Source
r/pathofexile•
FlyingSpaghetti

What T2 builds are worth looking into?

We've had a ton of conversation around what T1 builds are most popular, this thread for example. I'd like to understand what realistic alternatives there are? I'm talking about Lacerate, Glacial Cascade, Flicker, builds that require some niche unique, etc.

Is there a reason to play any of these builds?

  • Is gear cheaper because the build is less popular?

  • Are any builds particularly fun?

  • Party-oriented but solo-viable?

Maybe someone asked this question towards the end of the essence, but I just can't find the thread.

Posted Dec 13, 2016, 3:15 PM UTC

2185
anapoetries to be reasonable•

I just want to point out that there are a lot of builds that are probably deserving of T1 status in terms of clear speed and safety that aren't known or popular right now, as the T1 designation has as much to do with popularity as it does with effectiveness.

16
ALannisterAssassin•

totally agree with this. Right now BF is heralded as T1 however I think many BF'ers are finding out that it requires gear to be amazing and isn't a strong league starter.

8
cjeysen•

I remember when BF was bladefall :D

4
ALannisterAssassin•

since Bladefall is one word while Blade Flurry is two it might make more logical sense to call them B builds or Bfall

4
gulmariGladiator•

Nah Bladefall is still BF blade flurry should be Blurry :D

1
EnderBaggins•

It didn't help that basically nobody said anything about how to actually do a blade flurry build (mathil's video on it pre league start is a good guide for end game sure), probably wanting to avoid the insane pathfinder blade vortex tunnel vision that happened last league. Fact is blade flurry is a really overtuned skill and it doesn't take amazing gear to breeze through all content up to yellow maps, you can do it with less than 20 chaos in gear.

3
ALannisterAssassin•

I would agree that BF is strong but simply put spell based builds (that don't require specific uniques) are generally significantly stronger at the start of a league than any attack based build

1
EnderBaggins•

Definitely, the only league attack was even close to being as smooth to level was last league when you could essence a new weapon every few zones.

3
Mageofsin•

I paid 10 for a dagger and self found the rest of my gear, just capped res and up to T7 one shotting packs. EZ starter build.

1
EnderBaggins•

Yeah and if you know how to look, you can get a dagger for a chaos or two and craft % phys, making it into a pretty nice weapon.

2
Wonkybonky•

Nice I got to like 76 on my inquis and found a binos, it's not like the best dagger in the game but it's a good starter for sure. I can do up to t9 maps with it. I'm absolutely positive that assassin is not the best blade flurry ascendancy though, even with top and gear. In starting to think that ele inquisitor blade flurry will be the best.

1
anapoetries to be reasonable•

This is me. I decided to go low-life inquisitor blade flurry out of the gate (never played inquisitor before) and after a couple leagues starting out as a chaos caster starting as an ele attacker was a bit of a shock.

2
ALannisterAssassin•

yea Inquis requires high high crit which requires GG gear

vs

flameblast which requires basically no special gear

3
anapoetries to be reasonable•

It's amazing how much it almost requires skyforth to excel.

1
FlyingSpaghettiOP•

I'm very interested in some examples, or if you could point me in the right direction for finding them on my own?

1
anapoetries to be reasonable•

Lots of chaos poison variants I haven't seen much of.

One guildmate is doing a dual obliteration poison blade vortex berserker, I'm pretty sure he clears screens at a running pace and would be top 10 if he was pushing for xp. He did Atziri Day 1 and Uber Day 2.

I believe a CI max AoE poison crit rapier cyclone from an Assassin start would be able to hit the entire screen while still very easily making 12k+ ES and 250k+ dps.

I did an Abyssal Cry Berserker two leagues ago and am fairly confident the build could give vaal spark a good fight for #1 to level 100 with the right team (clear maps at necro whirling blades speed).

Lots of summoner variants. We saw the AW video from the other day, but I believe it could be min/maxed a lot more and I believe a poison spectre build could be even faster.

Not much mention of King of the Forest, but that sort of build should be able to get T1 clear speed with the right setup.

2
Kensei141•

That obliteration poison blade sounds great. Is there any way that you can link his profile or a comparable guide? I would really appreciate it.

3
anapoetries to be reasonable•

Someone else actually just posted a video that looks fairly similar here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/5i55bb/bv_is_back_on_a_budget_all_content_on_less_than/

I believe it's dual wield obliteration, with cospri chest to make the explosions and blade vortex poison, then a very high damage noncrit conc blade vortex.

