Chaos 35 Spell ONLY Deadshot Build - Comes in Lightning, Dark Magic, and Frost!
This is the greatly superior updated version of my first spell only build which couldn't clear elite rooms. Not only can this build run all elites with ease, but it even has three different loadouts depending on what spell type you want to use! Huge thanks to u/jochinhs who helped me get this build working and gave me the ideas for the different flavors of the build. You can find his dual dark magic arcane bolt build here
I'll preface this by saying that these are simply recommendations for what spells to use, while in actuality you can use whatever you want. You can find a list of all of the non-unique spells and their effects, as well as the best versions of each type here. If you don't have a spell preference, these are more or less starter setups you can use until you're able to get two of the same element arcane bolt at which point you should try to recreate the above build.
Why Arcane Bolt?
The biggest problem you'll face when attempting to make a spell only build is cooldown. Since you're restricted to your spells for damage this leaves you with nothing to do while you wait for your spells to come back. With Arcane Bolt, you get a natural cooldown of 6.3 seconds, and any spell crit you get from *either* of your equipped spells will reduce its cooldown by roughly 25%. It is also classified as a bolt spell, which means that it's capable of achieving 100% crit chance whenever you aim for an enemy's crit spots (usually their head). If you have a standard version you'll get a near instant cooldown whenever you crit with the Bolt, but if you find one with +1 projectile then you'll get instant cooldown. There is simply nothing else that compares to this in terms of reliably keeping up Ascension stacks, Sanguine Sacrement, and the Ramming enchantment. You can certainly make something else work, but these should be your end goal. They can roll as Lightning, Dark Magic, and Frost only, which is the reason for the three versions of the build - whichever you get first you can build around.
All Builds
Each of the builds share the same skill tree and hero stats, as well as all of the same gear except for the ward and spells. If you like, you can modify any of the builds by speccing out of Mage Armor and using a Cursed Wit as your ward for faster bossing - this will work best with the Dark Magic variant.
Weapons - Masterwork Handbow (replace with anything - only used for enchant), Boniface's Soul (only necessary for reactivating cursed wit, otherwise just a panic button to restore your ward)
Melee - Mage Staff, ideally Dark Magic but anything works. These always roll with Archmage and give you an AoE attack that scales off of spell damage and can proc Blast Gasp. Extremely handy for clearing barfworms and spawnling shrooms.
Rings - Spell damage primary. Spell crit chance and spell crit damage secondary. The best legendary effect for these is a Promise ring - when using Ambihex they are always active (no action skill to put on cooldown) so you get the +25% all the time.
Armor - There are two prefixes we're looking for here - Warlock's or Lich's. Warlock's is Spellshot Primary / Graveborn Secondary and has skills spread between Stain of the Soul, Spell Sniper, and Font of Mana (look for 0 Font of Mana). Lich's is Graveborn Primary / Spellshot Secondary and has skills spread between War Caster, Essence Drain, and Ascension (look for 3 Ascension). Beyond that you want stat rolls including Spell damage and all damage dealt ideally. The best legendary effect is a Warped Paradigm that converts Spell damage to Ability and Melee damage, which will boost Blast Gasp significantly.
Amulet - You don't need to be picky here, boost your damage type and either graveborn or spellshot power and anything beyond that is an added bonus. The best legendary effects are Sacrifical Skeep for added survivability, Joint Training for added crit damage, or Overflow Bloodbag for increased max health.
Enchantments - in order of priority: Burgeoning (gun/spell), Glittering (ward/gun/melee), Jolting/Gloomy/Chilling (gun/melee), Practiced (ward/melee/spell), Ramming (spell only). Burgeoning gives +15% damage dealt on spell cast. Glittering gives +20% elemental damage on spell cast. Jolting/Gloomy/Chilling give +30% Lightning/Dark Magic/Frost damage on spell cast. Practiced gives +30% Ability damage on spell cast (Blast Gasp). Ramming gives +40% melee damage and stun for next melee attack on spell cast. If you are missing any of these enchantments besides Ramming, you will get a noticeable increase in damage once you acquire it. Truthfully Ramming isn't necessary but it provides so much utility and survivability that I always feel like something is missing without it, though you could opt for something like Desperate instead (ward only) for +5% health regen and +30% damage dealt when health is below 50%.
Lightning Variant
Full Featured Run (21:02)
Ward - Lightning Ancient Deity. You can also try using a Spirit Rune in conbination with a Diamond Gauntlets armor for massively increased ward regen and lightning damage while standing still, though you'll have to spec out of Glass Cannon for it to work.
Spells - Lightning Arcane Bolt, Channel Cast Arc Torrent with +1 Projectile. Your Arc Torrent is the main damage dealer here, with Arcane Bolt being used to enable it. You'll want to try to aim to pierce enemy hitboxes multiple times with the torrent by jumping and shooting down at their feet, while you'll want to aim for their head with your Arcane Bolt. Against shock resistant bosses you can swap to a Threads of Fate. If you're struggling with Eyeclops enemies you can swap to a Channel Cast Twin Spectral Talons to dispatch them easily.
Dark Magic Variant
Full Featured Run (24:12)
Ward - As previously mentioned, Cursed Wit works very well here, especially when combined with an Overflow Bloodbag. You can also use a Dark Magic Ancient Deity if you prefer to keep your distance from enemies. If you do used the Cursed Wit, make sure you're not specced into Mage Armor, and make sure you break your ward again after each portal in order to regain the damage bonus.
Spells - Threads of Fate, Arcane Bolt. The reason this run is the slowest is because I am using a frost Arcane Bolt since I wasn't able to get a dark magic one myself. You can see much more accurate performance of this version of the build by looking at the end goal version posted at the top of this guide. For Eyeclops enemies you can carry a Repeating Cast Overwhelming Magic Barrage or a Channel Cast Twin Spectral Talons. Also this build by far gets the most use out of your Mage Staff so a Ramming enchantment is really nice here. The reason for this is Threads of Fate naturally cools down just after it expires, but if you get one or two Archmage swings in during its duration then you'll be able to chain cast them for constant damage and health regen.
Frost Variant
Full Featured Run (20:35)
Ward - Mind Rune. This works very well to boost the damage of your Arcane Bolt and give it an AoE component. It also has the most tankiness of the different options because of the incredibly high capacity of the Mind Rune and your ability to regen all of it through 1-2 throws of Boniface's Soul.
Spells - Simple Cast Triple Ice Spike, Arcane Bolt. Again your Ice Spike is the main damage dealer here while Arcane Bolt serves to fuel it. You could also use any of the other ice spike variants you like - simple/repeating cast trickster's ice spikes are great for mobbing while simple cast splintering ice spikes are fun to use. simple cast Impaling and storming are strong as well if you find good versions of them. Again you can carry a Channel Cast Twin Spectral Talons for Eyeclops enemies if needed.
Whichever Arcane Bolt variant you happen to drop, you can make a strong build with it that'll carry you until you drop a second one of the same element. Feel free to experiment with different spells and see what you like the best and what you enjoy using, and if you find anything that works notably well feel free to share it in the comments.
Posted May 24, 2022, 6:54 PM UTC