[3.24] 💥💫 The (Arch)Blade Blast Unloader 🗡️🔪🔫 - Screenwide 30m-55m Pinnacle DPS? Say yes to FUN!
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We made Build of the Week! 3.25 - TL;DR. Mana will be annoying, RIP one aura for everyone. More Duration = massive QoL, I think you can get away with summoning brands 3 times a map if you're fast enough. Offensively, dropped to about 90% (applies to all casters and builds with Divine Blessing gone), plus Hatred nerf for all cold builds. Fortunately, we are a phys-based spell so the extra "Gain as" makes the nerf not so bad. Items are projected to be cheaper. HOWEVER! Play melee if you have never before! This is as good as it will ever get.
LEVELLING SECTION NOW PRESENT IN THE SECOND POST OF THIS THREAD. TL;DR ARMA BRAND RECALLER, TRANSITION NO EARLIER THAN 75*. 3.24 Archmage Versions! Comfy to play, can take a hit or three, easy to gear. 1 - 35m DPS w/o MB
3.24 Archmage PoBs here! The 3.23 ones, still usable (high investment/phys/cold) are below under the PoB section.
Entry level PoB: 2-3 div. Clearing T16+ corrupted maps with ease. Conquerors / Guardians deathless. Apply Chilled Area with Frostblink. https://pobb.in/BSFh6jT0vGx_ WEEK 1 "Dream" POB for a friend: ~17m+ Pinnacle DPS / 41k+ eHP (cloak) / Overleech https://pobb.in/BLJ_DPDEqrH2 Expensive pieces: Cloak 6L, Enlighten 4 (!) bricks one aura if you can't afford this, but that's all right, just drop Zealotry, put in Dread Banner or something. 33 mill expensive as hell "totally not cooked and casting Punishment manually config" version w 43k eHP (Cloak up) https://pobb.in/mX3CwtRQnkKq " WOAH! Ben is literally playing the phys version of the build!! So if you guys need a tanky/hardcore version... follow in his footsteps. It's a goddamn monster! (With a MB though. I've never used a MB in this build (even though I had one) but yes, it would make it very smooth) His char: https://pobb.in/1v9WRGToCsX6 His char, farming T17s: https://pobb.in/VGKzmOa_E7BG His insane "immortal" char which then died to server lag (corpse removal incl.): https://pobb.in/f1XLsbl3npbj v1.0 DPS CALCULATOR is now LIVE! Come see why Runebinder is big dick (theoretical) DPS for yourself.
DPS Calculator information
Good news - looks like our single target is actually way more busted than we thought, especially with Automation-Recall targetting being more precise than leftclick-Recall targetting. Our brands are constantly on the boss and this allows us to get stacks even when Recall is on CD FAST. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bMDbaIPas-ER6-Nv2n6RUU0pCzodxDb-QNA6TY6fnEM/edit?usp=sharing Make a copy and explore! Hopefully this also answers how big Runebinder is for damage -- looks around 30% for just 2/3 points! " I am currently playing Sabo instead of Assassin (to keep the build cheaper and accessible. ENJOY! Greetings, Exiles! I’m Primaeva, and I’ve been making random janky builds / music vids on YouTube (accompanied by Reddit threads) for a while! Some nutty Transfigured gems are out and this is the star of the show, Blade Blast of Unloading! (Wanna skip the talk and watch the 2-minute build showcase? (Includes bosses melting and mapping.)  Scaled right you get a comfy mapping build that also does this:  Built right, this build can zoom, have mega, meme tier AoE, while still packing a solid enough punch to explode regular bosses and knock down the easier Ubers - at relatively low investment!  No Herald of Ash / Explodey nonsense needed - we ARE the explode! Be sure to chip in with your build feedback and we can evolve this build into one for the ages! It's even SSF-friendly!  The Secret Sauce!
Core mechanics for PoE lovers / Saboteur vs Assassin
Blade Blast of Unloading, when fired off with 10 stacks of Blade Vortex, will hit ELEVEN TIMES and also receive 1000% MORE Area of Effect. MORE - NOT Increased! That's all! Because the 11 hits take about 0.7 seconds to finish "pulsing" from you, when you Shield Charge / Flame Dash / Frostblink -- the pulses FOLLOW you - making you a giant whirling ball of death that knocks most mobs out before they even enter your screen! This gem has untold potential and longevity if unmodified. Only one question remains - how do we ensure smooth generation of Blade Vortex stacks without having to spam that second button? The answer lies in linking Blade Vortex to Arcanist Brand. Every time the brand jumps on a mob, and activates, you get TWO stacks of BV, thanks to Saboteur's Perfect Crime Ascendancy (also known as Triggerbots - which doubles triggers). However, that's not what really powers the build (though INSANE for single target). When you cast Brand Recall, it calls all your existing to your location, and ACTIVATES EVERY SINGLE BRAND ONCE. Ergo, if you have 5 brands out, it will activate 5 times, then that's DOUBLED by the Triggerbots to give you 10 BV stacks INSTANTLY.
