3.3 Does my Power Siphon Build make any sense

Hello,

I'm trying to come up with a halfway decent Power Siphon league starter build that has some options to scale into late game but I still can't figure out some details (rather most details). As far as I know, elemental will beat physical for wands most of the time, and there are no decent physical wand uniques, whereas for elemental there is at least Piscator's Vigil, though Corona Solaris' fire damage might be a viable option.

My build looks like this currently
https://pastebin.com/QakGDPKd

Does this build make any sense? (Will replace Power Siphon with its Vaal version in the actual bild ofc)

The newly added additional projectiles of Power Siphon in conjunction with Powerful Precision's free pierce should suffice for a decent clearspeed? (I'm not looking for KB level of clear speed. Decent really is enough.) Thus I can abstain from GMP and the likes, I guess? For single target I still will need barrage, probably. Should I put PS into a 6-link or barrage? Or can I just stick to PS for at least white/yellow maps?

Thanks for any help. I'm rather unexperienced with custom builds, unfortunately I could only find one 3.3 power siphon build so far, which missed defenses.

You'll need a Barrage 6-link for red maps. for yellow 4l is fine, since powersiphon barely deals damage solotarget.

For a 4l PS you're mostly best off with PS - GMP or Chain (I prefer chain, but need to test when the patch goes live) - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Lightning Pen or Critical Damage. Use Wrath in this case. in 6l you add Added Lightning + either crit damage or lightning pen.
Herald of Ice - Curse on hit - Poachers Mark for some extra Frenzy (We get powercharges from siphon anyway).

Now just scale lightning damage on Abyss Jewels and you're good to go.

Thanks a lot. I updated the build accordingly:

https://pastebin.com/v9TvW0YV

Here still with a 4-link barrage setup.
If I'm mainly focusing on lightning damage, Hyrri's Ire might not be the best solution. Does it make sense to just use a life/resist armor instead? In that case I don't need those stats on the shield and could swap for Esh's Mirror.

For body armour I'd suggest going for Queen of the Forest, gives you a lot of evasion + you have way more movementspeed which you can scale easily as Ranger class. Esh's Mirror is a really good option for mapping, which you can definitely use if you are going for the queen of the forest.

Find a KB build, make changes where necessary.

"

Szynima wrote:

You'll need a Barrage 6-link for red maps. for yellow 4l is fine, since powersiphon barely deals damage solotarget.

Will that still be true though? I've played a lot of wanders and historically siphon's awful single target damage had a lot to do with the fact that you ran 2 less damage gems (GMP & Chain). With the changes to PS you can now run 5 more damage gems instead which should make a big difference to single target damage. This is also exactly why I would not use chain and go pierce instead.

For the OP, I haven't played much in the past 18 months or so but wanders have never had good uniques, you really need to use rare wands. This does leave you a slave to the market and lock you out of a cheap options. Piscator's isn't awful until you compare it to a really good rare wand and then it sort of is.

Thanks for the input, might not be the best league starter after all, but I guess it will do until white maps. From there on I can see if the build is fun enough to invest more currency into it.

I will try without barrage first. As you mentioned, without 2 less damage gems required it might not be as bad as it was before.

"

rangda wrote:

"

Szynima wrote:

You'll need a Barrage 6-link for red maps. for yellow 4l is fine, since powersiphon barely deals damage solotarget.

Will that still be true though? I've played a lot of wanders and historically siphon's awful single target damage had a lot to do with the fact that you ran 2 less damage gems (GMP & Chain). With the changes to PS you can now run 5 more damage gems instead which should make a big difference to single target damage. This is also exactly why I would not use chain and go pierce instead.

For the OP, I haven't played much in the past 18 months or so but wanders have never had good uniques, you really need to use rare wands. This does leave you a slave to the market and lock you out of a cheap options. Piscator's isn't awful until you compare it to a really good rare wand and then it sort of is.

If you choice Deadeye ascendacy you can choice free pierce and chain in ascendacy without damage penalty

Doesn't Pierce negate the benefit of Chain?

