[1.3] Aegis Aurora BoR 30k dps Super-Tank with 2-3 Counter Attacks +Molten/Static/Lightning Strike

Hello Exiles!

In this build I will present to you my take on an Aegis Aurora tank.

Introduction

I always wanted to make an Aegis Aurora build, ever since I saw videos of people face tanking almost anything. Something about immortality was just so appealing to me. Due to the 1.3 huge block nerfs and the 4% Aegis being legacy, I think many people have decided it is not worth their time to create this type of build.

After the 1.3 patch, I was still determined to try it out. My original idea was a build that could literally run through a map, and using the new counter attack gems, still kill most stuff. This might have been a bit of a fantasy but I still think that the counter attack gems are incredible and can act as a huge supplement to the dps of your main attack.

Clearly after the block nerfs of 1.3, it is necessary to use a BOR. I don't mind this too much, since I have one and it is an awesome item. The downsides of the BOR are low armour and it is much more difficult to cap your resists.

Below, I will show you the details of my build. It is far from completed, but I decided to publish it early so I can get people's thoughts on it. I am currently level 73 and levelling quickly. Those questioning its viability, I am currently running 71 maps with ease and tanking Kole in Collonade. I could try higher level maps but I don't have higher :(

Pros and Cons

Advantages :

Huge amounts of block (currently 75% and 54%)
A barrier of energy shield which almost never goes down, making you almost immortal
Very good dps for a non-crit 1 hand build
Not as expensive as e.g. Rainbownuke builds
80% cold resistance
Large amounts of armour
Can make use of all 3 new counter-attack skill gems
Can use a variety of skills
Scales incredibly well with legacy items (primarily legacy Aegis)
IMO, lots of fun!
Can run virtually all map mods

Disadvantages:

Vulnerable to chaos damage (which penetrates our es barrier)
Sucks to stand on degen ground (burning/chaos degend)
Melee
Not a bad for new leagues - costs a few exalts and is item-dependant
ES often doesn't help much against extremely big hits

What you need

Absolute must haves in this build are:
Aegis Aurora (2ex)
Rainbowstrides (1.5ex)
Stone of Lazwar (1c)

Highly Recommended:

Legacy x 1 Bringer of Rain (Not sure, 4 exalts???)
Doryani's Catalyst (2ex)

Gearing

Weapon
Doryani's Catalyst is ideal, especially if you are planning to use Molten/Static Strike (which I highly recommend)
Otherwise high dps rare 1h (mace, preferably)
Siege Taker for the very rich who want to maybe use Dominating blow

Shield

Sorry, there is no option, you simply need an Aegis Aurora for this build.

Chest

I highly recommend using a BOR, but otherwise, if you decide not to, get at least a 5l chest with high armour, life and resists. Strongly recommend a BOR...

Helmet

Once again, get a BOR!

Gloves

High life and resists. If you are using a BOR you will need as many resistances as you can get. If possible, amazing bonuses would be mana/life leech or attack speed.

Boots

Once again, I don't think there is much choice here. You really want Rainbowstrides to get spell block as high up there as possible.

Amulet
No choice, get Stone of Lazwar, extremely cheap and extremely good.

Rings

Getting the right rings can be very difficult. I advise aiming for stats in this order:

Cap your elemental resistances
Get life
Get life/mana leech on something (you need leech somewhere)
Get your necessary attributes
Chaos resistance is a nice cherry on the top
For the uber-rich, elemental damage with weapons is great

Belt

You want stats which are similar to your rings.
Not sure about this, but a Doryani's invitation could be nice... Perhaps the Lightning/Fire variant, depending on Molten/Static Strike? Needs testing

The Small Budget Spec

A friend pointed out to my that this build would not work with at least one of the legacy BOR. I tend to disagree, although it will not be quite as strong, but it will still work extremely well! Now, what about going with a 6l? Honestly, if you can afford a 6l, believe me you can afford to get a legacy BOR.

The problem with the current BOR is the severely nerfed block (only 6%, instead of 15%). This can be made up for, though, and we can still almost cap our block chance with very little extra investment. Also, the Scion starts to look like a very attractive possibility thanks to the block nodes right there. Since most people on a budget would struggle to cap there resistances, it is also convenient that the Scion goes through some of the nicest resistance nodes on the tree (which are not notables).

