[3.10] Storm Brand Assassin | Crit based | In depth/PoB update | Deathless Uber Elder | All Content!

Introduction

Hello, I am Kevic. This is my Storm Brand Assassin.

Boss Kill Videos


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3.10 Update
PoB with Brand Clusters


What in the world does this build do?

This build is designed to Clear effectively using power charges and critical strikes which have culling strike built in because of the ASSASSIN ascendancy! It summons Storm Brands that shock and crit which decimates packs of mobs both on screen and off. With Brand Recall we can pull the brands with us to a new screen, clear it AND extend the duration of the brands themselves. It has good single target for map bosses because if 2 brands attach themselves to the same target, it increases the damage EACH BRAND DOES BY 50% MORE DAMAGE.

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Pros
+Assassin Ascendancy means we gain culling strike on crits and we gain insane benefits from Power charges!
+Massive amount of Damage Potential via Power charges!
+Clears effectively and looks cool as HECK
+Can do all content!
+Can sometimes do elemental reflect - must hit a crit chance breakpoint

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Cons
-Low hp

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How it Works
Assassin = Stronger & More Powerful Power Charges + Culling Strike on Crit
Storm Brand + Brand Recall keeps your skill around you to re-position without having to stop moving often to cast because Brand Recall is Instant Cast

Critical Strike Chance

Critical Strike chance cannot go higher than 95% with the exception of Trypanon and a Diamond Shrine. Critical Strike chance is rolled once unless you have Critical Strike Chance is Lucky. This rolls twice and picks the higher of the two rolls. For us, the way we get it is through a Diamond Flask.


This is also commonly called effective Critical Strike chance.

How is Critical Strike Calculated



Skills
Storm Brand is a skill that was introduced in Betrayal League. Storm Brand creates a magical brand which can attach to a nearby enemy. It periodically activates while attached, firing beams which deal damage to nearby enemies and those around them. The brand will detach if the enemy dies.

Brand Recall is a skill that was also introduced in Betrayal League to go with both Brand skills. Recall your brands to you, detaching them from enemies, then cause them to activate. The brands will have increased attachment range until they next attach to an enemy.

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Damage Skills

Storm Brand - Main damage ability
Storm Brand > Concentrated Effect Support > Power Charge on Critical Strike Support > Controlled Destruction Support > Increased Critical Strike Support > Lightning Penetration/Elemental Focus

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Gear

This build can fill multiple roles including: Boss Killer, Map runner, Uber Lab farm, Delve Farmer

The gear needed changes based on what specific piece of content you want to run. Luckily for us, the swap from Map runner to Boss Killer is very minimal.


Ascendancy


GEM LINKS


Boss Killer



JEWELS

Rare Jewels that we could potentially fit in are any with Cast speed/Cast speed on Critical Strike, Lightning Damage to Spells and if you can afford it, Health.

Jewel DPS Mod Tier List
1 - Cast Speed/Cast Speed on Critical Strike
2 - Critical Strike Multiplier: to Spells, with Lightning Spells, Global
3 - Lightning Damage
4 - Lightning/Cold Damage to Spells
5 - Critical Strike: Global, to Spells, with Lightning Sells

* - Increased Maximum Life - Flat Or Percentage (IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT)

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BANDITS
Kill all for +2 points or Alira - Both are great for us

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PATH OF BUILDING & SKILL TREE


Leveling Guide

You can easily level as Storm brand/arc even as Shadow. Since Storm Brand/arc has great clear its perfect for traversing the story. League start you would ideally craft a +1 lightning wand and use Arc until storm Brand (lv28).
Links for leveling until Storm Brand - Arc > Added Lightning Damage > Added Cold Damage Support
Links for leveling once you have Storm Brand > Faster Casting > Added Lightning Damage > Added Cold Damage Support

Leveling Uniques


Special thanks to Roolstar who has been helping me test everything you see here in the guide!

Thanks for reading everything! If you like my content/guide please give me a follow for more of it!

Storm Brand Pathfinder Guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2299346

Feel free to PM me in game

SAVED

tsos3

What would you say the pros and cons are of this build versus the PF build? They seem pretty similar overall.

