Curse

infernux · Jun 21, 2008, 08:58 AM // 08:58

SF is far from perfect. Besides touch skills, the biggest problem for SF is PbAoE damage. Many newer monsters, such as with many Dervish bosses, use PBAoE damage that hits through Shadow Form. I was thinking, and this was what I came up with:

I have not done extensive enough testing on this yet, so as far as I am concerned, this is still within the realm of theory. The Team goes as such

Perma SF - A/E with 10 or more earth magic

Glyph of Swiftness
Deadly Paradox
Shadow Form [E]
Stone Striker
Shadow's Refuge

The rest are however you see fit

Bonder Hero - Mo/Me 12 divine favor 10 protection prayers and 8 inspiriation

Protective Bond
Life Bond
Essence Bond
Mantra of Earth
Spirit of Failure
Rebirth

Rest are optional but preferably some healing

So here is how it goes. the perma SF enchants are kept up as well as stone striker. Stone striker converts all damage on you to earth damage. Protective bond then reduces that damage to five percent of your maximum health, and takes away 4 energy from the bonder hero. Life bond then splits the damage in half between you and the hero, and that half is then reduced by 21. The damage life bond directed to the hero is earth damage, which activates mantra of earth and gives 2 energy to the hero. Essence bond is also triggered and gives 1 energy to the hero. This, combined with regen, blessed signet if used, spirit of failure if used, and hopefully an energy reduction bonus from Divine Favor on Protective Bond should keep the monk from running out of energy.

Of course, this is all just theoretical. There are still some problems that I havent been able to sort out.

Is there a divine favor reduction from a high attribute in divine favor on Protective bond?

Is the damage brought over by Life Bond still earth damage, if thats what it was comming in?

How much damage in the end, does the perma sin take and is that healable with shadow arts spells (assuming that the sin has 400 health, this should mean after all the reductions the sin takes 10 damage.)

If this build works, what places would it be useful in?

I was hoping the community could answer some of my questions and maybe, if this is possible, get a working build off the ground.

Abedeus · Jun 21, 2008, 09:01 AM // 09:01

Another "clever" person. There are... 2 threads? about this. Use search next time.

Btw, why spirit of failure or mantra of earth on hero? Or why Stone Striker on tank? Why not just put mending and watchful spirit, get your health to ~100 with runes and you can tank?

infernux · Jun 21, 2008, 09:05 AM // 09:05

because the lower your health is the less accidental damage you can tank. What happens when a 55 monk fights a mob with lifestealing?

The monk hero is supposed to stay out of hte fight and just worry about maintaining enchantments, stone striker on the tank is used to make sure the initial damage is earth damage. Mantra of earth on hero to gain energy from life bond's (hopefully earth) damage. spirit of failure will trigger often against a tank using SF, so I threw that in there in case of extra regen, but due to the way the hero should be played it might not come into use.

scrawlerthebrave · Jun 22, 2008, 07:23 AM // 07:23

And what is Essence Bond for?
Why don't you just take the Silver Form build for the assassin?

Perhaps something like this on PVX-Wiki?

infernux · Jun 22, 2008, 07:49 AM // 07:49

The idea is that essence bond is there to gain some energy when the SF takes damage to counteract the energy loss of protective bond. That way, a total of 1 energy, at maximum, is lost when protective bond triggers.

Sliver armor doesn't guarantee a kill. An example is the shadow army in Stygian Vale. Since they have monks, they can just heal through the damage from Sliver armor, and on top of all of that, Sliver has such a randomness factor that guaranteeing it will target the right mob is very low.

I have looked into the SF Commando build, but the main point of that build is to increase the damage of the SF so that it can more quickly farm an area. But what is the point of extra damage if the mobs you need to kill can kill you? The point of this build was survivability, not damage-ability.

craigrs84 · Jun 22, 2008, 07:40 PM // 19:40

Tested it. Did not work. I believe Life Bond damage is untyped, and therefor cannot trigger Mantra of Earth even when the tank is using Stone Striker.

infernux · Jun 22, 2008, 09:12 PM // 21:12

Thank you craigrs84 for taking the time to test my Idea. At least we know that this way, it would not work.

Would you think that if you brought a Ranger hero with greater conflagration and mantra of flame instead, if that would work? Or do you think the damage from lifebond would still be unspecified even with greater conflagration?

EDIT: Nevermind, Greater Conflagration only effects physical damage. It seems there is no way to convert untyped damage. Then, combined with balthazar's spirit on yourself, would you think there is an effective way to counter the energy drain of protective bond? Would Life Barrier and Life Bond reduce damage enough to make it survivable?

Again, thank you for actually trying out this rather than just being pessimistic and suggesting an alternative.

infernux · Jun 22, 2008, 09:46 PM // 21:46

rather than just having protective bond to reduce the damage, what if we have the damage reduced so that protective bond rarely triggers.

Using life bond and life barrier, on my sin, only damage over 220 (rounded a bit, factoring in 140 possible armor using armor of earth and critical agility, although this in itself is unlikely) would trigger protective bond. Which means, combined with maybe a skill such as mending or if need be, shadow's refuge, sins would take only a very small amount of damage, meaning it could be healed through very easily.

Does anyone know that if using this, life bond and life barrier would trigger before protective bond? Or would protective bond be triggered first, then the damage from that reduced?

craigrs84 · Jun 24, 2008, 02:58 AM // 02:58

i've tried that too... life barrier with life bond and protective bond...

it seemed that the necro elite spell that gives energy (i forget the name) combined with blessed signet was the better alternative... it seemed to = higher survivability. when you get monsters that are level 35 and do tons of aoe damage life barrier isn't going to save you anything.