[3.01] [HC] Dark Pact Slayer (tanky, low cost, self cast dark pact)

Oh, okay ty for reply :)

Observations from patch notes/other item spoilers:

-Elder/Shaper items will be amazing for this build: Although we use self cast dark pact for the majority of damage you will notice from gem links that the build also relies on cast on damage taken setups such as:
3L: Cast on damage taken (level 1), Immortal call (level 1), Warlord's Mark (level 1).
4L: Cast on damage taken (level 20), Essence drain (level 20), Contagion (level 20), Controlled Destruction (level 20) or Void Manipulation (level 20).

It really depends on how difficult it will be to get a yellow with the stats that we want but if you can obtain an item which acts as a 7 or 8 link it will absolutely make up for any nerfs the build had received.

-As well as the Elder/Shaper items this unique might see a place in the build as well:



https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/7dglt0/psa_the_hungry_loop_is_not_a_cwdt_this_is_the/

I am not yet sure if other uniques will see a place, we may finally not have to fight off RF builds to get doon cuebiyari for once as they got hit by significant nerfs but who knows, a solid chaos unique of some sort may show up.

-As far as the area/damage nerfs to dark pact I am not overly concerned, the area was honestly broken in 3.0 for self casting. It was so good that I often used concentrated effect while mapping rather than just on bosses, this will obviously change and increased area gem will likely fill its place. As for the damage nerf's it was a significant decrease going from 95% more damage down to 76% more damage at level 20 gem level. This could be offset by the new Despair blue gem which will very likely be a part of a cast on damage taken setup (could also be on a witchfire brew but I am reluctant to take this route until I see it in action). The only thing I have yet to decide upon is the optimal level for the Cast on damage taken/Despair as you want it to be active as much as possible but if the scaling is significant we may look to doing a CWDT (level 20)/Despair (level 20) setup, will require some testing once we see the numbers. That being said the new tree will travel up to the Templar/Witch area to have access to the 2nd curse for the Warlord's mark/Despair. I am still convinced that Bloodmagic will be picked up on the way, it would be a hard sell for me to go back to the Blasphemy/Mana reservation days but we shall see :D.

Just ran a few maps... took off Brutal Fervour and the leach still felt good. I was able to sustain casting nonstop even when i had onslaught and arcane surge from the rippling thoughts.

Definitely agree with the previous post. Mapping feels great. Bossing not so much.

I felt like the sky was falling, but after some experimenting, i think that we'll be okay.

Was really wanting to try selfcast dp 3.1 till patch notes.. You guys keep mentioning the lack of bossing ability. Should I take it as very little chance to do my own uber izaro/guardians/shaper then?

I understand we don't know of despair and witchfire yet but face value I don't think it's worth my time if it can't do this safely with 3 months worth of gear

whith NERF DP aoe + dps and NERF slayer will be still viable for HC?

Even before 3.1 this build could not do Guardians, Shaper, Uber Izaro. It clears maps well but really sucks for bossing. Would NOT do this build 3.0 or 3.1 in Hardcore.

Not sure where all of this is coming from:
-Uber Izaro is very easy to kill with this build, you can do it with budget gear.
-Guardians can be killed but you may die in HC (I recommend that you avoid guardians until you have a lot of practice)
-I have never attempted shaper so I have no idea how difficult it may be.

@ivanius I have seen you post earlier, if you have data or videos to show your attempts we can address your issues on an individual basis.

Please refrain from knee-jerk reactions, if you have issues please post your stats/gear and we can have a discussion, I feel 3.1 will have many interesting surprises in store for how the build progresses.

I tested out the build myself. Wanted to see if there was an alternative to DP zerker because now its dead, but this build just doesn't feel good at all. I really wanted the build to work because self cast dp was my favorite build in 3.0.

I'm just being frank, you're going to have a bad time playing this build especially if you came over from DP zerker. You'd have a better time playing Slayer self cast frostbolt or Zerker frostbolt.

Anyone who has a slayer in Standard and wants to test out this build I will lend you my gear if you want to test it out.

And yes I would like to see a video of you killing Guardians or even t14-t15 bosses with this build. I would love for you to prove me wrong because I love self cast DP.

EDIT: Well just saw that you do have a video of Guardians. Def. changed my opinion on this build but wither did get a heavy nerf along with dp damage. I guess IMO approach this build with caution. It'd be nice if you could upload a video of one of the harder t14-t15 bosses or the other guardians.

I think it is just a matter of prospective, not sure what builds will be able to do guardians/shaper easily now with the Vaal Pact changes. For much of the end game content in 3.0 you had a vast number of builds that could do all the end game bosses and also scaled quickly with currency investment. This build was not really created with that purpose, it is just a tanky build that is cheap to gear up. It was never intended to clear as fast as a wander nor kill every boss low investment.

I would be lying if I said I was unhappy that DP Zerker will probably be dead with these Vaal Pact changes :D but this build was never ment to do everything that DP Zerker was.

Please note: We may be using Vaal pact in this build now that it has changed, will be testing it as soon as Abyss is live.

I could be wrong. Might actually feel better in 3.1 with the new Vaal Pact and you can also get Vitality Void for even more leech. If you could test it out when the tree changes and make a video that'd be awesome.

Edit: I just have really high expectations for DP cuz I played a lot of Zerker DP VP and I could literally face tank everything. I even got top 2 zerker

Edit 2: If you could somehow get a decent amount of dodge, perhaps run Grace you may be able to just face tank.

Edit 3: Damn really want to see how crazy the leech would be with the new VP, Vitality Void, and that Cherubim's chest armour.