[3.7] SC/HC - ED/Blight Trickster - Up to 10k eHP, Layered Defense, 3m DPS
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Wanna try Essence drain as a beginner, im currently level 40, what should i really go for a cheap build? CI / Low Life / Hybrid ? im using this as my prefrence currently https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1717015 Thanks for the community's input & help ! |
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You could try to mimic the progress I have outlined in the "Essence hc progression" section. This progress was made while I was high up on the ladder, and was playing mostly self found. It should be possible to replicate, and I have personally played the hybrid version of the build up to level 95. The layout of the hybrid tree makes it easy to transition to CI or Low Life if you manage to get some money after a while.
If you want to keep things as cheap as possible, and not think about transition to an ES based character, I would also consider looking for a pure hp version rather than my hybrid version. Pure hp can be a bit easier to play, understand and get used to. | |
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All right, I'm level 86 and trying to figure out where to spend currency next.
My character's here, and my passive tree is here. I have 5k life / 2k ES, and about 25k dps on the ED DoT with charges up. I'm running two defensive curses on Blasphemy, and I really haven't been having trouble up through t10-t11 maps so far (haven't tried higher yet). Most of my gear is self-found, because I don't have much currency (only ever about ~1ex at a time - never manage to flip or trade and get much beyond that) and Standard is expensive for even minor upgrades. I had a friend recently quit though, and gave me ~6ex and ~100chaos, so I'm figuring out the best way to invest them. Help? The ideas I've had so far are: - Switch from Consuming to Cospri's Will (3ex) and BotC (2ex). I'd still have to 6L Cospri's Will. (My current chest is my very first 6L, because I got lucky and it only took 150 fusings) - Generally upgrading my gear. For 15-40chaos / slot, I could get much better ES / resists / life - Going CI. I'm pretty happy with hybrid right now, so I'm not feeling much need to switch, and I think it'd be harder to itemize for. Haven't thought this one through as much though. - Get a Dying Sun (7ex) or Witchfire Brew (50c). - Get a 20/21 ED gem (8ex). My 19/20 gem is about a quarter of the way to 20 right now. - Enchants for ED damage or Contagion radius (no idea how expensive those are). - Drop Pierce in the passive tree and go for either Method to the Madness or Sanctity. Any advice appreciated! |
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Your gear looks pretty good as far as mostly self found gear goes. I guess your major decision right now is if you want to stick to hybrid, or roll Low Life. You can afford a Shav's and some starter low life gear right now, and getting resist capped without thinking about thinking about elemental weakness cap is pretty easy on a budget. Personally, I would go this route, then slowly build up your LL gear.
If you want to stick with life, I would first upgrade some individual pieces, then buy one of the high end items like a Cospri's to work on the 6L with currency you might earn. - Dying Sun is not at all worth it until you have too much money - Getting a 21/20 ED is better to do on your own. level 3-4 EDs in offslot, and you will get a level 21 gem eventually. - I would drop Pierce from the tree and let Abyssal Cry carry my damage on high health packs. If you want more AoE clear speed, go for Retribution and the Amplify wheel (then later Sactity). If you want more single target nuke potential, get Method to the Madness and work your way down to Ballistic Mastery. - If you dislike running without 100% pierce, try a Quartz flask to be able to reach mobs with auras more easily. Hope this helps you somewhat when it comes to what to do with your character. Keep in mind that there are new leagues around the corner, and those can be a good opportunity to earn some money if you are able to play a bit extra the first few days. | |
" Thank you for the detailed guide about decay! Very interesting reading! | |
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I did not mention it in the post, but it is also still an option to use decay on a dagger or sceptre and dual wield with consuming dark. of course we lose a lot of ES, but the possibility to both poison and have decay outside the link makes the build equal if not stronger than for instance the bow based LL build. Personally, I don't like sacrificing that much defense, but it might be what's needed to farm Shaper comfortably.
I also read up some on the mechanics behind Essence Drain. Spell damage does not automatically scale poison and Decay. Since the tooltip on ED states that "Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this skill's Damage Over Time", this effect also applies to secondary effects. In this case poison and Decay. Both of these DoTs are therefore extremely strong when used with ED compared to other skills. I have just started mapping some on standard now, and did my first Chimera kill yesterday. Abyssal cry wrecks the adds and decay made the boss itself quite comfortable. Looking forward to getting the other Guardians and eventually trying Shaper. Last edited by Nedieth on Nov 12, 2016, 7:53:17 PM
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Great tips, thank you very much!
How do you choose between LL and hybrid? It looks like LL is generally harder to gear for and you have to keep Consuming Dark and find another way to get 3rd curse, but it offers the 30% more damage as well as running extra auras. Am I missing something else big? Are there notable differences in how playstyle between the two? Hybrid's working decently for me, and I'm a little wary of pitching all my currency at a playstyle I haven't attempted before (not worried that it doesn't work - obv LL is very popular - but worried that I could screw it up and waste my currency). Last edited by harmonictempest on Nov 12, 2016, 11:09:05 PM
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The benefit of LL is, as you say, just additional auras, 30% more damage and 2 extra flasks. For me, the extra flasks is the biggest selling point. Even with 5 flasks, I desperately want to use 2 more. It is true that LL gear appears generally more expensive than hybrid gear, but keep in mind that for a good hybrid setup you need 3 good prefixes on all your gear (life, %ES and flat ES), while for CI/LL gear you just need 2 (%ES and flat ES - hybrid is just for min/max). I also dislike to not have any passive regen on my ES before the ES recharge kicks in, and feel like the massive amounts of regen that ED provides is wasted on my full life pool.
The playstyle is generally the same, but I feel that I can play more aggressively as LL due to the reason above. Going LL does not mean that you NEED to rush to 3 curses asap either. These days I sometimes drop the third curse completely, just because my damage is just fine as is. Arctic Armour is just fine to use when you can fit more auras on your mana pool. First time I went CI, I thought it was a bit clunky. When I got used to flasking for freeze immunity constantly, I never wanted to go back. | |
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All right, I'll try it. :-)
I've got my Shav's and will be working to 6L it for a while. Can I switch to CI now and start using mostly the same gear and tree as for LL while I wait for the Shav's, or are there significant differences (aside from the Shav's / PA / extra auras parts)? |
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You can go CI while waiting for the Shav's to get used to the playstyle, as CI is exactly the same as Low Life except that it requires 3 more points in the passive tree. I would transition to LL once you get a 5L on the Shav's, as the spell damage from LL will be more powerful than the current 6L you have (while also letting you run discipline and lvl 20 clarity off life).
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