Hey!

I would say that the weapons are definitely easier to get at any point in the league as they are unique vs the rares in the pathfinder build. Culling strike is amazing for bosses along with map clear, so more stability in that department along with an easier time getting the crit necessary to constantly shock bosses because of how high the crit multi is in this build. The skill tree is closer to the brand nodes which gives us more points for hp/damage via mana/health OR we can even go towards the scion part of the tree and get a unnatural instinct.

This build has more options for free diversity but suffers from being forced to use something that deals with freeze/chill. I think that trade off alone is big enough to warrant a guide because of what items you must consider in order to do relevant content.

Thanks for reading both guides!

Hi Poopsmith

I'm fiddling around with a similar build but using Trickster and MOM instead of Assassination and Evasion, but for the life of me can't figure out if it's worth while or not.

https://pastebin.com/uaW89mA8

on paper it's more damage, as we are using frenzy charges as well, but the defences are maybe worse and, well, i'm just not sure how it will hang together over the course of a season.

The lack of movement speed, and a total unsurety of what to do with the 4th pair of ascendancy points, Never really assassin'd so meh.

Also been fiddling with ways of making curses work in this sort of build. Herald of thunder/Curse on hit/Conductivity should add a nice chunk against non-hexproof things, but is a bit temperamental. a Lightning Impressence could be an option as well via blasphemy, though leaves a big hole in other resists. Old favourite Wrath in a Essence worm ring again helps out murdernuke thigns, but then resistances start to suffer.

Another curse option someone showed me was to use a rare wand with a crafted "trigger this spell when you cast" and trigger conductivity, or even Warlords mark using that.

It's just so complicated :)

"

Iteken wrote:

Hi Poopsmith

I'm fiddling around with a similar build but using Trickster and MOM instead of Assassination and Evasion, but for the life of me can't figure out if it's worth while or not.

https://pastebin.com/uaW89mA8

on paper it's more damage, as we are using frenzy charges as well, but the defences are maybe worse and, well, i'm just not sure how it will hang together over the course of a season.

The lack of movement speed, and a total unsurety of what to do with the 4th pair of ascendancy points, Never really assassin'd so meh.

Also been fiddling with ways of making curses work in this sort of build. Herald of thunder/Curse on hit/Conductivity should add a nice chunk against non-hexproof things, but is a bit temperamental. a Lightning Impressence could be an option as well via blasphemy, though leaves a big hole in other resists. Old favourite Wrath in a Essence worm ring again helps out murdernuke thigns, but then resistances start to suffer.

Another curse option someone showed me was to use a rare wand with a crafted "trigger this spell when you cast" and trigger conductivity, or even Warlords mark using that.

It's just so complicated :)

Hey Iteken,

I will explain a few things in a bit more detail in hopes that it helps you with the problems that you are having along with addressing some of the concerns you have about the build in general. I have also taken a look at the character that you are using for this build to get a general idea at where you are at in terms of conversion to this build and what nodes you are opting for vs what I have in the PoB. (Check the PoB and go to the level 70 option for the skill tree and try and switch to that WITH MoM.)

The build itself already uses MoM because it is one of the most effective defensive options we have in the game. I pickup Acrobatics because the point investment is worth because we pick up a lot of dexterity along with some HP/resistances on our way to that node. Acrobatics gives us a free 30% DODGE which is a great backup even though it isn't entirely guaranteed. Acrobatics is a big defensive option as well and I dont think skipping out on it is something that you should in search for more mana nodes. Our mana pool isnt big enough to warrant taking every mana node available instead of Acrobatics.

I was originally confused as to why you said evasion but I believe that you mean acrobatics.

