[2.2 PHC] The current state of CoC Discharge

The primary mechanic of this build is to use Cyclone with Cast on Critical Strike (CoC) in order to trigger Discharge. Discharge is the only source of damage in this build.

Discharge has a very high base critical strike chance (crit), 7%, so this build will crit discharge almost all of the time. Therefore damage is scaled in this build through critical strike multiplier (crit multi).

Discharge has the keywords Spell, AoE, Fire, Cold, Lightning which describe which modifiers affect this gem. So for example, a jewel with the mod, 15% increased Critical Strike Multiplier with Cold Skills, will increased the critical strike multiplier of discharge by 15% regardless of whether discharge does any cold damage or not. This is because the mod says "... with Cold Skills"; if the jewel had said Increased Cold Damage instead, the jewel will have no affect provided that discharge does no cold damage.

The Elemental Equilibrium (EE) keystone in combination with cold damage to attacks is used to lower monster resists and thereby increased damage for this build.

Screen shot of discharge with 6 power and 6 endurance charges: http://i.imgur.com/6jG8Wdw.png

There are quite a bit of defensive mechanics that are responsible for this build's wild success in Perandus Hardcore (PHC). I'll first go over the keystone Chaos Inoculation (CI).

So first off, if this build uses the CI keystone, this means that the build is es based. The trickster ascendancy class has defensive bonuses for es based characters so this is what makes CI a good choice.

Other defensive features include Purity of Fire, Purity of Lightning, life leech (with the keystones Ghost Reaver and Vaal Pact), and Immortal Call. The addition of Purity of Ice or a blasphemy curse are an option in a variation of this build.

Screen shot of defensive page just sitting in hideout, no potions, no vaal discipline, no endurance charges: http://i.imgur.com/KLFpEyU.png

Trickster is the only ascendancy I would seriously consider at this time. The ascendancy nodes that this build uses are (in order of importance):
Node descriptions: http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Trickster
- Walk of Aether
- Shade Form
- Ghost Dance
- 2 attack+cast speed nodes, Swift Killer (frenzy charges), Patient Reaper (damage over time).
(Swift killer won't generate enough frenzy charges for substantial cold damage on discharge, but it does have good synergy with conduit which is already great in parties as CoC discharge. Patient reaper is also another choice because it will increase burn damage which can be quite substantial especially gem swapping to concentrated effect.)

The leveling process can be completed with a different Shadow ascendancy class, but ultimately you will have to respec into Trickster.
The viability of other ascendancy classes has not been evaluated because of voidbringers are a huge upgrade to the build that also give a large mana multiplier which would complicate mana sustain regardless of Elreon jewelry.

-Absolutely necessary-

The mechanics of Voll's Protector are different from Power Charge on Critical or Skyforth because Voll's Protector is worded "... for EACH enemy you hit..." so this item cannot be replaced as this mechanic is vital for quickly generating a lot of power charges.

-Almost absolutely necessary-

Most people will find this item the most expensive part of their build. A Voll's Devotion is not necessary to CoC discharge with power charges only, which still does damage and can clear content. A Voll's devotion however is extremely important for this build's defense. An immortal call without endurance charges only will last 0.4 seconds compared to 3 seconds with 6 endurance charges. Having a 3 second immortal call is important for surviving porcupines and the academy map boss.


Even though I said a Voll's devotion is probably the most expensive item of the build, a dagger that looks exactly like this is probably more expensive. But ignoring all the extra mods; the most important part of this item is that it has the Vagan mod Hits Can't be Evaded. This mod is obtained leveling Vagan to 4 which is when he begins to sell items with the Hits Can't be Evaded mod. The reason this mod is important is because this build has low accuracy, and it is important that cyclone hits mobs.

A dagger is the weapon type of choice because daggers have high crit and attack speed which are good for triggering cast on crit.

*See dagger crafting section for mod discussion


-Important upgrades-

Voidbringers are an upgrade to standard es gloves. The combination of voidbringers, the increased critical strikes gem, power charges, and global critical strike chance on the tree is enough to bring the critical strike chance of discharge to at least 70% without investment into spell critical strike chance on the passive tree. 78% crit chance is the goal because after using a diamond flask, the effective crit chance is 95%.

