3.7 Rusty Poisonous Steel (Lancing Steel Pathfinder Poison build) 2.6 M shaper dps

Update on my build:



And my new addition to the build:

"Can't be blinded" and "11% faster poison damage" which can be rerolled up to 15% ..

This faster poison means two things:
* Straight "more" damage for first 4.3 seconds of fight, super good for clearing and for Legion encounters.
* On bosses it allow me reach max dps 10-15% faster, so poisons needs less consistency.

POE of my current gear/skills/..etc: https://pastebin.com/2rw0cUre
Please note dps on this setup don't count wither totem as I'm trying to maximize clearing speed rather than shaper damage atm

Level 90 at red maps with shaper dps of 1.1 million.

Shorter path without going to Scion area:
https://pastebin.com/ExYgNKQv

Still same gear as before, expect the chest:

Ummm. Doesn't lancing steel specifically say that a monster can only get hit by one projectile?

I doubt I'll play this particular build (but never say never) but reading the guide and the subsequent discussion was a pleasure, very informative.

"

Kraegin wrote:

Ummm. Doesn't lancing steel specifically say that a monster can only get hit by one projectile?

I'm not playing PoE at the moment, so I'm not able to give definitive answers, but I'm a bit surprised.

Currently, it does indeed stat "monster can only get hit by one projectile" , but that was not the case before. I'm not sure when this changed, since the sole purpose of introducing these skill (Both Lancing and Shattering steel) in first place at 3.5 was to allow legit projectiles shotgunning with melee weapon...

3.7 change stated "You can no longer hit close-range enemies multiple times with a single attack" which is very different.

Anyway, if this specific condition is true, this changes nothing, and changes everything. And I'll explain (in theory)

* All PoB damage calculated count only one projectile, and always been, so numbers on paper is not affected. This build still have the potential for same couple million dps if we can afford to constantly attack without a pause for 4-6 seconds depending on different setups.

* In real time, on single target dps would drop a lot because of dodging, evading, and re-positioning.. All extra projectiles/poisons would make up for this lose if multiple projectiles hit. NOT ANYMORE!

* The crazy buff for single target dps in 3.7 is kinda now revoked and dps returns to 3.5 standards, which isn't bad, but nothing compared to awesome melee skills in 3.7.

* This change might improve clear speed, if the extra projectile wouldn't hit the same target, it's supposedly bypass it and hit the next target? Needs to remove pierce and test, that would highly encourage a chain build, which is totally different though.

Bottom line is: I don't recommend this build for competitive playstyle. Poison on its own needs much rework, and there's a lot to consider with the skill itself.

But it's still a-lot-fun build, with cheap and easy weapons to craft. If you would like to play something that's not meta and built differently, give it a try.

With 3.8 Leaks, Assasin seems the best way to build such poison builds from now on!

So I've been playing Assasin Cobra lash in blight and comparing it to my lancing steel pathfinder (in standard) .. And so far I can tell:

Lancing Steel can have some better pure dps (easily 4m dps if everything align perfectly), but pathfinder is way too squishy and easy to die .. As of 3.8 , Assasin is superior in every term when it comes to defenses ..

Also GMP+chain is way more comfortable play style style than having to get Lancing steel aim right every time (because of the way it spreads depending on your aim).

So, I'll not update this build for 3.8, and leave it as a relic of the past before poison builds were really competitive and barely viable.

Thanks everybody who commented or gave this build a try. I've learned a lot from you.