I asked this on steam but thought I’d ask here as well I remember a while back they updated Aether Ray to pierce was wondering how good Aether Ray works now for future build’s. Does it change how good the spell is for Warlock’s and Spellbinder’s (More so for Warlock’s as Spellbinder’s are already pretty good but still curious about both.) I will admit I am tempted to rebuild my first grim dawn character a warlock if AAR is in a better place.
Deals less damage but the piercing made it far more enjoyable to use.
AAR is in better state for AoE damage.I suggest to try lightning MH or aerher Binder.
I will admit while I would love to remake my first character the warlock the ease of use of a spellbinder is also quite tempting. (Two oh !@#$ buttons and Spectral binding/wrath)
Aether AAR is absolute top tier now. That is if you build it right.
Warlock has no mastery synergy so unless gear - like Black Flame - is ridiculously buffed (which it’s not) it’s always gonna be a meme class in comparison to binders or cabalists.
I played chaos Lock and MH.
Move along strager:D.Even ritual circle,the only good thing about the set is not permanent.And both classes are very good defensively,but damage is lacking and Warlock struggle a lot with RR.
To OP - just ignore Warlock as a class combo overall and you would feel better and enjoy AAR on a Binder 
It is the only class worst than Saboteurs which speaks by itself on multiple levels.
On a rant note - conceptually i struggle to grasp why Crate does nothing for such obsolete classes like Warlocks but keeps introducing new sets for classes which are already top tier.
We’ve talked about MH in another thread, but what makes lightning and aether more effective?
Is it simply because the itemization largely seems to favour aether and/or elemental damage?
I really want to make chaos AAR work because of two very important reasons:
- Red > Blue.
- Black flame 4-set circle spell is neat.
Been tweaking my MH chaos AAR build and it currently looks like this.
Purposefully left pants without affix and prefix to show good rolls would be more of a luxury. Didn’t do it for the chest but honestly it’s the same there.
Like I talked about in the other thread I’m still curious to test Eternity for that ~3 seconds CDR every ~13.5 seconds. This because Hourglass gives 6 seconds CDR every 16 seconds (13 with Eternity) for a total of 9 seconds CDR. This puts Empowered Circle on a ~16s CD with 15s uptime.
Now losing -10% chaos RR kind of sucks but it’s only a difference between 121% and 131%.
Another thing I’m internally debating is if losing +1 to Inquisitor is worth it for 135 OA with Mythical Phantom-Thread Girdle instead of the +1 Arcanist & +1 Inquisitor Mythical Arcanoweave Cord in my GT.
Well I decided on spellbinder as I know my way around a necro fairly well and have made a spellbinder at one time (Back before they turned mirror’s reflect to lightning retal) I’ll ask this here what would be better for a Spellbinder channel Drain essence or Aether ray and while I’m at it Reckless Power or Harbinger of souls?
To me if you play Binder AAR you have to pick reckless power.For aether Drain essence I prefer actually Apostate.Spellbinder will be quicker probably,but Inquisitor seal adds more comfort.For aether AAR,Binder is God.
I’ve never actually used Channeled skills what I used on my last binder was basically the Mirror/Mark combo and Aeon’s hourglass. What makes AAR work so well with Reckless Power? Both in theory (Reckless Power and Harbinger of souls) sound like they’d work well with it is why I ask.
For AAR itself, Reckless Power and Harbinger of Souls are pretty much the same. Neither flat nor adcth has any impact on AAR because it has no weapon dmg, and all the other relevant stats are identical. But Reckless 1) is cheaper due to binder gear giving ranks to it, 2) gives flat to procs such as Spear of the Heavens, Bat or Flame Torrent. So go for Reckless, always.
If we use Conduit with weapon damage to AAR, part of flat damage from Reckless Power will be actually added to AAR?
Affirmative. And it will also heal with global adcth but at 22% capacity.
I tried chaos version the conduit,actually brings more positives defensively than offensively,I like combo conduit+restless remains+ghoul.
I may have hit something of a unique roadblock on my Aether Spellbinder least from an Aether ray standpoint…Heh all my level 50 gear Purples and Blues bumps up Aether ray about 11 points to where it has a 250 energy cost a second.
Channeling spells do have high cost,that’s why they are unsuitable for leveling.But even end game and with Arcanist,you may struggle.
Yeah I thought when I hit 50 since I had some casterish gear I’d switch from using the 2h (Soulsplitter) I had to 1h and offhand though didn’t notice most the gear buffed AAR or brought a + to arcanist skills good thing I have a backup plan thanks to my necklace (it convert’s 42% of vitality to aether and at 70 have a tome that while meant for an apostate would help my spellbinder out none the less with the 60% vitality to aether conversion) found the necklace while leveling the spellbinder.