[3.3] League starter, pure physical Slayer Cyclone (Do Shaper with Kondo/ ISC UberElder down)

First of all, i'm not native English speaker, so pardon my bad grammar/spelling :)

I play on Taiwan Garena server and this was my league starter.

Initially this build was designed for just Uber Lab running in Harbringer, but later I found it perform quite well even in the endgame contents.

The cost of this build is purposely toned down in this guide to be easily played as league starter, but you can of course upgrade it in multiple ways if you have spare currency.

You can also play this build as Ascendant (Slayer/Raider), which is what I use it in 3.2 and 3.3.

Ascendant Guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2150910

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patch 3.3 changes
Spoiler

Nothing really change. Beside we lose Aspect of Spider as endgame aura option with Bestiary gone.

3.3 also revamp the Vaal skills, but Vaal Cyclone is still meme tier, and feel very awkward to use with cyclone, going for Lv21 cyclone is just better for the +1 additional range.
Vaal Double Strike on the other hand can be easily included since cyclone proc. bleed very reliably, which provide a strong burst against map bosses.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Videos

What is this build capable of?

3.3 Incursion
Spoiler


I'm still start with Ascendant version for this league, but the difference between Slayer and Ascendant is minor for most part (Slayer is more stable and have insane leech duration, Scion have better speed due to Raider sub-ascendancy).

My first Shaper run this league with budget gear setup

https://youtu.be/ErMaidx7pwY
POB: https://pastebin.com/tRKqpMPK

Kondo's Pride as weapon, testing 5Links only. The jewels are also very cheap because none of them have Life% (each of them cost less than 10 chaos).


My first UberElder run this league

https://youtu.be/uLYOOGtHdlE

POB: https://pastebin.com/yf8cxb3J

First run this league and it was successful. Got one death from being combo by Shaper ball and Elder Ice spike.
I use 5L totem setup instead of Totem/VDS for UberElder because I'm not sure how many usage of VDS I can get it off for this fight, will test VDS later once I get my Starforge 6 linked.




3.2 Bestiary
Spoiler

For this league I'm trying out Scion/Slayer instead of Slayer. In short, Slayer have faster mapping and Scion stronger at bossing and can go crit for super-endgame content like uber elder (my goal this league).

My first Shaper this league with Kondo
Video:https://youtu.be/r_rDhFP-rlg

POB: https://pastebin.com/XyMBhH3L

Deathless UberElder Run (RT scion) :
Video: https://youtu.be/tcxXHaof9o0
POB: https://pastebin.com/R6HzJnJg

Crit Scion version UberElder (Warning: not starter friendly)
Spoiler

Scion (Slayer/Jugg) finalized version: https://youtu.be/mOcG5ShCIh0
POB: https://pastebin.com/rvR9FXTd



UberElder tested with Slayer version

Video: https://youtu.be/0jS_5q-2pD8

POB: https://pastebin.com/GMjGHETq

Using my old character from Abyss league since I don't have slayer in Bestiary league.
No legacy items is used, but keep in mind that the gears of my old Slayer is very good (double 6 Link and Bronn's Lithe colored for Cyclone, good Lab enchantment and almost BiS jewels).




3.1 Abyss
Spoiler

My first Shaper this league, decided to do it with Kondo and only 5 links
https://youtu.be/RXMLHZ752Po
First Minotaur with 5 Links
https://youtu.be/PpFbe1os-ac
First Hydra with 5 Links (map with 42% inc. monster life)
https://youtu.be/5-11K0f0rNM

POB for reference to above video: https://pastebin.com/2gbXzP2C
Not using Lion's Roar in above videos because people are selling it at ridiculous price in Taiwan server at that time.

Clearing Phoenix with Kondo's Pride
https://youtu.be/lTJ2SLlJ6Ug (Map with Minus max resist and Increase Boss life/Area)
Clearing Chimera with Kondo's Pride
https://youtu.be/0DMirdruwmU (Map has Minus max resist and Increase Boss Dmg/Speed)
Clearing Minotaur with Kondo's Pride
https://youtu.be/U6oSyq9gfhA (Rippy map with Haste, Inc. Boss Dmg/Speed and Frenzy charge)

Above videos also demonstrate how "Haemophilia" benefit us for mapping, I just swap it out before doing bosses. And forgive me about the abysmal frame rate, the game performance is just terrible for my computer in this expansion.

My current gears doing Shaper run
https://youtu.be/XY3sId-uq_o
My current POB as reference: https://pastebin.com/H1yw1Km8
Decide to use Belly since fusings are very cheap in this league of Taiwan server. My rings and amulet are still very bad. Most jewels are only 3 affix with no life% as well.
I take out the Vitality cluster but with VP the leech is still fine (have mana leech on ring). The enchantment on boots is very strong for Starforge, my totem with Ruthless can deal enough dmg to shock Shaper (Although the effect of shock would not be good in this case without crit.)


3.0 Harbringer
Spoiler
Deathless Shaper kill at early league, using Kondor's Pride
(even though i already farm the Starforge)
https://youtu.be/3K5t8JmJZiU
Spoiler
Sustained POB dmg in this video: 220K/110K (cyclone/totem)
POB:https://pastebin.com/s9aJFdQn
I haven't switch to the Arakaali Pantheon in this video, so you would notice the life recovery is slower than the other two video

Testing Shaper kill with Kondor's Pride and only 5 links
https://youtu.be/DVFv0IOPHXw
Spoiler
Sustained POB dmg in this video: 185K/130K (cyclone/totem)
POB:https://pastebin.com/Vm7fcyUc

Testing Guardians kill with Kondor's Pride and only 4 links
Spoiler

Difficulty: Minotaur> Phoenix> Chimera=Hydra
Hydra: https://youtu.be/ZypPGkWfY_c
Chimera: https://youtu.be/EdAKTegsNoE
Phoenix: https://youtu.be/jrvQ7DHTRVM
Minotaur: https://youtu.be/yGTWolyh_So

Testing Shaper kill with Kondor's Pride and only 4 links
https://youtu.be/pzMmaSzFks4
Spoiler
Sustained POB dmg in this video: 140K/80K (cyclone/totem)
POB: https://pastebin.com/9dMLEsZL

This is probably the lowest dmg required for this build to kill Shaper deathless, not recommended if you are not familiar with Shaper mechanics and confident with your skill.


