[3.10] Gryph's Volatile Dead Necromancer || Fun, Medium Budget, Tanky, Millions of DPS
 Hello! Do you like this build? Or if you've stumbled upon this from the Witch Build Thread I recommend going HERE instead.
POB PSA
I don't really do POBs as a form of guide. There's too many variables to just "copy n paste" for this. If you want a POB to look at check out the videos. I link the pastebin for the Path of Building for my character in its current iteration in each video's description. You are far better off stalking my profile page and asking questions here. This character has been one of the most fun builds I have ever played. As well as being able to destroy the endgame; she works on a reasonable budget, her ceiling is the sky, and I am forever evolving her to be the best that she can be.
Important
Due to a rising number of people asking me for build help and the solutions to their problems being outlined clearly in the guide...I am implementing a password that you must know before I help you. I do this because I find it funny and because I don't have the time to answer the same questions with the same answers over and over again. Please read the guide and figure out the password before asking me questions in game.
Introduction
This build is aiming to abuse the new Necromancer Corpse oriented Ascendancies in conjunction with Cast When Damage Taken (CWDT from now on) setups and Scold's Bridle
I began this journey by self-casting Volatile Dead to trigger all of my spells on CWDT (desecrate, Wave of Conviction, etc...). I deleted all content with this method and played most of Blight this way. I started having some issues when trying to carry Aul groups due to a lack of mobility. And so like any reasonable person would do, I changed to CWC+Cyclone, dropped to about 1/3 my previous DPS and well...I was still at over 10 million DPS.
CWC+Cyclone
This is inevitably where I have decided to take the build. Compared to self-cast, CWC has higher mobility and smoother gameplay overall at the cost of damage output.
PROS: -Feels faster and smoother -Cyclone Mobility is also great for defenses -Able to utilize more Physical damage mitigation as CWDT is not gated behind a single cast of VD -Charging Offensive Noteable on Amulet for free Frenzy and Endurance Charges -Spin2Win CONS: -Spin2Win is not for everyone ...? -Damage is much lower and needs more investment for the damage to really feel good. -Lose glove slot to Doedre's Malevolence -Harder to league start with this
3.10 Update
Discussions for 3.10 start on Page 156. I encourage you to peruse that while I continue to make updates to this written guide.
Welp, GGG killed it....or DID THEY?!? " Not gonna beat around the bush here...this is HUGE nerf to the defensive capabilities of the build. But, BUT!!! It is not the end of the build. “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome!” ― Clint Eastwood Gonna give a TL:DR version here and work on updating the guide over the next couple days to eliminate Spirit Offering from the setup.
Sustaining Scold's
Since we lost Spirit Offering ES, we might as well abuse Bone Offering. Simply put this in a 3L Cast When Damage Taken(Level 21) - Bone Offering - Summon Stone Golem We can effectively use Spell Cascade in VD links now that Spirit Offering isn't popping off multiple times per second. This is a nice DPS increase and QoL clearing boost. For Life+ES Sustain I would now use: Bone Offering, the life regen we get in the tree, Stone Golem, consecrated ground (CWDT+Purifying Flame), and the new Disciple of Kitava Keystone (found on Kitava's Teaching Unique jewel) is enough to cover our life recovery. Add on some source of Fire Damage leech or Life Gained on Hit from Spells and you won't even see your life drop. For Energy Shield Recovery, Ghost Reaver and the Light Eater Cluster for ES leech works reasonably well. A Watcher's Eye with ES on Hit is by far the best way to sustain energy shield. with Aspect of the Spider makes a great budget option for ES on hit.
Sustaining on a Budget
If you cannot afford the Glorious Vanity (early league woes) take Mind Over Matter and run Commander of Darkness ascendancy instead of Corpse Pact ascendancy. With some mana regen on gear as well you should be able to sustain on your life pool.
Do not worry if you cannot sustain ES at this stage. It won't happen.
3.9 Update
So a lot of little nerfs coming our way, but ultimately, this will not result in any major changes for us.
