The All Purpose Poisonous Concoction Pathfinder (PoE Lake of Kalandra 3.19)

Updates

Added in 3.19 Lake of Kalandra League.

Introduction

Due to the latest balancing changes, we do not recommend playing this build anymore, as it does not meet the high standards we apply to our guides in terms of fun and performance. We are leaving it up as a reference and it might be revived in a later patch.

Poisonous Concoction has been around since 3.16 Scourge League Expansion and while it has seen use, it has never come to the forefront of the Path of Exile meta. A few prominent players have always found a way to take it to absolute endgame, but many more simply used it as a mid-tier build. So the question arises, why this build? Why now?

First, in 3.19 GGG removed 15% Mana Reservation Efficiency from the Passive Skill Tree.

Second, they disabled the support of Lifetap Support on Blessing Skills: Eternal Blessing Support & Divine Blessing Support.

For many builds, this meant losing 2 auras, costing most builds either defense or damage. This build bypasses both of these changes and benefits from the Increased Aura Effect on the reworked Divine Blessing Support.

This is achieved through The Devouring Diadem, which grants Eldritch Battery allowing Divine Blessing Support to spend Energy Shield in place of Mana, which provides an extra aura to the build. Diadem was already best in slot before these changes, and is a farmable unique that can drop from Catarina.

Additionally, GGG hopes to make the Divine Orb replace the Exalted Orb in value. This means that Unique Items which require many Divine Orbs will be very expensive. The only unique in this build which requires good rolls is exceptionally common, and was valued at 1 chaos for all of 3.18. Additionally, this guide also won’t need Ashes of the Stars or a +2 amulet at any level of gearing.

Another benefit: Legion Jewel seeds have been solved. This means that every notable on every Brutal Restraint is now known to players and is searchable with third-party tools. While it might be possible to monopolize the best seeds, this build contains 11 notables in the Legion Jewel radius, and benefits greatly from a mere 2 added bonuses. The end result? There are dozens of jewels that will provide a sizeable power spike for the build.

Lastly, in 3.19 sources of Spell Suppression was reduced on items and added to the Passive Tree. For most builds, this has made getting Spell Suppression cap more expensive. However, due to the close proximity of Suppression and Poison nodes, gearing is now easier for Poisonous Concoction.

Spell Suppression is a layer of defense that gives a chance to halve any type of incoming spell damage. This value can be taken to 100%.

Build Summary

Poisonous Concoction is a ground targeted Projectile Attack skill. The attack explodes when landing, dealing chaos damage in an area. The ground targeting allows for a target to be hit by more than one explosion per attack. In the case of this build, all 10 projectiles can hit the same target for each attack. Furthermore, 100% Poison Chance is easily attainable and allows for devastating damage over time. It also scales tremendously with gem level, and requires no main hand weapon to craft.

The payoff for these bonuses, is that the player is only allowed to equip a shield.

The ability to hit the same enemy multiple times with projectiles in one attack is colloquially referred to as “shotgunning”.

The main gem, Poisonous Concoction can be played comfortably from level 12 with this guide. Please view the leveling section of this guide for more information.

For this guide, the build is able to run Purity of Elements, Grace, Determination, Malevolence, and Precision with only a level 2 Enlighten Support and The Devouring Diadem.

Spell Suppression is easily capped with only 8% on item suffixes.

Best of all, 4 Utility Flasks will be permanently active at higher percent effect than Mageblood, saving wrist pain and enabling Pathfinder’s poison proliferation on enemies to be a permanent and effortless effect.

Proliferation is an effect that causes the spreading of an ailment from a dead target to another nearby enemy.

Pros and Cons

Benefits

+ Easy leveling in Softcore
+ Great at all levels of investment
+ No Cluster Jewels required at any tier of gearing
+ Permanent 118% Effect Utility Flasks (only activate once per zone)
+ Option to run Headhunter for speed mapping
+ 180-230% Movement Speed before Headhunter buffs
+ Shotgunning Proliferating Attacks
+ Reflect Immune
+ Elemental Ailment Immune
+ Most Unique Items do not require Divining
+ 100% Spell Suppression with a single 8% suffix roll on a piece of gear
+ 50k+ Armour and Molten Shell
+ 35k+ Evasion, which will be >75% Attack Avoidance in T16 Maps
+ Critical Immunity against any Poisoned Enemy
+ All Map Modifiers are okay (2 Expedition Modifiers are not)

