Halls of Torment – Pondering Orbs

Thru my 100 hours of playtime this is what I found to be the best build I’ve stumbled across.

General

Сrеdit gоеs to Crown Of Horns TTV !

This build is meant to be used for the Warlock. It focuses on Astronomer’s Orbs because they are a summon. Certain seemingly good traits will be skipped or potioned away.

This is due to focusing on Astronomer’s Orbs (main dps source), assuring easier progression thru levels, more elemental procs, and quicker level cap insuring more gold.

Runs can differ, but generally I get 13k-17k gold and 200m-250m damage. Best map to farm would be Forgotten Viaduct (Agony) because of less ranged and slimes.

You should have 20+ orbs for each row and have around 9 regen (if you have maxed blessings).

You can fully kill a wall of mobs on Forgotten Viaduct (Agony).

Lords or the wall can be annoying with frost proc spam.

Do not use if you have Epilepsy.

Potions

Potion of Oblivion:

Quick Hands, Vitality, Parry, Thick Hide, Bulwark, False Blessing, Crippling Strikes, and Demonic Exchange (Damage). You can potion something besides Demonic Exchange (Damage), but I find it easier to select the wanted Exchanges. If you don’t have all of the potions I’d suggest using Vitality instead.

Potion of Memories:

Elemental Surges (Only on 2 of the 3 elements), Astronomer’s Orbs (T10 Speed or Bodies), Proficient Stance T2 / T3, Demonic Exchange Force / Speed T1 -T3

Reverberant Tinkture:

Weapon Proficiency (Sacrifice T1 and T2), Proficient Stance (Summon Enhancement T4)

Strong Wine:

Try to save these until you absolutely have to use them. Because of Mark of Incineration the selection screen can fill up with unwanted picks easily.

Potion of Renewal:

Should really only have to be used to get Inner Orbit at T3 Orbs.

Hallucinogenic Elixir:

My game is bugged and I only have one. I’d suggest only rerolling useless red chests

Traits

General:

You should end up with Strength, Cunning Technique, Ruthlessness, Collateral Damage, Vanguard, Channeling, Metabolism, Long Fingers, Swift Feet, Piercing Wind, Multistrike, Demonic Exchanges, Elemental Affinities, and Elemental Surges. Sometimes the game will bug out on Demonic Exchanges, Elemental Affinities, Elemental Surges, and character traits. Not allowing you to select all of the nice things.

While leveling certain traits will be more helpful than others. Things like Cunning Technique, Ruthlessness, and Piercing Wind are less helpful. Traits like the Orb, Elemental traits, character traits, Demonic Exchanges, and Swift Feet would be better.

Character Traits

Weapon Proficiency:

T1 / T2 Sacrifice (Reverberant Tinkture), T3 / T4 Hellfire

Proficient Stance:

T1 Summon Enhancement, T2 / T3 Summon Enhancement / Conflagration (Potion of Memories), T4 Summon Enhancement (Reverberant Tinkture)

Deducation:

T1 – T3 Heat, T4 Defensive

Ability Traits

Astronomer’s Orbs: Inner Orbit > Electrified Orbs

If you want extra damage and summons you can use these 2 abilities, but they are not needed and you’ll miss out on at least 1k gold.

Summon Golem: Magma Fists

Spirit Warrior: Twin Spirits

Gear

Mark of Incineration

Mark of Sanctity could also be used for procs, but I prefer the increased spawn, fire procs, and Orb attack speed. Can’t remember if you’d still get all Elemental Surge traits.

Mask of Madness (Degeneration)

Staple for the build. Wind Crown doesn’t effect Orbs, but could be used. Thunder Crown effects Orbs, but damage is negligible and doesn’t increase number of Orbs.

Pest Ring (Infectious) / Demonic Bond

While the Necromancers Clutch isn’t bad, the spawn rate is much higher on the other rings. Guiding Star will directly increase Orb attack speed, however it is annoying to have to constantly run around. Also it gives less regen. Echoing Band will also increase Orb damage, but it is negligible and again less regen.

Shepherd’s Boon (Numbers)

Staple for the build and a must have due to massive regen plus solid damage boost. It’s also great if you get Mask of Madness (Degeneration). You can switch between the Masks and farm up 8-12 second ticks. Elemental Resonator isn’t really noticeable proc increase because everything will die quick enough and you miss out on regen.

Invocator’s Grasp

Staple for the build, but Hunting Gloves (Boost) could be used as well. Sparking Tips work as well, but damage is not as good.

Blazing Shell

It’s good for early leveling damage and doesn’t require you to be at full hp or standing still unlike Blood-Soaked Shirt or Hunter’s Garb. Shadow Cloak is effected by spawn increase, but is unsightly and doesn’t help with fire stacks. Broker’s Cape isn’t bad, but doesn’t help with fire stacks either.

Runner Shoes (Boost)

Staple for the build and increases Orb attack speed. Firewalker Boots, Electrostatic Treads, or Bogged Boots could be used, but not as good and you have to run around constantly.

Chests:

Chests are unreliable for uncommon gear, but ideally Invocator’s Grasp followed by Shepherd’s Boon (Numbers) are the best items for us because they directly effect Orb numbers.

Runner Shoes (Boost) are also great for Orb attack speed while Mask of Madness (Degeneration) is good for Orb spawns and damage.

Rings would be 4th/5th sought after just for numbers. Also having 2 Pest Rings would be more ideal just for quickest spawns possible and debuffs. Blazing Shell isn’t bad, but not as good as everything else.

Blessings

Blessings are needed to hit peak performance with this build. Priority would be Movement Speed, Health Regeneration, and Multistrike. Followed by Elemental Damages and Effect on Hit Chance.