[3.0] Dark Pact Berserker (9k life, MoM, 600k dps, cheapish)

20/08 update - did Phoenix, wasted 200c to upgrade the gear, suddenly GGG updates the game and now I'm getting unexpected disconnects at unplayable rate. Gotta wait until they fix it.

Hello there. Never tried this before, so do tell if I missed something.

Dark Pact. Its basically a chaos nova, it damages all nearby enemies on cast and takes 6% of caster's life to boost damage when self-cast.

This build I theorycrafted before 3.0 launched and now successfully tested it in-game. Its not quite as good as I theorized, but still very solid, probably better than some of my previous ones.

So far it cleared uber lab, normal Atziri, T15s, Phoenix, Minotaur and Hydra.

I currently play this with a few modifications. However its fun and works fine. I just got into maps and optimized him to be fast for clearing t4 or lower maps to level up.

Here's how I do it:
I am using Nyctas Lantern as weapon (because I had it) and a spellshield.
Windscream Boots to apply 2 curses.
I use Warlords Mark and Poachers Mark at the same time. The boots allow me to apply both. they work on most bosses as well.
And I use shield charge because I have a shield.

For jewels I use +attack and cast speed with +%life and if possible aoe damage.
I am not saying this is viable all the way through but for really fast lowtier maps its incredibly fun and fast.

Thanks for the guide, I really enjoy this.


edit:
Oh and for leveling I chose Sunder + Multistrike (+ ruthless + faster attacks) which was incredibly fun. If you can get a 1hand weapon and a shield to shieldcharge fats through the leveling zones.
shieldcharge + faster attacks + culling strike

Culling strike is a lot of fun because it gives you the edge in single target damage that sunder lacks.

For me this is current best version of this build here.
This is the only one that can sustain a single target, others will lack mana on long fight.
Covenent is > to cherubins for this builds as correctly builds they give almost same life and dps.
And definitely Iron will is the correct 6 links :)

Another option would be to play cherrubins with a pure blood magic build.

"

Misskaora wrote:

For me this is current best version of this build here.
This is the only one that can sustain a single target, others will lack mana on long fight.
Covenent is > to cherubins for this builds as correctly builds they give almost same life and dps.
And definitely Iron will is the correct 6 links :)

Another option would be to play cherrubins with a pure blood magic build.

Shilling super hard.

There is a lot this build could improve. I'd be more constructive but if they took every suggestion it'd just look like my build, which is already on the forums. Also everything you are praising is suboptimal, which becomes obvious when you throw it up in PoB.

I don't mean to trash talk this build, but the things you are saying are wrong. If you want to talk about my build's ability to handle boss fights, do it in my thread, not here.

I'd be happy to explain to you that Atziri's Acuity gets you all your mana back every hit, and if you find yourself unable to cast because you hit 0, Lav's makes your spells free.

Any videos?

"

There is a lot this build could improve.

Like what? Going crit? You think I didn't considered it? Going crit means sacrificing survivability + massively increasing price of the gear. Acuity alone costs almost three times more than all my items put together.

Maybe if I had infinite currency I'd do it. But I don't.

"

Also everything you are praising is suboptimal, which becomes obvious when you throw it up in PoB.

I'll take suboptimal over unrealistic any day.

And again, please, do point out at suboptimalities, if they are actually here.

"

monkuar wrote:

Any videos?

Sorry, my toaster can't even run the game good enough, trying to record videos would probably fry it.

"

Akmarum wrote:

Sorry, my toaster can't even run the game good enough, trying to record videos would probably fry it.

Aye np. I was doing cute_dog's DP and specced into crit build but felt too squishy for single target.

Wasted 40+chaos, was thinking of doing this build instead. Seems like we get extra damage from the covenant and more survivable.

obviously not the same amount of deeps as compared to crit but still should be good right?

e: i really like shield charging though. could we use lightning warp and get insane movement speed that way?

"

Akmarum wrote:

"

There is a lot this build could improve.

Like what? Going crit? You think I didn't considered it? Going crit means sacrificing survivability + massively increasing price of the gear. Acuity alone costs almost three times more than all my items put together.

Maybe if I had infinite currency I'd do it. But I don't.

"

Also everything you are praising is suboptimal, which becomes obvious when you throw it up in PoB.

I'll take suboptimal over unrealistic any day.

And again, please, do point out at suboptimalities, if they are actually here.

"

monkuar wrote:

Any videos?

Sorry, my toaster can't even run the game good enough, trying to record videos would probably fry it.

I could throw together a few non-crit improvements when I have a moment. I apologize for insulting your build, I was mostly going off on the other commenter.

Off the top of my head, I suspect Iron Will is not as good as you assume with the amount of strength you have.

By the way, you mentioned trying to keep it cheap. Does this mean you are not interested in Kaom's Heart?

Okay, first, if you're using MoM, Pledge is just straight up better than 2x Apep.

Next, melding is really bad, and I would not get the added chaos damage nodes that constitute shadow's starting path. I'd consider Nimbleness points better spent. http://poeurl.com/bsiS

Assuming you follow my advice and grab pledge, your best links are DP - Added Chaos - Controlled Destruction - Void Manipulation - Faster Casting - Efficacy, replacing the last with Conc Effect for bosses. If you don't use pledge, you want Spell Echo instead of Efficacy, and you're going to replace Faster Casting with Conc Effect for bosses. If you insist on using Covenant, which I believe is a mistake (you have plenty of mana going MoM/pledge and no reserved mana, and you can use Lav's Spirit for emergencies), you'd replace Added Chaos with Spell Echo instead.

Iron Will is only better than a More multiplier when you have stupid amounts of strength. 232 does not qualify.

Atziri's Promise is silly when you're a berserker whose primary skill is already 100% chaos damage.

Kaom's Roots gives no move speed, and rare boots get pretty up there with life nowadays. I don't like it, but I guess if you're not going to consider Heart, you've got to get your life from somewhere.

I personally have found I like cwdt + vortex a lot better on berserker than cwdt + IC, especially with no endurance charges. It hits like a truck for the 100% leech immediately after you take a bad hit, and then it chills for a pretty good defensive bonus.

Lightning golem gives more DPS than flame golem, and better cast speeds put less time between leeches back to full.

That's pretty much what I could come up with on a first pass. Hope it helps. Please accept my apology for bad mouthing you.

Edit: Oh and Belt of the Deceiver is amazing and very inexpensive.

Edit 2: got rid of the eldritch knowledge suggestion, picking up an extra jewel for less points is better.