[1.2] KuteKitteh’s Tanky Arcer, 20k+ Effective DPS, Atziri/HC-viable. Poor-man’s BM Arc included

Surprisingly, the 1.2 update has greatly buffed block builds in general by condensing the block circles and making damage nodes far more accessible. The Arc nerf was completely counteracted by the surplus of points spent into offense, and the overall DPS of the build has been increased.

I have included two versions of the build. The primary setup will require much more in currency (2-10 exalts) but provides insane tankiness, great versatility, and Atziri viability as well as easy end-game survivability and fast clear speeds.

I have also included a poor-man’s Blood Magic Block-Arcer in post number 2 – this build caters to beginners and new-league players who have very little currency and rely heavily on self-found gear. While this version omits various luxuries (including max spellblock, MoM, or Arctic Armour), it is still very tanky and maintains an acceptable level of DPS. I’ve tested ~76 maps with the BM Arcer using ONLY self-found/self-crafted gear (including the uniques), and it is 100% end-game viable, albeit a little low on DPS due to lack of expensive uniques. Please read the disclaimers for the build carefully!

The BM build’s tree is within 15 respec points of the MoM-EB tree; therefore, it is very easy to level up and run end-game maps as a BM Arcer until you gain enough currency and craft/obtain the mana-fueling items necessary to transition into a MoM-EB Arcer. That was my intended plan for the 3mo league, but I cannot do that as of now since I was elected to be my team's MF culler.

”A dead witch deals 0 DPS” - KuteKitteh

I've spent quite a bit of time and currency perfecting the build, and I invested days of theorycrafting time into making an amazing 1.2 tree, which turned out to work flawlessly. The build remains ridiculously tanky, and the dual curse on hit shreds resistances like nobody's business.

I believe in a concept called "DPS sufficiency." This means that, at one point, you have an acceptable level of DPS to perform most tasks and that any further increase to DPS will be mitigated by the need to kite and move from one pack to the next. Once we hit that mark of DPS sufficiency, the best way to increase REAL DPS output is to minimize the time spent moving. While it can be difficult for us to change the time required to move from pack to pack, we can definitely change the time spent kiting by beefing up defenses. In addition, extremely high DPS is wasted if the loss of survivability results in deaths, leading to 10% exp penalties.

The build is centered around achieving DPS sufficiency and making use of the remaining points by channeling them into defense to make the build ridiculously tanky to save time kiting and to prevent needless exp loss. By exploiting block as a meaningful eHP multiplier, the build maintains an Atziri-viable level of defense brought to you in an affordable form so you can facetank in maps all you want.

-Eldritch battery, Mind over Matter, Unwavering Stance
-74 base block, 75 spell block
-Passive mana/life leech via Tempest Shield
-Immunity to elemental reflect
-4000-5000 HP
-9-10k Arc DPS
-Level 20 Arctic Armour
-Dual Curse, guarantees over 120% lightning penetration

1.2 VIDEOS

Jungle valley boss Skip to 1:18.
Apparently this is supposed to be one of the hardest bosses, especially for certain spellcasters (*cough arc cough*) because of the sheer quantity of enemies and lightning resist.

Maker of rain AFK kill
Well, heelllllooooooooo there. Would you like a cup of tea? Oh, you want to kill me. Gotcha. Say hello to my 900 damage tempest shield then.

Reflect map
I ran 1% life leech and dual-curses instead of the usual 2% and single-curse. It turns out even 1% leech is enough to offset reflect. Also, watch 3:15 for a full-on strongbox facetank.

No-regen Labyrinth Skip to 3:42
Supposedly this boss is also difficult too.

NEW: Almost-naked A3M Dominus kill I murdered my resists by dropping all the gear. I also did not use dual curses due to lack of gem slots, so the dual-curse Lazhwar basically became an implicitless Lazhwar. I also had zero leech (hence the flask guzzling) and very low mana. Despite having limited functionality (including lack of CWDT, Tempest Shield, Dual-curse, or multi-auras) and almost no gear, the build works perfectly fine.

NEW: The Weaver AFK kill
Hi there. 10 stacks of viper strike? Sure, I'd like some crackers with that.


1.1 VIDEOS

When theorycrafting this build, I had several key things in mind:
1. Maintain high DPS. This meant careful itemization and support gem selection, since the passive tree is primarily focused on defense. This also meant exploiting the new curse-on-hit mechanics to apply dual-curses and exploit lightning resistance as a meaningful damage multiplier.
2. Make surviving no-hassle. Here, we’re following a risk-free policy of “Defense is the best offence.” The plus side is that I spend much less time moving and much more time firing, as opposed to squishier builds that waste plenty of good DPS time to kite. Therefore, the real DPS output is relatively higher, leading to faster clear times.
3. Keep the build affordable and accessible. You don’t need a max-block Rathpith and a max-block Rainbowstrides for the build to work! Instead, there is only one easy item roll requirement that can be circumvented via the tree.
4. No fancy gear or gem swapping for different bosses, maps, or mods. Entering a map should be easy as turning on AA and switching on your auras.

Pros:
-Insanely durable. Surviving takes little effort. In fact, it takes considerable effort to die, and in many situations, it is impossible to die. Most types of enemies will heal you and restore your mana by attacking you.
-Almost entirely immune to elemental reflect, even without Purity of Lightning or Topaz flasks. I can Arc directly at Atziri’s mirror (which is said to be 100% reflect) without batting an eye.
-Decent clear speeds. Thanks to Arc’s DPS efficiency and the dual-curse's resistance shredding, packs are rapidly mowed down and lightning resistance is no longer problematic. Clearing maps is super relaxed because very few situations pose a hazard.
-Extremely powerful solo-play. Be your own tank, dual-curse support, and ranged DPSer all in one! There's no need to rely on having other meatshields there for you.
-Completely affordable. The entire build can be made with under 2-10 exalts depending on how much gear you salvage from your other characters.
-Effortless mapping, doesn’t care about map mods. BM, half regen, no regen, reflect + EW or minus max res, etc. are all possible. The plus side is that I can run RIP-mod 100-120% iiq 77s and 78s, giving me good map returns.
-Facetanks bosses and rogues. It's not every day that someone can afk in a Vaal fight and survive for 10 minutes. Sometimes I sit next to rogues and have a nice chat and some tea with them while they rudely try to kill me.
-Desync-resistant. Going out of sync won't get you killed.
-Atziri-viable level of defense. However, I would still recommend that you follow an Incinerate build for a faster Atziri farmer if that’s your primary goal, since Incinerate has slower map clear speeds but more efficient Atziri speeds.
-Hardcore-viable. If you drop some damage nodes and get more HP, the build can easily get over 5-5.5k HP with a few more HP nodes, making it ridiculously tanky.
-Dual cursing. With the new CoH functionality, dual curses are insanely powerful due to the instant, 100%-chance application.

Cons
-Susceptible to DoT’s, like any other build. Block and MoM won’t do squat against desecrated ground, poison cloud, or viper strike. Beware of those exiles!
-Awkward leveling phase. Block builds scale extremely well late-game, but between 60-75 you'll hit the awkward phase much harder than most other builds.
-Mana hungry. You need some great ES items to fuel your EB, and both rings should come with formidable mana regen. Elemental reflect and high-damage situations will sap your mana, so carrying a good mana flask and running high clarity + regen is necessary.
-Not invincible. A Palace Dominus smash in a Vulnerability, +uniquebossdamage, +extradamageaselement map can possibly one-shot you on a crit. Use your brain!
-DPS isn’t amazing. If the size of your ego correlates with your tooltip DPS and you don’t care about the -10% exp penalty, this build is not for you. I could share a crit build with you that’s guaranteed to hit 25k Arc DPS with only 15 exalts, but I do like to survive.

