I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

[Lopen]

I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

Okay, so I have a build in mind... a combination of an energy shield sorc and a dual dream melee enchantress, unfortunately the equipment is pretty limiting. All of the below slots are basically must haves.

Weapon: Passion Phase Blade (this is the build)
Body: The Gladiator's Bane (needed to obtain high amounts of PDR/MDR)
Helmet: Dream Diadem (this is the build)
Shield: Dream Troll's Nest (this is the build)
Amulet: Charged/Archangel's Amulet of Life Everlasting (needed to obtain high amounts of PDR)

Ideally, the rest of the slots are as follows:

Gloves: Frostburns (hella mana, needed to fuel energy shield which will be taking all damage)
Boots: Silkweaves (ditto)
Rings: The Stone of Jordan (hella mana and plus to skills)
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh (ditto)

Now here's the issue: To reach the next zeal attack breakpoint, I'm going to need 30% more IAS after the 25% from Passion kicks in. Ideally, it'd be nice to get 30%, but 15% or more also works as I can place a 15% IAS jewel (is there a jewel mod that gives quicker blocking rate/chance to block?) in the Gladiator's Bane. (it would house a Sol otherwise, likely) Also, I'd like quicker block rate and chance to block to make my shield more useful, as blocking hits gives my absurd mana regeneration a chance to kick in longer.

I consider the gloves, boots, rings, and belt to be expendable (and perhaps the amulet if PDR can be obtained with other recommendations). The question is, are there any uniques/rare item combinations/crafted items that can do what I need for the expendable slots?

Shortened version:
Need a combination of gear that has PDR, MDR, IAS, and Faster Block Rate/Chance to Block that outweighs the mana gain from my current gear selection.

Any help?

 

[redground]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

pvm? get a act1 merc and give her a faith bow.

 

[Lopen]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

I've always been partial to the rogues, but wouldn't Infinity be a lot more effective considering all of my damage is going to be Enchant/Holy Shock driven (and the defense bonus is nice too)?

Also, does Fanatacism increase block rate? If it did I might consider this...

 

[MizzouVic]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

I know this doesnt give PDR, MDR, but how about Guardian angel? great block rate, and if u socket a 15ias / 15 all res. jewel in there, u get more ias and ur res. would rock up pretty high. if u have 90 all res... not much need for mdr right?

 

[Lopen]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

Actually the point of the build is for damage to be reduced to 0 before it hits me, because of the way Energy Shield interacts with PDR/MDR. Resists shouldn't matter, and if you look at the gear setup I'm sporting AT BEST (and it's much less, considering my dream Troll Nest is 5% resist all) -60% resist all in hell from my gear alone. With this setup, assuming I have mana damage dealt to me is reduced to 5% of what it was, and then reduced by roughly 25-50, depending on the final gear setup I use.

To my knowledge no enemies hit for more than 1000 naturally, even including ubers, so yeah, resists are utterly unimportant unless my mana has been drained, in which case I'm screwed anyway.

I have considered the Guardian Angel for the block rate, but the MDR/PDR combo on the Gladiator's Bane is just too valuable to give up.

 

[AgentMarth]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

You could, strange enough, try a Twitch with a Sol in it. Block stuff and IAS you are looking for. Or a 15/15 and there is your IAS (35%) right there and block stuff.

Although, just to note, if you go for a high enough energy shield, you won't need THAT much PDR. Most of it will be going to your mana, and say a 75% ES, 100 damage hit, only 25 will head to you life, and 25 PDR can be covered by your amulet alone. Also, not much hits for the high. (Although we all know of the 4k+ Lilith hit)

One thing, what do you plan to do about Mana Burn? Or more specifically, Souls? We ES collapses, you'll be toast if you don't plan for it.

Basically, you can't have it all, and I would consider dropping alot of the mana gear if I were you, and going for other options, and just going for 55+ mana GC's to make up the difference. Also because, IIRC, the plus to max mana with just stack with BO, so its a bit redundant (I assume CTA since you have Dream's/Infinity listed).

