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

Hi, how do you get the spectres you need? Very new to all this spectre stuff, sorry if the answer is obvious.
Also, how do you prevent your spectres from dying?

"

muzisama1 wrote:

Hi, how do you get the spectres you need? Very new to all this spectre stuff, sorry if the answer is obvious.
Also, how do you prevent your spectres from dying?

You can ask in global 6666 for the Stoneskin Flayers and Lithomancers. Someone usually will invite you and you can snag them from their hideout.

You keep em alive by having a level 20 raise spectre gem and a sulphur flask helps with the consecrated ground. OR a life flask that has an affix that restores health to minions but personally I hate those.

You can pick up a 20/0 raise spectre that is corrupted for like a chaos or two right now in trade. Should do you while you level another one in your offhand to try for your own corrupt.

slowly getting obsessed and spending more time looking at skill trees than playing oO

Got a question about the dps or rather the ball park. I came across gryphs cocVD build which is around 5m and i was wondering how the high end of this build seems to eclipse than by a rather large amount. I am assuming it is the fact that brand can realistically count the corpse explosion part in to the calculations?

Honestly big thank you for this guide. It was hard to start but when you get use to the playstyle and fix the mana issues, this build is so fun.

What helped me the most to go smooth is 1 ring / 1 amulet with -7 mana cost, cheap explode chest and 1 ring life on hit / spider aura + unique boots ES on hit.

Sitting at 4.5k life / 2k ES atm. Resists are easy to cap.

For now it's going to be my main build this league, I think, since I'm pretty sure it's going to destroy everything.

Big Love!

Hey when should i shift into this build for bossing? I have a lvl 90 necromancer build right now. When does this build feel like a comfortable bosser?

I have been looking forward to play this build since last league.
Regards!!!

Could someone take a look at my gear or passive tree to see if there are any large gaps aside from gem levels? I'm having trouble with single-target despite vd in a 5L.

(Even with a stoneskin flayer and lithomancer, a T11 map boss with Maven took me about 15 minutes and 6 portals. Mana wasn't the issue, I just wasn't doing damage, even with self-cast flammability.)

I can free up to 9 passive points by respeccing out of Heart of Flame and/or Breath of Flames, but I'm not sure where to put the points for a better return. POB is telling me Heart of Flame is a bigger dps boost than Mysticism, for example, but I'm not sure I trust it to point me in the right direction.

Here's my current gear:

"

Lenderin wrote:

"

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. ;)

I have to be honest and say you will need level 93 to hit Throatseeker, Assassination and Staff Nodes + Counterweight (Thread of Hope) before Duskdawn feels good.

All that cost adds up!

And even then it's only slightly superior to these dual wield shenanigans I'm running with now. And I'm using Doryani's Catalyst.

The REAL pop-off with the crit.. is hands down Leadership's Price. Prices are down to about 3ex now.

"

fr0ztbam666 wrote:

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?

That is indeed a high compliment! XD Laughing in joy is not something I expected! Haha. Keep at it.

I think Duskdawn is fine as long as you find a 5L/6L and slot Increased Critical Strikes in somewhere with a Diamond Flask. That could be the solve. That or somehow find a 3% Crit Chance Helm instead of 30% Ele damage.

Make sure you take Nimbleness / Crackling Speed / Mental Rapidity if you're Duskdawn though, the build will feel SO much better.

"

GERWARIC wrote:

Could someone take a look at my gear or passive tree to see if there are any large gaps aside from gem levels? I'm having trouble with single-target despite vd in a 5L.

(Even with a stoneskin flayer and lithomancer, a T11 map boss with Maven took me about 15 minutes and 6 portals. Mana wasn't the issue, I just wasn't doing damage, even with self-cast flammability.)

I can free up to 9 passive points by respeccing out of Heart of Flame and/or Breath of Flames, but I'm not sure where to put the points for a better return. POB is telling me Heart of Flame is a bigger dps boost than Mysticism, for example, but I'm not sure I trust it to point me in the right direction.

Here's my current gear:

Spoiler

No sulfur flask, but I'm running zealotry for consecrated ground.

Fifteen minutes?? Holy crap. I just killed Drox A8 in 1m15 and that's already kinda slow! (considering nonc rit and Doryani's Catalyst memes) let me take a look at that build...

"

lordchopf wrote:

slowly getting obsessed and spending more time looking at skill trees than playing oO

Got a question about the dps or rather the ball park. I came across gryphs cocVD build which is around 5m and i was wondering how the high end of this build seems to eclipse than by a rather large amount. I am assuming it is the fact that brand can realistically count the corpse explosion part in to the calculations?

Heya! CoC VD and VD SS are two builds that I had fun with, but decided to branch out into this one because of two things:

1) Arcanist Brand is SUCh a fun concept. Sadly all other builds died off because the penalty was too harsh. This one flouts it all.

2) CoC and VDSS are inherently capped by their own mechanics. CoC VD - you need to be in melee range to do damage. In same cases even CWC will do more damage simply because of boss teleports and the like.

VDSS - as people are being roughly reminded, it is ultimately a build which needs to stay still. Scourge 150+ is dunking on a lot of people picking up the 'redeemed' VDSS - there's just not enough power in the tree to support VDSS defences and output FOR CHEAP. You will have to go balls deep in for comparable DPS vs Arca Brand VD. Also, how many of those guys can actually stutterstep properly and aim the Corpse Explosions accurately still?

I think the build can count the corpse explosion part about 70% of the time. It really shows in fights vs mobile bosses - for example, Al-Hezmin takes very little damage as the brand speed ramps up and he does his moving dialogue. The moment he stays still, he just blows up. There are a lot of reference videos out there on my channel and this thread to let you get a sense of it. Suffice to say, 40m is no longer possible at a human budget simply because Malachai's Artifice (EE) was nerfed.