[3.5] FACETANK THE WORLD | Instant Leech! 8k+ life, 2.5m+ Shaper DPS Double Strike

It's probably best to wait for the patch notes to see exactly what GGG is doing to double strike in 3.5.

#1) Will double strike alternate between mh/oh?
or
#2) Will it take the average damage/attack speed from mh/oh and apply it to both strikes?

Right now it looks like PsychicMuffin's double bloodseeker is a safe bet if u want 100% leech and if #1 is true. It feels like the simplest way for GGG to implement this kind of change and I believe it will be the most likely outcome. In the unlikely event that #2 is true then we have a few more options available (i.e. rare dagger/claw/1h sword w/ high dps).

Thoughts?

I wanna try Champ anyway (will instaleech work good or not). Tired of playing witches :)

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https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Bloodseeker
When a Bloodseeker is equipped in the main hand and using skills that attacks with both hands, such as Dual Strike, the leech will be instant for both weapons.

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Development Manifesto:
Skills that could be used with two weapons, but were main-hand-only when used, now use both weapons when dual wielding.

Wouldn't this open up some possibilities? If both reads correctyl *and* applies, we could add a 2nd claw for dps or utility (like the rive to free up gloves slot).
We could even craft specific "stat-claws" on elder based claws to add #% of physical as extra light/cold (shock/freeze) damage and/or elemental penetration.

Edit: Paired with Essentia Sanguis (unique claw) we could even do ES/CI shenanigans, as leech is shifted to ES :)

Also... why dont we use Abyssus? I mean: we get like 46% less damage. We have 6k hp (lets imagine, we dont invest too much in it. We can get 15% phys reduction from flask, 10% from adrenaline (since it will be attached to banners in 3.5) and some from armor (expensive variant: get new unset ring with +5 levels to aura, insert Grace 21, convert to armor, use Determnation). Also we can convert some incoming damage from phys to cold.

So, in fact we will have like twice more effective hp then we need to survive (just dont facetank slams, it is not that hard). Meanwhile, abyssus gives us like 40% more dmg.

I am confused now, one is saying that its totally RIP to use stats stick for dps, one is saying its still working, but it also applies stats stick damage so thats the reason of lesser dps... so guys .. how does it work? :D Is this build still i viable league starter? PsychicMuffin said that the version that now works is basically way more complicated, because you are running extra auras and you just have to focus on more things than before, so it doesnt seem as neat is as before. How is our damage compared to hank the tank now? Since I understood that hank is more tanky, and is mitigating a lot of damage, but doesnt have even a half of a damage in the original version of this build, right?

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eSubaRainmaker wrote:

I am confused now

wait for the patch notes so we know exactly how the stat stick changes will affect double strike

edit: also unique item buffs (bloodseeker maybe?)

Hello. I think I will start to play with this build, hopefully patch notes won't butcher it :)

There is some really big chance that this build will actually be improved, but will demand some dps on the stat stick side.

Thign is, the main hand claw sucks so, IF the Dual Strike change means that the off-hand DPS will be taken into account, that might turn into profit.

Patch notes are out https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2255460

SO patch notes are out, changes to double strike are as expected, no longer main-hand only, and since it uses any melee weapon that means it will alternate weapon hands and use the local modifiers of each weapon for that weapon's attack.

So this build is basically fine, perhaps slightly less unfair now, but still amazing. If you were running blood magic version you lose blood magic which was like 1k life. If you're running purities version you lose your +max light/cold res. A few things are more expensive like helm enchant, amulet. Damage potential is up if you splurge on an enlighten and watcher's eye, but damage is relatively unchanged otherwise. One big worry I had was that if molten strike wasn't nerfed this build would be strictly worse, but some good nerfs came down on it so this build still has its place.

I'll try to update the guide before the patch launches friday, no promises though. At the very least I'll post the updated PoB link in the "what's new" section.