[3.0] Bobby's Wild Strike Elementalist Guide [Crit/Claw]
 Intro: Hey guys, Bobby Googus here with a forum guide for my Crit Claw Wild Strike Elementalist Witch. I'll start out by saying that there's definitely a Raider variant of this out there somewhere, and it's probably a bit more comfortable to play, but I wanted to see how far I could push a Witch into the end game utilizing Wild Strike, so here we are. Note that I usually don't make forum guides. I usually just stick to doing YouTube build guides, however I'm going to test the waters here and see what I think of it. I'm excited to get feedback from you all. So that being said, if there are errors in the layout of this build guide, please don't hate me, it's been a long time since I've formatted a post here! Here's a picture of the damage, because numbers are neat to look at.  Pros/Cons: Pros: + Extremely fast trash clear speed. + Safe trash clearing (high cold damage + very high crit = everything freezes) + Does not require any expensive items to get going. + Free Arctic Armour buff (if you decide to run The Perfect Form). + Flexible with aura choices, curse. + Essentially reflect-immune (in fact, almost Atziri Mirror immune. Almost.) + Completely obliterates Blue packs, Rares, Harbingers, & Bloodlines packs. + Claws give us crazy amounts of flat & percentage-based leech. + Can run EVERY map mod. I don't even ID rare maps anymore. + Though we don't really build around it, and aren't using the best one in terms of defense, we do utilize a shield, which does give us some extra mitigation. + No one plays Wild Strike so you'll be a special snowflake (read: hipster). Cons: - Wild Strike is not an extreme end-game type of skill. It is an aoe clearing skill (and a very good one at that), not a boss-killer. NOTE: I did not say that it is unable to clear end-game bosses, I'm saying that it doesn't excel at it. I've cleared Atziri, Uber Izaro (with dual swords, buffed), Uber Argus, and most bosses up to T15. What I'm stating is that if you're after bosses, there are better skills. - At the absolute maximum, you'll be able to get 6k life with this build, and that's after extreme gear-optimization, high currency investment, & sacrificing a bit of damage. I'm personally ok with this, however some people are not (understandable). - A significant chunk of our mitigation is from Evasion, which is unreliable/useless vs. certain boss mechanics. - Because we aren't a minion build, our two golems are actually fairly weak and consistently die during boss fights/breaches/etc. Re-summoning them can be annoying/virtually impossible during certain fights, and they account for a massive chunk of our damage. (I've improved this a bit by linking them with Minion Life, but it only does so much). - This isn't really a con, but I'll mention it here- our movespeed is garbage-tier, but our attack speed is incredible, so you'll be moving around with Whirling Blades. Some might find that annoying, I dunno, I think about this stuff too much. Offensive Mechanics: • Wild Strike AoE nonsense. • Diamond Flask. • Atziri's Promise (kind double dips as we have a bit (not much, but it exists) of physical damage).. • 2 Golems (Cold/Fire, Lightning as a third), potentially 3 if you manage to get an Anima Stone jewel (expensive). • Huge amount of cold damage = everything freezes. • Sizable amount of Lightning damage = shock! • Lots of crits = 100% chance to inflict status ailments. Defensive Mechanics: • Fortify on whirling Blades, which we use 100% of the time to move around. • Golems occasionally tank hits for us. • Amazing Leech rate. • Reflect immune. • 16% Physical Damage reduction (31% with Basalt Flask active). • 47% Evade. • 30% Spell Dodge (Phase Acrobatics from The Perfect Form). Videos:
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 Youtube Channel: • My YouTube Channel Build Guide Videos: • Finished Build Guide • Original Build Showcase video Random footage I have because I hoard video files: • Malformation, ridiculous Piety • UNIDed Colonnade • Shipyard (party) Really, these last ones are nothing special, but it's the only footage I had left that I hadn't already used for the guide videos. More = better....right? Skill Tree - Bandits - Ascendancy:
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Path of Building
https://pastebin.com/WweQTpg2 Copy the code from that link into Path of Building, the official skill tree planner. If you don't have Path of Building, download it here- https://github.com/Openarl/PathOfBuilding --- Bandits Alira (Mana Regen, Crit Multiplier, Resists) Kill All for the 2 passives is also a viable option here, though at the very high levels, the crit multi usually outweighs the passives. --- Ascendancies  --- Profile Link https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/GeneParmesean/characters Gems/Links:
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Wild Strike (DAMAGE!): For a 6th link, either Ice Bite, Hypothermia, or if you don't care about status effects for whatever reason- Elemental Focus. I guess this would be a good time to explain what exactly Wild Strike is to anyone who is unfamiliar with it. Wild Strike chooses an element whenever you attack- either fire, cold or lightning, and converts 100% of your physical damage to that element. It will cast Arc if lightning is chosen, Infernal Blow for fire, and Freezing Pulse for cold (and note that these don’t actually constitute as spells, spell damage does not benefit Wild Strike in any way. They are Attack versions of each respective spell). This means you can either A) Scale physical damage in the tree since it all gets converted on hit, or B) scale elemental damage. There isn't too much else to say here. Wild Strike has insane trash clear-speed, and this is the optimal set-up that I've found to deal with general mapping and