[3.22][SSF] Power Siphon/Kinetic Blast Cold Wander Raider

3.22 update
Short answer:
IS IT DEAD? - NO
Build is unchanged

RIP Vengeant cascade, you will be missed. The new Returning Projetiles Support is not really that great for Power Siphon, because we're running Point Blank. It is still good for Kinetic Blast, since the returning projectiles can pass through multiple enemies so despite Point Blank we're still getting a big damage multiplier. Other than that, no changes, build is still extremely strong with more than 8m single target DPS.




What is this?
Different take on a semi-regular wander build, running as Raider instead of Deadeye, utilizing Power Siphon barrage for single targets and Kinetic Blast for clear. Fast, has great clear and quite good single target (about 8-9m with good gear, not counting the return projectiles from Vengeant Cascade - hard to calculate those, but they make up quite a decent chunk of damage). Uses not only evasion, but also armour for defenses, unlike most wander builds. 3.21 made this build double in fun - the new Vengeant Cascade annoint is completely broken and insanely fun. Play it while you can - I really don't think Vengeant Cascade will survive the next league patch. I've played it all the way from start of the league to level 100 in SSF Crucible as well as up to level 98 in SSF Sanctum.

The good and the bad
Spoiler

Good:
+ good for SSF
+ good single target damage
+ decent survivability, but is not a facetanker
+ clears at an amazing speed
+ only wants one unique which is quite common
+ has Armour, Evasion and about 90% spell suppresion
+ ailment immune
+ lots of hits + new "10% of Leech is insant" mastery = ridiculous amounts of life gain on hit
Bad:
- it's possible to leaguestart it (I did), but its very very weak early on - wander really needs items to shine
- can't do elemental reflect
- can cause seizures
- two curses that you have to cast every 11 seconds for single target
- turtle speed in town and at start of maps - the build moves fast, but only after you kill your first pack and get all frenzy charges


PoB:
Spoiler

Base:
https://pastebin.com/PcmY6EDT

With helmet enchant (no Enlighten):
https://pastebin.com/3CH6c8Yx

With level 4 Enlighten (no helmet enchant):
https://pastebin.com/Tfhhpxzq

END-END game setups - for tradeleagues
Spoiler

Full DPS setup with The Pandemonius:
https://pastebin.com/bhRi7U8G

More defensive oriented with Aul's Uprising Grace or Determination mod:
https://pastebin.com/Arqu2zYM


poe.ninja character link
Spoiler

3.20 SSF Sanctum:
https://poe.ninja/sanctumssf/builds/char/100purified/CEOofWand

3.21 SSF Crucible:
https://poe.ninja/sanctumssf/builds/char/100purified/CEOofHogwarts

3.22 SSF Ancestor
https://poe.ninja/builds/ancestorssf/character/100purified/CEOofOllivanders



Uniques:
Spoiler


The only mandatory unique for this build. It's quite a common drop, you will usually drop multiple of it throughout the league. Although not extremely strictly required, it gives a lot of dps and movement speed.


Purely a mid-game item - not required by any means. It's just a good mid-game wand and its completely outshined by well crafted rare ones.


Again, not required, but a good mid-game armour. Boost damage, provides great armour and evasion as well as pretty much perma onslaught. In the endgame replaced by a hunter rare chestpiece with +critical chance and +1 curse.


While a Blizzard Crown is pretty much the best we can get, a Heatshiver is a very close match. It makes it a bit harder to gear, because you don't get life, strength or +1 pierce on it, but it matches the DPS you get from a Blizzard Crown. Completely optional item.

POSSIBLE ENDGAME UNIQUE UPGRADES:
There are two possible choices here:
- an Aul's Uprising with Determination or Grace mod - this will let you run both Determination and Grace and make you very tanky,
- The Pandemonius - best amulet for pure DPS, provides a lot of damage and blind.


Map mods:
Spoiler

Can do everything except:
- ele reflect,
- no leech.
Monsters steal charges mod is SUPER annoying, but still quite doable.


General tips
Spoiler

Number 1 most important mod on your shield is at least 30% chance to avoid elemental ailments. This, along with your ascendancy and passives makes you immune to all ailments. Get this mod ASAP, it's a number 1 priority on your shield. If you don't want to use that mod on your shield, this jewel is another option to cap your ailment avoidance:


Put Steelskin (or Molten Shell) in your left click hotkey, so it's automatically cast whenever it's off cooldown. Steelskin and Molten shell are pretty much equivalent for this build, so feel free to use whichever one you prefer.

