Been looking at the builds and I think the reason they don’t take the block efficiency nodes is that linear progression by its nature has diminishing returns.
That is, their planner shows they have 9.3k block effectiveness already. If they took all available block effectiveness nodes they could add another 450. That’s a 5% increase.
So it’s likely that you’ll get better benefits with other nodes.
I wouldn’t say it has diminishing returns. I’d say it has exponential gains. Since you are directly increasing your flat damage to then get serveral more multipliers.
This is why I don’t trust planners. It says I have 5.9k but I have 13k in combat. Taking a BE node is just the single biggest increase in damage even when you have a lot.
When you add more Block effectiveness from any source you get 40% more from Monument. You also get 50% more from the Ring of shields node Sturdy Shields. That buffs you when your shields heal or die.
It’s such a massive increase because it’s flat damage that gets % buffed then several more multipliers.
I just can’t see a better node really because of synergies.
This doesn’t change the fact that it does have diminishing returns. If you have 40 Block Eff (BE) and add another 40BE, you go from +2 to +4. That’s a 100% increase. If you then add another +40, that’s only a 50% increase. And if you add another +40, that’s just a 25% increase.
Or, to put it another way:
You have +40BE which gives you +2 damage. To double it, you need to add +40. To double it again, you need +80. To double it again you need +160. Etc.
The multipliers are irrelevant to the increase because the mulltipliers always apply.
Let’s take the above example and assume we’re at 4k BE for easy math. That’s +100 damage.
You then get 100% more from other sources, so you go to +200 damage total.
Not let’s add 400BE (10% increase), bringing us to +110 damage (10% increase).
You then apply the 100%, bringing us to 220 damage total (10% increase).
No matter how many multipliers you have, a 10% increase at the base is a total 10% increase.
Now that is a good argument. If you have nothing better, even a 1% damage increase is good enough. So I compared the trees for both using the planner you posted:
-In the base tree they sacrifice some BE for cooldown for HH.
-In Paladin tree they only care about the 15 points for Sigils, whereas you added extra ignite stuff for some reason. They also sacrificed some BE for health.
-In VK tree, you only cared about getting to VR. They went for crit multi bonus. I don’t know if I would have taken the Doom Knight points, though.
-In FG tree there’s only one difference: they went for health+stun avoid and you went for health+stun chance. Given your D2 smiter goal, your choice makes sense.
So overall, they sacrificed 280BE (which is a small damage increase, as we’ve established) for extra health and movement. Doesn’t seem like a bad trade. Overall both should perform very similarly except you should stun more often due to the (admittedly baffling) choice of taking Unflinching instead of Guardian.
This is not true because there are other multipliers for BE.
I had to take an ignite node to get too the Str node which is a massive damage increase since Str has % damage and also a more multiplier 1% per str.
It’s not.
I have 11,476 BE out of combat with buffs. I removed my 202 BE ring I now have 11,009 BE
So removing 202 flat BE = 467 BE loss
You want to raise your flat BE as much as possible so that way % more, buffs and proc raise it exponentially.
I do agree despite your not seeing all the working parts so your math is off.
Any who there is a lot of testing to be done for sure. My current build will likely change expecially once I start to fill in some End game gear.
That’s not how math works, though. Did you see the example where I used the multipliers as an example? The whole point is that the multipliers are applying to the previous value as well as the increase, so the % you gain is always the same.
I’ll even give you another one:
+4k base BE = +200 damage. You can apply 5 multipliers after that, let’s just put x2, x3, x4 and x5.
So +200 damage x2x3x4x5 = +24000 damage.
Now you add 400BE (10% increase). You get +220damage (10% increase). x2x3x4x5=26400 which is still a 10% increase.
If you apply the multipliers directly to BE it’s exactly the same. So now let’s switch them up and apply separate multipliers to both:
Let’s say you have a x3 multiplier to your BE and you have a x5 multiplier to your damage:
4kBE x 3 = 12k. That’s +600. x5 = 3000 total damage.
