RxJunkie's Wheelin' n' Double Damage Dealin' Digest!

RxJunkie · November 11, 2024, 5:37am

Very nice job with this Aether/Lightning Rituatist @DeputyChuck.

I made one with this set a while ago before pass-through was removed on the few rifles that had it as a hidden feature. After that was changed I moved to Druid since Upheaval needed much more OA to trigger very frequently with the lack of pass-through abuse. Ritualist, in my opinion, couldn’t go straight Upheaval and seemed like the set wanted you to go full Reaping Strike/Necrotic Edge and forgo Upheaval. With my Druid that I will post after this, I have a 35% Crit chance with about 3800 OA, which just wrecks when it happens. Stacking the WPS with Ritualist that has 3000 OA means Upheaval gets dropped to maybe under 10% chance to trigger overall?

If I want Upheaval to be my thing, then I want it as much as possible and to hit as hard as it can… This set was a god-send when Z put it in the game!

Just my 2 cents!

This is a fantastic combo here and I might have to ~~steal~~ borrow that chest/boot/weapon combination for my 2H Melee Acid/Cold Cadence Blademaster I’ll post in a while. That combo works really well and it has a very nice muted blue-green vibe going on.

5 #Flair points for you! Woooo!

RxJunkie · November 11, 2024, 7:04am

Magestorm - 2H Melee Aether/Lightning Savagery/Upheaval Druid

Using 4/4 Veilkeeper Set to super-charge Upheaval and provide lots of Health Regeneration
Wielding Temporal Arcblade for the +2 to all Arcanist skills and for the sweet Aether /Lightning proc:

Using 2/3 The Arcane Tempest Set for lots of OA and the Purging Touch gloves for another Aether /Lightning proc:

~2000 Health Regeneration (going up to ~8000 HP/sec with Arcane Will & Giant’s Blood active)
~2200% Aether /~2300% Lightning before Spirit Bonus
33% Chance for +495% Lightning Damage
30% Chance for +250% Lightning Damage
40% Chance for +155% Lightning Damage
-64% Aether /-59% Lightning RR (+20% Reduced target’s Elemental Resistances)

(vs Dummy with all buffs active via DPYes)

Build Comment: When the Veilkeeper Set was unveiled in v1.1.9.0, I knew I had to make a character using it ASAP! With stats like these, it was hard to pass up using… This was especially true when buffing what most people thought was an often overlooked and passed by skill, Upheaval. Just look at this beautiful set!

-10 #Flair points to Z for using Soul’s Touch & Deathwalker’s Grace for the Fashion Dawn! No Wooo! for you!

With almost 4k OA, this set on a Druid just wrecks when Upheaval triggers (and that’s about 35%+ of the time!). Upheaval when using the Veilkeeper set really transforms into a massive:

istockphoto-1432637895-612x612

Get that Attack Speed and OA up as high as you can and just watch that Health disappear from monsters! Entire groups just poof and disappear into the Aether with a swing of your sword.

Speaking of swords, the Temporal Arcblade is a sight to behold with the almost constant zapping of Aether colored Lightning Bolts pouring down from the sky. This character I made to maximize the amount of Lightning Bolts cascading around. Using this sword, the gloves, Maelstrom from 3 Wind Devils, and Reckless Tempest, there is literally not one second that passes without some form of Lightning shooting around. I could have gotten more by using 2 Glyphs of the Storm Witch, but that would have meant using the Conduit of Wild Whispers with the 25% Lightning Damage Converted to Aether Damage. Overall my OA and damage would have dropped just to gain 2 more Chain Lightning procs… not worth it!

The key to survival here is leaning into the Health Regeneration that is on all 4 pieces of the Set as well as the Set Bonuses. Forget ADCtH, Health Regen reigns supreme here! Couple that with a few Devotions like Lizard and Behemoth (plus Giant’s Blood) and you can stand strong in the face of some really terrifying enemies. Grab enough Health (over 17k here) plus the 25% Damage Absorption from Maiven’s Sheild of Protection and you’re G2G!

Kaizan and his Eldritch Shards? No biggie.
Benn’Jahr chopping you with the 4 Arm Strike of Death(R)? Nah, just a tickle.

This character is literally a 3 button build… hold left-click to DELETE mobs, use Will of the Fallen Kings to trigger Raise the Dead and hit Evade when necessary (or to move quicker between packs!). That’s it - pretty simple!

