[3.11] Toasters HC Guardian Support – 12 Auras – Victario's Influence

INTRODUCTION

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Heyhey, last league I made a build guide about my Necro Support using Victarios Influence @ HC.
For 3.1 I messed around with the skill tree and created a Guardian Version of the build, which is in my opinion a huge success. I already hit lvl 100 with it @ Abyss HC on Rank 2 overall.

Update 3.11

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- Some of the Aura Cluster Jewels got nerfed. You can still abuse "First among Equals", "Replenishing Presence", "Stalwart Commander" and "Vengeful Commander" for some huge offensive and defensive boosts.
- Updated the PoB and passive skill tree.. although, there were only a few changes in the skill tree.
- Guardian Ascendancy is luckily unchanged and thus still very strong.
- The build is still very capable. But I can highly suggest to try playing around with cluster jewels.

Update 3.10

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- A lot of aspects of the typical Mana Guardian got nerfed.. Although, the impact is not crucial for this build.
- Loosing around 1000es because of the Radiant Faith Nerf.
- The new jewels have huge potential for aurabot, e.g. Pure Commander, Venegeful Commander, Stalwart Commander
- The build lost some survivability, especially in early game, but it can scale way higher in end game with the new jewels. Probably worth to remove some mana nodes to gain jewels..

Update 3.9

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- Actually, in 3.9 there were pretty much no changes at all. The build works exactly the same as in 3.8.
- No buffs & no nerfs
- ATTENTION: The Gem setup in the linked items is NOT correct - use the links shown in the chapter "Gem Section"

Update 3.8

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- Adjusted the skill tree, fitting now to the 3.8 passive tree
- Guardian got a HUGE buff: Radiant Crusade and Unwavering Faith will replace Bastion of Hope and Harmony of Purpose -> Guardian offers now more defense + offense than Ascendant!
- Healthy Minds got nerfed -> only 1 useable. That's why we change the Healthy Minds with Grand Spectrums (more expensive but still high mana achievable)
- Updated the comparison with Necromancer (got buffed) and Ascendant (got nerfed)
- ATTENTION: The Gem setup in the linked items is NOT correct - use the links shown in the chapter "Gem Section"

Overview

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Pros:
+ Got a crazily good buff in 3.8 -> Guardian is now in the best state ever!
+ Extremely high offensive and defensive boost
+ 7-10k ES affordable (& ~1.2k life)
+ Very budgetfriendly (you can start with a budget of 10c)
+ Very easy to get your Endgame equipment ready (more details in gear section)
+ Offers better defenses and offenses than a support with Shavronne’s Wrappings
+ Extremely good defenses vs chaos damage (a lot better than Necromancer -> Explanation in "How to deal with chaos damage")

Cons:
- No regen maps are very annoying to run
- Gameplay is for some player not as smooth as Shavs support, because chaos damage bypass ES -> have to take care of your life pool very rarily
- Need necessarily 3 uniques to get going (Alphas Howl, Prism Guardian, Victarios Influence)
- No curses anymore in the base setup, since I always had a curser with me - You can easily swap in 1 Curse, 2 Curses are possible as well, if you take Whispers of Doom


Guardian vs. Necromancer vs. Ascendant vs. Occultist

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Guardian
+ Offers very high defense for yourself and especially the party (High flat ES, 9% to max Elemental Resistance, physical damage reduction, life regen)
+ Very good speed and damage for the party
+ Very easy to gear -> only requires cheap uniques and rares and no crafts to reach the full endgame potential
+ Best defense vs. chaos damage (because of MoM) -> Coruscating Elixir is not needed!
- At this point there is no downside anymore compared to Ascendant
-> Guardian is the best offensive & defensive option in the current state. The only reason to go Ascendant would be Jewel stacking. Necromancer is now a good alternative to Guardian - offers less defense but a tiny better offense.

Necromancer
+ Necromancer got buffed quite a lot in 3.8 (Offers better survivability and more damage for the party)
+ Offers average defense for yourself and the party (7% to max Elemental Resistance, Bone Offering, 10% reduced damage taken next to corpse)
+ Very good speed and damage for the party
+ Mediocore to gear -> requires an expensive crafted helmet
+ Good defense vs. chaos damage (Coruscating Elixir can be used)
+ Has 2 curses in the base setup
+ Gives you the possibility to carry solo with Minions
- Doesn’t feel as smooth to play as the Guardian (quite worse defense)
-> Necromancer is next to Guardian a pretty decent choice. It offers a pretty good defense and the possibility to play solo with minions.

