[3.4] Say_Ten's Double Strike/Spectral Throw Melee Scion - Cheap and Easy to Play

Hi I'm starting this build in Breach HC now. Just wondering if the original content has been getting updated since you've continue to play?
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MF_NCR wrote:
Hi I'm starting this build in Breach HC now. Just wondering if the original content has been getting updated since you've continue to play?


Yes, I update it constantly. You can check the bottom of the first post to see when the last time I edited it was. Even if I'm not editing it, I frequently check here to help people and answer questions.

Make sure you grab a ton of life if you're going HC.
I have a question, how do you maintain enough dex early on? there is nothing but strength in the skill tree path you take and evasion gear requires a decent amount of dex, I mean sure I can through on a dex amulet and try to roll some dex on gear but..
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KesslerCOIL wrote:
I have a question, how do you maintain enough dex early on? there is nothing but strength in the skill tree path you take and evasion gear requires a decent amount of dex, I mean sure I can through on a dex amulet and try to roll some dex on gear but..


Yes, get it on gear if you need it. It rolls as a suffix on pretty much everything. Also some good leveling gloves are Slitherpinch, which have both life and mana leech as well as a ton of DEX
Just wanted to say thanks for the guide, used this for my currency starter this league. I've been away from the game since nemesis, maybe invasion? Highest I did really was 70s in HC. Got my first Atziri/pale council/uber labs with this build though I stuck to SC this time around so I could have fun in breachs without a care.


Gear I ended up with if anyone is curious, lots of room for optimization, I was a bit lazy. Lucky on the chest from a prophecy though. Stuck with a mana pot over a movespeed so I could just leap around in cleared/sparse areas, could have dropped culling for blood magic, w/e. (It was never empty, and saved me a few times in tul rifts)
Spoiler


Also ended up trying juggernaut over berserker just because I was feeling squishy early on. I could have probably swapped by now but it worked for me just fine. Slayer might have been a nice middleground.
Last edited by jerot on Dec 23, 2016, 4:41:47 AM
Say_Ten I really enjoyed using your build in Breach, but in the end I went a slightly different route.

I ended up respecing into axes, because I found this little beauty early in Act 4


The Slaughter node is giving me near-constant Onslaught when clearing, axes have better leech bonuses than swords on the tree, and so far at level 87 accuracy at around 85% seems to be doing the job.

For Ascendancy, I decided to go with Slayer for the full health stun, culling, overkill leech, and the 30% increased damage on rare/unique mobs. That's a powerful combo.

Speaking of leech, this sexy suit is seriously under-rated:



I actually rate this an strong upgrade to Belly of the Beast (which I ran before Cherub) if you have decent leech amount on the tree, the 100% leech rate makes it a poor-man's Vaal Pact but you still regen, and the armor/evasion is strong. This also seems to work better for me than Lightning Coil. Can be bought dirt cheap too, and did I mention it's sexy?

Then I went with Deadeye for the ST damage boost, since it's really my bread and butter skill, I only Double Strike when something is in my way or burning down bosses. So adding pierce, bleeding, and the extra proj seriously helps with clear speed. The up to 30% increased damage on range is nice too, seems to work well with ST on the return flight.

Speaking of ST, after a lot of experimenting in my 5L setup, I found what works best for me is GMP, Inc Proj Speed, PPaD, and Added Fire. Adding Inc. Proj speed is a HUGE boost to clear speed and survivability both because of the range boost, even with PPAD taking some back off. With off-screen range you can kite a LOT better. Or do some reconnaissance by fire in those dark maps. GMP just "feels" better, especially on more open maps. Sure, you lose some single target damage compared to LMP but you make it up in clear speed (the ability to be a bit more sloppy with your cursor placement is handy too).

Finally, I have let my CWDT level up to 18 (gonna max it), combined with lvl 19 Molten Shell, 18 Warlord's, and 18 IC. On higher tier maps vs magic, rare and unique mobs, its still going off near-constantly, and the leveled Molten alone is worth it (800+ armor, 1300 damage threshold, and some free DPS when it pops).

