Devile
09-22-2014, 05:53 PM
Intro
Starting 2.1, I went for the hunt of the most efficient multiboxing combo. I tried different options and finally decided DHs were the best. They did very high damage and were very easy to control. Eventho DHs were amazingly good for Trial key farming, Gem upgrading, Ubers and T6 farming, they were clearly not the perfect combo. Bounties and Keywarden farming felt very slow and incredibly boring. I also hit a wall at Greater Rifts 36 or so. Sure I could push it, but it was clear I wasn't gonna hit GR40+ with them.
Damage was not an issue, but survivability. So I had to look for a different combo. I then looked at leaderboards and Wizards were doing pretty good, great damage with Firebird set, but it's particular gamestyle made it hard to multibox without a dedicated zDPS/support char. In the past I tried Crusaders with a zDPS monk (http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/51219-Multiboxing-3x-Crusaders-Monk) but that doesn't work the same in 2.1. I was aware of the Phalanx Stampede build but I didn't see Crusaders as top chars in the leaderboards mainly cause of their damage and the Stampede skill limitations. But then I read a comment from Ellay about Strongarms stacking in order to try a Wizard Blackhole combo. Funny I wasn't aware of that after all this time. Immediately I thought about Crusaders and how this stacking would work with the Stampede build that knocks back a LOT. Multiply that by 4 and u should get a lot of debuff that could potentially double your damage.
So, I started working on my 4 Crusaders that had items from my previous Holy Shotgun build. Switching to Phalanx Stampede was pretty smooth. The full Akkhan Set made everything very easy and around a week or so, I had the basics to start dealing good damage and farm in a faster way.
This build has excellent survivability and very good damage. By far it's the most efficient combo for Bounties and Keywarden farming. This build is still a WIP, but I'm sure I can get to GR40 or so with them.
Build
Since we are talking about 4x chars of the same class, it's pretty simple. No weird keybinds, no complex configs, just 1 simple round robin.
Crusader #1 and #2
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader#PQVdgT!gafS!bYYbaZ
Crusader #3 and #4
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader#PQVdgf!gafS!bYYbaY
The only difference is the Laws used so I can round robin Laws of Justice and Valor for 100% uptime of both. Laws last 10 secs with Long Arm of the Law passive. With 50% CDR u will have only 10 secs downtime meaning, with 2 Crusaders, u can have 100% uptime of a law. So I made a group for #1 and #3, and another for #2 and #4, and round robin key 4. So when I press 4, I get active Laws of Valor and Justice for 10 secs. Press 4 again, and get it again. Made sure they can't advance to the next step for at least 10 secs so i can get 100% uptime.
Items
This build has endgame mandatory items so don't expect to do GR40+ in a couple days. To make it easier, I created a build in Diablofans:
http://www.diablofans.com/builds/2001-phalanx-stampede
Mandatory items:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/strongarm-bracers
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/unrelenting-phalanx
Full Akkhan set
You can go with a 6 piece Akkhan set and no RoRG or 5 piece set and RoRG. I suggest 5 piece and RoRG so u can add a Leoric's Crown for more CDR. I didn't have a Leoric's Crown at first but I had Captain's boots and belt, so I started farming with those until I got the crown. Whatever helps u get to 50% CDR.
Helm: Leoric's Crown with str, crit chance and phalanx damage is BiS. If u have vit on helm and 46+% crit chance, roll the crit for phalanx damage. If not, use Akkhan's until u get a Leoric's Crown for the CDR.
Amulet: Anything with socket, physical damage, crit chance/damage. Physical damage > STR.
Shoulders: Akkhan with str, vit, all res and cdr
Gloves: Akkhan with str, crit chance, crit damage and cdr
Bracers: Strongarms with physical damage, str, vit, crit chance. Will add 50-80% on white mobs, elites and minions which is huge.
Chest: Akkhans with str, vit, all res, 3 sockets.
Belt: Vigilante with str, vit, armor or %life and cdr. If u are going with Captains, then Captain's belt.
Pants: Akkhans with str, vit, all res, 2 sockets. If u are going with Captains, then Captain's pants.
Boots: Akkhans with str, vit, all res, phalanx damage. If u are going with Captains, then Captain's boots. Illusory boots are an option too, but then u will be force to used Gogok of Swiftness gem for CDR, losing DPS.
