Spark 2.0: a comprehensive and complete skill guide

Hi,

I went to see your characters and you actually have a lv90 2.0 spark build using scion and pledge of hands. I'd like to know if it's working well. Is it still viable or not? Can you do lv 72-76 maps with it?

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Hi,

I went to see your characters and you actually have a lv90 2.0 spark build using scion and pledge of hands. I'd like to know if it's working well. Is it still viable or not? Can you do lv 72-76 maps with it?

I'm not a rich player (never had more then a total currency value of 20 ex) so I went for the non-crit option, which is often underrated.

A 5-link Pledge of Hands came quickly to my mind, as it is a reasonably cheap 6-link, gives a ton of mana (very useful for Spark) and good damage. Other key uniques are a Belly of the Beast for a good life boost and Atziri's Step to reach 46% spelldodge, which was important when reflect was still an issue.

My current stats:

16k+ Spark DPS with Lightning Penetration
5k+ life and good regen
40% dodge/46% spelldodge

using a Spark Totem (5k DPS with penetration) for extra damage and decoy and CwdT-CoH-Firestorm-Projectile weakness for more damage and utility.

To improve:

Getting a 6-linked PoH will make me take a big jump. It allows me to add Reduced Mana, so I can support the mana-heavy Faster Casting that will replace Added Chaos damage. I kept my casting speed low now due to the fact that my mana doesn't allow me more. I didn't even quality my Faster Projectiles yet for that reason... .

With a Reduced Mana gem, I can also spec out of some mana passive points and invest them in the damage nodes in the Shadow area. I did some calculations and should end up close to 20k sheet DPS.

PvM is a breeze. I didn't do higher then 77 maps yet though, never had a 78. I always solo. Ofcourse we all know we have to be careful now with the spike damage of 2.0, but that goes for any build. I don't feel squishy at all. I only die from stupidity or when my cat jumps on my keyboard. The clearspeed is certainly good, not insane, but good.

I PvP a lot. I tend to do very well. Although in Sarn I get beaten a lot, Spark is too spread out for that place. The only people who can consistently beat me 1vs1 usually have gear 10 times the value of mine and a couple of levels more. With a 6-link I'll probably have a good chance (50%+) winning against 99% of the PvP community.

If I ever find a mirror 21/20 gems will still boost me quite a bit too, and I could get some more life probably.

If you want, I can still add my passive tree!

I really hope you add a gear and passive tree section soon. this was a good start to a guide and well written.

Hey,

Thanks for your awesome review on spark ! I never used it and plan to try it.

So here is my skill-tree attempt :

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwABAx4D7gQHBLMGIwthDc0PqxBYEQ8RLRZvFr8ZihpsHM4dvh8CH0Ei4iSLJKomlSpNK1AsnC2oMjQzhzWSNuk6WDrhPC0_J0GHRZ1H4krIS1dN41FMU1JVS1XGWW1ewF-YX7Bh4mjybqpvnnYRfEt8g31bfq-Cm4LHgwmDzIPbiFqNGZZ0lwaaO5rgm7WdrqBCogCkOaZXpwisR6yYr2yvp7GQtfK2hrc-t9bAZsDjwzrEosT2xq7KSs8y1abYTdi92V_bWd2M4BLjauQi5Ozr7u0g7TzwH_Gz8kX56P4K_lT-jw==


My idea is to get lots of "reduced mana cost + life/mana" nodes and regular "life nodes" in order to be able to cast some auras + life is always good + spamming spark gets easier with this.

Shadow and Ranger parts would be for end-game purpose. I'd rather go first on Templar and Witch and pick as much elem dmg + life as I can. (I did not pick Ash, Frost and Storm on purpose, cause I think that if you do so, it will be harder to reach the Lightning dmg nodes from the Witch tree later on)

As a non rich player (I mean very poor in fact), the skill-tree is non-crit based and should work fine with some gems combos as previously described.

Tempest shield would also be a viable option to play with.

I suggest killing all 3 bandits on each difficulty.

My friend gave me 20%Q Spark gem, so i have play some around that, and this build recomendations seems exactly what i need :)

Thanx for your advices.

I'm lvl 24 yet, too soon to predicted what will be later in the next future, but seems like a lot of a fun


p.s. btw very funny combo is Lightning Warp & Flame Dash, very movement :)

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I really hope you add a gear and passive tree section soon. this was a good start to a guide and well written.

Thanks!

There is already a passive tree section though... it points out areas of interest specific to Sparkers. I don't want to post example trees, because there are just so many paths a Sparker can take.

If you really want, here is mine:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwAAAx4D7gSzBbUJqg-rFr8YVhmKHNwdvh9BIuokiyaVKPoqWy2oMHEy0TOHNZI6QjrhPydBh0M2Q8hFR0WdSshLeE3jUuxTUlVLWW1aUlugXsBfmF-wYeJiWmKsaHRo8myMb5559nvDfA58S4KbgseDCYTFiFqLjIw2jb-PGpSglnSXBpo7muCbXZu1naqgQqIAplenVaiasZC0xbaGtz631riTu-O-gMBmwJrC7MM6xKLKSs8y1CPVpthN2L3Z_Npi21ndqN-Y4XPo1uvu7TzwH_JF8pf53fno_gr-j_66?accountName=Soepkieken&characterName=Paaldanseres

Non-crit non-shock Acrobatics for a Pledge of Hands user. But as I said there dozens of good trees very different from mine.

