[2.4] Graceful Synergiser - LL CoE KB 8.2k+ ES/42% Block(+Grace option) 270k+ KB / 1.2mil+ Barrage

Hi everyone,

I'd like to share with you here my variation on Low Life Kinetic Blast, which I've dubbed "Graceful Synergiser".

Let's start with what I will not be discussing here:
- The principles behind the build. These are well understood by now.
- A budget version. What I'm posting here IS the budget version.
- A levelling guide. Level as whatever, then respec once you're level 90+ or so. If you can afford this build, you can afford to drop 4 ex on regrets.

So, what I will be discussing here:
- My specific variation on the build, and the motivation behind it.
- Some theorycrafting on where I'd like to take the build, but can't because it pretty much requires full mirrored gear.


With that out of the way, here's the TL;DR version of this variation in a handy pros and cons format:

Pros:
+ Lvl 26 Wrath + Discipline;
+ Grace, in addition to Anger, Hatred, and HoI;
+ In particular Grace gives a huge boost to survivability.

Cons:
- Requires a specific helmet enchant;
- Requires at least 2x lvl 4 Enlighten;
- Requires either +1 gems Skyforth, or 4-offcolor +1 gems Maligaro's.


The motivation behind this build started by noting that there are currently at least three major variations on high-end ES-based KB builds being posted on the forums.

The first is Skyforth's Hybrid Synergiser, which as far as I'm aware is where the build originated from. This build uses Shavronne's Wrappings to enable going lowlife, then stacking aura's for damage. It utilizes Crown of Eyes and Spell Damage mods on gear and tree to scale damage. Variations have been posted by Andrew676 (Wanderthrow) and stzbttln (lowlife kb), among others.

Two major variations have been developed more recently that I would like to discuss here. Specifically, these are InAshesTheyShallReap's CI Wander and MatrixFactor's FlaskFinder Wander. Both of these builds forego going lowlife, instead opting to go CI.

InAshesTheyShallReap chooses to drop the aura+Crown of Eyes package, instead opting for a high ES helmet and an Evasion+ES hybrid shield. In short, this greatly improves defenses.

MatrixFactor keeps the Crown of Eyes + spelldamage shield, but invests heavily in flask nodes on the tree. He notes that also picking up the required aura nodes for lowlife stretches him too much on the tree, and hence going CI is easier in this case. However, these flask nodes greatly improve the efficacy and reliability of flasks as a defensive mechanism.


Now, to get to the point for my specific variation: I believe I've been able to combine the best of these three approaches into one build.

Specifically, I've been able to incorporate Grace into the traditional Synergiser build, without compromising either the normal aura setup or too much damage / survivability passives. I furthermore have a way to pick up flask nodes, but this requires mirror tier gear, and as such is currently untested.


The reason that Grace is a big deal is the following. In levelling on this character (98 right now, currently pushing for 99), I realized that the one thing this build does not need is more damage. It already easily carries 6 man parties in red maps.

However, what it DOES need is better survivability, if you're going to level as painlessly as possible. This isn't to say that the build is pure glass cannon. However, there are some edge cases that you're going to rip to, and you WILL encounter them repeatedly on your way to 100.

I believe these edge cases to be the following:
1) An offscreen elemental reflect monster to which you 1-shot yourself.
2) High burst physical damage. Think large packs of Porcupine Goliaths that you fail to shatter, or large numbers of Tittybitches or Rakangos in a +projectile vulnerability map.
3) Certain bosses, in particular Uber Atziri and Core Malachai.

Now, point (3) is easily avoided by not doing those maps/bosses when levelling.

Point (1) is avoided by permanent uptime on Topaz+Ruby flask. This is typically easy to do, but curse/ailment immune maps sometimes make this a bit difficult. Flask nodes will help here, which motivates speccing for those.

