Armageddon Tank - Easiest Uber Elder - All Content - Budget

[3.7 Update]
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In order to play this build, it will either need another source of leech (Leech on amulet from Fire Damage, Prismatic Anger Fire damage Leech, possibly). The problem with this is that there isn't any mana leech from these. A mana leech jewel will lower our damage a lot, so another source would be needed (Life / Mana leech on boots from lab enchant but that is only if you've killed recently) Another possibility is for the build to be converted to Energy shield utilizing the need (as of 3.6) Energy shield leech nodes.

I've attempted to do both of these multiple times in PoB but have failed to making a build worth of this guide. If anyone has success, please post and I will update the guide, attributing the update to you.
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Hi, I'm Zaulism, and this is Armageddon Tank.



Disclaimer: This build can be done with ~7 exalted. I consider this budget...

This build runs circles around Uber Elder!!!
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Actually X build is easier...
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Spoiler

No.

Uber Elder doesn't require high damage. My PoB is under 300k (per brand) and, if you watch the video, Uber Elder dies very fast. 3 million dps won't help you kill him (if you're new to the fight).

Damaging while moving anywhere is why this build is the best. Why this build is better than...

Zerphi's Poet Pen (Pre Nerf): I had a fully gear Zerphi's Poet Pen in Delve League, which I killed Uber Elder on probably 7 times. It did more damage, had more sustain, and was geared with much more expensive gear than this Armageddon Tank. Still yet... I die less with Armageddon Tank just due to the play style.

Totems: We want Shaper to throw his balls at us. We know where they are going then (where we WERE standing). Totems have the same playstyle, but lack the sustain of the leech. Armageddon brand is YOU doing the damage, so you leech.

Traps/Mines: Better damage, but you have to concentrate more on dealing damage, and you do not have as good of sustain or life/mana pools.

Minions: Same with Totems. We want Shaper to throw his balls at us. We know where they are going then (where we WERE standing). Minions don't leech for you, so it's a matter of sustain. The exception of this is Baron Strength Zombies. I've played it, and it's not my cup of tea. This is still easier than that though.

Scourge Arrow: If you're Slayer or ascendant Slayer, you'll have good sustain. With Mirage Archer, you don't have to focus on damage as much.. But you're still focusing way more than near instant cast brands.

RF / LLRF: Seriously? Get out. Life RF requires an obscene amount of currency now. Old Berzerker, I'd agree with you. Low Life RF, yeah, I can see that, but still yet requires a much larger investment than Armageddon Brand. LLRF can AFK Uber Elder.

Vortex Occultist: Nope. You can get your Energy Shield Recharge delay low enough, it can feel good. But still yet, you have to focus more on damage and it's more of an investment.


That's it, the entire goal of this character is to farm Uber Elder. I'm a pleb, and a lot of other builds don't work for me. If you've tried builds that have (Uber Elder down!) in the title, but yet you fail, this is the build for you!

We also have good Clear Speed and can do most all content (This is with single target setup, a gem swap can improve clear, but not required! Betrayal Safe. (Hardcore Viable?)

Map Mods to avoid:
Elemental Reflect (Nope, nope, nope, nope)
Cannot Leech (Doable, but... we're a leech build)
Hexproof (We still leech life, but not mana, doable)
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Videos / Strategy
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Spoiler

The videos below are from an ordinary pleb. It's an honest look at how the build will perform for you. Deaths included, no foolery here. This is a build guide for you, not a build guide to show off amazing gear and my accomplishments. Use these videos to see what the build is like.

All of these videos are using the exact same gear. Concentrated Effect is used throughout all of them.

Elder Strategy:
Spoiler

Generally, stand near Elder. His physical attacks are less threatening than his ice shards. If you can't stand near him, dodge ice shards.

When he does the suck attack, move behind him.

When he stops moving, he's doing tentacle slams, just keep moving to dodge.