Testing Uber Azitiri kill with Kondor's Pride
(Unfortunately you still require 6L with Kondor's to reach enough Dmg for this fight)
https://youtu.be/g3oO9LKGrwk
Spoiler
Sustained POB dmg in this video: 250K/130K (cyclone/totem)
POB:https://pastebin.com/dQMfSiUP




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pros:
Cheap and the core items are easily obtainable at any league
Smooth map clearing since cyclone now have decent range
Very good Lab runner
Can run most map mods(Except No-leeching)
~8K life endgame and sustained high leech regen
Ethical and true melee Kappa

Cons:
No insane damage scaling at late game
Since your dmg can't delete bosses like other late-game build, you have to play along the boss mechanics, which actually require you to "Play the game as GGG intended"
Clearing speed is not comparable to wanders or bow
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passive Tree

Spoiler
Basic Passive Tree layout [Lv90, VP]: www.poeurl.com/bHmp
(Kill all bandits for 2 passive)
This is all the passives you required to clear all contents with 6L and Kondor's pride.
Hematophagy is great boost for slayer leech.

Tireless is a very big QOL if you find that you're constantly out of mana during cycloning as 6L.

Crimson Dance and bleeding nodes from sword cluster give some dmg boost against single-target (~10%more DPS at 8 stacks), bleeding proc from cyclone also allow the usage of BloodLust to boost your totem dmg against single target. But you shouldn't invest any other passives on bleed scaling, especially after cyclone lost the Ruthless support in 3.1.

Vaal Pact is very strong for Slayer, with Leech not removed on full life, Vaal pact doesn't have any draw back. However, I wouldn't recommend taking VP too early, since your early dmg with cyclone may not be sufficient to support decent leech duration. I usually take VP after finishing the Uberlab.

Further leveling would be getting more life nodes and the 3 point jewel socket(if you have decent 4 affix jewel).

For Jewel, prioritize Attack speed rather than dmg, since we get a lot of dmg% from Strength bonus and passive, balancing your atk speed and dmg% would yield maximum DPS. Also attack speed allow faster leap slamming. Jewel with life% is good, but a life% Jewel that worth to be socketed usually cost much more than a very good 3 offensive affix jewel for us, and my tree have more than 200% inc. max life, so you should get offensive jewels early on for better investment return, than upgrade to good life% jewel later if you want.

I don't recommend using Abyssal Jewels on passive sockets for this build. Abyssal jewels excel at scaling your dmg through flat added-dmg, which is inefficient for 2H melee weapons with high base dmg. You should focus your abyssal jewels on Suvivalbilty/Utility/%scaling rather than flat-added-dmg in this build, and use them in abyssal gears.



Pantheon Choice
Spoiler

Since the nerf to Slayer Brutal Fevor at 3.1, Arakaali is the only one true major god for all Slayers, any other choices are heretics.

Soul of Arakaali, and especially the "Capture Arachnoxia in Sewer Map" upgrade is super strong for Slayer.(Credit to Reddit thread posted by SummeR for the discovery in 3.0 https://redd.it/6wgjoj)

This upgrade give the effect: "50% increased Recovery rate of Life and Energy Shield if you've stopped taking Damage Over Time Recently"
To proc. the effect, simply have Blood Rage avtivated and proc. Cwdt-Immortal Cry. The Immortal Cry would "Stop" the physical DOT from BR, thus fulfill the Pantheon requirement.

"50% increase Recovery rate of Life" include Life generation and Life Leech, since my build have constant life leeching (58% max-life/sec with VP), it would boost it to 87%/sec once the CwDT is proc., which is very strong with a decent life pool.

You could see the leeching demonstration in this short video I recorded in 3.0:
https://youtu.be/8pun1HbLIWE
you can slow it down in Youtube to see the leech speed difference.

For minor god, take whatever you like and choose it depending on map situations. I use Gruthkul/Shakari (with upgrade) in general, and Yugul(with upgrade) for UberElder.




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skill choices and Explanation
Spoiler

We use Cyclone as main skill, and supplemented with Ancestral Warchief for single target.

Cyclone: Brutality-MeleePhys-Maim-Dmg on Full Life-Conc/AOE

Spoiler

Switching between Conc and AOE for bossing/mapping.

Dmg on Full Life still function if your life-regen (including Slayer leech) out-weight the DOT effect on your character, so running blood rage won't stop its effect if you have >4% normal regen or leeching.

I use cyclone to proc the Maim debuff and Bleeding(25% from passive, also 20-30% from curse). Cyclone easily reach over 10 hit/sec, the proc. is reliable and consistent.

You might have mana problem when using Cyclone. A rule of thumb is that unreserved mana pool at about 3 times your Cyclone mana cost (EX: Cyclone cost 34, keep mana pool > 34*3=102) should prevent mana problems even during shortspin as long as you have a bit of mana leech and is hitting your target.




Ancestral Warchief-Brutality-MeleePhys-Bloodlust-Ruthless-Maim/Damage on full life
or Ancestral Warchief-Vaal Double Strike-Brutality-MeleePhys-Bloodlust-Ruthless

Spoiler


Totem play an important role for your single target DPS. We proc. bleed very reliably through cyclone, and thus Bloodlust on totem is consistently active.

Smart placement of Totem make it output damage for longer time and allow you to spend more time cycloning instead of recasting totem. This is the reason why I don't like to use Conc.Effect on Totem because it also reduce its engaging range.

Ancestral Warchief also provide much higher DPH (Damage per Hit) than cyclone, especially with Ruthless support. Which would make you score higher shock effect on boss if you're using Starforge and and have some shock chance.

You can also include Vaal Double Strike in this Totem setup (Totem-VDS-Brutality-MeleePhys-Bloodlust-Ruthless) after 3.3.
VDS is very strong for bursting, and the "Fire-and-forget" nature of VDS make it an easy inclusion without disrupting your normal Cyclone gameplay style.