Hi there,

I wanted to play power siphon so bad for years now that, when i heard of the rework, decided to run it as my first build no matter what.

long story short: it went much better than expected!

current state of the build:

Lvl 63 pastebin

planned final build:

Lvl 93 pastebin

How it went so far:

1. The naked Exile using whatever he can:
I started as a bow build because of ranger and was seriously afraid of early leveling with wands without any currency / items. Split Arrow + Mirage Archer + Pierce with any bow i could find was enough to carry me through act1 easily. at the end of act1 you get Rain of Arrows. Seriously, the rework is absolutely bonkers. I bet with you when the trap hype ends a lot of guys will find RoA to be the new flavor. It is THAT strong. Went with RoA + AddedLight + Onslaught and breezed through content. Around mid Act2 i finally got my 4alcs needed for my wand transition :)

2. Transitioning to Power Siphon:
with my first 4 alcs i bought two

While it doesn't seem to have much damage it fits Power Siphon perfectly and actually carried me to lvl 63 so far. I plan on transitioning to Piscator's Vigil at around lvl 72. Preferably simultaneously with a Queen's of the Forest...
So with two Storm Prisons you are at 5 Power Charges from the get go for easy 250% + 100% = 350% increased crit chance and 50% crit multi just from the charges alone. Get a

as fast as possible (1 alc). Equip Wrath + Herald of Ice and your damage is enough to one-shot pretty much everything. The clearspeed is still lacking a bit though even with flame dash and a quicksilver or two. With Lvl35 get into the normal labyrinth and go Deadeye with Tailwind first.
Links for Power Siphon early: Power Siphon + Onslaught + Added Lightning + EleDmgWAttacks

3. The Tailwind era:
after you get Tailwind things improve. A lot. You zoom through the campaign with KB level speed. The auto-targeting of Power Siphon makes for a very easy and smooth killing time. Because the damage comes mostly from Wrath / Herald and Prismweave we can afford our low-damage Lvl12 Wands and just use them for their other benefits. Leveling with crits is not only possible but the way to go with Power Siphon in my opinion. You are around Lvl40 now. This is also the time where you start to full clear incursions for phat loot and great temples. Get yourself a

Sacrifical Heart (Lvl 32) from the Temple boss or poe.trade for a massive damage increase.

4. Finishing the campaign:
From now on you just focus on rushing through the campaign as fast as possible to reach Blood Aqueducts in Act9. Everything is a breeze, some bosses are a pain (actually the single target is the biggest problem for PS still. If you feel in need equip a second 4-link Barrage setup:
Barrage + AddedLight + EleFocus + EleDmgWAttacks
that should cover your ST for a while.
Run Blood Aqueduct often and fast for easy Incursions, levels and loot. I will do it until I either get a Tabula, Level 72/73 or am about to die from boredom.

TL/DR:
Leveling with Power Siphon is not only viable but enjoyable too! As soon as you get your first ascendancy points you start to zoom around very fast, the visuals are great. You need to invest in leveling gear probably if you are not lucky enough to find one of these insane leveling blue mod wands from the temple. Vaal Power Siphon with 2 charges is actually insane. The more mobs on the map the better. In some incursions you can clear 2/3 of the incursion with a quick double Vaal Power Siphon. Also Breaches lol :D

Some ending thoughts:

Chain VS Pierce:
I found Pierce to be lacking quite a bit for Power Siphon. It has no real synergy like Tornado Shot or KB has, it just pierces. Because the projectiles home in on targets it is not the worst in the world and it doesn't give a less multi which is great. Can be used, doesn't feel that amazing.
Chain on the other hand is absolutely great at killing stuff. With the new Vaal Skills + normal skills in one gem slot thing my go to setup will be
Vaal Power Siphon + EleDmgWAttacks + AddedLightning + LightPen + Chain/FasterAttacks + SlowerProj
Versus bosses i plan on sub out chain for faster attacks.
VPS with chain just clears everything in a 2-3 screen radius. Double tapping VPS absolutely makes sure you leave a littered with bodies wasteland.
There is a middle ground option. FORK. Yes the long forgotten gem has uses still! It seems (i tried to confirm but it's messy and hard to see!) that the forked projectiles also auto-target new targets (same as the original projectiles). It makes for a very easy clearing setup especially when you get the +1 chain ascendancy perk from deadeye or elsewhere. And the damage penalty is not as big as with chain.

Map Layouts:
At first I thought the build will suck at indoor maps / areas where VPS cannot shine to it's full potential. However, normal PS doesn't give a shit about what layout you play. If you have a narrow corrider filled with monsters where KB would absolutely nuke the shit out of them consider normal PS like a group of snipers instantly deleteing the whole group from over a screen away. In the end both builds destroyed those poor fellas at roughly the same speed. The only difference where KB comes out ahead hard is at indoor bosses where you can pin a boss to a wall. PS struggles in this departments, it needs range for Far shot and it needs time because you don't have overlapping bullshit of doom. So I still prefer outdoor areas / bosses because of VPS goodness but indoors are really awesome to just breeze through too. Don't worry, you are fine :)

"

Hubrisz4 wrote:

Doesn't Pierce negate the benefit of Chain?

YES! you want to avoid this node at all cost if you plan on doing any chaining action (which you should!)