[Guide] Low-life leveling without Lorica/Shavs and transitions

Low Life leveling without Solaris Lorica / Shavs

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Why?
100% increased rarity and high damage while leveling.
If you've played the game for a while then you are probably bored of the normal leveling progress.
There has been a few threads talking about low life end game builds without Solaris Lorica or Shavs.
I wanted to see if it was possible to level while on low life starting from level 24 when we can use the Blood Magic gem to be on permanent low life.

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The concept:

Reserving 66% of life with blood magic gem and auras to be on low life. Getting 75% chaos res so chaos damage becomes a non issue.

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This leveling process won't work for the first character in a league because of gems and uniques. It's also closely tied to specific builds and not a generic leveling build.


The total cost for non quest gems and required uniques is about 3-8 fusings/alchs depending on how much you want to haggle.


This cost will pay for itself from the 100% rarity boots due to all the alteration orbs you'll find while leveling.


I had 31 fusings from alts by the time I reached lvl 66.

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There are many uniques tied to being on low life and many of the are available from early levels.


These are the most important ones:


Crown of Thorns

Up to 100 es from level 1. Also gives Pain Attunement (30% more spell damage on low life)
Price: 1fusing/alch or less


Zahndethus' Cassock

Very high chaos res and es for it's level
Price: 1fusing/alch or less


Redbeak

100% increased damage on low life, best spellcaster weapon early on.
Espescially when combined with Herald of Thunder, vaal skills etc.
The damage output makes up for only grabbing defensive nodes early on.
About 1k DPS on Lightning Tendrils at lvl 30 is pretty good
Price: 1fusing/alch or less



Wondertrap

Pretty terrible boots apart from the 100% rarity
Price: 1fusing/alch or less

Lori's Lantern

Ok chaos res and good ele res on low life
Optional
Price: 3fusings/alch
EDIT: The price has gone up significantly. Don't buy unless you plan to use it endgame




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Recommended items to buy:



Gems:

2x Blood Magic
2x Reduced mana
Culling Strike
Purity of Elements
Life Leech (optional)

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Progression:

I do not recommend going low life on lvl 24. The chaos damage is not the problem. Most chaos mobs deal little to no damage. I was never at risk from them (including spinesnap and sewers). But the energy shield is too low at the end of Act3. 800 es at Dominus. It's not a comfortable leveling experience and Dominus required 6 tps (but no deaths). The chaos damage from the mini bosses at dominus was pretty sketchy though. Because at this point I had only 44% chaos res and had not figured out the best way to reserve auras. But if you're a good player it's def possible to do without any deaths. In HC you can also just remove the blood magic aura for specific fights like dominus. I wanted to do everything at low life though.

Starting low life on lvl 37 is safe and easy.

Recommended base build:

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMAf8Yc3N-KSbHXz_k374iTJxGWlS4HHklR8NUOSGyMnao2PeOEYqxfatvntMXpAhslS67ZW20Zpys1uRFQHU9qQ8BUCPTB86KjlSAtHyepflkNfOq6tAxcig==

Lvl 24(Act2/3 Normal):
ES: ~600 Unreserved life: ~150
Flasks: 3x Quicksilver, 1x life, 1x mana
- Herald of Thunder/Ice + Blood Magic lvl1-2 + Culling Strike (recommended)
This one is easy to setup, stays at 66-67% reserved. You get Herald of Thunder from quest reward and the other has to be bought.
- Blood Magic + Clarity + (redcued mana)
This one is pretty annoying because each time you level you get more hp and swapping gear around it can
put you above low life and significantly below. Not recommended.
- Timeclasp is a pretty decent ring here if you have it

Lvl 31(Act 3 Normal):
ES: ~1000 Unreserved life: ~ 300
- Add discipline and purity of elements to your auras
- 2x Lori's Lanten is possible here if you got the currency. Amethyst Rings are enough though.
- Start Transmuting every Amethyst Ring you find
- If you are a standard player you can use Shavronne's Revelation

Lvl 37 (Act 1 Cruel):
ES: ~1500 Unreserved life: ~400
- Recommended to start going low life at this level. Zahndethus Cassock gives a bunch of chaos res and es.
Will be around 50% chaos res in cruel with amethyst rings. Discipline also grants a lot of es.
- New aura combo can be used if you want:
Herald + Blood Magic(5) + Reduced Mana(3) + Added Light/Cold = 66% reserved
- Auras on Mana: Discipline + Purity + Reduced Mana(3) = 87% reserved
Use 2x mana potions to manage mana.

