[3.6] [SC | HC] [Support] Mana Guard. Up to 21k+ Mana. Up to 300%+ Movement Speed.

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crunkatog wrote:

About to face Kitava with this in act 5. I've leveled with some of my tree towards HoAg/Purity/Holy Relic since I'm SSF with this guy. The flexibility of not having to commit to a big damage or big mana strat early, makes this character fun to play and resilient and tenacious as a barnacle.

He's really mana efficient as well as having a massive mana pool, too - I can cyclone or trap through dense areas like Chamber of Innocence/Desecrated Chambers on just 44 unreserved mana (nothing is supported by Blood Magic!) and I can use absolute trash gear so long as it has a 4l somewhere.

The nerf to Arc's range and scope is not trivial, but having the mobility and resilience to move in and cast it will help. Blasphemy support helps as well. I support a toxic ranger and together we move fast enough that whatever he can't choke to death with spores, Arc's range doesn't have a problem picking off.

Hey. :) I'm glad to hear that you got a lot of fun.

I'm not sure I got you right. Because this build is not playable solo. Even self found will be almost impossible to realize, since there are some mandatory uniques. Or you fall way behind what's possible. During leveling SSF is of course fine !

But you play toghter with a friend (Toxic Rain Pathfinder?!), right? In this case I might got some notes especially for your group composition:

- use 'Eber's Unification' as helmet (https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Eber%27s_Unification)
- use Wither + Faster Casting Support + Increased Area of Effect instead of Smite + Additional Accuracy + Fortify
- if you aim for max mana: skill 'Wispers of Doom' and 'Skittering Runes' and use 'Temporal Chains', 'Enfeeble' and 'Aspect of the Spider' instead of 'Discipline', 'Purity of Elements' and 'Dread Banner'
- I recommend playing a Mana Guard/ Aura Bot Mix. You can support him with 'Haste', 'Temporal Chains', 'Enfeeble', 'Aspect of the Spider' and some max resistances.

- your mate should use Blood Rage to get attack speed and generate 'frenzy charges' for both of you
- your mate should wear a 'Watcher's Eye' with '+x Energy Shield gained for each Enemy Hit while affected by Discipline' otherwise he won't benefit much from the massive ES you grant him.

Ah gotcha. Those are very helpful changes. We've decided to use as few curses as possible (without Blasphemy Support) because of the issue of many bosses having Hexproof and/or Cannot be Slowed. The big ES boosts are life-changing since you and your dependents will tend to move faster, which means sometimes getting separated, and they will have fully charged ES to buy time to regroup.

how to load this in path of building? i click import and paste the data from pastebin but it gives error

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NanoPirate wrote:

how to load this in path of building? i click import and paste the data from pastebin but it gives error

https://imgur.com/a/1WqYGKh

I uploaded you the four steps as pictures. You only need the link, not the whole pastebin text.

Awesome guide, very detailed!

I have a few questions and clarifications I wanted to ask:

1) Is there a difference between "Mana Guardian" and "AuraBot"? or are both the same thing?

2) A lot of the guide seems to be focused around the idea of playing with 1 DD and another CurseBot or other supports. However, I'm planning to play with 1 other friend (DD). What kind of changes would you recommend for a 2 player squad?

3) How important is the animate guardian towards the rest of the build? In the past I've found them kind of clunky to play around. I've seen a few support builds supplement in something like Smite instead of animate guardian, what are your thoughts on those kind of changes?


Thanks ahead of time!

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itsT wrote:

Awesome guide, very detailed!

I have a few questions and clarifications I wanted to ask:

1) Is there a difference between "Mana Guardian" and "AuraBot"? or are both the same thing?

2) A lot of the guide seems to be focused around the idea of playing with 1 DD and another CurseBot or other supports. However, I'm planning to play with 1 other friend (DD). What kind of changes would you recommend for a 2 player squad?

3) How important is the animate guardian towards the rest of the build? In the past I've found them kind of clunky to play around. I've seen a few support builds supplement in something like Smite instead of animate guardian, what are your thoughts on those kind of changes?


Thanks ahead of time!

I'm glad you like the guide. First of all, it is important to understand that PoE is primarily about decisions and personal preferences. If you want to push "EHP" (=energy shield + life) of the group as much as possible you have to sacrifice everything else. If further auras are needed or whatever, EHP for the group will be reduced. It's always a tradeoff.

1) Mana Guardian is one out of four common Aurabots (classic Sion Aurabot, CI Ultrabot, Cursebot, Mana Guard). In addition there are group-specific supports. Everything in this guide is about the Mana Guardian, one with the focus on a) EHP, b) additional auras and c) movement speed.

2) The true strength only shows up in full group. Anyway, I've pushed lvl 100 in the past with a solo Mana Guardian. (No, not Betrayl Breachstone Rota. :D) So it's viable. But it only makes sense if your DD got enough damage and benefit greatly from energy shield. In this case, focus on Mana Guardian with additional auras. Maybe a two curses setup ('Temporal Chains' + 'Enfeeble') could be usefull as well. Skill 'Wispers of Doom' (+1 curse) and 'Skittering Runes' (curse effect) and drop some mana.

3) An animated guardian provides 10% movement speed (sounds strange but in my eyes it is really important to keep up with your DD), some curse effect and damage. So I'd take him with me whenever I could. But as I said at the beginning... it's always a tradeoff. If you don't like it, fit in smite or a warcry.

Thanks for the reply! Did a little play testing in game with the different kind of set-ups you mentioned and I definitely started to see a noticeable difference in regards to trading EHP for other benefits.

Another follow up question, with your current build guide, are the only hp reservations the 3 auras on the shield and purity of ice?

There seems to be an emphasis on the reduced mana cost, why is that? With the animate guardian being a 1 time cast, and vigil strike/phase run being relatively low cost to begin with, why do we need to get the - mana on cast?

Yes, due to missing items and a skill point ('Champion of the Cause') the mana cost is too high to reserve another aura on life. Of course you can further reduce your mana by picking items like 'Alpha's Howl' and 'Victario's Influence'. At this point, however, the focus was shifting away from the mana guard towards an aurabot. If you're interested there's a good guide created by 'Toaster404'. --> https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2058058

Furthermore, with the help of corruption you can further reduce your mana costs (1% reduced mana reserved on jewels). However be aware of the high cost to fit in an additional aura.

Reduced mana costs are only needed if you play with 'Shavronne's Revelation'. Otherwise it's still ok (--> you can reserve more mana if you need less to cast your skills) but not needed.