[2.0] Hurricane Katrina 2 - Eyes of the Storm [CoMK Cyclone/Shock Nova]

So I respecced another Standard char to try the BM version. Surprised to say I don't like it. Survivability is nowhere near where I'd like it to be. Honestly the extra armor feels useless, the double eHP from hybrid build feels wayyy better. Ok, the hybrid version is a lvl83 witch with decent gear (5K ES/3k life = 8k eHP) whereas my armor char may suffer from trash equipment @ lvl 78 and only 4K HP. However, there are a couple of extra problems with the BM version:

1. No more dual curse on tree, which makes me have to use Windscream boots, which are slow and generally suck.
2. No way to actually auto-curse! I had to run HoT on life because there simply is no other reliable option, reducing my HP by a whopping 13%. Meh.

While #1 can eventually be resolved by obtaining a corrupted amulet or something, #2 is a persistent problem. At this point the hybrid just seems way more attractive. I also like the potential to go yolo-lowlife - yes, I've done so successfully in the past (Beyond league).
So all I have to figure out is the sustain issues. Maybe some mgoh jewels will fix it, since cyclone hits pretty often.

I'm gonna run it like this:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwMA37DfiukCS64bJdlbbRmX9CL0EVBSU2wLNbmXlT1fkyenKx1PTLN_xu-IUzXQHxGW-TdQQu_rBx7Xz4w2Ow2VLkmxE55VSxEP8NWkkWHirJh-r0lRj_omlTpY99d0VY0Z0NAWv1XGhEiboV8q4BJfalxrj0YYatlfw20dFHgv3Yz60nzlFm9mnlgH42q3MXIPjHZxhZRvWfNXKcy3ZlSsqp8-GjhG19V1hXtyqS3SkFWxQuw49zInL4KbfNmaO-FzogDwHwSzaPLAZnxLPAWWdO984vcBb4t6

And potentially switch to ghetto lowlife later. Which auras you reckon help the most? I'm thinking purity of lightning/vitality defensively, and maybe haste offensively? Dunno if clarity is really needed, hoping not.

Yes, autocursing is kinda tricky, it's a build that moves a lot and tends to clear trash very fast so it doesn't get hit enough to proc CwDT-something reliably in regular scenario.

You may notice a second Shock Nova in my helm that doesn't do anything and also CwDT next to PoL, that's part of the second setup I use for PvP, I just switch around PoL and Shock Nova whenever PoL cursing doesn't work. If you need it for offensive cursing it isn't very good, but defensive ones usually work when they need to.

If you're going lowlife later, you will need to use Discipline so that's a no-brainer there.

After playing some mid-tier maps I am uncertain I can actually pull this off in HC. At map lvl75+ the initial kill sometimes takes too long, especially vs. Beyond Blue packs, and if I'm not triggering any spells I don't do any damage --> no leech --> might die :(
When I compare ComK cyclone tooltip to that of, for example, an Oro build, the difference may become clear; I'm stitting at 4.5k while with Oro's sacrifice (and weapon elemental damage gem) you can get 15-20k. So of course your initial kill will be much quicker there.
Sadly with Oro you'd have to use discharge.. which I didn't want to do. Meh.

Or maybe drop Doryani's Fist and use a "normal" weapon, like you... hm. Have you compared your "initial kill speed" to an Oro's Sacrifice, especially on blue packs in higher maps?
What is your cyclone tooltip?

Oh yeah, here's my gear btw. Not that gread but should suffice for testing (aka simulation bad gear of a new league).

Yeah, like I said, HC potential of the build (might even be of concept in general) is lacking, the more reliable your build is - the better for HC, and this is far from reliable.

I've got some 7,5k on cyclone currently (9k with frenzies up), that's with light pen. For PvP and tough solo bosses I can switch out CoMK and Shock Nova for WED and added chaos I keep in my second set, which gives me some 15k.

The AoE I got on Cyclone was initially there for fun but it turned out more useful than I thought. With that kind of reach you can go through dense maps like Shore or Canyon almost start to finish without stopping as you constantly run into healthy enemies and finish the weakened ones off. I should probably upload a new video, in the posted one I had some 4k dps or something.

