Recently I searched for 2H builds based on shadow strike skill usage in latest Build Compendium. I found out that there are no such builds using damage types differ from cold and poison. I am a new to this forum and could miss related discussions explaining why other variants of 2H shadow strike builds are not considered. From my point of view it is possible to create 2H shadow strike builds based on different damage types to complete GD on Ultimate. At first glance the builds can looks like as follows:
Safarel, thanks for comment.
Does in this case weaker mean not playable build? I like trying non standard approaches in build planing to get new experience.
Because Cold and Poison SS builds are way stronger.
Because there is little point in building a character to use a different damage type using the same abilities, when the use of said different damage type results in a weaker build.
Why would you make a Spellbreaker not use Cold, or a WH not use Poison/Acid. The visuals don’t change, you press the same buttons. You might as well build the optimal way.
For that matter I think most of the experienced players on those boards can already picture how to make fire, aether and lightning based SS builds, using DW and conversion.
I also think that most of them already know how to make a decent 2h SS build using either Nightshade’s Reach or Soulrend. The issue is that those weapons, while nice, are still inferior to a DW setup. So the only reason to build around them other than flavor is that they can potentially be used in less gear dependent builds. (e.g. in my experience Poison SS builds using Nightshade’s Reach are easier to pull off than DW ones without optimal gear, while you’ll need to switch to DW when you can to maximise performance).
Also all the builds you posted look like they could finish the game but are also incredibly unoptimised. Being able to clear Ultimate just isn’t a useful benchmark.
I haven’t played a Shadow Strike build but i’m sceptical on how well it would perform without going into it’s ultimate ranks as it gains a nice boost to weapon damage and pierce/cold which many of your builds are taking from either by stacking flat damage or conversion.
The problem then is that almost all of the gear that have + bonuses to Shadow Strike support pierce, cold or acid.
Seriously is everyone in the world a fucking sheep now a days.
The reason is because not everyone is interested in playing the game the way you play it. Seriously who gives a fuck if DW SS is stronger, some people actually might find the brokenly OP DW SS boring.
But yes I know people not being sheep are frowned upon in games like this.
One of my first characters was a two handed SS and Blitz Blademaster. I never really came back to it but I was interested in trying it out again at some stage combined with one of the Alkamos weapons as well for Spectral Strike.
To clarify, 2H is perfectly playable and will get you through the main storyline just fine. There’s no way around the fact that dual-wielding is stronger but if you really like two-handers (as I do) there are still solid builds for them.
Thank you all for the comments.
I understand that DW builds can dish out much more dmg, but I like 2H builds and want to try to create solid variants. I was inspired by 2H battle mage callidor’s tempest build from Safarel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ddeO87zLVA&feature=youtu.be. I thought why not to create similar NB build using shadow strike instead of blitz - it looks natural.
One major issue that comes to mind is the animation.
With Blitz, damage is dealt immediately upon arriving at a target. With Shadow Strike, upon arriving at the target, an attack animation is carried out (and this will be true at point-blank range, too). Because 2H has phenomenally slower attack animations than 1H/DW, this harshly cuts into 2H SS’s performance and leaves such builds very vulnerable to counterattacks that other characters need not worry about.
It may not sound like much, but the above is essentially why I’ve deleted all my 2H SS chars. They’re simply not especially fun compared to 1H SS or Blitz.
on top of it, what really bugs me is that enemies notice you even before you make the hit, exposing you more to counter attacks … It looks like our shadow is blowing our cover off.:rolleyes:. We are an assassin… and assassins dont get noticed until the lethal goods are delivered! !:rolleyes:
I did not face with this issue yet, but I do observe delay in blade barrier animation - you get hits while visual effects of barrier are active. I guess more attention needed when using SS with 2H.
It’s a shame we don’t have more conversion items for builds like these - there are a few pieces of the Demonslayer’s set that would get a bit more out of the SS line (30% cold to vitality and 15% piercing to vitality) along with some physical to vitality items here and there, but…that’s about it. I suppose you could then buff it up with a partially converted Lethal Assault and the usual Occultist stuff, and you might end up with a reasonably decent build with plenty of health regen to make up for being on the lower end of SS builds in terms of power.
Spikenik, yes it would be nice to have more convertion items for such builds. Thanks for pointing me to Demonslayer’s set for 2H SS vitality build - I need to take a closer look at it with Lethal Assault combination.
I think chaos strike is a good alternative to shadow strike for two handed builds, though not supported by skills as such and there is the alkamos scythe which has aether damage two handed option with the spectral strike (cold not aether on the spectral strike just as the weapons damage) but again not supported the way SS is.
Truth is we need more movement skills supporting other elements it seems. How do we not have a lightning based movement skill yet? I mean it would thematically make sense, it is frickin’ lightning after all, known for how fast it moves.
Like this http://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2jKemV9 ? Jk, I just eyeballed that from your screenshot :p. Now that I think about it you’re probably using a BoM, and that would enable the use of Iceskorn Talons to get +duration on Frostburn… Also for true CDR stacking shenanigans, less points in Nightfall to max out Mirror. Gotta try that when I have the time. I’ve been working on Sorcerers and Warlocks mostly. Nothing worth writing home about yet though.