Shield: Unrelenting Phalanx with str, crit chance, phalanx damage, vit/cdr. Can take a while but its crucial to the build. It will pretty much double your damage and add a lot more CC too. I started without it, just doing T6 until I got all 4.
Rings: SoJ with physical damage, str and socket. RoRG with socket and cdr.
Weapon: The Furnace is BiS, if not get a Heart Slaughter which is also rare. If u can't find any of these, u can try a Baleful Remnant which is useful to certain degree but in open maps it actually hurst u cause spawned avatars will make mobs spread all over the map. Overall, any 3600 dps 2H weapon will do ok. Swiftmount will be required on switch for bounties and keywarden farming. 1H weapons are horrible for this build, not even a Doombringer is a good idea.
Diamond on helm, ruby in armor/pants.
Gems
Gems are a hot topic now a days but most debate applies to solo builds, not much about parties and even less about multiboxing which is a completely different animal. My gems of choice for this build are:
Bane of the Trapped: this one is mandatory since u will benefit all the time from the damage increase cause everything will be stunned 80%+ of the time, even Rift Guardians.
Mirinae, Teardrop of the Starweaver: Hits like a truck and very often with 6 horses spamming everything. Sure it won't benefit from your physical damage, regardless it adds a ton of damage.
Pain Enhancer: the DoTs can go pretty high adding to your overall damage and it benefits from your physical damage.
Gogok of Swiftness: a must if u can't hit 50% cdr.
Bane of the Powerful: great for T6 Rift and bounties when the buff will have 100% uptime, not so great for Greater Rifts.
Gem of Efficacious Toxin: only needed in 1 character in order to add the 10% debuff for the whole party.
Zei's Stone of Vengeance: eventho in theory it makes sense, it's too random since not all fights will be at max range, meaning in a LOT of cases u will get less than ideal damage from it. I rather go for consistency instead of random.
My choice are the first 3. Gogok if I can't hit that 50%+ CDR tho I rather go with CDR on gear and skip this gem. Bane of Powerful adds a nice 15% elite damage but that's about it for long fights, so is not the best choice for high level GR. For the char that will use Gem of Efficacious Toxin, just replace Pain Enhancer.
Starting 2.1, I went for the hunt of the most efficient multiboxing combo. I tried different options and finally decided DHs were the best. They did very high damage and were very easy to control. Eventho DHs were amazingly good for Trial key farming, Gem upgrading, Ubers and T6 farming, they were clearly not the perfect combo. Bounties and Keywarden farming felt very slow and incredibly boring. I also hit a wall at Greater Rifts 36 or so. Sure I could push it, but it was clear I wasn't gonna hit GR40+ with them.
Damage was not an issue, but survivability. So I had to look for a different combo. I then looked at leaderboards and Wizards were doing pretty good, great damage with Firebird set, but it's particular gamestyle made it hard to multibox without a dedicated zDPS/support char. In the past I tried Crusaders with a zDPS monk (http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/51219-Multiboxing-3x-Crusaders-Monk) but that doesn't work the same in 2.1. I was aware of the Phalanx Stampede build but I didn't see Crusaders as top chars in the leaderboards mainly cause of their damage and the Stampede skill limitations. But then I read a comment from Ellay about Strongarms stacking in order to try a Wizard Blackhole combo. Funny I wasn't aware of that after all this time. Immediately I thought about Crusaders and how this stacking would work with the Stampede build that knocks back a LOT. Multiply that by 4 and u should get a lot of debuff that could potentially double your damage.
So, I started working on my 4 Crusaders that had items from my previous Holy Shotgun build. Switching to Phalanx Stampede was pretty smooth. The full Akkhan Set made everything very easy and around a week or so, I had the basics to start dealing good damage and farm in a faster way.
This build has excellent survivability and very good damage. By far it's the most efficient combo for Bounties and Keywarden farming. This build is still a WIP, but I'm sure I can get to GR40 or so with them.
Build
Since we are talking about 4x chars of the same class, it's pretty simple. No weird keybinds, no complex configs, just 1 simple round robin.