So do I HAVE to be a Saboteur / Shadow with Perfect Crime Jewels?
Yeah. As of now, that's all there is to it, and the Triggerbots x2 is the only reason why Saboteur really has a shot in this race. This build can be played on any Ascendancy, sure, but for mapping and single target it has a simple x2 QoL and DPS multiplier. Next closest is Hierophant but it's decidedly less smooth at the possibility that it has higher bossing damage. The moment someone discovers a better way to generate BV stacks (see Research below) - Sabo could possibly be out of it. However, chances are, it's trigger based, and Sabo will ALWAYS have double triggers going for it. That's all! Place Brand Recall with Automation. Summon maybe 2-3 brands to start the map. Then start moving, add a Brand every 3 screens (because the oldest one will disappear). BB and shield charge is the best way to clear. If you wait till you're in the middle of mobs to BB, it's going to feel very bad and you'll have wasted the "Pulse" interaction. Should you play this build? Pros and Cons
Spoiler
+ Larger-than-screen AoE is hilarious, loot drops in front of you and you walk towards it. + Scales REALLY well with investment, breaking into 70m+ under 60 div, being a Phys spell. + Easy on your PC - no reliance on Herald Explosions, pops, projectiles, and the MTXs are pretty chill. + Honestly ridiculous base single-target DPS. I killed 5 Ubers with 2-3 portals lol, and I'm spec'd for AoE, not damage. + Will probably survive nerfs better than other builds. + Ultimately a mega ranged build with no aim required. - 1.5 button build. You have to keep cast one Brand every few screens of mobs. That seems too much for some people.. - Current versions (v1, v2, 3Div) are squishy. You can take ONE hit, that's it. - If you tend to get hit, getting tankier may cost at least 15 Div. Need videos to see how capable / fast the build is?
Spoiler
Introduction video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBtvo54rhUA - Core concept - Mapping showcase (0:53 Minotaur) - Pinnacle Bosses Day 4 video with NEW v2.0 PoBs (30m / 38m, Sab vs Assassin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs9NBHJLc8k - Saboteur version introduced (more pocket friendly) - Uber Exarch, Uber Eater of Worlds, Uber Uber Elder kills - Comparisons between Assassin and Sabo [COMING SOON] MTX Comparison Video! [COMING SOON] Tutorial video! [COMING SOON] FULL BUILD BREAKDOWN! [COMING SOON] One-button versions!  PRICE LIST - What's your current budget?
Choose from a sampler build to full on Uber killing!
(PoBs are below. This section is to set your expectations / goals!) SSF = Grab 2x Cold Iron Points and just use the basic Secret Sauce. Invest in duration and you will have a killer mapping build. 3 Div = You get to try the basic build, experience the nutty AoE and clear non-juiced T16s to farm currency. Then you can decide to go upwards or not!
3 Div 'Intro to BBoU' core items
This is the current "engine" of a lot of spell builds, and it delivers far too much value and speed at a low price to not include. Will probably be gone next league. Up to 20 Div = You get to play the Impale version of the build (showcased in the video). Impale is a cheap damage multiplier, it can clear juiced T16s easily and destroy regular Pinnacle bosses, but you better be good at dodging because it is focused on offense and AoE.
~20 Div expac core items
+ a 6-link Utula's Hunger (I'm using a +1 so I won't link it to avoid misleading people! Ignore the Empower 4 in the shield as well, use an Empower 3 for that one. The Empower 4 is for your BB in your chest armour.
25 - 45 Div = You can play the Cold Conversion variant, which makes mapping so boring because everything is dead or frozen - even the map bosses / essences lol! If you don't have much dough, use Hrimsorrow and wear a regular Heatshiver, drop Awakened Brutality for Awakened Cold Pen, spec Heart of Ice, and grab a cheap cold Cluster. Otherwise, use the preem items below.
