The amount of extra physical damage is pretty low on this build
after some quick math, it comes out to about 8.5% - 15.5% more damage on your attack
basically, this build gets a vast majority of its damage from soul harvest (which is fully converted to cold) and other flat sources of cold damage in gear
Ok. As I said, I only studied quickly the build. But half of the physical damage is still not converted to cold, right? This means that every skill that has native physical damage or % weapon damage would lose half of the physical part, as total damage. If this is the case, I for one would consider how to somehow not lose that important slice of damage. Because another way to view it is like having -x% total damage to all your skills with physical or weapon damage.
It’s not (:
The closest thing I came across is this build. I for one would rather avoid builds that lose a lot of damage due to lack of conversions. That doesn’t mean that the OP is bad at making builds, it just means that some class combinations (with some particular skills being used) don’t work as well as you’d expect them to.
The Reaper combination on cold damage that I found (so far) to harmoniously tie itself together is just this one. Some class combinations work better only with a particular set of skills, in my opinion. It mainly has to do with how the game’s gear was designed.
Maybe the OP’s build would work better for a Blademaster, because there are weapons that can convert 50% of physical damage to cold, through one of the Soldier’s buffs.
Like these:
Then, the rest of the 50% could be added from components, affixes or one of the weapons that the OP wanted to use in the build. A Blademaster would also have Cadence as a DAR, so it won’t have to settle for Beronath’s Fury.
so all that work to add 8.5% - 15% damage from your weapon. nice.
Well, don’t take it the wrong way (your sarcasm is obvious), I was just suggesting how to get the most out of a build by using the right gear for the right class combination. Or at least that’s my own perspective on what to pursue. That 15% weapon damage that’s not converted becomes 30% weapon damage for a skill that uses 200% weapon damage. And this gets projected into “total damage modified by -x%”, depending on the ratio between unconverted and converted damage. And using Cadence would also add the flat bonus damage from Deadly momentum to it, not to mention you get a more powerful DAR. It achieves more than just full conversion. I’m all for using all of the database’s gear in builds, if you somehow manage to bind everything together as nicely as possible.
as i see it, by using Soldier instead you lose a big part of flat cold dmg you get from Nightblade skills, modified by equipment, and half of bonuses from equiped weapons, doesn’t matter which of them you will swap for Dreadweaver like in your example
also i suppose that Cadence overrides the WPS, so you will get less uses of them, although they are appear to be the core of the build!
Overall, it will be a different build, focusing on different aspects
You still get 100% WPS for the first two attacks of Cadence.
You lose the bonus from Lethal assault, but you gain the bonus from Soul harvest and Deadly momentum.
Will the +Phys on Deadly Momentum work effectively when Cadence and everything else is 100% converted to cold?
Also you get a lot of flat cold from Ellena’s Necklace
I think Mar’s idea was to ditch Necro for Soldier, ie make a Blademaster. However, Reaper is way way better.
The whole point was to say that some class combinations are better suited to be used with some particular skills, due to how the existing gear was designed. It kind of revolves around gear.
I saw the link for a Deathknight and got focused on this first
Well, even if its like that, either or, you lose a crucial part of the build, being it the tremendous amount of flat cold OR half of your -enemy res from auras
Yes, I mentioned that I couldn’t find a Reaper on cold damage (so far) that ties itself together as harmoniously as I’d want it to, except the one with Drain essence. That’s just my own taste, it doesn’t mean that the OP’s Reaper isn’t good enough for someone else’s taste. I’m pretty sure that the OP has made the best he could out of what the gear offers for the chosen skills. I’m not here to tower above or shame anyone. You’re right about losing one of the lower resist auras, though, if you replace one class with Soldier. Then I have homework to do, to see whether I can find gear for other variations of Reaper, except the one with Drain essence.
Yes. And turbocharged 30% hard capped Necrotic Edge. And deluxe DR from Ill Omen.
Have you looked at a Dervish with conduit for 100% phys/fire>cold for RF? Might appeal if it distresses you to leave any base weapon damage unconverted. Very good with the buffed-in-1.3 Deathmarked set.
Oh, I just remembered that I came across a different class combination that has a lot of lower resist debuffs from both classes (since you mentioned the loss you’d have by using Soldier) and preserves the same theme of having a DAR + WPS, except that the scaled damage type is vitality, instead of cold.
And an Oppressor, also on vitality damage.
And a Dervish on acid damage.
Another Death knight on vitality damage, except it has a RR aura less.
This was the whole point, I for one am usually on the lookout for gear and transmuters that help to achieve max conversion, so I won’t lose too much damage or at all. So, the gear kind of forces you to take a particular path (in order to get the most out of it) or rather some skills only work better with specific gear.
Yes, that’s exactly one of the builds I came across a while back. I have a list of 100+ builds so far and I usually try to keep only the ones that assemble themselves as harmoniously as possible. If you ask me, I think the game devs already made all these builds before releasing the game (or new gear), because most combinations assemble themselves rather well. We’re just walking in their footsteps over here.
I think I’ve found my first fighter Reaper (on acid damage). I’m actually excited whenever I find a use for granted skills like Voracious reach.
I went for these, at 62 lvl (still not finished forgotten gods and not entered malmouth)
ez farm (honored with outcasts witch in fort ikon)
I updated the build to the current version.