[3.24] The Pestilent Viper 🐍 New video : The Viper (improved) & The Mamba (saved from nerfs !)

Yeah, that hurts.

But the poison mod for sextants was just a bonus. I didn't use it all the time, not event most of the time. The build is very playable without it. In my latest video, you can see that I can clear and boss nicely without it.

The loss of the Elder mod "60% chance for poison to deal 100% more dmg" hurts a lot more. We'll need to see the amount of DoT multiplier that we get in exchange.

Also : "Note to partially compensate as we believe self-Poison is an interesting playstyle, we have added a new Unique item that retains the Damage and Movement Speed per Poison stats. However these stats will now be capped at a specific value."

We'll need to see which type of item it is : a claw ? a helmet ? a ring ?...

There is a new type for claws that was introduced in Heist, the Void Fangs. Chaos dmg in implicit, but no life/mana gain on hit. Could be a solution to compensate.

3.14 : Don't nerf the viper, or it will bite back even harder !

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3079973

First : nerfs at every corner.

- No more poison sextant mod.
- No more "60% chance for poison to inflict 100% more dmg" Elder mod for weapons.
- Nerfs on several Chaos cluster jewels like Wicked Pall.

Note that these nerfs won't affect our DPS until endgame. For most of the Atlas, we won't feel it.

Potential buffs

* Apep's Slumber is the budget version of Apep's Supremacy.


It is available from level 62, and is getting buffed in 3.14 :
"- Now adds 50-55 to 72-80 Chaos Damage (previously 20-22 to 30-37).
- Now causes you to Regenerate 80 Energy Shield per Second per Poison on You (previously 50), up to 400 per second (previously 250)."

As you can see, the added chaos dmg of Slumber is now the same as Supremacy.

* New support gem : Cruelty. "Supports skills that hit enemies, causing them to deal more damage with hits. You also gain a Cruelty buff, which makes all supported skills deal up to 50% more damage over time, based on the amount of damage of the initial hit."
Will it be as strong or stronger than Added Chaos dmg or Deadly Ailments ?
We'll see.

But a Cruelty support is made for the Viper ;)

* New type of Catalyst : "Added a Noxious Catalyst, which adds quality that enhances Physical and Chaos Damage modifiers on a Ring, Amulet or Belt."

* Essence of Envy : "Now grants local Added Chaos Damage to Weapons." Can help to craft a decent item.

*

First post has been updated. Improved the presentation, removed outdated infos. Will update PoB for 3.14 soon.

I'll see you Ultimatum, Exiles, where I will test the new unique shield, Mahuxotl's Machination.

Meanwhile, here is my last video for 3.13, where I'm going against Sirus A7 :

#6 : Snakebite.



Going true melee against Sirus is quite a challenge, because you have so few moments to really hit him. That's why I'm using Ancestral Call all the time. On the paper, it diminishes my DPS, but actually, it allows to attack from some distance : more frequent attacks = more DPS overall.

Good luck and have fun, Exiles :)

Here is a short intro I'm planning to use for my first video in 3.14 :

Master the Nightmare

Hi Exiles,

here is a first report about Ultimatum.
First time doing a league with this build, quite exciting tbh !

Currently level 52 in act6.
PoB : https://pastebin.com/Q5HMRWQa

Mandatory requirements
This is very basic stuff you want for the build to feel smooth. Otherwise, it will be slow and clunky.

* Pestilent Strike or Viper Strike
+
Ancestral Call
Multistrike

* Blasphemy + Despair

* Plague Bearer

/!\ Almost none of the needed gems are available to the Witch from the vendors !
So you need to visit Siosa in act 3 or wait for act 6 and buy from Lily Roth.

* Profane Bloom as your first Ascendancy node, to proc chaosplosions with Plague Bearer.

* A fast claw (1.7+ aps)
Bought this one for 1 alch :


Rest of the stuff

My res are capped and I have low positive chaos resistance. #feelsgoodman



Intended progression

* Next Ascendancy nodes will be Malediction (+1 curse), then Void Beacon and Withering Presence.

* At level 57, Maw of Conquest helmet (unaffected by poison) costs 1c.

* At level 60, Wasp Nest claw costs 1c and will give me 75% more DPS compared to my current claw !

* Coralito's Signature unique flask : 25% more DPS, 2c. Requires level 27.


Possible unique items

* The new unique item that replaces the poison sextand mods are the Temptation Step Shagreen boots. 1c. https://poedb.tw/us/Temptation_Step

* Useful unique shield for the curses :


* At level 62, Apep's Slumber or Apep's Supremacy.

* I will test the new Mahuxotl's Machination shield : https://poedb.tw/us/Mahuxotls_Machination

I will do a separate post about this shield, because it is complicated, what with these 6 keystones at once !
TL;DR : Compared to Apep's Supremacy, it's less DPS but more defences.

*

Here is a first demo video between act 1 and 4.

This is the very beginning of the build. Before switching to Viper Strike, I've begun with dual-wand, Fireball + Multi proj, Frost Wall for the Ultimatum encounters. Smoke Mine + Flame Dash for movements.
Then when I reached Siosa in act 3, I bought the gems for the build. Then I was able to do some tough Ultimatum, with some defeats and some victories.

