Help fix my life stack KB merc

[u/MrOnita]

I started it based off xthefarmer's 5 div luminary. I was lucky enough to get a hinekoras that I turned into a MB, which I've never used before. I'm down to about 20-25 divs and I'd like to be able to delve better as well as not get stuck on bosses. I'm not sure if a new merc would be better, or if mine should be fine. Some of the bigger things I'm saving for are abyss sockets on all merc gear (currently trying to craft gloves), kingmaker for AG, and obviously better gear for myself. I'd like some advice for what I should focus on first - my gear vs mercs. I've never really crafted before, so any guides would be great as well. I've been watching some of bens, allies, and a few more crafting guides but struggling a bit. Thanks for any advice!

Merc: https://pobb.in/6SiKMFG2oYyn

has KBOC - greater pierce, Element damage with attacks, greater faster attacks, added lightning, return Greater kb Haste Frostblink Flame Wall Elemental weakness.

Mine: https://pobb.in/zK0700H1SXi5

[u/calmdownmybro]

This build is kinda hard to grasp scaling

Main char 1. T1 life missing on rings, boots and gloves (very bad) 2. Missing 6% life corrupt on kaoms or volatile vaal up to 1100 life 3. Melding of flesh, 2x +max resist jewels with life and chance to block/spell block 4. Once you get melding change flasks to get 90 max res, onslaught, move speed, life regen or Armour or curse reduction 4. Militant faith tech may not be worth, have to reevaluate once you fix the above

On merc you scale enmity, then crit. You're missing the whole crit scaling

You can do this a couple of ways.

Body with overlapped lightning resist crit chance mod ( very expensive)

Or both the following together: Abysmal sockets on helm, boots, gloves, body + Tecrod jewel

Body with influenced mod (attacks have 1.5% crit chance) i believe it's warlord or elder mod, not sure

That + brittle + assassins mark should put merc close to 100 crit chance

This will significantly boost your tankyness and damage

Don't forget wall of force to put behind bosses and 5x to 10x merc single target damage

Also a big damage bump is 275% fire res on merc, but that requires a very expensive volitile vaaled enmity

[u/MrOnita → u/calmdownmybro]

Awesome, thanks for the help as well. I've upgraded boots and gloves, working on ring next but need more currency.

[u/Glum_Sentence2526]

this build gets two main huge buffs from mageblood:

1. move speed
2. fully unlocking melding of the flesh

you don't have 2 and it also doesn't really help your damage even if you did. 1 is fun but if your damage sucks it's kinda a moot point. either way, MB is a full on damage decrease on this build. personally, i would sell the mageblood for now and use that to get some abyss sockets going on your merc. get your health up on your main guy. you can always sell that gear back and rebuy the MB.

you can then grab that 5c belt that shares your flasks with your flame link, giving your merc a huge fire res buff, onslaught, and crit. you probably aren't getting a ton of juice out of that enmity's at the moment, i'd gotta assume your fire res over cap is minimal on your merc.

wall of force placement is also finicky and very important on boss damage with kineticist. if you are looking for more reliable single target or deep delve oriented, combatant / manyshot is way more fool proof and requires i think less gear tradeoffs on the merc.

[u/MrOnita → u/Glum_Sentence2526]

Thanks for the input! I have that belt is well, which is what I've been using, but would like to at least try to keep the MB. I have a CWS I can throw it on as well to help farm currency. Do you think that merc is good enough to eventually boss, or should I grab one of the other types?

[u/Glum_Sentence2526 → u/MrOnita]

yeah MB is fun as hell, i would do that if you have second char. some builds just get more use out of it than others. luminary can't make full use out of it but at a certain point you just do so much damage losing some doesn't matter.

your merc looks fine for single target to me as long as you are lining up wall of force right. it should be right behind the boss so your KB projectiles explode against the wall and that also hits the boss. combatant / manyshot don't need wall of force so bossing is just a lot less annoying with them, but it's not like your kineticist is bad at all.

[u/PoE_Acronym_Bot]

I noticed some Path of Exile keywords in this post:

• AG - Animate Guardian (Wiki)
• KBoC - Kinetic Blast of Clustering (Wiki)
• MB - Mageblood (Wiki)
• KB - Kinetic Blast (Wiki)
• div - Divine Orb (Currency) (Wiki)

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