How does this hold up compared to a vit dee build (like cabalist)? More specifically, something like the build posted by Excelsiar (can’t link because this is my first reply)? I’ve followed this build through normal and I like it a lot, but I never use the nightblade skills. I’m wondering if changing to necro would be more helpful? Or am I just too early in the game to truly take advantage of the nightblade skills?
Is there a reason you max blood burst and vile eruption but not terrifying gaze? Is it simply because our gear lets us get further in the ultimate levels for those skills? Or is the damage simply too low scaling on terrifying gaze?
Also, why do you recommend maxing cof+vuln first instead of veil of shadow+nights chill? Doesn’t the permanence of the aura make it better than cof? Or do you choose cof for the range? If it’s the points required directly into nightblade, wouldn’t that be offset by you being able to get shadow dance next? Or do cof+vuln then switch to vos when you have the 15 points allocated?
A piece of advice: Don’t take levelling guides the same way as endgame builds. Levelling guides are normally not optimally minmaxed (and it’s not worth doing so) and the most likely answer to your question is that mad_lee felt it worked well while he was levelling. You’re overthinking the levelling process, tbh.
Well vulnerability reduces DA as well… So that probably also has to do with it.
If you really wanna look into it deeper then it’s all about possession, BoD and Aspect giving you huge poison mods for low level chars and also sustain and tankiness. The nightblade tree delays that. But night’s chill and the Nb tree has it’s own merits (namely shadow strike) that it will ultimately depend on what you’re comfortable with while levelling
True, and it doesn’t need to be fully optimized, but I’m looking to make this my first hc character, so I’m trying to plan more than usual since mistakes are a little more costly 
And veil of shadows lowers enemies OA. So it’s an offensive vs defensive question. I was asking which is better (although I may have phrased it poorly).
I’m actually using BoD as a filler for now. Having a second heal does make him feel safer. Granted, 99% of the time I only use BoD, but that 1% when I can also use the health pot is quite refreshing. The resists (lookin at you aspect of the guardian) don’t matter much in normal imo, dodge and nuke, dodge and nuke. Maxed dee, blood burst, and vile eruption with a grobles toxic effigy (for that +2 dreeg and 33% weapon damage) can kill anything in normals pretty easily (except that 1 poison hero on your way to log). I’m more worried about getting to elite (so the 50-70 level range).
Cool Build! My first character was a Witch Hunter, and the poor gal’s been gathering dust since AoM. I didn’t know how to make her viable while staying true to the build I was going for (DEE caster). This build did just that. However, did you consider picking up Oklaine’s Lantern for the extra Trap Resist and Casting Speed?
That being said though, I definitely see your point about P&A being in dire need of some love. While my Bleed Warder can easily rack up 500k Bleed ticks, this character struggles to even get past 200k poison ticks.