Any tips for a noob playing a Ranger using Lightning Strike? I'm new to the game. (I started playing this with the Beta on Xbox and now I finally got around to playing the full version)
Should I stack up on DEX?
Go back a few pages and I have written some notes.
If you are just making a build on your own using Lightning Strike then here are some strats I can give you:
There's no need to scale Dexterity, you should have enough Dexterity. The main stats are usually there to meet stat requirement for items and as a Ranger you will have enough Dex to equip any green item. For a Lightning Strike build you are more likely to be starved on Intelligence (as Lightning is often associated with blue gems in this game, ice with green and fire with red).
You want to probably be using Dual Wielding Hyaon's Fury for this build, they are two cheap unique swords that give a lot of Lightning damage per Frenzy charge. Other weapons for this build include Hand of Wisdom and Action or Touch of Anguish which are claws. So based on which weapon pair you want to use, then you would be scaling that weapon on the skill tree. Dreamfeathers are a great alternative sword option too.
First thing you want to know are the mechanics of Lightning Strike. It is an initial melee hit with follow up projectile hits. That means that you don't want to be scaling either melee or projectile damage as it will split up the damage. Secondly 50% of your physical damage is converted to Lightning damage, meaning 50% is still physical and if you scale just lightning damage or physical damage it will not be optimum. So there is a fix for this:
Here are the 6 links you should follow:
Lightning Strike
Added Lighting (since you are going to be scaling Lightning damage anyway, this benefits both the melee and projectile hit)
Elemental damage with attacks (since you will be scaling Elemental damage on this build which benefits both melee and no projectile)
Multistrike (makes you attack faster)
Physical to Lightning (this is piece of the puzzle that converts your last 50% of physical damage to lightning so that you have full lightning damage on your character)
Elemental Focus (you will not be a crit based build with this but if you want to crit based then replace this with Increase Crit Chance or Increased Critical damage).
Based on gem choices and the items: You will be going Ranger - Raider ascendancy to get easy access to Frenzy charges.
For the skill tree, you should focus on getting these points efficiently:
*Elemental Overload keystone gives a massive damage boost. Plus there are lots of intelligence nodes to help you equip your max level gems.
*The top left node that gives you dual curses. You need this for the build because it's hard to get lightning penetration as a Ranger. You are going to be running Conductivity and Elemental Weakness with Blasphemy. You probably need an Enlighten lvl3 gem too to have enough manage to work with. If you don't want to run dual curse then put in a Lightning Penetration gem in your 6 link instead of one of the blue gems.
*You also need an Essence Worm ring and socket in a Wrath gem for a ton of damage.
*Get all 3 Frenzy charges as that's vital for this build.
*Get all the efficient Life nodes on your way, you probably would need to Path through the Scion Life rectangle.
*Fill up rest of the points with Elemental damage and penetration, attack speed, some life leech and the Phase Arobatics keystone. Get all the jewel sockets that are within two points of your tree.
As far as affixes on gearing goes:
*Get capped resistances.
*Get life on every item you can get.
*You want to be using high evasion gear as this is a life/evasion character. So slink boots, gripped gloves type items.
*For offensive stats you want weapon Elemental damage on jewelry and belt. You also want added Lightning damage to attacks and attack speed. That means probably an Intelligence + Strength amulet, a Leather Belt and an Opal Ring with weapon Elemental damage, resistances, life and added lightning attack on the ring and amulet. Before an Opal ring you can just use any resistance ring.
*For chest you can use Belly of the Beast, Lightning Coil, Kintsugi or Queen of the Forest. For Boots you can use Darkray Vector (for the plus 1 Frenzy charge) or Atziri Steps. You can even get a Starkonja Helm but too many uniques mean that you may not have enough defenses.
*For support gems:
Already mentioned : Elemental weakness, Conductivity, Enlighten, Blasphemy. All these require a lot of Intelligence to level up so make sure you have that.
Wrath in Essence Worm
Whirling Blade - Faster Attack - Fortify - : This will be your mobility skill. Put this in your weapon.
Cast on damage taken - Immortal Call - Lightning Golem (which gives you attack speed and a small lightning damage buff).
Vaal Lightning Strike - Multistrike - Weapon Elemental damage - Added Lightning damage.
This is a nuke you can toss in for big fights. Put these on your gloves. You can completely replace this with an Ancestral Protector though (links would be Faster attacks, Culling Strike/Blind and Elemental damage with attacks).
Vaal Grace - Vaal Haste - Vaal Lightning Trap - Increased Duration
More utility Vaal skills to buff your self with in big fights. Probably remove one of these if you find there are too many keys to hit.
For Flasks, Vessel of Vinktar and Bismuth Wise Oak are the best ones. Silver Flask, Atziri Promise and Stibnite/Jade are solid too if you plan to run Queen of the Forest. As a Raider you are immune to Shock anyway, just get Bleed and Curse immunity on your utility flasks.
Note: If you are going for Hand of Wisdom and Action build then you need to stack even more Intelligence and Dexterity. You may even need to get an Astramentis amulet but this is expensive stuff so for a beginner I would recommend going non crit based Hyaon Fury Raider using life and evasion.