With the next update for LE being announced as April after the Skeleton event got over, I decided to push a few of my builds to the limit and try to hit 1000 corruption. My initial goal was to hit 1000 corruption with a build in each class (Primalist, Sentinel, Mage, Acolyte and Rogue) but I got kinda sidetracked and somewhat overshot as well…
This is a showcase for my Fire Smite Warpath Paladin which was one of the first builds I pushed to a 1000 corruption.
Current Build Planner: Build planner: https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/QW1YalZo
Also due to a bug my character has both the Fire res shred and Armor blessing. Its a nice 20% additional pen for bosses but not a big deal to lose when EHG fixes it.
Build Pros:
- BIG damage
- Solid clearspeed with great mobility from VR
- Not fully melee (thanks to Javelin) and constantly moving (Warpath)
- Spin2Win with No mana problems
Build cons:
- Kinda squishy for 1000 corruption mainly thanks to DW (more dmg taken)
- Needs to be melee for max damage
Gameplay Showcase: Aberroth, Orobyss, Boss+Harbinger kills, Echo clear and T4 Julra:
Explanation on Choices, Alternatives and Upgrades:
Crit Avoidance:
So the first thing to notice from the planner is probably that I have no Crit avoidance or Crit damage reduction which is a major red flag for any build. My build instead uses blind to ensure enemies don’t crit, the buffed blind is very good in this build and pretty reliable especially on bosses. The reason for using blind is because it frees gear slots to deal with a MUCH bigger threat: Damage over time. DoT is kinda busted at high corruption especially with the more damage taken for dual wielding and a high mobility skill like warpath will definitely end up moving through some DoTs. To resolve this on top of stacking as much health as possible, I added a Decayed skull with an Eternal gauntlets this makes close to 50% of armor mitigation apply to DoTs which results in a 35-40% less damage taken from DoTs (although DoTs are probably still the biggest danger). Now there is a very easy way to add Crit damage reduction for this build by using a well-rolled Leonine Greathelm like this https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/Q9nKMmbB which is an easy gear swap if you get echoes that have Crit chance modifiers.
Logi’s Hunger:
I believe this amulet is pretty BiS for Fire Smite Paladin, the resists are useful, the base crit is OK (just on par with a spell crit prefix due to the high base crit from warpath) but the real kicker is the 7% fire damage leech and 60% leech rate which is amazing for health recovery. You can technically replace this with a strong Oracle amulet and swap the crit multi blessing for leech but this will be noticeably worse recovery.
Javelin vs Sigils of Hope:
Now while the first 4 skills are fairly standard for a Smite Warpath build, for the last skill I went with Javelin over Sigils of Hope which is commonly used with the Unique ring that can automatically proc it. I think Javelin is definitely a better option not just because it is 2 additional smites per 1.6 seconds but because its an automatic source of damage that can constantly hit the enemy and keep them blinded while also leeching health back to you if you need to dodge attacks or run out of melee range(which you can see happen sometimes in the video).
Firestarter’s Torch:
This unique(with atleast 2LP) CAN possibly beat an obsidian sceptre in terms of damage but you need to have slam the right affixes on a high roll Torch and also ideally have T7 Spell damage on the sword and T7 strength affixes everywhere and also you need to proc spreading flames on the enemy(meaning it should be worse for clear). The build’s damage is already good so I don’t think its worth it.
Defense:
Now as I mentioned the build is a bit glassy for 1000 corruption, now while a valid way to resolve this would be just get T7 hybrid health/health in all the slots to push the lifepool past 4K health, I think a better option would be incorporating Ravenous Void as its global DR synergizes well with the build and the missing stats can be compensated with a small change in rings and idols like this https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/BrNYKJ4B. The only problem is this setup will be missing Frailty which is also a strong 18% DR. I already have the ring and idols so if I can slam frailty on a Ravenous void or Logi’s Hunger it will be worth making the swap.