robg1293 wrote:So i was reading one of the guides and was wondering why it wasn't using warp armor or snow queen, which one of those two skills is better for upper levels? Warp armor because it is a overall armor boost??
Wasn't sure why poison skill tree was being using, never remember to buff hive and vengeful power doesn't seem that wonderful...maybe i'm wrong..
Lightning/Cold is a perfectly viable combo (my guide used Lightning/Cold from 1.0-1.2), and I usually recommend it for new players simply b/c Armor Class Defense is intuitive and easy to understand. Plus, Warp Armor's TCD synergizes well with Snow Queen's flat Defense.
As for why I used Poison/Fire for this version of the guide, it was basically to show how a Fusillade-based Melee Sorc could be built to suit a highly aggressive playstyle. And based on some of the stuff I've read, I think it's the playstyle that's confusing some people. Don't think of this build as a heavily-armored tank casually strolling across the battlefield. Instead, think of it as a naked berserker rushing face-first into combat.
Basically, you're Wolverine, not Juggernaut.
As to Vengeful Power not looking that good, building a Melee Sorc is like a picture puzzle. It's not about the individual pieces; it's about how these pieces fit together and the overall picture they represent. With Poison/Fire, the point isn't to avoid taking damage, it's to reduce incoming damage to a point where you're replenishing Life faster than you're losing it. You're using a combination of high Life regen, decent total Life, and decent Life sustain to keep you healthy. At the same time, you're focusing on active and passive DR (for Phys damage) and res (for Elemental damage) to reduce the total damage you take. High CtB and some ACD help you further by negating some incoming Phys damage.
As for Hive, you don't actually need to use it, so don't worry if you keep forgetting to buff with it. It's just there for a bit of extra damage, as well as some damage diversity.
Gfresh wrote:duysir0 wrote:Note quite sure why there is a guide recommend using Posion tree, it absolute sucks ass imo; especially the Hive skill - deals mediocre dmg and actually blind u, the passive is not that awesome either. The Fire tree is cool as it is, nice HP boost, HP regen, has Fire Dance with huge dmg buff. I personally feel the passive from Lightning tree is nearly a must. 20% avoid and ton of def, not to mention Nova Charge dmg scales with Dex. Tried Fire + Lightning tree with Melee Sorc last season, although the 2 passives don't seem synergy with each other that much but it's makes u and ur bladdy minions super tanky (even in hard uber). Lightning + Cold, Cold + Fire could possibly work too.
Hive isn't the point of poison tree at all; it's merely a nice damage boost. The real purpose of poison tree is Vengeful Power, which gives a massive 25% to life, 20% REDUCED DAMAGE, and a 20% chance to counterattack with a crushing blow.
hive is nice in that its damage is directly related to how much dex you have, so later in the game it does thousands of dmg per second.
Personally I run poison and lightning. If you read all the comments after the melee sorc guide, it goes fairly in depth with all the options available in the different trees and the percs for each one... any combination of elements is viable, they all just have different playstyles! Feel free to ask me any more questions.
Exactly this. ^
