How to unlock the secrets of endgame builds?

Hi there! This will be my first forum post so please forgive me if I miss any etiquettes I know not of!

Let's dive straight to the problem: I'm near/at end game of the game, and is struggling to get more damage. I'm not quiet sure how to link my gear/stuff, I believe you can check via my profile.
My build was originally planned to be a 30k + armour (achieved with max res) using heavy strike (w/5x weight of the empire and empire's grasp), but due to its tiny (in comparison to other skills) AOE clearing, i looked elsewhere for inspiration. (sorry i realise this post is getting messy so I'll get to the point)

Goal: Switch to using Sweep skill as my maim and increasing from my current DPS of 7,893 to possibly, (at least 15k - 20k, not going to go as ambitious to say 100k+) (links and skills on my profile)

I am not quite sure what I am doing wrong, defensively I believe I am on point, as said above armour with 4.2k+ life. Currently level 81. I have checked some youtube videos and various internet posts about damage increase. And I'm still fumbled about it, maybe it's just my build. (This is my first 'real' character)

Thank you very much for your time and kindness in reading this post. If you don't mind sparing a bit more of your time and kindness, as well as sharing your wisdom, please take a look at my build and suggest how I can improve my damage or build in general.

Kind Regards

[I think this links to my profile] https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/SisterOfBattle
[I think this is link to passive tree] https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABAADBAdwB5wJfBS0HdQthDF8Y1xkuGjgaPhpVG_ohVSFgJd8nICftKS4ppSz7NZI26DrhPC1AoESeR35KyE3jU6VTu1WpVw1Yr1nzXhNg3mEhZU1o8moBbqpvO3KpdO108XYrdqx343gNeHp673y4gIqCB4Lkg1-DzIRThNmE74cph2qKIoqvivCQEZBVl7SiAKQMpBmmV6i7qSepbqmUrKqtja9stfK2LLc-vTa-p768v9XAGsCmxILEuMT2xq7KkM9-0iHV-Ni92WHZfNrB3D3pRu6Q7_3wH_Gs8kHyRfdN_gr-jw==?accountName=SisterOfBattle&characterName=BattIeSister

Let's see...

Are you using Ice Crash as your main skill now? Because if you're using Sweep or Heavy Strike you should put one of those in a four-link (better five-link) and link it to only support links, not to another active skill. Right now you have both Sweep and Heavy Strike linked to each other which does nothing for you at all.

Attack-based builds depend a lot on the strength of their weapon. Doomsower is not BAD, but its damage is not terribly high either. You do 423 base damage per second with it, and you can get a two-hander with 475 base DPS instead for 20 or 30 Chaos, which will already make quite some difference. A 5-link body armour (cheap as well) will also make a lot of difference (Sweep - Multistrike - Melee Physical Damage - Faster Attacks - Added Fire Damage/Concentrated Effect). You don't need Blood Magic if you have Poachers' Mark (I would prefer Warlord's Mark) on Blasphemy as it allows you to sustain your mana fine.

I would be very interested in your Chance to hit on the character tab. There's not much accuracy on the left side of the tree so builds usually take the Resolute Technique keystone for 100% chance to hit which gives you quite some damage.

Onto your tree. You sacrifice too many points to get armour increases - armour is good but after a certain point getting more of it isn't worth much. How much armour do you have? There's not too much difference between 25k and 30k in terms of survival. Determination gives you a lot of armour, if you want more damage try Hatred instead which is a big boost. You also path inefficiently by going into the Marauder area from both Scion and Templar. My advice would be to either connect from the Soul of Steel cluster to the Juggernaut cluster by spending two points, then cut every node north of the Scion life wheel. Take the Bloodless cluster and Heart of the Warrior cluster to make up for the lost life. Take the Butchery cluster and especially Resolute Technique. Don't take Mana Flows, it's not worth much for your build. Also path to the Scion life wheel through Path of the Warrior instead of the resistance nodes.

If you don't have any Orb of Regrets or respect points - your tree isn't too bad but it can be done much more efficiently later.

I wouldn't wear the Amulet you have but it's ok if you can cap resistances without it I guess (just mastercraft something onto it). Lori's Lantern on the other hand won't do anything for you, it's for low-life builds. Get a ring with high life + resists and possible added damage instead. Can't see the helmet at the moment, rest of your gear is decent.