.. so I played the Oro build. It's strong but yeah, I can't play discharge for longer than an hour maybe.
I did have another (possibly ingenious) idea. What boosts spelldamage, looks cool, and solves your initial kill/single target problems?
Yes, it is good old
Righteous Fire!

With that in mind, here's a potential life/armor based tree for RF ComK, and basically any spells you feel like using! Since scaling is pure spelldmg/elemental.
You can play this with Doryanis Fists or without, if you get a vagan dagger you can even save the points to go RT and spend em somewhere else.

Now, this is not entirely a theorycraft - a good friend of mine played exactly that in the 1MHC flashback league, the RF ComK discharger. He did not however have the idea to use Crown of Eyes, or Doryani's Fists - should make for a nice combination.
Especially defensively, this build shines. You are running purities of fire/lightning in an alphas howl for potentially lvl23 purities. You can wear a lightning coil easily, or a Belly of the Beast for huge hp. You have tons of life & armor (via IR) and, using ruby flasks, get insane life regeneration.

It is of course no longer "in theme" with your hurrican katrina build, and I apologize for that. However it is through testing & talking to you that I got to this point, hence I feel it justified to share with you (and of course, any other people that might be interested).

Now, here's the tree for a Vagan dagger (hits cannot be evaded):

Do not forget to take RT if going unarmed (aka Doryani's Fist version).

With this tree you can sustain RF easily using a lvl18 PoF gem in Alphas's Howl (potentially unlocking a lvl23 PoF later on) and a Rise of the Phoenix, of course.
I am aware that you are giving up a lot of spell damage this way. But RF almost makes up for it with the 50% more spell dmg multiplier, AND you are a lot tankier.
For even more single target freshness I recommend using a flame surge setup. With all that fire damage on tree and the interaction between flame surge and RF, which essentially nets you 100% MORE damage, you should pretty much own bosses with Flame Surge + Echo + Fire pen + conc effect + the damage that you deal via RF on top.
Endurance charges can be generated manually (yes, I hate it too!) or via warlord's mark/possibly autocurse HoT.

Finally, it is important to use culling strike on your cyclone so you can be sure to actually trigger your CoMK! Otherwise RF might "steal" your kill!

What do you think?

"

therealjcool wrote:

It is of course no longer "in theme" with your hurrican katrina build, and I apologize for that.

Not even a shred of need to, but it does you credit. The builds I post here are less guides and more proofs of concept, very open to tweaking and different takes on the subject so I'd be very interested to see what you end up with ultimately.

RF is certainly worth a try if you can get enough regen going and using culling is a must to avoid losing kills (also required for 3+ party play). Indeed, if you're ditching the spell shield, aren't using doedre gloves and don't have good spell damage jewels, CoE isn't worth the slot anymore and using Alpha is a good idea. I think you have the best chance to pull this off with a Doryani's Catalyst.

I recently used a standard respec to make a lightning CoMK build to test for the new league. The build I ended up using is completely worth the play, stupidly good, and crazy cheap.

I use Hyaon's, and scale lightning damage. I use romira's and discharge on kill, but also run blood rage, and daresso's for increased damage. Wrath and Herald of Thunder are scaled crazy well for this spec, and my herald actually has a dps of about 3k, with only a curse on hit (warlord's mark) for sockets. It is also about a 100% up time.

Here is the passive tree. It is HC viable (from what Iv'e seen. I just reached 86 on my standard char, and I breeze through all maps up to 75. After that you still win, but there are some bosses you should just skip), and it is relatively easy to get 5k hp w (more if you really invest. It has 5 jewel sockets, so just about 210% life if you focus it), acrobatics+Daresso, WB+fortify, and vaalpact, no mana problems with 2 mana on hit jewels and warlords mark, and great damage. I'm thinking of making a guide for it, but want to actually perfect it in hc before I do.

