[3.10] Brittleknee’s Scourge Arrow Poison Assassin - Great Bosser! Video Guide Included!
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[3.10] Brittleknee’s Scourge Arrow Poison Assassin
 Greetings, Exiles! I’m Brittleknee! When they announced the updated Assassin ascendancy, I knew I really wanted to work with it and see what I could come up with. The Elusive buff seemed very interesting, and the changes to poison in addition to the Perfect Agony rework seemed like it was definitely worth exploring. I started playing PoE in 3.0 Harbinger, after poisons were knocked down into obscurity and it seemed like the right time to finally dust off and explore it. All in all, the build feels really good. It has very respectable damage which can be min-maxed beyond where I’ve taken it despite poison being a ‘ramp up’ damage over time mechanic. The combination of Perfect Agony and Coralito’s, a Crit/Crit Muli and Poison focused tree, and a boasting of various secondary defenses make it a well-rounded character. With flexible gem links, you can also customize this character to your personal preferences as well. Check out the Media section below for kill videos/clips! Catch me Streaming on Twitch or in game as @Brittleknee! The YT Video for the Build is Live! Check it out here! Build overview that talks through how the build works, from gear to mechanics and passives.
Delirium Update
This build might be a bit more tricky to get off of the ground so you'll likely want to stay MoM/TR until you can get the Hunter's Base and the fossils necessary to roll a "good enough" bow. With Legion not being on the map device, Darkscorn will be expensive. To see examples of "good enough" bows, you can check the crafting sub-section of Early Gearing. These will get the job more or less done until you're ready to craft the end-all bow. There's a number of fantastic Cluster Notables being added that benefit this build greatly, and while I have no official recommendations, I will leave a list here of all of those I find to be synergistic to the build, and to keep an eye out for. For Sirus you may want to have a Hybrid flask, as refilling both mana and life during his downtime phases if you get clipped can be useful. Have a wondrous... delirium. <3BK
Cluster Jewel Notables
Poison Scourge Arrow ======================= Tempered Arrowheads Bow Skills have +10% to Damage over Time Multiplier Bow Skills have 20% increased Skill Effect Duration 10% increased Duration of Ailments inflicted while wielding a Bow Heavy Hitter 30% increased Attack Damage 10% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold 20% chance to double Stun Duration 30% increased Damage with Ailments from Attack Skills Martial Prowess 20% increased Attack Damage 6% increased Attack Speed 15% increased Global Accuracy Rating 20% increased Damage with Ailments from Attack Skills Touch of Cruelty Chaos Skills have 10% chance to Hinder Enemies on Hit, with 30% reduced Movement Speed Enemies Hindered by you take 10% increased Chaos Damage Unspeakable Gifts Enemies you Kill have a 10% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage Wicked Pall 35% increased Chaos Damage 20% increased Skill Effect Duration Low Tolerance +8% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Poison Poisons you inflict on non-Poisoned Enemies deal 300% increased Damage Steady Torment 20% increased Poison Duration 20% increased Bleeding Duration +10% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Bleeding you inflict on Poisoned Enemies +10% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Poison you inflict on Bleeding Enemies Eldritch Inspiration +8% to Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier 16% increased maximum Mana 20% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Eternal Suffering +5% to Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier Chaos Skills have 30% increased Skill Effect Duration Wasting Affliction 20% increased Damage with Ailments Damaging Ailments deal damage 10% faster Haemorrhage +18% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Ailments from Critical Strikes 40% increased Critical Strike Chance Flow of Life 24% increased Damage over Time 4% increased maximum Life Regenerate 0.6% of Life per second Exposure Therapy +10% to Damage over Time Multiplier +30% Chaos Resistance against Damage Over Time Circling Oblivion 20% increased Damage over Time 20% increased Duration of Ailments on Enemies 15% increased Skill Effect Duration Brewed for Potency 24% increased Damage over Time 10% increased Flask Charges gained 20% increased Life and Mana Recovery from Flasks Victim Maker Curse Skills have 50% increased Skill Effect Duration 25% increased Damage with Hits and Ailments against Cursed Enemies Fettle +20 to maximum Life 10% increased maximum Life Surging Vitality 8% increased maximum Life Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second Every 5 seconds, Regenerate 10% of Life over one second Holistic Health 8% increased maximum Life 10% increased maximum Mana Prismatic Dance 30% increased Evasion Rating +1% to all maximum Elemental Resistances Natural Vigour 30% increased Evasion Rating 8% increased maximum Life Shifting Shadow 20% increased Evasion Rating +20 to Dexterity 10% chance to Blind Enemies on Hit Untouchable 30% increased Evasion Rating 3% chance to Dodge Attack Hits 3% chance to Dodge Spell Hits Darting Movements 5% increased Movement Speed 5% chance to Dodge Attack and Spell Hits while moving 30% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments 3% chance to Dodge Attack Hits 3% chance to Dodge Spell Hits Student of Decay 25% increased Damage over Time +13% to Chaos Resistance Rot-Resistant +13% to Chaos Resistance Regenerate 1.2% of Life per second Regenerate 0.6% of Energy Shield per second Regenerate 0.3% of Mana per second Path of Building Links: Scourge Arrow Assassin All significant upgrades to damage are not reflected in PoB : +1 Quiver, +1 Pod Helm, and Watcher's Eye. 