Let’s again add 400BE for a total of 4.4k (10%). x3 = 13200 (10%). That’s +660 (10%). x5=3300 (10%).
Having multipliers doesn’t change the fact that changing the base flat value increase by x% is a global x% increase.
It’s not exponential, though. That’s not how multipliers work.
Yes, you can have multipliers so that you get way more out of x BE, but it’s also applied to your current BE.
202BE → 467BE is a 2.3 multiplier (or 130% increased). That means that your 11476BE comes from an actual 4963 flat BE from gear/passives.
So:
let’s take 4963 and apply the multiplier: 11473 (decimal places and rounding might make values slightly different but not relevant).
4963+202=5165. That’s a 4% increase on your flat BE. You the apply the multiplier and get 11940 (decimal places change it a little), which is also a 4% increase.
I hope that clears it up. No matter which modifiers you get, a x% increase to your base flat damage is always a global x% increase in value after multipliers.
That’s because they’re multiplicative & thus the commutation principle applies. The order is irrelevant.
Ok so an update after some gearing and flexibility to change some stuff around.
Just did Orobyss at 348 C and was an easy perma stun stand in place he never got a mechanic off.
I’ve got 405% base stun then 240 in talent tree for Shield Bash. My crit is 65% needs to be a little higher. I’ve added some Crit multi now I’m at 280%. Shield bash tool tip with buffs at 426k.
I’ve been farming lagon timeline for better stun chance blessing just not dropping. Oddly enough Lagon is the only boss I can’t stun as I’m fighting his Tents. It’s a pretty smooth easy fight though as my Dps is enough. Then the once annoying fight up there with the Harbinger is fine now due to my stun/dps.
Still got ways to improve and innovate on the build but it’s been way more promising then I thought. Was thinking I’d hit some really hard wall with the build that would discourage me from playing and it just hasn’t happened. There are some weak spots you need to improve on but they can be improved on.
I’ve recorded some of the Orobyss kills and might make a Boss montage showcasing the Perma stun in action.
Nice $hit 
Thanks
I finally got a 148% stun chance blessing. Think that’s the end of this time-line grind for a bit that is acceptable. Raises me up too 430% stun.
Just did a 452 Oro same result. Very chill and he dropped a nice LP 2 Apathy. I did get a LP 3 Siphon which is crazy before that. So don’t mind the grind with those rewards and results.
I see no problems pushing. Only concern in the build is clear speed on mono’s since to solve the mana issue you NEED foot of the mountain. So you got no movement speed. I did just make an LP 2 crab ring I use for mono’s and I have still only 31% movement with it.
Kill speed is fine, feels great just no movement speed atm. However I can drink my coffee and relax while perma stunning and pushing which is the play style I enjoy.
Have you tried harbingers/Abberoth yet? How did you do against them?
I’ve done all the harbingers highest corruption was at 452 on that Lagon kill, they are pretty much same result. After beating them all a few days ago early in this build I did 2 attempts at Abberoth.
1st attempt I wanted to tank and spank and also see the damage intake from all his attacks. It’s how I play if there is a mechanic I want to tank it because that feels good and my purpose as a tank. I ended up dying to the fire Aoe.
2nd attempt I avoided the fire Aoe and got crushed by the tomahawk slam. It gave me a good idea of where the build was at and very promising.
At that tiem I had bad life leech and way less stun/dmg/ and mitigation etc. The question for me isn’t can I beat Abberoth but how I like to do it. Which is Tank and Spank. So it’s going to be refining my damage, leech, stun, mitigation and making sure I don’t get 1 shot.
Really hope to get a good slam on this LP 3 Siphon. I also have other grinding plans today (blessings) and I can raise the level of Shield bash because I think that will be critical in End game and pushing/clearing. I need the + skills.
I did forget to mention I did these 2 attemps with only 2.6k HP which is really low for a melee build.
The mechanic where the ground opens up with the balls funneling into them. I actually stood ontop of that and managed to sustain myself.
I need to just make some adjustments but for the build to be this tanky at 2.6k HP is why I feel many things are promising.
But did you manage to stun them consistently?
