3.11 - Stress-Free PoE! CURSE HAPPY (CI): No Required Items! 1-Button Play! SSF League Start-End!

Hey Ruagg! Thanks Protamine! I'm glad you're enjoying the build! You have some gloves (Voidbringer) that greatly increases mana costs of skills. That's what's hurting your mana cost. And as was mentioned, having two of the same support gem linked to an active skill won't work. Only the stronger of the two will be active.

On a side note, it's not mentioned anywhere in game, but damage conversion is only applied to Hits, not DOTs.

Good post! Let everyone know if there's any other concerns.

Hi Wrecker, Hi everyone!

I'm still experimenting with my occultist. Now it's 93. I've been using flame dash to bump into enemies, fire vortex and jump flame dash to next enemy. This tactic is optimal for me.
But I do have questions about optimizing the flame dash set.
Which set will be best for our character?

1. flame dash with Combustion and Ignite proliferation (typical fire support)
2. Flame dash, Arcane Surge and Efficacy (second arcane surge because one is already in vortex - will it work?)
3. Flame dash, Bonechill, Hypothermia (fire skill and support cold gem?)

Or maybe another combination will be better? What other combination? Immolate, Onslaught, faster casting?

Generally, it's not about the strength of the fire, but rather about the speed of the flame dash and support cold gem?

Second question is, will Bonechill and Hypothermia work well with Flame dash? Will they support other skills in our occultist (vortex)?

Third question is whether Bonechill and Hypothermia here make sense if I already have them with Cold Snap and Frost bombs? Will such overlapping work?

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macbigos wrote:

Spoiler

Hi Wrecker, Hi everyone!

I'm still experimenting with my occultist. Now it's 93. I've been using flame dash to bump into enemies, fire vortex and jump flame dash to next enemy. This tactic is optimal for me.
But I do have questions about optimizing the flame dash set.
Which set will be best for our character?

1. flame dash with Combustion and Ignite proliferation (typical fire support)
2. Flame dash, Arcane Surge and Efficacy (second arcane surge because one is already in vortex - will it work?)
3. Flame dash, Bonechill, Hypothermia (fire skill and support cold gem?)

Or maybe another combination will be better? What other combination? Immolate, Onslaught, faster casting?

Generally, it's not about the strength of the fire, but rather about the speed of the flame dash and support cold gem?

Second question is, will Bonechill and Hypothermia work well with Flame dash? Will they support other skills in our occultist (vortex)?

Third question is whether Bonechill and Hypothermia here make sense if I already have them with Cold Snap and Frost bombs? Will such overlapping work?

Hey macbigos!

Great job getting to 93! So the one thing to consider with all of your considered options is that the same "buffs" don't stack. So two Arcane surges won't double your regen and two bonechills won't stack on top of each other for Vortex's damage. So the only perks that you'd get from doubling up on those supports with different skills is if you like what those supports provide for the individual skill it's linked to.

Now Bonechill would be awesome if it was applied more directly for sure, but it does need to be applied to a cold skill...something that chills. So my guess is that the best Flame Dash supports would simply be to have the survivability linked to it. Something like Faster Casting or culling strike (cause I think Flame Dash also hits on it's arrival) and then maybe Second Wind Support?

Thoughts? Let me know if I missed a question.

Thank you very much for your explanation. I guess I finally understood the support gems.

I chose a set of Flame dash, Faster Casting and Second Wind. Indeed, the Flame Dash now works faster and smoother. I also have an extra use from Second Wind.
Additionally, I've thrown out double Arcane Surge and Bonechill. I checked other support gems and now I have these sets:

(Boots) Cold Snap, Bonechill, Efficacy, CWDT
(Gloves) Frost Bomb, Increase Area, Increase Duration, CWDT
(Wand) Withering Step, CWDT, free slot. (Does it make sense to give Efficacy there?)
(Shield) Flame Dash, Faster Casting and Second Wind
(Heretic's Veil) Frostbite, Enlighten, Enfeeble, Temporal Chains on Blaspheamy (22)
(Ring) Vaal Discipline
Vaal Regalia (774 ES) as in your guide.

What do you think about it?

Altogether almost 10k ES and 60k DPS.
I'm going through red maps with the exception of some bosses who are pain in the ass. For example Drox and Veritania. It's also tough with Totem like bosses.

I recently caught good boots with 30% movement speed and I hope it will be a big improvement. All I'm upset about is to freeze.

Thank you again for your help!

Thank you for this. I love your friendly style and explanations; can't wait to get started on this build as a newbie!

"

macbigos wrote:

Spoiler

Thank you very much for your explanation. I guess I finally understood the support gems.