1.0. Introduction
This section will provide you a build overview to help see if this may be a good fit for you!
1.1. Pros & Cons
Pros This build can do all content! Though untested in deep delves, it easily survives in i83 zones in 220-240 where I have been looking for Aul.
Cons There are, however, a few drawbacks to the build which include the following:
1.2. Playstyle
The Shadow’s position on the passive tree doesn’t do the poor lad any favors when it comes to having approachable amount of Max HP. The amount of travel nodes needed to reach the Scion life wheel means you have to give up a lot of goodies just to get there. As such, I’ve made up for a relatively low HP pool by stacking this character up with as many secondary defenses as I can. Acrobatic, Phase Acrobatics, Mind over Matter, with high evasion and dodge, blind and phasing. On top of this, we have Elusive, which is quite nice. That all being said, this plays like most bow builds. You’ll want to actively move to avoid damage and kite difficult enemies as you can. All of the defenses are there to help you survive things you couldn’t avoid, but should not be used in lieu of actively dodging and avoiding damage. If you plant your feet on a bow build, you will die.
1.3. Origins
I had every intention of starting on a necromancer in 3.8, but I was pulled away by the announced changes to Assassin. The updated Perfect Agony node seemed really interesting as well, as it is a very different way to scale damage. It also seemed like the perfect opportunity to marry two of my favorite Trickster builds, and apply it to the new Assassin ascendancy. The Elusive buff also seemed very neat, and worth seeing how defensive it really was. All in all, I’m pleased with how this turned out. I think there is a good balance between offense and defense, and even though a lot of the end-game DPS upgrades do not reflect as a number in PoB (+1 Arrow on Quiver, +1 Pod Enchant) make no mistake this thing well-geared is a beast. At the end of the day, you do need to remember that this is still damage over time, even if it is really good damage, and some people prefer big, chunky crit damage, so make sure you’re being honest to yourself before trying the build what you prefer! 
2.0. Skill Trees, Ascendancy, and Leveling
Ready to get started? Then let’s go over everything you’ll need to start your Character!
2.1. Ascendancy Choices
Assassin Ascendancy
2.2. Leveling Toolkit
Leveling this character should be relatively straightforward. We’ll be leveling as Toxic Rain until its time to use the respec points provided by the storyline to move into Crit and Crit Multi for Perfect Agony. You may want to hold off on the respec until you can afford the uniques you’ll need, but that’s up to you!
Leveling Trees
   When you're ready to go Crit/Multi/Perfect Agony: 
Skill Gem Links
This section will help with what gems you need to pick up on the way, and what your links will be.
Main Attack Links
Start with Caustic Arrow until you can use Toxic Rain at Lv. 12. Pick up Scourge Arrow in A3 and level it in your offset weapons. Use Lesser Poison Support until you get Vile Toxins (and have the first lab complete!) Added Chaos Damage and Vicious Projectiles come from Siosa or Lily. (Sub/Use Vicious Proj, Infused Channeling, and Unbound Ailments as you please.) TR - 3-Link
TR - 4-Link
TR - 5-Link
TR/SA - 6-Link
**If you are going to buy 20/20 gems at level 70, then go ahead and level with whatever supports you want! Void Manipulation, Swift Affliction, etc!**
Other Gear Links
Until you are Ready to go Mind over Matter and have both the Cloak of Defiance and Essence Worm, you can have Herald of Agony to keep you company. At the very least link it with Pierce, but any additional support gems are up to you and your mana situation. Malevolence Clarity, Precision - Leave these lv 1. Despair, Self-Cast until you can purchase Curse on Hit, then do Frenzy - Curse on Hit - Despair, Add GMP (from Quest Reward) Spell Totem - Wither - Faster Casting - Multiple Totem Support Cast When Damage Taken - Steelskin (level as high as you can) Withering Step - Flame Dash - Vaal Blight - Increased Duration (You can use Blink Arrow or Dash instead if you like them better than Flame Dash, but do not replace Withering Step)
2.3. Pantheons
Major:
Minor:
2.4. Bandits
Help Alira for Resist, Mana and Multi. Check me out on Twitch! http://www.twitch.tv/brittleknee All of my builds are here: https://tinyurl.com/y5vwayk2 Last edited by brittleknee#2158 on Mar 11, 2020, 10:14:57 PM Last bumped on Jul 12, 2020, 3:15:30 AM
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3.0. Early Gearing & Getting Started
Hooray, you made it to maps! Now it’s time to get started!
