Major changes focusing on: making the build even more tanky while retaining our strong damage to easily take down endgame bosses.
Also focusing on better explaining how you can beat everything in the game while in lower end gear.
New title - coining it "a battletrapper" now! ;p
New skilltree! Max-Block! tanky trapper. (level 100 tree and level 75 tree/leveling)
New main POB (max block) with lots of notes added in the POB. (use pob community fork version!)
New alternative thread-of-hope skill-tree example. (This is coming in next days, but I added notes about it in the POB notes)
New/updated gem section with priority orders.
New videos all recorded with new Max-Block 3.11+ skilltree.
New/updated lvl 1-28+ progress explanations.
New mid and lategame alternative/cheaper items explained (look under GEAR >> low life budget gear - how to run this on a budget with no expensive reserve shield, no enlighten gems and still farm endgame bosses)
New ascendancy order (imo go for pyromaniac first) and updated pantheons explained.
New jewels (removed watchers eye as a "suggested jewel", it's simply too rare/expensive since 3.9 to belong in any guide imo)
New cluster jewel section and examples/priorities!
New/updated crafting section. How-to-get our helm (with the 3.10 changes) and our trapper gloves.
New/updated FAQ section with more of the most typically asked Qs and As.
🔥 CURRENT & PAST LEAGUE NEWS 🔥
___________________________________________________ July 16th: New major guide update is out!
___________________________________________________ July 6th: My first harvest league RIP @lvl 93 :(
T16 Elder Guardian. Keep in mind I've dropped a few DPS nodes to become super tanky this league as my little experiment(with glancing blows), personally i'm liking it a lot feeling quite immortal. Aside from one DC death..thx ggg;p
___________________________________________________ June 29th: Some trapping done with my experimental skill-tree going for max block :)
I'm still just on a 4 and 5 link.
___________________________________________________ June: Absolutely destroying 3.11 Harvest content!
Completed uber lab and my first conquerors.
Level 85, still running just 5 link and still 0 deaths so far :)
___________________________________________________ Jan 13th: Finally had time to fix my last couple of watchstones=) I even forget using my focus burst dps in all clips these lmao ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jp0oyVsN7k
___________________________________________________ Jan 7th: Chimera T16 (friggin temporal chains -.- i forgot curse flask) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/532329477?t=0m But it's easy to tank his damage and even though I forgot curse flask and didn't do the timer on the map, chimera himself was easily tankable and fast down:) His metamorph was nothing special. The second boss clip in same link is when I remember to press my focus button hahah.. it goes boom fast;)
___________________________________________________ Jan 6th: After testing, I've replaced Controlled Destruction with Inspiration Support in our 6-link!
Try it out and see how you like it. It should increase your total DPS and let you spam traps with minimal mana un-reserved. With clarity 10 and inspiration I don't need a mana flask. Toggle inspiration charges in POB to see dps gain (you easily have 5 as they're gained each throw)
___________________________________________________ Jan 5th: Shaper down - he definitely got buffed with health, but he's still easy.
___________________________________________________ Jan 3rd:
Here's a little clip from tonight doing T16 chimera and chimera metamorph on a map with a healthy amount of scary modifiers=) oh and i'm far from perfect gear, i'm still just decently geared in my own opinion @400k'ish damage, like 500k during 4 second focus, cause' of having double dmg in both my wand and shield.
(i lack damage mods things like -9 lightning resist in helmet, trap damage/projectile damage in gloves and much better jewels and shield)
___________________________________________________ Dec 31st: Sirius down! I kinda panicked at the end for no real reason, if I just calmed down and stopped fuzzing it would've been so smooth for me!
But I feel like now that I know the fight I won't panic next time and will be better at focusing dmg to phase him way faster, rather than looking around for his abilities lol. Fixing my shield and/or an enlighten lvl 3 will also help a lot - I feel like first 2 phases was super easy and chill until I started focusing too much on him and not on throwing my traps=P I think I can do him deathless now that I know whats up.
Trappers seem awesome for this fight as you have to constantly move in sequence with his casts, damaging him and moving, which is perfect for the trapper way of tossing traps and moving while they're inbound, then tossing, then moving etc.
It's a longer clip cuz' all the roleplay crap is included - skip as you feel like!
