[2.4 VIDEO] #1 Pathfinder PHC - Blade Vortex flask build. Uber atziri video. Easy lvling

This build is nothing less than amazing and it doesn't take much gear to perform incredibly well in t13+. The only bad thing i can say about this build is how exhausting it can be after 8+ hours in a row. You have to make sure your flasks are up, your fortify, your curse blade vortex, your vaal haste and of course the main blade vortex. It really pays off and i personally like the fast playstyle and keeping everything up, but it's by no means a noob-friendly 2 button build where you just run and kill. Just a small disclaimer (:

Weapon

For weapon I use a divinarius. I feel like it's best in slot because it makes you able to use whirling blades and the increased AoE + spell damage is very good as well. Besides it got crit, so for me there's really no choice here. Until you get a divinarius I'd recommend using a Solaris eclipse



Armour

Here i use a carcass jack. I definitely think Carcass Jack is the best choice because of the increased AoE and area damage. Besides it gives decent life and somewhat decent evasion/energy shield. Until you get this i recommend using a 5L rare with either ES/armour or ES/evasion base. The reason why you want an ES base is because your colours will be BBBBG for a 5L.


Shield

Here i feel like Rathpith is the best choice both because of the high spell damage, but also the spell block is really nice, and the health is approximately the same as a rare shield with +100 health. The block you get when you also use rumi's is great though, but until you get Rathpith a rare shield with 40+ spell damage, life and resistance will do.


Helm/gloves/boots

Here you just want rares with good life/resist and potentially some max mana. For labyrinth enchants I'd recommend the 8% increased Attack and Cast speed for boots and radius for your helmet, but it's not nescessary by any means.

Jewelry

For amulet you basicly want health and whatever resistance you need to be elemental weakness capped (169 if you're in your hideout). For the rest you want spell damage/critical strike chance/multiplier or cast speed.


One of your rings needs to be essence worm since we're using the Mind over matter keystone, so reserving mana is like reserving health, and we don't want a smaler healthpool.


For the other ring just look for health and resistance and potentially mana. If you have the currency you can buy a ring with cast speed as well.

Belt

Like all other items you're looking for high health here, but in addition you're looking for the 3 mods reduced flask charges used, increased flask effect duration and increased flask charges gained. I prefer the first 2, but flask charges gained can also be quite nice. Getting an armour roll/resistance roll is definitely a plus.

Main setup
4L: Blade vortex, Spell echo, controlled destruction, increased AoE
5L: Blade vortex, Spell echo, controlled destruction, Increased AoE, added fire damage
6L: Blade vortex, Spell echo, controlled destruction, Increased AoE, Added fire damage, Added chaos damage(phys to lightning if you want to save som money and not get the conversion vinktar)

For bosses you switch in concentrated effect instead of increased AoE and any boss will melt.

Curse setup
4L: Blade vortex, Curse on hit, Warlord's mark, Power charge on critical

This is how i generate power/endurance charges and the cursing is very effective since it will instantly curse mobs when you whirling blade into them with this blade vortex on.

Cast when damage taken
3L: Cast when damage taken, Summon chaos golem, Tempest shield
4L: Cast when damage taken, Summon chaos golem, Tempest shield, immortal call

Personally I don't use immortal call cause I don't feel like the physical hits are a problem with the amount of mitigation I get from taste of hate/rumi's/basalt/fortify/chaos golem. Tempest shield is nice for some extra block which will also grant extra spell block and the golem will grant even more physical reduction. You could also use an ice golem for more critical strike chance, i just don't feel like damage is a problem at all.

whirling blades
3L Whirling blades, fortify, faster attacks.

A very standard setup for travelling. You'll often be at a very close range, so the fortify should be up at all times.

Culling setup
flame totem, culling strike

You can also add in stuff like blind/faster casting/rarity if you feel, but none of those are needed. I simply use it to deal with big volatiles even though they usually aren't a problem with the increased resistance from flasks.

I think this is the optimal flask setup if you have the currency, but until i got the unique flask i played with normal flasks and that was just fine as well.
My setup until i had uniques was:
Surgeon's Basalt flask of grounding
Surgeon's Ruby flask of warding
Surgeon's granite flask of iron skin
A mana pot that keeps your mana at the same when you're casting (different mana flask for different mana regen)
Seething divine life flask og heat

Ruby or Basalt?
Well i play with them both, i change them depending on what map i'm about to do. I have the ruby flask for -max resistance since that will bring all 3 resistances at 83. I also ruby for bosses like crematorium and atziri.

Why don't i use a curse immune flask or Atziri's promise?
I simply don't think there's room for them even though i'm missing the curse immune a lot. I considered getting it on my life flask and i would recommend that for most, but currently i'm trying to get lvl 100 so i'm playing very fast and opening all strongboxes unid so the freeze immune is sweet as well. Besides i dislike having curse immune on an instant flask since it won't do anything vs hexfont, academy boss etc. (it doesn't grant immunity over time, it only dispels)

Offensive unbuffed: http://imgur.com/ixGjYBV
Offensive buffed: http://imgur.com/oW2Td6v

Defensive unbuffed: http://imgur.com/dM77Z21
Defensive buffed: http://imgur.com/Qs5oKb7

Q: When did you start using Blade vortex and what was your setup?

A: I started with blade vortex as soon as you can use it (lvl 12)! -Note that you don't get it as a ranger, so buy it from someone else.
2L: Blade vortex + added fire
3L: Blade vortex + added fire + faster casting
4L: Blade vortex + faster casting + controlled destruction + spell echo (added fire if you're not a4 yet)
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Q: I notice your mana dosen't get low at all. Wouldn't it be better to use herald of ash and replace clear mind with a yellow jewel?

A: Well currently my mana pool is what I need to get to 50 charges which is important for going in on hard bosses like atziri's trio etc. Also less mana is less life because of MoM and since i'm using essence worm with hatred, herald of ash would reserve more than 25% (see essence worm)
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Q: What level to get mind over matter

A: I took Mind over Matter when i got essence worm which i think was around lvl 45
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Q: What order of ascendency did you take?

A: Go straight for Master Surgeon! It's really nice to get charges on crit and it helps a lot with keeping flasks up at all times - especially on fewer targets where you normally struggle.
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Q: Which map mods can't you run?

A: Well the only mod i would put in the category "Can't run" is no leech and that's a very rare mod! In general i avoided blood magic since it took my 1,8k mana (Rip MoM) but i did a few of those. No regen and reflect are no problem, but if you're new to the build i would recommend not taking reflect maps, cause if your pots are down you'll die really fast.
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Q: Is Vaal pact necessary?

A: Well for atziri and other hard hitting bosses the leech rate would not be near quick enough to get me to full before the next hit, so yes i would say it's necessary.
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Q: Master Herbalist over Veteran Bowyer?

A: I took Master Herbalist since it's better for single target with the poison, and i don't really need more damage for trash clear. Besides the 30 chaos res is the only i get, so i feel like it's pretty crucial.
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Q: What should we be looking for in Jewels?

A: First priority: Life

Second priority: Resistance to get capped, Spell damage, cast speed, physical damage, area damage - just all the damage you scale with

third priority: Crit multiplier and chance. It's a plus but don't aim to buy it.

Also get the jewel named "clear mind" (rolls 40-60% spell damage).
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Q: Armour or Evasion on the gear?

A: On the gear you can decide to either go for armour or evasion. I went for armour because i had a granite of iron skin (+% armour) so i wanted to scale with that. In retrospect i should have gone for evasion rating since it gives more from the tree, but to be honest it doesn't do a huge difference - 95% of our defences are from the flasks.