25 Div Cold Conversion care package
Add 60 Div to any of these prices = You get to play as Assassin instead, earning Crit Immunity from the Mistwalker Ascendancy, and making full use of Badge of the Brotherhood to go HELLA fast. [Forbidden Flesh - Perfect Crime] [Forbidden Flame - Perfect Crime] Add 50 Div to any of these prices = You approach 7k HP and your damage enters the 50-70m territory as you stack The Adorned and corrupted magic jewels. This is great because our build really goes quite near a lot of jewel slots.
+50 Div 'Bandaid' tankiness + damage core items
Remove crit mult on the tree to make passive points available to reach jewel slots. Path of Building (PoB) links - will change often
Assorted PoBs arranged in order of descending power.
STOP. READ THIS. THE BUILD WILL FEEL TERRIBLE IF YOU DO NOT READ.
HOW TO PLAY BB UNLOADER
0. Place Brand Recall with Automation. Make sure to turn it on. Make sure Blade Vortex is Level 1. 1. Enter the map / arena. 2. Before beginning your murder spree, cast AT LEAST 3 Arcanist Brands. This will give you 6 stacks at least. 5 is ideal for max AoE, but not necessary, because you'll "top up" as you go. 3. Now press Blade Blast. 4. IMMEDIATELY - "cancel" the animation with a Shield Charge or Frostblink. 5. BAM. The Blade Blast emits from you like a beacon as you rush through the map. 6. VERY IMPORTANT: After 2-3 Shield Charges, CAST ANOTHER ARCANIST BRAND, maybe two. 7. Go to step 3. Repeat until everything is dead. I think a lot of players cast 5, charge around, and 10 seconds later all the first 5 brands are gone and they have to "reload" in the middle of deadly mobs. Not ideal! You must keep the brands "rolling" - slot one in every 2-3 seconds and you will really fly through maps and enjoy it.
Guest PoB: v3.99 MINMAXED ENDGAME COLD CONVERT ASSASSIN BY NYDHOGGUR (PLAYER) 600m Burst with 230k eHP, Mageblood version.)
https://pobb.in/jjoHfwpe7qZt Pretty much the endgame of this build and the perfect mix of offense and defense -- this framework is what I theorized but would never had the currency to execute. Check out Nyd's video showcasing how it just cuts through 3.23 content like a hot knife through butter. Using Assassin, Willclash, mana reservation specialisation and a Mageblood to fit in Grace gives this build fairly reliable defenses against both Attack and Spell Damage. "
v3.0 HIGH BUDGET COLD CONVERT SABOTEUR (75m + Freeze)
https://pobb.in/pgSzAYjB-qqsThe most highly recommended version of the build incorporating Covered in Frost and Defiance Banner to substantially reduce crit on a Saboteur. Expensive because of the Adorned jewel stacking, each jewel can cost upwards of 12div each. (Drop down to 6% life for huge savings). For an Assassin, you need to run Forbidden Flame/Flesh Perfect Crime.
v3.1 HIGH BUDGET IMPALE 'TANKIER' SABOTEUR (40m ++ Impale LIFE)
For those who want to hit 100: https://pobb.in/gZ4kMRP4KnI1
v2.0 HIGH BUDGET IMPALE ASSASSIN - Forbidden Flame/Flesh dependent
ASSASSIN PoB v2.0: https://pobb.in/9x9mbDlT9zBn If you have even more resources, convert the tree above to Assassin and add the jewels.
v2.0 MID BUDGET IMPALE SABOTEUR: 25 Div
SABOTEUR PoB v2.0: https://pobb.in/vq-TRzXylURQ (est'd 20-25 Div - mostly 6L, Empower, jewels)
v0.9c 'I'M JUST TRYING THIS OUT' 3 DIV POVO SABOTEUR
https://pobb.in/S0ov2_mcuSPm
Includes a useful shopping guide for newcomers in Notes - complete with pre-poulated search URLs to help you get good deals, and the expected cost you should pay. Plug and play! Do note you will not be able to take on wisped T16s - just regular T16s. AGAIN. READ THIS TUTORIAL OR THE BUILD WILL SUCK.
