[0.10.0] Claw Witch - We can rebuild her, We have the technology!

Scrangos posted a dual dagger/crit witch build a while back which bears strong resemblance to some of the builds we've been looking at. Again it is a 100 point theorycraft, but it's different enough (yet works towards the same general purpose) that I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention: 0.10.0 Scrangos' CI DW Dagger Crit Witch Theorycrafted

Scrangos' thread has gotten a good amount of discussion, and can be found here: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/79370 - Hopefully we can glean some more information that we can apply to our claw witches there! He is, after all, one of the first people to pop in here and give advice on this subject! :D

In addition, the reason I made this a double-post instead of simply an edit to my previous post is to bring attention to the fact that post 1 of this discussion is undergoing updates and restructuring as I add new information to it. Please be aware that it may change between visits to the thread! I am also adding links to all the builds that have been posted so far, with proper credit being given. :3

Update: Main post reconstruction is done for the day. Enjoy! :3

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KittenyKat wrote:

Flicker strike might be useful for getting yourself out of (or into) trouble. :3

Update: I found the answer answer to one of my questions in my previous post, 'About when should one consider getting CI', while reading the thread 'The Summoner's Compendium'. According to the OP, the best time to buy CI isn't until you have AT LEAST 2500 Energy Shield. Even then, it's probably best to hold out on getting it until you reach Merciless, by which point Chaos damage will actually start becoming a more serious hassle.

Caster witches (and old school CI) was pure pure CI so you can probably consider that to be 2500 effective shield. If you mitigate half damage through armor or evasion then 1250 would be 2500 effective shield too.

That said, your mitigation against elemental doesnt matter from your armor main defense so ES is pretty beastly against elements and halving your ES would put you in a delicate situation against spells if you go CI.

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KittenyKat wrote:

I notice in the 37 point build you haven't taken any claw damage boosts yet. Any particular reason? Just not enough Dex to wear the claws you want?

Yes, because the build would be too squishy. I don't - and wouldn't recommend - picking up offensive nodes until much later when you have a proper defensive foundation.

I also want to say that I'm not playing this build at the moment, I'm waiting until I get some twink gear. I might even wait until AOE skills for claws are released because 1 on 1 combat all the way to end-game will be very slow.

Hey there, nice post !

Well, i'm also building a Claw Witch, here was my first try : http://bit.ly/WzHP37

But after rethinking about it, here is a second guess with 68 points : http://bit.ly/XVSWjD.
This one would have :

Max Mana : 28% (+20)
Mana regeneration : 60%
Max ES : 153%
2% Physical to Mana
Resistance : 20%
Evasion : 84%
Mouvement Speed : 4%
Dual Wield block : 4%
Life Leech : 4%
Additionnal Frenzy Charge : 1
Frenzy duration : 18%

- Physical Dmg : 92%
- Accuracy : 16%
- Attack Speed : 28%
- Critique Chance : 170%
- Critique Multi : 20%

Not sure if those stats are fine for 68 points spent...

As the used skills, i'd say :
- Double Strike
- Frenzy
- Blood rage
- Whirling Blades/Lighting Strike/Etheral Knives
- Hatred
- Grace
- Temporal Chains/Warlod's Mark

I wanted to go for Vaal Pact, but it seems like it wouldnt be any usefull with a massive ES.
Then, there are some nices damages nodes, to take near the Iron Reflexe, would be a good option for more survavibility as well.

Hey there, got redirected here by the post of kitteny kat in the CI dagger thread and decided to take a peek here.

Currently at work so I only have my limited lunch time to look at things, so I looked only at govaguy's build atm as it is similar to my current dagger witch build. I only noticed 1 thing thats weird though, is there a specific reason to spend 3 points to get to "Mental Acquity" at the shadow tree? If aiming for crit, those 3 points are better spent at 3 crit nodes and 1 blood thirst node (for a total of 75% crit chance) at the nodes across the claw area with "Eagle Talons". You would only lose 30 int (no real biggy) and 10 str (which can be gotten from gear) for 45% more crit. Or better yet, spend those 3 points on the 3 "8% to 1 hand melee weapon damage" nodes on the bottom left side of "Acceleration", considering there isnt much crit damage modifier in the build.

Other than that, its pretty much the claw version of a similar dagger build i made. Will read the rest of the thread when i get back from work later today.

Hey all!

I've been building a claw witch myself, though as my first ever character for this game, so I'm slightly nuts cos I have no prior experience or nice items, heh.

Still, this thread gives me some confidence for the build since others are doing it too.

