Icarus's Spellblade & Energy Blade - Lightning Conduit Trickster - Excellent Sanctum Build (CHEAP)
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Icarus's Spellblade & Energy Blade - Lightning Conduit Trickster
 With this build we inch ever closer to the forbidden blade-blade. While i would love to use Bladefall/Blast blast for the blade trifecta (it still could be done), the skill of choice for this character forbidden sanctum runner is Lightning conduit, with storm brand or orb of storms to trigger the shocks. Most energy blade builds this league have been put together using an Ivory tower and strength stacking to create an extremely large energy blade. But building this way can be quite cumbersome and expensive. This build offers much more flexibility in its gear slots as well as being much cheaper and easier to build. Path of building:
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https://pobb.in/lID4nSDHl-FJ
Pros: - Cheap and easy to build and can be upgraded with different levels of investment - Flexibility (really important, can be build to your needs) - Hits hard and fast - 6.8k energy shield (after the energy blade! 13.6K without) - 8.5 million DPS (6.2 pinnacle DPS) - 4 full auras - a lot of movement speed (Important for avoiding hits in sanctum) - 60% MS before flask, 123% MS with flask - 8% increased action speed from ascendancy, that cannot be reduced - Low life, Pain Attunement 30% more spell damage - 3 permanent flask effects - all content viable in under 6 divines A myriad of defensive layers including: - Chill and freeze immune - ~ 20K evasion - ~ 10k amour - ~ 28% physical damage taken as elemental & chaos (great for increasing our amour's effectiveness - ~ 44% block, an extra layer of defence only from low investment - 650 energy shield gained when hit (from Ghost dance) - 34% energy leech, with 10% of that as instant leech and over-leech from ascendancy - ~ 74% chaos resistance Cons: - Cannot regenerate/recharge energy shield this is normally fine as we have giga leech from enemies, but does need to be considered - No curse immunity - No reflect immunity - No immunity to ignite or shocks (these can be out recovered by leech or removed with flasks) - requires flask sustain from the traitor and flask suffixes on belt to be immune to chaos damage - low number of Jewel sockets, but more can be accessed within 3 passives points but requires trade offs to other passive skills *curse, reflect damage and ailments immunity can be solve with some gear trade offs. *Disclaimer: I created this build as my league starter as i wanted to try out the new Spellblade support. I have slowly iterated this build as i leveled and the result has been an incredibly reliable character that is my go to for mapping, bossing and sanctum. I did not intend for this to be a dedicated sanctum runner but the build has proven its self to be very effective at farming those o-so desired divine orbs we all want. Seriously if you're new and struggling for currency this build will go a long way to progressing you forward. Lets get into the main core of the build Core:
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Shavronne's Revelation
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While equipped in the left ring slot this ring provides 330 base energy shield (with 20% defense catalyst quality), 14% increased energy shield (from the 70 intelligence) and 40 mana regenerated per second (which we will use).
The downside here is that we cannot recharge or regenerate ES but with the amount of energy shield we will be leeching this downside is very minimal, and for a low cost of 5c it must pickup. The cost of defense catalysts may vary but this can be done later in the build process. Coruscating Elixir
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Another very cheap item that can be acquired for less than 5c.
This flask provides a welcome amount of additional fire resistance and fire damage reduction but most importantly "Chaos damage does not bypass energy shield during effect". The life sacrificed and gained as ES is not relevant here as we will be reserving as much of our life as possible. If we want to reserve as much of our life bar as possible for aura's and bonus damage on low life then we need to sustain this flask's effect, otherwise chaos damage would be able do bypass our massive ES bar like a small hole in the Death Star. This flask has a quite long base duration of 10 seconds and a low usage of only 20 charges. We are able to sustain up to 3 flasks permanently whiteout killing any monsters using pour next important item. Brutal restraint
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 When this timeless jewel is conquered by Balbala it transformed any keystones within its radius to "The Traitor". This keystone allows extra flask charges to be generated, provided that we do not equip some flask. Here i have equipped a total of 3 flasks, as equipping more requires a greater level of investment into flask sustain that i do no think is worthwhile for a non-pathfinder or scion character. This jewel also adds additional effects to other notable passive skills within the radius. The most important effect you should look for are "increased flask charges gained" & "increased effect of non damaging ailments" but increased life, dexterity, resistances, aura effect, movement speed or any useful modifiers are also good to look for. You can search for timeless jewels with these specific modifiers using the tools in path of building. The jewel i have equipped isn't the most efficient but i purchased this for 100c, the average cost of a brutal restraint is probably around 1 divine or more for practically impactful jewels. Ghostwrithe & Presence of Chayula
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Since We are intending to reserve a almost all of our life bar, and that reservation is a percentage of whatever life we have we need to make the most of it. We achieve this by with Ghostwrithe and the Presence of Chayula converting up to 74% of our life bar (with a catalyzed amulet).
