crossbow enchantress

fullmoon

New member
crossbow enchantress

20 enchant
20 fire mastery
20 warmth
20 frozen orb
rest cold mastery


weapon
- brand Chu-Ko-Nu
with act 2 cold infinity merc


or brand blade or Great Bow
with act 1 faith merc


What do you guys think ?
 
Re: crossbow enchantress

I think a sorc can't kill fast enough with a bow, because she has no attack skills.

Don't get me wrong, you will be able to kill. But you're gonna have to work something out with weapon switching - which I find very annoying to start with. Also, your orb won't be strong. Both fire and cold immunes will typically be killed slowly.
Furthermore, this kind of build always has a typical problem which makes these kinds of characters unsuitable for really levelling into the 90's: your gear setup will have to balance between fighting and casting, thereby impaling optimal use. You will encounter problems finding the right breakpoint to tp at, you will have IAS issues (brand doesn't even offer ias), you will have mana issues, +skills issues... I'd stray away from the idea, TBH :)
 
Re: crossbow enchantress

I think a sorc can't kill fast enough with a bow, because she has no attack skills.

Don't get me wrong, you will be able to kill. But you're gonna have to work something out with weapon switching - which I find very annoying to start with. Also, your orb won't be strong. Both fire and cold immunes will typically be killed slowly.
Furthermore, this kind of build always has a typical problem which makes these kinds of characters unsuitable for really levelling into the 90's: your gear setup will have to balance between fighting and casting, thereby impaling optimal use. You will encounter problems finding the right breakpoint to tp at, you will have IAS issues (brand doesn't even offer ias), you will have mana issues, +skills issues... I'd stray away from the idea, TBH :)
Ranged enchantress is a normal build. They are quite fun to play.

I don't know why one would choose a Brand over Demon Machine though. Piercing is one of the main required properties for this build. You want to maximize the number of explosions per shot.



 
Re: crossbow enchantress

Ranged enchantress is a normal build. They are quite fun to play.

I don't know why one would choose a Brand over Demon Machine though. Piercing is one of the main required properties for this build. You want to maximize the number of explosions per shot.


Brand has itd, knockback, physical damage and fireworks of bonespear. I can also use razortail for some piercing.

If I socket brand in a -10 base bow, I only need 50 ias with lvl 12 fana to reach 9 fpa and thats almost as fast as fireball. I can achieve that by socketing a 3 fire skill / 90+ life with 2x 15 ias jewel and 20 ias glove.

But a more secure setup is using a crossbow at 11 fps and socket 15 ias jewel on the 3 fire circlet. That way I can use infinity merc for tanking and increasing my damage.


Any idea what sort of damage would a lvl 50 enchant + lvl 47 fire mastery do ??


 
Re: crossbow enchantress

I would definitely use a faith merc, for 9 fpa.

Upped Kuko Shakaku with Shael + 20 IAS gloves + Highlords
Eschuta's + Upped Visceratuant on switch
CoH Dusk for armor etc...

With Kuko and Razortail you get 83% pierce atleast.

Thats what I'll do, if I ever get the funds for it... :tongue:
 
Re: crossbow enchantress

I built one with the Demon Machine, and it was a solid killer, but a little fragile. (no shield, and, at least in single player, it was hard to get good resists and FHR). Still a fun build.

I agree with stephan that it's all about Pierce (more = better). I would also mention that having a strong prebuff is very, very helpful. If you can combine the two, you'll really mow down the non-Fire Immunes.

http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=615564



... one more note - I played a couple of melee enchantresses after that one, and I think a Hybrid melee/ranger could actually be a very solid build... because you're fragile, use your ranged attack for monsters that want to engage you in melee, then weapon-switch to a weapon/shield combo and telebomb all of the monsters that want to engage you at range (because they're all more fragile than you are).

... something to consider on how to fight fire immunes (though Frozen Orb is a great choice too).
 
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Re: crossbow enchantress

I built one with the Demon Machine, and it was a solid killer, but a little fragile. (no shield, and, at least in single player, it was hard to get good resists and FHR). Still a fun build.

