[2.6] Hardcore CI Crittle Sparks - Legacy ability for a Legacy league!

While in Hideout


Combat Sheet
Each cast of spark can theoretically hit the same target up to 3 times, though usually only twice with proper positioning).


Defenses in Hideout

Nothing too special to note in defences. You will note my resistances are what I consider "bare minimum". 169 while in hideout will cover you for elemental weakness maps. However it won't cover getting cursed for a specific element (eg. conductivity) while inside of an elemental weakness map. To cover that you will need 209 to all elemental resists, or do what I do and swap out chalice for another flask with curse immunity to deal with specific maps (eg. Core map).

So what makes us so "tanky". Well, other than large leech and endurance changes from warlords mark, we have:

Ascendancy

Our energy shield basically never stops recharging, and if you're clearing a map, you may have up to 25% of your energy shield regenerating per second on top of your base ES regen as well as your instant leech adding to that. Your Energy shield should be large enough to absorb almost any blow, then with these effects, it will refill at record speed.

Choir of the Storm
This is per hit, can hit multiple targets in a small area (quite small), but that's an extra 32k dps ability since we're critting so fast so often, it's proccing on CD (880ms) which is great in general, amazing for our build that normally isn't great on bosses. (procs can't exceed cast speed, with enough cast speed, procs can't exceed cooldown time, so could *potentially* be as low as 500ms between procs)

See In Depth Leveling guide in second post if you want more information, this is just a quicker overview!

If your level doesn't quite match the points spent in the marked trees, it's due when you're getting your extra free passives. You should match up at level 70.

Level 1-15
If you've picked up a quality spark gem, you can start using it right off the bat. Otherwise pick your starting spell of choice. We aren't picking up any damage type specific nodes for a long time, so choice doesn't matter. I prefer either freezing pulse or magma orb (takes a while to get used to, but it hits hard early). Flame totem/flame trap can also help with higher health targets. You can also grab Raise Zombie to help form a front line since you'll be fairly squishy until late game.

Use Flame Dash for mobility, and clarity if you need it. Try to stick to wands, if you don't have lifesprig, craft a +1 gems wand through vendor crafting.


Start picking up some basic energy shield nodes and making your way through the tree. I also like to pick up an early jewel node to get some more damage in there.

Level 16-31
Pick up a bit of crit, some health, base attributes to help with leveling gems and Mind over Matter for now.

If you can, Axiom Perpetuum is an amazing item at this point, and will likely carry you a long way with its damage, crit chance (wooo) and +damage to spells.



Level 32-51
Complete Normal Ascendancy when comfortable: Wicked Ward
Start making your way to Vaal Pact. Pick up attribute nodes as you require them to level gems. Be very careful during these levels. You'll want to get spark to a 4-link at this time if you haven't already. Also try to set up some other defensive links such as CWDT+immortal call. Equip and use discipline, and Herald + curse on hit + warlords mark ASAP. If you can spare the ring at 38, equip your essence worm and wrath.

Note that this is a reasonably long stretch without picking up many meaningful wheels right now. Your damage likely won't be amazing, and you'll be fairly squishy during this time. Play safe.


IceTomb is a great chest piece during this time for its high armor, es, cold res and chill immunity.


Level 52-70
Complete Cruel Ascendancy when comfortable: Vile Bastion

At some point during this period, your gear should be changing to rares and hit high enough ES that you'll be safe to respec out of life, and into CI/Ghost Reaver. Place "Energy From Within" jewel into node near Melding to convert the life to more ES. I usually do this at when I hit 3k ES~, though you can do so earlier. If possible, do this before cruel Maligaro, as with your fairly low life, and likely lack of chaos resist, his chaos damage really, really hurts. If you can't, ensure you turn off herald of thunder (wait for it to time out before entering her room) and don't orb curse Doedre. She consumes any curses on her to grant herself 30% more damage as chaos damage (unholy might).

Also during this time, start picking up some damage wheels while dropping Mind over Matter. Next, pick up the pierce nodes, and finally make your way to duration.

Level 71-85
Complete Merciless Ascendancy: Forbidden Power
Pick up your power charges (you should have just gotten your merciless ascendancy to start generating them), grab a bit more ES, and start making your way to some more damage nodes. We leave power charges and power charge generation until merciless, as it's only 10% chance on crit. So until you have fairly high crit, it's hard to sustain any sort of power charges, making the other ascendancies far more useful.

