Hello everyone,
For 1.2 I decided to start as a pure Time Rot VK since it had a lot of positive changes and buffs this patch. By pure Time Rot I basically mean Time Rot as my only scaling damage source. I wanted to scale it as much as possible and see how far I could get. Before release, I played around with a build planner, looked for synergies and unique items that fit my idea. Obviously the new craftable Set Effect from Forgotten Knight had to be included.
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As an applicator for Time Rot I chose Warpath because Spin2Win. Void Conversion and the Trail node looked fun and were good enough for leveling aswell
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Abyssal Echoes for Abyssal Decay with the Fragility node and Nether Coating as a damage amp.
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Apply it with Volatile Reversal’s Hollow Cascade Node and get Frenzy aswell.
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Smybols of Hope for defensive stats and Void base damage which I think applies to Time Rot (maybe)
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Anomaly for Time Bubble and Ailment Reset and damage buff/big nuke
You don’t need to put Abyssal Echoes on your bar. With Anchored Timeline the cooldown of Volatile Reversal is low enough and you get to use Lunge to dash to enemies aswell.
For Gear you can check the Build Planner but you want to maximize Time Rot Chance on Idols aswell as Chance to Slow as both are big more multipliers for Time Rot. Defensively you are able to get good HP, max block, good armor and Leech. Mana shouldn’t be an issue. I was fine with like 15 Mana Regen, which is not hard to get.
I didn’t minmax my gear but did get some good pieces here and there. I was able to clear Fade of Brink and normal Abberoth with this gear: https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/ozx6y2rQ
I am not sure this build can clear Uber, even with minmaxed Gear and a bit of extra LP on some uniques. But that was not my intention anyway. I can do 500 corruption comfortably and have to interact with boss mechanics and the damage and survivability is alright.
As for my conclusion, Time Rot felt like a solid choice for both leveling and all the way to 500 corruption. I never felt a wall as I was constantly getting upgrades (Maybe it was also related to the inherent strength of VK passive nodes). Big jumps came with the gloves, set and Time Rot chance on body/helmet and passives. Also the blessing for chance to slow.
All in all I had a lot of fun. Was it the most efficient build? Probably not. Maxrolls Warpath or Devouring Orb VK build is probably faster and stronger, but I wanted to see how far I can take my own build.
As for improvements, I would like to see the tick-rate of DoT skills increased. And the sets probably need some adjustments aswell, but it is a good start to make them relevant. As for Time Rot, it is fine as is but I could see some interesting uniques for it in the future like the Witchfire Relic for example to give it some unique interactions or more ways to scale or even cool void effects like explosions or tentacles xdd
Anyways, I hope you guys have fun with Time Rot 