3 different skill tree paths to kinda the same goal

Hey!

I've been wanting to make a character that uses dual claws and cyclone to deliver elemental damage. Seems like it could work well, but I'm not exactly a seasoned char builder, so I would like any input on viability and improvement!

I've only planned out 3 different looking skill tree setups for now, with Shadow, Duelist and Scion respectively. So no gear or gems yet, opinions on this would also be welcome of course. Im not exactly wealthy either, just came back to PoE so I can't afford anything more than a couple of chaos as of yet :)

PLEASE NOTE:

- I play scrubnoob softcore only, so this doesnt need to be super safe, just not dying alot because that sucks...

- I know I spent a lot of points in some of them, but its just to keep options highlighted for my own sake, so I dont have to start searching around the tree for alternative nodes...

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The skill points dustributions I doodled up with some cups of coffee are as follows:

The Scion variant, utilizing lightning damage on cyclone claws:

https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgAAiq-QEYLkvrxKyDIJcmxsRqlutfJuqio4Hcoo29_vYENuPQOWOyiDCW0ZIvRsCw2NHNyTJ7QMRnE9X1JTl_RMs5eV215QMGe9T6_06YIeX2rb50cG8uFjQw5IEZZ_xvRxQ1Qd2YhCVmMV14auLL_BxRnXrTOTlYw2UEKiLqSRE5779bQ45RlFfJeXNokqU2KVsnANfOq6sQW40IGv2joo-lfJhNkl3xv6pBkB3L6KeA2nKzW5EVAdT1yKwfOnNPb8bIxirLTF1gePwUscjYEV_W9XRfRkr4o4vqduadX4xLg=

Then there is the Shadow variant, again with lightning and cyclone claws, but not going down towards the duelist for vaal pact and master of arena:

https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgYA7UG1SKZ_3Ui42QEJEZYOSOOENj1tbBnXrTOTlV3ypJF-M4w2E5779bQ45RlFfJeXpzTAnGyMnaq5fIwL7LCSgJoXapXQCWXxu3whAyLq6NbndG9XRfRkr4o4Ff20xcLsDPKly19q2-fWB4_BSxyNgd2M2V_gEo0Zfq8RD0wtFLCCHohCwcV_xi19wbTvULWFFdeGriy_9HFDVB3ZZ71Pr_TpNolQMNteHwIEB0yzdhHk7DI0EFhfKuvkpys1uR1PLR8RUFZjFr-xs746EHvbGmND8uE=

At last this is a Duelist variant with cold instead of lightning, and evasion etc instead of ES:

https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgQAmy2-pxHVYEFXlxcdhNluadX4xLjAD9JNNJNjcO_jKjipbngNvooB3DIJcmxsRh3KKNvf77XySshuqti9NZJOKrZBAAZieRX2Od1D5-SxGNtbr9P8XLAJWNunwYs67W20Ne-BQcwGcsOrC90N_MXB2KiiqvhW-taKfyt311oaLIW95j7PUUcwfDpCS3jdqDBx1CMFtY2_bIxirLTFwuydqqc0wJzjhDY99vynn5-jmSvfb8jM749DMYLkkBGKrxGB3UZjp7EFuNCBr9o6KPqCx_noQYe3Pv4Kxp4Qfwx9

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Now, I havent tested any of this, and I'm curious to see what someone more expirienced think about this, are any of theese remotely viable mid-late game?

I'm concerned about having to choose between more ele damage and physical, as physical gives leech, but ele dmg is kinda the whole point of the build...

I find it very hard to find a balance, without having played anything close to theese builds.

- How much physical is enough to leech?

- Is vaal pact and/or master of the arena really nescesarry? (If not the shadow one seems vastly superior to scion.)

- What about the Duelist variant? I'm kinda hesitant about evasion, because when my evasion ranger DO get hit, it's quite hard, and I'm not sure the leech would help if I get oneshot -.-

Thanks for any feedback, you guys rock!

Bit of a late reply but:

This build does not make much sense mechanically and none of your skill trees are good.

First of all, your trees will not give you enough hit points. Stats can vary a lot between builds, but typically you will want to aim for 140-180%+ life, energy shield closer to 160-200%+ if you decide to go that route.

Second, is this a phys build or a weapon ele build? Getting physical nodes simply for the purpose of leech is a waste of points.

If you are going weapon ele, claws are a poor choice do to their slow attack speed. As a weapon ele build you will be scaling flat damage (mostly from wrath+anger) via %ele damage and attack speed. A well rolled foil can have over 2.1 base attacks per second, which a claw can never achieve.

One of cyclones biggest issues is its mana consumption, which scales with your attack speed. If you are not spinning very fast and have a decently sized mana pool it is feasible to support cyclone with mana leech, but this is not the case for most builds. Instead, the blood magic support gem (not possible with ci) or a soultaker (moderately expensive) is typically used.

As an aside, what is your reasoning for going ci in the firSt two builds? The only thing I can think of is free blood rage, but you restrict your options and create so many more weaknesses than strengths that it doesn't really make sense to me.

Anyways, hope this didn't discourage you too much and good luck.

Thanks for the info!

I'd rather know this now, than leveling up just to find it useless haha :D

I had many reasons for the different things, but most were due to not knowing the things you said here.

Now that theese experiments are abandoned, how would you propose to make an ele melee that work? doesnt have to be cyclone, but I kinda wanted that...

Are there any good guides I could look at as starting points for ele melee?

If you are strictly looking at melee, my recomendations would be cleave (dual wield) or reave (1h+shield). Both skills have a 100% damage effectiveness (meaning flat damage bonuses are not reduced) and are aoe. They also have low mana costs, and you don't benefit from levelling them on a weapon ele build so they stay low.

You should be able to find an updated guide for cleave, but not sure about reave.

You can use any melee skill you want to though, it is just that some are easier or more effective than others.

If you really want to make ele cyclone work then go for it, I am interested to see how it would turn out. Weapon ele trees tend to be very similar, so worst case scenario you can just swap another gem in if you don't like it.

Well, I'm currently leveling a Duelist (I had one at level 22 and almost specced the same as this guide suggests), half-following this guide, only not going quite as tanky as this is made for Beyond league: http://pathofpoe.com/builds/view/wipdual-wield-cleave-cheap-and-tanky-/

So far the damage is outrageous on cleave, and cyclone with a BM support gem and life on hit works very well.

I'm using fast swords (mostly foils, as you indeed suggested, and damn they are fast :D)

Also using hatred for now, but Im aiming for herald of ice as well as grace with reduced mana gem leveled a bit more.

If I start to feel a bit squishy Im gonna start running grace instead of hatred.

As I have Aurumvorax in offhand I'm overcapped on all resists in cruel so far :D
but I guess that will have to go eventually, because I'm planning to use that Wings of Entropy unique at lvl 60...(as the guide suggests) dirt cheap for what it does as well, so bonus there.

It will be exciting to see how this pans out, as I plan on going way more dps focused than the guide as again it's aimed at Beyond, but I might get too squishy and have to respec some, we shall see...