[3.21] 🌿Ultimate Claw Poison Pathfinder - Untouchable Viper - Molten Strike update by FEL

A little late, but here's a final update on my tanky cluster jewel variant. This is probably the best league starter + league ender I've played. I tried several other builds this league including a herald boi, but kept coming back to this one, whether it was for Sirus, wave 20 kosis, or a reflect map.

Ended up with 5700 life, 78% max res, 48% block, 30% spell dodge, 37k armour and 54% chaos res against damage over time. 2.8m pestilent strike dps, 5m viper strike, and 9m viper strike with wither totems up. Fortify is always up, and either molten shell or vaal molten shell is almost always up. I also use a brutal restraint south of duelist which gives me onslaught for 8 seconds on kill, among other things.


This is the cluster jewel setup I went for which gives me some damage, block, +2% max res, frenzy charges while clearing, life recovery on kill, and my favorite, "Poisons you inflict on non-Poisoned Enemies deal 300% increased Damage" from the Low Tolerance notable. I could have reached over 6k life by swapping a prismatic dance jewel for a fettle, but I didn't find it necessary as this build never came close to being one shot. I highly recommend everyone playing this build to at least use Low Tolerance and Brush with Death notables, which you can get on a single medium cluster jewel or megalomaniac. Brush with Death makes it so you never see your life anything less than full while mapping. Also, you would need to link brutality to your whirling blades so that it doesn't mess with Low Tolerance.

Finally, it's worth noting that the non-cluster jewel skill tree has similar life and more damage, you just won't get the neat little modifiers that are exclusive to the cluster jewels (which I believe are worth it, especially since we have more than enough damage for all content).

Character Link
Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/32yB34Vb (requires community fork)

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Werdna76 schrieb:

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TorsteinTheFallen schrieb:

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Werdna76 schrieb:

I'm brainstorming ways to squeeze more out of this build now that I'm . Instead of using Spell Totem + Wither (+ Faster Casting, + Multi-totems), has anyone tried using Ancestral Protector + Withering Touch Support, maybe + Faster Attacks? Seems like it might be a little less reliable with applying withering stacks, but gives us AS (more life gain on hit), might be tankier, and uses fewer sockets... plus puts out some damage.

Any thoughts on this or is it a non-starter?

Ancestral Protector gives flat 20% multiplier.

Withering totem gives 24% multiplier just with 4 stacks of Wither and it can go up to 15 stacks (90% more). It also casts Wither 5x/s.

But keep brainstorming and post if you get some ideas. Every little bit of improvements counts. :D

I think you missed the bit about Withering Touch support on Ancestral Protector. I mean using AP to apply Wither instead of the spell totem. Since we have very high attack speed already, the AP attacks quickly, hits a lot, and applies wither stacks in addition to attacking and giving us 20% attack speed. Put it all together, consider the lower socket count, and it might be an interesting alternative.

Yeah i saw that.

Withering Touch has only 25% chance to inflict Wither.

Nevertheless with 2-3 totems that could be bypassed to a degree.

One big downside of the Ancestral Totems is their range which is quite poor. So you would have to position them almost right next to the target or they wont hit.

Haven't done exact math but ill test it before next league for sure.

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Himanshu24 schrieb:

A little late, but here's a final update on my tanky cluster jewel variant. This is probably the best league starter + league ender I've played. I tried several other builds this league including a herald boi, but kept coming back to this one, whether it was for Sirus, wave 20 kosis, or a reflect map.

Ended up with 5700 life, 78% max res, 48% block, 30% spell dodge, 37k armour and 54% chaos res against damage over time. 2.8m pestilent strike dps, 5m viper strike, and 9m viper strike with wither totems up. Fortify is always up, and either molten shell or vaal molten shell is almost always up. I also use a brutal restraint south of duelist which gives me onslaught for 8 seconds on kill, among other things.

This is the cluster jewel setup I went for which gives me some damage, block, +2% max res, frenzy charges while clearing, life recovery on kill, and my favorite, "Poisons you inflict on non-Poisoned Enemies deal 300% increased Damage" from the Low Tolerance notable. I could have reached over 6k life by swapping a prismatic dance jewel for a fettle, but I didn't find it necessary as this build never came close to being one shot. I highly recommend everyone playing this build to at least use Low Tolerance and Brush with Death notables, which you can get on a single medium cluster jewel or megalomaniac. Brush with Death makes it so you never see your life anything less than full while mapping. Also, you would need to link brutality to your whirling blades so that it doesn't mess with Low Tolerance.

Finally, it's worth noting that the non-cluster jewel skill tree has similar life and more damage, you just won't get the neat little modifiers that are exclusive to the cluster jewels (which I believe are worth it, especially since we have more than enough damage for all content).

Character Link
Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/32yB34Vb (requires community fork)

Very nice setup!

