[3.2] HoWA Blade Flurry - Very Tanky Crit Melee Guardian - CI based

*WORK IN PROGRESS*

Hi Exile, i'm Muratore and I want to present the main build that i'm playing in 3.2
This is my first guide and all the criticism and feedback are really appreciated

For Bestiary i want to play a build that can do all content without die many times and push to the high level (94+). Credit to Zenocide Genius for the ispiration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYbclQg9s0U

The core idea of the build is stacking INT to take advantage of the added flat damage that the unique mod of Hand of Wisdom and Action give to base dmg, and the scaling that INT naturally provides to mana and ES.

The ascendancy choice is the Guardian to take advantage of the very defensive node. The most important is Radiant Faith that grants base ES via mana reservation. The base ES is then augmented by the increse % that INT give us.

So: More INT = more dmg + more mana and more ES

For the main Active Gem the best choice is Blade Flurry but you can go Reave instead if you want. BF is more optimal for bosses and Reave for clearing map but this is not a fas mapper anyway.

PRO of the build

- Very Tanky (we are use multiple layer of defense non only raw ES)
- Good single target dmg
- Guardian and Shaper viable with comfort and with dangerous mod
- Can do all map mods (exept elemental Reflect)

CON of the build

- Not a fast map clearer (is actually decent and very safe, can farm red map with 20 to 40 mil exp/hour)
- Not a league starter due to the multiple uniques and the specific passive tree


ACHIEVEMENT OF THE BUILD

- Deathless Atziri (it's a joke)
- All Guardian and Shaper deathless
- All Elder Guardian and Red Elder deathless (in a Core Map)
- Vaal Temple Map with a puppet carry
- Many Rare Twinned Corruped Red Map like Core and Carcass
- Uber Atziri (but the clone phase is really hard, you can't take down the clone easily and the rip is around the corner - First Uber try btw)


PASSIVE TREE

Check my profile https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Muratore55 "MuratoreGuardian" - in the future I will post a complete PoB link


GEAR EQUIPPED AND GEM LINKS (and explanetion for the choice)



Give us ES, mana and tons of armour thanks to our mana reservation
The 10% increase mana reserved is counter by the enchant. If you are running a BF enchant you have to drop heral of thunder and the final DPS will be lower.
The ancestral protector boost our attack speed.



The core item of the build. Try to get one with max INT roll.
In claw we socketed our movement set up.



One of the best body armour for CI build, basically it rise up our elemental resistances to an effective 81% (https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Incandescent_Heart) and give us extra dmg and life leech (converted in ES leech)
For the BF "Boss Killer" setup change Increase Aoe for Conc Aoe. Other good gem is the lighting penetration. Faster attack is crucial to be agile and stack fast the 6th stages.



This gloves pushes the sinergy of stacking INT even beyond the flat damage, mana, ES and armour. We get increase evasion and accuracy so we can go for the crit route. The base evasion is provided by shield, boots and the grace aura.



Sin Trek are best in slot here, movement speed, ES and flat evasion (scaled via our gloves).
For the choosed aura we need and Enlighten lvl 4 so we can run grace, discipline and heral of thunder.
Best enchant for mapping are: increase atk and cast speed and the 2% leech. For bossing the 10% pen si the best since we dont rely on the penetration gem.



Res, INT and evasion for a really cheap shield. If you don't need the 100+ res for the Ele Weakness map, you can drop the shield and dual wield the HoWA.



Astramentis and the Cyclopean coil boost our stat. Since the INT is the highest stat we cannot be shocked and we can use Vinktar. The lighting penetration is the best one.


JEWEL

We use 3 core Jewel

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Brute_Force_Solution for converting STR node into INT node ---> put that on the templar area near Devotion and Faith and Steel

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Healthy_Mind we need two of those for converting life into mana and gain ES ----> we put one near Melding and the second near the power charge in the Witch area

Other Jewel stat (on rare) are:
- INT
- Res
- Attack speed
- ES
- Mana


MY JEWEL




FLASK

In order of importance:

- Diamond Flask (remove bleeding or freeze)
- Wise Oak (i got all the res at 100% for the offensive and defensive buff)
- Vinktar (only if you use a Cyclopean Coil)
- Silver Flask (remove bleeding or freeze)
- Atziri Promise (or a Sulphur Flask)

The Atziri miss the double dip of the phys and ele roll but is a more reliable boost for the leech and synergize with the added chaos of the Incandescent Heart.


DEFENSIVE STAT

We have multiple layer of defense:
- Armor provided by the Memory Vault Helmet (14k)
- Evasion (19/20k)
- 10k plus of ES with normal gear and more than 13k with the Clarity Watcher's Eye
- Some block chance


LEVELLING TIPS

I've levelled this PG as a life based Spell based Templar with the "Firestorm + Firestorm on Spell Totem" Combo. In Act 5 I added a Frosbolt setup for the helping me with trash mob.
In map I swiched to HoWA but with RT and take the CI node.
At level 85 I dropped the RT node and grabbed the crit node.


COST OF THE BUILD

Without the Clarity Watcher's Eye this build should cost less than 20 EX (4 mod Jewel, Enlighten lvl 4 and 6 link chest included - without theese the cost is around 3 EX).
I made all my Exalted Orb by farming Hall Of Grandmaster with a less than a 100 Chaos charachter. Let me jnow if you whant see a post about it.


FAQ

Q: How do you avoid stun on a ES based character?
A: We mitigated stun with our Evasion Rating, then we have the Guardian ascendancy node "Bastion of Hope" that give us "You and nearby Allies cannot be Stunned if you've Blocked in the past 10 seconds" and finally we take the Brine King Pantheon Power. The combination of theese layers is very solid and you can avoid the use of Valyrium.

Q: How can you run "no regen" map?
A: We have life leech on the chest armor that is converted into ES leech and for mana we take the "Mind Drinker" notable node near the Shadow Area for the "0.4% of Attack Damage Leeched as Mana". We can't rely on the boots enchant because the 150 mana point unreserved are too low for boss when we don't kill recently.