[3.9] Aziire's Venom Gyre Assassin - Dodge & Freeze Everything!
 TLDR: Path of Building Link Videos: Build Guide Video Link Day 1 Update and Map Gameplay Endgame Content and FAQ T12 Shaped Underground Sea with Abyss, Beyond, Blight & Legion Build List: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2688401 Build Intro: Finally back. From tomorrow on I'll be replying everyday, and will reply to the past 2 pages of comments (I'll read them all however). If I don't get to yours I'm sorry, just re post it and I'll get it within the next day. For now I have a new YouTube guide here. Hope you all had a good league and looking forward to making build guides for all of 3.10 :) Juicy new gems and buffs. This build is based around the gem Venom Gyre and we are building it by stacking elemental damage and critical strike damage. If Venom Gyre feels bad we can easily switch to Cobra Lash, they are practically the same. By using Hrimsorrow's we convert a the rest of our Physical Damage to Cold, and then further amplify this damage by using things that increase our cold damage such as Hatred, Herald of Ice, and gear. We are going Assassin as the new Elusive buff looks beautiful, and Assassin has the Mistwalker Ascendancy Point which boosts it and adds a bunch of nice bonuses. Even with the buff decaying over time it isn't a huge issue as the moment we lose it we will get it back thanks to 100% Critical Strike Chance. I am not a huge fan of poison so I chose to scale Venom Gyre through on hit damage rather than damage over time. If you want to see the build in action, or prefer video build guides over written then the best place to do so is on my YouTube links above/below (my one moment to sell out). I also check this forum daily so if you have any questions, build related or not, just leave a reply and I'll respond fairly quickly. If you are big brain 500 iq and find someway to improve the build let me know, I'm not perfect. Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/aziire YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7vLIcfmXcyxst2uhc9woSg  Pros: - Elusive is an absolute Juicer for everything - Unique play style with Venom Gyre for clearing and bossing - Combo of Freezing, Good Dodge and Evasion makes you a slipperyjim - Fork + GMP Will give us heaps of Projectiles to catch - No Mana Problems Cons: - Can't do No Leech Mods on Maps - Unpredictable game feel, as it is a brand new gam (looks good tho) - Fairly low life, big balls playstyle - Price will ramp up quick, some of the juicy end game uniques are expensive early on Offense: - Cold damage will romp through Blight Mobs (hopefully) - 100% Critical Strike Chance, 600%+ Critical Strike Multiplier - Nightblade + Elusive is going to be insane, big bonkers dps - Whirling Blades + Venom Gyre will give massive burst damage for beefy mobs - Easy cursing thanks to Herald of Ice CoH, a classic. Both Frenzy and Power Charges while mapping feelsgoodman Defense: - 70% Evade Chance, 75% Attack Dodge, 65% Spell Dodge, 20% Block Chance - We are low life, but damn do we layer those dodge boys - Immune to Reflect - Blind on Chill thanks to Pandemonious - Elusive has us dodging damage, reducing it, and giving us movement speed - Easier to cap elemental resistance thanks to points we get on the tree - With Oils we can get an additional 20% Chance to avoid (need to discover in Blight) I always go pretty wild on my builds, and build fairly og mathil style and kind of ignore a lot of defense. I enjoy it, you can die out of of nowhere as hits can be unpredictable, even with heaps of defense layers. I play on Standard Temp Leagues so dying is as big of an issue for me, if you are a big brain Hardcore player you could probably rework this to feel a lot better so that you don't die. Even though I make build guides I am still a fairly mediocre player, I have never beat Shaper or Uber Elder although I will attempt this league. I theorycraft memes more than I play the game.
FAQ
Video format of the FAQ.