Lvl 49(Act 3 cruel):
ES: ~2000 Unreserved life: ~500
- New aura combo can be used if you want:
Herald of Thunder/Ice + Lightning/Cold Pen + Blood Magic + Reduced Mana = 66% reserved

Lvl 53(Act 3 cruel/ Act 1 Merc)
ES: ~2500 Unreserved life: ~550
- Purity of Elements + Blood Magic(lvl 12) + Reduced Mana(lvl 12)
68% reserved. Can be swapped a bit earlier for more life reservation. Recommended since it frees up a lot of mana.

Anything past lvl 53 depends entire on the build you want to play. If you go for an aura build then you can start running 2-3 25% auras on life. Or two 60% auras with prism guardian.

This aura calculator is very good: https://poe.mikelat.com

I went for an MF Arc build. Currently lvl 68 with 6k Arc with LL in a 4link and 200iir. 4k ES and 800 unreserved life. Also running blood rage with 4 frenzy and 1% life regen.

The base build is suitable for: Daggers, Claws, Crit Sceptre, Aurabots, Spellcasters

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What about end game?
Let's look at a typical character for lvl 80:
4500 life
-60% chaos res

This character has an effective health pool of 2813 vs chaos damage.

Let's look at a low life character:
1000 unreserved life
75% chaos res

This character has an effective health pool of 4000 vs chaos damage.

So Chaos damage is not likely to be the cause of your death as long as you have 75% chaos res and you are paying attention.

On top of this a low life character can get ~1% life regen and run blood rage. You can use a lot of fun unqiues. You get an extra aura. Etc.

1% regen with ~3000 life and 75% chaos res is also enough to stand in desecrated ground and other degen effects.

The downside is having less effect from life flasks, not being able to run EB or CoD. Losing some gem slots. Among other things.

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Good end game items:

The Broken Crown


Highly recommended. Run auras in the helm and get massive chaos res for less than 1 chaos orb.

The Vertex

Much higher es than broken crown but much more expensive and less chaos res. Good for Arc builds. Around 2ex

Prism Guardian

Incredible shield. Can reserve 3 purities and also get 37% all res from the shield. Very good for MF chars that need a lot of resist. Around 20-30c


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Build transitions:

MF Arc
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMAS67pAt-KGyXZW20ZakPAVAj0pys1uRFQghDfsALjB6VJsiycdhEQWDI05OwfAgQHHU8tH1XGg9uLejbFw21ca4RI4vcBb18q6-RnvU-v9OmCHsHzlSA2iSY8FvMvnX_GoqMRlklR8NWVLgcee9eP-g5IbIydqjY944RirF9q2-e0xV3ypJF-MxOejDYV5_Brc7OXl0V8YeJVS0mx18_5N--Ikycc3A186rq0DFfJLKam6zeDkNb56ILHKPonqX5ZES8rCrb3Vyu9gv6z

Low Life Dagger Spectral Throw
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMAS67pAt-KGyXZW20ZakPAVAj0pys1uRFQHU8tH8HzlSB_xqKjEZZJUfDVlS4HHg5IXfJJsdfP-TfviJMnHNwNfOq6tAwnqX5ZES8rCrb3g9sEB0yzVcaLejbFHwLDbVxrhEji9wFvUDBwUonTcNXz6ioLY0Pb50cG8uFfaqc09vyOipfQ225W9dh2feMs4axmuT5sjLVI7UGmf7GzFr9h4iaVuXyMC-ywNj1tbJ2qpcuaE3BWkBvb1Hf9vjoQe9sa53T_3iT951RRR42_BbXo1g==

MF Fire Trap Prolif
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMAS67pAt-KGyXZW20ZakPAVAj0pys1uRFQHU8tH8HzlSB_xqKjEZZJUfDVlS4HHg5IXfJJsdfP-TfviJMnHNwnqX5ZES8rCrb3g9sEB0yzVcaLesNtXGuESOL3AW86WOxVKo1JGzbY8WysmC6Ul4U09yGw99fljp1jpLGMNuUZtDj79ZeXRXxh4lVLPV9SU5eVl_RfKuvkVyu9gv6zmZrrY7VIvjoQe9sa53RtbA186rq0DM3q6NZ714_6wuwFtbTF2-fYVH6wdm9wUTIYswNTMWyMYqw=

Crit Arc

"

lDantonl wrote:

@Krabbsatan
Update on my build. Took your advice and bought Voidbringers. They make for a huge improvement! I need to run a higher level clarity now but the mana cost is completely sustainable without any mana potions. Auras are now Discipline, Herald of Ice, Herald of Thunder, Purity of Ice, Purity of Lightning, Clarity.

