[2.2]The Circle of Gore - Assassin Crit Blade Vortex staff!

I previously made a build that was entirely focused on taking damage. This time around, I figured I'd experiment with something that dishes it out instead. With the Assassin ascendancy tree, crit's easy to obtain and maintain without the need for that pesky Assassin's mark. So without further ado, let's get to it

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Merc Malachai killed in 50 seconds - Second phase took ca. 13 seconds
Done T15, twinned Colosseum
Done Atziri, deathless
Oba's cursed trove done with more than a quarter of the time to spare
Poorjoy's Asylum done, Deathless
Olmec's sanctum completed, deathless
The Vinktar square done, deathless
- Video up!
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First of all. Is this build HC viable? I'm forced to say 'no' here. It IS hardcore viable once you get your gear online, as the chance of death drastically reduces, but I had 11 deaths while leveling. Most were my own faulth, though this is a risk-for-reward type of leveling phase. I cannot guarantee you'll ever make it to 68 without dying once, but I can't say it's impossible either, if you play smarter than I did. It might be hardcore viable, but I don't have neither the currency nor patience to find out. And if it is hardcore viable to level, then it will be tedious and require a lot of attention.

That being said, the build is still plenty of fun once it gets online!

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Gear:

Weapon:
Spoiler

A pledge of Hands is BiS and practically mandatory. Without it, mana will hurt, and so will your DPS. The 7L is extremely valuable, and the core of the build


Chest
Spoiler

Like any other squishy build, the Lightning Coil drastically increases our survivability. While it only offers maybe 3-4% mitigation from the armour, and the evasion is about 1.5K with the scaling from the tree, the 30% of physical damage converted to lightning is invaluable, above both life, resistance and high evasion. When this build goes to standard, chances are I will convert to a 40% legacy one



Helmet
Spoiler

From here on out, excluding boots, there's only rares. That's right. There's no Maligaros, Rat's nest or other exalt-based items. All of these rares are really affordable. This helmet cost me 5C. The reason is low resistance, but I already capped that out on my other pieces, so I could invest heavily into evasion to get a high evasion helmet, and crafted the extra evasion on, rather than a third resistance


Gloves
Spoiler

These were a tad pricey, though nothing out of the range of what you could afford if you aimed for it. The enchantment isn't particularly rare, but I consider it BiS because it slows enemies, as we are not running AA, Temp chains or Enfeeble. It's another layer of defense. You only want resistance, life and evasion on these. The dexterity is a nice bonus, but far from mandatory


Boots
Spoiler

This is not the BiS enchantment. The best one would be #-# added lightning damage if you haven't killed recently, as this boss kills mobs insanely quickly without even trying. As a result, DPS on bosses is far more relevant for our interest. And of course, the free potential for some shock.

As for the reason I chose these boots, it's because I had no need for resistance. As far as 600+ Evasion boots go, there's barely any around, and none with high life and movement speed. The spell dodge is always nice, as it could occasionally be the difference between life and death. These are, however, not mandatory, and you could always get a pair of Evasion boots with life, resistance and movement speed


Jewellery
Spoiler


These rings were chosen solely for their decent life and high resistance. Since we are using Coil and potentially Atziri's steps, it's crucial to get a ton of resistance on the last few pieces of gear. This is however not as insanely expensive as you might think at first glance. The prices are actually quite modest, at around 5-10C for a decent one. If you want a stronger options, Diamond rings are your best bet because of the crit chance implicit


With resistance mostly covered elsewhere, I decided to get a cheap amulet. Without resistance, I can get the perfect amulet for as low as 2 chaos(Even as this amulet holds a much greater value. Probably 15-20C). You can only get a critical strike multiplier on your amulet. If you are wondering just how much this amulet does for you, it adds over 10%(2.7K DPS) to my hideout DPS(Meaning no charges or pots). Trust me when I say getting critical strike multiplier on the amulet means a LOT


And finally, belt:
Spoiler

The BiS is a clean Rustic sash. There is no reason to corrupt your belts for a 'gg' enchantment. This is the best you can get. An Atziri belt might be better, but you lose a lot of life(The little strength isn't enough). On top of that, the resistances on the Doryani's invitation are capped at 35%, leaving it limiting in case you need 40%. A good Rustic sash is simply the best option for this build. This belt in particular cost me no more than 10C





Spoiler

- 60C
- 50C
- 2C(And about 10C in linking this bastard)
- 5C
- 5C
- 4C
- 6C
- 2C
- 7C



As you can see, not a single item cost me a full exalt(Though the 5L6S Pledge might go for an exalt if you're unlucky)

Desirable jewel stats in no particular order
% maximum life
Area damage
Spell critical strike multiplier
Global critical strike multiplier
Cast speed/Cast speed while wielding a staff
Spell damage/Spell damage while wielding a staff
% increased physical damage

(My character page for potential upgrades/changes - https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/RainbroDasher/characters

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Videos(More to come)
Spoiler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH0D6erpLR8&feature=youtu.be - Dried lake with Voll at the end(Could have bursted him faster, but didn't bother waiting, 6L Pledge)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5OAML554ao&feature=youtu.be - Atziri done with relative ease(6L)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfPF1iMAwnY&feature=youtu.be - The vinktar square
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85GDnaGEw54&feature=youtu.be - Random T13 Voll kill



Links
7L(Pledge) - Blade vortex - Conc effect/Inc. AoE - Faster casting - Inc. Duration - Added fire damage - Spell echo(This is built in the staff) - Controller destruction
4L - Cast when damage taken - Immortal call - Increased duration - Fire golem/Ice golem/Molten shell/Ice wall
4L - Vaal haste - Vaal clarity - Blood rage - Increased duration
4L - Blasphemy - Warlord's mark - Hatred - (Enlighten) - (Enlighten will free up some mana, which is always useful, if not all that amazing)
4L - Flame dash - Faster casting - (Reduced duration) - (Portal)


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Pros:
Surprisingly tanky with the Coil, decent HP and life leech
Mana sustain becomes more or less irrelevant once you get fully set up
High DPS
Not too expensive(About 2Ex, could potentially be less)
No need for crit items to get 50%+ crit
Can constantly improve on it to make it better
Looks like a christmas tree because of 11 charges surrounding you most of the time
End charges from Warlord's mark makes IC last for more than a second

Cons:
Leveling is difficult - You have no defensive barriers outside of evasion/dodge
Mana pots during leveling
Melee range
Not an AFK build. You need to keep your character alive with positioning and potions.
Curse-immune enemies(Such as totems) forces you to use mana potions
Staff means no whirling blades or fortify

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Next are the pictures of offense and defense - Keep in mind that this isn't the actual DPS, but rather just a number. Calculated DPS is somewhere along 250'000 at max and about 60-70'000 while clearing

Blade vortex is level 18 while the rest of the DPS gems are 16-17, so this number is prone to change as I level up further.

Offense(3 frenzy charges, 4 power charges, Atziri's promise, Conc effect, Vaal haste - This is your boss kill DPS)
http://imgur.com/EjVHFap

Offense(3 frenzy charges, 4 power charges, Inc. AoE - This is your average clear tool DPS)
http://imgur.com/boHxsce

Defense(3 End Charges, Coil will not show here)
http://imgur.com/475xu52

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Skill tree

Offline skill tree planner:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwYAsNii2cgU9W9qjBa_JpUPq3X9YeIki4RvVUvDOtRCjDabtbVIidNfsITF62NwUspKES82PSoLUUydql3yrEdsjA5IfVtirBGWKk20xQcef8Y_J0fiwuyVLpMnX5hKyCLiBbXw1WwLWW1uqqQ5jb9JUY_6IvTPMrXyUUfUI-v1XEBtGTWS51QwfGSdVL29gpf0CPT-j9i9JP2NffIdFe1XK1JTwFRN4_4K_94j9paL_rOXlT1fvOpqQ6ZX8kVNktW5TLM64QQHIG6us9Afg9tQMEGW7-tVxtteBULQ9TpYLJwqODfU7T--iqEv

Online skill tree
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAAQHBUIFtQceCPQOSA-rEJIRLxGWFe0WvyBuIuIi9CP2JIsk_SaVKgsqOCpNLJwwfDIyNZI2PTfUOlg64T1fPydBlkfiSVFKyEyOTLNNkk3jUDBRR1FMUlNUvVVLVcZcQF3yX7Bh4mKsZJ1qQ2qMbAtsjG0ZbqpwUnX9fVt_xoPbhG-EooTFidOMNo19jb-P-pMnlS6Wi5eVl_SbtZ2qoS-i2aQ5plesR66zsNi0xbVItfK8b7zqvorAVMLswzrIFMpK0B_Q9dQj1ELVudi92YbbXudU62Pr9e0_7-vw1fId8kX1b_4K_o__3g==

For pathing, I'd advise first heading down towards Acrobatics, then back up to the upper half and focus on finishing parts of it off, then path your way back down to the Scion Life rectangle. I've avoided all but one Jewel nodes personally, though that's a person-to-person opinion, I'm sure


Ascendancy pathing - Assassin: - Unstable infusion - Deadly infusion - Toxic Delivery

Bandits - Oak(40+ life) - Kill all(Passive point) - Alira(+1 maximum power charge)
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Gear-wise for leveling:




Lifesprig



Goldrim

Tabula Rasa


These are all great items for leveling, though Tabula might give you mana issues

For links, what I personally went with was, in order(I only had a 4L until 68)
Blade vortex - Conc effect - Faster casting/Spell echo(Spell echo prefferable, Faster casting comes first) - Increased duration

You might ask 'Why Conc effect. It makes your circle tiny'. The reason for this, is because your DPS early is lackluster as a result of lack of cast speed, so you may have up to 20 blades if you really aim for it, though normally you'll have 5-6, so in order to effectively clear with DPS while leveling, I went for Conc effect, as it has the highest damage multiplier to offer. This did put me in some nasty situations, but that would have happened regardless, unless I could hit half the screen with my BV.

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Killed Ambrius, Legion slayer(T15) - If he didn't have multiple phases, chances are I would have bursted him down in a matter of seconds, but Vaal clarity + Vaal haste only lasted through the first phase, at which I ate through 30% of his HP in a second
Last edited by RainbroDasher#4496 on May 14, 2016, 4:56:10 PM
Last bumped on Jun 20, 2016, 2:13:10 AM
Edits made:

Changed out my belt
- This cost me 10C

Changes to the skill tree - Took a different route for minimal cost, while obtaining Vaal pact evasion(Increase from 5K to 6.8K)

DPS now maxes out at 51K(This will change eventually as I get the desired 1-120 lightning damage if you haven't killed recently)

Obtained a 6L, and a second jewel socket

DPS now maxes out at 75K

Last jewel socket acquired, DPS now maxes out at 102K tooltip DPS(+50% with Shock from Vinktar's)
Last edited by RainbroDasher#4496 on Apr 4, 2016, 12:04:07 AM
Are you sure that Noxious strike and Toxic Delivery work with Blade Vortex? It says that it can blled on 'attack' and Blade Vprtex is spell damage. I have allocated to points in it already but cant see if I am causing bleeds because I kill everything to quickly (what a problem to have!).

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