Ascendant
+ Offers average defense for yourself and the party (7% to max Elemental Resistance, physical damage reduction, Bone Offering)
+ Very good speed and damage for the party
+ Mediocore to gear -> requires an expensive crafted helmet
+ Good defense vs. chaos damage (Coruscating Elixir can be used)
+ Has 2 curses in the base setup
- Doesn’t feel as smooth to play as the Guardian (way worse defense)
- Ascendant got nerfed heavily in 3.8 (less attack/cast speed, less aura effect)
-> There's almost no reason anymore to go Ascendant - Necromancer and Guardian are almost always better.

Occultist



How much damage and defense do I actually offer?

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Auras
- Purities: 7-9% on all max elemental resistances
- Grace: 5160 Evasion
- Discipline: 423 Energy Shield
- Haste: 30% Attack & Cast Speed & 16% Movement Speed
- War Banner: Enemies take 25% more phys dmg and allies have 130% increased accuracy
- Choose 4 of the 5 following damage auras:
- Hatred: 58% of Physical Damage added as Cold Damage, 42% more cold damage
- Wrath: 328 Lightning Damage for Attacks, 48% more Lightning Damage with spells
- Anger: 320 Fire Damage for Attacks, 270 Damage for Spells
- Zealotry: 35% more Spell Damage, 92% inc crit chance, 23% chance to create consecrated ground hitting a rare/unique mob
- Malevolence: 46% more damage over time, 46% increased skill effect duration


Ascendancy
- Onslaught with at least 5 nearby allies (minions + party members)
- 10% more damage for the whole party (nearby)
- Nearby allies have 15% attack-, cast- and movement speed
- Nearby allies have 30% increased AoE
- Nearby allies intimidate + unnerve on hit (10% inc damage taken from attack + spell hits)
- 375-750 Energy Shield (depends on your level, in the 90s you only get Mana)
- ~1600 Armour
- 1,8% Life Regen for you - 3,4% Life Regen for the party
- 6% Phys Reduction for you - 14% Phys Reduction for the party


Animate Guardian
- Increased Damage: 33%
- Increased Cursed Effectiveness: 18% (nice if you play together with a curser)
- Increased Movement speed: 10%

[Aura Effectiveness 82%, with Generosity: 131%]


Gem Setup

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- Body chest: Wrath – Anger – Hatred – Clarity (lvl 1, higher if you get more mana with levels) – Zealotry - Malevolence - Precision (Choose 4 of the 5 damage auras!)
- Helmet: Purity of Ice + Purity of Fire + Purity of Lightning + Flame Dash
- Shield: Discipline, Haste, Grace
- Boots: Shield Charge + Fortify + Faster Attacks + Smite
- Gloves: Stone Golem + Animate Guardian + Minion Life + Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance
- Weapon: Vaal Grace – Bone Offering - Increased Duration

Aura Setup: https://poe.mikelat.com/#kc9UWgKd/9b.I7p/tr.8prPEe/9b.sJb



Gear Section

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Quick Overview:



Detailed Explanation:


Progression & Skill Tree

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How to deal with chaos damage?

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The build utilize many different layers of defense vs. chaos damage:
- Around 1.3k life with 75% chaos res -> Equal to around 9k Life with -60% chaos res.
- Mind over Matter with over 200 Mana Regen and 10 Mana unreserved reduces the chaos damage over time by 30% (you basically loose a lot mana, but due to the high mana regen your mana is always full)
- Pantheon: Soul of Shakari -> 25% reduced chaos damage from caustic clouds, 5% reduced chaos damage taken
- Over 150 life regen

In combination you have such a high defense vs. chaos damage, that my Life pool never dropped under 60% on my way to lvl 100 (and I did really crazy double beyond maps with a lot of Bameths etc.).
This build is 100% safe vs chaos damage - even without Coruscating Elixir!


Expensive upgrade

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In this section, I want to show you a way to get stronger Damage Auras by investing some currency in Empower and Enlighten.
This upgrade is by no means necessary, but still a nice boost to your parties dps.



