[2.6] Assassin HoWA Spectral Throw. Fronthand Backhand!
 HoWA is great but I have not seen a Assassin version for it in 2.6, at least in the forum yet. So I decided to share my version of HoWA spectral throw. Concept:
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Obviously HoWA is all about stacking Int and occasionally Dex to achieve high DPS however as Assassin that's not the only concern, as with Ascendancy we can achieve high crit chance and crit multi very easily, while maintaining 100% uptime on 6 power charges. Stacking Int means that with minimum investment on skill tree it is plausible to achieve 10k ES while having massive DPS, CI with Vaal Pact and Ghost Reaver, face tanking almost everything, naturally shocking everything.
Gear:
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Essential to the build are 2 Hand of Wisdom and Action, an Astramentis, a 700+ ES chest and a Valyrium ring for stun immunity. Other than that, prioritize int and accuracy on your Energy Shield items. With the current set of HORRIBLE gears I have 7.5k ES at level 74, and can get to 10k with more levels and better gear. One of the most important thing is to have the most amount of uncapped Lightning Resist compare to other 2 elements, to make use of Wise Oak flask that will be mentioned in Flask section. Flasks:
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As with lightning damage build in general Vinktar is the first priority, come in second is Wise Oak flask, a powerful penetration/mitigation flask that is too good for elemental builds to pass on. Diamond Flask is also essential because of the nature of lightning damage and crit chance's interaction with it. While having Diamond Flask up your crit will roll twice and take the better result. Lightning damage always have a crazy high top end dmg and to benefit greatly from the top end dmg, Diamond flask is needed. Other than the above, Granite/Basalt for physical mitigation is nice to have, Silver Flask with Onslaught for better clear speed is also very nice. With 2 unique flask needed only, the 3 magic flask can be rolled to include Freeze immunity, bleed immunity and curse removal, effectively covered up most of the dangerous mechanics in the game. Skill tree:
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Level 74 As of now I am only at level 74 and still experimenting with the skill tree. In the skill tree there are jewel sockets and the one near shadow's power charge is socketed with a Fertile Mind jewel, effectively giving me 100 Int after scaling from 2 HoWAs. Next step I will take the jewel socket near Vaal Pact for another Fertile Mind, to get about the same amount of Int. Bandit and Ascendancy:
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Bandit choices: Passive - Attack Speed - Power Charge Alternatively you can take all resistances in normal if you have difficulty capping res. However remember that the build pretty much use a Wise Oak, a Bismuth Flask that gives 35% All res, that will be up almost 100% the time. So, effectively resistances don't need to be overcapped to compensate for Ele weakness maps. Ascendancy progress should begin with Unstable Infusion and Deadly Infusion, to generate and benefits greatly from power charges. After Deadly Infusion is picked up in Cruel Lab, taking Ambush into Assassinate is the best option, since the build doesn't benefit from bleed/poison. Skill gem, auras and others:
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Main skill setup is currently a 5l Spectral Throw: Spectral Throw + Greater Multiple Projectile/Slower Projectile + Weapon Elemental Damage + Increase Crit Damage + Ele focus. At this point its still debatable which one is the best fit for the build. With Inc crit strikes I basically achieve 92% crit at the moment which is almost crit cap, which is excessive since the addition of Diamond Flask. Added Lightning is higher on tooltip than Lightning Pen, but with enough penetration, Lightning pen will definitely be worth it. The best 6l setup should be: Spectral Throw + GMP/Slow Projectile + Faster Attack/Ele Focus + Weapon Elemental Damage + Inc crit damage + Lightning Pen. From what other players have provided, Ele focus is the better end game setup for tough guardian and Shaper. It is also much cheaper in that you only need 3 off color instead of 4. Aura right now includes Wrath and Discipline. With 4 points of investment and 1 level 3 enlighten gem I can run Herald of Thunder or Arctic Armour as well (most likely Arctic Armour for mitigation) I use Lighting Golem for faster attack, but Ice Golem is a solid choice as well for better accuracy. Cast When damage taken setup: Cast when damage taken level 9 + Vortex level 11 + Conductivity Level 11 + inc aoe. Very standard Vortex CWDT setup, included Conductivity for even more damage and shock. Vaal Haste + Vaal Grace + increase Duration is a staple setup and will be put in later. Movement skill: Whirling Blade + Faster Attack + Fortify Stacking massive amount of int means that the build has a good manapool, and good mana regen to sustain Whirling Blade and never run out of mana. This build is entirely capable of using Blade Flurry instead of Spectral Throw, just need to take Area nodes instead of Projectile nodes. Props to Raymexodus for killing Shaper with level 93 character using the build.