This provides a huge boost to our total energy shield and in turn our damage. We also get a modest 110% chaos resistance between the two items. This converted life is also able to double dip on any passive skills that give increases to both energy shield and life. Presence of Chayula is the most expensive item here at around 2 divines, while I purchased this well rolled Ghostwrithe for 50c and 6 linked it for around 200c. So far our core of the build has cost, lets say... 4.5 divines rounded up. now i know that might sound like a lot if you a newer player but you will be able to get there and make back much more once you can run those sanctums. Additionally i would recommend that Presence of Chayula be purchased last, as it is the most expensive part and the build can still function well with another amulet instead. There is one more important part of of the built and that is the belt, as it hold important affixes for sustaining your flasks, such as reduced flask charges used increased flask duration. If you are struggling to sustain flasks you can choose to only use 2 flasks, or path towards the "Careful Conservationist" flask node on the tree (you will need to cut some other skills to do this). With that being said you should be able to sustain 3 flasks with decent enough gear. This is my belt. It is very good. It cost 4 Divines. YOU DO NOT NEED A BELT THIS GOOD TO PLAY THE BUILD!!! The important modifiers here are again the reduced flask charges used and the flask duration modifier. You craft your own using chaos spam or purchase a cheaper one on a different belt base, but a crystal belt with defense catalysts is the end game option. The reason why this build is so effective is that from here the rest of the gear is complexly flexible, we just pick a concept and scale it using good stats. Gloves, boots, ring, shield and helmet are can be be whatever you want, some of my gear is not very optimized but its about finding whatever works. I do suggest using energy shield based gear as we are an energy blade build and this is just overall good for damage and survivability. I also suggest that for the helmet to make sure it a pure ES base like a Hubris circlet, as this makes the most of the trickster ascendancy (providing 5 evasion per 1 ES on your helmet). You could choose to use hybrid ES/Amour gear for boots gloves and shield if you felt you would prefer some more physical defense in addition to our already large evasion. You may also choose to go for could go for ES/Evasion hybrid gear if your after spell suppression with some. Personally I'm using pure ES gear in all slots as we do want our energy blade to be large. In general for your gear you are looking for: - Increased ES & Added maximum energy shield - Resistances of all elements an maybe some more chaos if you can - Attributes (only as much as necessary, but extra int does also give extra ES) - Movements speed on boots (don't won't to be too slow) - Maximum life (this will be converted to ES) - % elemental damage (where applicable) - % block or spell-block on shield (not necessary but nice to have) - increased effect of non damaging ailments(on boots this is a veiled mod but can also be crafted, on helmet this can be gained as an eater of world implicit) Remaining Gear Slots:
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Some notable mods: - We are cursing with conductivity on our other ring slot. This was a delve fracture and cost me 50c. - In order to use all of our auras we are using a shaped shield with 30% increased efficiency of socketed gems. - We don't fully sustain this quicksilver flask but we don generate extra charges in combat, you can fully sustain a quicksilver that has increased charges gained. - Taste of hate, this provides cold resist and reduced cold damage taken, but most of all up to 15% of physical taken as cold. This is an optional flask that doesn't provide any damage increase but it does increase the value of a armor investment by re-allocating some a chunk of the damage. - We utilized a watchers eye with wrath and determination, but any watcher eye with relevant affixes for for grace, wrath, determination, discipline or clarity will be strong here. - Note the abyssal socket on the weapon. if you get any one handed weapon that has an abyssal socket (it doesn't matter it will be replace when we use energy blade), that weapon even after transforming will keep the socket. this is a free slot for another jewel. I'm using a random jewel that gives life and ES but this can be improved upon. Skills Gems: Since we have talked about auras so much lets talk about them first Auras:
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For auras We are using:
- Wrath - Grace - Discipline - Determination - Clarity - Defiance Banner To fit these all in we are using: Determination -> Grace -> Discipline all linked in the shield with 30% increased reservation efficiency to socketed gems Defiance banner -> Wrath -> Arrogance -> Enlighten And on boots we have clarity, along with our flame dash for movement, and two free slots to link cast on death portal, because why not :) Its useful when learning After increased reservation efficiencies from the skill tree we are reserving 90% of our mana and 92% of our life. If you don't have access to enlighten gem you can choose to not include the defiance banner. I wanted this build to feel very comfortable against all content so i chose to make what investment i could in amour with defiance banner and determination. If you want to completely forgo any amour you can choose to substitute Determination for Zealotry, for even more damage. If you do this you may want to choose a different flask that to taste of hate. lastly i have not included any helmet enchantments, so if you are struggling for aura reservation you could get any of the helm enchants that increases reservation efficiency for Grace, Discipline or Determination/Zealotry. Other Skills:
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- Flame Dash (mentioned above)
Good movement skill - Cast on Death portal (mentioned above) Because Whynot? - Energy blade This is the core of our build and where all our damage comes from. It replaces our main hand weapon in exchange for half of our energy shield and creates a sword with increased amounts of lightning damage based on how much energy shield we have (in our case a lot). Steelskin - This is a guard skill that reduces the incoming damage from enemies by 70% and instead takes it from Steelskin's capacity up-to 2209 damage at max level. If you allocate this skill to left click it will automatically cast the guard skill as you move around. you could choose to activate this skill manually to be more efficient with its usage but this is more convenient. Attack Skills:
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If you haven't used it before lightning conduit is a skill that deals damage in area to any monster that have been shocked. It only deals damage to enemies if the are shocked and greatly increases the damage depending on the effect of the that shock. Specifically 20% more damage per 5% of shock. When lighting conduit hits that enemy the shock is then removed and another shock must be applied before lightning conduit can be cast again. By default the maximum shock effect is 50% but with the lightning mastery this can be raised to 65%, providing to total increase of 260% more damage to lightning conduit.
The best was to apply a shock is either by placing an orb of storms on the ground and then casting lighting conduit. With enough shock chance, the orb of storms will damage and then shock all nearby enemies every time a lighting skill is used, such as lightning conduit, guaranteeing a shock for each cast. This is great for clearing maps but requires you to be nearby enemies, we can tank the damage but it less ideal for bossing and not great for sanctum as we want to avoid losing resolve. If you want to use orb of storms i would link: - Orb of Storms -> Spellblade -> Overcharge -> Increased Area of Effect (orb of storms does not deal area damage but is much more comfortable to use with increased area) In our build we are using Storm brand, when cast the brand attaches itself to an enemy and repeatedly damages the monster for a duration, this activation frequency increases with cast speed) with slightly more cast speed on storm brand (Self cast lightning conduit benefits from our 8% incr. action speed while storm brands activation freq. does not) we can guarantee a enemy is shock every time between casts of lightning conduit. Just cast storm brand first on an enemy and the lightning conduit until the duration runs out or until their dead and then repeat). We are also proliferating these shocks to nearby enemies to clear much faster, either using the lightning mastery or the eldritch implicit on gloves. We are linking: Lightning Conduit -> Spellblade -> Elemental Focus - > Energy Leech -> Lightning Penetration -> Arcane Surge And for our shock effect we are using: Storm Brand -> Spellblade -> Overcharge -> Lightning Penetration - Spellblade is a must, we receive a crazy 135% of our energy blades damage as base added spell damage. - Elemental focus, Lightning conduit consumes shock effects an cannot shock itself so this is the most damage we can get from a support gem. Awakened Elemental Focus is not necessary but is only ~75c and provides a useful chance to apply lightning exposure. - Energy Leech, since we are a trickster we have crazy strong energy shield leech and will always be leeching in combat, providing 24 % more damage and we will quite often be on full energy shield providing a further 14% more damage. - Lightning Penetration, provides effect damage especially against bosses with large resist values. Awakened Lightning Penetration again is not necessary but is useful and only costs 10c - Arcane surge support, Decent damage link and provides useful casts speed and mana regen, this build has not gotten arcane surge from any other sources so its good here as a main link For Strom brand, Spellblade and lightning penetration increase the damage and thus the resultant shock for the same reasons as above. - Overcharge, this is a must for shocking enemies. This skill is only a 4 link so the damage is not very high as it could be in a 6 link but still provides very strong shocks. With overcharge we deal 25% less damage but shock as if we are dealing 700% more damage which is huge for our purposes. Ascendancy:
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Trickster - He is a fan of energy shield :)
Polymath -> Escape Artist -> Soul Drinker -> One Step Ahead You can choose to go Escape Artist -> Soul Drinker then Polymath, as the over-leech from soul drinker is our most important ascendancy however while leveling the damage increase from polymath will probably feel best. If choosing to spec into spell suppression you could replace one step ahead with spellbreaker, just be aware that while shavronne's revelation a core item in this build you will not be able to utilized the ES recharge from this ascendancy. Skill Tree:
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I won't go into to much detail about the skill tree as you can see the specifics in the POB but we are focusing on ES, life, Evasion Lighting damage, shock effect, aura effect, aura efficiency, cast speed, some mana regen and leech effectiveness. Because we are a trickster ascendancy, multiple different types of masteries allocated benefits us in more % damage and % ES on kill, so we have taken a variety were possible.
