With the new patch dropped yesterday, I spent a good chunk of time (and mats) farming Echoes of Varshan since supposedly he has the highest chance to drop the new Malignant Rings. Naturally with my luck, I came up short and even finding zero uniques on a few runs. Eventually, it was a random drop in a dungeon where the new ring dropped. Since my Sorcerer is optimized for WT3 for what she’s worth, I figured it would be good to talk a little about the current state.
It’s impossible to say just how much of an improvement the Tal Rasha ring is at this difficulty level because everything melts. I’m using the Arch Lash melee build with Ball Lightning and the corresponding Aspect in conjunction with Raiment of the Infinite and Esu’s Heirloom. Pretty much that combo destroys the screen. I had a free slot open on my weapon and moved a few aspects around to allow for the new Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop ring but so far I’m able to clear Nightmare Dungeons that have mobs 5-6 levels above me (with the red name tag) quite easily. As long as I don’t do anything stupid, my health dives just slightly. Damage-wise, the content feels trivial.
But the main reason I’m stoked about this gear setup is that I’m planning to push my sorcerer to level 70 to really maximize gear for what I can and Paragon points so that I can take on the Capstone Dungeon for WT4. I have yet to do this on my own. While WT3 Capstone Dungeons now feel trivial with the aid of vampire powers and optimized aspects, WT4 with Elias should prove more challenging. Yet I’ve found the single target with this particular build and gear setup to be very good. So I think the main thing I need to worry about until then is really optimizing my Aspects rather than using the Codex version and min/maxing my gear for defense.
The only thing I can think of for that fight is where I need to ensure the right vampiric powers are used. I know the main build employs Metamorphosis but then that relies on you evading. I have to check to see how the Aspects work with this ability because it allows one to become Unstoppable and I’m certain a few Aspects rely on that for this build to work. But I feel that there might be cases where I’d want to facetank Elias and just need a source of healing. Like Undying or Resilience might be good just for that fight.
That said, in receiving one of these rings, I’m thirsty for more. I know the Barbarian one is the best of the bunch and the other two are reasonable while the rogue one supposedly sucks. However, the farming methods for obtaining uniques is much better and sensible than before but does not preclude the random drop. So I feel more motivated in eventually getting a Barbarian to that level and checking out the powers since I never finished up my Eternal Realm barbarian.
Nonetheless, I did start a druid and it’s been a slogfest. I went with Landslide/Trample and it took a while before finding an Aspect of the Trampled Earth. I’m still missing a Symbiotic Aspect and an Aspect of the Aftershock. Symbiotic seems to be the key to at least allowing you to run Trample more frequently. The thing with Trample once you get the main aspect is that the overall AoE is huge. But the cooldown for that along with Poison Creeper sucks ass which makes this build feel like shit. Unfortunately, the guide I’m using suggests Metamorphosis rather than Hectic. But I think until you get Symbiotic Aspect, you’re better off with Hectic since you need as much CDR as possible for this build.
For now at least, I’m thinking that I might just stick with Landslide/Trample until I get to the Capstone dungeon. If I can make the CDR work and boss fights don’t feel wretched (which they do now), I’ll continue to use this build. However, I also just dropped a Shockwave Aspect and I think Pulverize ends up being stronger. Because Landslide/Trample require too many non-Codex key Aspects, I feel that switching to Pulverize is better. But I want to find a few more key pieces of gear before making that change.
What is nice between these two builds is that most of the gear overlaps. And while I’ll probably just refund all the points, it wouldn’t be hard to simply swap a few nodes to change to Pulverize. The main thing would be to find +2 Pulverize gloves along with a solid 2H Mace and I’m good.
However, I do worry about my druid when it comes to boss fights especially the Capstone dungeon. I find myself missing attacks or my Landslide being off slightly. At least with Pulverize it felt a little more fluid. Landslide/Trample feels better as a farming build rather than a general all around build. And for leveling it was horrible.
I mentioned a rogue before and I did get mine up to level 49. I ended up pausing just because the patch dropped and I wanted to play my sorcerer. And the ring for the rogue doesn’t look all the glorious especially for a Twisting Blade rogue. But I might pick up my rogue again after I push my sorcerer further out as well as getting my druid better geared/leveled. As for my Necromancer, I’m holding off a bit until I can get my sorcerer until WT4. Maybe this weekend I’ll try a Barbarian too.