3.9| Stress-Free PoE - CURSING CI |SSF the Atlas w/ 1 Button & Any Gear|Dungeon Crawl PoE!
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Finally! Even though it's almost 3.11, I finally updated the 3.9 version of this guide to 3.10. You can find the new thread here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2860624. Thank you, everyone, for your patience! If you like/liked this build, I'm confident that you'll like the new version even more. Thanks again for your patience everyone. And let me know what you think!
WELCOME to my CURSING CI guide :)! With this build, we'll be using Chaos Inoculation as we run around dropping "Cold Bombs" (Vortex) everywhere we go. Automatically cursing enemies is a HUGE part of this build's offence and defence. It'd be nice to watch the enemies die slowly in our DOT, but most of the time they just instantly explode. It's easy 1 button fun! The build doesn't require any specific items or mods to play so you can just pick up and play like a good old fashion "dungeon crawler". Pure RNG fun :).
SHUT UP Wrecker! I JUST WANT TO PLAY!
Ok! Yikes...you could have at least said "please" or something...Here's 3.9's build in a nutshell:
 *For those with similar limitations to mine, I can play this build on both PC and Console. (Thanks Tagz for always being willing to figure out the Wiki with me.) Here's my 3.9 VIDEO EXAMPLE and here's what MY GEAR looks like. (My character name doesn't match my build anymore...too many respecs. I play on Standard but I refuse to use Legacy Items/mods. My builds will always be just as the guide states unless I'm trying something out and forgot to switch back to the guide's setup prior to signing off.)
The Guts (Gems/Gear/Tree/Attributes)
Gem Links
PoE restricts which gems are available to each class until Act 3. Until then you can get some gems for free from quest rewards, purchase some from specific NPCs in each town, or find them as loot.
There are two NPC's that sell all purchasable gems: the first one is Siosa in the Library in Act 3 (you have to do his quest first (the Library is connected to The Imperial Gardens)), the second NPC is Lilly Roth in Act 6. *If I have a level next to a gem, stop leveling that gem at that level. For example, Cast when Damage Taken (Level 1). Don’t level Cast when Damage Taken beyond gem level 1. 5/6 Link - Main Skill (Socket in your chest) -Vortex - Our main skill. It casts instantly which means your character won't get stuck doing an animation to cast it. Vortex has an initial Hit and then leaves a Damage Over Time on the ground for three seconds. I only cared about the Damage Over Time damage while making this build. I'm sure you know, but cold damage chills enemies (slows all enemy actions). (The cooldown on the skill sucks. But nothing you can do about it. The cooldown is great for mana AND you can just hold down Vortex button and cast it automatically too! -Efficacy Support - Improves our Damage Over Time and slightly increases Vortex's duration. -Controlled Destruction Support - Makes Vortex deal much more damage at the cost of decreasing it's crit chance. That's ok though. We'll be critically striking with other skills (for Elemental Overload). For Vortex, more damage the better. -Swift Affliction Support - Increases Damage Over Time and decreases the duration of Vortex. It kinda cancels the extra duration of Efficacy. -Arcane Surge Support - It sounds complicated but it's not. After you spend a certain amount of mana you get increased damage and mana regen. This skill will basically always be on for us in combat. It's not something to focus on. You can ignore it and it will "always" be active. If it's not active, it's because you're killing enemies too quick and aren't needing to use your skill often. -(If you get a six link: Hyporthermia Support - Improves Cold Damage, chill effect, gives a chance to freeze...it's self explanatory. 4 Link - Curse #1 (Socket in any 4 link) -Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted. (The order of the gems linked to CwDT doesn't matter for this build.) -Ice Nova (Level 8) - I have Ice Nova attached to Temporal Chains because it's a cold spell and I only want enemies that are close by to be slowed. I want enemies to get close to me quickly, then be slowed once in Vortex. -Curse on Hit Support - Needed to attach Temporal Chains to Ice Nova's Hit. -Use any curse you want. I use: Temporal Chains - Our curse that slows the enemy. With the cure improvements on the tree and with Curse on Hit and Temporal Chains at 20% quality, this skill will slow enemies by 68%. It's also my favourite curse :). 