[3.17]⚡Velyna's Storm Brand Occultist⚡ 5M+ DPS Leaguestart | Hidden and Feared Viable

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tnich55 wrote:

Hi Velyna and all, first off thanks for the guide!

I was really interested in trying out brands and figured now would be the time with it less meta than the past. I normally play mine builds and tried a trap build before this one.

If anyone familiar wouldn't mind, could you check out my PoB and gear and make any suggestions on next steps? I've gone fairly broke at this point but the build can do t16s and I imagine bosses, working on farming up next Sirus to test.

POB: https://pastebin.com/ymAndB3D

Items:

Watchers Eye: 15% cold pen with Hatred (and one other useless one)

A gem question for thought - lvl 5 awakened added lightning vs conc effect .. I'm seeing more PoB dps with Awakened added lightning but see conc effect in build PoB so was curious about it!


Thanks!

Having taken a quick look at your gear, updgrades would be (in no particular order): a better weapon, small cluster with enduring composure, bottled faith, +2 Shavs, tailwind/onslaught boots, hands with ele weakness and spell crit, +2 prism, enlighten 3 (so you can drop discipline mana reservation efficiency), energy from within with CB immunity, better watcher's eye and a wise oak (as long as you can manage cold res). You'd have to check POB, but I wonder whether 2 medium cluster jewels with quick getaway and pressure points would add more DPS than your current megalomaniac. You would also get more ES if you changed the quality on your amulet to defence/life. I'd also drop zealot's oath and the life mastery node and put those 2 points in aura effect and regen 2% ES. Am assuming there is a reason you're not using clarity.

I have been closely following Dorfy's build for end-game (https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Dorfy/characters?characterName=Dorfy_Scourge) and his reply on p66 of the thread is worth a read. I think your next upgrade would be a +2 Shavs, which should be around 4-5 ex.

how would i go about playing this build without going low life? i play mainly on console and the items are either unavailable to buy or insanely expensive.

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Shardama wrote:

how would i go about playing this build without going low life? i play mainly on console and the items are either unavailable to buy or insanely expensive.

If I am honest I would say dont bother - or at least dont bother trying to bend this LL build into a Life based build. Instead I would try a completely different Storm Brand build that is built as life based from the start.

I did look at this build earlier myself:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3215050

It is current for 3.16 and seems at least as powerful as this LL build. I expect that it will end up being expensive at the top end as well but at least it is built for life so it should be easier to ramp up slowly without taking too much of a hit to dps or survivability while you gradually farm up better gear.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your input! Going to test some things out.

I wondered about the medium clusters as well and fitting the small cluster in, just having trouble picking out what else would be good to drop for more points (I highly doubt I'll level much of any further than 94).

Thanks again

Here is a new version being working on, based on the updates I just did to the guardian im playing right now.

https://pastebin.com/UXX9zUX8

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Here is a new version being working on, based on the updates I just did to the guardian im playing right now.

https://pastebin.com/UXX9zUX8

Thanks Velyna, this version looks pretty cool. The use of Aegis Aurora with built in ES on block plus armor stack seems pretty popular and feels like a good defensive layer.

I am working on the PoB to try and test this out, I'm a little short on levels (am level 95) but do have an Aegis to test it out with and want to see how the PoB dmg looks at a step between the mid / 10ex gear and god tier gear.

I don't boss frequently enough to be so good at mechanics so I do find myself running into insta deaths without greater defenses lol.

So just about done with the league and thought I would post a short (OK actually long) dit on my thoughts on the build:


My POB (https://pastebin.com/icgMNUh3) shows a bit more than 7 million Shaper / Sirius DPS and 10-11 million when clearing. I think that is per Brand though so when you have got 4 or 5 brands out when mapping or even 2 on a boss those numbers can rise substantially. Either way most bosses take no more than a second or three and clearing is as fast as you can move and cast.

Normal end game bosses including Sirius (A8/9), Maven, Shaper, Uber Elder and Uber Atziri are all simple and quick to do deathless (Uber Atziri needs a single passive change + Pantheon to get around reflect). These are all easy with minimal investment - prob 10 ex or so - but I am sure you could do with much less investment, maybe 3 or 4 ex, if you are reasonably skilled.

However - If you do some min / maxing and invest more Ex and then pretty much everything else becomes, if not necessarily easy, then at least possible.

* Solo Blight Ravaged Maps - fairly easy
* Solo level 30 Simul - Possible (but not easy or efficient after 24+)
* Well rolled (70+ quant) Feared / Simultaneous Feared - easy
* Aul at 350+ - OK if you dont get too many crazy mods
* Pretty much anything else also easy

Currently on 39/40 challenges with just the grind left. Not sure I can even be bothered to finish grind but all of the other challenges were complete solo so its fair to say the build is nothing if not versatile.

I reckon I have spent in excess of 300ex on the build now so in terms of power vs investment there are probably lots of better options - probably much better options in fact. That said I have very much enjoyed the playstyle which has been fun and engaging throughout the league. It is well suited to this league as the chill / freeze means that even the craziest rolled Scourge 10 maps at t14-16 are easy at scourge 200-300.

Apart from a couple of small changes (no ZO and took an extra jewel passive) my build is pretty faithful to Velyna's original POB.

There are some options for a few other small changes though depending on what you prefer.

If you have capped Crit Chance then anointing "Influence" on amulet rather than "Doom Cast" can be better DPS and also adds extra ES as well. I used this myself until I found a nice Krangled Presence of Chayula with elemental penetration which already had Doom Cast.

You could also try one medium Cluster with Astonishing Affliction and Blast Freeze - its a bit less DPS but the elemental prolif helps keep everything chilled and frozen further out off screen and is useful when levelling for more survivability.

Finally, it can also be handy (at times) to swap out the small cluster and put one in with the Wish for Death passive - this adds Culling to all monsters that are cursed (which is everything) and is on a curse base. Its really only useful for Bossing where you are likely to get one shot with or without the endurance charges but if you are somewhat dps limited its really handy. Its not really worth the effort to swap it at higher dps levels and I wouldn't recommend using it at all when mapping as the endurance charges from Enduring Composure are just to good to miss out on.

Just remember at all times that although this is actually a rather squishy build - your 6-7k ES with no real defensive layers wont last long if you are not keeping everything chilled / frozen and are not leeching. If you keep doing those things though then survivability is actually rather high and and comparable to much more tanky builds. Killing a 6 man Pure Chayula solo for example is the easiest thing in the world as its completely frozen from the first hit and cannot even cast one spell, make one attack or move one step. Still, do expect random one shots when mapping so remember to play things safe when levelling.

As far as my build is concerned - I have only two real upgrades left that I would like. A +3 Prism Guardian would be nice and also a Call of the Bortherhood Ring (with elemental quality of course) Krangled with +1 minimum Frenzy charges (well actually two of these would be nice!). Unfortunately even though I have plenty of spare currency, at this point in league its proving hard to find them available to buy!

God PoB updated, pushed ceiling higher on DPS and improved defense layers.

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Velyna wrote:

God PoB updated, pushed ceiling higher on DPS and improved defense layers.

Thank you very much for your work

;)

Hi!Thanks for the build and complet guide!
He is ok for 3.17 or nerf?