Hi, do you consider using Spellslinger gem for both Bladefall and Blade Blast? It shouldn't reduce damage and can make gameplay even smoother.
It'll reduce damage by a lot. You're giving up a link on your Blade Blast and you'll have to drop some auras. Furthermore, you won't be able to use Unleash on Bladefall so you'll generate far fewer blades, thus have much less damage. Also, with our current setup we can cast Bladefall + Blade Blast at roughly the same speed as a spellslinger setup, so the only gain would be ease of use.
Hey loving this build so far! First time playing assassin for me and i'm really enjoying it but the only thing I don't understand from your build is why your not getting more power charges from the tree? Is it just because you want to be maxed out faster?
Hey loving this build so far! First time playing assassin for me and i'm really enjoying it but the only thing I don't understand from your build is why your not getting more power charges from the tree? Is it just because you want to be maxed out faster?
Cheers
With the gear I had at the time, Power Charges just weren't all that efficient to pick up. Use PoB to see if they're worth grabbing for your character.
TL;DR - Slight nerfs, but the build is still very strong!
This build received some slight nerfs due to some nodes in the Assassin Ascendancy having their Crit chance and Multi reduced. This results in around a ~5% damage loss at most. This is negligible, as damage was never an issue with the build. It's still as strong as it was before.
Divine Flesh did get nerfed, which coupled with the loss of Harvest crafting means it probably won't be worth to run anymore. This does hurt our defenses a bit, but the build should still be plenty tanky, even with it. For those still looking to run Divine Flesh, getting Cluster Jewel's with maximum Chaos resistance will be an option worth looking into.
Since I've chosen to league start with this build, I will update the levelling section with some more details on how to level without twink gear, in a fresh league.
League start update: The build was a breeze as a league start. Once swapping to Bladeblast at level 28, levelling is a joke as you one shot most packs and shred bosses. Mapping is also a breeze, most map bosses were getting one shot through yellow maps. I've decided to reroll as I just played this build last league and I'm looking for a change of pace, but I think it's safe to say that it's a solid league starter.
I've adjusted the build for SC trade, opting for more damage/clearspeed. The build still ends up being absurdly tanky with enough damage to decimate end game bosses and clear maps extremely quickly. I've spent around 40 ex on this build, ~25 of that has been from Bottled Faith, the chest piece and Awakened gem. This build can do all content on less than 3 ex, in SSF.
Pros and Cons Pros
- Tanky - HC viable
- Excellent single target
- Excellent map clear
- Satisfying phys explosion chains
- Can start cheap and scale with currency
- No required uniques or rare
- League start viable, was one of the first builds to reach level 100 HCSFF in Harvest league
Cons
- Two-button playstyle
- Levelling is a little awkward until you can use Bladeblast
- Cannot run phys reflect or slower recovery maps
- Can be hard to see mechanics due to BB spam
It's about 10 min, didn't edit it. I must say i thought Zombiemancer was amazing, no comparison to this build lol.
Core Mechanics
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Offense
Bladefall leaves a number of lingering blades in the ground. Blade Blast detonates these blades dealing lots of damage. We support Bladefall with Unleash + Spell Cascade to generate a large number of blades (up to 40 with a single cast). Bladefall is not used for damage at all. Then scale Blade Blast's AoE so that it overlaps as much as possible. We scale large amounts of crit and cast speed to supplement this large base damage and smooth out the mapping experience.
Defense
We have lots of damage avoidance from Elusive, Blind and Acrobatics + Phase Acrobatics. Additionally, Divine Flesh gives us an enormous amount of elemental and chaos damage reduction. We can also run Forbidden Taste so our life recovery is instant. We are vulnerable to physical damage, so the Endurance Charge annoint helps us a bit there.
Gear
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There are no required uniques used in this build. If you're going Divine Flesh, look to get Chaos Resistance on your gear. Harvest makes this very easy as many pieces of gear can deterministically hit chaos res with Chaos Aug crafts. Use poedb.tw to see what mods you can roll. You do not need to have gear that is exactly like mine. These are just guidelines to follow.
This gear is not fully min-maxed. This is merely a jumping off point. Use PoB and poedb.tw to see what mods you can squeeze in to further min-max your character.
Weapon
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Look for a wand with some combination of:
- Cast Speed
- +1 to level of Physical Spell Gems/All Spell Gems
- Spell Damage
- Crit Multi
- Crit Chance for Spells
You can choose to go a staff instead, but I don't think its worth. You will gain more damage, but lose a lot of mobility and defense when dropping the shield. If you choose to go staff, look for similar mods as above as well as influced mods such as Socketed Skills Deal 20% more Spell Damage or are supported by Power Charge on Crit.