Disadvantages

– Cannot run Immune to Chaos or Poison Expedition Modifiers
– Limited Life Flask Charges when leveling in acts/early maps (Should run 2-3 to counter this)
– Lots of Buffs to activate against bosses for maximum damage (Most are instant cast time)
– Rectangle based Area of Effect attack can take some getting used to, especially at low levels
– Not a top clear speed build
– Endgame Amulet Stranglegasp can be expensive, but should be far cheaper than 3.18 due to Recombinators removal from the core game (This isn’t required, but is best in slot)

Gameplay

After enough levels and Flask Enchantments, no Utility Flasks will be need to ever be pressed.

The build will primarily be alternating between Shield Charge and Flame Dash as primary movement.

The primary skill, Poisonous Concoction throws projectiles in a long rectangle, with its longest side facing the player. The center of these projectiles will have the most overlaps, and do the most damage. With the Pathfinder Ascendancy Notable that increases Area of Effect, all 10 projectiles will overlap in the middle.

Poisonous Concoction

The overlap of all 10 projectiles has been tested in PvP.

Wither will be applied automatically without the use of a clunky spell totem or wasted jewel slot through the alternate quality skill gem. This gem will be the first and only priority purchase for the build when setting up at league start.

Molten Shell will be used either in anticipation of, or in response to large damage. Armour from Determination and high Flask Effect allows armour to reach 50k without putting burden on gear.

These four abilities account for 90%+ of buttons pressed during gameplay. However, for bosses or durable opponents a series of buffs should be pressed to maximize damage and save time. The focus of these buffs is to increase damage as much as possible, and will be explained in full detail below.

Passive Skill Tree, PoB, and Gem Links

Every Path of Building link uses the community fork of Path of Building by default. Path of Building is the standard for build sharing, but please note that the Path of Building itself will not explicitly explain how the build works.

If you are not comfortable with Path of Building, Path of Exile Official Website Passive Skill Trees will be shared for the corresponding portions of the build. However, this offers a far less complete user experience and is strongly discouraged.

The Leveling/League Start Path of Building Link contains multiple versions of the skill tree. For more information on gem links while leveling, and gearing please view the leveling section of the guide.

PoB and Skill Tree Links:

Leveling/League Start PoB
Leveling/League Start Passive Skill Trees: L32, L42, L54, L67, L83

Entering Red Maps Path of Building
Entering Red Maps Passive Skill Tree

Midgame Path of Building
Midgame Passive Skill Tree

Endgame Path of Building
Endgame Passive Skill Tree

Skill Gem Setups

Alternate Quality gems (Phantasmal, Anomalous, Divergent) provide a substantial boost to power, but only 1 is vital. The rest can be invested in at your wallet’s discretion.

Red Gems with red text descriptions are priority purchases.
Orange Gems with orange text descriptions are strongly beneficial but not required.

This section of the guide covers the “Entering Red Maps” to “Endgame” Path of Building links. For leveling gem setups, please view the leveling section of the guide.

Body Armour: Dendrobate
This is the primary gem setup for the build.

Link 1	Link 2	Link 3	Link 4	Link 5	Link 6
Poisonous Concoction Divergent	Unbound Ailments Support	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support	Greater Volley Support	Void Manipulation Support	Deadly Ailments Support or if having Mana issues Vicious Projectiles Support

Helmet: The Devouring Diadem
These are the defensive auras for the build, please make sure they are socketed in the helmet when obtaining Diadem.

Link 1	Link 2	Link 3	Link 4
Determination	Enlighten Support (Level 2 is good enough for reservation breakpoints after acquiring The Devouring Diadem)	Purity of Elements	Grace

Gloves: Titan Gauntlets
The gloves contain temporary buffs that amplify damage, and should be activated for boss encounters. (Order explained below.)

Link 1	Link 2	Link 3	Link 4
Ancestral Protector Phantasmal	Enhance Support L3-4 (Optional)	Blood Rage Anomalous	Plague Bearer Divergent

Boots: Titan Greaves
The boots contain Damage Auras and Primary Movement Skill.

Link 1	Link 2
Malevolence	Divine Blessing Support
Precision	Shield Charge

Shield: Crusader Buckler
The shield contains a gap jump mobility skill, a defensive buff that should be activated when the player is about to receive damage, and the final DPS buff.