Now let's discuss DPS. We all know I absolutely abhor false DPS claims, so I will back this up with some numbers.

When I was running an RF Maurader using Niffler's guide, I noted that he ran dual-curse on his cyclone, enabling him to deal insane damage. The DPS values he boasted were very legitimate due to the practicality of his curse-on-hit application. The CoH buff encouraged me to try dual-curse-on-hit with Arcer, and the end result was an insane resistance-shredder.

Currently, I'm running a +1 curse Lazhwar, and I have Ball lighting curse on hit. I'm only running a level 18 CoH, level 18 conductivity, and a 19/20 elemental weakness. Passive tree gives me +2 lightning pen, and the lightning pen gem gives me +35% pen.

Whenever I cast ball lightning, everything in its path loses 89 lightning resistance. The pen gem + passive gives me an additional 37 penetration for a total of 126 lightning penetration. In addition, Conductivity's shock bonus as well as Arc's innate shock gives a high chance to inflict Shock, and most mobs are Shocked at one point or another.

This means that all enemies are automatically vulnerable to lightning damage against me, no matter how much resistance they had initially. A 0-resist enemy gets -126 lightning resist versus my arc, giving me 126% MORE DPS. That means I deal 21.3k DPS versus 0-resist enemies.

What about 75-resist enemies? Their 75 resist amounts to -51 lightning resistance, giving me 51% MORE DPS. That means I deal 14.3k DPS versus 75-resist enemies.

If a hypothetical 100%-resist enemy existed, I would still deal 1.26 times my DPS against him. This is how effective the CoH shredder is.

All these values are ignoring Shock, which happens extremely frequently due to Arc's innate shock and Conductivity's shock bonus. If I really wanted to boost my ego I would say I'm doing 21.5k versus 75-resist enemies, and 32k versus 0-resist enemies.

Now, one might claim that the time spent casting the Ball Lightning is lost DPS time. Although I wholeheartedly agree that the DPS isn't instantaneous, we have to keep in mind that Ball Lightning itself is dealing significant damage due to its resistance-shredding properties. I'm running only a level 18 BL and it's dealing significant damage because of the more-damage multipliers. In fact, it's enough to take down allies-don't-die totems if there are too many enemies in the way and I don't feel like moving.

Curse immune mobs/maps drops us down to the tooltip DPS - but this is a weakness of all dual/triple-curse builds, especially summoner builds. It merely lowers clear speeds by a small margin but has little impact on survivability.

Bandits:
N: Oak or Passive
C: Alira
M: Passive

Special note about the Bandits: If you have really good gear with T1 or T2 life rolls on every piece of equipment (like what I have), a 5% life node will give marginally more HP than Oak at a high level. My current setup would actually get +8 health from a scion life node as opposed to Oak, but that's not worth 20 regrets. If you are attempting the build in a HC league or a temporary league, Oak will be way better.









Some notes about the passive tree:
-I’ve outlined the must-haves in the first 85 levels (103 point tree). From then on, you can go more defensive (health circle around Constitution + Athleticism) or take the Herald circle and load up on cast nodes for greater offense. The defensive option gives ~10% more survivability per 5 points, whereas the offensive option gives ~10% more DPS per 5 points.
-Tree gives only +80 Dex. If you want a good Haste, you need to take Quickness or find some good items with dex in them. The tree gives sufficient Int/Str for all other requirements.
-I didn't take the flask nodes (gasp!). I don't think there's ever been a time that I thought "Gee, I wish my flasks were better;" in fact, I didn't glassblower most of them until level 87 plus. Atziri runs are completely doable with 10% flasks and a Saffell’s, and I don’t run resistance flasks in any other situation.
-The tree + Rathpith + Tempest shield will give you 74% block. Your Rathpith only needs to be 51% block chance or higher to give you 75% spell block.
-The tree is 4 points from Iron Reflexes. Running IR + Grace allows you to get way more phys-tanky.
-The tree gives 27% to all resists. You can either use this to lower the resistance requirements on your gear or overcap resists enough to run Elemental Weakness maps. I personally do the latter.
-If you want to run this build in Harcore, take some more health nodes instead of the Lightning wheel.


Bonus Passive Trees:

Templar tree, 102 points


Scion tree, 100 points


Maurader tree, 103 points


Although these alternate trees are doable, the Maurader tree is much less viable due to less mana/manaregen. The scion tree is decent but not as efficient as the witch start with the initial 40% mana regen node.

If you want, you can stick Arc on a vertex/geofri with an empower. However, putting it on the 5L with faster casting + empower gives more DPS while increasing mana consumption. (In all seriousness, can we quit it with the Arc-on-Geofri-gives-most-DPS myth? It's absolutely false, a 5L using Empower lvl3 beats the geofri setup since Spell Echo was released.)
Must haves: Arc + spell echo + Light pen
Links 4-6, add one: empower level 3, faster casting, elemental proliferation (only if your arc is Q20), added lightning damage

You get options as to what gems you want. Life leech is a necessity if you don’t have a single life leech or lgoh source. If you have sufficient LL/lgoh, you can drop it for more DPS.

Side note: the skill that you use for the build is arbitrary. I just like Arc because it has super-fast clear times. Because the build is generic, it can be used with every single spell as long as you take the appropriate elemental wheels.

Auras + TS:
Clarity
Optional auras: Discipline OR Herald of Ice + Herald of Thunder
Tempest Shield + Reduced mana + Life leech + Mana leech

The build needs Clarity + Tempest Shield to function at the bare minimum. Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder can be added as your RM gem levels up and you gain more unreserved mana. For best results, run Clarity + TS + Herald of Ice + Herald of Thunder.

We’re not seeking to make TS a viable source of damage (otherwise it would be a boring build!). Instead, we’ll just take advantage of Tempest Shield’s passive damage (900 average damage for my setup as of now) by putting some Life Leech and Mana leech on it so we have another source of life/mana to fuel our MoM. Since it triggers 3 out of every 4 hits, it will act as a built-in Anvil that scales with your spell damage. The LL + ML on TS is crucial to the build - it makes a huge difference in health/mana sustainability.

Since we take Unwavering Stance and Blind has been drastically nerfed, Grace is no longer an optimal solution. This has been compensated by both the stun immunity as well as the almost-max block.

Optional: Dual Curse on Hit
Ball Lightning/Arc
Curse on Hit
Conductivity
EW

If you decide that you want dual curses instead of Flame totems and you have the right corruption OR a Doedre's ring OR Windscream, try this setup. It melts enemy resistances.

Note for Harcore: Feel free to mix and match EW, Conductivity, Warlord's mark, and Enfeeble on ball lightning or self-cast. Using dual-curse and being able to choose between enfeeble + Warlords versus EW + Conductivity will greatly enhance both your clear and your survivability.

