I am using very similar build, but I took slightly different devotion setup (Hourglass over Obelisk being the biggest difference). I cleaned 170 cruci with 3 buffs with this build, but still looking to improve it further. https://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2JMlBRN
Would you change anything in this setup? (other than swapping arcane spark for another topaz if using ulzuin pact blessing and I am not using Agrivix ammy cos I dont have it xD).
What would you say, in your opinion, would be the best possible setup for CT spammer that uses devastation (means prolly no BH)? No Ternox MI pls, using just any is sub-optimal IMO and getting one with right roles is not rly possible without GDstashing it, which I dont wanna do.
I was thinking about using 2 pc Clair (chest+shoulders) and 2 pc Agrivix (ammy + tome), undecided about Maw vs Outcast helmet though. What would you say would be the strongest setup for such build (regardless of possible lags in cruci)?
I think the best setup in terms of damage would be the stoya setup but with outcast helm and a more offensive devotion pattern. Maybe something like the one I have in my CT spam build.
Also in case we take devastation, the Magelord rings would be better right? Also need to squeeze Hourglass somewhere, I guess this devotion setup (just take hungering void and remove the 1 lion node and gold node). https://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZrveK6Z
Currently farming the Outcast secret, once I get it ill do the testing
It’s hard for me to tinker with grimtools on mobile so can’t help you with that atm. You don’t need hourglass for sure. It’s just dps loss by not getting more offensive devotion procs. Also magelord rings will be useless once you get agrivix amulet so stick with AD + eternal haunt.
I took a look closer to stoya’s build to see if we can tweak it to empower devastation with outcast secret and terrnox tome. It is possible but it might result in a lower dps cause CT nuke will be less empowered and it will also loose -10 aether pierce to siphon souls from the tome. The aspect is debatable and needs real testing rather than theory crafting. What I think is that getting widow and torch constelations is a must to actually benefit greatly from both fire and aether damage, and solael might be needed too for extra fire pierce.
Hourglass is, IMHO, absolute key for survivability in crucible for binders. Stoya doesnt need it, cos he is using extremely defensive spec with Watcher and Obelisk constellation, but I honestly dont see how a full offensive spec without Maw of Despair would survive 170 cruci. It allows us to basically chain cast MoT + Mirror twice in a row, which helps tremendously against the hardest nemesis waves, not to mention that with the decreased CD from the helmet it will allow us to chaincast Devastation itself. On top of that all the nodes from that constellation are freaking godsend. Playing without Hourglass would IMO require very high piloting skills, which I dont possess. (using single MoT or Mirror in not the best possible moment would likely result in death).
Good catch with the Magelord rings, with Agrivix ammy + belt we should be almost capped on fire-aether conversion
Yeah terrnox is a downgrade for full agrivix builds.
Maw isn’t really the dealbreaker for survivability. If you really miss that lifesteal then just put one seal of blades in mainhand and you’re set. If you can do no hourglass with maw then you can also do it without.
I cant, I am using both xD I agree with you that its not a dealbreaker for survivability, however, it certainly does help (provides shittons of HP, LL, enemy damage reduction and its craftable so u can get additional armor/physique on it). If you decide to use full offensive helmet instead (like the Outcast secret) and you take full offensive devotion setup (no Watcher, no Obelisk and also no Hourglass), this build is going to be a paper and it will get raped on 160/170 waves, badly. We will have low armor, low DA and no chance to use MoT and mirror consecutively. I cant even tell how many times have the Hourglass saved my life, not to mention it also provides huge DPS boost cos it will essentially eliminate any CD on devastation together with the helmet transmuters. I am not saying its impossible to play without it, but it would require IMO more defensive devotion setup (like the one Stoya uses).
Can I ask whats your reasoning for not taking the Hourglass? I mean if only the proc would be useful and all the other nodes would be wasted, I would understand it, but theyre absolutely amazing. In fact, from all the constellations it would be the last one I would drop, but to each his own I guess
I just tested this one and never had any real issues during the run, though I only did it twice with 4 buffs + banner. Didn’t record tho so I don’t have cleartime, but pretty sure it’s around 8 mins. Keep in mind that my PC shits when I play devastation builds so that cleartime should be a lot faster.
