remember to go to settings inside the build planner and activate the effect so that you get the full picture.. like setting your current HP to 49% or lower.
If by “valid” you mean Strong/OP, Yes:
Any build that uses these three rings is op:
Ring of Determination + Plagued Ring + Rune Ring + a Strong rune
If by “valid” you mean Fun, Probably No:
Being OP is not very fun, it gets boring quickly
Essentially every time you see an enemy you use runes until they die.
And they can’t do anything, and you don’t have to think about anything.
Essentially you are turning off combat, what you do to enemies is more like a cute aesthetic performance, since you are essentially invincible, it’s not combat anymore because you don’t have to think you just have to spam runes.
Maybe since we are different people you might even like it, but it’s not a valid playstyle for me.
Hey !
If you’re looking for a strong lightning build that is not broken and abusing Ring of Determination and/or low life gems, i think i can help you out a bit. I myself don’t like this kind of OP build, i like having a challenge and being invulnerable or being able to spam rune attacks with no effort is not my jam (no judgement to anyone that like it, to each their own).
This is by no means finished, but this is my lightning mage snapshot.
- It’s super strong damage wise, Lightning Leap and Thunderstrike are both incredibly good (thunderstrike can crit for 2k damage in a huge AOE). Also, both makes you jump into the air and that makes you dodge almost all ennemy attacks, increasing your survability. Lightning dart gives you a way to generate focus at range for stamina
- The second weapon (Endless Winter) is mostly here for utility: homing frost can be charged and is a massive damage + guaranteed freeze on anything, same with frigid arc. I don’t have anything to shatter them, but use the freeze window depending on the situation: i can heal up, i can smack them with amberhusk autos to generate a lot of focus, get into a better position etc etc
- I use 3 mystic facet pieces (still looking for that facet on the chestpiece), which in addition with band of calmness and the high focus of the build gives you a LOT of focus gain %. You generate some focus passively with a few moonstone gems, get some when inflicting status effects (and you do proc shock a lot), by killing enemies, and with lightning dart
- To offset the stamina penalty of said mystic facets, i use a Jade Ring, and the fact that all rune attacks and amberhusk autos are multi hit makes up for the stamina regen penalty (each hit gives you 6% of your stamina). If you spam lightning dart you’re going to run ouf of stamina though, but usually one or two is enough to get enough focus for another rune attack
Overall the build is super strong and remains “ethical” by my standards: it can dish out a lot of damage, but you still have to manage your ressources, and you’re still relying on your fast weight class to get out of harms way: you don’t get oneshot but two or three direct hits and you’re gone.
Also, there is a lot of room for improvements all across the board: stats wise i could get some equip load off, i could get better enchants on some pieces, and i have not started to exalt anything yet. I also use a few fire runes because i wanted to experiment with overload, but its not working out (not smooth nor necessary), i instead did that on my archer with both lightning and fire quivers swap.
If that gameplay of being strong while not being an unkillable rune attack spamming god is your thing, feel free to ask questions if you have some 
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Thanks for the replies.
I have over 100 hours in the game (not a lot, but not a few either).
I’ve tried everything, from archer to mage to tank, etc.
Given the way NRFTW is designed, I love being in the thick of the action and hitting, so I ruled out the archer and mage (ranged).
From here, I thought of three types of builds:
- a super-fast one that relies entirely on physical attacks, so no runes, and with an electric element (more hits = more electric charge). So for weapons, I’d use gauntlets because they’re the fastest (or double blades?)
- a build similar to the one above, slower but with built-in runic attacks, so with a weapon (sword?) and shield. This one, too, would be electric.
- a tank mage with a wand and shield who stays close to the target and relies entirely on runes (the build I posted above). Whether it’s OP or not, I don’t know, but I like being in the thick of the action and thinking about spamming rune combos over and over again gets me excited. (The pestilent element appealed to me as a change from the other two, but the icy one didn’t because it requires using another weapon to break them.)
I’m trying to create these three builds as best I can with the planner, so I can farm the materials, create the builds, and once finished, test them out and choose the final one.
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Good morning everyone…
I’ve been back for a few days and have been busy
I created this exact build, which I’m really enjoying (I deal 3.5k damage with two runic attacks).
However, I have two questions I haven’t found an answer to:
- Why doesn’t the shield use even though I have a wand in my hand? Is it a bug or have they released a patch that prevents it from being used? SOLVED
- Why, despite spending 40 embers to modify the negative buff, has it never appeared “unrepairable”? Have they also released a patch that prohibits the indestructible->unrepairable combination?
Aside from these two things, the build is fabulous (I tried it for an hour, but we’ll see how it turns out this evening when I try it out more thoroughly).
If you have any suggestions for modifications, they’re welcome! 
Because you are Unlucky.
No.
The wand you chose already deals plague damage, but you don’t need to put the plague gem in there too.
Try testing new runes, find the one that appeals to you the most.
For example since after you apply the plague the enemies become weaker against fire you could insert a rune that inflicts fire damage like: Inferno, Fire Blast.
Also the weapon you are using is good but in my opinion the wand with the most fluid moveset is Crooked Key.
The advantage of using Crooked Key is just that the moveset is nice, you can break the electric runes and put the pestilent ones you like in their place.
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