Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

[Zdzisiu]

It would seem that with my 8.8% base critical weapon it is worth more to take +1 power charge bonus from Merc Alira and use Gain power charge on critical in my setup instead of Increased Critical Strikes. I done the math and I should get 6% more crit chance with that setup. The problem is that Power charge play will need me upkeeping it all the time for it while Increased Critical strikes is active 100%. But I can fairly close on passive tree to another Power Charge and two 18% more duration nodes for another 4.4% boost to critical chance bringing my total critical over 70% with 6 power charges active (and that is without counting any critical hit bonuses from other gear)

What about the crit multi? How high can you stack it? High crit chance is all good and nice but without 400-500% crit multi, it is kind of a waste.

If I stack it too much I will murder myself on reflect :D
For a 6L I can add Increased Critical Damage support (should be 240% damage boost on top of whatever is base critical damage).

Yeah, if you are going for elemental damage, then high crit and crit multi will kill you in reflect maps. That's a straight reroll. You could maybe try turning some auras off, but that would not be enough without a loooot of insta leech. Phys crit has it slightly easier since it can use phys to lightning gem to deal with the problem a bit.

But just rerolling ele reflect is not that big of a deal. At least there are no reflect packs anymore...

As I was suggested in other places I put Vaal Pact into my build so I should have instant Leech and about 1.6% life leech from total damage. I don't plan to take this passive until the very last moment :D
Potions still work with it?

Potions still work with Vaal Pact since potions give Life recovery, not life regeneration. The only thing that Vaal pact does, is set your life regeneration to 0.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well that still leaves out a lot of info, but judging by the passive tree you're using an elemental bow and basically ignoring physical damage right? Quartz flask is definitely a good idea until you can get your dodge capped passively (which might be forever) since 10% extra dodge when you're at 50% dodge is more like 20% because of increasing returns. Atziri's is a no brainer more damage flask for, ironically, anyone not doing chaos damage. Kiara's could be nice for rolling freeze and curse immune into one slot, but you'll probably run enough normal flasks you can just get those suffixes anyways. Vinktar's is good for extra flat elemental damage and penetration. I'm not sure on the price for any of these though, considering each will only buff your damage about 10% or so, you're probably better off improving your gear elsewhere. Crit multi is probably a better option to look at.

 

[ArchAngel]

#1
OK, after trying my original gem setup of HoI+Innervate+Ice Bite+Increased AoE I found out that I don't get Onslaught and Frenzy charges as often as I would like (my critical hit is at 40% now and with Elemental Hit 10% chance to Freeze that is 50% every hit will do elemental statuses). It probably worked better with Ice Nova Witch because that one focused on Freeze chance and not that much on criticals and everything was frozen before it died and gave me bigger chance to get Onslaught and Frenzy.

So I switched to HoI+HoT(Herald of Thunder)+Cast Curse on Hit+Poacher's Mark. Whatever dies first curses everyone else around and gives me frenzy charges. I got that passive that gives me Onslaught 10% chance per kill. Also I got one Onslaught flask (I like that ability although it might not be most effective one :D). Also this setup uses identical slot colors in my gear so could easily change it.
For now I am happy although once I get my crit chance and damage much higher I might be oneshotting whole groups and curse will not have anyone to affect and I will need to find another combination :D

What do you think?

#2
I am not happy with Cast on Damage Taken+Immortal Call+Increased Duration. It fires off all the time, against any kind of damage and lasts such a pathetic short time. I only need it to protect me vs physical damage. I was thinking of alternatives. Tell me if they got any chance to work.
a) Instead of Immortal call maybe Molten Shell? I know I only get 50% of armor bonus so probably a bad idea
b) Some spell that will transport me away? Maybe Lightning Warp but I don't know if that will work with my bow and it might transport me towards the battlefield as I will probably have a pointer that way. But again if a melee guy hits me any way is better than standing there? Maybe some other spell that can give me some resistances or move me away could work?
c) What about exchanging Cast on Damage Taken with Cast on Stunned? It should only activate on bigger Physical Damage hits and make sure it is only activated by physical damage? Maybe combine this Cast on Stunned with Vaal Grace I got?! EDIT: seems this only activates with up to 69% chance
d) How about using a summon spell to activate with these skills, something like Vaal Summon skeletons (I got one from a drop :D)? It should give me enough bodies to distract whatever did damage? Or maybe Ice Wall that would I hope be put between me and whatever did that damage?
e) Any other ideas?

