WeHaveLived wrote on Feb 23
rd, 2016 at 11:07am:
How does it work in quests full of undead, or constructs? It shouldn't, but does it?
Good questions. The Fear effect works on undead, constructs, most everything. The Phantasmal Killer does not work on undead, Berserker Minotaurs or Golems. PK does work on most everything else including WF. When it comes to Mobs who are immune to PK I deal with it in a way similar to rednames and bosses, I focus a lot on out-side of proc DPS in this current build. For me the biggest obstacle is when you don't know a mob has Deathward up, So I am hitting the 'Dispel shot' every three seconds like clockwork just in case, also handy against blur, displacement, etc.. hit 'Pierce the gloom' with a EF volley and you are good to go.
If I am running a really Undead heavy quest I will switch to either DC or LD, (usually DC) to jack the DPS a bit more. If I am running a Construct laden quest I tend to keep it in EA and use the Wrack shot and the normal build DPS to roll on. Smite arrows are pretty great but not worth the point cost to the build.
I also keep a full stock of Silver, adamantine, cold iron, etc bolts along with Assorted 'greater Bane' types to switch out. The Mechanic Fletching makes doing that a reasonable option (Anarchic bolts in Shroud FTW) with just a couple hundred of each, and some times it's handy to have some extra holy or acid bursts.
harharharhar wrote on Feb 23
rd, 2016 at 11:34am:
wait i thought terror arrow DC was borked and not working and 2 saves and blah blah?
Re: other builds using AA imbues you obviously weren't using a good thrower build. Highest sustained RoF by far
I am glad to see someone took this build and ran with it. Back when we had a thread going with Forest here I wondered out loud how Terror arrows would work with expanded vorpal range. Glad to hear it's working, and so are Terror arrows. Guess I have to go back to trying it on my thrower.
3.33 Missiles/Throw * 1.3 Throw/Sec = 4.329 Missles/second = 1 Vorpal every 4.6 seconds avg with 14 levels of Monk and 10K stars. Over time its far more procs than bursting with Manyshot or EF.
All of that being said, this is a very interesting and well made build and if I had any interest in xbows I would try it. Cool stuff.
Thanks, the Terror arrows aren't borked as long as you have a high enough DC, minimum of low 80's.
I love monks and chuckers as well and I tried various versions of them over the holidays myself, for a while I thought they were going to be the best vehicle for Terror shot. 14 levs is a good choice of monk BTW. But no matter how far I pushed them, thrower builds still came in behind the GT in rate of procs.
17.5% = 10k of a 14 levmonk = 70% doubleshot /4 = 17.5% Fulltime
20% AA
9% PL
10% Doubleshot Epic Feat
8% scion of the Astral plane
8% Equipment
-----
72.5% Doubleshot
with a 70 Dex: 1+.7+.7+.725 =3.125 shuriken per throw
3.125 x 1.3 throw per second = 4.0625 Shuriken per second = 1 vorpal every 4.923 seconds.
Now that maximized chucker with 14 levels of monk ends up with a proc rate that is only slightly slower than the GT, in fact it is so close as to be the same for our purposes. But when we consider the additional burst rates of 2.6, and 2.3 The GT pulls way ahead. I also keep a TF Draconic invigoration available so the build doesn't run out of boosts even in the longest quests.
The problem with shuriken-Terror builds is what has to be sacrificed to get that proc rate to even match the GT.
-By taking the Scion of the Astral plane you have to sacrifice the Scion of the Feywild. That gives up a crucial 4 DC on the (also 20 hamp, 2d20 damage, 30 uni spell power).
-To achieve 70 dex you have to make it the primary ability and lose at least 9-13 points of wisdom pumping dex depending on build (Grandmaster of rain +4 wis)
At that point the Monk proc DC is down between 7-10 just to do what it needs to proc at the same non-burst rate of the GT. At end-game a loss like that to the DC makes chasing the imbue proc pointless.
So to keep in the ball park you have to pick up at the very least 4 points of DC at the minimum to get into the 80's so to do that the smartest move is to switch from Scion of the Astral plane to Scion of the Feywild to get the +4 DC boost while not Denting Dex and thereby the doubleshot %. Remember that any ding to dex based doubleshot % is doubled because it effects both the shuriken expertise and the advanced ninja training.
So the monk rate ends up looking like this:
17.5% = 10k of a 14 levmonk = 70 doubleshot /4 = 17.5% Fulltime
20% AA
9% PL
10% Doubleshot Epic Feat
8% Equipment
-----
64.5% Doubleshot
with a 70 Dex: 1+.7+.7+.645 =3.045 shuriken per throw
3.045 x 1.3 throw per second = 3.958 Shuriken per second = 1 vorpal every 5.052 seconds.
This 5.052 proc every second exists in a vacuum of course. Assuming the monk keeps available ki without every having to break rate of fire, and still comes in behind the GT with a lower DC and rate of proc. Add in the bursts of 2.3 and 2.6 and the GT pulls even farther ahead.
All this means is that Terror based ranged toon is one of the very few types of ranged builds where a chucker is not the optimal vehicle.
I would be remiss to not also mention the DPS inherent with using the GT, the base non proc shot is 9[2d8] not counting Ranged power. With the Dispel shot, legshot, and wracking shot that becomes 11[2d8] base damage. Add in the scaling Sneakattack 17d6 damage, the Arti and Mech GxB damage, the Runearm damage, the 2d20 feywild damage, etc.. it becomes the perfect vehicle for the terror shot while still maintaining top-end dps.
Now I can guess what you are going to say, and yes you can get a shuriken toon to match almost any dps. That's true, but to do so you will have to give up more and more of the Terror DC and Proc rates by using other DPS pumping imbues and tactics.
I guess what I'm saying is that the success of the GT in this Terror shot/dps role takes nothing away from chuckers overall, they are still one of the top-end build types for the game. But as one of the most prominent proponents of Chuckers I would ask that you try to not take this as a personal affront.