Rhinoceross Acid Warlock - DCs and DMG Build

[Rhinoceross]

Argo: Update 59

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INTRODUCTION...

Hello all, firstly its important to note that this build here is mainly a party build. Although it's more then capable of taking on fights alone in r8-r10 (with proper gearing, game-play, and other things)

So what makes warlocks special? Well they're capable of many things, like mowing down enemies with aoe and utilizing some of the highest hitting single target spells in the game! Don't get this confused with damage over time. It's just a hard hitter with insta kills, crowd control, and some pretty nice layered defenses. For more of an insight on what I'm talking about feel free to watch the video below (and please read the video description, thanks)
Warlock Gameplay Link

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THE BUILD...

Class: 20 Warlock
Race: Dragonborn
Pact: Great Old One

Ability Scores: Max Con, Max Cha, remainder Int

Skills: Concentration, Spellcraft, Intimidate
Skills: I personally like to put 1 point into tumble, and the rest into swim

Feats: (click to enlarge)

• Some of the questionable choices are there for a reason.
• For example Scion of the Feywild gives some force spell power which is eh, but it's mainly for the extra enchantment and illusion DCs (will be explained further down the page) - I don't take the acid scion feat, this build needs its DCs to land and without feywild scion and a few other things my DCs will no longer be no fail..
• For the same reason I take Spell Focus: Enchantment (every bit adds up in this game).
• I also get Wellspring of Power instead of Epic Eldritch Blast. The little bit of blast damage is nice, but I much rather use Wellspring combined with fully meta'd spells like ruin, greater ruin, tentacles, and dragon breath to eliminate trash and even red named bosses.

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ENHANCEMENTS: (click images to enlarge)


Tainted Scholar:

• Heretical Lore (Capstone): This ontop of other cores is what makes warlocks hit like trucks when they crit, especially with ruin and greater ruin
• Wand and Scroll Mastery (T2): Not necessary, but the new healing changes while in reaper mode make this a little more useful
• Bewitching Blast: An extra form of cc while working up the tree
• Enervating Shadow: Necessary for high end reapers, single target but has more damage then the other shapes
• Utterdark Blast (T2): I don't grab it because I have more force spell power and grabbing alignment spell power as well would be a lot
• Stanch (Core 3): Use this whenever you get in trouble or as a precaution
• Feigned Health (T1): A little more temp hp while working up the tree is nice, I use displacement to proc this. Works well with cocoon and other temp hp buffs
• Top Tier: Mainly for the DCs

Soul Eater:

• Feeding Frenzy (T2): This is necessary for kiting as it gives a stacking 20% movement speed
• Charisma (T3,T4): For DCs
• Immortal Will (T4): For DCs
• Eldritch Seeker (Core 5): Lots of good things in this tree so might as well get this core

Dragonborn:

• Charisma (Core 2,4): For DCs
• True Power (T4): Mainly for trap the soul DCs
• Dragon Heritage (T3): For spell power
• Arcanum (T2): Don't need, hp is probably better

Vistani Knife Fighter:

• These points can be put into feydark tree or racial tree or somewhere else
• Knife Juggler (Core 2): For the deflect arrows

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EPIC DESTINIES: (click images to enlarge)


Draconic Incarnation:

• Most of this stuff is self explanatory
• Spread your Wings (T5) and Hellstorm (T5) are both very nice, but can be dropped if struggling for AP
• Daunting Roar (T3): Is something I take, but its not 100% necessary
• Conjuration (T3): DCs for Trap the Soul and Tentacles
• Three Evocation DCs don't do too much for Warlocks since their blast shapes land all the time w/ the gear and setup I take
• Everything else I recommend keeping the same

Primal Avatar:

• If more AP is needed then drop the last core and the spell power in T4
• Enchantment (T3): DCs for Hold Monster Mass
• If more AP is needed then drop the last core and the spell power in T4
• Shard Storm (T2): BIG damage when things are setup properly
• At It's Core - Thorn (T3): Buffs Shard Storm and gives a lot of temp hp (use this in all fights)
• Rejuvenation Cocoon (T1): Works in conjunction with Feigned Health and other temp hp sources (it all adds up)

Magus of the Eclipse:

• You might be asking why Magus instead of Exalted Angel. The main reason is Exalted doesn't have the option to pick up 3 Illusion DCs
• Also an extra set of wings from exalted isn't needed if you're paying attention. Warlocks temp hp, draconic wings, 20% extra run speed and a few other things make it a lot harder to die. Also again this is a party build
• (Fiend pact does utilize a lot of good things from Exalted Angel tho. No need for illusion DCs)
• Succubus (T2): Not needed at all! I use it for flavor and actually call her that lolz
• If more AP is needed core 3 can be dropped

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SOME NOTES SO FAR: SKIP if you're an end game player (just newer player advice)

What to do if you have very little to no past lives, very few reaper points, and not a complete gear set...