#3
I got the 4L for now that is Blink Arrow+Faster Attacks+Ice Golem+ Minion Life. Maybe I should exchange Minion life with Blind? Or plan to add Blind as a 5L?
Good idea? Bad idea? Anyone got suggestions?

#4
Damned Registrations I am running a Elemental Hit Bow build. I wanted to see if I can make a good and useful Ele Hit guy (girl).

 

[Damned Registrations]

Frost wall is pretty good as an "Oh shit I might be dying" reactive spell. It'll get in the way sometimes, but that will also force you to pay attention to the fact that you're getting hit, and it will block projectiles and melee attacks quite nicely.

Elemental damage can stun too, but only larger hits can stun, so it would at least stop it from triggering from completely trivial attacks.

Triggered spells target the enemy that triggered them, so movement spells are a bad idea, while frost wall or various curses/wither works pretty well. Wither isn't actually a curse so it works nicely for adding a bit of movement slow to enemies without wasting a curse. Summon Golem is pretty standard fare for a cast on damage taken- the regen is significant and manually keeping one alive is troublesome.

 

[ArchAngel]

Frost wall is pretty good as an "Oh shit I might be dying" reactive spell. It'll get in the way sometimes, but that will also force you to pay attention to the fact that you're getting hit, and it will block projectiles and melee attacks quite nicely.

Elemental damage can stun too, but only larger hits can stun, so it would at least stop it from triggering from completely trivial attacks.

Triggered spells target the enemy that triggered them, so movement spells are a bad idea, while frost wall or various curses/wither works pretty well. Wither isn't actually a curse so it works nicely for adding a bit of movement slow to enemies without wasting a curse. Summon Golem is pretty standard fare for a cast on damage taken- the regen is significant and manually keeping one alive is troublesome.

I just tried Lightning Warp, yea I kept getting teleported into guy that did damage :D
I also tried Vaal Summon Skeleton but seems Vaal gems don't work with Cast on supports

Against elemental damage I will have 75% resistance so those hits will not register as often. Vs physical I got nothing, so every big hit will go through 100% and probably stun as well. I would be using Cast on Stun 100% if it worked 100%, this way it kind of sucks as I cannot really depend on it when I really need it.
And I was thinking about putting a curse there, something like Temporal Chains would probably work well but often you can run into hexproof enemies and curses last shorter on bosses (where cast on damage taken or cast on stunned activates most often :D). I would prefer something more reliable that does not care for curse immune. Also since I already now use two additional curses, 3rd one would be overkill where they would be being cast on top of each other.

I will need to test Frost Wall and Wither. If you got other ideas for me to test share them.
EDIT: Seems Wither has super short duration (0.5s which makes it less useful than Immortal Call with 0.4s as the move speed debuff is weaker than immunity to physical damage).
Frost Wall since v2.4 allows players to shoot through it. Seems that will be the best choice for me. I just need to test it now.
EDIT2 : wiki says Cast when damage taken does not work with Wither.
But I got another idea, I will try to link Wither with my Spell Totem that has Elemental Weakness, maybe it can cast both at my enemies :D

 

[ArchAngel]

Frost wall seems to be fickle. I seen it leave the melee guy that is attacking me on both side of it. I will need to test it a bit more :D

 

[Damned Registrations]

I've had it do that some times yeah, but even then it's usually a much better situation, because A: You're immediately aware that shit is sideways and you need to unzombify and play defensively, chug potions etc. and B: Unless the one melee guy is a boss, he's probably not a major threat by himself anyways, and you just walled off the rest of the pack.

Oh, and regarding wither; the duration of the cloud is .5 seconds, but the duration of the slow is 2 seconds. Moot point if it won't trigger anyways, but figured I'd clear that up.

 

[ArchAngel]

I've had it do that some times yeah, but even then it's usually a much better situation, because A: You're immediately aware that shit is sideways and you need to unzombify and play defensively, chug potions etc. and B: Unless the one melee guy is a boss, he's probably not a major threat by himself anyways, and you just walled off the rest of the pack.

Oh, and regarding wither; the duration of the cloud is .5 seconds, but the duration of the slow is 2 seconds. Moot point if it won't trigger anyways, but figured I'd clear that up.

