(RETIRED) [3.20] Sanavi's ☣ Poison BV Trickster ☣ | SSF/HC Viable! ✔️

Hello ,I’m playing ur build (first time bv) an I wanna know ,how I can sustain mana ,always when I’m fighting with bosses or fat rare mobs ,I used bv 2 times and my mana gone ,in pob I didn’t see how u solve the problem(sorry for my English) and I need to take items which in pob endgame or I can go items like in ur gear?

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AntiCreep wrote:

Hello ,I’m playing ur build (first time bv) an I wanna know ,how I can sustain mana ,always when I’m fighting with bosses or fat rare mobs ,I used bv 2 times and my mana gone ,in pob I didn’t see how u solve the problem(sorry for my English) and I need to take items which in pob endgame or I can go items like in ur gear?

Hey! If you look in the PoB, we are using an Enduring mana flask, which continues to replenish your mana even if it's capped. This is how we sustain.

The thing is that i feel when not using blight + bane (for despair) my dmg falls off and the build is very button-heavy if you don't have a curse on gloves/rings. I need to execute the rotation to get the most out of it.

With what skills did u level up?

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tona91 wrote:

The thing is that i feel when not using blight + bane (for despair) my dmg falls off and the build is very button-heavy if you don't have a curse on gloves/rings. I need to execute the rotation to get the most out of it.

Yeah, until you get an Asenath's or curse on hit ring, you're probably going to have to manually curse some rares to kill them. That's the state of PoE at the moment, though.

I didn't need Blight to just clear white/yellow maps, however. By the time I was in red maps I had an Asenath's so it also wasn't necessary unless I was doing the map boss.

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Cinden wrote:

With what skills did u level up?

I used BV as soon as it was available (Act 1). It took a while to feel good, getting Unleash for example. But I level slow so I didn't care.

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Yeah, until you get an Asenath's or curse on hit ring, you're probably going to have to manually curse some rares to kill them. That's the state of PoE at the moment, though.

This is not really true though. There is always an option of Blasphemy for 35% reservation.

Some personal opinions and notes about leveling and early mapping.

Keep in mind this is from an average Joe kind of player - don't care about speed/efficiency that much but more about how good and smooth it feels to level and play. Which means I want absolutely no problems with mana, too many reserved auras or having a big part of build that only starts working when you are lvl 80+.

Also I got a Divine Orb drop from first Kalandra Mirror in T1 maps and 5 link drop during very early Campaign so your average league start experience and early upgrades might vary.

I started with BV the moment you can use it (Etheral Blades before 12 but anything works really), however BV as a skill itself does not feel that great to level with. Without duration nodes, additional radius from gem levels, no Unleash and having to constantly be almost on top of enemies - definitely not a smooth leveling experience. The Poison part - also not that good.

This is not specific to actual build itself - just the nature of Blade Vortex as a skill and Poison as a mechanic.

About Poison. Yes damage on bosses will be more than enough but bosses honestly do not take up big part of a Campaign. Mostly you really do majority of dmg with base BV dmg and not poison. Or at least that's been my experience.

Many times during Campaign I had this thought that it's probably better to level up with some sort of elemental BV like Hatred+Added Fire support etc. It's quite easy to have some flat elemental damage on gear. Or perhaps just path next to poison clusters but grab generic dmg/life/aura/defense nodes first. Then before maps fill up remaining poison nodes. Having said that - leveling was perfectly fine overall.

Some things that surprised me and I never noticed before while playing with these skills.

Pet from Herald of Agony does surprising amount of free dmg throughout entire Campaign. Especially to clean up enemies standing outside of your BV.

Same for Frostblink - this skill can blow half hp of normal mobs when you blink into the pack.

Plague Bearer is a bit dissappointing during Campaign. It takes too long to incubate fully and it nerfs your normal poison dmg through most of the area only to spend in on a pack or two with a rare mob. You also change areas too fast and stacks do not carry over(unless its different floor of same area). I would start using it in Maps since it shines at that point and takes little time to stack.

Withering Step is amazing but not for what you probably think. Yes 5 stacks of Withered on demand without having to cast Blight and 30% dodge+movement speed are great but the true MVP is Phasing buff. Cannot imagine playing this build without Withering Step and having to deal with mob collision all the time. Gameplay looks like this so far: pre cast BV once or twice(around 10 secs duration atm), activate speed flask + Withering Step and just run through packs killing everything. If something survives then just run in circles around it. Be strategic about it though - you want to be on the edges of the pack when you stop to recast BV (Phasing will drop and you dont want to be stuck surrounded).

This is imo the biggest defensive edge of this build. Always on the move, always doing dmg and having the speed,maneuverability to slightly outrange attacks or just move out of the way.

Some passive tree tips for smooth leveling.

I have taken Evasion Mastery 10% speed node and Poison Mastery 3% life on killing a poisoned enemy (very nice quality of life before you get your ascendancy). Rushed duration cluster and then chance to poison clusters.

