[3.2] Scionic Flametank "16k ES ed." (ES-CI-ZO-GR, SR-CWC-FS, extensive guide)

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SasoriOtoko wrote:

Ah, I thought it would be ideal to have both, but I understand. That's why I wanted to try your build...it is definitely new territory for me.

Let's put it like this; This build regenerates 102% of maximum energy shield every 7 seconds regardless of circumstances (barring reduced regeneration map modifiers). Faster than that if you have a regeneration talisman or Shavronne's Revelation.

Energy Shield recharge takes two seconds to activate, and then 5 seconds to recharge 100% of maximum energy shield. In other words, it takes 7 seconds without taking damage to match up to the energy shield regeneration that is always ongoing.

If one is ever in a situation where the recharge kicks in on its own, one has already regenerated almost 30% of maximum energy shield during that time and will be topped up in short order. In practice spending skill points on improving this aspect doesn't affect survivability and doesn't help topping up energy shield between groups either, because the passive regeneration is strong enough to take care of this on its own when one is not taking damage. :)

Energy shield recharge is, for this build, only really relevant if using a Vaal Discipline as emergency button as it adds the recharge to the regeneration for the duration regardless of whether one is taking damage. However, spending skill points on improving the recharge for this minor aspect of the build is greatly inferior to spending the points on additional maximum energy shield nodes or damage.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me...it makes perfect sense now. I am learning a lot working on your build and having an absolute blast. And I like the idea of facetanking since I have a bad habit of doing drunken POE nights with one of my friends...I've died too many times trying to level up post 90 characters after tipping back a few...;)

I hope I will not regret picking a Witch...I already have two Scions and the thought of making another one just wasn't appealing to me. Plus it had been a long time since I started a new character from scratch and I always wanted to try out a Witch.

Up to Lv 61 and 5200 ES...I don't think I've ever destroyed Merc Kole so fast...not to mention he barely scratched me. Ran a few low end maps so far but I died a few times...think I'll wait until I have a few more levels and more regen.

I've got my end game shield, gloves and armour ready...and even found a pair of boots in my stash that should work okay:




The rest I'll have to buy...but luckily helms aren't too pricey...but high ES boots with movement speed...egads...too rich for my blood! :)

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SasoriOtoko wrote:

I hope I will not regret picking a Witch...I already have two Scions and the thought of making another one just wasn't appealing to me. Plus it had been a long time since I started a new character from scratch and I always wanted to try out a Witch.

Well...

At this point in time neither of the two revealed Witch subclasses do anything of importance for the build when focusing on the defensive aspect, though the Witch Elementalist would significantly increase damage if running a Herald of Lightning, Wrath, Added Lightning Damage gem, or Added Lightning Damage to Spells weapon modifier using Shaper of Desolation, Pendulum of Destruction, and either Liege of the Primordial or Paragon of Calamity.

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The rest I'll have to buy...but luckily helms aren't too pricey...but high ES boots with movement speed...egads...too rich for my blood! :)

There's a reason that I run around slowly, so slowly, and use my Flame Dash to move between groups. It is all I can afford, and the extra base ES is so very, very, nice. :)

(I really should change to Whirling Blades rather than Flame Dash with the After Dark variant, but I do so like being able to jump ledges.)

The final Witch class is in, the Occultist. You made good choice in going Witch, if you intend to continue some variant of a regeneration tank in Ascendancy. :D

Wicked Ward: +100 energy shield (nice), 30% increased energy shield recharge rate, energy shield recharge is not interrupted by damage if Recharge began in last 4 seconds.
=>
Vile Bastion: 1% of energy shield regenerated per second for each enemy killed within the last 4 seconds (GREAT), immune to stun if on full energy shield.

Profane Bloom: Cursed Enemies you kill explode dealing 10% of life as chaos damage, enemies you curse take 10% increased damage.


Current state of affairs:

It looks like Shadow/Trickster in After Dark configuration remains the strongest defensive variant of ES regeneration for general trash killing with Witch/Occultist a close second but having the advantage of not having to use Consuming Dark. (So if Ascendancy nerfs the poison aspect, Witch may end up the better choice from a balanced defense/offense perspective)

It looks like Templar/Inquisitor is the strongest defensive variant for bosses due to the substantial +4% life regeneration from Sacred Ground, which triggers both on killing and being hit, so doesn't require the presence of trash enemies to keep active. It looks like a very solid option if you can stand being pantless.

The just revealed Templar/Guardian also looks decent with Time of Need providing 30% life regeneration + curse removal every 10s (inferior to 3% per second, but still nothing to sniff at), Unwavering Faith (0.2% life regen/aura, 1% phys mitigation/aura), Radiant Faith (15% of reserved mana as maximum energy shield). More of a party build, though. For solo, Templar/Inquisitor has got to be stronger.

And of course there's the outside bet, a Marauder/Juggernaut Flametank that takes Unstoppable, Unbreakable, Unflinching and gets to kill Merveil the Reflection safely without having to change boots. :p

I WANT TO SEE THE SCION SUBCLASS!

