LS shadow vs LS duelist?

so what is the difference between both duel wielding ls shadow and duelist? in terms of passives what does each offer?

Been leveling a ls shadow and honestly I'd say Duelist looks to be more optimal. Duelist can easily get iron grip/reflexes/blood magic/blood drinker and they are very close to loads of good melee dmg/tanky nods. Most ls shadows seem to go for a CI build based on the forum builds. CI is getting nerfed, so these will take a hit.

A lot of these builds also seem to focus on auras. I didn't really like the whole ci/aura build so I did something not in the normal and went down to the duelist area on my ls shadow. I use claw/shield and their life leech passives to spare myself going for blood drinker. Alongside the iron reflex with the various dex nods, I've become very tanky so far. But I'm only in ruthless so no clue how it will be end game. I feel pretty strong but I have a really good elemental claw so I'm eating through stuff. I don't think my build is optimal given the duelist can more easily do the build better. I had to forgo iron grip because I was already being stretched out and I'm still debating blood magic. I don't know what mana cost will be like end game. Right now, I'm able to spam fine but I'm only in the 40s.

However, just looking at the tree Duelist ls looks great.

Shadow has a multitude of elemental and lightning damage increase nodes right from the start to supplement the increase to physical damage as well. Yes, the duelist has access to a wider variety of node clusters to allow more build crafting, but in my opinion, Shadow has the slight edge.

Basically, Shadow focuses on elemental damage increases, and crit. When you combine the few physical damage increase nodes, with the lightning/elemental damage nodes, and sprinkle in crit, you get a pretty viable damage dealing character. What holds most Shadows back, is that you have to stretch fairly far for decent defensive nodes.

I guess it just comes down to what your comfortable playing.

Plus Shadow has, of course, Arcing Blows right near (+30% Lightning Weapon Damage).

I've been working on a LS Shadow (Dual Wielding any 1h weapons) and it seems fun and viable, but I need to level up a lot more. I'm trying a balance of +Life% and ES/ES Recovery and NOT CI.

Still wondering the same thing: if Duelist would be a much better LS build all around...

EDIT: A question! You guys think it's worth picking up the 3 nodes of +5% to Elemental Damage near the beginning of Shadow for Lightning Strike damage?

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markus7 escreveu:

Plus Shadow has, of course, Arcing Blows right near (+30% Lightning Weapon Damage).

I've been working on a LS Shadow (Dual Wielding any 1h weapons) and it seems fun and viable, but I need to level up a lot more. I'm trying a balance of +Life% and ES/ES Recovery and NOT CI.

Still wondering the same thing: if Duelist would be a much better LS build all around...

EDIT: A question! You guys think it's worth picking up the 3 nodes of +5% to Elemental Damage near the beginning of Shadow for Lightning Strike damage?

It will not increase your damage more than the 3 one handed damage nodes at the start as well. The beauty of shadow is that you can just get both, and double dip.

Duelist is a better choice if you plan on playing end game. Shadow simply does not have access to all the HP/HP Regen/Resist nodes you need to survive. I think Shadow can work though, if you have the gear for it. I wouldn't make a Shadow as my first character.

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darkjoy escreveu:

Duelist is a better choice if you plan on playing end game. Shadow simply does not have access to all the HP/HP Regen/Resist nodes you need to survive. I think Shadow can work though, if you have the gear for it. I wouldn't make a Shadow as my first character.

Its a bit deceiving when you look at the passive tree and you try to compare two classes. From my experiences, which are mostly Shadow related, because of the nodes that the Shadow DO have access to, your able to focus your gear a little more defensively. High crit damage, high elemental damage, and pretty good one handed damage nodes, while giving you some ES clusters as well as an easy mana leech node, and you begin to do great damage at a relatively low level. Combine that with mediocre gear, and your fairly self sufficient.

I think it's just about what path you'd like to take. I'd have to agree with dark though, Shadow isn't the most inexperience friendly class. It does require some knowledge of the passive tree and drive to actually BUILD your character.

Thanks for the extra info. :- )

Would you pick up the +8% Projectile Damage nodes right at the beginning of Shadow for Lightning Strike too?

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markus7 escreveu:

Thanks for the extra info. :- )

Would you pick up the +8% Projectile Damage nodes right at the beginning of Shadow for Lightning Strike too?

Well, it depends on how much dmg you what from the elemental portion of ls. Right now LS has insane single target dmg and is great aoe. Problem is things like that usually warrant nerfs. However, going up is great if your going to focus on a ci or high energy build. I think though that you want to get to the bottom of the dex tree as fast as possible. So I'd avoid it unless your planning on skipping some tankyness. If you go 1 hander, I'd go through the melee dmg grabbing acel, repartee, nullifcation and last arc. Or the dex nods if you want to get down the tree faster to get health and iron reflex faster. However,I honestly don't think the 5% nods are worth it unless your build is going up that path anyway. So I'd say it depends on how far you plan to build through the duelist area.

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AllGodsDie escreveu:

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markus7 escreveu:

Thanks for the extra info. :- )

Would you pick up the +8% Projectile Damage nodes right at the beginning of Shadow for Lightning Strike too?

Well, it depends on how much dmg you what from the elemental portion of ls. Right now LS has insane single target dmg and is great aoe. Problem is things like that usually warrant nerfs. However, going up is great if your going to focus on a ci or high energy build. I think though that you want to get to the bottom of the dex tree as fast as possible. So I'd avoid it unless your planning on skipping some tankyness. If you go 1 hander, I'd go through the melee dmg grabbing acel, repartee, nullifcation and last arc. Or the dex nods if you want to get down the tree faster to get health and iron reflex faster. However,I honestly don't think the 5% nods are worth it unless your build is going up that path anyway. So I'd say it depends on how far you plan to build through the duelist area.

The reason Lightning Strike is fantastic at both Single target and AoE, is because it isn't necessarily working as intended. It currently hits your target twice, once with the melee portion and then again with one projectile. You can test this by hitting an enemy and only 2 of the three projectiles scatter. It's been said that it has been fixed for a future patch, so we will see just how effective LS will be as an all around skill.

That being said, to get the most damage out of the shadow starting area for LS, you should double dip into the one handed damage nodes, as well as the elemental damage ones, ending with Arcing Blows. The lightning portion of LS is calculated from your physical damage, and then enhanced by the elemental nodes.

I play on Hardcore, so I don't double dip, and I tend to go around the beginner nodes just to move down the tree faster for more defense. It's all personal preference.