9 replies to this topic

[yarpenthemad21]

I would like to present my build idea for Luka. General idea of build is made around ambush at start and toe to toe fight after that with other enemies.

Build:

Core of the build can be described:
http://da-skills.net...010,00100,0B0,1

So our abilities are:
Shadowstrike
Parry
Frost flask
Stealth

Build order:
1) parry -> level 3
2) Shadowstrike -> 6 level
3) Frost flask - > 8 level
4) Upgrade for shadowstrike, parry and stealth - 11 level
5) level 12+ take passives which you like

Build is pretty much playable on level 8, almost done on 11. After that feel free to invest in passives you like, for example:
1) easy to miss
2) disable
3) and take them down
4) killer alchemy
5) upgrade on frost flask -> later about that.

So in general build is ready on quite low level, still it could be disadvantage (nothing that great to take after 16+ level).

Gear

Weapons:
Highest possible damage dagger as mainhand, so for now best in slot here is Dagger of Dragon.
For the left hand, because neither of skills use left hand we can take something different.
One of the best choice here, if we don't want just plain stats, is Audacity - dagger with explosion on enemy death.

Amulet -> dexterity amulet, second choice cooldown amulet
Rings -> this is vital, shadowstrike ring is mandatory. Shadowstrike ring tend to boost base and bonus damage, making shadowstrike hard hitting ability from stealth (for me around 4,5k damage).
Second ring should be critical damage ring -> we have knife in the shadows passive -> so it will directly boost damage from shadowstrike + we have sneak attack passive which should help with normal auto attacks.
Belt -> Health belt, secondary range defense, melee defense

Gameplay tips

It's all about ambush. Shadowstrike from stealth should 1 shot any basic enemy on perilous (he have 100% crit chance because of passive). With Audacity as secondary dagger we can wipe whole group at start with this single attack alone.
Either way, after initial shadowstrike we don't just go stealth (that's why I was never here is optional), we start to use parry and attack other enemies.
Parry blocks everything, projectile also. We can move when parry is active, still it is worth mentioning that this skills works in quite different way:
1) It's not "channel" like block and slash, Activated parry consumes 10 stamina and gives as "block stance" for about 1-2 seconds. Projectiles are blocked in that time. If someone attacks us in melee, attack will be blocked and enemy will be damaged (it does not archers in close range, probably primer for block need to be a melee attack).
2) it attacks in small aoe, upgrade of it boosts damage. It can be spammed, stamina cost is very low.

Learning how to Parry is probably most important, still it's not the only thing we can do. Because in general when group of enemies aggro on Alchemist, even parry would't block everything. For this type of situtation we have Ice flask.

Ice flask freeze targets which want to attack us in melee range (so they won't hit us most of the time, they will get frozen in the middle on animation of attack) + it freezes enemies in very close proximity when activated.
It's worth mentioned that cooldown for shadowstrike isn't that long and it's possible, with a bit of practice to detonate frozen targets with it. We pretty much want to use in fight shadowstrike as often as possible to reduce flask cooldown and CC enemies with this knockdown.

For what we got stealth?
Stealth is mostly for ambush at start and as our "emergency move". We use it to move faster, to in general try to attack group of enemies from back + it's best move when some group of archers (being in longer distance) aggro on us.

It's possible to use 3 skills (ice flask, stealth and shadowstrike) as ultimate nuke combo. Mostly useful for venatori commander. All you need is come to target as close as possible (best stand in target), activate flask and stealth right after it and attack target with shadowstrike, dealing crit stealth damage + shattering it. After that, we can use parry as emergency tool and move out of enemy aggro.


Optional tips:

Upgraded ice flask change gameplay a little bit. Taunted targets are easier to manage when it comes to parrying (we just knows who they attack for sure) and it could help party members (when use on archer group for example). Parry + ice flask in general makes Luka very "tanky", so this approach (we remember to attack back of group) could lead to great party wise results. Still it's more or less optional upgrade.

Feel free to post opinions and questions, I will try to answer in best way I can.

[Beerfish]

I guess I'll have to give parry a try as it is in on many builds but I find I don't do well with skills of that ilk most of the time.

 

My fav build is the same as yours except I take knockout bomb instead of parry.

[HeroicMass]

The taunt on frost flask makes for a nice grouping to shatter and explode with shadow strike.  Especially with audacity as your off hand.  The increase in the duration to 8 seconds was also a very nice balance change that greatly aided this set up.  

 

I agree with Beerfish that I need to give parry another shot.  Thanks for sharing.

[Drasca]

A small reminder that a successful parry replenishes stamina.

[Yumi]

Skittles, frost, fire, toxic cloud.

[Wavebend]

Looks like I missed this thread. Good build. I'll try this someday

[Akir388]

Cool build! I gotta have Skittles though. My enemies must taste the rainbow. 

[Sulaco_7]

So with this build do we ever do any kind of auto-attack?  Or mainly we are doing parry as a substitute for auto-attack?

[Thadrial]

Skittles, frost, fire, toxic cloud.

but poisoned weapons gives you green skittles *i'm gonna try toxic cloud next time around tho*

[yarpenthemad21]

So with this build do we ever do any kind of auto-attack?  Or mainly we are doing parry as a substitute for auto-attack?

We do auto-attack when flanking enemies or behind them, sneak attack passive should help with crits. Parry on everything else.