[3.6] 2H Cyclone Synthesised Herald of Agony Champion (8k life, 6M Shaper DPS)

This build is essentially a life-based version of gjmine's Occultist build.

Being a life-based build gearing is substantially cheaper, and you can make a lot of use from Synthesis mechanics which would otherwise be behind massive piles of currency.

Offensive and defensive elements:
⚔ 6 million Shaper DPS
⚔ 13 hits-per-second
⚔ Intimidate, Taunt, Maim, Impale, Onslaught
⚔ 2 curses
⚔ Hits can't be evaded
🛡 Fortify
🛡 Stun immune
🛡 142 life per hit (~2,000 life per second per target)
🛡 8,000 life

Pros and cons:
✓ Cyclone gameplay is very satisfying
✓ Near-invulnerability with a handful of targets in range
✓ Almost* no problem with any map mods
✘ 2-gem swap needed for optimal boss performance
✘ Melee, with all the downfalls that encompasses
✘ *Hexproof maps are annoying

Videos:
Uber Elder 2:43 (30 fps)

PoB:
Lots more optimisations possible here, this link is my current setup. It's not factored into the PoB numbers, so below is a brief estimate of Dread Banner damage:

Ascendency:
Champion offers a great deal of utility in an easy-to-build package, but the stun-immunity is largely wasted when using Cyclone, so other options are certainly available. If using a different class, you may well need to craft cannot be evaded on your weapon, or take Resolute Technique.

Conqueror ⇨ Worthy Foe ⇨ Unstoppable Hero ⇨ Inspirational

Pantheon:
No particularly special synergies present here. Gruthkul and Ralakesh are good choices for minor, Lunaris or Solaris for major.

Bandits:
Since we have no reliance on critical strikes, and no need for extra physical mitigation or regeneration, kill all.

Gem-links:
Very little flexibility in gem links:

Gear, Implicits and Enchants:
Since we're running Herald of Agony, the main stats we care about are maximum life and resists with most damage increases coming from specific base choices, and synthesised items detailed below

Levelling:
Best bet is to stick to your preferred melee skills until level 40 or so where you can make the switch to Cyclone and Herald of Agony. Levelling can be quite tedious if you don't make some investment in DPS nodes early on. Fortunately the Duelist starting position is swimming in damage you can pick up and respec later.

Thanks for checking it out. Will flesh this out if you have any questions.

Looks pretty darn sweet, nice to see HoA used without relying on the bow for rapid poison application. Stronk and fresh :D

nice build buddy. im theorycrafting an agony crawler build, too atm (necromancer with ball lightning). refreshing to see something non-meta for agony :)

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Staggerlock escreveu:

Looks pretty darn sweet, nice to see HoA used without relying on the bow for rapid poison application. Stronk and fresh :D

Thanks, that's the objective exactly!

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airparisderjesus escreveu:

nice build buddy. im theorycrafting an agony crawler build, too atm (necromancer with ball lightning). refreshing to see something non-meta for agony :)

Problem with Necromancer is that Occultist is insanely overpowered it's hard not to choose :D I don't hate Necromancer as a choice but there's not many helpful mechanics in that ascendency eg. stun immunity, "more" damage increases.

HoA is so good though, so long as you build something that's fun you'll wreck all content.

Thx for that nice 2H Cyclone HOA Build. Looks awesome and you did a great work with the guide and your gear, but...........

seems like this will only be playable in standard in 3 weeks, because there will be no more chance to make all these ridicilous synthesis items. I hope GGG will find a way to a least let the ring in the game, but as it looks now, this build will not rly be playable like it is now comes june and the new season.

Any ideas how "we" could make something like this work without any of your synthesis items ?

Greetings,
Nagash

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Nágash escreveu:

Any ideas how "we" could make something like this work without any of your synthesis items ?

The only really great Synthesised implicit here is the +50 life on hit on the 2H weapon - Everything else is just even more DPS which isn't really needed.

Still, without the extra life on hit from the amulet and weapon, you're down to <100/hit which sucks. This is why these builds usually use block and life-on-hit claws.

Without using a 2H weapon, I don't think you can make a HoA build which is competitive with an Elder bow (7-link HoA with Vicious Projectiles and +2 support gems). Simply having HoA in chest with Maim link is not a bad alternative either.

Perhaps 3.7 will come with a fast-hitting life-on-hit melee skill that works well with HoA.

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Crêpo escreveu:

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Nágash escreveu:

Any ideas how "we" could make something like this work without any of your synthesis items ?

The only really great Synthesised implicit here is the +50 life on hit on the 2H weapon - Everything else is just even more DPS which isn't really needed.

Still, without the extra life on hit from the amulet and weapon, you're down to <100/hit which sucks. This is why these builds usually use block and life-on-hit claws.

Without using a 2H weapon, I don't think you can make a HoA build which is competitive with an Elder bow (7-link HoA with Vicious Projectiles and +2 support gems). Simply having HoA in chest with Maim link is not a bad alternative either.

Perhaps 3.7 will come with a fast-hitting life-on-hit melee skill that works well with HoA.

Thanks for you answer, I didnt realize how important that LOH is, because I never played your build, off course. But I still see another big problem in the mana reservation without your "synthesis" ring. And last but not least, like you said, we dont know exactly whats coming in 3.7 and how the "channeled cyclone" will rec our mana.

Im running dual wield claws for life gain on hit and could potentially use a ring or gloves with curse on hit.

Doing this build in flashback ssf hc on PS4. Still stuck in campaign (lvl 54 only) but so far i really enjoy the levling process. Build feels very solid. I can focus on life and a bit attackspeed and still do immense damage (using a +2 minion gem helmet)

Yeah a great elder helmet along with the +3 minion gems would be a good way to go too. I don't think you can get around six-linking HoA. If you use claws, best would be to put HoA in your body armor 7-linked with Maim support I think, then apply curses with rings and gloves corrupt.

Anything except the HoA in weapon with + gem level is always going to be worse than this. Let's hope we see something that lets us leech with 2H weapons in 3.7.

I'm playing this on 3.7 and it's certainly viable. I'd expect 4M DPS at the end, but will run the numbers when I can gear properly.