My FIRST Sirius attempt, lvl 18-19 support gems and no mana reduce gear yet, so I'm running a VERY un-optimized build in this show-case.
I haven't had so much time to play during the holiday, so I'm barely scraping lvl 91 and my gear, all apart from my weapon stinks majorly=P Atm I lack the currency to fix it, so that'll just have to wait=P
I've had to make adjustments to my tree to make up for not having a shield with 15% reduced reserved mana etc and so my tree right now is very un-optimized because i'm wasting several points to pickup an extra mana reserve point under the CI node. I also don't have my 2nd enlighten yet and my 1st is still only lvl 2, so I just chucked in a random stone golem for the hell of it (no real reason, idk if he can even taunt sirius).
___________________________________________________ Dec 31st: Bit more trapper gameplay now that I had time to sit down! =)
Some T16 boss killing and T15 Elder guardian + metamorph and lvl 83 Cortex Boss!
Still with my struggle-gear=P
My 17th Watchstone (and finishing red conqueror storyline!) and guess what? I'm wearing lvl 17-18 support gems in both my Lightning and Spire trap setups! 🤯
Deathless of course:P hehe, HF guys, don't take it as "braggin'" take it as signage that it works. (And no my gear isn't good apart from having a 6L shavs, rest of my gear is actual trash, I still don't have a shield and i'm 91)
___________________________________________________ Dec 26th:
I updated the guide with some adjustments, like I prefer immortal call combo over steelskin and I think in this league Lunaris pantheon with upgraded 10% projectile avoidance chance is really strong.
a new quick clip:)
My 16th watchstone, I kinda forgot I recently traded all my support gems for 20 quals, so I was doing this with lvl 16-18 support gems lol.
___________________________________________________ Dec 25th:
Changed defensive setup to reflect immortal call being possibly stronger. Cast When Damage Taken (3) ➡️> Immortal Call(5) OR SteelSkin(12) ➡️> Enfeeble. ___________________________________________________
Do not over-level your enfeeble, make sure your CWDT can proc it.
The level of your CWDT should depend on your current health or ES pool,
so just try to keep it balanced. Note: At 90+ my CWDT is level 15 and procs from 2000 damage taken. Note: In 3.9 I'm mostly using Immortal call.
Dec 24th:
For the high budget rollers, you may consider looking into Tranquility anointment. It's one of the hidden anointments from 3.8, it gives quite a large damage boost - i'd advice to check it via POB whether it's worth the investment or not as I've not had a chance to test it yet. You lose out on frenzy charge generation from Sapper, so it might not be worth it.
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Tranquility
___________________________________________________ Dec 23th:
Updated crafting section (shield part... rest is coming)
There's a lot of work and time required to this guide, so I hope people are patient=P I gotta have a chance to play and test the new affixes from conquerors etc and clear sirus and hopefully not on just my 5L =P
___________________________________________________ Dec 21th:
Found some time to sit down and play and add some more media:)
My 9th watchstone kill plus some boss/metamorph fun.
___________________________________________________ Dec 17th:
New video ulab kill: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/522634491
New video hunter conqueror kill:https://www.twitch.tv/videos/522683687
Added new info under ascendancy notes (viability of picking born in shadows earlier, mostly for HC reasons)
Added new info under survival tips.
Added Leveling POB tree's for lvl 40, 60, 80 and 100. (keep in mind you have to adjust depending at what lvl you choose to transition to low life/shavs)
pastebin: https://pastebin.com/DXTyhSwF
___________________________________________________ Dec: 16th:
Added new section called Survival Tips (more tips will be added and taken from contributors in this thread)
Updated Gems section (removed increased crit strikes)
Updated Armor section with budget options/gear before transitioning to full ES/low life.
___________________________________________________ Dec 14th:
first 3.9 map video (confused player figuring new atlas shiz=P)
double boss, extra boss dmg ... rare map, cuz' why not=P
I'm not resist capped either, got like 55 fire res https://www.twitch.tv/videos/521947184
Dec 14th:
Kitava video (I'm wearing whatever gear i've found while leveling, though I take my time to level and upgrade/trade a lot to try and build cash up also) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/521942782
Added info about pierce in the gems section.
Thanks to all the active posters that are helping answering questions!
It lets me spend a little more time playing and testing:) Appreciated!
