Stress Free PoE| CURSIN’ VORTEX |ANY Items Work|Easy/Relaxing Play|Easily Clears the Atlas [3.6]

The guide for 3.7's build is now up! See you there!

WELCOME!

You know, there's something special about watching an enemy move over something that's killing them but they're moving too slowly to get away before they die...so...you just watch them die. You know that feeling? (Ya, that's a special feeling Lloyd.) You know what makes it even more special? Knowing that they're cold (uncomfortable) as they're dying. That's nice too. You know it makes you smile...come on now...

Welp! With this build chaos inoculation Occultist, you’ll chill and kill enemies with cold damage over time while heavily cursing them. And it's easy 1 button fun! The build will work really well no matter what you pick up for gear. Just pick up and play.

This guide is written for those new to Path of Exile but layed out so the experienced players can skip to the good stuff.

(Feel free to respond to other players' posts. The more that's out there, the more we learn. I will also respond to posts but just note that I have multiple guides that all need responding to. I’ll do my best to get back to you as quickly as possible.)

(For those with similar limitations to mine, I can play this build on both PC and Console.)

(Thanks Tagz for being my Wiki Explainer.)

Why My Builds are the Way they Are
I deal with post concussion syndrome. Without getting all "doctor" on you, if I want to play a game for a good while and be able to function when I'm finished playing, I have to avoid many things in video games. Some examples of things that I try to avoid in games are:

- Fast or unpredictable movement on screen
- Quick and specific button presses at specific times (like flasks)
- Specific aiming/clicking with the mouse (the inventory exhausts my mind)
- Bright flashes and busy screens
- Quick thinking and reacting
- And a billion other things ;)

The reason that I write this part isn't so that you feel sorry for me but to explain why there are certain elements of my builds that are not maximized in a way that the general community would typically maximize their builds.

As limiting as that seems, this game provides endless character building options.

So my build and guides are great for:
- New players.
- Players that don't like button mashing.
- Players that like playing with only one or two buttons.
- Players that like a relaxing PoE experience.
- Players with medical conditions (like epilepsy or those with with physical limitations that are restricted in how they use keyboards or mice…)
- Players that like the best builds ever made in the history of Path of Exile.

My guides will incorporate as many of the mechanics of the game that I love (that are also quite conducive to my issues), such as:
-”Slowing” enemies
- Debuffing enemies
- Doing nothing to kill things (Damage over Time or Minions...)
- Sweet life regen or Chaos Inoculation
- Move, cast once...move, cast once...move, cast once...;)

***Despite the limitations my builds revolve around, the guides I post will clear the Atlas :)***
How I Play This Build/How it Functions in Gameplay
This build is really easy to play. Sooooo easy.

Quick Version: Move around and hit the Vortex button. Atlas cleared. True story. Everything else is automatic!

Detailed Version
- Seriously, I know this is the detailed section, but that's all you do...cast Vortex and move around.

- Turn on Malevolence (bonus damage) and Discipline (bonus Energy Shield), then just run around and hit Vortex. :)
- There's Flame Dash as a movement skill for anytime you feel stuck.
- Everything else in the build is automatic and comes from Cast when Damage Taken Support. We'll use three curses in this build and you can use any curses you want. They'll all be attached to low level CwDT gems...which means that if an enemy barely touches you (with a Hit, not Damage over Time), they'll be cursed with all three curses.
- The tree focuses on as much improvement to curse effects as possible so the suggested curses will dramatically slow, weaken in damage, and make susceptible to damage every cursed enemy.
- I only focused on the Damage over Time damage of Vortex, not the Hit portion of the skill.

Chaos Inoculation (CI)/Energy Shield (ES)
- This makes your Energy Shield your only life pool. (Little to no flask help.)
- As a result of choosing CI, there is a huge focus of ES recovery on the tree.

The playstyle of this build is simply cast once...move, cast once...move, cast once...move, cast once...;)

- Vortex's cast time is instant. So you won't even see your character make an animation to cast it. That's a huge survivability perk!

Everything else will be in the Build Explanation and Gem Links sections.
Videos, Path of Building, URLs, Loot Filter
- Software: Path of Building - The character planner I use.

- Pastebin - https://pastebin.com/Ks2rDxv9 - (Copy the link, open Path of Building, click on “New”, then click “Import/Export Build”, click “Import from Pastebin…”, paste the link.)

