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

After a quick research i have found out that sustaining Righteous Fire will take alot of passive skillnodes to boost life regen plus special items with enhanced fire res (as rise of fenix shield).
It seems doable together with this build but will take a major rebuild and not much freedom to do anything else as probably all skill points must be used.
I think i will leave this idea as there a many more other ways to tweak this build that doesn't take all available skill points.
It was a nice idea though, maybe i try it in the future.

Zigg, you the man.

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Mateo_swe wrote:

After a quick research i have found out that sustaining Righteous Fire will take alot of passive skillnodes to boost life regen plus special items with enhanced fire res (as rise of fenix shield).
It seems doable together with this build but will take a major rebuild and not much freedom to do anything else as probably all skill points must be used.
I think i will leave this idea as there a many more other ways to tweak this build that doesn't take all available skill points.
It was a nice idea though, maybe i try it in the future.

A Cloak of Defiance opens up a lot of possibilities by saving ~20 points. I don't know how well RF would work, but I was considering crit build and dropping MoM if I got a 6L Cloak of Defiance.

Hmm, the difference between the 20-40 and the 40-60 passive skill tree is only 5 passives... Ziggy, could you please adjust the 40-60 accordingly?

Edit: nvm my fault

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Sebulous wrote:

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Mateo_swe wrote:

After a quick research i have found out that sustaining Righteous Fire will take alot of passive skillnodes to boost life regen plus special items with enhanced fire res (as rise of fenix shield).
It seems doable together with this build but will take a major rebuild and not much freedom to do anything else as probably all skill points must be used.
I think i will leave this idea as there a many more other ways to tweak this build that doesn't take all available skill points.
It was a nice idea though, maybe i try it in the future.

A Cloak of Defiance opens up a lot of possibilities by saving ~20 points. I don't know how well RF would work, but I was considering crit build and dropping MoM if I got a 6L Cloak of Defiance.

Well, a 6-link CoD is kind of out of my reach right now.
But i agree, it would open up a lot of possibilities as you say.

So doing this specc atm got about 3k dps, 2000mana and 3k hp Roughly.

Got a 5L chest aswell.
Lvl 71 and for example against piety i am not tanky at all Lightning dmg is what hurts like a truck even when im lightning capped.

Any advice would be great . Running hatred and clarity and AA

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Devasth wrote:

So doing this specc atm got about 3k dps, 2000mana and 3k hp Roughly.

Got a 5L chest aswell.
Lvl 71 and for example against piety i am not tanky at all Lightning dmg is what hurts like a truck even when im lightning capped.

Any advice would be great . Running hatred and clarity and AA

One thing you can do is run a Haste aura together with clarity and hatred.
If you have taken all aura nodes this works and gives you extra castspeed.
Or try with the life-regen aura, i think its "Vitality"
Also use lightning res flasks and use some kind of distraction as decoy totem or minions.
Also make sure you use a good curse.
I also find Piety hard and lightning damage and cold/chaos is hurting like hell.

Hello ZiggyD,

I am a big fan of your videos, especially the survival guide helped me a lot. I was struggling to get my characters to endgame, and my itemization is medium at best. After viewing a lot of your videos I found this thread and thought I should give it a try.

Wow, man, the character is so much fun!

I am Level 53 now and visiting Lunaris Temple in Cruel together with my husband - we both started a new career with this build.

We only died once at Vaal Cruel until now (not sure what happened, but one second we were full of life, the next we both had the resurrect button on the screen and Vaal was standing elsewhere - I guess this is called desynch and we are glad not to play in hardcore ^^).
We split the auras between us, he runs Clarity and Discipline, I run Hatred and Elemental Resistances as the area and our gear needs, and in short I will add Grace or Haste, depending on situation.

Thank you so much for your work :-)

Hi Ziggy.I'm a level 57 Scion in Default that simply enjoys the potential of Arctic Armor. The game has been smooth sailing throughout Normal & Cruel, but I have a few questions since I believe I'm not fully grasping the potential of the build, however.


In Merciless I'm constantly wrecked by elemental mobs of my level. Even with MoM, Eldrich, Purity, and Flasks that give roughly 20% elemental resistances during flask effect I simply cannot win tradeoffs without retreating and hiding, possibly going to town and refilling my flasks. My equipment/gems so far(Leveling a few passively):

Weapons:


Armor:



Accessories:

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Aysen wrote:

Hi Ziggy.I'm a level 57 Scion in Default that simply enjoys the potential of Arctic Armor. The game has been smooth sailing throughout Normal & Cruel, but I have a few questions since I believe I'm not fully grasping the potential of the build, however.


In Merciless I'm constantly wrecked by elemental mobs of my level. Even with MoM, Eldrich, Purity, and Flasks that give roughly 20% elemental resistances during flask effect I simply cannot win tradeoffs without retreating and hiding, possibly going to town and refilling my flasks. My equipment/gems so far(Leveling a few passively):

Weapons:

Spoiler

Armor:

Spoiler

Accessories:

Spoiler

I have some things to advice you after looking at your gear.

First the weapon, it should have "Increased projectile speed" and high "Spell damage".
If you can get "Faster casting" also its very good.
You must have "Increased projectile speed" somewhere so if your weapon don't have it you must have it on your amulet.

Secondly your auras, I see you use Clatity, Dicipline and Wrath.
Clarity and Dicipline is good but Wrath does nothing at all for you.
Wrath gives extra lightning damage with ATTACKS and you use SPELLLS (Ethereal Knifes) so Wrath doesn't give you any extra damage at all.
You should use Hatred aura instead, it gives extra damage with Etereal Knifes.
Other auras you can use is Haste for faster casting to give more damage.

Thirdly your 5-link setup.
You should link EK to Faster projectiles + Added Fire damage + Life leech + Faster casting.
This is a must if you want any good damage.
If you get a 6-link get Empower or Iron Will in the last slot.

On your amulet try get faster casting, Increased projectile speed, extra spell damage, Increased mana regeneration.

On shield try get extra spell damage, Increased mana regeneration, life, resists, mana.

Rings try get Increased mana regeneration, resists.

This build needs much Increased mana regeneration, especially in the beginning to get all things working OK.

If you do as i wrote above (or just read Ziggys gear advice) you don't need to run away and hide, almost never.

Edit:
Also use some kind of distraction as Zombies, skellies or decoy totem.
It keeps the monsters busy while you kill them easier.