[PoE 3.26] SSF Archmage Melee Poison "AMP" - A New Archetype?? Viper/Pestilent Strike + Gen Cry BF

NOTES ON THE BUILD 1. Pneumatic Dagger - This is not mandatory for the build, but it does give you 33% more damage when Arcane Cloak is up. - To craft this, get T1 mana, T1 chaos damage, and T1 attack speed (essence/annul, alt spam, or recomb), and then multimod Hits Cant Be Evaded and Chaos DOT Multi. - Pneumatic Dagger is 2% drop rate per Grand Heist Wing. 2. General's Cry Blade Flurry - This does quite a bit of damage, and also guarantees you will be at max wither stacks due to Pathfinder's 25% wither on hit. (I'm not sure how to actually calculate the DPS in POB for this) 3. Corrupted Soul - This is mandatory to split damage between life and ES. - Either Replica Soul Tether or Glorious Vanity (Doryani) will work (Timeless Jewel + a really good Heavy Belt with life, mana, and essence 50% chaos res during flask effect is probably optimal) 4. Amulet Anointment - I recommend having TWO DIFFERENT Whisper of Infinity amulets with different anointments - Amulet 1: anoint Tribal Fury. Without melee splash, the build feels terrible in mapping. - Amulet 2: anoint Crusader (ideally) or Dynamo for single target. 5. Runegrafts - "40% increased global defences" and "buffs expire slower" (for arcane cloak) are both good for the build 6. Cloak of Defiance - If you have this, you can cut off the entire left side of the tree, and get like another cluster setup or something 7. Clusters - 8 passive large - 4-5 passive chaos dot mediums (Eldritch Inspiration is the best notable, other one can be whatever) - Get 1x Dark Ideation on one of them (get only one; this mod will not stack with itself) - Unspeakable Gifts is nice for clearing if you can get it, but it's really rare(bladebitter) 8. Flasks - Ruby/Sapphire/Topaz flasks are 100% uptime between PF ascendancy, exarch implicit on body, "Druidic Rite" wheel (the third small node is not needed), and one recovery prefix on each flask - Note: If you go Cloak of Defiance, you will need to get a little more flask sustain from somewhere else. Maybe a flask medium cluster, or take another flask wheel, or craft flask stuff on a Heavy Belt if you run Corrupted Soul Doryani Timeless Jewel 9. Leveling - I recommend leveling with econc deadeye, then respec into this build at Lv. 74 with Whispers of Infinity Optimal merc for single target: Withertouch with Malevolence and Temp Chains Optimal merc for mapping: Bladebitter with Malevolence, Grace, and optionally Abyssal Cry Staff (withertouch): Dying Breath Claw 1 (bladebitter): Al Dhih (gives 8% explode which is stronger than Abyssal Cry's 1% explode) Claw 2 (bladebitter): Any claw with blind on hit (bench craft, redeemer mod, or elder mod all works) Rings: Doedre's Damning Amulet: Eternal Struggle with 15% cull, or Shaper's Seed, anointed with Influence (perquils toe is NOT GOOD because lucky won't affect poison dps) Helmet: ilvl 85+ hunter helmet with "nearby enemies have -9 chaos res", or Leer Cast (leer cast is probably better for Withertouch, -9 better for Bladebitter) Body: Rare with non-curse aura effect and malevolence aura effect implicits, or Victario's Gloves: Asenath's or Temp Chains on hit corrupted glove if bladebitter, or Enfeeble on hit corrupted gloves if Withertouch Boots: Sapped ground implicit rare boots (low priority, just use this slot to cap merc res) Belt: Kaom's Binding