3.4 (Delve): Molten Strike Poison Pathfinder - Easy Shaper Farmer/Uber Elder Complete

FORWARD FORWARD:
All credit goes to "SHEPHUUURD" for this build as far as I am concerned, as that is what I used as a template. I suggest reading his/her guide for some additional insight into the molten strike and poison interactions, and I am going to leave out a lot of the redundant information for gearing. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2104647/page/1
I tried to the best of my PoB abilities to tailor this to Pathfinder. In short, this is a non-crit based version of the poison molten strike assassin with a built in 6% elemental damage reduction.

FORWARD:
I am a casual (read; lazy and unskilled) player who tries to make builds that require as little management as possible. I usually take posted builds and say "How can I make this easier to play." Managing flasks and moving into optimal position during major boss fights is fine, but for general mapping I like a button to move, and a button to kill monsters, and button mash flasks for the map boss. I think this build hits all of the marks of being easy to play while still capable of clearing at least some of the end game content.

UPDATES/CHANGELOG:

Spoiler
Uber Elder is complete:

Spoiler
Between my lack of skill and my shitty internet, I would say this build is very forgiving. I was able to facetank all of the Elder's attacks, so I only had to worry about Shaper when attacking Elder. Since I was gearing for delving, I did have some gear that is different from the Shaper gear listed below, however; I feel the only significant change is that I was wearing Kaom's Roots. If I can record a decent video I will add it below, but I am confident that anyone familiar with the encounter will be able to complete it with this build, and anyone familiar with the encounter and with good internet, should be able to complete it deathless.


Dual wield vs shield:

Spoiler
Someone was nice enough to point out that I was "double dipping" on my poison damage numbers where you change the claw affix to read "60% more damage with poison" in PoB. This means I was overestimating the damage benefit of dual wielding, and makes the prospect of using a shields much more respectable. I personally picked a rare with life and resists so I could swap in Kaom's without loosing resists. It cost me 20c, so not a bank breaker by any means. That said, outside of delves, I don't know that you need the extra damage of dual wielding or survivalist of a shield, so it does open a pretty broad range of choices depending on your other gearing selection.


OVERVIEW:

- I've done Red Elder and Shaper deathless. I know that doesn't mean much these days so I have a Shaper video below, more so that you can decide if you think it is Uber Elder viable than anything. I have never fought him, so I don't have a sense of comparison. Edit: Uber Elder complete.

- Still not good for groups due to lag. Great build if you have no friends.

- With the "life gain on hit" anything that doesn't one-shot you makes you stronger.

- I have no issues with clear speed in maps. If you are transitioning from a Windripper MF QotF speedracer it might feel slow to you, but your preferences will dictate it's viability. In delves I feel like the AoE covers anything that is illuminated by my cart.

- I wanted to try PF as opposed to assassin for this build to make it a little better suited for solo delve pushes (450 and on) with the PF's elemental damage reduction. I also played Toxic Rain as a PF and like the flippant flask management play style.

- I feel like this build might have more up-front damage as opposed to the "infinite poison stacks" of the assassin with "Noxious Strikes."

- Plays any map mod. SHEPUUURD mentions this as well, and a lot of guides advertise it, but this is by far the least map mod impacted build I have played, including summoner builds. With the exception of T16s, I haven't looked at a map mod since I hit the atlas. You can swap flasks for no regen, but I generally whirl into packs (mgoh). Temp chains sucks and is the only mod I avoid for T16 guardians, but with PF I generally have my warding flask up all the time.

- I feel like this build transitions well from cheap starter hobo gear to moneybags fancy pants. I used the fire Volkuur's gloves for a while, but picked up some Fenamus' Weave for 3 ex. Can't say it was night and day, since I changed around a bunch of stuff to account for not having fire to poison conversion, but PoB says they are better once the stacks are up. Besides the Loreweave, I did Shaper and Red Elder with about 100c in gear, and 90c of that was from the belt and boots from my other builds.

- I will try to highlight changes I made from the Assassin variant in the respective sections.

- If you watch the videos, disregard the excessive lag. I think the video capture software is making the lag, which is barely noticeable during play, seem much worse than it is.

- Note: This guide is not meant for first time players. I am not a professional PoEer by any means, but it is written for someone who already understands some of the mechanics of the game and is familiar with gearing and levelling in general. I will pass along any insights I think might help new or veteran players. Please leave feedback to correct any incorrect assumptions on my part, or provide anything for other players.


PATHFINDER:

- Natural selection for Poison with "Nature's Reprisal" and "Toxicist" ascendancy nodes.

- Elemental ailment immunity and free flask recharge.

- 6% Elemental Damage reduction

PASTEBIN:
https://pastebin.com/LzifrarH


VIDEOS:
Spoiler
Shaper:
https://youtu.be/70zaIZ-kIpc
Disregard the lag in the video. While the build can cause lag, what you see here is from the video capture software, which did not go smoothly for some reason.