To the question, why no hourglass? Look at the grimtools above, assume we remove dreeg’s eye and dying god branch then add 6 nodes of hourglass just for examination. From Hourglass, you gain around 50 OA (negligible), 60 DA (okay, but not a big deal), 200 HP (negligible at that point), some useless resists (aether and vit should be capped before that node already), a bit of dodge (might be good but RNG) and some dot reductions (negligible). Slow res isn’t so attractive considering we have a good amount of Cast speed overcap. Trap resist is provided by Ulo buff in cruci. That’s exactly what 5 useless nodes with a good, but unnecessary proc.
The ideal devastation>TD>devastation thing also isn’t often met in real practice. You can afford doing that in earlier waves where you don’t need mirror/mark but you don’t need to chain devastations there either. Mobs die after the first one. On double reaper waves, where you need the double mirror/mark, you’re saving TD for Mirror/Mark so chaining devastation isn’t top priority, meaning TD doesn’t do much for dps. Eye of the guardian, on the other hand is always up no matter what wave it is.
When facing double reapers, you don’t really need TD. what you do is let him hit you a few times, around 4 times then cast nullification to reset his charges and purge RR from you, let him hit a few times again, Mark, then Mirror after expiry. He should be dead by that time. The second reaper should also have arrived around that time. Nullification should be done cooling down already by the time he hits you 3 times. If your defensive skills are on CD at that time then health potion, then kite a bit (around 1 second, preferably on narrow spaces) then go back. This causes Reaper to be confused, which wears down his savagery charges. Kill reaper. Takes a bit of practice but I guarantee you, there’s no need for TD on a non CDR build.
Thanks for the input. It kinda confirms what I thought though. What you described is something that is entirely dependent on piloting skills (yours are obviously much better than mine). There is basically 0 room for error. You screw one skill, one rotation and ure dead. For less experienced players like me taking Hourglass is just a safety measure and its just less stressful to play when u know you have some room for error. If you are such a good pilot that u know u can do without it, I agree, that setup can dish out prolly even more damage. Question is if its worth to sacrifice this huge QoL for overall one minute faster clear time with much bigger chance of dying Also, I know some of the stuff Hourglass nodes provide is kinda useless when u use Ulo blessing, but the slow resist is still awesome, not to mention there is no Ulo blessing when playing MC
Some questions:
How much do you think the Guardian eye contributes to overall damage? Its just hard for me to justify taking it considering 4 of those nodes are totally useless.
I see you used double Seal of corruption. Did you find 7% LL enough? I would prolly take Seal of blades, but I would lose the Aether corruption proc -8% RR, which sucks, but I cant rly play without Riftstone in offhand.
Do you think dual Albrecht rings are better than combination of Albrecht + Eternal Haunt? What about Screams of the Aether ring?
0% stun resist? Isnt this kinda dangerous, even with Ulo blessing?
Noob question: is CT affected by attack, or cast speed?
I forgot to mention ghoul above. There’s more margin of error in there than you think. You do need some prsctice to pull it off consistently though.
Guardians gaze can deal anywhere from half a flame torrent to three flame torrents worth of damage at a time. I can count around 6 eyes circling me in mob heavy waves and around 4-5 on boss waves. Pretty good, I should say.
Didn’t change anything except the helm cause getting augments/new components is a pain. It worked out well so i guess 7% lifesteal is enough.
Same as #2. Wasn’t so keen on optimizing everything and it worked out so well so there’s that. Also fully converted chaos helps flame torrent and guardian’s gaze a lot. I think dual AD rings are better than anything here as long as guardians gaze is used.
I am not too familiar with the Sorcerer, but from what I gathered its quite a lot weaker than Spellbinder. Anyway I would definitely take Ulzuin Torch with the Sorcerer. Also, if you wanna use transmuted CT, Clairvoyant is IMHO much better set, Agrivix should be used only for untransmuted CT. Also I would definitely take Ravager eye or Outcast wrath over Ravagers rage, especially for the binder build. In case of a binder, there are also much better offhands than Aldarans vanity like Tome of Arcane wastes or Codex of Lies. I would also definitely use Seal of Corruption.
it’s pretty easy. use reckless power for aether and fire damage, stack cdr via items, relic and hour glass, stack fire and aether damage, convert 80% fire to aether and voila, op char with big loads of aether damage, lots of cdr and also more than decent RR
Uh, I mean thats pretty obvious, the build focuses on devastation. With the recommendations I gave you though the build would be IMHO stronger. Also, in the links you posted there is no Hourglass, just first 2 nodes from it, but if u want to stack as much CDR as possible you should really take the full constellation for the proc.
yes, sorry my bad, was thinking of smth else. I actually tried full devastation build and it’s pretty slow tbh, that’s why I choosed to empower several aspects.
