[3.10] Ewpewww's 'budget' CoC Arc Herald Stacker - >10 mil shaper DPS for as cheap as ~15ex

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Trulls_Rohk wrote:

Is there any disadvantage going with Skyforths if you can afford them?

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Ewpew wrote:

If you have 15-20ex, and are looking to start a herald stacker that fits your budget, look no further! Welcome to another of Ewpewww's build guides!!! :)



I have seen so many questions on Reddit or on my stream asking about Herald Stacking so I've decided to write a guide about it, while giving myself the challenge of doing this under 20ex - I ended up spending ~15ex in total - no watcher's eye, no medium cluster jewels >1ex.

The aim of this guide is not to provide a definitive herald build that you should follow blindly BUT to provide a template for:
(1) You to understand the mechanics of herald stacking (where the power comes from? how to fit in all the auras?)
(2) You to continue to min-max / tweak

Warning: This guide has a ton of text because herald stacking is inherently complicated. (If response is good, I will consider posting a video guide)

Disclaimers

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Some disclaimers before we go into the guide proper:
- This is a 'budget' version of the build so don't expect any crazy shenanigans like tanking Sirus storms or one-shotting bosses
- I did not start my character afresh. I re-used my old Guardian character
- Prices in the budget section mainly an estimation based on prices of items on trade at point of writing this guide (9 May). It is subjected to changes (which I will not update for) based on market fluctuations.
- This is a Cast on Crit version of the build: (1) You can choose to play other skills but I have my reasons for going CoC, as I will explain later. (2) I have not yet optimized for CoC breakpoints (which will give the build more damage but I'm lazy to do so at this point)
- When it comes to fitting in the auras that you want, suggest you play around with POB instead of sticking to this build to a T.. reduced mana reservation can come in so many sources so you have to experiment on your own.

Showcase videos
{note: replace videos}
T16 Minotaur Speed Clear
Wave 19 & 20 Simulacrum Clear
More to be added

Introduction
Hi all! I am a casual POE player, and have been playing for 4-5 years now. Amidst the COVID crisis and with a new rig, I've decided to try out creating content and streaming for POE. If it works, I will do this more often.

I've always dreamt about playing video games for a living so please help make it a reality. Come support me by following /subscribing to me in the links below:
Twitch
YouTube

I am still updating this guide.. please forgive me if I miss anything out. If you have any burning questions, feel free come ask me on stream! (link above)

More videos

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T16 Minotaur Speed Clear
T16 Phoenix Speed Clear
Wave 19 & 20 Simulacrum Clear

Pros and cons

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Pros
- Allows for herald stacking on a "budget" of roughly 15 ex
- Endless upgrade options for people who would love to min-max (LIKE ME!) - I will include section in later part of the guide about different options for upgrade and what to priortize
- When min-maxed, can easily tank all content in-game incl. Sirus storms
- Pretty high survivability due to 90% max elemental resistance
- CoC allows for a lazy playstyle - SPIN TO WIN

Cons
- 15 ex budget is not for most people - I've tested this and I think you need at least 15 ex to play this build comfortably
- There are a lot of required uniques, which you have to acquire from trade. This build might not be for SSF or those who hate trading
- Budget version can still die to some content, given lack of chaos resistance
- Clear speed is decent but not insane like herald sparkers or EK

Build theory (summarised, detailed version below)

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This is my interpretation of the ever popular herald stacking build. As all other herald stacking builds, it takes advantage of the OP notable that is Purposeful Harbinger ('PH'). Basic idea:
- You get as many PHs as possible - which gives you 10% increased effect on you for each Herald affecting you
- You stack as many auras as possible through reduced mana reserved from many sources - Wrath, Hatred, Zealotry for damage; Haste for QOL; Purity of Ice, Purity of Fire, Purity of Lightning, Discipline, Vitality for surviability
- Profit!!!

Contrary to other herald stacking builds I've seen, I think priority for the build is to stack as many PHs as possible (up to 9). This means we will need 3 Voices (unique cluster jewel) for the build as opposed to 2 socket large clusters that others are recommending for budget build. (I have seen a fair share of people coming to my stream telling me that is not working.) The marginal benefit of PH is just so high that we shouldn't pass it off. Anyway, at time of writing, 7 passive voices are going for ~1ex (which is rather affordable).