The Block of Text from the Patch Notes and My Thoughts in Blue
Volatile Dead
Now has a limit of 60 Orbs. This only will effect those supporting VD with Spell Cascade...which I advocate against for performance reasons anyways. Well, now it's nerfed so just don't do it. Little to no effect on us. Inspiration Support Supported skills now deal 5% more Damage per Inspiration Charge at gem level 1 (same as previously), up to 7% at gem level 20 (from 8%). Supported skills now have 6% increased Critical Strike Chance per Inspiration Charge at gem level 1 (from 7%), up to 8% at gem level 20 (from 10%). This is a minor nerf that just makes this particular support a lot less appealing over other options (Such as Empower 4 with +2 supports staff) or Hypothermia. The 'of Crafting' crafted suffix which previously allowed you to craft any number of additional mods on the item now allows you to craft up to three mods on the item. This affects existing items (items with the mod will now be limited to 2 additional crafts), however any items with more than the allowed number of crafted mods will keep those mods. Ahhh...This one makes me kind of sad. Alas, great items are still craftable, it will just take more effort/luck. Will probably recommend fossil crafting. Also we will have to see how the new influence modifiers will affect the build. The Shaper and Elder Attack Speed and Double Damage modifiers on two-handed weapons now grant to (4 to 6)% chance to deal double damage (from 20%). A damage nerf that makes this mod a lot less appealing. Only those going for extreme high end gear are effected, and if you're at this point...you're probably fine for damage anyways. Hybrid Physical Damage and Support/Spell Damage and Support modifiers can no longer roll on two-handed weapons. Can still roll Cast While Channeling Support. Lose the option for Power Charge on Critical Strike Support. Goal for Alt spam crafts will be: Prefix: CWC Support Suffix: Crit for spells+10% Chance to gain a Power Charge on crit Imprint -> Regal for good third mod -> Repeat as needed -> Multimod Many bosses with lengthy introductions (such as the Brine King) now take reduced damage for a short period immediately after becoming targetable. Depending on how much the reduction to damage is...again it's a nerf to our damage--in this case the VD Ball build up before shaper-style fights where we instant kill/phase them is being being rightfully nerfed. Monster resistances throughout the game have been reviewed and made more consistent. In many cases this has resulted in more resistances on monsters. (50% from 40% on Shaper, for example) Damage nerfs effecting everyone except inquisitors basically. The default Shock magnitude for effects that apply Shock without damage (such as Skitterbots) is now 15% (from 20%). Small DPS nerf #Unconcerned Raise Spectre Additional Maximum Spectres are now unlocked at gem levels 13 and 25 (from 11 and 21). All this does is reduce our utility specters by 1...if you even use them to begin with. Not a big deal. My Impressions Overall there are several nerfs that I consider very minor overall. I will continue to innovate and find new ways to craft and build this character as even if I were to lose 50% of my DPS I'd have millions leftover. This build is still one of the highest DPS outputs available that combines itself with insane defensive possibilities on top of that. It really kinda feels like cheating. [/spoiler]
Pros / Cons
PROS: - Fun as Hell to play - Clears all content with ease - Huge eHP pool, 10k+ achievable - Uses interesting game mechanics to make you feel like a god - Scales from Tabula budget to infinity and beyond so you always feel like you can do more to improve her - CWC Cyclone is extremely mobile - Did I mention it's fun? :) - Can achieve about 75%/50% Attack/Spell Block CONS: - Your PC will hate you, but it's worth it. - This build can lag you out when there's too much going on. - Need to get lots of chaos res as it is a pure hybrid build. - She can be hard to get going and requires a bit of knowledge about the mechanics to smooth her out.
Videos
This build was featured and constructed into a video guide by Path of Exile Builds. First build to receive a 5/5/5 score!  A note about the videos: Please refer to the trees and links in the guide not the ones in the videos that I show. I do this to portray the evolution of the build as it develops and to give a reference point as to which variant I am on currently. For example, most of the 3.8 videos are from the self-cast version of the build from before my swap to CWC. Furthermore going into 3.10 Spirit Offering is no longer a part of the build due to its nerf. Warcry Stacking Mapping Showcase, excellent recovery 3.10 T16 Enslaver No regen + nasty mods 3.10 T13 Swapped Back to Corpse Pact 3.10 MoM Sustain. T9 Gameplay Showcase No ES on Hit recovery Chimera run w/ Martyr of Innocence. 3.10 Test Run Pre 3.10 Test run with no Spirit Offering Recovery
Golden Age of Spirit Offering
Awakener Level 8 Deathless Sirus Fight by dhan619
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwPNSi272L8&feature=youtu.be 3.9 T16 Redeemer Fight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1nkqPmIOCU&feature=youtu.be Fresh 3.9 Gameplay on about a 3ex Budget. T11 Colonnade https://youtu.be/zE4O5LPKhUI 3.9 T14 Crusader+Map https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AER0SYHqRMY 3.9 T16 Summit with Ele Reflect, Monster Speed, -Max Res, Monster Crit...phat map. Still on a 5L btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=impfPCssgNE&feature=youtu.be 3.8 Deathless Uber Elder Run. 2 map HP with CWC Setup and Animate Guardian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuLtaa0CG78&t=2s 3.8 Deathless Shaper Run on a 50c Budget. Instant phasing on 5L damage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urvpHuEKSqg&feature=youtu.be