Dried lake is a great way to safely and easily get from 67-80~

Level 84-100
Complete Uber Ascendancy: Profane Bloom (a little bit extra damage, best of the last two options)
Pick up your final damage nodes, additional Energy shield, and jewel nodes.

Can I do this on a Budget?


Attributes


Using Spark


"Shotgunning" Targets


Using Flasks


Engaging bosses


Low Damage?


Why such high crit chance?


Why not voidwalker boots?

POE Link

PoePlanner Link


There's a couple points where you end up making straight line sprints, but it's to pick up a couple very big key nodes:
Potency of Will: Spark can only hit the same target (per cast) once per second. The base duration of spark is 1.5 seconds, so you need duration to enable a single wave of sparks to 'reliably' hit the same target multiple times for a large effective DPS boost. This also buffs our Herald of Thunder, Vaal Spark, Vaal Discipline, Vaal Haste, and Immortal Call, and Warlord's Mark.

Vaal Pact: 'Life' leech on ES is fairly ineffective with occultist's massive regen bonuses. You can only leech so much per second, and without any leech bonuses, we would be loosing out on tons of leech. Vaal pact regens our ES instantly from the leech, and ensures we get the full benefit. If your innate high occultist regen isn't enough, Vaal Pact is there.

Normal: Kraityn (10% all resistances)
Cruel: Kill All (passive)
Merciless: Alira (power charge)

Once you're confident with your resistances later, you can respec Normal to a passive point. Or just start with the passive point if you don't want to spend 20 regrets to respec it. You can also optionally get the cast speed (Alira) in cruel, but I've always felt it was a "meh" bonus, and cast speed isn't a specific interest for us. Your call.

PoeCraft Link: http://poecraft.com/gemplanner#v11.1O=H1W.=S1y1T.2p371W0c.192f272U2X2T.2H2f2X34.0t2N=b11.==.1H.==

These are set up to all be fairly easy to colour, huzzah! The only "difficult" one will be the shield, which even then isn't that hard thanks to vorici.

Chest (main link)
Spark + Spell Echo + Lighting Penetration + Pierce + Increased Critical Strikes + Increased Critical Damage (in that order of priority)
Until you get high crit, you can drop increased critical strike damage for life leech for even better sustain/endurance

Gloves (Room Clear link)
Vaal Spark + Spell Echo + Lightning Pen + Added Critical Strike Chance (in that order of priority)
If you feel like gambling, Increased Critical Damage. Critical damage would be a large DPS boost - if it crits. I personally go with Critical Chance just to ensure it hits like a train, but either would work great. Make sure you use diamond flask before vaal spark to get the highest chance to crit possible.

Boots (Curse link)
Herald of Thunder + Curse on Hit + Orb of Storms + Warlord's Mark
Herald should have near 100% uptime while clearing, giving nice auto-cursing. Orb of storms allows us to apply curses while we focus on positioning further away, or are unable to have herald up, such as for bosses. Bladefall instead of Orb of Storms would also work for instant cursing at longer range (you have to initially get close for Orb), but orb continually re-applies the curse for a longer time.

We're going with Warlord's mark for the life leech survivability (instead of using a lifeleech support, and both might be overkill), the mana leech to make mana a non-issue, and free endurance charges for even more tankiness. I don't think anything else really competes in this build when it means losing a support gem for leech. This also provides a great immortal call duration for high periods of physical dps intake.

Helm (utility link)
Vaal Haste + Lightning Golem + Increased Duration, Discipline
Nothing really to say here. Need to put discipline somewhere (doesn't necessarily need to be linked), and some temporary power.

Weapon (OhCrap Link)
Cast When Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration

I leave CWDT and Immortal Call at level 1 until much later (until about 6k ES), then I move them to Level 7 CWDT.

Shield (Movement Link)
Shield Charge + Faster Attacks + Fortify

Optionally you can use a dagger instead of a scepter, using whirling blades instead of shield charge for a bit faster movement and less dependency on boot movement speed. It will be a bit more difficult to colour, and a scepter will offer superior damage. Only really use a dagger if you can't find/afford a good scepter.


Ring (Damage Bonus)
Wrath
This requires Essence Worm, but 22% more damage is worth it. with all three buffs, you'll be sitting at 84% reserved, but should have more than enough mana for casting, particularly with the leech from Warlord's Mark.

You'll want one Energy from Within later on to convert the melding wheel to ES. Other than that, your stat priority is going to be cobalt jewels. Some other types will work, but cobalts have your widest variety of stats you're interested in. Optimally your jewel will have a total of 40%+ increased damage for you.