We overcome low cast speed of Guardian builds by using Cast on Critical Strike Support. For those not familiar with CoC builds, we can cast linked spell (arc) every time we deal a critical strike. We use cyclone as the skill to trigger CoC because it has a very high base attack speed.

Key aspects of the build in numbers
Defensive numbers

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- 5K ES (which is rather low but can easily be scaled with more investment)
- 90% max elemental resistance
- 90% physical damage reduction (endurance charges up from Guardian ascendancy)
- >1k ES regen per second

Offensive numbers

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- ~10 mil shaper DPS assuming 7 cast per second from CoC, and 1.5m average arc damage per cast. This excludes cyclone damage, which adds considerable damage (~1m DPS)
- Respectable clear with arc (one shots most non-boss content)

Required Keystones
Pain attunement, Zealot's Oath

POB Link for the experienced players

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https://pastebin.com/mE9mzyi7

Full explanation of build (For those not familiar with Herald stacking)

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Why stack heralds?

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We want to abuse notable on cluster jewels: Purposeful Harbinger, which gives 10% increased effect of auras for each herald affecting you. This is how we do it:
- 9 Purposeful Harbingers in skill tree: 9*10 = 90% increased effect of aura for each herald
- 5 Heralds (Ice, Thunder, Ash, Purity, Agony): 5*90% = 450% increased effect of aura
- This does not include increased aura effect we can get from skill tree and other cluster passives :)

This means the following for our auras (at level 20):
- Hatred gives 18% * (100% + 450%) = ~93% MORE cold damage
- Wrath gives 21% * (100% + 450%) = ~115% MORE spell lightning damage
- Vitality gives 1.65% (100 + 450%) = ~9% life regeneration per second (which we convert to ES regen with Zealot's Oath)
- ... you can do the math for the rest of the auras we are using

Ok.. so how do we get 9 Purposeful Harbingers?

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- We make use of 3 Voices jewel
- And try to get Purposeful Harbingers from 9 medium cluster jewels. There are 3 versions that offer this:
(1) Minions deal increased damage while you are affected by a herald
(2) 10% increased damage while you are affected by a Herald
(3) 6% increased effect of Non-curse auras from your skills

Sounds good.. so what auras do we need?

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Heralds (of course):
- Herald of Ice
- Herald of Thunder
- Herald of Ash
- Herald of Purity
- Herald of Agony

Offensive auras:
- Zealotry: More spell damage - We use arc
- Wrath: More lightning spell damage
- Hatred: More cold damage - We have 96% lightning damage converted to cold
- Smite: This is a melee skill that grants an aura when you hit an enemy with it. That aura grants additional lightning damage (which is hugeeee for the build)

Defensive auras:
- Discipline: Free ES - We need it because we can't get much ES on gear with budget build
- Purity of Fire, Purity of Lightning, Purity of Ice: For 90% max elemental resistance
- Vitality: For life regen, which we convert to ES regen with Zealot's Oath

Quality of life aura:
- Haste: So that we can run faster but the increased attack speed also puts us above the required attack speed for our CoC breakpoint. But I really prefer to run faster haha and the build has sufficient damage

Right.. but I don't have enough mana reservation..

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We stack reduced mana reserves from various sources:
- Skill tree: Notables like Charisma, Sovereignty
- Jewels: 1% reduced mana reserved implicits
- Small cluster jewels: Pure Guile, Pure Might, Pure Aptitude
- Equipment: Alpha's Howl, Shaper amulets
- Medium cluster jewels: Heraldry (not recommended because it is expensive to get with PH)

Note: You should play around with POB to get to the right amount of mana reservation to fit in all your auras. There is no definitive way to do this.

This is how I did it for my character:
- Skill tree: 34% reduced mana reserved ('RMR') combined (check out Skill Tree section)
- Cluster jewels: 1 x Purity of Ice has 30% RMR from Pure Guile
- Normal jewels: 4 x 1% RMR from corrupted implicits
- Unique jewels: 1 x 2% RMR from Conquerer's Efficiency
- Anointment: 4% RMR from Champion of the Cause
- Equipment:
(1) Alpha's Howl for 8% RMR
(2) Shaper amulet (with 20% quality from Fertile Catalysts) for 6% RMR
(3) Prism Guardian for Socketed Gems have 25% RMR

Ok.. but I heard these cluster jewels are really expensive.. Is it really a budget build?