Aura: Blasphemy-Vulnerability and Grace/Haste/Purity of Ice

Spoiler


Haste for general mapping, Grace for dangerous mod on attack based bosses and POI is the best aura for Shaper/UberElder.



Blood Rage and CwDt-Immortal Cry

Spoiler


Blood rage give you additional leech% and atk speed, you should always have Blood Rage up (unless in lab or trial) as the Slayer leech mitigate the degen.

CwDt-IC proc. temporally "stop" the physical DOT from Blood Rage and thus activate the Arakaali pantheon to boost your leech rate and max leech rate by 50%.

Many people like to support Blood Rage with CwDt as well, but I personally like manually cast BR myself, as there are some rare situations would turn BR to block your Arakaali pantheon (EX: Degen heavy environments). If you want

For CwDt threshold, I usually use around 1/4 of maximum life as proc threshold. Reason for this is that IC have internal cool-down of 3 secs, so reducing threshold won't make it proc. more frequent, and sometime would make it proc. "too early", and waste the 0.4 sec IC effect on preventing the actual heavy damage.
You can customize additional gems like Lightning Golem or Increase duration to CwDt-IC setup if you have spare sockets, which might be hard if you're using Tombfist.




LeapSlam-FasterAttack-Fortify-BloodMagic

Spoiler

Our movement skill, even as cyclone build, I still leapslam around a lot as it's still faster compared to walking. You should always set Leapslam as "Attack in Place" skill in 3.3 once the technology is here, which make it very comfortable to use.

BloodMagic support is important, it make your movement skill not compete with Cyclone on mana usage, thus reduce cyclone mana problem a lot.








-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear Choice and Explanation

Spoiler


Weapon: Kondo's Pride -> Starforge

Spoiler

Kondo is very cheap and easily obtainable even at early league. The damage roll on Kondo is rather stable, there is not much difference between a middle roll and a top roll one, unlike Doomsower.

Kondo also give a little amount of leech, and the dmg bonus against bleeding target is actually significant at early stage, making a 460dps Kondo comparable to 2H sword with ~490pdps in damage calculation. Ignore other effect of this sword since you don't use this sword for crit.

Kondo also function well even at endgame, I have farmed Shaper with Kondo for Starforge across several league already.
But if the price of Starforge become cheap enough, you should always just buy it, as it is probably the biggest upgrade you can achieve on this build (5L Starforge have around same damage as 6L Kondo, and also give you 100 flat life as well).



Helmet: Devoto's Devotion

Spoiler

Basically no other choice, since Slayer have no innate movement speed bonus unlike Raider or Ascendant(Raider), the High Dex provided also allow you to use high level Haste/Grace without any additional passive investment.

For helm enchant, Blood rage additional atk speed% > Cyclone speed% > Cyclone damage% = Vulnerability effectiveness

Blood rage atk speed% is global, so it also boost your Leapslam and Totem.



Armor: 6-Link rare Astral Plate from "The Celestial Justicar" or belly -> Elder/Shaper base

Spoiler

"The Celestial Justicar" provide the most budget 6L chest choice for melee beside corrupted chest, 6L Belly is almost 4 times the price at any stage of the league.
Although Belly would yield higher life, Rare Astral can have much higher resistance because it provide 12 all resist as base. Don't be afraid to roll chaos on it, since the addition of hybrid life mods, it's actually very easy to get a chest with >100 life and 2 resist mods(1 from master mod), which will greatly reduce the cost of your other gear slot furthermore.
Any strength based rare armor with high life(>80) and high total resist(>80) would also do the job, "The Celestial Justicar" just provide an consistent way to get it at the early league.

With the addition of Shaper/Elder based armor in 3.1, getting a body armor with "%phydmg taken as elemental" and high life plus some resist is probably even stronger than Belly in term of survival for endgame. Shaper base armor with T1 phys damage taken as cold coupled with Purity of Ice is probably the cheapest combination since you can get this mod on itlv 83 Shaper Armor, which is significantly cheaper than itlv 84+ or elder base armor.

Another unorthodox choice for Chest slot is Bronn's Lithe, which provide the highest damage potential for cyclone. Bronn's Lithe is one of the few ways to get Lv21 Vaal cyclone setup so you also benefit from the +1 weapon range. The downside of Bronn is obvious: no life, no resist and a bitch to get 6L cyclone color, would not recommend until you are very rich and want to fully min-max the build in terms of damage.




Glove and Belt: "Rare glove + Deceiver belt" -> "Tombfist + Rare Stygian Vise" -> Tombfist + Elder belt"

Spoiler

We want a reliable Intimidate effect from these slots to boost our dmg, which can either from Deceiver belt or Tombfist socketed with a Murderous Eye.
In general, the Deceiver setup is easier to gear up since it doesn't need abyssal jewel and you don't lose sockets.

The Tombfist version should give more life and utility and have higher upgrading potential in endgame, since you can get up-to 50 added life from abyssal jewels and other useful mods.

For the abyssal jewels, always get as much as life first, then target for utility mods or % increase.
"%Chance to blind when hit" is very strong for us, since cyclone hit very frequently, all the bosses are basically perma-blinded during the fight.
For Starforge, you can also get shock effectiveness% from abyss jewels, which work great if you can reliably proc shock (with boots enchantment).

Stygian Vise belt after 3.2 can no longer get Shaper/Elder mods. For high budget endgame glove/belt setup I would recommend 2 socket Tombfist and Leather belt (or Rustic Sash) with the Elder mod: increase life recovery rate 16-20% .

Because the VP bug from Abyss league was fixed, "increase life recovery rate" now correctly work on your leech, and it pseudo-boost both your "leech rate" and "Max leech rate", this mod alone would function like almost 10% life regen for you during combat, which is insane.

Another unique glove worth mentioning is the "Haemophilia". If you just want to clear map faster, this glove is insane. With Vulnerability now giving bleed chance% as well, this glove make every mobs you kill explode upon death, although we have little ways to scale the explosions (scale with physical% and also the Vulnerability), the coverage provided by explosions will leave no straggler behind, the denser the map the better.
Also it reduce the risk of corpse explosion since you would leave none behind during mapping.

I usually switch between Tombfist and Haemophilia for bossing and mapping.