HOW TO PLAY BB UNLOADER
0. Place Brand Recall with Automation support. Make sure to turn Automation on - like an aura. Make sure Blade Vortex is Level 1. 1. Enter the map / arena. 2. Before beginning your murder spree, cast AT LEAST 3 Arcanist Brands. This will give you 6 stacks at least. 5 is ideal for max AoE, but not necessary, because you'll "top up" as you go. 3. Now press Blade Blast. 4. IMMEDIATELY - "cancel" the animation with a Shield Charge or Frostblink. 5. BAM. The Blade Blast emits from you like a beacon as you rush through the map. 6. VERY IMPORTANT: After 2-3 Shield Charges, CAST ANOTHER ARCANIST BRAND, maybe two. 7. Go to step 3. Repeat until everything is dead. I think a lot of players cast 5 Brands, charge around, and 10 seconds later all the first 5 brands are gone and they have to "reload" in the middle of deadly mobs. Not ideal! You must keep the brands "rolling" - slot one in every 2-3 seconds and you will really fly through maps and enjoy it.  Skill Gem Setups
Includes which supports to use, and why. And which to avoid.
(All gem recommendations are tuned for a mid-high build. A min-maxed build may choose to swap some links out, e.g. base crit too high: swap Increased Critical Strikes; critical multiplier already >900, swap Increased Critical Damage.) Main 6L (Chest Armour): Blade Blast of Unloading + Power Charge on Critical Support + Increased Critical Strikes + Increased Critical Damage + Empower + [Awakened Cold Penetration (Cold only) OR Awakened Brutality (Impale only)]
Alternate supports / supports to AVOID
Recommended alternative: Energy Leech At a respectable 24% more damage while leeching, (you will almost certainly be leeching all the time), this is a good solve for those facing ES sustain issues (although make sure your Blade Vortex is Level 1 first). It is also a godsend for those 60%+ slower recovery rate of Life/Mana/ES map mods.
Gems to NOT use
Spell Echo / Awakened Spell Echo makes PoB look good, but empties out the BV stacks faster while keeping the AoE low. Should not be used unless you know what you’re doing or have found the secret tech to get 30-40 stacks in 1 second on a boss (it’s possible, just annoying to replicate). Inspiration should not be in used in conjunction with Eldritch Battery (EB) as you won’t actually spend mana to activate the Inspiration Charges. Exception: If you get Inspiration Charges from somewhere like Shield Charge and you are confident you will keep them up 100%. Hypothermia is an okay backup but not all enemies can be chilled, especially if you are Impale version and your Skitterbots are somewhere else. Elemental Focus / Controlled Destruction - you are all about freezing or crit damage, no reason to nerf yourself. The Arcanist Brand loop (4L) (Gloves): Arcanist Brand + LEVEL 1 Blade Vortex + Increased Duration 20 / 20 + Faster Casting
Explanation
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR BLADE VORTEX TO BE LEVEL 1. IT CUTS DOWN MANA EXPENDITURE A TON. This is the meat to the potatoes of this build. Each Arcanist Brand you summon will “reload” 4 Blade Vortex stacks for you every 1.1-1.3 seconds, thanks to Brand Recall. Therefore having 5 Brands will make sure you can fire a full BB every said number of seconds. Default 4th support: Faster Casting Faster Casting doubles up here big time. It makes the Arcanist Brand casting feel really smooth and fast, which makes your mapping feel very natural. The secondary effect is almost as important - it boosts your single target damage by a ton because the increased cast speed also makes the Arcanist Brand “tick” faster while attached to a target. This is the best option for most dual-purpose characters. Spell Echo This is the superior QoL choice for people who don’t do Guardians / Pinnacles / Ubers at all. It summons two Arcanist Brands instead of one at the cost of locking you in place a while longer, but it also means you have to “recharge” your Brands fewer times per map. It does nothing for single target, however. Efficacy This is for people who abhor having to recast Arcanist Brands at all and make them last a couple seconds longer, but I would recommend trying the above 2 for QoL first. Culling Strike If you have a white socket and no other source of culling easily available, this will make your BV on you cull. Just remember you have to be up close (or use Vaal BV lol). Brand Recall loop (in a +1 shield preferably): Brand Recall + Automation Enhance +
Explanation
This loop is EXTREMELY key to our damage and QoL and is NOT considered optional nor replaceable. If possible, add an Empower. Brand Recall, when linked with Automation, automatically casts when you move. This “autosummons” your Brands to you and gets them to give you 4 Blade Vortex stacks, EACH. Nothing fancy here, Brand Recall being a lower cooldown means you get to unload more. The only stat which helps here is Gem Levels and Gem Quality, plus Belt CDR mods and finally, the Saboteur Ascendancy. It’s thus definitely worth spending these skill gem slots on powering this spell up. Empower 3 is sufficient, Empower 4 doesn’t do much at all and costs 5+ Divines! Movement skills: Shield Charge + Faster Attacks... and a single Frostblink anywhere.
