Since Shadow Strike is my favorite skill, I always want to try different builds around it and noticed I haven’t tried Dunefiend version.
Also DW acid builds always have good performance as Dervish and added CDR from Path of the Three is extra boost for Shadow Strike builds. But how about Witch Hunter focused not on CDR and lowest possible downtime on SS but build around chance of reduce cooldown via multiple sources and lot’s of damage?
Credits to @Superfluff since I saw his video after I made my build and to @grey-maybe since I’ve copy&pasted his devotion route.
*PS title is a joke regarding the Mage Hunter topic.
Key here is the Dunefiend set - 4pcs of head, chest and 2x weapons. Also:
Rings are 2x Shuroth for conversion and nice procs.
Medal is giving much needed OA/DA for this build. I opt to Gildam Arcanum suffix for extra chance of CDR.
Amulet is Pestilence of Dreeg -RR proc and +1 to Occultist.
Relic is Belgo one, nice supplement both offensively and defensively. Option is Nidalla.
Belt is Pack of Deadly whatever. Conversion, flat acid and OA, all valuable stats.
Pants are Slitscale, since I need the +skill points badly.
Boots and gloves are standard items for acid builds. Good that boots were added slow. Shoulders are Zantarin, nice +skill points and physical resistance, they are nice but not mandatory.
Devotions:
Both acid T3 devotions - Abomination and Yugol. Scales for healing and flat RR and Ghoul are making this build extremely resilient.
Performance
In Crucible build can make 4x runs with almost no sweat. It’s pretty tough to die with but I would still pay attention to tougher waves, not complete God mode. Alex is really slow to be killed, he’s the most unwanted Nemesis to roll in Crucbile. Even Kaisan is fast compared to Alex.
Times are around 5:20 on average, I don’t think I’ve done good enough run though. Video of 5:08:
In SR did 75/76 two times and build is decent for that level of the realms, perhaps some players can push it deeper. Video from SR 75th shard:
Thank you for taking the time to make the thread about that is the burstiest SS build besides cold breakers.
After I tested it a month ago and made the video only i can recommend the following for faster kills:
Putrid Necklace. As expensive as it is, it makes a difference.
NOT using Belgo relic, against your best instincts. Nidalla is excellent AoE for a build that needs it and further empowers your SS By a great margin. (Especially SS Dots on Nems and bosses - 400K and move on)
I know the instinct is to lower the CDR as much as possible with SS but the design is different with this set. It’s about when you cast SS to make use of it;s amazing burst and dots and you might also get a 100% CDR proc and burst again. The gameplay overall requres more patience and forethought than Lox breakers and Noctirn. But when you get the hang of it it’s great.
Anyway that’s my take on it.
As for devos. I think Gaze is enough for survivability. I pretty much went for all AoE and it’s fine. Tainted Erruption on Rune is Amazing complement to SS for trash
I’ve saw your build later. I think it’s slightly more offensive and you count on procs to do the damage, while SS is on cool down. While I tried to reset it’s duration for multiple nukes, definitely both approaches are viable.
Good job here! SS is my favorite skill as well and I just hit 100 with it (even thought I was playing GD till act 3 release ).
Getting that set takes time and I’m ok with it, but I’ve been looking for the rest 2 pieces of it ingame 20 hours around all Cairn without success. Do you know where the chance drop of it could be higher? I didn’t find info about that, sadly.
P.S.: I have all DLC’s of corse.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pwEEJN
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