Since Delirium started i've tried to beat the non-cluster passive tree as for almost every other build cluster version gives major boost in probably every way.
To my conclusion, for dps in 90% of cases based on players gear without sacrificing either life or defenses, default passive tree is still the best one.
Rare clusters would give different accent with either going for even more dps on account of defenses or vice versa, more defenses/QoL/Sustain like you did.

Haven't experimented with top Voices, but they would probably be the way to upgrade the build on every front.

What do you think about switching one Prismatic Dance for No Witnesses?

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TorsteinTheFallen schrieb:

What do you think about switching one Prismatic Dance for No Witnesses?

I'm sure most people would like it but I personally don't like buffs that are not active or in full effect all the time. Same reason I put fortify in main links as opposed to whirling blades. Either way, there are many options for small cluster jewels. Others that I would use are flow of life, blessed, student of decay, second skin and natural vigour/militarism.

It sounds like you gave up a lot of DPS for that setup; even more DPS than the Aul's/3x Purity setup. Have you tried it? I had about 10.5-11m Shaper DPS with the Aul's setup.

The Aul's/3x Purity setup with Pure Commander spam(they can appear on smalls; would be better than running Prismatic Dances) is anywhere from 82-88% all resistance, depending on how many clusters you go, or how many you devote to it. Also, your overall resistances are in the like 180s, so gearing is easy.

I didn't like it becuase I gave up half my dps(I do 19m Shaper DPS with a DMG-heavy setup). But, it was very defense heavy.

If you havent tried that, maybe thats something you would like to give a shot. Or something you could tweak and play around with to see if you like. You use Malevolence Aul's, 3 purities, and then as many Pure Commander/Replenishing Presence-type notables you can use.

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Since Delirium started i've tried to beat the non-cluster passive tree as for almost every other build cluster version gives major boost in probably every way.
To my conclusion, for dps in 90% of cases based on players gear without sacrificing either life or defenses, default passive tree is still the best one.

Are you sure about that? Without testing that I kind of really doubt it, since most people would agree, that the new passive skillpoints bring A LOT power to the players, no matter what you focous on.

This build in particular is exceptionally flexible so we could work fine without them, but others (like my Righteous Fire Trickster for example) would not work, around 45% of his DPS comes from the new cluster nodes and especially stacking multipliers, as well as like 1.5k Energy Shield.

I´ll run a test on my pathfinder tomorrow on POB, I imagine I end up with eigher lower life, resistances or damage when speccing out of the new Clusters.

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Vennto schrieb:

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Since Delirium started i've tried to beat the non-cluster passive tree as for almost every other build cluster version gives major boost in probably every way.
To my conclusion, for dps in 90% of cases based on players gear without sacrificing either life or defenses, default passive tree is still the best one.

Are you sure about that? Without testing that I kind of really doubt it, since most people would agree, that the new passive skillpoints bring A LOT power to the players, no matter what you focous on.

This build in particular is exceptionally flexible so we could work fine without them, but others (like my Righteous Fire Trickster for example) would not work, around 45% of his DPS comes from the new cluster nodes and especially stacking multipliers, as well as like 1.5k Energy Shield.

I´ll run a test on my pathfinder tomorrow on POB, I imagine I end up with eigher lower life, resistances or damage when speccing out of the new Clusters.

I've run without cluster jewels for the longest part of this league, only made the switch a few days ago. And I actually have to agree with Torstein here.
For the majority of players the non-cluster version is a lot easier and safer to run, since you have a lot of points to invest into defensive things on the tree, that you otherwise have to cut for cluster nodes.

That said: if you do have the currency to optimize around clusters and get into the high 90s (96+) the cluster variant is superior without question.

At this point my char only lost a very tiny bit of blockchance and a few utility nodes but gained about 4.5m DPS and some different utility (Resistance to Chaos DoT for example).

BUT: This switch took a LOT of currency, most notably on the Amulet. It's hard to make the Int requirement of the build without the Thief's Craft 30 Int node, which is probably out of reach with clusters involved.

TLDR;
You got the money and the Points: Go clusters
You only get started on this build: Go standard tree.

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I've run without cluster jewels for the longest part of this league, only made the switch a few days ago. And I actually have to agree with Torstein here.
For the majority of players the non-cluster version is a lot easier and safer to run, since you have a lot of points to invest into defensive things on the tree, that you otherwise have to cut for cluster nodes.

Thanks man. Then it makes sense that I feel cluster jewels are indeed helping me out. I have literally nothing else to do with the build except getting a double corrupted armor (bit short on money now due to the RF-Trickster xD) but I put around 100ex in that char and I hit 97 so yeah, Cluster Jewels ofc work for me then.

On the Intelligence Problems: I have found a really easy workaround - Fertile Mind is the answer. My build also differs a bit from everyone elses, have a look at it, maybe you find something interesting for yourself (or even have suggestions for improvements?) but the fertile mind really solves all intelligence Problems.

