I have a Rive VK and Vengeance Paladin and, since i don’t like using the same offensive / DPS skill on different chars, wanted either Warpath or Hammer Throw FG. Hammer Throw is attractive as i could setup as range physical / high attack speed / bleed build. Iron Spiral and Hammer Vortex look promising together with Enra’s Technique conversion to hit damage and base crit.
The huge downside is the increased +12 mana cost using both of those. Mana Starved Forging doesn’t seem an option as then i cant use support skills like Abyssal Echos, Devouring Orb or Sigils.
So TL:DR ----> how do you reduce mana cost of Hammer Throw to make it cost neutral and spammable ???
Tbh i don’t have much experience with any kind of throwing build.
But do you already using or tought of Ballista’s prefix on rings?
The reduced mana cost don’t even have any roll range to it’s fairly easy to setup and you jsut need Tier 1 for the pure sake of mana management.
Other than that there are not many other options except of Efficiency suffix for amulets.
Thanks good ideas. I read your article on mana after i posted this. Excellent discussion / thoughts on topic.
2 x Ballista will give me 6 back which will sort out 1 of Iron Spiral or Hammer Vortex. Still need to mitigate the 3 base base cost at high throw attack speed. Maybe Volatile will help. But maybe answer lies in using only 1 of Iron Spiral or Hammer Vortex.
Ty, another thought, while maybe being a bit clunky or not statisfying to use.
If you use Time And Faith in conjuction with one of these: of Cadency, of Inspiration or of Attenuation you can get back to full mana in an ridiculously fast time, because you just need to “use” them, not even hit a thing.
While Smite is ranged and would not feel as clunky it has the worst mana gain, since it has base mana costs.
Smite only costs 3 mana per cast though, and if you use a staff/sceptre then it’s free, or a wand with the -2 mana cost on Spell Slinger prefix it’ll only cost 1 mana. The “issue” with using Smite/Rive/Vengeance is that they all require casting or attack speed which doesn’t benefit Hammer Throw. IMO Smite might be a better fit as it’s also ranged. But as you say, 2x Ballista’s prefixes on rings would reduce the the cost to 6 with the OP’s set up & if you take Smite then you’d also want to keep casting it every 4s anyway for the attack & cast speed buff which is the only other way to increase the amount of hammers you can get out at any time (though if you take 1-2 Keen idols, you’ll be able to keep that buff up anyway).
TLDR - take Smite & use either a sceptre, staff or wand (with spell slinger prefix) to make Smite free & 5 points in Time & Faith plus an “of Inspiration” suffix on your chest if you can a)find it & b)don’t want to take any of the “xxx taken as physical” suffixes. Craft 2x Ballista’s prefixes on your rings to lessen the mana cost of Hammer Throw.
Thanks all. I think there are enough options and food for though to trial and give this a go. Really nice to have a community giving positive feedback and suggestions.
Also if you use devouring orbs just for the stats boost (global damage and defences in the top-top/right side of the tree) you don’t need the “orbit” node. It’s not important where the orb is# as long as its active you get the benefits. Having it orbit you is unnecessary. This way o save a lot of mana on my Paladin.
I find the mana cost to hammer throw fair personally. Spiral node is amazing with smite. You do ridiculous single target and aoe damage. If you use two -3 mana rings and have some mana regen you can sustain decently. If you are still struggling you can also choose to build around Urzil’s Pride which is also an option to allow you to sustain spamming hammer throw with higher throw speed.
@KissingAiur thanks for the feedback. Do i assume then you play an “up close and personal” Hammerdin setup ?
I was wanting to use Iron Spiral and Hammer Vortex and convert those to more dps / crit through Enra’s Technique node so that i could play pure ranged hammer throw.
Dont really want to go Urzils route as then can use Flagellation and Serration affixes on helm and chest for bleed.
Spiral has pretty big range because it spirals out around you. The mana cost in the ability to to balance out how strong some of the nodes are. If you choose to want to invest heavily into all the dps nodes you will have issues with mana. You will have to choose to either invest in a mana regen set up on gear, rings etc or in the tree.
