Level 99 Spectral Helix Champion^3.17

Notes

Some tips on the build that might help:

3.19 changes:
Due to the removal of 15% mana reservation eff, we'd have to anoint Sovereignty.
You'll not have enough mana to use flesh and stone before you anoint it, so the build got a bit worse because of that. Everything else's fine. 


Leveling:
Leveling should be straight forward. Splitting steel is insane before Spectral helix. 
If it's your first time playing a melee character (or it's your first time playing the game in general) expect the leveling to be EASY. if you follow the following tips, it's gonna be even easier:

1) Be +-3 levels above or below the lvl of the zone. E.g. if the zone is lvl18, you should be 15-21.
2) Use flasks more often, they are recharged when you kill monsters
3) Try to optimize resistances. Before act 6, it's allright not to have 75% resistances. But when you start act 6, try to make your resistances as close to 75% as possible (Chaos res is an exception)
4) Use a vendor recipe for a melee weapon. Following this 4-step-guide:
-Buy a NORMAL (WHITE) axe from a vendor
-Use 4 Blacksmith stones on it to make it 20% quality 
-Use any type of currency to make your normal RUSTIC SASH a RARE one (you can use ORB OF ALCHEMY, ORB OF BINDING, any ESSENCE)
-Then sell your NORMAL (WHITE) axe, a RARE RUSTIC SASH and 1 Blacksmith stone (For God's sake don't sell these items individually)

And now you should end up with a MAGIC (BLUE) axe with a mod "Increased #% physical damage"

If you do that vendor recipe each time you get to a new act, your game experience is gonna be SMOOTH.

Bandits:
Kill all 

Pantheons:
Major:
Upgraded Soul of the Brine King for freeze immunity.

Minor:
Upgraded Soul of Abberath for less ignite duration and immunity to burning ground.
OR
Soul of Garukhan for less shock effect. (check which one os these you like more)

After campaign:
Gear:
Starting maps, you should focus on getting gear with resistances (Chaos res in particular). As you can see from my gear, it ONLY has defensive mods on it. You can also use gear with additional phys damage/attack speed/projectile damage etc. etc. 

Try to get as much life as possible on your gear. 

It's also preferable to have Spell suppresion % on your gloves/body and boots, but not mandatory.

Axe:
We are looking for a hight phys-dps axe. We don't care about crit and accuracy because of RESOLUTE TECHNIQUES. 
Because of that, we either craft or buy an axe. It's better to buy one if you're not very experienced. To do this following this 4-step-guide:
-Go to https://www.pathofexile.com/trade
-In the Type filters > Item category, select Two-handed axe
-Scroll down to Trade filters > buyout price. Here type in the amount of chaos you want to spend on your weapon. 
-Then press: Search and click "PHYSICAL DPS: #". It will make you search for the highest phys-dps axe available for the price you've typed down in step 3.

Great, now you have a good axe.

Belt: 
We will mostly be using UNIQUE belts.
A really solid and cheap option is Perseverance Vanguard Belt. It will give you permanent onslaugh, which is really handy for bosses. If you're using this belt, it's better to change one of the axe masteries 
from "30% increased damage while in blood stance" to "40% increased onslaught effect"

Another option is Soul tether. It's a solid belt, which gives you overleech, which is a nice defensive mechanic. 

These two belts are good, but you have to test for yourself whether you prefer permanent onslaught or overleech.

Later, it's preferable to put overleech on your tree via a glorious vanity jewel. In this case, you no longer have to use Soul thether, which gives you an open belt slot.
From here, you can either use Ryslatha's coil (more damage) or a stygian vise (more defence).

Helmet:
The Fledgling is the BIS for our build. It will boost your dps by 2. Mandatory. Any enchantment on the helmet for Spectral helix is useful.
Before buying it, you can use any rare helmet.

Rings:
Life and resistances. If you're rich, buy one with "Curse enemies with vulnerability", it will make it so you don't have to manually cast vulnerability.

Amulet:
Life/stats/resistances. Don't forget to annoint Hatchet master, give Cassia 1 verdant, 1 teal and 1 crimson oil.

Catalysts: 
Don't forget to put catalysts on your jewellery. I recommend using Fertile catalysts if your rings/amulet/belt has lots of life.

Quality:
Don't forget to put quality on all your gear. On gear it will give more armour/evasion. On flasks - increased duration.

Don't forget to quality your skills with "Gemcutter prism". Each skill takes 20 gemcutter prisms to reach 20% quality. But here's a trick: You can sell lvl20 gem with 1 gemcutter prism to make a lvl1, 20% quality gem. Use it instead, very handy.
Important note: some skills don't gain any value from having 20% quality. Check Skills to check which skills you have to quality.

Flasks:
I recommend using the flasks as they are in the pob, but all of them are replacable for your own needs. If you think other flask is better - use it.

I also recommend enchanting your flasks with Instilling orbs to have "Used when charges reach full". It will help a lot cus you wouldn't have to use flasks anymore except your life flask.

Ryslatha's coil:
Try to buy one as close to the one in POB as possible. E.g. with <40 "Less minimum" and as maximum "more maximum" as possible.

Cast when damage taken:
It's a very useful defensive mechanic because it will automatically cast Molten shell when you take some damage. 

VERY IMPORTANT: DON'T LEVEL your CWDT to above lvl1 and DON'T LEVEL your Molten shell above lvl10. Do everything as it is in Skills.

Call of steel:
It's a skill granted by equipping any of the steel skills. That's the reason we are using Splitting steel in our gear.

We use Call of steel to help us to clear mobs. Use Spectral helix, it will impale enemies it hits, then press Call of steel to detonate impales. A really handy skill, but involves 2-button playstyle.

If you don't want to use it, don't use it. 

If you use it, don't forget to buy a Lord of steel jewel with "Call of Steel has (80-100)% increased Use Speed". It will make Call of steel instant.
It's also preferable to buy Lord of steel jewel with "Corrupted blood cannot be inflicted on you" corruption. It's relatively cheap and will let you save 1 point from the tree.

Q: Which map mods this build cannot do?
A: Reflect #% of phys damage, cannot regen, cannot leech life (doable, but you can die)

Q: I've have problems with my build. What can I do?
A: You can always contant me on discord: Avgustine#0303. But you've probably messed something up yourself. Check POB.