I put together a build guide/showcase of this build since I haven't seen too much content about this variant. Here is the video: https://youtu.be/_CYSfFBWbJw

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Character: https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/ThyEmptyLord/Abyssolutions

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PoB (May not be fully updated): https://pobb.in/tE1ikJ5jhvsQ

Note on PoB: I don't think returning projecting shotgunning is accounted for by PoB. So that is 40% more damage than shown.

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Why is this so powerful / what was buffed this league?

1. Lancing steel of spraying is new and is great for triggering CoC with returning projectiles
2. Charms / That Which Was Taken can each give 40 STR and INT or % Strength
3. Energy Blade now has a quality which provides MORE energy shield (counteracting the LESS provided by the gem). I currently have 13% more ES (resulting in a total of 37% LESS ES) which provides tons of damage and survivability.
4. Heist bases now exist at the top end for crazy rings/amulets

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How expensive is it?

1. You can start the build for 20-40 divines comfortably and get to 10k ES. Every additional 4-5 divs you sink into it make a dramatic difference
2. In order to do Ubers as easily as shown in the video I would expect it to cost 50-60div.
3. The majority of the gear has cheaper alternatives that I'll explain below

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Gear info and alternatives:

• Helmet:
  • Crown of the Inward eye is pretty much BIS because we want to scale off of life/mana/es.
  • Corruptions:
    • +2 Aura gems in necessary to level of Arrogance in order to run both Discipline and Tempest Shield. You can do so with a lvl 20 arrogance if you don't run precision
• Weapon:
  • The only stat that matters is "Has 1 Abyssal socket" since Energy Blade replaces our weapon (but not sockets). This is maybe 50-100c
• Shield:
  • Pathpith Globe is mandatory. It gives crit chance (if needed) and a lot of increased spell damage. The block, spell block, health, and ES are also great.
  • Corruptions:
    • Phys Taken as Fire is ideal since we already run Coruscating Elixir which gives us LESS fire damage taken. Other corruptions are also fine and you can run a Topaz flask if you go with Phys as Lightning.
• Amulet:
  • Astramentis is totally fine as a starting amulet if you are on a budget
  • Eyes of the Greatwolf is best for a long time with %attributes. You can use tainted catalysts to roll attribute quality, but it may take a bit
  • On the 200div+ end there are great simplex amulets out there
• Rings:
  • You're looking for STR/INT, max life, reduced mana cost, and some resists. Helical Rings are great bases for this build and you can use Kalandra's Touch to mirror a really good one.
• Body:
  • Ivory Tower is mandatory. This gives us a large amount of ES based on reserved life
  • Corruptions:
    • There are a lot of good options. I have +2 to AOE gems but that isn't necessary
• Gloves:
  • Shaper's Touch is mandatory. We use it to cap accuracy and get increased ES, life, and mana
  • Corruptions:
    • +1 to socketed gems to increase the level of Enhance is massive. This reduced the LESS multiplier to ES on Energy Blade
• Boots:
  • You're looking for STR/INT, Movement Speed, Life, and resistances as necessary
  • Implicits:
    • CDR (Cooldown Recovery Rate) is essential to hit 52% CDR. This gives us a massive amount of damage. You can technically drop the CDR if you get a max roll on the best and a lvl 6 Awakened CoC, but that isn't really necessary
• Belts:
  • On a very low budget you can use Cyclopean coil. You'll want to get a belt with CDR quickly in order to hit the 52% CDR breakpoint
  • Crafting a Shaper/Hunter Stygian vise with T1 % Attributes and T1 CDR costs less than 2 divines deterministically. I explain in the video how to do this. You can also force "Gain a Flask charge when you deal a Critical Strike" on the belt as a prefix via Suffixes Cannot be Changed and harvest Reforge Crit
• Flasks:
  • Coruscating Elixir is mandatory for the build
  • A Bismuth Flask with +max charges and 30-40% additional resistances makes gearing resistances very manageable.
  • Your 3rd flask is up to you, I like a movement speed flask but you can do a defensive flask instead. Ideally you get a Cinderswallow craft of Reduced Mana Cost of Skills during Effect as a suffix.
• Jewels:
  • Split Personalities
    • I suggest using INT/ES or STR/ES as they are much cheaper and 70-80% as good as the expensive INT/STR
  • Watcher's Eye mods which are nice
    • -X to mana cost during Clarity
    • % of mana as extra ES
  • That Which Was Taken / Charm mods
    • Instant Leech
    • Culling Strike
    • 40 STR and INT
    • 8% Strength
    • Frenzy charge on hit
    • Endurance Charge on stun
  • Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel (Balbala)
    • This gives us Traitor which gives us massive uptime on Coruscating Elixir and our Bismuth Flask
  • Emperor's Master
    • Expensive but gives me 1k ES. Not the highest priority to begin with
  • Large Cluster Jewel (Attack damage while holding a Shield)
    • Fuel the Fight gives us mana leech which saves our anoint as it is mandatory
    • Veteran Defender is VERY good. It gives attributes, resists, and ES. The reason this cluster is expensive is because Veteran Defender wants to be in the very back. You pretty much need Martial prowess on the jewel for it to be on the front. You can buy a cheaper on and use 2 more passives or drop this notable.
  • Other jewel mods:
    • Strength
    • Intelligence
    • Resists (as needed)
    • Crit multi (or crit multi with fire skills)
    • %ES
    • %Life
  • Forbidden Jewels
    • Sanctuary of Thought is a MASSIVE upgrade for the build, but costs several hundred divines. I wouldn't expect to get this (and my character shown doesn't have it).
• Gems:
  • Enhance is VERY strong. You can start with a lvl 3 but this should be a priority upgrade.
  • Awakened CoC needs to be high enough level to hit 52% CDR depending on the CDR roll on your belt.
  • Arrogance can be lvl 20 (with +2 from helm) without precision, needs to be lvl 21 otherwise.
  • Precision isn't necessary for the build unless you need it for a Watcher's Eye. I'm actually only using it to ensure I reserve as much life as possible for the ivory tower bonus. You can get rid of it (run a lower lvl arrogance) or replace it with vitality
  • CWDT molten shell could be a different guard skill instead

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Other interactions or "gotchas":

1. Hitting 52% CDR is a massive damage boost. Try to coordinate your boot implicit, Awakened CoC level, and belt CDR to ensure you are at 52%+. Also note that we take a Crit Mastery on the tree for +3 to level of gems affecting Awakened Coc which is necessary
2. The +2 corruption on our helm allows us to run Discipline + Tempest shield. You won't be able to run precision as well until you have 13k~ ES.
3. You MUST have a source of instant leech and one ES leech node. This provides massive recovery. You can get instant leech from the tree or save 3 points with a charm/Taken jewel.
4. Enhance is a high priority to upgrade. +1 socketed gems on gloves is equally high priority.
5. The Traitor is necessary to sustain Coruscating Elixir (though technically not necessary on Ubers, so you can run extra flasks there if you feel like it)

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