[Class Build] Triple Crown Solo : A Picture of Druidian Grandet

[yolfashj]

-----Part 1 : Build Base-----

Version: 5.0

Build Name: Druidian Grandet

Description: 

She's the younger sister of Eugenie Grandet, basically a Windfury Shaman + Affliction Warlock...

Class:  Tempest (Solo: Furyshaper + Lifegiver) or (Party: Berserker + Lifegiver/Ancient)

1.What' new?

Nothing, sorry... just love to build around less popular classes

2.Synergy?

(1) Blood Frenzy adds raw DoT to every crit of Druid spell pulses, and Druid does a myriad of those attack rolls targeting Reflex/Deflection 

(Well, as you have expected, Berserker + Slayer's Claw grants Energized and will also enable you to almost interrupt-lock group enemies, but that self dmg from Frenzy can be devastating on Solo + Iron Man. So if you choose to play in party, Berserker is a solid choice)

(2) Brute Force applies to Druid spells as well, namely Wicked Briars and Venombloom (Your main group dmg source).

(3) Wards are regarded as summons, so you wont lose much being a Lifegiver since only one group of summons is allowed anyway

(4) Yes indeed, your poor Wards can be used as precious decoy to separate enemies or to help you retreat and de-aggro. Druid creatures take centuries to summon (base 6s) , leaving you extremely vulnerable to interruptions, so..meh 

(5) Lifegiver provides cheaper Robust, various HoTs, and limited but good +AR spells to help Furyshaper build inner defense, since Barbarian has miserable Deflection and has to use AR and healing to stay alive when solo. 

(6) HoTs can help Barbarian remain Bloody a little longer than instant healing.

Race: Pale Elf (Solo: +1 Dex and +4 Fire and Freeze AR) or Nature Godlike (Party: +1 Dex and +1 PL while Frenzy)

Background: Deadfire Archipelago + Hunter

Difficulty: Triple Crown

A painful but rewarding experience... this build is a nuke in party(confirmed), but i have to admit that it lacks solutions to real threats when solo, i.e. 3 of the 4 megabosses. After some regrettable failure, i had to re-roll a full DEX character and picked up Scordeo's Edge, and eventually converted to Strand of Favor (which are usually banned from my list), making it another victim of Strand of Favor shenanigans.

To make some clarifications, this build wont have any problem dealing with main game bosses, some DLC bosses and plain Guardian of Ukaizo (although you need serious micromanagements from time to time). To this end, it is a Triple Crown viable build. 

Solo: Yes

But not recommended, drop Iron Man if you do want a solo run. 

15 Required Bosses: Depends on your code

If you do mind Strand of Favor cheats, then 8 only (5 main game + Neriscyrlas + Belranga + plain Guardian of Ukaizo)

Or, all 15 if you dont.  Below is a combat pic of Dorudugan WITH Strand of Favor cheating

Spoiler

PoE1 Set Up:  Hiravias for additional DEX and Slash AR(Apologize in advance) and Hylea's Bounty

Stats: 
MIG: High. Healing and dmg bonus all together are so good for this build.
CON: Low. Tempest has great inherent HP number, you wont suffer much lowering CON a little.
DEX: MAX..
PER: High. You need crits to proc Blood Frenzy.
INT: Medicore. To keep Scordeo's Edge effect a little longer.
RES: 8. I dont have strong evidence to support that, because crits from high level enemies can easily tear your AR apart...
My Game: iirc, 16/6/18/16/14/8 (You may need to increase RES a little)

-----Part 2 : Abilities-----

Watcher Abilities: Almost mandatory
(1) No Time for the Lost (+10s Beneficial Effects)
(2) Wit of Death's Herald (+Brilliant)

Character Abilities:

Level 1: Frenzy, Tanglefoot, Spiritshift: Wolf (Solo) Or Cat (Party)
(Spiritshift will replace your armor and thus lower your AR, also as a Livegiver, you will suffer dramatic PL penalty (iirc, stacking with penalties from destroyed Wards)when Spiritshift is over. So, by the time you decide to spiritshift, it is the time you retreat and reset the combat,that's why +25% stride is really great when solo)
Level 2: Fast Runner
Level 3: Blooded
Level 4: Thick Skinned, Two Weapon Style(*)
Level 5: Autumn's Decay(*)
Level 6: Accurate Carnage(*)
Level 7: Bloodlust(*), Bear's Fortitude
Level 8: Bloody Slaughter
Level 9: One stands Alone(*)
(Yep, you do that, but it doesnt work when enemies also stand alone..)
Level 10: Blood Frenzy, Wicked Briars(*)
Level 11: Spell Shaping
Level 12: Woodskin(*)
Level 13: Interrupting Blows, Nature's Terror(*)
(Nature's Terror is personal preference,it always reminds me of that OP Nature's Beauty from Baldur's Gate)
Level 14: Uncanny Luck
Level 15: Practiced Healer
Level 16: Brute Force, Venombloom(*)
Level 17: Improved Critical
Level 18: Rapid Casting(*)
Level 19: Blood Thirst(*), Spell Resistance(*)
Level 20: Blood Storm
(*): Replace these abilities with Tough/Snake's Reflexes/etc. when facing certain bosses

