[2.1] Scion Elemental Claw Reave - Amazing clear speed on low budget

- updated the passive tree to the new version and has more life now
- non physical leech nodes are finally there but are too far away in an area full of physical/projectile damage so it's sadly not worth it for us...
- we can however pick up the mana leech nodes at the bottom right of the tree and are able to use other base weapons with almost no sacrifice (.4 mana leech should be enough)

Pros:
- Super cheap to get going, already really good on a 4link, yet scales very well with further investment
- Doesn't use the infamous blood magic/life leech gem set up
- Amazing clear speed and a fast paced play style
- Flexible; while I don't have too much life with 4,4k (at lvl86), many life nodes are in proximity, but can be skipped for more damage as well - whatever suits you better
- Damage can be scaled very well without changing your weapon; your weapon is a center piece, but the damage rolls aren't as important for elemental builds, since you can compensate for it with jewellery and other items

Cons:
- By the nature of Acrobatics, the build is susceptible to physical damage (if it doesn't get evaded/dodged), which became more dangerous with the Awakening. So when you do take physical damage it can be very spiky and physical spells like Ethereal Knives are the bane of your existence
- Fortify in your main link isn't as good as on physical builds. Fortify has an increased physical damage modifier, which makes it a smaller damage loss on physical builds. You can still use it, but I felt too scammed doing so and ended up not using it with my main attack. Use it with whirling blades for now and hope they adjust it to be less racist towards elemental builds at some point.
Reave isn't the truest of melee abilities, but getting the first hits in requires you to be in melee range.

5Linked using Reave-WeaponEleDmg-Multistrike-IncreasedAoe-CritDmg (Blood Rage, 3 frenzy charges, 4 power charges)

If you're a tool tip warrior you can use concentrated effect to get the 6digit deeps and there's room for much more considering I am not even using either Maligaro's, Rat's nest, +Frenzy charges etc. Also using lvl 18/19gems without maxed quality.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwAAOygIZwOWkzoVuG49vSfIW2BDvoAYPBhWljKDCfnob55Bh8pKnKS3Pl-whxODzP4Km7V3Bzwt8kXYvcM6hMXGroNfOuE1kiSLxPamV_6PD6uvp3KpTeMWvz0PHM73MiaVfLsrUJJ9YeI62HflDc3cI1VLJy9X4v5UmG-MNpBV7SDlz4nTGjiCm-FzcFKiACoL8B8Es13ywGYrCp7EPAURL6a-n9_vfOtjNj2dqmyMYqy0xcLsFf0FtY2Bjb9LHFFH1COPwTfU51QwfDBx1gftPyT9jX3dqMGg_94j9kt4eBlNkjpC

We have many options to spend the next points or sacrifice some life nodes for:
- 14% life for 3 points (hired killer)
- 2 frenzy charges for 2 points each in the shadow and ranger area
- barbarism: 3 nodes away for 10% life 1% max fire res and some resistance
- 2 jewels 3points away in the shadow and templar area; id recommend getting the shadow one, traveling over the int nodes to ease up our lack of int. If you get barbarism you are 3 points away from the marauder jewel as well
- the celestial wheel notables can be collected for 7 points also pushing you closer to the templar jewel by one point
- templar and shadow starting melee/elemental damage nodes if you feel like you lack % damage

Further possible changes to my tree:
- scion starting mana nodes can be replaced by the life regen nodes if you don't want the aoe
- or you can take the southern road from the start instead, going over the melee damage into resists into sentinel and then reconnect over the scion life wheel, making Berserking a viable option to get afterwards

Normal: help Oak or kill all; offer about the same life increase late game if you use the point for a 5% node
Cruel: help Krayton; 8% attack speed is worth more than one skill point
Merciless: help Alira; we rely more on power charges than on frenzy charges and we dont get any on the tree.

I've upgraded my gear from super budget but there's nothing really expensive in the set. Bought the claw for an ex (back when they were 20c), which is the most expensive piece apart from the alpha's which I shouldn't be using in the first place.

Gear elaboration/what you want:

Generally try to get enough intelligence for gems as we are starved for int and get enough cold damage to freeze enemies on crits for Dyadian Dawn leech.


