Theorycrafting: Ghost Reaver with high life and life regen

The Scion has comfortable access to Ghost Reaver as well as the life nodes from the Templar and the Marauder and energy shield.

So I thought, it would be a nice idea to have a fast regenerating life pool, that is protected by energy shield. But I am sceptical, if Ghost Reaver is really a good idea, because I could also leech life directly to the life pool. Would Ghost Reaver have any advantage?
The only one, I can think of, is Melee Damage on Full Life. This would also mean, that I need to build a melee Scion.
So here is my skilltree for a melee Scion with the above features:


Here is one for a spellcaster, although I currently do not see a reason to use spells with this build:


What do you think?

An interesting idea, but looking at your melee Scion tree it seems that you are going out of your way to take advantage of the Scion being able to go both ways even when it is suboptimal to do so, resulting in a poor build.

Come 2.0 it might be worth it with Jewels, but let's face it, right now you are paying 4 passive points for 13% AS, and that's a lot when you could pick up 18% for 3 points somewhere else, or take advantage of some of the very good nodes in the Shadow area that you are bypassing to get Ghost Reaver.

Like you I'm not sure this is a good idea in the first place, but try it out and tell us your results! :)


To help you out, I've performed a first pass optimization on your tree and have come up with this build that uses 80 points just like your tree and has the same keystones:

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgAAlKDYTfnoaHTaYoMJb56btcM6ykpJsdfP-TfviJMntAwcp8autz5BhwxfU6X-Cti9aPKvbEz_PC3wH6IABLPAZl8_wQR5aAtheA2pbrXyNZIUIO8O9kjEWD38WGPG2ITZAdy-ikd-vTZlTb6n6roNfEZx1fjEuENj5FFQR3Z_nld-4HuMhMSLTygql3nBgi_Mms9xTXzZ9zJyqcT2topDyCj6V8mCxw-rUzVtbLVIES_rY5mabIydqjY9X2rb57TFYqwWv2HiJpU=

The difference between the builds is as follows. My build gives:

+20 INT (10 mana, +4% maximum ES)
+20 DEX (+10 evasion, +4% maximum evasion)
+10 STR (+5 life, +2% melee physical damage)
+6% cast speed
+26% increased evasion rating
+5% movement speed
+8% increased maximum energy shield
+9% increased maximum life
+5 life per kill
+8% elemental resistances
+8% increased physical damage
+10% faster start of energy shield recharge

and

-10 armour
-1% attack speed

which I'm sure you'll agree is a substantial improvement at a minimal cost. It probably needs more optimization, but for a first pass I'm satisfied with it.

Wow, thanks for your thoughts and your optimization, I really appreciate it! :)

Oh, the optimization at the shadow area is obvious. But I took poebuilders shortest highlighted path to Ghost Reaver. So it was not manually optimized by me.

I think I will decide later, if I really will be playing with a shield. Most likely, I will not, but instead use dual wield claws and take the claw nodes in the Shadow area. This will give a damage boost and nice life leech.

Btw, I started the Scion today and noticed, that it is really a long way to the left to the more generic physical damage nodes. I also want to get RT early, because I hate missing. It always feels like desync.