4 Link - Curse #2 (Socket in any 4 link) -Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted. (The order of the gems linked to CwDT doesn't matter for this build.) -Arctic Breath (Level 8) - I have Arctic Breath attached to Enfeeble because I like that it's a cold spell that chills everywhere, is a projectile that can hit far away, does DOT, and is also an AoE. -Curse on Hit Support - Needed to attach Enfeeble to Arctic Breath's Hit. -Use any curse you want. I use: Enfeeble - Our curse that makes us harder to be hit by Attacks (not spells), take less critical damage, and take less overall damage too. Focusing specifically on the general damage mitigation of the skill, we'll be improving Enfeeble's base damage mitigation from 30% to 52.5%. This is our only source of Damage Mitigation...just FYI. 4 Link - Curse #3 (Socket in any 4 link) -Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted. (The order of the gems linked to CwDT doesn't matter for this build.) -Cold Snap (Level 7) - I have Cold Snap attached to our damage curse (Frostbite) because it creates Frenzy Charges which can really increase our damage. (Our damage curse linked to damage charges.) I also like that it can hit anywhere, does DOT, and has an AoE. -Curse on Hit Support - Needed to attach Frostbite to Cold Snap's Hit. -Use any curse you want. I use: Frostbite - Our curse that makes enemies take more cold damage. It lowers enemies' cold resistance by 44%. We'll be getting this -44% to -77%. 3 Link - Extra Cold Damage (Socket in any 3 link) -Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Automatically casts linked spells. Linked spells can't be self casted. (The order of the gems linked to CwDT doesn't matter for this build.) -Frost Bomb (Level 10) - The pulses this skill does before it hits are great for this build. The pulses apply Cold Exposure (an extra -25% cold resists) and lower the regen/recharge rate of an enemy's "life pool" (which is a big deal in DOT builds). The Hit of the skill uses Bonechill Support. -Bonechill Support - A complicated read, even after going through the wiki. To make it simple, this skill gives a big boost to damage against chilled enemies. It doesn't have to be linked to the skill that's doing damage to apply its damage bonus. So it's like a debuff, but GGG doesn't call it a debuff. So Enemies Hit by Frost Bomb will have Bonechill "applied" to them...and Vortex gets the benefits. 3 Link - Auras (Socket in any 3 socket) - This set doesn't need to be linked. -Discipline - An aura that gives us more base Energy Shield and increases the speed that our ES recharges. -Malevolence - An aura that gives us more Damage Over Time. It also increases the duration of duration skills a bit but we only care about the DOT increase. -Flame Dash - A movement skill to better survive panicked button mashing escapes ;). (Though a level 4 Clarity seems really good here too...) ***Note: If a skill has two triggers attempting to cast it, the skill will become inactive. Skills can only have one active trigger. So, for all the links that have CwDT, CoH, and a curse, both the CoH and curse spell will have to be outside the CwDT's requirement threshold (trigger range). So you'll only start seeing your curses applied once those gems require a character level of 39 or more. Also, for our build, for the links with CwDT and CoH, gem order doesn't matter. Remember that you won't be applying all three curses until you have unlocked the ability (from the tree and ascendancy) to have 3 total curses on an enemy. I set up all three curses to auto-cast as soon as I can and just let them apply whatever curse(s) until I have the ability to apply all three. I'm not concerned about it as I level. Everything will die quickly no matter what.
Gear
ANYTHING YOU WANT! - I like having a shield and one-handed weapon instead of two one-handed weapons. It's just a preference; no right or wrong there.
