THOR'S RAINBOWNUKE: off to the Marauder forum
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The Scion Ascendant is a trash tier class right now. Marauder Berserker is by far the ideal choice for this build.
Accordingly, the guide is now in the Marauder forum, here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1723053 I will not be posting in this thread unless Scion returns to being ideal for the build. The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard Last edited by tackle70#1293 on Sep 5, 2016, 10:57:53 AM Last bumped on Sep 5, 2016, 9:45:50 PM
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Champion (Duelist) Variant By Tanakeah
Champion LL variant for this build. I know that might seem a little odd for some, but thusfar, he's proven to be extremely good. So, let me get down to the nitty-gritty of everything and start listing out some stuff:
Level 91 Duelist - CHampion The Gear
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Nothing had really changed in my gear setup, though Headhunter is once again not 100% required. I just love it for stealing mods off rares all the time. A rare Heavy Belt with Strength, resists and ES and even Armour will suffice. Flask mods work as well, or you can always go with the tried and true Dori's Belt (Lightning Variant) for a simple alternative. The Vertex is still really great, and even better for this build for the +1 to all gems, and the huge amount of Evasion on it will go towards your Armour total since we pick up Iron Reflexes in this build. Nothing else is really new here, and again, don't use my gear setup as gospel truth, this is just what I have on hand and use...use whatever will work for you. The Passive Tree
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQDAAHnDXwOPBEPFHEUdRSwFSAXLxjbGYoZtBqPHRQdqiFgJbwnCymlLYMvbzboOlI7DUCgRnFJUUmxTC1VtVXWWfNbr1xrXIpeE185Xz9fal-wYVJk52ZUZp5oZWvUb55wu3IPcql08XvUe9d82X_GgKSCHoMJg7aESISUhMWGYIbRiEKJcYx2j0aP-pMnlG-bLZuhm7WezZ_LoS-nMKrNrJisqrCrtAy-ir6nwQTBxcHzwzrDbcpKytPQ0NfP2RPbT90N3ePfv-DD4YjqGOq67BjsXO9O74jv6_DV89305vba9zL31_jr-Tf60vsJ_kk=?accountName=Tanakeah&characterName=Xenolugia
This is still going to require some tweaking, but as you can see, I get pretty much all of the aura nodes for this setup and it does help out a lot. In total I get 60% increased Aura Effectiveness as well as 38% reduced Mana Reserved, and this is a very specific total. It's because I run EIGHT, yes, EIGHT auras, that include: Grace, Anger, Wrath, Haste, Discipline, PoF, PoI, and PoL To run all of them, refer to the gem setups I have down below, but here is the aura calculator link for what I did to get them running. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE use this tool to help with planning out your auras depending on what you have available and what you can afford to run with available gems, sockets, and colors. Here ya go: https://poe.mikelat.com/#dJWN9ag/T-Z_=Bo/gnQYsmd/RHym6 Everything else should pretty much make sense, though I am sure the pathing isn't the most optimal it can be, and I do take the Mara life regen notable since I prefer that to refill my life instead of LGoH for consistency. I will be picking up the additional PC and ED where Intuitive Leap is at the Templar zone as I level up. I will likely be able to pick up another jewel socket as well on the way to level 95, and I could even go after Cloth and Chain in the Duelist area to gab more All Resist and Armour/Evasion, too. Again, the tree is still a WIP but this should give most of you a good idea on where to start and tweak it to what you want. As far as jewels, we pretty much want to use: Intuitive Leap, Energy From Within, and Clear Mind since this build takes advantage of all of them quite well. The rest of the jewel sockets should be ES%, Spell Damage, Strength/Resists if needed, and then IAS if you want that. Increased Lighting/Fire Damage is also fine. The Ascendancy Points
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1. First to Strike, Last to Fall - The increased damage doesn't really matter, but what matters is that WHOPPING 200% Increased Armour and Evasion. Yes, you read that right, it's not a mistake, and given that this build is always on LL, you'll always have that up. Plus, the node right before it grants 5%IAS/15% Ar/Eva, so not only a little more attack speed, but another 15% to tack onto the 200%, which is great. Plus, as you can tell from the gems I have slotted (I'll detail them later) I am running Grace, and using Iron Reflexes. Combine all that with my gear choices and the other two smaller nodes that tack on another 30% Ar/Eva, and I am sitting at about 22,250 Armour. Yeah, that's with a pure ES chest and Shield...pretty insane.
