Explosive Concoction Ascendant Necropolis 3.24 Guide

March 26, 2024 15 minutes

Build Overview

At WowCarry, we're excited to introduce the Explosive Concoction Ascendant guide for the Necropolis 3.24 expansion in Path of Exile (PoE). This innovative build transforms your flasks into powerful explosive devices, enabling you to carve a devastating path through Wraeclast. The Explosive Concoction skill, a cornerstone of this build, harnesses charges from your topaz and sapphire flasks to unleash substantial AoE elemental damage. Notably, Explosive Concoction stands out as one of the few skills in PoE capable of shotgun effects, allowing us to maximize AoE to its fullest potential.

Remarkably accessible from league start and budget-friendly, this PoE build evolves into a formidable force capable of achieving deathless runs in the Feared encounter when fully optimized. Beyond its offensive prowess, the Explosive Concoction Ascendant build doesn't compromise on defense. It boasts a robust combination of evasion and armour, supplemented with spell suppression and overleech, ensuring resilience in the heat of battle. Additionally, it offers near-immunity to ailments, rounding off its capabilities as a balanced and powerful choice for the Necropolis expansion.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
  • Damage AND Clear: Leveraging overlapping damage, this build emphasizes a significant AoE expansion, ensuring impressive clear speed while maintaining robust boss DPS.
  • Easy Leaguestart: With minimal unique requirements, starting this build is a breeze. Key early league items include Carcass Jack and Atziri's Step, enhancing both survivability and mobility.
  • Infinite Flasks: Exceptional flask charge generation means you can continually use your flasks to stay topped off, perfect for those who, like us at WowCarry, prefer to keep their flasks in constant use.
  • Charges Required: Early on, maintaining enough flask charges for bosses can be a challenge, potentially impacting DPS until you secure the right flask crafts and talents.
  • Uncommon Gear: Finding the specific gear for this build can be tricky due to a smaller market. However, this can be mitigated by crafting the gear yourself.

Build Main Mechanics

Exploring the core mechanics of the Explosive Concoction Ascendant Necropolis build reveals a thrilling and dynamic gameplay experience. Emulating the intensity of wielding six grenade launchers simultaneously, this build makes mapping through Path of Exile's vast landscapes an absolute delight. The effortless rage generation, coupled with a 30% increase in Area of Effect (AoE) and sustained overleech from Ascendancy choices, lays the groundwork for both swift progression and formidable resilience.

How Does it Play?

Engaging with the Explosive Concoction skill transforms the battlefield into a spectacle of destruction. This build is designed to facilitate smooth navigation through maps, bolstered by an efficient rage generation mechanism and the substantial benefits of increased AoE and overleech derived from our Ascendancy selections. These elements converge to ensure that every encounter feels less like a battle and more like a dominative performance.

Damage and Defensive Scaling

At the heart of the Explosive Concoction build's offensive strategy is its unique approach to damage output. By forgoing traditional weapons, it instead benefits from significant increments of flat elemental damage with each gem level. Maximizing DPS hinges on acquiring level bonuses, prominently through items like Skin of the Loyal and Empower Support, alongside enhancements in penetration, attack speed, and exposure. Additionally, leveraging generic damage sources such as AoE, attack, or elemental damage further amplifies your destructive capabilities.

Defensively, the build achieves remarkable fortitude through a combination of the Defiance Banner, Determination, and Grace, reaching the spell suppression cap. Stun immunity is seamlessly integrated via Ascendancy perks, while crafting provides ailment immunity. The strategic use of forbidden jewels enables the incorporation of the Slayer's overleech, rounding off a comprehensive defensive framework that ensures survivability in the harshest of encounters.

PoB, Passives and Gem Links

The Explosive Concoction Ascendant build in the Necropolis expansion evolves through various stages as your character progresses, ensuring a clear path for upgrades from league start to the endgame. WowCarry meticulously outlines each phase to streamline your journey in Path of Exile.

Progression

Leaguestart: Ideal for newcomers or those without currency, the initial goal is to transition smoothly into early maps for farming capabilities. Essential early purchases include Carcass Jack and Atziri's Step, with a focus on acquiring a +1 amulet for any element due to Explosive Concoction's versatile tags. Additional DPS can be sourced from rings enhancing % elemental damage with attack skills and leveraging the Scion's abundant jewel sockets.

Midrange: Aim for a Skin of the Loyal with the correct colors for a significant DPS boost. Essential is the increased flask charges gained mod on your belt. Glorious Vanity of Ahuana near your tree's top introduces overleech with minimal downsides. Begin enhancing your eldritch implicits on boots and gloves, with cluster jewels being a critical power source at this stage.

Endgame: Transitioning to a Skin of the Lords with Elemental Overload frees up points for cluster jewels, achieving full ailment immunity with appropriate boots and Stormshroud. The final setup requires forbidden jewels for Berserker, Slayer, or Pathfinder ascendancies, focusing on the most cost-effective options.

Anoint

Anointing, facilitated by Cassia, grants access to an additional talent tree node. For this build, anoint Tenacity using 1x Crimson Oil and 2x Golden Oil.

Gem Links

Explosive Concoction (Chest): Combine Explosive Concoction with Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks Support, Volley Support, Empower Support, Elemental Penetration Support, and Inspiration Support for your core damage setup.

DPS Boosts (Shield): Equip Sniper's Mark, Mark On Hit Support, and Ancestral Protector for enhanced targeting and damage.

Auras (Helmet): Utilize Grace, Determination, Vitality, and Enlighten Support to balance defense and resource management.

Movement/Defense/Misc (Gloves): Berserk, Dash, Molten Shell, and Precision offer mobility, additional defense, and accuracy.