- Passive Tree on Path of Exile.com

- Video - Racecourse - My Favourite Map. I also made sure the map was "Hexproof" :). (Racecourse is a T14 at the time of the video. You'll notice my gear is Mediocre at best and my gems aren't even level 20, let alone 20%. (I guess the less maximized I am, the better the build seems ;).))

Also, feel free to checkout my broadcast channel. Mixer keeps the last 14 days worth of broadcasts. I post all my broadcasts on my YouTube channel along with a few other things.

- Loot Filter - I will add it for 3.7.
Any Gear Works?
I like to be able to just load the game and play. So I design my builds to not require any specific items or mods to function. Obviously you need the basics like resists and health but you’ll only need your Gems and your Passive Tree for this build to function well. So you can use ANY items you want to take the character in any direction.

As the Guide Creator I’ll only be using rare items, just as a demonstration that you don’t need epic items to clear the Atlas. Please use any items you find/want.
Build Explanation
Chaos Inoculation (CI)
Chaos Inoculation is risky and easy all at the same time. On a Life based character, Energy Shield (ES) is the first "life bar" of the health pool. When a life based character would take damage, the damage would first hit the ES. Only once the ES is used up would damage start hitting the actual health bar. Now on a life based character, Chaos Damage typically bypasses ES and goes straight to the life bar.

Selecting the Chaos Inoculation (CI) node in the passive tree makes ES our ONLY life pool...but makes us immune to Chaos Damage.

Some of the risks with this include the fact that flasks can't really help us restore ES like Life flasks restore life. There are a few exceptions but for the most part, CI means no "life" flasks.

One of the great things about CI, besides the immunity to chaos damage, is that there are lots of nodes on the tree that help the speed that ES recharges and regenerates...even decreasing the amount of time it takes for your ES to start restoring. In other words, your ES will almost always be regenerating at a rate that Life Regen could only dream of.
Damage over Time (DoT)
Damage over Time is a type of damage that doesn't Hit. Vortex has two stages that happen in quick succession. The first stage has an explosion that Hits enemies. The second stage is a 3 second DoT that is always cast around our character. I only focused on the DoT of Vortex when building this build. When an enemy is within an existing DoT skill on the ground, they will take damage.
Slow Focus
I. LOVE. SLOWING. ENEMIES. So in this build, we're going to slow enemies. Why? Lots of good reasons...but the most important reason is: Because.

Path of Exile has multiple methods that can slow a character/enemy in two ways: 1-Slowing Movement Speed only, and 2-Slowing all actions (including movement speed). This build will focus on the two methods in the game that slow ALL actions of an enemy: Temporal Chains and Chill. These two methods of slowing can stack (to a cap of 75% total slow).

Chill - An elemental effect from Cold damage that slows all actions (movement, cast/attack speed) up to 30%. The % of slow (chill) imposed on an enemy is based on the total Cold Damage done to the enemy in one hit. So the higher the cold damage of an initial hit (not cumulative) the greater the "chill effect"...the slower the enemy is.

Temporal Chains - A curse that slows all normal enemy actions (movement, cast/attack speed) up to a base value of 29% but with investment can be capped at 75%. This build will have Temporal Chains slowing enemies at 68%. Chill will cap the rest.
Curses
I. LOVE. CURSES. TOO.

Curses are debuffs that you can put on an enemy. There are quite a few curses in the game, not all of them are beneficial to every build. In this build you can choose any three curses you want. I will be using: Temporal Chains which slows every action of the enemy, Enfeeble which makes the enemy deal less damage and Hit less often, and Frostbite which makes the enemy take more cold damage.

By default in POE, every character can only apply one curse per enemy. There is a node on the passive tree that increases this limit by one. We'll be getting it. There also only one ascendancy (subclass) that increases your curse limit by one. We'll be choosing that too. We'll also be increasing the effectiveness of our curses to their maximum achievable effectiveness.