2. Unstoppable Hero - Since this build always has Fortify up, you're gaining the 10% IAS/8%MS at all times and the extra 10% Fortify boost helps. Also, since you're going to pick up the other two nodes that have 5% Fortify Effect boosts on them, you'll have a total of 20% Increased Fortify Effect, so you're getting 24% damage reduction instead of 20%...pretty nice. Nothing much else to say here. 3. Fortitude - Not only do you have permanent Fortify, it means that this build no longer need the Fortify gem. This actually has a lot of advantages to it, one of which being that if you go Vaal Pact and don't use life regen, you can then link a LGoH gem to your main attack. VIOLA! No need for LGoH jewels, no need to reforge colors, and you can now do 'No Life Regen' maps without having to make special workarounds for it, or skipping it entirely. Quite a nice currency saver in that regard. Of course, you can always change the color if you wanted something else, though there isn't much else to choose from, but can certainly have at it. The Gem Setups
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Helm = Lvl. 4 Enlighten > Grace > Discipline > Wrath
Shield = Purity of Ice > Purity of Lightning > Purity of Fire Boots = Lvl. 4 Enlighten > Haste > Anger > Herald of Thunder (spare socket here) Gloves = CWDT > Summon Chaos Golem > Immortal Call > Leap Slam (SCG will get changed to Increased Duration) Chest = Lightning Strike > Curse on Hit > Added Chaos Damage > Multistrike > Faster Attacks > Warlord's Mark These should be pretty self-explanatory and give you a rough idea for what to go after. Again, will be changing the glove setup a bit, and because of my chest's colors, I can switch out LS and ACD for GMP+Mol.Strike when I encounter bosses. If my boots weren't mirrored, I'd have a little more flexibility with colors and could optimally slot Anger in the helm instead of Wrath, but again, working with what I have. Now, I could make a separate section for auras, but I'll discuss that here since they're part of the gem setup. Most should be pretty easy to understand, but the notable ones are Grace and Anger. Grace is where most of our Armour will come from and remember that with the 60% Aura increase, that is a 1.6 multiplier to Grace's base Evasion value, and then the other Armour/Evasion increases use that value. That's why I can get my Armour total as high as I can, and it will go a bit higher once I get more passive points fixed up. Anger is nice because it adds flat fire damage to our spells Arc and Discharge, and is a solid boost to their damage, especially Discharge since we're always generating Endurance Charges that deal Fire Damage. The Flasks
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Pretty much nothing too new that I can think of here. Definitely want VoV and a shock removal flask for that, and then you'll want Bleed Removal, Curse Removal, and Frozen/Chill Removal for everything else. Definitely will want to pack a Granite Flask for this build since when I pop mine I get around an additional 11,000 Armour, which puts me around 33,000 total Armour and that combined with Fortify and Endurance Charges...physical mitigation is really strong.
Some final thoughts on the build as I continue to test it out are that it is VERY tanky and we no longer have to fear packs of exploding 'porcupines' any longer. I did do some higher end maps like Academy with Vulnerability and Wastelands with extra boss damage (Both had Onsalught as well) and I had little issue surviving. Even when my VoV went down on Academy, I had more than a few seconds to stand in the book tornadoes and get out without coming close to dying. That was also when my Granite went down as well, so take that for what it's worth. I am unsure if Wasteland Voll hit me with his slam or not, but there I had no help from shock (status immunity map) and extra boss damage, so...yeah. Starting off as the Duelist you also get A LOT of IAS and Art of Gladiator removes all MS penalties from gear, and I am getting well over 5 attacks per second with LS, which is nice. I'll have to do more testing, but I think that right now the Duelist - Champion sacrifices some damage, but he offers A LOT more physical survivability even with VoV up and flexibility to get away from needing LGoH jewels, too. All in all, I'd say he's a very solid choice...also, for those wondering, I am close to 6,800 ES at this point in time, lower than some others for sure, but the huge amount of Armour and other things he offers definitely makes up for it. The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard Last edited by tackle70#1293 on Mar 6, 2016, 8:50:43 PM
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The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard
The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard |
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Nice to see a new, updated thread on this build. :) I'm gonna have to go through the old thread and dig up my life variant on this build that uses Kingsguard and the like and post it for those who might be interested in it. I know it's not LL per se, but it's still something that fits well into it and don't think a whole separate thread is needed.
