[3.01] [HC] Dark Pact Slayer (tanky, low cost, self cast dark pact)

also what about Annihilation and the +crit nodes in the northern part of the tree? do you think they may be worth it?

5m0k1n: Have not tried the kaom's rings, got many other ways to get additional regen so I do not think you would want to use a ring slot for that. As far as Annihilation I get it on the crit version but on the non-crit you will find cast speed/spell power are better.

Recently got the crit version to lvl 93 (Died shortly after to something careless XD) but I feel the damage is still lacking to reach the goal I was after (pushing the build enough to kill breachlords/guardians/shaper consistently). Damage for maps up to tier 15 was quite solid for under 100c but for bosses it would require easily over 30ex investment which is not easily accomplished in HC league (as it is temporary and early deaths can cause setbacks). Will post the framework and some videoes for what I was looking at though, maybe someone will see some places for improvement that can be used for the next league :).

Added Xoph, Tul and Minotaur videos (Minotaur was extremely rippy, absolutely requires more gear to run safely XD). Added Crit Version framework as well.

Adding Non-Crit videos for Forge of the Phoenix and Maze of the Minotaur, both just blue maps, I did not want anyone to feel left out if they do want to eventually build toward farming Guardians so it will give a solid idea of what to expect before you attempt the fight. Please note I made some minor changes to the skill tree for these fights and I found a carnage heart recently so started trying that out as someone suggested in a previous post, tough to say which change is having more impact but life recovery feels smoother. The damage is noticeably lower than the crit version but it is easy to see how much more tanky the non-crit version is on Minotaur, very few close calls and you can tank charge fairly easily if you get unlucky.. with a bit more damage should be an easy fight to put on farm :D. Phoenix was more tricky because of the fire debuff stacks over time and is more dangerous overall, probably should bring a ruby flask if you decide that it is something you would like to farm as well. I did try Hydra and Chimera a couple days ago, Hydra is generally annoying and takes quite a long time to kill. Chimera was fairly easy except for snake add phase, that seemed to do quite a bit of damage. Would have to look into what exactly was doing the damage though (if it was poison, phys or just high chaos damage).

Feel like trying something else out for a bit, probably going to be either an ignite build, fireball or glacial hammer :), still have to PoB one of those up.

Update: Really not seeing anything interesting for these builds so might just see try to do some more bosses with Non-Crit version with a bit more currency added (Probably go for Astramentis amulet, Repentance gloves, Carcass Jack chest (unless I can find something stronger)). Hopefully can still stay relatively budget.

Update #2: Buddy of mine actually gave me a great idea for a Poison Darkpact build (Self-Cast, Non-crit). At first I did not think much about it but after checking some numbers in Path of Building it looks really strong and will not have to use Repentance gloves. Unfortunately it will be on another ascendancy, will still link to this one once I get a character leveled up :)

Here is the PoB for the current build I am attempting https://pastebin.com/6t6XRcjM. It is not cheap unfortunately (Chest cost about 600c alone). Let me know if you see anything that stands out, so far highest map I tried it on was tier 11 and everything went very smooth. Not sure if I want to give up Breath of the Council because of the shield charge/fortify, maybe it does not really need it with the reasonably high evade/Life+MoM. Apep is absolutely the highest dps, if you use one you lose the ability to fortify with shield charge and trying to dual wield those in HC seems very risky even with vaal pact :x.

Update #1: Tried a couple guardians with this version, while flasks were up it would melt bosses reasonably fast, tried it on Minotaur and Hydra. The second flask charges were gone things went to shit in the worst way XD. Single target leech was a huge reason for this, I do not know if guardians reduce the warlords mark 2% hp/mana leech but I also had the 0.4% hp/mana leech on boots. Literally doing more damage to myself through dark pact than the boss, losing a bit each cast even with vaal pact (Around 6-7 casts a second so it adds up). While Atziri's flask was up could easily leech to full just relied far to much on those charges. Non-crit DP Slayer is still the most stable of the 3 builds I have tried and feels like it has the most potential for everything prior to shaper (damage may just not get high enough to do shaper or would take so long that the room would be covered in the black vortex's).

Innovation for Non-Crit version: Recently I was thinking about how I could either make the build have even higher hp or damage. Initially I started thinking about mixing in MoM as it is the flavor of the league at the moment but when I tested it the rate of mana leech was just to low. After that felt I should see if I can apply Warlord's Mark in a different way and I discovered that in a lvl 1 Cast on damage taken-Warlord's Mark it was activating more than enough (uptime is almost as much as blasphemy). Tested it out in a Tier 16 Maze of the Minotaur and it worked perfectly. With that being possible that means Blood magic and the nodes behind it can be picked up for an additional 35% life (which also will boost damage/hp regen significantly). Will have to see how this changes tree, needless to say will have to update the original post once it is all worked out. More than enough room to have lvl 1 Cast on damage taken + Warlords Mark + Immortal Call + Increased Duration on a 4L.

Currently remaking leveling guide to consider any potential changes. Focusing on Non-Crit version only now as I feel it is the strongest of each version I tried. Once I hit 70 will show some video's of build using only a 5L chest and eventually guardians :D.

Update #1: Just hit 61 and got cruel lab done. Taking the time to update leveling guide as I go. Let me know if you see anything else that needs correcting.

Just got Act 10 Kitava down solo at lvl 70, was actually fairly easy just took a couple of portals due to flasks not filling fast enough. Updated leveling guide for this area.