Here is my proposed tree for the scion:


Because of the need to get more block, etc. your damage won't be as high as the not-budget spec. 25k dps with high level gems should be achievable, without including the nice extra dps from the awesome counter attack gems.

If you are on even more of a budget, I suppose a rare 1 handed mace with ~300 dps might work, although you probably shouldn't bother with too much of the elemental stuff if you use it. I levelled with a mace until 75. I honestly think this build can be effective with just 5 exalteds, and believe me, you should accumulate at least another exalt just levelling to 75, so that you can buy your Catalyst.

Skills and Gem Links

This is where things get very interesting, in my opinion. This build is flexible in that a huge amount of skills can be used. A Soul Taker+Dom blow/cyclone, high dps 1 hander with cyclone/infernal blow, some reave ideas, but the one I recommend is a Doryani's Catalyst. It scales incredibly well with the new Static Strike gem or Molten strike (which are extremely similar).

Static vs Molten Strike
I haven't been testing this for very long, but so far here are my thoughs:

Static strike is really awesome, especially the AOE. No melee splash is needed (unlike Infernal blow). I think it is better at AOE than Molten strike. The little explosions are at a fixed point (your character) and not random. I think that passives and gems which increase AOE are required to fully benefit from this skill.

Molten strike is also an amazing skill. The projectiles are random though, which can be quite irritating. My tooltip dps is higher than static strike (20k vs 17.5k) and this makes me thing it might be better single target. The one reason that I use Molten strike over Static is purely personal, my PC. I play at around 10 fps with around 300 ms latency. Molten strike allows you to hit the ground (any ground, hit nothing) and projectiles pop-up, while the explosion from Static does not work this way.

Either way, I think it is down to taste, which one you choose. They are both incredible and are 100% interchangeable. If you get bored with one, just swap it out for the other!

Lightning Strike

The possibility of this gem was pointed out to me by LightningTrendyLS, another friend. I tested it and slotted it in instead of Molten strike and it worked well, straight out of the box. It gave me almost exactly the same dps as Molten strike, but has the advantage of being ranged. The downside is that is doesn't seem to be super effective at clear packs directly in front of you. Another con is that it has a higher mana cost, 38 in total compared to the 30 of Molten/Static strike. All in all, seems like another solid option to have as a swap, perhaps when you can't facetank a boss, although I can't really imagine which boss... even Kole in Collonade goes down quite quickly. Maybe just have it on swap when you are bored? :)


Sockets and Links

BOR - Static/Molten Strike + Multistrike + Weapon Elemental Damage + Added Fire

UPDATE: I have just discovered the power of the new Physical to Lightning gem. I would swap out added fire for it immediately, especially if you have your Doryani's Catalyst. It gives me a 1k dps boost, and that is only at level 1! I plan to rework the tree a bit accounting for this. Getting Catalyse for 2 nodes seems like a must, and we can definitely explore the possibility of getting further ele nodes.

Auras

I don't think there is too much flexibility when it comes to auras. We desperately need high armour (ideally 10k+) and more damage is always nice. Therefore, in my Aegis Aurora I have:
Reduced Mana + Hatred + Grace

Getting the colours 1r 2g on Aegis wasn't easy, but using the Vorici 1 guaranteed green socket can achieve the colours in around 45 chromes.

Counter attack gems

I think this is what makes this build truly unique. These gems give us a huge damage boost, which only can boost clear speed and fun. They are especially great at clearing out trash, e.g. you killed a pack of mobs, but there are 2 left over, which your counter attack gems kill.
Currently, this is what I think is ideal (but once again, much more testing is needed!) :

4l : Reckoning + Concentrated Effect + Melee Physical Damage + Added fire damage

Reckoning is by far the best of the counter attack gems (for this build), with an extremely low cooldown. The setup above maximises its damage, I think.

4l : Vengeance+ Concentrated Effect + Melee Physical Damage + Added fire damage

Vengeance is idea with the same setup, I think. I have one very important question though... Can vengeance trigger off a block? From my tests, it seems like it can, but it would be great if this is confirmed.