P: (prefix)
S: (suffix)
Jewels can only ever reach 2P/2S, below is listed priority on attributes

Cobalt Jewel:

Prefixes:
1.) Increased lightning damage (14-16%)
2.) Increased spell damage while holding a shield (14-16%)
3.) Increased Critical Strike multiplier with lightning skills (15-18%)

Suffixes:
1.) Increased Projectile Damage (10-12%)
2.) Increased Spell Damage (10-12%)
3.) Increased Damage (8-10%)
4.) Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier for elemental skills (12-15%)
5.) Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier for spells (12-15%)
6.) Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier (9-12%)


Viridian Jewel:

Prefixes:
1.) Increased lightning damage (14-16%)
2.) Increased Critical Strike multiplier with lightning skills (15-18%)

Suffixes:
1.) Increased Projectile Damage (10-12%)
2.) Increased Damage (8-10%)
3.) Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier for elemental skills (12-15%)
4.) Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier (9-12%)


Crimson Jewel:

1.) Increased lightning damage (14-16%)
2.) Increased Critical Strike multiplier with lightning skills (15-18%)

Suffixes:
1.) Increased Projectile Damage (10-12%)
2.) Increased Damage (8-10%)
3.) Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier for elemental skills (12-15%)
4.) Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier (9-12%)

Resists is as always, your first priority. After you cap, your top priority should be ES. If possible, try to pick up a little dex or strength here and there so you can drop stat nodes from the tree. However I prefer to prioritize greater damage and resists on gear over a couple passive points. Remember going over cap (even *far* over cap) on lightning resist is damage for you through Choir of the Storm.

Resistances are always suffixes. Generally speaking: defenses = prefixes, damage, attributes and resistances = suffixes.

All rares (with the exception of Jewels) can roll up to 3 prefixes, and 3 suffixes for a total of 6 modifiers. Jewels can roll up to 2 prefixes, and 2 suffixes, though most you'll find have 2/1, or 1/2, as they have been regal upgraded from magic jewels which can only have 1/1.

Chest


Until you find a Really nice Vaal Regalia (750+ ES), I recommend Skin of the Loyal. It's reasonably priced at 100c~, and the 100% bonus global defense works great in an ES build (100% increased ES from all other sources).
Priority: Resists, ES, Int, stun recovery (very low priority)

Gloves


Priority: Resists, ES, Int
Enchant: None preferred

Boots


Priority: Resists, ES, Int, movement speed
Movement speed isn't important if you're using whirling blades. Is important if you're using shield charge.
Enchant: [x] % of damage leeched as life and mana if you have killed recently

Helm


Priority: Resists, ES
Enchant: Must have +3 spark projectiles
40% spark damage is much cheaper, and would be better for single targets, but there's a reason spark damage is so much cheaper. Get the projectile count.

Belt


Implicit: +[X] ES (chain belt, crystal belt).
You'll definitely want to upgrade to a crystal belt as soon as you can due to its much larger implicit energy shield values.
(resistances to cap above all these, these are just after resistances are capped, and resistances are far superior to any other suffix for us)

Prefix:
1.) +[X] Energy Shield
2.) +[X] Armor
3.) +[X]% Increased Movement speed (expensive, but it's better than the last preference)
4.) +[X]% Increased Flask Mana Recovery Rate (only any use when doing players can not regen maps)

Suffix:
1.) +[X]% Increased Flask Effect Duration
2.) +[X]% Decreased Flask Charges Used
3.) +[X]% Increased Flask Charges Gained
4.) +[X]% Faster Stun and Block Recovery

Main Hand (weapon)


Prefer scepter over dagger, though both can roll with what you want. Scepter offers better base spell damage, but dagger offers better crit synergy.

Because we're a crit build, small increases to base damages (+ X-X damage to spells) is massive, as we heavily amplify these numbers with crits. These modifiers are far more powerful than in most builds. Also, only 5 of our passive nodes, and maybe a few of our jewels have any sort of elemental alignment, so element damage type isn't as imperative (though we have lightning pen, so lightning is still best).

Until you can afford a great rare, doryani's is an amazing scepter for us.



Priority:

Implicit:
1.) +[X]% Increased Elemental Damage
2.) +[X]% Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier
3.) +[X]% Increased Global Critical Strike Chance

Prefixes:
1.) +[X]% Increased Spell Damage
2.) +[X] Lightning Damage to Spells
3.) +[X] Fire Damage to Spells
4.) +[X] Cold Damage to Spells
5.) +[X]% of Lightning Damage Leeched as Life (Catarina mastercraft)

Suffixes:
1.) +[X]% Increased Critical Strike Chance For Spells
2.) +[X]% Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier
3.) +[X]% Increased Attack Speed
4.) +[X] Intelligence

Offhand (shield)


You could potentially dualwield for even more damage, but with CI, there's just so much survivability to be gained from a shield, and our damage is perfectly fine with a shield.