Thanks to all the other guide-writers who inspired me and special thanks to twitch/waggle for the idea back in 3.5 to this build, though with some drastic changes and development since. _________________________________________________________________________
"
💚 PROS & 💔 CONS
💚 Does all map mods (if no regen, just exchange 1 flask for an enduring mana flask)
💚 Does all content with ease. (blow up uber elder and shaper with instant phases)
💚 Not a meta-life build!
💚 Uses mostly rares. (Can go from a few chaos budget to an epic 100ex+ endgame if you fancy)
💚 Can kill endgame bosses on a 5L.
💚 Works in HC. MAX-Block! 10k+ ES endgame, 6-8k in mediocre gear, strong ES regeneration from ascendancy.
💚 Easy to start, just play it as a life-build till mid-game.
💚 This builds endgame, is the strongest lightning trapper imo, check videos and see if you agree. (I've played life version and other guides) _________________________________________________________________________
💔 If you're new, es can be tricky knowing when to switch(my guide will help you).
💔 Honestly, having played many other builds, it's hard to find downsides on this one, which is why it became my favorite. (Perhaps needing a Shavs as is the case for all low-life builds)
"
🎬 VIDEOS
🔥 Current League! 🔥
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679928306 --- Shaper (Full run - great damage comparison. We've got strong pew pew even with max block)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679945569 --- Elder
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679903008 --- Sirius A5 (A8 when i get rest of watchstones, sorry didn't realize my stream was offline till late, but this shows 75% spell-block in action lol)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/676114696 --- T16 Minotaur Guardian (Full map run)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/678528244 --- T16 Chimera Guardian
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/678827343 --- T16 Hydra Guardian
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679120390 --- T16 Phoenix Guardian
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/680065336 --- T16 Enslaver Guardian
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/677141932 --- T16 Abyss (1 second kill? *yawn*)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/675646458 --- Tanky Trapper (Wonder how tanky we are? check this!)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/676332435 --- Harvest
Major changes focusing on: making the build even more tanky while retaining our strong damage to easily take down endgame bosses.
Also focusing on better explaining how you can beat everything in the game while in lower end gear.
New title - coining it "a battletrapper" now! ;p
New skilltree! Max-Block! tanky trapper.
New alternative skill-tree examples.
New/updated gem section with priority orders.
New videos all recorded with new 3.11+ skilltree.
New lvl 1-28+ progress explanations.
New mid and lategame alternative/cheaper items explained (how to run this on a budget with no expensive mana reserve shield and no double enlighten gems and still farm endgame bosses)
New ascendancy order and pantheons explained.
New jewels (removed watchers eye, it's simply too rare/expensive since 3.9 to belong in any guide imo)
New cluster jewel section and examples/priorities.
New crafting examples and updated how-to-get our helm/gloves.
New FAQ section with some of the most typically asked Qs and As.
Leagues
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3.11 Harvest
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Harvest patch-notes. There's been some crit nerfs globally on the skill-tree, but nothing significant to warrant any worry, neither the minor nerf to spire trap, especially because we got our Lightning Trap buffed! from 135% dmg eff, to 170%. I'll update the guide if I find anything could or should be changed.
3.9 Metamorph
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Lightning Spire trap has had it's early power toned down a bit, but in mid/late-game that nerf really won't matter to your overall dmg. We mainly used it as an extra for bosses but I personally don't think you'll feel much difference, aside it may take half a second longer to phase some boss :)
Overall it looks like they didn't at all nerf traps or saboteur, aside that spire trap change, so really this build should be good to go.
The lightning trap keeps its insane damage and honestly, I've gone entire hours clearing T16 + killing uber elder and shaper and forgetting to drop down the spire traps entirely, only to realize after "oh right, i forgot my spire traps again...lol.
The more interesting changes, which can be felt as an indirect nerf is how they're preventing some bosses from taking instant-damage after an intro such as brine king (so you can't pre-stack 24 traps and instant kill him) but overall, again it's more of a "delaying" the inevitable and they used wording "reduced damage" so it's not that they'll be immune to pre-stacking traps, but they'll take less dmg the first second or two. Not a big deal as a trapper, you are spamming those traps either way.