I agree with stephan that it's all about Pierce (more = better). I would also mention that having a strong prebuff is very, very helpful. If you can combine the two, you'll really mow down the non-Fire Immunes.

http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=615564




... one more note - I played a couple of melee enchantresses after that one, and I think a Hybrid melee/ranger could actually be a very solid build... because you're fragile, use your ranged attack for monsters that want to engage you in melee, then weapon-switch to a weapon/shield combo and telebomb all of the monsters that want to engage you at range (because they're all more fragile than you are).

... something to consider on how to fight fire immunes (though Frozen Orb is a great choice too).


Nice, I've played most of the enchantress variants. The melee ones are especially powerful. I'm leaning towards using an infinity freeze merc with demon machine. I'm also considering maxing lightning mastery instead and use a dream helmet with it, this should add around 4k lightning damage. Does anyone know if lightning damage is carried in the bolt explosion ? If it is, it will make this build even sweeter. Why don't you use nightwing as helmet ? Seems to be a better choice than shako.


I also like higher attack speed with the faith setup, but it seems this build really need a tank and the damage increase from infinity is another big bonus.

Here is my new plan.

20 enchant
20 fire mastery
20 warmth
20 lightning mastery


prebuff
+3 fire ammy
+3 fire circlet (soc 2x 5/5)
+6 enchant orb (soc 2x 5/5)
+3 enchant +20% fire damage ormus (soc 5/5)
lidless/ eth spirit monarch
magefist
9x fireskiller
(maybe bo as well but depend if I have space)


Fight gear
helm - dream
weapon - demon machine (soc 5/5)
armor - Coh or Enlightment
belt - arachnid
ammy - +3 lightning/90+ life or tals ammy or mara
ring - 2x bk5
glove - crafted knockback + 20 ias
boot - tri res boot or eth sandstorm
stash - as many lightning skiller as I can fit + str/resist scs


Merc
Infinity
upped eth shaft + um
upped eth gaze + um


I might add strength to use spirit monarch, then I can fit cta + spirit on switch. The enchant should last me 30 mins which seems ok provided I don't die. But the big question is whether the lightning damage has splash effect with the explosive bolts ? If it does, I think this sorc could work.


 
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Re: crossbow enchantress

Why didn't I use Nightwings? uh... good question... I don't think it really crossed my mind. :tongue:. The extra resists and life on my shako were definitely nice, but the boost to FO would've been darn nice too. It was an oversight on my part.

quick fyi: you definitely don't want the Faith merc for a Demon Machine sorc - your max speed is easily reachable without the aura (11% extra IAS, i think), and adding the fanat. aura doesn't increase your attack speed beyond that.


As for the explosion damage, I'm about 95% certain that it will NOT carry the lightning damage (a piercing bolt will carry the damage when it hits a 2nd monster though). I could be wrong here, but I don't think I am.

Also, fyi, I've seen a few mentions here that Lightning Mastery doesn't increase lightning damage on a missile (probably a bug)... although I'm not certain if this was ever proven. It might be worth investigating/testing before investing in a Dream helm that might not provide much damage at all.


... finally, looking at your equipment, I'm thinking you'd need the CoH for resistances - and even then you might end up a little short. If you still need resists, I'd also consider an IK belt because it'll have good resists (the two most important resists), and also a great boost to strength to help you equip a Spirit... that might be worth more than the Arach (or might not).

I'd also consider putting the necessary IAS in the xbow (socket), then either Drac's, Clegaw's, or resist gloves.
 
Re: crossbow enchantress

I'm about 5% certain that splashing damage of explosive arrow doesnt include lightning damage, plus 95% from sirpoopsalot, that comes to be 100% :laugh:
it is a piece of cake to kill those non-fire immune monsters. your problem is how to handle fire immunes. Wearing dream helm is a way, that is also what i have done before, but it is not effective. my solution is equip alternative with double dreams, and using cta to melee attack
 
Re: crossbow enchantress

Just tested it with an act 1 fire merc.

Merc gear
kuko shakaku
treachery
andy face

Exploding arrow, 50% pierce, 10 fpa, lvl 52 enchant. Its like teleporting with a rocket launcher.
 
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