So, it is two days I’m thinking about this char. I like the idea of DW two of these Damnation, since I have already found but…
1 - Nobody, at least from what I’ve seen, is using %attack converted to Health in the most efficient builds as sustain, at least with high values. Is it so bad?
(Maybe I’m wrong)
2 - Class choice: Conjurer, Witch Hunter or Witchblade? Both seem to have nice combinations together, but since the choice on weapons, I would like to stick to one of the first two. I bet that the latter would have more survivability.
On occultist, Solael’s Witchfire and Curse of Frailty for +damage and -resists.
Maybe Possession, if not going Conjurer (thus loosing Primal Bond)
Devouring Swarm and Wendigo Totem seem nice options…
Nightblade has all the nice stuff from DW tree, Soldier can increase lot of resistance and buff/debuff.
3 - Items: I think about Lifegiver Signet and something like this Warp Shard to boost %Life steal. I think 50% lifesteal is easily reachable.
4 - Devotions: These will balance all the build, but Wendigo ad 5/6 of Revenant seem nice for a melee lifestealer. All the rest for resistance and OA/DA.
Some feedback based on someone more expert than me would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.
I have been farming for vit gear to make this build. I’m currently leveling a witchblade and will see how it goes. Apparently life steal is terrible for bosses though so we will see.
The issue with Life Steal is that a lot of bosses/nemesis have a high resistance or are even immune to it. If that is your only form of survivability you’ll have a hard time versus these enemies.
My WH build is kind of based on life steal for survival. Some devotions to help for boss fights but in crowds you are basicaly immortal if you dont get stunlocked.
My piercing Blademaster has around 15% lifesteal, and it’s more than enough. Either one crit fills my health bar up, or the enemy is immune to lifesteal. There is no reason for gimping your damage output by focusing on vitality in melee (vitality damage conjurer with Devouring Swarm and Sigil is a different story) just so you can make use of vitality conversion and bonuses, when you can just build a normal piercing or elemental damage melee guy (blademaster, elementalist, sabo…) which does a shitload of damage and get some lifesteal where you can (lifegivers, devotion, black star…). In the end, a lot of lifesteal with low damage is the same thing as low lifesteal with a lot of damage.
Unfortunately, Solael’s and Second rite are horrible at increasing melee DPS, especially compared to Fire strike and Dual blades. And don’t forget that chaos and vitality resistances are much more common and much harder to debuff than piercing or elemental.
Also keep in mind that you will have no natural stun resistance, and will get locked for a significant amount of time in Ultimate. Empty throne and Leathery hide will help though.
You can debuff it to an extent with “all resistance” and “% all resistance” reductions. Most notably, Manticore constellation, Black star of deceit, Essence of Chton (Legion weapon augment) and Malediction relic (which was nerfed pretty hard).