I have tried a lot of different variations of vitality PS builds in last few weeks. And I must say that considering it has a dedicated set for it (Rotgheist set). It just sucks compared to other PS damage types (that even don’t have sets dedicated for it). Main reason for that is squishines of those builds.
I have made three class combos - Conjurer, Ritualist and Warder. All three builds have problems with any green ground damage. Only Warder is decent enough but even with it there are still things to improve upon. Generally more DPS doesn’t solve problems with squishiness on these builds. You just have to try to build them tankier. But they are not even if on paper it looks OK.
Conjurer - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2j4EzmZ
I have tried a lot of variations of Conjurer build. With more damage, more OA, DA, more RR, different devos etc. Best combination is the one above with damage absorption from Possession and damage reduction from ring proc. Problem is that it is still very squishy. You can sometimes do a run of SR 80 but not consistently. You die a lot. It is a SR 65-66 build. Max DPS is 260k (that should be improved). First version I made (which had good stats) could not even do SR 65-66 consistently.
Conjurer needs more damage mitigation, more life and less buttons to push.
Ritualist - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V0v5jJN
This build may not be in its best version (it is more experimental) but other versions will not be far from this one. Problem of this build is that it has no damage absorption, only damage reduction and that is not enough. You have to use Sacrifice, Devouring Swarm, Wendigo Totem, Ill Omen - just too many things that interrupt PS attacks. And even with all that DPS is not good enough (240k max). It can’t do SR 80. It is a SR 65-66 build.
Ritualist needs more damage mitigation, less buttons to push and more DPS. It needs more phys res.
Warder - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2JkjzRV
I have posted this build here. It is the best of the three class combos. It can do SR 80 consistently within the timer but it is hard to do it without dying once or twice. My other PS Warders I have are tanky and this one is not. But it is also not as squishy as the other two vitality PS builds. But as a Warder it should be better than it is. Max DPS is 300k and that is OK.
Its main problem is 2-3 seconds more of War Cry on cooldown than it is up. Easy solution is to lower cooldown on War Cry (which I would welcome generally - it has now decent RR on it - it should have a 5 s cooldown) or increase CDR on Rotgheist set. Less buttons to push would be nice as well. It needs more phys res.
Common problems
No good vitality Shaman relic - I would like to see one oriented for melee vitality Shamans.
No good 2H melee weapon for vitality PS. Best is Wildblood Crusher. I tried other weapons as well (Ritualist has a different one). You need a weapon with AS, phys res, big flat damage and not too big spread on damage. There is no such weapon for vitality PS.
Skill on Sacrifice relic I use has to be renewed every 12 seconds (make it permanent).
Devouring Swarm just sucks as RR. You have to use it a lot and that means less PS attacks.
Vitality PS builds are squishy (they need both damage absorption and reduction and even that may not necessarily be enough). I am not sure about the solution here. Warder needs more War Cry. With the other builds it is hard to say. Perhaps adding damage reduction to PS itself from Rotgheist set instead of lightning to vitality conversion which you have on medal.
Getting CC resistances is very difficult and you have to make big compromises in order to obtain them. Give some CC res to items that will be used on vitality PS builds.
Any green ground damage just crushes these builds. I have no idea why (it is not just fumble pools - actually I think that they are the least bad). Some flat damage absorption would be nice for those ugly green pools or more health regen on Rotgheist set. Hungering Void and Sacrifice eat up your health regen a lot. You are then vulnerable to DoTs.
Here https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAb0A7Z my absurd Rotgheist Archon Version theorycraft with spam RF and CD PS. Even with impossible greens build lacks a lot of things.
But the mostly, build has no physical resist, almost all comes from devotions and lower than %20 is really bad for a melee build with low armor values. And CC resists are certainly a big problem but other resistances aren’t easy to overcap. Without consecration this build can’t overcap the elemental resists. The route provides non, acid/vit items give very little.