Weapon:
You want a any of the double/twin/gemini claws for the mana gained on hit. The lowest tier might not completely solve your mana problems but you can get one 2mana gained on hit jewel to compensate. The bases have a nice mix of attack speed and crit as well, so they are the perfect choice. If you find a godlike claw with a different implicit you could still get more mana gained on hit on jewels; that way you can actually use daggers as well (requires taking the dagger wheel instead of the claw wheel) but you have to decide at this point whether or not it's worth loosing out the implicit of the Maraketh claws. Ideally you just get a nice twin claw with the following mods:
- 20%+ increased attack speed; this is a must as you can not craft a mod that high via masters, your weapon should have around 1.8 attacks per second.
- 25%+ increased crit chance; a free suffix is perfect to get the master craft, which is high enough
- high elemental damage rolls, lighting and cold should have priority for their status ailments but it comes down to elemental dps. Weapon elemental damage % is a good supplement as well (in my case it would probably be better to craft wed than flat fire but I'm too lazy).

How to look for a fitting elemental claw on poe.trade


Shield:
a rare evasion shield with
- life
- ideally 1500+ evasion
- resists
- block is of little significance since acrobatics cuts our block chance by 3/10 anyway

Helmet:
Rat's nest is the best for damage without a doubt, but a rare helmet with
- life
- high evasion
- accuracy
- intelligence (we're starved on int so get it wherever possible)
- resist
is perfectly fine. You see me using an alpha's howl, but I highly suggest not getting one. I tried hard to also get in herald of ice(aura nodes, jewels, enlighten) but it's just not
worth it. HoI is less than 5k dps to me and the wrath bonus levels amount to 20 additional flat damage, which is like an Elreon lightning damage craft on a ring. The herald of ice explosions are nice but you're honestly better off with a rare helmet compared to the cost, if you wanna spend currency, get rat's nest instead. I am using it because a buddy found one and I am to lazy to get another helmet. Not using herald of ice also leaves you with a higher unreserved mana pool for what it's worth. Starkonja's Head offers high life life and some damage so that's a nice, cheap option too.

Boots:
Atziri's step is pretty much the best choice and its cheap too. Until you can equip it, I'd recommend using Lioneyes Paws. They offer some damage and a high amount of stats for one chaos tops.

Gloves:
If you don't have a 5link chest Thunderfists are a great option to get a a pseudo 5link

Before finding good rare gloves Southbounds are pretty nice,

they offer % life, a high cold damage roll and some cold res. They do have the downside of only beeing able to kill frozen enemies but it's barely noticeable if we crit alot. Sadly it has no attack speed so the stats aren't too crazy to warrant a downside in my opinion and rare gloves are better in the end.
Rare gloves should ideally have:
- 10+% attack speed, you can craft a decent roll with a lvl 7 haku as a suffix
- life
- accuracy/intelligence/resist (any 2 of those)
- potentially a flat elemental damage roll but gloves can't really roll high values so don't worry about it

For damage, Maligaro's virtuosity is in the top spot but they have zero defensive values so I'd stick with rare gloves.

Chest:
There are many great unique evasion chests: Lightning Coil, Hyrri's Ire, Daresso's Defiance, Queen of the Forrest. I use the latter because it's cheap and offers good stats but they're all good options. Any rare chest with 1500+ evasion, life and resists will do too.

Belt: Dyadian Dawn. Cheap, good stats and the most convenient way to get leech. We crit a lot and thus chill/freeze constantly so it provides us with enough life steal. Another gem slot we can save in our Reave setup thanks to this beauty. One of my favorite new unique items (even if it's not exactly what the supporter intended it to be, it has a place in my heart)

Amulet:
A rare amulet with:
- crit multiplier - a very scarce stat, definitely get 25%+
- life
- flat elemental damage/ weapon elemental damage %
Look for the those + ideally a slot for a mod and depending on whether you have a free prefix or suffix, craft flat elemental damage or crit chance respectively

Rings:
Rare rings with:
- Flat elemental damage/ % weapon elemental damage
- life
- more flat elemental damage or a free prefix to craft it
- for suffixes get a combination of intelligence/accuracy/resists/attack speed(attack speed is very expensive so don't prioritize it)