Explanation
Nothing needs to be said here, these are your primary movement methods because you run so slowly (on Saboteur anyway). You can’t get rid of these. The whole reason BBoU feels good for mapping, aside from the screen wide coverage, is the fact that the pulses take some time to go off - which means you can make them “follow” you around as you animation cancel the cast time by Shield Charging / Frost Blinking into other parts of the map. See the upcoming “tutorial” video on how to maximise this movement / coverage. The build is pretty normie if you don't use this perk. Massive Damage Enhancers: Skitterbots! Summon Skitterbots + [Infernal Legion OR Awakened Unbound Ailments]
Explanation
This is a staple on quite a lot of builds because of the Skitterbots Shocking and Chilling Auras. Shock increases the damage enemies take by a percentage. Chilling slows them down a little, but more importantly enables other damage multipliers (such as Hypothermia, Bonechill or Heatshiver’s bonus fire damage effect.) If you play Saboteur, the Skitterbots are even more important as the Explosives Expert Ascendancy adds significant damage bonuses to Shocked, Burning or Chilled enemies. Additionally, if you are Impale version, you can't ignite the enemy because you use Awakened Brutality. Infernal Legion is thus used, as it sets your Skitterbots on fire, and now your targets are Burning, enabling a 40% additional critical strike multiplier. If you ALREADY have a lot of Critical Strike Multiplier, you can choose to swap this for Awakened Unbound Ailments (boosting Shock %), depending on which gives you more damage (check PoB). If you are Cold Conversion, however, you will ignite the target for a low amount through Heatshiver’s bonus fire damage, so you should use the much more potent Awakend Unbound Ailments which scales the Shock up by a 1.69 multiplier. Finally, the auras: #1: Divine Blessing + [Zealotry OR Hatred OR Determination (recommended)] (Divine Blessing first time users - READ!)
Explanation
Divine Blessing Support allows you to SPEND mana instead of RESERVE it for an aura - at the cost of the aura being temporary (every 10 seconds or so). Yes, this is mildly annoying, but since auras are so strong, you cannot actually ignore them. You need to borrow that additional firepower. The good news is, you may not even need the additional damage until a map boss or Uber fight, anyway. But Divine Blessing Support also drastically increases the mana cost of the aura - which is already in the hundreds. Who has that much spare mana, you ask? Well, we do, in a way. Because we use the Eldritch Battery keystone, our ES can be used in place of our mana. This gives us a MUCH larger pool to play with, allows us to reserve ALL our mana for auras. As for using ES up, we now have free, natural ES recharge, that fills much faster than natural mana region. The downside is: your ES no longer protects your life, so you may feel a teensy bit more squishy. I highly recommend new players use Determination instead. I've got feedback that most people don't last two hits, which is concerning, because nothing should be hitting you with this much AoE (especially with freeze). Use Determination if you find yourself using 6 portals all the time. Impale versions, take Zealotry. I recommend Zealotry over Pride because, while Pride has a higher damage multiplier, you actually have to be relatively near a target for quite a number of seconds before the full effect kicks in. I only recommend Pride on Uber Bosses (or if you have a Pride Impale + 2 hits Watcher’s Eye ready to go.) Cold versions, take Hatred instead, naturally. There is no contest for this slot - you straight up get 25% bonus added damage on top of an 18% multiplier to all damage. It’s insane. Hatred Watcher’s Eyes are also all hella strong. "Aura" #2: Herald of Purity + Arrogance
Explanation
Herald of Purity is the only Herald that significantly scales your damage. Arrogance makes it reserve just over half your life, to make sure you always benefit from Pain Attunement and don't turn it off with while flasking. (Also, you need to give up the life for the aura anyway). You can choose Herald of Ash for colourful explosions, but while it looks absolutely great, BBoU is such strong AoE by itself that this is kinda useless past a certain DPS mark. At least it gives flat % of physical as Fire. Herald of Ice is actually pretty trash because it adds flat damage and your BBoU wipes out monsters by themselves anyway. "Aura" #3: Petrified Blood
Explanation
This is a rather intimidating “aura’ for newcomers to crunch, so I’ll give the Tl;dr — you become less tanky to one-shots, BUT for smaller hits, you can now sort of “borrow from the bank” and pay off the damage slightly later. This also does one other crucial thing - it basically makes you perma half-life all the time, which enables a few fancy mechanics: 1) Because you are always on low life, you can use Pain Attunement (the keystone) - which grants you 30% more spell damage. This is a huge nice source of firepower. 2) Consequently, because you can NEVER be on full life, your leech stacks don’t get removed when you fill up the half-tank. They continue leeching. This is known as “overleech” and when you next take a hit, you use this pool to fill the life taken again. It also constantly “pays” the loan you took from taking the hit (remember the earlier part of Petrified Blood?) This is why we use a Vitality Watcher’s Eye with % damage leeched when Vitality is enabled.. which brings us to the next aura. Aura #4: Vitality
Explanation
Aside from being a generic leech enabler, which is crucial because we can’t actually have any “leeched as life” on our items, this gives you a nice 200 HP regen which could be enough to offset mild DoTs - long enough for you to notice and panic flask, anyway. Paired with recent leech, you will be able to soak some DoT damage compared to those who just flask. You can eventually drop this if you have Doryani’s Lesson on your clusters, enabling elemental leech. If you play the Impale version however, you're stuck with this requirement for a while.  3.23 GEAR SETUP - The best bang for your buck is selected, rather than unlimited budget.
