Hello. Today I would like to present my new conjurer build, that focuses on Acid Grasping Vines and discuss it’s viability in general.
It’s obvious that Crate, for some odd reason, wants us to play Acid Grasping Vines. There are currently 4 items that support this idea:
- Misery sword
- Conduit of Wild Whispers amulet (with the Acid Vines mod of course)
- Mark of Leathal Intents medal
- Mythical/non Mythical Thorn Girdle of Misty Glade
Using those items I’ve created a build that is actually semi-decent and is able to do and farm the main campaign, kill end-game bosses and do 150 crucible with 4 buffs (less than 6 min 170 crucible builds say hi). I was able to reach wave 130 without any buffs, but never finished it.
The Build
*all perma buffs + Blood of Dreeg active
Acid Grasping Vines damage breakdown
*all perma buffs, Blood of Dreeg and Dark One Set proc active (100% up-time)
Gear, skills and gameplay
The core items of this build are 4 acid Grasping Vines items that I’ve mentioned above, The Dark One set (for an amazing proc that actually makes this build viable), the Judicator’s Seals ring set (for fixing OA and DA issues). Mythical Legwraps of the Tranquil Mind were chosen because of the slow resistance, and Mythical Venomspine Greaves were chosen because of the proc. The off-hand and the relic were chosen because of the rr that they provide. Try to get the +armor bonus on all craftable items. I didn’t use any greens, just to see how the build performs without them.
The skills chosen are pretty obvious as well. I use the granted Seal of Shadows skill as a primary LMB attack. Dreeg’s eye with the transmuter - to add more poison, CoF - for RR and a proc machine, Bloody Pox to lower enemies OA and also as a proc machine, Totem - for healing. And, of course, the Grasping Vines. The damage may seem low, but it’s actually semi-decent, because you can stack it, turning it into a some sort of a shotgun.
As for the gameplay it’s actually quite interesting. This build is an amazing trash/hero killer and controler and most of the time mobs can’t even get close, because of the Grasping Vines (+ the proc from the belt) staggaring effect. It’s quite tanky too in this current set-up and can facetank most bosses. But, however, the problem arises when strong bosses or nemesis appear. Kiting is an option, but it results in huge damage loss, because you constantly have to move and because of that won’t be able to stack the vines. The build can face bosses and nemesis 1 on 1, but several of them in crucible quickly turns into a nightmare.
Pros and cons
- Amazing trash killer
- Pretty tanky for a caster, becuase of the healing procs
- Great hp and mana regen (finally a build that has no mana issues)
- The damage can be decent when able to stack Grasping Vines
- The damage is pretty low when compared to most other builds and fully depends on the Grasping Vines “shotgun effect”
- Has a hard time against physical damage
- Lack of RR
- The Shaman mastery doesn’t support acid damage type in any way
- No nukes
- Conduit is a pain to get
- Vaunrable to CC
- Can’t clear 170 Crucible
Conclusion
So this build is definitely playable and is much better than I’ve expected. But it is still pretty underpowered when compared to other endgame options, such as the Octavius set for example. One of the solutions to make acid Grasping Vines more viable is to create a dedicated set to support them, like the vitality Grasping Vines have. My idea for such a set can be found in my New Set Ideas thread, check it out if you are interested.
Videos
140 - 150 Crucible run (fking 3 Benn’Jahrs!)
Enjoy!
