[2.1] Lowlife vaal spark

Build is rip




Making this build because I had a hard time finding a vaal spark build guide.
This isn't necessarily the best way to do it and certainly not the only way to do it, it's just the way I do it.

Ascendancy patch notes: "Vaal Spark has been nerfed in almost every way possible. Its critical strike chance has been reduced from 6% to 5%. The base duration of the Sparks has been reduced from 3.5 seconds to 2 seconds. The number of projectiles has been reduced from 150 to 100. The duration of the spiral has been reduced from 4.5 seconds to 3 seconds at all gem levels."

Pros
- Fast
- Fun
- Insane xp/hour
- Actually requires some skill to play, knowing when to pop vaal spark and remembering to use diamond flask before popping it

Cons
- Can be expensive
- Can't do certain map layouts
- Utterly useless until a certain level and gear point
- Shit single target at times
- No stun immunity, vaal spark can get interrupted

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Gameplay videos
Arid lake temp chains
Enfeeble gorge
Enfeeble Plateau (I ding lvl 90 in this video :D)
In this gorge run I actually kill the boss and it's not as long, yay
I want to make a video version of the guide but I've tried to search for editing software and tried to make a video but it's such a pain in the ass so for now I'm giving up on that.

*edit* About a week since I've released these videos now, the enfeeble gorge video has half the views of the arid lake and plateau videos. Could anyone tell me why? Is it because of the length of the video?

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Gear


Voidbringer is BiS because it has so much spell crit, with a mana pot and autocurse warlord's mark we don't have mana issues.


Helmet and boots are just es with some res, the more you can get the better. Don't need move speed on boots since we'll be using whirling blades to move fast.


Stat priority: Spell crit > ES > Spell damage > Resist

I happened to have an insane shield that's almost BiS outside of mirrored gear.


You want to use Call of the Brotherhood since we'll be using a legacy Chill of Corruption which is a necessity. I'm using Doedre's Damning so I can double autocurse but you don't have to, it's just a bonus.

If you want to use a rare ring you want %ES on it and then whatever resists/attributes you need.


Get whatever you need on the belt, Strength & Resists.
You can use perandus if you feel like it and you can afford to lose out on the resists/strength.


Stat priority: Spell crit > Crit multi > Spell damage > attack speed/added damage to spells

Dagger you want spell crit, crit multi and spell damage.
Edit: Turns out it the base attack speed does not matter, only increased attack speed.


Using an amulet I had lying around, you want crit multi, crit chance and spell damage on it preferably. Will upgrade it eventually just haven't gotten around to it.


And of course a shavs to allow us to go lowlife. 6L isn't necessary it's just a bonus.

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Skill tree

Here's my current tree:

poeurl.com/uQ2

Here's a scion version (better as scion)

poeurl.com/uOZ

Bandits: passive, passive, power charge

Arguably the most important part of the build is the jewels, without these you wouldn't have nearly as much vaal spark uptime as you do with them. You want at least 3 sacrificial harvests and a legacy chill of corruption.

Scion is better but I just picked a witch cause I had a high lvl one i could respec.
You can use energy from within next to the hybrid life es nodes in between scion witch and shadow if you want to. It gives me 500 es.
You can level as arc or something but I would recommend respeccing an old character if you have the opportunity to do so.

Leveling trees:


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Gem setup


Main gem setup:
You really need quality and levels on vaal spark, a 20/20 cost me 5 ex.
For a 5L I would drop life leech or increased duration.


Herald of Ice:
Gives us frenzy charges and onslaught which helps clear speed.
Preferably you want culling strike instead of enlighten but I'm out of chromes and very lazy.


Herald of Thunder dual autocurse:
Autocursing with ass mark for power charges.
Dual cursing isn't necessary but I like it. I don't have quality on my warlord's mark but you want quality on it.


Movement setup:
This with onslaught from our innervate linked to herald of ice makes us very fast.


Single target/when you start a map:
You want to put this setup in your voidbringer for the +1 to arc.


Wrath with blood magic to get us to lowlife and then a golem.

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Flasks


We use the mana flask to be able to cast arc (costs 100 mana for me) and diamond flask to make sure our vaal spark crits.
Should get curse immune and recovery on the diamond flask and surgeon's on the mana flask. Can get recovery speed on the mana flask if you're having a lot of problems with mana.
I have been told that vessel of vinktar is very good but I have yet to try it out myself.

Damage screenshots without charges



If you have any questions or suggestions let me know and please tell me what you think of the guide.
This is my first build guide so let me know if you want me to make another one of a certain build, I might make what you suggest.
Also, feel free to ask me questions if you have any.
I've recently made a standard only/mostly guild for experienced players who can play on the european servers, here's a link to the thread if you're interested: link
pls ggg don't rip the build pls

tested , works like a charm

Let me know if you want me to record this build clearing a certain map.

bump

bump

Vessel of Vinktar seems like a good option. Any reason youre not using it?

What chest do you use?

"

What chest do you use?

In my gear section you can see that I use a 6L Shavronne's Wrappings to reserve all my life for more damage and an additional aura.

"

Vessel of Vinktar seems like a good option. Any reason youre not using it?

I've taken a look at it and I want to try it out, it's just that I haven't tested it although I should, thanks for the reminder.

I'm currently playing almost exact the same build on Talisman (but not low life, i use Lightning Coil and MoM).

Can you post a vid how you deal with map bosses ?
I'm having sometimes trouble to deal with them, even if vaal spark crits (~75% chance with diamond flask)
Are you standing next to them ?

Since I have a taste of hate and leech linked to a lvl 22 arc I can face tank most bosses although they are a pain when in a group. I just gather souls for a vaal spark then go into the boss room and hope it crits, if it doesn't I just stand there for a while and face tank him. The build has shitty single target and i'm not sure if it's possible to fix that :<