Link 1	Link 2	Link 3
Flame Dash	Molten Shell	Withering Step

Buff Activation Sequencing

1. Blood Rage (Instant)
2. Plague Bearer (Instant)
3. Focus (Instant skill granted by the focus item modifiers on Gloves and Helmet)
4. Ancestral Protector (~250ms)
5. Divine Blessing Support (~150ms)
6. Withering Step (Instant)

The ordering of buffs like this makes it easy to even put skills 1-3 on a second bar, and have them pressed all at once. The rest can be done sequentially on the main bar. Having all of these active will amplify damage. Time has been listed in millisecond approximations for the WoW users (or any other players) who might find this… convenient.

Gear Summary

Intended usage: Mid-Gear to Endgame trees. For leveling itemization, please view the Leveling section of the guide.

Recommendations:

Red colored modifiers are mandatory.
Orange colored modifiers are strongly advised.
White colored modifiers are non-essential but beneficial.

Item Slot	Item Name	Best Item Modifiers	Notes
Helmet	The Devouring Diadem	81-90 percent increased Duration of Ailments you inflict while Focused, Corruption: Socketed Skill Gems get a 90 percent Cost & Reservation Multiplier, Enchant: 40 percent increased Poisonous Concoction Damage
Body Armour	Dendrobate	Prioritize Elemental Resistance and the two Poison Modifier rolls when buying a base. Valid Corruptions: Increased Damage, +1 Level of Socketed Gems, +2 Level of Socketed Area of Effect Gems, +2 Level of Socketed Projectile Gems, +1 Maximum Resistances.
Gloves	Any Rare with Armour or Armour/Evasion base type, Titan Gauntlets are the best	Maximum Life, Attack and Cast Speed while Focused, Resistance, Eldritch Implicits: Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier, chance to Suppress Spell Damage, attack speed, armour and evasion, increased armour and evasion	Craft with Rog or Buy, the PoE content creator Tenkiei has made an excellent video showing some Rog crafting.
Boots	Any Rare with Armour or Armour/Evasion base type, Titan Greaves are the best	Movement Speed, Maximum Life, Resistance,Eldritch Modifiers: More Action Speed, Poisons you inflict deal damage faster, armour and evasion, increased armour and evasion	Craft with Rog or Buy
Shield	Any Evasion, Armour, or Evasion & Armour Hybrid. Crusader Buckler, Cardinal Round Shield, and Colossal Tower Shield or any other high level base with good defenses works. Note: If you pick an armour shield, you must pick hybrid gloves or boots and get at least an 8% suppress roll on them because the shield won’t be able to roll it.	Maximum Life, chance to Suppress Spell Damage, Maximum Resistance or Chance to Block Attacks, Resistance, Evasion/Armour rating, increased Evasion/Armour rating.	Very easy Rog craft
Amulet	Stranglegasp	Allocates Corruption, Allocates Sovereignty, Allocates Influence, Allocates Aggressive Bastion The last anoint optional, and provides additional physical mitigation through Endurance Charges while mapping. This one is a personal choice, and great alternatives would be Discipline and Training, Soul of Steel, or Prismatic Skin	PoB will highlight these nodes if you type their respective names
Ring 1	Vermillion Ring	Maximum Life, Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit, Resistance, Poison Damage and Duration. Any resist base is also okay.	Harvest craft “Reforge an Item with more Caster Modifiers” or buy
Ring 2	Two-Stone Ring or any Resist Base	Maximum Life, Resistances, Damage over Time Multiplier (Essence), Strength and Intelligence bench craft.	Essence craft or Buy
Belt	A rare Stygian Vise for bossing and/or the optional Headhunter for mapping faster	Maximum Life, Resistances, Flask Effect, Reduced Flask Charges Used, Increased Flask Charges Gained, Flask Effect Duration, Headhunter	Buy or Reforge More Likely Harvest Craft

Flask 1	Granite Flask	Enchant: Used when Charges reach full, increased effect, increased Armour during Flask effect
Flask 2	Basalt Flask	Enchant: Used when Charges reach full, increased effect, increased Evasion Rating during Flask effect
Flask 3	Quicksilver Flask	Enchant: Used when Charges reach full, increased effect, increased Movement Speed during Flask effect
Flask 4	First option: Sulphur Flask or Second option: Quartz Flask	Enchant: Used when Charges reach full, increased effect, increased Attack Speed during Flask effect
Flask 5	Divine Life Flask	Increased Amount Recovered, Grants Immunity to Bleeding for 17 seconds if used while Bleeding	Both Modifiers are required for this flask.