Are Wasp Nests good for this build? They will never beat out a Rare Claw. We don't stack poison so it isn't a massive deal breaker for us. If you happen to find one definitely use it to level, or sell it and buy something with the Chaos. Doesn't the 50% Conversion to Chaos make scaling Cold bad? Not really. Our Cold damage is still through the roof meaning we can Freeze, Chill etc just like any other build with Cold Damage. We get less damage converted but we aren't gimped by any means. Why aren't we using Poison? I'm just not a huge fan of Poison personally. It is a completely viable option however I enjoy the safety net of Freeze and Shatters as I have a very reckless Standard play style. What should I level with? When should I switch to Venom Gyre? Cobra Lash > Onslaught > Lesser Multiple Projectiles > Nightblade This setup will carry you through to Act 5 very comfortably and then you can switch over when you get Greater Multiple Projectiles and Fork. I'm scared of the low life pool, how good are the defenses? Our Dodge Chance thanks to Elusive is actually really insane, and very noticeable from the moment you start getting the buff. The life can be alarming however if you cap your Resistances then you should be fine for the majority of the content. Why don't we use Pierce? What should we use? A lot of people really like the feel of Pierce. It's one of those things that are more of a personal taste. I tested it and wasn't a huge fan of how it felt going through packs so I stuck with what is in the guide. My Single Target DPS feels really weak, how do we make it better? Ancestral Protector is a real MVP. He gets Elusive benefits and tanks bosses like its nothing. Making sure you have him setup alongside with fairly decent claws (250+pdps) and you should be all good. I'm having lots of Mana Problems, how do we sustain? Don't Level Precision all the way to Level 10 from the get go. Start with it at Level 1 and level it until you start having problem, then delevel with a scouring orb at Vendor. What gear should I be prioritising first? The Claws are a huge chunk of our DPS, and you should work to get these above 250pdps when in Early Maps, and above 300 for endgame Red Maps. After that then you can look towrads chae items such as a 6L / Pandemonious. Hardcore Survivability and SSF Viable? If you have massive balls then the build could definitely be played Hardcore. I am way too reckless to ever do it but shout out to those who can. The only Unique we really need is Hrimsorrows and even then it is replaceable with the Winter Spirit passives. Definitely do able if you already are used to the SSF Play style then this build shouldn't be hard for you to try.  The build is designed around Level 95, but obviously I also have a Level 100 tree just in case there are any people wilding out there. The Levelling trees are also in the Path of Building, just switch the trees at the bottom left on the app. The trees on the site will be updated shortly after League Launch. Bandits: Alira is our Bandit of choice. The Crit Multi and Resistances are just so good, helps squeeze out more damage on rings etc as you aren't as needy for Resistances. Eramir is also a good choice as Passive Points are so nice. Level 21 Tree: Click Here | Progressing through Act 2 | Help Alira Level 32 Tree: Click Here | Up to Dominus Level 45 Tree: Click Here | Up to Act 5 Kitava | Should have your first 2 Ascendancy Points Level 63 Tree: Click Here | Up to Blood Aqueducts | Should have 4 Ascendancy Points Level 75 Tree: Click Here | Up to Maps | Should have 6 Ascendancy Points Level 95 Tree: Click Here | End Game | Picking up Juicy DPS. Should have 8 Ascendancy Points. Level 100 Tree: Click Here | Luxury Tree | Finish off the tree with some extra Life to help finish it off Ascendancy: TLDR: Mistwalker > Unstable Infusion > Deadly Infusion > Opportunistic
Spoiler
Venom Gyre was born for Assassin. If Cobra Lash turns out to be good then I could see it being very popular for either Assassin or Deadeye, however I'm taking my bets on Venom Gyre so we have gone for Assassin. Whether you are building on hit or scaling the poison, Assassin has you covered in both aspects. Priority order for Ascendancy is:
Mistwalker grants us 50% chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike, 20% increased Attack and Cast Speed while Elusive, 8% reduce Damage taken while Elusive, 25% increased Elusive Effect and you take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes while Elusive. Elusive is the mother of all buffs giving us a crazy amount of different stats. It's base stats are 40% increased Movement Speed, 20% Attack and Spell Dodge. These are then increased by our Increased Elusive Effect from both the Assassin Ascendancy and Night Blade Support, giving us a huge 60% Increased Movement Speed, 30% Attack and Spell Dodge, on top of all the other benefits. It's pretty safe to assume that most builds in 3.8 will have Elusive, as it is just too gorgeous to bypass. The 20% Increased Attack Speed from Mistwalker will also be a really solid boost to our Attack Rate, meaning more Venom Gyre Projectiles being thrown out. Unstable Infusion gives us 10% chance to gain a Power Charge on Critical Strike, 20% chance to gain a Power Charge on Non-Critical Strike and +1 to Maximum Power Charges. This will be useful as we level and early on in maps, as we won't yet have 100% Critical Strike Chance. In the End Game the +1 to Maximum Power Charge is nice, and then basically serves as just a pathing point. Still not a problem however, as we pick it up at the time we need it most, and then we have Deadly Infusion directly after it for when we get into Mapping. Deadly Infusion increased our Movement Speed by 10% while at maximum Power Charges, +2% Critical Strike Chance while at maximum Power Charges and +8% to Critical Strike Multiplier per Power Charge. The Critical Strike Chance we get here is what helps Assassin hit 100% Critical Strike Chance so easily. +2% is quite a huge amount, especially as it is coming in before all our 'Increases' to Critical Strike Chance. 