T14 Elder:
https://youtu.be/23VJh-qv0Us
T14 Red Elder. Didn't feel like moving in Phase 1.

Delve:
https://youtu.be/f051xa_TAMQ
Here is a Delve 455 with a bunch of extra damage mods and poison avoidence. Again the video capture makes the lag look 10x worse than it is. You can see in the top right that my frames drop to 45 FPS or so.





GEAR:

Spoiler


This is what I was wearing for Shaper video, and what I paid for it, as best I remember. The claws are self fossil crafted.
-Loreweave 6L - 9 exalt
-Lightpoacher w/ enchant - 2 exalt
-Fenamus' Weave - 3 exalt
-Boot's - 50c
-Rings and Amulet ~ 10-25 each
-LV 21 Chaos Support 60c
-LV4 Enlighten - 4-5ex

Note: This is what I am wearing in the video. I also did deathless Red Elder, Guardians, and Shaper without Fenamus' or the helm or the LV 21 chaos or the LV4 enlighten. See cheaper options below.

GEARING AND ALTERNATIVES:

Spoiler
CHEST:

-Loreweave for the 80% resits. Dendrobate has poison chance and damage. Cherri's has life and chaos damage.


AMULET, HELM, BOOTS, BELT, RINGS:


AMULET: Impresence has Life, chaos damage, DoT, semi-free Despair. Still 1.5-2 exalt. I just went with a rare with an open affix to craft Chaos damage for more life and to help with resists.


HELM: Whatever you can afford once you go for enchants. I feel like I got a bargain with the 2 abyss lightpoacher for 2ex with just the 2 extra projectile enchant. Before that I was using a Hrimnor's Resolve when I was using fire Volkuur's.


RING: Thief's Torment until you find another means of life and mana gain. Gemini Claw takes care of both. After that life and resists with crafted chaos or fire damage. Some accuracy here or on the amulet is also good. I didn't bother with Elder rings for the LGoH. Can't say I've missed it.


BOOTS: Life, resist, movement. I don't think any uniques would be worth the exchange. SHEPUUURD stated that Kaom's are good for Uber Elder. I was wearing a pair of Kaom's as well for my first Uber Elder kill. Though I do not think Kaom's are good for delves with this build since it negates your evasion.
BELT: Life and resists. Elemental damage if you are running the fire version.
WEAPON:



-A fossil claw with flat chaos and 60% chance for double poison are the two major rolls with an open suffix for master crafting attack speed if it doesn't roll naturally. Chance to poison will save some tree points since PF doesn't get any from the PF ascendancy. You can fossil the 30% quality if you have some extra cash.
-Wasp's Nest. Yeah, Wasp's Nest for 1-5 chaos will go a long way's.
-You don't need to use gemini claws, but they have the mana gain on hit to go along with the life gain on hit. Strongly recommended.

OFFHAND:


-A shield is a valid option for extra utility, survivability, or stat filler.

GLOVES:



- Fenamus' Weave for chaos. Volkuur's for fire. Haemophilia for funsies.
- Note: I am running my herald set up here so that Aspect of Spider doesn't get a mana multiplier.

FLASKS:



-Coralito's is by far the biggest damage gain. Everything else is whatever you need to fill in the gaps.

JEWELS:



- "Wildfire" is pseudo mandatory. You can get some with corrupted implicits like "cannot be maimed" (cheap) and "corrupted blood immunity" (not so cheap).
- I only went with one other jewel slot on the tree since since I didn't have any more two point jewel nodes, and I have a bunch of abyss sockets on my gear. Again, whatever you can afford for life, resists, and flat fire or chaos damage.
- "Chance to Blind" and "Onslaught on Kill" are nice to have rolls. In delves my Onslaught on Kill is proced pretty much 100% of the time.


GEMS:

- I was mainly focused on making this build tankier for delving, hence the molten shell and arctic armour, increased duration on fortify, and no wither totem.
- This is probably my 5 or 6th variation. As with all builds, you will want to adjust accordingly, I will highlight anything specific.

Spoiler
Chest :

When I was fire I used "Immolate". I also only just started using "Withering Touch". I think for PF chaos it is superior since the Phys as extra chaos front-loads damage for mobs and the wither stacks give a slight edge over deadly ailments for anything that doesn't die after 1-2 hits. LV 21 "Added Chaos" felt like a big boost when you can afford it. I have not been rotating gems for bosses vs. mapping or delving.


Helm:

-I just tried to come up with something to synergize with the spirit charges.

Boots:

-I would replace Blood Rage with Enfeeble, but my claw has "Despair on hit", so it would just overide it.
Gloves:

-I spent 4.5 exalt on a LV4 enlighten so I could run 2 Heralds, Arctic Armour, and Aspect of the Spider. Your priorities may differ.