I wouldn’t say Devouring Swarm is great but it’s not that bad either and certainly devs won’t change it for a melee vit archetype. And certainly they won’t make a relic or a 2h weapon for it either.
The solution could also be to make it like healing skills - 30 s duration and 12 s cooldown so that it does not have to be renewed so often. It already has a 100 % uptime.
Exact same results the two times I’ve been seduced by red primal strike. Second round pushed about 40% more damage (both conjurer version), but it doesn’t matter, you drop like a sack of potatoes the instant you can’t hit something and cant risk multiple nemesis encounters. And that’s with scales + a combo of bat or wendigo, and a healthy amount of adcth. Would also like to see some additional defense on the set, for whatever reason possession + all the life steal and a big health pool doesn’t cut it here
Caveat being I haven’t tried again in 1.1.8 where it should have even moar damage, but expecting it to still be a frustrating play.
Stun resist and da would be welcome additions on the set bonus (especially stun resist) I actually have a strong working ritualist. ~5min crucible. I’m hoping to post it tomorrow night actually. There is a caveat that I don’t use the full set. There also is the ranged version I posted video of awhile back
Gameplay on this version is pretty clunky with savagery weaving though
I have seen this build somewhere on the forum. You use savagery with the build in the video and defensively it doesn’t look that great. No damage absorption, weaker CC res. 5 min Crucible actually says nothing to me. People make glass canons for CR. I consider many of CR builds to be unplayble to me. And it works other way as well. My builds are unplayable for CR players.
For glassier CR builds you need more awareness and some tricks like standing in specific places. I think it can be frustrating but also very satisfying once you learn these. I haven’t which I consider to be my fault. I started testing builds in SR but moved to CR because I find it a more informative and less time consuming tool to compare builds than SR. It may be just a wrong impression because I don’t read your builds thoroughly but I feel like each of them has the same description like “This build does SR 65-66 relatively easily. It can even do SR 80 but it is slower” which means I cannot quickly compare them in any way whereas Crucible times at least give me some numerical info.
My feedback on Vitality PS is that it’s only my 3rd favorite color and I prefer yellow Physical and cyan Aether to red Vitality.
Same thing in SR. Aggro abuse anyone? People complain about cruci builds being glass cannons having incomplete defenses and not realize that a lot of those glass cannons clear SR 80 because clearing high SR efficiently is still a matter of choosing your enemies and being good at it.
inb4 guy tells us “I don’t aggro abuse lol” but pictures can’t tell you that
Good, cause I can’t imagine anyone ever letting themselves get ganged up in those levels unless they’re playing retal. But then that just reinforces my point. SR exclusive builds are just another kind of cheese. Anyway I don’t really have anything to comment about the main topic so I should be out of here before granny medea moves this to another place.
Striving for complete set of defenses often makes your build fall short. Especially since every class has different defensive methods. Vitality Ritualist for sure won’t have any damage absorb unless you don’t want damage and vit PS is already problematic at that department. Better focus on what you have - lifesteal, damage reduction, and well damage itself. The best defense is a strong offense
Yes but vitality PS is so squishy that you need it all. That is why this thread exists.
That does not work here. Although I have to say that I played with Ritualist the least of the three class combos (and experimented with items more rather than used typical items). It certainly doesn’t work with Conjurer. And Conjurer can get both damage absorption and reduction + Scales + Wendigo (or Bat).
Ill copy my thoughts from my post
The rotgheist set itself just isn’t worth taking the full thing. The stats from the three/four pieces bonuses are easily beaten by other gear even if you didnt take the wildblood set. It really could use some CC resists somewhere and probably some DA as well. A stronger than full rotgheist vitality PS build can be built by taking a +1 amulet and a +1 belt. Personally I think a modifier that requires a melee weapon (like the 2h ranged bonuses on Harbinger set) to give primal strike extra radius similar to ultos should be added to the shoulder slot to prevent the passthrough ranged version from being totally crazy
I always play with camera pointed away from enemies. Getting gang banged is no fun.