Older Videos
T16 juiced up Elder Burial Chambers with 56/42 Block chance and no FPS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URapCjzMQ0M Easy Mode Hall of Grandmasters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tGnbU-TSmI&feature=youtu.be Shaper at 94 as I progress further down the DPS rabbit hole. Instant phases. Instant death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cORDn71oFfU&feature=youtu.be Uber Elder Kill. 2 deaths to carelessness. Pretty smooth otherwise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbyKAVrH6eI&feature=youtu.be Proof of Concept, only level 67 this is day one of league and I only have done Normal and Cruel Lab. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaqBgeixM7U&feature=youtu.be Better proof of concept! Decided to record half way through the first map after I finished Uber lab. Day 2, Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6uxr1ZJScA&feature=youtu.be Solo T2 Blighted Map https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1YyPIoWVwQ&feature=youtu.be Solo T12 Blighted Map Post 3.8.1 Patch rework! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8yXHsSlBtE&feature=youtu.be Level 80 Mastermind Fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjEW0zHXFFE&feature=youtu.be T16 Phoenix with CWDT frostwall gimmick test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h03r9_nevJY&feature=youtu.be T14 Red Elder Deletion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaQNt2cw8e4&feature=youtu.be First Shaper Run of the league. There was spot where I was distracted for a few seconds. You'll figure it out :P https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EnDPhRsd-4&feature=youtu.be
Passive Tree
There are many ways to build this and plenty of tree variations that work. If you look at this tree, then look at my tree, and find yourself wondering why there are differences...I'm constantly experimenting and trying new things. I also put a lot of thought into how to maximize my points with the gear I have etc... Cast While Channeling+Cyclone CWC Tree Please Refer to the leveling section below for progression.
Leveling
Level from 1-24 with whatever method you prefer. Spellslinger is available after the Tolman quest (level 24). Congrats you've entered easy mode for leveling. Spellslinger - Volatile Dead - Spell Cascade - Conc Effect Spellslinger - Desecrate - Spell Cascade Optional 3L to help with clear: Spellslinger - Arc - Combustion You will need the Sovereignty cluster to run this as well. Follow the tree by filling out all the life nodes. Left side of the tree first. Pick up Sovereignty if you want the 3rd Spellsinger setup. Take Elemental Overload until you're tree has been mostly filled out and you are ready to start taking the crit clusters.
Leveling Tree POB
https://pastebin.com/9D3f9nti
Gear
Required Items
These are the two core pieces required for the build to operate. With the changes to Spirit Offering I am adding a a couple more items here: This is to make recovery for life fairly simple in early maps when you're making the transition to Scold's. Especially since we are going to want to take Ghost Reaver to boost ES leech. Can be replaced with a Rare ring with Life gained on hit for spells: Glorious Vanity - Doryani for the Corrupted Soul keystone.  This gives a massive boost to ES and splits the damage we take between life and ES. This let's us utilize all of our recovery systems to max effect to mitigate Scold's. Place in the jewel socket near Pain Attunement.
Weapon
Martyr of Innocence is the best option until you are able to get a good rare staff. And by good, I mean it takes a *very* good staff to beat out Martyr in most cases. For the next step a staff with Cast While Channeling Support + 2 additional modifier is ideal: 75–82% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells + 10% chance to gain a Power Charge on Critical Strike Socketed Spells deal 20% more damage +2-3 to all Fire spell skills
Crafting the staff
With the release of 3.9 crafting an end game staff gets a little harder...Of course you can just buy one, but if you want to craft one for yourself you have 2 methods:
Alt spam for CWC and Spell Crit+Chance to gain a Power Charge on Crit. When you hit it as blue, purchase the Craicic Chimeral to beast craft imprint the magic item. then regal. If you hit a good mod, multimod. If not, use the imprint and try again. You can also just accept that you might end up with a wasted mod and just multimod anyways. This will highly depend on your budget. I highly recommend analyzing your character in POB before crafting a staff as beating out a Martyr of Innocence can be difficult and not cost effective. It's good to know how good of a staff you need. Otherwise, use 1 socket resonators with Aetheric Fossils. This opens up the option of getting 20% more spell damage prefix. Can also roll with Scorched Fossils as well to boost chances of +Fire Gems Make sure your Staff is SHAPED and at least item level 80. I personally prefer block bases (with 1.3 APS) but Eclipse staves are a lot easier to sell when you hit something good, but not for you. Note: DO NOT CRAFT ON A WARSTAFF BASE!!! Apparently warstaves cannot roll mods with caster tags even if it's a shaper mod unless it rolls the mod as a world drop. I have blown several exalts thinking I could get Cast While Channeling on a warstaff. Learn from my mistakes, craft on a regular staff base.