A big part of this build are the three curses I have chosen. Curses can be cast manually as a spell that applies the selected curse to an area, or you can link a support skill called Blasphemy which will make the linked curses Auras that are always around you. We'll be "self casting" our curses automatically with the Cast on Damage Taken trigger support. We are going to have our curses as strong as they can be. That'll take some passive tree investment. Temporal Chains at its maximum default level slows all enemy actions by 29%. With the appropriate investment we can make enemies 68% slower with Temporal Chains (this skill cannot slow enemies beyond 75%). All other curses do not have a cap. Enfeeble, has a lot of great defense. It makes us harder to be hit by Attacks (not spells), we take less critical damage, and we'll take less overall damage too. Focusing specifically on the general damage mitigation of the skill, we'll be improving Enfeeble's base damage mitigation from 30% to 52.5%. Frostbite is pure offense. It lowers the enemies' cold resists make them take more cold damage. Frostbite normally reduces enemy resists by 44%. We'll be able to increase that to 77%.

Our curses will have full effect on all enemies that aren't bosses. Curses are 33% less effective against Area/Map bosses and 66% less effective against the Shaper and his Guardians. That's OK though. The rest of the build is good enough. :)

Hexproof
Some enemies can be hexproof...which means curse proof. One of our Ascendancy nodes makes it so no enemies can be hexproof. But until then, it's something to keep in mind while rolling maps for the Atlas.

***Just a heads up, the Tool Tip in game doesn't calculate curses in a matter that helps us: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2243603

Curse Math for Those that Care
Exposure & Lowered Resistances
One of the suggested curses I have in this build is Frostbite. It lowers the Cold Resistance of enemies so that they take more cold damage. If you chose to have the curse Elemental Weakness as part of your three curses, the lowered Cold Resists this skill provides would stack with Frostbite. In other words multiple versions of lowering resists stack additively with one another.

Frost Bomb is a skill that we use that inflicts Cold Exposure. Cold Exposure is essentially lowering the enemy cold resists by 25%. This is additive to Frostbite.

The difference to consider is that an enemy can only have one Exposure applied to them at a time. So if you inflicted an enemy with multiple sources of Cold Exposure, they'd still only have -25% to cold.

So Exposure does stack with skills that lower resists, but only one Exposure will stack at a time.

Make sense? Let me know if you need help.
Cast when Damage Taken (CwDT)
Cast when Damage Taken (CwDT) is a gem that automatically casts linked spells (not attacks) when your character takes a certain amount of damage. The lower the level of CwDT, the less damage it needs to cast its linked spells. The higher the level of CwDT, the more damage it needs to cast linked gems.

CwDT cannot support ACTIVE skills with a higher player level requirement than that of the CwDT gem itself. For spells to be cast by CwDT, the spell has wot be within the requirement level listed on the gem. As you level gems, you'll see that they all have certain player levels you have to be at in order to use them. CwDT does too. You'll notice in the CwDT gem description that it'll only cast spells under a certain requirement level. That requirement level goes up as CwDT levels. Linked SUPPORT gems have no boundaries and can be fully leveled.

The benefit to a high level CwDT at a high level is that we can have high level gems attached to it (Stone Golem). The benefit to a low level CwDT is that you can have spells being cast frequently. Good for utility spells (applying curses and such).

You can't manually cast spells that are linked to CwDT and within CwDT's gem requirement level.
Vaal Skills
Vaal skills are super versions of normal skills that have a duration and cooldown given to them. Vaal Discipline is the only one we're interested in. Early on in the game Vaal skills typically only drop in Corrupted areas (though as the game progresses you'll find them a little more often.) Corrupted areas can be randomly found attached to maps as a side area. Kill the boss inside these areas, loot their "stash", and hope you get the vaal skill you want.

Vaal Discipline gives you both the Discipline skill and Vaal Discipline in one gem. Both skills require their own key bind/button. You can use Discipline like usual but the Vaal skill requires you to kill enemies, or damage Rare or Unique enemies. Once the skill is ready to use, you can use the skill anytime. But remember, any loading screen in the game automatically resets the vaal skill and it needs to be refilled. So don't save it too long (boss arena doors don't have load screens (except for the The Lord's Labyrinth). Once the skill has been used it'll have a short duration where the skill can't refill.

Vaal Discipline gives you Energy Shield like drinking a life flask gives life:). It has a cast time, unlike any other skill we use.
Pros and Cons
Pro - As cheap as you want it to be! No specific mods or items required!

Pro - Perfect for new players. Easy to level, easy to survive, easy to kill, easy endgame, easy solo self found.

