[3.10] Lone Messenger HOA Fire BV Assassin | Fast&Tanky | Ethereal Knives Version Added!!!

Hello and welcome to this unique Heralds of Ash Fire Blade Vortex Assassin build that features the new Keystone Lone Messenger. The goal here is to scale the crap out of Herald of Ash buff effect with 2 Circle of Anguish, then get 50% More HOA buff effect from Lone Messenger. We convert 100% physical damage to fire, and what could benefit more from HOA buff than a physical spell such as Blade Vortex?



Videos first
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T16-Forge of Phenix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bqZTNyvLn4
At the time of recording was using a shield so less DPS.

T16-Lair of hydra. Ethereal Knives version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qksLJR8bKA8



Build Mechanics --- Please Read First
Spoiler


1. First of all, What is Lone Messenger?

Lone messenger is a New Keystone granted by the unique small cluster jewel Calamitous Visions. It forces you to have only 1 herald skill active and disable all auras. But for that 1 herald skill it gives 50% More Buff effect. Note that this is a More Modifier. If you get 200% increased HOA buff effect from Circle of Anguish, Lone messenger alone gives you another 150% increased HOA buff effect, totaling a whopping 450% HOA buff effect. We have another 75% unreserved mana which means we can run MOM. The question becomes, how to fully utilize this huge HOA buff effect --- The answer is: Fire BV.




2. Why fire Blade Vortex or Ethereal Knives?

BV is a physical spell and when fully converted to Fire will benefit from both HOA's buff effect, namely, gain x% physical damage as extra fire damage and more spell fire damage. Other physical spells BladeFall, BladeBlast or Etheral Knife aren't as smooth as BV IMO.


3. How do you convert 100% physical to fire as an Assassin?

Simple, we use Vulconus + Avatar of Fire. Vulconus is yet another highly underrated unique in POE which means it is very cheap.



4. Why Assassin?

Tanky, fast, loads of damage. Elementalist is another option but Golems get Shredded in Delirium. Chieftain is the most obvious Choice but Fire BV Chieftan, what's the novelty in that right.





POB
Spoiler


Currently at level 94.

BV: https://pastebin.com/x1qhhhKZ

We use 2 thread of Hope Jewels

One medium size Located right above devotion to allocates Divine Wrath+Judgement+Furry + Arcane capacitor.

One very large sized located right next to Mystic Bulwark devotion to allocates Mana regen/Crit chance/Crit multi per power charge + Heart of Flame + Throatcutter

We also use Militant Faith Timeless jewel located right next to Melding, turning Pain Attenument into Inner Conviction granting us 21% more spell damage.


More on this in Gearing section.

Ethereal Knives version:

https://pastebin.com/UQZ97MPe




Pros & Cons
Spoiler



- 6.5-7K eHP, tons of defenses. MoM, Big Dodge, Fortify, immune to Crits.
- 5-8 M Shaper DPS, depending on whether you use Intensify or not.
- Not expensive to get started (4-5 ex).
- Huge clear thanks to HOA and massive single target DPS.
- Can do all map mods easily except for Ele reflect maps. To deal with this, save up your sextant rolls that makes you immune to reflected damage.



- Life/mana leech isn't easy to get for spell casters nowadays
- Not a good League Starter cuz it needs those unique rings.
- BV isn't for everyone
- Rather complex build mechanics, not beginner friendly
- Because of the two thread of hopes jewels, getting resists capped may not be
as easy.





Change log
Spoiler

04/03/20: Build Guide Posted




Contents I have done with this build
Spoiler


-T16 map farming
-Simulacrum 20/20, 2 bosses in one wave, deathless
-Delve 300+
-All Guardians
-Shaper and Elder
-Uber Elder, not deathless tho






Gearing, Skill gems
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My Current Gear
Spoiler









Gear explanations
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Calamitous Visions:



Mandatory item that defines the build. Socket it top left next to Minion Instability.

2 Circle of Anguish:



Mandatory item. The key mod to look for here is Herald of Ash has (70-100)% increased Buff Effect. Get at least 90% increased buff effect. The other mod you can just get +fire resist when affected by HOA, these are a lot cheaper than the ones I am using, and makes getting enough resist a lot easier. The one on the right is perfectly rolled with 1 divine :).


Weapons:



Volcunos is Mandatory item. This is how we convert all physical damage to fire. Get a good roll on the crit chance and this one little dagger will give you 240% increased crit chance, not bad.

The other rare dagger you want +1 to all physical spells, crit chance/multi and an open prefix to craft Trigger Socket Spells. Huge QoL.


Helmet:



Not mandatory but it is a cheap and good option for MOM builds. For the enchant I prefer increased BV duration. A rare helmet with -9% fire res to nearby enemies is also fine, but more difficult to come by nowadays since the fossil nerfs.


Thread of Hope

These are amazingly efficient.

One medium size Located right above devotion to allocates Divine Wrath+Judgement+Furry + Arcane capacitor.

One very large sized located right next to Mystic Bulwark devotion to allocates Mana regen/Crit chance/Crit multi per power charge + Heart of Flame + Throatcutter

See POB as an example.

Militant Faith Timeless Jewel




Must be Dominus. Socket it right next to Melding, turning Pain Attenument into Inner Conviction granting us 21% more spell damage. See POB as an example.


Flasks:

Personal Choice really. Check your crit chance with POB if it is >95% which is pretty easy with this build setup, drop Diamond Flask and get a Basalt or Quartz.


