Hey there
i made a build that is kinda nice imho.
I know the common crossbow enchantress build.
This is different.
Its build around:
Kuko Shakaku
Razortail
Act I Merc with Witchwild String
and learning to use Teleport
offensive and defensively.
Since i cant post Links do D2Planner in here. (Brilliant Idea)
Check out the Reddit i posted in D2R Reddit.
Its called: " Bow Enchantress with Act I merc Build"
Wuld be happy for your feedback.
But please try to understand what its about before giving advice.
I mostly run with a Team of 4.
Thank you.
Cheers
You can post links using the preformatted text option ( the </> icon on the toolbar) that will let you post a link people can copy and paste.
https://d2.maxroll.gg/d2planner/gp0106gn
One thing I’d consider is that your lack of FCR is really going to hurt for teleporting. With my enchantresses I usually try for the 63% breakpoint, and I’d consider 37% the minimum. I think it would be worth sacrificing a frame on the bow attack breakpoints if needed.
Hey.
Thx for letting me know how to incorporte Links.
Oh so you are also using Act I Merc?
Nice.
Only viable way im willing to accept to reach a higher fcr would be Fortitude Armor instead of Tretch. But that will cost me a significant portion of my dps when i run with the group. Because id rather keep that low base multiplier and ias and profit from might aura more.
I have 33fcr on Memory on the switch.
How do you reach 63fcr and what is gained from that vs everything you loose because of it?
63 FCR may not be practical with a Bow Sorc. (I’ve got a lot more experience with 2H melee enchantresses.) But the 37 breakpoint will most definitely be worth it. Being able to tele-snipe nasty monsters requires fast teleporting.
Some enchantress friendly FCR options:
I’ve generally used Vipermagi on my Enchatresses as a good all around armor. (Resists, FCR, +1 skill, and room for an IAS jewel.)
Magefist is another good FCR option for the enchantress as you get the extra damage from the +fire skill.
A rare ring with FCR is another place to slide some in.
A good rare +2 sorc skill FCR circlet is also nice if you can get one. (Although you might also get some mileage out of a Volcanic Circlet of the Magus magic circlet.)
Oh wow im happy i finally have people to talk to about this =D
Given the fact that I and my Merc re Ranged and do fire Arrows and my Attacks pierce i have less issues with Sniping Nasties. I could imagine that as melee chantress with melee merc that looks entirely different. I do not feel any need for more fcr when i roll in battle setup without memory and 0 fcr. The only scenrios I can think of is bottlnecked not by fcr but my reaction time and lack of situational awareness.
Rush TPing I use Memory and it may take 20-30% longer to tp baal, meph, wormhole, countess, summoner and nihlatak but again the bottleneck i feel is my non existent map reading skills and not my fcr.
Having said that.
lets discuss your options:
Vipermagi for Tretch
Not only would i loose 15 phys DR and Rez Cap from Fade + making curses irrelevant,
but i would ofc lose the Breakpoint. The +1 Skill will not remotely make that up in dps. Even moreso if i run with my group.
Magefist over LoH
+Fire Skill will never make up for the lost breakpoint and the fat 350 multiplier on demons.
My phys multiplier is at 300 from dex, thats it. LoH doubles my dps against Fire immune Demons. Ontop i will lose the breakpoint, so again lotsa dps especially in group with might, decrepify or lower resist. That is significant portion of my dps im not willing to sacrifice.
A rare ring over Carrion Wind
Lets say the best possible rare ring: maxroll on LL maxroll on FCR and AR ontop to sweeten the deal. Still loosing much needed Poison Resist which is the only thing that annoys ranged ES Hybrids like mine. But thats not the best thing about Carrion.
Carrion makes Twisters Stun or atelast Microstun when I and my merc engage a Wall of Density. Between that and my mercs knockback and freezing arrow on the closest traget. Almost nothing melee can reach me before its dead. Which means higher dps uptime.
In group it helps mitigate dps on our melees too.
+2 FCR Sorc Headpiece for Shako
For that FCR i would gain, i would lose a significant portion of my total survivability.
260 ehp and 10% flat DR. Moreso in Group.
So now you might be thinking you are talking to a wall.
