So I finally managed to test Fire Lily this ANB, and thought I'd share my impressions.
In brief - it's just as good as the crit build!
I did 152 this time (ANB Silver), and was a few seconds away from clearing 153 - or one last-minute mistake less...
Last one (Bronze) I used the crit build, and results were pretty similar - 1 trial level lower.
Gear quality was similar - bit lower level than possible, because of crafting bracers...
So how does lily fare in the different stages of ANB?
Levelling.
It's ridiculously good for getting to level 70 fast! Only crate I bought was a 25K gold basic crate which I got at the start (converted 55 gems to gold). This meant that I didn't have Mark of Titans and could not craft set gear, including GMC weapons. I crafted a low-level lily and vial of wind spirit, and used mostly fireball and Vial to level up. I did so in trials as soon as I hit level 10. Took me 17 minutes on mobile, which felt quite fast! There are faster ways to level up, but running full trials was easier for me, as it took less real life time.
I used blizzard and beam along the way to help with bosses. I put some haste on my gear to attack faster and also to trigger Vial more often. Good thing about Vial is that any level item works. As for Lily, it's best to craft an epic or legendary one as soon as possible. Level does not matter.
XP
As I reached lvl 70, I crafted gold farming gear and hit Severed mountain. Crafted jewelry and some blue/purple ELR gear. I wanted to farm with DfA this time, but the first (blue) bracer I crafted was with frostbeam. So quickly beamed my way to trial 70 to get the ANB rewards. Used all the ephemeral boxes for xp gear, putting xp, power and ability.
Soon I crafted my first DfA bracers and switched to farming with the fire build, which brings me to:
DfA vs Beam for xp farming
Honestly, just pick one. They're both great. With both of them it is possible to reach CL2000 in 6-7 hours. CL 1900+ is doable in 4. If you're on mobile, I'd suggest DfA.
If you go with DfA, run lower trials that you can clear faster. You don't want to spend too much time fighting Kara. I did t70 runs in the beginning, moving up to t90. Averaged around 40-45 seconds per run. I switched to t95 and t100 very late. Got a 54 sec t100 which unlocked t115 for me.
Key items: igniters sash, DfA bracers
Key stats: max movement speed, power, (max) ability, +fire
With beam, normally you run higher trials, but a bit slower. Beaming down all the mobs takes time. Actually there are two options:
- Use +frost on all items. This means very high beam and thermal shock damage. With this build I can clear t100 quite fast with low CLs.
Key items: frostfire sash, beam bracers
Key stats: movement speed, power, ability, +frost, haste
- Use +fire on all/most items. This build yields high shatter damage. Bear in mind that shatter has a huge range, but lower damage than beam and thermal shock. To benefit from this build, run lower trials, which you can clear mostly with shatter. Use beam at the end of the level and for Kara.
Key items: frostfire sash, beam bracers
Key stats: max movement speed, power, (max) ability, +fire, haste
Lily vs Crit for xp
Early on - Lily is way ahead. Later, with high CLs and good gear, you can have great results with a crit build as well. Using Slayer weapon enchant and ToS help with that.
Crafting
The whole ANB revolves around this. The crit build suffers from a lack of Fire essences (needed for both CD and XP). Lily suffers even more from lack of Shadow essences. In both builds, running quick trials is key, as well as choosing how to spend your resources.
Ideally, when farming with DfA with Lily you want all items to have power and ar. I find that too limiting in ANB though, so I put vit/LoH instead on the most expensive items, e.g. weapons and tomes. I also prefer ability to power, because you get a lot of power from champion levels quite soon.
Enchantments
Most enchantments are expensive. I don't waste too much resources on enchanting xp gear that I'll replace - just put ms on boots and pants, Slayer on helm and on weapon (if it is the last staff I'll craft). Cape, chest and pads enchantments are also a good deal. I try not to recraft gear that's already enchanted.
The goal is to farm with good gear, and push with the best possible. I enchant (and usually socket) all push pieces.
Push
Surprisingly, Lily really shines at pushing trials! I expected it to suffer from lack of damage at higher trials. Well, it didn't, at least not as early as expected.
I made it from t100 to t145 (unlocked) in less than 10 minutes, which was the fastest I've done so far. The first failed attempt came at 150 Kara, because Kara is a b... tough boss! It was much easier than with the crit build, because damage done to Kara's maids was more consistent. With the crit build, they sometimes don't die from 2 beams. In the meantime Kara summons more and things get messy. Same thing applies to mob phase - the consistent damage makes it more enjoyable to play.