3.8 Blight
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Lost some regen from Ascendancy as well as the Shaper +1 trap thrown gloves mod. But we now have Skitter bots!! MORE trap damage yay! Plus our ascendancy is still strong with plenty regen to keep us safe.
"
Playing & developing on this build since betrayal league (3.5), always doing all content, with an emphasis on not dying! (works for HC) and clearing everything with ease and relatively good map speed (nice for SC, lots of damage!).
"
❓ HOW TO GET STARTED
💯 LEVELING
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How to league-start this
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I've personally league-started this in every league since 3.5.
Follow the leveling guide down below, but simply play as a life-trapper with a 1-5 chaos tinkerskin until you can afford a shavs body-armor.
Depending on whether you want to re-spec later, you can add points in life nodes and change them later to ES, or you can follow Demi's lightning trapper guide for a pure life version until you are ready to switch.
Alternatively you can start collecting and equipping ES heavy gear and switch to CI while you're getting a shavs. While CI you can also very easily farm lab for enchants (CI makes traps a joke)
When to switch to low life/ES
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It depends on your experience and your budget.
Personally I level all the way to maps usually before I switch.
It also depends whether you have a Shavs. The build works fine as life
and is still very strong, but of course it means you have to pick life-nodes
on the tree OR play more carefully with lower ES/Life combo.
Alternatively, you can follow the life guide from Demi's lightning trapper and when you feel ready to switch, jump back to this guide.
Personally, I level all the way with the ES tree without going life nodes and I just play a bit more carefully and make sure i'm always capped resists and most of my gear has decent amount of life on it, till switching.
I'll add a more thoroughly detailed explanation here soon and give you some options on playing the build as life, until you can afford a 5L or 6L shavs.
A 5L shavs in current league (3.8) isn't so expensive, it's like 40C. (just buy a regular shavs' and a 5L prophecy "The Jewelers's Touch". In 3.9 the price has gone up to about double. (aim to buy the prophecy cards instead, much cheaper)
Bandits & Pantheons
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✔️ Help alira for easier resist cap and more dps.
✔️ Major: All major Pantheon powers can be beneficial for the build, although Soul of Solaris is probably the best choice in general, although Lunaris with 10% chance to avoid projectiles can also be really strong.
✔️ Minor: Same as major Pantheons, almost all minor ones are useful for the build. I recommend shakari.
For Sirius boss-fight, get upgraded Arakaali and Shakari.
Pantheon powers can be upgraded by using Divine Vessel in the Map Device while you are activating the particular Map that contains the boss you need. Once you’ve killed the boss and captured his soul, you need to deliver the vessel to Sin in Oriath.
Level 1 to 28+
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PASTEBIN with lvl tree's 75 and 100: https://pastebin.com/9qmx6Xri
Note: These are tree's for full ES. Adjust them with some life if you feel the need while leveling, however mostly i'd just suggest using gear with life stats until you can switch to either low life or CI and then low life.
Note: As you progress from Lvl 28+ take a peek at budget items in this guide to know what you should look out for/set trade filters for while you are leveling.
From level 1, you should use Explosive Trap in a Lifesprig, or whichever wand or sceptre you have.
If you're in a Fresh league start, consider doing the vendor recipe for a lightning wand, it's a nice damage boost early on.
At level 4, you can (optionally) add Bear Trap Bear Trap for utility.
At level 8, your Explosive Trap link should look like this.
✔️ Explosive Trap ➡️> Added Fire Damage Support
At level 10, you should add Flame Dash Flame Dash for additional mobility.
At level 12, you can finally transition to your signature skill. Replace Explosive Trap with the following Lightning Trap link.
✔️ Lightning Trap ➡️> Multiple Traps Support ➡️> Added Lightning Damage Support ➡️> Pierce Support
By level 16, your Lightning Trap Lightning Trap should look like this (gems placed in order of priority, so remove based on how many links you've got).
✔️ Lightning Trap ➡️> Multiple Traps Support ➡️> Trap and Mine Damage Support ➡️>
Controlled Destruction Support ➡️> Added Lightning Damage Support ➡️> Pierce Support
At level 24, you should add Wrath Wrath for additional damage.
At level 28, you should add a Lightning Spire Trap gem setup, this will improve your single target damage by a great deal.
✔️ Lightning Spire Trap ➡️> Trap and Mine Damage Support ➡️> Lightning Penetration Support ➡️> Elemental Focus Support.
