hard against em.

I just made the swap from armageddon brand at 83, and I'm loving the aranist playstyle. It feels almost like a minion build, with an army of heat-seaking fireballs, but the mana sustain feels like the agnostic mom bane pathfinder I used to love.

My gear is still terrible and I don't even have all my sockets colored correctly, but really enjoying the playstyle and excited to start farming.

Spoiler

I knew there was a reason I upgraded my GPU last year.

83 and no -mana cost, you madman! I suppose good mana passives on trees + Clarity can carry the early game!

Haha enjoy! Do always prioritise QoL because the damage will naturally come in later with gem levels, map levels and the right Spectres (I'm destroying T16 bosses now with Stoneskin Flayers / Lithos. Will film a A8 Sirus later today BEFORE buying Awakened Spell Cascade and then will film one more after I reckon.)

P.S. Treat yourself to an Inpulsa ASAP, it's night and day!

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primaeva wrote:

P.S. Treat yourself to an Inpulsa ASAP, it's night and day!

Absolutely! Right after I buy the cheapest mana cost rings there are. I should have stockpiled more currency before swapping builds, but I was excited to see how it plays, so I'll just suffer for a bit :)

If you're struggling early on, I suggest Eldrich Battery and Energy Leech support in your VD brand links. I had zero mana issues early on. I just got some decent -mana stuff, so I am probably gonna go without now. But it really is a decent option early.

P.S. If anyone is trying to inspect my character, ignore my tree. It's scuffed af from trying to respec with regrets nowhere to be found this league. :(

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Lenderin wrote:

If you're struggling early on, I suggest Eldrich Battery and Energy Leech support in your VD brand links. I had zero mana issues early on. I just got some decent -mana stuff, so I am probably gonna go without now. But it really is a decent option early.

P.S. If anyone is trying to inspect my character, ignore my tree. It's scuffed af from trying to respec with regrets nowhere to be found this league. :(

Ah that's pretty smart.. 5L I assume?

So would you say.. No ragrets

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primaeva wrote:

Ah that's pretty smart.. 5L I assume?

So would you say.. No ragrets

Ye, on a 5L for sure.

My only ragret is going the Duskdawn route early. I should have just done the elemental damage scaling route like you did. Its only just now starting to feel okay. Can anyone spare a cuppa crit chance?

Speaking of, would you recommend clusters to scale crit? Or is there enough of it on the tree that I can scrape by without... you know, once I find regrets. ;)

Just made the transition to Arcanist brand and a ton of Cast speed yesterday. I cant help but laugh all the time while playing this build, its absolutely beautiful!

https://pastebin.com/4Dy3MRph

I made the "mistake" by going for a duskdawn early, is that a problem until i can afford a nice cane or is it fine considering you are throwing out so many balls that you have to crit from time to time?