[0.10.0] HP/ES Spork Shadow Battle Mage (Twinkle twinkle deadly Sparks!) [Videos included]

Phew almost died to vaal.

Not sure what I am doing wrong but I dont seem to be doing a lot of damage to him D:

I already have minion life on my zombies. Both that and my skeletons die sorta quickly.

I have followed the build up to this point (level 27).

530 life/62 ES and 147 armour.

Maybe I should get some more armour and grind a bit in the totems area because its too easy.

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Tagek wrote:

Awesome guide Mr. Invalesco!

I have a question though:

Do you have any recommendations for leveling up Clarity?
Currently I feel it takes so much mana away, I might as well not use it (I'm 31 and the gem is at lvl 5).
Also, at what (character) level did you start using clarity with this build?


Regardless, thanks for the build, it's working out great!

Dunno about the overall recommendation, but I keep my clarity at 5, which reserves 140 mana. If you have really bad gear with no mana stats, then most likely the only aura you will keep up is clarity and you'll need to chain pot. Once you get more +int and mana regen passives, it will be a lot better. I'm 55 now and I can almost kill a champion pack without using more than 1 pot.

Currently I try to make 1 spork witch and in the end i would like to have following facility.

- HP/ES for Defensive
- Spork for main damage skill
- Single totem freezing spear for freeze support/defensive
- Double curse for more damage/control
- High cri chance for more shock/freeze

Now at level 20 and confusing what to do next.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAuMHYwelCPQRLSycSbJXK2KsdhF5A3yDghCLeo6-ksGhbcBUwbTfsOTs5oE=

I think I will go north east to grab Doom cast and then go downward to shadow area to get more cri node including "metal aculty" and "spell power" also grab some life node along the way.

After that go north west aiming for "Blood thirst" for more cri as well as life node near by (divine toughness). Then going north for double curse.

Finally go west to templar area for more cri (Arcane potenct), Elementalist, some more life then body and soul cluster.

What do you guys think about this idea? Any improvement or any path to make this build better?

Can someone explain Clarity to me? It seems to be very counter-productive. It reduces my mana to a point where I can only cast Spark 1 maybe 2 times, then I have to wait for mana to regen. If I do not use it, I can cast it several times more and pop a mana potion to keep going, as enemies die, potions come back and I carry on just fine. I understand it increases mana regen, but it just does not seem enough to justify the huge reserve. Perhaps I just do not have enough mana and as I start taking more Int nodes this problem will just disappear. I should say I am only level 17 so far, so perhaps that has a lot to do with it since I do not have enough passives to make it worthwhile, or perhaps it is just a gear issue and I need more Int/mana regen on my armor that I just do not have yet.

Would it be worthwhile at such a low level to take a good look at my gear and try to get some better pieces or just carry on for a bit without using Clarity? Either way, what should I look for on armor or when does Clarity become useful?

I was wondering, is any of the 2 totem combinations you listed superior or is it a matter of preference?

-Tagek

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Tagek wrote:

I was wondering, is any of the 2 totem combinations you listed superior or is it a matter of preference?

-Tagek

Matter of preference. Arc totem can be placed further away from the mobs so it grants your totem a little bit more safety. Because Arc also has an implicit chance to shock, it's quite a good ability if you intend to use your totem as a support. Spork Totem will have to be placed closer to the mobs in order to be effective and will probably be destroyed faster.

I see, thanks!

While you're here anyway (assuming you still are),
could you answer this for me:

What level should I keep clarity at? Mine is lvl 6 right now (im lvl 47).

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Tagek wrote:

I see, thanks!

While you're here anyway (assuming you still are),
could you answer this for me:

What level should I keep clarity at? Mine is lvl 6 right now (im lvl 47).

It really depends. I usually like to have at leas 50-60% of my mana pool still available after clarity and discipline have been taken into account. Keeping clarity and level 5 or 6 is of course the safest option, but if you feel like your mana pool can take the hit, by all means continue to level it, just judge for yourself and don't go overboard with it

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Invalesco wrote:

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Tagek wrote:

I see, thanks!

While you're here anyway (assuming you still are),
could you answer this for me:

What level should I keep clarity at? Mine is lvl 6 right now (im lvl 47).

It really depends. I usually like to have at leas 50-60% of my mana pool still available after clarity and discipline have been taken into account. Keeping clarity and level 5 or 6 is of course the safest option, but if you feel like your mana pool can take the hit, by all means continue to level it, just judge for yourself and don't go overboard with it

Pretty much this, I have clarity at 5 and I've leveled discipline every time it's been available so far. Hovering at roughly 50% mana after reserves let's me drop a totem, cast a conductivity and spam freezing pulse a good # of times and most things are dead before I need to pot.

Hey, I want to try this build with CI but as far as I know, CI isn't viable until merciless.. So do I skill just like you recommend it for HP/ES and just respec the hp nodes later on or should I take a (slightly?) different path from the beginning?