[3.17] Beerleague's Shockwave Cyclone Slayer - Optimized with Options

It’s a build as old as the ascendency class itself. It uses Cyclone to deal physical damage in an area. Recently we have added Impale and Shockwave to the build to help the dps. Shockwave limits us to using Staves or Maces and we will be using Staves for this build.

Pros:

+ Easy build to play mostly 1 button
+ Upgrades are straightforward
+ Can do nearly every map mod
+ No special unique needed
+ Good league starter
+ SSF Friendly -ish
+ Nearly all content viable with 100C investment
+ Easy to craft most of your own gear

Cons:

-Dependent on weapon PDPS
-Crafting staves is a giant pain
-Very difficult to get extremely tanky
-Getting boss-deletion type of DPS is expensive

Impale – We always want to be at 100% chance to impale. There are a few ways to get there. The easiest at league start is to use the gem in your 6 link. Alternatively, you can use both impale wheels on the tree and banner to hit 100%. Finally, you can sub a Watcher’s Eye w/ % chance to impale for the 4 point wheel.

Accuracy – We always want to be at 100% chance to hit. You will need the accuracy nodes on the tree AND 700 accuracy on gear/gems to do that. You can also sub in Precision, but will need to link it to Arrogance to fit it in.

Dex and Int – 111 Dex and 117 Int are required for the build to operate fluidly.

Immunity to Ailments – Personally I think this is one of the stronger defensive mechanics in the game for this build, but if you would prefer to play with a freeze immunity flask or boots and run with Determination instead of Purity, that is an option as well.

Cyclone Mana Cost -there are multiple ways of negating the cost of Cyclone, you will need to use one of them.
Cheapest: Mana leech on a jewel or ring, not ideal, but it works. Will need to drop blood and sand or banner drop your auras to have enough mana to play with.
10c - -mana craft on your rings and ammy. Alternatively, you can use Praxis with a max roll - https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Praxis
5-6ex – chest armor with -cost of socketed skills
Big budget – Elreon ring with minus cost that is rolled well.

Main 6 link: Cyclone – Shockwave – Melee Phys (awakened) – Brutality (awakened) – Pulverize – Impale OR Critical Damage OR Rage

4 Link: Leap Slam – Faster Attacks – Lifetap – Molten Shell

4 Link: Lifetap – Vaal Warcheif – Multiple Totems – Ancestral Protector

4 Link: Enduring Cry – Lifetap – Assassin’s Mark – Mark on Hit

Auras: Blood rage – Purity of Elements – Blood and Sand – Pride – Dread Banner
IF you need precision to meet accuracy requirements, drop multiple totems and ancestral protector to use precision linked with arrogance.

WIP

Crit Damage/Rage Tree: https://pastebin.com/Ju9Vipjm

Impale Tree: https://pastebin.com/M5DaEnH7

Cluster Jewel Tree: WIP

Overall the build is very easy to gear. Life / Resists / Phys damage (flat or %) in every slot. Weapon, as high PDPS as you can afford. Most slots have minor and major improvement areas that I will try and list here before getting into specifics. Basic gear in every slot can be had for a few chaos. Minor improvements are generally 10-20c per slot while major can be multiple EX or more. Examples of gear are in the next section.

Rings: Life + Res
Minor Improvement: Phys damage
Major improvement: Crit multi, vuln on hit

Ammy: Life, Stats, Crit multi
Minor: Phys Damage
Major: +phys gem level / pride aura effect

Helm: Life + accuracy
Minor: Cyclone or Blood and Sand or Blood Rage enchant / implicits
Major: crit multi and +phys damage taken

Gloves: Life + accuracy
Minor: attack speed / phys damage / implicts
Major: Melee damage

Boots: Life + Movespeed + Res
Minor: Enchant /implicits
Major: Tailwind + elusive

Belt: Life + Res
Minor: Vise with good Eye
Major: Melee damage, attack speed, flask effect

Body armor: Life + Res
Minor: Base crit or -mana cost
Major: -mana cost / base crit + additional curse

Weapon: 500 PDPS
Minor: 650 PDPS
Major: 800 PDPS

Rings:
Unique worth looking at? Praxis

Ammy:
Unique worth looking at? None

Helm:
Unique worth looking at? Abysuss (only for bossing) Starkonja’s, Crown of the Inward Eye (great choice)

Gloves:
Unique worth looking at? Atziri’s, Great Old One’s Tentacles, Asenath’s Gentle Touch

Boots:
Unique worth looking at? none

Belt:
Unique worth looking at? Ryslatha’s Coil, Headhunter, Mageblood, the Retch

Body Armor:
Unique worth looking at? none

Weapon:
Unique worth looking at? None, but Hegemon’s Era can be an okay starter.

Flasks:
Unique worth looking at? Lion’s Roar, Bottled Faith

Jewels: Link WIP
Unique worth looking at? Watcher’s Eye, Forbidden Flame / Flesh

Less than 5ex – Life and Res on all items, make sure the life roll is max, or near max. Use very little currency on gear slots EXCEPT your weapon, dump all available funds into weapon as that is the bulk of your dps.

5-10ex – Consider crafting a body armor with crit, additional curse and -mana and get vuln on hit ring.

10-20ex – Upgrade weapon and jewels

20-30ex – Bottled Faith and swap to cluster jewels

30-50ex – craft helm and tailwind/elusive boots

Large cluster jewels can be great for the build, however they are expensive and you need to use other expensive jewels to make them an upgrade. Generally speaking, when you have 15-20ex to spare that isn’t a 15% dps upgrade to your weapon, cluster jewels will be an upgrade – otherwise they are going to be a dps loss. You can try your hand at crafting your own with harvest to save currency, buy 8 passive bases and roll attack harvest crafts.
I’ll have an upgrade guide on them here in a few days.

WIP

WIP