[2.6] CRIT HoWA BF/ST Raider [13k ES, 60k BF/265k GMP ST DPS, Stun-immune] [4 sec Chayula kill]

Thanks again for the quick replies guys you make very good points and I completely forgot about vinktars which I still need to pick up. I didn't know that about the big bosses I'm still pretty new and learning the ropes. Thanks again. I'll give a few of those links a shot.

Hi everyone! Just popped in to say that its very very gratifying to watch the thread run by itself with some of you vets helping out with answering the questions (it can get quite tiring to do it solo).

Thanks Sorak and hankin!

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JustBeingZack wrote:

Just wanted to ask for a gear check. I'm running BF:

Spoiler

Defense:

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Offense:

Spoiler

Also wanted advice on which direction to go on the tree next. Was thinking that picking up the claw node to the far right would be the best:

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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAAAGBfkLYQ18DY0OSBGBEZYV1xXwFfYXJhhdGYoc3CPTJP0o-ioLKjgsvzLRN9Q8vjzvQdBFR0ZxTipRR1ZjVw1XyVuvXfJfal9wX7BieWOnaGVo8moeajtvJ2-ecFJyqXqEf8aDCYNthMWGro8aj2CP-pAKkyeVzJcGmmqbJpu1ns2fy6Evo4qkeKcwrfGvbK_rtAy4k76KwGbBxcHVwzrEFcSixPbGrspKytPQrdDQ0iHY1d1G3vjnVOfq6hjquuvu7BjtP-4O8i_zm_Pd9zL46_kz-WP8xf_e

Thanks!

I think your primary objective at this point should be to get your ES up. At this point, I would replace black sun crest with an ES helm. Also try to prioritise crit multi mods on your jewels instead of crit chance. Other than that your stats are looking good for level 80!

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hankinsohl wrote:

This build does so much damage that shocking map mobs isn't very important - maybe it would help running breach maps I guess.

If you could shock bosses that would be great - but you cannot shock the toughest bosses with our main skill because shock duration isn't long enough. The Vinktar's flask at least gives you shock every so often against bosses, but other than that, and maybe Vaal Lightning Trap, should you choose to use it - you won't be able to shock bosses.

And, unfortunately, some bosses are immune to shock (Shaper, Atziri, etc.).
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Possible stuff for the gem slots freed up by using Skyforth:

Ancestral Protector
Vaal Lightning Trap
Portal
Maybe a curse on hit setup with Ancestral Protector
Maybe a culling-strike setup with Ancestral Protector - perhaps incorporating magic find
etc.
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Edit - Ninja'ed by SorakPoE (who makes very good points in his/her post).

I need to type faster!

;)

I tried Ancestral Protector + CoH but sadly I don't think totems are able to apply CoH. Not sure about Culling Strike, haven't tried that - will do today. AP as an offensive tool also is something I'm trying to experiment with, but in general I find it difficult to get value out of the totem actually doing damage outside of some situations because it dies too quickly, although mine is not max level due to low strength. New idea I'm planning on trying is AP + WED + ICS + ICD and using Conductivity curse to try and see if the totem can apply shock for me, but I don't honestly have high hopes for the totem being up long enough to be noticeable when it's placed next to a monster.

It is however pretty solid to use purely to buff your attack speed - this is especially useful to set up prior to engaging a boss or during phase transitions to get a short boost to start you off.

Also re: shocking, I do think there are some niche cases where it could be useful like you mention - the two immediate examples that occur to me are Breaches and Beyond bosses, where they usually don't have insanely high HP but also tend to either be long lasting enough or dangerous enough that relying on Vinktar shock is not ideal. It might also be better in Breachlord Domains. At the end of the day, the only situation where EF is deterministically better than ICD is in end-game boss fights like Guardians/Shaper/Uber Atziri, so if you aren't focused on that it's totally fine to use whichever one feels better to you.

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Invalesco wrote:

Hi everyone! Just popped in to say that its very very gratifying to watch the thread run by itself with some of you vets helping out with answering the questions (it can get quite tiring to do it solo).

Thanks Sorak and hankin!