Pro - It clears maps quickly.

Pro - Chills and slows every enemy and boss to their max (even if they're hexproof!). Great for survivability.

Pro - Has great DPS:
- 5 link: 93'000 DoT DPS against the Shaper.
- 6 link: 130'000 DoT DPS against the Shaper.
*Remember, that's without any gear equipped, without the Frenzy Charges we'll get from Cold Snap, and with the curse reductions the Shaper has.

Pro - Only one 5/6 Link. Easy links to achieve.

Pro - We're always moving = always avoiding danger.

Con - We’re short 6 Strength and 37 Dexterity on the tree. Easy to overcome, but good to know.
Tips for New Players
Passive Tree
Passive Tree Explained
The skill tree is easy to understand:
You'll start as a Witch. We start as a witch because we want the Occultist Ascendancy (Subclass) and starting as a Witch is the only way to get there. We are going to be the Occultist for it's amazing Energy Shield perks and Curse Effectiveness. More on that in the Ascendancy section.

**Just follow the tree and take the nodes as they come. You'll find it quite naturally balanced. I suggest saving the East side of the tree for last (that's Written in Blood cluster to the Void Barrier cluster). The tree takes you to level 91 which will be easily achieved with this build.

Tree Focuses:
- Curses - This build focuses on curse efficiency which means we need the nodes that improve curse efficiency.
- Energy Shield - Our ONLY life source will be ES. So we not only focus on ES quantity but the speed in which it restores.
- Area of Effect - I opted to increase Vortex's Area of Effect instead of damage when given the convenient opportunity on the tree. I didn't go far out of my way for it though.
- Damage - Vortex has a Hit and Damage over Time component to it's damage. I only focused on the DoT damage of the skill while making this build. So Cold damage, Spell damage, Damage over Time, and Area Damage all impact the skills I've chosen.
- Jewels - Jewel slots are amazing. Jewels are items you can find that you can actually allocate on your tree. They can give almost anything from health, damage, resists...anything. We only have one jewel slot selected :(. I'd love to put more in, many other guides would. But I don't have the ability to have remember what each of my builds need if a decent jewel drops while I'm playing. And I don't have the ability to focus on 7 jewels per build are remember what I'm doing. So one is good enough for me ;).

Small Note: Don't forget about attributes. We’re short 6 Strength and 37 Dexterity on the tree. Easy to overcome, but good to know. You'll pass some nodes on the tree that give +30 to Strength or Dexterity. If you don't have items to cover what you're short in, feel free to select some of these as you pass them. You'll get respec points that will let you remove them later once you have better gear.

Now, feel free to modify this is anyway. This is just my preference for easy Solo Self Found.

Take your time to look at each skill as they come along. Some of the nodes are pretty dramatic.

Some quests earn you respec points in case you regret any decisions you made on the tree. You can also use Orbs of Regret for the same thing.
Ascendancy
As you go through the game you'll come across Trials of Ascendancy. Starting in Act 3 you'll see their value. Once you have completed all 6 of the first set of trails, you'll get to attempt your first Labyrinth (lab). Good luck! Upon completion Choose Occultist. You get two ascendancy points per lab. There are four labs for a total of 8 points. (Redoing the same lab difficulty will not reward you with more ascendancy points if you've already completed it.)

You can spend your points in any order you like. My preference is as follows (defense first):
- 1st Two Points - Wicked Ward. Normally, and I'm sure you've noticed by now, everytime you take any type of damage, your ES stops recovering. Now, once it's started naturally recharging, it won't stop until you're at max ES again :). (Recharging is not regenerating. Recharging is what ES does naturally when you haven't taken damage for a set time. Regenerating is like life regen, which can be applied to ES with certain gear/nodes.)
- 2nd Two Points - Vile Bastion. You get ES regenerated per enemy killed Recently. Recently means within the last 4 seconds. The biggest part of this node is that you can't be stunned. Because we will take Chaos Inoculation, after we select Vile Bastion, we can never be stunned. That's SO valuable.
- 3rd Two Points - Profane Bloom. Has a chance to explode enemies upon kill. The explosion this causes can instantly clear a screen. My Favourite part is that enemies cannot be Hexproof. Hexproof means curse proof. So even if a map mod says that enemies are Hexproof, they aren't for you :).
- 4th Two Points - Malediction. This one is busy. Every enemy we curse deals 10% less damage and takes 10% more damage, we gain short term bonus damage per kill, and we gain access to our 3rd curse. You'll have noticed that the path to this node also greatly increases the effectiveness of our curses.