Offhand
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You can choose to dual wield wands, but I strongly recommend a shield. Refer to the Crafting section below for a guide on how to easily craft your own. Look for a shield with some combination of:
- +1 to level of Physical Spell Gems
- Spell Damage
- Critical Strike Chance to Spells
- Cast Speed
- Life
- Maximum Chaos Res/Maximum All Res if going Divine Flesh
Helmet
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Crown of the Inward Eye is a good budget option. A Redeemer helm with +1 to number of Unleash Seals is for Bladefall. Refer to the Crafting section below for a guide on how to easily craft your own. Otherwise look for:
- Life
- Res/Chaos Res
- Physical Damage Taken as X Elemental Damage
There aren't any helm enchants that are amazing for us. The best helm enchant are any 15%/30% reduced mana reserved for our Auras. This, combine with an Enlighten 4 can allow you to run a War Banner for a small damage increase. Otherwise Blade Blast AoE is good, and Blade Blast damage is a bit worse than AoE.
Body Armour
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A Crusader Chest with Enemies Explode when Killed is ideal for clear speed, but not necessary at all - clear is still very good without it. Getting the Frenzy Charge Redeemer mod is nice for extra DPS as well. If you're having trouble with sustaining Mana/ES via Eldritch Battery, craft gain % of Life as Extra ES. Budget Unique Options:
- Loreweave
- Tabula
- Sporeguard
or a rare with:
- Life
- Res/Chaos Res
- Spell crit
- Craft Spell Dodge
Gloves
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Gloves with "Socketed Gems are Supported by Faster Casting" are very nice, saving us a link in our Bladefall. Look for:
- Life
- Res/Chaos Res
- Craft Damage while Leeching
Boots
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Tailwind boots are very nice, but not needed. Otherwise look for:
- Life
- Movement Speed
- Spell Dodge
- Res/Chaos res
Amulet
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The Elder/Hunter mod % of Physical Damage leeched as life (note that % of Physical ATTACK damage will NOT work) is the most important mod here. It's not mandatory, but its the easiest way for us to gain leech. Otherwise look for:
- +1 to level of Dexterity/Physical Skill Gems
- Crit Multi
- Life
- Res/Chaos res
- Strength
Rings
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A ring with Curse Enemies with Vulnerability on hit is ideal here. You can choose to get physical damage leech here from the Delve modifier instead of getting it on an amulet. Otherwise look for:
- Life
- Res/Chaos res
- Strength
- Cast speed
- Spell Damage
- Life gained for each enemy hit by your spells
- Craft minimum endurance charges
Belt
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A Stygian Vise is ideal, but Soul Tether is a good budget option if you want access to overleech. Otherwise look for:
- Life
- Res/Chaos res
Flasks
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You'll need to make sure you can get Heat, Warding and Staunching covered on your suffixes.
- If you're using Divine Flesh, use Forbidden Taste, otherwise a Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching
- Quicksilver
- Quartz Flask
- Diamond Flask
- Sulphur Flask/Bottled Faith if you're rich
Jewels
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You'll need a Glorious Vanity with the modifier "Bathed in the blood of (100-8000) sacrificed in the name of Xibaqua" if you want to run Divine Flesh. For rare jewels look for:
- Life
- Spell Damage
- Spell Damage while holding a shield
- Physical Damage
- Area Damage
- Cast Speed
- Cast Speed while Holding a Shield
- Crit Multi
- Crit Multi with spells
Gem Links
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Blade Blast
You can use Intensify instead of Awakened Increased Area of Effect
Support Gem priority order: Energy Leech > Intensify/Awakened Inc. AoE > Brutality > Controlled Destruction > Empower
Bladefall
Use Faster Casting if you don't have Faster Casting gloves, provided you can afford to drop Blood Magic (if you can't, then don't use Faster Casting at all). If you aren't having mana issues, drop Blood Magic and use Conc Effect. Only use Blood Magic if you have a source of Life Leech. Keep Bladefall and Spell Cascade at level 1. We don't care about Bladefall's damage so keeping its mana cost low is important. Spell Cascade gives more AoE per level and want Bladefall to be as concentrated as possible to allow for maximum BB overlap.
Auras
CWDT
Misc
Levelling and Bandits
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Here is a PoB with levelling and endgame trees, look at the Notes section for more info: https://pastebin.com/Hu57xZLh
For Ascendancy order, go Mistwalker -> Unstable Infusion -> Deadly Infusion -> Opportunistic
Kill all Bandits.
Level with Orb of Storms/Stormblast Mine until 16. Then swap to Wave of Conviction/Orb of Storms with a Herald of Thunder until 28.
At 28 you can begin using Bladeblast + Bladefall through the entire levelling process into endgame. Here is a rough guide on what supports to use while you level from 28 onwards:
For Blade Blast, start with, in order of importance, Onslaught, Controlled Destruction, Added Fire Damage, Faster Casting, Increased Critical Strike Chance, Increased Critical Strike Damage. As you progress through the campaign, swap in Brutality, Increased Area of Effect, Energy Leech (once you swap to EB) as you unlock them.
