Dark Echoes 1 Destruction 4 Salvation 1 Tenacity 4 Shock therapy 3 High voltage 1 Electrical storm 4 Wraith form 1 Charged blood 5 Terrify 1 Free will 4 Betrayal 1 Retrograde 1 Over drive 1 Epiphany 1 Psychopath form 1
I'm not going to get in to some big talk about strategy I'm just going to give you the basics but I assure you this is a build that will be tough to beat. The idea here is a simple one: hit HARD. You throw up free will turn one then you can take your time dropping Wraith form and Psycho form, yes you can do both at once and yes it in fact does pwn. Then you got 3 turns to hit with shock therapy for a guaranteed 8k+ every shot. If that's not enough to kill you opponent use free will to stall till you can get wraith form back up and swing three more times. Your ability wheel should look like this:
Shock therapy 3 Free will 2 Electrical storm 1 Wraith form 1 Psychopath form 1
If you need more fire power you can switch out a move for Destruction if you need more healing you can switch a move out for another Free will but I have yet to need either.
As for abilities, I got one word: Instincts. Nothing else matters. Strength is useless in this build, wraith form takes care of speed and free will protects your health so no need to buff it.
Here is your equipment list:
Helm Broken Promise Armor Johnson's legacy Gloves Council Gloves Weapon Wrath of the council Leggings Bite proof pants Boots Council shoes
The Shock armor from act 2 is a good second place to this gear and will do you just fin till you get this stuff but believe me this stuff is better, 200 some odd points of instinct beats 60 points of lightening piercing any day. In any case, most of this stuff should be easy to come buy accept for the stuff with âcouncilâ in the name you may have to go in to the fight club several times to find the city council and get all the items in question. Till then you can subsist on the full set of mayor gear its not quite as good but is a more than acceptable substitute. If you have trouble finding the weapon you can go in to act 4 and fight in the training ground there till you find a Poseidon's Fury. Its definitely second place In the weapons list. Failing that you can just go to the Pwn Shop and buy that light saber looking weapon whos name eludes me at the moment. The Bite proof pants are the wild card most of this stuff comes from either the mayor or the city council, this is the only item that doesn't. It is important to note that these items where selected because they have the highest Instincts bonus at the cost of all else. Your other stats will suffer badly for the sake of your instincts although it will pay off giving you an instinct score close to 700.
Now I will be the first to admit there are builds that can make characters who hit for far more damage like a shatter hydro but that build lacks defense, and yes there are builds that can get huge hit points and are tough as nails to kill like a buffer bio, but they lack fire power. This build is a near perfect balance of power and defense. If used correctly it can crush anything even the two aforementioned builds. Never the less there are always critiques so if any one has any tips or suggestions I'm all ears.
VoltCruelerz, I must apologize, I did not read your whole post. Not only did you miss read my initial post but your also wrong on several other points, first the shock set form act 4 is in no way better than the stuff I suggested in full shock set my instincts was around 550ish and I crited for about 6k in the equipment I suggested my instinct was almost 700 and I crited for over 8k, as I said earlier you don't need speed or vitality in this build cause you have moves that make up for both, speed is nice but not nearly as important as everyone things. If your willing to sacrifice almost 250 points of instincts for 65 point of lightning penetration than you simply don't understand this build.
Second, why on earth would I go shadow first? That is the dumbest suggestion I have herd all day. I'm sorry man, not to be mean but have you even looked at the build? This is not a shadow build it's an electric build in this strategy you ALWAYS go electric first, I don't know why you even mentioned over drive its a vestigial move and serves no purpose other than to get you one step closer to wraith form. I'd skip it all together if I could. This is not a damage over time build notice only one rank in epiphany? thats cause you don't us epiphany in this build, at all, ever. honestly if you went shadow first you wouldn't have any offense for like the first 15 levels at least. Have you even played this game?
First off, nice triple post. I will answer your sarcastic posts one at a time... Oh, and for the record, I did read it...
Post 1 Yes psycho form is good, but I think that the amount of stuff you go through to get to it sucks up to many ability points.
Post 2 Maybe you are different or played all the way through on easy with this build and the respec'd ur heroic to this build. That is NOT the same thing. I would hope that you didn't do that, but that is what the wording led me to believe. Also, you may want to play through this as fast as you can, but there are some gamers that are not as fortunate that would very much appreciate it if you helped them on their level. Who cares if you are superpowerful at level 30! You beat the game, what do you expect?
As I said, the other gamers... There are two reasons to make a build guide. Self Gratification, because it draws attention to you and makes you look good, and selflessness. I certainly hope it is the second. Sorry if I have offended you thus far, but I am a cynic and lets just say I'm a bit pessimistic...
Post 3 Next, the armor set's effectiveness is dependent on the play style. I understand that it is a lightning build, which is why I suggested the alternate armor set. It is very effective at lightning crits and with charged blood, it helps even more. There is no move that increases the instinct by x% aside from psycho form, but charged blood does multiply lightning significantly which does help in general.
Speed and Vit are important no matter what. You can counter, but only if you can move first. If someone moves first, they can kill you in one hit. Sorry but it can happen...
