[1.3] dariidar's Sweep Cast on Crit Build - cast 30 spells in a single Sweep!

3/11 update:
-5-linked staff, obtained a 6L chest. (the ideal chest is still a 6L Belly of the Beast)
-Changed gem setup - no more shock nova. Now using Firestorm, Arc, and Ice Nova (and Life Leech)

I'm currently level 87 in Torment and still going strong, although input on my build is much appreciated.

WHY USE SWEEP?
Spoiler

Cast on Critical Strike has a cooldown of 0.05 seconds. That means that it is capped at 20 casts per second. Some of the popular skills to proc CoC are Barrage, Spectral Throw, Cyclone, and Ground Slam. Spectral Throw can easily reach this 20 cast/second cap. Barrage might be able to (I'm not sure on the specifics of how spaced out the hits are). Cyclone CANNOT REACH THIS CAP, unless you somehow raise your APS to 20 attacks per second. As for Ground Slam.... Please.

So, what other melee options are there for Cast on Crit?

Enter Sweep. Sweep is a nice CoC activator because it hits monsters at staggered intervals. At its base attack time of 1.15 seconds, you could theoretically proc each CoC spell 23 times with a single Sweep.

Unfortunately, to proc that many spells, Sweep would require 23 evenly spaced out targets, and 1.15 seconds is terribly slow. Therefore this build uses a decent amount of attack speed to lower Sweep's attack time to ~0.5 seconds (increased attack speed % from gear, tree, and weapon will affect Sweep's attack time). That means that you can still proc each CoC spell 10 times per sweep, depending on mob density & positioning, and you can easily reach the 20 cast/second CoC cap.

Pros/Cons
Spoiler
+ VERY SAFE! If you die with this build, it is entirely your fault.Reflect is not a problem thanks to vaal pact. There are no RNG mechanics involved (dodge, block), just your OWN ability to manage your permanent IC and flask timers. Because of this the build very highly rewards "skilled" gameplay.
+ very fast clearspeed & large aoe
+ works great on a 5L, 6L is the cherry on top
+ A staff means an extra 5-6L to play with. So we can have a single target skill (which is a weakness of some CoC builds)
+ >5000 health at level 80, with Belly of the Beast
+ Staff nodes grant GLOBAL critical strike chance, so they benefit both Sweep AND your CoC spells. Twice the efficiency!
+ Templar's legs

+/- moderate cost to start up (5-8ex)

- doesn't do well until ~level 55 (when you get Rat's Nest)
- requires a Vagan staff
- AoE DPS is highly dependent on mob density & placement (which you can somewhat control)
- cannot use a shield for defense (although we don't need one with permanent IC)

How To Play This Build
Spoiler

It's pretty simple, actually. Enduring Cry (spell echo) + Immortal Call before entering. Use the appropriate resist flasks as well. Leap Slam right into the middle of the mob(which curses them), and then Spam Sweep.

Why jump straight into the middle? Sweep will proc more spells if it hits monsters at spaced intervals. At ~0.5s attack time, you could proc 10 CoCs per sweep. 360 degrees / 10 procs = 36 degrees, I.e. each monster must be at least 36 degrees away from each other in order to proc a new spell. In order to do this, it helps to stand right in the very middle of mobs. Fortunately, you'll have 12-14second Immortal Call, and Surgeon's Flask of whatever resist you need in order to survive.

Furthermore, as Sweep knocks enemies back, you may actually end up 1) increasing the angle between them/spreading them out for more procs, 2) pushing them away from you so you're a bit safer.

Level 90 Tree/Bandits (This build can also be played as SCION or SHADOW)

The Links
Spoiler

This build can work with a minimum of one 5L.
AoE: Sweep (level 1) + CoC + Life Leech + Firestorm + Arc + (Ice Nova)
Single Target: Molten Strike + CoC + Flame Surge + Fire Pen + (Fireball/Conc Effect)

Firestorm is the best bet for AoE DPS, and synergizes well with Increased Duration from our tree.

Ice Nova freezes mobs inside the Firestorm, covering up one of Firestorm's biggest weaknesses.

Arc is used for shocking which helps boost Firestorm damage tremendously. It also helps kill stragglers.


Auras:
Herald of Thunder
Herald of Ice
Haste
(another option is to replace these with purities. You may need 4% reservation reduction from the tree.)

Curse:
Leap slam + faster attacks + curse on hit + Assassin's mark (try to get a bit of quality on this)

since we will be leaping directly into the middle of mobs (to proc more casts from sweep), this is the perfect cursing skill.

Survivability:
Enduring Cry + Spell Echo
Immortal Call + Increased Duration
Vaal Immortal Call (for oh-shit moments)

IMPORTANT: GET QUALITY ON SWEEP, COC, FIRESTORM, AND IMMORTAL CALL ASAP.


The Gear
Spoiler
Helm: Rat's Nest
Chest: Belly of the Beast (I found a 6L so I'm using it instead)
Gloves: Maligaro's Virtuosity
Belt, boots, jewelry: rares with resists


You will need mana leech on one piece of jewelry (unless you want to run Clarity). You don't need much because Sweep will cost only 12 mana (level 1 with supports)

Flasks:

You don't need a quicksilver. Your APS is high enough that leaping everywhere is just as fast - and also, your leap slam has the ability to curse.
Make sure to grab surgeon's mod on all of your flasks (except for one bubbling/seething flask for oh-shit situations). Get a warding flask, get a staunching, and get a flask of heat. And use glassblowers baubles!!! Your flasks should have 100% uptime with this build, along with your immortal call.

