Self Cast Blade Vortex - Abyssal Cry Build
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Hello Folks
This is my Self Cast Blade Vortex/ Abyssal Cry build that I'm currently running in Talisman SC. I would suggest this build for SC only for reasons I will discuss later. Please feel free to leave any Comments or Suggestions. Build Overview and TLDR
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TLDR
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This is a cheap blade vortex build that is solid for farming Low Tier content very quickly. It can do moderately difficult T7/T8 maps reasonably quickly. Probably has enough damage to clear T9/T10 but struggles with defences at this Level.
Build Overview
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This is a Life based, Self cast, Crit build that uses Blade vortex as a primary damage dealer. We supplement Blade Vortex with Abyssal Cry which gives damage in a larger area and works very well at clearing trash.
A quick note on Blade Vortex Blade Vortex summons a Blade which circles the player. Blade Vortex is Tagged "Spell", "Duration", "AoE" and deals Physical Spell damage. Blade vortex also has 6% base crit making crit builds very viable. In many ways Blade Vortex can be viewed as mix between Summon Raging Spirits and Ethereal Knives. Like SRS, the damage of Blade Vortex will depend on the amount of blades out at any given times. But like EK it is a physical spell so the damage of the individual blades can be scaled using Hatred and Herald of Ash. In Theory the best way to deal damage with Blade Vortex would be to have the maximum number of blades out as possible. However I find its better to find a balance between spending time pre-casting and dealing damage. I find that 10-20 blades (which takes about 3 seconds) is sufficient to kill most packs reasonably quickly and is easy to sustain throughout the map. This means you spend less time casting and more time progressing through the map. Obviously if you can get 30,40 or even 50 blades out in 3 seconds then do. Why Abyssal Cry? When I first made out the tree for a self cast Blade Vortex I noticed that I had a very high amount of incidental chaos damage. It seemed like a bit of waste to have all of this chaos damage in the tree and not use it. Abyssal Cry benefits from the AoE and Chaos nodes that we pick up anyway. Abyssal Cry and Blade Vortex both require the player to stand right in the face of the enemy so they synergise quiet well Abyssal Cry damage in Current Setup Increased Damage -116% From Chaos Damage/Area Damage from tree -30% From Jewels ( can be much Higher) -146% Total Increased Damage More Damage -39% From Void Manipulation -12% From Frenzy Charges -51% Increased More Damage Total Damage = More Damage (Base Damage X Increased Damage ) More = 52% (1.52) Increased = 146% (2.46) Base Damage of Abyssal Cry explosion= 8% *Assuming 1000 Monster life 8% of 1000 = 80 damage Total damage = 1.52(80 X 2.46) Total damage = 1.52( 196.8) Total damage = 299.136 Total Damage Dealt = 29.9% of Monster life Passive Tree
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This Tree is for lvl 90 running on a 5L and casting on Mana
In terms of Progression I suggest rushing to the Scion Life wheel as it give you access to all of the avenues you will take later on and also gives a good balance of life and damage along the way.
