[Top 5] PoE Best Armor Sets for Pathfinder That Are Powerful
The less popular sister of Deadeye and Raider, Pathfinder received some... changes in this league, and to the surprise of none, it made her even less popular. That isn’t to say that people can’t find success with her, especially when combined with certain playstyles and some insane survivability.
5 – MF Caustic Arrow
In Patch 3.19, GGG introduced a new, and very controversial, way of farming currency, which is by stacking as much rarity on gear as possible, as well as quantity. This comes with the downside of being very squishy and often sacrificing a lot of damage while at it. But some builds can still make it work, and this is one of them.
Helmet
Because of the Magic Finding gear we’re planning on using, you’ll want a Magic helmet with a good mod (or perhaps even more rarity) followed by the rarity craft for rare/unique enemies. It’s also a place to get a lot of Despair Effect since that’s the biggest damage boost in our build.
Body Armor
Greed’s Embrace. The MFing body armour, with 15% Quantity and up to 50 Rarity. It comes with some heavy drawbacks, like a lot of reduced movement speed, but with a Headhunter, speed isn’t an issue.
Gloves
Sadima’s Touch. Even more Quantity of Items Found. Try and buy a pair with Despair On Hit, which will make everything feel that much better.
Boots
Goldwyrm with max Quant roll. Look for good movement speed enchantments.
Weapon
+3 Bow with regular crafting process of Hunter slamming for Chaos DoT and crafting up even more DoT Multi.
Quiver
You’ll want a Normal/White item. Since we don’t have many options, the ideal scenario is to pick up a Synth base that benefits you. Something like Recover 2% Life on Kill is a great idea.
Amulet
The Ascetic is the reason we need both a Magic and a Normal item equipped, giving us up to 120% Rarity and 15% Quantity.
Rings
Ventor’s Gamble with the highest amount of Life, Quant, Rarity and Resistances as possible. Be wary, with the changes to Divine Orbs, these rings are impossible to roll, and you need to either buy them at a premium or hoard a bunch and ‘reroll’ them with the 3-1 vendor recipe.
Belt
Headhunter, the best MFing belt, especially in a build that lacks defence as this does, since Rare mobs give a ton of defences.
Build details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/FromSnowToTheKing/KidayuPivo?i=1&search=class%3DPathfinder%26skill%3D!Poisonous-Concoction
4 – Poison Spectral Helix
Something you’ll notice is that Pathfinder is often relegated to a single playstyle, which is Poison, especially after the ‘changes’ it received in 3.19. That said, most can take some different and unique approaches into delivering their poisonous payload.
Helmet
You’ll want a good Rare helmet, with as much damage taken conversion and PDR as possible, as well as life. Try and get it with a Helix Enchant for a +1 rotation, as that ups your maximum output of damage.
Body Armor
By far and away the best poison body armour in this patch, after it received substantial buffs, The Covenant is a massively strong 7-Link body armour, because the seventh link it provides is essentially 3 times as strong as a regular level 20 support gem. It also has some extra Maximum life and a non-negligible amount of ES, but you’re really buying it for the Level 29 Added Chaos built-in the chest.
Gloves
You’ll want a pair of gloves with as much Spell suppression, Chaos Damage, Life and attack speed as possible.
Boots
This is a great place to pick up some faster Poison, as this ups your damage immensely. Otherwise, get as much resistance, Life, and Movement Speed as possible.
Weapon
You’ll want the fastest claw possible, Imperial Claw, and then spam it with Zeal Essences for fast attack speed. If you’re on a budget, a Wasp’s Nest will carry you through the endgame in a breeze.
Shield
Great place to pick up even more Spell Suppression, as well as Maximum Resistances. Besides that, as much Armor, Evasion, and Life as possible.
Amulet
Since we’re a Perfect Agony build, we need a lot of crit chance, and our Crit Multiplier is being converted into DoT Multi. So using a Catalysed Ungil’s Harmony is practically BiS, granting us over 400% Crit Chance in a single slot.
Rings
You’ll want rings with as much Chaos Resistance, Life, Attributes and Resistances as possible. Getting some extra Chaos Damage to attacks is not a bad idea. And if you can afford it, you can also roll them with Essences of Delirium for even more DoT Multi.
Belt
A solid Stygian Belt fits the mould quite well, especially if you go with a Flask-y belt, since we’re Pathfinder, upping the value of our flasks and reducing charges used, and in particular because of how Master Surgeon works, with automatic flasks making you essentially immortal.
Build details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/CookieBurgers/CovenantHelixBurgers?i=5&search=class%3DPathfinder%26skill%3D!Poisonous-Concoction%2C!Vaal-Lightning-Strike%2C!Caustic-Arrow%2C!Toxic-Rain%2C!Phase-Run%2C!Scourge-Arrow%26sort%3Ddps
3 – Poison Lightning Strike
While very similar to the previous build, this one takes a whole new spin to attacks, and you’re dealing 4 kinds of types of damage to poison, all thanks to a Heist Exclusive dagger.
Helmet
Since any sort of damage will increase our poison damage, we can use a Blizzard Crown to the maximum without getting punished for it, since our poison damage will still deal only Chaos damage. You’ll want as much Life, Spell Suppression, RME and an open suffix to craft Duration of Ailments when Focused. This is a massive boost to damage.
Body Armor
The Covenant again, since it grants a ton of damage to any poison build.
Gloves
Lightning Strike really wants at least +1 Strike Skills, but if you can afford the Conflict spam, go for +2. Besides that, get as much Attack Speed, Spell Suppression, Life and Attributes as possible. Anything else is gravy.
