How do you think the build would fare in HC mode? I’m thinking of running it on HC mode to see how far I would get.
I’m not entirely new, ran HC on a couple of builds (ran a Blitz DK and a Trozan Druid, though Trozan Druid didn’t last long I admit). Do you think the build would do fine in HC based on the sustain you get with the build?
Probably middle of the road.
If “HC build” means “omega-tanky” for you, this is not that kind of tanky.
There’s enough HP and a mix of sustain that I personally wouldn’t mind taking it to HC, but my expectation would not be for it to live forever.
It’s not a cooldown-caster with totems or minions, so you can only do limited DPS while kiting.
But at least it’s not a super-squishy melee build who lives on a diet of aether clusters.
Best way to approach it, imo, it to just play it for the fun of it, maybe it’ll live and farm some good stuff for the next character.
i have Ultos Primal Strike Warder (Shaman + Soldier) focused on HP regen, would suggest to go that way.
check this thread.
We do have a beginner guide for this [1.2.1.6] Hardcore Beginner Lightning Cooldown Primal Strike Warder SR26
i personally don’t like combining Savagery + Primal Strike as I focus too much to push Primal Strike button after cooldown and sometimes i lose concentration on dangers around the char which can be fatal on hardcore.
Flat RR on War Cry without reduced skilldown basically means you play without flat RR at all or 50% uptime against bosses at best case scenario - if you use full Ultos set - which is the way to go, in my opinion.
Proc on the boots is a source of damage reduction, though.
Blueprint for Ultos Helmet is target farmable from vendor in Ancient Grove roguelike dungeon (you open the vendor tab, you see different blueprints, you go to another room, wait for 30 seconds, come to back to vendor -repeat until you find required blueprint, then you craft the helmets and transmute them into different parts of Ultos set). This is valid for level 75 items and it’s worth adding to the guide, in my opinion.
i personally cleared all hardcore achievements with spam Primal Strike Warder with non-mythical Ultos set, the only danger of dying was to Gargabol on Ultimate.
Thanks for the build guide, i’m almost lvl 100 on a fresh save, been fun and easy.
You mentioned Raka’Jax as an option for weapon swapping to increase single target damage a bit, can you please explain how exactly this would be done?
Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
That button (or hotkey) swaps your weapon. So you could have a Raka’Jax there.
I don’t use it, but some people like that feature.
Potential pitfalls are the attack speed (Raka has none) and your Wind Devils will unsummon, when you swap away from the +2 Shaman (and also will unsummon if you have a bonus to Wind Devils on your main weapon).
I see, thanks for the explanation!
Sounds like it’d be a bit too annoying for little payoff…
Do you have any idea how useful/how much of a DPS increase this would be (against stuff like Nemesis in SR or celestial bosses)? And gameplay wise, would it just be: swap to Raka → 1 quick PS shot → swap back, every 10 seconds or so?
Uh, no, that would do nothing except make your wind devils disappear.
You would use the normal gun in Shattered Realm shards and then swap Raka in the boss room, or you’d use the normal gun while running a skeleton key dungeon and then swap Raka when you spot a nemesis approaching.
But like you said, that seems… not worth the hassle.
In addition to the issues HonorabruSudoku mentioned, even though Raka gives +2 points to all Shaman skills (very nice) the normal gun gives 4 points to Primal Strike. So when swapping, you’d lose 2 effective points there, which cuts in to your damage again, unless you waste 2 skillpoints by normally being over the maximum cap… (And let’s not even think about the case where you find a Skyfallen Sparkthrower of Alacrity, that gun gives you +8 primal strike! So you’d lose 6 points when sweapping)
I probably don’t really understand how the game works then. I assumed you’d swap to Raka to get a big electrocute proc, then immediately swap back.
Tho ultimately, even if that was how it worked, with all the drawbacks and annoyances you guys are mentioning, i don’t think i’d end up doing it anyway lol
Appreciate all the info, the idea is off the table then 