I know that saving the ability to put 3 curses on an enemy until the final lab doesn't make sense to some, but going CI is pretty high risk. The safer you can make CI, the better (going with Wicked Ward and Vile Bastion first). I still ran all three curses at once and just let the game pick which two curses would be applied to enemies until I did my final lab. It wasn't a big deal at all.
Pantheon
Choose any you like as they come across. There are no make or break options here.

The Minor God Soul of Abberath would probably be the only strong suggestion I make. To be CI and be unaffected by burning ground (which would prevent our ES from recharging) is pretty big. And personally I play with the Major God Soul of Lunaris. I just like the extra survivability the extra Movement Speed and Physical Damage reduction it gives.
Passive tree link

https://pastebin.com/Ks2rDxv9 - Pastebin for Path of Building. (Copy the link, open Path of Building, click on “New”, then click “Import/Export Build”, click “Import from Pastebin…”, paste the link.)

Gem Links
PoE restricts which gems are available to each class until Act 3. Until then you can get some gems for free from quest rewards, purchase some from specific NPCs in each town, or find them as loot.

There are two NPC's that sell all purchasable gems: the first one is Siosa in the Library in Act 3 (you have to do his quest first (the Library is connected to The Imperial Gardens)), the second NPC is Lilly Roth is Act 6.

*If I have a level next to a gem, stop leveling that gem at that level. For example, Cast when Damage Taken (Level 1). Don’t level Cast when Damage Taken beyond gem level 1.

5/6 Link - Main Skill (Socket in your chest)
-Vortex - Our main skill. It casts instantly which means your character won't get stuck doing an animation to cast it. Vortex has an initial Hit and then leaves a Damage over Time on the ground for three seconds. I only cared about the Damage over Time damage while making this build. I'm sure you know, but cold damage chills enemies (slows all enemy actions). (The cooldown on the skill sucks. But nothing you can do about it. I sure wish you could just hold the button down so it'd just cast once it's cooldown has passed...)
-Efficacy Support - Improves our Damage over Time and slightly increases Vortex's duration.
-Controlled Destruction Support - Makes Vortex deal much more damage at the cost of decreasing it's crit chance. That's ok though. We'll be critically striking with other skills. For Vortex, more damage the better.
-Swift Affliction Support - Increased Damage over Time and decreases the duration of Vortex. It kinda cancels the extra duration of Efficacy.
-Arcane Surge Support - It sounds complicated but it's not. After you send a certain amount of mana you get increased damage and mana regen. This skill will basically always be on for us in combat. It's not something to focus on. You can ignore it and it will "always" be active. If it's not active, it's cause you're killing enemies too quick and aren't needing to use your skill often.
-(If you get a six link: Hyporthermia Support - Improves Cold Damage, chill effect, gives a chance to freeze...it's self explanatory.

4 Link - Curse #1 (Socket in any 4 link)
-Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted.
-Ice Nova (Level 8) - I have Ice Nova attached to Temporal Chains because it's a cold spell and I only want enemies that are close by to be slowed. I want enemies to get close to me quickly, then be slowed once in Vortex.
-Curse on Hit Support - Needed to attach Temporal Chains to Ice Nova's Hit.
-Use any curse you want. I use: Temporal Chains - Our curse that slows the enemy. With the cure improvements on the tree and with Curse on Hit and Temporal Chains at 20% quality, this skill will slow enemies by 68%. It's also my favourite curse :).

4 Link - Curse #2 (Socket in any 4 link)
-Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted.
-Arctic Breath (Level 8) - I have Arctic Breath attached to Enfeeble because I like that it's a cold spell that chills everywhere, is a projectile that can hit far away, does DoT, and is also an AoE.
-Curse on Hit Support - Needed to attach Enfeeble to Arctic Breath's Hit.
-Use any curse you want. I use: Enfeeble - Our curse that makes us harder to be hit by Attacks (not spells), take less critical damage, and take less overall damage too. Focusing specifically on the general damage mitigation of the skill, we'll be improving Enfeeble's base damage mitigation from 30% to 52.5%. This is our only source of Damage Mitigation...just FYI.