Twitch (Q&A)

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https://www.twitch.tv/toaster404
If you have any questions feel free to join my stream. :)


Video

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https://youtu.be/yEK_EpFa3S8

Thanks Toaster for Guardian edition.

I start leveling now with your build , my first support in poe.

I love playing as supporter in games, and
now thanks to You I can.

Merry Christmas!

With Regards
R.

Hey do you need enlighten level 3 to pull this off?

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tweedacus wrote:

Hey do you need enlighten level 3 to pull this off?

No, you don't need any Enlighten to get this going. You could use one Enlighten lvl 2, so you can have a higher Clarity but this is not needed at all.
That's what I like so much about it.. It requires only a few cheap uniques and you can use the end game setup.

Great guide! I leveled mine last week after seeing you perform so well on ladder with it.

I went with Zealots Oath + Time in Need for the ascendency as the last choice. Due to the stupid amount of ES the new watchers eye jewel gives me I also swapped out the Ephemeral Edge with Advancing Fortess. This saves you as link for something else (I run frenzy in it to supply charges) but the weapon also keeps your life topped up while charging around due to its life on hit.

Also a Stygian Vise belt gives you the option of getting 40% Chaos res,50 str , 85 ES, 100+ life and some mana in that slot with the jewel included.

My character is OhMyGuardian if anyone wants to look. (I don't run vaal haste due to supporting a GC miner character)

Hey, thanks for the guide, I personally added a crafted shaper amulet, to get the 5% reduced mana reservation, it allow me to add purity of elements until I get my res sorted out, then I will replace it with vitality.

Also, it's so hard to get good jewels for support builds, people see an abyss jewel without life or offensive stat so they vendor it.

Hello, can you explain why you take the Prayer of Glory ascendancy node and you don't have a warcry in your setup please ? I'm interested in trying this with friends

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Tiaro wrote:

Great guide! I leveled mine last week after seeing you perform so well on ladder with it.

I went with Zealots Oath + Time in Need for the ascendency as the last choice. Due to the stupid amount of ES the new watchers eye jewel gives me I also swapped out the Ephemeral Edge with Advancing Fortess. This saves you as link for something else (I run frenzy in it to supply charges) but the weapon also keeps your life topped up while charging around due to its life on hit.

Also a Stygian Vise belt gives you the option of getting 40% Chaos res,50 str , 85 ES, 100+ life and some mana in that slot with the jewel included.

My character is OhMyGuardian if anyone wants to look. (I don't run vaal haste due to supporting a GC miner character)

Advancing Fortress instead of Epheremal Edge is a good choice.. you loose es, but gain life and block. If you combine that with Rumi's you get a nice layer of defense.

Zealoths Oath is not recommended and not wanted. Your life regen is 100% needed to survive chaos damage, without taking care of your life pool 24/7. I can understand that you go for ZO, but I would never do it myself. The regen is way too important for mitigating the chaos damage.

Stygian Vise belt is a legit choice and can be OP.. nevertheless I think it's a lot easier to get a Crystal belt with good chaos res and more ES.

Thanks for your interesting ideas. I appreciate it! :)

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victo0 wrote:

Hey, thanks for the guide, I personally added a crafted shaper amulet, to get the 5% reduced mana reservation, it allow me to add purity of elements until I get my res sorted out, then I will replace it with vitality.

I honestly didn't know that shaper amulets with reduced mana reservation were a thing. I checked poe.trade and found none, so I guess they are super rare. But they would be crazily good for this build!

"

victo0 wrote:

Also, it's so hard to get good jewels for support builds, people see an abyss jewel without life or offensive stat so they vendor it.

In the start of the league I didn't have a problem to find good jewels. But I can imagine, that ppl delete such kind of jewels some weeks into the league. Is it really that hard to get some jewels with life, es and chaos res?

"

MohGrim wrote:

Hello, can you explain why you take the Prayer of Glory ascendancy node and you don't have a warcry in your setup please ? I'm interested in trying this with friends

I completely forgot to add Enduring Cry to the gem section. I added it now.
You can socket it in your helmet or your chest (if you have a 6s).

Are you able to get away with a blasphemy curse, or do you have to manual cast?

Also, are you supposed to use the Valyrium ring? Or something else? I noticed in the gear section you put the Valyrium ring, but then you said to use rare rings. Looking at you profile, you don't use a Valyrium.