[3.20] Top 12 Most OP Builds in Path of Exile History (Old Version)

I was recently thinking about the direction of power creep in Path of Exile and was wondering if GGG is actually slowing down the game as some people claim. This lead me to think about all historically OP builds and rate them on how strong they were before nerfs. It seems like many of these builds are actually recent creations thus, I have come to the conclusion that POE is actually not being slowed down. Many people remember the days of running strand in less than a minute with various Headhunter builds, but looking back, these maps had very little mob density compared to now, the maps had easy modifiers (no delirium and other league mechanics), and if the builds didn't have HH buffs, they were very squishy and couldn't kill endgame bosses reliably.

Power Creep:
Hateforge - 3.14
Mageblood - 3.16
Squire - 3.16
Eldritch Crafting - 3.17
Maximum Resistance on Shields - 3.17
Omniscience - 3.17
Forbidden Flesh/Flame - 3.17
Melding of the Flesh - 3.17 (Nerfed)
Impossible Escape - 3.18
Recombinators - 3.18 (Removed)
Kalandra's Touch - 3.19
Oriath's End - 3.20
Progenesis - 3.20
Anathema - 3.20
Original Sin - 3.20

Top 12 Builds:

Viewer Commented Builds I Forgot About:
Lightning Arrow Frostwall (Probably Top 12 Build)
Arc Traps + Lightning Spire
Mana Miner Ball Lightning/Arc
Armour Stacking Transcendence Lightning Strike
Insta Leech HOWA Spectral Throw

Composer: Kamil Orman-Janowski

[V___X]

For #8, accuracy stacking ballistas had a rather substantial nerf of losing 30% accuracy if you haven't killed recently on abyss jewels. It was by far the largest scaler of accuracy for the build.

[youqqwheniq]

Does anyone remember VD Body Swap with the old Zerphis flask?

[Okcettefoiscbon]

I for SURE was certain you would include Zerphi's Last breath + Volatile dead. It' was the most broken combo in the entire game. DPS out of this world, especially if you could pre-cast for bosses and ULTRA tanky. People used to "darkness farm" delve with it since it could outregen almost any amount of stacks of darkness debuff.
Good days.

[ruckus]

Great video. I had the #5 Discharge Elementalist. Popped whole screens and melted all the Ubers in a few hits. Nice to see it's still viable.

[goldenducky]

I think Akane's ball lightning/arc miner should be here somewhere. That build was so disgusting back in the glory days of archemage (rip). MoM archemage, perma berserk (alt qualtiy gave lots of spell damage back then), super fast, super tanky, insta phase bosses. If we wanna go back even further, in the old days of double dipping like poison blade flurry, was busted.

[THE_BLOOD_MAN]

do you think cast on death discharge has a place in here? maybe as an honorable mention. It was so strong that there are specific boss damage reduction mechanics in place JUST so that build has a harder time working, but you literally can't map with it

[KuuYami_]

I miss herald stacker :c I played CoC Guardian in 3.10. Literally just precision aura capped my accuracy and crit rate. It was so dope.

[dionjeTV]

What about shroud of the lightless boneshatter? It was infinite damage and immortal as far as I know, but it only lasted 1 league because it was an unintended effect which made it physical immune permanently.

[joevanweedler]

I would add the mana stacking scion miner from 3.13ish era. 0.2 second sirus A8 kills, tanky as any build except aura stacker, perma-berserk so map clear was fast but a little clunky (arc mines)

[Percyway]

Cast on Crit Discharge Assassin from Perandus league was really strong too

[SearedBite]

Ci vaal pact howa. 10k+ es with instant leech
CoC cospri's discharge
2x Poet's pen volatile dead with vitality watcher's eye (insta kills bosses and is incredibly tanky)
Wand builds pre 3.0 were insane. also 3.0 had vaal power siphon (which was only good for clear though, unlike previous wand builds)
whichever league the elder first came out in, there were so many items that had phys as extra elemental, everyone just played bv elementalist with insane proliferation and 1 shot everything on screen clearing maps insantly

[NeloGTz]

Venom gyre / any str stacker are playable at 150% power in 3.20 with relic and original Sin ring

[cuakman]

Does Snapshot builds count? I remember RF Spectres back in the days 0.01 bosses lol. Also power siphon snapshot auras. Lightning arrow frostwall, groundslam impale, early self chill build with trinity. So many broken things...

[jackxlifer]

Vaal Immortal Call(pre-nerf) + soul ripper + pathfinder/(charge generation). Allowed to be immune to (!!!)ANY damage with (!!!)100% uptime. It was used for searching of fractured walls in delve without spending sulphite for cart. Or standing in Sirus cloud with 1HP and 0 ES. Nerfed in 3.16

how could you forget bv herald stackers? and vaal rf abberath hooves? divine ire ignite? incinerate shotgunning? mjolnier discharge? hello?

[Shpeh]

Not in the top ten. But back when Voltaxic rift first came out, you could stand in the entrance portal of a canyon map and kill the bosses with poison spark. Nerfed obviously, but it was the most fun I ever had playing this game.

[Sandlchi]

Ignite elementalist is unnerfed? Didnt ggg gut ignite dps a couple leagues back to compensate for skill buffs?

[matijaklasan]

coc fr with recombinators has to be up there as well right?

[dami]

W8 where is herald stacker from delirium?

[lakie]

Uber dans scion elemental hit in incursion, running around with 10k life, insane overleech from slayer, and bosses would phase in less than a second. Bow weapon swap made it god tier for mapping and bossing with gems swapping out.