Hi there
Well, after some break from PoE I started again with the new league. Aim was to get the four challenges. I haven't played HC before on PoE so it was my first try.
I needed a build that is fairly sturdy. E.g. if there's a disconnect, it doesn't just die. So, I needed to defense (life, resis). Also I needed a build that is fairly cheap... starting with a new league there's no currency to spare
but yet it should be able to handle maps and stuff.
I first tried with a static striker mara... that worked well but at about lvl 60 or so it didn't quite pull the job anymore. At the same time I also started a stunner. I pretty much started out with static strike at first because groundslam is just so expensive (mana-wise).
Once I got Multistrike and Mana Leech, I switched over. Basically I followed this guide here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1089587
The only real expensive item you need is mace that makes good damage. Early on, Geofri's baptism is good... later on Mahori Erqi or Kongor's.
Personally, I prefer Kongor's over Mahori Erqi because it saves me one skill point, I can get onslaught and does about same damage but is way faster.
The reason why I chose to switch over to Mace with multistrike was because until then, static strike provided a full circle "defense". When you have multstrike and groundslam, you also cover most attack vectors from mob since multistrike will attack with 2nd and 3rd strike automatically at mobs. Also, with high dps output and all the stun nodes, blue and white mobs get perma stunned with that if they come into the range. Stunned mobs can't hurt you. Also most yellow mobs should be stunned by groundslam.
So, at lvl 74, 3500 hitpoints I deal enough damage to perma-stun Piety and Dominus on Merciless with 5-Link Kongor (dealing 12500 dps tooltip damage with Heavy Strike).
The built is sturdy because you get a good amount of hit points with all the life nodes. Also you should have permanent Endurance charges on with it... depending 6 or 7 charges (Oak Merciless) which provide another 30-35% damage reduction.
Also I use CwDT (3), EC (6), IC (6), Warlord's Mark (5). So, often IC gets called.
During your skill point assignement you also get rather a few resis-all nodes making it even easier to max resis out on merciless and get +life items. 1% Mana Leech and 2% Life Leech are usually enough though.
Also, 5-link for ground slam should be sufficient to carry you through < 70 maps. Haven't tested higher maps though.
I tried to get Death's Oath and Chaos Resis but couldn't get it. Belly of the Beast would be a good alternative chest since it will increase your life even more.
For normal botting, replace the Heavy Strike in your 4+ Link slot with Vengeance. Meaning if there's bad connection etc it will still kill a lot of mobs close to you and provide endurance charges again.
Of course, Mahori Erqi and Kongor aren't the ultimate maces. If you get higher DPS maces uses them.
IMHO order of imporance for affixes on items:
1. Resis -> max them
2. +life -> get as much life as you can
3. armour -> IMHO better to use lower armour with more life than higher armour with less life: Rationale: You get so much % life nodes that you profit way more than from the diminishing returns from additional armour. 200 life is worth more than 200 more armour.
As said, in my opinion it's a fairly cheap build. Kongor sells currently between 5-8 chaos, Mahori is 2-3 ex IIRC and if you're lucky and get a higher DPS mace then it's even cheaper. Rest of the gear, self-found, is no issue. You should easily max your resis and get around 3500 life with lvl 65-70. Then you just need a big weapon. Also most of the gems you'll get during questing.
As for the auras: The build sues Vitality and this is mainly related to Death's Oath IMHO. DO deals 450 chaos damage per second for 10 seconds after a kill to the player. So this needs to be negated with chaos resis and life regen. Instead of Vitality you could possibly use different auras. However I do like the additional life regen on HC. Especially if there's desync and stuff.... the life regen is done server-side so you'll last longer.
P.S.: Despite rather high DPS output most damage was physical damage. I didn't encounter problems with reflect mobs. With the charges up and IC called quite often, physical reflect didn't bother me and with the life I have the elemental reflect didn't bother me much either.
Well, after some break from PoE I started again with the new league. Aim was to get the four challenges. I haven't played HC before on PoE so it was my first try.
I needed a build that is fairly sturdy. E.g. if there's a disconnect, it doesn't just die. So, I needed to defense (life, resis). Also I needed a build that is fairly cheap... starting with a new league there's no currency to spare
but yet it should be able to handle maps and stuff.I first tried with a static striker mara... that worked well but at about lvl 60 or so it didn't quite pull the job anymore. At the same time I also started a stunner. I pretty much started out with static strike at first because groundslam is just so expensive (mana-wise).
Once I got Multistrike and Mana Leech, I switched over. Basically I followed this guide here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1089587
The only real expensive item you need is mace that makes good damage. Early on, Geofri's baptism is good... later on Mahori Erqi or Kongor's.
Personally, I prefer Kongor's over Mahori Erqi because it saves me one skill point, I can get onslaught and does about same damage but is way faster.
The reason why I chose to switch over to Mace with multistrike was because until then, static strike provided a full circle "defense". When you have multstrike and groundslam, you also cover most attack vectors from mob since multistrike will attack with 2nd and 3rd strike automatically at mobs. Also, with high dps output and all the stun nodes, blue and white mobs get perma stunned with that if they come into the range. Stunned mobs can't hurt you. Also most yellow mobs should be stunned by groundslam.
So, at lvl 74, 3500 hitpoints I deal enough damage to perma-stun Piety and Dominus on Merciless with 5-Link Kongor (dealing 12500 dps tooltip damage with Heavy Strike).
The built is sturdy because you get a good amount of hit points with all the life nodes. Also you should have permanent Endurance charges on with it... depending 6 or 7 charges (Oak Merciless) which provide another 30-35% damage reduction.
Also I use CwDT (3), EC (6), IC (6), Warlord's Mark (5). So, often IC gets called.
During your skill point assignement you also get rather a few resis-all nodes making it even easier to max resis out on merciless and get +life items. 1% Mana Leech and 2% Life Leech are usually enough though.
Also, 5-link for ground slam should be sufficient to carry you through < 70 maps. Haven't tested higher maps though.
I tried to get Death's Oath and Chaos Resis but couldn't get it. Belly of the Beast would be a good alternative chest since it will increase your life even more.
For normal botting, replace the Heavy Strike in your 4+ Link slot with Vengeance. Meaning if there's bad connection etc it will still kill a lot of mobs close to you and provide endurance charges again.
Of course, Mahori Erqi and Kongor aren't the ultimate maces. If you get higher DPS maces uses them.
IMHO order of imporance for affixes on items:
1. Resis -> max them
2. +life -> get as much life as you can
3. armour -> IMHO better to use lower armour with more life than higher armour with less life: Rationale: You get so much % life nodes that you profit way more than from the diminishing returns from additional armour. 200 life is worth more than 200 more armour.
As said, in my opinion it's a fairly cheap build. Kongor sells currently between 5-8 chaos, Mahori is 2-3 ex IIRC and if you're lucky and get a higher DPS mace then it's even cheaper. Rest of the gear, self-found, is no issue. You should easily max your resis and get around 3500 life with lvl 65-70. Then you just need a big weapon. Also most of the gems you'll get during questing.
As for the auras: The build sues Vitality and this is mainly related to Death's Oath IMHO. DO deals 450 chaos damage per second for 10 seconds after a kill to the player. So this needs to be negated with chaos resis and life regen. Instead of Vitality you could possibly use different auras. However I do like the additional life regen on HC. Especially if there's desync and stuff.... the life regen is done server-side so you'll last longer.
P.S.: Despite rather high DPS output most damage was physical damage. I didn't encounter problems with reflect mobs. With the charges up and IC called quite often, physical reflect didn't bother me and with the life I have the elemental reflect didn't bother me much either.
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