[2.2 HC Self-Found Guide] Self-cast Non-crit Bladefall! Beginner Friendly, Full Walk-through
 Some Updates for 3.0
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Hi Everyone!
Some people have been asking for an updated passive tree for 3.0 for this build, so I revisited her in standard and made an updated tree :) Link to the tree: https://goo.gl/LsS9Po I optimized her gear a bit since I recently 6-linked a Carcass Jack, and I have much more gear in standard, so here is her new gear: The build should still run fine on a rare 5-link chest, the damage will just be a little less. Main Changes: I was having major mana issues, so I am now running Warlord's Mark on blasphemy instead of Temporal Chains. I am also running Hatred instead of Discipline since the damage was a little low without it, and I think 9.4k Effective HP is plenty. If you want to run extra safe in HC, go for Discipline. Uber Lab Ascendancy points: I have not done Uber Lab with this character, but I would recommend getting Malediction for the +1 curse if you do. you can either go extra tanky and run Temporal Chains or enfeeble as your second curse, or I think it may be interesting to run Vulnerability Blasphemy instead of Hatred, go full Physical Damage, and run Brutality. Overall Comments: The main issue I have noticed with this character is that single target is lacking, and boss kills feel a little slow. With a decoy totem and a little extra time, bosses are still usually pretty safe, but I would recommend going with a different variation of Bladefall if your main plan is to farm endgame bosses. The main purpose of this build like before is to safely clear maps without much worry of dying, and to be easygoing to play. I wasn't able to spend too much time on this character since I am mainly playing the Temp Leagues, so she can definitely use some fine tuning. Post suggestions or cool things you guys were able to do with the build in the comments if you'd like :) As always, feel free to stop by my stream if you have any specific questions www.twitch.tv/hanarashi P.S. I'm running a very fun and cheap Cyclone Build With the Hiltless Unique Sword right now, and I plan to make a build walkthrough for this character as well, since I am having such a great time with the build. Stay tuned for updates ;) My Bladefall witch was lvl 92 in the HC Talisman league with all self found gear (sent her to standard at the end of the league so I can try experimenting with better gear), and runs tier 11 maps smoothly (I would run higher, but lack of map pool). She is a very easy-going tanky build, so I thought I'd share for people who are looking for easy self-found/low budget friendly builds. I tested this character with her originally self found gear after the ascendancy update, and still ran high tier maps great :D My Self-found Policies:
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I always play PoE Self-found. This rule for me means that I do not ever trade with other players. I play solo 90% of the time, and when I do party, I make sure to have permanent allocation on, and only pick up what drops for me. I allow myself to share gear between my characters that are made in the same league since those are still items I found on my own. This Bladefall build was my first Talisman HC character, so she is wearing gear that she found by herself without help from other characters in the league.
This is probably one of the easiest builds I have done so far with self-found gear, so here is a newer player friendly walkthrough on how to lvl this build with self found items. Lvl 1-27: 30 point skill tree: poeurl.com/zZ7 Lets help Oak in Normal cause life is always good ^^ If this is your first build of the new league (and lots of tips for new players)(long read):
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For the first 27 levels before you get Bladefall, you can level with the AoE skill of your choice. I recommend looking out for a wand/dagger/sceptre with +1 to level of fire/cold/lightning gems or crafting one at vendor (give vendor a ruby/topaz/sapphire ring, a magic sceptre/wand and an alteration orb to craft +1 weapon). The first wand I picked up that was +1 was to lightning, so I just leveled with lightning tendrils. Not the most efficient leveling skill, but I like to try a different skill out early leveling every time to make it more interesting :) For most efficient leveling, find/craft a +1 fire sceptre and use fire trap mainly with other spells of your choice to supplement (lightning tendrils, magma orb). You want to dual wield wands/sceptres(preferred)/daggers for the most part, and have a weapon with as high spell damage, cast speed, and added damage to spells as you can find. I used a spirit shield (I found a decent rare one), which works as well, but dual wield for max efficiency. For the rest of your gear, just look out for life and resist rolls and intelligence base chests. Also movement speed roll on boots is a big plus. If you find dexterity, strength or hybrid attribute base chests with better life and resists roll, these will work as well, as long as you have enough attributes to wear the item. A Jade amulet is recommended if you are leveling with fire trap for the dexterity