[1.3.1] Blackdepp's Arc Witch (inexpensive)
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Out of date.
New guide: [2.0] Blackdepp's Arc Witch (beginnner friendly, endgame viable, cheap)  HELLO LADIES & GENTLEMEN, I'm Blackdepp and today I'm going to show you my Arc Witch. This is a pretty standard build, that you can easily afford in a new leage, yet it has good endgame potential. It's clear speed is quite nice and comes with a stable defence. The only thing that this build lacks a bit is, as with all Arc builds, the single target damage, though it can be handled quite well. I've played with that build in Standard for quite some time and I was totally psyched by it. Currently I'm running it in the One Month Bloodlines/Torment SC Leage, though I think this would work in HC as well. Ok, let's get started:
FINAL (LV. 90) SKILLTREE
Lv. 90 Skill Tree (Screenshot) - If you manage to get enough DEX on your gear, then you can drop one of the DEX nodes in the passive skill tree. - If you manage to get enough Mana Regeneration on your gear, then you can drop the Mana Regeneration node at the Templar starting area. (Leveling skill trees you can look up under "LEVELING GUIDE".)
GEAR
Rare Items
Wand/Scepter: Just look for high Spell Damage, Lightning Damage and Cast Speed. If possible craft leech on it. Alternatively you can run a Moonsorrow. It's pretty cheap and has good stats for that build. Rings: Pretty standard: life, resistances, mana regeneration. If you get a little DEX on one ring, you can free one passive DEX node. Amulet: Pretty standard: life, resistances, mana regeneration. Look for one with a total of 32+ DEX so you can free one passive DEX node. Gloves: Pretty standard: life, resistances. If you have trouble to obtain a high mana regeneration try to get a little energy shield on your gloves, because with Eldritch Battery it is converted to mana. Otherwise look for high armour. Boots: Pretty standard: life, resistances. If you have trouble to obtain a high mana regeneration try to get a little energy shield on your gloves, because with Eldritch Battery it is converted to mana. Otherwise look for high armour.
Unique Items
Helmet: This is the key to our build, because it enables us to deal quite some damage without having a 5/6L. Chest: A 5 linked Lightning Coil isn't needed, though u want 5 slots, so you have enough space for all your gems. When you can't afford a Lightning Coil yet, try to push your armour as high as possible by using a high armour chest and shield. Cloak Of Flames is also a viable and cheap option. Shield: Spellblock, +4 maximum resistances, little spell damage, nothing more to say. Until you can afford it, just run a high armour shield. Belt: This belt is amazing, though in a new leage it's quite difficult to get your hands on it. Until you can afford one just roll with a decent leather belt. Life and 2-3 resistances and you are good to go.
Flasks
You need to run at least one Topaz Flask to deal better with reflect and improve you defence. I would recommend running 3 life flasks. Bubbling or Seething are good mods. Remind yourself that you need at least one flask each that: -Removes Bleeding -Removes Freez -Removes Curses -Removes Shock (probably best on the Topaz Flask) For a short damage boost and leech you can switch that Quichsilver Flask for a Atziri's Promise.
GEMS
Arc
As our main damage source we place ARC in the Geofri's Crest linked to: -Spell Echo -Lightning Penetration -Faster Casting (If you ever manage to get your hands on a Lv. 3 Empower, replace Faster Casting with it.)