Jewels:
- Static Electricity is nice early on in the socket between scion and ranger/shadow but can be replaced at higher levels
- Other sockets should be filled with rares that have a combination of life/area damage/damage/melee damage and attack speed and crit mods that apply to our character
- Don't bother with mantra of flames it's worse than a rare jewel (It's picky in terms of what's considered a buff)

Reave-WeaponEleDamage-Multistrike-IncreasedAoe is our main setup and all it takes to clear maps quickly. Keep a leveled concentrated effect to swap in for increased aoe for really tough bosses or when you need to tooltipwarrior. For a 5/6L I'd go for AddedCold-AddedLghting-CritDamage for damage or Life Leech/Fortify if you want higher survive-ability.
Lightning penetration is great too but in an ideal world my cold damage rivals my lightning damage so it would only affect half the damage.

HeraldOfThunder-CruseOnHit-AssassinsMark for lazy cursing and power charge generation. You can take out curse on hit to manually curse whenever you need.


Everything else is fluff and up to preference. Just make sure to squeeze in Wrath, Whirling Blades, Ice Golem, Enduring Cry/Rallying Cry and Blood Rage somewhere.

I like to use a 4linked Vaal Lightning strike to melt bosses but its not required:
VaalLightningStrike-MultiStrike-WeaponElementalDamage-IncreasedDuration.
I don't like vaal reave too much. My reave already hits the whole screen and hitting offscreen isn't to great because you have to hit something to not loose stacks so the enemies are on screen anyways... if that makes any sense. But feel free to use whatever vaal skill you prefer. Vaal Cyclone is pretty awesome too.


Other possible setups:
Whirling Blades-Fortify-(BloodMagic-FasterAttacks)
CastWhenDamageTaken-IceGolem-ImmortalCall-TempestShield

Instant flasks are what I recommend and having anti bleed/freeze mods is pretty mandatory. Overall nothing special here (apart from being able to utilize the surgeon's mods broken charge regeneration - fixed in 2.1!) so just use whatever you're comfortable with.

First off, having access to a level 6 Elreon when leveling allows you to get high elemental damage rolls on level 20 rings, which are crazy at that point.

Either way start as scion and get a flame totem gem from someone or mule it yourself (create a templar and do the "Breaking some eggs" quest; takes 5 minutes tops); also get a fire trap by completing the first quest as shadow.
Scions are kinda bad early on and fire trap+flame totem are the best leveling tools so utilize them. Make sure to have the required stats to level the gems by using jewellery with whatever stats you're missing.

On the skill tree make your way to the left side first. It's basically only traveling until we transition into reave. The notables to pick up on the way are Constitution in the scion life wheel and Elementalist/Discipline and Training/Retribution in the templar area. Pick up jewel sockets whenever you find a nice jewel (the Survival Secrets jewel from the "Through Sacred Grounds" quest is really nice early on for the mana regen).

I recommend sticking to flame totem + fire trap/fire storm (after merveil) until you reach lvl 30. Before lvl 30 it's like leveling any other character.

At lvl 30 you can equip Lioneye's Paws which are perfect at that stage to cover your lack of stats, damage and movement speed so pick up a pair of those and take any elemental dagger/sword/claw. Also look for jewellery with added elemental damage and ideally get the lvl 6 elreon crafts if you can.
We use mana potions early on, but if you can get one mana gained on hit jewel on top of survival secrets you're golden.
Make sure to pick up Wrath, Herald of Thunder and other required gems on the way to level them... sadly we don't get reave as scion but it's not a big deal, because you should ideally get one with some quality anyways - 10% should be only 1-2 chaos orbs and is all you need.

Transitioning into reave: Use reave linked with weapon elemental damage and at lvl 38 you can use multistrike. That 3link is all you need until maps. For auras use Herald of Thunder and Wrath. If you lack intelligence you can also use anger for the time being.
Start picking up close, relevant nodes on the tree, then make your way to the right side of the tree. Once you picked up the second jewel slot on the right side between scion and shadow/ranger and have traveled a little further, you can socket in a Static Electricity jewel which greatly increases our damage. Continue your way to Acrobatics and then fill out the remaining points.

While leveling, keep a look out for a good twin/double claw on poe.trade as previously explained. Getting the Maraketh claw base will solve any mana issues you might have and lets you focus on more important things. Also don't forget to get a Dyadian Dawn belt by lvl 52