Crusader #1 and #2
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader#PQVdgT!gafS!bYYbaZ
Crusader #3 and #4
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/crusader#PQVdgf!gafS!bYYbaY
The only difference is the Laws used so I can round robin Laws of Justice and Valor for 100% uptime of both. Laws last 10 secs with Long Arm of the Law passive. With 50% CDR u will have only 10 secs downtime meaning, with 2 Crusaders, u can have 100% uptime of a law. So I made a group for #1 and #3, and another for #2 and #4, and round robin key 4. So when I press 4, I get active Laws of Valor and Justice for 10 secs. Press 4 again, and get it again. Made sure they can't advance to the next step for at least 10 secs so i can get 100% uptime.
Items
This build has endgame mandatory items so don't expect to do GR40+ in a couple days. To make it easier, I created a build in Diablofans:
http://www.diablofans.com/builds/2001-phalanx-stampede
Mandatory items:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/strongarm-bracers
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/unrelenting-phalanx
Full Akkhan set
You can go with a 6 piece Akkhan set and no RoRG or 5 piece set and RoRG. I suggest 5 piece and RoRG so u can add a Leoric's Crown for more CDR. I didn't have a Leoric's Crown at first but I had Captain's boots and belt, so I started farming with those until I got the crown. Whatever helps u get to 50% CDR.
Helm: Leoric's Crown with str, crit chance and phalanx damage is BiS. If u have vit on helm and 46+% crit chance, roll the crit for phalanx damage. If not, use Akkhan's until u get a Leoric's Crown for the CDR.
Amulet: Anything with socket, physical damage, crit chance/damage. Physical damage > STR.
Shoulders: Akkhan with str, vit, all res and cdr
Gloves: Akkhan with str, crit chance, crit damage and cdr
Bracers: Strongarms with physical damage, str, vit, crit chance. Will add 50-80% on white mobs, elites and minions which is huge.
Chest: Akkhans with str, vit, all res, 3 sockets.
Belt: Vigilante with str, vit, armor or %life and cdr. If u are going with Captains, then Captain's belt.
Pants: Akkhans with str, vit, all res, 2 sockets. If u are going with Captains, then Captain's pants.
Boots: Akkhans with str, vit, all res, phalanx damage. If u are going with Captains, then Captain's boots. Illusory boots are an option too, but then u will be force to used Gogok of Swiftness gem for CDR, losing DPS.
Shield: Unrelenting Phalanx with str, crit chance, phalanx damage, vit/cdr. Can take a while but its crucial to the build. It will pretty much double your damage and add a lot more CC too. I started without it, just doing T6 until I got all 4.
Rings: SoJ with physical damage, str and socket. RoRG with socket and cdr.
Weapon: The Furnace is BiS, if not get a Heart Slaughter which is also rare. If u can't find any of these, u can try a Baleful Remnant which is useful to certain degree but in open maps it actually hurst u cause spawned avatars will make mobs spread all over the map. Overall, any 3600 dps 2H weapon will do ok. Swiftmount will be required on switch for bounties and keywarden farming. 1H weapons are horrible for this build, not even a Doombringer is a good idea.
Diamond on helm, ruby in armor/pants.
Gems
Gems are a hot topic now a days but most debate applies to solo builds, not much about parties and even less about multiboxing which is a completely different animal. My gems of choice for this build are:
Bane of the Trapped: this one is mandatory since u will benefit all the time from the damage increase cause everything will be stunned 80%+ of the time, even Rift Guardians.
Mirinae, Teardrop of the Starweaver: Hits like a truck and very often with 6 horses spamming everything. Sure it won't benefit from your physical damage, regardless it adds a ton of damage.
Pain Enhancer: the DoTs can go pretty high adding to your overall damage and it benefits from your physical damage.
Gogok of Swiftness: a must if u can't hit 50% cdr.
Bane of the Powerful: great for T6 Rift and bounties when the buff will have 100% uptime, not so great for Greater Rifts.
Gem of Efficacious Toxin: only needed in 1 character in order to add the 10% debuff for the whole party.
Zei's Stone of Vengeance: eventho in theory it makes sense, it's too random since not all fights will be at max range, meaning in a LOT of cases u will get less than ideal damage from it. I rather go for consistency instead of random.
My choice are the first 3. Gogok if I can't hit that 50%+ CDR tho I rather go with CDR on gear and skip this gem. Bane of Powerful adds a nice 15% elite damage but that's about it for long fights, so is not the best choice for high level GR. For the char that will use Gem of Efficacious Toxin, just replace Pain Enhancer.