requirement. Start with putting on coral rings that you find along the way, but don't forget to put on sapphire rings before the act 1 boss Merveil boss fight if your cold resistance is low (you can buy sapphire rings from Nessa in town). I also recommending switching your rings to Topaz when you do Chamber of Sins quest, switching your rings to ruby for Western Forest area, and switching back to topaz for the Vaal Oversoul boss fight, if you have low resistances. Also, don't forget to keep upgrading your flasks, and my preferred leveling flask setup is life-life-mana-quicksilver-quicksilver, if you can find an extra quicksilver. By the time you get to act 3, you want to try to prioritize getting your resists 50+ for each element over having life on your gear. If you feel underleveled or undergeared upon entering act 4, I like to farm the City of Sarn area because it is very safe, and easy to reset the area. Here are some examples of some gear I found sitting in my stash that you would probably want to wear levling this build selffound (Some linked gear are actually from lvling my bladefall witch that I happened to save, ex:the wand and shield. Yes I'm a hoarder :p ): For gem links, it depends a bit on what you are using for spells, and you may not really find better than a 2 or 3-link, but here is what I would recommend: For fire trap: 2-link: Fire Trap-added lightning/Controlled destruction (act 2) 3-link: Fire Trap-added lightning-added cold/controlled destruction (act 2)- trap and mine damage (act 2) 4-link: Fire Trap-Added lightning-Controlled Destruction-Trap and Mine Damage For secondary spell: Same as fire trap links except without using trap and mine damage. For auras/heralds, run Herald of Ice, Herald of Thunder, and Clarity. And run a flamedash for movement. If this is not your first character of the league and you have already farmed up some gear mapping/leveling on your previous characters (fast read for players familiar with the game):
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The fun part about self found play, is that every league you find a completely different set of leveling uniques to play around with on your next characters. So the gear available to each self found player is going to be different depending on your RNG that league. For these early levels I recommend just having fun with the different leveling uniques you have found, even though you may have rares that are slightly better. This will make the leveling experience more interesing :) And levels this early with semi twinked gear you will have some flexibility to experiment anyways. Here are the uniques I have found this league so far that I would use if I were to level this same exact build again now (don't mind the socketed gems). I'm assuming if you are reading this section you know the basics for leveling, but for more specific tips on leveling and gear read the above section
Of course there are better uniques out there that you can use that I haven't found this league (ex. Tabula), but these are the most common ones, that I was able to link because I was lucky enough to find them. Level 28-60: 82 point passive tree: poeurl.com/z0a Ascendancy, take Wicked Ward, then Vile Bastion. These nodes make us super tanky endgame, and the +100 Energy shield can make up for the lack of shield we can get on self found gear. Vile Bastion is nice because the shield regen killing monsters will be good up until we get Ghost Reaver, and a nice extra bit of tankiness for endgame! Starting with links this time! 3-link setup: Bladefall-Controlled destruction-faster casting/Spell echo(act 4) 4-link setup: Bladefall-Controlled destruction-added fire-faster casting/spell echo (act 4) Bladefall runs fine on a 4-link, and you don't really need life leech until you get ghost reaver, but here are some things you can play around with if you found a 5/6-link to put on early Poison (+Void Manipulation) Conc+(inc AoE) Auras: Hatred-Herald of ash(arctic armor if you feel like you need the defense)-(clarity if you need the regen) Kill all the bandits in cruel! (Oak Phys damage can be considered, but I thought it was better to just save the point towards getting a jewel socket jewel with damage and life.) If this is your first build of the new league (and lots of tips for new players):
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So level 28 and we can use bladefall yay! If you haven't gotten bladefall yet, go kill Gravicius and get the gem from Maramoa. Use the gem setup described above, and you should notice a huge increase in your damage. This leveling phase here in general is your damage heavy phase, so enjoy, but be careful :D Keep upgrading your leveling gear with better gear that you find, and if you feel like you are lacking defense, don't be afraid to stop and level/farm! It's better to be slow and alive than dead XD Like before, prioritize getting your resists near cap and high life rolls on gear. At this point there is no need to worry much about the energy shield of the base. Dexterity may start becoming an issue in this build, so if you are having trouble leveling up your bladefall, I recommend crafting dexterity on your gear at the master crafting benches in your hideout. Resists