boss-killing. You could try several different things here, such as Immolate for extra ignite damage, though we don't specifically scale fire/ignite anywhere in the tree, so I don't really recommend it. But hey, the world is your oyster or whatever. Movement: Our main method of movement. With all the attack speed buffs in this build you will be moving very fast. Again, your actual character movement speed is total garbage, so you'll be using this 100% of the time. Curse: Elemental Weakness will absolutely give you the biggest dps increase. If you prefer something more defensive- Auras: I've listed Herald of Thunder twice because it fit under both categories. Note that you can only run Arctic Armour here if you use The Perfect Form body armour, which removes the mana reservation. Golems: Because of The Liege of the Primordial Ascendancy Node ("40% inc. damage of each damage type for which you have a matching golem/100% increased effect of buffs granted by your elemental golems"), the Elemental Golems will give you a massive DPS increase, so unfortunately, using the defensive golems (stone, chaos) is basically out of the question here. Also feel free to drop Culling Strike here for Minion and Totem Resistance if you want your golems to live longer. I really like having the 10% cull, because you have two golems, they frequently cull bosses which is quite nice. Defensive: Blood Rage doesn't need to be linked here, I just didn't really have anywhere else to put it. Gear:
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This is my current gear set-up. Optimizing this cost quite a bit of currency, and I still need to 6-link the body armour, but nothing that's unachievable with a bit of work/patience. For your weapon, look for something with as much attack speed and crit chance as you can find, those will give you the biggest bang for your buck, then look for flat elemental damage. Alternative Gear Options:
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Maligaro's Gloves and The Rat's Nest are both dps increases, however with the amount of gear slots already taken up by uniques, using either of these makes it extremely difficult to get resist capped (especially cold, thanks to the -30% on The Perfect Form). This, coupled with the fact that you're missing out on potential life rolls as well makes them not worth it in my opinion, but I wanted to mention them anyways. Flasks: Don't even bother with a Quicksilver Flask here, our base movespeed is so bad that it barely even helps. Whirling Blades! Jewels: Get jewels similar to this, the main thing you're looking for here is life %. The Anima Stone is the ABSOLUTE end-game here, but it costs about 300 chaos. This is great for leveling, I recommend giving it a shot if you plan on leveling with Wild Strike. Mechanics/FAQ:
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Run around and punch stuff in the face with a claw. Crit a lot. Leech a lot. Things die you don't even realize are there a screen away. Q: Is this build fun? A: Yes. Q: Is it expensive to gear? A: Early mapping/leveling? No. Pushing it into the end-game? Yes. It's a melee build, and an evasion one at that. Expect to spend a lot of time on poe.trade. Q: Claws are stupid. A: That isn't a question. Also no, they aren't. Q: True. Can I use...not claws? A: Yes. Just don't take the claw nodes, substitute them for whatever you decide to use. Q: Will you play it again? A: Bad question to ask...myself. I look at Path of Exile as a sandbox aRPG, and because of that, I enjoy trying out new/different builds. I rarely play the same build twice. Q: I don't want to play a Witch. Could I play something else? A: NO. Just kidding. Absolutely yes you can! I know of a Raider Variant (actually I made a raider variant in path of building, it's easy, just do the same thing with the passive tree but...be a Raider). There's also a Duelist variant up in my brainspace somewhere...just sitting there, lurking. Scale phys, maybe use a 2 hander, get that Scion Life Wheel, cry when you realize having access to the Scion Life wheel for your build is probably better than your Witch build nonsense. Leveling a Wild Strike Character:
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Don't be a wimp, level with the skill itself! Jokes aside, I always try to level with whatever skill I plan on using during the endgame, unless that's impossible for whatever reason (see: Righteous Fire). If you don't like doing that, basically anything elemental-related will work here. I jumped from unique claw to unique claw every 10 levels or so, they're dirt cheap and effective, and give you some decent leech while leveling. Leveling items:
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Stuff like this works well, you get the idea. Passive Tree:
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Finished Tree: No Frenzy Charges- poeurl.com/by1K With Frenzy Charges- poeurl.com/by1I Path of Building Links: Planned finished tree- https://pastebin.com/u1QV59ry Current character- https://pastebin.com/CArW63Tq Because we aren't a Raider, it is difficult to maintain Frenzy Charges during certain boss fights, so I've provided an alternate tree for those that want to spec out of them. They do, however, make general map clearing much faster. Levels 1 - 40ish: poeurl.com/by1y Levels 40 - 65ish: poeurl.com/by1F Pretty standard stuff. Well, that's about it! I hope this at least helps point you in the right direction. Wild Strike is an extremely satisfying skill to play. It melts trash packs, has a good feel to it, and the fire proc sounds cool. Give it a shot and let me know what you think! Thanks guys. https://www.youtube.com/c/bobbygoogus https://www.twitch.tv/bobbygoogus/ Last bumped on Mar 2, 2018, 1:58:44 PM
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Hey, thanks for posting this!