While you continue from lvl 28 and onwards, remember to check the GEM section to get the proper setup going when your levels meet the requirements.
Pierce is an optional gem, decide on your own if you prefer it or rather want more raw damage.
👚 GEAR
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🛡️ Armor
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💲 Budget Gear before going low-life. (Hybrid/leveling)
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Examples of cheap gear to use while leveling and before transitioning/acquiring shavronne's.
Literally any gear with health and resists will carry you through to maps or until you can go Low-Life with a shavs 5-link. Buy an unlinked one via prophecy cards and buy a 5L Jeweller's Touch prophecy and you're strong off the bat with a 5L shav's.
Priorities for stats in your weapon are:
Spell/Lightning/Elemental damage.
Global Crit multiplier.
Spell Crit chance.
Added lightning and/or cold damage to spells.
My endgame weapon, just as example towards stat priorities:
My 3.9 endgame weapon is non-crafted and stronger dps than my 3.8 above:
💲💲 Budget Gear for low-life. (Early Mapping)
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This shield is always available early leagues very cheap around 1 chaos. This is the single most overpowered item for this build!
You'll be able to run ALL your aura's, without having any enlighten gems or mana reserve (put zealotry, wrath and discipline in the shield, then reserve skitterbots/clarity with mana). This shield alone can carry you through the mid/end-game.
At some point if/when you are rich and want to craft, you can go for a shaper influenced ilvl 86 titanium shield. (titanium is the most expensive base, you could pick a cheaper base at the cost of a little ES)
Pro's and Con's to switching from the unique shield to a crafted shaper shield:
pro: shaper shield ES% on block is godlike for mapping, you feel unkillable.
pro: shaper shield (with 300+ es) will give you about 1.3k more ES.
con: you lose +37 all resists and some dex you need to find elsewhere.
con: you have to use 2 enlighten gems (level 3 will be enough though, level 4 optimal)
con: you might have to invest into a redeemer helmet with 5% reduced reserve. (optimal way is to first buy a base with your ulab enchant on it, then buy a redeemer orb and turn the helmet redeemer, then craft it with 5% reduce)
>
Darkness Enthroned got buffed considerably in 3.11 and is a really strong choice now and a super cheap option compared to rare belt.
In fact the belt is so strong that I'm using it in my high-end gear. (They buffed Darkness Enthroned from 50% bonus to the jewels to 75%)
An example is: a decent crystal belt has 80es implicit and 40es explicit = 120 es.
Darkness enthroned, I can throw 2 abyss jewels in with avg 35es on each and some damage/multiply dps stats.. 2x35 = 70 x 1.75(belt bonus) = 122.5 ES (same as crystal belt O.o)
💰💰💰 High-end Gear
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Note: You do NOT need the mana reservation shield. It's a luxury craft and very expensive usually. Having the sovereignty nodes on the tree is a solid and cheap replacement for the shield. The shield is a min/max item when you have nothing else to improve or you are very rich.
My 3.9 weapon has stronger DPS than my crafted 3.8 weapon:
expensive
💍 Jewels
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There are no mandatory jewels for us.
We get a lot of power from relatively cheap jewels because our traps will inherit multiplier from many sources, therefore we can search for many combinations of jewels (elemental multiplier, spell multiplier, lightning multiplier, global multiplier etc)
A Watcher's Eye Watcher's Eye (since 3.9 changes is extremely expensive/rare) with Wrath Wrath mods and % energyshield, so it is only a crazy luxury item that we definitely do not need, but in case you run around with 20ex to spend, then you know this exist.
Note: Basically, jewels depends entirely on your budget, if you're running a lower budget, just find anything with ES% and +trap damage and/or multiplier damage to spells and/or to lightning skills.
⚗️ Flasks
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Make sure you have Bleeding, Curse and Freezing immunity on your flasks.
(You don't need freezing immunity however if you are running the Dream fragments ring that I like to use)
My endgame setup is: Note: I'm not running bleed removal because I have a jewel that prevents me getting bleeded. (You vaal orb jewels and can get lucky)
💎 GEM LINKS
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✔️ Lightning Trap (6-Link)
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____________________________________________________________ IN ORDER OF PRIORITY: Lightning Trap ➡️> Trap and Mine damage ➡️> Cluster Traps ➡️> Lightning Penetration ➡️> Inspiration Support ➡️> Elemental Focus Support. (potential pierce gem, read note below) ). ____________________________________________________________
Lightning Trap shoots a nova of lightning projectiles when triggered.
