This build is compartmentalized into three main concerns: a defensive core that allows us to survive, and two offensive paths to handle different classes of threats.
This is the tank skill, made even better by the fact that is channeled. Combined with Apostate's Sanctuary, we get:
Topping out at 16k ward is very achievable. On top of armor, resists, blocking and our Armour Clad 5/5, Hammer and Anvil 5/5 and Liquid Iron 5/5 layers, this works out to absurd effective HP (EHP) levels.
Rebuke is a spell, so the % health/ward lost from Apostate's Sanctuary does trigger each time it casts. The health loss is quickly healed back, so practically it just sets an upper/lower bound where our ward will fluctuate.
Nothing in the game is going to kill you in one hit while channeling Rebuke, but there are a few damage over time abilities you have to be careful around:
- T4 Julra's persistent void pool (these stack and eventually will overwhelm you)
- Shade of Orobyss's meteor crush and toxic ground (if you've been stacking + damage echo mods)
- Heorot's frost beam (breaks and prevents channeling while you're covered in icicles)
- Large numbers of Void scorpion ground spikes (only in arena)
Other than these cases, or being completely overrun in the arena, I believe you should be pretty safe for the first 2,000-3,000 corruption levels.
Being a ward build without access to int, we use Frostbite Shackles to turn SuffixCold Resistance into ward retention.
Low-damage, low-HP enemy counter: Manifest Armor
Manifest Armor is an amazingly fun and creative skill, allowing us to roll our own monster. It has a slow attack and the skills it unlocks are fairly unimpressive. In my opinion, the real power is that it can essentially wear up to 3.4 helms, boots, gloves, and/or 2.6 body armors through its core specialization nodes.
A key element that is missing from the in-game description of Manifested Armor is its Fire Nova, which is cast every time it takes 200 damage. This is a fire spell which produces a hit in a reasonable area around the armor. There is no limit to how many times per second the nova can be cast.
To turn our nova into a murder machine, we have to do: almost nothing. Looking at Frostbite Shackles, note that at Iron Grasp 4/4 each nova will apply up to (3.4 x 143 =) 4.86 stacks of frostbite, with (3.4 x 33 =) 112% increased duration. Against swarms of low-damage enemies this can add up to 100-200 stacks of frostbite, instantly obliterating groups of weak foes, and even threatening tougher individual enemies.
The beautiful thing is that we already wanted to use the Shackles. As a starting point, your Manifested Armor doesn't need anything else. In the "Offensive" variant below I'll go into more options for increasing their damage.
This is what got me into the build: a desire to use PrefixPercent Damage Reflected. Unlike PrefixThorns, which returns a flat value and only on hits, % Damage Reflected is based on the actual incoming damage received and does work on damage over time. The primary source of this stat is idols: SuffixDamage Reflected For You And Your Minions. There are a number of factors that go into scaling this stat:
- Enemy damage. We can influence this through echo modifiers, and we know this scales endlessly with corruption and arena wave
- Number of minions. This particularly matters against enemy area attacks.
- Minion health. Since we're reflecting actual damage taken, we're limited by Reflect % x Minion Health total damage reflected.
- Rate of healing. As long as our minions aren't dead, any healing effectively influences total damage reflected as though it were health.
- Minion duration. The longer they last, the more opportunity they have to maximize their damage potential.
With perfect rolls, 2x Ornate Solar Idol and 2x Grand Solar Idol give all our minions will have base 116 % Damage Reflected. We go with Manifest Shield because:
- It has an excellent HP pool, given it has 20 / stat point after Banding 5/5 and Displacement 1/1
- Built-in healing via Healing Shields
- No summon cap! Up to 8x shields per cast and 32 second duration means we can generate about 1 shield per second with CDR
- Inherits our shield stats, so we can pass on more PrefixPercent Damage Reflected and PrefixIncreased Healing Effectiveness
- Perhaps most importantly, Ring of Shields is tagged as Instant Cast. That means we can cast it while channeling Rebuke
Because of all this, shields become our main source of damage against bosses and high-damage enemies, such as Diamond Matrons, Scalebane Saboteurs, Siege Golems, Wengari Patriarchs, and most spires.
Gameplay
- Walk/Shield Rush to find enemies
- Channel Rebuke to stay safe in your happy place
- Direct your Manifested Armor so it will be a) next to enemies and b) in their line of fire. Even if enemies are focused on you in melee, if your armor is in your space it can still get hit
- If you need to resummon Manifest Armor (or use any other Rebuke-breaking skill) try and cast it right before Rebuke comes off cooldown, so you'll immediately start channeling again
- Summon Ring Of Shields whenever it's available. You can either summon them a) stacked up around you, which is effective for keeping them healed and maximizing enemy AoE attacks, b) directly into enemy area denial skills (i.e. Heorot's ice storm, Julra's void pools, Corpse Emperor's plague storm) or c) between you and the enemies, which makes healing less effective but creates a multi-layer barrier between you
- If using Sigils Of Hope, I try to cast them around the midpoint of a Rebuke cycle, to avoid dipping my 1-shot EHP too much
