[2.6] The Kensei - A dual Ichimonji wild strike build that's actually good
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OK, so I've made quite a few builds through the years, but this is the first one that I thought was unique/interesting/fun enough to actually merit a thread. It's utilizing a skill and a unique which are both considered quite weak, to make a very strong build. I don't claim that any specific idea in the build is new, novel, or unique. But I've never seen one that uses them together the way that I do. The official title is the Kensei, but I suppose that you could also call it the IchiBuzzNecroAvatarMancerSawMonji.
Please note that I spec out a full lvl 100 passive tree -- you can choose which nodes to take based on your experiences while playing (prioritizing whatever you feel that you need the most at any given time). You do NOT have to be lvl 100 to use the build -- it should be viable from pretty early on, assuming that you prioritize getting your auras. IMPORTANT: Damage conversion is currently bugged in PoE. See my bug report @ https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1866607 for details, but essentially, damage conversion is NOT prioritizing skill gem conversion. This is actually beneficial to the build, however given that 1) I had finished it before being made aware of the bug, and 2) I expect them to fix it at some point, in this guide, I treat damage conversion as if it were unbugged. IF you are using legacy Call of the Brotherhood+Pyre, this makes no difference, however if using non-legacy, be aware that you will lose something on the order of <5% of damage if the bug is fixed. Pros:
Spoiler
Really high DPS. It's not crazy, million-DPS high, but you can get into the mid-hundred-thousands. Wild strike's tooltip is wildly incorrect, so use outside calculation if you really want to find it out.
Incredibly fast movespeed. I don't even use a movement skill, it's so fast (though you can fit one into the build if you want one; I previously ran Whirling Blades, and it's insane). Decently tanky. Depends on your investment into gear/passives, but you should be able to push over 8k with ~10-15ex of gear, and break 9k with more investment. Also, 82/82/83% elemental res, with an option for +1 from your Chayula/Shavs AND +2 if you opt for +1 skill gem gear. Unusual, relatively cheap gearing requirements -- to overcap, you basically only need 1 res mod for each element between all of your (non-unique) gear, and 2 chaos res mods for 75% chaos res. Fairly unique mechanics/gameplay, at least so far as I can tell. Not many melee characters go Necromancer from my experience, and Wildstrike is pretty rare as well. The vast majority of map mods are doable. BM is really the only one that is a hard no-go. Yes, elemental reflection is viable, even without flasks. Plays well solo. Pretty flexible with the passive tree, both in terms of prioritization and changes. Cons:
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Ultra-high-end gear variations can get really expensive and niche (then again, in what build isn't that the case).
Unusual gearing requirements mean that, while you can pick up high-ES pieces cheaper (and use whatever's lying around while saving up for gear), you probably don't own anything that you'll want to use endgame, even if you play a lot of ES toons. Not the tankiest build around. Not a glass cannon, but probably not the best choice for hardcore. It's extremely socket-starved, to the point that sockets may even dictate your build choices a bit. And forget CoDT Molten Shell. It is pretty painful to level at times. Particularly, ~50-~64, and (if you don't have a 5-6l shavs and 250+es helm, 125+ boots, and 125+ gloves) ~75-90. Not the best party build. Difficult in SSF due to very specific unique requirements. Build theory:
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This is a somewhat more complicated build than most, so it may take a few key points to understand how it works.