8% Critical Strike Multiplier gives our build a total of 40% by the End game, which is a good amount of dps. The Movement Speed is a little cherry on top, just helps us go fast. Opportunistic gives 20% increased Movement Speed if you've Killed Recently, Damage from your Critical Strikes cannot be Reflected, 20% more Damage while there is at most one Rare or Unique Enemy nearby and 10% reduced Damage taken while there are at least two Rare or Unique Enemies nearby. The biggest pro of this point is by far the fact that this makes us immune to all Reflect Damage from our Critical Strikes. Considering every attack we make is a Critical Strike, this makes mapping a whole lot easier. Not only is it insane for defense, the 20% 'More' Multiplier for fighting off against one Unique or Rare Enemy will help us crush through the bosses a lot easier. Pantheon: For your Major God you want to either choose Soul of Lunaris or Soul of Solaris. These are both super solid options and just depends on whether you want to be mapping or bossing more. If you think you won't fuck with bosses then take Lunaris, otherwise take Solaris. I personally use Solaris as the mobs die too quickly for us to get massive benefits from Lunaris. Also Boss mobs are our only real problem anyway. For your Minor God your best bet is Soul of Shakari as reduced chaos damage is a nice quality of life, especially once upgraded as you are then Immune to Poison. Because of how quickly we fly around the map none of the other minors are that great. Having ways to mitigate damage is always a plus.  Time for the gems. We have our main 6L Venom Gyre, alongside a few utility skills liker Whirling Blades for Movement, CwDT Setup as well as Ancestral Protector for some bossing. Sprinkle some Auras on Top and we got your standard Cold Conversion Melee Build. I'll list out the best order of priority in my opinion, then go into details in the spoiler box below the skill for why I chose the supports I did and alternative options. Venom Gyre > Greater Multiple Projectiles > Fork > Nightblade > Hypothermia > Elemental Damage with Attacks
Spoiler
Venom Gyre has so many different options for Supports, especially with it's unique interactions with them. For our build the essentials are Greater Multiple Projectiles and Fork. This is because Greater Multiple Projectiles will give us an additional 4 Projectiles that we can catch, and Fork splits the Blade's we throw into two. Giving us a thicc total of 10 Blades to Catch per throw of Venom Gyre. See as you have to actually catch the blades rather than them automatically coming back having more to catch will drastically increase how many we actually store.
Even without going Poison Vicious Projectiles is still an insane option, however compared to Hypothermia it doesn't feel as good. The shatters are very noticeable and is a really nice 5th/6th Link. With 59% 'More' Projectile Damage at Level 20 it is a no brainer. Nightblade is perfect synergy with out Ascendancy, giving us increased Elusive Effect which helps keep us safe. Not only that but it gives +99% to Critical Strike Multiplier, which is whack. This gem will get nerfed so enjoy it throughout 3.8. Whirling Blades > Faster Attacks > Blood Magic > Fortify
Spoiler
Whirling Blades is our primary movement skill, and is perfect for travelling across the map quickly. It is also used to dispense our caught blades when fighting a beefy enemy. Diving into a beefcake and tearing them apart with a Venom Gyre burst seems like it will be super satisfying and a good way to end a map. I use Blood Magic as if you don't have mobs around you will run out of mana due to how much we reserve for Auras, and we can't Leech with no mobs.
Fortify will help our survivability quite a bit, as we will almost always have it up due to the sheer amount we use Whirling Blades. Summon Lightning Golem > Hatred > Precision Level 10 > Blood Rage
Spoiler
Summon Lightning Golem is a simple pick thanks to the Attack Speed it gives us. Summon Flame Golem isn't a horrible pick either, still gives good damage but just not as much. Blood Rage is for Frenzy generation and juicy attack speed. More Attack Speeds means more Blades thrown so it is nice to grab this, especially considering how easy it is to incorporate into a build.
Hatred and Precision are two of our three Auras. All the extra cold damage is nutty for us, and with all the potential combos alongside a Watcher's Eye it is a no brainer pick. We only want to level our Precision to level 10 as that gives us a good amount of damage and accuracy without reserving all of our mana completely. Herald of Ice > Curse on Hit > Assassin's Mark
Spoiler
Herald of Ice is something I can never escape using. The shatters and explosions it provides for no real investment are unreal. Combined with the fact that we already do a lot of cold damage it allows us to freeze the shit out of trash mobs. It also provides us one of the easiest ways to apply a curse, thanks to Curse on Hit. Acting as a really easy way to generate Power Charges (on top of the fact that we are Assassin). A lot of the mobs we are killing will usually be dead very quickly anyway, so getting all the benefits from Slain mobs helps a lot.
