[3.23] Triple Counterattack Slayer

What is this build?
This is a build using all three of triggered counterattack skills (Vengeance, Riposte, Reckoning) that exist in PoE.


Who is this build for?
Are you a semi-experienced player looking for a hip, off-meta half-meme, half-real build? Look no further. If you're a new player trying to achieve watchstones for the first time, this is probably not your cup of tea (yet).

This is a mapping build. Lean into the things it excels at: tanking tons of small mobs and doing good screen-wide AoE with potentially zero button presses. Strategize around that. I'm enjoying Delirious Harbingers, Breaches and investment into Eater/Exarch Altars. Delve is great! Harvest might be good! Contrarily, fighting bosses who float around and lob high damage spells and ground effects at you (ex; Maven) it is absolutely terrible with! You need to be getting hit, at least a little bit, to have a good time. Such is the counterattack life.

Don't care, give PoB
PoB, Impresence Version: https://pobb.in/kqsWksLa5qp7 [updated Jan 3, 2024]
PoB, Ashes of the Stars Version: https://pobb.in/t5wTzddL7v4Y [updated Jan 5, 2024]
Note that this is my lvl 100, high budget PoB that I've worked to over the course of Affliction League. See sections below for fine-grain details on what makes the build tick.

Pros and Cons
+ Comfy borderline zero button gameplay
+ Very tanky in maps
+ Fully automated flask setup
+ Can run any map mod (once reasonably geared)
+ Cheap to get going
+ Scales well with investment
+ No mana to manage
- Very abrasive bossing experience -- don't even try it!
- Not particularly capable of completing all content in the game
- Requires a lot of specific items

Defenses
- capped block and spell block (84% block with Affliction charms!)
- high armour + flat phys reduction
- 23% fortify
- 78-79% max res
- slayer overleech and strong regen

The build feels quite tanky, especially against a series of small blockable hits. It thrives standing in the middle of 100 delirious breach mobs. It's not as strong against large single hits where block is not as reliable or against unblockable damage over time effects.

Counterattack Mechanics
The three counterattack skills in PoE are:
Riposte is a strike skill that counterattacks with your weapon (or weaponS, if dual wielding) when you block.
Reckoning is an AoE skill that counterattacks with your shield when you block.
Vengeance is an AoE skill that counterattacks with your weapon when you get hit.

As such, if you want to run all 3 counterattacks, you must be running a 1Her and shield combo. This isn't necessary the best form of counterattacking in PoE (see Cyclone+Vengeance with Aztiri's axe or Marohi Erqi if you want something more meta/stronger though with less hipster appeal) but its the only way to run all 3 at the same time.

This build uses a Forbidden Shako to achieve a dual 5L setup for your 2nd and 3rd skill. The primary is 6L'd in the body armour.

Counterattacks are triggered skills, on the condition of blocking or getting hit, with a cooldown. You cannot press these skills! As such, investing in block and cooldown recovery are strong ways to improve this build.

Counterattacks do NOT leverage attack speed, and as such, we can tweak the build to invest more in raw damage without giving any consideration to attack speed, and even use strong supports that decrease attack speed like Pulverize or Melee Physical Damage.

Mandatory Gear
- "Painforged" Forbidden Flesh + Flame Combo

- High Block (39-40%) Shield
- Clunky slow 1Her

Why Slayer?
This is very much a Gladiator style build, but we can gain access to the most relevant parts of the ascendancy via Forbidden Flesh and Flame. This allows us to lean hard into the (IMO) generally stronger nodes in Slayer. In particular, it's easy to find defense on gear and on the tree for a block build, we need the offensive power from Slayer.

Gladiator is almost assuredly also viable, I just think it would be outclassed by Slayer.

What Changed in 3.23?
- Helm/Glove/Boots enchants were removed, which takes some strain away from finding the right helm enchant on the right helm
- Alt quality gems were removed
- The power of skill gem quality on Riposte and Reckoning were vastly increased, which for me enables this build to function in 3.23+ and makes Ashes of the Stars a very viable build choice. (it was also strong in 3.21 with Crucible trees, but those did not go core)

- while the counterattack skills did not receive specific transfigured gems, there are some helper skills that can benefit, particularly Boneshatter of Complex Trauma.


Impresence vs Ashes
vs
I leveled to 100 with Impresence (based on past information) before coming to terms with the changes to Ashes. The dual curse blasphemy setup provides by Impresence is very powerful and gets the job done. I'd recommend this setup while getting established before potentially switching to Ashes later on.

With the changes to skill gems in 3.23, Ashes provides very different bonuses to this build than before. Generally, most skill gems had their quality effects improved to compensate for helm enchant and alt quality removal. This build runs 4 active skills and the usual slew of curses and auras. In particular, the 60% CDR provided to Reckoning and Riposte is extremely attractive. It means you can forego CDR anywhere else in the build. You can run 21/20 skill gems rather than 20/23, no need for CDR charms (Affliction specific of course) or even the mod on belt or boots. Not to mention freeing up 2 sockets, where the build is generally socket starved to the point I used an Unset Ring for a while.

Affliction-specific Thoughts
Charms add a lot of power to the build in the form of cooldown reduction, max block chance, area damage, armour and all res. A nice little bit of 'free' power.



Hunting for a Shako
Looking a Forbidden Shako to set up your dual 5L can be a pain, especially depending on what time of the league it is. Get some rolling, don't be too choosey and try to refine it later. Some of these can be quite inexpensive, so you may want to try a few out.