4
daroteOccultist•

Your build depends mostly on your endgame goal:

  • you love leveling and process tree improving, exping over 90 - pick a fast "I kill while moving" build

  • you love lab farming - pick an armour based regen build or a high ES build

  • you love mf - pick a ranged build

  • you love endgame bosses raids - pick a high/insta leech build

  • you love master leveling - pick a fast movement build (searching masters on maps)

  • you love pvp - pick pvp oriented/punishment curse build

  • you love earning a lot of currency - pick a hall of grandmasters farming build (like EA)

I'd recommend first to choose what you want to do with your build/gameplay, then pick the skill according to the decision, than pick a build around that skill from forums.

13
mmogamr•

Glad I opened this thread. I play EA every league, but have never heard Hall suggested. Any insight on why it's specifically good here?

Edit:I meant currency-wise. I know EA can clear it super fast. I guess I just assumed it wasn't worth running?

4
daroteOccultist•

Plenty of people want to have this map added to their "almost full" Atlas, yet only a few builds like EA are capable to finish this map. So you can have drops from map for yourself + currency from selling spots to finish this map for other players - in example you buy map for 4c, clear it leaving 1 easy exile remaining and sell free spots/portals for 10-15c. There are always people interested on /global /trade 820.

4
Crayz92Champion•

Don't use /global 820 to sell spots though, that channel is dedicated to sharing not profit.

16
ZePampleRoha Protector•

Sell it in trade 820 ;)

6
GlabadosChurch•

Very bad idea. It'll piss people off in 820 and you'll get banned.

4
daroteOccultist•

I thought about /trade 820, sorry.

6
[deleted]•

[deleted]

-1
JustPointingOutThe•

clear it leaving 1 easy exile remaining

Thats not how it works. Gladly they got rid of this "full clear" bullshit in the challenges/Atlas. To complete a map you only need to kill the boss or open the chest if it has no boss like Grandmaster.

So for HoGM you can kill everything and then sell the 4 Box openings.

3
daroteOccultist•

than you for pointing this

1
mmogamr•

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the heads up!

1
SixSixTrampleComplete Noob•

I'm thinking about trying EA for the first time. I don't really have any crazy currency or gear, but it looks fun. I've got a Death's Opus I could use for a while...how does EA do in general? I don't think I'd ever have enough time to do Uber Atziri or anything, but getting to T12+?

Any recommended guides?

Thanks!

1
mmogamr•

This is the guide I'm using this league https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1712493

This is the 4th league that I've done EA. I haven't had any trouble doing T13+ and whatnot. I haven't tried guardians or shaper this league though. I want a last few pieces of gear before I attempt.

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/mmogamr

I'm a bit geared at the moment, but one of the things that keeps me coming back to EA is how great of a league starter it is. You can run it off almost no currency.

You realllly don't want to use EA until about A4M. My progression (once I switch) is usually nolink quill + 5L chest > 5link quill + same chest or belly > 5L quill + kaoms >6L quill.

I'd say 5Lquill + kaoms can easily clear anything short of guardians and that difficulty of stuff.

3
SixSixTrampleComplete Noob•

Thanks, I'll check out the guide.

1
niuagepathofmaps.com•

EA elementalist is very good. I had decent gear, but nothing crazy. 6L quillrain, +1 arrow quiver. With EA, the clearspeed is amazing, and seriously, you easily "one-shot" packs with 1 or 2 fuses in T16 maps. Where I was struggling a bit was the single target... I didn't kill shaper with it, but killed some guardians. Getting to T12+ is a breeze.

2
SixSixTrampleComplete Noob•

Nice, thanks

1
AbyssV3ESC - Ichthyas•

With a Death's Opus, look into King of the Forest LA Crit (Chaos Dmg). I know it's not EA but it's another really fun bow build. With the Opus, you only need Snakebites (5c or so) and a drillneck and you've got a pretty good base to start on. All other uniques are just optimization and not necessary to play the character., and Opus is great until you can manage to afford a Reach (I just switched to Reach yesterday at lvl 85).

2
SixSixTrampleComplete Noob•

I was looking at that build...that's the one where the guy killed shaper with a crude bow right?

I really like the movement speed aspect of that...have to see how much a drillneck is...

1
Unaufhaltbarrtwitch.tv/telkandore•

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/SalsaRoja/characters

Take a look at Cast_on_Cuck.

Party viable and solo viable.

Whirling Blades into packs, Diamond Flask + Cyclone, and one shot nearly everything with Pyre Vortex + ignite more multiplier bullshit and the rest will burn to death.

Use Vaal Ice Nova in a 4L for fast breach clears. Hug your GPU before you press the button, though

8
tsHavok•

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/tsHavok/characters

Character name Czar

My take on a sc Breach variant. Super strong and incredible clear speeds. Waiting for haku 7 to get attack speed on gloves and im pretty much done gearing until skyforths. I regret going elementalist btw, trickster is the way to go

4
Unaufhaltbarrtwitch.tv/telkandore•

You mad that I got 0.97 Whirling Blades attack speed before Walk the Aether?