Point (2) is not as easy to avoid. The original Hybrid Synergizer ran Arctic Armor for exactly this reason, but this no longer works since its nerf. Similarly, CwDT+EC+IC used to work, but is also no longer available.
I believe that running Grace, in addition to CWDT+IC (without an EC generator) is therefore the best way to solve this point.


This line of thought has led me to the following build.







Note that this setup leaves 1 open gem slot, which I've chosen to fill with Vaal Haste. Alternatively, Phase Run, Vaal Discipline, any movement skill, or Increased Duration on the CWDT setup are all good options.

The point here, of course, is that this setup still leaves enough unreserved mana to use KB. With my 3th Enlighten still at lvl 3, I currently have 194 unreserved -- pretty much the point where you need to be to comfortably play. With a 3rd lvl 4 Enlighten, this becomes 210 unreserved. This would be a small QoL improvement if you can afford it.

Also note that if you're not actively levelling, Grace can be replaced with another option. I would suggest Haste for improved clearspeed, and HoT+HoA if you want more tooltip deeeps. A similar comment applies to the Stibnite/Jade flask, which can then be swapped for an Atziri flask or something else to your liking.

A full-mirrored setup has the advantage of getting ~30% increased ES over my gear, in addition to ~200 more flat ES. I believe this makes it acceptable to spec out of some ES nodes, and into flask nodes, as follows:




Thanks for reading this far. I'll be keeping this updated as things develop further. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'd also love to hear from experienced KB players what they think about this approach :)

Reserved.

Nice build and explains a lot which some of the other builds don't.

I'm currently in the middle of making a wander and my build is near enough the same as yours. The first question I have is. Is there any way around not using Skyforth? If so what would you recommend.

The second being, would it not be worth while going for 1 additional curse and using Assassins Mark with the curse on hit set-up?

And finally, any specific reason for Maligaro's instead of Atziri's Acuity as this saves a point and allows mana leech.

Cheers

"

McGuireyo wrote:

Nice build and explains a lot which some of the other builds don't.

I'm currently in the middle of making a wander and my build is near enough the same as yours. The first question I have is. Is there any way around not using Skyforth? If so what would you recommend.

The second being, would it not be worth while going for 1 additional curse and using Assassins Mark with the curse on hit set-up?

And finally, any specific reason for Maligaro's instead of Atziri's Acuity as this saves a point and allows mana leech.

Cheers

Hey, thanks for the comments.

Unfortunately, Skyforth is pretty much required for this specific variation; you cannot fit the complete aura package without it. If you really cannot afford them, you could run Rainbowstrides or some good rare ES/movespeed/resist boots instead. The problem is that you then have to pick up Unwavering Stance on the tree, which (a) costs a lot of points, and (b) cancels out any evasion you have. Obviously, that makes Grace useless, which is kind of the entire point of this build variation.

Alternatively, if you don't have Skyforths, you could run a Life Leech gem on KB, spec Juggernaut/Deadeye as your ascendency, pick up 3x jewel sockets instead of Unwavering Stance, and put Fragility jewels in those. That gives permanent stun immunity while still allowing you to keep evasion. Unfortunately, you then still cannot fit in the full aura package, so you'd probably have to either drop Hatred, or remove the Empower from Wrath+Discipline. This takes away more from your DPS than the US option above, but allows you to keep Grace. Still, it's clunky, and I would strongly advise you to save up for a pair of Skyforths.


About the +1 curse and Assassin's Mark: I just don't see the point. That is, you don't need the damage boost; you're crit capped anyway; your PC generation with just Skyforth is perfectly reliable; the mana-on-kill is superfluous if you already run Poacher's Mark; it takes a gem slot, which you're already tight on; and it's three passive points that are completely dead in curse/ailment immune maps. In short, no, I don't think it's worth it.


