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CHARACTER : PMSISNOTREAL
LVL 74 WITCH

SKILLS: DEVOURING TOTEM, BLOOD RAGE, ETHEREAL KNIVES, BEAR TRAP

AURAS: CLARITY, DISCIPLINE, GRACE, HATRED, VITALITY, PURITY

DESCRIPTION: ABSURD DPS. CAST DEVOURING TOTEM , BLOOD RAGE , ETHEREAL KNIVES , EVERYTHING DIES. BEAR TRAP FOR BADDIES. EXCELS IN OPEN MAPS WITH LARGE PACKS. THE LARGER THE PACK THE MORE DPS DUE TO CHAIN. NEARLY 5K DPS WITH CHAIN LINKED TO ETHEREAL KNIVES.

KEYSTONES : INNER FORCE, ELDRITCH BATTERY.

DEFENSE: MAX RESISTS, HIGH LIFE, GRANITES ALWAYS UP, LIFE LEECH.

Introducing Hotpriest - The Crit Ground Slammer

The idea of this build is to use a staff with high physical damage and high local critical chance to deal very high Area of Effect damage with Ground Slam. Why a staff ? First, there's only 2 types of weapons that can be used with Ground Slam, Staves and Maces. Staves have higher local crit chance (6.5% to 6.68% vs 5% with 2h Maces). Staves also benefit from this very nice keystone for a crit build :

Serpent Stance (and 2 associated nods): 70% Increased global critical strikes chance while wielding a staff ; 40% Increased global critical strikes multiplier while wielding a staff

Class: The perfect class for this build is the templar because of his easy access to important passives/Keystone :

Amplify (and 2 associated nods): 20% increased Radius of Area Skills ; 8% increased Area damage

Blast Radius (and 3 associated nods): 20% increased Radius of Area Skills ; 12% increased Area damage

2xPrecision: 20% Accuracy + 40 Dexterity

Inner Force (and 2 associated nods): 30% increased Effect of Buffs on You

With some tweaks, the build could also work with the Witch or the Shadow but the templar is the most natural choice because of his quest rewards.

Passive tree explanations : Out of the 89 passives choices, 22 are used for increased Critical Strike Chances/Multiplier, 11 for str/life%, 7 for increased area radius/damage, 6 for increased Elemental/Physical damage, 5 for Energy Shield/Armor, 5 are mana related (mana regen, reduced mana cost, increased maximum mana and physical mana leech), 3 for Inner Force, 3 for Accuracy/Dex or Increased attack speed/Dex combo keystones. The remaining 27 passives are 10 attributes nods (24*int, 2*str, 1*dex) used to link all the other passives together.

Here's the link to my passives choices at level 75 : Crit Ground Slammer

Why bothers with accuracy/crit% when you could simply pick up Resolute Technique ?

Because it pays off !

At level 75, with Ground Slam, I'm dealing 8.5k dps against uncursed mobs with an accuracy rating of 1331 (or 85% chance to hit a level 63 monster). If my targets are cursed with critical weakness, the damage is more than doubled at 17.6k dps. With my favorite single target skill (Double Strike), I'm doing more than 12k dps against uncursed mobs and more than 25k dps against mobs cursed with critical weakness.

I estimate that a similarly equipped Resolute Technique Ground Slammer who invest 24 of his passive skills in increased physical damage instead of critical/accuracy would do about 5k dps with ground slam. Vulnerability (increased physical dmg by 32%), probably the best choice for a RT Ground Slammer who want to maximize damage, would boost that figure to 6.3k dps (assuming 80% physical dmg, 20% elemental dmg). Between 6.3k dps and 16.8k dps, there's quite a margin ! Enough to justify the existence of this build anyway !


Skills used:

Main skill : Ground Slam. Supported by Increased Critical Strikes, Increased Critical Damage, Melee Physical Damage and Faster Attack. With its increased area of effect (+40% from passives) - making it a range skill - and its ability to stun (35% increased stun threashold), it allows to sacrifice some defense for more offense. At 34 mana per cast, 1,78 attack speed and 8500 dps, it is also very efficient. It basically does 8500 damage for 60 mana, or 140 dmg per mana. Easily covered by mana leech and mana regen provided by passives.

Curse: Critical weakness. Explained above.

Totem: Spark totem. Supported by increased critical strikes and faster casting. Spark has a 6% based critical chance so it greatly benefits from 19 of the 22 passive skills invested in criticals. Also boosted by 6% cast speed from Prestigitation and +18% to elemental damage. Even though the damage on spark itself isn't too shabby, I use it mostly to distract mobs, shock targets and to kill physical reflect mobs.

Auras: Discipline, Anger, Wrath and Hatred. Discipline for a big defense boost. Anger, Wrath and Hatred for extra elemental damage. All 4 auras are boosted by 30% by Inner force. The elemental damage auras are boosted by +68% to elemental dmg from the passive tree. with more than 50% chance to crit, the elemental damage also inflict useful status ailment : Freeze, Burning and Shocks.