I manually cast Blood Rage and when I'm not lazy or in bigger fights, Ancestral Protector (huge attack speed boost, and a decent distraction too, Warchief also works fine). Plus of course I have my Fire Golem running around. Ancestral Protector, Golem and Vengeance are attached to Blind support, comes in handy.

Could probably get a little more DPS out of a top-notch rare sword or axe, but the free BM on ALL attacks and the bonus leech was too good to pass up, and it's still 430 pDPS which doesn't suck.

All in all, the gem and gear substitutions from the OP's build make this a little more tanky at the cost of some damage, so fair trade.

Here's my full gear at the moment, still not totally happy with the rings and gloves/boots

Spoiler
Last edited by Capozzi on Dec 24, 2016, 10:30:03 PM
Jerot glad you liked it!
"
Capozzi wrote:
Say_Ten I really enjoyed using your build in Breach, but in the end I went a slightly different route.

I ended up respecing into axes, because I found this little beauty early in Act 4


The Slaughter node is giving me near-constant Onslaught when clearing, axes have better leech bonuses than swords on the tree, and so far at level 87 accuracy at around 85% seems to be doing the job.

For Ascendancy, I decided to go with Slayer for the full health stun, culling, overkill leech, and the 30% increased damage on rare/unique mobs. That's a powerful combo.

Speaking of leech, this sexy suit is seriously under-rated:



I actually rate this an strong upgrade to Belly of the Beast (which I ran before Cherub) if you have decent leech amount on the tree, the 100% leech rate makes it a poor-man's Vaal Pact but you still regen, and the armor/evasion is strong. This also seems to work better for me than Lightning Coil. Can be bought dirt cheap too, and did I mention it's sexy?

Then I went with Deadeye for the ST damage boost, since it's really my bread and butter skill, I only Double Strike when something is in my way or burning down bosses. So adding pierce, bleeding, and the extra proj seriously helps with clear speed. The up to 30% increased damage on range is nice too, seems to work well with ST on the return flight.

Speaking of ST, after a lot of experimenting in my 5L setup, I found what works best for me is GMP, Inc Proj Speed, PPaD, and Added Fire. Adding Inc. Proj speed is a HUGE boost to clear speed and survivability both because of the range boost, even with PPAD taking some back off. With off-screen range you can kite a LOT better. Or do some reconnaissance by fire in those dark maps. GMP just "feels" better, especially on more open maps. Sure, you lose some single target damage compared to LMP but you make it up in clear speed (the ability to be a bit more sloppy with your cursor placement is handy too).

Finally, I have let my CWDT level up to 18 (gonna max it), combined with lvl 19 Molten Shell, 18 Warlord's, and 18 IC. On higher tier maps vs magic, rare and unique mobs, its still going off near-constantly, and the leveled Molten alone is worth it (800+ armor, 1300 damage threshold, and some free DPS when it pops).

I manually cast Blood Rage and when I'm not lazy or in bigger fights, Ancestral Protector (huge attack speed boost, and a decent distraction too, Warchief also works fine). Plus of course I have my Fire Golem running around. Ancestral Protector, Golem and Vengeance are attached to Blind support, comes in handy.

Could probably get a little more DPS out of a top-notch rare sword or axe, but the free BM on ALL attacks and the bonus leech was too good to pass up, and it's still 430 pDPS which doesn't suck.

All in all, the gem and gear substitutions from the OP's build make this a little more tanky at the cost of some damage, so fair trade.

Here's my full gear at the moment, still not totally happy with the rings and gloves/boots

Spoiler


TBH never actually tried Cherub just because after leech got nerfed I was a little jaded. Definitely interesting though and wonder how it would be as a full-on duelist slayer.

Would be interesting to take some mana reservation reduction nodes and just leave enough for your golem, AP, and BR but still run Hatred, HoA and some other skill (maybe arctic armor, and possibly in another CwDT setup).

