[2.5] [BHC] Pahbo_Cranker 78/78 Block CI Occultist Xirgil's Crank 250k Scorching Ray DPS Build

The goal was to create a max block spell caster that was as tanky as possible without sacrificing damage. The key components that comprise the primary defensive setup are: Xirgil's Crank Unique Staff which gives "20% chance for energy shield recharge to start when you block" and 5 Reckless Defense jewels which each give 4% block chance on the max roll and "20% of Block Chance Applied to Spells" which is what allows us to hit max block in the topside of the tree without wasting an unreasonable amount of points. Five 4% block Reckless Defense jewels combined with 14% block from our gear, 10% block from the tree, and a Jewel with 1% Chance to block with Staves in the 6th Jewel slot allows us to hit 78% block and 78% Spell block. With 78% Block and Spell Block our energy shield recharge will constantly proc with extreme frequency thanks to xirgils Crank and give 4 seconds of uninterruptible extreme regen thanks to the Wicked Ward Occultist node.

While the Reckless defense jewels are extremely efficient, the downside "(7-10)% additional Chance to receive a Critical Strike" is not insignificant. Monsters have a base critical strike multiplier of 130% which means when we do take a hit every once in a while it will on average be a bit harder than normal. Keep in mind however that your not getting hit harder than you would if you were crit normally, your just getting crit more often. While typically this is a trivial concern compared to the immense amount of defense you have, when combined with powerful crit mobs and the crit multi map mod it can become a bit concerning. To combat this we run enfeeble on blasphemy which lowers enemy crit chance and accuracy so you are crit less frequently but most importantly it lowers their damage by a percentage and their crit multiplier. Enfeeble is all around the perfect solution to counteract the drawback of the Reckless Defense jewels. Getting crit more often also means that status ailments will be applied constantly which makes it very important to have the appropriate flasks. For my flask setup I prioritized Freeze, Shock, Bleeding, and Curse immunity. While ignite can prevent your energy shield from recharging it is very rare that it's an issue with xirgil's crank and for any case where you don't get a xirgil's proc you typically have plenty of time to pop vaal discipline if needed.

For damage this build could probably be adapted to work for a variety of skills, I chose Scorching Ray mostly because I just felt like playing Scorching Ray but it also happens that it has a low investment requirement which happens to work out well. With this build you should be able to achieve 250k Effective DPS at 8 stacks after accounting for resist reductions against an enemy with 0 base fire resistance. The number varies depending on enemy resistance and curse resistance or immunity. For the exact math see below

- Xirgils Crank
- The Anvil Corrupted with 4% Block implicit
- Valyrium
- Heretic's Veil or a helm crafted with 5% reduced mana reserved with a Deafening Essence of Loathing
- ES Gloves With 2% block Craft from Haku and Lots of resitances
- ES Boots with movement speed and lots of resitances
- Belt with ES, lots of resistances, and Strength
- ES Chest with lots of resistances
- Ring with Flat ES, Percent ES craft from Elreon, and as much resistances as possible
- 5 Reckless Defense Jewels with 4% block roll
- Jewel with 1% Chance to Block with Staves or an Energy from within Jewel next to the melding cluster
- Witchfire Brew is a good option if you pick up whispers of Doom(and aren't already running 3 curses) and are overcapped enough to not need a curse immune flask

Note: Do to the number of gear slot occupied by uniques Resistances, Strength, and Dexterity are going to be to be a bit difficult to get so you need to get as much as possible on every piece of gear that you can

Main Damage link(Xirgil's Crank) = Scorching Ray -> Elemental Focus -> Controlled Destruction -> Faster Casting -> Rapid Decay -> Empower

Curses/Helm(Heretic's Veil) = Enlighten -> Enfeeble -> Ele weakness/Flammability -> 20q Blasphemy/Temp chains

To Run Temp Chains you will need to drop discipline and pick up Whispers of Doom in the passive tree

If you use a helm crafted with 5% reduced mana reserved it doesn't matter where you put the curse setup

Vaal Discipline = Vaal Discipline x2 -> Increased Duration -> Faster Casting

Orb of Storms = Orb of Storms -> Increased Critical Strikes -> Faster Casting -> Inc AoE

Auras = Discipline -> Clarity -> Purity of Elements -> Enlighten

Purity of Elements is just for Ele weakness maps if your not overcapped. You will have to drop discipline or a curse to run it

Movement = Flame Dash -> Faster Casting

My character was level 88 in BHC before I died to my own fault by getting chunked by two powerful crit rock golems in an unidentified corrupted T13 Plaza Map with damage added as fire and more monster damage. I got hit twice for around 7k per hit within .25 seconds from each other, which was unlucky that both would hit since I had 72/78 block at the time. Primarily the reason I died, however, was because I was running Purity of elements for that map to cap my resistances because it was an ele weakness map and I wasn't overcapped so I had to turn off my enfeeble to have the mana. Don't turn off your enfeeble for dangerous maps.

I didn't get to reach the ideal gear setup before I died but I did manage to get far enough to see that the build works very well. Atziri, Uber Izaro, Breaches, Breachlords, and Beyond bosses were all very easy for this build. I also realized that it's the most OP PvP build ever.

My Gear

My account = http://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Kazukai/
Character Name = Pahbo_Cranker

Your defense is so overkill that no mod really matters. Curse immunity and powerful crits is a potentially scary combination in high tier maps. Block reduction is a pain in the ass and drastically reduces your effective defense but unless it's a dangerous high tier map it's usually fine

Go up the spell damage route at the start and travel out to the left to Elemental Overload -> EE -> and then Holy Fire. This should give you enough damage to one shot pretty much everything early on. Make sure to pick up life nodes that you pass by like Purity of flesh, heart and soul, and quick recovery, as well the hybrid ES/Life nodes to the right side of the witch. When you switch to CI later you should refund the life nodes and instead of taking the 2 points going out of the witch from the left side you should take the 2 points to go out from the right as you will need the 10 dex more than you will need the 10 strength.

Bandits
Norm - Passive
Cruel - Alira
Merc - Passive

Tree

Main Damage link(Xirgil's Crank) = Scorching Ray -> Elemental Focus -> Controlled Destruction -> Faster Casting -> Rapid Decay -> lvl 3 Empower

Scorching Ray Base DoT (lvl 24)= 828.6 DPS
Stage 8 Scorching Ray DPS(lvl 24) = 828.6 * 5.2 = 4,308.72 DPS

More DoT Multipliers = 1.5(ele focus) * 1.45(cont dest) * 1.4(Rapid Decay) * 1.4(Elemental Overload) * 1.1(Profane Bloom) = 4.686

Increased Damage = 356%(from tree) + 80%(from Xirgils) + 10%(from Jewel) + 30%(gem Quality)= 476% Increased Damage

Total DoT = 828.6 * 4.686 * 5.76 = 22,365.04
Total DoT at stage 8 = 22,365.04 * 5.2 = 116,298.21

Resistance reductions = -46%(Ele weakness) + -50(EE) + -24%(stage 8) = -120%

Total Effective Damage at stage 8 vs an enemy with 0% fire res = 116,298.21 * 2.2 = 255,856.1