Single target damage skill: Double Strike. Supported by Increased Critical Strikes , Increased Critical Damage and Melee Physical Damage. 70% damage multiplier * 2 = 140%. Only Heavy Strike beats it with 150% damage multiplier. However, with more than 50% chance to crit, the first strike shock the target half the time, so the 2nd strike is doing an additional 40% damage half the time. So, in reality, it does 70%+70%*(1+0.40/2) = 154%. If the target isn't dead after 1 double strike, then the shock bonus is even stronger for the 3rd and 4th hits.

Minions: Zombies. They benefit from the 4 auras. Used mostly to distract ennemies. Especially useful against flicker strike monsters.

Mobility skills: Leap Slam (If I could link it with faster attack I would, but I'm lacking the socket) and Phase Run. Currently, I don't have Phase Run because I'm lacking the green socket required but I'm working on it.

My gear and skill set-up:



Offense:

With my main skill Ground Slam and my linked gear :

Attack per second : 1.62
Average physical damage : 745 (57%)
Average elemental damage : 559 (43%)
Accuracy Rating : 1331
Critical Strike Chance : 51.5%
Critical Strike Multiplier : 822%
DPS with a 85% chance to hit (Average level 63 monster) : 8469
Mana cost : 33
Total Mana : 619 (431 reserved / 188 available)

Defenses:

With so many points invested in Intelligence nods (24) and given the build playstyle (range), the natural choice for defense is energy shield. However, having an easy access to some nice armor/energy shield nods and having nice life nods on the way to key passives, I decided to go for life + energy shield/armor with a focus on life and energy shield. In term of defense, the build provide +100% life, +96 life, +44% armor, +111% energy shield, +15% energy shield cooldown recovery and 20% resists to all. In addition, it provides a 30% bonus to the discipline aura or +112 energy shield at gem level 18.

So, here are my defense stats :

2304 life, 1463 energy shield, 18% chance to block (from the Staff), 1631 armor, 355 evasion rating, 75% lightning resist, 45% cold resist, 65% fire resist, 9% increased stun/block recovery.

Overall, defensively, the build works pretty well. The only serious threat are physical reflect mobs.

Crit-Staff templar made me drool. Plz yootoob this!

Extremely high damage high es shadow : http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/55044 build is there, along with tactics and screenshots of the dps with certain gear (can go up to 167k on diamond flask if i use maligaros, crit multi gem instead of light pene, and a crit amulet, without flask the damage is 30somethingk) i usualy run around with the normal gear, 10k es and 80k on flask (penetration gem doesn't display any dps, so its higher than that), without flask the damage is 22k

this is surely the highest dps char this ladder, and possibly last ladder too, and the good part is, that it isnt a glass-cannon at all.

this is one of the builds that does work, and everyone told me its build of the week worthy, it is my original creation, i have seen many people complain that they are following builds of the week and theirs characters keep dying or not doing enough damage, i hope this one will help them

with this build you will have fun, you wont die, and you will do damage, the only vital gear you need is eye of chayula unique amulet, thats it, the rest is ele stuff, and es stuff.

Theres already a handful of people already following it and i haven't received any complaints yet, only good news.

I'd really like to see this build in there so people can see what is possible with the right gear and build.

DaggerNoCloak- Level 60 Ethereal Knives Critical Strike Shadow with Chaos Innoculation

Overview- This build doesn't tout the "super high awesome break your face" dps that others have achieved. This build and character just simply show what you can do with Ethereal Knives and this build with some decent gear. It involved no trading with any other people and all gear was obtained by myself.
DPS-2845.9, 3193 with 3 Frenzy charges.
Critical Strike Chance of EK- 28.5%
Critical Strike Damage- 360%
Energy Shield- 2810, 3954 with Discipline
Resists- F: 39%, C: 44%, L: 38%

Build- Here

Gear- Pretty much mostly defensive gear other then my 2 daggers which were a drop and a craft via an alchemy orb.


Flasks


Flask Choice Explanation
1&2- Granite Flasks with armor and charge recover on critical allow me to "tank" a bit more then just having plain Energy Shield. The charge on critical allows me to refill them quickly with my critical strike based build.
3- Diamond Flask with increased charge recovery and dispel frozen for when you really want some criticals and don't want to rely on RNG. Dispel Frozen is a good mod to have if you aren't using a unique to take care of the status effect. Increased Charge Recovery mod helps to get it full again.
4&5- Mana Flasks with Dispel Burning and Frozen for restoring mana. I am not currently using a Mana Leech support even though I would eventually like to be able to do so given the right links and socket combo. The dispels are just to cure more status effects. Would also rather them have the Surgeon's Prefix but ran out of alterations trying to make that happen(went through 6 stacks trying to get the #5 flask with the Surgeon's and another mod I liked).

