Fyregrass' Comprehensive Storm Brand Assassin Guide - Currently Dead Build. Revisit in 2 weeks.

To those who are debating whether to play this build or invest into it further, this is what I can summarize from my experiences with this build having spent 20+ ex and running T16 maps/bosses:

Pros
- Relatively fast clear (especially with Inpulsa + Storm's Gift)
- Auto-targeting mechanic
- Damage scales extremely well with investment into late game
- Playstyle for Ultimatums is pretty forgiving (high cast speed, you don't stand still very often)

Cons
- Pure glass cannon
(Most people will have around 3.5k HP + 1.5k ES with a 20ex investment, and with no damage mitigation like block, dodge, armour, etc. your life will see-saw a LOT in maps (especially delirium). You are also limited to rolling maps with little to no damage mods on them)

- Bossing is not "fun"
(Your damage is enough to kill bosses, but you have to be mechanically sound to avoid dying. Even mechanics that don't usually one-shot will come close to killing you extremely quickly. You will be running around constantly like a chicken if you can't instaphase bosses)

- Ultimatums are still pretty dangerous with investment
(This can probably be solved with a headhunter, but for the most part, you will still be running in circles hoping you don't randomly get stunned/2-3 shot)

- This build has NO inherent regen
(Running any map with degen effects like burning ground or chaos dots will drain your health very quickly without any leech. Especially if you want to maximize DPS, this build can't really fit a life flask)

- Reliance on flasks for sustain
(The build guide doesn't tell you this, but early on you have to rely fully on an Atziri's Promise for life leech. Once that runs out, you're out of luck. Beyond that, once you invest more into the build, the leech from Doryani's Lesson/Storm Drinker is extremely slow due to leech cap machanics. You end up relying purely on Cinderswallow Urn life/es on kill to sustain in maps. If you don't run those, your ability to sustain your ehp drops drastically)

- You will NEED to invest at least 10-15ex+ for the build to feel decent for T10+ mapping.
(This is not a low investment build to start the league unfortunately. The Agnerod build can only really take you to T10 comfortably before you start lacking damage. 2x Void Batteries + Militant Faith + 6L Inpulsa is recommended for you to do Ultimatums above T10. Would be much nicer if there was an intermediate option between Agnerod and Void Batteries)


TLDR: This build is pure glass cannon. No way around it. It's also not cheap. If I could go back to the start of the league, I would NOT choose this as my starter. There are better all-rounder builds out there for less investment. Having said that, it maps fairly quickly, and there's still an aspect of fun with brands if you enjoy the playstyle and like zapping groups of enemies with big explosions.

Totally agree with your points so far. I don't think this is a problem with assassin as a class, but because the way the author has gone for a pure glass cannon approach.


+ spell gem wands or sceptres are so cheap for example, and a shield with +1 skill gems. Another +int gem necklace etc the damage gets right up competing against power charges especially with good clusters.

Hypothermia support could be added in with a call of the brotherhood to allow things being frozen which would be a huge QOL for survivability, with some HP nodes and phase acrobatics added in.

It's worth the OP looking into these routes imho as a transition period imho.

Crown of the inward eye would be really nice QOL also and it's cheap, Energy leech as ES could be used aswell in our 6 link along with hypothermia etc.

I hope OP looks at this post and has a play around with some of these ideas, add in vitality also etc. It would transform the build from a glass cannon to a tanky and strong character affordably whilst' still taking the build to 15-20m DPS with some investment. Glorious vanity would push it to the next level and would become unkillable

most of all, there wouldn't need to be so much tinkering with different "phases" like going from Mom to a sudden switch and respec needed.

I'd suggest you guys looking at the inquisitor versions out there. Most of them have hybrid 7-8k HP/ES, alongwith Vitality, ES leech etc, and it really is a more pleasant playstyle. https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds?class=Inquisitor&skill=Storm-Brand

As long as they plan to nerf ultimatums i think the build Will do fine. Atleast i hope so. Im to lazy to level something new..

i dont know if i was lucky but i never had a smoother league starter than this. leveling was great

the transitions worked really well and now im rushing through all t16 content, dont care about map mods.
just straight into mobgroups, because i know they are dead before they can hit me. flesh and stone and immortal call + i think 6k ehp is enough to feel really safe.

