Witch - [2.3] (YES WE ARE BACK) SUPPORT BUILDS (LL BM AURABOT, CURSEBOT, TANK!) - Forum

Long Quote " CVRTIS wrote: " NuLLxD wrote: This looks like an amazing build but I have three pretty simple questions. 1. Is this build viable for Tempest league? (I see that the items you have linked are verified on Softcore.) 2. If the answer to the above is yes, when is a good time to pick up the CI node? 3. Is it really important to make it to the 50% reduced reserved mana node behind Blood Magic ASAP? (Or in other words, what would be the optimal path for leveling?) Cheers- GDub Hi GDub - thanks for checking out the build! In regard to your first question - I myself wouldn't play this on hardcore, simply because of the amount of things that could kill you. For example, with no way of regenerating ES during combat (apart from Vaal Discipline) simply becoming unfocused can take down an ES pool of 4500 very quickly. However, I would like to test this build out in hardcore, as it is where it would be the most helpful (providing defence to those who need it). I would only recommend this build on hardcore to those who are playing with a group of friends, due to the fact that you would need to stay as far away from combat as possible, whilst still cursing and giving auras to your party members, which can require some/a lot of communication. We are a Low-life Blood Magic Build - meaning we reserve all of our life and spend life for our skills. If we were to pick up the CI node, our life would be one, meaning that we couldn't run the build. This is a tricky one. I levelled to around 45 in Standard before 2.0 hit, not picking up any spell damage or life nodes, and using Flameblast/Arc/Fire Trap to level. It was tedious to say the least - a lack of DPS and survivability meant that clearing zones was slow, and killing bosses was almost impossible. Since you are a support character, I would assume that you would be levelling with a party - if so, follow the regular build, possibly picking up the spell damage starting nodes at Witch, and dual totems, and levelling with Flame Totem, or any other skill of your choice. These nodes can be respecced later. If not, I would suggest you level as Flame Totem or another spell, and try to path in the direction of Charisma (Shadow aura cluster) whilst picking up spell damage nodes, and the spell damage starting nodes, which can be respecced towards endgame when you are making the switch between Mana and Life. All in all, it is a difficult build to level, and I would only recommend this as a first character if you are with a party, who can carry you and keep you out of harm's way (to a degree). I hope I sufficiently answered your questions, but if I didn't, or you have any more, feel free to ask! - Curtis EDIT: I quickly put together two builds - one for levelling with flame totem (I basically just changed LiftingNerdBro's tree a bit, credit goes to him) and one to respec into. This respec happens at Level 70, a few levels after you get the last skill point from Act 4 Merciless. This respec shouldn't be too expensive - using all the respec points you get, it shouldn't take too many regrets to complete it. The Flame Totem Levelling Tree Aurabot Tree, after respec at Level 70 After respeccing, your next points should go into completing the Scion ES wheel, then picking up Melding and the jewel socket if you are Energy from Within. Thank you for the well written reply. You sufficiently answered my questions. I picked up a cheap Solaris for 2 alch on tempest and I'm leveling um pretty nicely with Firestorm/Lightning Tendrils and my survivability so far is great. As far as party play, yea I understand completely. I don't plan on being anywhere alone, and I don't plan on being anywhere near enemies either. I'm literally going to be a walking aura totem. I think it can totally work. I'll keep you updated and let you know how long it takes to rip. (PS. I totally spaced out and thought you took that CI node, it's like 7am and no sleep. Rip incoming. On another note, what do you think about taking CI and instead of a Solaris getting a really high ES chest. ES gear is pretty cheap on Tempest right now and I feel going from low life-4500ES to chaos immune and around 6k+ ES would be a bit better no? You could also roll with granite flasks to mitigate quite a bit of damage if you do run into a sticky situation. Looking at the passive tree you could also forego those life+es nodes and get some ES regen.)	Posted by NuLLxD#3706 on Jul 19, 2015, 7:06:41 AM Quote this Post