Chest
This is great if you're going Crit: This is me flexing my self made creations! And as of 3.9 a Hunter's Influenced Chest is BIS for the 25% Increased Effect of Offerings mod. Additionally these chests can roll "Spell have X% to Critical Strike Chance" as Shaper Chests. -> 21-25% Increased Effect of Offerings -> 1.1-1.5% Spell Crit You can use the following method to force these two modifiers onto one chest piece:
How to use Awakener Orb for chest craft
A direct quote from page 100 rant: "
Unique Options
The following uniques are also very reasonable options:
Loreweave: An excellent all-rounder for defense and damage. its eHP is a bit lacking, but it's a solid choice for sure. Carcass Jack: This is pretty basic. Comes with some ES, life, res, AOE, and Damage. The evasion can be nice as well if you stack some more of it. Fenumus' Shroud: Only good if you are able to fit Aspect of the Spider. But the extra -10% all res and 10% reduced damage taken is a nice combo.
Boots
Any boots with Life/ES Movement speed and resists will work. These are an option if you want fast cyclone without using a quicksilver flask of adrenaline. No resists or life, but can anoint them. Solid choice. Tailwind+Elusive boots are BIS for clearspeed. Nothing comes anywhere close. These will outspeed Stampedes substantially. Also the elusive buff is great for defense by adding some dodge/spell dodge. If you are having a hard time getting an ES on Hit Watcher's Eye (if you are on a budget), you can implement Aspect of the Spider into the build instead of Herald of Ash and use:
Belt
Life+ES+Resists Can get a ton of chaos res in this slot. If you're taking the Elementalist route Soul Tether is great for sustain. Can also be used if you have life leech as a necro, but not as good as Stone Golem regen on Elementalist is bonkers.
Amulet
This is a good spot to get some Fire damage leeched as life. Can be gotten as an Elder mod, Temple mod, or a corruption. Life, ES%, Attributes, resists. Get what you can. For super Endgame, Aul's for Anger or Zealotry is going to be BiS for damage. Zealotry is better as the modifiers on the amulet for blue skills are much stronger for us. Presence of Chayula is also an option as an easy way to obtain your chaos res.
Anointing Your Amulet
Charging Offensive -> Silver + Violet + Teal
This is the BiS enchant for the free endurance and frenzy charges. We hit ourselves while channeling so this is 100% uptime on those bonuses. Battle Rouse -> Azure + Verdant + Sepia Great on a budget and helps a lot with mana. Weathered Hunter -> Teal + Amber + Sepia Another budget option that provides us 10% All Res and 20 Dex Nothing Else worth mentioning really. Charging Offensive is BIS and the other two are great budget options.
Rings
I highly suggest going for unset rings as sockets are incredibly starved. Shaped rings Life gained for each enemy hit by your spells are quite nice. I recommend having at least 1 of the rings with this mod. This is an option for the absolutely...INCREDIBLY late game. I seriously do not suggest using this as a general rule. Sockets are THAT important. I use it because it ALSO has Arcane Surge on it, which is essentially saving me a socket. It's great for damage, it can save a couple passive points, but don't feel like you HAVE to have it.
Jewels/Watcher's Eye
Rare Jewels are easy: %Life, %ES, Crit Multi, Resists as needed. Intuitive Leap in the Witch area jewel to the Power Charge, Mystic Bulwark, Prodigal perfection, and Enigmatic Defense noteables. Alternatively you could place Unnatural Instinct in this spot and spend those points elsewhere. Glorious Vanity - Doryani for the Corrupted Soul keystone. This splits the damage from Scold's (and all sources) between our life and energy shield allowing us to make use of ALL of our recovery mechanics at all times. It's also a HUGE boost to eHP. Make sure to keep ES the same or lower than life as any amount higher will not help vs 1-shot mechanics. Place in the jewel socket near Pain Attunement.
Watcher's Eye Mods
I highly recommend the ES gained on Hit while effected by Discipline. This mod combined with all of our CWDT taken spells (particularly Ball Lightning) makes us almost unkillable in most scenarios. Other mods to try and pair with it: Clarity %Damage taken gained as mana over 4 seconds when hit This should be enough to cover your mana needs. Zealotry "Consecrated Ground you create while affected by Zealotry causes enemies to take #% increased Damage" Zealotry "Critical Strikes Penetrate #% of Enemy Elemental Resistances while affected by Zealotry" Zealotry "#% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground while affected by Zealotry" The consecrated ground oriented zealotry mods are especially strong if you have Purifying Flame on CWDT. This will cover every inch of your screen in Consecrated ground. Gain a Flask Charge when you deal a Critical Strike while affected by Precision #% to Critical Strike Multiplier while affected by Precision Anger Fire pen/%Increased Fire Damage Both good for obvious reasons Anger Fire Damage leeched as Life, this can be used as the singular source of Fire leeched to life. Replaces amulet mod. Clarity %Mana Gained as extra maximum Energy Shield. This should be good for at least 1k Energy Shield. Very strong.
