[3.2] LL, VD, Poets Pen, Indigon, 11.4k mana, 9.9k energy shield, 325k avg hit, Uber Elder viable

DISCLAIMER: This build is no longer functional. I have revived the content for archiving purposes but this should not be played.



NOTE: The build requires a 38 dex ring, not 35. This was pointed out by ClKhrom/PrettyLittleBalboa.

Hi, this is my second build guide for Beastiary League. It will be much shorter than the Essence Drain guide as I've established much of the mechanisms of Indigon there and many people have written guides on Poet's Pen and Volatile dead. Currently I consistently reach and maintain 325k average damage on Volatile dead with fire penetration as a support.


If you want to tool tip warrior, its possible to run concentrated effect and spike to almost 800k per ball.

Defenses and mana pool:


ES Recovery: (Without Arakaali)


That guide can be found here:


Put bluntly, this build offers higher boss damage, but lower clear speed than that Essence Drain build at a greater cost. The greatest benefit of this build is that it relies upon a total of 3 rare items (including jewels) but these items are still fairly exclusive.

Benefits:
Spoiler

Having 11,445 mana means that Skyforth give you the equivalent of 57,225 life for stun calculations - you do not get stunned.


Heirophant's Sanctuary of Thought means running 3 purities, discipline and Clarity can be run simultaneously. Clarity and Purity of Lightning can be swapped to be at 21% life to run Hall of Grandmasters safely. Heirophant's Sanctuary of Thought also provides around 5,000 energy shield.


Heirophant's Arcane blessing provides all elemental ailment immunity and Shakari's pantheon bonus provides poison immunity. This means only a bleed flask is required, adding flexibility in flask selection. Arcane surge acts as a pseudo 7th link.

Massive boss damage. Its disgusting.


Restrictions:
Spoiler


Map Mods which are not safe:
Spoiler
No leech
Elemental Reflect
Physical Reflect (Must swap in level 1 Unearth, or you will die instantly.)
Hexproof


Map Mods which are not optimal: (Avoid running T16's with these modifiers, all other maps are okay.)
Spoiler

No regeneration
Reduced Regeneration

Apart from these modifiers, all bosses and maps are okay to run, including Hall of Grandmasters.


Difficult Itemization:
Spoiler
There is also the great cost of this build, relying upon a two modifier Watcher's Eye jewel, Skyforth, Atziri's Acuities, 6L Shavronne's Wrappings, The Flow Untethered, a Warlord's Mark curse on hit Ring and Indigon. These are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. There is little to no flexibility in itemization. This is a very strict build requiring items from Uber Elder, Beachhead, and Uber Atziri.



Path of Building:
Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/e0mSZyDq

Indigon does not work in POB, to see how much to add look here:
Spoiler

Note: PoB does not show leech rate for average hit. To show maximum leech rate, another spell must be added or more math must be done.

Current Maximum Mana: 11,445

Maximum Mana leech rate 20% of pool:
11,445 * 0.20 = 2289

With my current Watcher's Eye, this value is multiplied by 1.27:

2343 * 1.27 = 2907 Mana Leeched per second.

To calculate Indigon damage:
(Mana Regeneration per second + Mana Leeched per second) * 4 seconds (recently) = (3051 + 2975) * 4

Broken into units of 200 Mana spent recently:
(2983 + 2907) * 4 / 200 = 117, rounded down

60 spell damage per unit:
117 * 60 = 7020% increased spell damage, rounded down.



Passive Tree, Pantheon, Mandatory Keystones, and Leveling Discussion:
Spoiler

Passive Tree Link:


Pantheon:
Spoiler
Soul of Arakaali, aim for full upgrade. (Shock and Horror optional, since the build is immune to shock.)


Soul of Shakari, upgraded for poison immunity.


The mandatory Keystones are:
Spoiler


Elemental Overload, which adds a 1.4 multiplier to all elemental damage.


Mind Over Matter, to reach the huge nodes behind it, which grant massive amounts of Energy Shield and Mana.


Pain Attunement, a 1.3 multiplier to all spell damage and the build is low life.


Ghost Reaver, applies Life Leech to Energy Shield instead.


Leveling:
Spoiler

Level as life based Poets Pen taking Elemental Overload as a primary source of damage. Upon reaching level 75, (Acuities level requirement is the highest) you can switch to ES.

The lowest priority nodes are ones which are 1 past a notable node. (fancy border) Beyond that, Melding is the lowest priority. This build has the luxury of having life nodes which you do not have to convert to Mana until reaching 75, so withhold socketing the Healthy Mind Jewels.



Gear and Gear Discussion: (Mostly mandatory, as discussed above.)
Spoiler


Skyforth:

Stun immunity, enables reservation, provides substantial Energy Shield due to the large quantity of mana.