For Bladefall, start with, in order of importance, Spell Cascade, Faster Casting, Concentrated Effect. The only change you'll need to make to these links is at 38 when you'll want to put Unleash in. Unleash is a massive DPS increase, do not skip out on it.
For auras, I recommend running Herald of Ash and Flesh and Stone. Once you swap in Brutality in your Blade Blast, drop the Herald of Ash for Herald of Purity.
Once you complete the campaign, refer to the above Gem Links section for the endgame gem setup.
Considerations/FAQ - League start, life after Harvest league and more
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A Note on Mana
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You will have issues sustaining mana/ES until you get ~750 ES. Look for ES bases and use the chest craft gain % of maximum life as Extra ES to help you hit this total. Supporting Blade fall and your mobility skills with Blood Magic can help alleviate this problem until you get enough ES.
League Start
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I don't feel comfortable recommending this biuld as a league starter since I haven't done it myself. That being said, others have league started it, in SSF no less, so it is certainly possible.
Gearing post-Harvest league
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This build was first conceived during Harvest league, when it was very easy to access excellent gear. Although we won't have access to Harvest in the near future, this build will still hold up. The main loss will be the difficulty in getting Divine Flesh setup properly. Other than that, it shouldn't be difficult to get gear that is similar to the pieces listed above.
Crafting **OUTDATED UNTIL HARVEST CRAFTING RETURNS**
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I will not be explaining basic crafting/Harvest-crafting mechanics. Only try crafting gear if you understand how Harvest crafting works. Almost all of the gear we use can be purchased of trade.
Unleash Helmet
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It's worth noting that you can buy any iLvl 80+ Redeemer helmet with an open prefix and use the augment caster Harvest craft to get the Unleash mod. If you want to craft from scratch:
1. Buy iLvl 84+ Redeemer ES base Helmet.
2. Alt spam until you get T1/T2 life by itself or with a Harvest removable mod.
3. Regal.
4. If you hit a mod that cannot be removed via Harvest, yolo annul. If you fail go to step 2.
5. If you hit a mod that can be Harvest removed, remove it and any other Harvest removable mods so that you get a rare Helmet with just T1/T2 life.
6. Craft cold resist.
7. Do the Harvest Add/Remove cold until you hit take % of Physical Damage as Cold.
8. Do the Harvest augment caster.
9. Craft fire resist and use the Harvest Add/Remove to get it to a satisfactory tier.
10. Repeat step 9 with lightning and chaos resist. Note that trying to get cold resist is a bad idea as we have a cold prefix which makes crafting it take longer. It will not break your helmet, it will just be more difficult.
Weapon
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I didn't craft my own wand so I don't feel comfortable going into how to craft one. I wouldn't recommend crafting one as it can be very expensive for little benefit. For those that want to, I'd recommend starting with a Fractured +1 to all Spells base and going from there.
Max Res and Crit Shield
Spoiler
1. Buy an iLvl 85+ Shaper ES base shield.
2. Alt spam until you see +2% to all maximum resistances by itself or with a Harvest removable mod.
3. Regal.
4. If you regaled a non-Harvest removable mod, yolo annul to try and remove it. If you fail, go to step 2.
5. Remove any other prefixes.
6. Get the shield to have two Harvest removable suffixes: augment fire/cold/lightning until you get two Harvest removable suffixes. If you hit % increased X element damage, that's fine, we'll remove it later.
7. If you hit % increased X element damage in the previous step, remove it using the Harvest remove Caster modifier craft.
8. Craft any non-defense based suffix.
9. Use Harvest craft Augment Defense.
10.Your shield should now have Defense/Max-Res/Two removable suffixes/crafted suffix.
11. Craft mana.
12. Use Harvest craft Augment caster.
13. Perform Add/Remove Caster until you get a good tier of Crit to spells.
14. Remove crafted mana.
15. Use Harvest craft remove Defense.
16. Craft gain % of physical as extra chaos.
17. Use Harvest craft augment Physical.
18. Remove the crafted "gain % of physical as extra chaos" mod.
19. If you hit +1 to all Physical Spell Skill gems go to step 22.
20. Use Harvest craft remove physical.
21. Repeat from step 16.
22. Use Harvest craft augment Life.
23. Perform Add/Remove life until you get a good tier of life.
24. Use Harvest add/remove X element to fill out your resists.
Been wanting to try out blade blast since last league, but never got around to it. My league starter this league have been very mediocre and i really dont want to invest more time into it, at least before some of the bugs gets fixed
Most of the people i saw playing this last league played a chieftain. Any big pros or cons doing assassin instead? Im just doing softcore, but obviously still want to be able to survive :)
