- Mastering the shield throw
Introduction
Shields and Aegis of Menhir builds in particular were very good in early FG patches but quickly fall of the meta. And Virtue set was heavily nerfed rendering what was unkillable Shieldbreakers and Paladins into below average specs. So it’s not really worth it to go Aegis heavy but to balance it out. My build still uses Aegis skill but it’s not shielded tank but CDR caster using multiple fire spells to stack burning effects and deal damage. Also this is skateboard build with two movement skills. And little bit of glass cannon. Glass shield build? Is this a thing?
Build
- pic with permanent buffs and Ascension, DPS for Stromfire
- Aegis damage sheet
GRIM TOOLS https://www.grimtools.com/calc/Q2zl74aZ
Gear:
Virtue is rare 5 pieces set, which mean it’s hard to combine it with other sets but Blazeseer is 3 part blue set that gives nice fire damage boos and proc, so decided to mix them together. Also are used:
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Weapon: Blazeheart gives massive damage boost to Aegis and +1 OK skills.
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Pants: Tranquil mind provides spirit, OA and slow resistance, very good item. And don’t forget bonus to Inner Focus.
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Boots: Grey Magi are for spirit, DA and also nice trap+physical resistance proc. Prove that you are Magi and not lame shield build.
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Ring: Other than Blazeseer decided to pick Combustion Band for -RR proc.
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Relic is Eternity. CDR proc helps with Ascension up time mostly and it’s surprisingly nice fit here. Option is Iskandra relic.
Devotions&Attributes:
Decided to take both Torch and Magi(we’re magis after all) decotions and their procs. Also Elemental storm for flat RR. Ghoul+Bat is standard defensive combo. Bat it’s extra potent with the vitality conversion.
Last 3 devotion points are free for personal taste. Idea is to take Behemoth to the proc and assign it to Resilence. First three nodes of Wendigo are also fine for cast speed, physical res and health.
I wanted to do big spirit dump but it’s hard on heavy armor. So moderate spirit investment. All crafted items are with physique to allow more spirit. And in general Inner focus+Star Pact are the major reasons to select Arcanist mastery.
Performance
Build it’s decent defensively but not that good. You need to keep Ascension all time and time Mirror. Move away with Vire’s Might. Passive defenses are usually enough to keep you out of trouble. In SR though build is going to have troubles past 65-70 shard range.
In Crucible success rate is good, probably 7 or 8 out of 9 successful tries. Times vary a lot and this build is fairly prone to be slow if you meet Maiden combined with monsters being resistant to fire. So time can be from 6:10 to 7:10. I have lucky run with perfect mutators of 6:02!
Video: