Gemling Curse Build - Stat stacking
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This is a curse using, intelligence stacking build I'm working on. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress/test build to see if this works at all or not.
The idea was to use the Gemling's adaptibility to create a versatile character which can be used in several ways without changing up much of the passive tree/gear/ascendancy nodes. The build has been changed a lot during leveling (mostly skills and supports), but currently I'm starzing maps with it and it works for me. I'm still trying out things and looking for ways to improve this, so feedback is appreciated.  -- Gameplay: The usual rotation right now is a two punch style: with despair and temporal chains. Usually The first one kills the pack but to speed it up I impending doom the pack as well. For Bosses it's a bit tricky since single target damage for chaos is so limited. I intentionally avoided the Chaos Bolt hit route because I wanted more of a DoT style and with our low survivability (not much life and barely any defences) I usually just curse-dot-dark effigy the boss and try no to die to instakill slams. -- Passive tree: https://maxroll.gg/poe2/passive-tree/4rewr0vh I took curse nodes first and only later the mana regen nodes. If you do this, watch out for leveling up your curses since they use lots of mana. -- Ascendancy: Before getting the second set of two ascendancy points, I was using the 10% quality ascendancy node. Sounds boring but it helped. After getting 4 points for ascendancy, I respecced to the nodes in the link. -- Gem setup: Primary: Despair: Decaying hex - Burning Inscription - Hexbloom Temporal Chains: Cursed Ground - Impending Doom - Spell Echo Withering Presence: Clarity Secondary: Essence Drain: Chain - Envenom - Arcane Tempo Contagion: Persistance - Swift Affliction Dark Effigy: Withering Touch - Blind - Acceleration -- Gear: We need some spirit if we want to run withering presence or some minions to tank (bodyblock) for us. Try getting as much Int as possible if you wish to primary Decaying Hex. Otherwise: stack life/energy shield/resists. Windscream boots for instant curse application is nice, but it's just quality of life. If you want to use Impending Doom as main damage source, then get a weapon with +level of chaos spells, spell damage and chaos damage. -- Pros: - Versatile: can use any kind of damage, gear and any kind of gem (currently I use chaos) - Okay damage against packs - Curses are HUGE: 60+% resistance removal - Curses work for the whole party if you are in group play - Slow is bonkers (curses hinder, slows are more efficient, like 55+%) Cons: - Squishy until Mind over Matter - Mana hungry early (stop spamming 200mana curses!!!) - Boss damage is low - No instant curse without the 12% movement boots :( -- Leveling: I was leveling with essence drain and contagion, then I got Decaying Hex and it has been my main source of damage for a long time. Since we stack so much intelligence, it deals enough damage to get you through most of the campaign without issue. Despair reduces enemy chaos resistance so Decaying Course packs a punch. Sure it takes a while but without any investment in gear, it sure felt good for me. You can level however you want of course, but keep in mind that the path of our passive tree won't give any bonuses for damage or anything until late. -- Explanation: - So, the build is versatile, you can mix and match supports however you like without compromising much of the build. You can also use any kind of weapon or damage type, just make sure that there is some compatibility with your curses (Despair for chaos, Flammability for fire damage and burning, ...) - Decaying hex tied with Despair oneshots packs, although it takes like 5-6 seconds. But at least it's safe. If you go with the impending doom route, you can tie that with despair as well but keep in mind that setup is a 3 support setup so until you get to maps you won't get to add anything else apart from the core supports (doom+cursed ground+spell echo) - Despair + Decaying Hex + Burning Inscription: Although I'm not sure about the scalability, maybe with flammability put in as well this can do some magic. Currently testing this since these all scale with Intelligence and Mana. I'm currently at 470 Intelligence and 2200 Mana but still need more testing. - I was testing Blasphemy setups as well and you can definitely do that, but I've found that I lack the AoE to use it safely. If you do that, keep in mind that Blasphemy will reduce the curse effectiveness. Maybe get some AoE and it can be usable better? - If you don't rush, you can use Decaying Hex version and essence drain+contagion as well. OR you can use Dark Effigy after you put some dot on the enemies. Usually at a more difficult boss I forego using Impending Doom and just use Decaying hex + Essence Drain + Contagion + Dark Effigy. It gives us even more time to dodge and avoid Boss mechanics. - Keep in mind the Mana requirements are HUGE. I'm leveling without Mind over Matter and at currently 2200 mana. My last 10 or so passives went for mana regen and I'm okay now but before that, I've used LOTS of mana potions. -- Disclaimer: - I'm currently using the chaos version, but I'm planning to test how a fire damage version would look like. - In the future I wish to add another curse for flammability for sure, maybe with Blasphemy and some AoE. I also wish to get Mind over Matter before maps (probably I could get it now, but I don't like pressing mana potion that much.). - Another idea is to go full on shocking with the Pure Power passive node (2% increased lightning damage per 10 intelligence). I'm reluctant to do that because that would lock us in one playstyle and damage type and I would need to refund passives to change. -- Thanks for reading, gl,hf everyone! Last edited by Tonfish#5574 on Dec 21, 2024, 4:53:43 PM Last bumped on Dec 22, 2024, 3:17:07 PM
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SWEET! been working on this for a few days as well, was hyped when i started and saw decaying hex get buffed. Ive been leveling up as gas grenade and stacking some gear/jewels until lvl 85 or so then swap over. Im currently lvl 82 so ill let you know how it goes. If i find any cool interactions ill drop them here.
Everything is experimental as i havent tried anything out yet but archmage with pure power and arcane intensity sound pretty cool. I took a different route in the tree lmk if you're interested in seeing it. GL |
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" Nice! Yeah drop the tree please, I am very much interested! Funny thing is, I was already lvl60 or so when the decaying hex buff dropped. I just leveled with it when it was still 30% and it was fine :) I am just starting maps but feel like the scalability of decaying hex is not enough, so the lightning route may work better for sure! Update on burning inscription and some interactions: the burning can be applied instantly with curses, especially with faster casting and echo. But the burn damage wont be much without further investment somehow. BUT since we can apply the burn instantly, Cast on Burn may be viable. With a couple energy nodes it can be a fun future build or variation. Last edited by Tonfish#5574 on Dec 22, 2024, 4:47:07 AM
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https://maxroll.gg/poe2/planner/1g6mi0nf im not sure if the CI route will work but i might give it a shot.
How funny you were already leveling with it. I started witch and was doing the same thing but switched off when i hit maps because it didnt feel great. i didnt even look at gemling ascendancy when i made them with this idea in mind, i just knew he could have 2 of the same supports. Was also looking at some other hex blast builds and got the idea for contagion with chaotic freeze. People were saying they could freeze groups easily with that combo. Which opens up cast on freeze along with archmage adding lighting dmg to maybe open up cast on shock. Cast on ignite i just dont think will proc often enough. It was working awful for myself and brother but cof was performing much better. It does sound like it may be really interesting to scale fire damage though through burning inscription, i like that idea. Elemental discharge and impending doom are looking pretty spicy, im interested to see how much they add. |
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