Level 90 Crit Lightning Strike Raider^3.19

Notes

------PLEASE READ-------

I recommend dual wielding claws for levelling, but DO NOT swap to claws until you have 2 with at least a T9 Damage roll (Hold ALT on your item to see the tiers). You will be way better off with a two handed axe or sword that is 
phys crafted with the blacksmiths recipe. You will have an AWFUL time if you switcj before this. The reason I dual wield is purely for the attack speed bonus it offers to both Helix and more importantly whirling blades. 
If you would rather go claw and shield you can and makes it easier to manage upgrades. 

Levelling Notes:

This is a run I have just done in SSF transitioning to trade at level 80 to buy a cheap 6 link and I was farming T14+ maps on a few ex worth of gear. If at any point in the campaign you feel your damage is falling off check your claws. Do you need
upgrades. 

IMPORTANT *** Check masteries between act 6-8 as they change (we swap life on hit from claw wheel to nightblade support mastery)

This tree is the recommended tree for the majority of players. Your DPS may at times feel a little low but this tree gives you leech and full spell suppression by the time you have completed your first lab. This sort of makes up for the fact that 
with the reservation mastery being removed it is difficult to run a 50% damage aura and defence aura

This also recommends picking up the Library quest and getting the following  gems and and when you get the currency:

- Determination (Level in off hand)
- Inspiration (can use in links if you have the right colours)
- Added Lightniing (Level in off hand or use if you have blue sockets)
- Ancestral Protector (Use right away)
- Ele Weakness (Use right away) Do not level past 10-12 as INT requirements will get too hard in campaign

If you get 2 4 links you can try running a second 4 link for clear of LS/VLS + Ancestral Call + Pierce + Ele Damage with Attacks. It makes levelling feel much better but  you will need nearly full sockets on gear to do this

I personally do not bother with trying to cap and balance resists until act 4 before tackling lab but that is up to you

ACT 1:

Start with bows is probably the easiest path through Brutus:

Ideal Links: (In order of importance in the links)

Skills up to Level 12:

Galvanic Arrow - Mirage Archer - Added Cold
Shrapnel Ballista - Pierce - Added Cold
Dash

Brutus reward keep in vendor so it levels up then when you switch to claws go  back and select whirling blades

At level 12 when you pick up merviels waypoint you can go back  to town and buy Helix
I personally would buy or use a 2 handed sword (Long Sword or Bastard Sword. These will show on the filter) and if you can vendor craft (Backsmiths whetstone - Magic Rustic Sash - Weapon)

Links:
Helix - Added Cold - Onslaught
Decoy Totem (Optional)
War Banner (Good for placing on bosses for adrenaline)
Dash

Act 2:

How you level the next few acts is personal preference. Two hander will be more damage dual wield claws feels smoother and you get life gain on hit which means you can facetank most early bosses

If going two hander just look to level up weapon when you can. Do not roll claws until at least item level 13 you can not get good ele damage rolls before this

If you want to go claws switch when you have 2 vendor crafted claws or rare/essence crafted claws with some ele damage or decent % phys damage

Chamber of Sins Reward: Herald of Ice + buy skitterbots (Run Both). If you have the currency pick up Blood Rage and use it
Weaver (Faster Attacks): If using claws link to whirling blades which you will collect as your brutus rewards from act 1

Links (Claws):
Helix - Added Cold - Added Fire (If you have phys damage weapons) or Ele dmg with attacks (If you have ele damage weapons). If you only have GGG use Onslaught
Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks
Skitterbots - Herald of Ice - Blood Rage
Dash (for Gaps)
Decoy Totem (Optional)

Act 3:

Buy Anger after Tolman Mission and use this. Drop Skitterbots. Keep Herald of Ice levelling but turn off until you pick up mana leech

As per levelling tips above I recommend doing Library and picking up as many of the listed gems as you can