Nice to see someone else going Vagan dagger. Everyone on http://poebuilds.io that CoCs Vortex uses a Cospri's Malice

What did you think of leveling? I convinced two other people to try it, and we all agree that leveling it sucked hard until 80+

1
tsHavok•

Leveling was pretty brutal, i have it in my mind to level with my end skill but this time hurt more than others. Should have stuck with firestorm as I was already elementalist lol

2
RedeNEllaTrickster•

Interesting choice of ICD instead of Controlled Destruction. Is that +100% multi really better than double dipping more spell damage?

I also used Shield Charge on my CoC Vortex for more speed, but Cyclone means you don't need Orb of Storms for single target (I need OoS to keep EE up while the DoTs are ticking, you just keep cycloning)

How do you find your proc consistency? I notice your dagger has quite low crit chance.

2
Unaufhaltbarrtwitch.tv/telkandore•

I had Controlled Destruction until an hour before I logged last night. Someone suggested I try ICD instead. I prefer ContDest at the moment; I haven't Math of Exiled it, but that more dipping is noticeable

The crit isn't reliable without Diamond. I am at like 49%, and I really need both Cyclone AND Vortex to crit to get those sexy one shots and insane ignites. I was desperate for a crafted Vagan dagger and went with what you see.

1
RedeNEllaTrickster•

Ah, that makes sense, your dagger has a very low crit roll, but I guess using cyclone gives you more chances to proc anyway.

I think with charges up I have 70ish% so it's not great without diamond, but it's super consistent with a diamond.

With shield charge I definitely feel more comfortable with a decent crit dagger rather than a multimod. Maybe I'll upgrade to multimod one day..

Even without full on math of exile, +100% multi will be an overall increase to damage based on whatever your current multi is, while double dipping 1.44 multiplier (44% more damage) ends up doubling your ignite and cold degen damage. I do doubt that it's worth it overall as +100% multi only doubles your damage if you had no multi before. It also doesn't affect the cold degen at all.

I really need both Cyclone AND Vortex to crit to get those sexy one shots and insane ignites.

what is your spell crit looking like? my vortex crits more reliably than my shield charge since I have a crit to spells roll on my dagger and am using voidbringers

2
Unaufhaltbarrtwitch.tv/telkandore•

Yeah; I need to switch to Voidbringers; I'd lose attack speed on gloves but I'd get crit chance for spells and sexier Vaal Ice Nova.

Also need to switch to Patient Reaper instead of Swift Killer more increased dmg/time, but I am addicted to atk spd

From Hideout, nothing up
Cyclone, 42%
Vortex, 50%

Definitely switching back to Controlled Destruction and giving that one guy an earful! Thanks for the opinions :)

1
Soultrane9Filthy Casual•

Cast_on_Cuck

I'm crying.

My toon's name this league is Fagzerker.

1
Unaufhaltbarrtwitch.tv/telkandore•

To make matters worse, my guild's tag is Kappa

0
turtsmcgurts•

how is the single target?

1
Unaufhaltbarrtwitch.tv/telkandore•

Not the worst, not the best.

I'm thinking of having a 4L Flame Surge on my boots instead of this semi-reliable pcoc-bv-cwdt thing.

1
turtsmcgurts•

saw you and havoc talking about the early game, when would you say is a good time to switch to the build? just got to dried lake and utterly hate firestorm.

edit: also why not vaal pact? only 4 nodes away. atziris promise + boot enchant probably wouldn't be too bad.

1
Unaufhaltbarrtwitch.tv/telkandore•

I'm farming mainly t11-t13 maps. I'm not doing anything too RIPpy. You can add the leech + Vaal Pact if you want to do the Atziri, Uber Izaro, Guardians, etc. farming.

I switched at 61 and it was horribad. I put my face on the desk and resigned "why am I playing this shit? this is the worst build I've ever thought of". Kept going. Just hit 90 an hour ago.

A lot of the nodes I took were "temporary" like the ones at the top with the +% dmg over time and the Swift Killer instead of Patient Reaper.

If I had to do it again, I might level up with Voll's Protector and use the Lycosidae shield and a well rolled dagger with attack speed, spell damage, crit chance, and crit multi then just zoom with CoC Discharge and switch at like 68. Leveling is ass without attack speed on this thing.

You could also do Cospri's Malice CoC Burning Vortex like most people are doing. This version is hipsterish.

1
wooly23•

I am running a Fireball Elementalist, it is more solo oriented but it is a hell of a lot of fun.

Just getting into the bulk of red maps now at lvl 89, although I could use a few more skill points. I am able to nuke normal Izaro before he leaves his platform if I crit, if not just kite and the ignite knocks him out.