- Anoint Tranquility on amulet go grant Transfiguration of soul - For budget alternative you can anoint cloth and chain for evasion and resist * important note, this build survivability relies heavily on its its energy shield leech of which we have a maximum leech of 34% per second, and 10% of each leech we apply to be instant. With our large base energy shield even after the energy blade we this is some massive recovery as long as we attacking relatively often in combat. Notable keystones: - Pain attunement 30% more spell damage on low life - Ghost dance ES gained when hit based on evasion - Ghost Reaver Doubles our Energy shield leech rate - Elemental Overload grants 40% extra elemental damage for 8 seconds when we crit with a skills but prevents bonus damage from critical hits. Since we attack so fast we with 8% crit we quite consistently proc this effect. Final Notes:
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- Don't Forget about the abyssal jewel on the weapon, its a free jewel slot
- Effectiveness of shocks is very important for the builds DPS don't neglect the stat - If you cannot sustain flasks yet specifically the coruscating elixir DO NOT reserve you life bar. Use either use the ghostwrithe or an ES/Evasion chest such as a sadist garb until you can sustain flasks and fully reserve life. - level 83 sanctums can be bought as cheap as 10c and often reward 1 or 2 divines per run, its seriously worth doing this league. Even sanctums that don't reward divines can output lots of chaos orbs, awakened sextants and vaal orbs which are all still valuable. There are lots of great guides for how to run sanctums but just know this is a good build for doing so. It may take a few runs to get so decent relics to help you out but once you do its quite easy to succeed. I personally use relics the grant maximum resolve on boss kill and fountain usage as they're my strongest relics. Relics that provide Inspiration per floor and when an affliction is gained are also great and can make it easier to get boons and buffs from the accursed pact by sacrificing maximum resolve. - I'll try to answer any questions about the build if people have any. *Edit Mapping footage:
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https://youtu.be/BdEdXpJVu34
Added mapping footage and conqueror boss kill in standard. * Note this build uses the Prism Guardian shield for fitting maximum auras, it has less max ES but allows for determination and zealotry to be included. Will make updates to the build including prism guardian as next league starts. * Also I've been having overheating pc problems so its not the smoothest gameplay but hopefully this displays the build's power. Good luck and stay sane exile. Last edited by Icarusbound#4404 on Dec 8, 2023, 5:47:22 AM Last bumped on Dec 7, 2023, 8:14:24 PM
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I am pleasantly surprised that you decided to use Shavronne's Revelation. Good choice. Also, the efficiency of performance vs budget seems promising.
Have you considered going for some cluster jewels? There are lots of very useful notables there. Last edited by fostaa#0384 on Oct 18, 2023, 4:53:48 PM
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Howdy, any mapping gameplay available ?
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" Hi, yes if you can find a particular cluster jewel or a megalomaniac that you wanted use i'm sure you could, you just need to find something to cut from the tree (maybe the heart of thunder passives for a different damage cluster). Since we are a trickster using the 'polymath" ascendancy there is value in collecting a variety of masteries on the tree as each is going to give 3% more damage and there are usefully still useful. its all about opportunity cost. Additionally as you level past 90 most of the travel has been done and the most value can be gotten just from just filling out all the small life and energy shield passives for both damage and survivability. |
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" I will make and update to the build soon with some tweaks that i have made and i can include some mapping footage. |
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Thanks for the build, looks cool. Any leveling tips, i.e. when to start using Energy Blade? Or have to level some other way and then respec at 90?
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"you can start using energy blade as early as level 38 once you get access to spellblade support. i think i leveled using arc, and you can switch to lightning conduit once you have 100% shock chance (use elemental prolif on storm brand or orb of storms as an early support gem). Other tips are that when doing boss phases that don't require attacking like Lycia's maze or eater of world's Inescapable doom, you can deactivate the energy blade (which is an instant cast) to double your effective hp while while doing that phase. Last edited by Icarusbound#4404 on Oct 25, 2023, 10:24:02 PM
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Do you have any video demonstration of the build's gameplay? If scaled properly, will this be able to do ubers?
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" I've added mapping footage. If build properly yes this build absolutely can do Ubers, it certainly has the damage, but even with 7k ES Ubers can still one shot. I think if i can get 100% spell suppression and use the Spellbreaker ascendancy it should be to this much more comfortably. Also next patch Energy blade can have 45% ES penalty down from 50 which allow for even more survivability. |
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