Gems. P2W
I've heard that 'It's all pay-to-win' mantra way too many times now. My take on this is - you need 3-4K gems to be top 5. The more you spend, the easier it is. There's no amount of gems that can instantly give you the win. So far spending 4K was doable using daily quest rewards and season pass/ads. So as long as you played enough to accumulate that much, even as a non-paying player, you have a shot at top spots. For me the season pass is a great deal, and monthly gem subscription is reasonable, and that covers my gem needs.
What should I spend gems for in ANB?
I'd say - buy all the +200% xp boosters you need to xp farm boosted all the way. Buy 1-2 gold boosters, use all the event rewards.
Levelling abilities - I don't spend more than 50-100 gems on that. Books are abundant if you run trials quickly. Check the skill levels where you get some additional bonus, e.g. AL buff, Immolate range, Fireball AoE, etc.
Crafting jewelry - if you have the gems and lack the time - go for it. It's optional.
Companions - I like playing with 3 healers. ELR is playable with the default companions, but I'd advise for a minumum of 2 healers.
Skill upgrade slots - I got close to 180 synergy in Silver with 2 upgrade slots (400 gems). Unlocking the 3rd one is a quality of life improvement, if you have the gems - go for it!
Sockets - optional, but nice to have on push gear.
Crates - Legendary crates offer a big advantage early on. Eventually in Silver and Bronze there is enough time to compensate entirely for the lack of those. With Lily you can do well with purple (and even blue) gear. It takes some patience to craft legendaries, especially weapons.
So what, should I use Lily or not?
My advice is - use Lily for levelling and xp. If you are not doing 150+ on main, perhaps you'll have better results pushing with lily. It's a bit easier to play and can accommodate more toughness more easily. If you're aiming at top spots - I honestly don't know which one is better! We'll see in the next events...
Lastly, I still believe Lily is a tad worse than the crit build on main with full celestial gear. I'm already heavily invested in crit gear so switching is not an option, so I hope I'm not wrong on this one : )
Hope this helps : ) Let me know what you think!
In brief - it's just as good as the crit build!
I did 152 this time (ANB Silver), and was a few seconds away from clearing 153 - or one last-minute mistake less...
Last one (Bronze) I used the crit build, and results were pretty similar - 1 trial level lower.
Gear quality was similar - bit lower level than possible, because of crafting bracers...
So how does lily fare in the different stages of ANB?
Levelling.
It's ridiculously good for getting to level 70 fast! Only crate I bought was a 25K gold basic crate which I got at the start (converted 55 gems to gold). This meant that I didn't have Mark of Titans and could not craft set gear, including GMC weapons. I crafted a low-level lily and vial of wind spirit, and used mostly fireball and Vial to level up. I did so in trials as soon as I hit level 10. Took me 17 minutes on mobile, which felt quite fast! There are faster ways to level up, but running full trials was easier for me, as it took less real life time.
I used blizzard and beam along the way to help with bosses. I put some haste on my gear to attack faster and also to trigger Vial more often. Good thing about Vial is that any level item works. As for Lily, it's best to craft an epic or legendary one as soon as possible. Level does not matter.
XP
As I reached lvl 70, I crafted gold farming gear and hit Severed mountain. Crafted jewelry and some blue/purple ELR gear. I wanted to farm with DfA this time, but the first (blue) bracer I crafted was with frostbeam. So quickly beamed my way to trial 70 to get the ANB rewards. Used all the ephemeral boxes for xp gear, putting xp, power and ability.
Soon I crafted my first DfA bracers and switched to farming with the fire build, which brings me to:
DfA vs Beam for xp farming
Honestly, just pick one. They're both great. With both of them it is possible to reach CL2000 in 6-7 hours. CL 1900+ is doable in 4. If you're on mobile, I'd suggest DfA.
If you go with DfA, run lower trials that you can clear faster. You don't want to spend too much time fighting Kara. I did t70 runs in the beginning, moving up to t90. Averaged around 40-45 seconds per run. I switched to t95 and t100 very late. Got a 54 sec t100 which unlocked t115 for me.
