[HC] Janitor's Echoing Firestorm Marauder! [BM] [Lvl 90]

Incredibly high amount of life : Currently im sitting at over 10K HP. Although i use a Kaom's Heart, using a regular chest can bring you to over 8K easily!

High life means high life regen : In my gem setup i am not using a lifeleech gem since with such a high amount of regen, leech isn't as necessary as you might think.

Beginner friendly and easy to gear : To get started all you really need is a 4 link item and some spell damage / fire damage on some gear and that's it!

The Build benefits highly from upgrades : Like i said earlier the build isn't really gear dependent but it really starts to shine once you get some good rares and uniques like Searing Touch, Carcass Jack and ultimately Atziri's step and Kaom's Heart

Double Cursing! : The worst thing to kill with this build is fire resistant mobs. This is were double cursing them really helps your clear speed. You can achieve double curse with either the unique curse ring (Doedre's Damning), the unique Windscream boots or my favorite a corrupted amulet with +1 to curse :)

This is a hybrid range/melee build : When ever you encounter mobs you can either go in the middle and rain firestorm on you for easier targeting or you can stay afar and lay down the law on mobs that can be potentially dangerous. The versatility of this build is very strong.

Map mods flexibility : Since you are using blood magic, technically there is no map mods that you can't do. Although that doesn't mean you can do them all easily! The most dangerous / annoying would be no regen, minus max, fire resist mobs, enfeeble and elemental weakness.

No auras : Since we are running the blood magic keystone this character cannot run any auras. Although this build doesn't benefit that much from auras. The ones that would help are mainly : Grace, Determination , Purities and maybe Haste.

Somewhat low armor : With my current gear i am sitting at just under 4k armor. Since i can't run auras to help my armor, my armor value depends totally on my gear.

This build can lag yourself and others : In order to counteract the fps drop of using firestorm : you can opt to not use the mtx or to simply lower the graphics options. :(

In PoE knowing what gems and supports to use is crucial in order to be successful. I have listed in order of importance each support gems to use with each skill :

Firestorm : Conc Effect + Fire Pen + Faster Casting
For the last 2 links both Spell Echo and Iron Will are good. It really depends on if you want to spam more firestorms that do less damage or to spam less firestorms that do more damage each if you only have access to a 5 link! Another choice to maybe consider would be an Increased Duration gem that way the firestorm lasts longer.

Curses! : The 2 main curses i use are Elemental Weakness and Flammability. I support them with faster casting in order to cast both of them the quickest way possible. Also on tough boss fights, i weapon swap and cast Enfeeble instead of Flammability.

Movement Skill : In order to move around freely and hop over ledges and stuff, i use Leap Slam supported with Faster Attacks i then link Culling Strike and Item Rarity in a 4L but those are completely not necessary! Also in order to move around really fast, i can leap slam with a BrightBeak in my weapon swap instead of jumping around with my slow Searing Touch.

Cast when Damage taken Shenanigans : Like a lot of builds i use the 4 link combo of Cast when Damage Taken+Enduring Cry+Immortal Call+Increased Duration. I opt to leave cast when damage taken at level 5 in order to have it proc more often. This setup really helps negate the somewhat low amount of armor i currently have.

Other gems : Since i am running Kaom's Heart i am somewhat starved on gem sockets. So that's why in order to run Vaal Haste You could remove some gems in order to run other skills also be creative!. On my weapon swap i run Enfeeble+Portal Gem+Faster Casting. The rest is gems that i am trying to level.

Gems to Quality First : The most important is Firestorm since it makes the fireballs drop that much quicker, after that you want to quality Faster Casting + Iron Will + Elemental Weakness and finally Spell Echo and Fire Pen

After that if you have money to throw out the window, i guess you can quality up the rest of your gems but the benefit you get from them is really low.

The way to gear this character is pretty straightforward. All you need to get is life and resists for defenses. For offense you want spell damage/fire damage and cast speed. If you can't afford a Kaom's Heart a good chest piece with a wand and shield is a solid choice as well!
Like this one for example.