Regarding Maligaro's or Acuity, I feel that it's a preference thing. Sure, Acuity makes mana leech a bit more reliable (that is, instant), but gives less dps than Mali's. On the other hand, it does give a nice boost to ES, which is lacking on Mali's. Then again, this build requires a +1 gems corruption to attain lvl 5 Enlighten, which is absolutely required to get your unreserved mana to a comfortable point. So, if you have a +1 gems Acuity sitting in your stash, feel free to give it a shot :)

In other news, I hit 99 yesterday. Had two deaths during levelling, both of them my own fault.

One was in a party where I nuked an ele reflect rare without checking if I had flask charges available. Turned out I didn't.

The other was me wanting to pick up loot after killing a Frost Bearers pack in an ele weakness map. Didn't flask, was too slow to get out.

Stopped dying to burst physical damage though, which was an issue when levelling 97-98, and before I had Grace. Notably, multiple large packs of blue Porcupine Goliaths in a status ailment-immune, multiple added damage map were no longer an issue, which they definitely were before.


Updated the passive tree as noted in the OP (connected through the Written in Blood cluster), sitting at slightly below 8.3k ES now.

Going to take a break from levelling to build up my bank and map pool again. Hopefully will get around to crafting my shield, in particular adding All Resist to it. This would allow me to unspec the resistance from Normal Bandits, putting that point into the es/eva node below Nullification. That lets me land the point for level 100 on the Fangs of the Viper notable.

Hi man ! We talked last day in game, and I got some few other question for you:

1) Is it the same if i get the enchant: "10% reduced hatred mana reservation" from helmet instead of wrath ?
2) The enchant on the boots (33-50 fire dmg) are better than 0.5% life-mana steal ?
3) I saw you got the accuracy in the rings+amulet, is that a must ?

"

acme_myst wrote:

So, if you have a +1 gems Acuity sitting in your stash, feel free to give it a shot :)

heh, happened to be passing by.




Acuity is awful now though. Someday when they nerf Vaal Pact to trash tier again it will be great once more. Maligaro's is way better right now.


Best option is to just usa a +1



as well though!~




Grace is interesting though. More defensive layers is a good thing, especially as Wander doesn't stack as much pure es as a lot of other builds atm. (just observing, I haven't played Wander in a while)

"

GatsuBerserkMode wrote:

Hi man ! We talked last day in game, and I got some few other question for you:

1) Is it the same if i get the enchant: "10% reduced hatred mana reservation" from helmet instead of wrath ?
2) The enchant on the boots (33-50 fire dmg) are better than 0.5% life-mana steal ?
3) I saw you got the accuracy in the rings+amulet, is that a must ?

you definitely want accuracy everywhere possible.



for the enchant this is actually interesting - when is the enchant reduction in cost applied? (anyone know?)

Depending when it is applied it may actually make a difference because Discipline is usually Empowered (raising the cost of it) whereas Hatred is not. (only need a lvl22 on Hatred to get the bonus 1%, does not scale well beyond that)

@Jake: Show-off ;)

Interestingly, I'm not actually sure if the +1 on Skyforth beats out the dmg/aps/leech enchant though. It did occur to me the other day that you could use +1 gems Shadow's and Dust if you want easier coloring on the gloves.


Regarding the reservation enchant, it's additive with reduced reservation from the tree. Note that this makes Mikelat's calculator a bit awkward to use, because the custom per-group multiplier there is exactly that--a multiplier. You have to manually raise your global reduced reservation, check what the resulting cost for the aura of interest is, then set the custom multiplier to achieve that number. However, this makes it much more powerful than being a separate multiplier would.


@Gatsu:

Like Jake said, you'll ideally want the reservation enchant on the most expensive aura that you're Empowering, which is Wrath in my case. Regarding damage vs leech enchant, I'm honestly not sure. I've personally switched to using leech since posting this thread however. Again, like Jake said, get as much flat accuracy as possible, on as many pieces as possible.

Hi man I'm actually level 72, and starting to levelling up, would you be so kind to give me a generic level 72 tree-skill point ?
I should have like 92 points to invest