Ah the description makes it sound different. That does make it more useful but wiki says it does not work with any cast on.. supports. Would work with spell totem but I cannot have two and I want my Elemental Weakness one :D

BTW, I just traded some divination cards and got Victario's Acuity LOL :D :D And my build is about getting power and frenzy charges :D
And nobody is trading that on poe.trade, I cannot even check how much it is worth :D

 

[Damned Registrations]

Jesus christ that is insanely lucky. It's a league specific item, so the only way to get it is what you did or spamming chance orbs on turqoise amulets on an onslaught map. I wouldn't even know how to price an item like that, if I found it I'd probably build a whole character around it. It's an insanely good item to begin with. Well, it works well on your character anyways, I'd say just wear that shit, it's definitely best in slot for an archer.

 

[ArchAngel]

Jesus christ that is insanely lucky. It's a league specific item, so the only way to get it is what you did or spamming chance orbs on turqoise amulets on an onslaught map. I wouldn't even know how to price an item like that, if I found it I'd probably build a whole character around it. It's an insanely good item to begin with. Well, it works well on your character anyways, I'd say just wear that shit, it's definitely best in slot for an archer.

Yea, I put it on and respeced immediately to get to +1 PC and 18% PC duration. Now I get up to 5 PC during mapping without Gain Power Charge on Critical :D
It is not as reliable as that support but it is cool for its other bonuses as well.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Grab any nearby max frenzy charges you can get too, 4% More damage is a huge perk in and of itself. Also I just checked the price on Standard and it's 2ex over there.

 

[ArchAngel]

Grab any nearby max frenzy charges you can get too, 4% More damage is a huge perk in and of itself. Also I just checked the price on Standard and it's 2ex over there.

How is it 2ex on standard if it is league specific item? :D

 

[Damned Registrations]

League specific items still show up outside their league from time to time, as you showed. Standard gets them too, plus all the ones filtered in from hardcore and new leagues, plus the legacy ones from when onslaught first came out. So there are a lot for sale.

 

[T. Reich]

ArchAngel
TryI+HoT set up is good, I also use it like that occasionally. It is very reliable for giving charges as long as you crit reliably.
You can also use assassin's mark instead of poacher's mark if you need power charges more than frenzy.

I recommend you stick with the original cwdt+IC+duration combo. It's really good and simple, and it gets its job done - it protects you vs situation where you take several phys dmg hits in a short period of time. It's not meant to reliably protect you vs big threats anyway, it's just another layer of defense.

Blink + golem 4L is good enough, keep it.

If you need extra distraction/protection, consider these:
1) vaal summon skeletons self-cast. It provides a ton of distraction for a while. Linking it to minion life is really good.
2) decoy totem is REALLY good for distraction, works on bosses like a charm.
3) consider switching ice golem for stone golem - the latter actively uses taunt.
4) consider linking a 4th gem to cwdt link - summon skeletons. Skeles are cast directly on top of "offending" mob and instantly aggro enemies and are a good distraction, even if for a split second.
5) run the Labyrinth a few times and try to get the glove enchantment - Of Spite. It shoots a nova of 8 piercing projectiles that leave the chilled ground around you. It's an amazing defensive enchant. It's not too hard to get that enchant in a few runs, and it's totally worth it.
6) If you have 100% pierce, self-casting frost wall seems like a good idea.
7) summon skeleton totem is also a thing, even though it's fairly slow and is only really useful vs bosses - it's too slow vs normal mobs that simply overwhelm it.

Victario's Acutiy is pretty nice but is a very niche item. It's good for your build, but it's fairly limited in use. that's why it costs only 2ex even though it's an old league-specific item. If it wasn't a league-only drop, it would be a 1 alch unique.

 

[T. Reich]

Personally, I got super-lucky this morning - randomly 6L an armor I was using in under 40 fus used. Never been lucky like that in a temp league, so it's a nice thing.
My build is also coming together nicely.

 

[ArchAngel]

Seems this would be a good choice for my body armor: http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Queen_of_the_Forest
Especially since it is only armor with 2000+ evasion that is not expensive on poe.trade and has both life and 3 resistances. And I might even get that movement penalty to very low.

Also I noticed there is a corrupted Drillneck that gives 0.2% of life leech from cold damage. Seems more useful for my character than 10% more pierce.