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I've managed to squeeze out a functioning build with ~15ex. More details in later section

Skill tree

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Link to skill tree (without cluster jewels)
In the three large jewel sockets, you put 3 Voices, and 9 medium cluster jewels with Purposeful Harbinger.

Ascendancy choice

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There is a lot of debate over Scion vs. Guardian. My view is the following:
- Benefits of going Scion are as such:
(1) Allows you to take advantage of Necromancer sub-ascendancy for higher attack speed and cast speed. However, this is not required for this build given we can reach attack speed cap easily, even with maximum cooldown recovery.
(2) It provides more passive skills points, which makes a substantial difference if you can fit in another Voices for 12 Purposeful Harbingers. That requires insane amounts of budget which defeats purpose of this build

That said, I am not against going Scion - in fact I have a level 100 Scion herald stacker :D

My opinion is that Guardian is the cheaper alternative to the build because you can still be fairly tanky without those insanely costly Purposeful Harbinger + Replenishing Presence jewels.

Ascendancy order as such:
(1) Radiant Faith: Gives you ES + Armour
(2) Unwavering Faith: Gives you Phys damage reduction + Life regen (both are key to defensive mechanics of this build)
(3) Radiant Crusade: For 10% more damage and Onslaught (sometimes)
(4A) Harmony of Purpose: For free charge generation
(4B) (Alternative) Bastion of Hope: For block (if you intend to employ block as another layer of defence)

Keeping it budget

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Good job if you've already made it this far! :D
Now.. to the most exciting reveal of the build. How do we keep it budget?

This is how much in total I've spent for the build (not incl. miscellaneous stuff like skill gems, and other items worth <10c)

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Starting from 15ex, this leaves us with ~1ex for other things we need to complete the build (e.g. skill gems)
This is based on prices in the market as of 5 May 2020.
I've also been quite conservative with estimates of some jewel prices.

First, we have to understand that the most expensive parts of most herald stacking builds are:
(1) PH cluster jewels

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The trick here is that we don't need them to be 4-5 passives, and we do not need another notable for this build to be functional. Simply, any non-megalomaniac cluster jewel with Purposeful Harbinger and a passive jewel socket would work!

As of time of writing, you can easily get such jewels for 20-30c each:



What we want to do, to save skills points, is to path always across PH to jewel sockets like this:

We lose out on the other notable but it is honestly ok. Core of the build comes from Purposeful Harbingers

(2) Reduced mana reserved base / abyss jewels

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Again, trick here is that we just need 1% reduced mana reserved in jewel implicits. We don't really need any other stats from it to be honest. If you managed to get useful explicit mods on the jewels, then it is a plus!

As of time of writing, you can easily get such jewels for 20-30c each:

(3) Reduced mana reserved + Vitality Amulet (which requires awakener craft)

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We work around that by simply using an amulet with reduced mana reserved. For vitality, we can fit in as a skill gem in our helmet, which makes it level 22 (with +2 to socketed aura gems). This is worse off than a level 26 you can get from amulet but honestly, not that much worse.

Gear

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Almost all of these are required uniques for this build to be this cost efficient (except belt and boots):

Weapon

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Nebulis is BiS (by far). Ideal to have increased critical strike chance as implicit because it increased weapon critical strike chance, which is huge for CoC builds.

Shield

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Since we are going low-life with Shav's, we can use Prism Guardian for 25% reduced mana reserved to socketed gems AND blood magic

Helmet

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We go with Alpha's Howl for 8% reduced mana reserved, cannot be frozen, and +2 to socketed aura gems

Body armour

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Shavronne's wrappings so that we can prevent chaos damage from bypassing energy shield, allowing us to reserve most of our life.

Gloves

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Maligaro's Virtuosity allows us to save from investing in critical strike multiplier (which is hard to come by given we are skill point starved). This adds a lot of damage to our build because we crit a lot

Boots

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You can use any pair of rare boots with high ES and movement speed. I choose Sin Trek because it has both of those and is extremely cheap

Amulet

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You want amulet that has 5% reduced mana reserved. You get to 6% using fertile catalysts for 20% quality on mana modifiers. And you want to anoint this with Champion of the Cause for more reduced mana reserved.

Belt

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Rare belt with >15% cooldown recovery speed to get to next CoC breakpoint (more on this later). I also went for one with strength in order to meet attribute requirements for the build.