1) Wild strike. It's very widely considered to be a terrible skill, however it actually has a massive amount of damage. 178% damage multiplier @ lvl 21, and 20% increased elemental damage @ q20. Oh, and you actually get two (full-damage) attacks per "attack" due to its secondary effect -- which additionally does area or multi-target damage, removing the need for Melee Splash. So you get 356% of your damage, each attack, half of which splashes or hits multiple targets. 2a) Avatar of Fire. The main reason that, despite having massive raw damage, wild strike sucks, is that not only is it 100% damage, but it's randomly split between all 3 types of elemental damage. This means that penetration is very difficult, since you would have to run all 3 gems. And elemental damage without penetration is just not viable super-endgame. So, we convert it all to fire damage -- which means that we can just run fire penetration, and it works on all of the damage. 2b) Call of the Brotherhood+Pyre. Unfortunately, Avatar of Fire won't convert all of the damage to fire. These convert more of it. The exact amount depends on whether you are using legacy versions. With legacies, 100% of all (non-chaos) damage will be converted to fire. With non-legacy versions, 81% of lightning is converted to fire, and 90% of cold is converted to fire. Since 33% of physical is converted to lightning, fire, and cold, that means that 90.3% of physical will be converted to fire. 3) Ichimonji. Yet again, widely considered to be trash. But importantly, it not only boosts the effect of your auras/buffs (on yourself), but allows you to run more auras by lowering reservation requirements. And it has decent-to-good attack speed, which for this build is more important than its mediocre-to-poor physical damage, and downright abysmal crit chance. 4) Low-life. If you're broke, you can use Lorica, but beyond the (dirt-cheap) requirements above, upgrading to Shav's should be your first priority. 5) Auras. Lots of them. 6) Necromancer. Yes, that's right, Necromancer for a non-minion, solo-focused melee build. The main reason is that all of the auras, combined with Ichimonji's buff, gives us a whopping 96% increased damage and 72% increased attack speed. Plus the offering, and the corpse consumption bonus. Necromancer gives us enough offensive increases that we can pretty much ignore them on the tree, allowing us to grab a lot of survivability. In total (and with a 21/20 offering), you get 36% movespeed, 126% increased damage, and 108/116% attack/cast speed (plus 2% per corpse recently consumed), as well as 21% chaos res and 20% elemental res. There are a few other fiddly bits, which will be covered in their specific sections, but this gives you an overview of the basic build idea: Wild strike for massive damage, convert it all to fire to mitigate wild strike's downside, and allow flat damage of every time (excepting chaos), then stack auras with dual Ichimonjis and rely on Necromancer for pretty much all of our offensive increases. Skill gems:
Spoiler
Clarity should be L1 and the other auras should be L21 (quality doesn't matter), Enlightens L4 (or 3 or 2 if you can't afford it), Fortify 20/23, and the rest 21/20.
Weapon (3 sockets): Increased Duration+Fortify+Flesh Offering Weapon (3 sockets): CoDT+Blood Rage+Lightning Golem (you could remove the CoDT if you don't mind hardcasting them; this would allow you to rock a Desecrate or Portal gem or movement skill) H/G/B (4 sockets): Purity of Fire + Purity of Lightning + Purity of Cold + Enlighten H/G/B (4 sockets): Discipline + Vitality + Haste + Enlighten H/G/B (4 sockets): Clarity, Anger + Wrath + Blood Magic (*You should swap Haste in here IF your helm has reduced mana reservation on Anger or Wrath*) Armor (6 sockets): Wildstrike, Multistrike, Faster Attacks, Elemental Focus, Weapon Elemental Damage, Fire Penetration Gear:
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2x Ichimonji. Highest attack speed roll, but the effect of the phys dmg roll on your DPS is marginal (though, if you have the money, you may as well buy as good as you can).