The gear section will take A LOT of time because there is plenty of interesting gear that I cannot afford yet: Sire of Shards, Voltaxic Rift,... so I cannot test them out for the moment yet.

"

Hey,

Thanks for your awesome review on spark ! I never used it and plan to try it.

So here is my skill-tree attempt :

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwABAx4D7gQHBLMGIwthDc0PqxBYEQ8RLRZvFr8ZihpsHM4dvh8CH0Ei4iSLJKomlSpNK1AsnC2oMjQzhzWSNuk6WDrhPC0_J0GHRZ1H4krIS1dN41FMU1JVS1XGWW1ewF-YX7Bh4mjybqpvnnYRfEt8g31bfq-Cm4LHgwmDzIPbiFqNGZZ0lwaaO5rgm7WdrqBCogCkOaZXpwisR6yYr2yvp7GQtfK2hrc-t9bAZsDjwzrEosT2xq7KSs8y1abYTdi92V_bWd2M4BLjauQi5Ozr7u0g7TzwH_Gz8kX56P4K_lT-jw==


My idea is to get lots of "reduced mana cost + life/mana" nodes and regular "life nodes" in order to be able to cast some auras + life is always good + spamming spark gets easier with this.

Shadow and Ranger parts would be for end-game purpose. I'd rather go first on Templar and Witch and pick as much elem dmg + life as I can. (I did not pick Ash, Frost and Storm on purpose, cause I think that if you do so, it will be harder to reach the Lightning dmg nodes from the Witch tree later on)

As a non rich player (I mean very poor in fact), the skill-tree is non-crit based and should work fine with some gems combos as previously described.

Tempest shield would also be a viable option to play with.

I suggest killing all 3 bandits on each difficulty.

I think your tree still needs some tweaking. For example you don't take any jewel slot nodes, not even those that cost you just 1 point, while they are the best passive points of the entire tree.

Tempest Shield is always a good free extra and non-crit is indeed the way to go if you're poor!

Helping Oak in Normal is almost always good as a life based character, especially if you're poor and don't get top life rolls on every item.
Helping Alira in cruel should be considered as 5% cast speed is often good compared to a regular cast speed passive tree point (3% or 4%).

"

My friend gave me 20%Q Spark gem, so i have play some around that, and this build recomendations seems exactly what i need :)

Thanx for your advices.

I'm lvl 24 yet, too soon to predicted what will be later in the next future, but seems like a lot of a fun

Feel free to add comments later on how you did with the advices of this guide as a background. Especially if you made some build decisions inspired by this guide that you later regret.

Yeah, for the jewels, I forgot to mention that if we indeed find any cool jewel for the build, its better to use it as soon as possible.

For the bandits, I understand how their bonuses can be quite useful, but I really don't like to help them. =D But well, if I can at least beat them all on Merciless, it should be fine hehe.

Anyway thanks for your advices.

what a nice guide

I need a advice.
Fist, sorry for the (very) bad english.
I created a sparker Witch (no crit), i have a Pledge of Hands, and i can't decide what support skills i should use.
The real problem is that i use the ''Call of the Brotherhood'' ring, that converts 50% of my lightning damage to cold, then i don't think lightning penetration is viable (or still worth?). Taking off that ring is out of question to me, since it gives me a really nice defensive bonus (I use Herald of Thunder - Curse on Hit - Projectile Weakness, so i have freeze and knockback.

So, my mandadory skills are: Spark - Faster Projectiles - Added Lightning Damage - GMP/LMP (adds a ton of clearspeed, so i dont really care for a bit less dmg).

The two last ones are bothering me. It is possible to convert all the spark dmg to cold using 2 Call of the Brotherhood? Or another item? in this case i can add cold penetration and a faster casting or added cold dmg.

Exellent guide btw. Waiting eagerly for the itemization tips.

"

Feel free to add comments later on how you did with the advices of this guide as a background. Especially if you made some build decisions inspired by this guide that you later regret.

Honestly, i failed.
On leveling i was following that above mentioned non crit passive tree, with Templar (not best decision, Witch or Scion can be better, but nvm, still good caster), but on lvl 72 i realised i'm too slow.
So i spent some regrets to crit build, using builder and enjoying that part, learning a lot.
Well, result was good, some decent dmg on Spark, but still not enough.
Then i have to decide for single boss skill. Lightning Tendrils not bad, but dangerous cuz close to enemy. Spell Totem refused as poor choice here, and don't want.
Arc, maybe, didn't discovered all possibilities (as Curse spreading at least),

TLDR Finally respeced to LW dual curse (assassin and warlord), Strom Call and Shock Nova.
so very different build than Spark :)

But this guide help me a lot, so Thanx very much :)

ya and some about gear:
Sire of Shards - not bad, but not worthy, worx not very well for me
Pledge of Hands - yes! :)
Windsream boots - good for 2 curses
Surgebinders - good for charges
Geofri's Crest helm - +1 to some skills not bad, or Mindspiral, some lght dmg, but idk what's BiS,
and looking for the "Call of the Brotherhood" ring, seems like nice item for lght builds

sry for bad EN spelling, and maybe a little bit confusing post, but nvm, just enjoying the game :)