Good luck!

Hi! Thanks very much for reply.

To go more specifically on my thought process and build:
I used Determination Aura which boosts my 20k armour to 30k armour which is a significant boost as well as Poacher's Mark w/Blasphemy to sustain skill/mana as well as gain Frenzy Charges for added damage. So I cannot really add anymore auras without sacrificing my precious life ~ and my Daresso's Defiance for Endurance Charges for extra tankiness. And I havent worn a helmet because for (stupid) aesthetical reasons, but nevertheless still overcapped on resists etc. (my heavy strike and sweep is still in my chest for leveling hopefully to be able to use it one day)

As for my Lori's Lantern, I'm not sure if I can part with it without good convincing due to the fact it's like a goodluck charm or rather I owe many near-death situations where I was not paying attention/doing avoidable stupid things, saved my life.

What confuses me more is when I browsed the web and came across this build https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1585964 which when I did a quick glance to compare, this person also invested little into damage nodes, yet achieved such high dps (150k).

Here are my character sheets.



I hope these addresses all of the holes of information. My performance so far is I can face tank Merciless Arbus/Izaro for the most part, but will have to back off every now and again. Damage is abysmal still compared to many other builds. As for my tree, I have tried messing about to optimize it, it was previously changed a few times and I forsook the idea of 5x weight of the empire/heavystrike build, thus the remnants of the 5x jewel sockets.

If you can get back to this, or anyone who comes across can help build/help my build would be infinitely appreciated. I never thought anyone would reply to this post, but it's nice to see people helping you.

Kind Regards,
(and sorry for the longer post, as people seem to want to skip/not read it)

And to add: taking into consideration your suggestions ~ here is my planned (theory) build.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAAAAL68Al8AwYLkpAyEU5ARYN7v_Yqve8Oou-6QSshuqrXyNZJ4Df6P2L3AGk3j_gqpbm87plfyRVivd-N5aDrhNugB3MEEAeeE2V8_G_oUTcqQR36plBo-9kgl3_xL6Ua9Nnh6h2p8uIzPtiy8n4rwZU2pJykuPfykGRiRxIK-p4Tv8axYY9rBVw107dlh0iEFLa2NGS7yQXrvz34n7YIHQKB2rMT2gIrZfCFgXhNyqXYrRJ508SFVrKpVqfdNU7sppdw9LPtZ85e0v9UHdYoiGjhqAcCmJyCQVScvOtgyiXflV-LtIIKb4XOiAASz8B_AZmjyPAXvfAAA

The new tree looks better. However, I still would not go into the Templar area - cut it off at the By the Blade cluster or even further down. All those %increased elemental damage nodes won't do much since you are primarily based on physical damage, and you can get enough life elsewhere.

Also, you have 73% chance to hit. That's very low, and taking the Resolute Technique keystone will increase your damage by over a third!

Regarding armour: you take too many %increased armour nodes on the tree. For example, you don't really need the Indomitable cluster, and Heart of the Warrior is far better than the Marauder life + armour nodes right below. The thing about armour is that due to the way it works there's not much difference between 25k or 30k. The physical damage reduction shown on your character sheet is a very rough estimate and entirely wrong for big hits (like those from bosses).

Daresso's Defiance is alright because you take Iron Reflexes and thus it gives you good armour. However, the endurance charge generation is for builds which get rarely hit - ranged characters using dodge and evasion. On a melee character based on armour you will lose those endurance charges very often.

Lori's Lantern - look at it this way: Your ring slot can give you high resistances, high life, increased damage. Lori's Lantern doesn't. It only gives you some very situational bonuses that you can't really use.

I really recommend a five-linked body armour or weapon to increase damage. If you look at http://poe.trade/search/ohoyadotehatoy you can get a five-link with high armour for 30 Chaos. Or you can get a weapon with decent damage at http://poe.trade/search/uototanamamako. Also, Weapon Elemental Damage support won't do much for you, use Multistrike and/or Faster Attacks instead.

"

What confuses me more is when I browsed the web and came across this build https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1585964 which when I did a quick glance to compare, this person also invested little into damage nodes, yet achieved such high dps (150k).

