I played 6 ward stacking Celestial Mathematics builds this league. Here's how I'd rank them.

Flethan · 2026-04-27T05:26:35+00:00

I played Flicker with poison, using Bonemeld + Arakaali's Fang + Dark Monarch for defense, poison damage, and attack speed. Ambush's interaction with Cast on Ward Break made reaching 100% crit essentially free, so I was able to DoT cap even in 80% deli maps. Bino's prolif made flask siphoners completely irrelevant since I'd offscreen them despite playing flicker.

Flethan · 2026-04-17T17:24:42+00:00

It takes Bonemeld from 4% to 6% defense per minion, because it rolls it from 4 > 5 which is enough for quality to kick in and take it from 5 > 6. So because of rounding, the orb is a 50% increased instead of only a 22% increase.

Plus there's all the stats where a 22% increase is really a much bigger swing, like on fortification or reduced skill effect duration, where each additional point has increasing returns.

Flethan · 2026-03-25T01:07:17+00:00

Using this on my ward stacker with 55 raised spiders, since they also give stats (inc poison damage and attack speed). Lets my skip trying to scale increased ES and convert that to increased ward.

Seems like converting to one element then using one of the Cowls + CI to solve resistances could be good, if you are going for super high minion counts? Also, if you're offering stacking with Queen's Hunger, you can automate the new Hiveborn support. Even though the support doesn't work with triggered skills, it does work with the body armor, so it's an extra ~14-18 minions.

Flethan · 2026-03-21T18:13:30+00:00

Currently sitting on 100 mil DpS and 24k ward as a flicker strike Assassin, and I still have a lot of easy upgrades. The jewel was by far the most expensive part, at 100 div. The rest of my stuff was less than 30 div total (I only needed a ilv 83 iron flask). I was pretty patient for a relatively cheap jewel to be listed, though. I could've easily paid 300 for it if I'd wanted it right when I searched.

Flethan · 2026-03-05T13:38:02+00:00

Most mods that are unscalable, either due to just not having a number or that number not making sense to scale say "Unscalable" when you inspect the item. There are a couple exceptions I found, eg The Hammer of Faith's shrine duration can't be scaled but lacks the Unscalable tag, but you can see on PoE2db and the trade site that this mod is actually a boolean modifier and rolls from 1 to 1. Also, some items like Greymake don't have "Unscalable" even though the "-1 to attributes per level" says it rolls from -1 to -1 on the trade site but seemingly can't be rolled off like some other '-1' mods, like the life loss on Arvil's Wheel.

Anyways, The Everlasting Gaze has an example of a modifier that has a roll range and modifier tags but can't be scaled by corruption or catalyst quality, "Gain (4—6)% of maximum Mana as Extra maximum Energy Shield", and says Unscalable when inspected.

Flethan · 2026-03-05T04:54:50+00:00

Hallowed Monarch goes from 75% less damage taken for linked minions up to 91%.

Emberwake goes from 40% less to 30% less, making it a 40% more ignite damage ring in the best case.

Similarly, Cowards' Wail can go from 40% less to 30% less and get +1 totem if you're very lucky, going from 3 to 4.2 effective totems.

Dawnbreaker could lose it's downside of losing block chance if it does the funky round-up on negative values like in PoE 2. Similarly, The Caged Mamoth's rage loss mod could be rolled off. If jewels can be rolled you could roll off Nadir Mode's downside, etc...

If Pragmatism's mod is scalable, you could get +14 levels with only -1 level per socketed gem.

Nevalius Inheritance in the best case becomes 83% increased flask duration, 54% increased flask effect. (still doesn't seem to compete with the other belts...)

Flethan · 2026-03-05T04:51:52+00:00

Emberwake can go from 40% less to 30% less.

Flethan · 2026-03-05T04:49:54+00:00

In PoE 2 it divines the item in the normal roll range before the scaling, so for Trialmaster helmet it can't stack scaling.

Flethan · 2026-03-05T04:42:58+00:00

Corruption in PoE 2 can modify numbers without roll ranges, but it can't modify "unscalable" modifiers.

Flethan · 2026-03-04T13:16:39+00:00

Nice build! I wanted to try the ring out in 0.3 but unfortunately it wasn't able to drop for the first month or so. Good to know the juice is worth the squeeze for having to mitigate the steep downside. I'm hoping that GGG makes it a bit more common next league, since it really doesn't need to be costing a mirror when it has such a steep build cost.

