Witch-hunter Hybrid caster/melee Acid/cDot Poison
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“A Dreeg’s kiss is most likely similar to a Frenchkiss, exept it involves Slithtongues and that you have to find a new partner each time you perform it, no matter how careful you are with your oral hygiene.”
[RIGHT]Anonymous Witch-Hunter[/RIGHT]
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You will notice this quickly, this build is very similar to Caedas’ Handmaiden of Dreeg, in many ways, including gear choice and devotion setup.
To a certain extent, this present build could even be considered a caster/melee hybrid variation of it.
However, The Dreeg’s Kiss proposes a different approach to building an Ultimate viable Poison DoT Witch-Hunter.
This build is mainly based on dual-wielding Slithtongues
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TL;DR :
Step 1) Collect Slithtongues
Step 3) PROFIT
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VIDEOS : Dreeg’s Kiss Build Playlist
Gear (Soon to be added)
Bastion Of Chaos Ultimate :
Bastion Of Chaos Devotion Shrine Fight and Meeting with Mr. Blok’Anatu
Part 1/3 Discord and Fields Of Despair
Part 2/3 Anarchy
Part 3/3 Entropy
Nemesis Hunt :
Episode 01 : Benn’Jahr (Chthonic)
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The Gear :
Best in Slots, Must haves and recommended gear (end-game) :
Weapon #1 :
Slithtongue
Augmented with : Outcast’s-Venom
Materia : Mark-of-Dreeg
Weapon #2 :
Slithtongue
Augmented with : Outcast’s-Venom
Materia : Vitriolic-Gallstone
Pants :
Nidalla’s Legwraps
Gloves :
Viperfang-Grips
Boots :
Venomspine-Greaves
Ring #1 :
Empowered-Ring-of-Eternal-Rot
with Ectoplasm (mandatory due to high mana consumption)
and Mogdrogen’s-Sanctity
Ring #2 :
Ring-of-the-Black-Matriarch
with Ectoplasm (mandatory due to high mana consumption)
and Mogdrogen’s-Sanctity
Amulet :
Avatar-of-Mercy
with Focusing Prism
and Mogdrogen’s-Sanctity
Recommended :
Armor :
Vestments-of-the-Great-Guardian
Spidersilk-Hauberk
Fiendscale-Jacket
Belt :
Thorn-Girdle-of-the-Misty-Glade
Boneweave-Girdle
Tinker’s-Ingenuity
Head :
Empowered-Mask-of-Delirium
Whisperer-of-Secrets
Demonslayer’s-Hat
Exalted Helm with “- of Blight” Suffixe and a decent Prefixe
Medal :
Black-Star-of-Deceit
Mark-of-the-Apostate
Badge-of-Mastery
Ikrix-Scale if you can find a nice combo of Prefixe + Suffixe
Pauldrons :
Zantarin’s-Shoulderguard (Nemessis drop)
Deathmarked-Shoulderguard
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Skillset :
At the moment, Stats distribution is 75 Physique, 12 points left unassigned
Character Sheet :
Buffs On : Devout Of Dreeg, Poison Aura, Malediction, Veil Of Shadow, Possession, Solael’s Witchfire, Pneumatic Burst, Blood Of Dreeg, Lethal Assault
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Devotion Route :
¤ Crossroads -> Eldritch
¤ Complete Akeron’s Scorpion -> Reclaim former Eldritch point on Crossroads
¤ Crossroads -> Ascendant
¤ Complete Empty Throne -> Reclaim former Ascendant point on Crossroads
¤ Complete Chariot of The Dead
¤ Complete Rat
¤ Complete Manticore
¤ Complete Eye Of The Guardian
¤ Complete Hawk
¤ Complete Jackal
¤ Crossroads -> Chaos
¤ Complete Abomination
¤ 3 nodes on Affliction (to get Fetid Pool)
¤ 1 point left, either Spider (10 Cunning, 10 Spirit) or Crossroads Order (5% health)
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Theory Crafting and Details : How and Why it works ?
I) Gear + Synergy
The gear provides lots of procs, but the very base of the build is that :
One of our main source of damage will come from dual-wielding Slithtongue, which offers an amazing proc on attack :
Poison Bolt (15% Chance on Attack)
[i]"Launches a bolt of toxins at your enemies."[/i]
1 Second Skill Recharge
1.2 Meter Radius (1 projectile)
# Acid Damage (Base = 107)
# Poison Damage (Base = 870 over 5 seconds)
(Normal is 8% ; Elite is 10% ; Ultimate is 15%)
Now, let’s add (Veil of Shadow + Night’s Chill) into the mix, and we will be throwing those Poison Bolts all other the place without any effort, in a 6 meters radius.
In the meantime, all enemies caught in the Veil will suffer penalties to Total Speed, Offensive Ability, Pierce + Cold + Acid + Poison Resistances and some Cold damage for each tick from Night’s Chill.
