[3.8] Champion of Agony | Cold Iron Point | Tank The World - First guide, be gentle!!
 Yo. This is my first attempt at any sort of build on my own and decided it was cool enough to share. I've not seen anything like it, but if it's out there lemme know!! I'd love more opinions on how to better optimize the gear or skills to better tackle harder difficulties. In this post I'll try and detail everything I can about this build and answer any questions you might have, if I can. I'm still fairly new to really playing PoE, despite being in since Beta. In this build you will be turned into a defensive Stat Stick whose sole purpose is to spin in a circle to get your Crawler Bro out and sniping fools. The build goes for the Fortitude Ascendancy as quickly as possible while also grabbing Steadfast and Rampart to fully utilize it. Many of the nodes we go for along the way are strictly defensive ones, either raising our life, evasion or blocking. There are no 'offensive nodes' taken unless needed. The Method to the Madness circle is taken only for Chaos Resistance purposes, making it much easier to max it out and have to worry less during those pesky fights. Reflective maps are no problem as we ourselves do little damage, and elemental reflect doesn't matter as we don't do elemental damage due to Cold Iron Point. Being unable to leech life doesn't matter as we have Life on Hit on Cyclone to sustain that, and mana is fine due to our Jewels in the talent tree that gives us Mana on Hit to help keep Cyclone up and running. Fertile Mind and Brute Force Solution help with the Intelligence and Strength requirements of gems and items and are necessary to balance the build.
Path of Building
PoB Stats
Playstyle
Spin2Win. You're the dude who dashes between packs and Cyclones, allowing you to summon Agony Crawler as you poison hapless monsters all over the place. He then mops up everything around you with ease. With capped high Life, Evasion, Resistances and lots of Movement Speed there's really very little to worry about so long as you're just a tad bit careful.
Your first instinct will be to dive right in the middle of a pack with Cyclone and start spinning in the hope of getting your Crawler Bro out as fast as possible. And you'd be correct!! But also not. I find it best to skim on just the outside of large packs and getting as many stacks of Virulence as I can. Agony Crawler can clear the packs at a distance and en masse, allowing you to to safely skirt the edge of danger. With Greater Multiple Projectiles Support and Pierce Support equipped, your Crawler can wipe entire screens in seconds. All in all I think what this build really shows is just how broken Herald of Agony really is.
Items and Gem Links
Weapons
The build focuses around these two items and the rings. Together the daggers they raise the Physical Spell gems on this list by +6. This effects Herald of Agony, Vulnerability, Stone Golem, Molten Shell and Dread/War Banner, among others. Links Dagger One: Cast When Damage Taken – Summon Stone Golem – Meat Shield Support Links Dagger Two: Convocation – Increased Duration Support – Dread Banner Rings The buff these rings give to Herald of Agony and Crawler Bro is stupid strong. But what's best is that it offers a myriad of defensive options, not the least which is the increased Chaos Resistance we get from having both of them on, easily reaching 40%. It makes capping that stupid resistance a lot easier. In fact, this was the item that really made it all click in my head when I first started to think on how to make myself tankier. Look ones that increase your life or evasion, and MAKE SURE that 'Agony Crawler Deals XX% Increased Damage' and 'Herald of Agony has XX% Increased Buff Effect'. Those are ESSENTIAL. Armor The Brine Crown is AMAZING. The huge amount of defensive options is astounding, but the REAL reason we take this is to never be Frozen. Being Frozen was the bane of my existence, especially when I was opening lockboxes on maps. While Frozen you don't spin and when you don't sin you don't gain life or mana. With this one item that problem is solved. This isn't a replaceable item either, it's either this or you fear Freezing and instantly popping to death. Another strategy to employ would be to get two of these helms and have the sockets on the spare be 2 Red, 1 Blue and 1 Green. That way you could fit Poacher's Mark in there and have that be your second Curse as opposed to Enfeeble. This will allow you to do those annoying No Regen maps and make them far easier to deal with. Just swap them in and out at your discretion. Links: Increased Area of Effect Support – Enfeeble - Increased Duration Support - Cast When Damage Taken This slot is...SORTA flexible. Skin of the Loyal is a good option as it raises all gems slotted by +1, which brings our Herald of Agony to +7 levels. It also raises Global Defense by 100%, which is perfect for our build. Links: Herald of Agony – Damage on Full Life Support – Minion Damage Support – Faster Attacks Support – Pierce Support – Greater Multiple Projectiles Support Windshriek is taken so we can add an additional curse to our enemies. It also hosts some bitchin' defensive options, and is a key component to never dying. But the key reason we have this is being allowed that second curse. This item will change your life. Getting Vulnerability and Enfeeble both makes clearing content so much easier. Get it as soon as you can, as there's really no substitute for it. Links: Dash - Increased Duration Support - Cast When Damage Taken Support (Level 1) – Molten Shell (Level 10) While the exact item isn't needed, the 'Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Poison' most definitely is. It's what allows the Cyclone a '5-Link' that lets it apply Poison and thus allowing Agony Crawler to appear and demolish everything in it's path. Get one with resistances and life if you can, but it can get expensive. Links: Cyclone - Vulnerability - Life Gain on Hit Support - Curse on Hit Support Your amulet and belt should cover any resistances you don't have capped. Look for any defensive options that might benefit you. Flasks are very flexible, as you can see by my own crap ones. One that removes Bleeding and one that has 'Immunity to Shock/Removes Shock' would serve your purposes just fine. A Quickening Flask is ideal popping right before opening a Lockbox, as it lets you evade everything and hopefully help you to safety as you Dash away.
Items/Gems to Keep In Mind
Cospri's Will: With this you could shuffle around some gems and fit in Poacher's Mark for your third Curse, effectively making you immortal. It also has desirable defensive stats, which is always a plus. Downside? Expensive as a 6-Link, and anything less would be a hit to your Crawler's DPS.
Empower: If you can get it then by all means see if you can fit it in. It would require only a singular Green Socket to be turned Red, but as we all know that is often easier said than done, especially on a 6-Link. The downside is the mana multiplier is huge and can often leave you with just a sliver of Mana. The Coming Calamity: Getting a 6-Linked one is gonna set you back a few Exalts, but it may well be worth it. It would allow you to use Herald of Purity as well with no drawback, though I probably wouldn't use on on the 6-Linked chest armor that has Herald of Agony. The Coming Calamity doesn't have Herald reserve mana, so instead of a Golem you could use Herald of Purity for added DPS.
Bandits
Kill them all.
Ascendancy
Normal: Unstoppable Hero
Cruel: Fortitude Merciless: First to Strike, Last to Fall Eternal: Inspirational
Pantheon
Major: Soul of Arakaali, upgraded at least with Spinner of False Hope. Shock is disruptive to us and must be diminished. Armala, The Widow giving you +25% Chaos Resistance against Damage Over Time is just icing on the cake.
Minor: Soul of Shakari, upgraded. Poison Immune? Yes please. Last edited by RykenPrime#4837 on Oct 1, 2019, 2:19:13 AM Last bumped on Oct 20, 2019, 3:45:23 AM
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How do you tank the world with just above 4k hp and no real regen or recovery? Sure some block, fortify, minor lgoh, and evasion but any kind of dot, spell hit or connecting attack would just melt this character :/
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