Amulet: Rare
Spoiler


Life and enough Intelligence to allow usage of Lv20 Conc.Effect (Int.111), the rest is flexible. Add-phys Dmg is superb, also resistance and Strength.

Carnage Heart is a decent replacement, but Slayer don't lack leech/leech rate actually (unlike Ascendant version), and the lack of life would put stress on your total life (~6.5K is recommended for T16/T17).

Daresso's salute is also great for the additional cyclone range/dmg, but it doesn't provide Int, so you would need int from rings or even boots, and it also don't give life.



Rings: Rares -> "Mark of the elder" + Shaper ring (endgame)

Spoiler

Life and resistance, if you get enough resistance from your chest, you can focus on offensive suffix on the rings, like Strength and attack speed. I usually don't use Steel Rings since they cost too much and Add physical-dmg is not as effective to scale 2-handed weapon build. Coral based is much budget friendly and better for your survival.

Since 3.2, we also get "Mark of the elder" as a good choice for endgame ring choice. "Mark of the elder" is bad for most one-handed physical build, since a rare steel ring with T1 add-phys dmg prefix easily beat this ring for those builds. However, 2H physical weapon with high base dmg scale poorly from add-phys damage, thus the high dmg% (up to 80%) from "Mark of the elder" become very good for us. Just remember that to activate this ring, you need a shaper ring on the other side, just roll a random resist or coral shaper ring with some life, resistance or even AS% with essence crafting (no special shaper affixs is required for this ring) and these two rings combined can give you more dmg than most other ring combination (two GG steel ring can potentially beats this, but that cost much more, since the "Mark" is very cheap to get).



Boots: Rare
Spoiler
Prioritize 30% movement speed, movement speed is super important for cyclone. Then life and resistant. The more resistance you get on your astral the cheaper the boots would become.
Also if you have already upgrade to Starforge, then "10% chance to proc. elemental status" enchant would be amazing for map clearing and can even shock high Tier bosses through Ruthless blow of your Totem (Bloodlust totem have much higher DPH than cyclone).


My Flask setup for general mapping

Spoiler


Writhing Jar : Function as leech target, instant flask and damage boost for Slayer

Lion's Roar

Stibnite (Chemist's/of Warding): Can use Basalt/Jade if you have good blinding chance on your character (Usually through Abyssal jewel mod)

Sulphur/Silver (Chemist's/of Heat)

QuickSilver (Chemist's/of Adrenaline): MS% is always great for cyclone

Why so much love for Chemist's mod?

For most flask, chemist mod allow one additional usage of the flask during boss fight, and also make it recharge faster, since each usage now cost less charges.

Furthermore, if you have "Reduce flask charge" mod on belt (with good value), combine with "Chemist" mod on flask, it would allow another additional usage for most flask.(EX: A total of 40% charge reduction from belt and flask mod, would reduce the charge usage on QuickSilver to 12, which allow you use it 4 times in boss fight, making flask management very easy.




Jewel

Prioritize offensive stats for normal jewels. And for abyssal jewel, you should focus on utility and survival perks first.

Spoiler


Normal jewels

[Prefix]
T1: Sword atk speed%, Life%(would greatly increase the cost of jewel)
T2: 2H atk speed%, Global physical dmg%, Mana leech(Viridian jewel only, and only worth it if you don't have any mana leech from other source)
T3: Sword dmg%


[Suffix]
T1: Atk speed%(3-5%)
T2: Area dmg%, Melee dmg%, Chance to shock% (Starforge only)
T3: All resistance%


Abyssal jewels

[Prefix]
T1: Flat life (not flat life = not worth using this abyssal jewel)
T2: Sword flat physical

[Suffix]
T1: Chance to Blind%
T2: Atk speed%, Shock effectiveness%(Starforge only), Chance for Onslaught on Kill(for mapping)
T3: Increas dmg% after killed, Resistance%, Flat phys





-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POB section
Spoiler

These POB are all based on my real characters across the league, and since I am not on GGG server, the POB don't support direct character import, I have to manually generate rare gears to match, so some defensive value like resistance might be off.

If you are in Asia region and can understand Chinese, you can see my profile here: https://web.poe.garena.tw/account/view-profile/necrophagism.

All my POB settings are set in the environment against Shaper, and only use the buffs that I can comfortably sustained during a prolong single target boss fight (Like Maim, leeching, proc. bleeding, ect.). So if you want to see the burst DPS of the build, you just activate the flasks and the "Killed recently" (worm flask) in POB yourself. No artificial Vaal Haste, onslaught and full frenzy charges to inflate the numbers here (unless I have ways to generate/sustained them in boss fight).

Slayer budget version that I use to clear T16/T17 in 3.1 Abyss league
Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/wCVQF7xc
Actually kill all T16/T17 with 5 links as video shown(use Conc.effect and remove Damage on Full life), but 6 Link on cyclone is definitely recommended if you are not familiar with these boss fight.


Slayer endgame version in 3.1 Abyss league
Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/SRa4yUdy
Belt should be replaced by Elder belt with life recovery rate, but life recovery rate is bugged with VP during the whole abyss league so I just use a normal one during abyss.
The resist is over-capped since I use Bronn's Lithe for mapping, but in general I use Belly.
If you're following this in 3.2, replacing Grace/Haste with Aspect of spider can also improve it.


Scion budget version that I use to clear T16/T17 in 3.2
Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/42et7RDx
Tick Onslaught and Frenzy because using Raider/Slayer.


Scion endgame RT version that I use to farm UberElder
Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/yuJmApAT
Flask setup is also adjusted for UberElder run, normally you want at least 1 Warding flask for mapping.
Using Aspect of spider, Purity of Ice and Vulnerability.


Scion Crit version that I'm currently testing, can also farm UberElder
Spoiler


Slayer/Jugg:https://pastebin.com/TS9h5kqT

Slayer/Ass: https://pastebin.com/LS5x0Ww9
(Tick Power charge since assassin ascendancy allow you to sustain it easily during boss fight)

Both version use Aspect of the cat, and Farrul's Bite for 1% base cirt. And since Farrul's Bite and abyssal jewel have blind on hit/crit, the "enemy is blinded" in configuration is also ticked.