Why we use what we use, alternatives, etc
THE POWER CHARGE STACKING CORE - Weapon, Shield, Neck, Boots, Belt, Timeless Jewel
3.23's king of cost-effectiveness DPS
(+1 levels on Shield and 14-16% all res on Graven's Secret are optional, but good to have.) This is something of an Exodia in 3.23 and may be nerfed next league or made MUCH rarer. That said, these 5 items + jewel should almost always come bundled together and is even arguably SSF friendly, so I’ll explain everything. By default, Exiles (and monsters) can have temporary buffs called Charges. You can have, by default, up to 3 of each of Power, Frenzy and Endurance Charges. Unaugmented, these are pretty strong to have, and give the following bonuses respectively per charge: Power: 50% increased critical strike chance Frenzy: 4% MORE damage, 4% increased attack speed, 4% cast speed Endurance: 4% to every elemental resistance, 4% additional physical damage reduction So when you wear the ridiculous item that is Ralakesh’s Impatience, you skip the “temporary” part of the charge buff and just have the benefits of THREE OF EACH CHARGE, as long as you have the boots on. (Note you don’t actually HAVE the charges, you’re just a big old fraud getting the benefit of the doubt and enjoying the high life). 3 Power: 150% increased critical strike chance 3 Frenzy: 12% MORE damage, 12% increased attack speed, 12% cast speed 3 Endurance: 12% to every elemental resistance, 12% additional physical damage reduction. Now as you level up, go around the passive tree, increasing the MAXIMUM number of Power Charges you can have. Now you have 6 max power charges. DOUBLE your earlier benefits. 6 Power: 300% increased critical strike chance… etc etc. Now put on a Badge of the Brotherhood, which basically clones your max power charge limit over to your Frenzy charge limit. 6 Frenzy: 24% MORE damage, 24% increased attack speed, 24% cast speed. Ooh, that’s getting spicy. What if we added in a Void Battery, which has +1 to maximum Power Charge? And then a Malachai’s Loop, for another +2 to max Power Charges?! 9 Power: 450% increased critical strike chance… 9 Frenzy: 36% MORE damage, 36% attack and cast speed Don’t stop now, by having 9 Power Charges, your Void Battery gives you the following: -80% spell damage (oof) BUT 25% spell damage per Power Charge = 225% increased spell damage (WOW) 225% - 80% = still a + 145% spell damage. Not bad! What does your Malachai’s Loop give you? 9 Power: +16% increased spell damage per = 144% spell damage (HOLY!) Thought we were done? Throw in a Timeless Jewel called Militant Faith (Dominus). If you slot this into the jewel slot north of the Witch’s starting location (12 o’clock on the passive tree), and allocate the big passive keystone (Hex Master), it gets transformed into Inner Conviction. Now your power charges EACH grant 3% MORE spell damage. That’s 27% MORE spell damage! That’s insane! The downside is supposed to be that you can’t generate Frenzy Charges so you’re supposed to be permanently DEPRIVED of the power from Frenzies. But Ralakesh’s Impatience invalidates the need for that. You simply still get the max bonus of Frenzies still. This is downroad nutty. For every single Power Charge you add to the equation, you get: 41% increased spell damage 4% MORE damage 3% MORE spell damage (multiplicative with above) 4% attack and cast speed (great for Shield Charge / Arcanist Brand) 50% increased critical strike chance And further sources of power charges are really quite accessible. These are: - Graven’s Secret - +1 Power Charge on helm corrupt, or Warlord Mod (or both) - Being an Assassin (but you have to get the Perfect Crime Jewels) This crazy combination of rather low-budget items give such massive multipliers and QoL that they absolutely carry the hell out of most spells right now. I will probably have to delete this section next league though, so use it while you can. Chestpiece: Utula's Hunger
The 'band-aid' chestpiece that doubles your life pool for a single slot.
