[2.2.x] zSavage's CI Southclaw Reave (formerly Bloodseeker Dual Strike) [Trickster]

"

matheusams wrote:

i think this one is more effective, without IR u get more DPS, ES, and dual whield block

but u will ned auxium and eye of chayula to avoid stun and freeze

"

zSavage wrote:

Outline:
Fast attacking, high damage, solid clearspeed. Maintains ES pool through large amounts of instant life leech, enabling face tanking of things like Merc Dom's Lightning stream. Very tanky in combat and high mobility. Very versatile with proper flask use. Uses a layered defense of armor, leech, and block. Build deals mostly physical damage with a solid amount of cold damage.

Core Skills:

->Dual Strike: This is your main DPS skill for both single target and group AoE.

Use the 2nd setup shown for max DPS when not using magic find skill in boots.
Core (4L): Dual Strike + Multistrike + Faster Attacks + Melee Splash

Gems to add:

Melee Physical Damage on Full Life
Use if you have a 3rd red slot on your 5/6L. This is also your swapout for splash for extreme single target situations.

Additional Accuracy
Should be used on a 3rd green socket, esp if your hit chance is low. 20 quality version also adds 40% crit chance.

Melee Physical Damage
Only use in addition to MPDoFL if you have a 4th red slot.

Power Charge on Crit
If a blue slot is available, this gem will give more crit chance than the increased crit chance gem (even w/ 3 charges, is 150% increased crit chance).

Increased Critical Multiplier
If your crit chance is already strong, this blue gem will be a nice damage increase.

->Flicker Strike: This is one of our two mobility skills. It's useful to escape sticky situations and to dodge certain enemy attacks, as well as jump certain obstacles.
-> I now use my flicker as an additional method of generating power charges:

Add PCoC and increased crit chance to the setup below.

Core (2L): Flicker Strike + Faster Attacks

->Whirling Blades: Our other mobility skill, used to travel faster and escape big hits such as vaal smash, dom thunder fist, etc.

Core (2L): Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks

I recommend putting your flicker and whirling in a GGG 3L item (like one of our weapons)
with the support gem.

->Blood Rage: Since we are CI, there is no downside to using this skill. It also adds more leech and more attack speed through frenzy charges, which also can be used with our flicker for escapes.

Core (2L): Blood Rage + Increased duration

You can add Enhance and/or Empower for more quality/lvls to make the skill stronger.
(I use Enhance)

If you have one of these gems, run in a 3L (our other weapon).
Can run in a 4L w/ both gems.

->Auras:

Discipline: Adds more ES. Obvious choice to increase ES.

Hatred: Adds a substantial amount of cold damage. Huge DPS increase and also offers crowd control in the form of chills and freezing applied to foes.

Optional: Grace: This aura gives a lot more armor (we use Iron Reflexes), and should be used in situations where there is either high reflect or extreme amounts of physical damage. You must turn off Hatred to use.

Auras are run in a 4L (GGBR) linked to reduced mana.

I now run my auras in this:

If you want to use grace swap out your hatred. I manually cast assassin's mark to assist in power charge generation.

Optional Skills:
->Cast When Damage Taken: I use this to increase survivability. If using a lot of pure ES gear, it's difficult to get enough red slots to use this.

Current setup:

Links: CWDT + Enduring Cry + Immortal Call + Increased Duration
Curses can be swapped in based on preference for increased duration (I'd recommend Assassin's Mark, Temp Chains, and Enfeeble as potential swapouts.)

Another setup, useful to gain power charges. This is an option for max DPS form.

Links: CWDT (lvl 1) + GMP + PCoC + Ice Spear

->Magic Find Skill: When soloing, it's very nice to have a skill to cull bosses and get more drops. I have an open piece of gear in my setup (boots), so I use it there.

Links: Arc (or other spell, your choice) + Culling Strike + IIR + IIQ

If playing in a new league with no item quant gem, this can be placed in a 3L or a faster casting gem can be added. Since our char is not speced as a caster, cull is important to be able to ensure last hitting.

->Vaal Skills:
It's also possible to run some Vaal auras (Vaal Disc/Vaal Haste) linked to increased duration instead of a magic find skill. These are cool and could be used in clutch cricumstances.

