Lightning DoT Sorcerer 0.8.3E, Another take on Static Orb / Build Guide

[DDuckMan]

Gameplay video:
Lightning DoT Mage gameplay and build

It’s still a work in progress but going well. The video doesn’t really showcase how Black Hole fits in to manage large groups. Since the video I have found a T6 EDoT staff with crit multi that increased my unbuffed DoT ticks from 40k to 60k, but the items shown in the video should be relatively easy to acquire.

How it works

The build is centered around the Static Ground node for Static Orb, which leaves behind a pool of lightning DoT after each Static Orb Explosion. Lightning flame aura will be up when moving to take care of some of the aggressive trash mobs. Shock can be applied by Focus and Static Orb hits. If you teleport before each engagement, your first (and usually only) Static Orb will be free. Some mana regen on gear helps keep mana full between engagements without stopping to Focus up. Black Hole works well for gathering groups to conserve Static Orb hits and for locking down mobile high HP mobs. For higher HP mobs the DoT from each Static Ground ramps up rapidly with shock applications from successive Static Orb hits or Focus. I tried to take advantage of the shock effectiveness when standing in Static Ground node, but it isn’t really practical so I have moved those points to longer Lightning Aegis duration and shock chance for Static Orb.

I’ll leave rating the build to those with more experience, but it is much stronger than my Glacial Cascade and Fireball characters (based on LizardIRLs build). The damage is good, but you need to learn to manage mana, especially in arena monos.

Itemization

It is built around the Static Orb “Static Ground” node, related lighting DoTs, and some shock. The best way to scale damage is stacking crit multi wherever you can. Adaptive spell damage and Elemental damage over time are the next strongest damage sources.

-In the hat slot you can either go Fractured Crown or a lightning crit multi helm. If you go the Fractured Crown route, mana will become a priority. The mana cost of static orb is quite high and the “damage taken as mana” on the helm compounds the problem in tough maps. Try to get a Fractured Crown with a high %max mana and low % damage as mana. Boardman21 has a video on how to acquire the it. The Focus skill, mana regen on a few pieces, and leveraging the free skill after Teleport help a lot.

-For the relic, the Runic Tome and Rune Quill give equivalent damage from the implicit. Scrying Eye should have been top tier, but unfortunately the implicit does not seem to work for Static Ground.

-Catalyst type does not really matter unless you build into ward without the unique hat.

-An ideal weapon would have crit multi and elemental damage over time prefixes. A good staff can be very good if you can live without the catalyst suffixes. Funny enough, the staff that dropped in that run increased my damage by 50% after crafting crit multi on it.

-Crit Multi can be on weapon, catalyst, relic, hat, amy, and chest.

-Elemental DoT can be on weapon, amy, ring, relic, and belt. Elemental DoT isn’t critical, but it gives more damage per tier than DoT, Lightning Damage, and Spell Damage.

Lightning DoT build planner

I think it works better with >500 mana, which you can hit with one high tier mana prefix or with idols.

Edit: added planner and a description of how it works

[Llama8]

Is there a build planner for that?

[DDuckMan]

Planner added.

[DDuckMan]

I’ve made a few minor changes to the build and uploaded a new video with highlights and boss kills.

Gameplay clips
Gameplay with Orobyss and Rahyeh kills

Updated planner

Lightning DoT Sorc V2 planner

The main changes are centered around the Static Orb nodes Manacharged and Storm Conductor. Surprisingly, both add damage to Static Ground. Points in Manacharged will massively increase damage. Going from 2 to 4 points will roughly double the damage of Static Ground, but increased the mana cost from 78 to 121 on my character. Also, Manacharged damage scales with total mana. The scaling so strong that T5 Mana gives the same damage as T5 crit multi.

I tried playing with 4 and 5 points in Manacharged. At 5 points I was getting 825k damage per Static ground shot. With better gear, over a million is achievable but its not really practical as a primary damage dealer since you have 3-4 shots before you are OOM and you end up wasting all your mana overkilling everything. However, leaving 2 points in Manacharged and putting the rest in Storm Conductor will give you the same damage/mana and a much more playable character.

Since mana is so important for damage and survivability, I think getting mana everywhere you can is more important than stacking crit multi.

Damage mod priority:
Mana
Crit Multi
Elemental Damage over Time, Adaptive spell damage
Spell damage, Lighting damage, Damage over Time
Elemental damage

Edit: It’s worth repeating that a staff is way stronger than a wand/catalyst if you can work it in. I kept the wand in the planner since it is easier for early gearing. My current equipment is at the end of the video.

[lonnieep84]

What is crit multiplier doing for you if your primary damage source is the DoT?

[DDuckMan]

Electrocuting Cascade node in Static Orb.
15% more Static Ground damage per 10 crti multi.

[lonnieep84]

Ohhh, herp-da-derp. Thank you!

[DDuckMan]

Another update and build planner

Build planner V3

I finally figured out why the implicit on Scrying Eye didn’t work and why I was not able to predict which Fractured Crown gave more damage. The Electrocuting Cascade node that multiplies crit multi only works for plain crit multi. So, unfortunately none of these have any affect on Static Ground damage:
-spell crit multi on Fractured Crown
-elemental crit multi on Scrying Eye relic
-lightning crit multi mod for hat and chest

I doubt this is intended since you would expect the peculiar crit multi/DoT association would be part of the reason for the lightning crit multi mod. Anyway, that greatly diminishes the strength of the Fractured Crown helm, but it is still pretty strong due to the large mana stat that still adds quite a bit of damage, and the damage taken as mana for EHP. I am still wearing it until I can find a good helm with mana and either Static Orb, Focus, or Teleport levels. All of them will add damage with their secondary line. Also, getting damage taken as mana on the helm or chest will take advantage of the large mana pool.