Before leaguestart I commented on a post that I picked pain and regret as my league starter as I would be starting a home cooked build. The main skill has evolved a few times and finally landed on Shock Nova, but the build idea hasn't really changed.

Sharing a video from the end of Day 2 of the league and together with a POB that is a snapshot of my character then. I'm saying Day 2 as an indication of league economy, otherwise this character is Level 79 at the time of the recording. I'm a filthy casual (in POE terms) with a family and kids, don't expect a multi mirror streamer build =)

Gameplay video: https://youtu.be/iTlLBL150Pk

Build Overview

The idea of the build is actually simple. We stack max shock and shock effect to reliably shock bosses to 85% using a 6-link lightning skill (my preference is Shock Nova) with overcharge support. While we do that Kitava's Thirst auto-triggers the 4-link Lightning Conduit which is actually the main damage of the build. We scale damage both gem setups with the new Archmage gem and by stacking mana

POB: https://pobb.in/ViCHq8p5Gssv

Pros:

• Great clear, extremely fun
• Extremely cheap / low investment
• Can do improvements in small increments
• Flexible build, can choose between several lightning skill gems
• Easy to reach about 2M DPS, which is plenty for any Atlas content

Cons:

• Glass cannon: No armor, evasion or suppress means all damage goes through
• Mana stacking is meta, meaning endgame items will be expensive (probably)
• Soft DPS cap of about 10M where anything above that is either clunky (multiple spells) or expensive

What happened since?

Since recording this video I've been working on the defenses. I have been very lucky with the divine drops so far (4 raw divines dropped in first 4 days) and invested pretty much all of it on defenses.

I bought a Cloak of Flame for the 40% phys taken as fire mod, and stacking max resistances through passives (+2% from Prismatic Skin) and 3-ele flasks (+5%), combined with Packed with Energy atlas node (+3%). This lands me at 85% max res with flasks when I reach the boss room, which is helping a lot with Destructive Play.

Additionally, I've also invested into recoup. Got two 15% life recoup rings and a Watcher's Eye with 17% mana recoup. With the passives on tree that means 100 damage is split 50/50 and 30/37 of it is recouped from life and mana, respectively, over 4 seconds. That's massive regen for smaller hits

The Watcher's Eye also has the 9% phys taken as cold mod. That means I only take 52% of phys damage, which first goes to ES then split between Life and Mana. This corresponds to 20k+ armour which is amazing for chest + jewel slot investment.

I'm more-or-less content with the defenses and will now target Annihilating Light as the next upgrade which will double the damage output but will put pressure on resistances. Once that is done I might stop investing further into this build and start saving for the next one.

Let me know what you think

I am by no means a build creator, not even good at this game, and sharing this only because I'm enjoying this build and it might hopefully be a fresh breeze to others as well. This is my first truly home cooked build (that is playable) and I appreciate all the feedback and suggestions.

Special thanks to u/Fun-Broccoli8619 for his suggestions and u/HaveAShittyDrawing for preventing me going low life. Also pinging u/EuryMK, u/jeffreybar, u/gofiend, u/pinetreeDev, u/arsenguler, whom I may have baited into this build (but it ain't that bad, right guys?.. right?)