If you’re new to PoE, check out the Tips for New Players link. It gives lots of help and tips on gear, mods, currency, levelling, and endgame mapping. Some good to know stuff that you'd hate not knowing. - Weapon - Anything you like. - Shield or Second Weapon - Anything you like. - Head - Anything you like. - Chest - Anything you like. - Hands - Anything you like. - Feet - Anything you like. - Amulet - Anything you like. - Ring - Anything you like. - Ring - Anything you like. - Belt - Anything you like. - Jewel - Anything you like. - Flasks - Anything you like. I simply use 4 mana flasks (2 get rid of bleed and 2 get rid of burning) and a Quicksilver/Quartz Flask that removes Chill/Freeze. I use Mana flasks because they get a lot more uses than other types of flasks before they are empty, not for the mana. Gear with an Energy Shield base would be the obvious choice as ES is our life source. ***Any mods that roll on gear that have an Intelligence requirement will have LOCAL ES mods. That means that if an item with an Intelligence requirement has a mod that Adds 36 Energy Shield and/or 36% Increased Energy Shield, it's only adding those increases to the amount of base ES the item is giving you (listed at the top of the item). Items that don't have an Intelligence requirement (jewelry), can roll those same modifiers but they would be applied Globally as they don't have a base amount of ES to give us. Make sense? If not, just ask. Weapon Mods: The Damage Over Time of Vortex benefits from: - Increases to Cold Damage - Increases to Damage Over Time - Increases to Spell Damage - Increases to Cold Damage Over Time Multiplier - "More" of any of the above. In PoE, the term "More" is much stronger than "Increased". So choose "More" over "Increased" when you can. The Damage Over Time of Vortex does NOT benefit from: - Adding Cold Damage - Adding Cold Damage to Spells (this only applies to Vortex's Hit) - Improving Cast Speed (Vortex casts instantly so Cast Speed is pointless for us.) Your goal on the rest of your gear is: - As much Energy Shield as possible. - Resistances (Remember once you choose Chaos Inoculation on the tree, you'll be immune to Chaos/Poison Damage.) - Movement Speed (Typically boots only) - Ensuring you have high enough attributes for your skills. - Any suggested mod you want on your weapon would be welcome on gear too. - Anything else Energy Shield. - Here are my customized loot filters for all platforms. They will make looting a lot more relaxing for those that play my builds. Just click the "Follow" button next to the filter(s) you want (make sure you choose the correct platform). The filters will automatically be added to your game! They auto-update with any changes I make too! Whaaaaat!?!?! I know right?! This is my setup if you're interested. I play the same as the guide unless I'm testing something out.
Passive Tree
Here's 3.9's Passive Tree:
3.9's Pastebin - https://pastebin.com/wkJQcVFa - Pastebin for Path of Building. (Copy the link, open Path of Building, click on “New”, then click “Import/Export Build”, click “Import from Pastebin…”, paste the link.)
Passive Tree Explained
The skill tree is easy to understand:
You'll start as a Witch. We start as a witch because we want the Occultist Ascendancy (Subclass) and starting as a Witch is the only way to get there. We are going to be the Occultist for it's amazing Energy Shield perks and Curse Effectiveness. More on that in the Ascendancy section. Levelling Path: Just follow the tree and take the nodes as they come. You'll find it quite naturally balanced. I suggest saving the East side of the tree for last. The South and North sides of the tree have nodes that are important to the mechanics of the build. The East is just damage and ES. The tree takes you to level 90 which will be easily achieved with this build. If you make it past 90, pick any nodes you like! Tree Focuses: - Curses - This build focuses on curse efficiency which means we need the nodes that improve curse efficiency. - Energy Shield - Our ONLY life source will be ES. So we not only focus on ES quantity but the speed in which it restores. - Area of Effect - I tried to have a good balance between Vortex's Area of Effect and DoT damage. - Damage - Vortex has a Hit and Damage Over Time component to its damage. I only focused on the DOT damage of the skill while making this build. So Cold damage, Spell damage, Damage Over Time, and Area Damage all impact the skills I've chosen. - Jewels - Jewel slots are amazing. Jewels are items you can find that you can actually allocate on your tree. They can give almost anything from health, damage, resists...anything. We only have one jewel slot selected :(. I'd love to put more in, many other guides would. But I don't have the ability to remember what each of my builds needs if a decent jewel drops while I'm playing. And I don't have the ability to focus on 7 jewels per build are remember what I'm doing. So one is plenty enough for me. Small Note: Don't forget about attributes. We’re short 6 Strength and 57 Dexterity on the tree. Easy to overcome, but good to know. You'll pass some nodes on the tree that give +30 to Strength or Dexterity. If you don't have items to cover what you're short in, feel free to select some of these as you pass them. You'll get respec points that will let you remove them later once you have better gear. Now, feel free to modify this is anyway. This is just my preference for easy Solo Self Found. Take your time to look at each skill as they come along. Some of the nodes are pretty dramatic. Some quests earn you respec points in case you regret any decisions you made on the tree. You can also use Orbs of Regret for the same thing.