Slayer/Jugg is better at UberElder farming because Stun/Chill immune and perma-Endurance charge.
Slayer/Ass better at mapping because higher MS%(10% after killed recently) and higher damage.








-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss Fight Tips

General Tips (For every types of bosses)
Spoiler

1. Always Short-Spin during boss fight: Cyclone can't be canceled until you reach the destination point. It would often lead to dangerous situations which you need to leap slam away a fatal blow but stuck in the middle of cyclone animation. By keeping the destination point of cyclone near your character, it would reduce the animation stuck quite a lot, allowing you to continuously adjust direction and leap slam away at any time. Boosting your speed using quicksilver in emergency also help a lot.

2. Totem contribute a lot in your DMG: It's almost always worth it to stop cyclone for a while and re-cast your totem. Smart placement of totems would reduce the amount of re-casting, it's also the reason why i don't like to use Conc.effect on totem.

3. Try to keep up Blood Rage during the fight: Since we use Arakaali as major god, triggering CwDT-Immortal Cry with blood rage would boost our leech regen to 87%max-life/sec for 4sec.

4. Managing your leech duration: Every Slayer player should know how long their leech duration last during the fight. For calculation, simply import your character into POB, and get 3 following numbers: "Average cyclone hit dmg against Shaper/Guardian (DPH)", "Total leech % as life" and "Your maximum life".
The leech duration= DPH * Leech% / (max Life*0.02)
For example, my character have 17K DPH(no flask/no charge/no kill recently), 6% leech(with BR) and 6.5K max life. My leech duration should be about 8 secs. This means that after I deal dmg to the boss and stack up my leech, those leech would still last about 8 secs after I stop dealing dmg (EX: dodging boss mechanics, or between boss phases). Because Slayers are fragile without leech stacks(lose regen, lose bleed/stun immune), this information give you an idea for how long you need to deal dmg to something to refresh your leech stacks (can either be the boss, the mobs or even the worms from Writhing Jar).
Writhing Jar provide an easy way to get very long leech duration, since the worms have very little hp, almost all your DPH would be overkill dmg thus benefit from the 20% overkill leech, the leech duration for me would become: 17000*(0.2+0.06)/(6500*0.02)= 34 secs, which could easily last half of the boss fight. Just remember that each worm-killing-hit only give leech regen at rate of 2%/sec (modified by Arakaali and leech rate modifier), for me is 2%*(1+1.6)*2(VP)= 10.4%/sec per worm. (*1.5 if Arakaali is activated)



Shaper
Spoiler

1. The DPS requirement for slayer cyclone in Shaper fight is actually very low, since our 20% culling almost neglect the third stages of the fight. ~150K/75K POB DPS on cyclone/totem should be the lowest amount required for this fight.

2. Around 6500 HP is recommended if you want easy fight. 6500hp is safe from one-shot by the Yellow balls. Also 6500HP with VP(29%*2) or 29%max leech rate with Arakaali proc.(29%*1.5) should allow Slayers to out-leech the DOT from the Vortex ground effect (you could stand on it and the Dmg on Full life would still function), making the fight rather easy since you care less about positioning the Vortex ball and focus more on dealing Dmg and dodging the Slam.

3. Don't waste too much time/AFK between phases of Shaper. He would actually heal back if you spend too long, which would make the next stage harder for you.

4. Before the "bullet hell" started, you should check and trigger all the lingering Vortex ball outside of the Zana Shield. If the Vortex ball unfortunately appear during the middle of "bullet hell", don't panic, just move to the edge of the shield and trigger the ball, there would still be enough space for you to stand inside (See the 3.1 shaper video for demonstration).

5. At the end of "bullet hell", be aware of the projectiles since they travel at slow speed, you can easily crash into one if you just want to immediately engage the shaper.

6. If you are killed during "bullet hell", don't log out immediately, wait for the storm to pass, then log-out and re-enter the room, otherwise you might die again since the time of the instance would freeze once there are no player inside.

7. There are only 3 things can one-shot you from 6500HP: the shaper slam, the slam from the mini-boss, and shotguned by multiple vortex balls from mini boss. Both slam should be easily dodge-able if you keep short-spinning. The shotgun can only happened if you are very close to mini boss, just cycloning around in circle and keep a small distance between.



Uber Azitiri (Haven't try her in 3.1, so it's just base on my experience at 3.0)
Spoiler

1. Uber is actually much more difficult for this build than Shaper, so don't attempt it before you finish Shaper.

2. Trash clearing is dangerous since a rare melee mob can one-shot you with crit from 7K HP. Lion's Roar is a must have if you want safe clearing. Also don't rush into a room full of Vaal Construct(the greenish range guy), you can be insta-killed if too many projectiles hit at once(those green projectiles can't be evaded, so i don't bother to use Grace here). Try lure some of them out, or use totem to reduce their number beforehand.

3. Dual Vaal Oversoul is just a DPS check, just activate all the buff/flask and hope you have enough.
POB sustained DPS of 250K/130K(cyclone/totem) is doable with Kondo's and 6L.

4. Trio fight is not as hard as people claimed. You can't kill them at one go if you are using Kondo's Pride, but the room is huge and you have unlimited time for this fight, just kite them around and wait for them to separate. Drop lady first and keep moving when she start shooting things up to the sky. Kill dual wielder next, don't engage him if he is glowing red(He can oneshot you in this state). And slayer easily face-tank the cycloner since we are immune to his bleeding.

5. Azitiri herself is the most challenging one if your dmg is not sufficient to kill the split phase immediately. My strategy is to stay in the middle, drop totem and Vaal lightning trap at the one of them (not mirror one). Once they appear, the flame blast should start to appear at middle, then leap slam to engage, disengage again once the flameblast is re-cast on you, moving around to lure the flameblast to be cast at other location and engage again until the split phase is killed. Any mistake would lead to death(In the video, i mis-click the right mouse to start cycloning too early instead of just leap slam to engage.). However, if you upgrade to Starforge, you can easily reach 300K/150K sustained POB DPS, which is sufficient to kill the split phase before the flameblast finish channeling.