Hence the hybrid Caster/Melee title, you will have to be quite close to the mobs in order to maximize your damage output.
II) A devotion set-up almost entirely dedicated to Poison/Acid Damage enhancement
¤ Akeron’s Scorpion -> “Scorpion Sting” to Amarasta’s Blade Burst #OA
%Poison dmg
%Acid dmg¤ Empty Throne %Reduced Stun duration
%Pierce Resist
%Aether Resit
%Chaos Resist¤ Chariot of The Dead -> “Wayward Soul” to Veil of Shadow
#Cunning
#OA
%OA
Vitality Resist¤ Rat
#Cunning
#Spirit
#Poison dmg
%Poison dmg
%Poison & Acid Resist¤ Manticore -> “Acid Spray” to Bloody Pox
#OA
%Acid dmg
%Poison dmg
%Health
#OA
%Poison & Acid Resist
#Poison dmg¤ Eye Of The Guardian -> “Guardian’s Gaze” to Blade Trap
%Poison dmg
%Acid dmg
%Chaos dmg ¤ Hawk
#OA
%Critical dmg
%OA¤ Jackal
%Energy
#OA
%Attack Speed
%Total Damage¤ Crossroads -> Chaos
%Health¤ Abomination -> “Tainted Eruption” to Blade Spirit ; “Abominable Might” to Shadow Strike %Vitality dmg
%Poison dmg
%Acid dmg
%Chaos dmg
#OA
%Poison & Acid Resist
#Health¤ Affliction -> “Fetid Pool” to Possession
%Vitality dmg
%Poison dmg
#Spirit¤ 1 point left, either Spider (10 Cunning, 10 Spirit) or Crossroads Order (5% health)
III) Active Skills rotation based on maximizing Aera of Effect crowd-control/damage (a.k.a. the combo routine)
1) Curse of Frailty + Vulnerability
[ - %Physical Res | - %Bleeding Res | - %Movement Speed | - #Defensive Ability | - %Vitality Res | - %Poison Res | - %Acid Res | - %Elemental Res ]
This is our opening skill, used to “pull” packs of mobs, but in a safely fashion.
(Note : I have honnestly no idea how or if the - %Res even stack or just overwrite one another, could use advices on that)
At this point, enemies may have already entered the (Veil of Shadow + Night’s Chill) AoE and chances are pretty good that Poison Bolts start being spit on some of them
2) Blade Trap + Devouring Blades -> “Guardian’s Gaze” from Eye of The Guardian
[ - %Defensive Ability | #Bleeding Dmg | #Piercing Dmg ]
That should paralyze a good chunk of the mobs you just pulled.
And if you’re lucky, the Gaze will proc mutiple times, surrounding you with orbiting eyeballs (doing %Wep dmg, #Poison, #Chaos to any mobs colliding with them)
Also, it will greatly help Bloody Pox, allowing it to spread easier and faster.
3) Bloody Pox + Wasting + Black Death -> “Acid Spray” from Manticore
[spoiler]
[ #Bleeding | %Reduction to health | - #Offensive Ability | #Vitality Dmg | #Poison Dmg | %Chance to Confuse ]
Assigning “Acid Spray” to Bloody Pox, will allow the proc to occur often, up to 5 times (theoretically) per skill usage, hitting multiples enemies while spreading,
and doing so, damaging them with poison and acid while lowering their armor and applying a #flat reduction to their resistances.
4) Blade Spirit -> “Tainted Eruption” from Abomination
Aim right in the middle of the pack (evenif you have to move towards the first enemy’s line)
The Blade Spirit will proc “Tainted Eruption” very shortly after being summoned, performing a kind of “poison nova” (centered on itself) applying Poison damage for 5 seconds on a 10 meter radius.
…and -that’s kind of the whole point here- confusing enemies for 1.8 seconds, which is what we want, because, by that time, the trap should wear off. Thus we get an additional period of Crowd-control.
5) Shadow Strike + Nidalla’s Justifiable Ends + Nightfall -> “Abominable Might” from Abomination
[ %Wep Dmg | #Pierce dmg | #Cold dmg | Stun | #Poison dmg | #Frostburn dmg | #Cold dmg | #Life Leech | %Chance to apply Sleep ]
Either you aim for a sure kill (any white trash mob still standing or a yellow one with low hp) so you trigger “Abominable Might” ( +20% Health at max lvl, + #Chaos dmg, +%Chaos dmg to you)
or
you directly aim for the Big Guy, staggering him (Stun will have an extremely reduced duration on heroes, down to non-existing at all on bosses) and then proceed
Anyway, now you’re in the midst of the battle and Poison bolts are still shooting at every one’s faces. Time to stick out your Slithtongues at them all, for real.
