Starklife's Clonestrike 2H sword CI shadow build.

Some people had requested that I post some information about the build I'm running.

I think it is probably very similar to what most people are doing, most of passives are fairly obvious, but as it's been requested I figured I'd post a thread on it. As well it will help me to get feed-back from other people who have experience with melee CI builds.

First off here is some footage of it in action: http://www.twitch.tv/stark_weather/b/385522107

Second here's a link to the skill tree: http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYAAdwFtQbuDPIOSA6tD6sQexEvEZYS4RR1FdcY2yFgIcAotSmlKwosvzB8Mgk2PUCgQ5xHBlFHVmNW-l9qYIhhIWFSYxdnZ20ZbWxuaXBSdEF08XfXfPV_K3_GhNmGrodqiGuKIo2_kGyXcJ2jnrmfJ5_Loi6io6LqpcunNKmUsw60xbVItve-Or6nwFHApsDzwQDBxcHzwuzDbcS4zerUUtX414bbGuLq44TndOsU7BjvTvPq9Uv8q_-T

You can also input the link into the exilepro build summary page here to see a list of all the major stats this build gets: http://www.exilepro.com/build-summary?build=AAAAAgYAAdwFtQbuDPIOSA6tD6sQexEvEZYS4RR1FdcY2yFgIcAotSmlKwosvzB8Mgk2PUCgQ5xHBlFHVmNW-l9qYIhhIWFSYxdnZ20ZbWxuaXBSdEF08XfXfPV_K3_GhNmGrodqiGuKIo2_kGyXcJ2jnrmfJ5_Loi6io6LqpcunNKmUsw60xbVItve-Or6nwFHApsDzwQDBxcHzwuzDbcS4zerUUtX414bbGuLq44TndOsU7BjvTvPq9Uv8q_-T

Here is my current gear setup:

As you can see there isn't really anything too special about it. I'm not entirely set on any of the links I am using and may change them quite a bit when I have the opportunity and//or new support gems are released. The main concept behind my playstyle and skill use is to maintain the most mobility & attack speed I can, with the idea that if I'm moving fast enough I will increase my survivability, and with enough fast hits keep my ES regen buffer tank strong enough to perma tank big groups. Flickerstrike//leapslam allows you to get in behind groups to kill necros and & those guys that cast lightning thorns.

Keystones: I am running IR which converts all my evasion to armor, and unwavering stance so that I am immune to stun. As an after-thought I realized I'm probably doing it entirely wrong being CI and melee and not being able to dodge, but so far it's worked really well as my regen out-tanks most big groups I come across.

I use crystal skin and plan to get both of the shock reduction nodes next to it, as 55% less chance to be shocked is really crucial when you're charging in like a retard and maximizing your de-synch chance with ridiculously fast attack speed and half of the skills that cause de-synch the most.

Obviously as melee CI I use ghost reaver.

I don't currently use vaal pact. I experimented with it and found it made it much harder for me to tank anything and ended up costing me a good 10 regrets to spec out of it. In my experience regen life leech is better in almost all situations. Of course my weapon is fairly low physical damage so this could change with better gear//gems, and considering the fact that with my build you're fairly near it, it's always an option. But again, in my experience: Regen keeps my ES topped at all times as long as I'm constantly hitting, vaal pact didn't. It's really nice to have a lot of life leech regen stacked and go into a lot of mobs and be able to keep your es maxed at all times (outside big hits)

I currently run: Grace, Hatred, & Discipline. Discipline is obvious. Grace is fairly obvious too, gives a ton of evasion which is then converted to armor.

I currently have 5 max frenzy charges, I don't think it's necessary to have more, though I do intend to get the node that gives 4% increased evasion per frenzy charge, and at that point I may as well get another one, so it'll likely be 6 total.

I've experimented a bit with molten shell, but having to cast it every 10 seconds seems so ridiculous to me.

