Velvet's elemental buzzsaw {crit} ~ Atziri deathless/map clearing 1.3 Updated!

nice post, notice how this build isn't "weapon" specific :)

Thank you. And indeed the build is not at all weapon specific. Most of the damage comes from the auras, so a weapon with NO elemental damage can be used. As a matter of fact:



this is what I was using for a long time. Back then I didn't use to run Herald of Ice so I just slapped some cold damage on it.

Big thanks goes out to Niffler for selling me this awesome piece:



Now my DPS with LMP and power charges up (100% of the time in combat) is 30k.

Niffler is a prominent member of the community, and also a youtuber. Check out his channel if you want:

https://www.youtube.com/user/NifflerGaming

Build was updated after the acquisition of "Eagle Slicer". New DPS pictures are available and in addition, I made a weapon/DPS discussion in the gear section.

15K DPS with LMP using a WHITE ambusher!

Hi, Im level 84 and my dps is around 7k.. I know little bit low for my level ..but my wep sucks ... ;/ im using alpha with prism guardina to support 4 auras and 2 heralds xD .. wrath,clarity,anger and grace for auras and Herald of Ice and Thunder..( and i think i can support herald of ash too... will try it out when i get home ) those 2 are still low level around 10-11 and i think with those if i get better wep my dps will go beyond the 30k-40k

First off, thank you for putting the time into making this guide!

I've always loved ST and it's mechanics but I've had a break from PoE and didn't get to play Mathil's buzzsaw in it's prime. I came back to the game for 1.2 and wanted to try out ST. I heard / read about the aura nerfs and decided to go for a phys dagger crit variant.

I wasn't too pleased with the outcome of that build, tried Mathil's reconstruction of his Buzzsaw, was even more disappointed with that version and I was starting to lose hope regarding ST without investing in a Low-Life build.

What you've come up with here might just be what I know many of us ST fans have been searching for!

Although it looks really sweet, the survivability seems to be on the lower end. Are there any particular problems you've encountered in that department?

/Merris

Could this build be done with a Shadow or a Witch. And if so how would the passive tree look?

"

DrRaven900 wrote:

Hi, Im level 84 and my dps is around 7k.. I know little bit low for my level ..but my wep sucks ... ;/ im using alpha with prism guardina to support 4 auras and 2 heralds xD .. wrath,clarity,anger and grace for auras and Herald of Ice and Thunder..( and i think i can support herald of ash too... will try it out when i get home ) those 2 are still low level around 10-11 and i think with those if i get better wep my dps will go beyond the 30k-40k

Well first of all saying that your weapon is 'not the best' does not say much about the spec you are running. From what you say you run 4 flat damage auras. So really the most important aspect to your dagger are Attacks per second and critical chance. The real questions that you should ask yourself are similar to what Mathil had in his original post: Are your gems lvl 20? Do you have quality on them? Are you close to lvl 90? Do you have 30+ WED on rings, amulet and belt? Do you have 10+ attack speed bonus from gloves? And on top of that for this build: are you using diamond rings? do you have enough crit modifiers? etc.

Also, you didn't mention anything about your passive tree. If you could add it and your current gear maybe we can find some tips for you :)

"

Merris wrote:

First off, thank you for putting the time into making this guide!

I've always loved ST and it's mechanics but I've had a break from PoE and didn't get to play Mathil's buzzsaw in it's prime. I came back to the game for 1.2 and wanted to try out ST. I heard / read about the aura nerfs and decided to go for a phys dagger crit variant.

I wasn't too pleased with the outcome of that build, tried Mathil's reconstruction of his Buzzsaw, was even more disappointed with that version and I was starting to lose hope regarding ST without investing in a Low-Life build.

What you've come up with here might just be what I know many of us ST fans have been searching for!

Although it looks really sweet, the survivability seems to be on the lower end. Are there any particular problems you've encountered in that department?

/Merris

Thank you very much kind sir! I too had a 'by-the-book' elemetal buzzsaw in 1.1. But my dps was capped at about 14K and although I had good defensive mechanics (Iron Reflexes + Unwavering Stance coupled with grace and determination) I felt my skill tree was a less than optimal. So I decided to take full advantage of the free respec with 1.2 and change my build!

Also, this build was not conceived over an enlightened moment in the bathroom. It took a couple of months to chisel out the build to (what I consider at this time) perfection. The whole idea was to get something a bit stronger than the ele buzzsaw in the classical sense, and still not be as 'pretentious' or expensive as the low life variants. But I have spent countless regrets trying to balance everything out.

As for the survivability, it certainly do not feed at the lower end at high levels. Now at 90, typically everything dies before they get the chance to hit. Thanks to the Sniper and Projectile Mastery nodes, I offscreen without a faster projectile gem. With my current gear I have a bit of Armor and a bit of evasion (not so much) and that helps when I am too lazy to press 2 buttons for Enduring Cry + Immortal Call. And in special cases, I switch to Safell's frame and run a purity aura or two to mitigate heavy elemental damage. So, I would say at the moment I don't have any defensive problems. But I understand why you would be concerned.

There are two things to be considered here:
1. at lower levels the build is a lot less effective. It's hard to find enough points for offence and defense unless you are 80-85+. Also the Immortal Call will work differently at lower levels and you will not be able to sustain it 100% of the time.
2. with this build you can't just YOLO into any situation. there is no CWDT or max block to save you. You need to be aware of what could come at you and how, then adapt. Use your range to full extent, make use of Immortal call, against reflect pop Atziri's promise etc.

I hope this answers your question, at least a part of it. If you have other curiosities please feel free to ask though.

"

Feyslade wrote:

Could this build be done with a Shadow or a Witch. And if so how would the passive tree look?

For witch I am not 100% sure. Since this build is life based and has nothing to do with spell damage, maybe witch is not the optimal starting point.

But Shadow is an amazing candidate (could be better than Scion). Here's a sample skill tree,using 107 skill points just like my Scion:



The Shadow start is just bliss for this build. With 5 points you get a 58% increased elemental damage boost. That's very sweet! You will have to go into Reflexes and Sentinel just to get on the other side of the tree, but it is not much lost. The way it stands now, here is the difference between the Scion and Shadow start:

Scion:
(+) more attack speed - 13% increased attack speed
(+) more mana and mana regen - 24% increased mana, 20% increased mana regen
(+) more crit - 80% increased critical rate, 10% increased critical multi

Shadow:
(+) more elemental damage - 58% increased elemental damage
(+) more evasion - 54% increased evasion and 50 flat evasion
(+) evasion and armor - 24% increased evasion and armor
(+) elemental resistances - 10% increased

This is just a first draft, but maybe the Shadow could go into heavy evasion and take Grace instead of Haste AND not rely on Immortal Call against physical damage. There are so many options. I think the tree can further be improved, depending on what you would like to do. For instance, if you decide to go with high evasion, I would even drop the 'Exceptional Performance cluster'. Also, you will lose some DPS from switching Haste to Grace, but you gain some gem slots in your gear, so you could use some curses to impove your DPS. The choice is yours :)