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" I don't have a problem putting an "alternate build variants" section in one of the reserved posts The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard
The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard |
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" To be honest, I think this looks fairly uninteresting. It will give a damage boost, but I'm not sure this build really needs more damage at this point (pending any rebalancing in Ascendency). The only things that don't die super fast already are the crazy HP bosses like Uber Atziri/etc and Core Malachai... and these damage boosts aren't sufficient to change that. It may be the best of the Witch Ascendency classes, though. The two classes that look most promising to me personally at this point are the Pathfinder for the Ranger, since this build relies heavily on flasks for survivability, and the just announced Trickster for Shadow... a zero cost leap slam combined with 20% Increased Attack Speed after Leap Slamming has very interesting mechanical possibilities, and 250 bonus energy shield. The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard Last edited by tackle70#1293 on Feb 4, 2016, 4:25:33 PM
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Have to agree here with Tackle. This build can pump out plenty of damage just fine, though I think there is one more Witch Ascendancy to reveal, so we'll see what that one is. However, from what I have seen thusfar, and bearing in mind that NONE OF THIS IS SET IN STONE, I think the top contenders for this build may be (not in any order):
1. Champion - This is a personal choice of mine, but from the theorycrafting I've done, the Champion Ascendancy will offer something this build lacks in...physical defense. With permanent Fortify, HUGE buffs to Armour/Eva% when on Low Life, and a few other things, this class looks to be really powerful. More so because it's within easy reach of 'Iron Reflexes', and since we're already taking 'Unwavering Stance', it is not a big deal. This also allows us to solve our Dexterity problems more easily for certain auras, and more specifically, we can run 'Grace' and get a MASSIVE, MASSIVE boost to Armour values from it and some of the gear we wear. We're already fine on elemental resists, so with us being able to get around 15,000 or so ARmour from the rough calculations I did, we can cover our only real weakness with this class, and even dropping a little ES will be more than made up for by the Armour we can finally get. 2. Inquisitor - This Templar Ascendancy is also interesting because his 'Instruments of Virtue' notable offer both spell damage and attack speed increased for attacking and casting spells. Since we're doing that constantly, that's basically 'free' IAS and Spell Damage, and then of course there's the whole 'Inevitable Judgement' one that in the end gives us 10% elemental penetration not just for lightning, but for our fire damage as well. Granted, we lose out on the critical strike stuff, but that might get tweaked around a bit, though even if not, the penetration is nothing to sneeze at. The 'Consecrated Ground' notables are also interesting as they do offer elemental damage increases while standing on it, and also the whole ignoring all elemental status ailments as well, which isn't bad for some bosses, especially heavy cold damage ones. 3. Pathfinder - Now this one I am sorta on the fence about. I can see the more obvious choices to make with the pathing in the Ascendancy tree, but I dunno about the Ranger starting area and the nodes we'd have to sorta waste to get the build going. The flask stuff is potent, but I am really not sure if it's worth losing all the points...I mean, it's not a huge amount since we'd likely head north out of the tree towards the aura reduction cluster and go from there. But still...ehhhhhh...this one I am not sure about. 4. Trickster - Obvious choices here are the paths to 'Walk the Aether' and 'Shade Form', although I dunno about having to Leap Slam every few seconds to keep an attack speed buff up. :p Now, that's just me in this regard, and the SF notable is HUGE just for the 250 ES alone. Plus, if you need to run out from a boss for a few seconds and let your ES start recharging, then you could Leap Slam back into the fray and now you have 40% increased attack speed total for 4 seconds...that's not bad at all. And of course 'Ghost Dance' is a very easy 10% Movement Speed buff, which is not too shabby either. Although we are losing out on most of the other bonuses, but I guess that's not a huge price to pay, especially again for just the big flat ES boost. |