RxJunkie · November 11, 2024, 7:46am

Iskandra’s Torment - 2H Melee Elemental/Chaos Cadence Witchblade

4/4 Rah’Zin’s Torment Set to buff Zolhan’s Technique & provide -RR% support
Wielding Scion of Arcane Force for those sweet Cadence modifiers
Wearing Voidrend Talons and using the Discord Cadence Transmuter to split the Physical Damage 50%/50%
Using Mark of the Dreadblade for some extra oomph! to Cadence plus the nice proc
~1600% Elemental /~2000% Chaos Damage before Spirit Bonus
-73% Elemental /-108% Chaos RR (Additional -23% Fire RR and +20% Reduced target’s Elemental Resistances)

(vs Dummy with all buffs active via DPYes)

Build Comment: Just a little build I slapped together to see if Elemental /Chaos is possible and can be done. It can, barely… What carries this build is the stacked mods on the Scion of Arcane Force, Discord Transmuter and the converted Aether Damage from the Mark of the Dreadblade.

Not the best build overall, very much a meme, but it is interesting to see it complete! And it does kind of work…

#Flair is pretty nice with the purple and runic-type pattern of the Iskandra’s Unification Set - I’ve always enjoyed it visually. It matches with the Doomtouch gloves as well as the gold and purple glow from the hammer. Simple and effective.

I’ve been brainstorming what other Elemental /Chaos DDD Builds I can come up with and I think doing a FoI build of some sort may work. My (very) rough draft of items is looking decent here so far. From what I can see there is enough item support, so I will work on it and post it up when I’ve got it ready. Wish me luck!

Now it’s time for me to post some fresh DDD Builds that are not Witchblades!

DeputyChuck · November 11, 2024, 1:03pm

Yeah, I went back to the druid version after that, but it was too easy to steer it back to just lightning… So I did that (Here for reference) Very close to what you did, except yours has much higher OA, while mine leaned more heavily into health regen.

I really like what you did though, and will be tweeking mine accordingly… There is room for both health regen and more OA if you make the compromises that I wasn’t ready to make at first.

RxJunkie · November 11, 2024, 1:50pm

The temptation (and itemization!) is very strong sometimes to become a Traitor to the DDD Cause and make a single damage character. But that energizes me to find the workaround that is needed to #GetYourFlairOn properly! Wooo!

If I was truly one of the dirtiest & filthiest GHStashers at heart I would have made a double pair of Magestorm Gollus Rings of Nature’s Bounty and a nice Magestorm Kaisan’s Burning Eye of Nature’s Bounty…

I did see your DA on this Druid and the Ritualist were a touch on the low side (for me). What is the Crit % of hard hitters against your character? I know there has been some debate about whether reducing Crit % against yourself is worthwhile since monsters don’t get Crit Damage boosts… I do notice when a character is getting critted when you just can’t deal with the incoming damage. Personally I try to be around 2700 DA to negate that Crit %. Have you seen something similar when playing?

DeputyChuck · November 11, 2024, 2:12pm

Honestly, I’m too inattentive to notice crits from enemies
I tend to build characters with a lot of health, so that those crits get washed off, especially on characters with lots of health regen, where the ebb and flow of damage taken sort of average out as long as I’m not dying. I could probably benefit from having more DA, but I’ve never really noticed the difference… except against Grava.

I think it matters way more with characters that mitigate damage using circuit-breakers.

RxJunkie · November 11, 2024, 3:29pm

That certainly does help! Honestly it’s really tough to even notice crits except you hear the character cry out when critically hit. And that’s tough to hear when there are so many sounds going off in battle anyways. Ever since the Critical Hit notification of the red number pop up was removed a long, long time ago it’s been rather difficult to see.

DeputyChuck · November 12, 2024, 2:14pm

Ok, so I was working on this build, and it kinda turned out to be about 70/30 Vitality/Bleed.

My intention is to post it as its own thread because it works really well so far, but not only would it fit the bill here, but it would be both a nice preview and an opportunity for me to ask for input to make it better. (Plus, I think I knocked it out of the park this time for fashion Dawn)

We already have quite a lot of bleed/vitality builds here, and it’s probably one of the easiest DD combo out there… So it might be a bit too much.

Should I post it?

RxJunkie · November 12, 2024, 2:42pm

I have no issue with builds that are 70/30 splits, the important part is that they are intended to be DDD Builds. Bleeding is kind of rough to get to work 50/50 most times as the skills just don’t support it enough. The opposite is true as well, like with my Sanguinius BM who as a 30/70 Physical/Bleeding split.