Gloves, belts, boots, amulet:

Life/mana, resist, attributes. Shouldn't be too bad to fill these out.



This glove is super fun but kinda expensive right now.

Note: Get crit multi on your amulet. You can also get Fire damage Leech on the amulets but it is not cheap.







Gem links
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See Gearing section





Leveling
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For leveling, use BV soon as you get it in Act 1. Should be easy, especially later on when you get unleash.



Ascendancy

Spoiler


Mistwalker -> Unstable Infusion -> Deadly Infusion -> Opportunistic




Pantheon

Spoiler


Major God: Soul of Lunaris
Mminor God: Soul of Tukohama


Bandits

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Kill all or save Alira depending on your gears.




Anointment

Spoiler


I anointed Dreamer to balance my MOM.




Helmet Enchant

Spoiler


Increased BV duration or AOE.




Important notes --- Please Read

Spoiler


1. Must drop Armageddon brands for boss fights, huge DPS boost from Combustion and it charges up your power charges real fast, and gives you mana leech.
2. Keep your fortify up as much as you can.



Cluster Jewel
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- We travel quite a bit on the tree so it is difficult to fit in other CLuster jewels.






Concluding remarks
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I enjoy building around off-meta, unpopular uniques items and/or skills. Check out my Youtube to see if there is a build you like:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKjg_P-r0IfTZwF-bp8C2DA?view_as=subscriber

Here are my other build guides:

Occultist "Triple D"- DancingDuo/Doedre' skin (outdated)
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2659375

Elementalist Storm Brand-Autobomber:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2666929

Lone Messenger HOA Fire BV Assassin
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2821501

Poison Assassin CoC Bladefall
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2785163

Dance with Death Cyclone + Varunastra Assassin
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2809746

All U Need is One Good SWEEP: Big Sweep + Shockwave JUGG
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2817450

Impale Stone Golemancer Build
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2841742


If you like the content, you can consider buying me a coffee:)

ko-fi.com/wodekofi

Thank you!
Last edited by wodeljn#1837 on Apr 21, 2020, 10:22:59 PM
Last bumped on Nov 4, 2020, 8:45:32 PM
Hey, really cool build. I was wanting to start a tanky BV Assassin. Is this one HC viable or as tanky as this version?

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2739393/page/1

Or just in general, do you die much in the harder endgame content? Thanks!
"
jackals1234 wrote:
Hey, really cool build. I was wanting to start a tanky BV Assassin. Is this one HC viable or as tanky as this version?

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2739393/page/1

Or just in general, do you die much in the harder endgame content? Thanks!


Hi, I do die occasionally in fully juiced IIQ 130%+ T16s, 19th-20th wave in Simulacrum usually cuz the boss, as well as Delve 400+. Other than that it is quite hard to die. Compared to the self-poison one this one has much lower Chaos resist but much higher eHP and clear speed. I think it is HC viable but I never tried :)
"
wodeljn wrote:
"
jackals1234 wrote:
Hey, really cool build. I was wanting to start a tanky BV Assassin. Is this one HC viable or as tanky as this version?

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2739393/page/1

Or just in general, do you die much in the harder endgame content? Thanks!


Hi, I do die occasionally in fully juiced IIQ 130%+ T16s, 19th-20th wave in Simulacrum usually cuz the boss, as well as Delve 400+. Other than that it is quite hard to die. Compared to the self-poison one this one has much lower Chaos resist but much higher eHP and clear speed. I think it is HC viable but I never tried :)


Thanks for the response! Do you have any leveling trees by chance?
"
jackals1234 wrote:
"
wodeljn wrote:
"
jackals1234 wrote:
Hey, really cool build. I was wanting to start a tanky BV Assassin. Is this one HC viable or as tanky as this version?

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2739393/page/1

Or just in general, do you die much in the harder endgame content? Thanks!


Hi, I do die occasionally in fully juiced IIQ 130%+ T16s, 19th-20th wave in Simulacrum usually cuz the boss, as well as Delve 400+. Other than that it is quite hard to die. Compared to the self-poison one this one has much lower Chaos resist but much higher eHP and clear speed. I think it is HC viable but I never tried :)


Thanks for the response! Do you have any leveling trees by chance?


Not right now sry, I rerolled it from another charcter. I will make one soon. I would assume you can level with BV it should be pretty easy.
Gonna try this build out!! Do you think running a spellslinger bladefall/blast variant would work with this build?
"
lGuillianl wrote:
Gonna try this build out!! Do you think running a spellslinger bladefall/blast variant would work with this build?

I am not sure how you would fire projectiles from you wand...
i'm interested in trying this build as i had one of the rings drop which are needed (not perfect mods though). One question though, you link mana leech with armageddon brand but that doesn't do anything as far as i can see because it only works on attacks. I could be wrong here or missing something. But for now i've replaced it with arcane surge
"
Chazeloon wrote:
i'm interested in trying this build as i had one of the rings drop which are needed (not perfect mods though). One question though, you link mana leech with armageddon brand but that doesn't do anything as far as i can see because it only works on attacks. I could be wrong here or missing something. But for now i've replaced it with arcane surge


Yes sorry I changed it to Onslaught support or Culling strike for bossing.
This seems really cool, but i don't have enough currency to get the perfect
version of the rings, should i prioritize the 100% increased buff or the %fire damage, or should i get one of each?

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