Pretty much my first build post here, despite playing GD for some time, so please go easy on me if there are any noob mistakes made.
Premise was that i wanted to make a character around Mythical Temporal Arcblade which has been lying in my inventory forever.
I also wanted my character to be a lightning wielding badass,hence, decided to roll a shaman alongside an arcanist to make a Druid, but soon found out that Aether-Lightning conversions & combos are very restricted, and requires workaround.
So, sharing the GT link below. Feedback is much appreciated. Honestly seems like a very middling character. Doubt any endgame is viable with this build, but hopefully can be fine tuned more.
Items: good choices. You forgot the suffix resistance on the amulet and the skill points on the relic. In a perfect world, youâd like a +5 Primal Strike Badge.
Components/augments: no augments on jewels and weapon. Thatâs a very good source of OA/DA, which youâre missing a bit. Bloodied Crystal > Runebound Topaz. You should also find a way to get 100% armor absorption.
Also, i have replaced solemn watcher with dying god, although i do not like how my DA has dropped as a result of that. Do you really feel as though this is a good trade off?
Also, could you explain why Aether/Primal strike is hard to work. I too feel this way as i have spent way too much time brain storming this, and feel itemization is just not there to support this build.
Having said that, how does the updated link look as of now to you? Is it endgame viable(highly doubt it myself).
Wind Devils, spare points into some elemental RR. Granted, iam fully aetherâŚbut just some spare points.
I dunno how else to arrange my devotions, given my weapon and damage i wish to deal out.
Any input is appreciated.
Do you have any suggestions on where else i could improve? Honestly, iam left scratching my head here. Granted, i doubt this is endgame viable, but its just a concept stuck in my head i wish to execute and build.
This is not going to work well outside of Main Campaign. And even then, it will definitely die against expansion Nemesis and some AoM/FG content. You need at least one mastery with resist reduction to your damage for build to work somewhat well. Especially when you are making such a gimmicky concept. Druid is just not a good choice when it comes to melee.
Wind devils are just waste of points, same with totem.
Get Haunt relic for rr skill, and seal of blades in weapon.
No need of having point in first modifier to Iskandra EE.
Change ring components to Bloodied crystal.
Lower points in Heart of the wild
Lower points in Inferno (its main use is burn damage)
max Brute force for flat lightning (will be converted with primal strike)
Get Savagery to stack charge so you get physical resistances, OA and DA (From tenacity of boar)
Anyway, I will say the same thing as mad_lee said, you could try Ritualist instead?
Something like this (note I did not change the arcanist specific gear I just changed mastery and skills) https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZo4M1lN
@malawiglenn
Thanks for the GT link. Looking soooo much better now.
But now that i see the Ritualist, wont Necro synergize even better with an Arcanist(Spellbinder)âŚwill that at least make the build more viable for endgame.
But that will mean ditching my lightning attacks:(
Spellbinders have been posted here like 5000 times is more or less 100% figured out by now
I like the idea of you trying to push Aether Primal Strike as far as you can + its nice with more of these âlesser exploredâ classes - it can serve good feedback to the devs
Just out of curosity, how many builds (level 100 fully decked) have you made and played?
Went down this route as well when I nabbed that necklace, seconding youâll definitely want to look at necro over arcanist. Really depends on what your goals are though, campaign only is perfectly fine if thatâs what youâd like to complete.
Re: Arcblade, I also played around with that on a aetherstorm druid. This was a rough stub pre-augments and missing elemental storm devotion, looks like I didnât save some of the finalized in game versions https://www.grimtools.com/calc/Q2zAa4dN
Went through a bunch of tweaks, but in the end the one handed version with full cyclone set was stronger, even if I prefer the 2 hander to emphasize the aetherstorm focus over wind devils with a tickle beam 1 hander option.
It can do Crucible to 150 with 3 buffs + Vanguard. Have not tried without buffs, have not tried 150-170. Need smart use of Mirror and Nullification.
Can handle campaign Nemesis easily (have not fought any FG Nemesis, can do AoM such as Reaper, Kuba). Have not tried Celestials.
TBH, it is one of my more powerful builds (relative to my builds, not necessarily forum builds).
I think CâThon did a similar build sometime back as well.
It started out as Aether Savagery because I got that Conduit first. With Savagery I tried CT (build up Savagery, dump CT) - but it was very underwhelming, even with hard capped CT with devotion procs.
I then moved to Aether Primal Strike. More powerful than most people would expect, but not some record setting build. Also somewhat boring to play - charge in, primal strike, use Kriegâs Wrath when available. And Aether RR debugg from seal of course.
Half the screen will die in campaign as you walk around, without pressing, button just due to all the reactive procs.
This build can also kill the most powerful PC bosses during crucible By PC I mean personal computer. I have a very high end PC, but FPS drops below 20 with this build during crucible (with all effects turned up - I turn them down during crucible)
I could give background on this build - but essentially, I didnât start out planning this build. I was trying a Druid pet build - and it just didnât work out - and then got those Conduits which got me thinking. I can easily say the Aether PS Druid turned about orders of magnitude more powerful than my prior Druid pet build. This was all pre-FG, and maybe a Druid pet would be OK now; and I suspect a lot of the power came from having full Kriegâs and Temporal.