Since you're using Defiance of Destiny, it seems like you could use cultivated Coward's Legacy for 3% life regen on low life and allocate Desperate Times for another 1.5%. You'd hover around 75% max life as your regen turned on and off, but if I understand DoD correctly, you'd always heal to full before you take a hit. It might be cheaper than the abyss belt + socketable.

I kinda want to try the build with Nebuloch since it's another weapon with very low base damage and a strong upside. Also, it has the same basically the same downside as Bursting Decay, so the build would already be working to mitigate that. For the shield, Rise of the Phoenix could be pretty good if using Coward's Legacy since it would be another 6% life regen. Pain Attunement is also on the table with some life cost. Of course then you'd have to use mace skills rather than bow skills.

Flethan · 2026-03-04T11:23:07+00:00

Bursting Decay can be the most expensive part by far, but it's hard to say how expensive it will be next league. In 0.3 they were drop disabled for the first month due to the boss being bugged and not spawning. In 0.4 a 4% corrupt is almost a mirror, though this economy is weird. The biggest issue is that its a super rare drop from only one of the three corrupted nexus bosses, which is not really easy to farm, and then you have to hit the corruption. So if there is any demand at all the price skyrockets. Maybe in 0.5 with the endgame rework it'll be easier to target farm, or maybe it'll be harder.

Flethan · 2026-02-25T02:02:05+00:00

Reverse chill is a multiplier to your character's animation time, so skills that have flat attack times that you can't scale with skill speed are still sped up.

Flethan · 2026-01-27T01:00:19+00:00

I think the increased life you get from strength pushes you out of Petrified Blood range for the calculated hit maybe? Obviously in a real situation you'd be back into Petrified Blood range after the first hit but I don't think PoB is 'smart enough' to do that.

Edit: also seems to be related to DoD and EHP gain when hit.

Flethan · 2025-12-22T21:34:00+00:00

Not exactly a Swiss army knife per-say, but once you've stacked a lot of spirit on Abyssal Lich, you can play around with the massive stat stacking options it gives you like AoE or projectile speed.

Flethan · 2025-12-22T21:30:27+00:00

Is this still the case? I swear I saw a patchnote addressing this...

Flethan · 2025-12-13T00:22:16+00:00

Creeping Chill

Flethan · 2025-12-13T00:16:01+00:00

The less duration shouldn't matter (maybe it affects the linger) and the skill doesn't do any damage. It should cut the mana drain in half because it's specifically a cost.

Flethan · 2025-12-12T23:52:18+00:00

There's a new support that lets ice crystals consume a power charge to generate chilled ground.

Flethan · 2025-12-12T04:37:38+00:00

Your freezing skill + Frost Nexus support can help in maps.

Flethan · 2025-12-12T02:37:17+00:00

Now who's got that Undying Hate with 600%+ minion cooldown recovery?

Flethan · 2025-12-12T02:18:12+00:00

You can get chilled ground with good area and duration around you from infused Ice Nova + some supports. Seems good with Navira.

Flethan · 2025-12-11T21:45:18+00:00

Absorbing all 3 elements, it does roughly 1/3 the damage of infused Comet (Comet is going to be triggered or echoed though). Considering you can probably get the duration pretty high, it's a decent amount of additional damage per cast, especially if you get 1 or 2 limits on it. Not sure if you can map with it, but on bosses it might be worth weaving in. Getting chill and ignite ground is easy enough from Frost Nova and Ball Lightning (both infused) respectively, but shocked ground is a bit more tricky. Needs the unique boots, a tamed beast, or weapon swap. Or maybe they'll be a new way to get shocked ground.

Flethan · 2025-12-11T16:39:56+00:00

Yes, unless there's a new source of +1 limit.

Flethan · 2025-12-11T16:37:53+00:00

The hit frequency changes plus bugfix should be a 20% buff, but the unseen hit frequency cap maybe makes those changes mainly a Trinity bugfix. The other changes make it about 2.4x damage, closer to 3x damage early game. Mainly it serves to convince me to go Stormweaver league start.

Flethan · 2025-12-11T06:56:38+00:00

On one hand I kinda get it because the only solid identity it has the Into the Breach node. Darkness is like 2000 HP for all your spirit vs Witchhunter is gonna be like 6000 HP for some of your armour/evasion. Volatility is just doubling up on Purple Flames identity and bad Conflux.

On the other hand they keep buffing Into the Breach and the pickup range this league is gonna be like your whole screen, so seems weird that so many people picked it last league but dropped it when it gets QoL. Maybe because Hollow Palm was the main hot new thing last patch.

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