Edit: totally forgot consume :D … that is even more Ed%, benefiting arioc even more
Adding some math for ed:
Assuming a level 20 levitation mastery (arioc will have more but keeping it simple)
You have following sources of ED without your offhand:
Level 20 levitation mastery: 101% ed
Level 24 might (merc level 95+4skills): 270% ed
Level 20 conq from pride: 345% ed
Level 12 fana (tz96 bind demon): 237% ed
(Sunder charm 100% ed) : not counting since I would go for -10 instead.
overall 953% ED without offhand
With 400 phoenix: 1353%
With 155 meph(40ed jewel): 1108%
Edit: forgot consume, to lazy to look up exact stat atm, but this makes the gap even smaller in relation to the overall ed!!
As you can see Phoenix still has more damage but without it you can still reach up to 1100+ ed.
At the point of 1k off-ed + it is surely better to increase your actual base damage than its multiplier even more.
And the best ways to do this for ES is Deadly strike and skill damage.
Arioc with Mephisto does exactly this:it gives 6 more skills or even more depending on setup and around 20% more deadly strike.
Deadly strike especially is multiplied with your base damage AND ed , making it the absolute best damage stat there is.
Simple example with simple damage numbers to compare:
1. insight
Base damage: 50
Ed: 1353
Crit: 70%
-> 676.5 damage with 70% chance to double it
2.arioc
Base damage: 65
Ed: 1108
Crit:90%
—> 720 damage with a 90% chance to double it.
50 and 65 is pulled out of my as but you get what I mean.
We already have so much ED that phoenix isn’t as crazy as it is on most meele chars, especially since warlock benefits way more from + skills than other meele builds. You will be able to get even more ed on arioc than shown since your levitation will be higher and you could get 100 more ed from a sunder , at wich point more skill damage/ds pulls ahead even more.
So the +2 on meph do a lot and it has up to 155 ed itself.
One thing about Mephisto/arioc that flys under the radar pretty often:
Having a lot more + skills and -20 magic res helps your sigil Damage A LOT.
This doesn‘t seem crazy but it is actualy a big boost in killspeed vs immunes and stoneskins.
Those are the only enemy’s that aren’t oneshot most of the time with es, so boosting your magic damage may be better for overall clearspeed than people assume.
Also more + skills doesn‘t only mean more skill damage, it also means you have a higher levitation mastery (closing the ed gap to Phoenix even more) .
You will also be able to get level 20 letharrgy super easy wich makes it bigger radius.
You will hit your level 20 demon mastery way sooner. Your consume level will be higher (-> more ed again)
So you actual can have some skillpoints left with arioc. You could squeeze even more Ed out of levitation mastery and even 1-2 points of crit. Or put synergy points for your sigil to boost your magic damage (especially vs stoneskin).
All in all arioc+meph does noticeable more damage with the right setup than insight/phoenix but it’s not by a mile.
Without gg gear and huge ed sources phoenix adds crazy damage.
But in a gg setup you gain so much ed already that skill damage and especially ds is getting more important.
Edit: I forgot consume :D that means a big chunk of even more Ed .
This shifts the conversation even more in favor of more skill damage instead of even more ed….
just saw u use base damage for insight which is insanely low..
we are using eth archon staff (91 avg ) where hyperion spear is (77avg)
D2:R