[3.1] Poet's Pen Volatile Dead - all content - HC/SC

Is this build viable without a Watcher's Eye? What would you do if you can't afford one as they are super pricey in Beastiary atm.

They will probably stay pricey. Warlord's Mark Curse on hit can cover decently.

HEY!!! Has anyone tried linking life gain on hit support with frenzy? Sounds like a ton more leech and practically free compared to watcher's eye.

Why do you have Culling Strike in gem or weapon , doesnt it aply from the Slayer ascendancy? or have i missunderstood something? =)

Oh, i read now it only works after 4sec since kill.

//Mogwaii

No, Mogwaii, you are misreading. The Culling Strike which kills anything under 10% instantly is permanent with the Slayer node. The Recently they define in the grey text is referring to the AOE bonus after a kill, which is indeed for four seconds.


I still haven't figured out what support to use when I remove Bodyswap for bosses. It's a blue socket, I dont need PCoC. Unearth's damage is a trifle compared to the VD's it generates, so why bother adding to it. Or is it? Seems like it with no phys scaling. Faster casts don't seem to matter. I wonder if Phys to Light or Innervate's piddly shocks would out-dps just slotting in Added Lightning damage. It's so hard to properly test it, as PoE doesn't really approximate the Pen's damage, and in-game, stuff is frenetic anyway.

Surely someone out there far better at the theory-crafting than I could ever be is using a clear best gem for that slot :D

Ok.

But why do ppl use culling strike in weapon as gem or vaal orb-ed when you have it in slayer node?

Or do ppl skip slayer nowdays? =)

The culling gem was there before the recent updates to the slayer ascendacy for scion, instead you should socket something like increased crit damage, or phys to lightning, or proj damage, or an empower. You're not going to find one that is clearly the most superior choice since unearth is really there for utility and not damage. Personally for 3.2 changes I'm recommending using warlords curse oh hit ring, HoA and Anger, and taking path of the duelist last if you don't have acuity, your damage and leech will still be fine in yellow maps so you can get the ascendancy buffs first before pathing for vaal pact but that's if you're trying to follow the build closely without being exact since there is no non acuity tree yet for 3.2

Thoughts on replacing increased critical strikes with fire pen for volatile dead? Seems like a 10% increase in POB in most cases, however almost every build uses ICS regardless. Is there some mechanic I'm missing?

Just got my scion to maps and feel like the fire pen would help killing rares and bosses much quicker

why not elementalist instead of inquister?

I have just found the best replacement for watcher's eye.

Barrage + gmp+faster+lmp+LGoH


Barrage can shotgun and with that set up you get 10 projectiles all instant leeching 40+ (54 max) hp per hit. Let's be realistic and say 40 cuz you don't have 20% quality or max gem. 40x10 projectiles = 400x 4 attacks per second = 1600 life gain per second. or 2k if you have 5 attacks. INSTANT leech. If you add in piercing, that's even more. You don't need frenzy to hit 4APS if you have 20% GMP, LMP, and faster attacks support along with the bottom combo.

Then you add mokou + eye of innocence for 2% fire dmg leech and you're pretty immortal. This combo gives us leech, attack speed (major help in reaching 4aps) and 50-70% extra fire damage. Huge survival and damage boost.

My survival went up crazy with this set up.

I'm running slayer+elementalist. With a lvl 1 cwdt and lvl 3 golem, I get 90+% uptime on both golem. Pretty decent damage boost, which beats inquisitor imo.


So if you're cheap and poor like me, just get a 5L rare and go with the above combo. Survival is on par if not better and the damage is on par if not better since our barrage shotgun deals actual damage unlike frenzy. With my flasks up I melt bosses in SECONDS, before my flask buff even expires.

I've only done a few red maps but I don't see why I won't be able to do all content. And I'm 100% reflect free. A REAL all content build. I changed the passive tree a little for 7 jewels forgoing the area nodes and a few attack speed nodes in duelist.

Once I get the maps, I'll try guardian and shaper. But so far, I haven't seen my health pool dip at all.

And did they ninja nerf volatile dead? It's now 3 corpse? I swear it used to be 4 corpse or is this some Mandela-effect I'm having?