so after a long day my auramancer is now level 70 and can run all but artic armor. It's really fun and a welcome addition to almost any party. However, i cannot recomment going alphas howl because you NEED high es on your helmet. i run mf gear so all my es comes from jewelry and helmet thats it. if i'd drop my helm for alphas i'd be at around 2k es. i am very tempted to get the leap jewel and get the juicy es nodes behind ci. other than that i'm pretty tanky and can run maps with my dps bros pretty good. culling with ball lightning - don't do that, it's too slow and it needs too many slots if you try to curse on hit (try to bbbbg a solaris solaris lorica). what i did, grabbed a cheap 4link solaris, put vaal disciple/curse1/curse2/inc duration(or radius) in it and just curse manually you lazy fools ;D now drop the CWDT setup and get flame totem/ips/faster casting/iir. with the new rain of splinters jewel you get serious culling power because you now have lmp flame totems. is superawesome for this toon since it gives me so much es. i probably should have 3-linked it before corrupting but yea, im stupid. Anyways, awesome build. culling setup is personal preference in my eyes, but cursing manually gives you so much freedom with the solaris and slot setup in general. current tree at 70 - next steps are 6% effect node on top left. after that it's dual curse and if i still play after that it's es nodes behind ci. Spoiler https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMBAW8EBw18DjwRUBRxFy8ZihqPGyUdFB1PHaofAiL0JbwqEy0fL281uTbFRnFJsUuuTLNV1ljlWfNaK1xrXIpfsGTnZp5oZWwLbRlvnnC7cg9yqX5Zf8aApIMJhEiExYt6jHaPRpMnlSCboZu1oS-io6PypyusqrQMtzG-isHFwfPDOsNtykrK09fP2RPZW9tP34rfv-DD4Yji9-kC6hjquuwY74jz3fba9zL31_jr-Tf60vsJ_kk=?accountName=shukolade&characterName=Shurette edit: casting is supertight for me since i have 90 life unreserved and my curses cost around 60 mana, if anyone has tips how to increase the unreserved pool cheap and easy please let me know. edit2: i swapped det for haste since we run with a low armor group and haste is more beneficial in overall terms. Last edited by shukolade#2579 on Jul 19, 2015, 5:52:54 PM	Posted by shukolade#2579 on Jul 19, 2015, 5:30:10 PM Quote this Post
" NuLLxD wrote: Thank you for the well written reply. You sufficiently answered my questions. I picked up a cheap Solaris for 2 alch on tempest and I'm leveling um pretty nicely with Firestorm/Lightning Tendrils and my survivability so far is great. As far as party play, yea I understand completely. I don't plan on being anywhere alone, and I don't plan on being anywhere near enemies either. I'm literally going to be a walking aura totem. I think it can totally work. I'll keep you updated and let you know how long it takes to rip. (PS. I totally spaced out and thought you took that CI node, it's like 7am and no sleep. Rip incoming. On another note, what do you think about taking CI and instead of a Solaris getting a really high ES chest. ES gear is pretty cheap on Tempest right now and I feel going from low life-4500ES to chaos immune and around 6k+ ES would be a bit better no? You could also roll with granite flasks to mitigate quite a bit of damage if you do run into a sticky situation. Looking at the passive tree you could also forego those life+es nodes and get some ES regen.) Glad to be of help! It's good to hear that you're levelling well, and the fact that you have a party with you means that hopefully they can tank things, and carry you through to maps. Going CI wouldn't allow us to take Mortal Conviction, which means we would only be able to run approx. half of the auras we can with lowlife. If you were looking to be an aurabot that didn't go LL BM, then honestly a life based bot with three auras in the Prism Guardian and the rest on mana would be the best way to go. IGN: CVRTIS Low-Life? I prefer No-Life.	Posted by CVRTIS#1740 on Jul 19, 2015, 10:50:21 PM Quote this Post