When he goes into the air and throws little projectiles, move, and a good time flame dash will dodge his slam that immediately follows.

Shaper: https://youtu.be/3u176UMSSHY
Strategy
Spoiler

The best tip you'll ever read regarding Shaper:
Do not walk directly towards him. You will eat his balls and die.

Stay in melee range. Walk indirectly towards him, moving behind him. Stay in melee range. He'll stop throwing balls and melee you only while you're in melee range. Stay in melee range. Generally, keep moving for easy beam dodging. Stay in melee range.

This isn't a full guide on Shaper. Read more if you're new to the fight elsewhere.



Uber Elder: https://youtu.be/-Umxkk8D4Ps
Strategy:
Spoiler

Watch the video. Honestly, you can one button the fight.. no brand recall, no enduring cry.. just literally run circles.

Be comfortable fighting Shaper and Red Tier Elder. Most of their mechanics follow into this fight. I don't believe they deal much more damage than their normal counter parts (Red tier elder, at least).

Honestly, this fight was easy with this character! I killed him on my first first attempt, but I used all portals. So.. why did I die (and what you should do to not die)?

Shaper's Balls. They are 90% of this fight. I died to them 4 times.

You generally want to keep track of where Shaper is. Never walk directly towards him, or you'll eat projectiles and die. I found it nice to walk in an oval drawn around Shaper and Elder. (Walk behind shaper, circle behind elder, circle behind shaper...) If you're close the the vulnerable one, do a brand Recall. Otherwise, just have two brands on the vulnerable one. This give you four free brands to use on the trash that is summoned.

Listen for the slam sounds (Elder's is very telegraphed)...

Don't move to the center of Elder's exploding circles until near time for it to explode.

This isn't a full guide though.


Hydra: https://youtu.be/8LBjXx8D6Bw
Chimera: https://youtu.be/D2XxL8ennZY
Phoenix: https://youtu.be/NYB7Co61TnY
Minotaur: https://youtu.be/wAUPjPVaCh8
Uber Atziri: https://youtu.be/RFOl-2xfkiw
Hall of the Grandmasters: https://youtu.be/yr10PRZjvZY
(Swap to Balefire for max block builds)

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PoB / Skill Tree / Pantheon
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PoB: https://pastebin.com/FPX8r3cw

Path of Building has 4 skill trees in it to use while leveling

Bandits:
Kill All

Pantheon:
Major: Arakaali with Queen of the Great Tangle
(Blood Rage + Queen + Immortal call for Leech buff)
Minor: Yugul
(Cold Damage reduction for Elder / Shaper)
(Reflect reduction for Uber Atziri)

Skill Tree (level 87):


Skill Tree Priories: Jewel Slots, Increase Mana, Increase Damage

We're not Mind over Matter capped. At 6000 hp, you would need 2400 Unreserved Mana. I'm not concerned about doing that. I can take hits. Still yet, improving our mana would increase survivability.

Ascendancy:
1. Sign of Purpose
Spoiler
We can eventually have two brands attached to an enemy, increasing our single target damage by a 20% more multiplier. Brand Recall recovery speed is very good too.

2. Divine Guidance
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The entire reason we're Hierophant! 10% more Mind over Matter!

3. Illuminated Devotion
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It's a good node in general

4. Arcane Blessing
Spoiler
Immune to Ailments. Should have a 100% uptime. Freeze, Chill (Uber Elder). Cannot be shocked, ignited, etc...


Divine Guidance and Arcane Blessing is the entire reason we're Hierophant.

Why not Elementalist?
Spoiler
Elementalist would be more damage. Elementalist would be better clear speed. We have decent damage and clear.. our goal here is Uber Elder. Hierophant gives us immunity to Ailments and 10% Mind over Matter. If Hierophant only gave us those options, we'd still choose it over Elementalist.
Hierophant does not have the best Brand Damage nodes... sadly.


