Facebreaker Critical Cyclone - The Q

Hello fellow exile,
Within the next short lines I would like to share with you my brief experience with the Facebreaker Cyclone build which I transitioned to Crit. This is not guide by all means I am really not capable to deliver a good build guide to the standards of the POE community.
I wanted to go back and play again a FB Cycloner in Talisman Challenge League since it’s easy to build and great start for new leagues. I started as a traditional Marauder (or Duelist) for that build relying on RT. Seeing the new unique talisman Rigwald’s Curse I decided to fine tune that and move away from RT into Crit. Currently sitting at 12% Crit, but still to take 160% increased crit from the tree by LVL86. DPS seems better vs non-crit, but I have invested into accuracy as well.

Here is my current tree:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwEAAecEswUtFCAUTRRxGF0YkRo4Gj4aVSPTJy8pLi_MMfs26DrYPAU9_ECgQzFGt0d-TP9NRk4qUEdTu1hjWfNbr18_YSFi7GVNZlRoZWjybydyqXTtdqx5OXrvfLh-4n_jggeCm4TZhO-Fe4zPkFWSfZo7mmqezZ_fogCnMKmVrKqtja3xvJ-9Nr6nv9XAZsC_wYLDM8bYz37SIdNv2Xzawd0N5FHp1eoY7DjvDu988B_yL_JB8932SPcy-Ov8Sw==?accountName=qvaza&characterName=QvazaFaceClone

This is my planned tree for lvl90 (111 points):
https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwEBAecEhwSzBS0M9xLhFCAUTRRxGF0YkRo4Gj4aVSPTJy8pLi3SL8wx-zJONug62DwFPfxAoEMxRrdHfkz_TUZOKlBHU7tW6FhjWfNaGluvXz9hIWLsZU1mVGhlaPJvJ3KpdO12rHk5eu98uH7if-OCB4KbhNmE74V7jM-PmZBVkn2Yb5o7mmqezZ8-n4Kf36IAouqnMKmVrKqsr62NrfG8n702vqe_1cBmwL_BgsMzxtjPftIh02_ZfNrB3CPdDeCV5FHlz-nV6hjsOO8O73zwH_Iv8kHz3fZI9zL46_xL?accountName=qvaza&characterName=QvazaFaceClone

There are a lot of varieties on that tree I don’t think it’s perfect but fits my style of play.
For example I am not taking Unrelenting and Sanctuary wheels at Templar which are pretty good. Also Soul of Steel between Mara and Duelist. I just feel survivability is good.
I take Versatility and Precision for the added dex and accuracy which I lack (at the moment sitting at 89% chance to hit at 74)

Gear



Pros:
- The main reason really is FUN and new ways to experience facebreakers. Crit man!
- High DPS – currently at 74 I stand at 35k buffed and 45k with 4 frenzy charges. I have yet to take plenty 14 points of damage nodes by 90th level
- Cyclone is just amazing skill with all well-known benefits of movement thru packs
- Semi tanky build
- Relatively cheap to build

Cons:
- Small area of effect
- HC viability requires optimization of tree and gear, but for sure doable as done nicely by AngryWeasel before and many others. For amazing source of FB information please refer to this “pich” (dude) https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/445390/page/1

Offence:
As for every facebreaker build main DPS gain come from flat physical damage on your gear. I am utilizing 3 Uniques to address that – belt, shield, helmet (see gear below). Along with that Rings are very important for both flat phys and accuracy (if you decide to go non dex-heavy class) to compensate for chance to hit
+% increased physical damage from Strenght, gear and tree. Along with those I will take Deadly Dilletante wheel (right-side duelist area) to leverage utility provided by the unique amulet – Claw speed, damage and crit chance apply to unarmed.
Attack speed, Frenzy charges (I take bandit merc and the one at duelist), Hatred aura, HOA, Riposte and
Jewels – now you can get also some claw modifiers that will work with the amulet. Along with those Critical Melee Chance increase works as well. Other affixes that I like is +%life and accuracy. Shield block or increased dmg while wearing shield would work well.
You can also leverage Power charges thru curses and other means, that would scale well the DPS

Defense
Initially I was thinking to go Iron Reflexes, but now due to lack of points will skip that.
Overall most of your gear will provide armor and you can take significant amount increase from the tree
I plan to get 5 Endurance charges and generate them thru counter attacks + Endurance charge on Melee Stun. They are up almost all time
Shield block. There is a variety of good unique shields for FB I decided to go full dps with Great Old One (skinned)
I cap resists using the tree nodes and rings.

Current experience is breezing thru low tier rare maps (well who isn’t).
I really like the amulet, it provides additional flavor to FB without really breaking it. For sure starting as Shadow will be an interesting concept.

Enjoy the game and see you in Wraeclast!
The Q

I'm very confused right now. . .. how can you crit with Facebreakers?
Other weapon crit builds work because the weapon has a built in base crit of anywhere between 5% and 8% which is what the "Critical Strike Chance" modifiers use to influence crit rating.
How do you crit when your base crit chance is 0% as you don't have a weapon with a base crit? Have I missed something in this patch where unarmed was given a base crit chance?

