Matriarch BigMode - PTR Phoenix Strike Assassin

[NorthDakota]

BigMode, my PTR Phoenix Strike Assassin got Matriarch this Monday and I wanted to share my experience on the PTR with leveling and how Phoenix strike feels now with only expending one charge instead of all 3.




Gear:
Claws: Bartuc's - (upped, socket ETH)
Head: Griffon's - (socket light facet)
Chest: Enigma
Gloves: Rare MA Skills
Belt: String of Ears
Boots: Rare Tri-res
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring 2: FCR/Mana leech Rare
Ammy: Mara's

Skills:
Phoenix Strike - Max
Blades of Ice - Max
Claws of Thunder - Max
Fists of Fire - Max

Burst of Speed - 1
Cloak of Shadows - 1
Venom - 1
Finishing Moves - all 1 (used Dragon Claw)
Claw mastery - all left over

Showcase:

Was she "Big Mode"?
Well watch the video and decide for yourself!!

On /players 1, everything pops right away. It's glorious. On /players 8, it's so fun. It's not ultra meta-build fast but it is fast. I'll probably only ever play on /players 8 with this build from now on, because everything feels like the perfectly paced intense battle - you're making decisions about what attack to use, what support skills you need, and no battle feels like a slog. You're never standing there chunking down one enemy slowly. You briefly build to the charge you need, and kill things. And because of the big AoE, other things die too. But it's not a 1-hit-kill-everything build.

In the end, this is an incredibly fun build to play. The change the PTR brought was only expending 1 charge when using a finishing move. Before, you could PS > finish > PS > finish and drop meteors over and over on your target, but you couldn't do that as easily with the lightning or the cold charges. Now you can! Repeatedly casting only the lightning charge does really massive damage. What I found to be the best option for me was to use Dragon Claw as a finishing move. Dragon claw will expend 2 charges of phoenix strike, so you can cast whichever 2 of the charges you wish. So my rotation ended up being charge twice with phoenix strike > dragon claw.

The nice thing about dragon claw is that you don't have to think as hard about immunities. I found the regular attack to be an OK finishing move if I wanted to think really hard about what was the best charge to hit the enemy with, or if I wanted to repeatedly use the same charge (for example just charge #2 for big lightning damage) because it's faster to recharge only once and then you hit faster with the regular attack so you can absolutely BLAST out lightning, like the same way you could with meteors before the PTR. But when you encounter big groups of enemies, you can't rely on just casting a single charge over and over due to mixed immunities, so you've got to start thinking pretty hard and watching what charge is going to hit next. With Dragon Claw, you kinda don't. Charge twice and use dragon claw without thinking takes care of most enemies.

Finishing moves always hitting is nice. I wish they would have made the default attack also always hit when using charges. The reason is because there's no other great finishing moves for a single claw attack. Dragon Tail messes up the second and third charges of phoenix strike for anything it hits with the next delay, so that's a no go. Dragon talon will expend ALL charges from your phoenix strike, so that's a no. Dragon Flight is slow. Leaving just Dragon Claw.

I never played a phoenix striker seriously before. I tried one way back in the day but didn't have some of the OP items I do now (like infinity). The build didn't receive any buff to its damage numbers, but the buff to how charges are expended is amazing and ends up being pretty massive I imagine, although I can't really compare.

This will be the first build I make when the patch drops.

Leveling

Leveling was smooth - Fists of fire is fun and works well starting out. Claws of Thunder is amazing once you get it, and I used it till like level 40ish when I swapped to phoenix strike. I was disappointed because I wasn't able to find a claw base to make pattern in before I was able to equip bartucs. I struggled from 25-40ish because I just didn't have a good claw. Luckily, claws of thunder is so strong you don't really need a good claw. I imagine Pattern would have helped significantly but I never used it. Otherwise, it was smooth sailing throughout the leveling process. Even plowing through hell. I thought maybe I'd struggle, so I leveled to 71 in NM then pushed up into hell. Once I got going I just kept going. You never run into anything that's immune to you so that's really nice. And claw block is so amazing defensively that it didn't matter that my resists were in shambles. It was touch and go at times as far as close calls but overall a really smooth and fun experience with no real troubles.

Overall a really fun build to level! Burst of speed makes every other character feel like they're moving through jello. Cloak of shadows is the most OP skill in the game? Just cast it anytime you're feeling in trouble and all of a sudden all the monsters just stand around not attacking. It's amazing..

 

[Swamigoon]

Thanks for reporting about your BigMode, NorthDakota!

I'm currently trying to get a 1.14b martial artist to Matriarch. She is currently about halfway through Hell act 4. Her skill setup is a bit different than yours: maxed Claw Mastery and Dragon Claw (the core "aggressin" skills), then maxed Blades of Ice and Phoenix Strike, and the rest in Weapon Block. While frustrating at times, I have enjoyed the aggressin build. The combination of CM & DC has been giving her a very nice attack rating with great chances-to-hit. Right now she's level 82, has 135 dexterity, and the LCS boasts that she has well over 80% CTH against most monsters in level 85 areas such as the River of Flame. As Dragon Claw now always hits in your test realm experiment, I guess dexterity and attack rating just won't matter as much in the new patch.

In 1.14b, I notice that when I charge up with Blades of Ice with dual claws, just one click of the mouse (one attack) is usually enough to hit with both claws and activate two charges. The same appears to happen with Claws of Thunder and Fists of Fire. But when I charge up with Phoenix Strike, each click of the mouse is just one attack with one claw at a time, and I need to attack and hit three times if I want to set up a cold-phoenix finisher. I wonder, did you happen to notice this difference with dual-claw behavior with BigMode?

 

[Vang]

Awesome write-up and explanation of how it all works.

Did you try a physical build with Tiger Strike? Does it unleash lots more damage then with charge 2 and 3 going when using Dragon Claw?

 

[NorthDakota]

In 1.14b, I notice that when I charge up with Blades of Ice with dual claws, just one click of the mouse (one attack) is usually enough to hit with both claws and activate two charges. The same appears to happen with Claws of Thunder and Fists of Fire. But when I charge up with Phoenix Strike, each click of the mouse is just one attack with one claw at a time, and I need to attack and hit three times if I want to set up a cold-phoenix finisher. I wonder, did you happen to notice this difference with dual-claw behavior with BigMode?

That's just how they work, they've always been that way and are that way in the PTR as well. I WISH phoenix strike worked that way, but nope, it's a 1 charge per hit regardless of how many claws you're wearing and it's always been that way.

It's almost enough to make me want to play a claws of thunder build, because it's a bit easier.. which is kind of nice for relaxing gameplay sessions, but it feels like less damage, runs feel slower etc. Not having to deal with any immunities and going everywhere and doing anything you want at any time with Phoenix Strike is just too nice.