



The Big Numbers

75% Block and Spell Block

3000+ Energy Shield Recharge

A few million dps



Motivation

People who I play with have figured out by now that I love builds assembled around all kinds of gimmics. This project started out as a combination of two gimmicky builds I have made before: a Xirgil's Crank Occultist and an Indigon Hierophant.



The old Xirgil's Crank build kitted out with Blightwell and everything is the most durable ultra-defensive build I have ever had but the damage it gets from ED/Contagion or Scorching Ray is not very impressive, going up to maybe 400k dps at best so it can beat Shaper and Über Atziri but not Uber Elder.



My Indigon Hierophant Gloomfang-boosted Magma Orb gets some of the most obscene single target dps available in PoE, but it takes attention to play since you need to manually dodge some big hits that can't be taken several in a row.



Manacrank is my attempt at combining the defensiveness of max block Xirgil's Crank with the offense of Indigon. The end result isn't as defensive as a pure cranker nor does it get as much dps as a mana Hierophant, but it is still extremely durable and has extremely good dps. I have successfully beaten all content with it at the modest budget I had available in Flashback and it was very fun and easy to play, so I decided to share the build.



Viability

I have beaten Über Elder with this in Incursion Flashback with imperfect gear, and it wasn't even very difficult. This is more of a boss killer than a map clearer, but it can clear content reasonably fast too. I just wouldn't use it to farm currency in low tier maps or anything like that.



If I played Hardcore, I would do it with this build. Getting my hands on Shavs, Indigon and a Watcher's Eye might just not be as simple in HC as it is in Softcore.



Links



Skill Tree for level 94

Direct link to the character in my profile

Video of Ũelder kill



Key Items



Xirgil's Crank enables reliable energy shield recharge, which is kept going by Wicked Ward with Vaal Discipline as backup for emergencies. This makes the character amazingly hard to kill.





Reckless Defense makes it possible to reach maximum block and spell block.





Indigon is one of the most broken items at the moment in PoE. With enough mana to spend, it can give your build several thousand Increased Spell Damage. With an investment into some mana and an Indigon, it doesn't really matter that I have defensive items in slots and sockets that are usually needed for scaling damage. This build can ramp up to around 2000% increased damage, while Hierophants easily beat 5000% or more, but this is still enough for some millions of damage.



Other Gear



I have a Healthy Mind jewel giving tons of extra mana.





I am currently using a Red Nightmare jewel to get some block, but you might be able to free up the last and most expensive jewel socket if you get an amulet with a block corruption instead.





I like to use a Pure Talent jewel to get some more mana regeneration, attributes and penetration.





A good Watcher's Eye is almost mandatory to scale some more Energy Shield from my mana pool. Mine has Lightning Penetration as the other mod, but there are several alternative mods that'd work as well or even better. Just search for any combination with Clarity's ES mod and acceptable Wrath, Clarity and Discipline mods and pick the cheapest.





The Increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate from a Bated Breath is extremely good and I have a hard time imagining I'd use any other belt, but its still not absolutely mandatory to make the build work.





Impresence is very convenient for its flat damage and free Conductivity, but a Bligtwell or a good rare would be better defensively.





With Shavs I can afford to put some auras in my life since I can't afford to reserve much mana. A rare Vaal Regalia with Chaos Inoculation would give more Energy Shield, but I don't know what I'd do with the auras.





Dream Fragments is not essential, but its just very convenient to have. Your other ring should be an Elder item with Warlord's Mark on hit to get some mana leech unless you get some from your Watcher's Eye. With a CI setup you might have to squeeze in an Essence Worm somewhere.



My boots and gloves are just the best rares I could find at the moment with ES, mana and resists. Some block chance on the gloves is a nice bonus.



Flasks



The fifth flask is optional. I haven't decided what I want in that slot yet.



Skills

Ball Lightning - Spell Echo - Controlled Destruction - Slower Projectiles - Arcane Surge - Empower/Elemental Focus

Ball Lightning is my spell of choice since it deals damage for a time after having been cast, which is convenient considering the varying amount of damage increase I get from Indigon while casting. I could also imagine using Magma Orb or Firestorm, which share the benefit. Level 4 Empower will be better than Elemental Focus.



Conductivity - Blasphemy - Enlighten - Discipline

Discipline is absolutely mandatory since I'd always prefer to have more ES with how well this build scales with its health pool. Blasphemy is viable only if you use an Impresence.



Wrath - Clarity - Blood Magic - Enlighten

Wrath for damage and Clarity for both defense and damage. Not much to say here.



Lightning Warp - Faster Casting - Less Duration - Swift Affliction

Got to go fast.



CWDT - Immortal Call - Lightning Golem - Ice Spear - Inc. Crit.

Immortal Call so I don't die to porcupines, golem for even more dps and Ice Spear to make my Elemental Overload slightly less inconsistent.



Bandits

I definitely want 2 skill points, since the skill tree has to be stretched tight to get all of the mana and jewel sockets.



Areas for Improvement

Some levels for Celestial Judgement would be nice.



A level 4 Empower would be nice.



More Energy Shield from better gear would be nice.



A Ball Lightning AoE enchantment on the helmet would be beautiful.



Simple Leveling Guide

Xirgil's Crank and Reckless Defences can be equipped at level 22, so you can start playing the build as it is very early on. You can use any spell you think is cool until you get an Indigon, but after that point you will have to start worrying about the skill's interactions with the mana ramp.



You should be able to reach maps on a budget, but to enter the endgame you will need to invest into Indigon, Shavs and a Watcher's Eye, so there is a bit of a threshold that can be surprisingly expensive to cross. This was my only character in Flashback, but needing to grind currency with imperfect gear in between early game and the endgame was not very fun, so I'd recommend this only once you have made some money with a cheaper build first. 75% Block and Spell Block3000+ Energy Shield RechargeA few million dpsPeople who I play with have figured out by now that I love builds assembled around all kinds of gimmics. 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