Tree, lvl 88

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYAAAYBCQHcCLENfA2NDjwOSBB7ES8RUBGWFdcV9hX9Fr8bJRv6HNwi9CXfKaUqCypNKwosvzSTNbk26DpSPyc__EX0RnFHBkrIS65OKlFMVmNYr13yX2pieWNDY3Bkr2qMbAttGW1sbmluqm9Xb55wUnDVdwd4DX1bf8aDCYTZhq6HE4nTijiTJ5manKSfy6LZpBmmf6crpzSpbqxHsNixs7QMtMW1SLXytkG297jZvjq-ir6nwcXIFMpK2VvbGtvn3UjndOhm6rrrY-1B7-Py4fPq9Uv1b_b8

Keystones:

Chaos Innoculation: Makes our defenses pure ES, and offers larger multipliers and chaos immunity. Makes certain enemies' damage trivial and enables free use of blood rage skill.

Ghost Reaver: Enables our leech to go to our shields, keeping them up.

Iron Reflexes: Gives armor.

Unwavering Stance: Gives immunity to stuns (one of CI's weaknesses due to low base life).

Vaal Pact is NOT taken because it substantially hinders our leech. Instead, instant leech comes through gear.

Gear

Core Gear:

Abyssus is a huge component of this build. The flat damage double dips since we dual wield, and it increases our crit multi. The all attributes are also nice. The downside (increased physical damage taken) is mitigated through armor (the IR node) and the CWDT setup contained withing the item itself. It's still very important to pop our armor Jade Flask against hard hitting targets (Large bonestalkers, bears, golems, brutus like bosses).

Bloodseeker is the core required item for this build. Since Vaal Pact has been nerfed (the 60% leech loss), bloodseeker is the superior option for a DW build. As long as it is in the main hand weapon slot, our leech is instant. This enables the character to be absurdly tanky. As long as an attack doesn't oneshot us, we can leech back all of our HP almost instantly.

Chayula is extremely needed before Unwavering Stance is taken. At a higher level this item can be forgone, but it's needed at lower levels. Immunity to stun (one of CI's weaknesses due to low base life) is huge, especially for a melee build.

Other Items (this is gear you should seek to emulate):

Newly modified gear:

You'll want a high PDPS claw in the off hand and a high ES chest, preferably EV/ES or AR/ES hybrid. Gloves ideally will have good ES w/ EV or AR, some res, and a dps property (either flat phys, attack speed, or accuracy). I use Rainbowstride boots; they're are more or less BiS for this build. If not using them try to get movespeed, res, and good ES from your boots.

For your jewelry, you're looking for res, flat phys, accuracy, and ES. STR is also very important to get from your jewelry. Ideal jewelry would be diamond rings w/ all or most of the above properties. Your belt should be a Rustic Sash with ES and res, at a minimum. STR is nice here as well. Armor or incresed weapon ele are additional properties to consider. Amulet ideally would have flat phys, %ES, and crit properties.

Another one of CI's weaknesses is getting frozen for long periods of time. This ring is the best way for our setup to do this passively. (other option is to use wanderlusts, but that would result in huge ES and res loss). However, I have found that I can avoid freezing with good tactical movement and flask use (see below). I only swap this ring in for very specific circumstances (usually a big cold damage map boss). This ring is a much better option for a CI caster. (Alpha's takes our helm slot, meaning no abyssus, so it's out).

Flasks

No need for life flasks, since we're CI! You'll want a couple armor flasks (jade or granite; I
prefer Jade due to tree nodes). These should be surgeon's, and one should have an increased armor
or evasion mod. I use my other to remove bleeding. As a matter of fact, all of your flasks should be
either surgeon's or charge recovery. Speed flask is used to remove freeze and escape. Our res
flasks are for use against high damage bosses. The topaz also gives more armor, and the ruby is
another way to remove freezing. The unique Atziri flask could be used for more damage.

Stats

Offense

DPS: 89,161 (Hatred) 65,560 (Grace)
Hit chance: 84%
Crit Chance: 50.2% (4 power charges) 37.5% (base)
Crit Multi: 651%
Life Leech: 29%
Mana Leech: 4%

Defense

Life: 1
Mana: 769
ES: 4,737
Armor: 4,225 (base) 10,200 (Grace) 17,619 (base + flask) 25,224 (Grace + flask)
Block: 25%
Spell block: 6%

Res:
-Fire 75% (86%)
-Cold 75% (88%)
-Light 75% (75%)
-Chaos 100% (0%)

Attributes & Bandits

STR: 247
DEX: 206
INT: 219

Normal: KILL (passive)
Cruel: KILL, Oak, or Kraityn (passive/18% phys/8% AS) (I killed all)
Merc: KILL, Kraityn, or Alira (passive/+1 frenzy/+1 power) (I killed all)

This build needs a lot of passive points. Oak is a solid choice in cruel, and kraityn is a good choice in merc. If I had a 6L and high base crit claw I might consider Alira in merc and getting a charge in the tree and using PCoC. This would be done if you had godlike gear already.
For a fresh start I recommend KILL, Oak, Kraityn.
If you have some good gear I recommend KILL, KILL, KILL.

