I think there’s something extremely wrong with using Grim Fate and not using Sigil of Consumption. SoC is great for sustain in fights, which means more survivability.
Your armor value is way too low for your level due to using low level blue pieces. Your hp seems ok though, at least for elite and non-highend ultimate.
Imo drop dying god and get some defensive stuff like Solemn Watcher.
I tried SoC some time ago and was not convinced, but may be it is time to give it another try. What should I drop to get it?
Indeed, I need to improve armor level, but it seems that I have been unlucky with drops. I will try to find some good greens, for the pant and boots especially. I could also try to fit in Ancient Armor Plate, but it would be a trade against resistances. Do you think it is worth it?
Everybody seems to praise dying God for the speed and critical, that’s why I tried to fit it in. My OA seems to be good enough to crit, do you think I miss a bit of DA?
Anyway thanks a lot for the useful comments!
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I would either leave bwc at 1/1/12 and go with FS+SoC or become a full caster and use BWC+SoC.
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No, ancient armor won’t give you much amor compared to upgrading your gear. Once you get level 90 you could try checking Coven/Barrowholm/Malmouth faction shops, provided you have Revered ofcourse.
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Good enough OA is 3k+.
Yes you have less than 2k DA, it’s not ok for ultimate, because common enemies there would have about 1900 OA and bosses around 2.3-2.6k OA. It’s good to aim for 2.6k DA at least for lvl100 ultimate or accept that bosses will sometimes crit you for high damage.
I’m fairly new at this but I did experiment fairly extensively with the fire/burn pyromancer, both ranged and melee. However, I’ve completed AoM, the secret quests, and can run the rogue-likes farily rapidly. I didn’t have dps to overcome Lokkar’s regen at the time, but I might try it again with better gear finds. I only give the history to show that I have experimented with a similar learning curve and it was my first character.
My thoughts:
-Resists could be mixed and matched for the area you want to go to, if you can’t make them all max. Ie, you don’t really need a lot of aether resist in the void. This is where augment swaps from the factions help and also some components swaps. You really do want to max the appropriate resists where possible and in some cases overcap particular ones up to 30% depending on what boss you are fighting. Resists are huge.
-I know you want to do a fire/chaos mix, but sadly most of the oomph for this mix would come from better gear that you do not have. So I’d strongly suggest focus on either fire/burn or chaos until you get more gear options and a few more levels for extra points. Some end-game items will give + skill bonuses and give you more options, but currently your points will be tight.
For example, if you were to focus on the fire side for now, you could redistribute/focus a lot of points and still get reasonable damage numbers. You can always change them back if you don’t like the new feel.
That doesn’t necessarily mean changing everything: Possession is great for damage absorption, blood of dreeg for regen and poison resist/phys damage resist, etc …even if you go fire based just for example.
-Dying god is good imho for a full-on chaos build but is likely too much for a mixed fire/chaos, espeicially with middle-range gear. I think you first need to focus on surviving through the tougher fights (especially if you plan on doing the rogue-like areas). Which means getting more defense in armor and resists and some of the defensive devotions.
Personally, I’d get rid of Dying God, Imp, and Lizard. Complete Behemoth for yellow/red and regen/health. That leaves you 12? points to put in defensive help. Maybe go Sailor + Solemn Watcher or Tortoise +Solemn Watcher or Solemn Watcher and something else of interest. The very first star of Magi gives a decent bonus to fire/burn and the missed Ulzin Torch star gives +100% burn with flat burn. It is also not bad to grab a star that gives some resistance you are struggling with at present-temporarily.
-Until you find better gear, constellations are your defensive friend. Keep in mind you can reorganize at most any time in future as aether crystals are fairly common to find.
Fiend is good for melee. Everything but the proc is pretty minimal return, but if you can boost the proc damage with some +%damage fire/burn/chaos…it will make a big difference to damage output and indirectly to extra life leech as your base WD is also a collection of pys/fire/burn/choas…and Flame Torrent procs will ultimately return %WD times whatever %Adch (life leech) you have. When using Thermite Mines to proc it, that is. (although mobs/boss/heros do have varying % resist to life-leech so ymmv)
Viper is generally good , especially if you need OA. Viper is arguable for the 3%OA and flat RR, but keep in mind flat RR can not help negative like %RR, So once you start using Thermite mines and BWC, etc to get the % negative…it loses effect. Flat RR is also added at the end of the RR calc, so you’ll rarely get full value from it unless you rarely use the other %RR stuff. %RR that does go negative is just like adding +% to that particular damage. However…I think ultimate mobs get 18% free elemental resists. The very helpful use of Viper RR is with certain boss/nemesis that have really high (90ish) elemental resists, and you absolutely would get full value from Viper in this case.
Also you could look at Chariot of the Dead for the heal/DA proc (also lots of OA)…although you might have to struggle to find the 5 purple needed…probably have to switch Fiend for Owl, then go chariot. Owl is not bad, but that’s probably more juggling than you want to do.