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwYAsNii2cgU9W9qjBa_df3mgSaVhG_LvWHi1EJVS7VIjDaJ03BSKgtd8g5IEZbjhH_GBx4byA3RkyeVLs_dNj1jQ76KbAvviPDV8YqdqlWFoS_K0yL0-TeP-klRbIy0DG0Z189cQOv1YqxGcZf0CPRJsVS9ZJ2DCVJTwFQV7fIdb56XlT1fvOpqQ5aLykrxs0yz1blRTEtXIG6us9AfBAesR8DjUDBBlu_r6-SD231b214FQtD1XypVxipNLJw6WD8nR-JfmErIIuJZbW6qpDnPMrXyNZL-j9i9TeP-CqZX8kU64aXL
A 6 Link give us many options. I plan to use blood magic as the 6th link so I can run more auras. You can choose to reallocate the 4 points spent on Mana nodes if you do go Blood magic Auras, Heralds and Curses
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This Build has a lot of options available when it comes to Auras, Heralds and Curses. The ones I would suggest choosing from are. -Hatred (50% Reservation) -Herald of Ash (25% Reservation) -Herald of Thunder (25% Reservation, for Curse on hit) -Assassin's Mark (35% Reservation on Blasphemy, Mana Gained on kill and PC generation) -Warlord's Mark (35% Reservation on Blasphemy, Life on Kill, Stun and EC generation) -Purity Auras (If you need them, Good option for Eleweak Maps) Personally I feel that Hatred, Herald of Ash and Assassin's Mark (Blasphemy) are the ones you should be considering for damage. This build has no mana reservation nodes so we can only run two at a time so I'm running Herald of Ash + Assassin's mark (Blasphemy) because it gives me a larger mana pool to work with (Assassin's mark also helps sustain mana) However if you feel like you need more survivability or more resistances you can swap Curses and Auras for a more defensive setup. Curse Discussion
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------------Curse on Hit vs Self Cast vs Blasphemy--------------
One issue I'd like to bring up is the pros and cons of the various Curse Setups with respect to blade vortex. Blasphemy Blasphemy is particularly useful when you are running content that you wish to clear very quickly (eg Dried Lake Farms or Easy maps). When clearing fast Blasphemy insures that all enemies are cursed without you having to pay any attention to it. ---Pros--- -Consistent and automated ---Cons--- -Reserves a good chunk of mana and prevents you from running an additional Aura in most cases Self Cast Self Cast Curses are and option for when you want to take it a little more slowly. Particularly good for casting defensive curses ---Pros--- -No Mana Reservation -Fits a Safer play-style -Consistent ---Cons--- -Requires you to stop to cast curses (Slows Down Clear Speed) Curse on Hit-Herald of Ice/Thunder For me the best Setup for Curse on Hit is Herald of Ice. The extra Mana allows you to run Hatred which means you freeze and shatter quite often. ---Pros--- -Less mana reservation ,allows an additional aura. (Herald of thunder - Curse on Hit) -Automated ---Cons--- Can be somewhat in low density maps Inconsistent. -----My Current Setup----- At the moment I am running Curse on hit, Herald of Ice, Assassin's Mark, Warlord's Mark. This Gives me Damage by granting Power Charges and defences from Life on Hit, Base Chance to stun per hit and Endurance Charges. This Setup Allows me to run Hatred which adds significant cold damage and causes Herald of Ice to Proc more often I could also add another Herald or Artic Armour which would reserve all of my mana. Im Currently Exploring this option Gear
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Technically this build does not require any specific unique items to function However there are some options to consider
Weapon-Dagger Find a nice crit base dagger with Crit Chance, Crit Multi and Spell Damage -A Divinarius is an solid option with good Spell damage and Spell Crit and of course increased AoE Chest A 5L or 6L Rare chest Hybrid ES/AR works best for rolling colours. In terms of stas aim for Life and resistances any armour, evasion or ES is a bonus -Carcass Jack is a great option for damage and AoE -Lightning Coil is a great defensive option but would be difficult to roll colours. Helmet, Gloves and Boots Aim for Life, Resistances and Movespeed(Boots). Primary defensive stats nice to have but not necessary, also keep an eye out for Strength on Helms as you might need it for Attribute requirements -Blood Dance are a good option for boots -For gloves a Maligaros or a Facebreaker are good options for damage Shield Life, Crit Chance, Resistances Jewellery Rings - Life, Resists and attributes Belt - Life, Resists and attributes Amulates -Life, Crit Multi, Crit Chance, Resists and attributes Gem Setup
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The gem setup for this build is actually very flexible. I have noted what I feel are the essential setups. If you want to add additional gems to the core setups then go right ahead.
