(HC/SC) Facebreaker + Cyclone - Fists of Fury Duelist [Videos Included]

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAAdwB5wJxBLMFLQx9Dq0QfxQgFE0WbxjbGS4aOBpVG_odFCFgJKol3yftKaUwdTIJNug26TrYQKBDnEd-TdhQR1BQVElVxlcNWGNYr1nzXz9gS2EhZKNlTWaebmlwu3KpdO108XrvfNmBb4M4hNmE74x2jM-PRpBVmSuazJ2AnjyezaIApBmnCKcwp4SrxayqrLq4k7ndvYG-p8APwBrGnsbYz2XQ0NIh0k3Uj9lh4dri6uNq51LsOO8O707vfPAf8i_z3fZI9tr3vvrS

Note the tree is tuned for my gear/play. This skill build is very flexible and there are numerous offensive/defensive nodes you can adjust to suit your tastes. There are so many available options accessible to you.

On being a facebreaker build:
You will do mostly physical damage and some converted elemental damage. Forget about shock stacking with static blows.

You have zero critical chance, so take resolute technique. Criticals are for weapon users only.

You have equipment restrictions. No weapon means no whirling blades or leap slam or shield charge; lightning warp is your only viable travel skill. Your chest is your only 6L area so Kaoms cannot be used even if you have one. Your belt and glove slots are fixed. You have very limited skill slots on your glove/helm/boots/offhand to fit in the skills you want (so don't use a quiver).

This is a very gear-dependent build, especially if you want to push the dps limit. Please do understand however that the build does NOT have to be costly and is quite enjoyable/viable at much lower dps levels than listed (4k is fine and indeed much safer). I am just pushing dps because i want to see how far I can take this build.

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On Movement speed:
Slow movement speeds mean you hit more and increase your damage output.

Fast movement speeds mean you hit less, but are more mobile. I found using Haste will increase tooltip dps but lower actual damage output slightly.

Either style is fine. I prefer to be mobile and run with 24% movement speed under Haste.

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On Abyssus:
If this is not a facebreaker build item, I don't know what is. Prepare ahead before getting it though. The helm gives a massive dps boost but you will be forced to upgrade your defenses. My old Daresso's couldn't cut it any more since I needed massive amounts of armor to compensate (thank you Texazon for selling me the lovely shield). Lionseye remorse shield should work for most people in the offhand slot.

If you are HC, Abyssus is not recommended. Any other helm will make you 40% extra tankier.

Another side effect of this wicked helm is that your 3L Infernal blow will probably have higher dps than most non-Abyssus 5L facebreaker builds.

Note this helm is not necessary for the build. The helm itself is not expensive so far as endgame items go (because it's completely worthless to everyone else), but upgrading your defenses to complement it can be.

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On Carcass Jack and Cyclone range:
Thank you to rakis for selling me the nice Carcass Jack base, which I promptly linked into a 6L (thankfully under 60 fusings) and colored with 3 off-colors (thankfully under 200 chromatics). A lot of stars aligned that day.

As the Increased/Reduced modifiers are additive, the -30% range from Concentrated Effect is effectively negated by the +20% from Carcass Jack and +12% from the Amplify passive. A 20% quality Cyclone gem will yield a further 20% increase.

Try to keep your radius to >= 100% of normal Cyclone. In other words, do not use ConcEffect support unless you can negate the radius penalty, or your net output will suffer.

Note CarcassJack is not necessary for the build. Get it mainly if you want to use ConcEffect.

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On Vaal:
Vaal will never able to smash you because if you orbit closely around him (like smallest radius possible without stopping), he cannot target lock you and his smash attack will never trigger. Take advantage of the ability of Cyclone to pass through him. His lasers are a bit trickier (assuming you're in a group and he's firing at others) but normally he won't aim at you if you're on top of him and you can easily cyclone/hover on the opposite side to where he's aiming.

Do not ever run away from Vaal unless it is to kill his summoned minions. The safest place to be is right on top of him because he can't hit himself.

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On Chaos Inoculation:
Low life will leave you very susceptible to status effects, and you have very little spare equipment slots to waste on Dream fragment/Chayula/Dreamlust (wolf helm is the only useful exception). Not recommended at all as defense is critical and you don't want to get stopped by frozen.

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On getting your 6L (and cyclone cost):
Blood magic is essential. Cyclone is notoriously resource-expensive and almost impossible to support on mana regen alone. Leech will not work well because you will whirl through air a lot when repositioning.