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIDAABeAdwCEQUtBbUGcAahCC4JWA0iDY0R1RR1GNsZjhxfIWAi6iP2KaUuCC4jLlMwfDIBMgk1kjXvN9Q64TrtP2xDMUSeR35KfUscTZJN41AAUUdTu1b6V5dbmVuvXkVgQWNwZU1sRm87cmx07XTxd-N4DXp_eu99dX8rf4B_loAigUGDvYTZh3aNfY2_j8GT_JuNnMSet59tplepbrIZtfK3Ir02vqe_1cAawYvPes_p02_TftP82L3awdun3efe-OXm5ojo1u0_7YPuDu968W3yRfrr_MX9Af6P_rr_EA==?accountName=Vennto&characterName=Psn_Ivy

I'll disagree for the sole fact Low Tolerance/Fettle/Enduring Composure/Brush With Death Exists.

Maybe your Shaper DPS will be similar or better, but I'd argue there is no way your clear is better than using a Low Tolerance setup, and Fettle alone gives 300+ HP. And Free Endurance charges are hard to beat.

In reality, the thing you are giving up is block chance to fit these in. Now, we can argue cost, now thats a thing, but at this point there are so many good things that can go with Low Tolerance, its not a very expensive node to get. Theres like 4-5 other good passives, which makes its overall value/cost much lower, unless you are specifically trying to use like, Low Tolerance/Wasting Affliction. Which I would argue is not the thing to get, and the only reason I got them, is because I have 2% life on kill on my Circle of Nostalgia; if I didnt have that, I would use Brush with Death/Low Tolerance.

If you cut out all the block nodes, you can easily fit a cluster jewel setup in, and it comes with bells and whistles you need. I honestly dont know how you guys do stuff like 4-5 orb maps or Simulacrum without stun immunity. I'd argue, some of the times people die, is probably because they got stunned, and could no longer life on hit to survive. So something like Unwaveringly Evil is a really nice QoL to have to keep you alive. And, it can even show up on a medium with Low Tolerance.

Of course the regular tree is strong and works; its been around longer than cluster jewels have. But, I dont think I would dismiss cluster jewels so flippantly, when they are so strong. I mean Low Tolerance alone turns Viper strike into a useable mapping skill.

And as far as something like intelligence goes, I dont think you ever really want to waste passive tree points on stat requirements if you dont have to. Your goal is to get gear that meets your statistical criteria; you only use passive points on that, before you get that gear. Your gear when min/maxing to gear out, is to get that 45 int neck so you can free up a passive point, so I dont really consider that a downside since no end-game passive trees are going to have points wasted solely to meet statistical requirements.

Just for a Numbers Perspective on my character:

Clusters: I have 5550 HP, 17% block, 17m Sirius DPS. With cluster jewels. That doesnt take into effect stun immunity, explosions, 600% low tolerance, or utility. I threw another Fettle in there, but with Fettle and Enduring Composure, its 5230 HP.

With Base tree, no clusters: 5280 hp, 40% block, 16.9m Sirius DPS. I also didnt use either 30 int nodes, and put those into something useful, because my character didnt need them off the base tree.

So, I feel cluster jewels are highly underrated. Same DPS, without taking into account stun immunities, life on kill, chaos resists, 600% more poison damage on clearing, even more life and/or DR if you go with endurance charges/fettle.

And the only thing you realistically give up, is 23 block chance. Does that 23 block chance make up for all of that?

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blastinMot schrieb:

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delgar89 schrieb:

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Cherry9 schrieb:

This won't work if you're using Pestilent Strike, right? Because that would be amazing. I might give VG a try if that allows me to get rid of the totem but I'm primarily interested in PS. Also, do you think I can get it up and running well enough to red maps with about 2-3 ex? And farm some more currency from there.

Thanks!

Why woudn't it work with Pestilient Strike? It works with any spell or attack that hits. You can have up to 100% chance to wither if u get such lucky jewel with 4 ritual of shadows nodes. I explained it few pages ago.

Quoting a post from a few months ago:

Has anyone got a jewel number for a glorious vanity doryani jewelwith the suggested "Ritual of Shadows" nodes?
I have found 2 jewels that each give the 1 point notable as ritual of shadows (721 & 4002), but never a jewel that gives 2 ritual of shadows as shown in the picture. Check about 100 of them...

The user quoted also took off all the gear from his character, so you can't get it from there :(

If anyone is bored and wants a conclusion to this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ig6jVgflqUJqMv_kh92v1AU5i6nXRsLxAXLH31RYXIE/

The original doryani jewel number that user "delgar 89" used is doryani 431 (2x ritual of shadows for 4 passive points next to pain attunement). Found it somewhere in this thread.
But there was non up for purchase for some time, so I checked over 350 jewels myself.

Best other one I found is doryani 5518, that has 2x ritual of shadows with 5 passive points.

Other usable ones for starters (1 ritual of shadows with one passiv point) are: 721 2834 4002 4470 6766 6791

Just a few days after this, a doryani 431 popped up and I bought it for 50c. Will be getting rid of my wither totem soon :P