Stress-Free PoE! ANIMATED POISON (AW): No Required Items! 1-Button Play! SSF League Start-End! 3.12

A whole lot to like about this build, but I'm finding keeping max weapons up to be a bit tedious and slow. Regardless of how I generate the lingering blades the many casts of animate weapon seems to slow me down more than I'd like. (Either because of mana cost or just cast time)

I'm currently using a Dendrobate chest and trying the "one button" version you posted (thanks for the update!) and that may be what I'm looking for once mobs stop dying too quickly for arcanist brand to work. My big question is if the damage reduction from Arcanist Brand will apply to the Animate Weapon pets when they are linked together.

Thanks a million Wrecker for years of PoE education and many great guides that are informative, organized, and accessible.

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SymmetraMain234 wrote:

Spoiler

Well Consider me Intrigued. This build takes my favorite ascendancy and my favorite play style and marries the two. I think I'll try this out to finish the league. I personally added some unique gear. I added a heretic's veil to socket my curses in. I placed convocation in place of the blasphemy support. I also added a Cold Iron Point dagger. I refuse to use a convoking wand. After spending 15+ exalts to craft one in delirium and getting nothing in return. Never again. I refuse.

Cool SymmetraMain234!

It's fun when you find something that clicks for you. I hope you enjoy it.

Nice call on the unique choices! Convocation can go a long way in this build depending on your playstyle. Without any life investment for minions, Convocation will help there too.

I hear you on Convoking Wands. I find them a waste to care too much about. I only do the Transmute, Alteration, Regal crafting with them. I aim for one mod and hope for the best with the rest. That or I'll blow fossils on them. But I too have found them too much to care about.

I hope you like the build. Good luck!

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Soulfire555 wrote:

Spoiler

A whole lot to like about this build, but I'm finding keeping max weapons up to be a bit tedious and slow. Regardless of how I generate the lingering blades the many casts of animate weapon seems to slow me down more than I'd like. (Either because of mana cost or just cast time)

I'm currently using a Dendrobate chest and trying the "one button" version you posted (thanks for the update!) and that may be what I'm looking for once mobs stop dying too quickly for arcanist brand to work. My big question is if the damage reduction from Arcanist Brand will apply to the Animate Weapon pets when they are linked together.

Thanks a million Wrecker for years of PoE education and many great guides that are informative, organized, and accessible.

Hey Soulfire555!

Thanks for the kind words and honest feedback. I found keeping max AW while levelling a little tedious too. Once set up though, I found it paced out a lot better. I really would have preferred to have this build use a channelling skill-CWC-a Lingering Blade skill-AW-the poison supports. It'd have been SO much easier to play. BUT then a 6 link especially turns into a 3-link. Gross. I thought about Spell Totem, CwDT...I too want to be more apathetic about my AW count, but this is the more efficient method I could come up with. I'm surprised to hear about the mana troubles though. I didn't have any issues with mana at any point while levelling (I may have used Clarity...I'm not sure).

To tell you the truth, I am not 100% sure if Arcanist's damage fluctuation applies to AW. I believe it does because CwDT's increases/decreases apply to minions. So if both skills apply similarity as trigger skills, then I assume that Arcanist Brand's increases/decreases apply to AW as well.

I'm sorry I didn't have anything very helpful to reply with but I really appreciate your kindness. Thanks for taking the time to be so encouraging. I really appreciate it.

Finally got to Siosa to get the Poison support for 100% poison uptime and been playing it for a little bit now.

Something Id' strongly recommend doing (especially early on) is go for melee splash support and the melee physical dmg/minion damage support early on. Splash helps clear packs of enemies + poisons on the splash targets. Mele phys/Minion damage just gets ur AW hitting harder which makes for harder hitting poisons.

At this point it comes down to whether u want death by a thousand cuts or death by 100 cuts. Either way works and I think im going to go with Animate Weapon - Poison Support - Lesser Poison Support - Added Chaos Damage Support - Minion Damage Support - Multistrike Support or Melee Splash Support depending on how Multistrike feels after i get it.

