Going CI. Need Advise.

So, new league will start soon, and I want to mess around CI this upcoming league. I have played POE for two years, but never once touch CI. So, I need CI veterans to give me some advice here.


Few questions:

1. When to go CI? Like, at what level?

2. How many ES do I need to consider the build decent? My planned tree has around 220% increased es from tree and 70.4% from intelligence. Is 290% acceptable? Or should it be more?

3. What minimum amount of es I need to be able to do tier 9+ map? I saw some video runs around 10k es or so, but there are those chars with only 7-8k es that also capable running map

4. Is discipline mandatory aura? 35% reserved is quite a lot, so if possible I want to avoid it.

5. Is there any mandatory unique for CI? I know eye of chayula is definitely one, but is there any common unique that CI char use?

Any advice is welcome. Feel free to leave it here. Thx.

The amount of ES needed will depend on if you're Ranged or Melee, and I wouldn't say that Eye of Chayula is mandatory...

There are other ways to get stun resistance/immunity, though Discipline is probably mandatory yeah

Hello,

1. Picking up CI does not really depend on your level, depends on amount of enenrgy shield you have from gear.

2. That amount is good to go in my opinion. I have played CI with 150% from passives (No intelligence added) it wasn´t ideal but it worked.

3. Depends alot if you are melee or ranged. With good flask usage you can rock and roll without very high pool (Even if some utility flasks got nerfed)

4. Discipline is not mandatory but over 300 flat energy shield for 35% mana reserve is just SO GOOD deal. It was used by almost every energy shield build even when it was 50% reserve aura.

5. I would say Eye of chayula is mandatory (Or any other source of stun immunity). If you are not experienced with energy shield builds I would recommend Dream Fragments (Not needed with freeze/chill immunity flask)

I recommend you to run all elemental status ailments dispels on flasks (And immunity) because CI gets ailmented from even the smallest hits due to 1 point of health.

Also you should look up unique Auxium chain belt, see if it fits your build and consider using it. Also not mandatory with good flask usage.

Thank's for advice both of you.

My build is ice nova. So, I kind of wait to see how ice nova interact with frostbolt. But, please assume that this is going to be mid-ranged char (ice nova's range put you close to enemy after all).

Here's my tree: link

I understand now that level isn't a factor here. If so, how much ES you have before you go CI? (before specing out all life nodes)


I play a few LIFE/ES hybrid build before, so I understand that CI char is vulnerable against freeze, shock, and stun. I get "oh-shit" moment sometimes as Life/es hybrid, and I assume CI will face the same issues as well.

Auxium won't fit into my build sadly, and same goes for dream fragment. Guess I will need to stick with flask immunity :S.

Even though Discipline is not necessary It is highly advised.. Kind of like wearing a coat is not necessary to go to a store in -0 degree weather but why would you not ?.

I have ran ci on a melee character with about 4k es so having a lot of es, as was said earlier depends on your build.

Melee characters can take unwavering stance.

The biggest thing in my opinion is the ghost reaver/vaal pact combination. Since I do not believe Zealots oath is very good for full ci as a lot of the regen nodes are attached to life.

And second is making sure your flasks have at least bleed,and cold immune.

I have not played ci recently And I dont know how the changes are really going to effect es builds but personally Id get all my labyrinth points before switching just for a little extra defense...then you just have to worry about the new one...and if nothing else you can respec out of ci to complete it at least once if needed.

You asked when to take ci...This is my standard.As soon as my es with leech is enough to where i rarely get into my life part then I know I am ready

Rainbow strides are nice boots for ci as well.

good luck I know before you take ci it is a little scary but once you take it you get surprised how well it works...Kind of the same with Blood Magic

1. When to go CI? Like, at what level?

I usually focus on life until 60, start getting life/ES hybrid gear at 60+ and transition to CI when I have enough good ES items between 70 and 80. I played life/ES hybrid until 85 or so when I was in HC and wanted to be super safe.

2. How many ES do I need to consider the build decent? My planned tree has around 220% increased es from tree and 70.4% from intelligence. Is 290% acceptable? Or should it be more?

It's quite acceptable. I can't see your tree but I assume you'll get the Melding cluster and use an Energy from Within jewel below it, so your actual increased ES will be even more.


3. What minimum amount of es I need to be able to do tier 9+ map? I saw some video runs around 10k es or so, but there are those chars with only 7-8k es that also capable running map
As bolvyn said, depends on a lot of factors. I've facetanked high-tier maps with a high-dps, instaleech CoC build at 8,4 k but you also have to factor in flask usage, fortify and a very serious damage output which kills most things before they can deal too much damage. If I had less than 8k ES with a CI build, I would personally feel I'm not doing something right or at least I need serious gear upgrades. But that's just me, I prefer big numbers. You can run with less if you have a ton of damage.

4. Is discipline mandatory aura? 35% reserved is quite a lot, so if possible I want to avoid it.
Nothing is mandatory. Had an occultist with 10k ES without discipline. It just helps a lot.

5. Is there any mandatory unique for CI? I know eye of chayula is definitely one, but is there any common unique that CI char use?
Eye of Chayula or Skyforth. Freeze and shock immunity you can do without but you'll need to recognize monster types, know what can freeze or shock you and preflask. Surgeon's flasks help a lot. Stun immunity is in my opinion mandatory if you don't want to die to annoying stunlocks, I used Chauyla even with a cyclone char which was stun immune most of the time. Turned out 'most of the time' is not enough.

If you're an Occultist and have the ES branch with 'can't ber stunned on full ES', you might not need stun immunity. I haven't personally played with it so I'm not sure. It seems to work well from what I was just told.

I usually go into CI when life pool amount becomes more of a nuisance, weakening defense rather than improving survivability. It's usually around 3x-4x es amount of life. On other hand when specified from life invested build into es one those numbers might be a little different. But i imagine it should be pretty similar philosophy, respec when it's convenient to do so regarding difference in hp pools (calculated this time) and it's ability to maintain itself via leech or regen.

These are your best friends when playing CI. Increased effect mod in granite flask will be better than increased duration in my opinion.

I made a crazily stupid (all my builds are stupid to be honest) CI inquisitor earlier this league and while I'm still in merciless act 3, I have no problems so far with only 3k ES. A really fun/underrated item in my opinion is geofri's sanctuary, I can see it being especially useful on melee characters. Also the unique jewel "Energy from within" can be quite useful if you want to use zealot's oath, since most regen is bound to life nodes.