Why not Conviction of Power?
Spoiler
5% Damage Penetration is good, but not good enough. The endurance charge generation from this is way too slow with Orb of Storms, Increase Crit, Power Charge on Crit. I thought about using this with a +1 to minimum Endurance Charge Ring, but nah. This would replace Arcane Blessing, and we really want Arcane Blessing...


Why not Sanctuary of Thought?
Spoiler
We don't need the Mana Cost Reduction. We don't want the Energy Shield, we would lose the Shield and not gain it back. The Mana Reservation here is nice, as it translates into more Life... but no thanks.

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Gear:
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Spoiler

Gear I was wearing on my first Uber Elder Kill
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I'd call this cheap or budget gear, except amulet. Most builds run a 6 Link, and this ones isn't expensive. My gear is not cheap because I am Chaos Resistance capped with my flasks up.

Current Cost: ~12ex Chest 2ex, Amulet 4ex, Staff 4ex (6L), Warlord Mark Ring 60c, 10c per other slot will do.

Body Armor:
Spoiler
We use a Kaom's Heart for the HP Boost. The Fire damage is a nice added bonus. I used the 30% Quality Beastcraft corruption on mine.


Weapon:
Spoiler
Using a 6 Link helm (Immolate and Concentrated Effect) would work well here, and allow us to use other items. It would be the goal of this build. We could then get a lot of damage from running other weapons.

But while you don't have that, Martyr of Innocence gives us a large damage bonus, as well as a defensive boost via block. Armageddon Brand has a 90% Effectiveness of Added Damage, making the flat damage on this staff very good. If we've blocked in the past four seconds, we also get extra penetration. This staff is the best unique staff for us, and better budget wise than any rare I've found. Five link is Okay, but 6L of course is preferred.


Amulet
Spoiler

Being so geared towards defensiveness, we're a bit lacking offensively. That's why we use a Yoke of Suffering. If helps with the Strength / Dexterity requirements, causes enemies to take 5% more damage for each ailment (ignite and shock) and gives us access to shock.

This is about an 80% damage boost for this build.

Increased Damage Taken: A Psuedo More Multiplier
Spoiler
Increased Damage Taken isn't a more multiplier, so adding extra sources of it has diminishing returns. However, since it is calculated after all of our damage calculations, it functions as a more multiplier in ways...
Short version... we want a bit of it!


Xoph's Blood?
Spoiler
Xoph's Blood would be a damage boost, but not as much as Yoke.
Also, we would have to drop our Atziri's Flask, which is amazing Betrayal League with the Chaos Resistance AND damage.



Warlord's Mark Ring
Spoiler

We just want a warm body for this slot. Any life, resists, or damage is an added bonus. Our gear is very lenient.


All other slots
Spoiler

Cap Resists (Remember Wise Oak!) > Life & Mana > Damage > Armor

Flasks
Spoiler


Honestly, you don't have to use Taste of Hate. Build is fine with out it.


Wise Oak Capping
Spoiler

As we'll discuss in the gem section, we choose to run Purity of Ice. A level 20 give 41% Cold Resistance. Keep that in mind while gearing.

More importantly, if you choose to run Taste of Hate (I do, but it honestly isn't important, I think), you must cap your cold resistance without considering Taste of Hate to be Active. That means you will need at least 50 more Fire Resistance than Cold Resistance, otherwise Taste of Hate will turn off your Wise Oak Penetration.

ARMOR!?
Spoiler
Since our goal is Uber Elder, a large part of Elder's damage is physical. Armor does help mitigate that physical damage. Also, we don't have much dexterity in this build, so evasion gear isn't easy to meet the requirements for. Even if it was, I would still choose armor for this build.



Jewels
Spoiler

% Maximum Life
% Maximum Mana
Damage (Area/Fire/Spell/generic inc damage)
2nd dmg mod, or stats, resists

Life is the most important mod. You can get life/mana/1 dmg mod and 1 other non dmg mod generally cheap.