3.1. Required Uniques
 Cloak of Defiance Since we go no where near the Witch side of the passive tree, our character gains Mind over Matter via the Cloak of Defiance. The MoM granted by the cloak is exactly as the Keystone, but there is an additive property to it, granting an additional 10% of damage to be taken from Mana before Life, for a total of 40% of damage taken from Mana. This is a powerful defensive ability, allow us to use our mana pool as extra life since we can’t make it to the Scion Life Wheel.  Essence Worm This ring makes it so Malevolence costs no mana reservation, and it gives any aura socketed into it two additional levels. We scale our damage with the Malevolence aura and Despair curse. Due to Malevolence being in the Ring and Despair being part of the Frenzy setup, we can leave a vast majority of our mana unreserved, save for running low level Clarity and Precision.  Drillneck Scourge Arrow has build in pierce into the skill gem itself, allowing us to make use of the Drillneck to help us scale our poison. While some rare quivers could be better long term, I think Drillneck is a great choice for the build and is pretty accessible.  Coralito’s Signature  Lioneye’s Fall Any passives in the jewel’s effect whose description includes the word melee or names any of the melee weapon types (claw, dagger, sword, etc) function as bow nodes instead. Specifically in this build we use it to convert the claw nodes in the shadow area to provide a good source of crit, multi, life leech, mana leech and blind. Then we convert the dagger nodes below Acro/Phase acro for powerful scaling of ailments and some passive phasing chance.
3.2. End-Game Gem Setup
Weapon: Scourge Arrow, Mirage Archer, Vile Toxins, Deadly Ailments, Added Chaos, Unbound Ailments (or Infused Channeling as a slightly defensive option). Helmet: Cast When Damage Taken, Body Armor: Frenzy, Greater Multiple Projectiles, Curse on Hit, Despair, Onslaught, Pierce Gloves: Withering Step, Vaal Blight, Increased Duration Fourth is Movement Skill of Choice - Flame Dash/Dash/Blink Arrow Boots: Spell Totem, Wither, Faster Casting, Multiple Totem Support Ring: Malevolence
3.3. Flasks
Can use a Quicksilver instead of Quartz. This was my bossing setup.
3.4. Jewels
You’ll want Lioneye’s and a Watcher’s Eye. Useful Watcher’s Eye Stats are (in no particular order):
3.5. Crafting
You’ll have to craft a bow and a helmet in this build (or buy something pre-done)! Do not craft the helmet until you’ve bought an Evasion base with the +Pod Enchant on it. Get a temple Rare Helm with Mana % Until you’ve saved the money to buy the base and craft it. An Elder Evasion Base with +Pod is BiS. Hunter's Thicket Bow Item Level Needed: 80 Crafting Currency Used: Fossils: Metallic, Corroded, Abberant together. Remember Despair at 10 is actually not a good mod, but its stupid common and hard to avoid. Here are some interesting ones I made while crafting the one I settled on for end game. Evasion Base Helm Item Level Needed: 84 Crafting Currency Used: 2-Socket Resonators, Pristine Fossils, Aberrant Fossils 
5.0. End Game
5.1. Final Build Gear
I could have definitely had and/or crafted better rares. By the time I was looking for serious end game gear, the market had sharply declined. I will likely have to put on my big girl pants and try crafting some of the upgrades that will be ideal.
5.2. Improving Further
Helm: An Elder Evasion base with the same Life and -9% Chaos Resist plus Elder’s Max Mana % would be super, but the prices of Evasion SA +Pod bases are fairly absurd right now. Maybe towards the end of the league. Bow Perfect Bow would be Attack Damage%, Faster Poison, Chance for 100% more Poison Damage and Poison Damage % would be ideal. This would have to occur on a Shaper/Hunter Awakened item, and that's a big yikes. Belt Likewise rolling Corroded and Aberrant and Pristine fossils on a Stygian Vise can land you a very nice belt with Chaos Damage, Ailment Damage and Life. Just remember in all your craftting, you will need the temple rares with the Mana% +T1 Mana for your boots and gloves. The extra mana % is needed and non-optional!
