D3 spectral blade wizard in PoE?

So here's what I've got planned for Skill tree, gem links, items etc.

https://pastebin.com/pUfXdVKR <-- pastbin code for path of building program

5k life, 67% physical redux, and 75% resists.
So, I don't think I can say any of this non-douchily, so I'm going to pop it under a spoiler and say open it if you would like further criticism:

Spoiler
You can instantly tell it's a beginner build because it's using both Static Electricity and allocating a significant number of Physical Damage-based nodes. It's a bit why I mentioned why Physical scaling would be simple yet powerful before. Similar to D3, Physical is a "damage type" on the same categorical level as the elements, Fire, Lightning, and Cold. "X% increased physical damage" purely means it augments/amplifies the Physical damage you deal - it doesn't add any physical damage to your damage base.

This is also why Cherrubim's Maleficence is a bit wasted here...

So we're back to the physical/elemental scaling dilemma again. If you pick elemental scaling, you're going to have to trash a large portion of your current tree. If you go physical scaling, tempestuous steel/fidelitas' spike and static electricty are all but useless, because their flat physical is very much lacking.

If physical-scaling: The tree's fine, if showing a few beginner mistakes here and there. Another typing restriction: You took "Two Handed Melee Weapons" nodes, which doesn't work with dual-wielding; the "Two Handed" refers to single weapons that you hold with two hands, y'know, greatswords and staves and the like; it doesn't refer to dual-wielding. So that's another decision you'd have to make; DW or 2H? Dual-wielding provides a bit of Block and some nodes for Critical Strike Chance; Two-Handed tends to go full on damage.

here's a pastebin of the most necessary changes to take that approach: https://pastebin.com/ynvvV40z

and a pastebin of how I would approach your build, more or less (was a bit too lazy to fine-tune gems to my liking. Also, it takes a "why not crit?" approach): https://pastebin.com/R0SNVcnJ

If elemental-scaling: You'd want to pursue elemental and attack speed nodes, principally. Static Electricity works on actual allocated Dex nodes in radius, not just Dex nodes existing in radius, so you'd want more of those in one form or another. Elemental scaling is tricky, because your sources of flat damage (base damage) will be necessarily scattered to different sources, except for a handful of Unique items. Actually, if you wanted to focus on Lightning, Hyaon's Fury would be a good weapon choice here, though a bit dangerous if you build Frenzy Charges. Not sure why I didn't think of that before. Otherwise, Added Lightning Damage would be non-negotiable, really.

Both scaling: Also, it is highly uncommon for builds to take a lot of Resistance nodes on the tree; POE uses old-fashioned D2-style additive resistances with capping (soft, can raise with +x% maximum resistances), which means resistance past a certain point tends to be completely wasted. It does make logical sense to grab them on Unique-heavy builds, but people tend to use Jewels for that as then you'd be able to get some Life and Damage while filling any holes in your Resistance.

I was a little afraid of this (I'd never used POB before, always did it the old-fashioned way), but it looks like POB's physical damage reduction number uses the same or similar formula as the in-game Estimated Physical Damage Reduction - which is very much estimated and, let's say, less than useful. Armour's contributed PDR% is based on the size of the enemy hit; the higher the hit, the smaller the percentage mitigated (however, absolute mitigation increases! Few people know that bit). This leadsa many forumers to say "Armour is useless against large hits." It kind of is, really. You could only expect a small to medium level of armour rating to defend against small to medium hits. You'd need a huge amount of armour to defend against huge hits.

Lastly - Path of Exile was not designed around an endgame character being fully fitted with Uniques - Uniques are designed to have less generally-useful stats than Rares, but grant some kind of can't-get-anywhere-else stats in return. This will mean the average endgame build will use 1-5 Uniques, and the rest Rares. Rares will always have higher stat-potential than Uniques, barring perhaps a couple of exceptions. In fact, the original game design vision was for a perfect endgame character to wear 0-1 Uniques, and the rest rares. You can see this in my decisions on the second pastebin I put above.

Hope this is all somewhat helpful and not too discouraging.


I've always been of the opinion that the best way to play this game is to fail, fail, fail, and learn each time, and thereby become better and more knowledgeable.

Slightly related, slightly unrelated, I've always avoided POB, mainly because even though knowledge is power, ignorance is bliss... I'd never want to have my characters reduced into one Overarching Number by which it is compared to other characters, and find out just how good or bad I am at this game. I don't care about min/maxing to that degree, y'know?
Need game info? Check out the Wiki at: https://www.poewiki.net/

Contact support@grindinggear.com for account issues. Check out How to Report Bugs + Post Images at: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/18347
Thanks for the in depth breakdown. Input / criticism is always welcome... it's how we learn and grow! I went with uniques and the tree set up to make gearing easier (as it's hard or expensive to get rares with all the right stats) but can definitely transition into proper rares as they are found. I don't know much in terms of crafting, masters, "slamming" <-- whatever that is; despite watching some youtube videos on essence crafting, divine / regal / exalt etc. All very confusing when they have some Tier chart up as well. I will look over the tree setup you have proposed and see what I can learn from them.

Oh and I almost forgot, this is just a for fun mapping / learning build. I won't be doing the "end game" stuff most people are aiming for: the insane meta speed clearing, guardians, shaper, Atziri / Uber Atziri and such. Hell I don't even get the whole map sextant, shaping, etc bit!
Very fair, very fair. In that case the most important stuff would be what I mentioned first, which is being aware of damage types for scaling. It's a bit like D3 Bracers/Stone of Jordan worked last time I played, in that you want to match your bonus's damage type to the damage type you deal. However in D3 you define damage type by skill; in PoE, skill can affect damage type by conversion but it's a one-way street and usually based on your weapon instead.

In short, if you pick physical damage nodes, you're really going to want physical damage on your weapon stats, which means Tempestuous Steel will probably be outclassed by a Rare pretty much as soon as you can use it. Bit of a shame, since I think its 3d art looks cool.

For leveling through story mode and early maps, any logical build works - just gotta make sure resistances are capped along the way, you grab some Life, and update your Flasks. You probably won't have too many issues here.

----------

Since you mentioned it and I'm unbearably chatty on forums - the vast majority of "crafting" in this game is economically inefficient; due to free trade and item permanence, it will almost always be cheaper to just buy. The main forms of crafting I personally do are:

1. Socket fix ups for items I've bought. This means links and colours up to 4L (5L+ is way too expensive, so I buy instead).
2. Master-craft needed affixes, usually a resistance. Master-crafts are one of the only things in the game called crafting that isn't terribly random. Great for filling in build holes.
3. Low essences as I level. They have little market value anyways, from what I can tell, and Contempt in particular is great for any Attack-based builds.
--------below this line are things I wouldn't recommend--------
4. Alchemy on good bases as you level. Mostly for Solo Self Found, it's fun to gamble sometimes and throw away money for the thrill of potentially making a nice upgrade.
5. Crafting with orbs. More accurately called gambling, this is how the elite of the game create the best items that they couldn't themselves buy. It tends to be prohibitively expensive and is probably what you saw on videos with the affix tiers. The goal is to gamble for top tier desired affixes, and delete/start over if you fail. The classical method is mod by mod, i.e. Trans, toss thousands of Alts until you get T1 physical damage, then Regal and use some Exalts, whether directly or indirectly - Master meta-mods like "Cannot roll caster mods" can be useful in crafting bases that can roll both caster and attack mods, for example.
Need game info? Check out the Wiki at: https://www.poewiki.net/

Contact support@grindinggear.com for account issues. Check out How to Report Bugs + Post Images at: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/18347

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info