Emma Frost dps emma frost leveling pve pvp
Guide by Crem Last update at Feb 14th 2014, 05:31

Points Available: 0
Grand Nightmare 1
1  60
Legendary Ranged Emma Build

With patch 2.11, Diamond Form defenses are getting nerfed, I decided to make this build for those who think Hybrid/Diamond Form builds are not viable.

One Point Wonders
1 Mental Cloaking for breaking CC
1 Lustrous Lunge for movement
1 Unlock Potential one point is sufficient enough for a brief damage/critical boost.

Worth Maxing
20 Telepathic Torment is still the best power ever because of the vulnerability debuff and it's a DoT.
20 Psychic Blast is an awesome channeled power.
20 Sudden Dread is another one of Emma's best powers, an AoE DoT. What else can I say?
20 Telepathic Mastery is worth maxing, since all of your powers deal mental damage and when you use them, you heal.

The rest of the powers
5 Astral Bolt doesn't need to be maxed, since it's a basic power.
7 Drain Pshyce can't be afforded to be maxed, but 7 is already good enough against bosses.
10 Psychic Domination is not worth maxing for this build. 10 is good enough.
10 Inspire Minion should be used frequently to taunt your enemies.
15 Kneel Before Me is Emma's strongest power, even though its cooldown is only 15 seconds.


Artifacts
gives you bonus damage and radius to your main damage dealers -- Telepathic Torment, Psychic Blast, Sudden Dread and Kneel Before Me.

gives you bonus damage to your main damage dealers (again). (Marvelbase says it gives bonus dmg to point blank AoE powers, but it's actually to all AoE powers.)

gives you bonus crit rating and dmg rating vs targets not attacking you. You'll be using Mental Cloaking and Inspire Minion quite oftenly so enemies wouldn't be attacking you that often.

(superheroic) is a great artifact for Emma as it grants bonus damage to ranged powers and at maximum range.

Alternatives:
for pet health

or for crit bonus.

Medallions

Wizard is the best medallion for this build because it gives bonus damage rating and ranged damage rating.

Alternatives are: Doc Ock, Dr Doom, MODOK or Mandarin.

Core

LL is a must. 25/25 is useful for restoring spirit and health, but could be switched to invulnerability on medkit.

Relics

Lots of choices to chose from. for bonus area damage, for bonus DoT damage. I know all DoT powers are Area powers, but gives higher damage bonus, so it's your choice if you wanna boost Kneel or not. is also an alternative to be considered.

Legendaries

Definitely Gugnir. It gives more crit rating bonus, which really does wonders. DOTs have a chance to crit, hence I would recommend this over Warlock's Eye.

Gear Priorities

1. Damage Rating/Mental Damage Rating
2. Critical Rating
3. +ranks to powers
4. Spirit

The rest have equal priorities.

Costume Affixes
Grade 1 - Critical Rating
Grade 2 - Damage Rating
Grade 3 - Critical Rating (Damage Rating does fine too.)
Grade 4 - Critical Rating

Gear Slots
Slot 1 - The Darkhold (All Hero Unique)
This unique is extremely powerful for Emma. +1 Energy means you won't have to have it on your core. In addition, it gives +706 dmg rating (on lvl 60) and +1446 mental dmg rating, which adds up to an amazing +2152 dmg rating and also the +5% additional mental damage from the +1 Energy. Besides this, you also get a decent amount of brutal strike rating, brutal dmg rating and spirit.

Slot 2 - Phoenix Harness (Emma Unique)

Slot 3 - Nisanti Cloak of Invisibility (Emma, SW, Thor, Loki, Storm shared Unique)
This unique is also extremely good for this build. When you drop below 40% health, you turn invisible and drop all aggro, which can be a life saver. You also gain dmg rating to enemies not attacking you, which is a great bonus since you'll be using Inspire Minion and Mental Cloaking often. The other extra stats are also good to have. With The Darkhold, her Stole unique is still inferior compared to Nisanti. Probably when hero attributes system gets reworked, it could be considered.

Slot 4 - Generation X Academy Boots (Emma Unique)
With this new patch, this new awesome unique is way better than the Stiletto unique for this build! It gives crit rating bonus, additional damage to area powers, extra spirit and 2 ranks to all powers!

Slot 5 - Locket of the Lords Cardinal (Emma Unique)
Needless to say, this unique gives a damage boost (Cyclop pet) and bonus to Hellfire tree.

Blessings

Hela - For the brutal strike chance. It also lets you have a chance to deal energy damage equal to your health, which increases your damage output.

Frigga - It gives spirit, which Emma needs a lot.

Loki - Gives additional damage to enemies not attacking you, which is a great bonus since you'll be using Inspire Minion and Mental Cloaking often. You also have a chance to become invisible when you hit.

Sif - The attack speed bonus might not be of much importance, but it gives you a chance to charm enemies. Great bonus, since you don't use Frenzied Confusion.

Key Bindings

[1]


LMB - 5
RMB - 20
A - 20
S - 20
D - 10
F - 1
G - 7
H - 1

[2]


LMB - 5
RMB - 20
A - 15
S - 1
D - 10
F - 1