Flasks
There are some really powerful flasks for this build, some of which make a huge difference in quality of life for clearing and DPS. Everyone NOT using The Stampede boots will want a Quicksilver Flask. Cinderswallow is almost mandatory for comfortable mapping. Try to get high rolls on ES on kill. Also a good DPS flask. Bottled Faith is a MASSIVE boost to DPS. Luxury item, but definitely worth it. Wise Oak is what it is. Some Fire Pen and good defensively if you perfectly balance your resists. Life Flask for some insurance. Helpful if you have too much downtime between packs or phased bosses. Diamond Flask is also a huge boost to DPS. Good spot to get freeze immunity. Enduring Mana Flasks are great for no regen maps.
Corruptions, Enchants, and Aspects
Scold's
Scold's is not the most popular item for people to enchant so it can be hard to find good enchantments and when we do, they're expensive. Therefore let's looks at this list of useful enchantments to keep an eye out for:
Helm Enchants
Discipline has 20% reduced Mana Reservation Anger has 15% reduced Mana Reservation Herald of Ash has 30% reduced Mana Reservation 40% increased Volatile Dead Damage Volatile Dead Consumes up to 1 additional corpse Wave of Conviction's Exposure applies -6% Elemental Resistance Consecrated Ground from Purifying Flame applies 9% increased Damage taken to Enemies These are all useful enchants to keep and eye out for. IF you want to run Aspect of the Spider, you will need this corruption: With a Level 4 Enlighten and either another 4% Mana Reserve node or a Is it worth it? Sure is! Is it needed? Not at all! Other good corruptions: +1 Maximum Power Charge 1.6-2% Life Regen .5% of Fire Damage leeched as life 25-30% Increased Effect of Shock (translates to 5-6% increased damage taken) %Life or %Energy shield +2 To level of Socketed Aura or AOE Gems
Gloves/Doedre's Malevolence
I highly recommend getting some kind of curse on hit here.
Enfeeble Temporal Chains Elemental Weakness Other good options: +1 maximum Frenzy Charge +0.5%-0.8% Spell Crit %Max Life or %Max ES
Boot Enchantments
For this build I really like these ones: .6% of Damage leeched as life if you've killed recently 2% of life regenerated per second if you're been hit recently Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemies Resistances if you haven't killed recently
Gem Links
Gem links for Volatile Dead: Cast While Channeling (from staff) - Cyclone - Volatile Dead - Concentrated Effect - (Awakened) Spell Cascade - (Awakened) Elemental Focus - (Awakened) Fire Penetration Use Energy Leech if you are not yet using a source of ES on hit (and your ES stays less than full)
CWDT Setups
This one is a little complicated as there are many ways to do it. We'll start with the must have 3L CWDT that you will ALWAYS need: CWDT - Desecrate - Spell Cascade This 3L is what makes the whole build tick. I have exactly 1 6L leftover to use. In this setup we will have all the skills linked to Combustion to apply its debuff. Consider the following spells to use on CWDT and find what you like best: Wave of Conviction Wave is always going to be slotted for the Fire Exposure debuff Purifying Flame This is used to provide yourself and your minions a constant 6% life regen per second. And since it ALSO covers every inch of the screen with Consecrated ground you get a reliable 100% increased crit chance with it as well Ball Lightning This spell is deceptively powerful. I love how it interacts with ES and Life gain on hit effects such as those found on shaper/crusader rings and Discipline ES on hit watcher's eye. By far the best spell for bursts of recovery. Unearth If you are using Awakened Spell Cascade in your main links you may find this helpful. Use as such: Unearth + Greater Multiple Projectiles + CWDT in another set of links to give you more bodies on da floor. Blade Blast If you can fit it, Blade Blast Unnervesw Enemies for 4 seconds on hit. CWDT Spell Supports If you can squeeze these in, they're a nice DPS boost. Culling Strike Support Enemies that take damage that would put them to 10% or less life are killed instead. 10% more damage across the board. Power Charge on Critical Support You can get this effect on a Shaper Staff or Crusader Chest Suffix, but if you don't have those things it makes maintaining Power Charges in all situations a cinch. The following 3-4L is for our offering and Golem(s). Level this setup as high as possible (ideally level 21) CWDT - Bone Offering - Summon Stone Golem - Summon Ice Golem or Summon Chaos Golem Honorable Mentions: Frostwall It's a little bit clunky if you don't have phasing, but is great for blocking out projectiles and pushing melee monsters away Cold Snap This is nice if you don't have Charging offensive anointed to generate frenzy charge yet (costs a Silver) otherwise not worth using. Curse of Choice can be used if you don't have Curse corruption on gloves or a ring with a curse on hit (assassin's mark on shaper ring, Flammability on Delve/Warlord ring). Enfeeble or Temp Chains for defense, Assassin's Mark if you need power charges and crit, or Flammability for raw damage. Socket this curse with your Desecrate lniks to get the spell cascade support.
