07-23-2012, 12:27 AM
Has anyone here experimented with alternatives to Meteor in this build? Meteor is almost better than it needs to be against mobs that close to melee range and can be tanked, but as soon as I have an engagement where I have to reposition a lot or am facing ranged foes that move away it's pretty inconvenient to use.
I was looking for a variant of this that sacrifices some of the melee dominance in return for better range and more flexibility to move around. I came up with a version that uses Electrocute with Forked Lightning and Energy Twister with Storm Chaser that seems to work reasonably well for me.
I know it sounds a little weird suggesting Energy Twister as a less awkward alternative to something, but at melee range they will hit, and the Storm Chaser one goes in a straight line at a reasonable speed, and of course you don't have to wait for 3 charges for fire it out. I haven't been able to confirm yet whether the Forked Lightning charged bolts can proc things, but in any case it all adds up to a lot of ticks and I find that when melee things clump up I sustain the Frost Nova and Diamond Skin almost as well as with Meter.
What I really like about it is that when I teleport away I can immediately start getting hits in and maintain the combo better and I'm much happier against archer type mobs.
Here's the build. It's not that refined yet, so probably isn't optimal. In particular I bet if I had some arcane power on crit I could drop Prodigy, and I'm not sure if Paralysis is worth it. I figured with so much lightning damage flying around that if it's good for any build it would be this one. I've cleared through Hell with it, although I swapped in some items I had waiting when I hit 60 so that's not saying too much. I'll invest about 1 million and see how it fares in inferno.
I was looking for a variant of this that sacrifices some of the melee dominance in return for better range and more flexibility to move around. I came up with a version that uses Electrocute with Forked Lightning and Energy Twister with Storm Chaser that seems to work reasonably well for me.
I know it sounds a little weird suggesting Energy Twister as a less awkward alternative to something, but at melee range they will hit, and the Storm Chaser one goes in a straight line at a reasonable speed, and of course you don't have to wait for 3 charges for fire it out. I haven't been able to confirm yet whether the Forked Lightning charged bolts can proc things, but in any case it all adds up to a lot of ticks and I find that when melee things clump up I sustain the Frost Nova and Diamond Skin almost as well as with Meter.
What I really like about it is that when I teleport away I can immediately start getting hits in and maintain the combo better and I'm much happier against archer type mobs.
Here's the build. It's not that refined yet, so probably isn't optimal. In particular I bet if I had some arcane power on crit I could drop Prodigy, and I'm not sure if Paralysis is worth it. I figured with so much lightning damage flying around that if it's good for any build it would be this one. I've cleared through Hell with it, although I swapped in some items I had waiting when I hit 60 so that's not saying too much. I'll invest about 1 million and see how it fares in inferno.