[Build] The official IRON MAN

[MUSTWATCH] YOUTUBE VIDEO

This is my lvl 70 character named Amarena from Path of Exile, by GGG. It is from 9.7 beta default but recorded in 9.10 beta legacy, so the items are spread from many patch versions.

It's build is a Crit Cold Ice Spear Witch (a.k.a. crit spear witch) with a CHAOTIC IRON MAN setup (IRON MAN is the term created by the beta tester Dreggon referring to a common nonsense joke of using two passive skill nodes from the game: [Chaos Inoculation] deplishes your maximum Health Points to 1 and rises the maximum Energy Shield while the [Eldritch Shield] converts all the Energy Shield into mana, leaving the Character with a 1 hit point and tons of mana).

The high ammount of mana (make sure you use [Discipline aura] as it will just rise even more your mana) increases the basic mana regen speed, and with [clarity aura] plus a {mana leech spark spammer totem} the regen speed leaves space for using any flasks just for careless or forgetfull players. Also the flasks in the video aren't really important, but focusing in [charge recovery %], [1 charge on every crit hit], [% evasion in flask effects] are the ones I'd go for.

The basic strategy is to get as much cast speed (the reason for the use of haste aura and blood rage) while maintaining something to drag enemies' atention from you: using Skellies is a good tatic for spreaded crowds, but being fast enough to cast the spark totem in front of you will align the enemies perfectly for spamming the ice spears. In case of [Fast Movement Foes] casting [Frost Wall] will hold things up for enough time to get the totem in place and the skellie-bone shield (may be in the front of the enemies or before the wall, so when it goes down everything is set). Frost Wall is also the best way to avoid the nonsense leap slam goatmen (also leaving here a sidenote to take care when fighting spark spammer goatmen or other foes like kuduku as you will not be able to determine wich spark belongs to whom).

Using Zombies is a plan C or even D, as the ice will shatter enemies and will not leave many bodies to using for the summoning. These minions have slightly higher speed and AI response than skellies, so they are great for spawning hidden foes and tanking one or two hits in chaos from rare monsters.

Remembering to always keep an eye foward and spawning both skellies and totems to unleash enemy waves and specially to identify [Elemental Damage Reflect] Foes is extremely important, as any damage dealt by you will result in instant death.
Here is a list of dangerous foes:

1) Goatmen: They will leap slam you from the other side of the map;
1.5) Spark Mage Goatmen: If you rely on your totem too much, you will not be able to tell wich spark is going to kill you;
2) Archers: They will always be able to hit you in many directions (split shot/multiprojectiles) with tiny sprites you will barely see. With time you get pro in staying in the perfect range (this video is great in this subject);
3) General ranged: These enemies are not that dangerous if you can keep then distracted meleeing your meat shields. Do not get confident on it, as a random scavenger may swap target from meleeing one skelleton to throw a rock at your face.
4) Flicker Strikers: Once you identify the enemies with this mod you will be sure to kill them before they can leave the screen borders: they do not play fair, specially with lag. Ghosts have been always able to show up with this mod, and in 9.10 there are spiders as well.
5) Elemental Reflect Aura Rares: Before 9.8 or 9.9 it was a BIG threat, as it was really common. Now in 9.10 you will see less "elem refle" - maybe once in every 2 ledge runs. Make sure you get to spawn the mobs from the outer screen with meat shields before shooting!

The last chance is the small evasion provided by [Grace Aura], so it might save in a few situations, proving that evasion might be, somehow, usefull. Yet, as every item you use should be Int type (providing more Energy Shield = Mana) you will be left with not much evasion, so it is definetly a PLAN Z.

Regarding extra info on equipment, Increased Movement Speed Boots is a must (overall 20% movement in the char screen is already great). Same goes for 80% critical chance knives (mines aren't good at all, yet many thanks to Gorlak for helping me out back then).

The build itself is for IRON MEN: there is no need for uber equipment, just enough skills and experience with ARPGs. Also being able to handle lag is important. As for now I am pretty sure I am the first ever to do it.


Passive Tree is showed in the begining of the video, but here is the link for the lazy ones

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If you are curious about pants visit my ghost-town thread

Is this viable on Hardcore?

Is this viable on other areas than ledge ?

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Mortal321 wrote:

Is this viable on Hardcore?

No

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zriL wrote:

Is this viable on other areas than ledge ?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the Maelstrom of Chaos, not the ledge?

Very cool build, but not a great idea for PvP hahaha

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zriL wrote:

Is this viable on other areas than ledge ?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the Maelstrom of Chaos, not the ledge?

Very cool build, but not a great idea for PvP hahaha

It is Maelstrom of Chaos: Ledge Instance.

The build is functional in any map, in fact I had footage of other chaos instances such as dark forest, twilight strand and terraces, but they didn't show all the good and tricky points of the build, so I kept the "ranged army in ledge" footage for the video.

I am not an alpha tester, so I can't confirm anything about PvP. But speculating about it I would not just disagree with ya, but I would also point this one as a broken build for pvp:

1) ice spear has the longest range in the game, being able to block flicker strikers and most of bow skills.
2) totem spark will shock [on foot] melee characters.
3) ice spear can freeze leap slammers (and maybe whirlwind blades?).
4) frost wall can stop other ranged spells and some long ranged bow skills. It also can screw with firestormers.

But what really makes the build incredible for pvp is the MP-autonomy, as the regen is absurd. Because life is short, you shall make rains of all sort.

Amarena, you're not talking in caps! I thought all Iron Men always talked in caps exclusively. For Shame!

P.S. For those wondering why I'm not talking in caps: I'm not manly enough to run an Iron Man build.

Still don't get the iron man reference

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Shadowstorm wrote:

Amarena, you're not talking in caps! I thought all Iron Men always talked in caps exclusively. For Shame!

P.S. For those wondering why I'm not talking in caps: I'm not manly enough to run an Iron Man build.

It takes time to build up the testosterone after expenditure. The manliness involved in making an IRON MAN video means he needs some caps-free time before he gets back in the game.

My computer is currently not manly enough to IRON MAN, but I'm working on replacing it!

This is awesome. Kudos 4 u