 

[Lopen]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

I don't have Infinity YET, but I'm working on it and think it'll be doable eventually. I also don't have CTA. I'm not made of HR, certainly not. That being said, I'm not sure CTA is ideal gear, considering I could pack a staff on the switch that gives up to +9 to energy shield. I am aiming for a level 40 Energy Shield or as close as possible without sacrificing much. Damage should be reduced to NOTHING against all foes, not even reduced to minimum, as I will be ditching vitality for energy and as such won't have much life if they overflow my energy shield. I suppose the real question is: How common is it for enemies to do over 500 damage in one blow? I suppose not so much unless they're Extra Strong/Aura Enchanted/etc. Maybe I am overkilling it a bit... looking at stats even the Ubers don't do much more than this much in melee.

Mana burn will be a pain, yes. I'm hoping in most cases strategic backstabbing of who the merc is attacking will get the job done. Souls don't mana burn with the lightning, only the melee, and if I melee they should be dust in seconds. Yes, the lightning's absurdly high damage WILL chew through my energy shield quickly, but that's why the mana is aiming to be so high.

Twitch is a decently good suggestion. More difficult than the PDR to replace from the loss of Gladiator's Bane is the MDR, though. I could perhaps change the belt to String of Ears, but that still makes me come up short. 15 MDR won't quite cut it, I know that much... and to my knowledge there are no things in other equipment slots that give MDR in chunks of greater than 7 tops. However, since the PDR is overkilled, maybe I can change the amulet to Highlord's Wrath or somethin. Or honestly, if you think that I have enough +% to mana after removing things, getting gloves that give +30% IAS isn't too hard at all. I was also considering changing my boots to gores, just because they have so many useful mods for boss fighting. Thanks for the input.

And by the way... what do you mean that BO just stacks with max mana? Does that mean if I BO with 90% max mana it will only add 30% to the base total giving me effectively +120% max mana, rather than 30% off of the adjusted mana total for significantly more?

 

[AgentMarth]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

And by the way... what do you mean that BO just stacks with max mana? Does that mean if I BO with 90% max mana it will only add 30% to the base total giving me effectively +120% max mana, rather than 30% off of the adjusted mana total for significantly more?

To my understanding (and you may want to double check this) since BO is listed as +To max Mana, I believe it has the same effect as say Frostburns +40% to max Mana, so therefore, it just adds together. So I would focus on just getting a better BO level from CTA, and switch out the other +Mana gear. I first noticed this on my Singer Barb, where putting Frosties on didn't add as much as I thought it would.

It should be something like:

Base mana x (Gear max + BO max) = extra mana
Not
(Base mana x Gear max) x BO max = extra mana.

Say 500 x (75% + 25%) = 500 extra mana
Not (500 x 75%) x 25% = for like 637 extra mana.

I could be wrong though. And yes I wrote it funny and cut out steps, but the end result should be right. Should.....

No monster should be hitting over 100, unless suped up hard. I think an Amping, Fana, ES Minion of Destruction tops out at like 250. The thread with the PDR Barb calculated it IIRC. Other then them and Ubers, maybe Frenzytaurs, or other whicked monster spawns.

Again though, if you are going for a 95% ES, even if a monster hits at say 500 damage (Not common!), you will only take 25 max to life. Be it Physical or Elemental. You can easily get that with two gear slots; your amulet, and ring. Don't forget about Dwarfstar with its 15 MDR (Not to mention 40 Life and Fire Absorb). Hell, if you go GA, and max you resistances, you could even cut that 25 from a 500 rare damage hit but 90% more.

 

[Lopen]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

Actually, resists are irrelevant, because Damage Reduction by X is applied BEFORE resists. That means that they don't matter. On the plus side, because Amp Damage is -100% resist that doesn't matter either. Nor does conviction. I think that Twitch might be desirable, I'll check it out, compare things.

I did forget Dwarfstar, nice catch on that one.

And actually, instead of doing what you suggest based on data with BO, that just makes my job easier. Don't use BO and use the staff of +9 ES.

 

[Rassler]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

Hey Lopen - I see you're putting that Dream to good use!

I decided to recreate my Melee sorc into a Zeal-ES sorc because I didn't quite like the Bear route. My build has focused on high mana to fuel my ES, and decent life to balance out any poison/mana burn monsters that may hit me.