Uber Elder
Spoiler

I will just talk about this fight from the perspective of Slayer-leech based Cyclone build. Our Slayer-leech combined with Vaal Pact/Arrakalli allow us to basically ignore the DoT ground effects in Uber Elder Fight as long as our leech duration is still up, which make the fight rather easy compare to most other ascendancy (Try to avoid the DoT nonetheless, since it partially offset your Slayer leech effect).


My Aura setup
Vulnerability + Purity of Ice

My pantheon setup
Major: Arrakalli (The only major god for all slayer leech build, other choices are heretics)
Minor: Yugul(Get the upgrade for reduced cold damage taken, this include the DOT ground)

My flask setup
Writhing Jar (Bubbling Life flask of Heat for Ascendant)
Lion's Roar
Chemist's Sulphur Flask of Heat (or Stibnite/Sapphire)
Chemist's Sapphire Flask of Heat
Chemist's Quick Silver Flask of Heat (or of Adrenaline)

Don't press your flask mindlessly, try to always have freeze/chill immunity up by timing your flask, and Jar/Roar for Heal/burst, Quicksilver for the Slow phase or emergency dodge.

This fight is separated into 4 phases:


A: Shaper phase (Elder is invulnerable)
B: Elder phase (Shaper is invulnerable)
C: Door phase (Either Shaper or Elder door, and both boss are invulnerable)
D: Final phase (Both are not invulnerable, but only Shaper can be culled)


The sequence go like this: A->B->C(elder door)->A->B->C(shaper door)->A->B->C(elder)->D
Each phase is passed after the Shaper/Elder lose 25% of their total life, or after a fixed timer(Door phase).

Phase A is rather easy for us, since the yellow balls from shaper can't hit you at close melee range (they require a minimum traveling distance to be "armed"), you can just cycloning around Shaper without any fear. Elder will shoot you with ice spikes, but at this stage you should tank those spikes easily with Slayer leech (Also since Spikes don't have cold penetration, Purity of Ice and Sapphire is very effective).
The major risk is that the shaper will constantly teleport around the arena, and during the searching for shaper you can be stunned by the Elder ice spikes and then killed by shaper balls (The Slayer nerfed in losing stun immunity is actually big here). But as long as you can engage Shaper quickly and start spinning, this phase is easy.

Phase B is the most difficult one. Elder is mostly immobile, but Shaper will constantly cover the elder with Balls and Laser. The big trick here is try to lure the aiming of Shaper into other direction, since the Shaper will only target your last location. Shaper usually fire 3~4 rounds of balls then followed by 1 laser. In best situation, you want to lure the all the balls and laser away from Elder and deal damage to elder before the Shaper start aiming again, but in practice, the firing of shaper balls is very rapid, so you should try focus on luring the Laser away as your first goal, since the Laser last few seconds, allowing you have big time window to burst the Elder (Save your DPS flasks for this opportunity!). Another thing you have to pay attention here is that the shaper would still teleport around the arena, so the direction of balls and laser will also change. Also don't be too distracted/restricted by the expanding Elder Ring, it take quite some time to expand and explode, keep on moving and lure the Shaper beam/balls out of the save region(the Elder center of the ring).
In short: Always put most of your attention on the Shaper, even if he is invulnerable, since he is the real boss here.

Phase C is just spawning trash for you to fill your flask, just always pay attention on the location of Shaper, and keep moving (even better if your movement is vertical to the direction of shaper balls/laser). You don't have to kill the elder door, just clear the spawn and the door will disappear after fixed time. For Slayer, you can try to kill one Door to get the 20 sec Onslaught from Bane of Legends, since the Door is an unique monster, and Slayer can even intentionally leave some small squids behind (just no big squids, they can spawn DOT ground), so you can use them to proc Headsman (20% more damage) later in phase A or B (small squid deal almost 0 damage if only few of them left).

After the first round of A->B->C, the Elder start to dish out some new trick in later rounds (mostly during phase B).

The first trick (and the most deadly one) is the Slow phase. This can't be avoid (even if you manage to dodge the initial animation or leave the siphoning cone) and can't be dispelled by any flask, it always slow you down for quite few seconds. The slow by itself is still manageable if you pop a quick silver, but this slow is absolutely deadly if you are also chilled (it's impossible to dodge anything with slow and chill, and the stun duration get almost doubled in this status). Always keep one usage of chill removing flask for this situation, and always short spin your cyclone so you can stop spinning as soon as you saw the elder diving animation (Getting slowed and stuck in cyclone animation is very deadly). Koam's Root and Jugg ascendancy trivialize this mechanics, but you can't possibly sacrifice 30~35% movement speed as cyclone build to wear Koam's Root just for this situation.

The second trick from elder is the tentacle, they deal quick some damage (2~3K per hit) and will stun-lock you if you get caught, but is very easy to dodge (just normal moving is enough).

The final trick is the elder shower, this seem do deal no damage if you are directly under him, and even if you get hit by the shower, it's only just about 1~2K damage, nothing big. Just remember that elder will do a "delayed" slam aiming at your last location after the shower, dodge that and you're fine.

If you manage into phase D as Slayer, you are basically passed, since phase D start with both Elder and Shaper at 25% health, you should instantly cull the shaper at 20%. And without Shaper, the Elder alone is just a joke.

In 3.3, you can abuse the bursting power of Vaal Double Strike in this fight(VDS-Brutality-Bloodlust-MeleePhys-Ruthless). VDS can be recharged to full usage after each Door phase by killing spawns, cast all VDS at once can quickly phase the Elder/Shaper once they become vulnerable, just be sure to proc. bleed with Cyclone on them first.









-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leveling as league starter (updated:2018/03/02)

Spoiler

As league starter, I try not to rely on trading too much before I reach map, since there are probably not much options on the market.

Also i'm not a professional racer, this guide only describe how I leveled my character, it's not necessary the optimized method, you should modified it to suit your need as well as depending on the gears you acquired during leveling.

Level 1~12
Dual wield any one-handed axe/sword you can get, no vendor recipe required.
Cleave-Chance to Bleed should be sufficient for both single target and clearing.

