[3.6] Pure Fire Anguish Vortex | 20m Shaper DPS | 9-10m with cheap gear | Everything instantly dies
 The Idea
Spoiler
No the title isn't edgy, its just based heavily off of the Circle of Anguish ring released with Synthesis.
While the increased fire damage is a nice and unnecessary bonus to have on the ring, the true damage comes from improving the effect of Herald of Ash. Some math: Herald of Ash at Level 21 adds 15% Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage, and also improves all fire damage dealt with spells by 13%. Blade Vortex is base physical damage, so it benefits from the first part, and we're converting all the damage to fire damage, so it benefits from the second. Then we TRIPLE the bonus with two Circle of Anguish rings that increase the buff effect by up to 100% each. So, our Herald of Ash adds almost 45% Physical Damage as Extra Fire damage, and then improves that damage by 39% MORE. This pretty much doubles our damage with 25% mana reserved, far more than any other aura / buff. I went with Vaal Blade Vortex because from the limited pool of spells that do Physical damage, Blade Vortex has always been my favorite. This build scales extremely well. You can do 4-6m DPS with <1ex investment, or over 25m with mirror-tier gear. Class / Ascendancy
Spoiler
This build can be safely done on a number of classes / ascendancies. Trickster (Shadow): Best quality of life. Blade Vortex eats up a lot of mana, and Tricksters have little problems with mana. It makes mapping and bossing comfortable, and a hybrids setup allows from roughly 7000 EHP between HP and ES. Elementalist (Witch): Conflux is one of the few ways you can freeze / shock with this build. In terms of burst damage, hitting a giant Shocking Conflux hit could potentially yield the highest damage overall, but its somewhat clunky to play around consecutive buffs. The massive fire penetration and improved Herald of Ash buff is a nice bonus. Chieftain (Marauder): Sacrificing ES for ~7000 HP and far more bulk, the Chieftan is unique in that they get the Avatar of Fire effect, circumventing the need for Xoph's Blood while also being able to do Chaos damage, allowing things like Atziri's Promise to add massive amounts of damage. Highest potential damage overall on specific bosses like Shaper, because getting Shaper covered in Ash is far easier with Chieftain than Xoph's Blood. More on Chieftain:
Spoiler
PoB: https://pastebin.com/dfb0KiFE
Because the Chieftain Ascendancy doesn't prevent other damage types, you can use other sources of extra damage like Atziri's Promise to add huge amounts of damage. Additionally, I went full on tank-mode and switched Carcass Jack out for a Kaom's and I have almost 8600 HP. You do lose out on the CWDT IC and Wave of Conviction, though. This guide focuses on the Trickster Variant as its the most accessible overall. The Build
Spoiler
Path of Building (w/ Xoph's Blood):
Spoiler
Path of Building (no Xoph's Blood):
Spoiler
Gear:
Spoiler
Priority for obtaining items: More important than anything else on the build, an increased Herald of Ash buff effect Circle of Anguish skyrockets your DPS. Get two of them. High (90%) buff effect rings start at around 50c http://poe.trade/search/ikitaraugoyeni The Signal Fire is required whether you have Xoph's Blood or Avatar of Fire from the tree (its only 4 points out of the way). This is the first half of our 50% Physical to Fire conversion, and it also has a very nice stat stick effect with huge added phys as fire damage. Eventually, aim for a fire damage leech corruption (or get that anywhere on any of your gear) The bow should be your next goal, and it is where you can possibly sink the most currency. This bow is completely ridiculous and unnecessary, and a simple crit multi +2 Support Gems craft bow still does well over 14 million DPS with a fraction of the cost. Hell, with literally nothing equipped in your weapon slot you're still doing 6m DPS. To get the appropriate sockets, I'd definitely recommend Vorici's Syndicate Bench to add white sockets. Otherwise, craft 3B repeatedly (this is way more expensive in terms of Chromatic cost) but still costs 1-2 exalts depending how lucky you are. Xoph's is probably the least important of the "core" items, so prioritize it last. You can just take Avatar of Fire in the meantime and use literally anything else. Carcass Jack is great for all-around damage and defense, and its stats synergize nicely with the Trickster Ascendancy. Go with Evasion / ES armor bases if you can. Damage leeched as life and mana enchant is perfect for boots to make mapping smoother, although Trickster is usually fine with mana. Gem Links:
Spoiler
Vaal Blade Vortex + Empower + Intensify + Concentrated Effect + Elemental Focus (5L) + Fire Penetration (6L)
Storm Brand + Curse on Hit + Assassin's Mark + Combustion Vortex + Arcane Surge + Scourge Arrow + Vaal Righteous Fire Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Wave of Conviction Herald of Ash + Zealotry + Enlighten (optional) To go into God mode before a fight, channel Scourge Arrow until max Frenzy / Power charges (Trickster), pop Vaal Blade Vortex, Vaal Righteous Fire, Vortex for Arcane Surge, and Storm Brand to apply Assassin's Mark and Combustion. Then, all your flasks. Pantheon / Bandits
Spoiler
Alira for Bandit.