I've been playing around with a Wild Strike Elementalist too, but I'm pretty new to PoE so I haven't had too much success with it. I have a tendency to go overboard on defences, so I ended up with a MoM Block/Spell Block setup that didn't do all that much damage, though it hit a lot harder (and slower) than a Scion version I also tried. It's been a challenge because, as you said, no one plays Wild Strike, especially as an Elementalist which to me seems like a great match. I'm going to give your build a try. I've also subbed to your YouTube channel :) |
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" ;) Thanks! I hope it helps. https://www.youtube.com/c/bobbygoogus
https://www.twitch.tv/bobbygoogus/ |
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I've been trying to get a Hardcore-viable Wild Strike build going and initially tried Raider, then Ascendant, and then Elementalist. It's such a fun skill to use, though IMO the most satisfying sound (fire) and attack (cold) are reversed from what they should be (cold sounds like a whiff and has great area, fire sounds great but has a small area and ignite is useless).
The Raider (Goathilde) does incredible damage, but I'm not impressed overall with the experience at 5 links (and an Atziri's Splendour in the bank waiting on currency to fully link). The Raider is a smoother leveling experience as well, and didn't rely on the natural scaling of spells to reach mapping. The lack of reflect mitigation is what made me look for other options. I've alternated between Ichimonji and Cospri's Malice on her and am still not sure which I prefer. The Ascendant (Koldhilde) focused too much on tankiness and may never reach a point where her damage with WS exceeds her damage with Frostbolt. I respec'd from Elementalist to Guardian and abandoned the idea of a WS Ascendant in HC. My Elementalist (Papirhilde) is still using Freezing Pulse, but should see similar DPS from Wild Strike soon after she's able to use the Malice I have in the bank. Much to my surprise, her survivability isn't significantly lower than the Ascendant's was, and her DPS is about 3-5x what the Ascendant's was at her current level. I also think the Elementalist's access to crit even without power charges makes more sense building with Malice in mind. We'll see if a non-discharge Malice build is even remotely viable in a few more days of play. Thanks for the ideas, I'm going to try to adjust my path a little but still keep a sword-centric tree after seeing what you've had success with! |
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Cool to see a Wild Strike Witch.
Lots of effort put into the guide too, also Perfect Form is amazing. +1 “No matter where you are in life, no matter what you’ve contributed to creating, no matter what’s happening, you are always doing the best you can with the understanding and awareness and knowledge that you have.”
www.twitch.tv/ohhpaigey |
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Which helmet enchant do you recommend?
Wild Strike damage, Wild Strike aoe, or additional Wild Strike chains? |
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" I'd recommend the damage enchant. Once your gear is well-optimized and you're at a high enough character level, the AoE/chaining is already more than effective enough for general map clearing. Great question by the way. Thanks! https://www.youtube.com/c/bobbygoogus
https://www.twitch.tv/bobbygoogus/ |
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" Thanks! Definitely let me know how it turns out. My build is nowhere near perfect, so you might realize something I overlooked. https://www.youtube.com/c/bobbygoogus
https://www.twitch.tv/bobbygoogus/ |
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Hey, I just saw your build, I'm doing an elementalist wild strike non crit, but very expensive. Char is LilyLaSauvage. I can do guardians and almost Shaper, single target is really the weakness of the build at the moment. I can do all map, reflect, no leech, no regen... except - max res and reflect, too hard to sustain.
I'm currently trying to get enchant on boots for elemental pen. Maybe better jewels too with more life. At lvl 94 I'll change the tree for more leech with VP. Next time I'll try to make a variant with crit. |
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" Couldn't agree more. https://www.youtube.com/c/bobbygoogus
https://www.twitch.tv/bobbygoogus/ |
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