are a great thing to craft on gear as well for leveling. Be extra careful going through act 4 cruel, it is one of the rippyest areas while leveling up. I would recommend using a shield instead of dual wielding now for the extra bit of defense. Also, try to get health pots either bubbling or seething, run a granite instead of a second quicksilver, make one staunching flask, and use a topaz for bosses like Shavronnes and Dominus. Potions don't seem that important, but they are lifesaving! Don't be ashamed to overlevel a bit farming dried lake, and keep a healthy stack of portal scrolls going into the fight. If your potions are low just portal back to be safe, or log out if you feel like your character is in danger. Once you get into merciless, things will start to feel easier again, but don't forget to keep those resists up! Merveil may be an easier boss fight that Malachai, but she can still be lethal if you get cause in her ice rain with low cold resist. I would recommend leveling/farming at Ledge for a little bit if you are having trouble getting gear to keep your resists up. I don't have the exact gear that I was wearing while leveling this character, but here is some sample gear I have found during this league that has stats that you would want to shoot for. Main points are life, resists, Dexterity, Spell damage/cast speed/added damage to spells on preferably wands, and rustic sash is nice on your belt because it is a bit damage boost. If this is not your first character of the league and you have already farmed up some gear mapping/leveling on your previous characters (fast read for players familiar with the game):
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There really aren't any particular uniques that this build would like to use while leveling, so mostly just use your self found equivalent of my self found gear that I linked as guides in the "newer player" section above. The only unique I used while leveling was Heartbreaker, which I used because I hadn't found any better wands (and the art looks awesome). Also a 5-link is definitely not necessary but can be useful if you have one. I would start running a shield instead of dual wield after switching to bladefall since your damage should be plenty. Some harder to get very early in the league gear: Level 61-92: Current Passive skill tree poeurl.com/zZs Kill all the bandits in Merciless too! Ascendancy Occulist, take Profane Bloom. The explosion effects are fun to see, and free extra damage :D If this is your first build of the new league (and lots of tips for new players)(long read):
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lvl 61! Last spurt until maps. around this level is where I recommend shifting towards the endgame setup mentioned in the bottom section. Drop the damage a little bit because things start hitting hard.Save the damage nodes specced in the tree for late game 75+ and concentrate on survivability. I would say start using the Ghost Reaver life leech setup at around when you accumulate 2.5k or so Energy Shield. The Jewel Sockets can be taken either early or late depending on whether you were able to craft/find a jewel with life/ES or not. As you start getting all of your gear linked for endgame, move towards the endgame gem setup described below. If you haven't found a 5-link yet, I would recommend dropping Concecrated effect. Look for a chest that looks something like this and just 4-link it until you can find a 5-link. You can also consider trying to link a chest piece that is exceptionally good if you have the fusings for it. Also if you have the 5-link, poison is a fun gem to play around with on this build and I highly recommend it. The gear I suggested for before level 60 should carry you to maps, where you can start finding gear to fit into your lategame outfit. Unlike before, we are looking at resists, life, and Energy shield. Try trying on gear and comparing your effective life every time you find something that is potentially an upgrade. If you haven't already, craft instant health pots. Here is my ideal endgame flask setup(not enough alts yet ;_; ) bubbling divine life of staunching, a second instant life pot(another staunching could be nice) Saturated Eternal Mana of Warding, Granite flask of iron skin, Ample quicksilver of heat. I farmed Dried Lake merciless until level 75, and then went into maps. Keeping map pool up Selffound is going to be a challenge, but just be patient and you'll eventually get to higher tier maps. Good map layouts and pretty easy boss fights: Tier 1-Tropical Island, Dunes Tier 2-Mountain ledge,Wharf Tier 3- Reef, Tier 4- Shore, Tier 5- Underground Sea, Pier Tier 6-Strand, Dry Woods, Tier 7-Waste Pool (Not a great map but can't think of better right now.) Tier 8-Dry Peninsula, Tier 9-Gorge, Tier 10 Plateau, Tier 11- Springs... There are other good maps too, just those were the good ones that I seemed to get drop the most XD You will have to run bad maps often too,to keep up the map pool just always look up the boss before you challenge him. My current gear: Links can be seen if you hover over the items, but they are: Bladefall-spell echo-life leech- controlled destruction, and concentrated effect (you can use poison or added fire