Now’s a great time to talk about a huge problem with Power Charge stacking: you’ve used the Shield, Amulet and Boots and maybe Belt slot with absolutely no +Max Life on any of them. Ditto again for the Helmet or Glove slot with the Cold Convert / Impale versions respectively. The character, by default, is going to have a very subpar life pool. There are ways to fix this in the other rare slots by Strength stacking and running 79-120 life, but that would be VERY expensive rares in the current economy. This is why we recommend Utula’s Hunger. A high-roll one lets you use “lifeless” uniques / rare in every other slot - which can be tricky to find, but are often MUCH cheaper than their counterparts with life on top of good stats. (Do NOT exclude +Life from the search, because sometimes the +Life is crafted and can be removed via bench.) This chest piece is one of the most cost- and slot-efficient items in the game and why I recommend it for most players. If you are an experienced player who can afford the chest/ rings / belt / helm / gloves with high Life rolls, go ahead and use a rare chest which could be WAY better offensively. (Or Dialla's which is a 1.5x damage multiplier..) Remember, YOU CANNOT RUN ANY MOD that is tagged Life on ANY of your items! This includes “Leeched as Life” or “Life Regen”. This will make the Utula’s useless. If you wear Utula’s and have like, 3000+ life, you know you’ve messed up. This also means you are pigeonholed into getting Life Leech from sources like Doryani’s Lesson (Cluster notable, % of elemental damage leeched as life) or Vitality Watcher’s Eye (x% of damage leeched as life while affected by Vitality). Do not use Utula’s Hunger before securing this. Cold version (Recommended) gear pieces
Slightly more expensive, but worth the freezes and has a higher ceiling
Another trio of “lifeless” uniques that overperform and are relatively common / target farmable. Hrimsorrow is an EXCELLENT starter pair of gloves that are dirt cheap, you could probably even get a good corrupt such as Base spell Crit, +1 all gems (it adds up), Ele Weakness (if you run Balance of Terror and Whispers). This also frees up having to use your Cold Mastery for 40% additional Physical to Cold conversion (take the Exposure one instead). Late game, you’ll want to replace Hrimsorrow with a crafted high-end pair of gloves such as these, with a Cold Convert implicit and Unnerve. These should set you back at least 10 Divines as well. The Glove slot can provide a great source of Dexterity and Chaos Resist that can be hard to find elsewhere. It is also a precious source of Unnerve or freeze proliferation (though the latter does not make much sense. You have super freeze on super AoE). When you go cold, you can also make use of these flasks since you no longer used Awakened Brutality: These are incredible offensive and defensive flasks and I would spend on max rolls, the value is just too high. Finally, if your resists can support it, Polaric Devastation is the absolute (budget) king of DPS/Defense even in high-wisped maps. This is because you pretty much apply freeze to everything except immune mobs (FYI: Even Ubers are not immune - they can't be frozen, but if the hit is big enough, they are considered to fulfil the conditions of Frozen -- including Polaric's proc. And past a budget, our hits are big enough to land baseline freeze duration) Impale version items:
Impale is slightly 'budget-er' but beware! You have to dodge.
+ Circle of Purity with Herald Effect and Increased Damage while affected by Herald of Purity (sorry, sold mine lol). If cold conversion items are too expensive, I fall back on Spell Impale Gloves. These are RIDICULOUSLY strong and fuss-free, seeing as not many monsters have physical damage reduction, plus with the Perfect Dancing Sword (20% impale effect +1 impale) and +1 impale charms this league, Impale is probably the cheaper bosskiller. The downside is you lose a LOT of safety from not dealing cold damage. You also have one less reason to use Taste of Hate, since, when you run Awakened Brutality, you no longer deal Elemental or Chaos damage. 3.24 FRESH LEAGUE + LEVELLING ADVICE -- SEE POST #2 === IGNORE BELOW, JUST STUFF FROM MY OLD BUILD TEMPLATES TEMPLATE =====
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3.17 Player Testimonials! Thanks guys!