Chest 5L- Blade Vortex - Faster Casting - Spell Echo - Added Fire - Increased Area of Effect 6L Increased Duration/Concentrated Effect/Blood Magic Other Pieces 4L Abyssal Cry - Void Manipulation - Increased AoE - Increased Duration/Blood Magic 3L Hatred - Assassin's Mark - Blasphemy 3L Whirling Blades - Fortify - Faster Attacks- Blood Magic 3L Vaal Haste - Increased Duration 3L Wither - Spell Totum - Faster Casting Defenses
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One of the issues with Blade vortex is that it requires you to play within Melee range without most of the defensive tools available to melee characters But we do have some defences -We get fortify from our whirling blades -Abyssal Cry and Wither Slow enemies significantly -Whirling blades gets us in and out of combat very quickly However even with 5k life this build can feel extremely squishy. This is due to two factors. Firstly I have very little primary defensive stats on my gear. Secondly I have no physical mitigation what so ever. The obvious answer to this is to use a Lightning Coil. This is an excellent option but it is also expensive and requires at least three off-colour sockets (Blue).Another Option would be to use a well rolled Crit Staff instead of a Dagger and Spirit Shield and then run a Kaom's Heart. This would result in around 80%-100% reduced Crit chance as well as reduced Spell damage and Block. But could actually result in more damage in a "Best Case scenario" if you get your hand on a +1 Gems and Cast speed along with crit rolls Play-style
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The play-style of this build is very pre-cast focused. In brief we Whirling Blades around the map while our Blade Vortex + Abyssal Cry Kills everything. The Basic rotation. Before entering combat we pre-cast 15 -20 blades. When we are ready to attack we cast our Wither Totem and Whirling Blades into the pack and then cast Abyssal Cry immediately. This will typically clear any White or Blue packs. Usually rares will survive the explosion so just melt them with more of your Blade Vorex. Rinse and Repeat. Its worth noting that every 5 or 6 packs you might need to stop for 4-5 seconds to refresh some of your blades. However I find that you can use the extra few seconds required to kill rares as on opportunity to pre cast blades for the next pack so you don't really need to stop that often. For Single target or for large packs ( Boxes, Shrines, Alters etc) I suggest pre-casting as much blades as possible and Casting Wither Totem. Cast Abyssal Cry as you engage and then Whirling blades to safety or DPS the target. Mana Sustain Most of our Mana sustain comes from the Assassin's Mark Mana gained on kill. As long as you are killing stuff you wont have a huge amount of Mana issues. You may run into mana issues on Curse immune maps and when pre-casting large amounts of blades. For this I keep One mana flask with rapid regen to help sustain prolonged casting. This can be overcome by supporting all skills on Blood Magic, if you have the links. Mapping. Solo and Groups
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---Solo---
With good gear this build will clear Medium-Hard T12-T13 maps relatively easily. But you may run unto difficulty on some bosses. ---Groups--- In Groups this build still does OK damage. The damage of Blade Vortex is a little underwhelming however Abyssal Cry scales with Base monster life so it actually hits quite hard in groups. When playing as part of a group in high Tier maps you need to make a number of considerations with regards to your setup. -If someone is Dual or Triple cursing then you generally need to remove your blasphemy. Its generally better to let the curse specialist curse, even if you loose out on charges -If someone is running SRS or Another summoner Build and requires corpses for Convocation then you might need to avoid using Abyssal Cry. -Avoid using Abyssal Cry when there is extremely high monster density such as when a party member uses Vaal Cyclone. While it does great damage it's possible that you will cause sever frame-drops and get people killed or crash the instance. Discuss this with your party Things you might need to explain to people (From Experience) -Abyssal Cry does not interfere with culling. A lot of people seam to think Abyssal Cry prevents culling. The explosion of Abyssal cry occurs AFTER the monster has died so the cull still applies. -Wither is a de-buff not a curse, again people seam to get confused on this you, won't curse over people with Wither Dealing with Map Mods Curse Immune- Can be an issue if sustaining Mana with Assassin's Mark Elemental Reflect- Can run if all auras are off. Make sure party members turn off their auras our you could run into trouble Physical Reflect- Just Skip it Blood magic- Can run but results in a severe drop in DPS. Fracture- Abyssal Cry wrecks fracture maps but is prone to crashing the instance Also Watch out for Thorns on Mobs it is basically and insta-RIP My Current Gear My current Setup End-Game
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Last edited by Tyoll#0013 on Jan 15, 2016, 7:17:55 AM
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If you're running abyssal cry for clear then why run inc AOE on main blade vortex instead of Conc effect?
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" Conc Makes blade Vortex Feel very small and to be honest after playing Blade Vortex you don't get the feeling that you are short on damage. Additionally While abyssal cry will pretty much clear the screen it can only be used once every 4 seconds. This build clears quite quickly when well geared so you would only get to use abyssal cry once every 3rd or 4th pack. If you use Conc then you have no AoE clear for 75% of the time Last edited by Tyoll#0013 on Jan 15, 2016, 5:20:48 AM
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