Rings

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You want Call of the Brotherhoods with 20% quality on elemental damage modifiers. Corrupted ones are cheaper, and they are the ones I would go for if low on budget. Combined, they convert 96% of our lightning damage to cold, and this allows us to benefit from BOTH Wrath and Hatred aura. Also, cold damage with cold freezes enemies, which makes mapping a lot safer.

Flasks

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You have many different choices here. The ones that I think are critical:
- Diamond flask: For lucky critical strike chance since we don't have 100% chance to crit. Ideal to have curse immunity on this as well.
- Atziri's Promise: To gain elemental damage as chaos damage, which double dips given we convert lightning to cold damage
- Quiksilver flask: To not move like a snail..

For the rest:
- Wise Oak: I intentionally make cold resistance my highest so this gives me additional elemental penetration
- Silver flask: To move even faster!

Jewels:

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As mentioned in earlier section, you want the following:
- 3 x Voices (7 passives will do)
- 9 x Purposeful Harbinger clusters with 1 jewel socket
- 4 x base jewels with 1% reduced mana reserved
- 1 x Conquerer's Efficiency
- 3 x Grand Spectrum (crit version) for huge increase in critical strike chance, which we want as much as possible as a CoC build
- 1 x small cluster jewel with Pure Guile / Pure Might / Pure Aptitude: I went for Pure Might because I want cold resistance as my highest for Wise Oak

On top of that, to meet strength requirements for the build:
- 1 x Split personality with strength in jewel socket furthest away from Templar start (this would be one of the jewel sockets on your medium cluster jewel in Voices near Ranger start)

Skill gems (and where to place them)

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Main skill (in order of priority):
- Cyclone
- Cast on Critical Strike
- Arc
- Inspiration (important for mana reduction.. if not you will run out of mana)
- Cold Penetration
- Energy leech

Shield:
You want your costliest auras here to take advantage of reduced mana reserved from Prism Guardian:
- Wrath
- Hatred
- Zealotry

Helmet:
I want to take advantage of +2 to socketed aura gems in Alpha howl for more defenses and higher crit chance:
- Discipline
- Vitality
- Precision
- Blood Magic

Other auras:
Where you place them doesn't really matter so just optimize for wherever you can get the right socket colors:
- Herald of Ice
- Herald of Thunder
- Herald of Ash
- Herald of Purity
- Herald of Agony
- Purity of Ice
- Purity of Fire
- Purity of Lightning
- Haste

Other skills:
- Smite (I put in weapon since my weapon has +1 to socketed melee gems)
- Dash (for movement speed)

Pantheons, bandits, enchantment

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Bandits: Kill all, we want all the passive points we can get.
Pantheons: Soul of Brine King to deal with stuns. Soul of Shakari for poison immunity (which we need given low chaos resist)
Enchantments: None required.. Ideal would be elemental penetration if you haven't killed. But, there are many other things to upgrade before this

Upgrade options and priority (i.e. how should i min-max)

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TBD

Dealing with different map mods

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TBD

Levelling

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TBD

Cast on Critical Strike breakpoints

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TBD

Feedback

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This is my second build guide so please feel free to post any feedback as comments. Thank you!

Credits

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TBD

"

Ewpew wrote:

"

Trulls_Rohk wrote:

Is there any disadvantage going with Skyforths if you can afford them?

So Skyforth also has a mod that says "You have no life regeneration" - so basically, you will lose aura effect of vitality, which is huge for the build in terms of suvivability. If you have replenishing presence notables on top of that, they lose their effect too.

Personally, I would not recommend Skyforth.

Hope this is helpful!

Cheers,
Ewpew

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jayusmaximus wrote:

first league for me was playing witch had some lucky drops spoke to ewpew and tried this build.
ok mines a bit advanced from this now but cant say enough about this guy hes super helpful, join his stream he will answer any questions with an idiot proof answer showing reasoning and explanations ,he will help with item options crafting questions whatever brilliant guide for a clearly broken build which is super fun enjoy it while you can ~:) ..

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K4P0T wrote:

Forwarded this to a friend who plays Impale Cyclone this league.

Usually I'm critical towards streamers but Empy is doing a lot of good stuff for the community. And I got a nice HH from his Hotsale which was really nice. (First one ever will keep it for Standard). Playing a cheaper version of your Power Siphon and I really enjoyed it.

Thumbs up for the guide will let you know if my friend got around trying it.

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vildsix wrote:

How do we deal with incoming chaos damage? I dont get it. We are at negative resistances and delirium encounters are really hard on chaos damage.