ArchAngel
TryI+HoT set up is good, I also use it like that occasionally. It is very reliable for giving charges as long as you crit reliably.
You can also use assassin's mark instead of poacher's mark if you need power charges more than frenzy.
I noticed HoT+HoI+Curse on Hit + Poacher's Mark gives more Frenzy. Especially since HoT effect gives me lighting bolts that last for a while and put the curse on anyone they hit afterwards. And it helps that this curse lowers evasion and gives life and mana.

I recommend you stick with the original cwdt+IC+duration combo. It's really good and simple, and it gets its job done - it protects you vs situation where you take several phys dmg hits in a short period of time. It's not meant to reliably protect you vs big threats anyway, it's just another layer of defense.
You forget my character is going to have high Evasion+Dodge, I doubt I will be hit twice fast by same guy doing lots of physical damage before Ice Wall gets summoned.

Blink + golem 4L is good enough, keep it.
I removed Faster Attacks and put Blind into it. But I got into few situations where I got stunned while trying to Blink away so maybe I need Faster Attacks. Maybe for a 5L armor I can also use Blind with it.

If you need extra distraction/protection, consider these:
1) vaal summon skeletons self-cast. It provides a ton of distraction for a while. Linking it to minion life is really good.
2) decoy totem is REALLY good for distraction, works on bosses like a charm.
3) consider switching ice golem for stone golem - the latter actively uses taunt.
4) consider linking a 4th gem to cwdt link - summon skeletons. Skeles are cast directly on top of "offending" mob and instantly aggro enemies and are a good distraction, even if for a split second.
5) run the Labyrinth a few times and try to get the glove enchantment - Of Spite. It shoots a nova of 8 piercing projectiles that leave the chilled ground around you. It's an amazing defensive enchant. It's not too hard to get that enchant in a few runs, and it's totally worth it.
6) If you have 100% pierce, self-casting frost wall seems like a good idea.
7) summon skeleton totem is also a thing, even though it's fairly slow and is only really useful vs bosses - it's too slow vs normal mobs that simply overwhelm it.

Victario's Acutiy is pretty nice but is a very niche item. It's good for your build, but it's fairly limited in use. that's why it costs only 2ex even though it's an old league-specific item. If it wasn't a league-only drop, it would be a 1 alch unique.

1) I do have that gem but it needs lots of souls on merciless difficulty. Also it is a pure Int gem and my Int is not that great. But it does seem powerful. For now I was thinking about sticking with Vaal Grace (takes less souls), it makes my attack and spell dodge insane and it will be even more when I will have all Acrobatics passives. I put Improved Durations with it and it lasts 10s
2) I was thinking about this but my Spell Totem seems to attract attention as well and has a double purpose.
3) I considered this as well but I like the accuracy and crit chance boost, also Stone Golem is not a Dex gem. I will consider this more once my crit setup is complete and if I see Ice golem not being attacked often enough.
4) Instead of Ice Wall? Wasn't it changed in patch that you cannot use two skill gems with Cast supports or something?! Also these skeletons will die fast and due to needing to be low level to be cast by CwDT skeletons will be weak.
5) For now I got the one that makes a double of me, I seen that double take some aggro as well. But I will keep a lookout for this other enchant. Do you only get in on Merc Lab?
6) I got 95% pierce but does not matter, Ice Wall was changed some time ago to not stop friendly projectiles.
7) I was thinking about this one, I did use this a long time age when Spell Totems were first introduced and it was totally OP then.

 

[Padre]

I'm a bit frustrated with my Trickster BV. Pathfinder seems to be so much more powerful. I'm now in a process of collecting required uniques and will restart with a summoner. Want to try out Victario's Charity and maybe Midnight Bargain. Will prolly add Vis Morris because I can't afford Shavs.

BV is cool and all but a bit boring. I miss my Flame Sentinels. If any of you have Bones of Ullr or any of the above we can trade some. Was dumb enough to burn like 20 chaos on that new Base helmet in hope of getting something good. No luck. Will try again with a top tier essence when I get one. I've seen ziggy's helmet and I'm jealous as fuck

 

[ArchAngel]

Ok, things are kind of going well now. I bought a 5L chest yesterday and got a good roll using essence on it. So now I got Power Charge on Critical attached to my Elemental Hit as well. Around 60% crit chance with 5 PC active.
My offense seems OK now, normal enemies dies in 1-2 shots, only elemental resistant rares take more to kill (worst combination I found so far was Elemental Resist, Aura that gives more resist and extra life... takes forever to kill).
I bought a Drillneck quiver as well.

