[3.01] [HC] Dark Pact Slayer (tanky, low cost, self cast dark pact)

I wouldn't say it isn't playable. I went back to try my Slayer in HC and it was killing things just fine.

My characters are public if you want to look.

I will say that having a tabula might be pretty important when leveling, because 6L really ups the DPS, but I was mapping up to T10 in a 4L Cherribum's with no problem.

I just got lvl 57 but ya I feel your pain XD, I switched over later than usual and links have been tough to get, as far as a league starter it feels more painful than last league (maybe because Harbringer was so easy). I think last league binding orb in general made things much easier, also seems like essences are much rarer this time around which does increase the difficulty of setting things up properly.

Here is my current gear:



Nothing is really amazing for my gear, got weapon off someone for 1c so I think that was a great deal but you can go with any dagger/mace with similar stats. As you can see from my links im using Blasphemy with Dual curse setup (Warlards and Despair). I have had to use ports on most bosses (except brine king) and one boss I needed assistance on (Tukohama but I did not have this weapon at the time). As far as abyss I have had literally zero close calls once I switched over and started running my curses, every single abyss has been faceroll even with 3-4 yellows up at once.

So just as a recap for:

-Gearing can be very tough at league start if people are not selling what you need cheaply/rng based
-Once you have dual curse up and running packs are faceroll
-Single target damage/leech is very rough without amazing gear

Oh ya here is a copy of the PoB/Tree I have been using, you can probably change a few things but it seems fairly good overall. Also just as a note, I just spec'd into Vaal Pact to try it out, not sure if it is to early yet so be wary, will update later tonight on it :)

https://pastebin.com/QAAec0WJ

Update: I will very likely have to update the minimum requirements for the build as it appear to require a higher amount than I initially thought (I never started last league with this build so it was not something I had seen first hand).

@Pogster71 Ya that is a very low tooltip, even at 62 a tooltip of 1700 feels weak but you can still clear abysses with this level of dps (bearly but it is doable). I actually got a really solid neck for 2c today, gave me about 200 tooltip on its own, definitely the sort of thing to look out for:



With this in consideration I have updated the main thread to mention that a 5L is the very minimum for the main skill while leveling through the mid game.

Thanks guys, DPS from spell damage on weapon and shield definitely helps now one's dropped. Currently at end A7, L58 and 1.5kDPS and running 4L. Dipping so looking to upgrade my 29% spell damage wand. Keeping at it :)

Update: now L76; 8C spell damage wand, best I could get, 5L chest and merc lab has made mapping at tier 4-5 simple enough. Next upgrade will be Cherrubim's I think. going much more smoothly. Lots of tips in this thread, so getting interesting again. ty

For that act 7 boss it should feel comfortable around 2k tooltip, anything less than that is dangerous. You absolutely want that second phase to be over as soon as possible.

*Also, make sure for any single target encounter that you use a wither totem setup, might be weaker this league but it is still required as well.

I actually did find an alternative that I had forgotten about that is a very low cost solution to early damage:



You can pick this up as early as lvl 49, as a 4L it will act as a 5, brought my tooltip up to 3.8k and it gives a significant amount of hp. Literally a bunch of them on poe.trade for 1c each so definately worth it to pick one up.

Also got this recently for 2c, you absolutely want to find a dagger/mace with a balance of spell power/cast speed so that you are able to still shield charge.



Also I do not recommend Vaal Pact until 60+ for sure, regen is solid enough early to cover things if you have between 200-400hp per second regen, if you go non regen then you just need cruel lab done earlier for the bleed/stun immunity +100% increased leech rate, some situations will be much safer than pure regen.

Here is an update of what I have so far at level 65, feeling quite strong now and bosses are much easier now due mainly to Writhing Jar which can be used as early as lvl 60 (cost 5c which is a bit higher than it should be but it is eventually required):



DP tooltip: 3880 dps in town
Hp: 4020
Armor/Evasion: 11%/16%
Res: 75% for all with some overcapped, -10% chaos res

Here is the tree:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQBAAUtDjwUTRRxFm8YahiRGbQaOB0UJKonLyefKjguUzbpOlI6WDwtQKBDMUd-TP9OKlXGV1RYB1nzXhNhUmVNZlRmnmhlapNyD3KpdO12rHgveu985YIHg1-DzIPbhaeGYIa0irOPRpBVk6iUb5stm6GsmKyqrY2ygLc-vJ-9Nr6nwo7E9sauz37Tb9i92XzaweNq6hjvTvJB8933MvfX-KH46_rS_Ev-Cg==?accountName=Tome_of_exp&characterName=DPSlayerz

Some notes to consider:
-I have converted to Vaal Pact now and tree reflects that I have not been picking up many nodes that give regen. Focus is definitely on gem sockets.
-Picked up Brutal Fervour recently and it was a significant boost for Vaal Pact.
-Got dual curse from NW side of witch tree for Warlards Mark + Despair
-Picked up Hematophagy for the total 6% max life leech rate, 20% damage while leeching and 20% increased leech rate, very noticeable with Vaal Pact doubling.
-Next big pickup I want to aim for is a high stat Cherrubim's Maleficence, this will give considerable stats in all the places we are looking for.

Hey man, anyway you can maybe post a updated leveling guide for the tree? I don't have POB though.
Thank you!

I took the 2 melee damage clusters right at the start and leveled as Sunder + Warchief totems without any problems then respecced when I had a 5 link for Dark Pact.

Are you still planning to go Blood magic with this build?

I actually recently looked into the new jewels more and they can get unreasonably strong. This may actually shake things up quite a bit as far as the tree so I want to give it a bit of time. I have also been looking into going 2x 1h weapons but nothing solidified just yet.

I am about 70% sure about blood magic but PoB is not updated on these new jewels yet which impacts the remaining nodes.

Will update earliest leveling tree path but going to leave 70+ for now.

Update: Act 9 end boss has some new mechanics and appears to also be stronger than before. I had 5900 tooltip with lightning golem/flasks popped and it still took much longer than I remember. You will absolutely need writhing jar at this point if you are looking to solo it and even then you have to save atleast 1 scorpion until she jumps back into the arena. A large part of this could be that Vaal Pact requires a significantly higher gear level than the regen version of the build, once the overleech is rolling you have around 4 sec to put in some significant damage. I think this is also due to the Hematophagy nodes and dual curse, in total its about 12 nodes on tree so quite significant :X