Example Tree: www.poeurl.com/bNlJ
(Note that I pick the "12% Melee damage" node instead of the "Armor, Evasion and 4% Life" node for the beginning, since dmg% at early game can greatly boost your leveling speed, and early game monster are not dangerous. Just remember to switch to the "4% Life" at later point (around Level 60, after you start picking up juicy dmg% node from the weapon passive clusters).


Level 12 to First Lab(~Level 33)

At level 12 we have Sunder available.
I would switch to 2-handed, which should provide enough DPH for Sunder to one-shot most packs.

I use Sunder-MeleePhys-Add Fire-Maim, Aura use Herald of Ash and Blasphemy-WarLord (for sustain).
With Warchief Totem-MeleePhys-(Add Fire)-(Faster Attack), Dmg should be enough to progress smoothly to Act 8 even with only recipe-upgraded blue 2H Axes (Trade Rare Rustic Sash+ 1 Whetstone+ 2H Axe at any vendors).

Don't level up Blasphemy and Herald too much if you can't get enough Int, to prevent insufficient attribute blocking your gear upgrade. Also keep leveling up multiple Cyclone at weapon swap, start preparing for the future (Vaaling Level 21 cyclone).

In 3.2, the 20% cull/Onslaught is moved to the 4 point spot, so slayer no longer get the best leveling ascendancy at first lab. You can delay running the lab if you like. I would pick Headsman for the first point, since it still boost your clearing speed for fast leveling.

Example Passive tree at this point: www.poeurl.com/bNl1
And for bandit quest, I recommend kill them all. You can reconsider this choice later (> LV90).


Before Second Lab (~Level 55)

Your passive tree should look like this around Lv.55: www.poeurl.com/bNl5

You could add more life/dmg along this if you feel inadequate, and there is also some resist node (Diamond Skin) if you have resist problem.

By picking up Hematophagy and a Viridian jewel with prefix mana leech (or you can spend 2 more point to get it from the tree), it should solve your sustain problem and allow you to ditch Warlord's Mark and use Vulnerability aura instead, which is a big boost on your dmg.

I would also start use pure physical set-up on my sunder at this point:
Sunder-Brutality-MeleePhys-Maim, and since Vulnerability give you bleed chance against cursed target, I would also have Warchief totem linked with Brutality-MeleePhys-Bloodlust/Ruthless to aid against single target.

Even with Brutality, the burning splash from Herald of Ash is still valuable for clearing trash at this stage, but you can use Arctic Armor or Purity of Element instead as well. (Using 50% reservation aura might a bit hard at this point, since you have low base mana at this level)

For the second lab, pick Endless Hunger just because we want Brutal Fervor at third lab for survivability in map (Endless hunger basically do nothing for you without non-stop leech). If you are in racing situation (or leveling as second character), pick Bane of Legend, and switch back to Endless Hunger-Brutal Fevor at third lab (which will cost you 10 regrets).

Before Third Lab (~Level 65)

After second lab, you start to prepare for transitioning into 2H sword Cyclone.

Example Tree: www.poeurl.com/bNo7

Check the following things before switching to cyclone:

1. Movement speed: I personally won't use Cyclone without at least 20% MS.

2. Range: Cyclone get +3 range at level 16, which require 86 Dex and level 62. Sword passive give +1 range. Warlord's Reach jewel from Quest give +1 range, can use it all the way until you get 6L for AOE gem.

3. Mana Issue: You should have enough unreserved mana for at least 3 Cyclone cast. Getting the Tireless cluster help a lot if you want to use Blasphemy with Grace/Haste (85% reserved). But without Tireless cluster you can still use Blasphemy and a Purity.

Cyclone setup:

Cyclone-Brutality-MeleePhys-Maim

Warchief-Brutality-MeleePhys-Bloodlust/Ruthless

Blasphemy-Vulnerability, BloodRage
Grace/Haste(Or Purity of Elements)
LeapSlam-FA-BloodMagic-(Fortify)


At this level(65~), many good unique 2H weapons become available to us, you can start looking at market for things like Kondo's Pride or Doomsower, and can also use Hezmana's Bloodlust, Kongor's Undying Rage if you don't like sword cyclone, get any of those at early league is a major boost for you all the way into high tier map (Even endgame viable).

If none of these are on the market (or you're playing SSF), any high tier 2H weapon (>LV60 requirement) with 20 Quality and >100 physDMG% plus Vagan LV4 flat-phys mod equal pdps>300 weapons(2H Axe>320).
A crappy 2H weapon with 300pdps is sufficient to carry you to white map.

Finish Merciless lab before Kitava so you don't get resist penalty in lab. Merc Lab should be easily doable with 4000HP and 10K tooltip Cyclone DPS as slayer, get Brutal Fervor for the non-stop leech.


Upgrading your gears after maps

1. Capping resistance always comes first, don't just slap on all the uniques too early.

2. 2H Weapon with 400pDPS is sufficient for Red maps, >450pDPS is even viable for T16/T17.

3. Get 5L white/blue strength base armor as soon as possible (itlv>73, so it can get T2 life and resist roll), do some scour/alch (or essences) until you have decent resist/life roll.

(5L should be: Cyclone-Brutality-MeleePhys-Maim-DmgOnFullLife)

4. Soul of Arakaali upgrade is amazing (even overpower) for Slayer leech, grab one Divine Vessel and capture the "Arachnoxia" in T5 Sewer Map as soon as possible.

5. Your first Uber Lab will be harder in 3.2, since slayer lost 20% cull until he finish uber lab. So be well prepared for it, get Writhing Jar, Armor flasks ect. But once you finish your first Uber lab, it become joke again (20% cull delete 3rd stage Izaro almost instantly). Accumulate your currency early league through Lab farming.

6. >5.5K HP for yellow maps, >6K HP for red maps, >6.5k if you want to do Guaridan/Shaper

7. Farm/Trade "The Celestial Justicar" for 6L Chest Armor, alternatively you can try "The Dapper Prodigy" but the result is RNG based.

8. I didn't spend too much on amulet/rings before I get my 6L astral, since I can easily upgrade it with cheaper versions(less resist but more HP/offence) after I finish crafting my 6L Astral (This is not possible if you use unique Chest as 6L, which you need to have high resist on rings/amulet).