As far as defense goes I traded a bit and got almost all my elemental resists to 75% now. Now I just need to fix my HP and anti physical problem. At lvl 73 I got around 2600 hp :D I want to use Artic Armor to help vs Physical but I don't have enough mana to use that and two heralds (and heralds are so useful :D).

I am going for life leech nodes and I was planning to take Vaal Pact then. After than I was thinking of using Blood Rage as main means for getting Frenzy charges (its attack speed bonus also helps). Between Artic Armor and Life Leech I should be able to keep that in check. Then I was thinking to switch Poacher's Mark for the curse that gives Power Charges and then switch my Power Charge on Critical for Improved Critical Damage support. Between PC curse and my unique I should have enough PC generation at least until I can get a 6L in some distant future. Good plan? Bad plan?

 

[Zdzisiu]

Ok, things are kind of going well now. I bought a 5L chest yesterday and got a good roll using essence on it. So now I got Power Charge on Critical attached to my Elemental Hit as well. Around 60% crit chance with 5 PC active.
My offense seems OK now, normal enemies dies in 1-2 shots, only elemental resistant rares take more to kill (worst combination I found so far was Elemental Resist, Aura that gives more resist and extra life... takes forever to kill).
I bought a Drillneck quiver as well.

As far as defense goes I traded a bit and got almost all my elemental resists to 75% now. Now I just need to fix my HP and anti physical problem. At lvl 73 I got around 2600 hp :D I want to use Artic Armor to help vs Physical but I don't have enough mana to use that and two heralds (and heralds are so useful :D).

I am going for life leech nodes and I was planning to take Vaal Pact then. After than I was thinking of using Blood Rage as main means for getting Frenzy charges (its attack speed bonus also helps). Between Artic Armor and Life Leech I should be able to keep that in check. Then I was thinking to switch Poacher's Mark for the curse that gives Power Charges and then switch my Power Charge on Critical for Improved Critical Damage support. Between PC curse and my unique I should have enough PC generation at least until I can get a 6L in some distant future. Good plan? Bad plan?

2.6k hp on level 73? Boy, you either have some baaaaad gear or like being one shotted.

I think you are going too glass cannon with this build. I don't know how long you plan on playing it, but it will be a pain in the ass to play even in mid tier maps.

 

[ArchAngel]

Ok, things are kind of going well now. I bought a 5L chest yesterday and got a good roll using essence on it. So now I got Power Charge on Critical attached to my Elemental Hit as well. Around 60% crit chance with 5 PC active.
My offense seems OK now, normal enemies dies in 1-2 shots, only elemental resistant rares take more to kill (worst combination I found so far was Elemental Resist, Aura that gives more resist and extra life... takes forever to kill).
I bought a Drillneck quiver as well.

As far as defense goes I traded a bit and got almost all my elemental resists to 75% now. Now I just need to fix my HP and anti physical problem. At lvl 73 I got around 2600 hp :D I want to use Artic Armor to help vs Physical but I don't have enough mana to use that and two heralds (and heralds are so useful :D).

I am going for life leech nodes and I was planning to take Vaal Pact then. After than I was thinking of using Blood Rage as main means for getting Frenzy charges (its attack speed bonus also helps). Between Artic Armor and Life Leech I should be able to keep that in check. Then I was thinking to switch Poacher's Mark for the curse that gives Power Charges and then switch my Power Charge on Critical for Improved Critical Damage support. Between PC curse and my unique I should have enough PC generation at least until I can get a 6L in some distant future. Good plan? Bad plan?

2.6k hp on level 73? Boy, you either have some baaaaad gear or like being one shotted.

I think you are going too glass cannon with this build. I don't know how long you plan on playing it, but it will be a pain in the ass to play even in mid tier maps.

Well my helmet has no life mod, gloves have 23, boots 63, one ring 20, other 30, amulet none, armor around 60, belt around 60, weapon none and quiver around 40.
I am in the process of acquiring new health gear and by that I mean trying to buy it since playing self found is useless in this game from what I seen. If I stuck to that I would have crap defense AND crap Offense. Now I managed to get my offense to satisfactory levels where I can clear maps fairly fast, now I just need to get myself out of one shot category :D
I am able to finish the story easily, Dominus was super easy to kill with this character. I have most problems vs rare enemies that are fast and have Leap or Shield Charge or Flicker.