4 Link - Curse #3 (Socket in any 4 link)
-Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted.
-Cold Snap (Level 7) - I have Cold Snap attached to our damage curse (Frostbite) because it creates Frenzy Charges which can really increase our damage. (Our damage curse linked to damage charges.) I also like that it can hit anywhere, does DoT, and has an AoE.
-Curse on Hit Support - Needed to attach Frostbite to Cold Snap's Hit.
-Use any curse you want. I use: Frostbite - Our curse that makes enemies take more cold damage. It lowers enemies' cold resistance by 44%. We'll be getting this -44% to -77%.

3 Link - Extra Cold Damage (Socket in any 3 link)
-Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted.
-Frost Bomb (Level 10) - The pulses this skill does before it hits are great for this build. The pulses apply Cold Exposure (an extra -25% cold resists) and lowers the regen/recharge rate of an enemy's "life pool" (which is a big deal in DoT builds). The Hit of the skill uses Bonechill Support.
-Bonechill Support - A complicated read, even after going through the wiki. To make it simple, this skill gives a big boost to damage against chilled enemies. It doesn't have to be linked to the skill that's doing damage to apply it's damage bonus. So it's like a debuff, but GGG doesn't call it a debuff. So Enemies Hit by Frost Bomb will have Bonechill "applied" to them...and Vortex gets the benefits.

3 Link - Auras (Socket in any 3 socket) - This set doesn't need to be linked.
-Discipline - An aura that gives us more base Energy Shield and increases the speed that our ES recharges.
-Malevolence - An aura that gives us more Damage over Time. It also increases the duration of duration skills a bit but we only care about the DoT increase.
-Flame Dash - A movement skill to better survive panicked button mashing escapes ;).

***Note: The Curse on Hit links will only start applying the linked curses to enemies once Curse on Hit and the curse gem itself are above CwDT's requirement level. So you'll only start seeing your curses applied once those gems require a character level of 39 or more.

Also remember that if you're following the Passive Tree as I suggested, you'll only be applying two curses at a time until all your Ascendancies have been completed.
Gear
Short Version - ANYTHING YOU WANT! Seriously!
More Helpful Version
- Weapon - Anything you like.
- Shield or Second Weapon - Anything you like.
- Head - Anything you like.
- Chest - Anything you like.
- Hands - Anything you like.
- Feet - Anything you like.
- Amulet - Anything you like.
- Ring - Anything you like.
- Ring - Anything you like.
- Belt - Anything you like.
- Jewel - Anything you like.
- Flasks - Anything you like. I simply use 4 mana flasks (2 get rid of bleed and 2 get rid of burning) and a Quicksilver Flask that removes Chill/Freeze. I use Mana flasks because they get a lot more uses than other types of flasks before they are empty. Divine 6 drinks, Eternal 5.

Gear with an Energy Shield base would be the obvious choice as ES is our life source. Something to note regarding ES on gear is that any increases to ES on gear only affect the gear the mod is on. So +36% to ES isn't increasing your entire character with 36% extra ES. It's giving the base ES of the gear an extra 36%.

Your goal on every single piece of armour is to get:
- As much Energy Shield as possible.
- Increases to Resists (Remember once you choose Chaos Inoculation on the tree, you'll be immune to Chaos Damage.)
- Increases to Movement Speed (Typically boots only)
-(Mana regen always helps but isn't anything to go out looking for. Vortex's cooldown helps a lot with mana needs.)

Your goal on your weapon(s) is to get:
- Increases to Cold Damage
- Increases to Damage over Time
- Increases to Spell Damage

Remember that Vortex casts instantly so cast time is pointless for us.

Here is a link of all the crafting options with the bench and where they unlock. (Ctrl+F some keywords to help you search the massive lists.)
If you’re new to PoE, check out the Tips for New Players section above. It gives lots of help on gear, currency, leveling, and endgame mapping.

The beginning of your first playthrough, or with SSF, can be hard gear wise. Hang in there, the good gear with the links you want will come. Don't waste your currency (orbs and fusings) on your items until you reach endgame. It might seem like you have a lot, but soon you'll see that it takes a lot of currency to get what you want on an item.*

I will make a filter shortly and post once it's in the guide.
Endgame Mods to Avoid
At the end of the game, the levels (maps) you try and clear will have random modifiers (mods) allocated to them. There are A LOT of mods that can go on a map.

