[3.5][HCSSF] Storm Brand Hierophant | Tanky, mobile, beginner friendly, and fun

I attempted to try another build too, but I quickly gravitated back to this. It's just too smooth, too neat, it's hard to beat.

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Lilyliciously wrote:

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naarou wrote:

What do you think about instead of using Blasphemy + Enfeeble, using Herald of Thunder + Curse on Hit + Enfeeble? I've been doing this and it seems pretty decent.

There are a few major problems with using HoT+CoH+Enfeeble. As you say, it's much less reliable. On top of that, only the active portion of Herald of Thunder actually hits enemies. As such, only enemies that are shocked when they die triggers the active portion of the spell, which means that this won't work at all on bosses. We're not shocking with Storm Brand either, so it'd be purely from the trap, making it even less effective.

Great info, thanks! I have never played a build quite like this, and haven't played in a long time for that matter (before 3.0), so my experience is both limited and diminished. Love the build though.

I disabled syndicate encounters because hcssfbtw, just focusing on mapping (T3 atm) and delving right now, and both are going smoothly so far. I don't particularly feel threatened by anything yet, but we'll see how T16s go ~_^

I've disabled them too while waiting on the nerfs in the next patch that should be coming soon. I'm in T6 maps at this point, and it's going super smooth!

Added example gear. Note that it's far from optimal, but it's decent!

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Lilyliciously wrote:

Added example gear. Note that it's far from optimal, but it's decent!

Any unique chest suggestion? Like loreweave for damage and resist or more survivelity to belly.

Loreweave would be my go-to chest for those that are in trade league, get lucky, or just grind up 60 rings. A well rolled rare would be my second choice, there's an example in the gear section. Belly of the Beast struggles with getting the right sockets, and isn't recommended.

Nice guide. I do have a few questions about how brands in general operate.

1) I assume brands have an attached duration, but no matter where I look I cannot figure out what the base duration is.

2) Is there a delay between casting brands and their activation? Specifically, when using Brand Recall on an already branded enemy, is there any dps loss, or will it merely extend the duration?

3) Will the duration increase of Brand Recall be affected by an Increased Duration Suppport?

4) I noticed you said it is impossible to get to 150% CD on Brand Recall. It’s possible, but highly impractical, especially for SSF.
* L7 Brand Recall + L4 Empower = 90%
* Ascendency = 30%
* Max mods on belt/boots = 35%
* Total = 155%
Again, quite unnecessary when considering everything involved, but a L3 empower is worth looking at for late game SSF with an alternative gem until Empower becomes viable.

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Nice guide. I do have a few questions about how brands in general operate.

1) I assume brands have an attached duration, but no matter where I look I cannot figure out what the base duration is.

2) Is there a delay between casting brands and their activation? Specifically, when using Brand Recall on an already branded enemy, is there any dps loss, or will it merely extend the duration?

3) Will the duration increase of Brand Recall be affected by an Increased Duration Suppport?

4) I noticed you said it is impossible to get to 150% CD on Brand Recall. It’s possible, but highly impractical, especially for SSF.
* L7 Brand Recall + L4 Empower = 90%
* Ascendency = 30%
* Max mods on belt/boots = 35%
* Total = 155%
Again, quite unnecessary when considering everything involved, but a L3 empower is worth looking at for late game SSF with an alternative gem until Empower becomes viable.

1)

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Mark_GGG wrote:

There are two durations on a Brand - they have a total duration they can be attached for, and a total duration they can be left on the ground unattached. They expire if either runs out. This means time a Brand is on the ground between enemies, and thus not dealing damage, doesn't count towards it's attached duration.

I can't find any reference to the actual durations of the two components, but I remember 5s attached and 10s unattached off the top of my head. No idea where I got that from though.

2) Storm Brand activates immediately when you use Brand Recall, while Armageddon Brand has a slight delay. That said, I suspect that the activation from Brand Recall takes place before getting reattached to a target. This means that the activation that takes place after using Brand Recall would not benefit from the 50% bonus to damage if attached to the target that Storm Brand has.

I'm pretty sure that the brands then get immediately reattached though. I don't know this for sure, but I think the order of operation would be Brand Recall>Activation damage>Attach>Regular activations. In singletarget, you'll probably see a DPS increase just from the fact that you have all your brands activate at once, while only two would be activating without recalling.

3) No. Increased Duration would increase the base duration of the brands if attached to the brand itself. If Brand Recall had the "duration" tag, then it would likely work, but it doesn't.

4) If I said it's impossible, then I was incorrect. I think I just said it isn't feasible. I plan on updating the guide a bit to reflect the possibilities with Empower and certain items that increase gem levels. For SSF purposes, the guide as written is fine, but with lucky drops and mods you can improve things. That said, it really isn't necessary. At higher levels, you don't want to get too close to your enemies anyway, making it more viable to cast brands into packs from a distance. The fact that we no longer use Arcane Surge attached to brand recall at higher levels also means that we don't really need to cast it for anything other than convenience. Permanent brands are convenient, sure, but the benefit is definitely not so big that we go out of our way to get it.

What uniques can one use that are useful to this build?
Thanks in advance

Thanks for the reply.