Note that only two of the four Flask Suffix mods are bolded and italicized. The others are great for clear speed and damage, but can be swapped or omitted in favor of anything else that is needed.

Jewel slot 1	###item:conquerors-potency###		The Stun Avoidance Harvest Enchant is a decent option for all jewels.
Jewel slot 2	Brutal Restraint	25 percent chance to gain Alchemist’s Genius when you use a flask, You gain Onslaught for 8 seconds on kill. Jewels that have these modifiers for this build include: 5561, 7914, 6516, 5272, 531, 1357, 6598, 1245, 7354, 6363, 3762, 3058, 1296, 1199, 4851, 3957, 3972, 4810, 1033, 5643, 3922, 7370, 1161, 4917, 5259, 6618, 1664, 1895, 6736, 6822, 1880, 3152, 5096, 3133, 4009, 1579, 3532, 1486, 3579, 5521, 7530, 4670, 4502, 4504, 2781, 624, 4403, 7626, 4099, 2607, 5825, 4571, 4250, 6026, 2578, 2563, 2569, 4355, 5969, 5969, 2383, 4374, 2674, 4427, 5973, 4804, 5974, 899, 4332.	Other valuable nodes are Poison Damage, Poison’s Deal Damage Faster, Aura Effect, Flask Charges Gained, Life, and Resistances.
Jewel slot 3	Watcher's Eye	Pick 2 from the following: Armour while affected by Determination, Chaos Resistance while affected by Purity of Elements, Physical Damage Reduction while affected by Determination, Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence, Unaffected by Bleeding while affected by Malevolence, chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Grace, increased Movement Speed while affected by Grace	Due to running many auras, there is a great deal of flexibility in Watcher’s Eye modifiers that are acceptable.

Keystone Explanations, Bandits, Pantheons, Ascendancy

Eldritch Battery

This keystone is provided by The Devouring Diadem and helps sustain mana. It also allows the cost of Divine Blessing Support to be reserved using Energy Shield instead of Mana, provided you have enough.

All this build requires to get enough is Diadem itself and Dendrobate, but note that blindly taking Mana nodes can alter the ratio of Mana and Energy Shield, causing the skill to be not affordable, as its mana cost is based on the reservation of the aura, which is a percentage of Maximum Mana.

There is some tolerance for adding Mana before it breaks, but try to avoid Mana nodes and Mana on gear.

Concrete Numerical Example: Maximum Mana is 1000, Energy Shield is 500. Increasing Maximum Mana to 1200, causes a Blessing which temporarily reserves 50% of Mana to cost all 500 Energy Shield + 100 extra Mana, which can break the skill if no additional unreserved Mana is available to pay the cost.

Bandits

Pantheons

Mandatory Minor God: Soul of Ryslatha for Life Flask charges, the upgrade is nice but not needed.
Optional Major God: Soul of Lunaris for generic damage reduction.

Ascendancy Order

1. Nature’s Reprisal is taken first for Area of Effect, this will make overlapping with projectiles easier.
2. Master Toxicist is taken for Damage and Poison Proliferation.
3. Nature’s Boon is taken for improving Flask Recovery.
4. Master Alchemist is taken for Flask Effect.

Q&A

Feel free to ask questions in the comments or in game @rhgr and I will try to get back to you. The most common questions will be appended to the Q&A section of this guide. For now, I will surmise some questions newer people could have.

Q: How do you sustain mana?
A: Mana Gained on Hit through the Claw Mastery until acquiring The Devouring Diadem which will start Energy Shield recovery when attacking. After this, a leech cluster is taken with a 2 Mana Gained on Hit lead-in node. Additionally if necessary, Deadly Ailments Support for Vicious Projectiles Support when under geared to increase hit damage and ensure that mana recovery through leech is being capped when under geared.

Q: How do I get ailment immunities?
A: Elemental immunities are through Purity of Elements. Bleed is through flask. Poison and curse are usually not a problem, but if you’re struggling they can be added to replace 2 of the optional flask modifiers.