Blood magic passive is fine... until you realize you want to run auras.

Cyclone becomes insanely expensive when you link it up in a 6L. Use reduced mana passives, reduced mana support, quality gems (in the case of ConcEffect), or low cost supports to help control the cyclone cost.

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On whirling so you don't kill yourself on blood magic (kinda related to 6L topic):
You can click and hold cyclone to drag yourself to where you want to go. Apparently the cost is dependent on how far your cursor is away from your spinning body.. so hold your cursor further away if you don't want to kill yourself spinning.

Over 200 blood cost is too much! May kill yourself whirling if you're not careful.
At about 190 it starts to become bearable.
At about 160 it is comfortable.
At 133 currently. Will not invest further into reduced mana nodes.

In my opinion, it is worth it to actively try to reduce the blood cost. Unlike other skills, cyclone requires an almost constant expenditure of resources. Reducing the blood cost will effectively mean less life degeneration and better defenses.

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On your worst enemy (why you need a single-target attack skill):
No it's not lightning thorns any more.

It's those infinite number of tiny impassable objects on the ground, sticking out of the wall, etc. which stop your cyclone. You cyclone through what looks like a clear area and nothing can stop you... except the table in the middle of the room. These inconspicuous objects also trigger a lot of desync and may be dangerous if you are not paying attention.

Please always have a single-attack skill available and attack something with it if you suspect you're desynced. Or warp once and see where you end up.

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On Physical Reflect, Elemental Reflect, and Lightning Thorns:
If you have 3k dps, you will not notice anything at all.

Reflect is slightly problematic at over 10k dps, but not fatal

Lightning thorns hasn't been much of an issue since the nerf, especially since facebreaker cyclone builds typically have low attacks per second compared to weapon cyclone builds or other bow/caster builds. You still have to be careful though; thorns can be deadly in some situations where it is allowed to accumulate (e.g., invulnerable aura + thorns, or loot camouflage). I still think we're relatively better off than most other AoE builds when it comes to dealing with thorns.

Offense:
For me, Haste adds about 800dps. Currently debating whether i want to keep this or not. I may cut this to save skill nodes in the future.

The only significant dps increases are probably going to come from leveling up the rest of my skill gems or adding quality to them.

I may get slightly better pieces of jewelry, but I don't expect much of a dps boost from them.

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Defense:
Enduring Cry might be a solution to my defensive woes against reflect. I'm thinking I'd want this on blood magic though. How else would I deal with zero regen maps?

Molten Shell is out again because I took off a mana reservation node. I can use Molten Shell still, but only if I don't run Haste.

Want more hp nodes. Would also like to overcap resists by 40% as a long term goal.

Improve block if I can spare any skill nodes. I can deal with physical damage reasonably well now though, so this is not high on the priority list.

Chaos resist is not an issue. I'll take it on my amulet or rings if I can get equivalents, but it's a luxury stat I can live without since I move fast enough to deal with most chaos types.

At over 10k dps, reflect is an issue right now. It's not fatal, but it is VERY uncomfortable. I actually went over 12k with Haste, but had to tweak skill nodes and remove Haste to lower my dps because of reflect.

Getting Vitality to replace Haste may be possible, but I consider this a flawed solution because of zero-regen map modifiers. Similarly with Warlord's Mark; what would you do against curse-resistant packs?

Compared to other builds, we will still survive where they may die. We do a mix of approximately 60% physical damage and 40% elemental damage, so a single type of reflect will never hurt us as much as pure builds. Our damage output is also very steady (because we do not crit) so you can monitor your health globe condition better and react. I firmly believe we will have higher sustainable dps than most other pure builds when we build properly.

I dare not go higher on dps until I figure out a solution. I do have something in mind, but it's a gear based solution so I can't test it until I acquire certain pieces.

tree
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAAdwB5wSzBS0MfQ6tEH8UIBRNFHEWbxjbGS4ZhRo4G_odFCFgJKol3yftKaUyCTboNuk62ECgQapDnEd-TdhN41BHUFBUSVXGWGNYr1nzXz9gS2EhZU1mnm5pcLtyqXTtdPF4DXrvfLt82YM4hNmE74x2jM-PRpBVmSueuaIApBmnCKcwp4SpbqvFrFmsqrXyuJO53b2Bvoq-p8AaxYrGnsbYz2XQ0NSP4urjaudS7DjvDu9O73zwH_Iv8932SPba9zL3vvjr-tL-jw==

gear