" shukolade wrote: so after a long day my auramancer is now level 70 and can run all but artic armor. It's really fun and a welcome addition to almost any party. However, i cannot recomment going alphas howl because you NEED high es on your helmet. i run mf gear so all my es comes from jewelry and helmet thats it. if i'd drop my helm for alphas i'd be at around 2k es. i am very tempted to get the leap jewel and get the juicy es nodes behind ci. other than that i'm pretty tanky and can run maps with my dps bros pretty good. culling with ball lightning - don't do that, it's too slow and it needs too many slots if you try to curse on hit (try to bbbbg a solaris solaris lorica). what i did, grabbed a cheap 4link solaris, put vaal disciple/curse1/curse2/inc duration(or radius) in it and just curse manually you lazy fools ;D now drop the CWDT setup and get flame totem/ips/faster casting/iir. with the new rain of splinters jewel you get serious culling power because you now have lmp flame totems. is superawesome for this toon since it gives me so much es. i probably should have 3-linked it before corrupting but yea, im stupid. Anyways, awesome build. culling setup is personal preference in my eyes, but cursing manually gives you so much freedom with the solaris and slot setup in general. current tree at 70 - next steps are 6% effect node on top left. after that it's dual curse and if i still play after that it's es nodes behind ci. Spoiler https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMBAW8EBw18DjwRUBRxFy8ZihqPGyUdFB1PHaofAiL0JbwqEy0fL281uTbFRnFJsUuuTLNV1ljlWfNaK1xrXIpfsGTnZp5oZWwLbRlvnnC7cg9yqX5Zf8aApIMJhEiExYt6jHaPRpMnlSCboZu1oS-io6PypyusqrQMtzG-isHFwfPDOsNtykrK09fP2RPZW9tP34rfv-DD4Yji9-kC6hjquuwY74jz3fba9zL31_jr-Tf60vsJ_kk=?accountName=shukolade&characterName=Shurette edit: casting is supertight for me since i have 90 life unreserved and my curses cost around 60 mana, if anyone has tips how to increase the unreserved pool cheap and easy please let me know. edit2: i swapped det for haste since we run with a low armor group and haste is more beneficial in overall terms. Hey Shuko - glad to see you've been going well on the build! I am at school currently so can't post my stats at the moment, but in regard to your concern about Alpha's Howl, with the amount of %ES we have on the tree, getting a pair of 200ES gloves or boots gives you around 1000 ES. Couple this with a Level 22 Discipline (from the Alpha's, which gives us 350 flat ES) and low rolls on belts or jewellry and I ended up with around 4.6k ES. If I was to use a higher ES boots (currently using Rainbowstrides) this number would be increased to around 5k, which is a fair amount for any LL build that doesn't use Shavs. If you feel you really need to run a high ES helmet, instead of an Alpha's Howl, you need to drop one 60% aura - I suggest Determination, as it seems to have the lowest effect on the majority of players in the party. I do have a Ephemeral Edge that I can use, but at the moment using a dagger I found with +1 gems is working fine for me. If I was to set out a BiS item for the build, then definitely an Ephemeral Edge with either Culling Strike or +1 Gems would be a great contender. I have dropped culling from my links for the moment, as many of my party members have this option, and I would prefer to have a higher ES pool, as opposed to using Wondertraps and Aurseize gloves. I did also try out manual cursing - I too found that the mana cost was absurdly high, and didn't allow me to curse as much as I like. Something to try out could be running one set of auras (possibly the Purities and Generosity) in the Solaris, as it would be easier to colour, and then run one (or two) CoH setups in the links you have remaining. One good way to free up life (and also in regard to not being able to run Arctic Armour) is grabbing the last aura cluster at Duellist. This is necessary in endgame to have a suitable life pool to cast with, and although it requires significant passive tree investment, in my opinion it more than pays off. The only other things I could recommend to increase your life pool is taking out Energy from Within (losing some ES, of course) or picking up either the Templar, Witch or Marauder life clusters (the 3 node ones, that are accessible from the stat node highways), and then crafting/aiming for some life rolls on jewellry. Thanks for checking out the build, and be sure to message me ingame if you need any more help - I will hopefully be on in a few hours to test out some final aura setups, and I'll begin work on the more expensive versions of the build tonight! EDIT: Also, I don't believe the Intuitive Leap jewel can actually reach Infused Shield, which I'm sure is intended. IGN: CVRTIS Low-Life? I prefer No-Life. Last edited by CVRTIS#1740 on Jul 20, 2015, 12:37:34 AM	Posted by CVRTIS#1740 on Jul 19, 2015, 11:07:56 PM Quote this Post