Optional: 3/4L Totem
Flame totem
LMP/GMP
Faster Casting
4L: Added chaos damage

You can use a different totem like a Searing Bond or a Spell Totem. However, you have few modifiers to elemental or fire damage, so SB will be weak. In addition, SB will force you to work on positioning, which kinda diminishes the purpose of the build. If you do use a spell totem, try to use a fire or cold spell (fireball or freezing pulse/Ice spear with GMP are good) to keep the elements diverse. You can also go with the standard 4-link arc totem, although I personally don’t like the poor single-target DPS.

Optional: Vaal skills
Vaal Storm Call
Increased Duration
Spell Echo
Conc Effect
OR
Vaal Spark
Increased Duration
Spell Echo
GMP or Fork

Vaal skills can help with mowing down single targets.

3L CWDT:
CWDT
Immortal Call
Enduring Cry

We’ve got this setup to ensure nothing bad happens during moments of heavy physical damage intake. The standard setup is level 1 CWDT + level 5 EC + level 3 IC. I use lvl7 CWDT + lvl8 IC + lvl9 EC, it's all personal preference.

Misc:
Arctic Armour
Lightning Warp + Reduced duration

Throw these wherever you please.

The build has no problem with any mod. In fact, I've run every single mod just to be sure that it's viable in maps like BM or 0-regen. I just run through most of them with Haste up because I don’t need Disc’s mana + mana regen in most cases. However, the following will demand special accommodations:
-Half regen: Disc instead of Haste. No AA.
-Elemental reflect: Disc instead of Haste.
-Vulnerability: lvl74 maps and under, run normal. lvl75 and up, run Disc instead of Haste
-Ele weak: Purity of Elements instead of Haste.
-Minus max res: Either normal setup or Disc instead of Haste. Carry 1-2 atziri flasks.
-Blood magic: No Clarity, Haste/Disc, or AA – just TS, if at all. Would not attempt 76-78 BM maps due to loss of MoM.
-No regen: No Clarity, Haste/Disc, or AA – just TS. I would not attempt no-regen in 76-78 maps (e.g. Crematorium, Piety), since boss fights are often a little too damaging for a couple mana flasks to sustain my MoM.

I've only ran across one map that was 100% impossible. It was a -max res, half-regen, elemental reflect, fracture, extra damage map full of necromancers. I am now in search of another -maxres, half/no-regen, elemental reflect map for some payback.


I'm including some special notes about certain bosses because they're especially strong versus block builds:
-Torture Chamber boss: It's not incredibly difficult, and I've even solo'd dual torture chamber bosses that had 2-player HP (and yes, that means there are 10 double-HP lightning warp totems coming after me). I'm just throwing out the precaution that you should definitely stick to a pillar to hide behind the moment it starts firing the laser. Also, keep moving so the totems won't insta-nuke you on an unblock streak (especially if you don't have a Rathpith), even if it's just one sidestep every couple arcs. A Saffell's is helpful but I never use one since it's not necessary.
-Dominus, second form: Bring lots of staunching flasks. You should be carrying 2 staunching flasks at the bare minimum anyways.
-Courtyard boss: The cycloner and the mage are harmless. Stay away from one that shoots fire projectiles and leapslams. The burning ground DoT can hurt, and I've come very close to dying from it in a minus-max-res + vulnerability map.
-Arcane Chambers boss: Don't sit in his chaos damage and bring a staunching flask. Derp.
-Vaal/Dom: Don't sit under their smash. They can one-shot you in a map that has +unique boss damage and +element as extra damage with vulnerability. I don't think I have to say this.

Unique map notes:
Poorjoy's: this map rips a lot of people. I haven't rip'd in a Poorjoy yet, but I've come somewhat close (i.e. 30% hp left) in Poorjoy's several times. I recommend bringing Granite Flasks of Warding because the blue whippers will do a ton of damage with the vulnerabilty on you.
Olmec's: Try to have at least 0% chaos resistance and 2% life leech to sustain the poison cloud facetank. Last time I ran Olmec, I even swapped in a Geofri's crest for the extra 30% chaos resist, and I brought an Atziri's promise for the +35% extra. Also bring some swell life flasks.
Mao Kun: Treat it like a map with a +50% damage modifier. Pretty easy otherwise, since block counters the flicker strike spam.

With this version, I can do Apex runs without dying.

Gear


Gems
Auras: Clarity + RM, and TS + LL + ML + RM
Arc: Lightning pen, faster casting, Empower, spell echo
Boots: CWDT, IC, EC, Enfeeble
Gloves: Curse on Hit + Ball Lightning/Arc + Curse on Hit + Conductivity OR Flame totem + GMP + Chaos dmg + Faster casting

Misc: Lightning warp + RD, AA, Elemental Weakness

Note: To run Atziri, you must have over 3k base mana and over 270 mana regen per second. This means you need level 20 clarity and some great mana regen rings as well as an amazing ES shield.

The vaal fight is a piece of cake. I don't run any special swaps, and I don't use Saffell's for the extra res since the ball lightnings and laser cannons do so little damage anyways. Elemental weakness is the only curse I run to keep this fight short and simple.

The trio is also easy as well, although it does require good movement speed boots or Lightning Warp skills. I kill the cyclone first. Sometimes I leave the ranged one last, but I mostly leave the dual striker last. The CWDT setup on my boots (CWDT + IC + EC + Enfeeble) ensures that the ranged one won't hurt a ton. I just run around in circles, cursing only the cycloner (to prevent chaining from killing the others first) and shooting Arcs at the cyclone until he’s dead. Then I just sit around and kill the remaining two, and the trigger gems make sure that either is literally unable to kill me due to block.

Atziri requires another set of gem/equipment swaps.

I run a Saffell for the fight for the extra +res, and the shield already has its own RM + Clarity + PoF so I don't need to swap gems between the Rathpith and the Saffell. More of a quality-of-life thing than a necessity, if you only have one good clarity + RM to spare then you can swap them.


I run a spell totem with 18/20 elemental weakness. This helps the fight to move along a little faster. Enfeeble is absolutely not required if you play smart and run all the right trigger gems.

Edit: You may wish to link Spell totem + ID to both EW and Warlord's Mark. That way, you can use WM against her 4-form to offset the reflect.

I also swap out the CoH gloves and put on my Flame Totem gloves, which run FT+FC+ACD+GMP.


Tempest Shield becomes USELESS against Atziri. Sure, block drops to 70% without it, but since we're running Saffell's, total spell block is max at 75%. I take TS off and swap in a really neat set of trigger gems. This trigger ensures that taking a hard flameblast hit will quickly spawn a devouring totem to heal you, plus a couple skeletons to draw aggro of subsequent flameblasts. It works wonders… sometimes but not always.

Tactics:
Drop a EW totem when the curse expires.
Always drop a flame totem next to her. I find that the fight is much, much easier when I'm investing time into dropping flame totems by her to draw her aggro. A couple flameblasts will hardly scratch you, sure, but it's nice to have the flame totem draw aggro and do damage when you're moving away from a flameblast. Storm calls hardly hurt, and her bleed does barely any damage to be honest. 30% MS boots or excellent LW skills are a necessity for this part of the run. Always stay mobile! The really big flameblasts will hurt a ton (although they don’t always one-shot if you’re full HP), so go hide in the farthest corner.

The bleed spears don't really hurt much, so I wouldn't worry too much about those compared to the flameblasts - if there's a FB under you and you're bleeding, move! A staunching flask will be necessary though, I prefer to run a Panicked + Staunching for best effect.