Along with those I will take Deadly Dilletante wheel (right-side duelist area) to leverage utility provided by the unique amulet – Claw speed, damage and crit chance apply to unarmed.Rigwald's Curse Wereclaw Talisman

"

leximpaler228 wrote:

Along with those I will take Deadly Dilletante wheel (right-side duelist area) to leverage utility provided by the unique amulet – Claw speed, damage and crit chance apply to unarmed.Rigwald's Curse Wereclaw Talisman

Ahh and that amulet gives unarmed a 7% base crit chance I see! interesting!

Personally I was theorycrafting with this as well. I was thinking of a more offensive tree, starting from ranger: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwIAm40ILu2DGY4AXtN-73p9dUju9qP-uj3iFSB4ri2DCTOxsxm00TajihutvqfiLCP2BLFlTU2SjX17FL02MHxHfsjcUUeE2cFJPs831I2_51QvzP4dvebtPwW1JP22isGCwuz_3mLstMWE7wzyYqwV_drBpctsjI2BQzF07Z2qSxzDMwUtNj2PwVoaeu9tbNYHQKC1SOywwaDAv9RCjAt4GamVBIemf4RvuXxvVwz3j5ntQXX9rK8yTha_JpVh4lVLjDaJ03BSKgtd8g5IEZYBCQceuNmVLt1I8NVJUbCrxIKK8OlG

(note it would be a frenzy build instead of cyclone, and doing mana based)

Hey there, so i'm running a fb marauder ice crash, but i went ir shields and all the way round to the shadow side for claw nodes. I think it wouldn't hurt to compare notes. This also gives me access to 7 frenzy charges, and a jewel socket to put pugilist in that gives 36% increased unarmed and claw damage, as well as evasion. Currently at lvl 83 I have around 35k dps with a 4l, and mediocre gear. Currently only around 5K armor, close to 6K with frenzy charges, 49% block chance right now, and 4.7k health. My gear does not have great armor on it right now.

I'd like to message you in game about it if thats OK with you.

"

Hey there, so i'm running a fb marauder ice crash, but i went ir shields and all the way round to the shadow side for claw nodes. I think it wouldn't hurt to compare notes. This also gives me access to 7 frenzy charges, and a jewel socket to put pugilist in that gives 36% increased unarmed and claw damage, as well as evasion. Currently at lvl 83 I have around 35k dps with a 4l, and mediocre gear. Currently only around 5K armor, close to 6K with frenzy charges, 49% block chance right now, and 4.7k health. My gear does not have great armor on it right now.

I'd like to message you in game about it if thats OK with you.

Sure thing mate. Would love to discuss wisp me in game - QvazaFaceClone.
I am at 84lvl now and its much better sitting at 105k without charges and 5200HP 6500Armor 1500Evasion and 45% block. I do t7 with ease, still climbing.

Hey Qvaza, have been playing similar build (my own tree) but im using bor instead. Recently tried the abysus and while it doubles my dps to insane levels a single reflect rare without any map mod erases my existence. How do you deal with it?

You hardly have any crit nodes in your tree
and with current gear
Your crit chance will be around 10%
and Crit Multiplier somewhere around 400%

I'm glad to see someone else has taken an interest to this combo. Thanks for the build and keep it up!

I'm going Duelist on this one, because I can get Armour/Evasion + elemental Resistances through the Cloth and Chain and Survivalist cluster which gives more EV than ranger starting area
Here's my tree.

I'm not sure how useful/efficient the Claws of the Falcon cluster is. I may decide to scrap it.

"

sejwaldevansh wrote:

You hardly have any crit nodes in your tree
and with current gear
Your crit chance will be around 10%
and Crit Multiplier somewhere around 400%

I've had a look at this and it's actually really difficult to get to any pure Crit chance nodes. For the Marauder Disemboweling is really the only viable cluster close by. I guess Eagle Eye could be considered within reach for qvaza's tree and True Strike as well as Death Perception would be an option for a Marauder Tree that travels into the Shadow area to get the Claw nodes, but there are actually very few Critical Strike nodes and clusters that are non weapon specific. I guess the reason for this is that up until now there was very little need, since unarmed attacks had 0% Crit Strike chance.

Also, I know that the trees I'm posting here are 119 point trees - whishful thinking much? So far it's been a case of "What's there that I could get?" rather than "What's achievable and most efficient/effective?"

I'll keep an eye on this anyhow

PS: What are your thoughts on damage mitigation? Abyssus + Coil used to be a go-to combo and I am thinking about using a Lightning Coil on my build. Secondly, since Arctic Armour now only takes a flat mana reserve reduction instead of the mana drain it seems more viable for low-mana-investment characters and as it mitigates against both physical and fire damage it's perfect for an Infernal blow build, yes?