Official Blender Post! Lets theory craft for 1.2! 123k Cleave DPS!

I make my bringer added fire, cyclone, LGoH, and conc effect. If you want to swap the added fire for something you can replace it with WED or melee dmg on full life. I prefer added fire. It gives more DPS than WED and it applies all the time.

Waiting for x2p update but i dont think it will come soon enough :/

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQBAdwCcQOHBLMFLRHVFE0XHRc-GE0brRv6Hcoj9iXfJy8n7SjbKaUxnjIJNJM1kjiWPC09_ECgQXRHfkp9TP9N404qU99W-lcNV5dYY1jbWkhbr18_YEFgS2NwZU1ngGegah5sRnBycmxyqXTtdit4DXhJeu982YTZhO-Hdojxi0-Mz5HOlWaZK5stm4OeuaIApBmkrKZXqBipbqvFrKqvbLT5tfK2QbcXtz677byfvYG-ir6nwA_BBMT2xYrGrsbYzNvSIdJN037dDd_v45_uDu8O707veu_j7_DwH_Iv9kj3MvdN_MX-Cv6P

This is the build I will be running, I've min-maxed it as much as I think is possible (including trying to get more str vs dex/int when determining the best path for the same # pts).

It is 117 points because I help oak 3 times (I like having 5 endurance charges, especially with the Marauder node adding a total 1% hp/s. I like hp/s).

I went along the faster dex road in the ranger tree instead of the 3 3% attack nodes, so I could pick up the 3 hp nodes. If you go through the attack speed route, you spend 4 points to get 9% attack speed and 10 dex (before entering Finesse). The other route spends 4 points to get 30 dex and 8% hp, but then of course you have 20% hp for another 2 points. It's hard to compare these, but in general I'm a fan of def > offense, especially considering the rest of the tree and the fact that parties will be giving you lots of damage anyways, and Wings of Entropy is still fairly cheap (as is non-legacy BoR). I think survivability is at a premium for blender because damage is so easy to come by for this build.

I think getting to Marauder via the life ring is still best, rather than through the damage nodes between Duelist and Marauder, since some of those nodes aren't very good (3% attack speed, e.g.), but mostly because it puts you closer to the Templar area, which is one of the most efficient pointwise. Other people have suggested then getting up to the life ring via the dex road and picking up the 4 8% nodes under the scion. That ring is certainly great, but I don't think it's best. Going that route, you spend 11 points total to get to the ring. This nets 20 str, 40 dex, 32% hp, and 24% evasion/armor and 10% all resistances. Going the way I went, for 11 points, you net 50 str, 10 int, 40% armor, 24% evasion/armor and 10% all resistances, and 6% attack speed, with one more point for Berserking. The str is a net gain of 15 hp and 6% dmg, and you gain 10 int instead of 30 dex (which does nothing for us due to IR, outside of stat requirements). It's a tough call here, but I went with the str, armor and attack speed over the hp. Note however that in this build, I skipped the Sentinel node and 10 str in favor of Diamond Flesh and the 15% dmg near the Scion ring. If you need more armor and want 10 str (hp) and don't mind losing damage and 2% resists, take Sentinel. With very good gear, I would skip the resists altogether and probably pick up another point or two in the life ring that I skipped. Up to yall, for sure.

I skipped 2 nodes on the life ring to most efficient go through the ring while picking up Path of the Warrior.

I like the Templar road. For 9 points, you get 40 str (20 hp and 8% dmg), 10 dex, 18% dmg, another 30 hp, 34% hp, and 1% hp/s. You also gain the option of spending 2 points to pick up Amplify, which is an option.

Then I pick up Resolute Technique, as everyone does, along the str path (because more str is always best). I spend 1 extra point to go through the Endurance Charge node: the difference is therefore 2 points for 20 str, or 3 points for 10 str, 0.2% hp/s per endurance charge, and 1 more endurance charge (for 5 total). That one extra point is definitely worth it to me, since I help Oak, netting me 1% hp/s for one point (I would take this all day if I could). Having 5 endurance charges also gives me a longer Immortal Call, which is amazing with the new Vaal version. (Side note: I'm not sure the best way to link CoDT yet, but I think I will probably run Inc. Dur + Vaal Shield + Vaal Call, without CoDT, for manual casting when I need it. I've never seen the point of casting Immortal Call constantly, e.g. if you are at 90% hp. I'd love to hear what people link their CoDTs to, if they link it to Vaals, if they link it to CoC, Firestorm, level 20 curse, etc.).

