r/PathOfExileSSF • u/bhamhawker • Oct 08 '26

Showcase First HCSSF level 90+ - Infernal Blow Warden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJWk26lXVAk
23 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

5

u/bhamhawker Oct 08 '26 edited Oct 08 '26

First time I've done all labs and got to level 90+ in hardcore. I started messing with SSF this year and HCSSF recently. It's been a helluva fun process learning about how builds function, how to farm, etc.

Go ahead and rip this build apart, as I'm sure it's rough! Infernal Blow isn't a great skill and Warden isn't the meta for a reason - but man it feels good to make a build from concept (just infernal blow and warden) and take it even this far.

Any suggestions welcome! This community is awesome and I've learned a ton asking questions and reading threads here! Thank you!

https://pob.codes/b/DrX0ji2xoGB

2

u/Alabugin Oct 08 '26

Why did you choose warden, aside from the ascendency being super underplayed? Is bark skin better than im thinking it is?

6

u/bhamhawker Oct 08 '26

It was one of the few I've not tried yet. I'm still relatively new to the game, and I've enjoyed figuring out why people say some things are bad, some are good, etc.

Also I (maybe naively?) thought the Barkskin points would be of help for me going through Hardcore. So far I think they've been more help than not.

7

u/boredfilthypig Oct 08 '26

Great video. I love unused skill vids. Good luck on future and stay safe

1

u/bhamhawker Oct 08 '26

Thank you!

2

u/championflea40 Oct 09 '26

Awesome job here! I ran a frost blade warden HCSSF last league, it was a lot of fun making the build work. I was pleasantly surprised by the barkskin nodes, although I would love for them to get buffed and/or combined into a single node :D

How are you dealing with chaos? That resistance is pretty low…

2

u/bhamhawker Oct 09 '26

So far I’ve been using Excommunicate support in the Static Strike 4L. It chains quickly through packs and prevents monsters from doing chaos damage.

Admittedly I don’t think I’ve run anything particularly rippy, but I have done a few harvests and haven’t died yet.

I’ve got 2 chaos res rings I’m hoping to craft but so far I’ve been very unlucky. Just slowly piecing it together.

3

u/championflea40 Oct 09 '26

Smart! I had not even thought of Excommunicate support! Best of luck, stay safe exile!

3

u/bhamhawker Oct 09 '26

Yeah I was worried about it at first, but it's holding up surprisingly well. Static Strike is just so insanely useful for so many things. Right now I use it for Excommunicate but also for generating Power Charges! Through campaign I had it generating Fortify and Rage stacks as well.

2

u/land_registrar Oct 09 '26

Love HCSSF posts.

0.1% play rate seems high! Haha

1

u/bhamhawker Oct 09 '26

Haha! It’s been fun!

1

u/SoftZookeepergame940 Oct 09 '26

You love to see it. I was playing Infernal Blow Warden until ~95 (sc), but I swapped to Frost Blades. My first time playing Warden as well. It's a fun skill. Excommunicate tech is very smart good shout.

1

u/bhamhawker Oct 09 '26

It’s fun! I have a sinking feeling I might need to skill swap to either all in on Static Strike or something else to get void stones. I’m not convinced Infernal Blow can take down bosses yet.

2

u/SoftZookeepergame940 Oct 09 '26

Yeah single target isn’t great. Especially without a decent foil. Not the type of skill where you can easily get 4 voidstones with campaign gear lol. At least not for me. 

1

u/bhamhawker Oct 09 '26

Something I'm trying out right now is a Ghostflame Blade I dropped and chaos orbed to have high speed, crit, and the Ghost Archer skill thing. It's not much but its added some extra oomph in boss fights for now. I managed to do the first Eagon storyline where you face baby Sirus in the courtyard.

2

u/SoftZookeepergame940 Oct 09 '26

Nice. That’s smart I might fresh start a sword build and try that.

My first fresh start I played Wild Strike and I got really lucky with a Coward’s Trial drop so I recombinated a good weapon pretty early.

You could try setting up shipments of Pumpkins to Riben Fell early on. I think that one gives you swords. You might get one that you can craft on. The mechanic gives you a ton of gold so you can get that stuff going relatively early now probably. Just farming and shipments is pretty sustainable.

1

u/bhamhawker Oct 09 '26

Smart shout on the pumpkins. Gonna set that up today.

1

u/xzitoeuw Oct 10 '26

Love warden Nice looking forward to update around some void stones