Leveling

Early (40 pts)

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYADkgRLxGWFr8c3CaVKwpGcUcGUUxVS13yYeJirGqMbIxvnn_GgwmTJ5maotmmf6c0rEew2LGztAy0xbVItvfAnMgUykrb5-OE62PtQfVv9vw=

~Lvl 33-35, end of normal/early cruel

Lots of life nodes with some mana and one hand damage nodes. We're starting to grab evasion and ES nodes moving out of the starting area. Normal should have been pretty easy. We're probably using dual claws at this point (probably sparkling claws). We should be sitting in front of Ghost Reaver and the CI cluster and starting to head south towards Iron Reflexes. This should be the dex heavy path rather than the crossing route used on my tree. The crossing route should be respeced into later after good gear is in place and accuracy is needed and you want to replace Chayula.

Note: If you want to level faster with good clear speed, you can use EK + bear trap as a caster, then spec out of the projectile nodes later on, since the physical damage nodes are used here. I would recommend this option for more experienced players, esp if not first char in league. The transition would likely happen after 'Sharp and Cruel' in normal when you get melee splash gem, or as soon as it can be used.

Transitional Phase (60 pts)

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYADkgQexEvEZYVIBX9Fr8c3CaVKaUqTSsKLOlF9EZxRwZOKlFMVUtbr13yYeJirGSvaoxsjG1sb1dvnn1bf8aDCYo4kyeZmp2qotmmf6c0rEew2LGztAy0xbVItve-OsCcwcXIFMpK2xrb590N44TndOtj7UH1b_b8

~lvl48-53, a2-a3 cruel
This is the phase where CI will gradually be implemented. The last LGoH claw w/ 1.5 base APS (Tiger's Paw) requires lvl 43. At this point we should be using discipline and/or hatred, possibly with clarity. Once ES total is about 70% of or higher than life total, the Ghost Reaver node should be speced. This will let our life leech go into our shields (our LGoH will still go to our life). The blood rage gem can potentially start being used here. Iron Reflexes should be up and running. We should have finished the Claw leech area. Once our ES feels comfortable high (as in not going down in most cases), and we have a couple good claws with base leech instead of LGoH, it's time to go CI. Using passive respec points from quests, spec out of all your life nodes, and grab the CI cluster and any shield nodes you haven't gotten that are nearby. Having Chayula at this point is extremely beneficial.

Sample swap w/ 66 pts

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYADY0OSBB7ES8RUBGWFSAV1xX9Fr8c3CL0KaUqTSsKLL8s6TW5RfRGcUcGTipRTFZjW69d8l9qZK9qjGwLbRltbG9Xb559W3_GgwmGroo4kyeZmqLZpn-nK6c0rEew2LGztAy0xbVItve-OsCcwcXIFMpK2xrb590N44TndOtj7UH1b_b8

At this point you will probably be near the end of cruel/start of merc. Once you get into merciless the first two acts should be able to be cleared at a pretty good pace.

Approaching End Game (80 pts)

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYAAQkNfA2NDkgQexEvEVARlhUgFdcV_Ra_HNwi9CmlKk0rCiy_LOk0kzW5PydF9EZxRwZKyE4qUUxWY1uvXfJfamNwZK9qjGwLbRltbG5pb1dvnn1bf8aDCYTZhq6KOJMnmZqi2aZ_pyunNKxHsNixs7QMtMW1SLZBtve42b46vqfAnMHFyBTKStsa2-fdDd1I44TndOq662PtQe_j9W_2_A==

~lvl 62, end of a2m - early a3m
Should have most of the core ES nodes filled. Should be looking into acquiring a bloodseeker (req lvl 62). You should also grab a well rolled abyssus (low phys damage taken increase) if you can afford it. Look for a rainbowstride too. (Bloodseeker will be the most expensive item of the three). The DW block nodes on the way into the heart of the duelist area may have been taken. Docks and city of Sarn are ideal farming areas for levels. Eventually Lunaris and early maps can be farmed.