The Weapon
Spoiler
A Vagan staff is IMPORTANT! These come with the prefix “Hits can't be evaded.” When attempting to crit an enemy, several rolls are made: once for chance to hit, once for chance to crit, and another for chance to hit.

That means that Chance to Crit an enemy = Critical Strike Chance x Accuracy x Accuracy

Accuracy is rolled twice!! Therefore, if you had 70% critical strike chance, with ~90% accuracy that value would be reduced to 56.7%. Not to mention, in order to get that ~90% accuracy you'd need to invest points on the tree and lose affixes on jewelry.

No, we'll go with something a little simpler.

In order to craft your Vagan staff, buy as many as you can from trade chat for 1-2chaos each. Augment them and then regal. If one of the two mods you got was Attack Speed or Critical Strike Chance > 22%, congrats! You can start CoCing. Craft the other mod onto the staff via crafting bench.

IF YOU SIMPLY CANNOT ROLL ATTACK SPEED, THAT'S FINE. JUST CRAFT CRIT CHANCE, THE BUILD WILL STILL WORK.

This was the first staff I used for a long while. It took me about 7 or 8 staves to get an attack speed roll, YMMV.

An endgame staff will be a bit harder to craft. The ideal staff would have:
Prefix
1)Vagan's mod
2)spell damage
3)mod of choice

Suffix
1)attack speed
2)critical strike chance
3) mod of choice (or most likely, Elreon's multimod)

In order to craft this, you'd need to immediately regal every clean Vagan Staff. If you roll a high value of spell damage, attack speed, or critical strike chance, then you can multimod and continue benchcrafting.

This is what I've managed to make after 30 clean staves/regals– not amazing, but the spell damage helps. Again, YMMV.


The Videos:
Spoiler

Firestorm + Ice Nova + Arc, slow gorge run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydRIYDCM3FM

Arc + Shock Nova CoC video, 72-74 maps (outdated):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzXtfQw8UNI&feature=youtu.be
I just wanted to show the effectiveness of Shock Nova. Sweep + Multistrike pretty much guarantees that Shock Nova will hit, if enemies survive the initial Arc spam.

Will try other CoC combos/recordings soon!

Screenshots/stats at 87 (unbuffed)
Spoiler



(just showing off legs)
Mirror Arrow Summoner: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1422529
Teleports Behind You: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2123293
Magma Orb Deadeye: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2736039
Last edited by dariidar on Mar 20, 2015, 5:24:49 AM
Video's not loading for me at the moment unfortunately.

Anyway, good work on the build. Nothing easy about running staff + sweep + anything. You made some different decisions than I did last time I put one together. Of course we had a much different tree then. The key to mine, fallible though it was, focused on the knockback (no Hegemony staff then either). A budget build, I went ahead and did it anyway. Low Life for the blood Rage + Blood magic attack speed bonus. That freed a lot of nodes. With the high aps, Fending, and Blunt Trauma no melee could approach. With Inc. AoE + templar AoE + Master of Arena Mid-range mobs would be pushed also (flame dogs, snakes etc.). Ondar's Guile took care of ranged. And Purities, reserved to help LL, neutered casters. Only thing I had to fear was, well, lots of stuff. Chaos damage hurt, and phys spells wrecked me. Leap Slam mobs, Whirling blades mobs...

Well needless to say, it seems like your build is more successful, gratz.

Question:

Why are you CoC two spells off of your single target molten strike. I suspect you'd get more mileage from a Conc effect. You'd lose a spell damage, but gain the multiplier and the 'shot gun' effect from Molten.

Also, since you are not running EE, why the different elemental types? A Penetrate support more than makes up for resist mobs.

Again thanks for sharing, and if your staff maintains stiffness for over 4 hours, consult your physician.
Hey, I really like that conc effect idea.
I'm also thinking - I can put HoT in rat's nest, put Assassin's mark with CwDT, and then move around the immortal call/leapslam/enduring cry to the gloves and boots. Then I can 5L the staff and have a 5L molten strike for better single target.

Lots of room for improvement!
Mirror Arrow Summoner: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1422529
Teleports Behind You: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2123293
Magma Orb Deadeye: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2736039
Thought i would come and pay my respects. Im currently building a scion with this initial concept and its sooooo good, nothing crazy yet just rats nest, 5l and a vagan staff and im already shredding merciles with icenova and shocknova. I can defs see this working in 2.0 for sure
This build is looking very interesting.

Any way for a budget build?
the most "budget" you can get with this build is a Vagan Staff with crit (which you could probably get/craft for a couple of chaos), any 5 link chest (also a couple of chaos), and rat's nest & maligaro's. I don't see this build working very well without at least a rat's nest because your crit chance will just be too low. I would try to establish a "budget" of 3+ exalts before attempting this build.

With the immortal call nerfs in 2.0 we'll have to revise our defenses completely. Travel to Acrobatics and possibly buy a Lightning Coil or Belly of the Beast. With the new shock nova buff I think this build will become much more viable.
Mirror Arrow Summoner: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1422529
Teleports Behind You: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2123293
Magma Orb Deadeye: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2736039

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