[3.5] Lightning Crit Storm Brand (featuring Vaal Storm Call) - All content inc. deathless Uber Elder
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Storm Brand is really good. Adding Vaal Storm Call to it trivalises the entire content, syndicates before the nerf were a joke when many were struggling (Plan A: Vaal RF + Vaal Storm Call = insta kill Syndicates, if not Plan B: Attach 2x Storm Brand and run). I've done everything deathless with this build except for Uber Atziri which I have not unlocked yet.
TLDR POB: https://pastebin.com/f0tXfa5L (otherwise just look at my character for updates) 26/12/18 POB update (end game): https://pastebin.com/edinedF2 VIDEOS:
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Uber Elder DEATHLESS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N12Uv4nwI2A T16 Minotaur - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz2Qx5GC0ko Shaper (good showcase of the damage of Vaal Storm Call) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKBSQkDI20k PROs:
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Looking at 4.2k life + 1.9k mana for MoM with the choice of pushing it further if you choose.
High tier clear speed. High tier single target (using vaal storm call). Syndicates are a joke. You either burst them with Vaal Storm Call or you attach Storm Brands and run. SAFE playstyle for levelling (don't flame dash head first into everything like I do) Great league starter, will get you into high yellow maps without Loreweave/Wands CONs:
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Ele reflect will kill you, the Racecourse Boss will probably kill you at some point as well.
BANDITS, ASCENDANCY, PANTHEON:
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Alira on a budget/league starter (re-spec later). Otherwise kill all is the best option as this opens up jewel slots.
Soul of the Brine King for stun protection and Soul of Yugul for ele-reflect protection Ascendency: Sign of Purpose > Illuminated Devotion > Divine Guidance > Conviction of Power CORE GEAR:
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These are the GG gear if you want to deplete Uber Elder. Void Battery makes most spells good. Shimmeron is the highest DPS wand for crit based spells. The requirements for rare gloves are that you need to be able to craft the new veil "+1 to socketed AOE gems" and you place your Vaal Storm Call here. Try to snipe Crit Multi gloves to basically instakill map bosses and return to mapping. Your Loreweave needs 80% Resistances. This is to counter the degen from the Shimmeron. Alternatively if you do not have a Loreweave, drop Herald of Thunder/Aspect of the Spider for Purity of Lightning. Rares are your usual life and res etc. For Jewels, you're stacking on as much crit multi as you can. I crafted my Helm and Belt - fossil craft is amazing. My watcher's eye was a lucky drop for me, but it's not really necessary. It's just a really nice QoL to be able to leech mana with Wrath on (goes for about 3.5 Ex atm). If you have a lot of money, Unnatural Talent at the most top node is BIS for pure dps. We are crit so we should use a Diamond Flask. Cinderswallow IMO is the best unique Flask in the game right now. Crit chance Flask effect is what you want. I had planned to use a Wise Oak but my resistances were so far down the drain that I just opted with Atziri's which is good as well considering all the chaos dmg in this content. See my character "MyHierophantAcademia" for updates. GEM LINKS:
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Storm Brand-Power Charge on Crit-Controlled Destruction-Lightning Pen-Faster Casting-Conc Effect/Increased AOE
Elemental Focus can come in for Faster Casting if you need damage. Brand Recall-Arcane Surge (watch its level)-Empower (level 2 is okay) Vaal Storm Call-Lightning Pen-Controlled Destruction-Less Duration CWDT-Immortal Call-Warlord's Mark on Hit-Increased Duration Flame Dash-Faster Casting-Decoy Totem-Multiple Totems Support Wrath in your Essence Worm. Try to get a level 21 Wrath. Herald of Thunder OR Purity of Lightning (if you don't have Loreweave) OR Aspect of the Spider (if you're lucky, I replaced HoT with the free gem slot with a level 1 Clarity). Vaal RF and Summon Stone Golem elsewhere. LEVELLING GUIDE:
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The good thing about how smooth Storm Brand is that you can use it for the rest of the game until you pick it up. I used Spark and Orb of Storms until I got access. Passive treewise, this is what I did: Go straight to Explosive Runes and then take Shaman's Dominion Move left until you get Runebinder Then basically go right until you get Runesmith After you get these key nodes, the choice is gear dependent. If you need damage take the Crit multi nodes. If you need life/res take those nodes. I took Mind over Matter in Act 6 which is where the damage really ramps up. Note that you will be using a Mana Flask through Acts. I'd leave the Power Charges nodes out until you get a Void Battery. In the mean time, you can level Power Charge on Crit in the off hand and replace it with Increased Critical Strikes. You can do Lab at each 1k interval i.e. First lab at 1k health, second lab 2k health, third lab 3k health. Ascendency: Sign of Purpose > Illuminated Devotion > Divine Guidance > Conviction of Power Some good levelling items: Mark of Submission ring (Warlord's Mark on Hit) for life/mana leech into Voideye at level 45 (put Brand Recall here). The Praxis ring is quite nice for mana issues too. Some other weapons/gear you can use are: Goldrim, Lifesprig, Wanderlust, String of Servitude (All Res mod) That's it for now, thanks for reading :) Last edited by Eathb on Dec 27, 2018, 2:47:43 AM Last bumped on Jan 30, 2019, 9:55:34 AM
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Thanks for guide. I am currently running ele storm brand, do you think that hiero still has enough clear speed to keep up with ele decently? if so might try out hiero and see how i like it since looks tankier
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" Hi, I think Hierophant clears pretty quickly considering all you're doing is running and pressing recall and it 1shots packs. Theoretically Elementalist should clear faster with Beacon and their ability to have additional Heralds etc. But I think Hierophant is better as an all rounder and certainly better for bossing and indeed is a lot better defensively. Last edited by Eathb on Dec 24, 2018, 12:12:41 AM
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ok thx for the response. Yea atm I am stuck at t16, can do guardians on ele storm brand, but its not really comfortable and im sitting at 5600 life. Dps is fine on it but survivability is bad. Do you have a more budget version for hiero, and do you use the same gem set up for uber as u did for mapping?
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What is Decoy Totem for?
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Could you advise if this could be run as elementalist instead? what changes would you make for it?
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" I put in Elemental focus for faster casting against Uber Elder, you don't really need Faster Casting in this case since you can only attach 2 Brands. In terms of budget, I'd say it's a 10-15Ex build (10 to be able to do U. Elder, 15 to do it comfortably). Almost all my rares except for Gloves are self crafted. If you can't afford a Loreweave, you'll want to drop Herald of Thunder/Aspect of the Cat for Purity of Lightning. But I'd say the 2x Wands (self farm your Shimmeron if you wish), Gloves and Essence Worm are required. " I originally picked Pursuit of Faith but it wasn't really viable since Decoy Totems kept dying and there was a cooldown to summon multiple. But Decoy Totems are suoer good against Syndicates. " Something like this: https://pastebin.com/LPyWAvjE It's more top end damage but less defenses but it's something I'm keen to try after drafting that lol. But honestly Hierophant isn't as slow as people make it out to be. Compare my clear speed video with the popular ones on the Witch forums, I'd say my Hierophant is quicker just because I 1 shot packs and the other ones don't and that includes having Faster Casting in my links just for QoL. And it's way better for bossing. Last edited by Eathb on Dec 24, 2018, 9:18:27 PM
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Small update, but cleared Uber Atziri (no vid) which makes it all content for me.
It was quite awkward at first since I totally forgot that Storm Brand and Vaal SC hits everything and that includes that stupid mirror Atziri even if you're not aiming at it. Easy option would be to just buy a 20/20 Lightning Spire Trap for the fight and replace it with Storm Call. I believe if you position your character and Brands in the FAR corners of that phase that you'd be able to avoid the ele reflect damage too though I'm not willing to buy another set just for that. Otherwise POB has been updated with the end game version and the build is more or less complete for me. Will progress on towards 36 challenges now. | |
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dupe.
Last edited by Eathb on Dec 25, 2018, 10:32:50 AM
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Hi, can you make a leveling tree?
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