[2.4] zSavage Unleashes the Goddess! (Assassin TGU ST)

The Goddess Unleashed is the third in a line of unique swords. Only the first one (The Goddess Bound) can drop normally. The Goddess Scorned is created with a recipe from The Goddess Bound, and The Goddess Unleashed can be created with a recipe from The Goddess Scorned.

You can find the details of each recipe here:
Bound->Scorned
Scorned->Unleashed

The sword is pretty self explanatory until we get to the line about "Her Blessing."
Her Blessing is a debuff for 3 seconds that deals 33% of maximum life and ES to the player as fire damage, and is gained when you ignite an enemy. It isn't an ignite, but can be mitigated with fire resistance. But while we have it, we are immune to freeze, chill, and ignite, we attack and move 20% faster, and every time we gain it (a new trigger resets the timer), we have a 1/3 chance to blind all nearby enemies (this radius is quite large).

The build has to balance several factors to get the sword to really work:
1. Add enough flat phys to scale the fire damage to reasonable levels.
2. Obtain enough critical strike chance to make the damage output reasonable.
3. Have sufficient life regen and mitigation to be able to sustain HP even while under a 33% of max life + ES fire degen that is going pretty much the whole time you're in combat.

Some of the pros of the build:
1. More or less 100% immunity to Freeze, Chill, and Ignite (while in combat).
2. Permanent blind on any enemy that might be able to hit you.
3. Can maintain flask charges very very easily while clearing even without Surgeon's flasks (thanks Poacher's Mark).
4. Guaranteed 6L
5. Cool quest dialouge (something you will never hear otherwise).

Cons of the build:
1. Rather low life total due to using multiple uniques that don't have life.
2. You'll need solid resists on pretty much all your rares.
3. You'll need to squeeze in as much flat phys as you can on most rares.
4. Can't use a shield, and doesn't count as dual wielding, so cannot block anything.
5. Wearing Abyssus.

Main Skill:
Spectral Throw + LMP/Slower Proj + Faster Attacks + WED + Crit Multi + PPAD
Swap Slower Proj for LMP if needed on tough boss fights. You can plan on the 6L because TGU will always be a 6L.

Movement:
Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + Fortify + Blood Magic
This is really the only movement skill that can be used. I use Blood Magic because my mana regen is rather small and can't sustain the spam. If you want you can swap this for Leap Slam to have a skill that can cross gaps.

Curse Application:
Spectral Throw + CoH + GMP + (Projectile Weakness/Poacher's Mark) + LMP/Culling Strike
If you only want to use a 4L for this ignore the last gem. You can choose which curse you'd like to use; Poacher's offers better sustain while Proj Weakness is a lot of extra damage that feels quite strong.

CWDT:
CWDT (lvl 1) + Increased Duration + Immortal Call (lvl 3) + Enfeeble (lvl 5)
A burst of immunity and damage reduction when needed. This is an evasion/dodge character, so you don't get hit too often.

Auras:
Vitality, Arctic Armor, Herald of Ash
Vitality helps to mitigate the degen of Her Blessing. It's actually more effective than Purity of Fire (math later). AA helps to reduce incoming damage and slows foes. Herald of Ash helps with clearing, triggering ignites, and just more damage.

Golem:
Ice Golem. For Accuracy and Crit.

The core of the build. This is the item we're building around. It comes as a 6L when you complete the recipe to get it.

Even though we can't use the Melee Critical Multiplier on this helm, it adds the most flat phys of any item in this slot in the game. Look for one with the %increased phys damage taken as low as possible (40% is minimum).

Kintsugi is an excellent choice for this build as the '20% less damage taken if you have not been hit recently' actually reduces the degen from Her Blessing. But a good Evasion chest (rare or Unique) will suffice if you want something different.

The Blood Dance are mandatory; you'll want and need the extra 2% regen these will provide with our 4 frenzy charges.

On the rest of your items you're looking for flat phys, life, and a lot of resistances, as all the above items listed don't have much if any. A Meginord's Girdle will also work for a belt, though it's edged out by a good rustic with a WED roll like the one I have.

Flask to taste. I highly recommend having a Quartz flask to stack with Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics from the tree. And you'll want a flask that has curse immune. And I would recommend having 2 life flasks (one instant, one over time).

My skill tree at level 87

I have about 4.3k life with this tree and the above gear at level 87.
Tooltip ST DPS unflasked is about 28K.
In hideout: 12K.

Bandits:
Normal: Oak +40 Life
Cruel: Oak +16% phys
Merciless: Alira +1 Power Charge

I did all my Labyrinths solo. I did normal and cruel on level, merciless at level 75, and uber at level 85.

Normal: Unstable Infusion. This generates your power charges.
Cruel: Deadly Infusion. This makes your crits more consistent with PCs. Also, you will be using Scorned at this point so the others won't really work.
Merciless: Noxious Strike. This adds bleed, poison, and maim to the build, which help you kite. Thes build does a fair amount of phyiscal damage so the DoT component is noticable.
Uber: Toxic Delivery. The 10% reduced DoT damage taken helps sustain Her Blessing, and it's a great DPS booster.

Q: How do I level this character?
Start with The Goddess Bound. When you reach level 28, complete the recipe to get the Goddess Scorned. This sword will carry you through the end of Cruel. You can use items like Meginord's Girdle as well, which will be very useful. Prioritize getting all the regen nodes and getting The Blood Dance equipped by the time you reach the end of Cruel. At this point you can complete the recipe and use TGU for all of Merciless (and get the cool quest dialogue) and the rest of the game.
Q: Isn't Purity of Fire better than Vitality?
Assuming you have 75% Fire res base, the degen deals 33%*(1-75% res) = 8.25% of your life and es per second.
With 79% fire resistance (a level 20 PoF), it deals 33%*(1-79% res) = 6.93% of your life and es per second.
Therefore a level 20 PoF is the equivalent of (8.25-6.93 =) 1.32% life regeneration. This is beaten by a lvl 14 Vitality which has 1.35% life regen. So Vitality is a better option assuming your fire resistance is capped.
Q: How high of maps can this build do? And what mods should I avoid?
I've done up to t12 maps with this character so far, at level 87. As for map mods, avoid:
1. Anything that reduces or removes life/mana recovery (as these will hurt our regen reliant build).
2. Elemental Weakness and -Max, as these will make the degen hurt more unless you are overcapped for the curse.
3. Vulnerability in combination with other hard mods (normally this is fine).
Q: Is this build 'worth it?' The recipe is pretty expensive.
You could make a more powerful build investing the same currency into a simple phys crit ST assassin build. So the answer is no if pure power is all you're looking for. But for an enjoyable experience and as a way to use one of the most interesting uniques in the game, I would say yes.
Q: What other skills might work well for this weapon?
Honestly at this point I would say that if you want to be melee it'll have to be Lacerate. Other than that I would say ranged is the way to go (as the amount of uniques you need makes your life total kind of low and you'r wearing and Abyssus).

Build Reveal/Guide