There are few good nodes that I am not sure are taken in the initial PoB.
Fangs of the Viper(speed+dmg), Resourcefullness + Coldhearted Calculation but path through life/es on kill nodes. That's flat 30 ES/Life - this along with other life/es on kill will make you almost immortal through entire Campaign while clearing packs and getting chugged by some random hits.

Passives tree is quite flexible and after grabbing duration and maxing chance to poison - you cannot really go wrong. This happens as fast as Act 4.

For Auras I run Herald of Agony (mandatory to get 100% chance to poison while leveling) and Purity of Elements to not worry about resists after Acts penalty (this also allows you to jump straight into early white maps right after killing Kitava to get that sweet initial currency for first upgrades).

In early yellow maps atm and still don't feel the need for Grace + Discipline. This frees up a lot of passives and you do not have to worry about playing around reservation cost and how mana intensive BV can be.

Instead grab Blasphemy+Despair for sweet automatic dmg boosting Curse (as a normal player you will not have curse on hit ring or Asenath gloves at this point). Obviously keep leveling gems that you will use later.

Also since speed is king in Campaign - perhaps it's better to take One Step Ahead. I took it second and immediately noticed the difference. However Polymath is also great at what it does.

Personally I did not bother yet with Energy Shield portion of the build. My ES is like 500 with random campaign gear and no Discipline. Picked up 0.3% ES Leech node and Ghost Dance. No ES Leech support and for Merciless Ascendancy I just grabbed Heartstopper. Setting up entire ES part of the build imo takes too much; is not needed for white/yellow maps and requires a 6 link. Way easier to grab more Life nodes faster, start mapping with trash Campaign gear and actually clear faster due to Blasphemy+Despair. Having to stop to cast Curse manually just breaks the flow of Witheting Step+BV stacks. Just keep in mind that yes - you will die occasionally when Evasion,Block,Spell Supression do not work.

5link for leveling through Campaign (still using them in Maps as well)

Chance to Poison - mandatory and unlike some previous Leagues actually also boosts dmg significantly

Unleash - do not even attempt to play BV without it unless you hate yourself,your dog and your neighboor's dog

Efficacy - any +duration helps to smoothe out leveling process

Unbound Ailments - the reason is that Void Manipulation will nullify +elemental dmg which can be significant portion of dmg during Campaign depending on your gear and Deadly Ailments will reduce Hit BV dmg which during Campaign clears most mobs before Poison even kicks in


First purchases in terms of power to cost ratio and the only things I bought so far:

-Iron Cold Dagger 5c - absolutely massive dmg boost almost for free (can probably wield two of them for white/yellow maps progression if you dont mind being squisher)

-Ming's Heart 9c huge dmg boost and you reach 76% Chaos resist with it easily.

At lvl 70 prioritize getting lvl 20 Vaal BV gem - 20 c. Big dmg boost (normally at this point your BV gem will be at lvl 17 - this tip works for every Spell Gem).


Things that I like about this specific build:

-Very easy to cap Chaos resist which doesn't happen on most normal builds and despite what a lot of people claim - it helps a lot and trivializes a chunk of content

-Probably the easiest tree pathing to grab lots of Spell Supression

-Decent amount of Life for right side of the treel; if you dont go for special jewels, there are two additional Life clusters nearby: Hired Killer and Profane Chemistry

-It fully utilizes the Shadow archetype synergies with ES/Evasion + makes use of ES Leech as additional defense/sustain layer

-Most power upgrades are dirty cheap - Iron Cold Dagger + Ming's Heart and just noticed that Asenaths gloves are 20 c atm; no idea how much is Skin of the Loyal with these modifiers but probably there are other good and budget alternatives for Evasion/ES chest; Dendrobate comes to mind which is 2 divine orbs atm, just have to get 300 dex somehow

-Dmg part of the build in Maps comes online FAST; you get +3 gem lvl from weapon as fast as lvl 62 and possibly +1 from shield which you can easily find/craft during Campaign even; 60%+ additional Chaos dmg from ring at lvl 69 and that's all you need to easily farm non-red Maps at least. Probably the biggest,easiest and earliest dmg spike I have seen (without Tabula)

-Plenty of great nodes for dmg/defense nearby in case you cannot afford or just dont want to bother with special jewels

-Lets you experience reworked Trickster ascendancy to it's fullest


BV truly takes off with some +duration, +2 radius and Unleash support. Unleash is lvl 38 and +2 gem radius is at gem lvl 15. Aim for around 8 seconds BV duration. If you are on the fence - thats the moment to decide if you like the playstyle; it will not change that much later on. And imo Withering Step was made for BV Poison and works wonders.

Thanks for posting your experiences with the build, Sagidu!

I'm also glad you enjoyed how I tried to capture the flavor of the Trickster and the reworked ascendancies, which was a main reason of making this build.

Hopefully others will find your insights helpful. :)

Added video for Eater of Worlds fight, main post updated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVt0fwqSjEQ&t=58s

Thanks for build. Feels pretty solid, very tanky, nice dps, very good clear. Still got alot to optimize but i'm having a blast (as the enemies on maps :P)

Hi, would you change anything major for ssfhc? This is my 1st time ever playing BV, I'm currently level 74. Thanks it's fun.