I like Lunaris + Grukthul because the build has basically zero physical mitigation and you can quickly die from pure physical damage if you're not careful. Leveling
Spoiler
Level with Xoph's Inception and The Signal Fire. These can both be acquired before Act III and are cheap. You won't be fully converting to fire yet, so using any other form of Conversion while leveling is fine. (I used Hrimsorrow gloves). Videos:
Spoiler
Pure Chayula Breachstone - https://youtu.be/yZO8ZJo860U
Shaper 100-0 - https://youtu.be/wiHjippGqRQ T16 Hydra with 8 mods - https://youtu.be/HLzZIS058eA The videos aren't much to look at because everything instantly dies. F.A.Qs
Spoiler
Q: Why Elemental Focus / no ignite?
Generally, everything dies instantly so having a DoT doesn't really matter. Last edited by SoupJoond on Apr 16, 2019, 2:43:06 AM Last bumped on Jun 27, 2019, 5:49:52 PM
| |
|
Hello, got about 10ex to spend to try this build. Seems pretty nice, just when i saw the Bow i was like eh, damn next 20ex just on Bow, but whatever:P. This thing looks pretty good. Keep it up and the good work!
| |
|
You should be completely fine with 10ex. I made a cheaper bow in the PoB and still got over 12m DPS. let me know how it goes!
| |
|
Would you say that the leveling part of this build is pretty easy or kind of a pain ? Otherwise, it seems like a great build!
| |
|
Leveling is actually really easy. You use Blade Vortex from 12 and that's it. Xoph's Inception and The Signal Fire are cheap leveling items and you actually end up using The Signal Fire as a core item.
You will need mana flasks, though, unless you use something like a Mark of Submission with Warlord's Mark. | |
|
Hey there. Coming back after 14 days of playing this build. I did some changes to tree (for my preference tbh) and this build is massacre. I have everything to maximize my DPS, except Bottled Faith, but without it i have 15m POB DPS (Shaper DPS). Any ideas, what i can do "Better" on this build? I think i am on edge of possibilites. My bow is almost insane as yours with dmg. I think in future i replace Increased duration in 6L CWDT setup for Dread Banner (21/20), when i have Enlighten lvl4 for my Zealotry and Herald of Ash. I have used 2 points on Skill Tree for Reducad Mana Cost of Skills + Max mana, so i can cast more often. And also, i have Blade Vortex Enchant on Helmet (for Duration, for QOL, i am lazy with casting). And its pretty nice... You can look on my character - Dracotix_
| |
|
Have you considered not going Avatar of Fire?
You could, instead: 1. Wear Devouring Diadem, reserve 100% of mana with Anger, Zealotry, Herald of Ash 2. Equip Phys -> Fire conversion Anger Watcher's Eye 3. Craft Phys -> Fire on gloves to achieve 100% conversion 4. Take Harness the Void instead of Weave the Arcane 5. Wear Eternity Shroud with Shaper amulet, boots, gloves, belt for an extra 25% elemental as chaos. 6. Use Atziri's Flask I haven't plugged it in to PoB, but seems like DPS should skyrocket unless I'm missing something, not that you need it apparently. You get ES leech from Heart of Flame, so you can go MoM and still never worry about being able to cast. | |
|
I will try it in PoB. Damage is just insane. You don't need any more of DPS, just survivability. Some damage spikes are deadly.
| |
" I plugged all that in to PoB and went from around 19m to 27m DPS, but I did lose a lot of QoL stuff. No Stygian Vise, extreme loss of EHP, would have to drop my awesome Synthesized Boots for more Shaper (though you could ignore that), etc. You can definitely get more damage out of the build if you do that, but its at the point where do you really need to kill Shaper any faster than one second to lose some QoL? Last edited by SoupJoond on May 2, 2019, 2:56:04 PM
| |
" Honestly I wouldn't change much. The missing Bottled Faith is the only difference between your DPS and mine. If you wanted a bit more damage, you'd want to switch the Abyss jewels for regular jewels with two crit multi mods, with a bonus #% max life if you can find it. |