My current build (level 31 I think):
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBVytUrn3SIvRrF20ZO-Hi96crbAsNjRzcf8bBxewYw20Rlo_6DkinNOOEiGu29xEv2-dHBl9qwuy0xUBVb1cMjQ1JKwo=

Where I'm thinking of ending up:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBVytUrn3SIvRrF20ZO-Hi96crbAsNjRzcf8bBxewYw20Rlo_6DkinNOOEiGu29xEv2-dHBl9qwuy0xUBVb1cMjQ1JKwqZmutjwQDbGhB79Uu-Oiy_u9YRUIt6h9uT_K7P6461SBa_jjwXVCKB37CCEJp4rR7dSO-g7XZqfhX91gdnHvPqcFJw1V3yQsPfhHWK1AVPv0NUHdk=

From there I can get more claw DPS from the shadow area, Spell damage from witch, or some energy shield or evasion.

I've noticed though that everyone has gone pure claw, whereas I am planning on grabbing some ice stuff. Reason being for the chill and frozen, more CC means I get hit less! Plus more AoE damage.(not sure how well this will work high end, but worth a try :) )


So far its great vs slow powerful melee and hordes of melee guys, can dance rings round the slow powerful types (like the rolling golems and bear things) and lay waste to hordes of melee with cold snap/freezing pulse + whirling blades through them.

hordes of archers are a serious threat though, and I mostly try to weaken the group by using ice spear with a fork gem + whirling blades to keep moving/avoiding shots, then close with whirling blades to finish off the last couple of archers.

current skills: viper strike, whirling blades, freezing pulse, cold snap, ice spear, frostbite, clarity and ice nova.

using clarity atm for the mana regen, allows me to spam freezing pulse and whirling blades almost non-stop, will probably either add or replace (depending on if I need the regen) it with discipline once i find it.

I don't use ice nova anymore cos its too dangerous, heh.

From reading this thread, I'm thinking I should replace viper strike with double strike once I get some more claw damage, and from the dagger thread, pick up blood rage once I find it.

I'm also thinking that arctic breath will be a great replacement for frozen pulse/ice spear once I get that, the ground ice effect should work nicely with the whirling blades all over the place.


What do the more experienced players in here think?

Hello Koiju, the 3 points you put in ice damage are not a real big deal, if you like to spell ice spells, go for it, it won't hurt you :P
But i'm not understanding something, at the begining of your tree, why don't you go straight to Deep Wisdom through the mana nodes instead of taking the dex and int nodes ? That way you would also be able to take the two ES nodes that are missing for less investment don't you ?

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KinderH wrote:

Hello Koiju, the 3 points you put in ice damage are not a real big deal, if you like to spell ice spells, go for it, it won't hurt you :P
But i'm not understanding something, at the begining of your tree, why don't you go straight to Deep Wisdom through the mana nodes instead of taking the dex and int nodes ? That way you would also be able to take the two ES nodes that are missing for less investment don't you ?

That was cos I was rushing to ghost reaver and the mana leech right off the bat thinking they'd be really important without realising just how important pumping my shield was, heh.
I'll be respeccing those nodes out at some point I suspect.

Thanks for the imput though, why do you say they arnt that important (the ice damage) wiki said that freeze and chill durations was based off of damage delt and they seem a decent damage boost (particularly the +18%) is there some reason this isnt needed? will the ice spells always do good damage even without these nodes?

I was going to do something much similar except I was going to go CI + Blood Rage + Flickerstrike + Big Honking Axe.

Partially for aesthetics, I think the tiny girl with the big honking 2hand axe would be fun, and partially because Flickerstrike uses frenzy charges to use and blood rage gives frenzy charges only when it kills things, I figured I wanted to do damage in large blocks rather than lots of smaller attacks.

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Koiju wrote:

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KinderH wrote:

Hello Koiju, the 3 points you put in ice damage are not a real big deal, if you like to spell ice spells, go for it, it won't hurt you :P
But i'm not understanding something, at the begining of your tree, why don't you go straight to Deep Wisdom through the mana nodes instead of taking the dex and int nodes ? That way you would also be able to take the two ES nodes that are missing for less investment don't you ?

That was cos I was rushing to ghost reaver and the mana leech right off the bat thinking they'd be really important without realising just how important pumping my shield was, heh.
I'll be respeccing those nodes out at some point I suspect.

Thanks for the imput though, why do you say they arnt that important (the ice damage) wiki said that freeze and chill durations was based off of damage delt and they seem a decent damage boost (particularly the +18%) is there some reason this isnt needed? will the ice spells always do good damage even without these nodes?

Yes but if you use the hatred aura, i think your chill/freez will last longer since the frost damage done are based on your physical damages.
In that type of build you will obviously deal more physical damages than any magical, so 18% of less magical will be less intersting than 18% of physical that have bigger base value.
Or am i wrong in my maths ?