1. Can play a different build
2. Can play the build differently if your DCs are under 110
   • Don't build for DCs at this point and instead focus on getting pieces to...
   • Increase ruin, greater ruin, dragon breath and tentacle damage
   • Play on a lower difficulty and/or rely on your friends/party
   • Get some weapons to help debuff bosses
   • Play fiend, run in exalted angel, and use hurl through hell
3. Can play the build differently if you're DCs are around 112 at least
   • Play a fiend, run in exalted angel, and use hurl through hell
   • Don't rely fully on your insta kills or holds
   • Instead rely heavily on your tentacles and temp hp, while landing most instas
4. Just try the build out while leveling
5. Do NOT be afraid to ask questions
6. Do NOT be afraid to put up lfm's asking for help farming specific pieces of loot
7. Go for the raid augment sets last or acquire them over time
8. Don't get rare raid filigrees if just starting out, just norms work. Save the rest for other things

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SPELLS AND SPELL ROTATIONS:

Insta kills:
Trap the Soul
Phantasmal Killer
Power Word: Kill

Basically Insta Kills:
Ruin
Greater Ruin

Damaging Spells:
Tentacles
Dragon Breath
Shard Storm
Enervating Shadow

Crowd Control Spells:
Tentacles
Hold Monster, Mass

Defensive Spells:
Consume (feeding frenzy)
Stanch
Shard Storm


Note: There are other forms of damage, cc, and defences
Note: Undeath to Death is a better choice then Circle of Death with this build
Note: Can get contagion for raiding


Normal Rotation/s:
Optional - Potions, Reaper boost, Wellspring and other buffs then...
Displacement -> Cocoon -> Tentacles -> Hold Monster Mass -> Shard Storm -> Dragon Breath -> Rehold -> X
X: Instakill mobs with - Phanstasmal or Trap the Soul or Ruin/Greater Ruin -> Consume -> Damaging Spells -> Holds
X: Instakill mobs with - Phanstasmal or Trap the Soul or Ruin/Greater Ruin -> Consume -> Holds -> Damaging spells

Kiting Rotation:
Wings to get out of the way -> Stanch or Shard Storm -> Consume -> Tentacles to hold mobs behind you -> Shard Storm or Stanch -> X
X: Displacement and Cocoon -> then do a normal rotation
X: RUNNN

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GEARING:

Pretty Basic Set:

This is a quick photo of everything
The link below shows all of the gear, augments and filigrees
(just look at the timestamps in the description. don't have to watch all of it)
Warlock Build Dissection

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LOOK AT THIS

 

[DeathTitan]

from your video you can see at R8 difficulty the force portion of your eldritch blasts deal only 100 force damage non-critical and 348 damage critical: imagine those values way lower at R10 difficulty.

See instead the acid damage of your eldritch blasts properly buffed by Epic pact dice feat that goes from 300 acid damage non-critical to about 1000 damage critical.

Black tentacles spell is used well in your play style but I think that you would benefit more from burst of glacial wrath instead of intensify spell feat because there are many mobs that you can't make helpless with hold monster spell and most of the times Crush weakness feat is wasted against those mobs.

Your dragon breath spell deals very low damage without making mobs helpless (again lack of helpless from burst of glacial wrath against those Lamannia stinging swarm mobs).

At minute 14:50 of the video, the despair reaper is making your enchantment DC useless so I would give more love to enchantment DC if possible to handle those situations.

Don't write that you are more then capable of taking on fights alone in r10 because you would have died too many times if that video was R10 instead of R8 (there is a huge difference between R8 and R10).

Also r8 growing pains video lasts 15 minutes and at the 15th minute you even died: I don't know how you can say that you are capable of R8 if you don't show a completed quest at that difficulty; remember that disposing of trash mobs should be the easiest part of the quest and the boss fight should be the most difficult (at boss you show how quick you dispose him with your dps and spell rotation which is ruin + greater ruin and under-performing eldritch blasts?).

This is another build where I don't read basic stuff like the amount/breakdown of: charisma, DCs, spell critical chance, spell critical damage (with those values I would be able to tell you why you were not able to crowd control a despair reaper at R8 difficulty).

