[2.5] CI Assassin Crit Flameblast + Vaal Righteous Fire (Shaper viable! w/ video)

*My very artistic guild member's interpretation of the build.

Introduction:

This can be a very budget friendly build to start a new league with that scales extremely well into endgame with enough luck and currency.

It's capable of doing all bosses in the game, However when it comes to Argus, Atziri and Phoenix Guardian you do run into some challenges dealing with their ignite immunity and it can definitely draw the fights out.

You can easily 1 shot all map bosses from tier 1 all the way to tier 15 with Vaal Righteous Fire,
For bosses like Shaper and Guardians the ignite from Flameblast is absolutely nuts.

No changes for 2.5 Breach League, should be good to go!

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Pros/Cons

Pros:
1 shotting bosses is awesome!
High damage
High survivability
Low budget/League starter that scales very well into endgame with moderate investment
Ability to kill nearly any boss currently in game without much difficulty

Cons:
Clear speed isn't amazingly fast compared to current meta, but still respectable.
Unable to do some map mods
Ignite Immunity bosses while do-able are extremely annoying (I'm looking at you Argus, Atziri and Phoenix Guardian)

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Essence League info:

During Essence league you are able to use Essences of Horror to receive +3.5% base crit chance to gems on gloves, this is very helpful in making your gloves into a 5-Link setup for Vaal Righteous Fire.

Currently I have a 89.9% Chance to crit with Vaal RF using the gloves and can do massive amounts of damage.

I would highly recommend attempting to craft a pair as it helps tremendously in maximizing your potential damage with Vaal Righteous Fire.

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Leveling:

I'd suggest following my life-based leveling tree and using Blade Vortex for speed and simplicity until around level 70 when you have the necessary gear needed to switch over to CI and have the ability to sustain the mana cost associated with Flameblast.

Make sure to level up the necessary gems for your Flameblast setup in your off-hand weapon slots to use later!

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Ascendancy:



Assassin
Order of passives: Unstable Infusion > Deadly Infusion > Ambush > Assassinate

Passive Tree:


Bandits:
Normal: Point
Cruel: Point
Merciless: Alira

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Necessary Gear:

The only necessary gear you will need to get started is:
2 Elreon rings with at least -7 Mana cost ( to help sustain the mana cost of Flameblast)
and an Eye of Chayula (For Stun Immunity, Fire leech corruption is preferable but not necessary)
*Alternatively you may use a Valyrium Ring and an Elreon Necklace for even lower budget.

Other worthwhile options include a Doryani's Catalyst with high elemental damage and cast speed it is very beneficial to the build as well as a Dying Sun and Atziri's Promise flask aid in additional damage, clear speed and survival.

You do not need amazing gear to reach the endgame I would focus on capping your resists and trying to get as much energy shield possible on each piece of gear, I would also suggest that you get some additional strength on gear as well for gem attribute requirements.

I suggest having at least 9-10k Energy Shield total before attempting tier 12 and above maps as it will not only make you tankier but will also further scale your Vaal Righteous Fire damage and make bosses much easier to kill.

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My current gear:



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Gem Links:

6-Link (General mapping): Flameblast>Increased Critical Strikes>Fire Penetration>Elemental Proliferation>Controlled Destruction>Increased Area of Effect

6-Link (Boss): Flameblast>Increased Critical Strikes>Fire Penetration>Increased Critical Damage>Controlled Destruction>Concentrated Effect

4-Link (Vaal RF) Vaal Righteous Fire>Fire Penetration>Controlled Destruction>Life Leech

4-Link (Auras/Misc) Discipline>Clarity>Summon Lightning Golem>Vaal Discipline

3-Link (Movement) Shield Charge>Faster Attacks>Fortify

3-Link (CWDT) Cast When Damage Taken>Immortal Call>Increased Duration

4-Link (Curse/Power Charge Generation) Orb of Storms>Power Charge on Critical Strike>Curse On Hit>Flammability

For a 5-Link just drop Increased Area of Effect / Concentrated Effect from the Map/Boss setups.

For Ignite Immune replace Increased Critical Damage with Elemental Focus

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Map mods to avoid:

Elemental Reflect
Monster immunity to status ailments
Reduced player regeneration (avoid 60%+ and No Regen)

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Weapon Swap Power Charge generation


Use socketed with Cluster Trap and Multi Trap on your weapon swap to be able to generate full power charges before boss fights, very handy for maxing your charges out before using Vaal Righteous Fire.

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Tooltip / Character Sheet



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Videos:

First Shaper Kill (a bit sloppy)
Easy Hydra kill
Typical T14 Map run

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updated a bit

Looking for some opinions and criticisms, this is the first build guide I've attempted to assemble.

looks great ill have to give it a go after this flameblast totem build.

PS love the format

I'm surely going for this. Also : awsum paint skills!

will try and get some general mapping videos up tonight or tomorrow

anyone have any suggestions on how to improve this build guide?

any other videos people would like to see?

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