But please concider for a moment that maybe, just maybe,
Im doing something you dont already know.
Thanks for actually talking to me.
Cheers
Some of it is going to come down to play style. I find that faster teleporting means faster repositioning which means more damage. (And especially with an Act 1 merc and her ADHD, I find that teleport is so very useful for refocusing her.) Remember, each extra frame you spend teleporting is a frame you aren’t shooting.
I’d also point out that resistances, dr%, life leech, and curses like amp and lower resist aren’t nearly as impactful when running energy shield. All of those things only matter after energy shield has taken it’s damage. (And if anyone in your group is running an Insight merc, the only thing that can really take down energy shield is mana burn — which should be largely avoidable at range.)
Hey 
Help me on this, with your melee enchantress. I dont get how its played tbh.
Do you melee click mobs down?
I dont reposition much. But yeah exactly TP is the key to Act I merc.
I do hybrid Hp and ES at 72%.
To profit from both pools when buffed by Barb and max ehp gain from Gear, e.g. Shako. Higher ehp.
Full ES without SOJ (+25% mana) or Frostburn (+40% mana) doesnt make any sense at all.
These Items btw have a major Roll in why ES is so underwhelming for most sorcs and led to the pump Vit meta.
This way I also profit from my Rez, my DR, and LL.
Poison isnt half as deadly.
And no, Insight doesnt make any difference in the scenarios that take me down.
Because I dont take sustained dmg.
The only things that take me down are very short term very high damage spikes that make my ehp Buffer overflow.
Like a 12 elite stack gloam/wisp/burning souls gigawatt volley from offscreen e.g.
Or a ranged elite Pack with manaburn or some sorta nonsense.
Reg with warmth and LL is sufficient.
Because most of the time i dont get Hit at all.
I’ve done a few variations for the melee enchantress, so the playstyle can vary a bit. For the easy stuff, I’ll just click them down. For the nastier stuff, there’s lots of teleporting around the outside of the pack using hit and run(teleport) to pick them off. When I used passion, there was a lot of teleporting to chase after fleeing monsters and to herd them into a corner to zeal down.
I usually use a Riphook/Blackhorn’s combo on the merc for the slow, so for really nasty stuff I’ll teleport-kite to break up the pack while the merc thins them out. (Probably less useful in a group. I think I ran harmony on my merc when I leveled an enchantress with friends.)
I’ve found that I don’t need a high level ES to get good benefit from it. (Maxed out Telekenesis is more important.) I’ve never run a pure energy ES enchantress mostly to avoid the blood mana curse (and for cushion with mana burners.) I think the only time I ran with hard points in ES was when I was using Insight as my weapon. (And even then I kept life and mana balanced and didn’t use +mana specific items.)
Honest Question:
Are you trolling?
No trolling here. (I’m honestly quite confused at the accusation.) I like weird builds though I’d share my experience with Enchantresses with rogue mercs.
Ok good I just wasnt sure.
Im sorry if I was offensive.
here is what I offer.
If you can find out how to dm in this forum.
Add me on Battlenet.
I have an old lower roll upped Kuko and a WWS waiting for you and your merc.
If you havent experienced this and been clicking down single mobs in mele, using this sorta strategys, you will be blown away. I kid u not.
Find me. Im also on Discord same Name.
Please lets meet and try this.
Thanks for the offer, but I play offline. (I also restarted for D2R so I don’t currently have a high level sorc.)
I’ll add IAS focused bow sorc to my list of D2 projects to try out though once I’ve got the gear. Just be warned I’m a bit distracted by an untwinked Amazon project right now.
Ahh too bad.
Ok ill just tell you the man Spiel of it:
Kuko Shakaku fires AoE Explosive Arrows on its defeault attack (The Amazon Skill).
ANY Fire damage from Gear Charms or Enchant will increase that explosion damage.
Kuko also Pierces 50% and with Razor 30% Thats 80% Pierce.
The explosion will go off for every enemy hit.
Most that utilize this use Deamon Machine Crossbow, because it has a higher Pierce.
But it cant reach the Frames of Kuko and does less dps.
The other thing tho,
i that merc and how its played.
You enjoy yourself.
Cheers