[1.2] CI CoC Spectral Throw

Hello there and good evening,

in this thread I want to present my CI CoC Witch, my current main character in the new Rampage league.

As the title suggests, I am using spectral throw to trigger CoC. With the build as it is now, I can use pretty much any spell, though some are obviously better than others, here my personal opinion on those I have tried:



Now some overall PROs and CONs of the build as I see them (when compared to other CoC builds I have recently tried):

Pro

- cannot be stunned
- larger effective HP pool against burst damage when compared to life based builds
- can use pretty much any spell
- elemental equilibrium allows for decent damage even against heavily resistant monsters

Con

- not as good against reflect (no arctic armour)
- somewhat more expensive than life based builds
- levelling sucks
- sometimes you just wish you had an instant HP pot (you have vaal discipline though!)

Now, to the specifics, namely, the build itself:

My current build (level 88):



Where I want to get (level 98):



The "Core":



From this point on you want to get more energy shield and some more crit, especially the Trickery node in the shadow starting area, you can get there by going through either single-element damage or projectile damage nodes, I chose the latter because I often use two projectile spells (the former are the better choice if you decide against elemental equilibrium and play pure lightning for example).

Also Elemental Equilibrium is simply amazing if you are using two different elements for your spells (as I am doing right now).

For levelling you want to grab a couple health nodes on the way, I started out using freezing pulse until level 19, then switched to arc (5L in a Tabula Rasa) for the rest of the way to 68, if you don't have a tabula rasa levelling with reave is probably your best option. If you want you can switch to cast on critical around level 50, your single target damage will be horrible though (provided you have a half decent dagger).

Bandits are Skill Point in normal, attack speed in cruel (Kraityn) and Power Charge (Alira) in merciless.

Now, onwards to my gear:

Helmet:



Here you want to look for ES, accuracy and any resistances or stats you might still need.

Chest:



Ideally a 6-Link, obviously, look for ES and resists, not much else you can have on here (some mana is decent too). I paid 4 Exalted for mine though for starters you will do just fine with a 5-Link energy shield / evasion chest with a bit of ES and resists. If you can get to, say, 4.5k ES without a chest piece you can also use tabula rasa.

Gloves:



Accuracy and attack speed, ideally some ES and / or resists.

Boots:



ES, resists and some movement speed (not that important, see gem section for details). Rainbowstrides are actually far from best in slot for this build, I just happened to have them.

Belt:



Can't really get any better than this, use a version with appropriate stats for your spells. Look for resistances if you can't afford a Doryani's, though low rolls of this belt go for less than 20 chaos by now.

Rings:



Awesome for pretty much any CI build (use a flask with "dispels frozen and chilled" if you can't afford one of these yet), the mana and mana regeneration help, too.



Accuracy, resistances and some added damage of the element I am not currently using in order to proc elemental equilibrium (not actually sure whether or not this is needed, as I am not sure if the linked spells are always cast alternately). Ideally craft 5-20% energy shield on this. Preferably a diamond ring.

Amulet:



Stats, resistances, possibly more accuracy, some crit and crit multiplier, energy shield %. a lot of good stuff you can have on your amulet.

Shield:



Ideally your shield has a ton of ES, some spell damage, missing resistances and critical strike chance for spells, since I am poor my shield only has ES. :(

Keep a Saffell's Frame in your weaponswap for fights like Atziri or Palace Dominus, it helps.

Now to the most important piece, the weapon:



Don't mind the physical mods on mine, was the best I could afford at the time. Essential stats are local crit chance (what is shown at the top of the tooltip, mine has 8.88% total crit) and attack speed. Bonus points for spell damage, elemental leech (catarina craft) and spell crit / crit multiplier. I paid 1.5 exalted for this dagger, though until level 78 I did just fine with a dagger I crafted myself (even doing level 72+ maps).

Cost me an itemlevel 77 base item a friend got me and a bunch of alterations (~200 I guess). If you craft a dagger yourself, look for attack speed over crit chance, the crit chance master craft is significantly better than his attack speed craft for our purposes.

Flasks:



You NEED a flask with the removes bleeding affix, better two or corrupting blood will absolutely murder you, you get to 20 stacks pretty much instantly. Having a flask with shock removal is always good, same for curse immunity. I also like carrying one with armor increase (preferably on the granite itself).
Since you regain your charges ridiculously quickly you can just spam all five before entering a room and will have everything up again afterwards. With as much crit as I have I can even sustain my resistance flasks against a single enemy.

Gems:

Chest Piece:


Spectral Throw - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Cast on critical Strike - Your two spells of choice - Power Charge on Critical

(here you could also use added chaos damage or one of the penetration gems, though you'd need to get a second ST setup with PCoC then). PCoC is the first gem to cut, if you don't have a 6-Link. In that case you can either use a second ST setup or scrap power charges entirely for the time being (you can also use Assassin's Mark though it's cast time is annoying, as we don't have any cast speed)

Your three 4-Links:

1.

Cast when Damage taken (level 1) - Enduring Cry (level 4) - Immortal Call (level 3) - Increased Duration

Here you can vary the level of your CwDt depending on your preferences.

2.

Auratime: Purity of Fire - Discipline - Reduced Mana - Purity of Lightning / Clarity

Where you put which auras doesn't really matter, though having Clarity and Discipline with the higher Reduced Mana gem is beneficial (a level 21 reduced mana is not required, albeit nice to have).

3.

Vaal Discipline - Vaal Haste - Blood Rage - Increased Duration

Pretty much optional gems, though you should always have a Blood Rage and Vaal Discipline somewhere, here you could also put a second Spectral Throw Setup with Power Charge on Critical, Greater Multiple Projectiles and Faster Attacks, this would probably yield more damage per second overall but I am just too lazy for this.

The Weapons:

1.

Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Elemental Weakness

Whirling Blades is my means of movement, with enough attack speed it is faster than walking, hence movement speed on boots is not THAT important, though still nice to have. I also put my curse here because, well, why not. Unless you are crit capped (95% on spectral throw) or close enough you should use Assassin's Mark, otherwise use Elemental Weakness.

2.

Purity of Lightning / Clarity - Reduced Mana - Arctic Armour

Here I placed my fourth aura along with a level 1 q20 Arctic Armour, the latter is just used for some movement speed and is purely optional.

With this setup my Spectral Throw looks as follows:



Stats to improve for me as of right now would be crit multiplier (though I get some from the tree with my next two level-ups) and spell damage (preferably through a shield upgrade...).

I have trouble with certain map mods, namely Blood Magic, Half Reg, No Reg, Emfeeble, Temporal Chains, minus Max Resists (for some bosses) and Elemental Weakness (can be overcome by either replacing one of the purities or swapping out some equip). The first three of those I cannot do at all (actually not quite sure about half reg...), the others I avoid if at all possible.
Those aside, I have done all maps without too much trouble, though I swapped my shield for a Saffell's for Palace Dominus (swapping back for phase two).

Also I am pretty sure that Atziri is doable with this build, though my first attempt on level 79 was a failure (have only attempted her three times so far across all my characters). Since then I swapped around some auras and items resulting in more max resists. I will probably try killing her again some time this week and report in afterwards.

Now, I realize this build isn't exactly anything shockingly new and revolutional but still, it is the first time I tried writing a guide for Path of Exile, a game which I started playing over a year ago (some time into the open beta), so if you have any suggestions regarding my writing and / or build etc. feel free to post them.

If you have any questions just drop a post and I'll get back to it as soon as I can.

Best regards and happy hunting to y'all.

Can you explain how you sustain the mana costs?

Thanks for the great guide btw.