Shavronne's Wrappings. 6-link, obviously. Unfortunately, it's ultra-off-color, but if you're lucky (and smart), you can pick up a corrupted one for cheap. I paid 4.5ex for mine. Presence/Eye of Chayula. Vanilla is fine, higher roll is obviously better. Ideally, it should be the +1 maxres corrupt, but that's uber-high-end. Upgrading from Eye to Presence is the second priority after getting a Shav's. Pyre. Max res rolls -- you can't inflict burning, so you can ignore that. Legacy is recommended. Call of the Brotherhood. Max lightning damage and Int; mana regen wouldn't hurt, but shouldn't be needed. Legacy is recommended. [optional] I'm not convinced that these are superior to equivalent-cost rares, but at the very least, they're comparable. Voidbringers. This will sacrifice some ES and DPS in exchange for +1 (+2 if get a +1 skill gem corruption) to auras, and either a +5 enlighten or a cheaper +4 enlighten. Steppan Eard. Again, you're sacrificing some ES in exchange for +1 to auras, and either a +5 enlighten or a cheaper +4 enlighten. That's it for uniques. However, keep in mind that you will need a reduced reservation mod on your helm if you want maximal effectiveness. You could buy one with it, but it's likely cheaper to buy the helm that you want, then pay to have it enchanted than to try to find one that suits you with the enchantment already on it. Your resistances are: Necromancer: +21 Chaos, +20 Cold and Lightning and Fire Pyre: +30 Cold and +35 Fire Call of the Brotherhood: +16 Cold and Lightning Presence of Chayula: 60 chaos Shavronne's Wrappings: 35 lightning Purity of Cold: +78 Cold Purity of Fire: +78 Fire Purity of Lightning: +78 Lightning In merciless/maps, that yields: 21 Chaos (75 max) +84 Cold (82 max) +73 Fire (82 max) +89 Lightning (83 max) To overcap for EW, you need 34 more, so you need a total of: 54 Chaos res (75% final) 32 Cold (82 final) 43 Fire (82 final) 28 Lightning (83 final) Other than that, just go for maximum ES, paired with movement speed/elemental damage with weapons on boots, attack speed/flat damage on gloves, accuracy on gloves and helm, elemental damage/armor on belts, and Intelligence on everything (as possible). You also probably want/need some strength on your gear, to meet minimum requirements for gems. Jewels:
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2x Energy From Within
1x Mantra of Flames 1x Static Electricity 1x Conqueror's Efficiency Skill tree:
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Bandits:
Passive Point Kraityn (8% increased Attack Speed) Kraityn (+1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges) https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMDAQFvBS0NfA3iEVAVIBUnFy8Zihm0Go8bJRzcHRQdqiL0I9MksCcLKPos6S2DLlMvbzW5NsVAoEMxRnFHfkiOSVFJsUuuTP9OKlXWVkhXVFfJXGtcil4TX2pfsGFSZOdlTWqTbAttGW8nb55wu3Tteu99dX_GgKSBr4MJg7aESITFhNmGs4bRirOLeoyxjxqPRo9gj_qTJ5OolwaaapuKm7WhL6cIpyuvjbEFtAy4k7jQu-O9Nr5Pvoq-p8HFwzrDbcSiykrK09DQ02_TftOP18_YJNkT2VvaOtrB34rhiOL36QLquuvu7Bjsg-9O73rviPDV9qP22vfB-Tf60vsJ_kn-ug==?accountName=tsftd&characterName=Kensei_McIchimans Your first priorities should be life/mana leech and aura passives. Other than that, it's pretty flexible. But don't skimp on the ES nodes, and don't really worry about taking extra damage nodes -- you don't need em. Gameplay videos: Shaped Promenade (tier 14) + gear viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmD6dLiXrkw High Gardens (tier 13): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBcXRET-lJQ Ivory Temple (tier 12): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM6NaPoedPg Crematorium (tier 12): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRKbQjVXVag As for viability on a budget, using a 6L Solaris that I already had, I was able to comfortably run up to t4-5 maps prior to even switching into an ES helm, and just using random high-es gloves/boots that I had laying around, then t6-7 after getting the helm (t8-9 are possible, with occasional deaths). And that without a full 21/20 gem layout or any L4 Enlightens yet. I'm currently destroying tier 12-14 maps (15 viable, but haven't dropped), having upgraded to a Shav's and Presence (still working on a full gem layout lol), with 1-2ex boots and gloves and belt. FAQ: Why are you using Wildstrike? That skill sucks!
Spoiler
It's actually the best skill for the build. We're converting everything to fire, so we only need 1 penetration gem, which is the biggest issue with the skill. We also have crazy high attack speed, which nicely evens out the 3 different secondary attacks. If you're making 6 attacks per second, it feels pretty uneven -- if you're making 12 attacks per second, they all kind of merge together and it's more like CoC with EK+Arc+FP.
Why go Necromancer instead of Elementalist/Guardian/Inquisitor?