Skills-
LMB- Ethereal Knives linked with Faster Projectiles, Added Fire Damage, Added Chaos Damage
MMB- Hatred(cold damage), Discipline, Clarity
RMB- Viper Strike linked with Faster Attacks and Increased Critical Damage
Left- Ice Spear
Left Middle- Vulnerability
Middle- Critical Weakness
Right Middle- Blood Rage
Right- Whirling Blades linked with Faster Attacks

Skill Explanation-
Curses- Mostly use Critical Weakness since this build is centered around critical strikes and critical strike damage. If movement is required I use Vulnerability for Viper Strike.
Ice Spear- Because sometimes you just need to range and snipe something not to mention higher critical strike chance on second form and chilling/freezing.(Thinking about supporting this with Elemental Proliferation as well)
Blood Rage- Frenzy Charge generation
Whirling Blades- Movement utility skill coupled with ability to deal damage while allowing user to escape. Linked with Faster Attacks to allow me to use it more frequently.
Viper Strike- Use it when there are only a couple mobs with low HP on the screen or I need to utilize a hit and run tactic. Also use it on Bosses to give me damage while I am casting Ethereal Knives at them as well. Faster Attacks helps me simply get more attacks in since I am not going for accuracy offsetting my lack of it by getting in more attacks. Critical Damage support for more initial damage.
Ethereal Knives- The sole reason for the existence of this character. Ethereal Knives scales well but has a high mana cost which is exacerbated with the addition of supports. I utilize Added Fire Damage and Hatred for damage increases in terms of elemental damage. Utilize Faster Projectiles to increase both the range/speed of the knives and the damage of the projectiles of Ethereal Knives. Also have an Added Chaos Damage support for even more damage but of the Chaos variety since there aren't many resistances to it. Would like to add Fork back to the skill as well as adding a Mana Leech if/when I get the correct 5/6L chest to support it. Also grouping mobs up helps the efficiency of this spell immensely.
Auras- Use Hatred which is the only aura that gives this skill more damage output as well as chilling and freezing along with shattering when they die. Use Discipline to increase my Energy Shield for defensive purposes. Use Clarity to give a bump in mana regen to help with the mana cost.

Game Play
Start out of course by getting Auras set up. Then simply run around finding packs of monsters and casting Ethereal Knives at them. Hit a mana pot when you know you are going to have to spam more then 2 or 3 casts so that you can keep spamming while the mana pot is refilling your mana pool so you utilize the "overflow". If mobs get close or you want to Viper Strike something use a Granite Flask or if there are archers nearby. Use Whirling Blades to both get into and out of range for Viper Strike and Ethereal Knives. If you absolutely must freeze a crowd this is where the Diamond Flask comes in but you can also use it to get bigger Viper Strike hits. Viper Strike is used to finish off the stragglers or mobs that tend to try and run away as well as bosses for extra damage while you fly around the map using Whirling Blades. As for curses use Critical Weakness when you are focusing on Ethereal Knives and use Vulnerability when you are going in for Viper Strike.

Alternatives or things I might change
I had toyed with the idea of not going Chaos Innoculation and instead going Pain Attunement and then using Blood Magic support on my Auras to keep me in the "Low Life" zone for the extra spell power increase.

Had also thought about getting Ghost Reaver and throwing a Life Leech support on Ethereal Knives as a way to increase survivability through regenerating my Energy Shield.

Would also be possible to skip the early points into Projectile Damage near the Shadow start on the skill tree in order to pick up more mana or critical strike/damage, spell power, and faster casting nodes. If I continue to level this character I may try doing just that. As it is unlearning the first Projectile Damage node is 80 DPS alone and increasing cast rate would increase the issue of mana.

Plans for future Investment in Skill Points
If I continue to level this character I will definately be grabbing more mana nodes near the Witch Starting area, namely the 40% mana regeneration node and possibly the other 20% regeneration node. I was using a rare Paua amulet for extra regen but swapped it out for the Gold Amulet I am currently wearing which had a slightly higher Faster Cast Rate mode and a % increase to Energy Shield.

Overall
Solid build which can clear through maps with little problem. Have already cleared through several maps with this character. Main issue is mana cost of Ethereal Knives once you add supports to it. Also find that Faster Projectiles is almost essential because of the damage and range(which helps with defensive aspect) it adds. Ethereal Knives has great scaling and I have been using it almost exclusively since you can first use it, which I believe is level 4. Ideally I would want daggers with the higher crit chance and global crit chance mods with high spell power mods but have as of yet not been able to achieve such daggers. Improving my weapons would help much considering I have been using the Imp Dagger since level 32 and just recently replaced the dagger I had been using since level 28 with the Slaughter Knife.

WTB new BotW! I think you owe us two!

when are going to have the next BotW?

The ESAI Build -> discussed in the following topic:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/63679

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/61726

here is my double totem ice spear triple curse build :D

this build is capable of clearing screens in matter of seconds regardless of how many mobs or what type of mobs, map mods, etc. with low gear requirements. More survivability, crowd control, party effectiveness, and DPS than any totem builds.

versatile, deadly, and safe.

Short description