Feel free to post it on it’s own and I can link it in the Build Index anyways. I was planning to link a bunch of forums builds that are certified DDD in the Index to provide other options.

Nah, there’s never enough for any type (even one that’s easier like Vitality/Bleeding)!

For this reason alone, you must share it somewhere on the board. #GetYourFlairOn Wooo!

DeputyChuck · November 13, 2024, 2:01am

Harvester of Sorrow - Dual-wielding Vitality/Bleed Bone Harvest Ritualist

Blood Knight set
Zero cooldown TRIPLE Wendigo totem
0.6 second cooldown Bone Harvest
Ridiculous sustain:
30% ADCtH, 21% heal each second from totems, Bat, Scale, and others ADCtH procs
2700% Vitality damage and about 2000% Bleeding
-148% Vitality and -104% Bleed RR (Including Scales proc)

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(Bone harvest and Wendigo totem are VERY skewed to vitality, but most of the procs (And pets) are much more bleed oriented… it’s probably closer to 75/25 than to the 70/30 I initially said)

Build notes:
This build was born trying Blood Knight Bone harvest. I first tried dual Bonescyth for zero cooldown Bone harvest, (To proc bloodbathed as often as possible) but toning it down just a bit actually netted more DPS, and didn’t force me to accrue loads of casting speed. And since the 2 weapons also produced an extra Wendigo totem, and together brought the cooldown to zero, the second mastery choice was obvious.

Gameplay is pretty easy: drop your totems and wail away with bone harvest until everything is dead. If something doesn’t die quickly, use Devouring swarm on it and repeat step 1 and 2.

Flair :
I was first going for the Victorian wide-brimmed hat look, and no clue what prompted me to try the Leather with silver/gold trim pattern and purple accents vibe, but once I matched Silver Sentinel chest with Bounty hunter shoulder, I knew I had to find matching elements to complete the look. Pants are barely visible, but they also have purple, leather and silver trim. Gloves get somewhat matching trim, and boots are there to complete the purple glow brought about by the scarf and weapons, but even them have light trims reminiscent of the rest of the kit. I was even able to match the medal using Serendir’s Commendation. Weapon choice really came down to a purple glow while not being too obstrusive. Kilrian’s Skullbreaker looks fantastic IMO, and I sorta picked the other at random, but there were about 3 sticks that worked very well too… (Should have maybe picked 2 Skullbreakers… oh well)

As for the helmet, I debated using several of them, including Dagalon’s and Runebinder’s, but the magi helmet looked the best to me, despite the trimming not matching as well.

My oldest girl (8yo) really wanted me to upload pictures with the Bysmiel helmet too, citing that while the tone was a bit too dark/gold to fit with the rest, the trim pattern was a closer match.

I’ll let you be the judge

Edit:
Octavius and Visage of the Paragon also complete the look in their own way… And these boots might be an even better match, even though they don’t glow purple

20241112211442_1 20241112211950_1

Conclusion:
Honestly, I think this is one of the best builds I have made lately, and I want to maximize its potential. If anyone has suggestions on how to make it better, I would appreciate any input you have.

RxJunkie · November 13, 2024, 6:49pm

I really like what you did here @DeputyChuck both in the build and the #Flair!

I think you were right that the Magi helmet looks best out of the bunch (except sometimes our young daughters win!). The Bysmiel helmet looks like somebody smashed it flat with a big hammer!

This is a common thing with Bleeding Damage and you will see either builds get tons of Bleeding inherently from skills or it’s just kind of tacked on at the end. Looking at the other builds posted so far, two were stronger in Vitality vs Bleeding and the other two were the exact opposite. I think trying to add Bleeding on to BH just isn’t that feasible and there isn’t exactly much that gets put on. The alternative is to get other skills to even the damage out or to attempt to stack as much through the Weapon Damage on BH, but there is a limit to that as well…

I had made this as a Cabalist (which now you’re going to make me post later tonight! ) that is probably not as tanky as your Ritualist since I lack the Wendigo Totems. I focused more on 0 CD BH spam and Casting Speed to apply the damage as fast as I can to leech back and I tried to get more flat Bleeding applied through the WD portion of BH. Maybe my Devotion map could help you out? I’m not sure entirely.