 

[Rhinoceross]

from your video you can see at R8 difficulty the force portion of your eldritch blasts deal only 100 force damage non-critical and 348 damage critical: imagine those values way lower at R10 difficulty.

See instead the acid damage of your eldritch blasts properly buffed by Epic pact dice feat that goes from 300 acid damage non-critical to about 1000 damage critical.

Black tentacles spell is used well in your play style but I think that you would benefit more from burst of glacial wrath instead of intensify spell feat because there are many mobs that you can't make helpless with hold monster spell and most of the times Crush weakness feat is wasted against those mobs.

Your dragon breath spell deals very low damage without making mobs helpless (again lack of helpless from burst of glacial wrath against those Lamannia stinging swarm mobs).

At minute 14:50 of the video, the despair reaper is making your enchantment DC useless so I would give more love to enchantment DC if possible to handle those situations.

Don't write that you are more then capable of taking on fights alone in r10 because you would have died too many times if that video was R10 instead of R8 (there is a huge difference between R8 and R10).

Also r8 growing pains video lasts 15 minutes and at the 15th minute you even died: I don't know how you can say that you are capable of R8 if you don't show a completed quest at that difficulty; remember that disposing of trash mobs should be the easiest part of the quest and the boss fight should be the most difficult (at boss you show how quick you dispose him with your dps and spell rotation which is ruin + greater ruin and under-performing eldritch blasts?).

This is another build where I don't read basic stuff like the amount/breakdown of: charisma, DCs, spell critical chance, spell critical damage (with those values I would be able to tell you why you were not able to crowd control a despair reaper at R8 difficulty).

well take it as u may, thats all i can say
But let me explain some things...

this is a PARTY build so getting burst of glacial wrath is not my play style. i would much rather hit harder with my ruin/greater ruin for bosses and if i take this in raid groups

i dont have a filigree swap for pure dmg. if i had one u would see higher numbers on everything. if u went to the end of the video u can see me explaining why my stats are the way they are

lastly im not a full blown dc caster, it would be impossible to get dcs for despair reapers without re working the whole build and losing things in other places. do u see sorc NUKERS getting their enchantment dcs in the 130s plus, no

tentacles though still works with despair reapers in all difficulties and with the defenses i have i can survive very long/big fights in r10 if needed and the damage still works out just fine. if u were watching the video u can see all those different numbers im hitting from various things and it adds up. in r10s i play a lil more defensive like, and still inst with ruin/greater ruin/phantasmal/trap the soul and cc the rest and blah blah b;ah

i was simply messing around in that r8 video, it even says it in the description and i said i tr'd off of it so this is all i have. i also explained that i wasnt doing all i could and wasnt buffing/using my resources. dis is just an example video of its potential

alsooooooo my dragon breath is lower damage then ur typical nuker. something i also explained in the video. i have basically no spell power from any of the warlock trees, there isn't much in there unlike sorcerer and druid and other casters that get a LOT more then poor ol warlocks...

please don't completely crap on somebodys build like this

 

[DeathTitan]

well take it as u may, thats all i can say
But let me explain some things...

this is a PARTY build so getting burst of glacial wrath is not my play style. i would much rather hit harder with my ruin/greater ruin for bosses and if i take this in raid groups

i dont have a filigree swap for pure dmg. if i had one u would see higher numbers on everything. if u went to the end of the video u can see me explaining why my stats are the way they are

lastly im not a full blown dc caster, it would be impossible to get dcs for despair reapers without re working the whole build and losing things in other places. do u see sorc NUKERS getting their enchantment dcs in the 130s plus, no

tentacles though still works with despair reapers in all difficulties and with the defenses i have i can survive very long/big fights in r10 if needed and the damage still works out just fine. if u were watching the video u can see all those different numbers im hitting from various things and it adds up. in r10s i play a lil more defensive like, and still inst with ruin/greater ruin/phantasmal/trap the soul and cc the rest and blah blah b;ah

i was simply messing around in that r8 video, it even says it in the description and i said i tr'd off of it so this is all i have. i also explained that i wasnt doing all i could and wasnt buffing/using my resources. dis is just an example video of its potential

alsooooooo my dragon breath is lower damage then ur typical nuker. something i also explained in the video. i have basically no spell power from any of the warlock trees, there isn't much in there unlike sorcerer and druid and other casters that get a LOT more then poor ol warlocks...

please don't completely crap on somebodys build like this

I'm not crapping on your build.
I remember black tentacles being no-fail DC (bugged like the old greatest shout/old tsunami?) and I ask the other warlicks if it works against reapers (I'm not sure).