There is only one mod that we can't run: Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield

Some mods will be inconvenient, but they won't be that bad to run. Once you get used to mapping, remembering the rolled map mods can be a HUGE difference maker on your survivability.

*Remember that Hexproof maps don't apply to us after the Profane Bloom Ascendancy node is chosen :).

You'll learn your personal preferences over time as well.
Quests and Gem Locations - Quick Reference
- I suggest doing every quest in the game. It doesn't take long. If you're too eager to get to mapping in the endgame, here is a link to all the quests that give Skill Points as a reward.

Bandits - With the Bandits in Act 2, I kill them all for the extra 2 skill points. You, of course, do what you like.

**Remember to prioritize. You may not be lucky enough to get the gear that'll let you play with all your gems as soon as they are available. So do what works best for you until the gear comes (don't be quick to sell your old gear in case something doesn't work out).

List of Gems in Order of Story Acquisition:
Drop Only - Level 24 - Vaal Discipline (Replaces the normal Discipline Gem)
Act 1 - Enemy at the Gate - Purchase - Level 1 - Arcane Surge
Act 1 - Breaking Some Eggs - Reward - Level 4 - Frost Bomb
Act 1 - The Caged Brute - Reward - Level 10 - Flame Dash
Act 1 - Siren's Cadence - Reward - Level 12 - Ice Nova
Act 1 - Siren's Cadence - Purchase - Level 12 - Arctic Breath
Act 2 - Deal with the Bandits - Reward - Level 15 - Kill Everyone - 2 Skill Points
Act 2 - Intruders in Black - Reward - Level 16 - Cold Snap
Act 2 - Sharp and Cruel - Reward - Level 18 - Controlled Destruction Support
Act 3 - Lost in Love - Reward - Level 24 - Discipline
Act 3 - Lost in Love - Purchase - Level 24 - Frostbite
Act 3 - Lost in Love - Purchase - Level 24 - Malevolence
Act 3 - Sever the Right Hand - Purchase - Level 28 - Vortex
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Reward - Level 31 - Efficacy Support
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 24 - Enfeeble
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 24 - Temporal Chains
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 31 - Hypothermia
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 31 - Swift Affliction Support
Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Reward - Level 38 - Bonechill Support
Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Purchase - Level 38 - Cast when Damage Taken Support (x4)
Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Purchase - Level 38 - Curse on Hit (x3)
List of Gems in Order by Level:
Level 1 - Arcane Surge
Level 4 - Frost Bomb
Level 10 - Flame Dash
Level 12 - Arctic Breath
Level 12 - Ice Nova
Level 15 - Bandits - Kill Everyone - 2 Skill Points
Level 16 - Cold Snap
Level 18 - Controlled Destruction Support
Level 24 - Discipline (Vaal)
Level 24 - Enfeeble
Level 24 - Frostbite
Level 24 - Malevolence
Level 24 - Temporal Chains
Level 28 - Vortex
Level 31 - Efficacy Support
Level 31 - Hypothermia
Level 31 - Swift Affliction Support
Level 38 - Bonechill Support
Level 38 - Cast when Damage Taken Support (x4)
Level 38 - Curse on Hit (x3)

- There are two NPCs that sell all purchasable gems: the first one is Siosa in the Library in Act 3 (you have to do his quest first (the Library is connected to The Imperial Gardens)), the second NPC is Lilly Roth in Act 6 (Do her quest in Act 6).
Awesome. So if you have any questions let me know and I'll respond the best I can. If you have questions regarding your setup (gear, gems, or passive tree) please ensure the Characters Tab in your PathofExile.com privacy settings is set to public (not hidden). This will allow myself (and those who would like to help) to view your character details more thoroughly.

OH! Don't forget, to support GGG by buying a skin for all your favourite skills you use. They last forever, you look rad, and it keeps POE going too :).

My Other Guides :-)
All of my Guides follow the same guidelines:
- Not needing any specific items or mods
- Easy/relaxing to play (one or two buttons)
- Atlas clearing
- Move, cast once...move, cast once...move, cast once ;)

I can’t tell you which I like the most. I am always in the mood for each of them. If you try them, let me know what you think! (I also hope you like them.)