Yes
Also I haven’t seen a Nemesis mechanic yet. Just perma stun them. Exiled mage same.
Update and my push as I just beat 713 Corruption Lagon and Harbinger.
With 456% base stun and 240 in tree it was smooth sailing on Orobyss up too 556 Corruption and he was perma stun locked. Once I got too 609 likely his health was too much for my level of stun/damage.
A few things I plan to change with some new gear and + skills will be expanding to get the stun duration and QoL nodes in Shield bash talent. So extending my Stun duration which will help I believe a lot in case an attack doesn’t stun. I can also grab some Aoe clearing.
Hopefully I can finish the MG grind today (such a pointless timesink) then update some gearing choices. To fully work on the FULL potential of the Perma stun build.
Overall the build feels great and still rocking only 2.6k HP. However if you stun all the boss mechanics and nuke them down that gives you a really fun safe way to enjoy Bossing. I’d like to fix my low HP and get about 3.5k and think 1,000+ corruption should feel good when I do.
And how do you feel about drop quality? Does the change in quality and quantity from 300c to 600c is worth the time invested? I leveled up all monos to 300c with my FG and I am thinking is it worth to push farther as this meme build of mine is in a sweet spot now, comfortably farming with enough dps and 3k+ HP. Still could push to maybe 400c, but should I? 
IDK…
Ps. I am still only lvl 11 of CoF… there is heavy grind ahead as the bar is progresing very slow…
So the reason why I pushed the Lagon timeline was
I made a lot of gold, got to Rank 12 and got some sweet items off Orobyss so it was worth it for me. I got a 3 LP Siphon I’m wearing. In testing some new Stun tech tonight I was able to stun 761 Orobyss and he dropped a 2 LP Apathy. I’ve sold many nice Apathies. I’ve found 2 Omni’s.
I think it’s worth it to pump at least 1 timeline (you want to target farm) that is of interst to you and you have a better chance of finding some good item. I do think 700+ corruption is really the sweet spot to farm faction rep and items.
Shield bash is also a build more suited for higher corruption as it’s not really supposed to be a fast clear speed build. You can try to make it faster but it’s not really what the build is about. The build is about being Tanky, reliable with great single target damage and control over mobs.
It’s been a night! I’ve now taken down the Pinnacle Boss Abberoth!
So to do this and another reason why I was pushing corruption was to find sticking points in my stun build. There was a 761 Orobyss with the worst mechanics giving me a hard time and I couldn’t stun him. The one with frost spires, poison breath and drops it on the ground.
What I did to beat this Orobyss was swap out for some more Stun tech and a really great likely underused Adorned idol. I had to give up a precious BE Idol. However a 109% extra stun and +73 HP is what my build really needed.
This brought me too 568% base stun and now with the + skills too Shield bash I have + 48% duration in the tree with the 240% stun. I also took the (Survival of the Fittest) node which heals me on stun based on Str. This pushed me over the top to stun the 761 Orobyss and sustain.
So I was now ready for Abberoth. With this much stun I can stop his overhead slam mechanic at the start he does the motion swinging it around his head which is not interruptable I don’t think. Then when he is about to attack bam… stunned. He just backs up now you cancelled that mechanic.
I did try to face tank everything and didn’t realize this whip attack was giving me -15 Resistance stacks and I just don’t have that much over cap. So I eventually learned to at least get less stacks. This builds purpose is to get hit so I’m not avoiding all of them.
I do have to say the fight sometimes puts you in spots it’s really hard to get out of and no win situations as a non-mobile melee class. It is what it is though. With that said I do think this fight can be a lot cleaner with the type of build I’m running where Abberoth can be on farm. Just could use some improvement on gear here and there.
Looking at your gear it looks like stacking as much STR as possible is way to go for FG.
For the most part it benefits everything. The Str makes all flat armor insanely valuable. It not only increases damage scaling but then has the (more muliplier) in the Shield bash talent. If going Stun there are those new nodes I took which reward healing based on Str.
More damage = more leech, more chances to stun, stopping or skipping phases.