First, there's little investment in damage nodes but investment in critical strike/multiplier nodes and gear (Disemboweling cluster, Abyssus etc.). Second, that build has a weapon with 573 damage per second and 5 support links while you have 423 damage per second and 3 support links. That's a very big difference.

"Endgame" builds aren't melee.

Why increase your risk for little to no reward?
Why make life so much harder on yourself for no reason?

Endgame builds are fast, high damage, high leeching ranged (as in, far away from you) characters. Kill enemies before their AI comes on, preferably off-screen, and absolutely minimize risk.

They can still be insanely tanky (30k+ armor, 7k+ life, endurance charges, fortify, even %block) -- defense is provably not a melee-specific quality.

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Agreed on the 5L. Getting that is absolutely core.

For your tree, focus on very specific goals (such as a keystone or two, 170% increased life, X% aspd, Y% increased damage) and optimize for them specifically. Count nodes and shave everything you possibly can.

I'm wondering if you might be more tanky by running Grace without IR than IR and Determination. Getting both armor and evasion is really, really nice and shouldn't be neglected.

I took the Resolute Technique and wow! I didn't realise it could increase dps! Much thanks!

As for my gear setup, as shown in the character sheets, sacrificing potentially about 3/4 parts of my gear to have life/resists I'm already overcapped in resists and possible stay capped in Elemental Weakness maps, so what should I replace Lori's Lantern with? More damage?

With your constructive comments, I've come up with 2 trees:





What do you think? Or what else should I/can I do? Damagewise I increased to 7082 DPS from the 5K sweep so far

"

pneuma wrote:

"Endgame" builds aren't melee.

Why increase your risk for little to no reward?
Why make life so much harder on yourself for no reason?

Endgame builds are fast, high damage, high leeching ranged (as in, far away from you) characters. Kill enemies before their AI comes on, preferably off-screen, and absolutely minimize risk.

They can still be insanely tanky (30k+ armor, 7k+ life, endurance charges, fortify, even %block) -- defense is provably not a melee-specific quality.

Dang, I really like melee. Though I admit, ranged builds feel more reliable/easier. I used LA arrow to level.

"

I'm wondering if you might be more tanky by running Grace without IR than IR and Determination. Getting both armor and evasion is really, really nice and shouldn't be neglected.

That is a nice thought, but I don't believe I have the expenses to test it out.

To bring more light into my build thoughts/inspiration, it was initially sparked by watching GGG's build of the week featuring Asta's "Lioneye's Archery" - A High Armor/HP Tornado Shot Archer build. Defencewise, when I've partied with others, I'd like to think I'm more tanky than most, but I still lack severely. Not sure what else I can do.

But thanks for coming by and helping! I appreciate it.

I don't want to imply that it's impossible to get really far as melee, but it is way harder than the alternative. If your main concern is getting an endgame character than can do everything with any map mods and all that junk, the first thing to cut is this.

That being said, play what you like first. What's the point of making a L100 character that you absolutely hate playing, anyway?

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If your biggest problem is damage and you have a ring slot open, you could try using a Ming's Heart. 20% more damage is nothing to sneeze at (assuming you're predominantly physical-scaling).

Past that, maybe overcap your resists with rings and then switch your gloves out for offensive stats. Gloves are often very offense-oriented. Snakebite, Wyrmsign, or just rares with 12% aspd and flat damage could be options here.

I like the tree without the Templar area more. BUT: You don't need Diamond Skin and those other elemental resists nodes if you just get a ring with more resists than Lori's ;) Those nodes are seldom worth it. You also don't need Versatility since with Resolute Technique accuracy becomes worthless. The small nodes near Duelist start I would also get rid of.

You might want to wait with taking weapon-specific nodes (such as increased damage with swords) until you see for yourself which better weapon you can buy cheaply (with higher base damage and/or 5 links).

So the immediate goals are: 5-link Body armour or weapon + Multistrike/Faster Attacks as support gem instead of Weapon Elemental Damage.

Also: Get a helmet. Besides high-armour rares you could get Devoto's Devotion or Starkonja's Head, both of which increase your damage via attack speed. And Devoto's even looks decent.


I agree with Pneuma that melee is generally worse off than ranged. However, it is perfectly doable to make a melee build which can clear tier 10 maps fast and deal with tough bosses.