[2.2] Scionic Thundertank - Be the Thunder God

The Scionic Thundertank as the name might imply is based on Pi2rEpsilon's Scionic Flametank concept and originally based on Dy'ness Tank. Also, emphasis on the word tank; this is a regen tank build and proud of it.

When I was new to Path of Exile (Warbands), I fell in love with the idea of the Dy'ness tank while browsing builds and not ever having a single character who had killed Malachai (to be fair, I did play in beta when Piety was the final boss). However, that came to a crashing halt as I found energy shield characters to be difficult for a newbie (namely dealing with stun/freeze and gear choices). I gave up on the character.

A few leagues later (Perandus), with more knowledge of the game, I reconceived the concept. One of the annoying things with Dy'ness was dealing with mana. My solution was to figure out some method of using attacks rather than spells. But this itself was sort of fool's gold since attacks scale heavily with gear/talents and we eschewed a lot of them for defense.

One other thing needed to occur; the rise of Fakener and the fall of Mjolner builds coupled with the increase drop rate of Mjolner caused this once proud 8 exalted plus item to drop to a more reasonable 20-30 chaos range (and I've seen them as low as 10!). Even better, Repentence has also dropped in price.

Without further adieu, my first build guide. This is a work in progress. Videos will come.

Required Gear:
Spoiler

Mjolner
- Core to the build


Strongly Recommended:
Spoiler

Repentence, Vertex
- Repentence gives us extra damage because we already have the strength from wielding Mjolner. Vertex gives us +1 level to buff our auras. It also has a lot of Evasion and Energy Shield.


Most Likely Needed:
Spoiler

Astramentis
- This isn't actually required. It is possible to get a rare amulet that has sufficient stats AND give more Energy Shield (flat and increased) as well as offensive stats like spell damage and lightning damage. Atziri's Foible can also be used as a cheap alternative. That said, all parts of Astramentis benefit us. Strength gives spell damage because of Repentence. Intelligence gives Energy Shield and even Dexterity provides some Accuracy and Evasion.


Videos:
Spoiler
https://youtu.be/sYZ2ybtUhYg - Corrupted Canyon

https://youtu.be/-9U79rkUJWw - Zana's Poorjoy Asylum with guildies (6 man party)

https://youtu.be/Dyn8n9bbmhU - Unidentified Volcano

https://youtu.be/g_s319NAdSo - Merciless Labyrinth


My Gear and Costs:
Under 2 ex Mjolner build.
Spoiler

Grabbed Mjolner for 26c. Got the shield for 15c.


The Vertex was only 10c in Perandus. The Chest I grabbed for 15c. I splurged but it was already 6 sockets. Note, I am using an Armor/ES hybrid, a pure ES would most likely be better but more expensive. Repetence was 18c. Boots were 10c. I don't have an Enlighten, currently I do not run Discipline and Wrath simultaneously, I swap between both.


Astramentis was expensive at 40c. I also used unsuccessfully 2 Blessed Orbs. Rings were 7c and 8c. I snagged the belt for 10c, but I know it's valued a bit more. Solid 15-20c there. My rings do have open prefix allowing me to eventually spend 1 ex to add % increased energy shield to both.


Rumi's was 12c. I crafted the others.


Skill Tree:


Bandits:
Spoiler
Normal: Kill them all
Cruel: Kill them all
Merciless: Oak or Kill them all


Ascendancy:
Spoiler

There are actually options here.

Occultist gives Energy Shield regeneration, 20% increased Energy Shield as well as 20% increased damage after killing someone with a curse. I use this.

Trickster has potential to be solid, but you need a reliable way to burn/poison for the full potential.

Inquisitor can provide some additional regeneration from consecrate ground, but I am using a flask for that. It does also have a 20% damage increase, but so do most of the ascendancy.

The real choice is between Berserker and Juggernaut. I currently use Juggernaut as a way to generate endurance charges, gain more regeneration from said endurance charges and also for stun/chill immunity. Berserker however is quite good and gives leech, you will need to spend the 3 points (take them out of the area that has the extra endurance charge) and grab Ghost Reaver for the leech to work. Another important thing about choosing either Berserker or Juggernaut gives a whopping 40 strength to help equip Mjolner.

Guardian has strong potential with a Vinktar's flask. Guardian will remove the shock ailment every 10 seconds. So with good timing you can gain quite a lot of damage. You will also likely want to grab Ghost Reaver if you're using a Vinktar's.