CWDT Setup: A Cast when Damage Taken Support coupled with Blood Rage activates upon taking damage, enhancing attack speed.

Leaguestart Gems

Before level 12, adaptability is key; use whatever is accessible, ensuring to check gem vendors regularly. From Act 1 through Act 10, evolve your gem setup starting with Splitting Steel and transitioning into Explosive Concoction by Act 3, incorporating supporting gems like Volley Support, Elemental Damage with Attacks Support, and eventually, Inspiration Support. By Act 4, integrate Vitality, Grace, Precision, Blood Rage, and the Mark On Hit Support with Sniper's Mark, rounding out with Ancestral Protector for a comprehensive build foundation.

Ascendancy, Pantheons and Deal with the Bandits

Delving into the strategic choices of Ascendancy, Pantheons, and the stance on the Bandits provides a comprehensive framework to maximize the potential of the Explosive Concoction Ascendant build for the Necropolis expansion in PoE.

Ascendancy

The Explosive Concoction build leverages the flexibility and power of Ascendancy to adapt and overcome. Utilizing the novel Forbidden Jewels, it combines the strengths of three distinct Ascendancies: Pathfinder, Berserker, and an optional third via Forbidden Jewels. The progression through the Labyrinth reflects a strategic approach to enhancing the build's performance.

  • First Lab: Initial points direct towards Berserker, offering 40 Strength and a talent point, though this phase doesn't necessitate immediate completion.
  • Second Lab: Prioritizing Berserker for its rage generation and stun immunity benefits, alongside a move towards Pathfinder, enhances both leveling comfort and combat efficacy.
  • Third Lab: Pathfinder Ascendancy secures a steady flask charge generation, essential for sustaining Explosive Concoction's effectiveness.
  • Final Lab: Path of the Ranger is selected for the valuable bonus of two additional skill points.

Bandits

The optimal choice for this build is to eliminate all Bandits, prioritizing the acquisition of additional skill points to further augment the versatility and strength of the skill tree.

Pantheons

For the Major Pantheon, Brine King stands out as a protective measure, especially under 25 rage, with Lunaris serving as an alternative for its defensive perks. In the Minor Pantheon, Shakari offers a straightforward path to poison resistance, whereas the upgraded Garukhan provides immunity to maim and blind, valuable against certain map modifiers.

Gear

The gear selection for the Explosive Concoction Ascendant build is meticulously crafted to enhance both offensive and defensive capabilities, ensuring optimal performance throughout the Necropolis expansion in PoE. Here's a comprehensive overview of the ideal gear pieces for this build, as presented by WowCarry.

Gear item 1

Helm: Opt for an armour/evasion base, although pure evasion is also viable. Implicits should focus on aura accommodation and mana sustainability. While accuracy is crucial for DPS maximization, it can be allocated on gloves or rings if necessary.

Helm Example

Gear item 2

Amulet: Seek out a +1 to lightning/fire/cold gems amulet with life and resistances, aiming for a +2 upgrade when affordable. The mana cost reduction is optional based on your build's mana management.

Amulet Example

Gear item 3

Chest: Initially, wear a Skin of the Loyal for proximity to Elemental Overload, ultimately upgrading to a Skin of the Lords with the Elemental Overload affix for enhanced performance.

Gear item 4

Boots: Stormshroud boots facilitate easy achievement of ailment immunity. Use Deafening Essence of Torment for initial rolls, then focus on crafting Eldritch implicits for optimization.

Boots Example

Gear item 5

Gloves: A significant DPS source, gloves should have powerful implicits easily rolled with eldritch orbs. Prioritize an open prefix for leech, high life, and resistances. Spell suppression may be optional depending on your overall gear setup.

Gloves Example

Gear item 6

Belt: Focus on life, flask-related attributes, and damage, with an emphasis on flask charge gains. Prioritize these stats along with resistances for balanced defense and utility.

Belt Example

Gear item 7

Shield: Choose an armour/evasion or pure evasion base. Key stats include spell suppression and ailment resistance, marking it as a crucial defensive piece. Optimize these stats to enhance survival.

Shield Example

Gear item 8

Rings: Ideal for balancing accuracy, attributes, or missing resistances, alongside life and elemental attack damage boosts.

Ring Example 1 Ring Example 2

Gear item 9

Jewels: Focus on unique jewels like Watcher's Eye for attack damage boosts with Precision and Determination mods. Forbidden Jewels grant an extra Ascendancy node, while Brutal Restraint enhances the build with The Traitor keystone and additional perks. Cluster Jewels with Feed the Fury and Martial Prowess are essential for DPS, supplemented by Eye to Eye + Repeater on Medium and Enduring Composure on Small for endurance charge generation.

Gear item 10

Flasks: Life, Sapphire, and Topaz flasks are foundational, with crafting focused on charge generation. Utility flasks, like Granite, provide extra defensive layers, tailored to the build's needs and the crafting guide's recommendations.

Life Flask Example Sapphire Flask Example Topaz Flask Example Utility Flask Example

Summary

And there you have it, folks! This wraps up our Explosive Concoction Ascendant guide for the Necropolis 3.24 expansion in PoE. We've walked through everything from the build's basics, its pros and cons, mechanics, through to the detailed gear setup. Remember, whether you're just starting out or you're aiming for that endgame content, this build has the flexibility and power to blast through Wraeclast's challenges. If you find yourself needing a bit of a boost or just don't have the time to gather everything you need, don't sweat it. Over here at WowCarry, we’ve got your back! We offer services related to this build, whether you need help with specific parts or the whole shebang. So, feel free to check us out; we're here to help you enjoy your game to the fullest. Happy gaming!

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