hey cvrtis, you are of course right. if you can use boots/gloves for ES than you should totally use an alpha's howl. i use this character to mf for my party so i have wondertraps and sadima's wich have almost none es. Also I just found out if I swap out IIR for inc chaos dmg on my flame totem i can solo farm voll with 30/300 mf.	Posted by shukolade#2579 on Jul 20, 2015, 3:18:30 AM Quote this Post
" shukolade wrote: hey cvrtis, you are of course right. if you can use boots/gloves for ES than you should totally use an alpha's howl. i use this character to mf for my party so i have wondertraps and sadima's wich have almost none es. Also I just found out if I swap out IIR for inc chaos dmg on my flame totem i can solo farm voll with 30/300 mf. Ok, awesome! Are you also running dual andvarius? The fact we are running PoF, PoI, PoL and PoE should be good enough to cancel out the resists! An IIR/IIQ support build is another great idea - let me know how it goes, and I might try to flesh it out into a build guide! IGN: CVRTIS Low-Life? I prefer No-Life.	Posted by CVRTIS#1740 on Jul 20, 2015, 3:52:26 AM Quote this Post
Hi, great job here, how about bandits tho, should I take +40hp from Oak at normal?	Posted by franequ#6614 on Jul 20, 2015, 11:35:23 AM Quote this Post
" franequ wrote: Hi, great job here, how about bandits tho, should I take +40hp from Oak at normal? Hi! Sorry about not adding the Bandits - I really need to get around to that! In my opinion, taking the 3 skillpoints is the best way to go, however the HP from Oak in normal is a nice boost that can help you to save a life roll on gear later. In short, it's easier to just go for Oak, but it could be a good idea to take the skillpoint. For Cruel and Merciless however, you should take the skillpoint. IGN: CVRTIS Low-Life? I prefer No-Life.	Posted by CVRTIS#1740 on Jul 20, 2015, 4:57:52 PM Quote this Post
Update for anyone wondering: Progression on tempest is fine, even leveling following the main build (cbf going flame totem and respeccing). Level 60 now running 6 auras. Not really having a hard time, only had to bail out one time. AmIDoingItRight? Screenshot Gear Still need some better ES gear, but almost 3k and not even starting merci isn't bad eh? Much more work to be done. Builds great, tons of fun. Not for the faint of heart though. Cheers- GDubs Last edited by NuLLxD#3706 on Jul 21, 2015, 9:16:03 PM	Posted by NuLLxD#3706 on Jul 21, 2015, 9:15:38 PM Quote this Post
" NuLLxD wrote: Update for anyone wondering: Progression on tempest is fine, even leveling following the main build (cbf going flame totem and respeccing). Level 60 now running 6 auras. Not really having a hard time, only had to bail out one time. AmIDoingItRight? Screenshot Gear Still need some better ES gear, but almost 3k and not even starting merci isn't bad eh? Much more work to be done. Builds great, tons of fun. Not for the faint of heart though. Cheers- GDubs Awesome to see that you're enjoying the build! If you're not running a Prism Guardian and an Alpha's Howl, high ES (6K+) should be easily achievable, if not more. Levelling your Discipline, filling out the Scion ES wheel and the Witch ES cluster and getting the Melding/EfW combo will all make a huge difference to your ES pool in a good way. Running 6 auras is a start - and you should be able to push out more very soon! One tip I can give is, you will rarely need to go out of your way to get resistances on gear. Because we are running all four Purities, your jewellry can be devoted to resistances and the like, whilst you can get cheaper, high ES gear without resistances or life for cheap. Just a tip I found that helps me out a lot! EDIT: I think the faster casting you have connected to your Grace and Flame Dash is increasing the reservation cost of Grace... Lol! IGN: CVRTIS Low-Life? I prefer No-Life. Last edited by CVRTIS#1740 on Jul 22, 2015, 9:48:35 PM	Posted by CVRTIS#1740 on Jul 22, 2015, 9:40:04 PM Quote this Post