When she's in the invincible phase with the minions running up to heal her, I just drop a flame totem on one side and Arc her.

The 4-form is the most difficult part by far, since we only run 75% spell block and 79% lightning res along with MoM to combat the mirror'd form. While some people solve this issue by running PoL + Topaz flasks, I just use a Topaz for 89% total res; the only issue here is the intense mana drain from the reflection, which means you need a ton of mana regen. I just stick to one wall (usually the wall with the entrance) and constantly spam totems while dodging flameblasts and stormcalls. I throw in Arcs whenever I can, and if there's a very clear opportunity to Arc for an extended period of time, then I pop a Topaz + Ruby if necessary and Arc for a bit. 93% fire res and 89% lightning res is more than enough to root myself since I have spell block as well as a CWDT trigger. I make sure to keep her EW'd at all times to keep the fight short and improve the leeching, and I summon flame totems right after and between each storm call.

Just keep this up for a bit. The devouring totem will ensure that you don't drop too low, and a couple mana flask + bubbling/panicked life flask will ensure that you don't run out of either life or mana.

"

Zippaca wrote:

decided to try atziri and it went overall smooth the first two bosses was quite easy but i died once on atziri on her splitphase but it was my first time and i didnt really know what she does but now i do thanks for awesome build

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Porterhouse wrote:

Atziri down thanks Kute!

I was tempted to switch to storm call for her fight but it ended up working just fine.

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monkuar wrote:

KuteKitteh helped me through skype with a very long conversation and in-game. Just simply awesome, great build and really shines in 1.2. I will share this with my friends, just utterly speechless at how nice you are, crazy that those people exist on poe lol.

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DamageIncorporated wrote:

I began following this build as i became obvious to me things were only going to get worse, the route I was going.
Awesome. Thanks for the effort with the guide.

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magnus962 wrote:

Been playing this build in Beyond league and currently sitting at level 75. I have to say I am very impressed with the survivability of block and the accessibility of many of the uniques associated with this.

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Schrii wrote:

Currently using your build in Rampage, loving it.

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Powernic wrote:

First I wanted to thank you for your build. I've always liked the arc concept, but I play mostly solo and the need for endless kiting was always a major nono for me. Thanks to your build, I don't need to kite anymore I can go straight on :)

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shrapner wrote:

Really enjoying how tanky I am. I started out running fox's rf arcer but after the res nerf I switched to pledge of hands to try out crit and while the damage was amazing, I was constantly stunned or frozen. None of that is an issue now :D

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Smerte wrote:

Just dropped by to say thanks for this amazing build :) Im at the moment 69 level @ Beyond-league with the build, hopefully I can transfer to the main build at some point.

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therealjcool wrote:

Wow, I see this is getting more popular lol. Deservedly so! First off, thanks for the nice build. I love Arc and have been playing 3 different ARCers in the 1 month, most were a variation of Foxtactics. I loved the clearpseed but didn't like the running away.
Never had a block char before, and I have to say it's quite nice.

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Solias wrote:

Hello! I came back to PoE after a few months hiatus and I am loving your build so far!

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snquadrigis wrote:

Hey KuteKitteh! Just stopped by to say your build rocks!
Jungle Valley spider, Shrine Piety, Residence Dominus, Torture Chamber Shock/Horror are all very enjoyable with the tankiness that this build brings.
Thanks again, your build is making my mapping a breeze.

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crowdog wrote:

So I'm loving this build man thanks alot! I also appreciate you answering all my noobish questions! This is really only my 3rd successful build, the others being a duelist facebreaker and an incinerate witch, both about 6 months ago. And this one is turning out to be my favorite!! :)

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Ticina wrote:

I've been following your build a while now and I must say I was sold when I first came across it. So far I am loving it. Personally, I think it is a much better alternative to FoxTactics's arc build simply because of the survivability...not just that, I can use Auresize and Item Quantity without risk of getting killed.

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skjutengris wrote:

Tried a few builds here and there, not a theory crafter and really enjoy this build.

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Ceuro wrote:

Really liking the build so far!

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Myrkabah wrote:

Been using this build thus far, and it is *awesome*. Needless to say, I'm wrecking face, even though I have some more upgrades to make (belt, chest, ring). This character is way more fun than my blender duelist in Domination. Thanks for the guide!

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tungzk wrote:

Cheap, reliable AND efficient. Look no further for a fun yet effective arc witch build.

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Rockstopper wrote:

Just wanted to drop by for some positive feedback. After a few deaths which were completely my own fault, I rerolled with this build and am currently level 84 on Beyond after a week or so of playing.
Overall, this is probably my most successful character in hardcore so far - granted I haven't touched the hardest tier of maps yet, but I'm quite satisfied with how my character turned out so far. Cheers for the great build.

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RandallPOE wrote:

Absolutely loving this build as well. Really enjoying the game again so thanks KuteKitteh for revitalising my interest!

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Ark20 wrote:

Well I'm starting to have some real fun with the build. The levelling process was really smooth, I didn't really hit any sort of wall, but now I'm in the late 70s and I have MoM/EB/decent levels of AA and TS I'm having a blast. Zana made me hunt some corrupted tentacle miscreations with multiple projectiles. They suicided to TS, I wasn't even attacking them. Same goes for Harbinger (cells map boss), he killed himself pretty fast. Oh and my block chance isn't even capped yet. DPS isn't opieop but like you say in the main post, it's enough, specially with double curses.
"10/10 would build again."

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magnus962 wrote:

This build is incredible. My DPS isn't as high as many of my friends, but they also won't run Poorjoy's without the slightest hiccup where I can.

Thanks again for this build, it is the most fun I've had in a hardcore league in a long time.

"

Just re-specced my Scion into this build. Was running a Foxtacticish arc build before but this is way stronger. Almost afk on lvl71 maps. I'm lvl78. Scion gives extra mana and mana regen and with CoD I'm lvl on passives. Luckily had shield and amulet in stash and a top end moonsorrow.

Thanks a lot for this - easiest maps farming build yet.

"

karaknic wrote:

Yesterday I was sharing some masters in a double boss Temple with vulnerability and max ele. reflect and I hadn't quite picked off one or two monsters, as the guys came in two of them died within a couple of seconds, I hadn't even realised it was a reflect map, I just notice my mana draining a bit quicker than normal.
Had to apologise to the poor bastards. You may have umpteenthousand-kay-depee-ess, but I don't even notice that maps have elemental reflect haha!

"

HoosTrax wrote:

This has to be the laziest build I've ever played. I mean that in a good way. With Curse on Hit, it becomes a matter of just sitting there and holding down one key, with the cursor pointed sort of vaguely in the general direction of a mob. Also -- Elreon missions are hilariously easy and little effort.

Kind of refreshing after playing a lot of desync-prone cyclone builds.

"

BOB_JACKS0N wrote:

Great build KuteKitteh. I'm running it with my scion lvl 94 and it works great. Doing all maps with no problems. Killed all map bosses.

Ty again for this great and fun build.

"

Daiena wrote:

After all this,as far as i am aware is one of very,very few caster builds that can actually tank and not just take few hits and roll over playing ded.

"

Suds1029 wrote:

Hey KuteKitteh, thanks for the build. I've really been enjoying it so far, definitely my favorite build I have played. I really appreciate the effort you put into the guide and answering everyone's questions, it has been extremely helpful. Thanks again for the great guide and help!

