[3.21] Vatinas' Spiders + HoP Guardian - CI, 70K armour, 1400 ES on block, millions of DPS

"

jcgonzales wrote:

Can someone check my profile and recommend what I can upgrade next? I'm also struggling from DOT damage.

"

k3fir4ik wrote:

@AndyLovesHisBge can u tell the differences between this build and [3.14] Herald of Agony CI build? Lots of similar items and skills...

"

PanickedRaccoon wrote:

I think I have mine mostly worked out now. PoB says I'm doing 5.4m Sirus damage. If I add Awakened Multistrike to my PoB in place of Bloodlust, it's only showing a 200k damage increase. I don't think that's worth the 30ex cost. I think my next upgrade will be a '+1 all gems' or '+2 duration gems' chest. Either one of those will give me about 6.7m total damage.

I'm not sure why PoB isn't showing my ES and Unreserved Mana properly though. So I might be missing something. In game I have 5,393 ES and 122 Unreserved Mana. I hope that's not throwing any other calcs (like my damage) off.

I'm thinking about switching to a HoP reservation helmet so that I can spec out of Discord Artisan and into Ravenous Horde. I haven't really done the whole change in PoB yet to see if it's worth it.

I would also like to get more ES. I see other builds with like 8-8.5k ES. Does anyone have any ideas? I have like 35ex for upgrades.

Here's my PoB: https://pastebin.com/3hPMcVh1
My character is public, so you can see that as well if you want.

"

AndyLovesHisBge wrote:

"

jcgonzales wrote:

Can someone check my profile and recommend what I can upgrade next? I'm also struggling from DOT damage.

Looks REALLY good!

The build's only slight defensive weak point is DOT so you just need to make sure every other defensive layer is high. Also, see #9 below for something that will help this issue.

Here are some changes to consider. Don't feel like you need to do all or even any of these. Just do what makes sense to you.

1) Change your Granite Flask of Grounding to a Granite Flask of Iron Skin. The more armor we have the better our shield recovers ES. Shock does almost nothing to this tank so Grounding is not too important.

2) Drop the small node next to Heart and Soul. Use that point instead on Influence. This change will provide you more armor, more damage and just a tiny bit more ES. You can retake the node next to Heart and Soul with your next level up if you like.

3) Get a level 21 HOP. Levels on HOP are the most important item when it comes to DPS for the sentinels.

4) POB shows that Flesh Offering gives more DPS than Spirit Offering. You can do what ever you want with this info since there is no way to prove it in game. :)

5) I can't tell from your POB but just in case: Make sure the only predator you cast is the one that you have socketed in the weapon. Don't cast the one in the armor. Also, when you fight SUPER hard end game bosses, feel free to replace Melee Splash with Melee Physical Damage in your dagger.

6) Go to your Menagerie and beast craft 30% quality on your shield.

7) If you can find a well rolled one, look for a shield with the Spell Block corruption. If you get this, you won't need to spend the 3 points going to Arcane Guarding and you can use them elsewhere

8) I don't have it in my build, but another big DPS upgrade is grabbing an amulet with +1 to Physical Skill Gems and +1 to Strength Skill gems. Note that replacing Astramentis ripples in various places so make sure you experiment first in POB to see how many items you might need to change if you change the amulet.

9) If you don't hate the lab too much, go back and change your boots. A great enchantment to help with DOT is "Regenerate 2% of life per second if you were hit recently"

hope some of this helps. Good luck and great job with the build!!

"

jcgonzales wrote:

Hi @AndyLovesHisBge! Thank you for this pointers. Already done with all of them aside from level 21 HoP and corrupted shield. Really appreciate all your help mate!

"

AndyLovesHisBge wrote:

Hello!

hmm, I can't see why yet the POB does not match your in game ES. Usually this is due to Vaal Discipline vs regular discipline but you have that set correctly. I will keep looking while I provide you some comments.

As always, you don't need to do all or any of these. Only do what makes sense to you. Ask questions if unsure.

I agree though, your ES is much too low. Here are some changes you can make to increase your ES (you want this over 8k if possible), along with other improvements.

1) Drop the 3 points from Redemption. Drop the 4 points you spend going towards Anointed Flesh. You don't need that path as your ele resists are fine for now (you may need it in the future as you make changes) but I want to avoid seeing you use points while leveling where you don't need to.

2) Drop the extra small node you took in the vivid solace medium cluster jewel. You only need to take 4 nodes in that cluster.

3) You are correct in that you have the wrong helmet enchant for the Impale version. Get a helmet with "Herald of Purity has 30% reduced reservation" This will save you a ton of points that you used to path to Arcane Guarding. This is needed if you really want to follow the Impale version.

4) Then take all these unused points and path to numerous nodes that give you ES and mana. Check my build to see a good example for pathing to maximize your ES. https://pastebin.com/NsiXV8nA

5) You have the wrong watchers eye if you want to maximize your ES. The Watchers Eye we want has the following stat "Gain 10% of Maximum Mana as extra maximum energy shield when effected by Clarity". You will need to run a Clarity at a low level to make this work. You can replace Convocation as that is not needed in this build as Predator effectively provides the same function.

6) Your shield is very poorly rolled. Go and buy one that is closer to 400% Increased Armor and Energy Shield. And then put 30% quality on it from Beast Crafting

7) You don't need Energized Armor jewel. The build already has a ton of armor. Replace that jewel with a rare jewel that gives you the most flat ES you can afford along with any other stats that can help you. In fact, you can probably improve every single jewel you have as non of them have flat ES on them. Upgrade these as you go and target high flat ES. Flat ES feeds all of the increases we have on the tree and adds up quickly.

8) The build only requires one Writhing Jar. Replace the second one with another defensive flask of your choice

9) Buy a second Circle of Guilt ring with 20% reservation (to improve the 18% you have). This will allow you to fit in all the auras needed for the Impale build.

10) These changes will cause you to lose DPS, but you can gain that all back and more when you buy the corrupted Armor and continue to level and put some points back into damage in the tree.

11) Pick up an anomalous Impale support gem. This will increase your chance to Impale from 88% to 98% and that leads directly to more DPS.

hopefully some of these can help you.

"

PanickedRaccoon wrote:

Thank you so much for such a detailed comment! I made a lot of those changes.

I bought a new helmet with the right enchant, I changed my skill tree to spec out of Discord Artisan. I already had Clarity in my setup, I just can't afford the 40ex jewel watcher's eye right now if I want to make the other changes (like a +1 or +2 chest). I'm going to focus on getting new jewels on the tree that have flat ES.

I picked up an Anomalous Impale.

I got a new shield and put the 30% on it.

I got rid of the Energized Armour jewel and put in a cobalt with %ES and corrupted blood

I did lose some DPS, but I'm so much tankier. I'm currently sitting at 6,679 ES, with 493 unreserved mana. I'm working on the other changes, but I just wanted to say thanks!

Updated build link: https://pastebin.com/yDgJ7Ejv