Crit Transition (100 pts)

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYAAAYBCQHcCLENfA2NDkgQexEvEVARlhXXFfYV_Ra_G_oc3CL0Jd8ppSoLKk0rCiy_NJM1uT8nP_xF9EZxRwZKyE4qUUxWY1ivXfJfamJ5Y0NjcGSvaoxsC20ZbWxuaW6qb1dvnnBScNV3B3gNfVt_xoMJhNmGrocTidOKOJMnmZqcpKLZpBmmf6crpzSpbqxHsNixs7QMtMW1SLXytkG297jZvjq-ir6nwcXIFMpK2xrb591I53ToZuq662PtQe_j8uHz6vVv9vw=

~lvl 80, mapping
Once ES is solid enough and abyssus is equipped, should begin taking crit nodes. You'll notice
substantial DPS increases with abyssus and more critical nodes. Other nice nodes taken will include
more ES or AR/EV nodes and/or aura effect nodes. The alternate route to IR through the duelist area
should be switched to here for eventual access to Unwavering Stance as well as some other nice
clusters.

Gameplay Style

You're a very mobile assassin who leaves behind trails of shattered corpses. For solo play, run/whirling blades to travel and either walk up/whirl/flicker to desired target in mob. Slaughter group w/ dual strike, repeat. Priority targets usually include ranged mobs (esp ones that deal cold damage) and high physical damage monsters. Cull bosses or yellow mobs that don't get instakilled with MF skill. This usually means whirling blades away and cast skill on target.

For group play, travel and initiate in much the same way. I usually jump on rare or high health mobs and run in front of the group a little. The build can usually clear small white mobs on its own before the group has to hit them much, even in a full party. Against most bosses you can just jump on them and hold down the dual strike button. If the group doesn't have a culler feel free to cull the bosses yourself, with the same method as above. Note that DPS may jump by at least 10K if one of those wrath + anger + haste users is in the party.

A few things to be mindful of:

High Physical damage spikes:
(aka Dom Touch of God, Kole based bosses, certain monsters)
Use armor flasks if you're going to take a big hit, but generally try to avoid things like dom's attack and the ground slam of the brutus based bosses. Armor flask isusually enough for monsters. You can also 'gimp' DPS to use grace.

Getting Frozen:
This sucks, a lot, and it you're not quick on the freeze remove flask, it can cost you, esp if surrounded. Proper flask use makes this not a big deal.

Bad ping: If you lag out, and thus aren't attacking, you can get killed.

Double Reflect Packs: If on a phys reflect map, with a phys reflect rare, you should pop your armor flask.

Corrupting Blood:
Be mindful of corrupting blood rares. Don't engage unless your staunching flask is charged. You will get bleed stacks fast, like any high APS build. You should be able to tank the stacks as long as you are attacking, but once the mob dies you will need to purge them unless you can leech off other nearby enemies until they expire.

The summoner exile (in higher level maps):
Ah, the bane of melee builds. If you can't burst her down fast, her zombies will kill you with their insane instability damage when you kill them with splash damage. If she gets her army up, you should probably just bypass her. You can also try to wear down her zombie army with ranged skills (but only in open maps where there's room to run). The skeleton's don't hurt much when they explode. If she uses Vaal Summon Skeletons, try to get away until they time out.

With these in mind, it's good to avoid certain map mods for this build:

Extra damage as cold damage -> This is not encouraged but is doable. I would avoid it on high phys damage boss maps, and when combined with mods like many totems, as this will be deadly with the always crit totem.

Extra boss damage/extra boss/extra damage on high phys damage boss maps

-> CI cannot do bloodmagic maps, btw ;)
-> Use general sense on usually avoided map mods.

This build has little to no issues with reflect IF you have a bloodseeker and thus instant leech.
You also eat mods like desecration and poison on hit for breakfast.
Smothering and no regen maps are fine cause of instant life leech and good mana leech.
Fracturing maps take a little longer but are still pretty easy due to DPS and splash.
-max res maps are acutally usually doable for this char. Just watch out for cold sources (and LMP voidbearers, who doesn't hate them? -answer: AA builds), and be prepared to disengage and let your ES recharge if things get hairy.

Build Costs

Important Items:
Bloodseeker ~ 3 ex
Well rolled Abyssus ~ 1 ex

Optional Uniques
Eye of Chayula ~ 10 c
Dream Fragments ~ 2 ex

Spendy stuff:
High ES 5L/6L chest ~ 16/40 ex
This is probably the single most expensive item you're going to get, and the cost prohibitor if buying all the gear.
You might be able to get by with a worse chest (Incandescent Heart, for example), but it may cost you abyssus use and thus cause a large dps loss versus the potential.

