What is enough survivability?

So, I've been playing Path of Exile on and of since i made my account back in 2010. But I've never played beyond "having fun". However, this 1 month flashback I decided, what the hell, I wanna try to acheive level 93+ and push it a little with an exciting build. Im level 92 currently and pushed my survavability as far as I could go on my build, I think.
Here's my tree


I have 5.6k hp, 5 endurance charges, chaos golem, 25% phys reduction from armor, Actic armor, Fortify and a shield with 23% block.

And I still die like a fly in anything above tier 10. That's not even end-end game. So I guess my question is: How does one get enough survivability, and what is it? Does every build that wants to push endgame content need like 10k hp with 8 endurance charges and 30k armor and what's the point of such survivability if only one handful of build can achieve it? It simply does not make sense to me, unless I am missing something. Doesn't it make more sense to indeed nerf damage on the builds that are allowed to go for that amount of survivability which forces them to go for more dps in tree if they want to deal damage and nerf the mobs that clearly hit too hard?

Hi i dont think that you are suposed to tank so many hits as an incinerate build. You should kill most mobs before they can hit you and you should be able to tank the rest. If you whant to tank high level maps then you need ALOT more defense. I play a molten strike maruader and i have 27000 armour, 68 % block, 51 % spell block, 3 endurance charges, 76% fire res, 80% cold res, 75% lightning res, 59% chaos res, i curse all enemies with enfeeble, i have aegis aurora shield so i gain es when i block, i have fortify and i take 20 % reduced extra crit dmg from a passiv. I have 5250 HP and 700 HP regen and 780 es and i gain 560 es every time i block. I can with this tank most high en maps and everything i cant tank i can avoid with leap slam. But this tankynes costs in clear speed. My build is slow and steady. Hopefully this helps you to understand whant you need to be able to tank in endgame. (I level 92)

The only means, to regen life for u r 2.8% life reg from tree and mana flask. Imo, that is way to little for ur build, u have not enough avoidance/mitigation to justify this. Life leech on VMS can help a lot or use cybils paw or both. CwDT + warlords mark is to unreliable.

Also with 2.0 changes, as a low avoidance and mitigation build u need at very least 8k EHP at ur lvl. Which u dont really have, u probably dont even reach 7k.

Lvl 1 CwDT + GMP + arctic breath or + frost wall could also help.

Do not look at armor tool tip, ur little armor helps only vs small hits. Ur fortify is not 100% up. Chaos golems dies a lot, cuz it's low lvl. So when this all comes together, u have only ur charges, AA, cloak of flame and some small reduction from armor. Than u roll a map with some dmg mod and meet a hard hitting pack. U just die. And this probably happens often enough. And then there is also a possibility of curse immunity, then u r done. Especially with all the bullshit going on in 1 month.

Now to gear. Get a belt with 350+ armor and better life roll. Shield with 1k+ armor and 100+(or at least 90+) life. Craft flat armor with master on ur gloves. Get pure armor boots. And for gods sake fucking q20 all ur gear!!!

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Gertymf wrote:

Hi i dont think that you are suposed to tank so many hits as an incinerate build. You should kill most mobs before they can hit you and you should be able to tank the rest. If you whant to tank high level maps then you need ALOT more defense. I play a molten strike maruader and i have 27000 armour, 68 % block, 51 % spell block, 3 endurance charges, 76% fire res, 80% cold res, 75% lightning res, 59% chaos res, i curse all enemies with enfeeble, i have aegis aurora shield so i gain es when i block, i have fortify and i take 20 % reduced extra crit dmg from a passiv. I have 5250 HP and 700 HP regen and 780 es and i gain 560 es every time i block. I can with this tank most high en maps and everything i cant tank i can avoid with leap slam. But this tankynes costs in clear speed. My build is slow and steady. Hopefully this helps you to understand whant you need to be able to tank in endgame. (I level 92)

And that's my point, only a few melee builds can afford going for such defense. What's the point of having unique items which embraces a certain type of build when the build has no way of making it into endgame because it will lack survivability even if you push it as much as possible. It feels like a flawed system overall. I understand some builds will go heavier on survivability and that a build like mine should have some scetchy situations and perhaps avoid rolling maps that increases mob damage. But why not Nerf the overall damage scalings on such mobs so that more builds can be possible in endgame and increase quantity or even exp for being able to roll such mods. That way slow tanky builds will be able to gain something extra but builds that wont be able to play such mods would still exist.

Because lets face it, not everyone want to play a slow build just to be able to survive in endgame content. Some actually want to play a unique fun build but still clear endgame content. I doubt many players have the mindset of: "ah whatever, I want to play a fun build and merciless act 1 is good enough for me. That's my goal when the build is done".

And by the way, im Vaal molten shell. Which means however I play I will still end up in some melee situtations.

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blubaer wrote:

... even if you push it as much as possible ...

U did no such thing, look my post above.

Plus u could also take Faith and Steel cluster and use Energised Armour jewel in the slot next to it. Great defense boost.

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Deadpeng wrote:

The best defense is the best offense.

You should simply go visit Twitch and see how the top players play. Overpower DPS and extreme gears are your sole means to survival on these crazy tier 10 maps.

Having said that even those players do not play tier 10 maps often. Tier 10 maps as GGG mentioned are more for bonus challenge rather than leveling. You should not evaluate whether your surviviability is sufficient just based on whether you get one SHOT or not.

If you really want to tank that badly, go for ES characters instead. They cost about 100 exalts to build and have 11K ES for you to survive through most situations as long as you play carefully.

I watch twitch from time to time and all I see are the same builds. SRS, PA, Cyclone/VGS or Incinerate. And those are not builds I am willing to play. It is >PATH< of exile. Not, enjoy the current op builds of gtfo.

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1337fun wrote:

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blubaer wrote:

... even if you push it as much as possible ...

U did no such thing, look my post above.

Plus u could also take Faith and Steel cluster and use Energised Armour jewel in the slot next to it. Great defense boost.

what do you mean - you did no such thing - ? How can i push it further.

Why would I spend 4 points and a jewelsocket to gain xx% amount of armor when im not using a lot of armor in my build, did you even watch my gear?

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blubaer wrote:

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1337fun wrote:

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blubaer wrote:

... even if you push it as much as possible ...

U did no such thing, look my post above.

Plus u could also take Faith and Steel cluster and use Energised Armour jewel in the slot next to it. Great defense boost.

what do you mean - you did no such thing - ? How can i push it further.

Why would I spend 4 points and a jewelsocket to gain xx% amount of armor when im not using a lot of armor in my build, did you even watch my gear?

U read my post above, seams no? Do it, than post again. I repeat my self again, u didnt even q20 all ur gear ..

The main thing I'm thinking of is that shield.
It's a decent shield, and I'm guessing that you want the resistances but I'm thinking the extra 5 or 6 percent block chance you'd get from a Lioneye's Remorse, a Crest of Perandus or a good rare shield would boost your survivability a bit.

Maybe swap your dagger for Divinarius?
You'd lose the chaos damage and I don't know how valuable the +1 to Anger is but it'd improve your Vaal Molten Shell and that 10 health you get from kills can't hurt.

Though I think in the end, your build isn't going to be a very survivable build, I can't see you standing a distance away burning enemies down with incinerate before they can reach you or moving around the edge of packs and carefully positioning yourself to take out ranged enemies, kiting enemies.

You're running into packs of enemies with Vaal Molten Shell going off, explosions all around you and bits and pieces of seared flesh, bone and ectoplasm raining down from above.

You've got Cloak of Flame as your chest piece. Whichever way you slice it, that doesn't seem like the most survivable option to me.