It’s me again! (no splash image generated by AI this time)
On my bucket list for this game there’s a topic: to own (preferably with OC builds) one toon of each class variation.
I had a lot of Rutnick Blasters on my stash so I decided to roll an Oppressor with them. I got the devotions inspired by the Top 21 AAR Spellbinder but all the rest was on me, my stash and grimtools build calculator.
Now onto the build(s) itself.
First off, I’m not a builder myself so take that with a grain of salt. But I’ve played the game enough to at least spot some things.
Everything mentioned below are points for discussion and not straight up corrections:
Your WPS add up to 131%
I think in most cases you want it as close to 100 as possible, anything more is just diluting your procs. Maybe take a couple points off some class wps and spend elsewhere?
Is it set in stone that you want two Rutnicks?
I think you’d better off swapping one of them for some other Aether pistols (can’t remember off the top of my head, but there should be at least a couple). This would also solve the extra WPS% issue above.
Edit: I checked all the purple pistols and there are only two Aether options, and both are useless for Oppressor, so I guess there’s that.
What’s Celestial Presence for? If it’s only RR — the build doesn’t benefit from the pool.
The flat damage on Guardians doesn’t seem like much. Can save 3 points there.
Why cap Vire’s Might? 1 point would be enough.
Why take Volcanic Stride at all? Doesn’t seem like a skater build.
What I usually see is 1 point VM + 1 point Tectonic Shift.
In this case, if there’s no better place to put the freeid up points — max out Tectonic Shift for more CD reduction.
Imo, Bonemonger is better than Veilkeeper for this. Bonemonger + Chains of Ygraad will give you 100% vitality → aether conversion, so you can use Soul Harvest to buff your damage. Magelord rings would convert 50-60% of the cold (though not sure if that is better than other ring options).
I think you definitely want Ill Omen for (very good) damage reduction.
I would ditch Reaping Strike, which is single-target and has no pass-through. Your other WPS can easily reach 100% without it.
As @Noksion says, Vire’s Might is just for movement and can be 1-pointed (with Tectonic Shift ofc).
Bonemonger gives some aether %RR to Guardians, but they can be 1-pointed, along with Celestial Presence (I believe you need that to activate their aura).
Also, you need some flat RR. Maybe you have it and I’m not seeing it. Bonemonger adds it to Smite.
I’m talking about flat RR - the stat “N Reduced target’s Resistances …” It doesn’t stack with itself (so you only want one source) but it does stack additively with -%RR. For an aether build, one way to get it is the Revenant devotion. Another is from gear. Bonemonger gives 26 Reduced target’s Resistances for 3 Seconds to Smite, which is going to trigger on roughly 25% of your attacks, so it will be up almost the whole time.
Well, you can farm it in PV. Up to 60% vit->aether conversion (of the flat damage on Soul Harvest) is going to do a lot more for you than +2 to RF.
Multiple skellies don’t stack the effect. There is no way to stack multiple sources of Reduced target’s Resistances. If you have multiple sources only the strongest will take effect. (There’s a very good thread on RR mechanics. I would link it but I’m a bit too tired to search for it right now.)
Can you teach me the math for WPS? I recently discovered I was neglecting this aspect when building ranged characters.
As already answered by @Bas you just add all the chances.
There is one nuance that was left aside that I’ll cover here: why it’s not exactly a good thing to have more than 100%
See, you can’t proc two WPS on the same attack. So extra % above 100 is a wasted investment.
But what’s even worse is the fact that whenever you have more than 100%, all your chances get squished to fit 100% keeping the ratio, which might lead to your most preferred one getting triggered less.
Here’s an imaginary example to prove the point:
Let’s say you have 50% for your preferred WPS A, and two times 25% in other ones B and C, just to fill the gap. You’re happy at 100% optimal and half your attacks are getting that juicy favorite one (from 50%). The procs are split evenly for 1 / 2 of your attacks proccing A, 1 / 4 B and 1 / 4 C. Gucci.
Now you add another wps D with another 50% chance (for drammatic effect).
Now suddenly your B and C only proc 1 / 6 each, and your preferable A only procs 1 / 3, with D taking another 1 / 3.
That’s why it’s usually better to keep it as close to 100% as possible.
