[Nemesis] HP EK Scion - Arctic Armor + EB + MoM - 5+ Auras

After a 2 week hiatus for RL, I'm finally back into the build. lvl58, into a1 Merc. Here is the current passive tree



Have been trying to make it to EB, but keep taking side tracked to get more HP.

I'm usually around 2200-2500 HP (depending on gear config), 800 mana right now with EK at ~1300 DPS (unbuffed). I run Faster Proj + added fire and that's it. Haven't got a good 4L for it yet, which sucks. I usually run 3 auras: Hatred/Grace + Clairty + Purity. SOmetimes I drop purity for AA depending on situation. Still don't quite have the high pool + regen to push AA up and run lots of auras.

Here is my currently equipped gear



My next goal is to equip my Karui Ward so I can spec out of Ballistic Mastery and use those 3 points elsewhere. OF course doing that hurts my Fire/Light resist which means I have to swap a whole bunch of stuff around. After that it's to get my Cold res up so I can go do the merc medicine chest quest and do some Merviel Farm runs. I've had solid fire/light resist this entire time, but have not been able to get my cold resist any higher than ~40%. So frustrating.

Have you thought about moving 3 points around so that you can snag Inner Force ? Have you done the math on said increases ? With Alpha I would imagine that the 21% wouldn't be insignificant, especially coupled with your other aura buffs. Of course, it's entirely possible that I'm wrong. Get back to me.

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Halatza wrote:

Have you thought about moving 3 points around so that you can snag Inner Force ? Have you done the math on said increases ? With Alpha I would imagine that the 21% wouldn't be insignificant, especially coupled with your other aura buffs. Of course, it's entirely possible that I'm wrong. Get back to me.

IF also "buffs" (increases) the mana drain rate of Arctic Armour. So it really depends on if you get enough mana and mana regen on gear and what combinations of auras you want to run.

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hokieneer wrote:

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Halatza wrote:

Have you thought about moving 3 points around so that you can snag Inner Force ? Have you done the math on said increases ? With Alpha I would imagine that the 21% wouldn't be insignificant, especially coupled with your other aura buffs. Of course, it's entirely possible that I'm wrong. Get back to me.

IF also "buffs" (increases) the mana drain rate of Arctic Armour. So it really depends on if you get enough mana and mana regen on gear and what combinations of auras you want to run.

What he said. I have a small write up about it in the Aura Math section.

Going to try this out after my recent Nemesis death. What do you suggest changing to run Spectral Throw instead of EK? Why EK in the first place? New player here. Sorry if that was a dumb question. I noticed a lot of people like running EK in general.

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alexluong wrote:

Going to try this out after my recent Nemesis death. What do you suggest changing to run Spectral Throw instead of EK? Why EK in the first place? New player here. Sorry if that was a dumb question. I noticed a lot of people like running EK in general.

EK is used with this build because it is not gear dependent to do damage with. This biggest things to change with ST would be to drop all of the cast speed and spell damage nodes and takes something else in their place.

Ah, I didn't realize EK was a spell, so that's why people use traps with it.

So how is it any easier to gear than ST? With ST, don't you just need a high phys damage 2h? With EK, just a high spell damage wand?

Hmm im still really having a lot of trouble with mana management and the only skill i ever use is MS/PW/EK. Is there any single target skills that I can incorporate into this build? I also can only run 1 aura idk why. I have ML going to my hatred both are high levels of course. Is it because I am not using an ES chest?

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alexluong wrote:

Ah, I didn't realize EK was a spell, so that's why people use traps with it.

So how is it any easier to gear than ST? With ST, don't you just need a high phys damage 2h? With EK, just a high spell damage wand?

You don't need a high spell damage wand with EK, it helps for sure, but isn't needed. Since EK is a spell it scales hardest with levels and support gems. ST requires a strong 2h weapon to be any use. I am sure you could run ST just fine though!

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skrillexmaus wrote:

Hmm im still really having a lot of trouble with mana management and the only skill i ever use is MS/PW/EK. Is there any single target skills that I can incorporate into this build? I also can only run 1 aura idk why. I have ML going to my hatred both are high levels of course. Is it because I am not using an ES chest?

Bear trap is the only single target worth using unfortunately. As for auras, what level are you? Do you have reduced mana gems? How much mana do you have? I don't have EB yet and I can run clarity + two 60% auras off mana and still cast all my skills infinitely. I could also support a low level AA with this but I overleveled mine and can't support it yet :(.

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alexluong wrote:

Ah, I didn't realize EK was a spell, so that's why people use traps with it.

So how is it any easier to gear than ST? With ST, don't you just need a high phys damage 2h? With EK, just a high spell damage wand?

I just switched from ST to EK in Act 3 Merciless (lvl 68 or so).

ST is great and maybe even a bit more fun than EK, it shoots fast and looks cool. But, it has some downsides for this build.

1. EK maintains great DPS with a spell-oriented shield. That's a free 24%+ chance to block. You can use ST with a 1H+Shield but it's noticeably lower DPS.

2. To maximize ST, you need to either worry about Accuracy on gear or grab Resolute Technique and Iron Grip. This leads to a bit of wandering into the Strength area of the tree and adds a good 10 pts to the build. These points pretty much have to come out of life/evasion/armor nodes.

Before I switched, I ran some experiments while clearing Docks. I used my ST gear and just swapped my lvl 15 ST gems out for lvl 10-13 EK gems. I was doing the same DPS with 0 spell damage and lower level gems. Now that I have some spell damage and lvl 15 EK gems, it's a nice DPS boost and my farming speed has jumped considerably.

With that all said, if you stick with ST you'll probably get better DPS in the long run if only because ST works with Anger + Hatred + Wrath and if you can squeeze in a 2nd or 3rd DPS aura that will probably make ST > EK. But it means spending a lot more points.