ZiggyD's Etheral Knives Mana Shield Scion/Shadow Build Guide - Hardcore (Updated for 1.1)

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JerryVoy wrote:

I have the money to buy Alphas Howl or Mings Heart but not both. I was wondering wich of those should i buy?

I would go with Alpha's Howl because it's such a flexible item. You can certainly run 4 auras... once you grab Sovereignty. You can do it beforehand, but you may not have enough unreserved mana to make it worthwhile.

Use this tool to figure out if it's worth it:

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Also i used a Vaal Orb on this ammy:

Nice! That's awesome for damage, but in Invasion you'll probably want life on your ammy. You'll DEFINITELY want life on it if you use Ming's Heart.

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Tempada wrote:

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JerryVoy wrote:

I have the money to buy Alphas Howl or Mings Heart but not both. I was wondering wich of those should i buy?

I would go with Alpha's Howl because it's such a flexible item. You can certainly run 4 auras... once you grab Sovereignty. You can do it beforehand, but you may not have enough unreserved mana to make it worthwhile.

Use this tool to figure out if it's worth it:

Spoiler

http://fogz.mine.nu:8080/poe_reserved_calc

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Also i used a Vaal Orb on this ammy:

Nice! That's awesome for damage, but in Invasion you'll probably want life on your ammy. You'll DEFINITELY want life on it if you use Ming's Heart.

Ty for answering :), i calculated my mana and yeah i need Sovereignty to be able to run 4 auras (Grace Hatred Discipline and Clarity) and i still need 5 more levels to do that. Since it will take a while to reach level 87 i decided to buy Mings Heart for the DPS boost.

DPS using Hatred: 7212
DPS Using Blood Rage (got around 48 Chaos Res in Merciles) and with 3 frenzy charges: 7888
DPS while Using Blood Rage and a Belt with 23% Increase Phys Damage: 8414

And finally while adding:



DPS: 8928

Gear:



I still dont know if im going to use the ammy above, my life goes down from 4647 to 4395 when using it. Il buy a proper Rustic Stash belt with a lot of HP and some ES Light Res to be around 4750 HP.

Unreserved mana is 940 now and mana regen at around 250 they both dropped cause of the ammy and ring changes but i can still run AA lvl 21.

Its amazing ive reached almost 9k DPS! I assume with Empower level 3, all gems level 20 (even some of them 21 now that vaal orb can give them 1 more level) a better shield (75+ Spell Damage) and a better Wand i could reach 11k dps.

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JerryVoy wrote:

Its amazing ive reached almost 9k DPS! I assume with Empower level 3, all gems level 20 (even some of them 21 now that vaal orb can give them 1 more level) a better shield (75+ Spell Damage) and a better Wand i could reach 11k dps.

Yep, with good gear you'll easily reach that level. If only I could afford Empower lvl 4... There are far more of those things in Standard than lvl 21 Ethereal Knives. Actually, there are no such Ethereal Knives for sale on poe.xyz right now.

Have you considered going down the right side of the tree instead of the left on your way to IR and MoM?



You get more life and you don't need to spend a point on a strength only node (Beef) because Gymnastics gives strength instead. The downside is that you'll have less armour. I've been trying to figure out which build is optimal and I'm having a hard time choosing. Any thoughts, anyone?

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Tempada wrote:

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JerryVoy wrote:

Its amazing ive reached almost 9k DPS! I assume with Empower level 3, all gems level 20 (even some of them 21 now that vaal orb can give them 1 more level) a better shield (75+ Spell Damage) and a better Wand i could reach 11k dps.

Yep, with good gear you'll easily reach that level. If only I could afford Empower lvl 4... There are far more of those things in Standard than lvl 21 Ethereal Knives. Actually, there are no such Ethereal Knives for sale on poe.xyz right now.

Have you considered going down the right side of the tree instead of the left on your way to IR and MoM?

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYABH4F-Q5IEZYV5xXwFm8Y2xmFGYoabBqPGtsc3B2qHpQj9iQ8JKomlSepKPoppS2DL2826TpYPI5FnUZxSVFKfU4qUEJVS1XGVi1W-lfJWkhabVuvYqxnoG17b55wu3OzdPF6qn_Ggh6Cx4MJhTKHGYd2iEKMNo9GkyeXBprgm7Wdqp2uoi6nCKdcrD-sf7QMuJO748HFwzrEospKz2XQ0NVP1p3ZE9sL3FfdDd534Yjquuvu7g7v8PBr89322vlj-ej7CfzF_ro=

You get more life and you don't need to spend a point on a strength only node (Beef) because Gymnastics gives strength instead. The downside is that you'll have less armour. I've been trying to figure out which build is optimal and I'm having a hard time choosing. Any thoughts, anyone?

Problem there is you dont take Sovereignty or the other mana reduction nodes. I think that node is essential to run 4 auras, you would have more HP but running Grace + Hatred is more important than running just one of them and having 400 HP more IMO.

I could go that way around lvl 90 but i was thinking about taking the HP nodes near the Scion Area and then the Phys Damage Node.

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JerryVoy wrote:

Problem there is you dont take Sovereignty or the other mana reduction nodes.

I was just reposting your tree. My current tree is much different:



So even with my current tree, you think the +50% to evasion is better than having access to those extra life nodes? I originally had the evasion nodes and I do miss them, but I figured it was only because I didn't grab extra life nodes to make up for the armour loss.

Essentially, it's between THIS and THIS. Both trees give practically the same amount of life, and the first is essentially 1 extra point for +50% evasion. Yeah, I guess that's worth it for the boost to Grace.

hey. been playing this build for a couple of days. i'm at level 38 now. just wondering is it worth to get mind drinker, 2% phys dmg leech as mana?

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robotbots wrote:

hey. been playing this build for a couple of days. i'm at level 38 now. just wondering is it worth to get mind drinker, 2% phys dmg leech as mana?

No, for several reasons. Most obvious one is: Mind Drinker is a Physical Attack Damage Leech; Etheral Knives is a spell, not an attack.

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toyotatundra wrote:

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robotbots wrote:

hey. been playing this build for a couple of days. i'm at level 38 now. just wondering is it worth to get mind drinker, 2% phys dmg leech as mana?

No, for several reasons. Most obvious one is: Mind Drinker is a Physical Attack Damage Leech; Etheral Knives is a spell, not an attack.

oh. thanks for the heads up.

Sooo... Yeah... Sorry if this is out of place but...
What do you ppl think of this?



Basically, I'm inclined to use a more crit oriented build, with PCoC.
I know that I won't have Sovereignty but still... Will probably be able to run 3 Auras easily.
I do think I would have more life, not quite sure.
Thinking about getting High Spell Damage Dagger with innate %Global Crit, and if possible some extra Global or Spell Crit Chance on it.
Also, avoided most Crit Multiplier for the sake of not one-shotting myself on Reflect packs.

I'm inclined to try this out, also, Witch start is obviously not required, other possibilities range from Scion to Shadow and Ranger.

So, any ideas? Changes? Critiques?

PS: Keeping in mind, the intent is Invasion.

What do you guys think of those life nodes left of MoM, 2 8% life, one 12% and golem's blood, are they worth that 2 extra dex points to get to them?