Voidbringers serve another purpose with the corruption +1 to level of socketed gems. The combination of a level 21 purity of fire/lightning/ice (obtained by vaaling a lvl 20 purity), +1 elemental gems on voidbringers, and the +1 levels corruption, brings a Purity to level 23 where it grants +5% to a maximum resist (up from +4%). This is important not just for the additional maximum resist but also because it changes the amount of % aura effectiveness needed to obtain more additional max resists. At +4% maximum resists, 25% additional aura effectiveness is needed for another +1% max res; at +5% max res, only 20% aura effectiveness is needed.


It's not important that this belt is a Perandus Blazon; what's important is the +1 to Maximum Endurance charges corruption. The build will work without that corruption, but an additional endurance charge helps by adding additional discharge damage and increases the immortal call duration.

-The rest of the gear-
The pricing on general es gear ranges from budget to very expensive. Budget gear in this section is acceptable.

A relevant helm enchant is very time consuming to farm for and are not necessary for the build to perform well. Some good enchants include all the discharge related ones, increased whirling blades attack speed, increased cyclone attack speed, increased blade vortex duration, increased Warlord's Mark curse effect.


The shield is the single piece of gear in this build that provides the most energy shield. Therefore, high energy shield is more important than other mods like resists.


Movement speed is a huge quality of life improvement because even though this build can cover a lot of distance with whirling blades, whirling blades can't be used while cycloning. Moving faster while cycloning is important for clearing faster and also for dodging threats like mobs or bearers.
Steppan Eards are a relatively cheap choice of boots (in Perandus) that have high movement speed and high es.

The preferred boot enchant is leech. Some other good choices are the onslaught one (increased attack and cast speed after kills) and anything that doesn't add fire or lightning damage.


If your dagger does not add cold damage to attacks, a ring is where you get it. Rings are also where to put the level 7 Elreon craft for %es (prefix). If the %es craft is a low roll, divine until satisfactory; be sure to consider changes to the other mods when a divine is used.

Rings are mainly responsible for covering resists. Other desirable mods are attack speed, energy shield, and intelligence (every 5 int grants 1% increased max es).

Surgeon's (20% to gain a flask charge on crit) is the preferred utility mod on any flask that can get it, but it's not necessary.

When a diamond flask is used with a skill that has a 78% chance of critting, the resulting effective crit is 95%. A diamond flask will do this for 3 of the most important skills in this build, cyclone, discharge, and blade vortex.

With that said, the diamond flask is always up because of how useful it is, so therefore bleed removal (stauching) is my favorite mod for the diamond flask. Stauching prevents accumulating bleed stacks from corrupting blood which can accumulate quickly.


A ruby and a topaz flask are necessary for safely killing rare mobs with elemental reflect. A Vessel of Vinktar is not necessary if life leech is linked with discharge, but it is highly recommended without life leech.


Movement speed is important for being agile while cycloning. This helps with manually dodging threats like mobs, bearers, herald of the obelisk, etc. It also helps with chasing down mobs that kite for example exiles.

If you need curse immunity on your flasks, this is where I would put it if I had a Vessel of Vinktar. Otherwise it would go on the regular topaz flask.


Onslaught (20% increase to attack speed, cast speed, and movement speed) is a nice dps increase. A physical mitigation flask such as basalt is not selected because a 3 second immortal call is more than enough to mitigate physical damage.

*dagger for reference

The most desired dagger base type is Royal Skean or arguably Poignard. The Boot Blade and Butcher Knife bases are okay, and the rest of the bases are worse.
The most important mods listed in order are:
- Hits Can't be evaded (Vagan's signature mod; obtained from Vagan's shop after he hits level 4).
- increased critical strike chance
- increased attack speed
- spell damage
- added cold to attacks (optional if there's added cold damage on a ring but having it on the dagger makes getting a ring easier.)

-Crafting through multi-modding-
*It is not necessary to multi-mod a dagger get to level 100, but a multi-modded dagger is strong.

Steps:
1. Regal a blue Vagan dagger that only has the mod Hits Can't be Evaded. Any added fire or added lightning damage mods brick the dagger and this step has to be repeated.
2. Use a level 8 Elreon to craft Can have multiple Crafted Mods for 2 ex.
3. Craft critical strike chance (Vagan)
4. If there is another suffix spot left, craft increased attack speed (Vagan)
5*. Craft spell damage (Catarina). *If you could not get added cold damage on rings and you have only 1 open prefix, skip this step and craft added cold instead (next step).
6. Craft added cold damage (Vagan).
7. Divine the dagger until the rolls are satisfactory.