9. Jewels are the major factor to upgrade your damage for endgame content (aim for high atk speed% first then dmg%, Life% if you have the budget).


Last edited by Drosophila on Jun 26, 2018, 3:22:49 AM
Last bumped on Dec 26, 2018, 4:04:47 PM
thanks for the build and boss guide, it is very helpful.

question: if you have to choose between the passive tree nodes "Bloodletting" or "Red Storm", which will you take?
"
thanks for the build and boss guide, it is very helpful.

question: if you have to choose between the passive tree nodes "Bloodletting" or "Red Storm", which will you take?


Bleeding dmg in this build is only useful during boss fight(account ~10% total DPS in POB at 8 stacks), so i would rather not over-invest in it (I only take the bleed that come with the weapon passive and Crimson Dance).
But if I have to, i would pick Red Storm since it's more efficient(3 node), while Bloodletting would take 5 nodes for me.
Very good and detailed build!

Thinking about using this build in the upcoming races, a leveling section would be nice. Also is this build viable for hardcore? If so, would you change anything on the tree? 234% life seems quite good, but I rarely play melee on hc so not sure.

Thanks!
"
Thinking about using this build in the upcoming races, a leveling section would be nice

Included at the end, but I'm not a professional racer, so it may not be optimized, I just describe how I level my character this league. You should alter it as you see fit.


"
Also is this build viable for hardcore? If so, would you change anything on the tree?

I haven't try this in HC since I only play casually.

For hardcore I would probably switch to blasphemy-Enfeeble, and get more int so you have high level Enfeeble. And probably drop By-the-Blade nodes as well as one 3 point jewel socket to get Vitality Void (more leech regen) and Iron Reflex.

Belt of Deceiver is also not required if you're not doing Shaper/Uber Azitiri, can be replaced with High life leather belt.
Last edited by Drosophila on Nov 3, 2017, 9:12:17 AM
very impressive with the 4l shaper kill test. kudos to you for configuring the pob links for true realistic shaper/guardian dps. why not atziri flask though? it's pretty cheap.

good job with all of this.
"
why not atziri flask though? it's pretty cheap.


I use Brutality as support, it would block any non-physical dmg from the skill (including elemental and chaos), it used to block only elemental in 3.0 closed beta.
You can give up Brutality and get higher Shaper/Guardian DPS with Hatred/HoA and multiple flasks turn ON (ToH, Azitiri flask, Sin's Rebirth), but without flasks it will lose to Brutality setup.
I value more consistent dmg during boss fight in this build, since our burst dmg can't finish Shaper stage/Guardian fight within the flask duration.

"
kudos to you for configuring the pob links for true realistic shaper/guardian dps

For me I always like to evaluate the sustained instead of burst POB DPS.
Since every builds should work perfectly fine under the perfect condition. It's just how reliable/consistent to get all those condition going.
Last edited by Drosophila on Nov 4, 2017, 12:29:50 AM
killed shaper with this build. lvl 87 slayer with 5L kondo cyclone and 5L warchief. only got 6200 life so my gear isn't the best yet. found the 40% belly myself so i decided to stick with it.

an astral plate might be better overall. it's kinda hard to get enough resists to be ele weakness capped in red maps.



this flask setup worked quite well. chalice recharges other flasks during shaper add phase also adding extra healing and damage. very underrated flask


like the author i am also using different auras. for shaper purity of ice is the best
for leveling i use grace and for lab and other general stuff i roll with haste.

two questions
1. does maim from warchief make me do extra damage too? or does it only affect warchief?
2. do i have the be the one killing the worms from writhing jar? many times my warchief kill them before me so i don't know if i get the bonus or not? the bonus being 20% more damage from a slayer skill.

only got 125 000 shaper dps with cyclone and 70 500 with warchief so i think my gear kinda sucks but it got the job done atleast.
https://pastebin.com/DVVuMrdv
Last edited by kompaniet on Nov 5, 2017, 5:50:39 PM
"
kompaniet wrote:
killed shaper with this build. lvl 87 slayer with 5L kondo cyclone and 5L warchief. only got 6200 life so my gear isn't the best yet. found the 40% belly myself so i decided to stick with it.

an astral plate might be better overall. it's kinda hard to get enough resists to be ele weakness capped in red maps.

this flask setup worked quite well. chalice recharges other flasks during shaper add phase also adding extra healing and damage. very underrated flask


like the author i am also using different auras. for shaper purity of ice is the best
for leveling i use grace and for lab and other general stuff i roll with haste.

two questions
1. does maim from warchief make me do extra damage too? or does it only affect warchief?
2. do i have the be the one killing the worms from writhing jar? many times my warchief kill them before me so i don't know if i get the bonus or not? the bonus being 20% more damage from a slayer skill.

only got 125 000 shaper dps with cyclone and 70 500 with warchief so i think my gear kinda sucks but it got the job done atleast.
https://pastebin.com/DVVuMrdv



WOW, you done it with lower life/DPS, and even a 16% MS boots!?
That's really impressive...

As for the questions:
1. Yes, the Maim support basically give the target a debuff that increase its phy damage taken, it would even work for your team mate. I like to use cyclone to proc Maim because it's more reliable, but totem proc. would yield more DPS if you can keep totem up most of the time.
(you alos forget to check the Maim status in your POB link, so the actual sustained DPS is higher than 125K)

2. If my memory serve right, Slayer have to kill the worms by themselves to proc on-kill effect. You could test it in hideout, since the DMG increase would be visible on tooltip.


Also a few thing for you:
1. I would use at least 1 flask to remove chill/freeze.
2. Ele weakness map is less of a problem nowadays, if you keep 1 utility flask to remove curses
(I use Chemist's Stibnite since it's the easiest one to keep up all the time during mapping)
3. You should replace Ruthless with Brutality on Totem, it's a direct DPS increase without any drawback since you're also using pure physical setup.


Last edited by Drosophila on Nov 6, 2017, 7:47:33 AM
Ok i got some questions.
First:should i use punishment over vuln?(it gives more dps in pob if im not doing anything wrong.
Second:What kind of content can i do with this gear?(still have to get 1 jewel socket and golem setup)
<3

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info