3l : Riposte + Melee Physical + Added fire/ Melee splash

I put Riposte in my available 3l because with melee splash, it does the least damage. Melee splash is quite necessary because it is single target of course.

I am sure that there are soooo many more options for the counter attack gems. The one I plan to use is linking vengeance with mana leech, because I have none on my gear and it is too costly to get it.

Passive Tree

I plan to give more options in the future, e.g. high dps variant, tankier variant, more auras, etc.
So far though, this is the idea of a perfect tree in my eyes:

Balanced Tree



Elemental Tree (Templar area) with More Health

THIS HASN'T BEEN TESTED YET! ANY VOLUNTEERS? :-)



Defensive Tree




Build Variants

Soul Taker

I originally planned to do this build with a Soul Taker, but I simply do not have the budget. For those who want to use it, I advise going with either Cyclone or Dominating blow because of how incredible those skills are. The only thing which stops them from being overpowered in my opinion is the huge mana cost, and using Soul Taker, you completely bypass that. Suggested gem links:

Cyclone (better clear speed) - Concentrated Effect -Increased Area of effect - Added Fire damage/Life leech/life gain on hit
Dominating blow (much safer) - Multistrike - Melee splash - Added fire/life leech

With the passive tree, some changes have to be made, e.g. getting axe nodes instead of mace nodes, and dropping elemental nodes.



About Soul Taker: It is most likely slightly better, but I think it sort of depends on what skill you want to use. If you want to go with the 'strikes', then Soul Taker isn't much of an upgrade, but if you plan to use Cyclone/Dominating blow, it is a must.

Bandits
N: Oak/Kraityn (for resists)
C: Oak
M: Passive Point (maybe Oak, but I don't think it's that worthwhile)

Map Mods

Below I will give my opinion about the different mods and whether our build can run them (and how well). I will separate them into 3 tiers of difficulty and the rest are perfectly fine/good.

Mildly Irritating

Burning/Freezing/Shocking - Mods which give monsters an extra % of their damage as another element. Not too dangerous, as long as resistances are capped, but exercise a little care.
Incombustible/Grounded - Give monster 75% fire/lightning res and can be irritating, but (if you can) swap your skill to Molten/Static strike.
Enfeeble/Temporal Chains - Once again, annoying but not difficult. They lower your clear speed but don't really make it more dangerous.

Caution is advised/Tricky Mods

Elemental Weakness/of Exposure - Just like for every other build, these mods are dangerous. Proceed with extreme caution.
of Hemomancy (blood magic) - This is certainly annoying since you can't run your auras. I still think it is manageable though, but since you will have less damage (Hatred) and armour (Grace), caution is strongly advised.
Mirrored - Since we I am doing only elemental damage, this can be a difficult mod. You should be able to run it in any case, but just be a little careful.

No way, AVOID
I can't think of any mods which we 100% can't run. Sure, maybe -max res but if our build can't run it, no builds can. There is one mod though that is much more irritating than others and that is 'of Stasis' (cannot regen life/mana). In fact, the 'of Smothering' is right up there too. I think it is such a pain because I can't really sustain my mana. I'm sure you could still run the map with Blood magic though, instead of weapon ele/multi strike.

My Character

Progress
Currently, my duelist is at level 73 and levelling quickly. Why am I posting a guide if it at such a low level? Because it works, it works brilliantly so far and it will be incredible once I can add my Doryani's.

UPDATE: I am level 74 now and running level 75 maps. I am doing fine and although the dps feels a tiny bit low, it will be given a huge boost once I get Doryani's. Will make an update then and re-evaluate.

UPDATE #2: I have finally reached level 75 and have equipped my Doryani's Catalyst! Frankly, I was hugely disappointed and was shocked when it only gave me a 2k dps boost. A couple hours later, I felt a lot better when I decided to experiment with the Physical to Lightning gem. It is amazing. At level 1, it gave me a 1k dps increase over my level 18 Added fire... That is at level 1! I have big plans for this new gem and have completely tweaked my tree. I now plan to invest in some elemental damage nodes near the Templar area, or at the very least get Catalyse. Should be interesting to see the damage boost it gives... We can only hope!