I do not believe we actually need any more damage than what we have already. The only thing that felt bad for me was figuring out a way to gain mana regen in some form and I wanted to stay away from Essence worm as the ring itself is bad to use because it doesn't provide anything but the buffed aura. The only way it would be worthwhile is if we use it in conjunction with Mind Over Matter with wrath being the ONLY aura we use and a Wrath Mana Leech Watcher's Eye. The assassin Ascendancy gives us a ridiculous amount of damage that can be manipulated with a few items. Void Battery gives us +1 power charge and we want to stack AS MANY power charges as possible within our budget. I currently have 9 power charges so the Deadly Infusion Ascendancy node gives us 72% EXTRA critical strike multiplier. We have effectively 100% crit with our diamond flask which also makes us reflect immune along with guaranteeing power charges as storm brand travels. This also rules out the option for using rare wands with the trigger socketed spell. I personally don't think you should focus on the curses to be as important with the exception of warlord's mark IF you do not have any other way to sustain yourself. If you are absolutely set on having a curse that isnt warlords mark I highly recommend using a conductivity ring: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/qRjGZlTg as this does not reserve mana and it is a great/cheap tool to get what you are specifically looking for. I used one in my Pathfinder Storm Brand build for a really long time and it worked out very well.

Another thing I noticed is that you were using less duration and chain support gems. Now chain isn't that bad of an option but less duration does a lot more harm than help because we want storm brand to be active and killing for as long as possible. For replacements I would highly consider either Concentrated Effect Support or Lightning Penetration Support if you can get the right colors on the chest piece. Power charge on Critical Strike should also be #1 priority on your link as it gives us 4% MORE DAMAGE per power charge which is insane since the build manipulates power charges along with giving us bonuses per power charge. The ideal Link would be something like this: Storm Brand > Concentrated Effect Support > Power Charge on Critical Strike Support > Controlled Destruction Support > Increased Critical Strike Support > Lightning Penetration/Elemental Focus. The gems that are the most variable are the lightning Pen/Elemental Focus.

If you want to try Trickster I would recommend this: Weave the Arcane, Swift Killer, Patient Reaper, Harness the Void. To further exploit Patient Reaper I would get some form of fire damage on storm brand through a jewel or armor as it will put ignite on the mob and thus making patient reaper give us the bonus 70% recovery. Trickster lowers our damage by a fairly large amount and gives us worse clear since assassin gives us Culling Strike. If you do have issues with clear after you swap gems out try using Herald of Ice because it potentially can freeze every pack you encounter. I would not underestimate the amount of damage assassin gives you as it is a lot.

Also, try and fit in Brand Recall as it makes clearing more consistent/easier along with adding some extension in duration for storm brand itself.

All in all, I would continue to level your character to give yourself some room to work with in terms of skill points.

Thanks again for checking out the guide.

Thanks for the post.

My char is a bit of a wreck at the moment as i have been tearing gear from random alts to put him together - but your advice does make good sense thanks.

Sadly the carcass jack is corrupted (cost an ex - yay) so i'm stuck the 5B-1R setup. Less duration sucks, but chain is ace for clearing maps. i'd definitely recommend it if you manage to get a White socket in the chest.

Agreed on the silly curse offhand too. damage all the way :)

I am a bit confused though, none of the POB's you've linked show MOM selected, are you getting it from someplace else or are we talking cross-purposes ?

I'm really trying to persuade myself to start with this next league....

Hey!

So in the boss killer spoiler section of the guide at the bottom it talks about Mind over Matter and how we utilize it for a specific aspect of the game.

"Gem Link

I took off Herald of Ice and switched a single 5% health node for Mind over Matter so I could gain a huge amount of effective health via the Warlord's Mark Mana leech. This helps us do Uber Elder much more effectively and safely."

If you arent comfortable with using MoM for everything and need the mana to reserve aura's for more dps then by all means do that. I personally use MoM for every bit of content since I have the warlords mark + my rare gear has a ton of hp.

However, I do not recommend using MoM if you are lacking gear OR levels. Just play without it and try and build up your gear and go from there. I would highly recommend looking into a loreweave as they are probably super cheap right now in the last few days of the league or in standard if you want to continue to try the build and see how it feels on the later end of levels. For leveling I think the process will be very smooth as storm brand itself is insanely good. and will generally carry you to higher tier maps with ease.

Thanks again!

pretty good guide
can you compare assassin vs elementalist though ?