Projectile Weakness would be a good option however by the time the Herald of Ice actually shatters the mobs will probably be dying, so it doesn't provide us with any real time use. Vaal Haste > Cast When Damage Taken Level 8 > Immortal Call Level 10 > Increased Duration
Spoiler
Immortal Call lets us take 29% Less Elemental Damage and 30% Less Physical Damage. This stacks up nicely with the reduced damage we already get thanks to Elusive and other benefits. I keep the Levels Lower as I like it to be around a 1/3 to 1/4 of my Health to proc, as a way to try and improve survival odds a little. Thanks to our Daresso's Defiance (Our Endurance Charge Generator) and Increased Duration the Immortal Call will last for a little longer than usual, giving us time to kill whatever might have ganked us.
If you want to play a more piano keys style you could keep this active and remove the Cast When Damage Taken, however I am pretty lazy so I set it up to do it automatically. This is riskier as I still need to take a hit in order to proc Immortal Call, but that is the cost of being lazy. Vaal Haste acts as a gotta go fast button. Easy to slot, easy to press while mapping. Not much else to it. Ancestral Protector > Ruthless > Elemental Damage with Attacks
Spoiler
Ancestral Protector will be our scuffed Decoy Totem and Single Target helper. You really won't need him for most bosses, and will really only place it on bosses with phases. He boosts our Attack Speed by a shitload though so definitely good to use on big boys like Guardians, etc. His DPS is also pretty solid on his own.
 Gearing for this build is fairly laid out for us as what we want is clear from the get go. Claw and Daggers are our only options with Venom Gyre, and Claws imo are the far better option so that is what we will be going with. Other than that all your basic stuff like getting maximum resistances, Maximum Life and Evasion when possible. None of the Uniques are absolutely necessary, some of them will probably be pricey League Start. I will have links to alternative options so no one will have to stress about what to get. Path of Exile Trade Links are embedded into all the gear I mention, with a search to the current Temp League. So when you are looking to upgrade your gear etc, rolling back into this guide and clicking the links are the best way to do so. Now into all the sections. I also use a lot of Weighted Sum in my searches, I will probably make a video just in case anyone new might get confused when trying to find items they want. Weight Sum is opie op and I am always able to find extremely good gear for very cheap. Levelling Gear:
Spoiler
The Gear I Had by Blood Aqueducts: Recommended Gear:
Spoiler
For the chest piece I think Daresso's Defiance is a really solid option. It pushes us to the Attack Dodge Cap as well as giving us a source of Endurance Charge Generation. 80% Increased Onslaught Effect is also a really nice source of DPS. Just an all round awesome combination of Defense and Offense. Another really solid Unique option is Incandescent Heart. Considering we do a lot of Elemental Damage, as well as the natural Chaos Damage from Venom Gyre, this is just the perfect match. You lost out on 6% Evade Chance however the damage is always pretty nutty. I personally will use Daresso's Defiance.