The vaal version leaves Shocked ground; keep in mind that your lightning traps have better chance to critically strike against Shocked enemies. Note: On a 5L, just remove the added lightning damage/elemental focus. Note: If you don't have pierce lab enchant, add pierce to the setup either as a GEM, or as a jewel(you get one in act 5 i believe) or by using 5 points in the skill-tree. As a gem you'd replace whichever 5th or 6th gem you added, depending on your sockets total.
✔️ Lightning Spire Trap (4-Link)
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____________________________________________________________ Lightning Spire Trap ➡️> Trap and Mine damage ➡️> Lightning Penetration ➡️> Elemental Focus OR Concentrated Effect. ____________________________________________________________
Lightning Spire Trap is a powerful trap with a cooldown, it is mainly used in order to boost your single target damage by a great deal vs bosses.
In early and mid-game, you'll just put this in whichever 4-link you have.
In late game you can craft/buy a pair of shaped gloves with extra damage for traps, making it a pseudo 5 or even 6 link. Example below:
✔️ Blood Magic Auras (4-Link)
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____________________________________________________________ Blood Magic ➡️> Zealotry ➡️> Clarity(whatever lvl you can fit) ➡️> Enlighten Support (3 minimum, 4 optimal). ____________________________________________________________
Damage Aura and clarity - this is after you've obtained shav's and are ready to go low-life.
✔️ Damage & Defense (3-Link)
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____________________________________________________________ Vaal Discipline ➡️> Wrath ➡️> Enlighten Support (3 minimum, 4 optimal). ____________________________________________________________
Again, the enlighten depends on your mana and whether you picked the reduced
mana reserved nodes in the skill-tree (sovereignty skill node) or crafted a shaper shield with 15% mana reserve reduction to socketed gems. (check crafting section)
✔️ Defense & Curse (3-Link)
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____________________________________________________________ Cast When Damage Taken (3) ➡️> Immortal Call(5) OR SteelSkin(12) ➡️> Enfeeble. ____________________________________________________________
Do not over-level your enfeeble, make sure your CWDT can proc it.
The level of your CWDT, depends on your current health or ES pool,
so just try to keep it balanced. Note: At 90+ my CWDT is level 15 and procs from 2000 damage taken. Note: In 3.9 I'm mostly using Immortal call and if you feel squishy, throw out enfeeble and instead make 3 red sockets and do CWDT + immortal call + steelskin.
✔️ Damage & Utility (2+2-Link)
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____________________________________________________________ Skitterbots > Enlighten Support (3 minimum, 4 optimal). Flame Dash ➡️> Arcane Surge. Note: Don't overlevel AS, make sure it procs from Dash mana usage).
____________________________________________________________
Skitterbots/Enlighten combo can wait till late-game, or when your mana reserve can afford it. You may also have to pickup some temporary reduced mana nodes on the tree, luckily you are passing right by a cluster (sovereignty skill node) or till late-game crafting a shaper shield with 15% mana reserve reduction to socketed gems. (check crafting section)
🌳 SKILLTREE, ASCENDANCY & CLUSTER JEWELS
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Skill-Tree
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(lvl 100 tree)
✔️ https://pastebin.com/sWNAWJ79
Always only pickup jewel sockets LATE in the game - they require good jewels to be worth picking.
Note: When or if you get crafted gear(helm/shield) with reduced mana reserve, you can drop the mana-reduction wheel at the farthest left in the skill-tree.
READ THE NOTE!!
For highest dps and if you don't care being squishy while leveling>
Perfect Crime ➡️> Chain Reaction ➡️> Pyromaniac ➡️> Born in the Shadows.
Note: For hardcore or deathless SC playthroughs, you may want to go for survivability before DPS - it also makes it a breeze doing your playthrough imho, you still got plenty damage. Regen from Pyromaniac and the blind from Born in shadows is a massive survivability boost - check pic below.
My deathless runs I usually go>
Pyromaniac ➡️> Perfect Crime ➡️> Born in the Shadows ➡️> Chain Reaction.
