Distortion Ripple

[Vidar]

Currently building on Dream/Spirit character. Going down the Distortion ripple damage build utilising the energy/health regen aura and the auruas from the spirit tree.

Anyone tried this build before and if so did it turn out successful?

[shanco]

I havent tried that particular build but im using a level 75 harbinger atm. And its quite a powerful build. The best aura for me is definitely the trance of wrath which is incredibly effective on epic and normal modes. Phantom strike is also an effective tool to reach pesky wizards and archers and if you combine that with wrath trance you can do incredible damage to groups before u even start attacking them. Also when you get to legendary there is a set of armour called the rainment of carnus which will add skill points to both masteries that ur using and has incredible bonuses when u get the set. However i would use weapons rather then staves due to the melee bonuses in dream mastery.

[Vidar]

I agree fully. I have a level 55 Warfare/dream character also doing around 6,000 dps (before skill additions such as charge ups etc.). He has not been pushed yet and is in Legendary doing very well. Using phantom strike and that other charge up skill in the dream mastery.

I guess the main reasoning behind asking the question is whether or not some of these wizard type skills (casting skills) are actually viable when it comes to dishing out damage in the likes of Epic or Leg. Currently my dream/spirit character is doing great in epic and killing large groups of monsters with one cast of distortion ripple in the Orient section of normal however I am concerned that when it comes to epic or legendary she may struggle to be able to kill as successfully. In legendary I can imagine she may struggle to kill anything at all. However will continue with the experiment and see what pans out. The regen aura/trance seems to be very useful so far stacked with other regen items my chars regen is very fast in both energy and health...which is handy.

[Hannibal777]

Dream/spirit is a very flexible build. You can go melee with phantom strike, as was pointed out, and may be finish off with distortion reality and distortion wave. Or you can you go caster with ternion (in spirit) as your main damage. Deathchill aura to reduce damage and the distortion spells to stop the enemy get close and then ternion them to death. Or you can even go the pet route and have nightmare and the Liche King (some say the best pet) to tank for you. Nightmare has synergy with Lich King with the spell mastermind. IMO, you can't go wrong with dream/spirit.

Currently I am being greedy and trying out a melee/caster hybrid and using a sword or a staff (supported by psionic touch) depending on the situation. So far doing really good.

[Vidar]

Thanks for the good suggestions,

Have tried the liche king pet thingy with my warfare/spirit class and have maxed liche king, outsider and ancestry skills with her and she manages to take down most bosses rather easily due to the summons.

I guess from what you are saying I am not really going to be able to avoid going down the ternion track again. I have a storm/spirit char also that uses that and he copes alright through normal and through to the end of epic but pretty much he struggles from there on in.

Might see how high I can get the distortion spell skills damage wise. From what I can tell if you go above their natural level caps the returns get greater and greater so might have to hunt for some + skill items and see what I can do...

[Hannibal777]

Originally Posted by Vidar

I guess from what you are saying I am not really going to be able to avoid going down the ternion track again. I have a storm/spirit char also that uses that and he copes alright through normal and through to the end of epic but pretty much he struggles from there on in.

Not really, with dream/spirit it is precisely because it is flexible that you are not forced down any one path. In fact, many of those who like phatom strike would advise against going down the non-melee path. Even if you pick up nothing from spirit but the deathchill aura and its upgrades and the rest into dream, you will do great. Distort reality and phatom strike would be your two main spells if you go down the melee path.

[Vidar]

I think I may have found the answer to safer crowd control with this build....using the dream Sleep ability.

Basically target a group on the edge of the screen, run up to them and either line up your distortion wave or stand in the middle and distortion ripple.

The ones that don't get stunned by the ripple you put to sleep again!

The good thing is that the Sleep ability has next to no recharge time so you can repeat rapidly.

Just thought I would share my discovery with everyone cos there may be hope yet for a spirit/dream caster that does not use phantom strike or ternion....

[Hannibal777]

Interesting. I don't know many builds that make use of sleep. Is your caster also petless? If so, you are very brave.

[Vidar]

Completely petless at the moment however working towards getting an Outsider for the boss monsters - apart from that pretty much everything can be put to sleep for like 10 seconds or more leaving plenty of time to dance around them before distortion rippling them all.

Boss monsters are not effected by sleep so definately think of a different tactic with these guys - however I find that distortion ripple (I think - the nova burst one) will stun a boss creature to allow you time to run to a distance so you can continue to distortion wave him.

Few things to note - I have distortion ripple on my left mouse button and distortion wave on the right - the cool down for the distortion ripple is a little over 2 waves to one distortion ripple - so during the recharge time the left mouse button will just fire your normal staff attack.

You will need a good mana recharge and plenty of mana. Basically since you are using a spell rather than a straight attack the mana pool gets depleted surprisingly quick and if you don't watch this you can be short of mana when getting surrounded while charging for a distortion ripple burst.

At this stage my character is level 41 and cruising through Greece Epic. I can kill most level 45-50 monsters and unique monsters with one pulse from my Distortion ripple (level 16) and managed to kill the Epic Centaur warchief with pretty much 1 pulse of DR and 2 waves (level 15).