[3.1] [AHC] Hierophant - Your reach exceeds your grasp

This build template was taken from eviL_Bison's Duelist Build Template guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1904137

Guide Introduction



Welcome Exiles to the build I am currently playing (level 90) on Hardcore Abyss League!

"Nothing is more natural than competition.
One feasts, another starves.
One blossoms, another withers.
And one cannot catch the golden sunlight
without casting a bitter shadow."

Warning: This build might strain your computer. It relies on high action-rate and increased AoE!

Premise: Hierophant with a little Flavour. RF LL MoM ZO and More.

Pro's & Con's

This build is not recommended for a new player.

+ Amazingly fun
+ Eye bleach. Eye cancer. Aids. Be the bane of all party members existance
+ Effective up to tier 12 solo, and can party past this
+ Biggest RF on the block nearly
+ -119% enemy fire resistance with Balefire
+ Easily hit 3/3 of all charges
+ Bursty and slams content it can clear efficiently. Movement = DPS.

- Painfully bad boss killer
- Requires constant flasks (think Pathfinder)
- Somewhat costly, rare mods may be hard to find
- Some might find it slow to level, I did not
- Physical mitigation somewhat low for solo play. Requires constant basalt

Gear



Skill gems
Body

V.Disci - PoF - PoI - PoL - Enlighten(3) - V.Grace*
*I don't even run 6L yet

Poet
Desecrate - Bodyswap - Chance to Flee

Primary Shield
Frenzy - Stone Golem - Faster Attacks

Lightpoacher*
CWDT - IC - Phys2Lite
*If you chose to not run Lightpoacher try The Formless Inferno for 8% of Physical taken as fire

Allelopathy
RF - Burning - Ele. Focus - Inc. AoE

Bubonic
Discharge - CoH - Flammability

Switchables:
a) Change V.Disci if the party members you play with are not ES
b1) Press X to Balefire, with shield charge fortify
b2) Return to Poet to get over objects you can't shield charge over

Passive Tree

Level 90 Passive Tree:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAUCAAFvA5oD7gQHCPQLYQxfDXwOXBFQFy8YVhhdGyUcpxzcHb4fAh8YKPopTysmLJwspjLRM4c1uTbFN0c3ZjeDPAU8LTzvPV9FR0V-RZ1LrkyzUftSU1NSU6VWSFfJWG1boFxrXypkM2ZUZp5odGjyakNq-musbRlxYnUqfA58S37HgpuCx4NfhEiFMoV7i3qMdo8aj0aUoJZ0l5WX9JitmuCdrp48n9-m66cIpyunVa3xrv2vbLEFtoa3MbiTuNC86sBmw23Grs0W0B_YJNlb2jraYtrd4vfli-kC6-Tr7uwu7DjtIO987-v3wfnb-d356PrS?accountName=AcaseofNoob&characterName=GodlyColdMan

If you play my setup in Soft Core just take out the ES nodes at Scion and grab Pain Attunement.

Playstyle

This build utilizes a bunch of combos. Some of the combos synergize more than others.

Combo A) Pop coruscating, pop forbidden taste... this procs Soul of Arakaali Captured Arachnoxia effect for 50% increased Life and Energy Shield Recovery. Effectively turning off RF in the interim. Useful to max you regeneration -- as well as prevent any risk associated with Nullifier mobs and Coruscating Elixir.

Combo B) Pop Writhing jar, while RF is up... this procs Recovery on kill effects and gives a chance to gain Blue, Red, and Spirit charges... ideally you do this with Balefire on (X:swap) if the hit is chaos but regardless you'll net about 36% ES recovered if you empty the whole flask on either setup. (18% life and mana if you're on Balefire).

Combo C) You can use the Poets Pen to quickly travel along the map while dealing fair DPS. Make sure you pop Coruscating/Ruby flask before you begin moving or you will degenerate since the build depends on "regen while moving" abyssal jewels. The teleports have charges (since desecrate does) and therefore it behaves like Flame Dash. Once you run out of charges simply (X:Swap) and shield charge.

Combo D) You can easily get Green charges while teleporting with Poets pen since its link to Frenzy and it spams pretty decently. If you have a tough rare or map boss in front of you, it's good to stock up on the Frenzy charges and then pop Discharge to go for a freeze. It also applies your flammability and often that's enough to push over any mobs regeneration.

Combo E) If you get better gear than me, (I'm missing approximately 18% cold and 19% lightning res) then the wise oak flask will reduce damage taken from Fire (all the time) instead of only when your not using Coruscating) Ideal because it will allow you to reach (100-94fire res) = 6% fire damage taken * 0.9 = 5.4% fire damage taken. Meanwhile the coruscating elixir adds approximately 1k ES regen/sec. I sometimes will change that wise oak out with a Divination Distillate in order to gain +4% maximum elemental res as well as Item quantity for easier maps.

Combo F) Always cast Stone Golem after every (X:Swap) because the golems are in the shields!

Once you practice these combos it comes down to knowing when to use them.

Ideally you are doing combo A, C, D throughout the whole map. Combo E is more gear dependent but allows you to take upper end fire-damage effects like Detonate Dead. Combo B is something that you will use to "heal" low-medium damage effects on your ES pool. Whenever you take a massive hit, immediately use combo A.

Media

So this build will be using Soul of Arakaali to proc. +50% recovery to Life/ES. It will use old skool vaal pact recovery mechanisms. When you play in a party you can easily hit 10k es, for a 12k effective pool. MoM will apply to DoTs even with all this reserve mana. Investigate the ES recharge / regen numbers below to see for yourself. First picture is Pantheon Setup. Second picture is Standing Still in hideout with buffs. Third and final is Moving in map with buffs.



Hope you enjoy the build guide. Let me know if you have any questions.

This is an absolutely awesome guide. Looks like an insanely fun and rewarding build and I am excited to experiment with the mechanics and combos you use!

"

Gloodizzle wrote:

This is an absolutely awesome guide. Looks like an insanely fun and rewarding build and I am excited to experiment with the mechanics and combos you use!

Thanks a lot man. Working on another guide to post soon as well lol.