Theorycrafting: The Solaire of Astora build
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I'm a woman, but, no problem! :D I just loved your Knight idea!
I just went CI last night - and I put on Incandescent Heart. I took Power Siphon as my main attack. (I'm a Scion.) First impressions - I love it! :) Beyonders are just not terrifying like they have been - the chaos auras do nothing, the unrighteous fire / flame surge - just doesn't hurt anything like it used to. Granites go a long way in stopping their flicker-striking from destroying me - but it can be a little scary. (I manually cast End Cry constantly to keep a buffer of 4 End Charges up at once, and this helps greatly against physical.) Roas are of course - still deadly! -But I was able to get nearly 7k ES at lvl 78. I am amazed I was able to do this. (It feels overall much easier to be a CI character in this 4 month league, than it felt in the last one.) -Wanding feels a bit awkward, but mostly, good. (Especially having done Reave for nearly 80 levels!) :D -I synergize well with my Tornado Shot ranger friend - and I constantly cull, and feed him power charges/end charges, and frenzy charges with blood rage. Once charged up - we begin to feel like an unstoppable duo - and we have great clear speed. -When I get a few more points - I'm going to spec out of the Elder Power wheel, and take the big Fusillade wheel instead. The increased attack speed/accuracy; and crit - will make a big difference. ....... This is my tree - but it's very, very preliminary. (I am still trying to figure out the best way to get more ES from my (massive) ES shield.) Tree
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http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAAAx4DlgW1BiMM8g18EQ8RLxFQFLAV1xa_GyUc3B1PHaoegR9BH8cnqSoLLL8tHy2LMHw1uTsoRnFHBklRSshLjUuuTC1Ms1AwUUdWY1eHW_Rca18qX2pgQ2NDbRltbG49bqpwUnRVfll_K3_GgK6CHoLkgwmESIauiEKKr42_j_qQEZMnmZqiBKXLpyusmLQMtMW1SL68wcXC7MNt0NDWitlb217b59-K4YjpAuq662PsGPDV8uHz6vb899f67_xk_xw=
....... Gear
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....... Pots
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I got great tips for CI from 2 friend who have used the Inc Heart chest: 1) If you're a crit build, get all "Surgeon's" flasks - and you can have almost constant "up" time for flasks. (It's the refill charges on crit roll.) 2) Manually cast End Cry + Spell Echo - keep the End Charges up all the time. (You can put Immortal Call on CWDT, but don't put a 2nd End Cry on it. Just get used to providing your own End Charges.) It is *so* hard to get any sort of physical mitigation with pure ES gear - and that's mostly what you're restricted to with this chest. End charges are especially important. 3) My friends say that spending the points, to go down to Unwavering - is worth it. Just so you can wear a necklace with +40 or so flat ES, 45 or so Intelligence, and +20% or so ES %. I was told this alone can provide you with almost 1k ES. I haven't tried this yet. When I count the beans - I think spending 14 points or whatever you need to to get Unwavering, in pure ES % nodes - would actually get you a little more than 1k from the tree. The only thing that still tempts me to chuck Eye of Chayula - is the fact that some GG necklaces have 5% life leech on them. Wow! :D 4) Get Vaal Discipline - as an OH SHIT button. ....... Strengths of an Incandescent Wander
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-The 25% reduced Elemental Damage can really be felt - improved survivability.
-Immunity to Chaos is absolutely wonderful. -Beyonders mainly attack via chaos/ele dmg, so they aren't nearly as scary. -You can laugh at Chaos Auras, Zombie, Bug and Bomb-Thrower chaos clouds, Viper Strike, Enemies Poison On-Hit maps, and Desecrated Ground. -Rogue Exiles specializing in Chaos are trivial. -It becomes very easy to stack charges and feed them to your group. -Blood Rage and Warlord's Mark provide a huge amount of leech. I can stand in the fire of exploded Rare Lion Dogs - and watch my ES go back up - as long as I'm attacking, and leeching. -Ranged attack provides a sort of survivability that suits Hardcore servers. -Culling Strike improves clearspeed greatly - and improves safety during hard fights. -Ondar's provides near immunity to bow attacks. -Ondar's provides near immunity to reflect damage - you usually evade it. - Weaknesses and Challenges
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-As Scion - it's been a bit difficult to attain fast attack speed, and decent accuracy - which is so important to a crit build.
-Pure ES shields provide the needed 400+ ES on a shield for the build to work - but they only have 30% block. -Low inherent block, combined with low inherent armor - makes for squishiness up-close and personal. Charging, and flicker-strike enemies can make your heart jump into your throat with fright. -Pots need to be used *before* major damage occurs - and some people never adjust to this playstyle change after doing life builds. High-lvl content never gives you any reaction time - so this adjustment is ultimately a benefit - if you can get the hang of it. -Inc Heart has no inherent Ele resists - it's difficult to get your resists up. -Mana - can be a bit of a problem. I have no problem, once I have Power Charges, because of Auxium - but before I get them, I can run out fast. Both Life Leech and Mana Leech are prefixes on gloves - it can be hard to get them without sacrificing ES. You must balance leech types on your rings and gloves. -Auras are a bit of a challenge - as it's hard to afford points into Aura nodes. Discipline is Mandatory - but I was crushed with disappointment to find that lvl 17 Grace - only gave me 1% extra chance to evade attacks. :( -That is a major problem - relying on pure ES gear apart from the chest. You can't easily get armor or evasion levels that make any difference. -It's hard to run important DMG auras, like Hatred - when you're so squishy to physical. It would perhaps be smarter to run 2x Defensive nodes. -Spell block is hard to obtain - thanks to the Block problem - but I think the overall reduction provided by the chest is perhaps better than spell block chance: it applies to *all* ele dmg. -You only leech ES with Ghost Reaver via your PHYSICAL damage. (Unless you put a life leech gem on an elemental attack or spell.) -I was told that, without Vaal Pact - I could one-shot myself using Vaal Power siphon. I've left it alone. -Getting enough STR is difficult - to use high-lvl End Cry / Immortal Call / Molten Shell
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The Biggest Problem of All: -Socket colors. -You need so many Greens to make a Wander work. (Phys attack damage, Faster Attacks, GMP, Chain, Barrage, Frenzy, Blood Rage - all GREEN GREEN GREEN! -What gear are you wearing? ES gear - Blue Blue Blue! :( -It can be a bit difficult to have 3 or 4 red sockets - for an effective CWDT setup. Goals and Experiments ........ -So far I like using Tempest Shield: that extra 4% block chance is helpful. -I want to try Herald of Ice, but it's hard with Aura node challenges. -Barrage + Life Leech + Knockback - is what i want for an emergency close-quarters attack - but so far, I don't have enough Green sockets to set this up. -I plan to craft mana/life leech on my gear. -I plan to take Shield Defense nodes to beef up my ES. -I plan to take the 45% ES regen node, even if it means dropping a little flat ES. -I'd like to get another frenzy charge, by the ranger, and get my shield block up sometime. -I'll need to get some crit multi. -My attack speed feels a bit sluggish. (Likely fixed when I switch to big Wand Wheel) I'll let you know how the build evolves! :) |