Using that setup currently with Melee Splash and stuff just melts for the most part. Have had an issue with AW dieing sometimes but that's probably because i havent taken many minion nodes yet (rushed Sovereignty and Whispers of Doom).

To anyone having mana issues(especially if you swap to bladefall), spend 3 points and get Quick Recovery! This should keep you topped up all the time!

Another big thing to note that i have seen people complain about with AW is having to keep it up all the time. You only need 4-5 AW's up while leveling to efficiently clear packs of enemies! Anything more than that is a meat shield/safety net in case something manages to kill a bunch of them at once. You should be able to cast Ethereal Knives/Bladefall on packs of enemies and then just hold the AW binding while mouseing over the Lingering-Blades. Don't spam click AW, press and hold it for summoning multiples!

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Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

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KurtVresig wrote:

Spoiler

I have a great time leveling this build! Many thanks for your guide Wrecker :)
Just to bee on the safe side, I throwed in some Vaal Skeletons, just in case some boss doesn't cooperate and die! :D

And, as somebody said earlier it the tread, it really starts rockin' after second labyrinth!

/HEX

Awesome KurtVresig! I'm glad levelling went well for you! I appreciate the feedback. Let me know how things keep going if you're up for it.

Thanks for your kindness!

I have started with maps and it goes very well. I also got lost a bit in doing heists, I really like that! Nice storyline and I have always liked to have henchmens with me, missed that from Diablo and Guild Wars.

Happy mapping! :)

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Guru1619 wrote:

You should be able to cast Ethereal Knives/Bladefall on packs of enemies and then just hold the AW binding while mouseing over the Lingering-Blades. Don't spam click AW, press and hold it for summoning multiples!

Ahh! I'll have to try that, I really wearing out my kbd, have this on W :-D
But doesn't it get me mana problem?
Thanks for the tip!

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KurtVresig wrote:

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Guru1619 wrote:

You should be able to cast Ethereal Knives/Bladefall on packs of enemies and then just hold the AW binding while mouseing over the Lingering-Blades. Don't spam click AW, press and hold it for summoning multiples!

Ahh! I'll have to try that, I really wearing out my kbd, have this on W :-D
But doesn't it get me mana problem?
Thanks for the tip!

If you've got mana issues, spend the 3 points into Quick Recovery. It should keep you topped off while summoning em.

Edit: just saw that u said u were doing maps, so you should have quick recovery by now. Currently running a 6link tabula AW with the gems i said w/ Melee Splash and i don't go oom. Don't have my 3rd curse going yet tho so not sure if that might be the problem? Just not enough of a mana pool?

any tips on summoning new weapons every map ? It's getting tedious and i don't want to 5L it with an Arcanist brand (if it even works)
I spam ethereal knives on a wall then summon em 1 by 1.
Other than that, the build is great and thanks for the guide !

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JackOffAllTrades1 wrote:

any tips on summoning new weapons every map ? It's getting tedious and i don't want to 5L it with an Arcanist brand (if it even works)
I spam ethereal knives on a wall then summon em 1 by 1.
Other than that, the build is great and thanks for the guide !

Swap to Bladefall so you get your lingering blades where u click instead of in a fan.

Selfcast bladefall/ethereal knives and bind AW to your mouse if you have extra buttons(such as a side button) and press and hold it then move ur mouse cursor over the lingering blades. Again you should only really need 4-5 right off and if ur self cast bladefall/ethereal knives on packs anyways for culling strike to mow stuff down u can easily just summon more as u go.

Alternatively, if you have a mouse that lets u unlock ur scroll wheel so it free spins, bind it to AW and flick the wheel once and move ur cursor over weapons to summon them.

Most auto cast options have detrimental effect to AW's dmg in some way, so may not be worthwhile unless u find them doing plenty of damage. (Spell Echo and Unleash Support gems)

double posted