Vaal Storm Call
Vaal Storm Call will help you to kill resistant single targets or bosses with high life faster. Therefore it is linked to: -Lightning Penetration -Spell Echo
Lightning Warp
Lightning Warp is perfect for fast movement. Link it to: -Faster Casting -Reduced Duration
Cast When Damage Taken Setup
To prevent bursts of physical damage this character runs a standard Cast When Damage Taken Setup. -Cast When Damage Taken (~Lv. 10) -Enduring Cry -Immortal Call -Increased Duration
Auras
This character runs two Purity Auras and Clarity. Basicly you can run any Purity Auras you want, but Purity of Lightning is almost mandatory to prevent reflect, increas your defence because of the Lightning Coil and help with some very annoying bosses (Piety, Dominus). For the second Purity Aura i chose Purity of Ice, because Arctic Armour already lowers the incoming fire damage, so i focousec on the ice damage. All those auras are linked to Reduced Mana. -Reduced Mana -Clarity -Purity of Lightning -Purity of Ice/(Purity of Fire)
Herald Of Thunder
Herald Of Thunder is not only a nice damage boost, but it helps us to apply curses on enemys. Link it with: -Reduced Mana -Curs On Hit -Conductivity/Quality Elemental Weekness
Arctic Armour
We also run Arctic Armour to prevent a flat amount of physical and fire damage. No links needed.
BANDITS
Normal: Help Oak (flat life) Crule: Help Alira (cast speed) Merciless: Kill all (passive point)
STATS
The following stats are from my Lv. 90 character.
Life/Mana/Attributes
 With more life on gear this could be improved.
Defence
 With both Purity Auras at Lv. 20 and Saffell's Frame you have 2x 83% and 1x 79% elemental resistances. Arctic Armour, Lightning Coil and a litte bit of armour handle the rest.
Arc
Vaal Storm Call
LEVELING GUIDE
15 Points Skill Tree (Screenshot) 30 Points Skill Tree (Screenshot) By now you should be strong enough to start spreading out, so later on every spent skill point will ne rewarding. 45 Points Skill Tree (Screenshot) Until I got my hands on Arc in Act 2 Normal I leveled with a combination of Raise Zombies, Fire Trap and Ethereal Knifes (or any spell you like). Make sure to grab a DEX amulet so that you can level up Fire Trap. As first support gem you should choose Added Lightning Damage. Make sure to grab Clarity as your first aura and level it from that point on. I would keep the Zombies around at least until Act 3 Normal, because they are a great way to distract enemies and deal a little damage on top. Fire Trap is also a nice AEO damage and helps with resistant enemies. Also try to look for Magic/Rare Wands/Scepters with + To Lightning Gems and at least Two Blue Linked Sockets so you can put Arc and Added Lightning Damage in there. Of course Increased Spell Damage/Elemental Damage/Cast Speed would be nice too. Once you have rechaed Act 3 Normal make sure to grab Herald Of Thunder from Maramoa. Try to get a 3L item and put Added Lightning Damage, Arc and Lightning Penetration in it. The Library Quest offers you access to your first Purity Aura. Maybe consider buying an Arctic Armour and Vaal Storm Call. From now on you basically can't do anything wrong anymore. Skill and grab rewards as u like. There are a few quite cheap Uniques out there, that make leveling so much easier. So if you can afford on of the following items it helps a lot: -Goldrim -Wanderlust -Asenath's Gentle Touch -Stone of Lazhwar -Perandus Signet -Thousand Ribbons
EXPLANATION
Arc itself is an incredible skill in terms of clear speed, because once you hit Lv. 21 on that Gem (Lv.20 Arc + Geofri's Crest) it chains 6 times. That means with one cast you hit up to 7 targets. Of course it's a lightning skill, what means, it can shock. This build gains 15% shock chance from the passive tree, so that will happen quite often. Shock increases the overall damage we deal by 50%. Not to mention the fact that this build makes use of the Celestial Punishment Passive Point increasing our damage, once an enemy is shocked, even further. The shock status applyed by Arc works perfecly fine together with the Herald Of Thunder. When ever you kill an shocked enemy Herald Of Thunder triggers, striking enemies around you with flashes. Those flashes apply Conductivity / Quality Elemental Weakness to lower their targets lightning resistance so we can deal even more damage. The only downside about Arc is, that its single target damage is a bit low. To counteract that this build uses Vaal Storm Call for tough rare enemies, bosses and large groups of opponents. For defensive purpose this build runs an Lightning