With my current setup I use doublestrike for single targets when mana is an issue & I am unable to use cyclone. Sadly as I have approached the end of merciless doublestrike has seemed really weak, though it could just be the way I have it linked and the low dps of my weapon, cyclone out performs it by an insane ammount even though it is an AOE ability. So I really rarely use doublestrike anymore except for single target life leech when mana is an issue.

I have flickerstrike linked with life leech and increased critical strikes, in the hope that I will crit and be able to flicker more as terminus est gives you frenzy charges when you crit, I also have it linked to faster attacks. At lower levels it was excellent to spam kill single targets but again as you get into merciless it starts to feel really lackluster, and dps wise cyclone out-performs it easily. So primarily I use it now as an oh-shit button where I spam it to leech back life and (hopefully) get out of dangerous situations. At 5 attacks per second it seems like I'm moving too fast to really get hit by much and it leeches surprisingly well with the 7% from the gem and the 7% from blood rage (14% total) Eventually I'd like to run it with both melee damage on full life and melee physical damage so that the leech is higher, but it's very hard to get the colors right on ES gear to run that sort of link.

Cyclone wasn't a skill I planned on using, from all I had read it was better with dual wield and I liked the mobility of leap slam, so I had never planned to actually use cyclone. However, one happened to drop so I decided to level it and just see how it performed. I'm glad I did cause it is amazingly good for 2H. The main drawbacks are mana & lightning thorns reflect....and of course....de-sync. Outside of that it's a little laggy on transitioning from flickerstrike or to flickerstrike, but over-all still really good and works very well with flickerstrike (Hence giving this build the name clonestrike)

I still use leapslam with faster attacks primarily for mobility, though I may experiment with it more later as a single attack aoe tends to be safer than cyclone's messy multiple attacks.

After getting the cyclone link setup in rime gaze I really haven't had much trouble with dpsing anything in the game, the main problem (as with most melee) is just surviving.

Chargers are extremely dangerous & so become extremely tedious. You can use w/e curses you want but it's still extremely dangerous, especially if they come with the mobs that cast lightning thorns....I've nearly killed myself so many times on lightning thorns because of the insanely fast attack speed 2H sword build can get.

Those two things are part of the reason I'd like to run arctic armor.

Long term goals//possibilities:

*Using a blind support gem in the cyclone link for extra defense when needed.

*Getting high enough mana leech to run arctic armor while using cyclone. (lol)

*Getting insanely GG ES gear and using shavrone's wrappings (armor) with a 20% quality bloodrage for the 50% increased attack speed on low life + a 20% quality blood magic gem linked to an aura for permanent low life and even more increased attack speed. Obviously transitioning out of CI and stacking chaos damage would be hard....but the possibility of a build that accomplishes it is just another example of where you can go with PoE, there are so many options and directions you can go with your build.

*Conduit + Inner Force before level 90.

*the build provides the ability to stack a good amount of crit and if the new power charge on crit support gem is released it will be very easy to integrate into the build, while terminus est won't be the sword you use for 70+ maps it will still work fine in most low level maps and using that support gem if it is released will mean nearly permanent frenzy charge uptime during flickerspam.

As far as this build goes, I really think it's a build you'd do that takes a lot of investment. It's not your main farming build or your best face-roll build. It takes time and a lot of investment (some of which will probably be gear you farmed with other characters) but will pay off in the end.

Thanks in advance to anyone who doesn't post tl:dr & anyone who has useful feedback.

post on exilepro pls kthx <3

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Iamsleepless wrote:

post on exilepro pls kthx <3

Done, thanks. :)

Just watched this live, it's fairly impressive!

Could see this being a very dominant build with a better weapon/gear for sure.

Nicely done :)

I have changed my flickerstrike link to use two of the new support gems. Obviously I'd like to use melee splash as well, but don't currently have the colors//link to support it. Will implement it as soon as possible.