Cluster Jewels
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These are strong examples of cluster jewels worth the point investment.
Remember to go for minimum passives implicit (2 and 4 for small and medium clusters)
🔨 CRAFTING
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With 3.9, all builds got affected by the multimod nerf, however it's really not a big deal, it's just some top-end luxury that is harder to min/max now.
On the other hand, we got buffed in the way of +1 spell gems affix now exists on shields and all 1h wands/sceptres etc etc.
Titanium Spirit Shield (Shapered) (min.ilvl 80 for shaper affix 15% mana reserve reduce)
Second best shield option is:
Harmonic Spirit Shield (Shapered) (min.ilvl 80)
(Ignore stats on these, they're not crafted but just examples of the basetype)
How to craft:
1) Get the base.
2) Quality item to max (consider hillock 28% or perfect fossil to 28-30%)
3) Transmute and start spamming alterations until you hit 15% Reduce for socketed gems.
4) If you hit only 15% reduce, then augment a secondary stat and hope for something useful (+1 spell/lightning, ES, resists, high intellect).
5) If you augment a crappy stat, then go back to spamming alterations until
you again hit 15% reduce and get a 2nd useful stat.
6) When you got 15% reduce and a 2nd useful stat then regal and hope for a useful stat (+1 spell/lightning gems, ES, resists, high intellect). If it fails, then scour and back to alteration spam.
7) You should now have mana reduce and 2 other useful stats, so a total of 3. This leaves you with some options depending on your budget/currency.
Opt.1) Multicraft costs 2ex and will use 1 suffix, allowing you to add 2 extra crafts, which will complete your item at 6 total affixes. (the 3 you created, plus the multimod itself and the 2 extra crafts you add from it)
Opt.2) If you're on a tighter budget, consider just crafting something useful on your 3 stat shield, so you got 4 stats total until you can afford multi-craft or can afford throwing ex-slams on it (Leo in research gives free exalt slam)
Weapon:
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Check the gear section.
Buy a good weapon or alternatively
craft it with alteration spam, regal and bench crafts.
(Look at the shield section of crafting, for an in-depth example of how to craft a base)
Helmet:
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Optimal way(if you're not a ulab farmer) is to first buy a base with your ulab enchant on it, then buy a redeemer orb and turn the helmet redeemer, then craft it with 5% reduce.
https://i.imgur.com/DXUbFBp.png
Gloves:
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Gloves, I almost always go for 2 trap stats, via using a shaper base, prefer ilvl 84.
I spam alterations, augment and regal until I'm lucky with having either 2 trap stats, or 1 trap stat and strong ES.
If so, I buy a 2nd base and start using the ones with 1 trap stat, while I continue crafting on the 2nd base trying to get 2 trap stats.
I always want trap throw speed as one of my 2 trap stats, then the 2nd one can be either trap and mine damage or projectile damage, both works for us. (trap and mine damage being the better of the 2)
(Look at the shield section of crafting, for an in-depth example of how to craft a base)
p.s. Some harvest crafting screenshots:
https://i.imgur.com/emUPyTG.png
https://i.imgur.com/RudDfyH.png
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https://i.imgur.com/xZJEGK1.png
https://i.imgur.com/TOK3qjd.png
Note: This is late-gate luxury crafting and not a requirement to make the build work as you really don't need the extra aura and/or the extra points saved by not needing mana reduction in your skill-tree... but this is for people looking to really min/max their character and I can vouch it's awesome!.
One of the biggest upgrades is to craft a shaper shield with 15% reduced mana reserve of socketed gems and then move 2 auras (such as discipline, wrath, enlighten) to your shield.
❤️ SURVIVAL TIPS
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The inspiration to this build was from playing Hardcore and managing to take down all the endgame. But you WILL be somewhat squishy in the time while you are leveling and before you transition to full ES and also obtain your final ascendancy. (born in the shadows - however check ascendancy section and consider picking the HC-safer ascendancy order that I listed)
Here's some general tips:
New Tips:
1) Make sure you use a Vaal Discipline. The vaal effect is an instant save-yourself button! With how our Pyromaniac ascendancy works (combined with Zealot's oath if you're ES specced), you regenerate life/ES from all traps going off! In short... you should ALWAYS be tossing traps, even if you're not in any danger.. it's nice having a constant 10% regeneration running.