Atziri's Acuity:

Leech rate and mana from intelligence. Doubling the rate of recovered energy shield makes having 10,000 feel like much more. The Vaal Grace can be swapped for Blood Rage L1/Q16 and Lesser Multiple Projectiles in Shavronne's Wrappings can be substituted for Chain for Uber Elder, to abuse Arachnoxia's buff from Soul of Arakaali. Just make sure the loss of attack speed from removing Lesser Multiple Projectiles is equal to the attack speed gained using Blood Rage, to not go over 4.8 attacks per second.

Indigon:

Converts mana to spell damage, approximately 6900% for the current version of this build.

Shavronne's Wrappings:

Low life bonus damage multiplier acts as a pseudo 8th link. Reserving things on life enables running of 3 purity auras. Must be 6 link to increase initial mana cost of Frenzy. The links and supports are designed to increase mana cost and attack rate. 4 or more green sockets are required.

Poet's Pens:

Other cast socketed gem on "x" event are too strict, Poet's Pen stands head and shoulders above all other auto casting items, especially given that this build does not have room for critical strike chance and multiplier.

Rings:

One must have dexterity, one must have Warlord's Mark on hit, both must have good resistances. The exact amount of dexterity required is 38. You must also make sure Fire is the highest resistance for Wise Oak.

The Flow Untethered:

Now properly works with the action speed granted by the Harbinger and also increases ES recovery rate. While a rare belt with cooldown recovery speed and mana recovery rate is an option, I prefer this much more. This is one of the few choices the build has. With this belt at 20% cooldown reduction, approach but do not reach 4.8 attacks per second on Frenzy. Lower quality on support gems may be used for a higher roll Flow Untethered. The buff granted by the Harbinger now works with Poet's Pen perfectly and it also reduces time to lightning warp with the offhand weapon swap set.

Atziri's Foible:

Fulfills attribute requirements and grants massive amounts of mana and energy shield.

Jewels:
Spoiler

4 Healthy Minds:

To increase mana and energy shield.

3 Grand Spectrum:

Lots of mana and energy shield.

1 Fevered Mind:

Increases mana cost, negating the Heirophant's Reduced mana cost. They are both additive so it is fully negated.

1 Pure Talent:

Passive tree allows for gaining of Scion, Witch and Templar bonuses. All extremely relevant.

1 Rare Jewel:

Elemental weakness capped resists through jewel. Might of the Meek may be used instead here:


1 Insane Watcher's Eye:

More energy shield and recovery rate. Extremely important and rare. This is the item which restricts entry the hardest. I'd say the ES is more important, however damage is 27% less without the other modifier.

...and a partridge in a pear tree


Flasks:
Spoiler

Wise Oak:

Applies 15% fire penetration and extra resistances to counter Elemental Equilibrium applied in Hall of Grandmasters.

Atziri's Promise:

Provides Chaos Resistance and Damage.

Basalt Flask of Staunching:

Removes applications of bleed and mitigates against large physical hits.

Silver Flask of Warding:

Raises Attack speed to 4.78, provides movement speed and removes curses.

Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline:
linkItem location="Flask" character="IkeaMeatballScandal" x="4" y="0"]
Gives a lot of movement speed to escape from bearers, since Bodyswap can be unreliable at times.



Gems:
Spoiler

Again, there is little flexibility in sockets because of the 5 auras being run.
At least 1 level 4 Enlightens is mandatory to have 23 life unreserved for normal maps and 21% for HOGM. These gems currently take up my helmet and boot slots completely.

For ease of chroming, in my gloves I have a cast when damage taken Immortal Call setup with Vaal Grace, and I swap in a L1/Q16 Blood Rage granting 9% attack speed and remove 9% attack speed on Lesser Multiple Projectiles in my Shavronne's Wrappings for Chain for Uber Elder. For all other content, I keep Vaal Grace in for extra durability.

Poets Pen gem setups are also fixed, make sure that Unearth is socketed in the left hand and is above Bodyswap in links. This is due to the programmed casting order for anything which automates spells. Likewise, Immortal Call should be before Blood Rage in the gloves.

My links for Shavronne's Wrappings are just to scale mana cost, you can use whatever you like so long as you approach but do not exceed 4.8 attacks per second.

In the offhand weapon set, I use Lightning Warp + Reduced Duration in one pen and Arc + Lightning Penetration + Portal in the other. This is how I leave maps, and gap jump quickly. Removing cast speed from the LW equation, running a Silver, Quicksilver, 30% movespeed boots and Harbinger of Time makes it a very fast movement skill.