Auras
Use the Following Auras:
Discipline Zealotry Herald of Ash Anger Unless you are wearing an Aul's you must choose between Anger and Zealotry I would default to Zealotry for the crit. Anger adds a lot of damage to your CWDT skills. If you don't have another global source of flat fire damage to spells (from staff or Hypnotic Jewel for instance) then you need it so that ball lightning can ignite for the combustion debuff. Of course, use whichever one you want. If you have a watcher's eye with Zealotry mods, use zealotry, if you have one with anger mods, use anger. If you don't care about the damage boost, you can also choose to use Flesh and Stone instead of Herald of Ash or one of the 50% Auras if you're having trouble making them all fit.
Ascendancy/Bandits/Pantheon
In this order: Essence Glutton -> Mistress of Sacrifice -> Plaguebringer -> Corpse Pact Bandits: Help Alira (recommended) or Kill All For Minor Pantheons, Soul of Gruthkul will give you 5% Phys mitigation all the time. Soul of Shakari for extra defense against chaos damage and poison immunity Upgraded Soul of Yugul is good vs Uber Elder and Aul for 5% reduced cold damage taken. Major Pantheons: Soul of Lunaris fully upgraded is a good all-purpose choice. Especially if you are using an Animate Guardian and/or utility specters Soul of Arakaali for additional defense vs chaos dots
Managing Mana Sustain
If you have the socket space for a level 1 Clarity, this watcher's eye modifier will take care of your mana needs. Alternatively (or in addition to) the bench craft "X% Damage taken gained as mana over 4 seconds" can be stacked on both rings and amulet slot for the same effect. If you can only put it on 2 items you will need some extra mana regen from gear and/or tree to compensate. The boot enchant is a good spot to get some regen if you can commit to casting flame dash every 4 seconds: Alternatively, you can use one of the new Enduring mana flasks. These things are truly great because you can spam the flask charges and each instance of mana recovery enters a queue. This means that your mana recovery can last for several minutes. When I enter a map I empty the flask as I approach the first pack on monsters and then just keep it going from there. You will have a hard time with phased bosses with this but for mapping and everything else it's totally fine. Note: they are getting nerfed in 3.10 and will be less effective. Lastly, here's a calculator to help you find your ideal attack rate with Cyclone. The idea is to balance physical damage mitigation with attack rate to know how fast you should be going and how much mitigation you can afford.
Thanks to xHavoCx for creating this tool
" Thank you for looking, I will continue to update this throughout 3.9 Metamorph League Please check the FAQ section below before asking any questions. It's possible that I've answered it there. Other Guides: [3.8] Gryph's CI Vortex + Coldsnap Trickster || Uber Elder+Everything Else Last edited by Gryphenprey on Jan 5, 2021, 3:23:35 AM Last bumped on Sep 12, 2020, 12:12:32 PM
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Frequently Asked Questions
I'm going to start compiling these here:
Why am I having trouble sustaining Energy Shield?
There's a mechanical reason behind this: CWDT has a cooldown of 250ms and does not count damage you take towards its next proc in this time. basically you need to recover enough ES on your Spirit Offering Proc to make up for the 528 damage required to proc CWDT and the damage you take in the 250ms downtime. And since we attack quite quickly with Cyclone a lot of damage can be dealt in 1/4 of a second. Things that help: First and foremost. Increased Effect of offerings on your chest will boost your recovery by 350-450 ES per trigger. This alone is probably good enough. Physical Damage Mitigation. IF you can get some amount of mitigation, this will make the CWDT proccing smoother. IF you're cyclone costs 59 mana, you'll be taking 236 damage per attack. This requires 3 spins to trigger CWDT and you end up taking 708 damage--180 more than you need to--to trigger CWDT. This also means that the subsequent damage taken during cooldown is quite high. Now let's say you are Anointing your amulet with Charging Offensive and thus have 3 Endurance Charges at all times. You have now 12% reduced damage taken from Scold's. Now instead of taking 236 per hit, you take 207 per hit. Still takes 3 spins to trigger CWDT. But now you take 621 damage instead. You can get up to roughly 25% physical damage reduction before it starts negatively impacting your CWDT triggers (at 59 mana cost) and any that you do have will boost your effective recovery. "I'm a derp and use Leash of Oblation without an Offering Effect chest." This is the last and most common reason. Read the gear section of the guide before putting on the belt. :)
Why can't I sustain my mana???