-----Part 3 : Equipment-----

(Anything can help you solve your problem will be the best)

Head: Helm of the White Void/ Pearlescent Rhomboid Helstone (+1AR)/ The Maw of Ingimyrk 
(Helm of the White Void applies to almost all your Druid spells)
Cloak: Cape of the Falling Star/ The Giftbearer's Cloth 
Armor: Patinated Plate
Necklace: Strand of Favor/ Sisyfo's Stone
(Strand of Favor is good even if you dont use it to cheat)
Gloves: Firethrower's Gloves/ Gatecrashers/ Corroded Vambraces
Belt: (Depends on your AR requirement)
Boots: Boots of the Stone
Ring 1: Ring of Prosperity's Fortune
(Keep your money MORE THAN 200,000 please.... no?)
Ring 2: (Your Choice)
Pet: Epsilon/Pes/Giftwrapper/Grog/Ooblit
---Weapon Set 1---
Main: Scordeo's Edge Off: Animancer's Energy Blade (Personal Preference)
---Weapon Set 2---
Main: Sungrazer/Scordeo's Edge Off: (Any ranged weapon)
---Weapon Set 3---
Main: Oathbreaker's End (Boss Killer) /The Willbreaker (If you can benefit from Weapon Modal)

Edited October 1, 2021 by yolfashj

[thelee]

9 hours ago, yolfashj said:

Blood Frenzy adds raw DoT to every crit of Druid spell ticks,

is this really the case?

i double-checked my guide for my notes and what i have there is actually a confusing mishmash, so i'm not so sure (and i need to clean up those notes). for some reason my current understanding is that blood frenzy/storm only procs on weapon attacks (based on my understanding that carnage crits doesn't trigger it). I know spirit frenzy (but not spirit tornado) works on spell hits (incl carnage).

[Boeroer]

Yes, Blood Frenzy adds its raw DoT on spell crits also. Not on ticks of DoTs of course (because no hit roll), but on every pulse of spells such as Wicked Briars, Venombloom, Relentless Storm and so on. Blood Frenzy's raw DoT doesn't stack parallelly though iirc.  

[thelee]

2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Yes, Blood Frenzy adds its raw DoT on spell crits also. Not on ticks of DoTs of course (because no hit roll), but on every pulse of spells such as Wicked Briars, Venombloom, Relentless Storm and so on. Blood Frenzy's raw DoT doesn't stack parallelly though iirc.  

carnage as well or no?

[Boeroer]

Carnage cannot crit, so no. But the Amra-Carnage can, so yes (kind of).

[yolfashj]

10 hours ago, thelee said:

is this really the case?

i double-checked my guide for my notes and what i have there is actually a confusing mishmash, so i'm not so sure (and i need to clean up those notes). for some reason my current understanding is that blood frenzy/storm only procs on weapon attacks (based on my understanding that carnage crits doesn't trigger it). I know spirit frenzy (but not spirit tornado) works on spell hits (incl carnage).

Hi thelee~ Yes it does add raw DoT, but like Boeroer said on pulses not dmg ticks (sorry i'll re-edit ), and the effect wont stack but will reset the last one and cause dmg if proc multiple times

Spoiler

 

[thelee]

17 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Carnage cannot crit, so no. But the Amra-Carnage can, so yes (kind of).

well to my confusion, carnage does technically crit, it just doesn't do anything special

[dgray62]

1 hour ago, thelee said:

well to my confusion, carnage does technically crit, it just doesn't do anything special

Doesn't it not crit in the vanilla game? I thought that carnage crits was added in, in either the Community Patch or Balance Polishing mods. But I might be wrong about this.....

[thelee]

49 minutes ago, dgray62 said:

Doesn't it not crit in the vanilla game? I thought that carnage crits was added in, in either the Community Patch or Balance Polishing mods. But I might be wrong about this.....

last time i checked in vanilla (was pre-5.0), in the combat log i see critical hits, but the effect doesn't change at all for carnage. same thing for grazes - still same effect. so it "crits," but whatever carnage does doesn't interact with anything else related to crits. (carnage really is its own thing)

[Boeroer]

Didn't check lately but for the longest time Carnage would only hit, never crit. 

Anyway: Blood Frenzy's DoT doesn't work with Carnage but with all other AoE stuff that has hit rolls that may result in crits. That includes phrases.

It used to not do that back then (only direct weapon hits seemed to work) but got changed some time after release. 

The whole Spirit Frenzy/Blood Frenzy "tree" is a bit weird. Spirit Frenzy works with spells, Spirit Tornado doesn't (maybe even not with Carnage), Blood Frenzy doesn't work with Carnage but spells... Feels a bit like it was implement with hot glue.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Boeroer