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgYA5Rm0OPv1l5dFfIw2YeJVSxa_JpUqOMM6JIsPq4TFm7V6U2Hrz3qyGTIBmybo1iLqOkJLeN2oMHHUI42_BbVRR-0_N9RNkiP2jX0wfDY9bWxsjJ2qYqyTJ1M1UEJtGSL0bAtqQ8BUCPS86qEvvoo9X1JTl_RMs5eV7-vQH1AwIG7bXhEP3YzZX-ASjRl-r6yYVcY6WIPbj0aboffX-tIdFONqFm826SSqcg9mnmZUkFUaOFnzJy_Vdcy3cYWxQkbXVynsODrYhXuCm-98n9-aO8BmPAWiAASz8B8=

Also, I was looking for a CoMK build originally to play, and I ran across hurricane katrina, which got me started on designing mine, so big props and shout out to you. My build doesn't even use crown of eyes anymore, but you did get me started on my design :)


Thanks for the inspiration! :)


Quick note about the spec, if anyone is interested in playing it.
- You can change around the nodes very easily for a Doryani's or Oro's CoMK build. Oro's has the best damage, but Hyaons has better HC viability.
-I was running dual curse for a long time, but since I only used HoT for the cast, I realized I didn't need it completely. If you find a better way to self cast though, use the dual curse w/ enfeeble, temp chains, or conductivity depending on preference and league.
-I still run a hybrid pot in case I have a random mana problem from accidently cylconing 10x in a row into nothing. I like it also because I don't have to waste instant flask charges if my hp is not full (cause of no regen from VP)
-I use a vaal cyclone- CoMK-Det dead on my char, and it's extremely effective. However, I am going to change this once I switch to HC in the next league, since sometimes v-cyclone can get you killed. It is extremely satisfying though.
-I use thundermits for my single target, and it is crazy effective. However, I also use a secondary weapon set up with ball lightning staff if I don't want to get close to the scary target. This build allows full build allowance for self spellcasting in secondary weapon.

One last thing,

Righteous Fire doesn't work with crown of eyes (from all sources I've researched. This was changed to be so in 1.3 I think).

"

Kroughfire wrote:

Also, I was looking for a CoMK build originally to play, and I ran across hurricane katrina, which got me started on designing mine, so big props and shout out to you. My build doesn't even use crown of eyes anymore, but you did get me started on my design :)

Good job, very creative take on the matter with Hyaon and Romira, and the tree is very good, mine was constricted by AoE nodes and you have much more freedom if you don't do that. The thing about Crown of Eyes is I really wanted to put it to use on a hybrid build, it actually needs quite a bit of investment to be worth the slot :)

"

Kroughfire wrote:

One last thing,

Righteous Fire doesn't work with crown of eyes (from all sources I've researched. This was changed to be so in 1.3 I think).

Yeah, it never worked with crown of eyes, it's dealing DoT which is neither attack nor spell damage so there's no interaction, that's why I suggested therealjcool a catalyst for that version.

We could really use more hybrid uniques, it requires nothing short of a perfect rare and that isn't happening often, this is probably the best I ever dropped, keeping it for sentimental reasons:

If I block prefix, yolo ex it and get attack speed it could be crafted for ~300 dps which is pretty low for a 2H, though CoE would even the field a bit by dipping into 90% spell damage and it still wouldn't be very good.

That staff is so close. I really wish there were more hybrid uniques as well... atm there is only really doryani's (gloves or catalyst). The closest I've come apart from hyaon's and oro's is a CoC staff suck-clone, which actually works quite well. Nobody want's their +2 gem level, attack speed, crit chance staff, but it still is a totally different matter.

I really tried hard to make crown of eyes work, but there simply aren't enough sources of spell damage modifiers on the tree to make it work. It made me very sad, but the outcome was a stronger defensive build, which I prefer since I'm really going for HC with this build.

I've also been toying around with hybrid archers, but it is also very difficult (since I realized drillneck was "arrow pierce chance" not "projectile pierce chance". Was hoping to run quillrain drillneck EK or FP. :( I'm still exploring though!

Good luck to us on our quest to use the useless skill combos (but seriously, the CoMK build I shared works horrifically well, and handles a lot better for my computer than CoC, and costs a total of 5c)