You don't have enough of that mod "X% of damage taken gained as mana over 4 seconds when hit." Aim for a minimum of 15%. Clarity Watcher's Eye can roll 15-20%. or Use an Enduring mana Flask.
I'm following your POB but it's different than your trees/guide? Why?
In the words of a fellow exile that I know:
" Okay seriously, I make little changes constantly because I am forever trying new things and making little tiny min-maxes to my character. Please refer to the guide, or ask me if you have a question.
H I N T
To ask me a question in game...you will need to know the C O D E. To find it, you will need to search for the wisdom of the green man.
How can I do better with X,Y,Z boss fight? I get 1-shot a lot...?
Learn fight mechanics. For more on this, I shall refer you to page 128 where I go into some depth on this. You'll also want to look there for the w o r d(s) to have your questions answered.
Why does my damage feel bad?
This is going to be just me listing off things you may have overlooked and that will give noticeable boosts to your damage output: Culling Strike in CWDT links - 10% more damage Level 10 Arcane Surge on Flame Dash - 15% more spell damage Diamond Flask - please...just...use it. Vaal Righteous Fire - good to have if you need burst damage for metamorphs Level 21 VD - gem levels matter Awakened Fire Penetration cheap and better than regular fire pen. Boosted monster resists make this very appealing You have a 6L...right??? - obvious reasons are obvious. Circle of Anguish Buff Effect + Fire Damage is a massive DPS boost. Cheaper alternative to Aul's amulet. Prioritize Herald of Ash buff effect. Character levels and therefore all the crit+crit multi clusters on the tree... Anointed Amulet - Charging Offensive gives 3 Frenzy Charges at all time. 12% more damage. Combustion Support make sure it's on your CWDT links. Bottled Faith - Expensive but massive DPS boost. Spell Crit on chest - Good DPS booster. If you're still having damage problems, we can talk. See page 128 for the password.
Old Pobs
Current POB for 3.9
Level 98 VolatileDeceased: https://pastebin.com/qJhJdWkP Added some text to Intuitive Leap to represent buffs that are always up, but not calculated by PoB
Gear
PoB From 3.8 Blight League
My Character, Stupidity, at level 98: https://pastebin.com/DmKEh9bE
Current Gear
I have put the buffs that PoB doesn't calculate/see onto a custom made jewel labeled as Brutal Restraint.
The extras
Brutal Restraint Cobalt Jewel Implicits: 0 10% Increased Effect of non-curse Auras from your skills Minions deal 20% increased damage +20% to cold resistance Gain Onslaught for 8 Seconds on kill ====AG==== 10% Increased Movement Speed +50% To critical Strike Multiplier You Have Fortify Culling Strike ====Arcane Surge==== 10% more Spell damage ====Ascendancy Shock Damage==== Nearby Enemies take 15% increased elemental damage ====Spirit offering==== gain 15% of maximum life as extra maximum energy shield +18% to all elemental resistances ===Consecrated Ground+Aul's Crit=== 150% Increased Critical strike chance
A Relic of the Past
This build started off as a self-cast VD build. I eventually made the transition to CWC+Cyclone for the mobility. So, if you want to do self cast because you hate cyclone....
Self Cast Variant
Self Cast Tree
My character with this setup at level 93 https://pastebin.com/6Q7FfnCE Budget version as seen here and here https://pastebin.com/jFNVQpJn This is my "classic" take on the build. It is much easier to scale damage but the lack of mobility If you don't like CWC with Cyclone you can go this route, though at this point I don't recommend
Animate Guardian & Specters
In 3.8 I ran an AG with Kingmaker and Garb of the Ephemeral...and he was unkillable. Now, in 3.9 with the new end game bosses I cannot recommend an AG for that content. If you want to use it for Mapping and Delving deep, then an AG is still fantastic. At this time I suggest unsummoning him before Conqueror Fights as they do insane damage to minions it seems. That aside, it turns out spamming Spirit Offering constantly is a great way to keep your beefy boi alive. 20% of 20k-30k life as extra ES 4x/s is a lot of recovery.
Why use an Animate Guardian?
Let's more or less assume that the AG is never gonna die due to the aforementioned reasons.
We run Animate Guardian because he requires no investment from the tree to keep alive and the buffs we can get off of him are more powerful than what can be used in those sockets instead. Fortify, Culling Strike, Movement Speed, Enemies Can't Crit you, Action speed cannot be reduced below base speed, various boosts to damage....OP Minion is OP.