Cost:
Spoiler

The Watcher's Eye is 35 exalts. One without the clarity mana recovery rate is 10 exalts.
6 linked high roll Shavronne's Wrappings is 6 exalts.
Skyforth are 2.5 exalts.
Atziri's Acuity is 5 exalts.
Rings will set you back 5 exalts.
All other jewels should approach 2 exalts maximum.
A 60% Indigon costs 3 exalts.
2 Poet's Pens cost ~1 exalt.
The Flow Untethered high roll 3 exalts.
2 level 4 enlightens are 8 exalts.

Total cost is ~45.5 exalts or ~70.5 with the Watcher's Eye I have.

4/10/2018
Edit: Bonus ES is now 12 exalts, and double clarity jewel is now 50 exalts by itself.

A Volatile Dead helm enchant on Indigon costs more than the entire build.


Leveling past 92:
Spoiler

93-94:
Spoiler



95-96:
Spoiler



100: (Remove 2 mana nodes from 95-96)
Spoiler



Q&A:
Spoiler

Q: Why don't you use Summon Phantasm with Arcane Surge instead?
A: Mana cost multiplier. It is too drastic in altering ramp up time.



I'll add videos down here when I have more time, that's all for now. Uber Elder can be done in 2 minutes or less with this build, I'll make sure to upload a good one.
Undisputed best alpha tester since Awakening beta.
Last edited by Rhaegar_G on Feb 27, 2020, 11:50:40 PM
Last bumped on Jan 16, 2019, 11:46:26 AM
This is nuts.

How would this compare to the LowLife Scion/Inquisitor Poet's Pen build that's floating around?
This is what I was trying to balance for a while. I wanted ES AND Inidigon. I don't comprehend how you have higher ES than my build. I'll have to slap it in PoB when I get home.
"
KindaAmazing wrote:
This is nuts.

How would this compare to the LowLife Scion/Inquisitor Poet's Pen build that's floating around?
This is what I was trying to balance for a while. I wanted ES AND Inidigon. I don't comprehend how you have higher ES than my build. I'll have to slap it in PoB when I get home.


Your build looks really solid man. I think you can be proud of it considering it looks like it'd be a way better starting point for most players. I just wanted to get my version of Poet's Pen out there while this still works.
Undisputed best alpha tester since Awakening beta.
Nice stuff really and nice synergy overall.

How would it compare to the ED Trickster's version ? (survivability/damage/useability wise)
"
Iyacthu wrote:
Nice stuff really and nice synergy overall.

How would it compare to the ED Trickster's version ? (survivability/damage/useability wise)


I'd say the Trickster is tankier, clears faster, and is easier to play. This build is only better at vaporizing bosses like Uber Elder.
Undisputed best alpha tester since Awakening beta.
Good build but 100ex entry club :s
IGN: PojzonAbyss
[3.2] Immortal Indigon Poet's Pen Hirophant - https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2129766
[3.1] Yamata No Orochi - Oni-Goroshi Jugg http://poeurl.com/bHB9
[2.4] The True Queen Of The Forest - Poison LA/BR Pathfinder http://poeurl.com/M6u [Retired]
Was just thinking about a Hierophant poet's pen + indigon build last night. And suddenly find it in this forum.

It seems to me that you can pretty much continue running your ED setup on poet's pen. The old ED build requires casting 4 purple skills alternately and Poet's Pen frees you from it.

I've been playing too much Poet's Pen VD BD last league. Any suggestions on other spell? (wondering if bladefall could be a thing with this op mechanism)
Nice guide, I might change to this to take my current build to the next level.

Currently playing this: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2125004/page/1

It is pretty much a life+crit based version of this, making it much cheaper, but also weaker. Just wanted to drop this here in case someone wants to play this but does not quite have the currency to go for your version.

To clarify, with weaker I mean that it takes around 3-5 minutes to safely kill Uber Elder. And with cheaper I mean at least ~40-45ex because a Zerphi's is pretty much mandatory for Uber Elder.

Hope it is ok to leave the link here, it is not my guide so no self-promotion going on :D

Also wanted to point out that you miscalculated the cost. You said the Watchers Eye is 35ex (which is a best case scenario I assume, have seen maybe 2 in the last week that went for that low) but then only added 25ex.

Last edited by Mecielle on Apr 10, 2018, 8:54:39 AM
Hey, thx for the guide

just tested it short, looks really great. Could you take a look on my gear if I'm doing everything right?

https://pastebin.com/s2zALgu6
"
Hey, thx for the guide

just tested it short, looks really great. Could you take a look on my gear if I'm doing everything right?

https://pastebin.com/s2zALgu6


Looking great, the last 2% on Indigon should be a good increase to damage. Other than that, yours is pretty much identical to mine. Let me know if you have any ideas on how to improve it further!
Undisputed best alpha tester since Awakening beta.

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info