[2.0.3] Blackdepp's Arc Witch (beginnner friendly, endgame viable)

Endgame Viable... I don't think so. On endgame it's absolutly useless. Oneshot style.

@Inversoul damn troll XP

@Blackdepp thanks so much for this guide! This is my first serious character on PoE and I'm having a ball, even with this potato laptop that I'm using.

Towards the endgame I did feel that the build is kinda squishy, so I did make some major modifications (with suggestions coming from posts on this thread too):



I think the Rathpith is a far superior option to the Saffell's Frame as you get an extra 25% block chance, as well as a ton of life and ES. You do lose the 4% max resist but the benefits of the Rathpith outweight that IMO - the difference can be felt in gameplay.

Using the Vertex coupled with level 3 Enlighten allowed me to dump a lot of mana passive points and clarity - this allowed me to get a ton more life and ES points - I am now using Discipline together with Vaal Discipline instead of Arctic Armour and Clarity.

Here is my current passive skill tree @ level 93.

Arc lvl 21 tooltip dps is at 26,085.8
Life 4,604 with ES 3,336
Block attacks 25%, block spells 15% (Rathpith)
Lightning Coil mitigates 22.5% of physical damage, armour reduces 11% - total 33.5%
Evasion is at 20%
I use both Jade and Granite flasks for the tough mobs and with the flask effects both my armour and evasion hit exactly 47%

After the changes I've been steamrolling maps through level 77 and I should probably be fine at least until 79.

I appreciate all suggestions to make my current build better :)


Edit: was asked about my other equipment, so here it is:

"

Inversoul wrote:

Endgame Viable... I don't think so. On endgame it's absolutly useless. Oneshot style.

Played endgame. Survived endgame. If you wanna play a more tanky build it's up to you.

"

Deathwish_Assassin wrote:

Spoiler

@Inversoul damn troll XP

@Blackdepp thanks so much for this guide! This is my first serious character on PoE and I'm having a ball, even with this potato laptop that I'm using.

Towards the endgame I did feel that the build is kinda squishy, so I did make some major modifications (with suggestions coming from posts on this thread too):

"

New wrote:

I think the Rathpith is a far superior option to the Saffell's Frame as you get an extra 25% block chance, as well as a ton of life and ES. You do lose the 4% max resist but the benefits of the Rathpith outweight that IMO - the difference can be felt in gameplay.

Using the Vertex coupled with level 3 Enlighten allowed me to dump a lot of mana passive points and clarity - this allowed me to get a ton more life and ES points - I am now using Discipline together with Vaal Discipline instead of Arctic Armour and Clarity.

Here is my current passive skill tree @ level 93.

Arc lvl 21 tooltip dps is at 26,085.8
Life 4,604 with ES 3,336
Block attacks 25%, block spells 15% (Rathpith)
Lightning Coil mitigates 22.5% of physical damage, armour reduces 11% - total 33.5%
Evasion is at 20%
I use both Jade and Granite flasks for the tough mobs and with the flask effects both my armour and evasion hit exactly 47%

After the changes I've been steamrolling maps through level 77 and I should probably be fine at least until 79.

I appreciate all suggestions to make my current build better :)

For sure there are a lot of modofications possible. I'm happy you found a way to enjoy this build even more. The Vertex is listed as an endgame option for the helmet and I will add rathpith as well though I like saffell's a little more (:

This build gets fun when you can 4 link your arc skill. I don't have the helmet quite yet though. My 4 link is in my gloves.

A theory I'm thinking of is that if you can somehow find a 5/6L, to put in item rarity to help you out so you won't be as poor.

"

Hunoi wrote:

This build gets fun when you can 4 link your arc skill. I don't have the helmet quite yet though. My 4 link is in my gloves.

A theory I'm thinking of is that if you can somehow find a 5/6L, to put in item rarity to help you out so you won't be as poor.

A word of warning, putting arc in the helmet with a +l gem level is one key aspect of this build.

I experimented with a 5L in my chest with Empower, did not work as it only added +2-3 levels to the single arc gem, while all the other support gems lost the +1 level from the helm. I gained around 1000+ dps overall, but ran into serious mana issues as a result of the Empower gem. I basically had to undo everything lol.

Maybe Empower level 4 will work in the chest but the benefit is not really worth the cost. If you have mullah a corrupted tabula rasa with +1 gem level coupled with a level 4 Empower may provide a substantial dps boost if you are able to deal with the mana problems. For the 6th link you can throw in a faster casting, added chaos damage or item rarity. Or maybe reduced mana? Seems a waste though.

You do lose the physical damage mitigation from the Lightning Coil, and depending on your defensive setup that will be a serious problem.

So empower only works on the skill gem and not on the supports. Not so useful then. Well gotteshand already said that only level 4 empower is worth it and even then only by a slim margin. I'll take his work for it.
I've reached 20K damage in my build but the problem is that I don't have any damage on my amulet, rings, boots or gloves mainly because of the 60 more lightning res that lightning coil needs but also because I want a little rarity on my gear. But I'm beginning to change my mind on that one. No need for rarity when you buy most of your gear and it's really difficult to sell anything in normal league...

In Warbands level 4 Empower is like 12ex lol... and for a marginal boost even.

I've managed to hit 25.2k dps now with 4,827 life + 3,674 shield.

Previously I was at 26.2kdps with 4,612 life + 3,477 shield - but I still felt squishy so I swapped up the Doryani's belt for a Life/ES belt.

I also bought a pair of boots without +movement speed, giving me 4,800 life + 3,900+ shield at 25.2k dps but I couldn't get use to the slow walking speed lol.

After everything I still find the build squishy. Oh wells. I am clearing 77 maps with terrifying mods now but I'm not so sure this build will be able to do 78-79 maps with ease.

I ran map up to Lv. 80 without problems. 81 & 82 though might be quite a challenge, not sure about it.

Saffell's or Rathpith... can't decide. Max elemental and better spell block vs physical block and more damage and health. I wish we had some statistics on damage taken. That would make decisions like this very easy.

Tried it, loved it.

I put Arc on a tabula rasa, with added lightning damage, spell echo, lightning penetration and faster casting, this is just insane x)
I guess it won't last forever as it costs lots of mana (41 atm, I need a reduced mana on 6th link), but as I can afford it, this is almost like cheating.

I have a question about the stuff (weapon), as I never played a caster before.

Is the weapon level really important compared to everything else? I mean, once I have a +15% elemental dmg and +10%15% increase cast speed on the wand, is it worth it to change it?

Except for cool mods like +1 lv of gems of stuff like that of course.
Also, is there any point in improving a wand's quality, or doesn't it make any difference between 1 and 20%?

ps: sorry for the english, i'm french.

And thanks for the build :D