Key items: igniters sash, DfA bracers
Key stats: max movement speed, power, (max) ability, +fire
With beam, normally you run higher trials, but a bit slower. Beaming down all the mobs takes time. Actually there are two options:
- Use +frost on all items. This means very high beam and thermal shock damage. With this build I can clear t100 quite fast with low CLs.
Key items: frostfire sash, beam bracers
Key stats: movement speed, power, ability, +frost, haste
- Use +fire on all/most items. This build yields high shatter damage. Bear in mind that shatter has a huge range, but lower damage than beam and thermal shock. To benefit from this build, run lower trials, which you can clear mostly with shatter. Use beam at the end of the level and for Kara.
Key items: frostfire sash, beam bracers
Key stats: max movement speed, power, (max) ability, +fire, haste
Lily vs Crit for xp
Early on - Lily is way ahead. Later, with high CLs and good gear, you can have great results with a crit build as well. Using Slayer weapon enchant and ToS help with that.
Crafting
The whole ANB revolves around this. The crit build suffers from a lack of Fire essences (needed for both CD and XP). Lily suffers even more from lack of Shadow essences. In both builds, running quick trials is key, as well as choosing how to spend your resources.
Ideally, when farming with DfA with Lily you want all items to have power and ar. I find that too limiting in ANB though, so I put vit/LoH instead on the most expensive items, e.g. weapons and tomes. I also prefer ability to power, because you get a lot of power from champion levels quite soon.
Enchantments
Most enchantments are expensive. I don't waste too much resources on enchanting xp gear that I'll replace - just put ms on boots and pants, Slayer on helm and on weapon (if it is the last staff I'll craft). Cape, chest and pads enchantments are also a good deal. I try not to recraft gear that's already enchanted.
The goal is to farm with good gear, and push with the best possible. I enchant (and usually socket) all push pieces.
Push
Surprisingly, Lily really shines at pushing trials! I expected it to suffer from lack of damage at higher trials. Well, it didn't, at least not as early as expected.
I made it from t100 to t145 (unlocked) in less than 10 minutes, which was the fastest I've done so far. The first failed attempt came at 150 Kara, because Kara is a b... tough boss! It was much easier than with the crit build, because damage done to Kara's maids was more consistent. With the crit build, they sometimes don't die from 2 beams. In the meantime Kara summons more and things get messy. Same thing applies to mob phase - the consistent damage makes it more enjoyable to play.
Gems. P2W
I've heard that 'It's all pay-to-win' mantra way too many times now. My take on this is - you need 3-4K gems to be top 5. The more you spend, the easier it is. There's no amount of gems that can instantly give you the win. So far spending 4K was doable using daily quest rewards and season pass/ads. So as long as you played enough to accumulate that much, even as a non-paying player, you have a shot at top spots. For me the season pass is a great deal, and monthly gem subscription is reasonable, and that covers my gem needs.
What should I spend gems for in ANB?
I'd say - buy all the +200% xp boosters you need to xp farm boosted all the way. Buy 1-2 gold boosters, use all the event rewards.
Levelling abilities - I don't spend more than 50-100 gems on that. Books are abundant if you run trials quickly. Check the skill levels where you get some additional bonus, e.g. AL buff, Immolate range, Fireball AoE, etc.
Crafting jewelry - if you have the gems and lack the time - go for it. It's optional.
Companions - I like playing with 3 healers. ELR is playable with the default companions, but I'd advise for a minumum of 2 healers.
Skill upgrade slots - I got close to 180 synergy in Silver with 2 upgrade slots (400 gems). Unlocking the 3rd one is a quality of life improvement, if you have the gems - go for it!
Sockets - optional, but nice to have on push gear.
Crates - Legendary crates offer a big advantage early on. Eventually in Silver and Bronze there is enough time to compensate entirely for the lack of those. With Lily you can do well with purple (and even blue) gear. It takes some patience to craft legendaries, especially weapons.
So what, should I use Lily or not?
My advice is - use Lily for levelling and xp. If you are not doing 150+ on main, perhaps you'll have better results pushing with lily. It's a bit easier to play and can accommodate more toughness more easily. If you're aiming at top spots - I honestly don't know which one is better! We'll see in the next events...
Lastly, I still believe Lily is a tad worse than the crit build on main with full celestial gear. I'm already heavily invested in crit gear so switching is not an option, so I hope I'm not wrong on this one : )
Hope this helps : ) Let me know what you think!
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