Ascendancy
As you go through the game you'll come across Trials of Ascendancy. Starting in Act 3 you'll see their value. Once you have completed all 6 of the first set of trails, you'll get to attempt your first Labyrinth (lab). Good luck! Upon completion Choose Occultist. You get two ascendancy points per lab. There are four labs for a total of 8 points. (Redoing the same lab difficulty will not reward you with more ascendancy points if you've already completed it.)
You can spend your points in any order you like. My preference is as follows (defence first): - 1st Two Points - Vile Bastion. You get ES regenerated per enemy killed Recently. Recently means within the last 4 seconds. The biggest part of this node is that you can't be stunned. How easy you are to stun is based on your life. We have 1 life. Chaos Inoculation characters get stunned ALL the time. This node is VERY important. - 2nd Two Points - Profane Bloom. Has a chance to explode enemies upon kill. The explosion this causes can instantly clear a screen. My Favourite part is that enemies cannot be Hexproof. Hexproof means curse proof. So even if a map mod says that enemies are Hexproof, they aren't for you :). - 3rd Two Points - Malediction. This one is busy. Every enemy we curse deals 10% less damage and takes 10% more damage, we gain short term bonus damage per kill, and we gain access to our 3rd curse. You'll have noticed that the path to this node also greatly increases the effectiveness of our curses. Once a boss hits us (and gets cursed with 3 curses via our CwDT links) their health goes down real quick. - 4th Two Points - Void Beacon. It lowers the Cold Resist of nearby enemies (basically that's enemies on the screen) and slows their life regen down as well (which is huge for DOT skills like Vortex). I know that saving the ability to put 3 curses on an enemy until the 3rd lab doesn't make sense to some, but going CI is pretty high risk. The safer you can make CI, the better (Vile Bastion). I still ran all three curses at once and just let the game pick which two curses would be applied to enemies until I did my final lab. It wasn't a big deal at all.
Pantheon
Choose any you like as they come across. There are no make or break options here.
The Minor God Soul of Abberath would probably be the only strong suggestion I make. To be CI and be unaffected by burning ground (which would prevent our ES from recharging) is pretty big. And personally I play with the Major God Soul of Lunaris. I just like the extra survivability the extra Movement Speed and Physical Damage reduction it gives.
Bandits
For the Bandits in Act 2, do what you like, but I kill them all for the extra two skill points.
Attributes
You'll get most of the attributes that you require to use your gems from the tree. You'll need a little bit of Strength and a bunch of Dexterity.
You'll Be Short: Strength: 6 Dexterity: 67 Intelligence: 0 Needing 57 Dex isn't lots, but it isn't small either. Keep your eye out for gear with Dex. Amulets can roll lots. Feel free to take the +30 attribute nodes if you're struggling to find gear to help you level. You can always respec in small amounts later. From the Tree You'll Get: Strength: 34 Dexterity: 54 Intelligence: 362 Your Gems Need: Strength: 40 Dexterity: 111 (If 6 linked. Otherwise, 98.) Intelligence: 155
Media and Extras (Videos/PoB/URLs/Filter)
- Videos? Three options:
- My 3.9 gameplay example video - My Cursing CI playlist shows my most recent sessions with the build. - My broadcast channel. Mixer keeps the last 14 days worth of broadcasts. I don't always play awake, but I'd rather play than not :). - Software: - PoEMate - The mobile planner I use (if the link doesn't work in your area, just search PoEMate in your mobile store). - Path of Building - The desktop character planner I use. - 3.9's Pastebin - https://pastebin.com/wkJQcVFa - (Copy the link, open Path of Building, click on “New”, then click “Import/Export Build”, click “Import from Pastebin…”, paste the link.) Loot Filters: - Here are my customized loot filters for all platforms. They will make looting a lot more relaxing for those that play my builds. Just click the "Follow" button next to the filter(s) you want (make sure you choose the correct platform). The filters will automatically be added to your game! They auto-update with any changes I make too! Whaaaaat!?!?! I know right?!
For New-ish Players (How I Play/Build Mechanics/Newbie Tips)
How I Play This Build/How it Functions in Gameplay
This build is really easy to play. Sooooo easy.
Quick Version: Move around and hold the Vortex button down. Atlas cleared. True story. Everything else is automatic!
Detailed Version
- Seriously, I know this is the detailed section, but that's all you do...cast Vortex and move around.