Whew...guess I got lucky with the Witch. :)

I currently have a max block Incinerator Marauder which I thought was another one of my stupid ideas...but he's turned out very well. I was looking at the Juggernaut class and wondering if I wanted to even go there...

Then again, after learning how your build works I was thinking of putting a Kaom's Heart on him and removing the block nodes in lieu of more life and regen...which would put him at around 8500+ life with 17.15% regen if he was wearing a Shaper's Seed, or a little more life with a good Amulet. Might be fun to experiment with before the tree change as it wouldn't take that many Regrets to change it up. But 8500 is way, way less than 13,000+...

I too, want to know what the Scion gets....frustrating! My Lightning Tendrils Scion needs some love!!

They are probably going to reveal the Scion class last as an experiment to see how many Scion players they can drive mad by withholding information till the end.

Got my Witch up to Level 70. Finally can use my best gems! ES is 10676, Regen 1325. Went CI right before this...pretty much have my end game set up but still tweaking a few things. I haven't switched to Incinerate yet...still using my trusty Magma Orb...I really want to do a full 6L Incinerate but the Mana demands are insane. I barely did it with my last Incinerator so I know it can be done. I'll get there, eventually. ;)

Some highlights of how kick ass this build is:

Ran into Merc Fidelitas last night, pre CI. Was, quite literally, tipping back a tasty brew while texting a friend and chatting in game. He put on quite a good show and ended up killing himself while I got intoxicated. Good times.

Today I finally took on Merc Dominus right after getting CI. I have never, ever, facetanked and destroyed him so easily. First form barely put a dent in me...and his Touch of God strikes turned out to Touch of Silly Slaps. Second form went down even easier.

Other times I just leave my Witch standing in the middle of a map and watch the poor saps try and attack her. They die pretty quick...and I haven't even enabled Ghost Reaver yet, lol.

Got my final Passive Point, so I've had enough of Act 4. Time to get back to mapping!

Thanks again for such a fun build...don't know if I can get my ES up in the 13k range, but I'm sure as hell going to try. :D

Is there a reason why you don't use cwdt + IC combo?

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TheHeadsmasher wrote:

Is there a reason why you don't use cwdt + IC combo?

Yes.

CwDT+IC with endurance charges is great when you either rebuild endurance charges rapidly, don't have high physical damage reduction, or are so frail that you need immunity after taking enough damage to trigger - neither of which are the case for this build; You'll frequently shrug off physical hits that would one-shot most other characters without this putting you in a situation where you would die did you take another big hit; the major danger is being overwhelmed by lots of damage sources that wear you down over time with you forgetting to teleport out, in particular elemental damage sources, not the occasional big hit.

The build only builds endurance charges slowly via Warlord's Mark and when the going gets tough 3 endurance charges make a significant difference on top of the already high physical damage reduction. All taken together, the build benefits much more from having permanent 3 endurance charges when the going gets really tough (and there are enemies to kill, the Molten Shell activates, the Granite flask is used) than short spans of physical damage immunity.

Now, a lot of this is sheer preference and playstyle - CWDT+IC works well, as does not using the combo. My opinion for a build that relies on regeneration for survival is that anything that helps make the damageintake less spiky by a significant degree makes it much easier to judge when to withdraw for a second or two to regenerate and when to remain facetanking.

Anybody wanting to slot in an Enduring Cry and a CWDT+IC could probably get a lot some use out of use out of it, but it goes against the idea of this build which is that you can just keep attacking (with full Incinerate stack) unless you have to teleport out to regenerate or want to activate an emergency Vaal Discipline.

I hope that answers your question.

Ah...I was about to ask the same question. I had IC on and had swapped out a few times...but after reading this I decided to leave it off permanently. It does seem better to have the endurance charges running.

Another question - did you run into any trouble with any bosses when you were leveling up? Since going CI and getting my ES over 10k I've been destroying everything. Only had two deaths when I ran a map with -max resist and elem reflect (yeah, I know) and even then I just had to play careful and only died when I opened a Strongbox and my crappy old computer slowed down too much for me to react. Happened again when I went back...but then I cleared the map and took out the boss and was feeling pretty invincible.

But today I took on Maegara on a Lv 75 Zana mission...first boss I've been unable to facetank for more than few seconds. Even with a Ruby Flask she was just dealing too much damage. I looked at the mods and noticed there was a "Monsters deal xxx extra damage as Fire" and I'm guessing this is why she was dealing so much damage. There was also a Fire resistance mod which was not helping either. Level 81 and my ES was around 11200 or so. So I went back to lick my wounds for a bit since I had a passive point to use from getting a level, and finally used Elreon's mod on my two rings. Got my ES up to 11792 with 1709 regen and went back to fight her again. Died again trying to Facetank so I had to kite and run which is something I forgot all about playing this build, lol.

I've still got some ES to pick up on the tree so I'm hoping to get it up a bit more. Damn Maegara. I'll get her next time. :D