Priority:

Prefixes:
1.) +[X] Energy Shield
2.) +[X]% Increased Energy shield
3.) +[X]% Increased Spell Damage

Suffixes:
1.) +[X]% Increased Spell Critical Strike Chance
2.) +[X] Intelligence
3.) +[X]% Increased Stun and Block Recovery
4.) +[X]% Increased Chance to Block

Rings


Priority:
(resistances to cap above all these, these are just after resistances are capped)
Implicit:
1.) +[X] Elemental Damage (Opal)
2.) +[X] Critical Strike Chance (Diamond)
3.) +[x] Energy Shield (Moonstone)

Prefixes:
1.) +[X] ES
2.) +[X]% ES (Elreon mastercraft only)
3.) +[X]% Faster Start of Energy Shield Recharge (Leo mastercraft only)

Suffixes:
1.) Increased lightning damage
2.) +[X]% Increased Critical Strike Chance (Elreon mastercraft only)
3.) +[X] Intelligence

Amulet


I'm using choir of the storm for a massive crit chance boost, increased lightning damage on crit (pretty much always), and the special proc which is worth about 32k+ DPS. You won't notice it proccing, since it looks exactly like herald of thunder, but that proc can really go to town. Though it can only proc every 880ms with our cast speed, it is a very substantial amount of damage. Every once in a while you'll notice a rare enemy just get deleted off the face of the map in a single lightning calldown. That's Choir of the Storm doing its thing. This is best in slot for this build, though you can use a rare instead if you can't afford a choir yet.

Alternatively a rare priority:
(resistances to cap above all these, these are just after resistances are capped)

Implicit:
1.) +[X]% increased lightning damage (talisman)
2.) +[X] Strength and Dexterity (Citrine)
3.) +[X] All Attributes (Onyx)

Prefix:
1.) +[X]% Increased Spell Damage
2.) +[X] Energy shield
3.) +[X]% Increased Energy Shield (available as prefix, and elreon mastercraft, can be stacked)

Suffix:
1.) +[X]% Increased Lighting Damage
2.) +[X]% Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier
3.) +[X]% Increased Global Critical Strike Chance

We can't use health flasks, and we don't need mana flasks, so it's pure utility.

- Diamond Flask works as a bootstrapper for your power charges. It gives you two rolls to crit on each cast, meaning you get high crit before you get your power charges. This allows you to get those power charges from your ascendancy much quicker and more reliably. Once they're up you should be rocking 85-95% crit, and the charges will sustain themselves.

- Topaz Flask is just all around good. It helps against reflect, lightning breaches. Make sure it has "grounded" to remove and make immune to shock.

- Basalt Flask is just good survivability, though you could swap it out for a penetration Vinktar's, just make sure you use topaz flask at the same time to negate the shock. You'll need to also swap out another flask to ensure you have freeze, bleed, and shock immunity from flasks.

- Atziri's is a large damage bonus, and even more leeching goodness. Also a very cheap flask, even with good rolls.

- Overflowing is great and highly underrated since we don't have any flask nodes. This will help us maintain flask uptime (massive damage and survivability), and it also offers a bit of damage while you're using it.

- The Wise Oak offers amazing synergy with our preferred resistances with Choir (stacking lightning resistance). This allows some resistances to be less than perfect as it will offer 35% all res, helping with elemental weakness + curse, and offers even more crit with Choir. Potentially use this instead of overflowing, or diamond flask - though be careful as you'll lose a status immunity from a blue flask. You'll have to chose what you want to be immune to - typically bleeding and freeze, and just be careful around lightning enemies.

• Until you swap to Chaos innoculation much later, focus on ES based gear, with life and resists.
  
  
• Remember your vendor recipes. Save aside quality flasks, gather chroma items, the whole bit
  
  
• If playing SSF, save your chance orbs for unset rings (start dropping at level 45), for the only unique you *really* need, essence worm. Also save vaal orbs to try to craft your Vaal Spark, and Vaal Haste, if you can't get them to drop.
  
  

Normal


Cruel


Merciless


Chaos Inoculation Conversion

Changes in 2.6


Log Notes