- Turn on Malevolence (bonus damage) and Discipline (bonus Energy Shield), then just run around and hit Vortex. :) - Everything else in the build is automatic and comes from Cast when Damage Taken Support. We'll use three curses in this build and you can use any curses you want. They'll all be attached to low-level CwDT gems...which means that if an enemy barely touches you (with a Hit, not Damage Over Time), they'll be cursed with all three curses. - The tree focuses on as much improvement to curse effects as possible so the suggested curses will dramatically slow, weaken in damage, and make susceptible to damage every cursed enemy. - I only focused on the Damage Over Time damage of Vortex, not the Hit portion of the skill. Chaos Inoculation (CI)/Energy Shield (ES) - This makes your Energy Shield your only life pool. (Little to no flask help.) - As a result of choosing CI, there is a huge focus on ES recovery on the tree. The playstyle of this build is simply cast once...move, cast once...move, cast once...move, cast once...;) - Vortex's cast time is instant. So you won't even see your character make an animation to cast it. That's a huge survivability perk! - I use Flasks to get rid of Bleed, Burning, and Frozen. I use my escape flask (Quartz or Quicksilver) to get rid of Freezing.
Build Mechanics Explained for New Players
Chaos Inoculation (CI)
Chaos Inoculation is risky and easy all at the same time. On a Life-based character, Energy Shield (ES) is the first "life bar" of the health pool. When a life-based character would take damage, the damage would first hit the ES. Only once the ES is used up would damage start hitting the actual health bar. Now on a life-based character, Chaos Damage typically bypasses ES and goes straight to the life bar.
Selecting the Chaos Inoculation (CI) node in the passive tree makes ES our ONLY life pool...but makes us immune to Chaos Damage. *Chaos Damage and Poison are kinda the same thing. Being CI, you'll be immune to both. Some of the risks with this include the fact that flasks can't really help us restore ES like Life flasks restore life. There are a few exceptions but for the most part, CI means no "life" flasks. One of the great things about CI, besides the immunity to chaos damage, is that there are lots of nodes on the tree that help the speed that ES recharges and regenerates...even decreasing the amount of time it takes for your ES to start restoring. In other words, your ES will almost always be regenerating at a rate that Life Regen could only dream of.
Damage Over Time (DOT)
Damage Over Time is a type of damage that doesn't Hit. Vortex has two stages that happen in quick succession. The first stage has an explosion that Hits enemies. The second stage is a 3 second DOT that is always cast around our character. I only focused on the DOT of Vortex when building this build. When an enemy is within an existing DOT skill on the ground, they will take damage.
Slow Focus
I. LOVE. SLOWING. ENEMIES. So in this build, we're going to slow enemies. Why? Lots of good reasons...but the most important reason is: Because.
Path of Exile has multiple methods that can slow a character/enemy in two ways: 1-Slowing Movement Speed only, and 2-Slowing all actions (including movement speed). This build will focus on the two methods in the game that slow ALL actions of an enemy: Temporal Chains and Chill. These two methods of slowing can stack (to a cap of 75% total slow). Chill - An elemental effect from Cold damage that slows all actions (movement, cast/attack speed) up to 30%. The % of slow (chill) imposed on an enemy is based on the total Cold Damage done to the enemy in one hit. So the higher the cold damage of an initial hit (not cumulative) the greater the "chill effect"...the slower the enemy is. Temporal Chains - A curse that slows all normal enemy actions (movement, cast/attack speed) up to a base value of 29% but with investment can be capped at 75%. This build will have Temporal Chains slowing enemies at 68%. Chill will cap the rest.