Boots
Because of certain unique synergies, we definitely need Elevated Elder boots, making us Unaffected by Poison. You can then Awakener Orb it with some other good stats you’d want. Focus on getting life, movement speed, and resistance.
Weapon
Pneumatic Daggers, with as much Attack Speed, Ele damage, and crit chance as possible. If you luck into getting Chaos DoT Multi, all the better. This is how all of our damage can poison, even elemental damage.
Shield
This is where you can get another massive chunk of Spell Suppression, Life, Avoid Ailments, to be fully immune.
Amulet
Same deal as before. Ungil’s Harmony, for lots of extra Crit Chance.
Rings
This is where this build is different and unique. This build uses a triple unique synergy, together with the Unaffected by Poison mod from the boots (not Immune!) to Self Chill, by Self Poisoning yourself. This means, with this combo of Winterweave, Ice Fang Orbit and The Golden Rule, we can get 30% Action Speed, which is a massive multiplier for Movement, Cast and Attack speed!
Belt
Many belts would work here, from Headhunter to Mageblood or even a Bisco’s Leash, but Darkness Enthroned is a great pickup for a lot of extra elemental damage, since we can scale from all sorts of damage types.
Build Details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/zxfx/AnastasiaMistress?i=1&search=class%3DPathfinder%26skill%3D!Poisonous-Concoction%26sort%3Ddps
2 – Poison Scourge Arrow Ballista
In a very similar fashion to all other poison builds, you’ll want to stack certain mechanics to deal as much DoT Damage, but in the case of Poison Bow builds, there’s a specific item that outshines and out damages everything in the game, despite its several many nerfs. While also following along with the MFing strat, this one is much stronger than the Caustic Arrow because of the potential damage it has. It has a lot less Quant and Rarity, though, so it makes sense.
Helmet
You’ll want a solid Helmet with as much Rarity, RME and Life as possible. You’ll also want as much Despair Curse effect, both from Enchantment as well as from Eldritch Implicits, same for RME.
Body Armor
The Covenant again. There’s simply nothing better.
Gloves
For this one, we’re going for the strongest poison gloves, damage-wise, with Snakebites. Try and get good rolls and getting a corrupted pair with +1 Frenzy, or even + 1 Frenzy and Despair on hit would be amazing, but very costly.
Boots
As much Rarity, Life, Resistances and Onslaught/Movement Speed. It’s also the best way to pick up a lot of Faster Poison, as well as even more Movement Speed from the Eldritch Implicits.
Weapon
Darkscorn. This is the bow that can reach millions of Poison Damage, since it has a 20% chance to deal 300% more damage for poisons. It has somewhat low Physical damage, but that’s okay since most of our damage comes from the Covenant.
Quiver
Getting a strong quiver with as much DoT Multi and Damage with Bows is crucial. Try and get some extra Life and Accuracy, since we need to hit to be able to poison.
Amulet
You’ll want Rarity, DoT Multi, and as much Life, Attributes and Resistances as possible.
Rings
Ventor’s Gamble again, with the most Quant, Rarity and Life/Res as possible.
Belt
Headhunter, for maximum speed farming!
Build Details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Belirs/RaiderOshabiJuiceFans?i=0&search=class%3DPathfinder%26skill%3D!Poisonous-Concoction
1 – Poisonous Concoction
One of the best, if not THE best league starter builds, Pconc is a fantastically simple and strong that doesn’t rely on weapons for its damage, and instead uses your Life Flask Capacity as damage. Though it suffers from some issues, and you could arguably get a lot more damage by being an Occultist, Pathfinder is a lot comfier and quicker to play with.
Helmet
Devouring Diadem is a great option for a couple of reasons. First, it makes the Mana Cost of abilities practically irrelevant. Secondly, it also grants a bunch of RME for auras, especially since it has been nerfed in 3.19.
Body Armor
This is a slot where you can either go with a simple Unique, like Cherrubim’s Maleficence, for easy damage, armour and evasion, as well as some life, or you go with a strong rare filled with Spell Suppression, a ton of Life, and Eldritch implicits that boost your Malevolence and other auras.
Gloves
Here you’ll want as much DoT as possible, as well as Chaos DoT Multi from a Hunter Influenced Item. As such, the best base would be an Apothecary Gloves. If you get Culling Strike(Warlord/Hunter) as well, that’ll end up being a net 10% more damage, regardless of the build.
Boots
This is a good place to pick up some Resistance, more Spell Suppress, a lot of life and stats, and most importantly, a lot of Life.
Weapon
None, pick up any wand that you won’t have attributes in order to level gems, but we use no weapons.
Shield
Great place to pick up as much Spell Suppression as possible, Block Chance, a ton of Life, and whatever Resistances you’re missing.
Amulet
Though it isn’t mandatory by any means, Ashes is a great amulet that will help you unlock the true potential of all your gems, while also helping you with your RME.
Rings
You’ll want at least one ring with Despair on Hit, to make it super easy and comfy to play. On the other, you can either get even more damage or go for the more approachable strategy of wearing a Circle of Nostalgia with as much Chaos damage as possible (use catalysts!).
Belt
A beefy Stygian Vise is a great idea, with as much Life, Chaos Damage, and resistance as possible. You could of course go with a Mageblood, if you’re rich.
Build Details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/racsika55/BetonRacsi?time-machine=week-2&i=3&search=time-machine%3Dweek-2%26class%3DPathfinder
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