I chose a set of Flame dash, Faster Casting and Second Wind. Indeed, the Flame Dash now works faster and smoother. I also have an extra use from Second Wind.
Additionally, I've thrown out double Arcane Surge and Bonechill. I checked other support gems and now I have these sets:

(Boots) Cold Snap, Bonechill, Efficacy, CWDT
(Gloves) Frost Bomb, Increase Area, Increase Duration, CWDT
(Wand) Withering Step, CWDT, free slot. (Does it make sense to give Efficacy there?)
(Shield) Flame Dash, Faster Casting and Second Wind
(Heretic's Veil) Frostbite, Enlighten, Enfeeble, Temporal Chains on Blaspheamy (22)
(Ring) Vaal Discipline
Vaal Regalia (774 ES) as in your guide.

What do you think about it?

Altogether almost 10k ES and 60k DPS.
I'm going through red maps with the exception of some bosses who are pain in the ass. For example Drox and Veritania. It's also tough with Totem like bosses.

I recently caught good boots with 30% movement speed and I hope it will be a big improvement. All I'm upset about is to freeze.

Thank you again for your help!

Hey macbigos! Your setup looks great on paper! It'll always be gameplay that determines if it's efficient or not. I hope it works well for you, both offence and defence. Are your CwDT gems low level or all high level? (I wouldn't bother with Efficiency with Withering Step. You'll lose Withering Step every time you cast Vortex. So increasing WS's duration has no value. Let us know how it goes! There's lots of pros and cons with every choice, so let us know if it worked out. It's quite the change-up. (I like the Enlighten :).)

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HappyPuddi wrote:

Thank you for this. I love your friendly style and explanations; can't wait to get started on this build as a newbie!

Thanks HappyPuddi! That's very kind of you to post just for the sake of encouragement. Thank you. I hope you enjoy it! It's a personal favourite for sure.

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Protamine wrote:

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Ruagg wrote:

Happy Hunting to all the wild witchers with this build. A month or so ago, I started a failed witch at level 40 with this build. Nice to get a tree wipe with 3.11. I'm now level 82. THANKS WREAKER!

There has been some talk on these threads about vortex cooldown, to re-fire vortex faster. So, I started looking into it. At first glance, I was hoping quality/level would help, but it doesn't. That is all about damage and area.

But, there are mods for amulets and boots, that I have. Also there is the Second Wind Support Gem, that I don't use. Right now I can hit every .95 sec. for 92 mana.(level 20 vortex with 14% quality) Pretty good, since the base is twice that.
But wait!! Can I recover 92 mana in less than a second? NO

Also, reserve amount is essential. I need minimum of 92 reserve and 95 recovery per second, to even hit at .95 seconds. So, I don't. It is more like 1.2 seconds.

Well, that is how you chase it if you want to. But, I remind myself this is a DOT build.

So, fun to run past a long pack of monsters and go back to find them all dead.

I wonder why your vortex costs so much, mine spends 69 mana (20/23). I have 156 unreserved mana which is enough to constantly channel vortex, shield charge and flame dash all together. However my vortex has 1,02 cooldown time. I also noticed, you have 2 controlled destructions attached to vortex, but only one of them will work, you can change another to Efficacy.

Yeah, that was a socket error, since fixed, but thanks for pointing it out. I need a lot of gear self-audit, it seems.

IAC, now I am using 118 mana for the properly stacked, six link. Cooldown has to do with other gear, in belts and boots. But, re-charge time is the main thing. If I could get it all down to 69 mama, that would be great!

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Ruagg wrote:

Spoiler

Yeah, that was a socket error, since fixed, but thanks for pointing it out. I need a lot of gear self-audit, it seems.

IAC, now I am using 118 mana for the properly stacked, six link. Cooldown has to do with other gear, in belts and boots. But, re-charge time is the main thing. If I could get it all down to 69 mama, that would be great!

The gear comes Ruagg, the gear comes :). Recharge is huge for this build for sure. I don't personally mind the 1-second cooldown at gem level 20, but that's just me. Good luck with your mana goals!

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Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

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Ruagg wrote:

Spoiler

Yeah, that was a socket error, since fixed, but thanks for pointing it out. I need a lot of gear self-audit, it seems.

IAC, now I am using 118 mana for the properly stacked, six link. Cooldown has to do with other gear, in belts and boots. But, re-charge time is the main thing. If I could get it all down to 69 mama, that would be great!

The gear comes Ruagg, the gear comes :). Recharge is huge for this build for sure. I don't personally mind the 1-second cooldown at gem level 20, but that's just me. Good luck with your mana goals!

Well, yes, of course. .95 and 1.2 secs are not that different. But, I looked and gem quality level doesn't go to cooldown. It is area of effect, or something.

I got to wondering how fast it could fire, and that is only as fast as mana can recharge.

IAC, I can report that after a gear audit, I found the mana leak and full link vortex is down to 69 mana. Still having a lot of fun with this build.