Curses
I. LOVE. CURSES. TOO.
Curses are debuffs that you can put on an enemy. There are quite a few curses in the game, not all of them are beneficial to every build. In this build, you can choose any three curses you want. I will be using: Temporal Chains which slows every action of the enemy, Enfeeble which makes the enemy deal less damage and Hit less often, and Frostbite which makes the enemy take more cold damage. By default in POE, every character can only apply one curse per enemy. There is a node on the passive tree that increases this limit by one. We'll be getting it. There is also only one ascendancy (subclass) that increases your curse limit by one. We'll be choosing that too. We'll also be increasing the effectiveness of our curses to their maximum achievable effectiveness. Remember that you won't be applying all three curses until you have unlocked the ability (from the tree and ascendancy) to have 3 total curses on an enemy. I set up all three curses to auto-cast as soon as I can anyway and just let them apply whatever curse(s) until I have the ability to apply all three. I'm not concerned about it as I level. Everything will die quickly no matter what. A big part of this build are the three curses I have chosen. Curses can be cast manually as a spell that applies the selected curse to an area, or you can link a support skill called Blasphemy which will make the linked curses Auras that are always around you. We'll be "self casting" our curses automatically with the Cast on Damage Taken trigger support. We are going to have our curses as strong as they can be. That'll take some passive tree investment. Temporal Chains at its maximum default level slows all enemy actions by 29%. With the appropriate investment, we can make enemies 68% slower with Temporal Chains (this skill cannot slow enemies beyond 75%). All other curses do not have a cap. Enfeeble, has a lot of great defence. It makes us harder to be hit by Attacks (not spells), we take less critical damage, and we'll take less overall damage too. Focusing specifically on the general damage mitigation of the skill, we'll be improving Enfeeble's base damage mitigation from 30% to 52.5%. Frostbite is pure offence. It lowers the enemies' cold resists make them take more cold damage. Frostbite normally reduces enemy resists by 44%. We'll be able to increase that to 77%. Our curses will have full effect on all enemies that aren't bosses. Curses are 33% less effective against Area/Map bosses and 66% less effective against the Shaper and his Guardians. That's OK though. The rest of the build is good enough. :) Hexproof Some enemies can be hexproof...which means curse proof. One of our Ascendancy nodes makes it so no enemies can be hexproof. But until then, it's something to keep in mind while rolling maps for the Atlas. ***Just a heads up, the ToolTip in-game doesn't calculate curses in a matter that helps us: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2243603. Some EXACT curse math with NO Enhance Gem: 
Exposure & Lowered Resistances
One of the suggested curses I have in this build is Frostbite. It lowers the Cold Resistance of enemies so that they take more cold damage. If you chose to have the curse Elemental Weakness as part of your three curses, the lowered Cold Resists this skill provides would stack with Frostbite. In other words, multiple versions of lowering resists stack additively with one another.
Frost Bomb is a skill that we use that inflicts Cold Exposure. Cold Exposure is essentially lowering the enemy cold resists by 25%. This is additive to Frostbite. The difference to consider is that an enemy can only have one Exposure applied to them at a time. So if you inflicted an enemy with multiple sources of Cold Exposure, they'd still only have -25% to cold. So Exposure does stack with skills that lower resists, but only one Exposure will stack at a time. Make sense? Let me know if you need help.
Cast when Damage Taken (CwDT)
Cast when Damage Taken (CwDT) is a gem that automatically casts linked spells (not attacks) when your character takes a certain amount of damage. The lower the level of CwDT, the less damage it needs to cast its linked spells. The higher the level of CwDT, the more damage it needs to cast linked gems.
CwDT cannot support ACTIVE skills with a higher player level requirement than that of the CwDT gem itself. For spells to be cast by CwDT, the spell has to be within the required level listed on the gem. As you level gems, you'll see that they all have certain player levels you have to be in order to use them. CwDT does too. You'll notice in the CwDT gem description that it'll only cast spells under a certain required level. That requirement level goes up as CwDT levels. Linked SUPPORT gems have no boundaries and can be fully levelled. The benefit to a high-level CwDT at a high level is that we can have high-level gems attached to it (Stone Golem). The benefit to a low-level CwDT is that you can have spells being cast frequently. Good for utility spells (applying curses and such). You can't manually cast spells that are linked to CwDT and within CwDT's gem requirement level. For our build, the order of gems linked to CwDT does not matter. ***Note: If a skill has two triggers attempting to cast it, the skill will become inactive. Skills can only have one active trigger. So, for all the links that have CwDT, CoH, and a curse, both the CoH and curse spell will have to be outside the CwDT's requirement threshold (trigger range). So you'll only start seeing your curses applied once those gems require a character level of 39 or more.
Vaal Skills
Vaal skills are super versions of normal skills that have a duration and cooldown given to them. Vaal Discipline is the only one we're interested in. Early on in the game Vaal skills typically only drop in Corrupted areas (though as the game progresses you'll find them a little more often.) Corrupted areas can be randomly found attached to maps as a side area. Kill the boss inside these areas, loot their "stash", and hope you get the Vaal skill you want.