We have two options for the Helmet, and those are our stock staple Starkonja's Head and Abyssus. The trade off in damage gained vs damage taken for Abyssus isn't worth it imo, however at the same time we have so much Dodge, Evasion, etc that maybe you just want to squeeze out all the damage you can. Starkonja's Head is the Helmet I will be going with as it provides such good damage will also have good Maximum Life and Evasion Rating. For gloves we are wanting to grab Hrimsorrow's or the Upgraded Hrimburn. This helps make sure that practically all our Physical Damage is converted to Cold. It doesn't matter which one you grab, the only difference is that you can Ignite with the upgraded version, which doesn't matter to us at all. This is a fairly cheap unique, so you save a lot of currency here. Rare Boots are the best in slot for us. Getting a good amount of Resistances here, as well as grabbing some Strength (we need some for a later item). Adjust the Resistances, Movement Speed as necessary in the search and get what you can afford. For Belts we have two options, those are The Nomad or Belt of the Deceiver. In terms of DPS Belt of the Deceiver just edges ahead thanks to Intimidate, and it also allows you to get more Resitances on your boots as you don't need the Strength. The Nomad has more resistances and solid damage that doesn't require you to be Nearby the Enemy. In order to get the Elemental Resistance you need to have at least 200 Strength, which is where the Strength on the boots come into play. Both of these are solid options and you can just grab whatever option you feel is cheaper when getting boots. If you Grab the strength go with the The Nomad if not go with Belt of the Deceiver. Jewellery is where it can get fairly expensive. It is such a huge damage opportunity, at the same time it is also where we want to cap off our Resistances. Thanks to all the Resistances we grab prior to this it shouldn't be too hard. Rare Rings are going to give us far more damage than any uniques can give us. Make sure you adjust your Resistances to what you need (Untick the Weight Sum in Filter, adjust Resistances, then Retick before Searching) that way it will fit how your character is currently. When you have searched click on the Sum to sort by damage and then buy whatever you can afford, scroll until you find something that fits your budget. I don't worry about Maximum Life here as I just want to squeeze out big deeps. The Pandemonious is our best in slot amulet. The Blind Chilled Enemies on Hit provides a huge source of defense, on top of also giving us really good dps and some Cold Resistance (Frees up the other rings). This is an expensive option, especially on in the league. You can easily go for a Rare Amulet as a placeholder and find one that has big damage modifiers. Same as before, search by Sum and buy what you can afford. Thanks to Blight we can now anoint our Amulets with a Passive Point. For us the biggest improvement for cost is by far the Ambidexterity point. To anoint it we need to use a combination of Amber Oil + Azure Oil + Black Oil. It will cost something like 15c to get it, however it is a massive boost to our dps. Once you have an Amulet you are going to stick with (before saving up for Pandemonious) definitely get this anointment, it works wonders. Time for our Claws. Rare Claws with High Physical Damage is what we are after. Just sorting by Physical DPS and buying what you can afford is the best option here. Nothing fancy, our damage scales off our Weapon heavily (it's an Attack) so don't be afraid to flex your chaos/exalts a little. Touch of Anguish isn't a bad placeholder claw, however only get this if its cheaper than a rare with similar stats. Final pieces, are beautiful pots. You always want to make sure you have your staples Pls Save my Life Flask so we grab a Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching. The second pot which is always good is an Atziri's Promise. Extra Chaos Damage from both our Physical Damage and Elemental Damage, which will go perfectly with Venom Gyre. These last three pots aren't essential, but are nice to have. If you can't get these make sure you have at least a basic Silver Flask for Onslaught and then fill the other flask slots with whatever you feel comfortable with. The final three pots are Sin's Rebirth, Taste of Hate and Kiara's Determination. These are really non essential but if you got chaos to spend and they are cheap then go for gold. For Jewels we go with Abyss Jewel's. We grab Maximum Life on them and then use our Weighted Sum to find some fatty dps Jewels. Search by Sum and go to town. The Gear I'm Currently Using: Guide is fairly close to being super polished. Just need to finish Levelling Gear Section and then update everything on League Launch (on site passive trees). All Trade links should work from Launch, if the api isn't severely lagged. Feel free to leave any comments, thanks for checking out my build. Last edited by AziiRe#6350 on Feb 22, 2020, 6:59:33 AM Last bumped on Feb 24, 2020, 5:38:05 AM
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Reserved
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Looks good man, gonna keep an eye on this. Good luck =)
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i'm pretty sure that i will start with something similar to this... but adding a Herald of Agony :) Gl with the league mate!
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Are you planning on running Nightblade support in place of Vicious Proj?
Also, you say this build is reflect immune, but that's only for crit strikes, or did I miss something? I am looking at running an ele VG Assassin, this looks like it may be pretty good, though I am worried a bit by the life total, even with all of the evasion/elusive defenses. |
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GMP and Fork at the same time? MonkaS
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I have 100% Critical Strike Chance, all my hits will be Crits therefore I am Immune to any Reflect. I will be be running Nightblade Support alongside Vicious Projectiles, or Hypothermia. Depending on which one feels better and does more damage (waiting for new PoB).
GMP and Fork baby, I don't wanna wait for those Projectiles, and the fact that you have to catch them and they don't return to you is why. If the whole screen is covered in blades catching them will be a lot easier. The Damage will already be obscene so I am not worried about not having enough of it. |
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definitely going to try this build out, looks really sick and solid. your build is always so cool.
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What about wasp nest for starter weapons?
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Wasp Nest definitely a good starter as well, if you are dual wielding them you will be poisoning on practically every hit. It would scale really well with Vicious Projectiles, and you would probably want to use another Poison support as a substitute like Deadly Ailments. Early on whatever is cheapest and has solid pDps is what you want to be grabbing.
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