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" Skiller41 finished all endgame content with the build. Similar to Raymexodus, Elemental Focus was much better than Faster attack, in endgame boss fight.
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" From the information above I can now confirm that the build is capable of doing endgame, on very moderate budget, with less than 9000 ES pool. Even though it's still HoWA and we all know it's good, seeing other players completed endgame content FeelsGoodMan. My builds: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1809378 - Lazor Inqusitor https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1781498 - Burning Arrow Raider https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1800999 - Perfect Formless Inferno Slayer Last edited by habeo#2348 on Apr 23, 2017, 11:46:47 PM Last bumped on May 4, 2017, 10:58:44 AM
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What jewel stats are you going to prioritize?
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" Most likely the universal ones for any standard HoWA build, but varying if doing a BF version (area damage, melee damage) or ST (projectile damage/speed). But stuff like Int, energy shield, lightning damage, and attack speed most likely high priority. Seems like an interesting build since TBH whenever people do HoWA it's generally with a raider for ST. But I did BF HoWA last league with a Berserker and he did fine. [edit] One reason why I think it's non popular to use for an assassin is due other classes will go straight to Elemental Overload for that 40% ele damage bonus and just ignore trying to get crit and crit multi. I have no idea if the math benefits a non assassin based build, but my assumption is that it would support the claim. But an assassin with high enough crit multi and other multipliers (excluding EO of course) can probably beat a raider with EO, least I hope so. Last edited by reciprocate#3631 on Mar 31, 2017, 12:55:40 AM
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You probably want to prioritize speed more. Assassin has pretty lackluster speed compare to raider. Currently with 6 charges I have 438 % multi. This can go higher if I pick up more crit multi nodes however, potentially reaching 500% if I take Throatseeker.
Fertile Mind jewel in between Power and Frenzy charge of Shadow area give me more than 100 int, same goes for the one near Vaal Pact. Pretty good option too since I can't find better rare jewels yet. My builds:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1809378 - Lazor Inqusitor https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1781498 - Burning Arrow Raider https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1800999 - Perfect Formless Inferno Slayer |
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" Noticed this as well, I guess that's the price of it's tradeoff. Do you want crit and crit multi for more burst DPS? Then you'll have to sacrifice attack speed, otherwise, go raider for attack speed in bunches, but not as much burst as you'll have to spec into elemental overload. Even when I ran this as a berserker last league for Blade Flurry, the attack speed was pretty good (probably not quite on the same level as a raider), and having the Savage Hit(Cloaked in Savagery) mechanic allowed him to do nice bursts from time to time. Last edited by reciprocate#3631 on Mar 31, 2017, 6:10:59 PM
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Is your source of leech just from Vinktar's?
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I have leech from Soul Raker node in Claw cluster, which is enough for normal mapping, and Vinktar only needed for tough monsters.
My builds:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1809378 - Lazor Inqusitor https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1781498 - Burning Arrow Raider https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1800999 - Perfect Formless Inferno Slayer |
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Really liking the looks of this, wanted to do HoWA throw but wanted to do it starting from shadow for flavor :p
Think it'll end up with enough DPS to easily do guardians/shaper like the raider builds do? |
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Not too sure yet, I'm only working with a 5l right now, with quite bad gear. I can see this taking it higher however if I invest more into gear.
My builds:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1809378 - Lazor Inqusitor https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1781498 - Burning Arrow Raider https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1800999 - Perfect Formless Inferno Slayer |
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I want you to ask how i can reach more ES, without amulet buffed i have like 3,6. And what can i do to get more leach.
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