Explosions, explosions everywhere. Want a build that’s tanky and great for mapping without a need for a 6-link armor? Want screen-wide clears to farm Expedition, Ritual, or other high-density mechanics? This build is for you! If you have enough POE Currency, then make this build quickly! You won’t regret it.
This is my second character for POE 3.23 Affliction League: Ignite Bodyswap of Sacrifice Chieftain. This is why I love playing Path of Exile — trying out new builds, especially meme or non-meta builds.
About The Build
We use the new Bodyswap of Sacrifice. It is basically the same as the regular Bodyswap.
But instead of swapping with a corpse, you swap with a damageable minion. It has better percentages, but one downside is it does 50% less damage with ailments. This is perfect when combined with the new spectre, Perfect Dark Marionette, which revives after being killed and also scorches enemies.
And with the new Pragmatism, we can give our specters tons of gem levels, which increase their life and, in turn, increase the damage of our Bodyswap. We do not need a six-link because of Pragmatism.
Why Chose Chieftain?
I chose the Chieftain ascendancy for 2 reasons:
- Since we are already going for ignite spreads, might as well use Hinekora, Death’s Fury for more chain explosions.
- The Second reason is for the tankiness and how easy the character is to gear, thanks to Tasalio, Cleansing Water and Valaco, Storm’s Embrace ascendancies.
Equipment
Here are the pieces of equipment I used. I will explain in detail why I use these POE Items.
For the rares, focus on getting life, maxing your fire resistances, and reaching your attribute requirements. Standard rare rings, belts, boots, and gloves.
I bought a glove with +2 to AOE gems and I’m hoping to get a level 21 Purity of Fire.
Remember to craft a +1 to max fire resistance, Searing Exarch Implicit. One ring should have Flammability on hit. The minion life is a bonus.
For the armor, we’re using Pragmatism for more spectre gem levels. Get the percent increased life mastery since our body armor has no life mods.
My current weapon is just a scepter with fire damage over time. Then, I crafted increased fire damage. I’ll upgrade this once I have the budget for crafting.
For the amulet, we use Defiance of Destiny, best in slot if you want a tanky build. If you don’t have the budget for the Whispers of Doom, then you can use Doedre’s Damning Paua Ring in the meantime.
Our shield is Dawnbreaker since we’re stacking fire resistance. Get 1 with a high physical damage taken as fire roll.
Lastly, for our helmet, we use an Elder Influenced Armor Helmet and craft it with Essences of Horror. Before I got this upgrade, I used a regular rare helmet. Note that I’ve killed the Searing Exarch and Eater of Worlds without the Elder Helmet and the Timeless Jewel, which I will discuss in the passives portion.
Passive Tree
Onto the passive tree, it looks like a passive tree for RF builds, but with three key differences.
The first difference is we don’t get the life region nodes.
Next, we get the minion cluster here for Minion Life, so we can get the increased convocation cooldown for the mastery.
And lastly, instead of getting the damage multipliers, we get the chance to ignite.
One of the biggest upgrades I made was getting a Timeless Jewel. This is the main source of all our increases in Minion Life. More Minion Life means more base damage for our Bodyswap.
To simulate the new Transfigured Gem in PoB, I had to adjust the corpse life setting. My computation is in the note section. I also have a second tree without the cluster Jewel.
We use the Warlord ascendancy, so we can get the Penance Mark skill, which summons enemy phantasms when we hit the marked target.
One of the problems for this build is when we encounter isolated enemies since Hinekora explosions are a big part of our kit. To remedy this, the phantasms of Penance Mark give us more chance to trigger the explosions.
Though we could still clear bosses and rares, triggering Hinekora would greatly speed up the process.
Gem
For the gem links, Bodyswap is linked with increased AOE, Swift Affliction, and Life Tap.
Replace AOE with Efficacy if you need more DPS.
Raise Spectre and Minion Life in the body armor.
For our auras, we use Determination, Herald of Ash, Arctic Armor, Purity of Fire, and Vitality. Vitality is linked with Arrogance. Life Tap and Faster Attacks are linked to our Leap Slam and Infernal Cry.
And finally, we have Molten Shell linked to Cast When Damage Taken.
I leveled this character using RF. The Bodyswap only supplemented the RF's single target during the acts. When I got to maps, that's when I removed the RF entirely. You can follow Pohx guide for leveling since he's the master of RF builds.
When you start using Bodyswap, get the increased cooldown for Convocation Mastery and get a medium cluster with Fan the Flames as early as you can.
Gameplay
Gameplay for the build is to jump in the middle of a pack and Bodyswap. You can even lure packs together since you can tank most hits.
If a wisp-empowered rare survives, cast your Penance Mark, an Infernal Cry, and hold down your Bodyswap.