I know I want By the Blade because it's an AMAZING node (lots of dmg and hp? YES PLZ!). There are 2 options here: go through the resist ring to get some resists and 1% more max resist of fire, or pick up 20 str for those points. Simple decision, unless you want to then go down towards Bloodless and the hybrid life/armor ring. Both are very good options, but I want to pick up the damage nodes between Marauder and Duelist (nearer Duelist), so I skipped these hp nodes, in favor of quicker pathing and resists.

Finally, I picked up the Bravado and Duality rings. You spend 2 points to get to them, but the extra block is amazing, along with the extra 12% life the 2 nodes in Duality give you.

Final thought: I am still VERY attracted to the Bloodless ring, where there is effectively 6 8% nodes if you just spend the extra point (or two, depending) to get there. It's amazing, but I think the best comparison is the life ring. If we took away our life ring pathing, including Berserking, the 15% dmg node, the fire resist nodes in Marauder we took, and the 20 str we get after the life ring to connect out tree, we save 17 points.

These points give: 18% attack speed, 39% dmg, 40% hp, 23% fire resist, 1% max fire resist, and 50 max hp, after factoring the str to its components. If we connect the trees instead via the 2 dex nodes, 17 points gives us: 35 hp, 34% dmg, 72% hp, Bloodless effect, 4% attack speed, and that's with 3 points just being put into some of the Marauder damage nodes (there are better places to put them, but for the sake of a straight comparison, I put them there). The difference is more dmg, attack speed and fire resists vs more hp. If you want the more hp, I'd advise going with the tree I have linked below, which changes a few other things to min-max your life pathing:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQBAdwB5wJxA4cEswUtC2ER1RQgFE0XHRhNGJEaOButG_odyiP2JJsl3ycvKNsppTKJNJM4lj38QKBBdEd-Sn1OKlBHU99W-lcNV5dX4lhjWNtZ81pIW69fP2BBYEtjcGVNZ4BnoGoecHJyqXK7dO12K3gNeEl5aHrvfNmAioTZhO-HdotPjM-QVZHOlWaZK5stm4OhbaIApBmkrKcwp4SoGKvFrKq0-bZBtxe5zbvtvJ-9gb6KvqfAD8AawQTG2Mzb0iHSTdN-3Q3f7-Of7DjuDu8O707veu_j7_DwH_Iv9kj3MvdN_MU=

In which case you could allocate the remaining 2 points to an extra endurance charge, Amplify, Heart of Oak, 2 of: Lava Lash, Blood Drinker, and/or Catalyse, or Fell the Weak, Blade of Renown, Diamond Flesh, or whatever else you might want. If you don't help Oak in Merciless, you could also save a point going to Bloodless, but you lose the fire resists and some damage doing so, but then overall you gain 4 points you could use to pick up the Gallantry Ring, the Berserking ring, or a mix/match of what I have above.

Hey Synze,
I looked at the 2nd tree u posted and had the idea that if u dont go up to the big hp ring anyways but take that full axe and sword ring below marauder: u could skip the 5 nodes (2x str 1 int and 2 dex) between Steel Skin and the str node below Warriors Blood and do the connection over the 2 dual wield atk speed and the 1 str node that lead to the str node below the axe and sword ring. U´ll have another 2 points free if u dont need the 1 int 2 dex and 1 str node for gem requirements or something else.

Would look like this then:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQBAecCcQOHBLMFLRHVFCAUTRcdGE0YkRo4G60b-h3KI_YkmyXfJy8o2ymlMok0kziWPfxAoEF0R35KfU4qUEdT31b6Vw1Xl1fiWGNY21nzWkhbr18_YEFgS2NwZU1ngGegah5wcnKpcrt07XYreEl673zZgIqE2YTvh3aLT4zPkFWRzpVmmSubLZuDoW2iAKQZpKynMKeEqBirxayqtPm2QbcXuc277byfvYG-p8APwBrBBMbYzNvSIdJN037dDd_v45_sOO4O7w7vTu967-Pv8PAf8i_2SPcy9038xagHg3w26A==

Maybe u checked that already and didnt like it then just forget it xD

4 points to spend then, would be enough to even reach Gallantry with 117pts then or an other idea could be Ambidexterity + Celerity for just some dmg less than Gallantry but an extra 8% movement speed.