You generally don't need to cast any curses for anything outside of bosses, your automatic mark on hit is enough for clearing.

You can also use regular Dash instead of Flame Dash as your movement skill if you prefer. Regular Dash takes one more gem slot though since you also want it supported by Second Wind.

For maximum damage (because of Point Blank and Vengeant Cascade) you need to stay very close to the boss. While you're there, cast Vortex every couple seconds, it further increases damage taken of the enemy. Vortex is an instant cast skill so you can use it even while you're attacking. In case of Vengeant Cascade and Sniper's Mark, you need to stand almost right on top of the boss to double your amount of hits. If you decide to use Assassin's Mark instead, staying close-ish to the boss will be enough.

Vengeant Cascade is absolutely bonkers in 3.21. It increases your already good clear speed and also provides a significant single target damage boost. It doesn't actually "double" your DPS - you might get double the amount of hits, but they're significantly less powerful on their return flight, because of Point Blank. It is still a massive damage boost and massive clearspeed boost nonetheless.

Early game you can grab some Mana reservation efficiency mastery and use another aura, a Defiance Banner. Late game when you have level 4 Enlighten and a helm enchant, you can replace it with Herald of Ice or any other 25% reservation aura that you like.

Have at least 100 mana unreserved for your gameplay to feel good, any less than that and you might occasionally run out of mana and autoattack instead of casting your skill. If you're having mana issues, try grabbing the one point Life mastery "Skills cost Life instead of 30% of Mana" - it helps greatly with mana issues.

The BiS helmet for this build is a Warlord influenced Blizzard Crown with +1 to power charges. Heatshiver is also a good replacement for it, proved similar damage, but its a bit less defensive option, since it doesn't provide any life.

Bring your chaos res to at least around 0 or positive number, it really boosts the survivability of any build.

You can swap your Silver or Diamond flask to Quicksilver during mapping, if you want to go really really fast. Personally I think Quicksilver is an overkill and I don't use it.



Example Gear:
Spoiler

3.21 Gear
Spoiler




ENDGAME example gear
Spoiler


3.22 gear
Spoiler




Number 1 most important mod on your shield is at least 30% chance to avoid elemental ailments. This, along with your ascendancy and passives makes you immune to all ailments. Get this mod ASAP, it's a number 1 priority on your shield.

Your best wand choice is Imbued Wand - it has the best attack stats out of all wand bases.

In terms of shield bases, Cardinal Round Shield for base build or Colossal Tower Shield if you're running an Aul's Uprising or you just feel like you have enough evasion and need more armour.

Gloves eldritch mods: you always want Eater's "Projectile Pierce an additional Target", and then whichever you prefer for Exarch: Gain 1 Rage on hit or chance to Intimidate enemies on hit.

You absolutely also want +1 pierce mod on your helmet - you could also get it on gloves, but gloves are already prefix starved as they are.


How to craft +attack crit chance/+1 curse body armour:
Spoiler

1. Get a Hunter influenced high armour/evasion base of a least item level 84.
2. Use Harvest bench to Reforge with an Attack mod - this is guaranteed to include the "Attacks have +X to critical strike chance" mod.
3. Spam this Harvest mod until you get tier 1 crit and two other SUFFIXES of your interest (usually 2x resistances) and AT LEAST ONE open PREFIX.
4. Benchcraft "Suffixes cannot be changed" - costs 2 Divs.
5. Use Harvest bench to "reforge with a caster mod" - this guarantees +1 curse prefix.


Ascendancy, bandits, anointment and Pantheon:
Spoiler

Ascendancy order:
Way of the Poacher - Avatar of the Slaughter - Quartz Infusion - Avatar of the Veil

Bandits: 2 passives.

Amulet anointment:
Wandslinger.

Pantheon:
Upgraded Soul of the Brine King for stun mitigation. Small pantheon is whatever.


Outdated - On the note of Vengeant Cascade Sniper's Mark vs Assassin's Mark:
Spoiler

Assassin's Mark on paper will make your projectiles hit single targets more reliably as they pass through your target and then come back straight to you. Sniper's Mark will make the projectiles fire in random directions from the target, then return to you - if you stand right on top of your target, most of the projectiles should still hit.
You can use either mark - personally I don't want to abandon the utility of Sniper's Mark, so I'm sticking to that one.

