[3.2] Scionic Flametank "16k ES ed." (ES-CI-ZO-GR, SR-CWC-FS, extensive guide)

Thanks for taking the time and posting this guide!

I am currently trying it (only at lvl 40 atm), and I have a question on it. I recently found a Pledge of Hands and accidently 6-linked it. Do you think I could abuse it for this build?

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dfspspirit wrote:

Thanks for taking the time and posting this guide!

I am currently trying it (only at lvl 40 atm), and I have a question on it. I recently found a Pledge of Hands and accidently 6-linked it. Do you think I could abuse it for this build?

Not without modifications. There are two obvious issues with the idea:

1. Using Pledge of Hands means no shield, and a decent shield provides a lot of energy shield (as well as other stats, but it is the ES that's important here). In my case with a 441 ES shield, that would be 2725 maximum ES lost. Now, that's not an insurmountable obstacle if you've got good gear otherwise, but it is a significant hit that will make you more frail. (With my gear losing the shield would cost me 2725/14000 ~ 19.5% of my ES and regeneration.)

2. Incinerate does not benefit from Spell Echo any longer.


OTOH, this build does go pretty far picking up defenses, and even without a shield it is very tough, so what you could do is abuse your PoH for a variant of the build using a spell supported by Spell Echo as your main spell in the PoH link. A fire spell would be the obvious choice if you wanted to benefit from the 40% increased fire damage from Arsonist (I used PoH Firestorm in another build and it was great fun), but any Spell Echo supported spell would do, really.

Off the top of my head, here's a suggested PoH Firestorm variant that'll still be pretty tanky.

PoH: Firestorm - Mana Leech - Fire Penetration - Concentrated Effect - two of (Faster Casting, Controlled Destruction, Added Chaos Damage) - (30 Spell Echo: 7L)

104 pts (level 80)
114 pts (level 90)

You might have to tweak it to help meet mana needs; Only way to find out is to test it, I guess.

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply. The info on spell echo seems quite important, and you are right about the shield.

I have a 100% chaos conversion CI firestorm witch, not sure whether I want another one (without chaos conversion, but still). But I'm considering it. I may have to find something completely different for the PoH.

Then turn it into a tanky bladefall variant instead, dfspspirit.

Perhaps aiming for something like this: 114 pts (lvl 90), with

Bladefall - Mana Leech - Concentrated Effect - (three of Faster Casting, Controlled Destruction, Added Chaos Damage, Void Manipulation) - (30 Spell Echo: 7L)

Or if tired of chaos,

Bladefall - Mana Leech - Concentrated Effect - Physical to Lightning - (two of Added Fire Damage, Added Lightning Damage, Lightning Penetration, Faster Casting, Controlled Destruction) - (30 Spell Echo: 7L)

Yeah, I've had a look at Bladefall and Blade Vortex. Will see.

(There also is a "Pledge of Blades" build here in the forums that seems interesting, but the tree is completely different -- and uses witch start).

Just ran my Lv 86 Witch through Poorjoy's Asylum (btw, screw you for giving me that PITA as a Daily, Zana!). First time ever that I've made it through that nasty map without a single death. Not only that, I didn't even have to activate my Vaal Discipline...although I had to duck and run away from a few mobs to find an optimal defensive roasting position. :)

Just bought some new armour (and I'm flat broke as a result, lol) that raised my ES up to 13,200 with 1918 regen. A few more ES nodes to grab on the tree so I'm hoping to hit 14,000 with a few more tweaks to my gear as well.

Again, this is an amazing build....thank you, Pi2rEpsilon, for sharing it.

You should appreciate Zana more. She has your best interests in mind. Some of the best gifts from Zana for this build are Poorjoy's Asylum and Olmec's Sanctum because of massive rewards with negligible risk assuming one has appropriate equipment for the level or at least isn't too far behind the gear curve.

(Oba's Cursed Trove, on the other hand... is better done by a character that kills faster.)

Maybe I am overlooking something (jewels?), but: If you take written in Blood instead of Melding wheel, you get more for your points.

But I assume you put Energy from Within into the Jewel slot near Melding?

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dfspspirit wrote:

Maybe I am overlooking something (jewels?), but: If you take written in Blood instead of Melding wheel, you get more for your points.

But I assume you put Energy from Within into the Jewel slot near Melding?

Of course I put EfW in that jewel slot (says so in the guide, even) and that is, indeed, the reason that Written in Blood is worse than Melding.

Five skillpoints for (12%+15%)+25% = 52% or 10.4%/point. (Even with the worst possible roll of 8%, it is 9.6%/point).

Four points for 25% is only 6.25%/point. Even if you count in being able to save a skillpoint in not taking an INT node to connect up to CI, you end up with three points for (25%-2%) = 23%, or 7.7%/point.

Of course, an additional cost of using EfW is the opportunity cost of NOT using that jewel slot for something else, so for a more balanced tank/damage approach taking Written in Blood instead (and saving that INT node) of Melding and using the Melding jewel node for a damage jewel is an option.

But I don't want to lose out on that much efficient skillpoint usage on energy shield in this build, Hence Melding. (And if there are ever skill points left over afterwards I want to spend on ES, Melding can be picked up for 2 skillpoints giving 15% total and 7.5% ES/point, or 3 points and removing the INT ndoe for 7.7%/point)

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Pi2rEpsilon wrote:

You should appreciate Zana more. She has your best interests in mind. Some of the best gifts from Zana for this build are Poorjoy's Asylum and Olmec's Sanctum because of massive rewards with negligible risk assuming one has appropriate equipment for the level or at least isn't too far behind the gear curve.

(Oba's Cursed Trove, on the other hand... is better done by a character that kills faster.)

I suppose you're right...I just have a love/hate relationship with her...so many of her maps have gotten me killed I tend to veer more towards the hate side. :D

But speaking of crazy maps, I'd love to give Death and Taxes a go with with this build. My favorite unique map for a great mix of fun vs difficulty.

Oba's Cursed Trove...ugh...is all I have to say. o_0