Two good fire constellations are Alladra’s Phoenix and Rhowans crown(Elemental Storm) , - but Rhowans also requires some blue investment…
Since you are using 1H + shield, you might browse some of the shield defense constellations for +%block. There might be something valuable in these constellations. (I experimented with 2H only so I don’t really know about this aspect)
Armor. As mentioned, look at pieces that up your armor. Very often it is worth taking a hit to damage output for better protection armor +DA and %phys resist. You may take longer to kill but you also survive. Sometimes it means the difference between tanking and having to kite all the time. The big hits hurt a lot even when they do not crit. Don’t discount armor absorption - it is pretty important if you tend to get surrounded by mobs or if you want a little more help from your armor against bosses.
%Armor absorption means that 100-%armor absorption always gets through the armor. At 70% and say an Ultimate trash mob is hitting for 1000 means that even with 1000 armor, 300 is getting through. 10 trash mobs = x10. It adds up and your HP regen may not keep up. Note Physical %resist, %monster type resist and % damage absorption would apply in that order, after armor and reduce the damage getting through. For example 10% of each would mean 300x.9x.9x.9 = ~220 dmg taken. That’s still quite a bit from multiple sources, if in a pack of mobs.
Blast shield’s flat absorption is nice (comes in after DR/resists) but it is very short and if it is your main defence, then you have to be ready to kite within 4s of activation, until it recharges and mind it kicks in at 60% health which does not give much leeway for tight fights.
Some of the faction gear makes great filler pieces until you find better. Also, for a very good medal that will get you though most of the game - check with the Rover merchant in the “hidden” area of Blood Grove. It has base fire/burn and chaos resist. Check in each reset and buy one that has the prefix/suffix you want - it will surely be helpful. Or buy a few to swap around as resistances require. There are a few decent faction rings/amulets/medals that could work ok, as well.
-And don’t forget faction potions for short term help, such as the Homestead defence boost, Black legion OA boost, kymon’s AoE burn, etc. They only cost iron bits. Mind that the durations are pretty short.
It looks like you are trying to spread too much between melee and ranged. Generally heavy investment is good for better damage with a dedicated playstyle. Especially mid-game damage boosts.
There area few points that could be focused into more damage:
Searing Srike only benefits 1H melee, but not ranged at all.
Keep in mind you are not getting the Brimstone AoE for melee, although the flat damage does still apply. 12/12 is decent for the flat damage boost with your 2apr weapon (mythical grim fate).
You should try Stupid Dragon’s suggestion of minimal BWC + heavy SoC/Destruction investment. The life leech can be strong; I did respec and experiment for a small bit with this. It’s easy to respec back.
If you want melee, you could keep FS at 12/12 and Sol Witchblade at 12/12 for now. I’d be tempted to add more points to Aspect of the Guardian for the %phys resist and poison resist. Blood of Dreg is a bit of a pain to keep activating, though.
If ranged, you are not going to be overly dependant on Bwc. Remove Searing strike. My experience has been that it is easier to find good 2H ranged weapons initially. You could respec to dual pistols or 1H pistol at any time.
Also:
Since OA - DA, you can also use -DA to basically increase your OA effect. Grim Fate sword has a proc but it needs enemy deaths. On a solitaire boss this will not proc. 2 other ways (that will not stack with grim fate or each other):
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Flashbang. With your +4 demo, you could invest 1 skill for -110 DA. 1 more skill in Searing Light adds some decent CC chances. This is the most economical path for points.
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Vulnerability (Curse of fraility) can apply less -DA. However, it also applies elemental/acid/vitality %RR that will stack with Thermite mine %RR, Eldritch Fire RR and ultimately BWC RR. 5+1 points in Vun (1 for CoF) gets only -38DA but also -20%RR.
As you get new gear, you might tweak your points around. You may do this quite a few times depending on what gear combinations you put together. Sometimes it is better to wait going over the base max of skills and invest those points into better returns…at least until you get more level and gear skills. In most cases, the extra levels give significantly less boost than the regular levels.
Damage: initially you can focus on one type to boost damage significantly. My suggestion would be to prioritize % fire numbers, then chaos or burn (usually burn comes with fire, anyways, except for %elemental). Especially if you consider SoC/Destruction with Grim Fate Sword. Enchanted flint on sword gives flat fire, fire/burn % boost+ aura that gives another fire burn% boost. Sheild could also be fire% boost component or try %block boost for now - you may find useful equipment with %fire boost and decent defence. Best temp chest component is likely Kilarian’s soul for fire/burn +vitality resist. (Chains of Oleron is good too). The fire% boost also boosts the elemental ring set fire damage portion. You should be able to soon get another +300% fire or more…which will impact everything fire (weapon, skills). Etc. Temporarily.