-Crafting without multi-modding-
Steps:
1*. Augment the blue Vagan dagger. Any added fire or added lightning damage mods brick the dagger. *This step is optional if you want to avoid bricking the dagger or if you want to multi-mod it later.
2. Regal.
3. Craft increased crit chance (Vagan).
- If increased crit chance is already there, then craft attack speed; if attack speed can't be crafted, get spell damage or cold damage.
- If the augment or regal hit a very low increased critical strike roll, you can opt to start over with a new Vagan dagger.

Normal - Kill all (pt)
Cruel - Kraityn (8% Attack speed)
Merciless - If you have a Voll's Devotion, Oak (endurance charge), otherwise Alira (power charge)

*Every tree shown has a seemingly incomplete section around the left-most jewel socket. The point are just there to simulate point usage with the unique jewel Intuitive Leap. The in-game nodes are actually Power charge, Endurance charge, and Faith and Steel; one of the trees also gets Devotion.

Primary variation - crit multi and %26 aura effect
http://poeurl.com/Cxj
It was described before how using voidbringers and a diamond flask allows for at least 95% of discharges to crit so this tree gets plenty of crit multi to scale that damage. The 26% aura effect is for an additional max res on a level 20 purity.

The dagger crit nodes (Nightstalker) were dropped intentionally because with the increased critical strikes gem and 6 power charges, I was getting around 75% crit on cyclone which is enough for a diamond flask to push above 93% . Screen shot of cyclone crit at 6 power charges in an enfeeble yellow map: http://i.imgur.com/JMlHY47.png


Variation 1 - crit multi, 20% aura effect
http://poeurl.com/Cxk
This version drops 6% aura effectiveness for when you get +1 socketed gems voidbringers and level 21 purities for a total of level 23 purities. Only 20% aura effectiveness is needed for an additional +1 max res on a level 23 purity (+5 max res).


Variation 2 - triple purities, 40+% aura effect; aka the *inspired by* Jeebie
http://poeurl.com/Et7
This version also requires +1 socketed gems voidbringers for level 23 purities. 40% aura effectiveness (remember intuitive leap) is enough for an additional +2 max res. There is also enough mana reservation reduction on the tree to run 3 purities on a level 4 enlighten (only level 3 is required due to +1 on the voidbringers) and discipline. A blasphemy curse could also be used instead of the 3rd purity, so there's room for creativity.

*I got a chance to play this expensive version of the build towards the end of Perandus, and the tree is just very slightly different from the original which is no longer linked. The conduit is optional (could be spent for more attack speed in the templar area instead); I just had fun playing in parties with conduit and triple +7 purities. Defensive page: http://i.imgur.com/Tb1KRuQ.png


Variation 3 - attack speed
http://poeurl.com/Cxn
This build gets a lot of attack speed to whirl around faster and to cyclone faster.


Variation 4 - more energy shield
http://poeurl.com/Cxp
If your gear has low es, the passive tree can be modified to compensate until your gear improves.

Unique jewels
Intuitive leap - this jewel is a big point-saver when used in the left-most jewel socket.

Energy from Within - this jewel converts the Melding wheel (in between witch and shadow) into very efficient es nodes.

**Inspired learning - this is an optional choice for the very top jewel slot, but I would not recommend it. A rare jewel could easily give me 10%+ attack speed or 25%+ crit multi instead.

The remaining 4 jewel sockets are big sources of dps for this build. The most important attributes for a jewel to have are critical strike multiplier for elemental skills, fire skills, cold skills, or lightning skills. This build does not do any cold damage with discharge, but increasing the crit multi of cold skills will still affect discharge because of discharge's keywords and the wording on the jewel mod.

The next most important jewel stat is attack speed, for daggers, for 1-handed melee weapons, and attack and cast speed. This stat is arguably more important because it's faster to get exp if you can move faster. I'm only listing it second because I've found attack speed to be easier to find than crit multi.

Example jewel:

Primary setup
*all gems listed in this section are better at 20 quality
These gem setups are listed in order from strongest to weakest in this section.

-6L without leech*
Cyclone (level 1**) - Cast on critical strike - Discharge - Increased Critical Strikes - Blade Vortex (level 1) - Increased Area of effect/Elemental focus/Concentrated Effect***

* Dropping leech maximizes dps, but a Vessel of Vinktar is needed for insurance against rare mobs with elemental reflect especially in parties.
** Certain gems that do physical damage are intentionally kept at level 1 in order to minimize physical reflect damage.
*** Elemental focus or Concentrated Effect can be swapped in for increased area of effect for when you need more damage i.e. bosses. Concentrated effect is stronger, but the drawback is the decreased aoe of everything.

