Kalciphoz's Wings of Entropy Cycloner with Acrobatics
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Greetings, Exiles.
So I wanted to get back into challenge leagues, and wanted a cheap but effective build to do so. With the nerfs to Bringer of Rain, I really don't think it is worth it anymore. Instead, after doing some maths to verify that it was indeed tankier, I decided to go for Acrobatics and scale dodge. For offensive purposes, I decided that since I no longer needed Rainbowstride and Bringer of Rain, I could scale movement speed and attack damage, due to the instantaneous area damage upon using cyclone. In other words, you will want to aim close to you when doing cyclone, trying for as many quick successive casts as possible. This whole build can be done to reasonable effectiveness using less than half an exalted orb, and is definitely viable as a first character on a new league.
Points of Interest
This build is able to achieve up to 27% block, 20% spellblock, 46% dodge and 46% spelldodge, using no legacy items whatsoever. It has several variants, depending on how tanky you want it. It can achieve up to 190% increased life on the passive tree, while still maintaining a large amount of increased damage (423% with the tankiest version, 523% with the one I am using) I am currently sitting at 8k tooltip dps, but with the high movement speed I have, the tooltip dps is very deceiving and the character clears incredibly well for such a cheap build. I am also only level 76, and I expect the build to really show its true colours at the higher levels
The Gearing
This axe is what the whole build is based around. It allows us to use both dual wield and two-handed weapon nodes, which allows us to grab many more damage nodes than we normally could. It also gives us the potential for blocking, which, while reduced by taking Acrobatics, is still very significant, and definitely worth it.
Recommended Uniques
This is item allows us to gain endurance charges without having to manually cast Enduring Cry. It has amazing synergy with the build, but isn't strictly necessary. These boots provide so many things for us that they're pretty much a must-have. They grant us 30% movement speed, which is the highest you would be able to get on a rare. It also gives us spell dodge, which synergizes well with Phase Acrobatics.
Helmets
There is a unique helmet that has amazing synergy with the build, and still comes fairly cheaply: The chaos resistance helps us mitigate the downside of running Blood Rage, and the movement speed is a massive boost to our DPS and clearspeed. The lowered physical damage scales additively with our physical damage on the tree, so it is only a very small difference. The helmet costs only 20 chaos or so, but if you cannot afford it, there is a cheaper, viable alternative, that you can use all the way from level 1:
Jewellery
For amulets, there are mostly two options, Carnage Heart and Stone of Lazhwar. Both are really solid choices, and provide us the intelligence we need to use our gems (can't level them though.) This is the jewellery I am using. It could definitely be way better, but I wanted to see if this build could be done with a very restrictive budget, which it turns out, it can.
My Gear
As you can see, I am using a 4-link. When the league ends, I might upgrade my gear, but for now, it just isn't necessary. The character clears well enough even with this rather crappy gear I do have some upgrades sitting around in standard, though:
Passive Trees
This character can start as several different classes, and can be altered to have a higher life pool, at the cost of DPS.
Offence oriented trees
Defence oriented trees
Gem Setup
Main Attack: 4Link: Cyclone + Blood Magic + Melee Physical Damage + Added Fire 5Link: Cyclone + Blood Magic + Melee Physical Damage + Inc AoE + Conc Effect (+Added Fire) Aura Setup (order of importance): Normal Maps: Hatred + Reduced Mana + Herald of Ash + Ele Prolif + Inc Burn Damage Atziri Swap: Hatred + Purity of Fire + Herald of Ash + Ele Prolif + Reduced Mana (you do not need a 5link, remove the last gem in each setup if you only have a 4link) CWDT Setup: Cast When Damage Taken + Enduring Cry + Immortal Call + Inc Duration Gloves: Leap Slam + Blood Magic + Faster Attacks + Enduring Cry (might wanna get an eva/armour hybrid if going for this setup) Boots: Blood Rage + Inc Duration + Immortal Call + Vaal Grace/Vaal Haste
Results
At level 76, I have 3400 life and 8k tooltip DPS. Though the numbers may seem small, I assure you that the block and dodge makes me very tanky, and that by scaling with movespeed, my actual DPS will be much higher. For more information on cyclone dps, see http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1158669/page/1 I am using the offensive-oriented Marauder version, but I think I would recommend the Duelist versions instead. I will update the numbers as I progress. Last edited by Kalciphoz on Mar 14, 2015, 10:09:39 AM
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