When combined with vaal discipline, it becomes an instant save button, since vaal disc makes your ES regen NOT get interrupted by incoming damage. You can tank a lot of damage this way and also run around in darkness in delve.
2) Make sure you've picked up Zealot's Oath by the time you switch to full ES (but not before!)
3) Upgrade Solaris pantheons, it's really strong. Use Brine king pantheon, until you have your amulet which makes you stun immune, when you have it pick Solaris. Use Soul of Shakari and upgrade poison immunity (useful this league vs metamorphs and the hunter boss)
4) Prioritize ES on your gear - your damage will already be insane when you've obtained shavs and gone low-life. Heck, even as hybrid before you get shavs your damage is really strong in just a cheap 1c tinker-skin.
5) Do NOT pick jewel sockets until you have really strong jewels - rather invest in damage and ES until you got jewels with ES and 2 damage stats.
6) Remember to check the budget gear section, there are some cheap ES gear we can use.
7) Your ulab ascendancy gives you a big survival boost because it blinds ALL monsters around you. The sooner you get it, the sooner you'll feel that much more tanky. Also consider picking pyromaniac as your FIRST ascendancy if you want to be tanky while leveling! (note screenshot)
8) You can optionally replace flame dash as your primary mobility with a shield charge + fortify combo instead.
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💬 FAQ
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Why pierce lab enchant over lightning trap penetration? Pierce enchant means we don't need to invest skill-tree points or use a gem link to obtain pierce. We need pierce to thoroughly clear maps and also to stay safe as screen-clearing via piercing packs matters for that.
Why am I dying/feeling squishy if players completed hardcore on this? Check survival tips part of this guide. Make sure you stack ES on all gear, even small increases on gear matters a lot since we get 200% increase from our tree to boost those numbers. Play smart, throw traps in the direction you flame dash/move.
We are not a squishy build, it's about how you play it - this league is dangerous for all builds.
75% Spell Block
75% Attack Block
Blinding all enemies around us. (enemies has 50% less hit chance)
10-11k ES (6-8k in medium gear)
1k+ ES regen per sec. (don't stop throwing traps, it's your regen!)
Screen-clearing ability.
Off-screen hitting enemies.
Immune to Ignite
Immune to Shock (a one-shotter of many builds)
Immune to Stun.
Immune to Freeze/Chill (depending if dream fragments ring)
Room for THREE magic flasks with other immunities.
What more immunities you want? damage? o.O lol.
How do I play/level before I got a shavronne's armor? Check the budget gear section, get a cheap 1c tinker-skin (it's almost 1c in every league)
Play the build as a life build and change the life-nodes for ES later.
You could use Demi guide for a life version of this build and then switch to this one when you feel ready. Personally however I run this build as a league-start and I don't bother investing much points into life, I just play more careful and use life-heavy items until I can switch to shavs+low life, or switch to CI, until I can afford a 5L shavs.
When you go low-life with a 5L shavs, remember to pickup a prism shield! it's the single most overpowered item for this build.
While leveling you go to the right side of the tree first to get the big trap nodes there.
When you switch from life to ES and equip shavs remember to pickup Zealot's Oath on the skilltree and then get a 1c prism guardian shield. This lets you run all auras easily without worrying on any expensive items (obviously aside from your shavs).
Put Zealotry, Wrath and Vaal Discipline into the Prism shield sockets.
>
How come we use elemental focus, how do we shock? We use skitterbots for shock. They are a reliable shock, plus it allows us the 49% more damage modifier from EF
How do we manage running out of mana? Dealing with mana issues while leveling and/or in general (enduring mana flask while leveling) then for later game there's veiled bench ring craft: non-channeling skills have -7 mana cost and use lvl 1+ clarity via bloodmagic links)
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🧔 ABOUT ME
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Uh.. what to say?
Been playing PoE for like 5 leagues, on and off, skipping some of them.
I stream sometimes at twitch.tv/dissentXTV
- Though it's not so often as there are 0 viewers to my channel, yeeeh wauv=P
Feel free to throw me a follow, it'll help with some motivation!
I feel this build deserves being shared. It's a lot of fun and super strong! If my guide is shit, don't blame the build, just blame the writer ...