-6L with leech
Cyclone (level 1*) - Cast on critical strike - Discharge - Increased Critical Strikes - Blade Vortex (level 1) - Life Leech (level and quality don't matter with vaal pact)

-5L without leech
Cyclone - Cast on critical strike - Discharge - Increased Critical Strikes - Blade Vortex

-5L with leech
Cyclone - Cast on critical strike - Discharge - Blade Vortex - Life Leech

I personally recommend the 5L without leech (with a Vessel of Vinktar) as the most budget version that can clear the most content both in SC and HC. I say this because it's cheaper to buy a Vessel of Vinktar than to upgrade a 5L into a 6L.

I do not include any variations without blade vortex because having multiple stacks of blade vortex (instead of only 1 or 2 when linked with cast when damage taken) is necessary for generating adequate power charges on single targets.


important gem links
Enlighten (level 2+) - Purity of Lightning - Purity of Fire - Discipline

Cast when damage taken (level 2) - Immortal call (level 4)
*Increased duration (gem) can be used here, but it's optional. A level 20, 20 quality increased duration only gives 74% increased skill effect duration while 1 additional endurance charge increases immortal call's duration by over 100%, so the increased duration gem isn't that effective comparatively.

Cast when damage taken (level 1) - Warlord's mark (level 5 or less) - flesh/bone offering (low level)
*The 2% life leech from Warlord's mark is what makes the leechless version of the build not suicidal (see reflect calculation).
*the flesh or bone offering is just a quality of life addition to remove corpses.


the rest of the gem links
whirling blades - faster attacks - fortify

Vaal haste - vaal discipline - increased duration

Flame dash

Reflect is generally 15% of damage dealt. I'll be doing this calculation for level 20 purities (+4 resist) with +1 additional max res from having over 25% aura effectiveness on the passive tree. The alchemist nodes are also factored in for a total of +7% max res from flasks.

Reflected damage can be calculated by: Damage*0.15*(1-resist) = Damage*Leech.

If resist is at 87% from the purities and flasks, the amount of leech needed in order to neutalize reflected damage is 1.95%. This is what makes this build somewhat safe to do without the leech gem because the 2% leech from Warlord's Mark exceeds 1.95%. I still use a Vessel of Vinktar however for instances of curse immunity.

Leveling should not be done as CI especially in hardcore. An example leveling tree might look something like this http://poeurl.com/Cxr (I'm sure you can do better). A tree like that would level with bladefall since bladefall shares dps passive nodes with discharge. Be prepared to spend regrets speccing into the final build.

- Cast on Critical Strike can only use attacks (i.e. cyclone, barrage, split arrow, etc.) to trigger supported spells, so something like arc or blade vortex cannot be used to trigger discharge.
- Blade vortex is never self-cast in any gem link variation because the mana pool on this build is very low after equipping Voll's Protector and reserving for 3 auras. Additionally, voidbringers would increase the mana cose of blade vortex further.
- Methods of generating charged on-kill, for example the Overcharged notable (behind Conduit), Warlord's Mark, Ice bite, etc., are too slow for this build. The reason this build does a lot of damage is because plenty of charges can be generated before monsters die.
- Cold to spells is never going to hurt the build (other than taking up a prefix spot). When a monster is EE'd with fire and lightning, which are the damage types discharge does in the build, monsters are at +25% fire res, -50% cold res, +25% lightning res. When the EE is fire, cold, and lightning, the resistance spread is +25% fire res, +25% cold res, +25% lightning res. The only difference is the cold resistance which this build doesn't care about at all; AND this is only for cases when discharge hits twice in a row which hardly happens because cyclone needs to hit (and thereby reapplying cold EE) inbetween each cast of discharge.
- I have not had an issue with curse immune maps while playing solo/in small parties. Using a Vessel of Vinktar's is enough to handle reflect.
- CoC discharge also happens to be pretty good at running the labyrinth. Final labyrinth rankings 24 hours after reset: http://i.imgur.com/MTFwd3e.png
- I don't recommend the lightning leech craft for daggers (0.2%) from Catarina because it felt very underwhelming due to how low the number is. If you want to experience 0.2% lightning leech yourself, you can buy a Doryani's Invitation with 0.2% lightning leech on it.
- Here's what I have for the build in 2.3 https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1702712 . Some of the stuff is just testing, i.e. the 0.2% lightning leech - conclusion: it's not good.