Season 18: The Season of the Triune

[dave in the basement]

I finally made it to the leaderboard with my HC barb. All you need to hit the HC board is patience, and the occasional prayer for no disconnect deaths. Hit #757 with a GR71, mainly to unlock primals.

I may go back to pushing once I get a Band of Might to drop, but until then I'm having a blast speeding through rifts with the whirlwind set with the 2x pylon amulet. Such a fun and relaxing build!

[Orbert]

I'm doing a similar thing.  Had a Seasonal Wizard on Americas, then a Monk on Europe, then did a Barb on Asia.  By time he'd run around with the Raekor's set for a while, he'd gotten most of the basic WhirlyWastes gear together, and gambled the rest.  So now he's Whirling around and destroying everything.  Got the swords (one Ancient), ring, and the Flavor of Time amulet, too.  Fun times.

[dave in the basement]

I'm doing a similar thing.  Had a Seasonal Wizard on Americas, then a Monk on Europe, then did a Barb on Asia.  By time he'd run around with the Raekor's set for a while, he'd gotten most of the basic WhirlyWastes gear together, and gambled the rest.  So now he's Whirling around and destroying everything.  Got the swords (one Ancient), ring, and the Flavor of Time amulet, too.  Fun times.

Oooh, thanks for the reminder. I need to get back to EU and jump through the seasonal hoops. I created a monk as soon as the season started, got to the 40s (I think), and haven't been back since the season started in America.

I also need to knock out a set dungeon in America. I'll probably go for one of the necro ones, or the Nat's one for DH. My least favorite part of the season.

[syn]

is your HC barb seasonal? the IK dungeon is the easiest thing in the world...

[dave in the basement]

is your HC barb seasonal? the IK dungeon is the easiest thing in the world...

It is, but I'm paragon 600+ and still haven't found an IK Boulder Breaker. Or a Band of  Might. I ended up doing the Shadow dungeon, which isn't too bad once you have a couple specific pieces.

[Orbert]

I don't think I've ever figured out how Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac works with channeled skills.  My WhirlyBarb was using it, but it's obviously not taking one second off the cooldowns every time he hits things.  The IcyVeins guide said to use Wrath of the Berserker, and I figured Obsidian Ring is always a good choice when you have skills with a long cooldown.  Except that it didn't seem to be working.  For now, I've cubed a Messershmidt's Reaver (takes off one second per kill, which adds up pretty quickly, though obviously not per hit) and that seems to make more of a difference.

So... how does Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac work with channeled skills?

[syn]

is your HC barb seasonal? the IK dungeon is the easiest thing in the world...

It is, but I'm paragon 600+ and still haven't found an IK Boulder Breaker. Or a Band of  Might. I ended up doing the Shadow dungeon, which isn't too bad once you have a couple specific pieces.

IK dungeon should be easy without those. as long as you have the set bonus you should be able to slap on whatever other random gear you have handy and have no problem whatsoever. it is that easy.

[Melchior]

So... how does Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac work with channeled skills?

Erratically? I still haven't worked it out, I put it on and hope it works
IIRC the mechanic did change in one of the patches, though I don't recall which or what changed

Anyways, I just finished the season with my WD. Ended up with a fairly standard Zuni/Carnevil build, surprisingly strong now, with the changes to Zuni set and Carnevil (since I played it last anyway).

Had a heck of a time getting the 2 minute TX rift, eventually got it while MPing with random group after about 10 runs.  They were all way faster than me. I was thinking of giving HC another go, but the amount of lag I got in my last session has given me doubts =\
 

[Orbert]

I've always loved the Demon Hunter skill Rapid Fire, and it's a bummer that there's no set that cranks it up like UE for Sentries or M6 for Multishot.  But my Barb found the quiver that removes channeling cost and cranks the damage a bit, and I remember there's a bow that does something fun for Rapid Fire, so I figured I'd have some fun while I wait for the Season to end.

So got her to 70 and took a quick look at the Icy Veins build.  I try to only glance at those to get ideas; to avoid the cookie-cutter trap, I intentionally try not to read too much.  Anyway, it says that the weapon is the Wojahnni Assaulter, and it's a crossbow.  I had Haedrig make a bunch of yellow crossbows, and I went to the cube to upgrade them.  Bingo!  First one is an Ancient Wojahnni Assaulter.  Increasingly deals damage as you channel, stacks up to 30 times.  30 times!