Vaal Discipline gives you both the Discipline skill and Vaal Discipline in one gem. Both skills require their own key bind/button. You can use Discipline like usual but the Vaal skill requires you to kill enemies, or damage Rare or Unique enemies. Once the skill is ready to use, you can use the skill anytime. But remember, any loading screen in the game automatically resets the Vaal skill and it needs to be refilled. So don't save it too long (boss arena doors don't have load screens (except for The Lord's Labyrinth). Once the skill has been used it'll have a short duration where the skill can't refill. Vaal Discipline gives you Energy Shield like drinking a life flask gives life:). It has a cast time, unlike any other skill we use.
Tips for New Players
Loose Ends (Map Mods/Gem Locations/Bandits)
Endgame Mods to Avoid
At the end of the game, the levels (maps) you try and clear will have random modifiers (mods) allocated to them. There are A LOT of mods that can go on a map.
There are only two mods that we can't run: Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield and Elemental Reflect. (The initial explosion of Vortex Hits. Even though it isn't a focus point for me, hitting many enemies at once with it could kill you. You could map with it and just remember to lure enemies into your DoT instead of running into the middle of them, but I ALWAYS forget about Elemental Reflect halfway through the map. So I just avoid it...if I remember that I forget that I always forget about it...) Some mods will be inconvenient, but they won't be that bad to run. Once you get used to mapping, remembering the rolled map mods can be a HUGE difference maker on your survivability. *Remember that Hexproof maps don't apply to us after the Profane Bloom Ascendancy node is chosen :). You'll learn your personal preferences over time as well.
Quests and Gem Locations - Quick Reference
- I suggest doing every quest in the game. It doesn't take long. If you're too eager to get to mapping in the endgame, here is a link to all the quests that give Skill Points as a reward.
Bandits - With the Bandits in Act 2, I kill them all for the extra 2 skill points. You, of course, do what you like. **Remember to prioritize. You may not be lucky enough to get the gear that'll let you play with all your gems as soon as they are available. So do what works best for you until the gear comes (don't be quick to sell your old gear in case something doesn't work out).
List of Gems in Order of Story Acquisition:
Drop Only - Level 24 - Vaal Discipline (Replaces the normal Discipline Gem)
Act 1 - Enemy at the Gate - Purchase - Level 1 - Arcane Surge Act 1 - Breaking Some Eggs - Reward - Level 4 - Frost Bomb Act 1 - The Caged Brute - Reward - Level 10 - Flame Dash Act 1 - Siren's Cadence - Reward - Level 12 - Ice Nova Act 1 - Siren's Cadence - Purchase - Level 12 - Arctic Breath Act 2 - Deal with the Bandits - Reward - Level 15 - Kill Everyone - 2 Skill Points Act 2 - Intruders in Black - Reward - Level 16 - Cold Snap Act 2 - Sharp and Cruel - Reward - Level 18 - Controlled Destruction Support Act 3 - Lost in Love - Reward - Level 24 - Discipline Act 3 - Lost in Love - Purchase - Level 24 - Frostbite Act 3 - Lost in Love - Purchase - Level 24 - Malevolence Act 3 - Sever the Right Hand - Purchase - Level 28 - Vortex Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Reward - Level 31 - Efficacy Support Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 24 - Enfeeble Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 24 - Temporal Chains Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 31 - Hypothermia Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 31 - Swift Affliction Support Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Reward - Level 38 - Bonechill Support Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Purchase - Level 38 - Cast when Damage Taken Support (x4) Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Purchase - Level 38 - Curse on Hit (x3)
List of Gems in Order by Level:
Level 1 - Arcane Surge
Level 4 - Frost Bomb Level 10 - Flame Dash Level 12 - Arctic Breath Level 12 - Ice Nova Level 15 - Bandits - Kill Everyone - 2 Skill Points Level 16 - Cold Snap Level 18 - Controlled Destruction Support Level 24 - Discipline (Vaal) Level 24 - Enfeeble Level 24 - Frostbite Level 24 - Malevolence Level 24 - Temporal Chains Level 28 - Vortex Level 31 - Efficacy Support Level 31 - Hypothermia Level 31 - Swift Affliction Support Level 38 - Bonechill Support Level 38 - Cast when Damage Taken Support (x4) Level 38 - Curse on Hit (x3) - There are two NPCs that sell all purchasable gems: the first one is Siosa in the Library in Act 3 (you have to do his quest first (the Library is connected to The Imperial Gardens)), the second NPC is Lilly Roth in Act 6 (Do her quest in Act 6). Replies: Feel free to respond to other players' posts! The more that's out there, the more we learn. Please be kind, respectful, and theoretical (not a Know-It-All) when helping others out. I will happily respond to questions but please note that I have multiple guides and I'd like to respond to each equally. I’ll do my best to get back to you as quickly as possible but set your expectations that I'll respond to each guide once a week. (Too much time responding to guides makes an unhappy spouse...an unhappy spouse means less time for guide replies...less time for guide replies makes an unhappy me...Unhappy spouse + unhappy me = an epic hockey fight with sweet uppercuts which I would obviously lose...a lost hockey fight against my spouse = busted hands that I can't type with, no teeth to voice type with, and black eyes that I can't read with. So one build a day, m'kay? K.) Here's a list of my OTHER GUIDES if you're interested :). OH! Don't forget, to support GGG by buying a skin for all your favourite skills you use. They last forever, you look rad, and it keeps PoE going too :). Double OH! I make a new thread every league for every guide I do. So all the comments, questions, and answers you read are all relevant for this current expansion. (At the end of a league I post links in the previous guide to guide players to the newest rendition of the build.)
Build History
3.8 - 3.8| Stress Free PoE - COLD-HEARTED CURSER |Clear the Atlas w/ YOUR Items @ YOUR Pace (SSF & Co-op)
3.7 - Stress Free PoE!| CURSE HAPPY VORTEX |Use ANY Items|Easy/Relaxing Play|Easily Clears the Atlas [3.7] 3.6 - Stress Free PoE| CURSIN’ VORTEX |ANY Items Work|Easy/Relaxing Play|Easily Clears the Atlas [3.6] https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast Last edited by Wrecker_of_Days#7691 on May 15, 2020, 1:00:27 AM Last bumped on May 15, 2020, 5:13:24 PM
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The cool lady is back. Very good news, that this beautiful build will still be around.
Thank you very much! Overwhelmed by Path of Exile? You might want to have a look at Wrecker_of_Days' beginner-friendly guides. One-click-wonders that do not require any specific items to conquer the campaign and the Atlas: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2606288/page/1
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https://old.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/e9da8b/have_a_look_at_a_metamorphspecific_unique_ring/
Any thoughts on using this to give the build a bit more range? They've confirmed that Vortex is classified as a "nova" - and that this ring would work. |
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was waiting for this
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Oh boy I love these 1 button fun characters!
This will definitely be my league starter for Metamorph. A couple of questions though... 1. With the buffs to boss health/armor/res, do you think we still have enough single target damage? 2. What's your favorite leveling skill until Vortex at 28? Cheers and thank you so much for all your guides! I make at least one character from your guides every league :) |
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"Hey Caligula_Exile! I'm glad she's back. It's nice to have you around here again too! Thanks for the thanks! https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
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"Hey Legendary_AK! I saw those, ya. I think it'd take getting used to but I could work wonders. I'm surprised that Vortex is compatible though as it has no cast time. I hope they don't give Vortex cast time... But ya, those gloves would be great as long as you're not standing still too long. Good find. https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
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"Hey jabeleta! I'm happy to help :) https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
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"Hey TommyLee68! That's great! Let me know what you think going through the game. I'm so excited for the new bosses/Atlas. To answer #1: I think this build will still have good damage, yes. Most of our damage comes from all the circumstantial stuff in our ascendancy. It gives tons. This build has never been the fastest boss killer, but it's always been so easy to live through boss battles. The style of constantly moving while dropping dots...I almost never die in a boss battle. But honestly, I haven't played 3.9's endgame more than anyone else, so we'll have to see by the end of the league if any of my guides need MORE POWER! Let me know though, I'm always up for feedback. To answer #2: I love Frostbolt. It "pierces", chills, and deals good damage. And thanks for such kind words. That was very encouraging and I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know :). https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
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any leveling tips/gems combo to use until we reach lvl 28 for Vortex?
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