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Its good to see a thread for the build that is being kept up to date. It makes information on this build more accurate. As someone who mains the witch variation of the build, I can offer some advice for those interested in alternative build setups too. ^_^
Here is my thoughts on the best ascendancy classes revealed so far. As mentioned before, this is just my opinion and analysis. 1) INQUISITOR (Templar) - Currently this sub-class is the undisputed best class for the low-life + life regen variation of the build that I am running. The Sanctify and Pious Path nodes grant strong bonuses in the form of Status Effect Immunity, Increased Damage and 50% less Mana Cost. The caveat is that you must be on consecrated ground (which also gives 5% life regen). However, with sanctify you will be generating consecrated grounds very often, also with the new Sulphur Flask base type, you can create consecrated grounds anytime and anywhere you want. At the same time, the two nodes preceding Sanctify and Pious Path grant a total of 20% increased elemental damage and 1.0% life regen. These bonuses can also good for the vaal pact variation of the build. For example if you have your main 4-link setup linked to a reduced mana gem or put in a "The Vertex" unique helm, whenever you are on consecrated grounds, your attacks cost no mana/life at all. Then there is Instruments of Virtue, which is basically free attack speed and spell damage almost all the time. Personally, I would not spend 4 nodes to get Inevitable Judgement, as all the crit multi and the Righteous Providence nodes are essential wasted and all you get is 10% elemental penetration. 2) ELEMENTALIST (Witch) - Whilst I was initially rather disappointed in this sub-class, the more I thought about it, the more I began to like it. (plus I have a personal bias for Witch classes heehehe) First let me explain, the Mastermind of Discord node is basically a free 20% elemental penetration, which is double that of the Inquisitor's Inevitable Judgement. How is that achieved? Well, its because discharge counts as triggering a Lightning Skill, a Fire Skill and a Cold Skill (even if no cold damage is done). Hence, as long as discharge activates once, you get to penetrate 20% of all elemental resistances. At the same time, Pendulum of Destruction gives a momentary boost of 100% increased elemental damage, which assists in taking down tankier foes. Paragon of Calamity is basically a small bonus against reflect. Liege of the Primordial and Shaper of Desolation are basically small bonuses to clear speed as well. Whilst the consensus is that this build does not need more damage for general mapping, to which I agree with completely, I still aspire to push this build to be able to take down Uber Atziri and Core Malachai, which means that every bit of damage will count. 3) CHAMPION (Duelist) - Just as Tanakeah mentioned, permanent fortify is huge defensive boost to the build whilst also freeing up an additional gem slot. The Inspirational node also gives a small but nice damage and move speed bonus permanently. So even for non Kingsguard variations of the build, there is definitely great benefit to going duelist if you choose. 4) TRICKSTER (Shadow) - Both Tanakeah and Tackle sum up the strength of that sub-class. Free leap slam, free 40% attack speed and a huge +250 to ES. Plus a bunch of other small but nice benefits. Overall not bad. Last edited by iSo1iD#4681 on Feb 4, 2016, 9:53:02 PM
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The reality is that I expect there won't be any Ascendency class that is a "must have" for this build - I expect that one of the continued strengths of the build will be that you can play ANY class and that each class will have a useful Ascendency available which you can use. While GGG could surprise me, the only thing I can think of that would be an absolute "must have" for the build would be something which would convert physical damage taken to chaos or elemental damage taken.
This is honestly kind of ideal - it allows players with existing characters to not be left out, and it allows people making new characters for the build the freedom to specialize how they see fit. I will do my best to test the best ascendency for each class and comment on the general feel for each, though this will take some time following ascendency launch... working on getting all my characters to 70+ and I despise midgame leveling The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard Last edited by tackle70#1293 on Feb 4, 2016, 10:00:01 PM
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" Well said, not forcing players into a particular sub-class is much more enjoyable for players, as they can have the freedom to roll different characters and experience different results. I will probably go and test marauder and witch variations for this build once ascendancy drops. |
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