 

[Helton]

So I'm on my... 3rd? Serious build. I'm a Flame Totem Marauder Chieftain. Really liking the build! The totems kill things pretty quick and he is much more durable than my previous few characters (srs Templar for one and siege ballista Ranger for another). Just dinged 56, just beat Cruel.

Gear is lagging a bit, my armor rating is lower than it should be, and I don't have much + Life from gear either, but so far he does well as long as I keep Endurance charges up. So I'm very optimistic!

I managed to beat Kaom, Daresso, and even Piety (!) on Cruel without dying. I think that's a first for all 3 of them, usually I die about 30 times to Piety. The Godless 3 were tougher than I remember on Cruel. I think its because they don't spawn minions, so if I let my Endurance charges slip (which happened in each fight, to my shame), its hard to rebuild them. Still I managed to survive those fights as well.

But fucking Malachi. I think I died 5 times? The floor is fucking lava, there's nowhere safe to stand. And when he does his tentacle attack (which is extremely deadly to begin with) I drop to single digit fps. The fight feels very meta. Its like one of his powers is to slow my computer to a crawl. The fight seems extremely hard anyways, but with the fps drops always at the most critical moments, seems I could never hope to make it through in hardcore.

I also still struggle with the Butcher fight before Daresso. Every character I've made (maybe because none of them can I directly target an enemy?) struggles with him. Sometimes I'm lucky and the map is build in such a way where there's a cubby to hide in. But if the map is open I have ALWAYS died. And once you die the fight gets about 20x harder. This is the first time I managed to recover after a death and beat him. Usually I have to reroll the zone until I get the aforementioned cubby.

I guess, do you guys have any tips? I'd like to play hardcore someday to get the achievements, but it seems impossible to me at this point. I can't imagine many builds hardier than this one and even if I were geared better I'm pretty sure these 2 fights would be the death of me.

 

[Zdzisiu]

So I'm on my... 3rd? Serious build. I'm a Flame Totem Marauder Chieftain. Really liking the build! The totems kill things pretty quick and he is much more durable than my previous few characters (srs Templar for one and siege ballista Ranger for another). Just dinged 56, just beat Cruel.

Gear is lagging a bit, my armor rating is lower than it should be, and I don't have much + Life from gear either, but so far he does well as long as I keep Endurance charges up. So I'm very optimistic!

I managed to beat Kaom, Daresso, and even Piety (!) on Cruel without dying. I think that's a first for all 3 of them, usually I die about 30 times to Piety. The Godless 3 were tougher than I remember on Cruel. I think its because they don't spawn minions, so if I let my Endurance charges slip (which happened in each fight, to my shame), its hard to rebuild them. Still I managed to survive those fights as well.

But fucking Malachi. I think I died 5 times? The floor is fucking lava, there's nowhere safe to stand. And when he does his tentacle attack (which is extremely deadly to begin with) I drop to single digit fps. The fight feels very meta. Its like one of his powers is to slow my computer to a crawl. The fight seems extremely hard anyways, but with the fps drops always at the most critical moments, seems I could never hope to make it through in hardcore.

I also still struggle with the Butcher fight before Daresso. Every character I've made (maybe because none of them can I directly target an enemy?) struggles with him. Sometimes I'm lucky and the map is build in such a way where there's a cubby to hide in. But if the map is open I have ALWAYS died. And once you die the fight gets about 20x harder. This is the first time I managed to recover after a death and beat him. Usually I have to reroll the zone until I get the aforementioned cubby.

I guess, do you guys have any tips? I'd like to play hardcore someday to get the achievements, but it seems impossible to me at this point. I can't imagine many builds hardier than this one and even if I were geared better I'm pretty sure these 2 fights would be the death of me.

If you are not doing damage yourself, with some skill or weapon, then give Ancestral Bond passive a look. It will give you two totems instead of one, so double dps, but you will be unable to deal damage yourself, which should be no problem if you are not doing any damage anyway. Btw, not dealing damage yourself does not mean you cant hit the mobs and apply curse on hit and other stuff, it just means that your damage will be 0.

