Pure EK melee theory build

[Emerge2012]

Help me with a pure wizard Eldritch Failure build. Actually no, not help me, help others. I just really want to see a single viable EK build that isn't at the bottom of the barrel right from the start. Here's what i'm thinking..

41ek....(capstone)
21pm....(wraith form)
12harp..(KTA+Int to damage)
6racial.(sun elf is +4% to hit and 2int) I have no racial ap, those that do have good solid options

+2 dex tome needed, 36pt build
str 8
dex 15
con 16
int 19 (final around 84ish without completionist/racials/racial completionist/pots)
wis 8
cha 8

feats by lvl
1...Quicken, Two Weapon Fighting
3...Proficiency Khopesh
5...Extend
6...Completionist
9...Dodge
10..Spell Focus
12..Imp Two Weapon Fighting
15..Pick a Meta..(heighten/mental toughness/empower/maximize)
15..Precision
18..Improved Critical Slash
20..Pick a Meta
21..Greater Two Weapon Fighting
24..Overwhelming Critical
26..Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27..Mobility
28..Epic Acid Spellpower or Elusive Target
29..Spirit Blades, Arcane Warrior, or Dire Charge if you swap the 3rd slaver's aug for stunning 20
30..Insightful Reflexes (take earlier, I forgot to put this in)
30..Scion of Earth for more Acid damage - Shadowfell is also nicely rounded for this type of build

Weapon.........Calamity for vulnerable slotted with 138 force sp aug. Null swap for aura casts and maybe TOEE acid khopesh for element vulnerable if someone else has regular vulnerable covered
Weapon.........LGS acid khopesh for 150 enhancement/and LGS swaps (tier 1 and 2 LGS weapons are really cheap and easy to make)
Armor...SAset.Legendary Mist-Laden
Head......……...Leg Pansophic
Neck......……...Leg Rose Quartz Int19/qualCon4/qualPRR12/dw clickie
Bracer......…...Legendary Lore-Fueled Packbanner
Ring.........…...Ring of Nightfall
Ring.........…...Slavers 45sheltering/185acid/22spellcraft/qualint4
Gloves......…...Molten Silver Gauntlets
Boots......……..Blessed Travels from DoJ (dodge/2maxdex/speed15/freedom)
Belt...….SAset.Legendary Braided Cutcord
Cloak....SAset.Legendary Shadowhail Cloak or Cloak of Strahd
Trinket...……....CC con15/negamp61/insacc11
Goggles...….....CC seeker15/accuracy23/insseeker7

rough acid spellpower breakdown of 866 - 921 with ek action boost eldritch power running
185 item
65 ins
37 qual
37 exceptional
22 spellcraft item
23 skill
40 int bonus
130 ek
55 ek situational
15 palemaster
20 destiny feat
30 shadowfell
60 epic
150 enhancment LGS weapon
4 harper
48 implement

with 7 dice at lvl 20 this is about 440 acid per hit with stacks from enhancements
with 11 dice from Eldritch Power and action boost going this is about 730 acid per hit, and this has 50% uptime as long as you use the cleave whenever it's off cooldown
regular melee damage is going to be significantly weaker than normal but running in Dreadnought should still be good for 150-200 melee power or so when blitzing
regular melee hits with high intelligence and Know the Angles running (as geared) should still be 300 or more each hit, maybe 400-500 before crits
criticals with khopeshes will be 16-18/x4 and 19-20/x6. 22 seeker raises the crit value a lot.
neg heal amp should be a standing 100-120
neg spellpower should be about 400 or so without a Null/belt swap, closer to 700 with
30% incorporeal from wraith form/ek core
26% dodge from boots/belt/ship/mobility (with augment)
50% conceal from displacement
doublestrike should be just under 80% with the relevant past lives, offhand at 16%
retains Silent Avenger set so melee isn't complete trash
gear swaps for dc's (nightmother's scepter) make dancing ball/holds/wail all viable to at least low-mid reaper without using destiny twists to raise them

Gearing this type of character is almost impossible and every last little thing is of the utmost importance when the base build is already on the low end of viability. Couldn't fit in Adherents set without missing all sorts of stuff. Palemaster has obvious reaper issues but ideally the miss chance defenses at least get the build through the fight where it can turn back into normal form, accept some healing, and then back to wraith.

This is the best I can do I think. Can't see getting the dps any higher without utterly gimping everything else. Any ideas besides begging SSG to make EK a universal tree?

[adrian69]

Why do you think acid is a better focus over fire for current meta? Or are you aiming for acid DoTS?

I have a horrible idea about trying 16 Sorc 3 Bard 1 FvS.

[Hjarki]

I have a horrible idea about trying 16 Sorc 3 Bard 1 FvS.

If you're only taking 3 levels of Bard, there really isn't much reason to play a Charisma-based character. 17/3 Wizard/Bard Int-based gives you 9th level spells, 4 additional feats, all the melee prowess of the SWF + Shield fighting style, and better DCs than a pure Wizard could have. There's also no need for the stray FvS level since you can simply take Know the Angles.

[Emerge2012]

Why do you think acid is a better focus over fire for current meta? Or are you aiming for acid DoTS?

I have a horrible idea about trying 16 Sorc 3 Bard 1 FvS.

Acid seemed good due to lesser resistance overall at level cap and Acid Well is aoe. Fire and meteor swarm would have been my choice if not for the fairly common resistance - though with the tier 2 LGS swap items fire/cold spellpower was only 100ish less than acid as primary.

I didn't take any screenshots but I did run the posted build for a few days about a week ago. DPS was pretty solid, think something along the lines of 2/3 of a tempest ranger or equivalent to a pure melee wisdom wolf. As geared in the build post I was sitting at about 890 acid spellpower before EK buffs and 500 negative without a item swap while running with Scion of Earth. Enchantment DC's I think were 85 outside of reaper (no boosts from twists), to-hit was a little over 130, and the survivability from dodge/incorporeal/conceal/heals made flagging Ravenloft on R5 at cap nice and smooth.

Overall it was really good and a lot of fun to play. Between holds/dire charge it was easy to keep everything that's stunnable stunned, Eldritch Tempest+Acid Well deleted everything nearby after that, and believe it or not the actual real-for-real melee damage was fairly high while running in dreadnought. Up to mid-reaper it was easily more survivable than any non-monk melee and the rather high elemental per hit was quite nice against anything sneak immune. The one thing I really didn't care for was the automatic proc from the EK capstone as that either made it unreliable or required a fair bit of micromanagement to get it when you wanted it. Also Death Aura seemed to be pulling a lot of aggro consistently, even against undead. Nobody really talks about it but the auras (cleric/pm/warlock) seem to add a ****load of threat in my experience. While running a pure warlock tank or the cleric tank I posted I had ZERO problem holding perfect aggro in the legendary raids and yet this EK build pulled dragon aggro in Killing Time from the best tank on our server quite often even though as I stated the DPS is on the high end but far from top tier. Lord of Blades consistently found me tasty also.