START LOOKING FOR 4 LINKS AT VENDORS WHEN YOU HIT LEVEL 24

4 Link Options: Helix - Added Cold - Ele Dmg with Attacks - Inspiration - Onslaught - Added Cold - Trinity (Only if it procs)
2 Link: Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks
unlinked Skills: Anger - Herald of Ice (Use when you get mana leech mastery) - Blood Rage - Ancestral Protector - Ele Weakness - Dash
you can also link culling strike to ancestral protector if you like

Act 4: -- We do not use any reward gems from act 4 but feel free to use a golem if you have the sockets

when you get to Crystal Veins complete your first lab and I recommend for safety taking Quartz Infusion. This makes you phase and in a few more levels you will be spell suppression capped. If you are not bothered about defences you
can  go way of the poacher.

I recommend doing Lab at level 33 as 31-33 we pick up some nice life nodes for a bit of added safety

These are pretty much your final links for levelling

Strength and Intelligence may start to become issues. Heavy Belts should help solve the strength issues. If Intelligence on claws becomes a problem feel free to take INT 30 nodes if you need to or craft INT using 1 orb of Augmentation

Act 5

Start looking for a BGGR  as in act 6 we are going to start taking crit nodes and will swap to critical strike chance and nightblade during act 6. Later on towards act 10 you want to swap  trinity for ciritcal strikes once you have more crit chance

In act 5 you once you pick up leech nodes you should be able to drop your mana flask

In act 6 when you have filled out the claw wheel and dagger wheel and taken both nightblade masteries swap to the BGGR

At this point drop Dash and buy Flame Dash from Nessa. Use Withering step on left click to reset elusive. You should now have a half decent crit chance to make elusive proc fairly regularly and make getting through the zones quicker. If you were
using Lightning strike to clear probably switch to just Helix now as you will not be able to fit crit and nightblade into LS set up as you need pierce and ancestral call.You can still use LS if you like it will still work fine

Act 7

When you pick up the reservation wheel you can run determination and anger. You can also now add the dex mastery that adds accuracy per dex as this should mean you do not need to run precision until around act 9-10

This is when you want to run 2nd lab. I recommend taking Avatar of the veil as we get frenzies from blood rage. This makes you 70% ailment immune, 100% spell suppress capped and applies exposure

Act 8-10:

In act 8 and 9 start looking for a shield with good life and resistances. Around Act 9 we are going to swap to claw and shield, but this can wait until maps

In act 9 if you are still running weapons from early acts you will start to see damage fall off on bosses so concentrate on getting 1 good claw ready to go claw and shield

This is also around the time you want to swap out ele weakness for mark on hit + assassins mark (can also do earlier if you are fed up manually cursing)

Before killing kitava and doing lab you might need to do some heist, league mechanic or BA farming to get your gear ready for maps as str and in requirements may be an issue but INT will be eased when you get the top frenzy charge

I would also recommend buying a cheap 5 link and making sure you can proc trinity and then swap  to a 5 link:
Spectral Helix - Nightblade - Trinity - Inspiration (Then any 1 of) Added Cold - Ele Dmg with Att - Added Lightning

Final steps before doing Kitava and 3rd lab. Get to at least level 67. Balance resists ready for drop. Kill Kitava. Allocate last 2 points and do Lab (or lab then Kitava).  If you really want to be super tanky when mapping try and get all your gear to be 
either ARM/EVA or flat ARM flat EVA. You do not really want any ES gear. If you have spare ALTS roll Evasion on your jade flask and Armour on your Granite Flask

Recommended Stats at end of campaign: Life 2.6k+ - Armour + Evasion 3.5k+ each (With determination). With flasks you want around 7k armour + 7k evasion. Capped resists. 