5.3.GearSwaps/GemSwaps
Infused Channeling vs. Unbound Ailments Unbound is more damage, but Infused had some offensive and defensive properties as far as mitigating incoming chaos damage. What that means to you is up to you. Pick whichever you’d like. Spell Totem vs. Balista Support However you’re wanting to apply Wither is honestly fine, so you can go with either a Spell Totem with Wither or Ranged Attack Totem with Withering Touch. The attack the RAT uses will need to be able to apply Withering Touch very quickly. HoGM/Uber Atziri No gear swaps needed. Check me out on Twitch! http://www.twitch.tv/brittleknee All of my builds are here: https://tinyurl.com/y5vwayk2 Last edited by brittleknee#2158 on Mar 11, 2020, 9:39:46 PM
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6.0. Frequently Asked Questions
Uh oh! Iif you’re running into issues, make sure to check here first!
6.1. Frequently Asked Questions
Will compile more questions once there are a few pages of replies or questions on stream. Darkscorn vs. Hunter Thicket/Assassin's At the beginning of a league, Darkscorn will be ridiculously priced due to its overall rarity, being a Legion-Specific item and Legion being maps-only. And Hunter Thicket base will be far more common and approachable early on. However, towards the end of the league, Darkscorn will drop in price and you can honestly use whichever one you prefer, just make sure you accomodate for the Chaos Res needed otherwise you will take massive amounts of damage if you are -60% chaos res like most SC folks are.
6.2. Troubleshooting Common Issues
Mana Management How do you know if you have enough mana? Multiply your HP by 0.6667 to determine how much Mana you need. That value is calculated from the ratio of Mana to HP - 40/60. We use the 40/60 Calculation instead of the 30/70 one because Cloak of Defiance provides and additional 10%. However, the amount of unreserved Mana can me under the recommended calculation if you have exceptional sources of recovery, such as Leech and Regen and sources of Mana gained on Kill. This means you can refill your mana globe quickly, thus giving you some While you will be occasionally one-shot, if you find it happens semi-frequently then you need to make sure you’ve got enough mana. Either get more on the passive tree, on gear, or de-level your Clarity or Precision. Elusive Elusive is a buff that is granted on Critical Strike, and starts and full strength and rapidly losing strength until it is depleted. This means on your first strike against monsters, you will be the most defensive. Withering Step is a skill gem that can refresh Elusive no matter its value. This becomes not only a movement skill, but when used appropriately, functions like a small defensive cooldown. The fact that it applies wither as well makes it nice to get a little more damage, while not having to bust out the ‘ol wither totems all the time. Finding the rhythm to use it can take a little practice, but its definitely worth doing. Survival Very similar to my Trickster build, this character very much relies on secondary defenses in order to survive. Each defense adds a layer of protection to prevent incoming damage collectively. Your mitigation is broken down into four core parts. Mind Over Matter:
Evasion:
Dodge:
Blind:
Improving Toughness There are a few key Passives to consider if you are wanting to take less incoming Damage: 1.) Unpredictable Offense (Offensive and Defensive) 2.) Silent Steps (Purely Defensive) 3.) Dazzling Strikes (Offensive and Defensive) Start with these, but feel free to change the tree to grab more max life if you are considering HC. 
7.0. Media
7.1. Videos, Gifs, Clips
Bossing: Note: These were clipped before I had a +1 Pod Enchant, which is a HUGE boost to DPS for this build. (All bosses are Deathless)
But you only have 4k Life?
7.2. Social Media
Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/brittleknee Twitter - https://twitter.com/brittlekneetv Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/brittlekneetv Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brittlekneetv/ Discord - https://discord.gg/36mXkFq 
8.0. Credits, Updates, Changelog
Credits
Thank you for checking out this guide! I’d also like to thank everyone who has followed and subscribed! You guys keep the dream alive!
Updates
Archived updates posted at the top of the guide at the beginning of a new league will be moved here at the league’s conclusion.
