Emma - The White Queen 2.1 Update dps emma frost pvp
Guide by grayvisions Last update at Dec 31st 2013, 16:46

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Grand Nightmare 1
1  60
Emma

Update: Good God, so much has changed with Emma with the 2.05 patch, I can't even keep track so...ya.


I've never liked the "diamond Emma" thing. I've always been a fan of the original Emma; sexy, subtle, telepathic, bitchy. This build focuses on Emma's original concept as a dominatrix of the mind and body, subversively powerful and far too elegant to ever get her own hands dirty. Spinning, punching, and bare knuckle fighting? In those heels? I don't think so.


Combo:

Mind Crush, Sudden Dread, Kneel Before me - From here it depends on the group. If you're up against several blues or a yellow/boss, after Kneel use Inspire Minion followed by Mind Cloud to drop aggro and get out of the way. Position yourself correctly and then Psychic Blast/Astral Bolt/Drain Psyche as necessary. If against normal enemies, simply lunging out of the way and picking off trash with Psychic will suffice.


Suggested Skill Bar:

Normally I don't advise for this, but I never stop being amazed at how many people are unaware that the F keys can be used to quickly change your right-click skill. Since this build has skills that will need to be switched out, here's how I have my skills set up (note I switched the A-G keys to 1-6)

Left Click - Astral Bold
1 - Lustrous Lunge (easy access for positioning, rolls and such always go in this slot)
2 - Mind Crush (Telepathic Vortex)
3 - Sudden Dread
4 - Kneel Before Me
5 - Inspire Minion
6 - Mental Cloaking
Right Click - Psychic Blast (so this can be held down while moving the mouse to better choose targets)

F1 - Psychic Blast (so you can switch back to this after switching to another skill via the other F keys, i.e., Press F3 to Inspire Minion with Right Click, then press F1 to go back to using Psychic Blast as your right click)
F2 - Drain Psyche
F3 - Frenzied Confusion
F4 - Unlock Potential
F5 - Grand Nightmare

Setting skills to F Keys:

Go into your Powers menu (P), hover your mouse over a skill, and press F1, F2, whatever. Only works with F keys, will NOT work with Psychic Domination (this skill must remain on your bar unless you intend to use your current pet forever and never intend to get something better). Pressing an F key afterward will not use the skill, it will switch it into the right-click spot and then you can use it from there. Very handy.


Powers:

Astral Bolt - Your basic, also restores spirit. 5 points will suffice.

Psychic Blast - Your main, consistent DPS.

Mind Crush - Fabulous DoT with decent range made greater with Power Prism Shard

Psychic Awareness - Mental Damage, yay

Drain Psyche - Changed recently to also absorb HP. This is now a phenomenal single target boss killer and should be what you rely on during boss fights.

Mind Cloud - Use it to break aggro and direct it to your pet (will get buffed through gear)

Psychic Domination - Mandatory for controlling a pet. Higher ranks allows the pet to do more damage. Despite this not being a pet build persay, pets are still huge amounts of damage. Get an Attack Speed aura pet (i.e, Move Speed) to increase both yours and their damage

Inspire Minion - Used to be a 1 point wonder, but with the changes to skills I actually ended up with a decent surplus of skill points and chose to put them in this to increase the duration and power of the AoE dot. However, if you'd like to customize this build, this is the first place you should be pulling points from.

Frenzied Confusion - Used to be an absolute necessity. Now, power and durability are greatly increased for Emma, so this should only be used when in major danger. 1 point is enough.

Sudden Dread - CD on this was removed and the skill now does DoT damage, which is awesome.

Kneel Before Me - Now Emma's signature. Signature and Ultimate skills are going to get buffed soon to rather insane levels, so tons of points aren't necessary except in certain cases, in order to maximize their use. This skill I prefer to rely on more for the utility, so 10 points is enough + what you get boosted through gear, for great damage while also leaving enemies prone.

Lustrous Lunge - the ONLY skill in this build from the diamond tree, and I wish I didn't have to take even this much. This skill is purely as a means of escape from body blocking enemies, as no other lunge/roll exists in Emma's other trees (for good reason...roll? On the floor? In white? As if.)


Gear:

Relic of Xandar - Every single telepathic attack power is 'ranged'. No brainer (punny!)

Power Prism Shard - Radius, crit and cost reduction. omnomnom.

Mark of the Odinborn - Cuz spirit.

Advanced Skrull Targetting Computer - Emma will very rarely have enemies attacking her, so the dps boost from this is significant.

Darkhold Scroll - extra dmg vs enemies with taunted status, which is what Inspire Minion causes.

Sauron Medallion - Less overall damage than a Wizard, however the boost to crit and chance to proc Charm more than make up for it. Emma doesn't really need MORE damage, anyway.


Costume:

Core - +1 to Energy Projection is obvious, but the +1 to Durability is helpful to making Emma last a bit longer in battle as well. Generally, it's not an issue, but there will be times when that added defense will save your life. You'll also notice the third affix is INVISIBILITY on medipack, not heal. This is because, when you go invisible, all aggro will go to your pet (which is where you want it to go). Helpful to repositioning yourself on the battlefield.

Affixes - Mix of Damage and Crit rating. Do NOT settle for "damage to enemies attacking you' as, ideally, enemies will not be attacking you.



Alternatives:

Medals:

Madame Hydra Medal - Use this if you want more pet damage. I prefer my DPS come from Emma, as I can control who dies much easier than if I left it to my pet.

Sabretooth Medal - Regen, health and defense. Regen is a potential build for Emma, kicking in while she goes invis provided you don't break invis attacking. Potentially sacrifice DPS for it, though, and that's not good.

Wizard Medallion - CRAPLOADS of extra damage coming from Emma, but lose out on radius and crit from Doc Oc medal. Still a very good alternative. (As of 10/12/13, this is the optimum medal for this build)

Doc Octopus Medallion - Less damage than wizard, but increases your range by huuuuge amounts and allows you to hit more things on screen. Helpful for those who make extra heavy use of skills like Confusion.

Bullseye - Crit.


Artifacts:

Latverian Regalia - I used to use this, however I decided I wanted more spirit for spamming instead. If you want more pet damage, this is the way to go.

Xerogen Crystal - damage boost and attack speed.

Wicked Wand of Watoomb - moderate damage boost with a chance at invuln that's more frequent than you'd think, but unless you're stacking invuln affixes it's not necessarily a reliable means of survival on a character that's squishy to begin with.