"

Taiberius wrote:

This is by far the most fun I have had with a build across 3 leagues I've played POE (softcore league only).

To all the lurkers, this Tanky Arcer Dual-Curse build is legit. Good for either league. It will be my first build starting next league without a doublt. So I really hope KuteKitteh keeps it up to date when the skill tree changes <hint hint>.

"

Disgeae wrote:

Spoiler

Thanks for this build!
First of all I want to thank KuteKitteh for this amazing build, I would recommend everyone to play this build because it has a really high survive-ability in Heroic but is as well amazingly fun to play.

What?! You can die with this build? I didn't knew either, but I survived long without much effort
I died last week on this build as 87 by just not paying attention that much because it looked like a 'easy' map. Shocked myself because of Lightning Thorns, shocked myself and instakilled myself. Fun, but it happens, basically can happen to every build.

Life summary
I had 2,5k when I started mapping and 4,2k when I died a 87, not that much life but it was highly survivable.

Awesome features in this build
- Facetank ele reflect without noticing.
- Facetank CB and notice it actually after the mob dies. (doesn't hurt at all)
- Leap mobs? Where? - You barely notice mobs leaping on you because of the Life Leech on Tempest Shield and the blockchance. 15 goatmen at once? No problem at all for this build.
- Not in high need of chaos resistance. (I mapped with -40% chaos resist, only 'problem' was chaos degen)
- Really cheap compared to other (similar) builds.

Only things I had to be aware off
- Lightning Thorns. (never been a problem at all, except the one time I oneshotted myself)
- Porcupine Goliath. (hurt INSANE even with a granite flask, apparently you can't block these, CWDT makes it decent but just be REALLY aware with Arc's chain when you know they're in your map. Nearly one shotted myself by just taking it easy)
- Bosses. (You are not invincible with this build, use a totem for bosses, then it's still easymode though, I remember that I only needed to be aware at Fidelitis, Oak and Merveil, they could basically 2 shot me easily. Kraityn, Hillock, Hailrake etc. were just complete jokes with this build)

TL:DR version
This build brought me the most fun I ever had in this game, simply because it's easy to play if you play it the right way and as mentioned - it's even hard to die with it. You do really good damage, even though you mostly spec in block and chaos damage etc. is barely noticeable. Just certain mobs to be aware off.

Thank you all for the positive feedback!

While I (and many others) enjoyed the tanky Arc build, the one thing I hated the most about it (asides from the fact that it would get one-shot by 6.8k phys damage) was the horrible DPS functionality of Arc versus single targets, which adversely affected the build's clear speed. I initially sought to remedy that with BL CoH, which did improve the single-target DPS drastically. Nevertheless, I kept looking for ways to improve the build in both defense and offense, and I hit upon the idea of an Arc-Incinerate hybrid.

Arc and Incinerate are two different spells by nature. Arc is a great medium/long range lightning spell with chaining properties, while Incinerate is a short-range pierce projectile fire spell, making it ideal for CQC and large packs of enemies. By alternating between these two spells, an amazing clear synergy emerges.

-Eldritch battery, Mind over Matter, Unwavering Stance
-74 base block, 75 spell block
-Passive mana/life leech via Tempest Shield
-Immunity to elemental reflect
-4000-5000 HP
-Level 20 Arctic Armour
-Arc/Incinerate hybrid, clears extremely effectively

Coming soon (if I ever have time to play PoE!)

When theorycrafting this build, I had one goal:
1. Make a build better than the last one!

Pros:
-Insanely durable. Surviving takes little effort. In fact, it takes considerable effort to die, and in many situations, it is impossible to die. Most types of enemies will heal you and restore your mana by attacking you.
-Almost entirely immune to elemental reflect, even without Purity of Lightning or Topaz flasks. I can Arc directly at Atziri’s mirror (which is said to be 100% reflect) without batting an eye.
-Decent clear speeds. Thanks to Arc’s DPS efficiency and the dual-curse's resistance shredding, packs are rapidly mowed down and lightning resistance is no longer problematic. Clearing maps is super relaxed because very few situations pose a hazard.
-Extremely powerful solo-play. Be your own tank, dual-curse support, and ranged DPSer all in one! There's no need to rely on having other meatshields there for you.
-Completely affordable. The entire build can be made with under 2-10 exalts depending on how much gear you salvage from your other characters.
-Effortless mapping, doesn’t care about map mods. BM, half regen, no regen, reflect + EW or minus max res, etc. are all possible. The plus side is that I can run RIP-mod 100-120% iiq 77s and 78s, giving me good map returns.
-Facetanks bosses and rogues. It's not every day that someone can afk in a Vaal fight and survive for 10 minutes. Sometimes I sit next to rogues and have a nice chat and some tea with them while they rudely try to kill me.
-Desync-resistant. Going out of sync won't get you killed.
-Atziri-viable level of defense. However, I would still recommend that you follow an Incinerate build for a faster Atziri farmer if that’s your primary goal, since Incinerate has slower map clear speeds but more efficient Atziri speeds.
-Hardcore-viable. If you drop some damage nodes and get more HP, the build can easily get over 5-5.5k HP with a few more HP nodes, making it ridiculously tanky.
-Dual cursing. With the new CoH functionality, dual curses are insanely powerful due to the instant, 100%-chance application.

Cons
-Susceptible to DoT’s, like any other build. Block and MoM won’t do squat against desecrated ground, poison cloud, or viper strike. Beware of those exiles!
-Awkward leveling phase. Block builds scale extremely well late-game, but between 60-75 you'll hit the awkward phase much harder than most other builds.
-Mana hungry. You need some great ES items to fuel your EB, and both rings should come with formidable mana regen. Elemental reflect and high-damage situations will sap your mana, so carrying a good mana flask and running high clarity + regen is necessary.
-Not invincible. A Palace Dominus smash in a Vulnerability, +uniquebossdamage, +extradamageaselement map can possibly one-shot you on a crit. Use your brain!
-DPS isn’t amazing. If the size of your ego correlates with your tooltip DPS and you don’t care about the -10% exp penalty, this build is not for you. I could share a crit build with you that’s guaranteed to hit 25k Arc DPS with only 15 exalts, but I do like to survive.

Now let's discuss DPS. We all know I absolutely abhor false DPS claims, so I will back this up with some numbers.

When I was running an RF Maurader using Niffler's guide, I noted that he ran dual-curse on his cyclone, enabling him to deal insane damage. The DPS values he boasted were very legitimate due to the practicality of his curse-on-hit application. The CoH buff encouraged me to try dual-curse-on-hit with Arcer, and the end result was an insane resistance-shredder.

Currently, I'm running a +1 curse Lazhwar, and I have Ball lighting curse on hit. I'm only running a level 18 CoH, level 18 conductivity, and a 19/20 elemental weakness. Passive tree gives me +2 lightning pen, and the lightning pen gem gives me +35% pen.

Whenever I cast ball lightning, everything in its path loses 89 lightning resistance. The pen gem + passive gives me an additional 37 penetration for a total of 126 lightning penetration. In addition, Conductivity's shock bonus as well as Arc's innate shock gives a high chance to inflict Shock, and most mobs are Shocked at one point or another.