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I actually tried versions of the build with all 3 of those, but the sheer mass of auras that you rock just make Necromancer a better choice. The other 3 all give you minor defensive bonuses, and minor offensive bonuses, but Necromancer gives you a TON of offense, which means that you can drop it almost entirely out of the tree and make up for its lack of defense with a LOT of passive defensive nodes. Also, there is the fact that the math works better with Necromancer due to having larger bonuses numerically and the way that your increased aura effect works. You wind up with +86% (+96% with Guardian) effect of your auras, which means that, for instance, the Guardian's 1% PDR is increased to... 1%. Yeah, no increase. Necromancer, on the other hand, goes from 10%/5% to 18%/9% -- an 80% increase.
IGN Stuns_McNutshot | Ichimans_McIchimans | Balls_McCritterson Last edited by tsftd on Apr 14, 2017, 6:39:05 PM Last bumped on Aug 21, 2017, 11:03:14 PM
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Hey. Nice build - I've been theorycrafting around Ichijmoni and my build looks a lot like this. First of all whats your gem-setup for wildstrike? 2nd: is clarity really necessary, or wouldn't be mana leech an option? 3rd: did you use https://poe.mikelat.com/ for your aura setup - if yes, could you post the full setup please. And could you add the character spreadsheet with buff/unbuffed for dps/as/ES check?
Thanks and ty for the interesting build! | |
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1) Wild strike gem set added to gems section, sorry that I forgot that!
2) No, clarity is level 1 and provides minimal mana regen. Mana is easily sustained by the single mana leech node on the tree. The purpose of it is to gain the large bonuses from the Necromancer's effect on auras, as well as giving another buff for Mantra of Flames. 3) https://poe.mikelat.com/#OFrv5Msg/tNrp.sJb/Vi7c.jNh/tNrp.yVd -- note that this is not including a +1 to level of gems item (increasing Enlighten to lvl 5), or a helmet enchant. The helmet enchant is really pretty much neccesary to run the full 9 auras. Any of the mana reduction enchants for any of the auras that you use (excepting clarity) will do, but obviously the higher-tier options are superior (and you may need to swap anger/wrath for haste, as the enchant needs to be on a non-blood magic aura). As for the spreadsheet, I have another post with one listed (https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1865856)... but unfortunately, it was made prior to me finding out about the damage conversion bug. Also, Path of Building doesn't work well with it, due to reasons explained in the aforementioned post. On the other hand, it's pretty simple to figure out how the few variables in your gear work out -- in terms of priority: 1) Accuracy 2) Attack speed 3) Flat elemental 4) Flat physical 5) Increased elemental Really, the only available mods are: Increased WED (boots/belt) Attack speed/flat dmg (gloves) Accuracy (gloves/helm) However, honestly the build does PLENTY of DPS without worrying too much about min/maxing. Just get max-aps (and as high of dps as possible) Ichimonjis, good (200+) accuracy rolls on helm and gloves, and 21/20 your gems, and you'll destroy pretty much anything. PS, Path of Building does work nicely for ES/Life/Mana check -- just not DPS. IGN Stuns_McNutshot | Ichimans_McIchimans | Balls_McCritterson Last edited by tsftd on Apr 14, 2017, 6:59:44 PM
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wish I found this thread earlier
Is it possible to go blood magic mortal conviction? Have you tried the Scourge? Or maybe using ichimonji and scourge at the same time? I personally don't like wild strike becoz walking into melee range to hit something is annoying. The single target dps seems worrying coz the secondary effect doesnt hit the original target. What other skill would you suggest for better clear speed or better single target damage? Last edited by g2g on Apr 23, 2017, 1:37:11 PM
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Seems a convoluted way to use WS reducing it to a fire skill with all the conversion you're doing. Why not just use a Blasphemy with Elemental Weakness for Tri-elemental penetration with Elemental Equilibrium?
