[2.0] CI/ZO/IR Mjolner (res 94/88/95 before Safells)12K ES 1.4k es/sec UBER Vaal/trio facetank

i will explain all the different gear oprions and how you can progressively upgrade your gear in a meningful way. also i will post different tree vesrsions for different states of the build.
the way i see it now is you should aim for 700 ES chest. that is how i got started. actually in early versions of the build i had 14K es with 700ES chest but i decided to tone it down to 12 k for the best compromise between damage and survivability.
in theory i could go for higher ES now, but then damage feels sluggish.
i find you should first get a feel for the build before you commit to it 100%
the best way to do so is to get the following gear apart from volls/mjolner and romiras (in standart it is rather cheap, i dont play warbands so i dont know):

i would get Voidbringer gloves, Rainbowstride boots, 300ES helm for cheap or something similar. even vertex can do, or EVEN crown of Eyes if it si cheap because that spell damage converted to es will slightly boost physical damage on Mjolner Molten strike and that mana leech can actually give you some mana leech so you could get away with maybe using 2 jewels with mana gained on hit rather then 3 (it is a theory, i have not tested, i will try it out sometime). for shield i would stick to 300+ ES shield or Safells Frame (but then unfortunatly you are very weak to phys damage since your ES pool is not big enough). or you could use Raph globe shield if it is cheap. for body armour i would use a 700+ es chest with 4 links, 5 is a bonus. colors are important though, so if you cant get the right colors i would advise to run your molten setup in any of the 4l slots instead. to be able to pull off Fortify i would run 1 trigger gem (vengence) with fortify linked, that should suffice.
if you struggle to meet the resist caps i would get a cheap corrupted enlighten lvl 3 and put 1 point in reduced mana reserved node near CI to be able to run 3 auras: discipline, purity of fire, lightning. that way you drop determination but your armour is still high enough with EV and Armour flasks up to handle most phys damage.
if you cant reach the resists stil, i would get a rare ring with ES crafted on it instead of Shavs ring.

this could be your first step in doing this build. that way if you want to drop it and go to Kingsguard, the cost to switch back is not high, since you can easy sell the gear you have accuired maybe at a small loss but it will not be too bad. that way you get the feel for the build without commiting too hard and you can upgrade as you go.

that is what i have done at first. i started with this type of gear and i build from there.
for first stage i did not take Vaal pact and i did not use acuity but because my ES was so high (14k) the leech was actually very good even though not instant. remeber that in poe the bigger your HP/es pool is the more effective leech becomes.
you will face some difficulty with reflect and wont be able to do all the mods easily, but this is a first and very solid step.
i had 700 ES chest at start, no acuity, no mirrored shield but a very high ES no resist shield, i had my helm and shavs ring though but this is it. and the belt is cheap.

so in short, you dont need high budget to get started. but try to snipe the good jewels though, that can go a long way.

and if you cant get a decent chest, you have some choice: infernal mantle (but then you can only use 2 auras) or you could use an unlinked shavronnes if you have on hand too and not go CI but low life and get Pain attunenment and spend the extra points in ES, but you will not be able to reach high enough ES. so i think i would even settle for 600es chest.

my advice though is if you want to go down this route is to get gear that you can easily sell, so if you dont like it you can just switch. better spend 5 exa on an item you can sell for 4 at worst then spend 3 exa for an item you cant sell at all.

bottom line is gofor

300 on helm
300 on shiled
600 on chest
150 on boots
200 on gloves
and shavs ring or if too expensive get the ES mod on high Resist ring

that should be enough for a start and reasonably cheap.

i would also drop 1 or 2 jewel nodes and respec back into high ES nodes.
here is an example:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMAAW8B5wUtBUIJuw18DlwRLRFQFVAV1xhWGmwbJRzcHRQgbiFgIvQo-imlLJwsvzWSNbk26ECgQYdBlkSrRX5Gt0lRSbFJ1UuuTLNQMFWuVmNXyVivXGteE18_X2phUmSdaHRq-mwLbRlvO3TtdPF4DXloeu98g35Zf8aCEILHhEiGYIaujmSPGo9Gj6aP-pMnm6Gdrp_LoS-nCKcrpzCpbq6ztfK2-rc-uJO-isAawQTBxcNt0B_Q0ND102_Xz9i92VvaYt-K37Di9-kC6-7r9ewY707viO_r8NXyHfNv96b3wffX-Tf56P4K?accountName=ballsonfire&characterName=farmfarmwitch

in the slot just below duelist you should out a +12%es unique jewel to convert life to ES and get the extra regen
and put another ES jewel in the slot between shadow and scion. i have respecced some nodes as you can see.

i think that way you will be able to asess the build and its potentioal and not break the bank.

also i think that with the above gear you will be in a good spot and not feel like you are far behind.

Vaal Pact path is also an option but i find it not the same at all, especially without the shavs ring.
i currently have witch specced in ZO and Shadow specced in VP and with the same exact gear except for gloves i still prefer my witch tree.

let me know how it goes.

and worry not, i have never ever had a tier 1 unique drop for me and all currency is through trading, and i am a fairly inskilled player too so i tried to make the most powerful build that requires no skill.