As far as shadow goes, electro has NO use for overdrive. That is 10% of your HP per turn which is something you would prefer not to lose (or at least I wouldn't). The problem inlies in the fact that you wasted 6 (would be seven but free will is used) ability points just to get to it... I just don't think it is efficient use of your valuable AP's... Why do you always start with electro? If you mean that you first develop that part of the build, then yes. If you mean that electro is better than shadow then no... I played through heroic with only shadow (and of course electro)... It works just as well... Oh and it is psycho form not wraith form in the shadow tree lol...
In General If there was no level cap, you wouldn't need the lightning equipment and the 6AP you spend on psycho form wouldn't matter, but the level cap is finite. If you want shear power, your build works. I was just giving my two cents about the practicality of it. Tenacity is in the tree for a reason... You don't need it, but if you want to have a chance of not being killed in one shot you may want to consider it.
No hard feelings here, but I'm not an idiot, I may not always explain things well, but I don't say something unless there is a reason. You can disagree with me if you want to but I like efficiency. You may like power instead, both work. I was just trying to help.. Sorry if my attempt at help somehow infuriated you...
Oh, and since I know you'll mention it.. Tenacity is in your build, but I apologize for skipping over it when I read it the first time, after rereading it, I found it. Sorry for the misunderstanding...
I was not infuriated at all I was confused, you made suggestion after suggestion that made my build weaker and weaker. I admit that yes you waist 6 points to get to psychopath form but wher would you have put thoes six points? by level 22 you have every thing on the ability sheet that is going to help you maxed i went in to the psychopath form because there was nothing else left to do. even after that I had 2 points let with no where to put them, I ended up dropping them in to destruction, which as I have stated I never ended up using. Yes the shock set is good but bottom line is the mayor set is better. I did not as you said go through heroic and then respec at the end I built my character as I said in the build, first lightening tree then free will then tenacity and finally psychopath form and it worked quite well in heroic mode. As for power over efficiency, POWER IS EFFICIENT. and your still correcting mistakes I didn't make. I have said twice now, that yes over drive is useless for this build i only put a level in to it to get to psycho path form, I conceded the point. You win, stop bringing that up. O and one more thing wraith form is way better than psycho path form Psycho is all abput damage over time the is not a DOT game if you wait seven turns to kill your oponent you will be dead before you get there. my build can kill most of the characters in the game in 3 turns or less. epiphany while good in theory is the truly inefficient move in this class. I'd rather do 8200 damage twice over 2 turns than 3200 damage 9 times over 9 turns. It's just faster.
However you are right the point of a guide is to help the less skilled players get better and I did say I would be open to suggestions on how to improve so your level 23 you have the build as described up to this point (wraith form, electric tree, charged blood, tenacity and free will maxed) where to you put the last 7 points of your build? I mean this in all seriousness. No sarcasm involved, if there is a better way to spread your points I'd love to know what it is.
ahh, so you are thinking about where to put points once you finish your build? Well, since versatility is not the thing that's needed here, you might as well leave those points as spare and unused. You might pump Nightmare just for those mobs that are weak to shadow more than to your lightning, you might pump Insecurity to get your damage up a great deal (18% for 5 turns, that's a strike worth pumping I think), you can even kick Roald off every battle with Sacrifice (or gear him up as a tank and kick off 10k each time while not killing him, never tried though) getting you 40% extra power, that's a bit more than Psychopath Form's increase.
Ok, some trials are in order. I will run through some tests and report back later.
I will shut up about everything else in this build for now except for these two things... Why do you wait until you have wait till after you have electro to get free will? Just curious, and Psycho is better than Wraith. 30% extra damage versus 20% extra instinct...
@vesperbot: Yes, that is a viable option which I will include in my trials...
Active Abilities: Salvation 4/4 Shock Therapy 3/3 Electrical Storm 4/4 Wraith Form 1/1 Free Will 4/4 Traumatize 2/2
AP Unused: 2
Health: 2799
High Level Standard Damage (average of Shock Therapy): 2716
High Level Peak Damage: 4953
Low Level Standard Damage (average of Shock Therapy): 26881
Low Level Peak Damage: 32257
Pros: Good Damage Overall, good for knocking enemies down to size. Good survivability
Cons: Peak damage is relatively low...
Trial 1B: Standard Electro with Mayor Set
Passives: Charged Blood 5/5 Tenacity 5/5
Active Abilities: Salvation 4/4 Shock Therapy 3/3 Electrical Storm 4/4 Wraith Form 1/1 Free Will 4/4
AP Unused: 3
Health: 5122
High Level Standard Damage (average of Shock Therapy): 2335
High Level Peak Damage: 5651
Low Level Standard Damage (average of Shock Therapy): 25956
Low Level Peak Damage: 31148
Pros: Significantly more health
Cons: Less damage against all enemies
My Review: My review is that it prior has more damage making it superior there and due to its ability to make up for its lack of health with salvation and free will is equal on the other front. Therefore, in a comparison of SEwES vs SEvMS, SEwES is superior due to extra damage.
Preview: Next I will be performing Trials 2A and 2B to test the effectiveness of your build.