I started her with a mix of Asheara's and Auguild's set stuff to get her going, then switched to Legacy of Dreams, which is something else I've never tried before.  So far, so good.  I didn't have a lot of good DH stuff stashed, but I was able to "repurpose" some Barb and Wizard stuff, and she's slowly upgrading to Ancient where possible.  She's up to Torment 10 or 11, I think.  Greater Rift level 50.  Pretty fun.

[Orbert]

A couple of things I was going to mention.  My WhirlyBabe had a Taeguk up to rank 62, so I figured my DH could "borrow" it.  Since Rapid Fire is a channeled skill, that was a no-brainer.  Except I was the one with no brain; Taeguk damage only stacks when you "spend resource on a channeled skill" and since the channeling cost is removed, you don't get the Taeguk damage stacks.  The other thing I was looking forward to was using Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac to get perma-Vengeance.  Same problem; it doesn't appear to reduce cooldown because I'm not spending resource.  Either that, or it's that damned issue with "per hit" and channeled skills and proc coefficients and other stuff I don't understand.  I mean, I understand the theory; I'm just not obsessed enough to actually work out the math.  It doesn't work like I thought it would.

But basically the Legacy of Nightmares, and now Legacy of Dreams gem, seem to fill in a niche I hadn't really considered.  They crank up damage in general, so if you have a favorite skill you want to build and there's no set for it, you're not SOL.  Just equip a Legendary item in each slot, Ancient if possible, and your damage is going to crank up.  I'm sure there are some synergies I could work out, or again refer to the online build guides, but I already glanced at the Icy Veins guide and it said to use Grenades, and I just think grenades are boring.  Rather than that awesome machine-gun effect, it kinda spews out these turd-looking things.  They do crazy damage, but I just don't like the action.  Give me High Velocity with its 50% piercing.  She's not going to threaten the DH leader boards or anything, but she's having some fun, and that's all that matters to me.

[Melchior]

Sounds like fun Orbert, i've been looking for Legacy build ideas too.

Is there any reason not to cube Dawn and stack ~38% CDR elsewhere for perma-Vengeance, like normal DH builds?

Shame about Taeguk not working. Make Gogok of Swiftness could work, not sure about Rapid Fire speed breakpoints or if there is any. Might be useful just for the 15% CDR though?

You have me interested

[Ray Patean]

You'll have better luck with a cubed Wojhanni, and equipping a Dawn. Since it isn't using resource, you'll want it to hit as fast as possible. The Rapid Fire DH is actually quite good now, and it's something I've wanted to build too!

[Orbert]

I have Dawn in the cube and equipped the Wojhanni because the Wojhanni rolled Ancient and I don't have an Ancient Dawn.  Dawn is faster but does less weapon damage so I wasn't sure how that would work out.  And as usual, I'm too lazy to work it out; I typically try things both ways just to see, but without spare parts to experiment with, I just went with what I have.

Yeah, CDR is getting me pretty close.  I'm up to 22.5% or so.  I remember thinking that it's 87-something total now counting the 65% from Dawn.  Now that the Season is over, I have access to a bunch of stashed Ancient gear, and I'm figuring out how to mix and match and not use two from the same set, plus which ones I can re-roll for CDR.  The Season ending caught me by surprise, though.  I had an hour this morning before I had to get ready for work, and I suddenly had a shitload of Paragon points so I knew what happened.  I usually hear something about the Season ending, but I've been avoiding most of the Diablo boards because all the chatter is about D4, which to me is meaningless for at least two or three years, by which time a lot of stuff will have changed.

Anyway, I did some quick switching but mostly just wanted to play a bit.  I'll probably work with her a little more tonight.

[Ray Patean]

I had both a primal Wojhanni and a primal Sin Seekers.... Before the quiver got the % damage to rapid fire added to it... That would've been perfect to play with!

I might try to make a Rapid Fire build until the next season starts. It looks fun, and I've got enough non-seasonal mats to get most of your gear together. You've inspired me, Orbert!

[Orbert]

Go for it!