3
Reidanlol•

I am able to nuke normal Izaro before he leaves his platform if I crit

I would hope you could nuke a lvl ~33 boss that fast

3
wooly23•

-.- I meant Merciless, normal as in not uber.. woops

1
metaphorm•

Scorching Ray Inquisitor is pretty great imo.

3
insomm•

It is alright, but still very slow.

There are lots of better builds that are under the radar and clear almost as well as the T1 builds (better than the ones that are there for popularity alone).

1
chip_idiotdeadeye rat's nest maligaros life based torando shoot•

Glacial Cascade is t4

3
Another_Desk_Jockey•

Anything that was a T1 build in 2.0-2.4 and no longer is but wasn't insanely nerfed. That's the sweet spot between power and gear affordability.

I'm running an EQ Jugg right now (if I could do it again I would probably go Slayer, but that's neither here nor there.)

2
cXs808•

(if I could do it again I would probably go Slayer, but that's neither here nor there.)

go on

(I'm rolling an EQ tonight)

1
Another_Desk_Jockey•

The leech on Slayer is very good right now while the reliability of Juggernaut to produce maximum endurance charges isn't the best on single target fights. Since mine is an uber farmer the start of the fight with Iz is very dangerous while I kite him to cast enduring cry the 3-4 times it takes to max charges. This comes out to 12+ seconds of running and gaining charges while Iz is breathing down my neck.

Slayer can just dive right into his ass and leech.

5
cXs808•

How geared is your juggernaut? I want to try Norse's EQ Slayer but the prices on Atziri's Disfavor is insane, 9-10ex for not even a 6 socket. I'd likely be running Kaom's Primacy forever

My goals would be to do sub 8min full key uber runs, guardians and possibly uber atziri. Don't need shaper as I have another char that can do shaper

1
WorldatWarFixstill wait for spectre fixes•

I'd likely be running Kaom's Primacy forever

Why no one uses Hezmana's? In 90% of guides the answer to question "Is there any cheap axe I can use?" is Kaom's Primacy. But Hezmana's is almost strictly better, especially for Slayer.

5
Another_Desk_Jockey•

Not very. Under 2ex worth of gear. Maybe even under 1 now that prices are falling. I can't do sub 8 minute runs, I have to really take my time because my gear is pretty much trash.

1
Egregorious•

I haven't seen many people talk about Golemancer all that much, it's pretty fantastic, cleared all content so far with relative ease. It's also fun, you can choose how lazy you want to be.

It was kind of cheap in the first week, I managed to get everything necessary in under 2 ex, but now Primordial Mights have tripled in value (not quite sure why them specifically, it doesn't seem worth it to stack Mights in my opinion).

2
zeroGamer•

Seriously, can anyone explain the primordial might cost? I first saw them at 80C when the other jewels were at 2-3C, now Might has jumped up 100+ over just 2-3 days and I just don't see it being that worth it unless there's some kind of instant boss -killing shenanigans stacking them. For regular content you can easily clear shit even in past patches without Primordial Might, without the HUGE damage boost golems for this patch, without the Aggressive Golems tag, or the extra golems from Anima Stone.

2
anapoetries to be reasonable•

Demand is moderate and supply is really tiny? I think they're super rare.

2
GlabadosChurch•

Got a link to your character? Also, what gem / gear or flask swaps did you have to make for the hardest bosses?

1
DeadRights•

I've personally been running the pentagolem build that's been going around on the witch forum. You basically run a level 21 flame golem, gmp, spell echo, controlled destruction, minion damage, and level 4 empower. Flasks are Rumis and then whatever you want really.

2
Reidanlol•

heres my take on it thats a bit different from others

I swap aoe/prolif for conc + contr destr and swap flesh offering for vaal lightning trap on tough bosses and the ignite/poison just melts them then

1
vejket•

I have been running ci dagger flicker this league (first char) and have had a blast.

Clearspeed is insane and damage is great. It doesn't do well in large parties and survivability ain't that great because i have no stun immunity or constant leech. I have also spent way WAY too much on this char and it still needs better gear. I have done ghosted t14 shrine piety deathless though (with flicker).

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/vejket/characters vejkethyppii is char

1
Tortur3Vortex•

Ive only been playing a week and I just made my build up as I went along. Its gone pretty well. I soloed merciless labyrinth in my 1st attempt with it which didnt seem too bad. It was really fun and quite tense.

1
Mageofsin•

Animate weapon!. I have tried to do my own build during essence and proph but it wasn't quite right. Ill be trying again this league but its super strong can do just about all the content too. Leveling is horrible though unless I'm doing it wrong, any AW players feel free to give tips :)

1
veranblack•

Aw-> spell totem for trash

2
Sulinia•

Speaking of Tier 2 builds. Does anyone know of a decent Ball Lightning build for HC Breach, which can do breaches/bosses?

0