To sum up:
Asassin's Mark:
- slightly weaker in terms of pure damage early game than Sniper's Mark
- falls off in terms of damage hard in the endgame when we achieve near 100% crit rate
- more reliable Vengeant Cascade returning hits - can stand slightly away from boss and have all the returning projectiles hit pretty much all the time
Sniper's Mark:
- stronger early game DPS than Assassin's Mark
- way stronger late game DPS than Assassin's Mark
- brings utility in terms of reliably hitting multiple enemies with your single target skill (extremely useful e.g. in Maven invitations)
- less reliable hits from Vengeant cascade - need to stand right on top of the boss for all your returning projectiles to hit.


Videos:
Spoiler

General mapping - day 6 of 3.21 SSF Crucible (PoB: https://pastebin.com/gy0qNKMW):
https://youtu.be/8iP9nNPN754

General mapping - day 12 of 3.21 SSF Crucible (PoB: https://pastebin.com/SH5pAcmf)
https://youtu.be/BAPyeESBDBA

Sirus - day 7 of 3.21 SSF Crucible (PoB: https://pastebin.com/efWyz2Vi)
https://youtu.be/MrztZtsN5Gw

Maven - day 11 of 3.21 SSF Crucible (PoB: https://pastebin.com/pQ6h4wHs)
https://youtu.be/1KKuVacVGeI

Uber Elder - day 14 of 3.21 SSF Crucible (PoB: https://pastebin.com/8yisXSiE)
https://youtu.be/NVPCqeIE0so
Last edited by 100purified on Sep 24, 2023, 2:56:36 PM
Last bumped on Dec 19, 2023, 10:42:47 PM
Did you level with the build or use other method?
Last edited by slashmask on Apr 14, 2023, 4:45:41 PM
"
slashmask wrote:
Did you level with the build or use other method?

I leveled with Kinetic Blast/Power Siphon starting around level 40, until then used Rain of Arrows. It was quite an unpleasant experience on SSF leaguestart. If you're in a tradeleague, it should be a lot better, since you can buy good leveling items. You could even go with bows until around level 60-65 if you want.
"
100purified wrote:
"
slashmask wrote:
Did you level with the build or use other method?

I leveled with Kinetic Blast/Power Siphon starting around level 40, until then used Rain of Arrows. It was quite an unpleasant experience on SSF leaguestart. If you're in a tradeleague, it should be a lot better, since you can buy good leveling items. You could even go with bows until around level 60-65 if you want.

Got it thanks man
Was wondering what mod do you want on the wand, any chance you could make/show how you would make the ideal wand?
"
Was wondering what mod do you want on the wand, any chance you could make/show how you would make the ideal wand?

You want high attack speed, high critical chance and high flat cold damage, with spell or cold damage% as a bonus. I'm sorry, but I'm not a big crafter so I can't really tell what's the best way to do that. I typically just use essences to craft my weapons.
Last edited by 100purified on Apr 19, 2023, 2:00:41 PM
Oh thats totally fine i was just wondering if there were any mod you really wanted i really love wanders so this guide is a big help, Thanks
I have tried a couple of builds this league but this one fucks for real, holy shit. I took me about 5 hours of trading and some luck but I managed to replicate your current league build for about 25-30 div.

Thank you so much!
Hi!

I want to give this a go on trade league and have about 40 div to spend. Bought the AULs with Grace reservarion already. How would you prioritise item purchases for this to make it feel good early?

Also with levelling, what nodes did you go for first? I’m level 20 right now and went to the bottom side of the tree taking whatever feels good.

Thanks for the guide! excited to finally use my KB MTX again LOL
"
bigdramas wrote:
Hi!

I want to give this a go on trade league and have about 40 div to spend. Bought the AULs with Grace reservarion already. How would you prioritise item purchases for this to make it feel good early?

Also with levelling, what nodes did you go for first? I’m level 20 right now and went to the bottom side of the tree taking whatever feels good.

Thanks for the guide! excited to finally use my KB MTX again LOL


Prioritize Frenzy charges and wand nodes, as well as mana reservation nodes to get all your auras running quickly.
As far as item purchases go: Darkray vectors should definitely be your first item. If you already have an Aul's Uprising, go for a good wand then - a 1 div wand will get you really far. I'd get a +1 curse/+attack crit chance chest asap, followed by a shaper shield with 30% reservation efficiency and 30% chance to avoid ailments. I don't know about the armour, but the shield should be quite cheap. After that it's pretty much just upgrades.
Oh, and I'd get two well rolled Amethyst rings quickly - chaos resistance is crucial to make this build feel tankier.
Last edited by 100purified on Apr 21, 2023, 1:51:26 PM

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