You don't need 130 enchantment DC, you have to debuff despair reapers with hypnotism and crushing despair for -8 debuff: if I can CC despair reapers with 112 greater color spray DC (not 100% of times in all content sadly) then you can definitely do it with those debuffs.

you forget that warlocks have tons of sprll critical damage buffs that you can benefit if you score a critical hit.

so you want to do more damage to bosses but take crush weakness feat instead of another stacking 5% spell critical damage to all types, and don't take burst of glacial wrath preventing you to make helpless the 50% of mobs which is definitely helpful when playing in a group.

I could be wrong but killing an r10 boss with ruin/gruin would take 30 minutes: maybe it would be more efficient using arcane pulse? I never tested it though because against bosees I used to spam single target eldritch blasts with both level 21 and 22 feats buffing its damage.

 

[Rhinoceross]

I am so sorry! I thought u were just saying that my build isn’t capable. Also really big thanks for mentioning arcane pulse! I’ll have to try it. And LMAO I forgot about testing arcane tempest at end game.. I’m losing a lot of damage there. Anyways here’s a few things and my mindset on them…

So my enchantment dcs along with all my others all somehow sit at the same dc, I 118. I’m missing a reaper ring and yugo pots cause I didn’t do the favor. So it is 120 with everything. A lot more then the 112 u mentioned, holding despair reapers and enemies around them depends on how long the despair has been there.

DCs landing % depends on the type of saving throw required for the enemies to make. But something a lot of people don’t know is that some DCs chance of success depend on the class (might be easier/harder to land the same spell on different classes - not just because certain classes get more spell levels. It’s weird how this works). Also this depends on the spells. Don’t ask me how this works lozl. Just know from years upon years of playing almost solely casters

So for the critical damage. Sure an extra 5% crit damage is very very nice. I would much rather get crush weakness tho. Most nukers even get this instead of the crit multi. It’s WAY too powerful for questing. I know I said this build is single target and I have ruins and stuff for bosses, but the 15% to helpless opponents makes it so warlocks can mow down enemies even faster in r10s. This is a party build so I don’t really bring him into raiding often, it’s for questing. Also the crush weakness isn’t crit reliant. So ultimately this one can be left up to preference

Same goes for burst of glacial wrath, preference. I like the intensity for a LOT more straight up damage and for boss damage

The level 21 feat isn’t pact dice, it’s normal dice which doesn’t scale/hit as hard. The wellspring of power combined with the intensify makes it so bosses don’t take a million ruin and greater ruins to kill. Ruin and greater ruin do so much much more damage with wellspring of power and intensify compared to single target blasting with that level 21 feat in r10s. Blasts can’t be intensified, also this intensify helps the other damaging things like tentacles, dragon breath, shard storm, and so on

I think I four shot the doom reaper in the full r8 video (would have to double check) I know I didn’t have all my buffs active and didn’t crit on each one

Thanks for talking this through, I wanna go back and play this with the changes. There’s just too many builds to play, help me

EDIT: oh so imagine having a swap filigree set for just spell power and crit multi and stuff for ruin and greater ruin. Bosses wouldn't stand a chance. With everything stacked up those spells are a lot more powerful then u may or may not think

 

[Ying]

Nice build. I enjoyed the video breakdown too. Kudos for fitting in Cruel Cut and Crush Weakness. The helm and cloak from your video and screenshot are different -- so what are you using?

I just swapped to Dragonborn GOO from Tiefling Fiend and I'm enjoying it so far, but have yet to do a full round of R10s on it. I went T4 Feydark and only grabbed Cone from Soul Eater. Greater Color Spray is way too useful for me to pass on.

In terms of Epic Destinies, T5 Draconic is the obvious choice. I went 14 AP into Primal Avatar and 21 into Shadowdancer. Functional Evasion with a 93 Reflex and 27% Dodge is wonderful as a caster. I could net +1 DC going Fatesinger instead of Shadowdancer while still maintaining Evasion, but I'd lose 8 Reflex, 3 Spell Pen, 3 Dodge and 10% spell cooldown reduction.

 

[Rhinoceross]

Nice build. I enjoyed the video breakdown too. Kudos for fitting in Cruel Cut and Crush Weakness. The helm and cloak from your video and screenshot are different -- so what are you using?

I just swapped to Dragonborn GOO from Tiefling Fiend and I'm enjoying it so far, but have yet to do a full round of R10s on it. I went T4 Feydark and only grabbed Cone from Soul Eater. Greater Color Spray is way too useful for me to pass on.