Anyway this is what I love about this build...so versatile with so many options that you can tweak based on some items you find or want to use.

Excellent rundown!
Been running this build, but recently modified it a bit. Found that using double strike was a bit clunky most of the time as well as slow. The spectral throw aspect is very nice, but the main damage from a melee splash double strike was just too annoying. So switched it out for a cyclone setup. Now I am doing far more damage and basically mowing down everything fast. I use spectral throw for bosses or enemies that I don't want to get close to with cyclone. Those scenarios I toss out a decoy totem and smash with the spectral throws.




These are the main items I am using for now. Everything else is decent rares. Would love to get the Daresso's 6L, but haven't had much luck on my own trying. Overall though nothing has really slowed me down.

This is the current build path I am using.



Basically I am going for the increase radius Amplify node by the templar to work with cyclone, filling out a few more life/defensive nodes, and then taking dps after that. Using cyclone means I can skip over unwavering stance since I can't be stunned in cyclone state, and if I'm not in cyclone state while fighting I'll be using decoy + throw and chances of being stunning in a range situation is very low as well.

Right now I'm pretty tanky. While I am about 2.6K health I am basically capped resistances on everything but chaos as well as hitting 90% physical damage reduction pretty easily. I'll finish up the wheel of life, grab the life nodes by the templar, and the nodes by juggernaut to complete the defensive nodes. Then the 2 handed nodes and weapon nodes nodes and be done with the build. With the cyclone build as it I can just pop my flasks constantly, especially quick silver flask, and just spin across maps effortlessly most of the time with only needing to toss out spectral throws occasionally as needed.

This is 120 of the 125 possible points spent that I am going for at the moment.

Last edited by Viscar on Dec 26, 2016, 12:36:50 PM
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Viscar wrote:
Been running this build, but recently modified it a bit. Found that using double strike was a bit clunky most of the time as well as slow. The spectral throw aspect is very nice, but the main damage from a melee splash double strike was just too annoying. So switched it out for a cyclone setup. Now I am doing far more damage and basically mowing down everything fast. I use spectral throw for bosses or enemies that I don't want to get close to with cyclone. Those scenarios I toss out a decoy totem and smash with the spectral throws.




These are the main items I am using for now. Everything else is decent rares. Would love to get the Daresso's 6L, but haven't had much luck on my own trying. Overall though nothing has really slowed me down.

This is the current build path I am using.



Basically I am going for the increase radius Amplify node by the templar to work with cyclone, filling out a few more life/defensive nodes, and then taking dps after that. Using cyclone means I can skip over unwavering stance since I can't be stunned in cyclone state, and if I'm not in cyclone state while fighting I'll be using decoy + throw and chances of being stunning in a range situation is very low as well.

Right now I'm pretty tanky. While I am about 2.6K health I am basically capped resistances on everything but chaos as well as hitting 90% physical damage reduction pretty easily. I'll finish up the wheel of life, grab the life nodes by the templar, and the nodes by juggernaut to complete the defensive nodes. Then the 2 handed nodes and weapon nodes nodes and be done with the build. With the cyclone build as it I can just pop my flasks constantly, especially quick silver flask, and just spin across maps effortlessly most of the time with only needing to toss out spectral throws occasionally as needed.

This is 120 of the 125 possible points spent that I am going for at the moment.



all that seems like a decent alternative. the game has changed a LOT since i made this build with double strike. the meta is AOE and clear speed and almost no one plays single target melee anymore. but that's also what ST is for.

you should eventually ditch Diamond Skin and take the single phys damage/accuracy node to get to Martial Experience. this will free up two nodes that you should undoubtedly use for the two jewel sockets you don't have.

keep in mind that you can get +5-7% maximum life on a jewel, plus three other properties, so you should go for that before you take extra scion life nodes. they will be expensive, but if you're level 90+ it's life. no pun intended.

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