Impale Cyclone Champion Gear, Jewels, and Flasks

DISCLAIMER

Some modifiers will be listed as “ENDGAME” in this guide. This indicates that this modifier should be skipped in priority before you are trying to reach the endgame state of the build. Simply ignore the modifier in the list and move down from it if you’re still at the beginning (~lvl 0-70) or advanced (~lvl 70-90) stages of the character.

Gear

Capping your Elemental Resistances is essential and it should always be your top priority in any build; it should be the first thing you do when gearing up a character.

Obtaining a 6-link, while very powerful and certainly recommended, can potentially be very expensive (requiring an average of 1500 Orb of Fusing, obviously depending on your luck); as such, this should not really be a goal for you while gearing up, and you should instead settle for a 5-link until you can afford a 6-link.

Additionally, you might want to consider searching for 6-links with the correct colors specifically, as players usually put them up on the trading sites for cheap, if they receive one as a corrupted drop.

For crafting Rare items, you can check out all the affixes that can roll on an item base, depending on its level, influence, and many other factors, using our affix tool.

A Word on Chaos Resistance in this Guide

In the following affix priorities, you will find a lot of “ENDGAME” options marking specifically “Chaos Resistance” as a must-have for your Rare items until capped. The Chaos Resistance in this guide is used in order to support one of the ENDGAME upgrades of this build, specifically the Keystone ability “Divine Flesh” (which you obtain from the Glorious Vanity with the “Xibaqua” name, as mentioned in the jewel section).

“Divine Flesh” is by far and away the strongest defensive ability in the game:

• All Damage taken bypasses Energy Shield
• 50% of Elemental Damage taken as Chaos Damage
• +5% to maximum Chaos Resistance

The important parts here are two-fold. Firstly, 50% of all Elemental Damage taken as Chaos Damage, means that you will need AT LEAST the same amount of Chaos Resistance as the Elemental Resistance of the Damage Type that will be dealt to you.

• If you take 1000 Fire Damage, and you have the usual 75% cap on Fire Resistance, the actual damage you would take is 250. Math: (1000 fire damage x (1.0 – 0.75)) = 250 total damage
• If you take 1000 Fire Damage, with Divine Flesh equipped and only have about 50% Chaos Resistance, the actual damage you would take from the exact same attack goes up to Math: ((500 fire damage x (1.0 – 0.75) + 500 chaos damage x (1.0 – 0.5)) = 125 fire damage + 250 chaos damage = 375 total damage

Secondly, and this is the GREAT part about Divine Flesh, it grants you a free +5% to MAXIMUM Chaos Resistance. Meaning that once you fully max out your Chaos Resistance with “Divine Flesh” and the small cluster jewel notable “Born of Chaos”, you will reach 83% Chaos Resistance.

• If you take 1000 Fire Damage, with Divine Flesh equipped and 83% Chaos Resistance, the actual damage you would take from the exact same attack as before goes down to Math: ((500 fire damage x (1.0 – 0.75) + 500 chaos damage x (1.0 – 0.83)) = 125 fire damage + 85 chaos damage = 210 total damage

With that setup, we have substantially reduced the damage we take from ANY Elemental Damage in the game. This applies to Fire, Lightning AND Ice to equal degrees, permanently. Additionally, if you get hit by something like The Shaper’s “Bullet Hell” attack, which normally penetrates your Cold Resistance, you will now STILL apply 83% Chaos Resistance to half of the damage it normally deals.

Real Example:

• If you take 7048 Cold Damage (avg damage from The Shaper’s Bullet Hell), and you have the usual 75% cap on Cold Resistance, the actual damage you would take is Math: ((7048 cold damage x (1.0 – 0.75 Cold Res + 0.25 Cold Pen)) = 3524 cold damage
• If you take the same 7048 Cold Damage, but you have Divine Flesh with the 83% Chaos Resistance, the actual damage you would take is Math: ((3524 cold damage x (1.0 – 0.75 Cold Res + 0.25 Cold Pen) + 3524 chaos damage x (1.0 – 0.83 Chaos Res)) = 1762 cold damage + 602 chaos damage = 2364 total damage

As you can see here, this not only provides very high protection in normal situations, aka. just getting hit by elemental attacks, but it gets substantially more powerful, the stronger the attack is and the more additional modifiers the attack has (such as penetration, lowered resistances, etc).

Helmet

A well-rolled Rare Helmet is best in slot. For Labyrinth enchant, look for “15% increased Cyclone Attack Speed”. The Rare affix priority is:

1. ENDGAME: +#% to Chaos resistance (until capped)
2. +#% total Elemental Resistances (until capped)
3. # to maximum life (90)
4. ENDGAME: +#% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Chaos (or: any element) Damage (replaces the modifier below this one)
5. Nearby Enemies take #% increased Physical Damage

Body Armour

There are some unique Body Armours that can do amazing work for the build: Belly of the Beast, Carcass Jack, and Loreweave.