As always I enjoy the build, your Fashion Dawn skills and your continued interest in making DDD builds!

RxJunkie · November 15, 2024, 2:04pm

Bloodspike - DW Caster Vitality/Vitality Decay/Bleeding Spam Blood Harvest/Siphon Souls Cabalist

4/4 Blood Knight Set for Defensive & -RR% support
Wielding two Bloodthirsty Bonescythes of Annihilation to enable spam Bone Harvest
Wanton Carnage Set for lots of added Damage (but no skills unfortunately! )
~2500% Vitality /~2500% Vitality Decay Damage with +210% Vitality Decay Duration/~2900% Bleeding Damage with +500% Bleeding Duration before Cunning/Spirit Bonus
-119% Vitality /-113% Bleeding RR

(This Fashion Dawn took quite some time! Sorry for the delay in posting…)
Bloodspike GT

(vs Dummy with all buffs active via DPYes - No Tip the Scales or Spectral Wrath applied!)

Build Comment: With almost any Vitality /Bleeding DDD Build, you can simply start with the Blood Knight Set and go from there. Combine that with the Wanton Carnage Set and you’re pretty much 90% of the way to the finish line. These are very versatile sets that work for so many classes for this damage combo - and that’s a good thing in my opinion!

The hard part then becomes finding ways to get that Casting Speed as close to maximum as you can. Once you do that, spam BH becomes a reality and you can start dishing out the pain. One thing to note here is that both Spectral Wrath and Tip the Scales -RR% is not being applied to the Dummy. This means that even though DPSYes lists the damage as a 50/50 split, it is more like a 60/40 split in reality and this also depends on what you are fighting.

Getting Bleeding Damage applied to BH is tough and so I opted to try and get as much added to the Weapon Damage % that I could through the use of the Fox, Huntress and Mogdrogen the Wolf Devotions as well as Ateph’s Command Augments on my jewelry. Every bit counts!

I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon Benn’Jahr inside the Bastion of Chaos and managed to slaughter him without trouble. I hadn’t noticed he spawned and he looked pretty similar to the other Obsidian Heroes around him. So tankiness is definitely there!

Fashion Dawn proved to be quite difficult here. I wanted to play off of the “spike” of BH and so I went with the Rotgheist Set to start. After that I used the Ghol’s Reach Gloves that kind of match as well as the Ravager’s Barb for the weapons with the Ravager’s Harvest Augment to give it a slight Vitality /Bleeding effect. I think it was a success in the end despite taking lots of back and forth to decide on a final look. Wooo!

Uncle_Mac · November 16, 2024, 3:52pm

Not sure if a retal build counts? I have a Grenado/BWC spam Commando that (unintentionally) wound up being a 60/40-ish split between Fire & Lightning.

RxJunkie · November 16, 2024, 4:23pm

Definitely! Just #GetYourFlairOn and post it on up!

Uncle_Mac · November 17, 2024, 3:23pm

“Megaton” : RATA Grenado Commando

Here’s a 75 run with DPYes

Still a work in progress. I generally didn’t know what the heck I was doing with this. Retal is my least played archetype and most of the Commando retal builds I looked up are from the pre-physical nerf era when converted flat damage bypassed armor. So I ended up adapting it to work with BWC and the results are ok. Ends up being around a 60/40 split Lit/Fire most of the time. The damage is quite spiky depending on Ulzuin chaining.

The GT retal stats aren’t very accurate, I guess because the conversions are a bit wonky.

stats2

megaton

Anyways, I like to play it despite the shortcomings. To put it in Ric Flair terms, this is my Bomb Blastin’, Cocktail Slingin’, Thermite Sizzlin’, Blastshield Blazin’ son of a gun

RxJunkie · November 17, 2024, 4:40pm

Bas · November 19, 2024, 12:15am

With that in mind, it’s probably better to take reckless power with the attack speed and flat aether rather than stormcaller with crit damage.

RxJunkie · November 19, 2024, 12:51am

I’ll give it a try and we’ll see!

RxJunkie · November 19, 2024, 3:05am

I played both versions for a bit and it was a wash. Pretty much no significant difference between them, DPS was the same +/- 5%. There was a more even distribution of damage with Reckless Power vs slightly more Lightning with Stormcaller.

So I guess whichever has better #Flair as an aura!

Bas · November 19, 2024, 1:04pm

Ah, alright. I figured the attack speed would help more than the crit, but I guess not