My skill layout is fairly standard - I opted for Shiver armor instead of Cold armor for the extra defence boost, and I haven't put more than 1 point into Fire Mastery yet (though slightly considering it).

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is this. My block sits at base. With Dream Troll Nest (which I had to rebuy! lol) my block sits at 31% or so, and I've got just enough DEX to wield a Phase Blade (136). With ES and without block, I still take relatively low damage. Instead of investing points in DEX for max block, I've chosen to invest into Energy (almost reaching 300 with torch/anni) and Vitality (199 with torch/anni) and it's made a heck of a difference having that much health and mana. Without BO, my health stands at around 750 (1100 with BO) and mana stands at 1400 (2100 with BO). I have no mana leech, and 8% Life leech from CoH, but because of my low physical damage with Passion, I hardly ever leech - and hardly ever need to leech.

Here's what I'm trying to say - are you sure you want to invest into Block? I can understand if you're planning to PVP with her, and I can see why you'd like the IAS (which I don't have) but maybe try rethinking the blocking decision. You're already achieving huge PDR and MDR, which like you stated is taking up a lot of room and flexibility, and my personal opinion would be to scrap the block and hit up the life and mana.

Hope it didn't sound too imposing or anything, just thought I'd give my own opinion on the subject!

 

[Lopen]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

Haha, ah, Rassler, the only reason I'm even starting this build! (still need the other Dream though grr heheh) What's the stormlash going into first?

Anyway... my rationale for maxing block was simple. I figured that the threat of all mana being drained from damage was a somewhat real one, but that maxing block would allow me more time to recharge that mana more reliably (the recharge rate gets bloody absurd with a huge mana pool, max warmth, and insight, as I'm sure you know), and make mana burn enemies a bit more manageable (fighting mana burns is kind of like playing against a melee dueler... they in effect one shot you).

I'm planning on base vitality as a style decision, though it may make me pay the price later (well, 13 vitality, just because 13's cooler than 10) but I don't think it will, and I'll explain in a minute why. Now, I could scrap my block rate for EVEN MORE ENERGY, but I think block rate is the better decision (and vit better than EVEN MORE ENERGY), and in some ways might make her more durable than the extra points in vitality. Think of it this way:

75% block, to obtain through throwing points in dex, would probably take about 100-150 more points than it should (because of the high dex requirement of the Phase Blade). That's about 200-300 life. So we've got two options here:
1. My life is around 500 with 75% block rate.
2. My life is around 700-800 with 33% block rate.

So I'm getting about 1.5x the life, but at the same time I'm getting hit over twice as often. Of course, life does work against magic as well as physical, and it works against poison.

The big key though is that blocking is working even when I have energy, whereas life is only there as backup. Dexterity also gives me attack rating, which is nice to have for a melee build.

So yeah:
Vit Pros:
Better against poison. (though with negative poison resist I think I'm just going to drop to 1 anyway even with high life. Honestly I'll probably put antidote potions in one section of my belt, since I shouldn't be needing normal potions that often.)
Better protection against magic attacks.

Dex Pros:
More AR.
Works to protect you even when energy shield is still up by giving the energy shield more time to regenerate.
Arguably better for survival anyway given the sorc's low return on life with Vitality.
Better vs mana burners (best way to avoid mana burn is to not get hit).

And why not:
Energy Pros:
Works nicely with the absurd mana regeneration rate.

So yeah, I think I'll be sticking with Dex. I don't want to seem stubborn, and thanks for the input... I just think it's the better choice. (and like I said base vitality is stylish to me)

 

[Rassler]

Re: I need 30% IAS and increased block rate, recommend equipment for my build:

Definitely not stubborn! Just making sure you've weighed the pros and cons, which you obviously have. You make some great points, I'll have to try it out next time I make a Melee sorc, but for the time being I'm happy with mine.

Would love to see her in action once you get that 2nd dream!

As for the Stormlash - it's stylishly sitting in my stash. I just love looking at it! Oh, I did equip it though - from what I've seen either the max damage adds a lot to my attack, or that 1-473 lightning damage is further increased by my Lightning Mastery - either way, my max damage goes up by about 2k!