Good Shako mods will include in no particular order: Melee Phys, Brutality, Behead, Cruelty, Maim, Pulverize, Impale, Rage, Close Combat (if using an axe).

There is certainly an ideal setup here, but you'll be at the mercy of what Oshabi gives to the market, so take what you can get, at least while getting the build off the ground. Be aware of the skill gem tags to decide what will go in your body armour versus what will go in your Shako.


If you don't want to engage with hunting for a Shako, a dual Hungry Loop setup is also viable. Personally I'm not a huge fan of it as you're sacrificing both rings and you need to deal with the tedium of setting up these items. In the past, when a helm enchant was a concern, I could see this approach being valid, but not-so-much in 3.23+ where you don't need to find your Shako and enchant it appropriately.

Can it be a League Starter?
Anything can be a league starter if you're brave enough! Like most things in PoE, it really depends on your expectations and your goals. If you're the kind of player who looks at league starter tier list and plans to get their watchstones on day 2 or 3? This is probably not your build. If you're the kind of player who is extremely experienced and can farm comfortable in suboptimal scenarios OR you're a player who isn't concerned with meta fervour -- this is a very fun and interesting build, I think! A build that makes 5 div an hour but you quit because its boring nets less currency than a build that makes 2 div an hour that you play for a long, long time. :)

Leveling
Levelling is decent, but like above, don't expect to break any speedrunning records here. Working from the PoB, skip any cluster jewels or any investments in auras and that should take you comfortable to the end of the campaign. It can be a bit slow going at first. For levelling a strike skill build, I always recommend Smite (especially Vaal Smite) as its very strong in the campaign. Once you get your 3 counterattacks going, and possibly your Forbidden Flesh & Flame combo going, it starts all clicking. Sounds odd to describe those jewels as part of the levelling process, but they're easy enough to grab simply with a few rounds of the chaos orb vendor recipe.

Gearing








Anoints
Whispers of Doom is required for the dual aura curse setup provided by the Uber-Uber version of Impresence. Prior to obtaining this item, any anoint for any shield or block related notables are worthwhile. Even a talisman!
With Ashes, you can go back to using any anoint you wish. Sovereignty provides some extra mana to your pool (you'll need to cast your curse now!) and buffs to the myriad of auras we use.

Flasks


Bandits
The 2 skill points are invaluable! Kill all bandits.

Pantheon
Major: Lunaris and Arakaali are both good, so long as you actually make the effort to use your divine vessels!
Minor: Same deal with Aberrath, Tukohama, Gruthkul, Shakari

About Cooldown Reduction Breakpoints
As you can imagine, the game engine is not capable of reducing a skill cooldown by 10 milliseconds. CDR is more or less the best stat for the build, but spending big money to add 1-2% CDR may not yield any gains. Be cognizant of CDR breakpoints (tinker in PoB!) when you get to the point of very finely tuning the build. You can alternative between 21/20 and 20/23 gems to shift in and out of breakpoints as you gather more CDR via your gear!

Can this build be played in other modes?
For HC Trade; certainly! The same caveats apply, but it is definitely tanky enough for a comfy HC experience once you get all the pieces working together.

For anything SSF, I'd recommend Gladiator as you'll not be able to rely on the Forbidden Flesh & Flame combo.

As for Ruthless, well, good luck. I may try it just to torture myself. The ascendancy power there is so limited, I think that any of the Duelist's are equally powerful (or not).

Final Considerations
- Phase Run looks pretty good in PoB, but you're less likely to get hit and not have a realistic proc rate on your skills. It will add more DPS in scenarios where its not really needed. (ie. surrounded by 50 mobs vs fighting a lone boss)
- thanks to PathOfChigurgh who's YouTube Videos were an inspiration to try this build out in 3.23
- don't be fooled by PoB (good advice for PoE in general), the DPS is very specific and under optimal concerns. There is a reason counter-attacks are not meta. ;}
- I've posted a Gladiator specific guide for Reckoning only over at https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3475601

Videos
Rare Unid The Formed

Original guide was posted with a lot of placeholder info, but is now more or less complete! Will continue to update over the course of the league as I discover new things, but for now it is certainly usable. :)

looks good, will try this at some point

I wanna farm simulacrum, and this sounds perfect for it huh?

Certainly would decent, but probably not outstanding, to be honest. Lots of elemental ground effect degens could be problematic, and similarly, solo fights vs high wave Kosis could be tedious.

Simulacrum does demand strong DPS, and really benefits from max res.

This is my veeery late leaguestart build, I love it so far. Leveling is smooth, everything kill itself when they hit me... :D

Cannot copy the POB, for some reason it says that the profile is private

"

Pisti323 wrote:

This is my veeery late leaguestart build, I love it so far. Leveling is smooth, everything kill itself when they hit me... :D

Glad you're enjoying it! :)

"

Kassadin999 wrote:

Cannot copy the POB, for some reason it says that the profile is private

Quite strange! Everything is public and you could either sync from my profile, sync against the PoB's posted in this thread, or pull from PoE Ninja.

Either way, here's a fresh share in two formats that hopefully works for ya; https://pobb.in/BfrUBucsVsEo // https://poe.ninja/pob/13Tv

Loved the build!!! What skills do you use to level, do you use block skills at the start? Will you be updating while playing next season?