[3.10] Archmage Indigon Hierophant - 10k EHP, 10 mil+ Shaper DPS Archmage nerf inc
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This started as me insisting on doing something stupid with Archmage + Indigon. I knew it was bad, but wasn't quite willing to give up on it just yet. It has turned into something quite good - so now I'm sharing it with you.
Before proceeding further, I am going to assume you have at least glanced over Voidzero's Storm Brand guide. You can find it here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2793186 A lot of the core concepts of this build are in commmon with the core concepts there and that guide was an impetus of a lot of the ideas here. If you decide to do something like this, your build should look a lot like his while you are gearing up. Now, onto my stuff. Pros - About 11k EHP with 50% MoM, 3.5k Life, 4.4k unreserved mana, and 4k Energy Shield (and it's still going up) - Blind on hit (currently trying to find a way to fit chill into the build as well) - Absolutely massive damage output with 3mil+ storm brands, 4mil+ Blade Vortex, and 700k+ damage per Firestorm hit. I estimate I do 10mil+ Shaper DPS, but it's hard to keep track - Weird combination of skills and mechanics if you are into that sort of thing - Using new support for the current patch Cons - Weird combination of skills and mechanics if you aren't into that sort of thing. - Game play can be clunky as we need to maintain Storm Brand + Blade Vortex and fit Firestorm in whenever possible - gear can be somewhat expensive in spots - can't do elemental reflect maps - phys reflect maps aren't exactly friendly either - Build does very weak damage if you don't set things up right - Pseudo-melee playstyle that involves running head-first into enemy packs and you don't deal a whole lot of damage at a distance
Theory of how it all works
Archmage deals flat lightning damage based on the mana cost of the spell AS LONG AS YOU CAN AFFORD TO CAST THE SPELL. Indigon makes spells cost more every time you cast a spell AND gives a significant amount of stacking increased spell damage. Sanctuary of Thought makes skills cost 50% LESS mana. Not having a 6l as your primary spell means your spells cost significantly less. Brand Recall refreshes the duration on Storm Brand near-infinitely. Sign of Purpose makes enemies take 10% increased damage for each brand attached to them (this applies to all damage you deal). Unleash makes Blade Vortex and Firestorm cast 4x whenever you press the button while still only costing mana once. Add it all together: The general gameplay loop involves slapping down 4 brands (this is my middle-mouse button), then holding down Brand Recall for the rest of the map (I use left-click, but this has its own problems). Then, you stack up Blade Vortex stacks as mana is available (this is my right-click). When you see a pack of monsters, drop Firestorm (T for me) then run into the middle of the pack or Flame Dash if you want (R for me) and hit Rallying Cry on at least one monster (E for me) then spam the hell out of your flasks. Everything dies in <1 second or you probably do. Don't worry, it's probably them or you did something wrong. Cremation (and desecrate to support it) is a recent addition that is somewhat optional but adds a TON of DPS for longer boss/metamorphosis fights. There is a generic pace at which you want to be pressing buttons so as not to over-inflate your mana costs and turn off archmage, but even if you mess up, it is only momentary and you should be back to dealing insane damage in a couple of seconds once earlier Indigon effect stacks wear off. Auras are Wrath and Zealotry in Essence worms (either one can be substituted for Flesh and Stone if you are feeling squishy) and max level Clarity and level 1 Precision (sometimes, check your PoB if its worth it) linked to an Enlighten somewhere else in your gear. Damage ramps up quickly and even bosses die in seconds.
Path of Building
https://pastebin.com/70AKK4nA - mostly stable working character https://pastebin.com/aq3zCrPV - current theory of where i'm going (includes cluster jewels)
Gear
Helm
The one and only Indigon, THE premier heavy-mana using helmet. 100% required or you aren't doing this build. Enchants are optional, and varied in what you could use. Blade Vortex duration, Elemental Weakness effect, Wave of Conviction elemental resist penetration, all kinds of stuff, I have 0 useful enchants.
Body Armour
You can probably make a better rare shaper body, but why bother? This does it all.
Gloves
Kalisa's are stupid good and cheap. +2 base crit chance is disgusting. If you prefer to go non-crit you can use this a rare set of gloves in this spot to fill in life/resists/mana.
Boots
I literally picked my boots up off the ground and slapped some move speed on them and kept moving forward. Obviously top-end gear would involve something like Elusive/Tailwind, but life/resists/mana/movespeed is a good start for boots, and I'm in no particular rush to upgrade.
