2h Mace Cyclone - Solo MF Build Discussion

Be warned, this is a long thread!

Prologue

Hey guys! Before I continue, I'd like to thank those who took the time to read and comment on my previous build discussion. There were many oversights to the 2h Cyclone build; to summarize it in one sentence, the build lacked endgame survivability in terms of life and damage mitigation.

Regardless, I gave the build a spin, and discovered some interesting things. First off, cyclone's tooltip DPS is nonsense. Using cyclone, I was able to deal similar, if not more, single-target damage than a 1v1 skill such as lightning strike. This really came as a big surprise to me, considering that some very knowledgeable players, i.e. Kripp, had sidelined cyclone because it did many little hits instead of a one big hit. Second, I also noticed the enormous amounts of damage I was being dealt while using cyclone. Even speccing to maximize mitigation did not minimize the damage I received! This was probably due to the fact that I couldn't use a shield :(.

This last discovery led me to believe that 2h cyclone had no place in PoE's end-game. Perhaps I am correct, perhaps I am not. Regardless, this got me thinking about other ways I could use 2h cyclone. What I came up with was a variation of the build; this time specced for currency farming.

Currency Farming


As many of you know, the drop rate of currency items is strictly determined by IIQ. In addition to this, there is a penalty associated with IIQ set at -2% currency drop rate per character level over the instance. However, this penalty is non-existent for instances at or above level 66.

This tweaked build neither maximizes damage nor survivability. Instead it will weave both aspects together in order to get just enough damage and survivability to painlessly farm Act 3 Merciless and lower level maps; but nothing else! Investing in only two keystone passives, resolute technique and blood magic, this build will forgoe end-game DPS and survivability through the use of % auras and critical strikes in order to maximize increased item quality (IIQ).

Why Cyclone?

Many reasons exist for using cyclone to farm currency; some of these are novelty reasons, while others are intellectual.

The range of a melee attack is determined by weapon type. Logically, 2h weapons have a greater range than 1h weapons. As far as I know, the AoE radius (AoEr) of an AoE melee skill can be increased through either increased area of effect or through increased weapon range. For example, the AoEr of cleave can be increased through increased area of effect passives/supports/affixes. However, the AoEr of cleave is unaffected by passives/affixes which increase weapon range.

Cyclone is the only exception to this rule; it benefits from both increased AoEr and increased weapon range. Using a 20% cyclone, this build takes advantage of the Duelist weapon range passive and the Templar AoEr passives to cumulatively obtain 40% increased AoEr and +2 to weapon range.

Cyclone also provides a very mobile offense/defense. A character, while spinning, cannot be stunned. Though you will be taking a lot of damage, rest assured that this damage will almost always be predictable and very manageable. This character is made for soloing Act 3 end content; not 6-manning a level 77 map :P.

In terms of novelty, take pride in the fact that you will be using a skill the majority of players don't. Additionally, cyclone is one of few, if not the only, skill which benefits from the lack of movement speed. And for some of you, cyclone might be reminiscent of some of your fondest gaming memories. D2 WW-Barb anyone :D?

The Build

With the help of the criticism I received for my previous thread, I've re-hauled the passive skill tree of the 2h cyclone build. Instead of utilizing critical strikes, I've gone resolute technique. The build still specializes in 2h Maces, but instead of grabbing every damage node, I've grabbed only the most efficient ones. As a result, there are at least a dozen 10% 2h damage physical nodes in close proximity to my path. The survivability of the build remains the same; however, this time round, the build accomplishes this at the character level of 75 instead of 90. The blood magic problem still persists; I am unable to use any survivability auras i.e. purity, determination. Since the new goal of this build is to farm Act 3, I predict that the lack of these auras will be less significant. As always, the passive skill tree and its build summary can be found in the links directly below.


Passive Skill Tree


Build Summary


Conclusion

I'd like to thank those of you who have taken the time to read this thread. Ultimately, I am sharing this build in an attempt to gain some constructive criticism. It worked great last time, so hey, why not try again! Sorry for the lengthiness, and thank you in advance to all of you, if any, that reply :).