On the same token as Guardian, Pathfinder can be strong option if you want to rely on Vinktar's as well as more heavily on Rumi's.

Elementalist is fairly solid giving elemental damage reduction and lightning penetration, but it means giving up Occultist. However, if and when lightning golem is added to the game, Elementalist should be strongly reconsidered.

Slayer can be paired with Berserker to gain some extra damage when it matters most (against rares and uniques).

Believe it or not, Deadeye is surprisingly strong as well, IF you're relying heavily on Spark. Do not do this if you swapped to heavy Arc (or Storm Call). All parts of the Deadeye give some rather significant buffs to Spark, especially since we won't otherwise get a lot of projectile improvement.

I personally use the defensive setup of Occultist and Juggernaut (I also hate being chilled, that's a big perk to me). The strongest offensive setup is Berserker and Deadeye.


Links:
The build does not require a 5L or 6L, although having 6S is very nice. You have a lot of freedom.
Spoiler
3L (Mjolner): Spark -> Spark -> Spark
-- I personally run Arc -> Spark -> Spark for a little more coverage. If you want hilarity, run Lightning Warp. Any combination of Arc/Spark/Storm Call/Ball Lightning works, including duplicates and triplicates. If you run with Romira's Banquet, you can also use Discharge.

3L (Shield): Faster Attacks -> Fortify -> Leap Slam or Lightning Warp -> Less Duration -> Faster Casting (theme!)

4L (Boots): Faster Attacks -> Multistrike -> Vaal Lightning Strike -> Sunder

4L (Head): Wrath -> Herald of Thunder -> Discipline -> Enlighten
-- If you don't have Enlighten (I don't), choose Wrath or Discipline as the situation demands.

4L (Head): Discipline -> Herald of Thunder -> Blasphemy -> Enfeeble / Conductivity
-- Again, I normally swap Enfeeble and Conductivity. You can run double curse however.

4S (Gloves): Vengeance / Riposte / Reckoning / Orb of Storms / Conducitivty / Immortal Call (manual) / Rallying Cry / Enduring Cry / Vaal Discipline

4L/5L/6L: (Chest) CWDT -> Summon Flame Golem -> Tempest Shield -> Molten Shell -> Spark / Spark / Arc / Frost Nova (utility) / Increased Duration / Elemental Focus / Innervate / Vaal Discipline


Equipment Goals:
Spoiler
Energy shield!

You're going to want Energy Shield first and always. Armor isn't bad and of course you should be resist capped. If you can be resist capped, then try to be over-resist capped for elemental weakness maps.

You NEED 412 strength to equip/wield Mjolner. There are a few ways to get there. Chest, Helmet, Gloves, Boots and Shield can each get 55 strength on rares with Haku able to craft another 11-14 via "All attributes". Rings can get up to 55 strength and up to 16 all attributes. Amulets can also have 55 strength but also have up to 32 from "All attributes" and their implicit can give 24 or 30. Belts give significant amount, up to 55 and another 35 from the implicit.

Helm: Energy Shield, Resists
Secondary: Intelligence, Strength, Armor
Teritary: Accuracy, Evasion (for coloring)
Recommended Unique: the Vertex
Other Unique: Scold's Bridle (massive damage, less Energy Shield)
Cheap Unique: Geofri's Crest

Chest: Energy Shield
Secondary: Intelligence, Strength, Armor, Resists
Teritary: Evasion
Cheap Unique: Geofri's Sanctuary
Other Unique: Atziri's Splendour

Gloves: Energy Shield, Resists
Secondary: Intelligence, Strength, Armor, Evasion (for coloring)
Teritary: Attack Speed, Accuracy, Dexterity
Strongly Recommended Unique: Repentence
Other Unique: Winds of Change, Thunderfists (CWDT)
Cheap Unique: Doedre's Tenure, Voidbringer, Meignord's Vise

Boots: Movement Speed, Energy Shield, Resists
Secondary: Intelligence, Strength, Armor, Evasion (for coloring)
Other Unique: The Blood Dance, Rainbowstride, Steppan Eard

Shield: Energy Shield, Armor, Resists
Secondary: Intelligence, Strength, Spell Damage
Recommended Unique: None

Rings: Resists, Energy Shield, Intelligence, Strength
Secondary: Lightning Damage, Open Prefix (Elreon craft % increase Energy Shield)
Teritary: Attack Speed, Evasion, Accuracy
Other Unique: Shavronne's Revelation, the Taming, the Pariah, Essence Worm, Voideye, Malachai's Artifice, Romira's Banquet