You should now smoothly go straight into mapping and as you upgrade your gear and get more armour, evasion and life it should feel very comfortable

Recommendations for running 3rd Lab:

3rd lab can be tricky if you do it straight after campaign or before Kitava so I would recommend using something like Lab compass so you can pick up dark shrines along the way to make it easier. If you have the above stats though you should be fine
I would 100% recommend disabling all of the buffs in the 1st and 2nd phase as you do not want to get killed in the 3rd chamber

WHEN TO SWITCH TO VAAL LIGHTNING STRIKE

This is a question I get a lot and there is not really a right answer as it really depends how you feel playing Helix. Optimally you would not swap to Vaal Lightning Strike until you have done 
- 6 Link (I think it is fine to run ancestrall call and it is not necessary to wait until you gete +1 strike gloves). Ancestral call actually is a DPS boost when mapping as you will be firing out a lot more projectiles and Vaal LS should  take care of map
bosses
- +2 pierce minimum. I do not like picking it up on the tree as all of the nodes early on are pretty important. I would put a live search for +2 enchant, but tree nodes (piercing shots) can be used it enchanted helms are too expensive (sacrifice heartseeker nodes(
- Decent Claw: Minimum of T3 Lightning with a second decent damage roll and at least 1.8 APS (If using Imperial Claw). Crit is great too but it is very unlikely to get a claw early on with all these on. Ideal scenario is you get a claw with double ele
rolls and attack speed and can craft crit chance
- At least level 75 on tree. (You can get to this easily just farming T1-T5 maps with Helix.

This is my recommendation but there is nothing to stop you switching earlier (Once you pick up the attack speed frenzy nodes at the bottom of the tree. It might feel a little janky but if you HATE Helix it can certainly be done)

What content to run when?

- 4 Link Helix white maps but ideally get a 5 link for mapping
- 5 Link Helix can do up to higher tier yellow maps on pretty mediocre gear
- 6 Link Vaal LS (with ancestral call) on bad gear - All yellow maps are comfortable and making sure you have 2 x Vaal LS ready for bosses they will go down in a few seconds. You can push T14 maps on this set up but accept a few deaths
along the way, but with determination and CWDT Molten Shell you should feel pretty tanky
- Uber Lab: When you get some half decent gear and level 84/85 you should be fine for Uber Lab with ancestral call set up. It is however so much easier if you have a full 6 link with +1 strike goves, however the last lab gives us so much quality of life
that we should be trying to do it as soon as possible. If you want to do it on a 5 link use something like lab compass so you can see where the darkshrines are and pick as many up as you can that are on the main path. Also try to disable his
buffs if doing on a 5 Link. At Izaro just kite him attacking when you can. Your Vaal skill will come up super quick. Keep kiting until you have 2 then use them both and continue hitting when safe and you will kill him quick enough

When Uber lab is done this setup will get you clearing T14+ maps once you start upgrading your gear a little. However to comfortably farm T14+ you need +1 strike gloves so you can get another damage gem into your 6 link
You also want to have upgraded your claw to be at least 400 Ele DPS and crit chance if possible (not needed but is a nice to have)

You can still quickly level up to late 80s in higher tier yellow maps, so there is no rush to progress quickly. However if you are demolishing that content then move up to lower tier  red maps. Even if you take the odd death it will still level much
quicker in higher tier content. Run the level of maps that you can comfortably and quickly run when alched with potentially bad mods. Running alched yellow maps will be better XP and loot than running white or Magic T11/T12 maps

Early Upgrades:

Upgrades to look for early (Day 1/2)
- The Taming (Good DPS ring but no life)
- Annoint divine Judgement on Amulet (Cheap and effective)
- Craft or buy a better claw (Mid game il74+ to hit T2 Ele) )(End game il82 claws.) Do not go higher than 82 as mods we do not want start getting added into the pool and you do not want the claws to be influenced
- Yoke of suffering
- Dark Ray Vectors (Good mapping boots but pretty awful for bosses (especially ones with phases). I do not like these boots but I know some people do so I will leave it to you whether you run them or not. If you do I would take the 100%
charge duration mastery to make it feel better otherwise your charges will 100% disappear on phased bosses