What a Beefy AG uses
Kingmaker - Culling Strike, Fortify, and 50% Crit Multiplier make this an insane damage and defensive boost.
Victario's Flight - for 10% Movement Speed buff. Encahnted with Life Regen when hit. Rare Gloves - T1 Chaos Res, Chaos Res+Ele Res bench craft, and some amount of the other res to cap him. With so much recovery on ES I wanted to make sure his chaos resistance is very high. Currently has 68% Chaos Res. Rare helmet - fossil crafted for -9% to nearby enemy Fire res. Can be pristine+scorched for life regen if you want to invest into that as well. (mine does) Garb of the Ephemeral - If you feel like dumping another 6-7ex on your AG then this is BiS. Nearby Enemies Can't Crit and Nearby Allies cannot have their action speed reduced below base speed. Congratulation, now you're a juggerboi. :)
The Specters
You can use whatever specters (or none) that you want. I would use:
1x Heretical Guardians from Act 10 Desecrated Chambers for the Proximity Shield. at a base they have an 8 Second duration and 18 second cooldown (shields down for 10 seconds). I frankly couldn't tell you how much damage they actually prevent, but hey, with Convocation on CWDT they stay pretty close to me. 1x Ruins hellion from Act 8 The Quay. This little pup casts Rallying Cry that boosts damage, mana regen, and most importantly, taunts enemies further protecting me and my Animate Guardian. Puppy boi is also the only minion that ever dies....ever. And only in Uber Elder and Aul fights. I have (in 3.8) AG and Raise Specter Linked with Meat Shield SUUUUPER IMPORTANT!!! Please do yourselves a favor and UNSUMMON (remove gem) your AG before entering Hall of Grandmasters. I shall hear no complaints that your 10ex AG died in seconds to this map. You have been warned. Now...let us have a moment of silence to the poor exile who learned this the hard way and let him find peace in that others will learn from this tragedy... Last edited by Gryphenprey on Mar 11, 2020, 9:21:18 PM
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Ok. This is epic.
Trust your mind and strengthen your abilities!
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" Yes, yes it is! Updates: Added a better gameplay video of post-uber lab on day 2. Updated the Gem Links section to include the 3 major CWDT setups Added a note in the gear section regarding Cooldown Recovery will continue to update! |
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Thank you for the update.
After playing it a bit, it feels kinda clunky? Unearth doesn't really go at the cursor but rather at your feet, and if your not keeping up with the VD, you wont get more corpses to keep VDing. I end up having to cast desecrate pretty often, or get hit to trigger CWDT to continue VDing. Perhaps it'll feel better after Uber Lab. Last edited by FaytePGN on Sep 8, 2019, 3:20:14 AM
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This looks pretty awesome. I played your Trickster Vortex/CI build all last league and loved it; he got me my first 40/40 league. I just reached maps with it again but was having a tough time getting it off the ground. Was feeling like I wanted to join the Necro meta and bam! This guide shows up!
So, I spent most of my currency, bought a Scold's and am on my way. Looking forward to seeing how this develops! | |
" Nice! It's still a work in progress, but has been a blast to play and tinker with. Always happy to see people enjoying my Trickster guide too. =) " Yes, After having played this now for a while I can say a few things: You have to self cast the unlinked desecrate often because VD requires a target to trigger. Mostly this is while mapping. As for CWDT Triggers, everything is targeted at your feet, never at the cursor. This is because you are the source of the damage. It's weird. I have found a nice rhythm to this, the trick really, is to keep your cursor close to yourself or, more accurately, the bodies you produce. When I'm mapping there's a lot of "Move forward, click where I came from" movement. I've gotten a feel for it (I got my rhythm) so it feels smooth, but it can definitely feel clunky until you get used to the play style. And Uber Lab does make a big difference. The cast speed bonuses are huge. Hope that helps a bit! Last edited by Gryphenprey on Sep 8, 2019, 7:07:24 AM
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This build is nuts! Super fun to play. Just got to maps and working on uberlab which is when this build will truly shine.
Things to note; Voidbringers are good if you haven't 6 linked your VD yet and don't need to 100% increase from fevered mind. Arctic armor messes up the initial cwdt desecrate if you're on the cusp of the threshold. Last edited by gosumui on Sep 8, 2019, 12:47:16 PM
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I did uber lab, it was amazing. I got increased cooldown recovery speed boots and the belt.
I was successfully able to crash my instance during a blight encounter, perhaps I spammed VD too hard. | |
" Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha Yeah I think going on the Pros and Cons list is: CON: Not potato PC friendly. I've crashed a couple blight maps with this. Solo'd a T2 with no crash though so there's that. |
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