While those represent “cheap and easy” options, the ultimate end-goal for this build will be a rare item. The best possible option would be an Astral Plate base, featuring the mods listed below. If you cannot afford such a base, any other Armour or Armour/Evasion base will work just as well.

You will want to find yourself a “Guatelitzi’s” Body Armour from Alva’s temple. You can search for them easily using the “+(110–119) to maximum Life” and “(8–10)% increased maximum Life” options for prefixes on the trading website. If you cannot acquire such a Body Armour, simply follow the affix priority below and ignore that mod.

The Rare affix priority is:

1. ENDGAME: Guatelitzi’s Temple Modifier (see above)
2. ENDGAME: +#% to Chaos resistance (until capped)
3. ENDGAME: -15 Mana Cost to Socketed Attack Skills
4. +#% total Elemental Resistances (until capped)
5. +# to maximum life (100)
6. % Increased Maximum life (Elder mod)

Gloves

The best gauntlet to use is Great Old One's Tentacles, added in Harvest League. They single-handedly fix all your need for better clear and let you focus entirely on defensives and single-target in the rest of your build. While there are “stronger” gloves in terms of DPS, there are no better ones for QoL in this slot. An alternative, if these gloves happen to be very expensive, are the Haemophilia gloves.

If you specifically want to use only Rares (not recommended!), the Rare affix priority is:

1. ENDGAME: +#% to Chaos resistance (until capped)
2. +#% total Elemental Resistances (until capped)
3. +# to maximum life (60)
4. % Increased Attack speed
5. Adds # to # Physical damage to Attacks

Boots

The best in slot here would be an Atziri's Step, for its movement speed bonus, decent Life roll and spell-dodge bonus. As we take the “Wind Dancer” keystone, it grants us additional uptime on the damage mitigation.

A well-rolled Rare pair of Boots is also acceptable for the absolute ENDGAME, as you would require a lot of specific rolls to make it better than the Atziri's Step.

For Labyrinth enchants, look for “% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently”.

ENDGAME The Rare affix priority is:

1. You have Tailwind if you have dealt a Critical Strike Recently
2. +#% to Chaos resistance (until capped)
3. +#% total Elemental Resistances (until capped)
4. +# to maximum life (80)
5. % increased Movement Speed (at least 30%)

Belt

The best in slot option for Belts doesn’t really exist. There’s a couple of different options you can consider.

Belt of the Deceiver is a great budget Belt that can be used before you can get a great one later on, and it can easily carry you through T15+ maps.

Afterwards, you will want to switch to one of the following options:

• The Glass-Cannon: a well rolled Ryslatha's Coil (meaning: 38-40% more Maximum Physical Attack Damage & 32-30% less Minimum Physical Attack Damage)
• The Expensive One: a well rolled Bear’s Girdle. This one’s likely going to be expensive, as it’s a Harvest-specific drop. With Harvest not going core, it can only be acquired through league-specific drop sources. Also, do NOT use this one before you got a “Bloodscent” jewel, otherwise you gain no benefits, as you got no Rage generation.

And of course, lastly, here comes the Rare option that everyone expected, the Stygian Vise. The Rare affix priority for the belt is:

1. ENDGAME: ANY HUNTER INFLUENCE MODIFIERS (Life > Flasks > Overwhelm)
2. ENDGAME: +#% to Chaos resistance (until capped)
3. +#% total Elemental Resistances (until capped)
4. +# to maximum life (80)

Remember to use Prismatic Catalyst to upgrade your jewelry to 20%, in order to more easily cap all your different resistances.

Amulet

A well-rolled Rare Amulet is best in slot. Use it to fix up your stats, primarily Intelligence will likely be an issue. It will also be one of the best items to stack damage on, so prioritise other slots to fill out resistances and only use the amulet to fix resists if ABSOLUTELY necessary.

The Rare affix priority is:

1. +# to maximum life (50)
2. +#% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier
3. Adds # to # Physical damage to Attacks
4. +# to Intelligence/Dexterity
5. +#% total Elemental/Chaos Resistances (until capped)

Remember to use Prismatic Catalyst to upgrade your jewelry to 20%, in order to more easily cap all your different resistances.

Anoint

Either Heartseeker or Strike True. You will want to go for the highest critical strike multiplier you can find (and afford) on the tree.

Rings

Well-rolled Steel Ring can provide a great amount of damage, if your resistances are already covered.

The Rare affix priority is:

1. ENDGAME:+#% to Chaos resistance (until capped)
2. +#% total Elemental Resistances (until capped)
3. +# to maximum life (at least around 50)
4. Adds # to # Physical damage to Attacks

Remember to use Prismatic Catalyst to upgrade your jewelry to 20%, in order to more easily cap all your different resistances.

