Empty's "Mal"Assassin (Life Based / DW Cospri's Malice)
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Greetings and salutations exiles!
I've been having a lot of fun this league with the new unique, Cospri's Malice, and wanted to share the build, see if there was any interest. @LostArts - Thank you for the awesome unique(s) @Aim_Deep - Thank you for the tree recommendations Goal: Create a fun and exciting first build for Essence league which would be scalable, versatile, and strong. So far, mission accomplished. Pros and Cons: Pros - Fast and high damage - Lots of pleasing shattering sounds - Whirling blades zipping around - Freeze all the things! Cons - Hexproof (Flask management might make up for this but it's painful) - Elemental Reflect (Purity of Ice and Sapphire flask can probably run) - Traps (Life plus Vaal Pact make lab and trials a pain) - Bearers (Vortex will cover the ground, makes it hard to see) Accomplishments:
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- Minotaur
- Deathless Atziri - Abaxoth in Zana Gorge map - Uber Izaro - Twinned - Overgrown Ruin (Deathless) / Abyss (Not Deathless) - Pale Council Screenshots:
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Defenses:
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 Vortex (Lvl 19) - With Charges / Conc Effect (36k DPS):
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 Vortex (Lvl 19) - With Charges / Inc AOE (23k DPS):
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 Freezing Pulse (Lvl 19) - With Charges (60k DPS):
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 Cyclone - With Charges (94% Chance to Hit and 93% Chance to Crit):
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 Choices:
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Why Assassin?
- Due to Cospri's Malice Cast on Melee Crit mechanic, easing the burden of capping critical strike chance opens up a lot of opportunity for additional damage and life. Gearing choices also open up considerably. Why Life-based? - As a first character in Essence league, good ES gear at the start of the league was not expected to be super attainable or budget friendly. As such, life it is. Additionally, the flexibility of Life Flasks offer many advantages, admittedly with a significantly smaller life pool. Why Dual Wield? - The spells cast due to Cospri's Malice are our primary source of damage. With the combination of Vaal Pact and Warlord's Mark, this turns into a great deal of "defensiveness" as well. But having the opportunity to have a AOE setup in one hand, and a Single Target setup in the other, brings a very nice boost to clear-speed and feel. - I'll note now, that you certainly can get started with just 1, though DPS feels like it starts to drop off as you progress through yellow maps. Why cyclone? - Movement while attacking is great, consistency of attack is good, felt right Why Herald of Thunder? - This is totally a subjective choice for a few nice additions. Chance to shock is cool, but having a barrel/pot destroyer is wonderful. This can be easily replaced with a number of other options (Clarity / Purity of Ice / etc) Why not Discharge? - Discharge is a great option once you have a linked Voll's Protector. Might eventually swap over to this, but Power Charge on Crit doesn't feel sufficient, and CWDT - Blade Vortex - PCoC wasn't really doing the trick. - No need to worry about clear speed and missing charges. Defenses:
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- Stibnite flask is your friend. You are diving into melee range and this single pot is practically magic. We have minimal armor and evasion in this build, so the survivability boost this single flask gives is amazing.
- Fortify - A wonderful addition for any melee build, you'll have practically permanent uptime. - Blasphemy - Warlord's Mark - Vaal Pact. This combination is huge, and extremely useful. Can level into maps without Vaal Pact, but eventually you will want the boost it offers. (Thank you to Aim_Deep who helped reconfigure my tree to achieve this) Damage
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Vortex:
- This spell hit's like a truck. For some reason it hits harder than Ice Nova and leaves a chilling effect on the ground. - Great AOE effect, especially with Increased AOE, and shatters most white and blue mobs instantly. Freezing Pulse: - One of the best damage ratios I could find on a cold spell, with added benefit for being in melee range. - Innate pierce is a nifty plus. Build: Current Tree: Leveling Tree:
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- The following is roughly the path I followed to level up. Approach is to basically grab Freezing Pulse and start off as a normal caster, use Clarity as you go. Somewhere between level 40-60 mana costs will get to be too much, at which point it's an easy swap to toss Cast on Crit into a Tabula with Vortex/Cold Snap/Ice Nova, and use that until you can equip/afford a Malice. 10 pts: 37 pts: 71 pts: (Intuitive Leap will help save a few points) Continue to fill out as you need, for jewels/life/crit. Pick up Vaal Pact once you start to get into maps. It helps a ton with bosses, but traps and trials will get much harder, so take it once you start to feel squishy. 120 pts: Gear:
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My current gear:
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Weapons: - Cospri's Malice - Aim for higher attack speed and spell damage. The Cold damage isn't really used. - Until you get your second Malice, a decent Spell Damage dagger is a great addition. Essence of Woe can be very useful to fill this gap. Helm: - Accuracy is a bigger limiting factor than Crit once you've picked up all of the crit nodes. Getting a nice chunk here really helps to make up for the lack of "Hits can't be evaded" - Life and resists should be prioritized. A good life roll is especially appreciated. - Lab Enchant - If you can get something related to one of your cold spells, that'd be ideal. - Rat's Nest could be fitted into here, and would be a nice all around boost, though capping resists could be slightly more challenging. Gloves: - Accuracy, life and resists are all excellent. - Attack speed is a nice +1 Body Armor: - Life and resists - Carcass Jack could probably be fit in for some nice damage boosts - Belly of the Beast could also be fit in for a big chunk of life Boots: - Life, resists and movement speed - Most mapping is cycloning straight through mobs, with only occasional second passes if certain mods are present (Cold resist / Monster life 50%+). Movement speed is a great boost to your clear speed Rings: - Life and resists as needed - Cold Damage is a nice perk, attack speed is nice too - Stats as needed. Dexterity / Strength / Intelligence may be in short supply depending on your current level. - Goal is to eventually get Opal rings for all the juicy damage Amulet: - Crit Multi (As large a roll as you can get) - Life / Cold Damage / Spell Damage - Resists and stats are a lower priority - Ultimate Goal is +1 Curse followed by Curse on Hit gloves (Elemental Weakness would be ideal) Flasks: - Instant Flask / Bubbling - Very helpful for those moments in between leech. Hybrid flasks make no regen / low regen a breeze - Freeze Immune Flask - Must have. I have this on a diamond flask which is very helpful when you first dive into a pack / boss without charges. - Bleed Flask - Must have. Can be on a number of different flasks depending on preference. - Stibnite Flask - Lot of options on what you roll, but you want to make sure you keep the effect up as close to permanently as you can. - Quicksilver - Not strictly necessary but nice to have - Other Options - Atziri Flask / Vinktars / Sapphire Flask Jewels: - Intuitive leap will save you a number of points around Templar - Crit Multi / Cold Damage / Spell Damage / Life - http://poe.trade/search/osanosoniwatar Links:
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Cospri's Malice (1) - Vortex - Cold Penetration - Increased AOE / Conc Effect (Swap for bosses)
Cospri's Malice (2) - Freeze Pulse - Cold Penetration - Elemental Focus (Can experiment with other spells) Cyclone - Power Charge on Crit - Increased Critical Strikes - Fortify - Additional Accuracy - Life Gain on Hit / Faster Attacks Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks CWDT - Immortal Call Blood Rage Herald of Ice (Considering experimenting with Inc AOE linked) Ice Golem (For Accuracy and Crit / Can do Lightning Golem for Attack Speed, Flame Golem for damage, Chaos Golem for defense etc.) Optional - Herald of Thunder / Purity of Ice / Clarity Bandits:
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Oak / Point / Alira
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phase 2 - High Budget Once you've built up some currency making a few purchases will take your DPS to the next level:
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Videos:
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Waterways (T13) - Temp Chains / Enfeeble / 50% Monster Life
https://youtu.be/v8sFTqILbLI Atziri - Speed Run - Deathless https://youtu.be/4mXGBmToerg Atziri - Deathless https://youtu.be/QR5TFy0vfpE Ghosted Kaom https://youtu.be/cXqAcuu2Pbc Last edited by Rjr3412#7456 on Oct 5, 2016, 2:38:06 AM Last bumped on Oct 2, 2016, 10:49:21 PM
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Post an uber lab video please.
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I'll see what I can do once I have access to my PC again this weekend. (Travel schedule)
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I'd like to see more info on the build including how the dual wielding interacts a comparison between dw and non dw. I was considering attempting this build in hc but my assassin is es based so a shield is nice.
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" I actually go into that briefly under the Choices section. Basically, having two allows you to have both a single target and an AOE spell setup. While swapping in Conc Effect in place of Increased AOE is a very nice single target boost, it isn't really necessary except for select bosses. My attack speed is not high enough to be hitting more than 10 times per second, so one spell in each is going to be the best dps. I did experiment with using multiple spells, and there wasn't any real benefit. As mentioned under the Dual Wield section, you can clear perfectly fine with a single Malice, but it starts to feel a bit slow on Rares and Bosses. Add in a second, and rares just get deleted, and bosses follow quickly. I would NOT recommend my build for HC. You would definitely want a greater life pool, than the 5k I am aiming for. (Currently just over 4.5k) If you are going ES, Aim_Deeps build is going to be a much more powerful and likely safer approach. This is a nice soft core alternative if a 6 link Volls Protector and a Volls amulet are not in your budget. (At least in my opinion) |
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First video has been added. (Wow they take a long time)
Will attempt to get an Uber Izaro video together, but honestly I'm really bad with traps. I did manage a three key run today, but was not recording. Last edited by Rjr3412#7456 on Sep 24, 2016, 11:43:01 PM
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Nice build.
One question: (already read your recommendation regarding 2 x malices) if you would like to stick with just 1 malice what would be your cold spell of choice and what would you choose in second hand (Doryani's Catalyst / Dagger w/spell dmg and crit / shield)? regards edit: please add leveling tree if it is not a problem. Tyvm! Last edited by qubade#6080 on Sep 25, 2016, 4:02:24 PM
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" If you are sticking with just one spell, I would go for Vortex, and swap Conc Effect in for bosses. I had that set-up into T10s, and it only felt like it slowed down on bosses and in groups. I personally used a decent Spell Damage dagger that I used Essence of Woe's to craft. Didn't go for anything too special, as this was pretty strong, and was able to get me enough currency saved up for the second Malice. Doryani's Catalyst would have some nice damage, and save a link for your Herald of Ice, but would likely slow down the attack speed of your Cyclone. Not a big difference, and definitely usable. I'd say if you already have one go for it, if you don't then crafting a dagger for cheap is super easy. Grabbing an ES shield is a tricky choice. I like to run Blood Rage on lower level content, and more ES means faster degen which isn't offering any real defensive boost for us. On the other hand, if you intend to transition into ES from Life, then go for it. Added a leveling tree. Please note that I did a bit of re-speccing once I got to higher levels, but kept it under the amount you have just from leveling. |
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Got it!
Thank you once again :] |
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Added deathless Atziri video
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