As far as Alternate Gear choices and upgrades go : i could get more armor and evasion on my gear, a legacy Kaom's Heart and perhaps the new unique staff Pledge of Hands but i haven't quite tested it so i am not 100% sure its good for this build (since you don't benefit from the mana bonus it gives at all). Also a lvl 21 firestorm would help immensely but the corruption of my lvl 20 failed horribly :(

Here is my Current tree at lvl 90 : http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEAAnEDxgSzBS0GDgn2FCAUTRRxFSAWbxiRGNsZLhmFGjgabB0UIWAj9iSqJy8n7SmlKk0s6TWSNuk64TwtPfw_J0CgSn1KyEz_TeNOKlBHVcZW-lcNWGNZ81pIW69fP1-YYEtj_WaeZ6BqHmwWbqpyu3TtdPF674M4g9uHdojxjM-PRpBVkc6ezaFtogCkrKZXpzCnhKgYrKqvbLXytz65zbyfwBrE9sWKxq7G2M5xz2XQ0NIh2WHdDd-_42rjn-4O7w7vfO_w8B_yL_JF8932SPrS_Ev8xf4K_o8=

Here would be the Tree at lvl 100 : http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEBAnEDxgSzBS0GDgn2FCAUTRRxFSAWbxiRGNsZLhmFGjgaPhpsHRQdviFgI_YkqicvJ-0pLimlKk0s6TWSNuk64TwtPfw_J0CgROdKLkp9SshM_03jTipQR1RJVcZW-lcNWGNZbVnzWkhbr18_X5hgS2P9Zp5noGoebBZuqnK7dO108XrvgziD24d2iPGMz49GkFWRzp7NoW2iAKSsplenMKeEp6WoGKyqr2y18rc-uUO5zbyfwBrEFcT2xYrGrsbYznHPZdDQ0iHZYd0N37_jauOf7g7vDu987_DwH_Iv8kXz3fZI-tL8S_zF_gr-jw==

As you can see all i get on the tree is life nodes and some damage nodes. The tree has a whopping 386% increased maximum life and at lvl 100 it would have 392%! That is why i said that achieving 8K life would be easy.

I am pretty sure the skill tree is optimized but if you find a better route, by all means tell me!

As for Bandits
Help Oak in normal (since we are a life build after all)
Kill all in cruel
Kill all in merciless or Help Oak for +1 endurance charge (personal preference)(i opted for the skill point)

Having 2 Instant pots are perfect gaining life quickly when you need it.

A Granite and a Quicksilver are always useful

Finally the new unique Atziri's Promise Flask is perfect for this build. Like i said earlier there is no need to run a life leech gem because of the high amount of regen you have. Although in the moments you are surrounded and are taking alot of damage, the leech this flask gives you is perfect combined with a granite flask.

Side note : On every character that i created i will alwaysuse a dispel shock, bleed and immunity to curses flask. These mods will save your ass more than you think!

Lastly one the most underrated stat on a belt is reduced flask charges used. This stat ables me to cast my ample granite 3 times instead of 2 and my ample quicksilver 4 times instead of 3! At first glance it doesn't seem like a bit deal but it really is.(i am never out of charges!) (this works for resists flasks making them usable 3 times instead of 2 like the granite's)!

Typical encounters :
When i encounter a pack that i know if not dangerous i usually just run inside it and spam firestorm under me. This way the aiming is super easy since you are tanking and taunting everyone around you.

If the mobs are dangerous i simply cast from afar!


For curses :
When i am playing the decision i have to make to have a fast clearing speed is the decision to either curse or to not curse mobs.

Typically when i play alone :

White Packs : i rarely curse them since they die so quickly.

Blue packs : I usually single curse or sometimes dual curse depending on if they are fire resistant or not.

Yellow Packs and bosses : I almost always double curse them and if they are dangerous i will choose to Enfeeble them + Ele Weakness Instead of the usual Ele Weakness + Flammability combo

In a party : i almost always double curse everything since the mobs have a lot more HP.


Reflect : the damage you receive from reflect is heavily negated by your life regen so its almost a non issue. I will however pop my chaos/leech flask if i see my help dropping a bit to make my hp go back up!

Offence :

Defenses :

74 Maze map with double igna encounter!
Twitch vod : http://www.twitch.tv/blackjanitor/c/4636615
youtube vod : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg_dRQw9z-0

i might post more videos if there is a demand :)