See for yourself in this episode :

#1 : Birth of a Viper

Hope you like it :)

Good luck and have fun !

Mahuxotl's Machination



This shield is one of those items that truly deserve to be called uniques.
It gives you six keystones related to the Vaal, which means practically that they change the interactions between life and energy shield (most Vaal-themed uniques do that).
Everlasting Sacrifice is a new keystone specific to this shield.

The interactions between these six keystones is really interesting defense-wise, but a bit complicated, as you can imagine.
I'll try to make it simple :

Passive modifiers

* +5% to max chaos res = 80%.
* 50% of elem dmg taken as chaos dmg, including DoT.
* No life regen
* ES recharge instead applies to life = a passive life flask
* Gain 15% life as extra ES
* All dmg bypass ES

Active modifiers

* You start a map with zero ES.
* Your only way to gain ES is through leech.
* But you lose 5% of max ES per sec --> leech is slowed.
* When you reach full life, you leech ES instead.
* When you reach full ES, you lose all your ES and you gain +5% to all max res (including chaos) for 4 sec.
* Rinse and repeat

Total : this shield can raise your elemental resistances to 80% and your chaos res to 85%. Since you take half of elem dmg as chaos, your elem res are actually : (85+80)/2 = 82.5, rounded down to 82%.

Possible improvements

* You want to have very few max ES, so as to reach full ES as quickly as possible. So you want to get Acrobatics keystone. Another option : Ming's Heart unique ring, gives you 50% chaos res, reduces your max ES, and your life too. Daresso's Salute reduces your max ES by 50%.

* To start leeching ES before reaching full life, you want to use Energy Leech support.
--> Since you are never on full ES, you are always leeching ES, hence you always get 39% more dmg while leeching.

* On gloves, you can get "60% inc dmg while leeching". Another 60% from the tree.

* You can use a Lethal Pride of Rakiata to get the Tempered by War keystone : another 50% of cold and lightning dmg are taken as fire. This makes you immune to cold and lightning ailments (chill, freeze, shock + brittle and sap), since you take zero lightning and cold dmg. (But you are still affected by chilling and shocking grounds).
If I'm not mistaken (and I hope I'm not !), this also means you do not need any cold and lightning resistances on your stuff ! Just fire and chaos.

Thank you for joining my TED talk about Mahuxotl's Machination, free pills for headaches available at the exit. You just need to pronounce the name of the shield correctly.

Good luck and have fun, Exiles :)

*

Sources :
* https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/mn1md3/new_unique_mahuxotls_machination/

* https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/mrujpi/mahuxotls_machination_all_keystones/

would this build go well with petrified blood for more defensive options or am i delusional :p

"

Giften wrote:

would this build go well with petrified blood for more defensive options or am i delusional :p

I don't know, I haven't tested it yet. I must say I'm quite skeptical about doing Ultimatum encounters with barely 2500 life. Might as well run half-naked... But who knows ? I'll test it for sure.

On the other hand, the new Cruelty support is good. Gives you more dmg on hit and more DoT. Plain and simple.

*

Here is a new video, made just before Kitava act 10. It's a survival Ultimatum in Delirium !

This time, we're going straight into the...

#2 : Heart of Darkness

Hope you like it :)

I have displayed the build on Poe Builds/Reddit and it's been well received.

This display is accompanied by a new video :
#3 : Mahuxotl's Machination

Going in a T13 with no regen. I'm explaining the mechanisms behind the shield and the synergy with Tempered by War.

Also, I have added CwDT + Void Sphere.

PoB level 90 : https://pastebin.com/hZcYXqLp

*

Next time, I'll talk about the Shadowstitch unique body and cluster jewels.


Good luck and have fun :)

Hi Exiles,

Here is a sequel to my previous video about Mahuxotl's Machination :

#4 : Everlasting Sacrifice

This time, I'm using Shadowstitch body to get 100% uptime on Everlasting Sacrifice.


With 4% ES recovery on kill, that's a full ES every 25 mobs. This is all the time in crowded maps, as I demonstrate in some blighted maps and an Unscribed Ultimatum.

Level 92.

*

Improvements to the stuff

The Shadowstitch gives you 6% inc life per corrupted item. So, let's vaal them !
I've had some luck :


But I've also bricked several Wasp Nests in the process :D They don't cost more than 1c generally, so not a big deal.

I'm quite proud of the helmet. First, look at these mods :
* 76 life
* 31% chaos res !
And the one I specifically wanted :
* 10% of phys hits taken as fire. Another excellent layer of defense.
Got a lucky corruption on top :


Cluster jewels

Recommanded notables.

Shield Large cluster :
* Gladiator's Fortitude : 5% max life.
* Martial Prowess : accuracy

Curse Medium cluster (4 or 5pts) :
* Wish for Death : culling strike against cursed enemies. Mandatory.

Chaos Medium cluster (4 or 5pts) : most chaos notables will do.

Several options for small clusters.

Armour :
* Dragon Hunter : Fire res and armour
* Enduring Composure : End Charge when hit

Chaos :
* Born of Chaos : +3% max chaos res

Fire :
* Molten One's Mark : +2% max fire res

*

Good luck and have fun, Exiles :)

Hey, Really enjoying the build guide feels really really tanky with the new 5 keystone shield thanks for the amazing build :D