Barely Playable AoE Cyclone

I Wanted to create a cyclone build that felt as good as pre 2.6 AoE nerfs. I think this is close but I am sure someone else can either take this to the next level or come up with something even better! This started out as a meme build but it turned out to be pretty decent at map clear speed. I did not make this build for boss killing but I may try to do some bossing at a later date. With 320+ eDPS swords and conc. in I think P.O.B. showed around 700k dps vs shaper, so it may be viable.

Starting with the best item in the game and pretty self explanatory, this gives us +6 to weapon range and what this build was designed around. NUFF SAID!


You want to a decent weapon with great attack speed followed by critical strike chance followed by flat elemental damage. Even better yet - if it has an open suffix you can craft +2 weapon range. This sword however was made by using Deafening Essence of Dread. Took me about 10 tries to make this. I consider myself pretty lucky. It's not great but its enough for my mapping needs. Also the reason why its on a elder base is because I was hoping to get % area of effect. Ultimately I think its way better to just get 300+ eDPS sword with high critical strike and craft +2 weapon range, but if you have some $ to spam your own or even meta craft or what have you - go for it. (please post images of your crafts, I wanna see!)


I usually do not do bosses at all as they are not rewarding what so ever, however when and if I do I weapon swap. These weapons are what you should ideally go for as I mentioned above. The first one I bought for 15c, the second one I found.


I think this is best in slot for chest piece however you can make an argument for carcass jack for AoE and life or queen of the forest for life and MOVEMENT SPEED! However this build already reaches 200+ MS and to me that feels fine. With this chest you get +2 to your cyclone so no need for lvl 21 cyclone gem and it gives you A TON of damage. However if money is no option or you already have a lvl21 gem then by all means, try another chest.


Life, AoE, accuracy, resists :). Cannot ask for more. However if you think your AoE is fine or you want more movement speed, devoto's devotion is a great option.


You could get yourself an elder amulet with AoE, life, crit, dmg, resits, etc. But I needed resists and the fact that this gives you movement speed, +2 weapon range and a ton of dmg, I HAD to get it.


Bought for 40c, pretty nice overall, this was the last thing I got so it has very specific resists. These can vary from 10c to 10ex... it just depends on which resists you need.


Bought one week into the league for 20c (YES I GOT LUCKY), triple T1 suffix (NEED RESISTS!) came with cold dmg, I slammed fire dmg on it - not the best but still decent for our build. If you can get your self a lot more flat elemental damage or elemental damage with attack skills or just use opal rings then you are miles ahead of me. (Oh yea make sure you get ~300+ accuracy on at least 3 of your items, and/or ~900+ total with abyssal jewels)


So this build wants jewels and a lot of them so get yourself some tombfist, not sure how much two abyssal sockets ones are now, but bought ~ 2 weeks into the league for like 60c. One abyssal socket however will do just fine.


Best in slot for one chaos. #feelsgoodman, alternatevely if you need more resists, get yourself a stygian vise with resists, life and elemental damage.


I don't know about you but I don't have 25ex or however much they are now for (two abyssal sockets) ones. One socket will be plenty or again, just regular boots with life, movement speed and resists.

Abyssal jewels: you want life -> elemental damage -> critical strike multiplier -> attack speed -> accuracy -> resists. Pretty much in that order unless you are missing crit multi, accuracy or resists for some reason. You can take a look at all my jewels in my gear and tree. All of them besides one were anywhere between 10 and 40 chaos. The left abyssal jewel in my belt I spent 2 ex on... worth it? Maybe. the right one I bought for 40c and slammed 35 life :). I can get lucky sometimes!


FORGOT TO ADD the most important jewel.

General Mapping:

#CritForWinWithoutCurses


Nice quality of life, it doesn't add as much dmg as atziri's promise but it gives us some + nice defensive measures.


MUST for this build... LOL j/k its absolutely nice to have but not required - tho is is semi-max-AoE build... so get one soon!


Removes bleeding and heals us, nuff said again.


You want movement speed and either reduced duration, max charges or increased effect for more speed.

Other good options:


Damage, quality of life (both ways) - pretty good over all, I use this instead of dying sun when running labs.

Ton of damage, propably best dmg wise flask you can get. The only flask that may be better is wise oak - but my resists are not aligned so - yea... i dont use it. Could also use Vinktar's possibly but to me its been nerfed too much.


I use this for again... lab runs OR general mapping when I do rippy maps I swap this out for the diamond flask.

I am running out of time so I will just mention all the gems that I substitute here and there and not the actual gem links in main gear. For links look at my gear, I will be playing this character for a while so there shouldn't be any changes. (when and if there are, I will update when I have more time)


The only read MVP is herald of ice for the splosions. herald of thunder or wrath are fine to add to your build but they don't add as much dmg as one would think and thats because they aren't scaled on the same level as our abyssal jewels. I usually run with herald of thunder or grace on rippy maps. on - regen or no regen maps I tend to run only herald of ice.


depending on your socket colors or if you run blood rage, you can substitute Damage on full life or ice bite for crit multi gem.


for bosses hypothermia is waaaay more dmg but ice bite is nice quality of life, both in freezing and in generating frenzy charges.


for bosses: yeah!

Could help Alira for crit multi and resists or help Kraityn for attack speed, dodge and movement speed. I just wanted 2 points so that's what I did.

I love pathfinder - always have and probably always will but you can go raider for more movement speed, slightly less damage and AoE, Slayer for more AoE, less damage and movement speed or potentially for ascendant. Slayer and Raider will be pretty much the same tree - ascendant not sure - haven't looked too much into it.

Ascendancy Points:
I went for Nature's Boon -> Master Alchemist -> Nature's Adrenaline -> Veteran Bowyer

Cannot run elemental reflect.
Physical reflect hurts a lot, I don't run it, but if you do: take out damage on full life gem and put in life gained on hit... that... might... work... also use rumi's flask and basalt... good luck.
Monsters avoid elemental status is annoying but not bad.
Hexproof ^^^
Less AoE ^^^
Low/no regen maps i dislike but only because I spam the attack skill too much. If you don't you are fine, if you do, then do like I do and turn off you grace/herald of thunder/wrath, and just run with herald of ice.

If you decide to go for 100 and you want to grind maps over and over you can get 2 more frenzy charges and a 3 point jewel by assassin. Alternatively if you want to boss, but also level I would go for the crit multi above witch and the lightning dmg/penetration cluster right next to it.

Pretty okay clear speed.
Playable AoE.
Decent enough dmg to kill T15 bosses.
Pathfinder.
Can forget about all the + weapon range stuffs and use blade flurry instead.
Could potentially use MoM - not sure how that would feel - haven't tried.

As GGG mentioned with the AoE changes, we don't have to sacrifice everything for AoE; just damage, defensive countermeasures and life pool :).
Glass cannon without the cannon part.

I stream from time to time and I will be playing this build for a while so if you want to see it in action go here: https://www.twitch.tv/papazero

I would prefer to answer any questions or get your feedback on my channel more so then to answer here on forums as I tend to forget about my posts (will try to not do that with this one tho) :D.

Formatting.
Forgot to add warlord's Reach Jewel!
Added strand video at level 75.
added trickster version