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Gems (Links):
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Main Damage: Armageddon Brand - Concentrated Effect - Controlled Destruction - Combustion - Faster Casting - Immolate

If you're not using Yoke of Suffering, you may want to swap Immolate for Elemental Focus, since we don't care about the ignite damage.

Hypothermia? No. If we add some cold damage we could Chill, but Yoke of Suffering lowers the duration of effects, meaning the enemy wouldn't be chilled much and for long (chill has a base duration of 2 seconds).

Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Increased Duration - Vaal Righteous Fire

Level Cast When Damage Taken so that it is about 1/6th of your hp. I have mine at level 9, which means my Immortal Call is at level 11.

Enduring Cry - Brand Recall - Faster Casting - Flame Dash

Faster Casting is here only for Flame Dash. Before Uber Lab, drop faster casting for a level 1 Arcane Surge.

Blood Rage - Purity of Ice - Summon Lightning Golem - Clarity

We use purity of ice for multiple reasons:
1. Shaper's ball projectiles, Elder's spear projectiles and multiple other damage in the Uber Elder fight are cold damage. Extra max resists here makes it easier.
2. I'm using a Watcher's Eye that gives me phys taken as cold while affected by Purity of Ice. This is very cheap and VERY powerful for the Uber Elder fight.
3. If you're using Taste of Hate, the physical taken as Cold from it has it's damage reduced even further with more cold resists.

I picked up a stupid Watcher's Eye.. so I wanted to use Clarity, half just for my MTX. It's not necessary in any way.

Blood Rage is here for the Soul of Arakali Interaction. (Google if you don't know about this)
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=blood+rage+arakaali

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Leveling
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Spoiler

Level 1: Freezing Pulse

Level 12: Storm Brand / Arc / Firestorm

Level 28: Armageddon Brand / Arc

Brand Skill don't feel that great unless you have some of the brand nodes on the tree. Also, Storm Brand has a worse 'added damage effectiveness' than Armageddon Brand

I used a Darkness Enthroned (2 socket abyss belt) with two level 1 jewels, and then upgraded them at level 30.


Once in act 4, I recommend 6 Linking your Brand with
Armageddon Brand, Controlled Destruction, Added Lightning Damage, Added Fire Damage, Curse on Hit, Warlord's Mark

This will give you early access to leech. I would continue using this as your 6 Link until you obtain a Warlord's Mark Ring.

Last edited by Drakaian on Jun 7, 2019, 12:23:37 PM
Last bumped on Jul 10, 2019, 1:51:58 PM
The build excelled at Uber Elder and Hall of the Grandmasters. Videos will be uploaded soon!
EZ PZ
Nice build. Good job!
The skilltrees don't seem to be working for me.. Temporary PoB bug?
I've updated the non-PoB skill tree to fix a bug. Is the pastebin for PoB broken? If you're wondering about the multiple skill trees, they are found in the bottom left on the Skill Tree window in Path of Building after the build is imported.
I got errors when selecting the PoB levelling trees. I kinda worked around that by using the non-PoB tree in the guide. I'm not sure if it was just for me though so more people might stumble upon this problem. Great guide either way! I just hit Blood Aqueduct with it in about 5 hours :)
Am I missing something, but do we not have Arcane Surge in our gem setup? Seems like you'd want it with Illuminated Devotion an Arcane Blessing, or do we get it somewhere I am just not seeing?
Loving the build! Actually took down the Elder Guardians just by kiting lol. I do think my gear could use some adjustments before going for Elder. Do you got any tips in what area i could improve? I selected some Jewels i thought were decent i couldn't find the recommended stats on them in the guide.
"
Enkryptions wrote:
Am I missing something, but do we not have Arcane Surge in our gem setup? Seems like you'd want it with Illuminated Devotion an Arcane Blessing, or do we get it somewhere I am just not seeing?


You get it from the Uber Lab Ascendancy.

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