Note: I have "Blood Rage" in my CWDT link so that it will be supported by the "Increased Duration." This is because I am lazy and dont have to manually cast it as often, but still want a high level "Blood Rage." "Fortify" is supported by "Increased Duration" because in the delves, it helps a lot with not having to worry about whirling around to re-activate it.

- I had "Flame Dash" for my gap crosser, it's not listed now since I was trying to work in Abyssal Cry.



PASSIVES, ASCENDANCY, PANTHEON, and BANDITS:

Spoiler
Passives:




Ascendancy:

Spoiler
Nature's Reprisal-->Master Toxicist-->Nature's Boon-->Master Alc/Nature's Adrenaline


Pantheon:

Spoiler
I went with "Soul of the Brine King" mainly for the Chill reduction and "Soul of Shakari" for one more immunity with poison.


Bandits:

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I went with Alira. The crit multiplier is wasted but I like the resists ans flat mana regen.




LEVELING:

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Something like this if you are new to Path of Exile.


GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS and SIDE NOTES:

Spoiler

-I really wanted to work in "Abyssal Cry" for delving, but the cooldown time was not worth getting the "Battle Cry" node in my opinion (and there is no way I am manually casting every time I come to a pack). Basically, only 1/3 of the mobs were getting affected, and I would just kill the other 2/3 like normal.

-One thing about damage mitigation, which is not specific to this build, is that if I get one-shot, I'm not sure what damage type I was killed by. This is especially true in delves. Where even if I were to record my gameplay, I probably wouldn't be able to see what I was actually killed by with all the screen clutter. This makes it rather difficult to assess what defenses I need to improve, or if I should run a Basalt flask for Physical reduction or a Wise Oak for elemental.


Thanks to: Others who have made build guides, trade sites, videos, loot filters, explained mechanics on forums, have done something helpful for someone playing PoE, or if you are just a nice person in general.
Last edited by Kuronin on Oct 12, 2018, 1:08:26 PM
Last bumped on Dec 1, 2018, 4:33:24 PM
Parking Lot
Thank you for guide, for fossil. which fossils you used for

claws
and
belt?
"
commonjunks wrote:
Thank you for guide, for fossil. which fossils you used for

claws
and
belt?


I didn't use fossils for my belt, but you can if you want to roll some extra %increased chaos damage.
On the claws, i bought iLV 85 Elder/Shaper and then used "perfect" to get above 20%. I would say "Aberrant" and "Corroded" for sure to roll the flat chaos damage and the 60% chance for double poison rolls. These two stat lines alone will give you a 20-30% more damage incrase over Wasp's Nest. Chance to poison is also good since you cannot hit 100% chance to poison using Fenamus' gloves without taking tree nodes. If you have extra moneys, you can also use a "shuddering" to get a natural attack speed roll, other wise you will just need an open suffix to master craft attack speed. Since "shuddering" is significantly more expensive, by far the most cost effective method is just using "Aberrant" and "Corroded".
Last edited by Kuronin on Oct 8, 2018, 4:22:33 PM
Re dual-wielding vs lycosidae, if you have edited your claws to give 60% more damage with poison, you are getting a false dps result, try only editing one clawfor true dps comparison. (you are going from a local mod to a an edit which is global so is counted twice per hit instead of once)

Dave
"
ddfire wrote:
Re dual-wielding vs lycosidae, if you have edited your claws to give 60% more damage with poison, you are getting a false dps result, try only editing one clawfor true dps comparison. (you are going from a local mod to a an edit which is global so is counted twice per hit instead of once)

Dave


Thank you for the feedback. I'll make a notation in the guide, especially since this will help gear defensively with any shield, not just lycosidae for hit chance.
Last edited by Kuronin on Oct 11, 2018, 6:43:53 PM
Not really sure what the point of Herald of Purity is here as opposed to supporting the Agony Crawler.
"
Not really sure what the point of Herald of Purity is here as opposed to supporting the Agony Crawler.


From PoB it gives roughly 6.5% more dps and provides some defensive measure with the minions. Certainly not build critical.
Last edited by Kuronin on Nov 22, 2018, 9:52:41 AM
I have no doubt it adds (some) dps...do you mean it adds 6.5% more vs supporting HoG with more supports?
"
I have no doubt it adds (some) dps...do you mean it adds 6.5% more vs supporting HoG with more supports?


From the PoB I have linked, I go from 71332 "Total DPS inc. Poison" without HoP selected to 76391 "Total DPS inc. Poison" with HoP selected.

"vs supporting HoG with more supports?"

I assume you mean HoA? I didn't focus the build around the crawler doing damage, and I think realistically you wouldn't even be using HoP since you need a LV 4 Enlighten to run it with the other Auras. You could drop HoP and Arctic Armor and run some HoA supports, but I wanted the defence for delves and rarely felt under powered for anything Atlas related, including Uber Elder.

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