This means that all enemies are automatically vulnerable to lightning damage against me, no matter how much resistance they had initially. A 0-resist enemy gets -126 lightning resist versus my arc, giving me 126% MORE DPS. That means I deal 21.3k DPS versus 0-resist enemies.

What about 75-resist enemies? Their 75 resist amounts to -51 lightning resistance, giving me 51% MORE DPS. That means I deal 14.3k DPS versus 75-resist enemies.

If a hypothetical 100%-resist enemy existed, I would still deal 1.26 times my DPS against him. This is how effective the CoH shredder is.

All these values are ignoring Shock, which happens extremely frequently due to Arc's innate shock and Conductivity's shock bonus. If I really wanted to boost my ego I would say I'm doing 21.5k versus 75-resist enemies, and 32k versus 0-resist enemies.

Now, one might claim that the time spent casting the Ball Lightning is lost DPS time. Although I wholeheartedly agree that the DPS isn't instantaneous, we have to keep in mind that Ball Lightning itself is dealing significant damage due to its resistance-shredding properties. I'm running only a level 18 BL and it's dealing significant damage because of the more-damage multipliers. In fact, it's enough to take down allies-don't-die totems if there are too many enemies in the way and I don't feel like moving.

Curse immune mobs/maps drops us down to the tooltip DPS - but this is a weakness of all dual/triple-curse builds, especially summoner builds. It merely lowers clear speeds by a small margin but has little impact on survivability.

Bandits:
N: Oak or Passive
C: Alira
M: Passive

Special note about the Bandits: If you have really good gear with T1 or T2 life rolls on every piece of equipment (like what I have), a 5% life node will give marginally more HP than Oak at a high level. My current setup would actually get +8 health from a scion life node as opposed to Oak, but that's not worth 20 regrets. If you are attempting the build in a HC league or a temporary league, Oak will be way better.









Some notes about the passive tree:
-I’ve outlined the must-haves in the first 85 levels (103 point tree). From then on, you can go more defensive (health circle around Constitution + Athleticism) or take the Herald circle and load up on cast nodes for greater offense. The defensive option gives ~10% more survivability per 5 points, whereas the offensive option gives ~10% more DPS per 5 points.
-Those who run high-roll Doryani + Rathpith as well as enough mana regen to get 250-300 mana/s might find it better to leave the witch area via 12% cast for the sake of clear speeds. Otherwise, take the 30% spell damage nodes.
-Tree gives only +80 Dex. If you want a good Haste, you need to take Quickness or find some good items with dex in them. The tree gives sufficient Int/Str for all other requirements.
-I didn't take the flask nodes (gasp!). I don't think there's ever been a time that I thought "Gee, I wish my flasks were better;" in fact, I didn't glassblower most of them until level 87 plus. Atziri runs are completely doable with 10% flasks and a Saffell’s, and I don’t run resistance flasks in any other situation.
-The tree + Rathpith + Tempest shield will give you 74% block. Your Rathpith only needs to be 51% block chance or higher to give you 75% spell block.
-The tree is 4 points from Iron Reflexes. Running IR + Grace allows you to get way more phys-tanky.
-The tree gives 27% to all resists. You can either use this to lower the resistance requirements on your gear or overcap resists enough to run Elemental Weakness maps. I personally do the latter.
-If you want to run this build in Harcore, take some more health nodes instead of the Lightning wheel.


Bonus Passive Trees:

Templar tree, 102 points


Scion tree, 100 points


Maurader tree, 103 points


Although both trees are doable, the Maurader tree is much less viable due to less mana/manaregen. The scion tree is decent but not as efficient as the witch start with the initial 40% mana regen node.

If you want, you can stick Arc on a vertex/geofri with an empower. However, putting it on the 5L with faster casting + empower gives more DPS while increasing mana consumption. (In all seriousness, can we quit it with the Arc-on-Geofri-gives-most-DPS myth? It's absolutely false, a 5L using Empower lvl3 beats the geofri setup since Spell Echo was released.)
Must haves: Arc + spell echo + Light pen
Links 4-6, add one: empower level 3, faster casting, elemental proliferation (only if your arc is Q20), added lightning damage

You get options as to what gems you want. Life leech is a necessity if you don’t have a single life leech or lgoh source. If you have sufficient LL/lgoh, you can drop it for more DPS.

Side note: the skill that you use for the build is arbitrary. I just like Arc because it has super-fast clear times. Because the build is generic, it can be used with every single spell as long as you take the appropriate elemental wheels.

Auras + TS:
Clarity
Optional auras: Discipline, Haste, Purity, or Herald of Ice
Tempest Shield + Reduced mana + Life leech + Mana leech

Since the build is not aura-heavy, Clarity + Tempest shield is sufficient. If you feel that an additional aura would help, you can try running Haste for offence or Disc for regen. Generally, I would not run a 60% aura until you get level19-20 reduced mana gems and over 2.5-3k mana. If you're unable to meet Haste's high dexterity requirement and you don't like the huge reservation cost, you can opt for Herald of Ice instead, since its dex cost is far more manageable and the reservation is very low.

I normally link Haste – Disc – Clarity – RM on a 4-link. Haste is up most of the time, and Disc is up for half-regen or other dangerous maps.

We’re not seeking to make TS a viable source of damage (otherwise it would be a boring build!). Instead, we’ll just take advantage of Tempest Shield’s passive damage (900 average damage for my setup as of now) by putting some Life Leech and Mana leech on it so we have another source of life/mana to fuel our MoM. Since it triggers 3 out of every 4 hits, it will act as a built-in Anvil that scales with your spell damage. The LL + ML on TS is crucial to the build - it makes a huge difference in health/mana sustainability.

Since we take Unwavering Stance and Blind has been drastically nerfed, Grace is no longer an optimal solution. This has been compensated by both the stun immunity as well as the almost-max block.

Optional: Dual Curse on Hit
Ball Lightning/Arc
Curse on Hit
Conductivity
EW

If you decide that you want dual curses instead of Flame totems and you have the right corruption OR a Doedre's ring OR Windscream, try this setup. It melts enemy resistances.

Note for Harcore: Feel free to mix and match EW, Conductivity, Warlord's mark, and Enfeeble on ball lightning or self-cast. Using dual-curse and being able to choose between enfeeble + Warlords versus EW + Conductivity will greatly enhance both your clear and your survivability.

Optional: 3/4L Totem
Flame totem
LMP/GMP
Faster Casting
4L: Added chaos damage

You can use a different totem like a Searing Bond or a Spell Totem. However, you have few modifiers to elemental or fire damage, so SB will be weak. In addition, SB will force you to work on positioning, which kinda diminishes the purpose of the build. If you do use a spell totem, try to use a fire or cold spell (fireball or freezing pulse/Ice spear with GMP are good) to keep the elements diverse. You can also go with the standard 4-link arc totem, although I personally don’t like the poor single-target DPS.

Optional: Vaal skills
Vaal Storm Call
Increased Duration
Spell Echo
Conc Effect
OR
Vaal Spark
Increased Duration
Spell Echo
GMP or Fork

Vaal skills can help with mowing down single targets.

3L CWDT:
CWDT
Immortal Call
Enduring Cry

We’ve got this setup to ensure nothing bad happens during moments of heavy physical damage intake. The standard setup is level 1 CWDT + level 5 EC + level 3 IC. I use lvl7 CWDT + lvl8 IC + lvl9 EC, it's all personal preference.