Active Abilities: Shock Therapy 3/3 Electrical Storm 4/4 Wraith Form 1/1 Psycho Form 1/1 Free Will 4/4
AP Unused: 0
Health: 4802
High Level Standard Damage (average of Shock Therapy): 2569
High Level Peak Damage: 8082
Low Level Standard Damage (average of Shock Therapy): 25254
Low Level Peak Damage: 40497
Pros: VERY high burst damage, great for killing any standard enemy in 2 shots...
Cons: slightly lower base damage
My Review:
While the differences make them appear oh so different, these builds are very similar. One has high base damage, the other burst. It is my opinion that they are equal in the way of damage which leaves health. The latter is superior in this regard, but only slightly due to both having free will. It is my review of REwES vs REwMS concludes that REwMS is slightly superior, however depending on the battle at hand, you may want to switch back and forth. Long battles yield REwES and short, 3 vs 3's yield REwMS. In random unknown battles, the REwMS is also superior.
After reviewing all results, I have come to the conclusion that in the comparison of SEwES vs REwMS, REwMS is superior in more ways and as such is the superior build. This suggested build is indeed superior to the standard and it is my personal belief that if Krin plans to add more zones and extend the level cap, this thread must be stickied. While giving little/no help with lower levels, the shear power of this build is undeniable. I was in the wrong previously, however, now, after repeated testing... I have determined this build to be in virtually every way superior to that which has become the standard. The shortcomings of this build are negated by its impressive array of superior categories. _ _ _ Congratulations, you have created a very good build which ought to become the new standard. Thank you.
Sir, you have demonstrated an uncommon degree of integrity, it takes a very big man to admit when he is wrong. Your detailed review has given me some insights and ideas to play with as well. Thank you for your input and thank you for the generous complement as well.
used all the mayors stuff + law binder and all points on instinct
Passive Abilities 5/5 charged blood 1/1 overdrive
Action bar abilities 4/4 Terrify 4/4 Free will 3/3 Shock therapy 4/4 Electrical storm 4/4 Epiphany 1/1 wraith form 1/1 psyco form 4/4 nightmare
against Z5 opponents about 5721 damage w/shock and 8940 withh both forms terrify counteracts overdive+a little healing about 2,000 Epiphany attacks for 1500 per turn
this build has great damage and terrify has enough healing to make up for a great lack in HP with low speed it is harder to hit but wraith form give you plenty of speed filled turns and shock therapy never misses for me the biggest problem is the attack w/only 2 major attacks shock and nightmare really rely on epiphany for damage and terrify for survive ability Overall great build no cheap 4HKO :-) can knock out normal enemies like care taker in one hit.
Alternate build: another build i found effective depending on your style of play is 3/4 free will and 1/1 ultimatum which increases surviveability and this character has more than enough fire power to disbatch enemies in 13 turns (free will used)
PS first is better with teamates second is better for stand alone sonny
Perspicacity, well it's hard to lay on all the attacks in wuptop's build, but I cannot say it's underpowered. In fact I believe it's really versatile, the only thing that might not be needed is Nightmare, because of its lack of piercing, which leads it to be a weaker attack than Shock Therapy. But having only 6K hit points is weak in my point for a standalone Sonny, he can be one-hit KOed by a bunch of dogs plus a specialist... though I can't yet imagine a good combination that could save ya if he uses Chloroform (3t stun), with dogs alive.
This seems weird to me. First of all, lulz and thank you's to Volt for putting way too much work into this. You're a geek; we love you.
I don't know why you guys are bothering looking at health at all, especially in a hybrid build. Free will turns instinct into health (essentially) so all you need is more instinct, or enough speed to go first in battles. That first turn is all that matters. Then you are complaining about having to pick up Overdrive on your way to Psycho Form. What might seem more important to you, as a class built for quick, furious, high-damage battles: losing 10% of your very small health, or adding 30% to the highest single stat in the game which is used in one of the most punishing attacks in the game? Really, I don't think an extra 5-600 damage per turn is going to kill you or break through your shield, and certainly not when you can make your enemies die 30% quicker.
Also, I very much support whoever said use Ultimatum and Sacrifice (and taking out Nightmare--it really isn't good unless you've got Insecurity and Dark Echoes). Ultimatum makes you utterly invincible, especially with Free Will applied right after, as long as they can't dispel. If they can, no harm done. Sacrifice is soooooooooo much better than that lame Schadenfreude thing. Your battles are short, and not DOT long. Get fast regen and a HUGE buff to damage and not a 9-turn shadow regen.
Not saying this is a bad build; I haven't tried it yet. I will when I can. Nobody's asking, but here's my build (which I also consider a hybrid...)
3x Shock Therapy 1x Electrical Storm 1x Ultimatum 1x Free Will 1x Sacrifice 1x Wraith Form Tenacity (opt.) Charged Blood
I think that's it; I'm going off of memory from my least favorite character. Between the really good shield, the PHAT damage reduction, and the total regen, I think it's enough defense for me. And I get the power of a straight elec build. I can't get Psycho Form, though, which sucks. So your build might still be better. It's at least more offence-oriented. I'll mess with both later (for some reason) and see what I like. Or Volt could do it for me. ?
