Path Of Exile Resource #7 - Pledge Of Hands Unique Item Review

Pledge Of Hands in Path Of Exile is a unique judgement staff that when equipped grants the player up to 160 percent increased spell damage, 100 percent increased maximum mana, as well as having socketed active skill gems inside the staff be supported by level 30 spell echo. This unique item has not been changed since it's introduction into the game, which was back in July of 2014.

Item Usefulness Information - This item is mainly used in spell based setups, as its increased spell damage and increased mana attributes are suited towards characters that mainly deal spell damage. Any spell can be enhanced effectively in this staff if linked properly, however some spells can work better than others due to their specific qualities. For example, firestorm, arc, blade fall, and blade vortex work incredibly well with Pledge Of Hands. These spell skills benefit and work greatly with the combined spell damage increase and the level 30 spell echo that the unique grants. Flameblast, freezing pulse, ice spear, and spark do not work very well with Pledge Of Hands. Most of these spell skills do not benefit as much from the level 30 spell echo that the unique grants. The level 30 spell echo that the unique grants as a bonus link to your main skill gems is incredible, as it will make you cast spells incredibly quickly, and it frees up a gem slot, which means that you can add an additional support gem to make your main skill stronger. For example, if I was playing an arc character with a non-Pledge Of Hands 6 link, the setup I would have would be arc, spell echo, faster casting, added lightning damage, controlled destruction, and empower. However, if I had a Pledge Of Hands 6 link, my setup would be arc, faster casting, added lightning damage, controlled destruction, empower, and since I already have spell echo granted by the unique, I input iron will, which will boost my spell damage depending on how much strength I have currently. Most builds that utilize Pledge Of Hands are non critical strike builds, meaning that they do not use or gain power charges or mainly do their damage through gaining flat spell damage increases on their skill tree or on their gear. The 100 percent increased maximum mana that Pledge Of Hands grants you essentially doubles your current mana, which greatly benefits any builds that have mana problems or use mana as a build enabler during regular gameplay. You cannot use this unique in the early stages of the game, since it's level requirement is level 68. In the late stages of the game, this item is useful because of it's ability to double your current mana, which is of great utility in many spell based builds, high spell damage increase to spell gems, and it's unrivaled cast speed increase due to granting a level 30 spell echo to your main spell skill.

Informative Link -
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Pledge_of_Hands - additional information regarding the Pledge Of Hands unique