Cyclone Slayer Necropolis 3.24 Guide

Build Overview

Welcome to the Cyclone Slayer Necropolis 3.24 Guide, brought to you by WowCarry.com. Cyclone has always been a beloved skill gem within Path of Exile (PoE) for its exhilarating gameplay, allowing players to effortlessly slay enemies in their path. Traditionally, escalating Cyclone's damage output posed a significant challenge due to the scarcity of potent weapons for end-game content, often necessitating rare and hard-to-acquire weaponry. This guide diverges from the traditional path, presenting a straightforward strategy to enhance your character and unlock the build's full potential within the latest Necropolis expansion.

Our Cyclone build leverages the Slayer Ascendancy to excel in several key areas. It notably increases critical strike chance through the Slayer's base critical strike ascendancy perk, Overwhelm. Furthermore, it harnesses overleech, an incredibly powerful yet underappreciated mechanic, by augmenting Life Recovery Rate, Maximum Leech Rate, and sufficient Leech to reach the cap. This ensures nearly instantaneous recovery to full health, offering a robust defensive layer that allows players to engage confidently in combat. Additionally, this build delivers formidable damage and efficient clear speed, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.

Beyond its offensive capabilities, this build incorporates specific techniques and pathing to ensure adequate durability, making it accessible for newcomers while maintaining enjoyment for veteran players familiar with navigating PoE's challenges. It outlines clear and precise strategies for conquering pinnacle bosses, albeit with a more aggressive stance that may impact the fun of mapping.

While gearing up for this build may appear daunting, our guide emphasizes a progression path that facilitates farming for endgame upgrades, ensuring a smooth transition even in lower-tier content. This guide is designed to reignite your passion for Cyclone, offering an enjoyable experience at various power levels, whether you aim to invest heavily into your build or savor the gameplay at a more casual pace. Engaging with a melee skill like Cyclone requires a higher degree of skill and can be more punishing in difficult content, but for those dedicated to experiencing one of PoE's most exhilarating skills, this guide promises a rewarding journey with viable progression on a reasonable budget.

Pros and Cons

Regarding map modifiers, the Cyclone Slayer build for the Necropolis expansion in PoE is quite versatile. The only maps I consistently avoid are those with the No Leech modifier. For players focused on survival, it's also wise to steer clear of maps featuring Minus Maximum Resistances, Critical Strike Modifiers, or a combination of multiple damage modifiers. These conditions can significantly increase the risk of death, making them unsuitable for this build. However, with appropriate gear and strategy, most other map modifiers are manageable, allowing for smooth and enjoyable gameplay.

Build Main Mechanics

The Cyclone Slayer Necropolis 3.24 Guide focuses on a unique approach to maximizing the potential of Cyclone in PoE. Eschewing the popular Shockwave Support path—which typically relies on Physical Damage Staves—we pivot towards a build centered around Axes, specifically leveraging the newly buffed Atziri's Disfavour. This decision not only allows for the utilization of unique weapons in the journey towards acquiring Disfavour but also makes it possible to progress through to yellow or early red maps with alternatives like Sinvicta's Mettle. This strategy enables players to farm necessary gear directly with the Cyclone Slayer build, avoiding the need to switch skills temporarily.

Without the option of Shockwave Support, due to our choice of weapon type, the build turns to Impale for damage amplification. Impale effectively acts as a damage multiplier, storing a portion of your hit damage to be dealt again with subsequent hits, akin to dealing double damage under the right conditions. Scaling Impale, while potent, can be both restrictive and costly, with key upgrades like Watcher's Eye potentially demanding a high investment. Nevertheless, given the less frequent use of Impale among the melee community, these upgrades can sometimes be obtained at a reasonable cost, significantly boosting the build's damage output.

To address Path of Exile's rigorous demands for sustain and durability, we've incorporated defensive layers and auras into the Cyclone Slayer build. While players are encouraged to avoid tanking highly damaging telegraphed attacks, the build's design ensures robustness during mapping and sufficient burst capability against most bosses. Through my experience, this build configuration has triumphed over all non-pinnacle bosses and several endgame Invitations, maintaining a balance between durability for mapping and offensive power for boss encounters. For those aiming to conquer the game's most challenging content, such as Cortex, the Feared, and Uber bosses, a shift towards a more damage-focused setup at the expense of some quality of life may be necessary.

PoB, Passives and Gem Links

For those looking to dive deep into the optimized configurations of the Cyclone Slayer build for the Necropolis expansion in PoE, we've prepared a comprehensive Path of Building (PoB) setup. This PoB contains all the necessary details regarding passive skill allocations, gearing advice, and the optimal gem links to maximize your build's performance. Accessing this PoB will equip you with the knowledge to tailor your Cyclone Slayer effectively.

Gem Links

Cyclone – Main Link (6-Link): The cornerstone of this build, Cyclone's damage output significantly increases with the inclusion of level 5 awakened gems. For players unable to level these gems quickly, purchasing level 5 versions is recommended.

• Cyclone
• Close Combat Support
• Awakened Melee Physical Damage Support
• Awakened Brutality Support
• Infused Channelling Support
• Impale Support

Movement & 2nd Curse: Implementing Mark on Hit early in your build is crucial. Transition to a Curse on Hit ring combined with Mark on Hit support once you obtain the ability to apply a second curse.