In terms of Epic Destinies, T5 Draconic is the obvious choice. I went 14 AP into Primal Avatar and 21 into Shadowdancer. Functional Evasion with a 93 Reflex and 27% Dodge is wonderful as a caster. I could net +1 DC going Fatesinger instead of Shadowdancer while still maintaining Evasion, but I'd lose 8 Reflex, 3 Spell Pen, 3 Dodge and 10% spell cooldown reduction.

smart choices for sure, dropping magus opens up a lot!
so so smart to go shadowdance, i wouldnt go as deep thoi (just preference). it would replace magus for me because i can still pick up illusion dcs in shadowdancer! thank u for this lol
anyways its dino helmet on both, builder image and the image in game are different ig lol (it has either acid or force crit multi)

 

[DBZ]

Flesh to stone is also good cc for immune champs i also like howl of terror but thats only for fiend locks

And Arcane tempest is amazing for leveling a warlock these days i get 1800 + crits force damage with it in heroics

 

[Saaluta]

This looks like some very good build and advice, may try it out on Saalutaball, even though she is fiend lock, most of it should translate pretty well

Saal

 

[Rhinoceross]

Flesh to stone is also good cc for immune champs i also like howl of terror but thats only for fiend locks

And Arcane tempest is amazing for leveling a warlock these days i get 1800 + crits force damage with it in heroics

omg duh why dont i do this, makes so much sense. appreciate u all lol !
ill just swap it out for trap the soul at end game. or maybe keep arcane tempest depending on how fun it is

 

[Anniyon]

It's worth noting the Moon touched passive in tier 2 magus offers +3 to fear based dc's which includes phantasmal killer.

Thanks for sharing the build!

 

[Rhinoceross]

It's worth noting the Moon touched passive in tier 2 magus offers +3 to fear based dc's which includes phantasmal killer.

Thanks for sharing the build!

Umm omg I didn’t know that, thank u. I thought it was just for like symbol of fear and the fear spell

 

[choco1212]

An alternative gear set , gaining Acid SP, Force SP and Alignment SP and losing the drain from Clouded Dreams, and if you are not lucky enough with the lottery GoMF. Run with Force Blasting

Necklace Elders
Trinket Elders Kinetic lore\ impulse 155, insight impulse

Armour-Feywild
Cloak-Feywild
hands-Feywild

Wrist Dino Artifact 35% acid, profane dc's
Head Dino helm 35%force
Ring1 Legendary Ring of the Transformed Voice qual charisma, qual impulse 37 US Lore 5%
Ring 2 memento of mori sacred dc's, acid\light lore 22, acid light sp 148
Boots stone boots insight corrosion 71, quality corrosion 35
Waist satin qual char qual dc's spell res 38
Eyes-attunement gaze spell focus 5, insight spell focus 3
3x helpless, 3 x SP

 

[Dandonk]

I have nothing useful to say, but wanted to say this: Save the chubby unicorn!

 

[Rhinoceross]

An alternative gear set , gaining Acid SP, Force SP and Alignment SP and losing the drain from Clouded Dreams, and if you are not lucky enough with the lottery GoMF. Run with Force Blasting

Necklace Elders
Trinket Elders Kinetic lore\ impulse 155, insight impulse

Armour-Feywild
Cloak-Feywild
hands-Feywild

Wrist Dino Artifact 35% acid, profane dc's
Head Dino helm 35%force
Ring1 Legendary Ring of the Transformed Voice qual charisma, qual impulse 37 US Lore 5%
Ring 2 memento of mori sacred dc's, acid\light lore 22, acid light sp 148
Boots stone boots insight corrosion 71, quality corrosion 35
Waist satin qual char qual dc's spell res 38
Eyes-attunement gaze spell focus 5, insight spell focus 3
3x helpless, 3 x SP

hmm interesting. ill have to look deeper into this when i get the chance, thanks!
oh and the ring of the transformed voice wasnt around when i did this build so i put an extra dc, or was it spell power?, on my clouded dreams

 

[DBZ]

Card quest 1 has a new improved bta clouded dreams ring

 

[Refutor]

what is the improved clouded dreams ring? i don't see one with insigjtful spell focus?

 

[DBZ]

Legendary ring of the altered soul quality wisdom 3, quality force power, and 5 exceptional spell crits

bta and no neg effect like mind drain on it

Wiki says its on quest 2 but i got mine on the first one

 

[Ociosto]

I have a tabby GOO lock. Has been parked at 32, to grind for tokens of the Twelve. That lock has 90% fort and I haven't been able to figure out how to improve fort without sacrificing my acid spell power. I have a 7-piece Fey set and the 2 piece Mountain cloak/bracers from KT.