Q: I can’t use the skill, why?
A: Check to make sure you have no weapon equipped, and make sure that auto-equip is turned off in game options.

Q: Is Headhunter required?
A: No, and it might not even be that good this league.

Q: Are all the flask nodes necessary?

A: Maybe not all of them, but in general its a good idea to take them (especially increased effect ones) and then slowly remove them and see if flask uptime is still 100% when playing.

Q: Is it possible to gain more life sustain on this build?

A: Yes, you could either swap the two ascendancies to Master Surgeon, or run low level Vitality in place of Precision, get the Life Gained for each enemy hit while affected by Vitality Watcher's Eye modifier, and allocate the Accuracy Mastery that gives +3 per 10 Dexterity as partial compensation for losing Precision.

Q: Does the Brutal Restraint require a special name associated with the corresponding number?

A: No, any Brutal Restraint with the right number works regardless of name.

Leveling

I am not a racer, but I’ll gladly borrow knowledge from someone who is. Tytykiller is one of the best racers in Path of Exile. What follows is a summary of his performance powering through the acts. I will combine this with my lazy mentality to try to provide the best leveling experience possible. Currently, a past run he has done is still visible on his channel so please check it out!

Skill tree Priorities

Skill trees for various levels have been shared, but here are some of the early priorities

1. Rush Claw Mastery for Mana and Life Gained on Hit.
2. Rush nearest poison nodes for more damage. It is good to take chance to poison over damage early on to get to 100% as soon as possible.
3. Take life nodes when you need them.
4. Defer accuracy until you see hit chance going down in the character panel.

Item Prioritization while Leveling

1. Correct Colors
2. Resistances
3. Life

Early Item colors and Quest Rewards

Take Caustic Arrow from the Hillock Quest Reward, link it with Pierce Support.
Every time you go back to town, check Tarkleigh for a G-G-G item.

These colors are good for Poisonous Concoction and Caustic Arrow. The last support for Caustic if you manage to get a 3 link early is Mirage Archer Support.

Buy War Banner after killing Hailrake. Use the banner to buff DPS when fighting anything with lots of life.
Before Brutus buy Shrapnel Ballista, Dash, and Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support. The last gem will not be used until you use Poison Concoction.

After Brutus, you can swap Dash to the build’s Flame Dash or follow Tytykiller and use Smoke Mine if you want to race.

Poisonous Concoction is rewarded at the Waypoint before Merveil, but try to have Withering Step, Volley Support, Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support, and a G-G-G item before switching to the skill. When you do switch, remove all weapons and equip a shield. From this point on, do not equip weapons.

Precision, Vitality and Herald of Agony should be used from act 2, until the Charisma cluster is allocated. After this point, Purity of Elements can replace Herald of Agony, as long as poison chance remains at 100%.

Kill all the Bandits. The build can get by on rare items for a long time, so resists aren’t worth two passive points or 20 Orb of Regret.

At level 38, replace Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support and Volley Support with Greater Multiple Projectiles Support and Greater Volley Support. Try to find a 4 link with G-G-G-B.

After reaching Act 6 and unlocking all skill gems from Lily Roth, try to fill in as many gems as possible so they can start leveling and try to match the “Entering Red Maps” gem setups.

Be willing to craft attributes or resists on gear with the crafting bench, or to take passive nodes that provide them early.

Once reaching maps, the first priority buy is Divergent quality on Poisonous Concoction. It is worth dumping Gemcutter's Prism into it as you get them. When the gem is even 2-3 levels lower than the one which isn’t alternate quality, it is already better if it is at 20 quality.

The next big purchase should be Dendrobate. Keep in mind that with Tainted Fusings coming back into rotation, it may be possible to buy a corrupted Dendrobate with additional levels, and 6 link it at very little cost.

After this, the goal should be to farm or buy The Devouring Diadem and a Level 2 Enlighten Support to add extra auras to the build.

Thanks for Reading

I hope everyone has a great league start! As I’ve said before, feel free to ask me questions if you have any problems or concerns with the build. I might be a bit slower to responding on the forums at league start, because I mainly write guides for fun, but I’ll try to respond as best as I can. If this build gets enough traction, I will assign a global chat channel # dedicated to this guide, so people can help each other out when I’m not around. For now though, you can reach me in-game at @rhgr. I’ll also be keeping my profile public, so you can track my progress with this build.