Weapon
I like crit, and I like uniques, Shims do it all for me. The corrupted one was 1 exa, the non-corrupted is like 3-4 chaos at the time of this post. Look for 10 crit multi per power charge, it adds a ton of damage.
Rings
Essence Worms!! You can theoretically use rares for resists if needed, and this is the slot I would worry about fixing last honestly. The auras are nice, but not really necessary, it's just more damage. Worry about living first.
Amulet
No reason not to use Atiziri's Foible. Again, there are upgrades available, but why bother when this is so cheap and so good?
Belt
Stygian with Life/Mana/Resists - get some Phasing on kill on your jewel for quality-of-life.
Unique Jewels
Corrupted Soul offers a ton of ES and makes it easier to keep our Energy Leech fully employed. We don't really care about damage leaking through the shield. Most hits will do 50% to shield, 25% to life, and 25% to mana. This is great. Spirited Response adds a ton of mana regen since our primary playstyle involves running head-first into enemy packs. Look for good corruptions here since this jewel is so cheap and stats are static.
Flasks
Most important thing here is the Enduring Eternal Mana Flask of Warding - this gives you curse immunity 99% of the time. Make one or buy one. I am currently using a Seething Divine Life Flask, but think that should ultimately be a Hallowed Hybrid flask as the 8-10% instant life gain from Indigon out-performs the numbers on the Life Flask itself, then you also get a free chunk of mana as well.
Gem Links
Storm Brand: Slot anywhere except Kalisa's - the Faster Casting adds mana cost and is bad. This is your Energy Leech + chunky damage dealer with the Lightning penetration. Brand Recall Level 1 Arcane Surge because we don't really care, everything else is there to get the CD as low as possible. Firestorm + Blade Vortex The 6l is dedicated to a pseudo 3 x 4 link. With all 3 spells being supported by Archmage + increased duration + unleash. CWDT setup Sets of Wave of Conviction as well as Steel Skin. You could manually cast Steelskin if you want DO NOT USE ARCANE CLOAK AS THIS COSTS A TON OF MANA AND SCREWS UP THE BUILD. Rallying Cry and Flame Dash Auras slot Clarity in any 3 link alongside enlighten along with Desecrate and pick your favorite 2 out of Wrath, Zealotry, and Flesh and Stone and slap those in your Essence Worms. Grats you are done with the build!
Ascendancy
I went for Divine Guidance > Illuminated Devotion > Sanctuary of Thought > Sign of Purpose You can get Sign of Purpose earlier if damage is ever an issue for you, I never had a problem past 34, Archmage is stupid broken.
Bandits
Alira for leveling up, you can respect to +2 points if/when your resists are good, but Alira is really strong for crit builds anyway. Users preference here.
videos
Level 81 Hunter Kill - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/577032911 Elder Kill - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/577038406
edits
3/26 - Precision and Blind are out, Desecrate and Cremation are in. 3/27 - Added a couple Boss kill videos Last edited by JermStudDog#5455 on Mar 27, 2020, 7:35:45 PM Last bumped on Mar 26, 2020, 8:10:23 PM
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Coming over from Voidzero's guide.
Really curious to try out the Indigon variant. Not really fond of adding more skills in there though aside from Storm Brand. Maybe I just have to adjust to the playstyle haha. |
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Adding the extra skills is critical - view them as an alternative to the MORE multipliers you would get from typical support gems.
The whole idea is to use spells with long durations and low (for archmage anyway) mana costs, and then once you have 2-3 different spells rolling, you crank up the mana cost with Indigon - which in turn cranks up the damage with Archmage - which in turn gets multiplied by the increased damage modifier from Indigon - and all of this applies to your spells that are already going on. And you quickly go from doing ~1 million DPS to ~10. There is a tempo to clicking the buttons, it might take a few maps to get the hang of it, but once you get the pace of things, everything melts. My favorite is actually doing random non-boss abyss sections. The totem dies before it is finished summoning the first hole. My biggest concern right now is just trying to find ways to get tankier without sacrificing damage. I added a Cluster jewel with Cold Conduit for the chill effect at a minor DPS loss, but any other options I try out cost too much damage or end up being ultimately ineffective. Not that tankiness is an issue, but it's the weakest point of the build right now and I need to spend my money on SOMETHING. Last edited by JermStudDog#5455 on Mar 27, 2020, 2:53:04 AM
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