Misc:
Arctic Armour
Lightning Warp + Reduced duration

Throw these wherever you please.

The build has no problem with any mod. In fact, I've run every single mod just to be sure that it's viable in maps like BM or 0-regen. I just run through most of them with Haste up because I don’t need Disc’s mana + mana regen in most cases. However, the following will demand special accommodations:
-Half regen: Disc instead of Haste. No AA.
-Elemental reflect: Disc instead of Haste.
-Vulnerability: lvl74 maps and under, run normal. lvl75 and up, run Disc instead of Haste
-Ele weak: Purity of Elements instead of Haste.
-Minus max res: Either normal setup or Disc instead of Haste. Carry 1-2 atziri flasks.
-Blood magic: No Clarity, Haste/Disc, or AA – just TS, if at all. Would not attempt 76-78 BM maps due to loss of MoM.
-No regen: No Clarity, Haste/Disc, or AA – just TS. I would not attempt no-regen in 76-78 maps (e.g. Crematorium, Piety), since boss fights are often a little too damaging for a couple mana flasks to sustain my MoM.

I've only ran across one map that was 100% impossible. It was a -max res, half-regen, elemental reflect, fracture, extra damage map full of necromancers. I am now in search of another -maxres, half/no-regen, elemental reflect map for some payback.


I'm including some special notes about certain bosses because they're especially strong versus block builds:
-Torture Chamber boss: It's not incredibly difficult, and I've even solo'd dual torture chamber bosses that had 2-player HP (and yes, that means there are 10 double-HP lightning warp totems coming after me). I'm just throwing out the precaution that you should definitely stick to a pillar to hide behind the moment it starts firing the laser. Also, keep moving so the totems won't insta-nuke you on an unblock streak (especially if you don't have a Rathpith), even if it's just one sidestep every couple arcs. A Saffell's is helpful but I never use one since it's not necessary.
-Dominus, second form: Bring lots of staunching flasks. You should be carrying 2 staunching flasks at the bare minimum anyways.
-Courtyard boss: The cycloner and the mage are harmless. Stay away from one that shoots fire projectiles and leapslams. The burning ground DoT can hurt, and I've come very close to dying from it in a minus-max-res + vulnerability map.
-Arcane Chambers boss: Don't sit in his chaos damage and bring a staunching flask. Derp.
-Vaal/Dom: Don't sit under their smash. They can one-shot you in a map that has +unique boss damage and +element as extra damage with vulnerability. I don't think I have to say this.

Unique map notes:
Poorjoy's: this map rips a lot of people. I haven't rip'd in a Poorjoy yet, but I've come somewhat close (i.e. 30% hp left) in Poorjoy's several times. I recommend bringing Granite Flasks of Warding because the blue whippers will do a ton of damage with the vulnerabilty on you.
Olmec's: Try to have at least 0% chaos resistance and 2% life leech to sustain the poison cloud facetank. Last time I ran Olmec, I even swapped in a Geofri's crest for the extra 30% chaos resist, and I brought an Atziri's promise for the +35% extra. Also bring some swell life flasks.
Mao Kun: Treat it like a map with a +50% damage modifier. Pretty easy otherwise, since block counters the flicker strike spam.

With this version, I can do Apex runs without dying.

Gear


Gems
Auras: Clarity + RM, and TS + LL + ML + RM
Arc: Lightning pen, faster casting, Empower, spell echo
Boots: CWDT, IC, EC, Enfeeble
Gloves: Curse on Hit + Ball Lightning/Arc + Curse on Hit + Conductivity OR Flame totem + GMP + Chaos dmg + Faster casting

Misc: Lightning warp + RD, AA, Elemental Weakness

Note: To run Atziri, you must have over 3k base mana and over 270 mana regen per second. This means you need level 20 clarity and some great mana regen rings as well as an amazing ES shield.

The vaal fight is a piece of cake. I don't run any special swaps, and I don't use Saffell's for the extra res since the ball lightnings and laser cannons do so little damage anyways. Elemental weakness is the only curse I run to keep this fight short and simple.

The trio is also easy as well, although it does require good movement speed boots or Lightning Warp skills. I kill the cyclone first. Sometimes I leave the ranged one last, but I mostly leave the dual striker last. The CWDT setup on my boots (CWDT + IC + EC + Enfeeble) ensures that the ranged one won't hurt a ton. I just run around in circles, cursing only the cycloner (to prevent chaining from killing the others first) and shooting Arcs at the cyclone until he’s dead. Then I just sit around and kill the remaining two, and the trigger gems make sure that either is literally unable to kill me due to block.

Atziri requires another set of gem/equipment swaps.

I run a Saffell for the fight for the extra +res, and the shield already has its own RM + Clarity + PoF so I don't need to swap gems between the Rathpith and the Saffell. More of a quality-of-life thing than a necessity, if you only have one good clarity + RM to spare then you can swap them.


I run a spell totem with 18/20 elemental weakness. This helps the fight to move along a little faster. Enfeeble is absolutely not required if you play smart and run all the right trigger gems.

Edit: You may wish to link Spell totem + ID to both EW and Warlord's Mark. That way, you can use WM against her 4-form to offset the reflect.

I also swap out the CoH gloves and put on my Flame Totem gloves, which run FT+FC+ACD+GMP.


Tempest Shield becomes USELESS against Atziri. Sure, block drops to 70% without it, but since we're running Saffell's, total spell block is max at 75%. I take TS off and swap in a really neat set of trigger gems. This trigger ensures that taking a hard flameblast hit will quickly spawn a devouring totem to heal you, plus a couple skeletons to draw aggro of subsequent flameblasts. It works wonders… sometimes but not always.

Tactics:
Drop a EW totem when the curse expires.
Always drop a flame totem next to her. I find that the fight is much, much easier when I'm investing time into dropping flame totems by her to draw her aggro. A couple flameblasts will hardly scratch you, sure, but it's nice to have the flame totem draw aggro and do damage when you're moving away from a flameblast. Storm calls hardly hurt, and her bleed does barely any damage to be honest. 30% MS boots or excellent LW skills are a necessity for this part of the run. Always stay mobile! The really big flameblasts will hurt a ton (although they don’t always one-shot if you’re full HP), so go hide in the farthest corner.

The bleed spears don't really hurt much, so I wouldn't worry too much about those compared to the flameblasts - if there's a FB under you and you're bleeding, move! A staunching flask will be necessary though, I prefer to run a Panicked + Staunching for best effect.

When she's in the invincible phase with the minions running up to heal her, I just drop a flame totem on one side and Arc her.

The 4-form is the most difficult part by far, since we only run 75% spell block and 79% lightning res along with MoM to combat the mirror'd form. While some people solve this issue by running PoL + Topaz flasks, I just use a Topaz for 89% total res; the only issue here is the intense mana drain from the reflection, which means you need a ton of mana regen. I just stick to one wall (usually the wall with the entrance) and constantly spam totems while dodging flameblasts and stormcalls. I throw in Arcs whenever I can, and if there's a very clear opportunity to Arc for an extended period of time, then I pop a Topaz + Ruby if necessary and Arc for a bit. 93% fire res and 89% lightning res is more than enough to root myself since I have spell block as well as a CWDT trigger. I make sure to keep her EW'd at all times to keep the fight short and improve the leeching, and I summon flame totems right after and between each storm call.

