Updated for Patch 3.18
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Guide notes |
August 2, 2021 -Build created July 04, 2022 -Updated for Patch 3.18 |
Build overview | |||
Tags: [CRANGED] [ELEMENTAL] [LIFE] | |||
Budget: Defenses: |
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Boss DPS: AoE: |
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Spectral Helix is a Skill Gem that creates copies of your weapon, spiraling away from you and dealing your weapon's damage at 250% of its value. It's a Projectile Attack that's actually very similar to Vaal Spectral Throw - it shares the same tags and it's the modern take on this forgotten, but cool-looking Skill. To make it more viable - the blades now bounce off the walls up to three times (unless you use the Divergent version of the Gem). Thanks to this feature it's useful in enclosed maps with a lot of walls such as the Pen or Cells. The skill is very simple in the mechanics, it's just a regular Attack that fires Projectiles. It makes it very versatile - you can create a lot of builds based on it.
Raider seems to be the best candidate to make full use of this Attack - it's an ascendancy that specializes in the use of Frenzy Charges, Dodging and Evading Attacks, and high Attack and Movement Speed - its fast-paced playstyle is really fun. The core defense of this build consists of Maximum Life - 5 to 7k. On top of that, the character has a lot of Evasion Rating. The ascendancy Notables to take are Avatar of the Veil and of the Chase, it grants you Phasing, Evasion Rating, Elemental Damage, less Accuracy Rating of your Enemies, and more Chance to avoid Elemental Ailments while Phasing. The offensive aspects are Elemental Exposure applied to nearby opponents (for all Element types) and permanent Onslaught with at least twice its original efficiency. Exposure lowers the Elemental Resistance of your Opponents by 20% while Onslaught Grants 20% increased Attack and Movement Speed. The fact that the character is really efficiently lowering Elemental Resistance makes it natural to use Elemental Damage. With Trinity Support the potential for damage grows, but it requires you to balance all three types of Elemental Damage now - it can be done by acquiring a proper weapon and having Heralds and Support Gems that will match the rest of the build.
You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List
The only Attack that the build uses to deal with opponents is Spectral Helix. The damage is good enough to kill bosses and the AoE of the blades makes it not a problem to kill the pack of mobs - it's actually a really safe playstyle since you can cast the Attack while away from them, and after a while the spinning weapon will reach the target. The mobility Skill will be Whirling Blades - an Attack that can be used with Claws. From time to time it will be required to cast Blood Rage for more Attack Speed, Life Leech, and Frenzy Charge acquisition. Use Vaal Haste or Vaal Grace, and Ancestral Protector during tough fights for more Damage. You will also be able to use Tornado Skill to increase your Damage.
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PROS |
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CONS |
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Spectral Throw is a great substitute for levels 1-12, and after that, you can start using Spectral Helix. You won't use Trinity Support until much later in the game, and it leaves you with some other options. We recommend specializing in Cold or Physical Damage as you level up - you will be easily able to reach Cold Damage Clusters on your Passives Skill Tree, and it will be more efficient at first. When you notice you lack in damage - respec the points and switch to a proper build. Use Claws with Shield. For the Cold Damage variant, you can use Essences such as Essence of Hatred on Weapon and Jewellery or Essence of Suffering on Jewellery. For Physical Damage use Essences of Zeal.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
Spectral Helix setup | |
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Spectral Helix - the Skill Gem that will be used since you reach level 12 |
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Nightblade Support - If you're using Claws or Daggers, which you should, use Nighbalde for More Crit. Chance, Multiplier, and Elusive Buff |
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Increased Critical Strikes Support - grants you much more Critical Strike Chance |
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Added Cold Damage Support - Adds Cold Damage to your Attacks, making you able to Chill and Freeze |
Whirling Blades setup | |
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Whirling Blades - the best movement Skill for Claw-wielding characters with high Attack Speed |
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Lifetap Support - makes your Whirling Blades cost Life instead of Mana |
Utility Gems | |
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Frost Bomb - applies Cold Exposure, lowering the Cold Resistance of your opponents, it's useless after your 4th Lab where you take Avatar of the Veil |
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Herald of Ice - more Cold Damage for your Attacks |
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Precision - increases your Accuracy Rating and Critical Strike Chance, both of which are important |
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Frostbite - the Curse that lowers the Cold Resistance of your Opponents, cast it manually or link with ![]() ![]() |
Bandits:
You should kill all the Bandits and take two more Passive Skill Points
Leveling Skill Trees:
34 Points Skill Tree
exit the starting location by taking Evasion and Life, take Heart of Oak, Herbalist and follow the path to Claw nodes and Blood Drinker
59 Points Skill Tree
first, take Trickery and then go down to pick up Longshot, and Thick Skin
Recommended leveling items:
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(10-30)% increased Damage +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances |
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+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden) |
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Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) |
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(12-24)% increased Global Physical Damage Adds (7-8) to (15-16) Fire Damage to Attacks Adds (5-6) to (12-14) Cold Damage to Attacks Adds 1 to (30-34) Lightning Damage to Attacks +(6-8)% to all Elemental Resistances 30% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills during any Flask Effect 10% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills |
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Adds 6 to 12 Cold Damage to Attacks 70% increased Evasion Rating 15% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(15-30) to maximum Mana +(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance Cannot be Shocked |
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+(20-30) to Strength Adds (5-7) to (13-15) Cold Damage to Spells and Attacks +(40-50) to Evasion Rating +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance 50% of Physical Damage Converted to Cold Damage Reflects 10 Cold Damage to Melee Attackers Your Cold Damage can Ignite |
Final Skill Tree:
122 Points Final Skill Tree
122 Points Path of Building (PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of the Brine King You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds
Minor God: Soul of Garukhan 60% reduced Effect of Shock on you
[DPS] Spectral Helix setup | |
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Spectral Helix - The Attack that is used to deal with all kinds of opponents, creates a projectile that spirals away from you and bounces off the walls. Increases in Attack and Projectile stats will affect this Skill. |
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Nightblade Support - a mandatory Support Gem, it provides you with Elusive on Critical Strikes while increasing the Chance and Multiplier for them. It grants you more Movement Speed and Chance to Dodge. |
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Trinity Support - As you hit an enemy, you gain Resonance for two Elements that didn't deal the highest amount of damage. If you have Resonance of all three elements (Fire, Cold, and Lightning) you deal more damage. Resonance stacks up to 50. It's vital to have the highest type of damage alternating with each Hit. |
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Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - as this build is based on Elemental Damage with Attacks, it's an obvious choice for a Gem |
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Increased Critical Strikes Support - the build heavily relies on Critical Strikes to conjure Elusiveness and overall increase the damage |
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Inspiration Support - Reduces the Mana Cost of linked Skill, while increasing Critical Strike Chance and Elemental Damage. It's really obligatory to have it as your Mana pool will drain really quickly without it. |
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[UTILITY] Aura setup | |
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Anger - An Aura that gives flat Fire Damage to your Attacks equal to the highest Tier of Elemental Damage on your weapon. You don't need to use it if you can create Resonances, but you can also use other Auras such as ![]() ![]() |
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Precision - use Precision for higher Critical Strike Chance and an additional Accuracy Rating. |
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Grace - A huge boost to your Evasion Rating. Grace combined with Anger will reserve 100% of your Mana, if you don't have Enlighten Support at level 4, you should use a Herald Skill which reserves less Mana, such as ![]() |
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Enlighten Support - lowers the Cost of mana-reserving linked Skills |
[UTILITY] CWDT setup | |
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Cast When Damage Taken - you want to have this Gem at the lowest possible level so it will trigger more often |
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Immortal Call - you take less Physical and Elemental Damage for a short duration of time. Keep this Gem at level 1 |
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Assassin's Mark - a Curse that increases your Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier against Marked enemies. If you don't have it on your Ring, you can link a low-level one here or just manually cast it against Bosses |
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Increased Duration Support - Immortal Call and Assassin's Mark lasts longer |
[MOBILITY] Whirling Blades and Torando setup | |
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Whirling Blades - as you use Claws and have a decent amount of Atack Speed, Whirling Blades will be the best movement skill for you |
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Tornado - Creates a Tornado that can interact with your Projectiles similarly to Hydrosphere. It deals increased damage as you Hit it. |
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Faster Attacks Support - this Support Gem will make your travel faster by speeding up the Whirling Blades Attack |
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Lifetap Support - you will use this setup quite often, so it's a good idea to use Life instead of Mana for it, you won't have a lot of Mana to spare |
[UTILITY] Vaal Haste and Ancestral Protector setup | |
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Vaal Haste - temporarily increases your Movement Speed and Attack Speed, similarly to Onslaught |
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Ancestral Protector - it greatly enhances your Attack Speed so make sure it stays on during Boss fights |
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Increased Duration Support - Ancestral Protector and Vaal Haste will last much longer |
[UTILITY] Blood Rage setup | |
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Blood Rage - it will drain your Life while providing you with Life Leech, Attack Speed, and Frenzy Charge on kill |
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Enhance Support - by enhancing the Quality of linked Gems, you gain much more Attack Speed from Blood Rage, and faster casting of Portal |
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Portal - takes you to your Hideout, and you don't need to spend any Portal Scrolls |
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There are no required uniques, you can gear up using only rares. You should look for Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, Evasion Rating, Chance to Dodge, Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier, Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Elemental Damage with Attacks. The final damage output should have at least two Elemental types of Damage at the same level to activate Trinity Support so don't put too much damage into one Element. Around 150 Dexterity and 120 Intelligence are required, it will have to be looked for in your gear. The generic nature of the build makes it easy to find discounted items on the market.