instead of conc, if you feel like you need more AoE, 20 quality bladefall helps) Cast when Damage Taken-Immortal Call-Tempest Shield (adds another little layer of defense) Cast when Stunned-Arctic Breath-Greater Multiple Projectiles (not really necessary but syncs well with Temporal Chains) Blasphemy-Temporal Chains (I love the effect this gives of everything being super slow in bubble around you, has saved my life multiple times, never have to worry about devourers anymore:D ) Spell totem-Wither (nice decoy for bosses and strongboxes, also useful if you decide to run poison) Vaal Discipline-Empower-increased duration (Nice to have the extra ES for boss fights and other sketchy situations) Arctic Armor(I recommend Herald of Ash instead for SC), Discipline, Flame Dash, Summon Chaos Golem, Enduring Cry I have 11K+ effective life, and around 20k damage (sounds low but enough to clear tier 11s at a decent rate) Also you will probably have mana issues so the mana flask is a must. If you managed to find some good gear that also has mana/mana regen, and you don't feel you need the mana nodes, I recommend spending the extra points to get a jewel socket (or Energy Shield in witch area, if you don't have an extra decent dmg/life/ES jewel). Videos
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"Why are you so tanky?" I was traumatized when I got hit down to 24 HP XD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shk98z6LoXo Here is a build demo video I made when she was level 85 (quite a few changes since then)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QygBg7GRTBQ Here are some adventures she had at the end of the league to try to test her limits and get a ticket to standard league XD Death and Taxes Unique Map last boss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoDMyp0FbwI Unidentified Orchard map boss (boss damage?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPm_P9sXGLY RIP to Excavation map boss with crazy map mods XD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiXEtOb6HGk Watch live here www.twitch.tv/hanarashi or comment below, to ask questions about the build :D Thanks for reading guys! Sorry for all the typos and mix-ups, site crashed on me once and power went out once while writing this, jumbling up my saves XD Also credits to Blasting_cap for the banner picture, and Wizardstrangler for the epic hideout in the picture :D www.twitch.tv/hanarashi Last edited by hannarashi#7655 on Sep 11, 2017, 11:17:28 PM Last bumped on Sep 11, 2017, 11:15:04 PM
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First :P
Nice build and guide Last edited by Dradar#6018 on Jan 23, 2016, 10:30:31 PM
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nice self-found witch build!
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Nice in-depth bladefall guide. Great resource for newer players.
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Thank you for this guide ! I was looking for something simple to get around my first character on HC and I've found a great playstyle with this.
Download my Hideout HERE: https://poedb.tw/us/HideoutShare?id=a1f8d343fdc433903080cff8eb08b0d4
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nice guide, will play this in the 24h race on friday
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Thanks everyone who read the thread :D I hit level 92, and found a few item upgrades a few days ago, so I have updated the post for the current version of this character.
Main changes: -I specced out of Energy Shield on Shield node, and specced into Soul Siphon (mana node near Shadow). The mana issues were really starting to slow me down after my Bladefall gem hit level 19, and I felt I had enough energy shield for now. -I found an amazing Energy Shield shield (for self found anyways), bumping my ehp up to 11.6k. I also changed around my gear slightly (boots, coral ring, amulet) to adjust to the shield change. Warning! Chaos damage is much scarier now, since we lost 500 life to gain 1000+ shield. I would recommend trying to get some chaos resistance on gear (yes this is tougher than it sounds for selffound). If you haven't rolled any chaos res on good gear (like me XD ), just be extra careful around things that deal chaos damage, and keep one eye on your health pool at all times, and you should be ok for the most part (be extra careful on, or just roll over tier 10+ crit/damage map mods) www.twitch.tv/hanarashi
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was looking for a build without uniques , thanks .
foolish mortal, only skilled players blessed by RNGesus himself can ever farm one, not you!
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Gonna give this a try. Never played a caster character before, and this looks like a good one to start with. And I always like builds that aren't full of expensive unique's to be viable.
IGN: Bahnzo <--- that should find me.
PoE Item Info Script: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1463814 |
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ghost reaver and life leech are really necessary ?
foolish mortal, only skilled players blessed by RNGesus himself can ever farm one, not you!
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