Enki's Arc Witch Memorial Page

First: Thanks a lot for this guide. This is my very first build and the leveling was really easy because of all the detailed steps.
Just one question: I got myself "The Devouring Diadem" from the syndicate mastermind which gives Eldritch battery. Does that break the build or is it still good?

Any idea on what i can upgrade next? Got like 20EX to spare.
And i have no idea what to do, all the stuff that i find will mess my resistance.

"

jermicau wrote:

Spoiler

First: Thanks a lot for this guide. This is my very first build and the leveling was really easy because of all the detailed steps.
Just one question: I got myself "The Devouring Diadem" from the syndicate mastermind which gives Eldritch battery. Does that break the build or is it still good?

It doesn't break the build but there are much better alternatives for this build out there. You lose out on a ton of life and resistance roll possibilities, and the helm also can't have many useful damage affixes. A normal Bone Helmet with decent life, mana and resistances should be available for around 10c even this late into the league and would far outclass The Devouring Diadem for this build.

"

Geshemancer wrote:

Any idea on what i can upgrade next? Got like 20EX to spare.
And i have no idea what to do, all the stuff that i find will mess my resistance.

and that is the problem of elder essence worm and shaper ring combo
On paper it looks cool and gives a lot of damage. In reality it's a lot easier to get a good rare ring with a lot of resistances and some damage and get a lot more damage from other sources (amulet, boots enchant, belt)

p.s. Swap added lightning to controlled destruction in your lightning spire trap setup, +15% more damage.
And maybe start looking at +1 lvl of socketed gems inpulsa's (or +2lvl to duration gems, but you have to use vaal arc gem then), but it costs more than 20ex. And you'll need lvl 4 empower instead of added lightning

"

Enki91 wrote:

I'm expecting the Arc nerf to be completely offset by those selfcast buffs, the nerf is just needed to bring Arc more in line or else it would once again be too strong with all this new stuff. A positive side effect is that everything non-selfcast will also lose some of its advantage.

It's likely going to be one or two things out of 10-20% reduced base damage, reduced more damage per chain or reduced chain count.

I've already planned for all possible changes and worked out a setup that will work great no matter what happens.

Wow. Enki, you are too good to be true.

I can't wait to see how you update this guide in response to the patch notes next week.

Thanks again for putting so much work into making the best PoE guide I have ever seen!

(Also thanks to all other contributors--you know who you are!)

If there is a sizable nerf to Arc, can someone suggest another fun powerful build that has a great guide as well, although I know no build guide will ever be as powerful and come close to this one.

Also, Since expense is no longer an issue with path of excile since currency is so easy to make, it doesn't matter if the build is expensive in the long-run as long as it's cheap in the beginning. Maybe a COC build guide?



If the build only gets only a minimal nerf, I'll probably run it 1 more time. I got really busy this league and didn't take the build to the end game, which I was hoping to do. This upcoming league I'm on vacation for a week the week that the league starts, so I'll be able to make much more progress.

I am using this build for the first time. I have currency to buy Inpulsa. I see that "shocked enemies you kill explode" got nerfed. Since 3.5 is almost done I am thinking about buying a legacy Inpulsa in Standard to get a higher value for the nerfed trait if cost is comparable. I can wait a few days to get the extra damage. I have not used a legacy item before so I'm wondering if there is a reason I should not do this. Any input is appreciated.

"

Degolair wrote:

I am using this build for the first time. I have currency to buy Inpulsa. I see that "shocked enemies you kill explode" got nerfed. Since 3.5 is almost done I am thinking about buying a legacy Inpulsa in Standard to get a higher value for the nerfed trait if cost is comparable. I can wait a few days to get the extra damage. I have not used a legacy item before so I'm wondering if there is a reason I should not do this. Any input is appreciated.

The only reason I could see is if you don't ever plan to play Standard, then again you also wouldn't mind not having the currency you've spent on this item so i'd say you're good to go.

"

Degolair wrote:

I am using this build for the first time. I have currency to buy Inpulsa. I see that "shocked enemies you kill explode" got nerfed. Since 3.5 is almost done I am thinking about buying a legacy Inpulsa in Standard to get a higher value for the nerfed trait if cost is comparable. I can wait a few days to get the extra damage. I have not used a legacy item before so I'm wondering if there is a reason I should not do this. Any input is appreciated.

tbh, with all that new multicrafted weapons inpulsa's explosions nerf is not that a big of a deal.
5% is still enough to oneshot packs if your gear is good.

+1 level of socketed gems or +2 levels of duration gems corruption is more important
But if you are able find something like that, that would be ideal:

Oh no! Arc is nerfed?! That is so sad to know :((((

First of all, thank you so much for creating the build, Enki. As a player into this game for not even 3 months, I was completely desperate and daunted because my first build as a necromancer witch cannot get past Kitava act 10 and I was about to give up this game. However, upon considering other options I created a new witch with a different build, and I came across your build. Initially I searched for a lightning skill (since lightning skill appears to be strong for me at the time), like lightning tendrils, vaal storm call, shock nova. However, ever since I came across Arc, it changed my life completely. Bosses and mobs in Act 1-10 died under arc chain like a steel knife slicing through butter.

I got to Kitava act 10 dying once due to not being able to see some stuff going on, but overall the fight was much easier. I was so happy to be able to progress through maps, and revived my interest in this game - my first endgame boss was Yellow Elder (T8, Mud Geyser, cannot forget the map name), and even though it took me a lot of gear change to overcome the struggle during maps T6 onwards, I managed to defeat him and his guardians (of course I died some times but still never bricked all portals). At this point I started using more currency and upgraded my gear with clear mind jewel, ditched Clarity, etc as I was about to go fight Shaper guardians. These were very tough fights for the first time - I only managed to kill Chimera deathless (never died to him at all even first time), and others gave me quite a run for the money. It took me only to the 3rd Shaper set to finally down Shaper. At that point, I defeated normal Atziri no problem at all, and only died twice to Uber Atziri. The biggest challenge, however, is Uber Elder, and it took me 34 Shaper sets before I could finally defeat them both for the first time. I never asked for Uber Elder carry, because if my build sucks, I know I need to improve it to be able to get over the fight. I lost to Catarina first 2 times, but finally defeated her in the 3rd run. Ever since that win, I still died to them from time to time, but it truly marked a new achievement for me in the game, being able to do basically all contents (even though Syndicates are still the bane of my existence, I truly hate them with my arc witch).

I am grateful that I am not that bad at this game as I thought I was, and that with a good guide to follow after the first failed build, I will be able to play with a more comfortably mentality, and your build truly shines in that situation. Your guide helps make my Arc witch the first successful build in my PoE journey, and even though other builds can help me do better (like my current Vortex occultist CI that doesn't even die in Uber Elder and steamrolls Syndicate since level 20-ish), I would be happy to combine Arc with other skills. I love tweaking things around here and there, and right now my arc witch setup is basically the same as yours in terms of gems, except that I run Elemental Weakness - Curse on Hit - Vortex - Cast When Damage Taken link to immediately boost the power of Arc and Storm Brand (by another 100k as in PoB) :D. Again, thank you so much for spending your time and effort to put up this guide, a guide that helps me and other new players enjoy PoE experience!