Metamorph Update
The changes to Scourge Arrow more or less breaks us even with the damage we were doing before. However, we will likely need to use a Darkscorn moving forward until we figure out if Vicious Proj is coming back or if there are any new influences that are even better. To start, farm up 6L Bow cards and either hit it with corroded + abberant fossils until you hit something somewhat decent, or use an Essence of Insanity for the Decay degen until you can afford Darkscorn. Remember that Darkscorn has a downside, and that downside is that we will also have to source Chaos resistance so we're not spiking during heavy phys damage. Darkscorn should hopefully be approachable over time due to Legion being on the map device. For anoints, you’ll either want Dirty Techniques or Adder’s Touch. Adder’s Touch is more approachable and offers great DPS. However, Dirty Techniques is just a little bit more damage (AT: 472k per poison and DT: 477k per poison in my current gear). For most, Adder’s Touch should be more than sufficient, but for those who truly wish to min-max, the most DPS comes from Dirty Techniques. You just have to decide if the Silver Oil is worth the mild increase in DPS. Have a great league! <3BK
Blight Update
Hooray, I’m publishing my first build of Blight League! While starting on a new character that was using poisons in a poison meta made the initial gearing of this character a bit tough, I believe that this is well enough to go ahead and put forward for consideration. I just wrapped up completing most of the available bosses (still looking for Aul) and have included videos of those kills in the media section below. I’ll continue to min-max the build a little bit more through the rest of the league, such as getting the helmet with the enchant on it and crafting it up, working on my overall gear and trying my hand at crafting a fossil-crafted bow, so there may be another small update to the build before the end of the league. For anoints, you’ll either want Dirty Techniques or Adder’s Touch. Adder’s Touch is more approachable and offers great DPS. However, Dirty Techniques is just a little bit more damage (AT: 472k per poison and DT: 477k per poison in my current gear). For most, Adder’s Touch should be more than sufficient, but for those who truly wish to min-max, the most DPS comes from Dirty Techniques. You just have to decide if the Silver Oil is worth the mild increase in DPS. Have a great league! <3BK
Changelog
7 Oct 2019 - Build Guide Published Check me out on Twitch! http://www.twitch.tv/brittleknee All of my builds are here: https://tinyurl.com/y5vwayk2 Last edited by brittleknee#2158 on Mar 11, 2020, 9:33:10 PM
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Looks fun, I will give it a try and let you know! Thanks.
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How does it compare against your trickster one?
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" Similar in many, many ways. U-Elder at this point is as comfortable as it was on the Trickster. There are a few differences, this one doesn't feel as good damage wise initially as the Trickster, but getting to 'end game' DPS takes less investment overall. Once the poisons get going the damage is pretty comparable, but noteworthy is the difference in playstyle (sometimes DoT is a turnoff for folks). Even though the damage is dished out a bit differently, the U-Elder encounter takes a similar amount of time for both. Survivability feels about the same, they have Shrouds, we have Elusive & MoM. It's definitely a new way to explore an existing favorite. Check me out on Twitch! http://www.twitch.tv/brittleknee All of my builds are here: https://tinyurl.com/y5vwayk2 Last edited by brittleknee#2158 on Oct 23, 2019, 12:06:26 PM
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Nice guide but there is no link for your bow in gear setup
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Ok.... maybe I'm being a noob, but please explain the movement setup of
Withering Step - Flame Dash - Vaal Blight - Increased Duration Inc Dur is the only support gem in that linkage. The other three are active skills. Blink to a spot, activate WS and Vaal B, then wait for mobs to come, then shoot the CA/TR/SA? doesn't seem like the right thing for a shoot-and-run setup. Please enlighten me. :) |
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" The bow I ended up rolling this league was not one I could link/recommend or else I would have people complaining about how difficult it is to get Vic Proj + Culling Strike. Therefore, I put the recommended bow in PoB. I would basically have to buy a second bow just for linking purposes. I mean, I guess I could once the league dumps in standard where I have more funds. The ideal bow is: Lv. 20 Vicious Proj (Elder Only Mod) Multimod (Craft) Flat Phys (Craft) Chaos Dot Multi (Craft) Crit/Quality (Craft) Attack Speed (Craft) I wanted to try for a Vic Proj + Poison Fossil Mod bow, but I was not fortunate enough to roll it. " Elusive (enhanced by Mistwalker) + Withering Step + Quicksilver is pretty speedy at weaving through packs. You may not always have 100% uptime on Withering Step but it should definitely be every other pack, and you'll still have Elusive + Quicksilver in general. It is very similar to Phase Run, but with the way it applies withered, you'll want to run all the way through a pack, turn and shoot, then move on. Flame dash is for dodging things that spook you, traversing uneven terrain, and generally fill in on moments you don't have Withering Step. Vaal Blight provides a Debuff for DPS. There was no other reasonable place to put this. Increased duration benefits Withering Step and Vaal Blight. All of that being said, feel free to use whichever movement skill setup feels best for you. Check me out on Twitch! http://www.twitch.tv/brittleknee All of my builds are here: https://tinyurl.com/y5vwayk2 Last edited by brittleknee#2158 on Nov 11, 2019, 9:43:39 PM
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" Run through, turn and shoot. Ok. Got it. Last edited by UtherSRG#3987 on Nov 11, 2019, 9:50:58 PM
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