Nice! Seems like we had the same idea. Very curious to know how this worked out for you. I always had this build in my head for some time, so just thought maybe i will put it down.
Tried any FG content yet?
Wouldnt you have been better served going Callidor to help clear stuff more?
Honestly. Like i said this isnt end-game tier build, but seems like a lot of fun, and flashy. So iam just planning whether to go ahead or not based on what you say.
Welcome to the forums. Iâm already loving your build for not being yet another oathkeeper.
HoweverâŚ
Points in Inferno above 1p and in Mirror above 12/12 are wasted. Burn does not convert because itâs DoT (Damage over Time) and aether has no DoT. Gains on Mirror above softcap are marginal. You can get an amazing spell for those points which is Devastation. And itâs largely converted on your build. Or you can get sweet 2h buffs from Savagery.
Why no Thunderous? Spamming Primal is the whole point of Primal! And donât worry about low attack speed - all 2h builds struggle with that.
And a micro-tip: that two devo points you got in Panther - you can move them to Jackal. You can even finish Jackal if you move the last node of Ghoul there.
And an uneducated guess: rings. You might wanna consider Eternal Haunt with Albrecht Duality rings (aka âBinder Blingâ). Haunt has rr. Albrecht gives you 15+ flat aether from Fabric of Reality (converts chaos) so itâs not like these rings have no flat. Another thing, you might not know that but I know that so Iâll tell you: fire/cold/lightning conversion and tri-elemental conversion donât add. So when you got 50% fire to aether on the belt, the rings donât give you another 50%. They only convert 50% of whatâs left (which is 25%). They lie to you, so to speak, give you half of what they owe.
Shit⌠I always forget about stuff like that⌠Last time I wrote a half-page essay on why a guy should be using Aegis on a 2h build. :rolleyes: Thx for correction.
Still thereâs plenty of things those points can do better than sitting in Inferno.
The build is the flashiest build Iâve played. There may be flashier, but this one lights up the screen. Lightning everywhere. Hence the low FPS with full effects turned on.
I have done SR to 25 to get the skill points, no issues. Have not pushed to see how deep I can get; but Iâve never gone past 25 on any character to date (I dislike SR)
Crucible can be tough in the sense that mirror is a proactive circuit breaker, not passive; you have to pay attention and be quick on the reflexes. Mad Queen is usually what kills me when I die; due to her red aura; there are a lot of special effects with this build so you have to watch more closely for the red aura. To be clear, itâs not like this build is weaker to Mad Queen than most; itâs just the main cause of death on my crucible runs, and even then itâs pretty rare. Either wait for red aura to disappear, or use mirror when itâs up, being sure to run off any time her aura is up and your mirror is down.
For crucible, I have considered putting a few points in Wendigo Totem for the heal. Wendigo Totem scales with HP; this build has more than 20k HP with in crucible with blessing, so Wendigo would heal pretty well. Iâve never needed it, but might make it safer for someone not used to Crucible. To be clear, no Blood Pact, just maybe Wendigo Totem up to skill level 5 (for the 3% heal). 3% of 20k HPs is 600 HPs healed every .5 seconds, or 1200 HP/second heal while in range. But I dislike having to stay in range of the totem, and Iâve not needed it - YMMV.
I tried Callidor (Aether Savagery Conduit, had 200% cast speed) - just not worth it, IMO. As I said, in main campaign, half the screen (or more) literally dies as you walk around, all due to reactive procs (Spear of the Heavens alone is 50% when attacked). A lot of stuff is dead before you are even in range for CT. And with primal strike (torrent) having such huge range - lots dies outside of melee range. Another way to say it: CT only kills things fairly close to you. Primal Strike kills things close to you and farther away (due to torrent).
One good thing about this build is you have points to spare. Many will say you donât need Mirror above 12. I personally like it maxed because despite diminishing returns, it still makes a different. 12/12 mirror is 23 second cooldown. 21/12 mirror is 20.3 second cooldown. That 2.7 seconds may not seem like a lot - but over the course of a crucible run, it allows a few more mirrors, so I use some aggressively (not just defensively). But you could surely pull 9 points out and put in other skills.
I would like to leave you on something I have noted over the years while playing: despite what you may read on the forums, you can make a lot of builds work. They may not be the most powerful, but finishing campaign, killing nemesis, and able to clear crucible 150 reliably is possible with almost any class combo. Most of the people nay-saying certain class combos are players who are only interested in the most powerful (fastest clearing) builds. In my book, if a build can do two 150 crucible runs before buffs/banner run out (and this one can) - itâs a solid build.
Savagery will activate WPS; Primal Strike will not. So I really think Aether Savagery is better on Ritualist. Hence my switch to Primal Strike on my Druid once I got the Aether PS conduit.
Edit: Erm, and for that reason, donât follow my build exactly - you donât want Upheaval or Feral Hunger since those are WPS (those were leftover from when I was doing savagery). Put those points elsewhere ⌠Iâd recommend WT
By PC I mean personal computer. I have a very high end PC, but FPS drops below 20 with this build during crucible (with all effects turned up - I turn them down during crucible)
