ZiggyD's Etheral Knives Mana Shield Scion/Shadow Build Guide - Hardcore (Updated for 1.1)

can anyone mention some good uniques for this build? Alpha's howl? Geofri's crest?

geofri's is some damn good ress(including chaos) and a +1 gem level, while alpha's howl protects you against cold and being perma froszen.

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Warmy wrote:

can anyone mention some good uniques for this build? Alpha's howl? Geofri's crest?

geofri's is some damn good ress(including chaos) and a +1 gem level, while alpha's howl protects you against cold and being perma froszen.

You could guess them from the very first post but here we go :
- Alpha's howl
- Rathpith Globe / Saffel's frame (spell bosses)
- Stone of Lazwhar (spell bosses)

So, here's a question for you (or anyone else who's keeping an eye on the thread). I've been running Rathik2's EK Witch build, and I've gotten used to running EK with Iron Will. I'm looking to try the Scion (I really prefer her backstory over the Witch's), and your build looks very interesting. However, your build shows Iron Will as a possible Support Gem for EK, but only until you get Empower to Level 3, at which point you drop Iron Will in exchange for Empower.Now, I realize that your build isn't focused on stacking Strength, so that's going to make some difference, but I'm having trouble believing that 2 more levels in EK is more powerful than +59% damage (the Strength from your build, another 100 from Deshret's Vice, and multiplied by 1.18 for Albaron's Warpath). Is Empower really that powerful? Because as it is, it seems you could get more damage with just those two uniques. Or is it just that you're more interested in the higher Armor and Energy Shield rolls that the Rare gear gives you to keep MoM up and running? Because I will admit that those two uniques would give you less mana (since the one is full STR armor, and the other is based on a low-level set of boots, and only the Armor portion is scaled up), so that may cause some issues from your point of view. Personally, I'm thinking of running the build with the previously-mentioned boots and gloves, because I find it hard to pass up such a large damage boost. What are your thoughts?

Also, I apologize for the wall of text. I couldn't really find a breaking point for it.

Simply put, yes, Empower level 3 is much stronger and doesn't force you to use shitty uniques to compensate.

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CantripN wrote:

Simply put, yes, Empower level 3 is much stronger and doesn't force you to use shitty uniques to compensate.

See, here's the thing: I'm new. Been playing for maybe a month now. Now, I'm a bit of a power-gamer, so I've been doing my research; I'd like to think that I've got a pretty good grasp of the basics of the game. However, some of the more advances stuff escapes me. Now, your post, to me, basically reads as 'The build you're using sucks'. Now, while this is informative, it actually does nothing to answer the question I actually have: how is a Level 22 EK significantly better than a Level 20 EK supported by Iron Will?

Don't get me wrong; I'm not doubting what you're saying. I'm just trying to figure out what I'm missing that makes Empower significantly better than a flat 30% damage boost just from the passive tree alone, without even considering gear stats at all. I would be extremely grateful if you would take the time to enlighten me, as I seem to be missing that crucial piece of information needed to see what you're seeing. I'm just trying to become a better player.

I can´t provide you any math but afaik is the massive increased base dmg of Ek
435–652 on lvl 20 and 529-793 on lvl 22 much more usefull cause all your Spell dmg and added dmg from added fire dmg and hatred scales based on that dmg.
Iron will dont pushes the base dmg of the skill and so AFD and hatred wont benefit from it.

I´m not 100% sure of that, but this is what comes to my mind when i think of how this is possible.

It's like 2 AM, so I won't go into detail, but...

Even +60% Increased Spell Damage (or even 100+, sometimes) is significantly worse than +X Spell Level. The more Increased Damage you already have, the less any more of that will matter, and the more MORE matter.

Why?

Because +X Spell Damage is effectively a MORE modifier on damage. Anything that changes the BASE damage of the spells makes all your existing Spell Damage / Cast Speed mean so much more.
If you're not clear what the difference between MORE and INCREASED:
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Mod_Stacking

It's not 100%, always better, especially if you have like 800 STR (doable, but takes a lot of wasted gear on it), but in terms of what's generally true, this is.

I'm a firm believer of trial-and-error, though, so try both out and see. Empower Level 3 isn't wasted on this build even if you don't use it on EK, since AA and Clarity benefit very nicely from it, as well.

I have been thinking about if it would be possible to combine Righteous Fire with this build.
I do have pretty good life regen as it is now and i could run the life regen aura (Vitalty) without problem, maybe it is enough to compensate for RF.
Do you think this would totaly damage the Artic Armours fire reducing abilities?
I mean, maybe the AA gets busy with reducing fire from RF and have no power to reduce the fire dmg from the monsters?

It is a sweet idea though, RF does 59% MORE spell damage at lvl 20 (no quality) and 15% extra at quality 20.
This is MORE spell damage, it multiplies with other damage.
I had a thought of using some items to further enhance damage.
I have a Bereks ring, giving 30% more damage when ignited and RF sounds like ignited and it works with EK.
Other items with + to firedamage affects damage done by RF but not increasing the damage taken by RF.
The more i think about it the more sweet it sounds, if now it only is doable together with AA and EK.
Anyone ever tried something like this?

"

Mateo_swe wrote:

I have been thinking about if it would be possible to combine Righteous Fire with this build.
I do have pretty good life regen as it is now and i could run the life regen aura (Vitalty) without problem, maybe it is enough to compensate for RF.
Do you think this would totaly damage the Artic Armours fire reducing abilities?
I mean, maybe the AA gets busy with reducing fire from RF and have no power to reduce the fire dmg from the monsters?

It is a sweet idea though, RF does 59% MORE spell damage at lvl 20 (no quality) and 15% extra at quality 20.
This is MORE spell damage, it multiplies with other damage.
I had a thought of using some items to further enhance damage.
I have a Bereks ring, giving 30% more damage when ignited and RF sounds like ignited and it works with EK.
Other items with + to firedamage affects damage done by RF but not increasing the damage taken by RF.
The more i think about it the more sweet it sounds, if now it only is doable together with AA and EK.
Anyone ever tried something like this?

It's doable, but you lose quite a bit to manage the amount of regen you need, and an Alpha's is more or less a must then. At level 90 or so it's doable without losing that much.

Hmm..
I shall start lvl some gems and experiment a little.
I post if it turns out well.