Our recommended items will:
Stat priorities on items:
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Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating Nearby Enemies take #% increased Elemental Damage Global Critical Strike Multiplier Attributes |
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Helmet enchantments: Spectral Helix enchantment |
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Min. requirements: Adds 70 to 120 Fire Damage Adds 70 to 120 Cold Damage Adds 10 to 220 Lightning Damage Optional affixes: Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Attacks with this Weapon Penetrate #% Elemental Resistances |
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Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life 40% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Evasion Rating increased Attack Damage with Elemental Skills Chance to Block Accuracy Rating |
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+(60-80) to maximum Life (20-50)% increased Damage if you have Shocked an Enemy Recently (15-25)% increased Effect of Shock Shocked Enemies you Kill Explode, dealing 5% of their Life as Lightning Damage which cannot Shock Unaffected by Shock |
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(100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(80-100) to maximum Life Aspect of the Cat Reserves no Mana +2 seconds to Cat's Stealth Duration Gain up to your maximum number of Frenzy and Power Charges when you gain Cat's Stealth You have Phasing while you have Cat's Stealth |
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Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chance to Dodge Attack Hits Attacks have +#% to Critical Strike Chance Evasion Rating Chaos Resistance |
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Min. requirements: 25% Movement Speed 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: you have Tailwind if you have dealt a Critical Strike Recently |
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+(25-35) to Dexterity (20-40)% increased Evasion Rating 100% increased Evasion Rating during Onslaught +(50-70) to maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed 10% chance to Dodge Spell Hits while Phasing |
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Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating Critical Strike Chance Evasion Rating reduced Attribute Requirements |
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Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances 40% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Optional affixes: Strength Chaos Resistance maximum Life % |
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Min. requirements: 40 to Maximum Life 40% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Adds Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage to Attacks increased Elemental Damage with Attacks increased Global Critical Strike Chance increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier Attributes |
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+(10-16) to all Attributes Modifiers to Attributes instead apply to Omniscience +1% to all Elemental Resistances per 10 Omniscience Penetrate 1% Elemental Resistances per 10 Omniscience Attribute Requirements can be satisfied by (15-25)% of Omniscience |
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Recommended Anointments: Charisma - for more Mana True Strike - for more Crit Damage Eagle Eye - for Crit Chance and Accuracy Fleetfoot - Evasion, Movement, and Attack Speed |
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Min. requirements: 60 to Maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Trigger Level # Assassin's Mark when you Hit a Rare or Unique Enemy Attributes Accuracy Rating |
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Recommended affixes: increased Critical Strike Chance for Attacks increased maximum Life increased Attack Speed Elemental Resistances increased Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage increased Attack/Elemental/Projectile Damage Attributes increased Evasion Rating |
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Adds Secrets of Suffering | |
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(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> |
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+35% to all Elemental Resistances During Flask Effect, 6% reduced Damage taken of each Element for which your Uncapped Elemental Resistance is lowest During Flask Effect, Damage Penetrates (5-8)% Resistance of each Element for which your Uncapped Elemental Resistance is highest |
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40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (20-40)% increased Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect |
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Other suggested Flasks:
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If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.
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