Weapon

For the ENDGAME, one well-rolled Rare Jewelled Foil is the best in slot for your main hand. However, be aware that “well-rolled” here means REALLY WELL, like 450+ pDPS. The off-hand slot will ALWAYS go towards The Saviour. This will be your absolute best off-hand available and should be picked up as soon as possible, if the price seems low enough to afford it reasonably well. It is an incredible weapon and will skyrocket your clear-speed and damage potential like nothing else in the game can.

You Unique item progression could look something like this:

• The Budget option: two well-rolled Ichimonjis can carry you to Uber Awakener and beyond. You don’t really need to upgrade these, but you can go a lot higher.
• The Step up: two well-rolled (meaning: high AS + 150pDPS or higher) Paradoxicas. These swords will be your first major step up from the Ichimonjis.
• The Endgame: one well-rolled (meaning: high AS + 150pDPS or higher) Paradoxica in your main hand, coupled with The Saviour for your off-hand.
• The Best-In-Slot: a mirror-tier Jewelled Foil (500pDPS+, with iAS and 7.5%+ Crit) in your main hand, coupled with The Saviour for your off-hand.

At the beginning of the league you will likely not have a ton of disposable currency, so focus your efforts on the Budget option and try to upgrade incrementally using Rare weapons whenever necessary.

The Rare affix priority is:

1. % increased Physical Damage
2. % increased Physical Damage / # to Accuracy Rating (hybrid)
3. Adds # to # Physical Damage
4. % increased Attack Speed / +#% to Quality
5. % increased Critical Strike Chance / +#% to Quality

Flasks

Instant or half instant Divine Life Flask is very important to have, preferably with Bleed removal. Lion's Roar provides a good amount of damage and defense. It is imperative to ALWAYS have a Diamond Flask, as the critical strike chance calculations assumed by this guide include the “lucky” modifier this flask provides.

Make sure to have Bleed, Curse and Freeze immunity on your non-unique flasks.

My usual flask setup and priority:

1. Panicked Divine Life Flask of Staunching
2. Experimenter’s Diamond Flask (with any suffix)
3. Chemist’s Silver Flask of Heat (use an Instilling orb on this one, until you get “Used when you get Frozen”, to automatically trigger it)
4. Lion's Roar with 26% quality
5. ENDGAME: Bottled Faith (despite its nerfs, it’s still a fantastic flask)
6. Experimenter’s Jade Flask of Iron Skin

Be sure to check out our Flask Crafting Guide to learn everything you need to know about how to set up your non-Unique flasks.

Jewels & Cluster Jewels

The following Jewel will be considered MANDATORY for this build to function and need to be picked up as soon as possible:

• Viridian Jewel with “#% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana”. This will be your ENTIRE Mana sustain. If you do not have this jewel, you will run out of Mana CONSTANTLY.

For the ENDGAME you will also require the following three Jewels, in order of importance:

1. Glorious Vanity with the “Xibaqua” name, for the “Divine Flesh” keystone
2. Large Cluster Jewel with the “Bloodscent” notable
3. Small Cluster Jewel with the “Born of Chaos” notable

Having a Watcher's Eye with Pride mod for additional Impales will be very powerful, but it is usually way too expensive to be considered for anything but the absolute endgame.

Regular Jewel Affix Priority

1. % Increased Maximum life
2. % to Critical Strike Multiplier with One Handed Melee Weapons
3. % to Critical Strike Multiplier while Dual Wielding
4. % to Melee Critical Strike Multiplier
5. % to Global Critical Strike Multiplier
6. % increased Attack Speed with Swords
7. % increased Attack Speed while Dual Wielding
8. % increased Attack speed

Large Cluster Jewel Affix Priority

1. Added Passive Skill is Bloodscent
2. +# to Maximum Life

Anything else additional is nice to have, but there’s no big differences on the Large Cluster Jewels past this point. Make sure you get either an 8 or 9 passive one. Do NOT use a 10 passive jewel, as that will require 1 additional passive point to path through.

Small Cluster Jewel Affix Priority

1. Added Passive Skill is Born of Chaos
2. +#% to Chaos Resistance
3. Added Small Passive Skills have #% increased Effect
4. +# to Maximum Life
5. +#% to Elemental Resistances (until capped)

Anything else additional is nice to have, but there’s no big differences on the Small Cluster Jewels past this point. Make sure you get a 3 passive jewel, if you can get one with good small passive modifiers. If you cannot get at least 3 of the mods listed above onto the same jewel, go with a 2 passive one, to save yourself a point.

Abyssal Jewel Affix Priority

1. Maximum life (at least 30)
2. % Chance to gain Onslaught on kill (at least 4%)
3. Adds # to # Physical Damage to Attacks
4. Adds # to # Physical Damage to Attacks with Swords
5. % chance to Blind Enemies on Hit with Attacks

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