Good catch. I go that route on another version of this build I toyed around with a week or so ago, and for some reason I didn't like that build vs going the life ring, so I'll have to go do some comparisons (need my other computer to do it). Once I compare a few of my candidate trees, I'll post back here with the summarized differences and what I think is best, for what it's worth.

Even with the nerfs, I still really like Berserking, only because in Standard and Ambush Wings of Entropy is going for just a few exalteds (without links). It's a very, very strong weapon tht imo benefits more from attack speed than straight damage on the tree, given its fire and chaos dmg. I think I was still looking to try and pick up Berserking and so tunnel visioned a bit there, haha. But like I said, I'll review it vs the life ring and post back ASAP (probably 1-2 days). There are just so many pathing options available all over the tree, as my original post outlines.

Unless you want 8% movement speed, I definitely prefer Gallntry over Ambi + Celerity. Just straight up more damage is worth more than movement speed, to me at least, especially since movement speed is easy to come by (30% boots, haste in parties, a bit more available on the tree), and this build moves a lot based on attack speed with Leap Slam and/or Whirling Blades.

Seeing as how I think I'm going to go with Wings of Entropy, I will probably end up going for the Lava Lash + Catalyze version, using Cyclone / LGoH / Added Fire / WED in BoR. (I'm not sure BoR is worth it after the nerf vs., say, Alpha's Howl, but we'll see). Other options are ofc. Conc. attacks, and Faster Attacks/Increased Melee Phys if not using BoR.

And yet another option is (possibly) the new 100% elemental damage mace, although that would require a different tree altogether, including Avatar of Fire if it works out.
From reddit:

"Think about Dual Strike melee splash avatar of fire and the cold conversion gloves. You could convert 75% of your physical to elemental and then have 200% increased elemental damage and the dual wielding nodes are powerful. Holy shit imagine dual strike with a bringer of rain with 2 of these bad boys."

Could use with Cyclone ofc. as well. It might make Ice Bite worth picking up as well. If all of these things work out, it would turn this build into an absolutely mongo fire damage build, especially in parties where you get Anger and Wrath.

Can you show me your armor?

@Edit: nvm, i forgot about helmet(cant put armor with this helmet ;p)

@OP - quick feedback - the links for Mid and Late-ish builds are the same :)

Other than that, thanks for the quick update. Looking forward to testing out the slight differences in the tree, see how it works out. All good so far :)

Is this build still viable after BoR nerf? And how about using cyclone + blood magic as Soul Taker is expansive?

updated current 108 point tree for taker/bringer blender using cyclone

here's my char by the numbers:

What's changed about my play since the patch dropped:

I now actively use vulnerability (dropping one of my two jade flasks). I run a bubbling hallowed hybrid flask specifically for this purpose, since mana leech is garbage now. Since crits (from specific bosses in particular) hurt alot more, I manually cast vulnerability on guys like kole to take them down faster so that they have less opportunity to crit my char. I'll probably level my Q20 lvl 3 vuln to 20/20 so that this becomes even more effective or, perhaps, leave the gem as it is and put it on my CWDT. I am undecided. If I do level the gem cursed enemies will take 8/36 or 22% more damage. Another option which occurs to me is that I could run a lvl3 vuln on my CWDT and manually cast a lvl20 to open engagements. Another option which occurs to me is to run a quality mana leech on something like leap slam so that I have the option to cast vuln on demand.

I play more cautiously against bosses with high elemental damage output. Given the loss of elemental adaptation and the resultant 5% increase in damage taken (cap moved from 81% to 80 => 1/20th of damage taken) I'm resigned to run away and regen more frequently in bossfights. Using vuln helps offset this. I may grab the +1 to cap nodes specifically for lightning and fire to help deal with palace dom and a prospective fight with atziri. I probably won't need the cold one until next expansion which is when a cold damage boss will probably drop.

I've had to improve my gear significantly to compensate for the general nerf to the wheel of life and the path of life in particular.