The fact that I am only level 75 and have taken very few damage nodes so far, but yet I still deal 22k damage with Molten strike, not counting my counter attack gems, indicates that hopefully the dps can be pushed into the 30k range without much hassles.

In other news, I am feeling extremely solid in maps. I decided to, just for fun, try killing Merciless Kole (not Collonade yet). Not only could I AFK-tank him, but also AFK-kill him (using counter attack gems). I think that Collonade Kole is next... I will update here once I can afk-kill him.

I also invested in a Legacy Aegis Aurora. Let me say that this is the biggest boost you can give this build. It literally almost doubles your survivability and lets you skip a lot of armour nodes (since you replenish enough es without even more armour) and focus more on damage/life. Please don't feel compelled to use this as it really is a luxury, but if you want to try and push this build as far as it can go, then go for it!

My gear


I hope you can see that none of my gear is godly. I'm not using a double legacy BOR, nor a legacy Aegis.

My current tree



My Stats
These are with auras up:

Defensive

3.5k life
600 es
75% attack block
53% spell block
76% fire res
80% cold res
75% lightning res
-36% chaos res
9k armour

Offensive

24k Molten strike dps (Should be at least 30k with Catalyst)
~10k dps at the VERY least from counter attack gems

My Future Plans and Conclusion

I hope to soupe up this guide a lot in the near future. Things I want to add are:
Levelling guide
More possible passive trees
Gear and skill gem options
Updated stats
Other people's ideas

I would like to give KorgothBG a BIG thanks for help help with the passive tree and answering my questions regarding the theorycrafting of this build. I advise you all to also have a look at his Facebreaker guide, it's amazing!

Finally, I hope you enjoy this guide but don't take any of it for granted. I encourage all criticism/suggestions/ideas/possibilities/suggestions/improvements. Please post all your thoughts regarding my build.

Thanks and enjoy!

" Legacy x 1 Bringer of Rain (Not sure, 4 exalts???)"

Edit.
Damn the price went down so fast

That, unfortunately was really not the comment on my build I was hoping for. If someone tried to find the least relevant, least important comment to possibly make, I reckon that one is right up there.

In any case, I'm terribly sorry that it offended you, and if you would be so kind to tell me the right amount, I would gladly edit it.

P.S. My price is damn spot-on. Maybe if you reread it, I was referring to the BOR which just turned legacy. Have a look here just to confirm you are wrong http://poe.trade/search/eakiyozumaheki .

I eagerly await your apology.

Is a nice build :)

No no sorry i never meant to harm you with my question im just shocked that BoR price droped that fast
Real sorry again the build looks great .

Edit.
I checked your link and there are no legacy BoR FOR 4 EX there

"

Lancelod1992 wrote:

No no sorry i never meant to harm you with my question im just shocked that BoR price droped that fast
Real sorry again the build looks great .

It's fine, the price hasn't dropped.

There are now 3 BOR versions:

Legacy legacy: around 50 more life, has all lvl 18 gems (12-16 exalts it seems)
Legacy from around 2 days: life was nerfed, has lvl 18, 12 and lvl 6 (I think) gems (around 3-5 ex)
Current BOR: block chance nerfed from 15% to 6% while chance to get a charge went from 10% to 20% (Not sure about the price, but I reckon a lot less than either legacy)

Regards.

P.S. I'm talking about the legacy, not the double legacy. If you have a look here, most go for 3-5 ex, hence my estimate of 4. http://poe.trade/search/hohihauobeyuro

Hmm so the price of Legacy Legacy should go up now .

"

Lancelod1992 wrote:

Hmm so the price of Legacy Legacy should go up now .

Yes, you would think so. Luckily I have a Legacy and a Legacy Legacy :-)

Now, how about some comments on the actual build? ^^ :)

Thanks for the responses so far.

I was also hoping that some people try this build and then post some videos of it in action and how it works. I would do it myself, but I already play with a terrible computer and using a screen recorder would probably result in an explosion.

Added my thoughts about lightning strike.