6) Amarasta’s Blade Burst -> “Scorpion Sting” from Akeron’s Scorpion
[ %Wep Dmg | #Frostburn dmg | #Cold dmg | %Chance to freeze ]
“Scorpion Sting” has a 25% chance to proc (so binding it to Amarasta BB might look like sub-optimal, as the skill has a 1.8 sec Cooldown, but it’s actually a good bet.
(Plus it reminds me of the old version of the skill Lethal Gambit)
So, if Luck is with you, young DreegKisser, “Scorpion Sting” will proc, adding %Wep Dmg, #Poison dmg and #Defensive Ability Reduction.
7) Auto-attacks under the buff from Letahl Assault.
Still reading ? Good You are probably either having a good laugh at the build or just wondering why the heck would you use Amarasta’s BB + Lethal Assault, don’t you?
Well, for 4 seconds after the initial use of A’s bb, ALL of your ATTACKS are being buffed as follows : #Acid dmg, #Offensive Ability, + %Poison dmg (and + %Cold/Frostburn but we don’t really care)
A quick recap of how much D.A. we’ve managed to take away from our enemies, so far : (¤ - #DA from CoF) (¤ - %DA from Blade Trap) (¤ - #DA from “Scorpion Sting”)
Because you have additionnal OA and they suffer DA penalties, That’s how (well, I’m assuming there), all of the sudden, your Poison Bolts start critting, along with every subsequent auto-attacks or skills used for those 4 seconds.
Added that, you may be under the effect of “Abominable Might”, and probably have at least 1 orbiting eyeball, “ehanced” auto-attacks will do the job, but don’t be to greedy : up to 2 or 3 seconds max and then retreat.
[b]8)
a) There’s no one left to kiss. Go Go Pneumatic Burst and Blood of Dreeg ! Proceed to the next pack of mobs.
b) Tactical Retreat !!! [/b]
Start moving away from troubles, just run if you can’t Shadow Strike away (most probably still under CD if you’re through your 1st cycle)
Keep in mind : the (Critical)DoTs and Poison Bolts are still working for you, so you can just kite a bit untill you’re the last one standing.
That was a big and dense pack ? Some are still asking for more kisses ?
Now is a good time to use the Mark of Dreeg Skill, drink coffee or refresh Pneumatic Burst / Blood of Dreeg
9 ) Rince and repeat from step 1 untill “There’s no one left to kiss”
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IV ) Ultimate viability
a) The good
As mentionned above, the devotion set-up is mostly damage-dealing oriented.
The only defensive celestial power in use is the one from “Chariot of The Dead” (Wayward Soul bound to Veil of Shadow)
It will provide -only in case you are critically hit- healing and a bonus to your Defensive Ability for a short period of time.
Then, we have 2 ‘healing skill’ at our disposal, and they are more than simple “healing pots” substitute :
Pneumatic Burst : 32% Health restored + 33 (base) health regen per second at lvl 12/12 (Self-only)
- Shadow Dance modifer at lvl 12/12, 20% chance to avoïd melee and projectiles, +85 DA
- Breath of Belgothian transmuter, -5s cooldown, 33% more Health Regen
Blood Of Dreeg : 28% Health restored + 106 (base) health regen per second at lvl 16/16 (Party members included)
- Aspect of The Guardian at lvl 12/12, 12% Physical res, 100% Poison/Acid res
The last but not least, is an amulet, the life-savior Avatar of Mercy
It has good resitances (Elemental, Vitality, Reduced status duration and a #bonus to DA, and can be rolled with + % to maximum All Res) but it’s really the granted skill that makes it so great :
Activates when Health drops below 30%
40 Seconds Skill Recharge
5 second Duration
50% Health Restored
30% Damage Absorption
50% Reduced Stun, Freeze, Petrity Duration
You can’t really expect to survive without that amulet, if you find yourself fighting Nemessises (or just being suddenly ambushed by +10 Skeletons with crossbows)
b) The bad
Health Pool is quite low, so be cautious when you want to stick out your slithtongue.
Bosses and Nemessises are to be engaged from afar, avoïd close-combat as much as you can.
Time to talk about Reflective enemies.
(Aether Crystals, Mages with Mirror of E, Skeletons with shields…)
You must find a way to get to 80% Poison resistances (and more if you can).
The reflected dots are going to hurt you (negating any health regen you may have) but the worst part is that they’re going to hurt you for a long time (Seen it up to about 23sec)
There’s no way to survive this without Pneumatic Burst + Blood Of Dreeg both maxed. And you will probably still need to drink a Hpot.
c) The ugly
The build only starts to truly shine once you get those last devotion points, and Tainted Eruption, so you can start to perfom the “Combo Routine” and your clear-speed finally sky-rockets.
Also, you really need those : the Avatar-of-Mercy, the Viperfang-Grips and the Venomspine-Greaves, their granted procs bring a lot to the build.
[/spoiler]
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Attachment: Nexal the Guardian.jpg