Coil converting some of the physical damage you take into lightning damage. Because of maximum lightning resistance, Saffell's Frame and the Purity Of Lightning a large amount of that will be parried. An other defensive mechanism of this character is the already mentioned Saffell's Frame, which gives +4 to all maximum resistances, thus a great defensive boost against elemental damage. It also grants, depending on it's rolls, 16-19% spell block. At last, but not least we run an Arctic Armour which provides defence against a flat amount of fire and physical damage. To maintain this mana hungry skill we've allocated the Eldritch Battery Keystone and a lot of mana regeneration from the passive and the gear. Gameplay Videos: [1.3.1] Path of Exile: Arc Witch - Gorge [1.3.1] Path of Exile: Arc Witch - Jungle Vally (75) [1.3.1] Path of Exile: Arc Witch - Shrine [1.3.1] Path of Exile: Arc Witch - Courtyard Blackdepp's arc witch gameplay by GerbenxB (satisfied customer) Other build guides: [1.3.1] Blackdepp's Ground Slam Marauder I hope this build guide was helpful and my english didn't suck too much :b (I'm german). If you have any questions feel free to ask here or write me a message ingame (IGN: Hiyuka). IGN - Blackdepp Last edited by Blackdepp on Jul 15, 2015, 2:44:53 AM
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Is this build HC viable?
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" I personally have it only played in SC so far, but I think it is HC viable. Reflect is a joke, Lv. 20 AA, Lightning Coil, over cap elemental resistances, over 4k life, I think this will work. IGN - Blackdepp
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IImprovements?
Anyone tried this build besides me? IGN - Blackdepp Last edited by Blackdepp on Mar 26, 2015, 6:21:10 AM
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Trying it out now, pretty fun.
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hi
i'm playing a arc build in a one month league now - but compare to your tree i'm planning to avoid the shadow tree (mainly the cast speed points) and put more shock and spell block - as it might be difficult to gear a proper gear in 30 days. Thanks for ideas! It's a solid build. | |
" Would you mind posting your tree? I'm interested in how you build your Arc build. But I think that build dosn't need more chance to shock though spellblock would be a nice adition. Besides that I think gearing isn't that difficult, even not in an one month leage. Two purites grant lots of resistances already and the passive tree has quite some mana regeneration in it. The only thing that could be a bit hard to obtain is the Lightning Coil, but even that piece of gear should be obtainable in one month without any problems. IGN - Blackdepp Last edited by Blackdepp on Mar 26, 2015, 1:51:48 PM
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Is this build viable without saffells and lightning coil? I just ripped my only char in the hc1m at lvl39 and wanted to reroll arc but have little to no currency to start with. Really i only need to be able to map safely until i can afford a lightning coil and saffells.
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" You can run this build without Saffell's Frame, but if you have one it's a huge enhance for your defence. Playing without Lightning Coil is dangerous. Until you can afford one, try to run this build with a high armour chest and shield to compensate the fact, that you don't have a Lightning Coil yet. IGN - Blackdepp
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!!!THOUGHTS ABOUT THE NEW PATCH!!!
With the upcomming patch the Cast When Damage Taken combination won't work anymore, because Enduring Cry then will be taged as an Warcry and no longer as a spell. I'm not sure how Enduring Cry is going to work with Spell Echo then, but I currently tryed to selfcast Enduring Cry and keep my Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Increased Duration Setup and it worked pretty well. With that some things need to be reworked (assumed Enduring Cry and Spell Echo still would work together): - Maybe the third bandit reward should be an Endurance Charge - To safe slots, Storm Call needs to be placed in a 4L with Enduring Cry, so both gems benefit from Spell Echo - The auras move into the chest, because coloring that right is the easiest way - The Cast When Damage Taken - Immortall Call - Increased Duration moves into the shield, because it is the easiest to color Any thoguhts abaout that? IGN - Blackdepp
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