and thats all with less than optimized gear. really cant understand all the complaints. especially since its stated multiple times that this is not a tanky build

mobility is just key here, never stand still, run tangential to bosses/harder enemies and keep distance if you are scared to die.

gotta thank the author for this

2days 21hours played (lots of trading and afk time in this)
99 deaths and i sure know i had a lot more with other seemingly more tanky builds

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cookiereloaded wrote:

i dont know if i was lucky but i never had a smoother league starter than this. leveling was great

the transitions worked really well and now im rushing through all t16 content, dont care about map mods.
just straight into mobgroups, because i know they are dead before they can hit me. flesh and stone and immortal call + i think 6k ehp is enough to feel really safe.

and thats all with less than optimized gear. really cant understand all the complaints. especially since its stated multiple times that this is not a tanky build

mobility is just key here, never stand still, run tangential to bosses/harder enemies and keep distance if you are scared to die.

gotta thank the author for this

2days 21hours played (lots of trading and afk time in this)
99 deaths and i sure know i had a lot more with other seemingly more tanky builds

The transitions work well only if you have the currency to do so. Moving from the basic storm brand build to the Corrupted Soul version is an extra 10-15 exalts. And that's not even including Void Batteries, which you'll need the damage from to start running red map Ultimatums. For those that are unlucky with drops, they end up getting stuck at yellow maps for days trying to farm that currency before they can move onto red tier maps. It's just not a great league starter since it's so currency dependent just to progress.

I think most people also understand that this isn't a tanky build. The main issue stems from the fact that it's well below average in terms of defence. Where most typical builds will have 2-3 major defensive layers of mitigation, this build literally only has elusive to rely on. Also, I cannot find where the guide tells you that the build is squishy/glass cannon.

The build can clear all content (I mentioned that above), which is what I think you're trying to point out. But there's a difference between clearing it comfortably and clearing it while trying to avoid everything possible. This build makes you feel like, if you make a mistake, you either die or survive with practically no hp left. You especially notice this when you're doing content where it's impossible to avoid taking damage (i.e. Feared Invitations)

been doing t16 on a 5link agnerod west setup, just switched to void batterys yesterday.

but ill accept it. i was lucky, or have a different view concerning this.

It's a matter of, what kind of playstyle you like i guess. I enjoyed this build last league that's why i'm playing it again. Probably gonna stick with this because it's really good at endgame. Expensive for now because the league just started. The guide is pretty well laid out for new and experienced players. Once you commit to it, tweaking for offense/defense is really not that hard. I see a couple of streamers going brands, but to each his own.

Have fun with your next build, Enjoy!

Any way to squeeze in some type of life leech or something else to help with life sustain in early maps? Leveling was fine, just hit maps and it's been rough. Just a little over 3k life, resistances all a bit over cap, chaos res is still negative though. Ultimatums are a no-go, typically die before I can even get past the first phase. Sitting at level 73 and wondering how many deaths I'm going to wrack up trying to get to 83 to start the transition from spellslinger to brands.

Is the payoff worth it? Because I've played many builds that were way better starters than this, including glass cannon builds that did way more damage than this does so far.

Edit: Read another good reply here, going to try an Atziri's Promise flask tonight and see if that helps a bit. Should solve two problems in one but at the loss of a flask slot for now. Thank you sabermetrics!

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manipulos wrote:

Any way to squeeze in some type of life leech or something else to help with life sustain in early maps? Leveling was fine, just hit maps and it's been rough. Just a little over 3k life, resistances all a bit over cap, chaos res is still negative though. Ultimatums are a no-go, typically die before I can even get past the first phase. Sitting at level 73 and wondering how many deaths I'm going to wrack up trying to get to 83 to start the transition from spellslinger to brands.

Is the payoff worth it? Because I've played many builds that were way better starters than this, including glass cannon builds that did way more damage than this does so far.

Grab an Atziri's Promise Flask, it'll help you with hp sustain and also your chaos res too. Not to mention the nice damage boost.

i noticed while playing with PoB that Nimbleness offers way more dps than vengeful commander, why are we opting for it?

nimbleness gives about twice as much dps for 1 more point, and since we have a few points to throw around before the 3rd cluster I dont see the usefulness of vengeful commander at all

and pretty much the same with throatseeker but thats another point (at lvl 96 both are reachable)

any insight?