Link to some video of me actually using the build: http://www.twitch.tv/stark_weather/b/388157946

The same concepts remain of maintaining maximum mobility to & escape mechanisms to increase survivability.

As my fully buffed multi-strike supported flickerstrike is at 10.10 attacks per second now, there is a huge amount of de-sync, in my current experience it seems that cyclone works well to lessen it.

I am at 75% chance to hit, and with the new flickerstrike link it does seem that I am missing a bit, though whether this is really missing or desyncs it's really hard to tell.

As always I welcome feedback and can't wait to see people with better gear and more time than me improve this or show me their version of it.

Lastly: Love the new patch, thanks GGG.

Some of my more recent streaming has some footage of me using the new link in some low level maps.

Keep in mind that my weapon is very outdated and my gear isn't the greatest so being able to perform in maps as CI 2H sword melee at all is pretty cool especially given I use all true melee skills (no half ranged groundslam//lightning strike)

Flickerstrike is just over 7k dps now with full buffs, though some of this is reduced by armor as it is physical, as you can see it is still plenty of dps for low level maps and keeps reflect from being an issue (outside lightning thorns)

I spent around 70 chrome trying to get the colors to use melee splash in the link but was unsuccessful. I will keep this thread updated when I am able to test it properly.

I also plan to incorporate the new searing bond totem skill into the build when it becomes available, considering my flickerstrike is over 10.10 attacks per second it will be interesting to see what the beam does.

Lastly I do plan to use arctic armor as well because flicker isn't treated as movement it shouldn't drain the extra mana as often, I just don't have the sockets for it yet.

I am occasionally de synced but what can ya do?

Give me a bump if you got feedback or questions. Either is appreciated.

Im trying something similar atm. I might be noobcaking completely here but aren't you quite low on ES nodes for a CI build? Like you don't take any of the witch ES nodes which adds up to like 40+%. Again if it works without the witch ES nodes all the better then i can just start going down to the duelist area instead.
Otherwise really interesting build, definitely looking forward to multistrike flickerspamming :)

"

Yendis wrote:

Im trying something similar atm. I might be noobcaking completely here but aren't you quite low on ES nodes for a CI build? Like you don't take any of the witch ES nodes which adds up to like 40+%. Again if it works without the witch ES nodes all the better then i can just start going down to the duelist area instead.
Otherwise really interesting build, definitely looking forward to multistrike flickerspamming :)

ES is 4k atm which is low but for not having a shield to contribute ES its not bad and my rate of leech is fantastic generally I can out regen tank almost anything in low end maps but I'd like around 7k es to do high maps we will see what happens. So far the only real problems are chargers and lightning thorns but if they are nerfing lightning thorns in the patch today that should make life a bit easier, right now I just want to get inner force its such a hugebuff it can't be ignored.

I got inspired by this build (mainly the perma flicker charge + killing things) so I am going to try and do my own build but using acrobats + life + evasion as a duelist

here is the skill tree im gonna end up using

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQBAecDAAR-BbUF-QbuCZYM8hQgFRoV8BnVGlUa2xvIHSYhYCP2JGok_ScgKvsshTBxMHwyATMMNDU1kjboOK05ljpCOlI6WD7PQzFHfkt4TipOyFBHUUdW-loaWkhbr14TYEthIWHrYxdko2VNZ2dsjXTtdPF6U3rvfPV-mn8rhNmE74cZh2qKIo19jb-QbJdwmSubJp65nyehG6OKpcunMKmUqn-quKvFreSyGbZBuDe9gb3mvsHApsDzwQfCgMaiz3rUI9RS1QDXftgL2GndDd2o37_lxedU6wnuDu_w9Ub3vvlj-vH7_PyJ_MX-K__e

I have a question.

Why do you use CI? I haven't looked at your actual skill tree, but I am thinking of that new unique armour with +2 to movement skills, of which flicker is classed as one, and whether this build would benefit from making use of this. It would mean focusing on life instead of +ES, so not sure how easily, but yeah