Amulet: Strength, Intelligence, Energy Shield, % increase Energy Shield
Secondary: Spell Damage, Lightning Damage, Attack Speed
Teritary: % increase Armor, % increase Evasion, Accuracy
Recommended Unique: Astramentis
Cheap Unique: Atziri's Foible
Other Unique: Victario's Acuity

Belt: Energy Shield, Strength, Armor, Resists
Secondary: Increased Flask charges gained, Reduced Flask charges used, Movement Speed (crafted)
Other Unique: Doryani's Invication (Lightning variant)
Cheap Unique: Auxium, Bated Breath, Magnate, Meginord's Girdle


As mentioned above, the concept was originally born from these two builds:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1171890
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1271604
Last edited by Starfires on Apr 11, 2016, 4:55:22 PM
Last bumped on May 12, 2016, 8:29:43 PM
Got a video! But didn't think the quality would be this poor. I'll make a few others.

https://youtu.be/sYZ2ybtUhYg - Corrupted Canyon

https://youtu.be/-9U79rkUJWw - Zana's Poorjoy Asylum with guildies (6 man party)

https://youtu.be/Dyn8n9bbmhU - Unidentified Volcano

https://youtu.be/g_s319NAdSo - Merciless Labyrinth (also testing out Romira's Discharge)
Last edited by Starfires on Mar 29, 2016, 4:26:57 AM
Hi, cool theme and build, but I'm curious as to why you chose to put fortify on your leap slam instead of on the Sunder? Seems like it should prevent accidental falloffs that way.
That's a good idea and I might strongly consider it.

The main reason is because the build uses Vaal Lightning Strike to help a lot with single-target damage (it procs Mjolner), having it linked to Multistrike and Faster Attacks helps in getting it off and also increases the damage procs (it's my observation Multistrike will hit nearby targets with the "debuff" for no additional [soul] cost).

The other reason is I didn't have anything else that needed Faster Attacks other than maybe my golem (or I could swap Fortify and Vaal Lightning Strike, giving Sunder Fortify for permanent uptime, while weakening Lightning Strike a bit).

That said, if I actually got a 6L, I might throw together something like: Sunder, Multistrike, Faster Attacks, Vaal Lightning Strike, Leap Slam, Fortify in it. Freeing up a 3L (which would house Vengeance, Riposte and Reckoning -- they don't need supports) and giving me a 4L with the possibility of another CWDT setup like the original DyNess build.
How about using this build with Arc and Discharge in Mjolner?
Thanks for the answer. Never used Vaal Lightning Strike and wasn't really sure how helpful the supports would be in aiding Mjolner procs.
You can use Arc and Discharge if you'd like. I currently run Arc/Spark/Spark for the coverage, however Spark/Spark/Spark should be the most damage.

Spark, Arc, Storm Call and Ball Lightning are all interchangeable and you can run any combination of them, including duplicates and triplicates.

You can also run Lightning Warp and Discharge, but note you can only have 1 Lightning Warp down a time, although it possibly helps clear speed (cause you're moving around). Discharge is trickier, you can run 1 Discharge gem but the bigger issue is getting charges.

It is possible to use Scold's Bridle with the Juggernaut-Ascendancy and maybe have enough endurance charges (Mjolner will trigger Discharge, even if it does fire damage).

You can also get away with running Blood Rage, but that'll cut down on your significant regen. If you can however fit in a Victario's Acuity (neck slot) or a Romira's Banquet (ring slot), they will work.

Another option is to use Voll's Protector, but since this build is CI, you'd sacrifice a lot. This is probably the most damage however (Voll's + Discharge).
You should add what ascendancy sublasses you are using.
You sir are absolutely correct and I have added it.

I personally use Occultist + Juggernaut, this is the strongest defensive setup. However Berserker and Deadeye are likely the strongest damage setup.

All said, I would recommend either Occultist/Juggernaut, Berserker/Deadeye or Occultist/Berserker. Though Pathfinder, Inquisitor, Guardian and Trickster all have potential.
An interesting variant! Great work adapting the core CI-ZO regeneration tank to an attack based build, Starfires.
Scionic Flametank 3.2: The classic ES-CI-ZO-GR regeneration tank is back in business, stronger than ever before with 50-60% ES/s recovery during most fights due to creative use of regeneration, leech, and recovery mechanics
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1271604

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