I maximized the +1 level benefits of all three items now, such that i 3/3 gain +1 from prism guardian, 2/3 gain +1 from voidbringers.

my items are now

Spoiler

Here's the tree, took out some crit chance nodes for crit multi nodes.

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMABUIHHg18DkgPxBEPES8RUBGWFm8XLxslHNwdFB1PH8ckqiepKworeCycLR8vbzW5Nuk6WDt8QZZGcUcGSVFJsUuuTLNQMFXGVdZXK1xrXIpd8l8qX2pjQ2TnbRlwUnC7cNV0VXvXfq9_xoCkgwmESInTjmSPRo_6kyeVIJUum6Gio6crrJius7QMtve2-rjKuZO9gsHzwwnDbdD118_ZE9lb217b59-K37DjaukC6rrr9ewY74jw1fId8uH3pvfX-Tf60v6z

with 7k ES, 400 unreserved life, 13k dps w/ 5 power charges, 75/78/79/75 resistances, 22% chance to block attacks 5% chance to block spells (the shield is meant to be buffed by my rumis really), ~2k eva.

Obviously the main problem with my build is chaos damage. It's the only thing I've actually died from, notably desecrated patches in maps and rogue exiles that use chaos damage. rare mobs / trash mobs that deal chaos damage are fine however, so I'd say 85% of the time I'm playing this build i feel very safe. I have not faced any huge chaos bosses, i'm sure they would wreck this build pretty hard.

All that said, i've really been enjoying playing low life without shavs/lorica.

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MF Arc Progress:

Lvl: 83
DPS: 9000 Arc
ES: 5600
Life: 900/2700
Map level: 73

Gear:

reserved

wouldn't you get wrekt by chaos alchemists or the poision living blood?(bloodlines) even with 75% chaso res?

> wouldn't you get wrekt by chaos alchemists or the poision living blood?(bloodlines) even with 75% chaso res?

The only thing that has been scary is multiple stacks of viper strikes from exiles (just log out) and the chaos vacuum cleaner vaal boss. Those things would kill pure life characters too though

"

What about end game?
Let's look at a typical character for lvl 80:
4500 life
-60% chaos res

This character has an effective health pool of 2813 vs chaos damage.

Let's look at a low life character:
1000 unreserved life
75% chaos res

This character has an effective health pool of 4000 vs chaos damage.

So Chaos damage is not likely to be the cause of your death as long as you have 75% chaos res and you are paying attention.

That seems to answer your question - if it kills u on lowlife, it would have killed u for sure with normal lifepool and -60 chaosres.

The dagger st tree doesn't take pain attunement? just an error or is there something i am missing?

If you want to prove that this works you should start with a hc league.

"

Peregrine_x wrote:

The dagger st tree doesn't take pain attunement? just an error or is there something i am missing?

It's 30 MORE spell damage. It was taken earlier in crown of eyes builds but the more multiplier is not converted anymore to attack damage. ( crown of eyes got nerfed in this aspect in the patch 1.2.0 )

I really can't see how you can achieve 4000 life in endgame. With all the recommended uniques you have almost no gear left that could have a life mod. Less than 3000 seems to be more realistic (i could be wrong here though).
With that small life pool you are in a region where permastun becomes a real threat. To avoid that you probably have to wear an eye of chayula which further lowers your life pool meaning your effective life pool versus chaos damage may be smaller than you estimate. Or you have to wear kaom's roots but than you loose your mf boots (which are one of the main reasons to go low life).

There is also some opportunity cost compared to a shavs/lorica build as you have to spend additional passiv points for life in the tree to sustain an effective life pool on a low life build.
Not saying your build won't work, just that it has its own downsides.

"

Bada_Bing wrote:

I really can't see how you can achieve 4000 life in endgame. With all the recommended uniques you have almost no gear left that could have a life mod. Less than 3000 seems to be more realistic (i could be wrong here though).
With that small life pool you are in a region where permastun becomes a real threat. To avoid that you probably have to wear an eye of chayula which further lowers your life pool meaning your effective life pool versus chaos damage may be smaller than you estimate. Or you have to wear kaom's roots but than you loose your mf boots (which are one of the main reasons to go low life).

There is also some opportunity cost compared to a shavs/lorica build as you have to spend additional passiv points for life in the tree to sustain an effective life pool on a low life build.
Not saying your build won't work, just that it has its own downsides.

With 66% life reserved we only need 3k total life to get 1k unreserved. The recommended items are for leveling. At end game you can run only rares if you want though it will be quite hard to reach 75% chaos res without The Broken Crown.

I agree with you though, Shavs is superior in almost every way