Just keep this up for a bit. The devouring totem will ensure that you don't drop too low, and a couple mana flask + bubbling/panicked life flask will ensure that you don't run out of either life or mana.

"

Zippaca wrote:

decided to try atziri and it went overall smooth the first two bosses was quite easy but i died once on atziri on her splitphase but it was my first time and i didnt really know what she does but now i do thanks for awesome build

"

Porterhouse wrote:

Atziri down thanks Kute!

I was tempted to switch to storm call for her fight but it ended up working just fine.

"

monkuar wrote:

KuteKitteh helped me through skype with a very long conversation and in-game. Just simply awesome, great build and really shines in 1.2. I will share this with my friends, just utterly speechless at how nice you are, crazy that those people exist on poe lol.

"

DamageIncorporated wrote:

I began following this build as i became obvious to me things were only going to get worse, the route I was going.
Awesome. Thanks for the effort with the guide.

"

magnus962 wrote:

Been playing this build in Beyond league and currently sitting at level 75. I have to say I am very impressed with the survivability of block and the accessibility of many of the uniques associated with this.

"

Schrii wrote:

Currently using your build in Rampage, loving it.

"

Powernic wrote:

First I wanted to thank you for your build. I've always liked the arc concept, but I play mostly solo and the need for endless kiting was always a major nono for me. Thanks to your build, I don't need to kite anymore I can go straight on :)

"

shrapner wrote:

Really enjoying how tanky I am. I started out running fox's rf arcer but after the res nerf I switched to pledge of hands to try out crit and while the damage was amazing, I was constantly stunned or frozen. None of that is an issue now :D

"

Smerte wrote:

Just dropped by to say thanks for this amazing build :) Im at the moment 69 level @ Beyond-league with the build, hopefully I can transfer to the main build at some point.

"

therealjcool wrote:

Wow, I see this is getting more popular lol. Deservedly so! First off, thanks for the nice build. I love Arc and have been playing 3 different ARCers in the 1 month, most were a variation of Foxtactics. I loved the clearpseed but didn't like the running away.
Never had a block char before, and I have to say it's quite nice.

"

Solias wrote:

Hello! I came back to PoE after a few months hiatus and I am loving your build so far!

"

snquadrigis wrote:

Hey KuteKitteh! Just stopped by to say your build rocks!
Jungle Valley spider, Shrine Piety, Residence Dominus, Torture Chamber Shock/Horror are all very enjoyable with the tankiness that this build brings.
Thanks again, your build is making my mapping a breeze.

"

crowdog wrote:

So I'm loving this build man thanks alot! I also appreciate you answering all my noobish questions! This is really only my 3rd successful build, the others being a duelist facebreaker and an incinerate witch, both about 6 months ago. And this one is turning out to be my favorite!! :)

"

Ticina wrote:

I've been following your build a while now and I must say I was sold when I first came across it. So far I am loving it. Personally, I think it is a much better alternative to FoxTactics's arc build simply because of the survivability...not just that, I can use Auresize and Item Quantity without risk of getting killed.

"

skjutengris wrote:

Tried a few builds here and there, not a theory crafter and really enjoy this build.

"

Ceuro wrote:

Really liking the build so far!

"

Myrkabah wrote:

Been using this build thus far, and it is *awesome*. Needless to say, I'm wrecking face, even though I have some more upgrades to make (belt, chest, ring). This character is way more fun than my blender duelist in Domination. Thanks for the guide!

"

tungzk wrote:

Cheap, reliable AND efficient. Look no further for a fun yet effective arc witch build.

"

Rockstopper wrote:

Just wanted to drop by for some positive feedback. After a few deaths which were completely my own fault, I rerolled with this build and am currently level 84 on Beyond after a week or so of playing.
Overall, this is probably my most successful character in hardcore so far - granted I haven't touched the hardest tier of maps yet, but I'm quite satisfied with how my character turned out so far. Cheers for the great build.

"

RandallPOE wrote:

Absolutely loving this build as well. Really enjoying the game again so thanks KuteKitteh for revitalising my interest!

"

Ark20 wrote:

Well I'm starting to have some real fun with the build. The levelling process was really smooth, I didn't really hit any sort of wall, but now I'm in the late 70s and I have MoM/EB/decent levels of AA and TS I'm having a blast. Zana made me hunt some corrupted tentacle miscreations with multiple projectiles. They suicided to TS, I wasn't even attacking them. Same goes for Harbinger (cells map boss), he killed himself pretty fast. Oh and my block chance isn't even capped yet. DPS isn't opieop but like you say in the main post, it's enough, specially with double curses.
"10/10 would build again."

"

magnus962 wrote:

This build is incredible. My DPS isn't as high as many of my friends, but they also won't run Poorjoy's without the slightest hiccup where I can.

Thanks again for this build, it is the most fun I've had in a hardcore league in a long time.

"

Just re-specced my Scion into this build. Was running a Foxtacticish arc build before but this is way stronger. Almost afk on lvl71 maps. I'm lvl78. Scion gives extra mana and mana regen and with CoD I'm lvl on passives. Luckily had shield and amulet in stash and a top end moonsorrow.

Thanks a lot for this - easiest maps farming build yet.

"

karaknic wrote:

Yesterday I was sharing some masters in a double boss Temple with vulnerability and max ele. reflect and I hadn't quite picked off one or two monsters, as the guys came in two of them died within a couple of seconds, I hadn't even realised it was a reflect map, I just notice my mana draining a bit quicker than normal.
Had to apologise to the poor bastards. You may have umpteenthousand-kay-depee-ess, but I don't even notice that maps have elemental reflect haha!

"

HoosTrax wrote:

This has to be the laziest build I've ever played. I mean that in a good way. With Curse on Hit, it becomes a matter of just sitting there and holding down one key, with the cursor pointed sort of vaguely in the general direction of a mob. Also -- Elreon missions are hilariously easy and little effort.

Kind of refreshing after playing a lot of desync-prone cyclone builds.

"

BOB_JACKS0N wrote:

Great build KuteKitteh. I'm running it with my scion lvl 94 and it works great. Doing all maps with no problems. Killed all map bosses.

Ty again for this great and fun build.

"

Daiena wrote:

After all this,as far as i am aware is one of very,very few caster builds that can actually tank and not just take few hits and roll over playing ded.

"

Suds1029 wrote:

Hey KuteKitteh, thanks for the build. I've really been enjoying it so far, definitely my favorite build I have played. I really appreciate the effort you put into the guide and answering everyone's questions, it has been extremely helpful. Thanks again for the great guide and help!

Also, the funniest one. I was trying to buy a Silverbranch to make leveling my ranger a little faster.
Me: "wtb silverbranch 1alc"
Him: "Which one? I have 2"
Me: "The 73% one please"
Him: "Hey, aren't you that guy with the tanky arc build on the forums?"




Thank you all for the positive feedback!

KuteKitteh’s poor-man’s BM Arcer – clear end-game maps for an insanely low cost!

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Disclaimer #1


Disclaimer #2

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Build Highlights
-Blood Magic, Unwavering Stance
-75 block, 47.5 spell block
-4500-5500 HP
-6-8k Arc DPS
-Super cheap, new-league & beginner viable
-No mana regen necessary
-No auras or TS
-No AA

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The Goals of the Build

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Pros and Cons

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Stats

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Passives


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Gear & Items


Gems