Stress Free PoE| SLOW MO ZOMBIES |ANY Items Work|Easy/Relaxing Play|Easily Clears the Atlas [3.6]

Stress Free PoE| HOLY RIGHTEOUS FIRE |ANY Items Work|Easy/Relaxing Play|Easily Clears the Atlas[3.6]
Build History
This is the first league of this build.
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Last edited by Wrecker_of_Days on Jun 7, 2019, 4:06:46 AM
Last bumped on Jun 7, 2019, 4:09:54 AM
Nice guide, ty.
"
coccoxoxo wrote:
Nice guide, ty.
Thanks. I hope you like it. Let me know if you have any questions as you go through it.
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
So.Very.Excited!
"
swowl1231 wrote:
So.Very.Excited!
Thanks for the PM :-).
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Ok just picked up Vile Bastion. When is a good time to transition over to CI? I'm sitting at 2300 ES.

The aesthetics of this build are so cool. Flame Dash into a crowd, hit the icy-swirly-death button and watch everything kill itself in slow-motion while you're sitting there cleaning out your inventory. ;D
"
swowl1231 wrote:
Ok just picked up Vile Bastion. When is a good time to transition over to CI? I'm sitting at 2300 ES.

The aesthetics of this build are so cool. Flame Dash into a crowd, hit the icy-swirly-death button and watch everything kill itself in slow-motion while you're sitting there cleaning out your inventory. ;D
Great job with the Ascendancies. With 2300 ES and the two major ascendancy nodes you have, you can pick up chaos inoculation anytime. Keep an orb of regret around just in case, but I picked up CI after Wicked Ward and had a great time. Vile Bastion makes CI much less of a risk than it seems.

I'm glad you're liking the build :-). Damage over time builds make it hard not to multitask hey ;-)?
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Got a question, what about poison dmg doesnt that 1shot us ? If we take CI
Love the build so far no real problems until i find myself in a toxic pool 😵
Last edited by Woetoe on Apr 17, 2019, 5:31:09 PM
"
Woetoe wrote:
Got a question, what about poison dmg doesnt that 1shot us ? If we take CI
Love the build so far no real problems until i find myself in a toxic pool 😵
Hey Woetoe,

So, I hope I get my terms correct here. Poison isn't an ailment in this game. Poison is a stackable action that inflicts Chaos damage.

So, with Fire (I know, not the damage were dealing), a hit that Ignites an enemy deals Fire damage over time (burning). Ignite is the action, burning is the damage. A hit that poisons an enemy deals chaos damage over time. So poison is the action, chaos damage over time is the damage.

In other words, poison and chaos skills deal the same type of damage: Chaos damage.

So as soon as you take CI you'll be immune to ALL methods of Chaos damage...including the situations you're currently having a tough time with :-).

I hope that helps. Let me know if I just made it more confusing. I'm glad you're liking the build! I'm happy to hear it. Good question!
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Last edited by Wrecker_of_Days on Apr 17, 2019, 6:43:26 PM
"
"
swowl1231 wrote:
Ok just picked up Vile Bastion. When is a good time to transition over to CI? I'm sitting at 2300 ES.

The aesthetics of this build are so cool. Flame Dash into a crowd, hit the icy-swirly-death button and watch everything kill itself in slow-motion while you're sitting there cleaning out your inventory. ;D
Great job with the Ascendancies. With 2300 ES and the two major ascendancy nodes you have, you can pick up chaos inoculation anytime. Keep an orb of regret around just in case, but I picked up CI after Wicked Ward and had a great time. Vile Bastion makes CI much less of a risk than it seems.

I'm glad you're liking the build :-). Damage over time builds make it hard not to multitask hey ;-)?


Yea, lol. The closest I come to death is when I wander out of my swirly death circle to grab some loot and forget that everything isn't quite dead yet.

I ended up spec'ing into CI as I hit Act 8. I'm on 10 now and no issues. Not much of anything does enough damage to even knock my shield down a quarter.

The only issue I've had so far is fighting for enough dex to level my support gems. I ended up grabbing the 30pt node on the way up to CI and that seemed to fix it. I'll see where my gear ends up when I hit maps and maybe re-spec the point.

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