250/300 PDPS claw ~ 2/10 ex
It's amazing how much prices rise going from a pretty good claw to a great claw (even more for better ones). It shouldn't be too hard to get a good claw for about the same cost as bloodseeker.

Rainbowstrides ~ 1 ex
Again, this item is BiS for this char, and you won't find a comprable rare boot for the price.

Rings/Belt ~20 c to 3 ex
Gear for this build is pretty cheap, as a lot of jewelry w/o life is pretty cheap. I might pay an ex or two for very good items. Gaps will be fillable w/ master crafting.

Total Cost:
Low end w/ 5L: 24 ex
High end w/ 6L: 56 ex
w/ mirror worthy gear: 350 ex
I would estimate the value of my current gear at around 50 ex using current prices. Note that for the 'mirror worthy' build most of the cost comes from the mirrored claw at about 200 ex and a very good chest at 80 ex.

You may also be able to find most or all of the gear you'll need for the build. Of the items this character uses, I've bought the bloodseeker, the topaz ring, abyssus, and the chest.
All other gear was found or crafted by me . I have spent about 7 ex net on other claws (some of old ones re-sold). Current claw was crafted through alc crafting process, and modified with master's crafting.

Gear available for someone who wants to play build

Conclusions

Pros:

High Damage and great general survivability.
Very mobile, good clearspeed, and good versatility.
Easy to farm dominus and most maps.
Fun to play, and not boring.
Shattering mobs stops necromancers (hatred + crits).
Quick flask refills due to Surgeon's + high attack speed + crits.

Cons:

Weakness to extreme burst physical damage.
Dies to bad internet connection.
Only effective when awake (If you fall asleep or afk, that random wandering mob will kill you)
Leaves little to no corpses for summoners (due to hatred + crits).
Too much damage for low damage cullers to be able to cull in a small party environment.
Gearing is a little spendy for new players and difficult for a first char in league.

I would recommend this build to players with some experience who are looking for something new.
I don't think I've ever seen another character on server using my build to its fullest.
I've seen other CI claw shadows, usually w/ shields and never w/ abyssus, and other dual claws, but they are almost always life based. This build will be very unique.
This was my 2nd character ever, but he grew gradually and I reworked him until he became what he is now. He is my most returned to character because he keeps growing and is very fun. Another reason for that is the required gear to be strong takes time to get (w/o trading) and the character leans towards ineffectiveness without it.
The build could be capable of doing Atziri with the right gear and setup.
I don't think mine could do it in his current state. He needs more ES, and maybe crit chance, and it should be doable.

Videos - Guide now here!

Guide: Items, skills, stats, tree (one of the following links):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ptuHVnfaaU&list=UUu-vHa_zEgwC-3oqW9OyE9A
http://www.twitch.tv/savagewolves/c/5315223

Extras!

The Orb of Alchemy Crafting Process

This is a method by which to craft items without using tons of alteration orbs and regals to try to get a good piece of gear. Although it's not as selective as the trans + alt(s) + regal + master mod method, it can produce potentially better gear (through luck, and that all items are rares), and may be less expensive. It also proceeds slower than the other method, making all your orbs not dissappear at once. It's a great way to gradually clean out your alchemy orbs, if you've built up a lot of them.

The process:
1) Gather white versions (generally high ilvl) of the item you want to craft. You should also keep any ID'd rare versions of it you find, even if they're bad.
2) Once you have 4-6 of the white items, alc all of them. If you get something good, proceed to step 4. Otherwise, continue, saving all the failed crafts.
3) Once you have 5 or more poor rares, take them (5 at a time) to the vendor. Sell them all at once, and he'll give you another unid'd rare. This is what provides process efficiency. If you get something good, go to step 4. Otherwise, repeat steps 1-3 till you do.
4) Craft the item's other traits to perfection. This may involve socket crafting, a master's mod, and/or 20 quality.

I would recommend this method to craft weapons (esp one handed), shields, helmets, gloves, boots, and jewelry. I would not recommend it to craft chests or 2h weapons that are already linked up. You can craft 2H weapons and chests with this method, but you'll go through the tenuous socket crafting process if you want a 5 or 6L.

My other builds

Ele Aura Archer Shadow
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1077400

More in process!

Pics will be coming eventually!

"

Rae_ wrote:

using it and i like it:)