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" Me too! ;p " Yes, however there are some serious drawbacks: 1) It takes 7 additional skill points. These would have to come out of ES passives, as all others are pretty much required. The extra life which is converted to ES through Chayula's would offset this a bit, but not nearly enough to cancel it out. 2) As you'll be using life instead of mana, you need a way to generate the life for WS and your offering. Leech has to go to ES, so you're relegated to removing Zealot's Oath (saving 1 skill point). This impacts Blood Rage viability as well as survivability, and makes things like No Regen unrunnable. Plus I don't know how much regen you'd need to sustain costs -- it might require additional regen from somewhere, costing more nodes. On the plus side, it WOULD free up a socket and probably allow you to run more auras. But I don't think that it's worth it, on the whole. " No, I haven't. It's certainly a possibility, but working through the exact mechanical outcome is... difficult. It would give you 160% damage (70% from item after hit, 90% from necromancer passives), BUT would necessitate removing an Ichimonji, lowering attack speed (1.94->1.72) with an insignificant increase in phys dmg. And more importantly, you lose the reservation and buff bonuses from Ichimonji. Ballparking it, I'd say that it would decrease your DPS overall, but it's possible that it might slightly increase it instead. And of course, there is the whole spectral wolf thing, but I have no worldly clue how useful they'd actually be (only 10% chance per kill, unknown how long they last, unknown dps/life, etc). " Actually, the secondary effect CAN (and almost always does) hit the original target. This is why Wild Strike has such amazingly high DPS -- high base damage, and 2x damage to the original target, with 1x splash effect. " 4 reasons: 1) Blasphemy would necessitate dropping an aura (probably clarity), and due to socket constraints on the build, something else would need to be dropped too. This is a significant DPS decrease due to the intertwined mechanics of the build. 2) EW, while nice, is not actually as significant as it seems. For one thing, it has 60% less effect on bosses. So a 21/20 EW with 20/20 Blasphemy is 45%*1.1*.4 = 19% vs a boss. 3) EE, while viable for a straight phys conversion WS build, is useless for an elemental buzzsaw like this. We're using Anger and Wrath, both of which add flat elemental damage (along with Static Blows and Mantra of Flames), so EVERY hit will give them fire and lightning resistance. 1/3 of attacks will be cold, but 1/3 of those will come AFTER another cold, so only 2/9 attacks will get any sort of reduced resistances on the enemy, and then it will only apply to the converted phys damage, which is a small fraction of the overall damage (maybe 10-20%?). 4) You're confusing reduced elemental resistances with penetration. They are very different mechanics, especially when dealing with endgame maps. I think that there are really only 3 viable Wild Strike builds in the game at the moment: Necromancer + Elemental Buzzsaw Crit + Inquisitor Phys damage scaling + Elementalist Maybe there are others, but I can't think of them. Except, perhaps, the jankiest build I've ever thought up: Occultist phys-scaling Wild Strike + elemental buzzsaw + Incandescent Heart + 3x dream + 3x nightmare + double Ming's + broken faith + Sin's Rebirth + Atziri's Promise = phys -> chaos + elem -> chaos build... yeah, not viable. IGN Stuns_McNutshot | Ichimans_McIchimans | Balls_McCritterson
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Dbl post
3.3 RF Trickster SSF HC guide : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2147256 Last edited by Rusherboy on Apr 24, 2017, 6:08:16 PM
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" You are really forgetting the best version, Berserker. Video demonstration :
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What is your tooltip dps and how much fire penetration? 3.3 RF Trickster SSF HC guide :
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2147256 | |
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well, i havent seen that build before, and the videos dont provide dps/gear info and a quick google didn't turn up a build thread. but regardless of that, anything capable of t16 boss clears is obviously viable at the least, so I stand corrected. then again, technically the worst you can do is 30% effective monster fire res with pen gem, so arguably just about any build could work with wild strike if you throw enough currency at it.
tooltip is 100-200k, depending on how you calculate it, and unadjusted (not accounting for doubling the DPS due to secondary or penetration). Note that that's with non-maxed gems and gear. penetration is just fire pen gem, so 45%. skill tree pen isn't worth the point cost for the build. IGN Stuns_McNutshot | Ichimans_McIchimans | Balls_McCritterson
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" My build thread is here https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1867849 My gear costs less than your 6L Shav alone but my gems are 20/20 (few 21/20). I have 49% pen from gear and tree, I don't use the fire pen gem. I'm not trying to tear down your build, I love seeing other options for Wild Strike. I'm currently testing Raider, I figure 10 frenzy charges do alot for the skill. Anyway keep on rocking Wild Strike! 3.3 RF Trickster SSF HC guide : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2147256 Last edited by Rusherboy on Apr 25, 2017, 12:37:28 PM
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