• Leap Slam
• Lifetap Support
• Assassin's Mark
• Mark On Hit Support

Auras: This build utilizes a variety of auras. Ensure to consult the PoB for detailed guidance on managing mana to sustain all auras effectively.

• Blood and Sand
• Flesh and Stone
• Determination
• Pride
• Dread Banner
• Enlighten Support (Level 3 is functional, Level 4 is optimal)

Additionally, Precision is socketed separately, with its level adjustable based on your mana requirements and character level.

Utility: The Cyclone Slayer build incorporates several utility skills to enhance survivability and damage output.

• Molten Shell (Vaal Molten Shell for those comfortable with active play)
• Blood Rage (Anomalous version recommended for boss encounters)
• Berserk

Buffs: Embracing the melee build ethos, integrating totems such as Vaal Ancestral Warchief and Ancestral Protector linked with Multiple Totems Support and Maim Support boosts damage output significantly. These should be activated before confronting bosses or challenging encounters.

Ascendancy, Pantheons and Deal with the Bandits

Ascendancy (Duelist – Slayer)

• Overwhelm: This foundational node sets your base Critical Strike Chance to 8%, a crucial starting point for scaling increased Critical Strike Chance. As critical builds do not typically use weapons with high base critical chance, securing Overwhelm early ensures consistent critical hits.
• Brutal Fervour: Considered the most powerful node for the Slayer in isolation, Brutal Fervour enables overleech, a formidable defensive mechanism. When combined with Vaal Pact and substantial damage output, it provides near-constant health regeneration, significantly reducing the likelihood of death except by one-shots.
• Impact: Tailored for melee builds, Impact delivers essential accuracy and enhancements to both clear speed and damage. Its benefits become particularly noticeable from your third labyrinth run, as you encounter denser and more evasive enemy formations.
• Bane of Legends: A versatile node that not only increases damage but also allows for the safe engagement of Physical Reflect maps due to the Brutality support, enabling the build to handle both Physical and Elemental Reflect scenarios effectively.
• Headsman: With the acquisition of Forbidden Flesh and Forbidden Flame jewels, a fifth Ascendancy node, Headsman, becomes accessible. This node offers a significant 20% More Damage increase, courtesy of its culling effect, alongside boosts to movement and attack speed, marking a substantial power spike for the build. It's advised to prioritize other Ascendancy nodes initially and incorporate Headsman later through the use of the jewel combination, adjusting your allocation as needed based on the availability and cost of these jewels.

Bandits

The optimal choice for this build is to eliminate all the bandits in exchange for the additional Skill Points. While the benefits provided by siding with Alira, such as resistance and mana regeneration boosts, may seem appealing for league starters, the flexibility and benefits offered by the Skill Points are generally superior, rendering resistance capping a manageable task without her aid.

Pantheons

Major Gods: Soul of the Brine King offers valuable protection against freezing, enabling the use of boots with only Chill Immunity. However, if your gear already includes optimal freeze immunity, the Soul of Lunaris presents a beneficial alternative for melee builds, enhancing overall resilience and mobility.

Minor Gods: Soul of Abberath is highly recommended for its immunity to Burning Ground, an increasingly necessary defense given the prevalence of fire-based hazards in PoE. This protection is particularly relevant when engaging with content like Exarch Altars, Harbingers, and trails of fire.

Upgrading your Pantheons: To enhance the powers of your chosen Pantheons, place a Divine Vessel in the Map Device alongside the map containing the relevant boss. Upon defeating the boss and capturing their soul within the filled Divine Vessel, you can either use it to upgrade your Pantheon power directly or hand it over to Sin in Oriath for additional lore-related insights.

Gear

The Cyclone Slayer build for the Necropolis 3.24 Guide on PoE emphasizes a combination of unique and rare items tailored to optimize performance across all facets of gameplay. Below is a summary of our gear recommendations, focusing on enhancing damage, survivability, and overall efficacy in battle.

This setup provides a balanced approach to tackling the diverse challenges encountered in PoE. The choice of Abyssus with a Cyclone enchant significantly enhances the build's damage output, while the inclusion of Atziri's Disfavour offers a potent weapon choice known for its synergy with Cyclone builds. Rare items are selected to fill out the rest of the gear, focusing on critical attributes such as life, resistances, critical strike enhancements, and specific utility mods like Vulnerability on Hit and reduced Cost of Channelling Skills. This gear composition is designed to ensure that players can effectively engage with both mapping and boss encounters, making the Cyclone Slayer build a formidable choice for adventurers in the Necropolis expansion.

Summary

Wrapping up, this Cyclone Slayer guide for the Necropolis 3.24 expansion in PoE has laid down a solid path from gearing up to mastering the mechanics, aiming to provide both new and veteran players with a rewarding gaming experience. By following this guide, you'll enjoy the thrill of spinning through hordes of enemies, bolstered by a build that balances robust damage output with the resilience needed to take on the game's toughest challenges. And hey, if you ever find yourself needing a bit more help or looking to get the most out of this build without the grind, remember that we at WowCarry have got your back. Our services are designed to support you in any part of the game, whether you're aiming to perfect this build or explore others. Here's to your success in the Necropolis expansion—may your Cyclone Slayer bring you countless victories!