As for advice. Flasks are your friends. A good flask setup can be your best friend while leveling. For example, one health flask with the prefix "of staunching" is very useful as it stops the bleeding and corrupted blood effect.
Granite flask, maybe of Iron skin will be very nice for your build too. It will give you a lot of armor for a short time, and that will allow you to survive a few of the harder hits from the boss.

For Piety, try to hide behind pillars when she is in the Ice Archer form, so you are not hit by the nasty arrows. When she is fire form, just run away from her until she is back to normal. Taking some resistance flasks for this fight can be useful too, like topaz for lightning resistance.

Malachi fight is a pain in the ass when you get fps drops. Believe me, I used to do it on a laptop, and when he started his tentacles, I could only hope I was not in front of him. The best way to avoid them is to run behind him when he is doing it, they won't hit you there.

Also, having your resistance capped in every difficulty helps a lot. Try getting them capped with master crafting, its easy and cheap with just level 4-5 masters to put 20-30% resistance on a few pieces of gear.

You could also link your skilltree here, so we can tell you what nodes are good, and what are not that usefull for your build.

 

[ArchAngel]

like Zdzisiu my advice would be to just focus on totems and not go into melee. Also be sure to have a quick movement skill (Blink Arrow, Whirling blades, Leap, Shield Charge, Lightning warp) and link it so it is lightning fast (usually this means to put Faster Attacks on it or in case of Lightning Warp Faster Casting + Less Duration) and use that to get away from nasty effects like that Malachai's tentacles. Just moving around a lot will save you from most enemy attacks.

 

[Helton]

Here is my current build. The plan is to pick up the big damage nodes near the Witch starting point, Occultists Dominion and Fire Walker, then grab the Chaos Res. + Life Nodes and the nearby Aura nodes, then nab the curse cluster near Scion. And after that just pick up Life. As you can see I already have Ancestral Bond.

Right now I run Temporal Chains + Blasphemy aura, have a Fire Golem, use Enduring Cry for Endurance Nodes, and Flame Totems.

When I get through Cruel Lab I won't have to use Enduring Cry as often because my totems will generate Endurance Charges. Still going to keep it for bosses though. Then I plan to use Abyssal Cry regularly, eventually run Arctic Armor, now that you mention curse on hit effect, I'll probably use that with a weakness to fire, or just cast it directly, and yeah I still haven't picked up Flame Dash (Marauder can't buy it directly, so I have to trade for it). And then eventually i plan to setup some cast on damage taken spells. Frost Wall, Phase Run, and the spell that consumes endurance charges to make you immune to physical, maybe.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Here is my current build. The plan is to pick up the big damage nodes near the Witch starting point, Occultists Dominion and Fire Walker, then grab the Chaos Res. + Life Nodes and the nearby Aura nodes, then nab the curse cluster near Scion. And after that just pick up Life. As you can see I already have Ancestral Bond.

Right now I run Temporal Chains + Blasphemy aura, have a Fire Golem, use Enduring Cry for Endurance Nodes, and Flame Totems.

When I get through Cruel Lab I won't have to use Enduring Cry as often because my totems will generate Endurance Charges. Still going to keep it for bosses though. Then I plan to use Abyssal Cry regularly, eventually run Arctic Armor, now that you mention curse on hit effect, I'll probably use that with a weakness to fire, or just cast it directly, and yeah I still haven't picked up Flame Dash (Marauder can't buy it directly, so I have to trade for it). And then eventually i plan to setup some cast on damage taken spells. Frost Wall, Phase Run, and the spell that consumes endurance charges to make you immune to physical, maybe.

Yeah, if you have a fair amount of Endu charges, a setup of Cast on Damage taken, Immortal call, increased duration is a very good idea, the charges will be consumed to give you more immunity.

Your skill tree looks good. You are in a position to get a lot of decent nodes, either for pure damage or for life. There is the explosive impact for fire damage near the chaos/life nodes. You could also take a look at the totem specific nodes, totem placement time is a very nice stat that allows you to place your totem quickly and keep on moving to avoid mobs/boss slams.

If you plan on using two curses, like one on blasphemy and the fire weakness curse, then you need to either get an item that gives +1 curse, or the node from witch area. Otherwise one curse will overwrite the other.

And get more life, as a mara, 6k hp with decent gear should be achievable without going crazy. Of course, that is more around level 75-80.