No problem, still really enjoying the build so thanks for setting up the guide!

Mind taking a look at my gear and seeing if you notice any places to look for upgrades? Just blew like 30ex on upgrades and feeling pretty close to maxed out, but wanted to see if there was any low hanging fruit still.

Sitting at about 77k hideout DPS with GMP, 10k ES. I know I can get a bit of tooltip by dropping Druidic Rite, and I can get a bit more ES by crafting ES% on my Amulet, but I'm pretty comfortable with 10k ES in softcore and I've mentioned my reasoning for Druidic Rite in a previous post, although I plan on experimenting with swapping out of it.

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SorakPoE wrote:

"

Invalesco wrote:

Hi everyone! Just popped in to say that its very very gratifying to watch the thread run by itself with some of you vets helping out with answering the questions (it can get quite tiring to do it solo).

Thanks Sorak and hankin!

No problem, still really enjoying the build so thanks for setting up the guide!

Mind taking a look at my gear and seeing if you notice any places to look for upgrades? Just blew like 30ex on upgrades and feeling pretty close to maxed out, but wanted to see if there was any low hanging fruit still.

Sitting at about 77k hideout DPS with GMP, 10k ES. I know I can get a bit of tooltip by dropping Druidic Rite, and I can get a bit more ES by crafting ES% on my Amulet, but I'm pretty comfortable with 10k ES in softcore and I've mentioned my reasoning for Druidic Rite in a previous post, although I plan on experimenting with swapping out of it.

You're welcome! Tbh your gear is looking pretty solid as it is so I wouldn't be too fussed about upgrading it in a hurry. Just enjoy the game, farm and snipe the right gear when it comes along imo!

The things I would want would be an amulet and a ring similar to the ones you've already got but with open prefix slots to craft %ES on. I would also be tempted to block a prefix on your belt, exalt and hope for res and craft %WED on it.

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Invalesco wrote:

You're welcome! Tbh your gear is looking pretty solid as it is so I wouldn't be too fussed about upgrading it in a hurry. Just enjoy the game, farm and snipe the right gear when it comes along imo!

The things I would want would be an amulet and a ring similar to the ones you've already got but with open prefix slots to craft %ES on. I would also be tempted to block a prefix on your belt, exalt and hope for res and craft %WED on it.

Yeah I tried really hard to get my resists to work out so I didn't need to mastercraft res on my belt but couldn't quite manage it. With my Opal Ring I originally planned on buying one with an open prefix, but high WED/Int and Essence crafted Crit Chance was just too good to pass up so I went all offense haha.

@SorakPoE
Wow - 70k plus hideout DPS is inspirational - I'm just into end-game and have a long way towards optimizing my toon - but I've already achieved 50k+ hideout DPS which is much more than I had last league going non crit.
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RE Totems and CoH - I wasn't aware that his doesn't work - oh well.
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RE Shocking
I think I covered the breach benefit in my first sentence of my post.

For Beyond mobs/bosses - IDK - if the mob/boss is super scary, I range it.

If it's simply annoying, I get in close, pop flasks and kill it quickly; I haven't really missed shocking at all for these mobs/bosses.
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Anyhow....

Nice to know that I've a huge upside in DPS ahead of me.

Good job squeezing out so much DPS from your toon!

Messing around with gem combos that you suggested. I found one that might make face tanking kinda fishy things like guardians and stuff a little easier. I was doing a cancer rolled mino a min ago, I ported out and did a cast on hit, BV, life on hit combo that made the damage taken far less spikey and easy to deal with. Just a possible suggestion if people are running sky and have open slots.

Still messing around with a lot of combos. I really like possibly having culling strike somewhere as for uber/shaper its super useful.

My question is still unanswered :c

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LatvianTeddybear wrote:

Hi i would like to try play this build in LHC but i only got 3ex budget at the moment is that enough to get me starting? And im talking about ST i build i really wanna try it out since in ever played one and maybe you could make a skilltree how it would look like for lvl 70 where is taken all the mandatory nodes for build to work including CI?

oops sorry! I don't think 3 ex will be enough unfortunately with HoWA gear in demand at the moment