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Indiv. Gear Explanations / Shopping Guide
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Jewels/Clusters/Watcher's
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We do this section first because these are core to the build and will almost never be replaced or upgraded. Watcher's
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Large Cluster Jewel - Cheap Version
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https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/rmkngy4SQ The main mod we want on a Large Cluster Jewel is Blanketed Snow - 10% Pen is the biggest multiplier available on any Cluster. Therefore, getting a combination of mods that puts Blanketed Snow in the 1-point-to-reach-area (instead of up "top" where you need to spend 2 more passives) is the focus.  The cheapest combination that I know of to achieve this is Widespread Destruction - Blanketed Snow - Snowstorm, with Snowstorm at the top slot so we don't have to take it. This has historically run 2ex-4ex for a few leagues and is simiarly available for about 2.5-4ex in 3.17 so far. Other 'okay' mods to run in place of Snowstorm are: Cold to the Core (about 40% elemental damage), Sadist (get fire damage to spells somewhere to enable this) and Prismatic Heart (which is late-game BiS but costs a premium for sure.) Helm: Usurper's Penance
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https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/BoqjjKXs8 The enabler of the build. As mentioned in "Core Concept" - while losing the helmet slot *really* sucks, it is impossible to beat Usurper's Penance from a Amulet: Ashes of the Stars
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Body Armour: Shavronne's Wrappings (5 off-colour)
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There is no replacement for Shavronne's. Chaos Damage to ES is key for all https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/v4DykBHE PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN BUYING SHAVRONNE'S WRAPPINGS - a 4L-2L looks a LOT like a 6L and tons of people have been using this scam since time immemorial. Check that it's really a 6L. It is quite worth it to invest into a Shav's with at least 380 ES - base ES is very precious in this build. Rings: 2x Rares with Resists and Dex/Str/Int
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Fortunately, the Omniscience meta means a lot of cheap +stat gear is floating around. Here's an example shopping link for said rings, giving very good options starting 25c and up: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/0aDeJ7Qug Do note that Unset Rings with these stats are very good buys, since the build is fairly socket starved. You may want to livesearch Frostbite on Hit rings for a couple days to get a really good deal on one. Fortunately once again, Cold Spells are out of the meta so they have been relatively cheap for a few leagues. Gloves: High ES (~200ES) Rare with Int and preferably Dex
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The glove slot is VERY crucial since 3.17 and the introduction of Eldritch mobs. This is primarily because of three modifiers: 1) Inflict Exposure on Hit 2) %Chance to Unnerve Enemies on Hit for 4 seconds 3) Freezes Spread to Enemies within x yards (Blast-Freeze / Freeze Prolif) A lesser and more niche 4th mod would be Projectiles Pierce an Additional target - for the Ice Spear variant at lower budgets (Anomalous Ice Spear is very expensive. Thus, the glove slot should be the third rare you search and hunt for and invest up to 2ex in, since so much damage rests on it. We don't search it first because high stat rings are fairly common, so the mods you search for on the gloves have some flexibility if you've already settled your Str/Dex requirments elsewhere. You want something that's close to at least 200ES, non-Conqueror or Shaper/Elder influenced, or has a spare prefix/suffix so you can craft Int/Str/Dex or at least %ES on it. Here's an example of a trade link that can get you high-value buys, you just need to apply the bench craft to bring them to 200+ ES: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/3eVX8PGS5 Once you buy a relatively good one, start using those to roll for Exposure and Unnerve. Higher-end users can buy Temple gloves with %damage against Chilled Enemies, and also benchcraft 60% increased damage of non-Vaal skills during Soul Gain Prevention for massive burst (VRF + this may multiply damage output by 1.5 minimum.. or just pop VMS or Vaal Ice Nova for the boost). 240+ ES (my gloves) is highly unrealistic (I Eldritch exalted the ES.. haha), so just aim for the 200s or try to luck a 220. Boots: High ES (~170) Rare with Int, 25% or even 20% Movespeed will do
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Belt: Rare Crystal Belt with ES, Resists
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A TON of our base ES comes from the belt slot, so definitely invest some currency here in getting a high tier ES roll. This is also the first slot you spend Tempering Catalysts on since it boosts 130ES instead of just 40-50 from a ring slot. If you are lucky enough to snipe an Attack Speed or extra damage belt (remember, generic % damage can be crafted on as well), do so. The Attack Speed is a bigger boost.  Pantheon + Bandits (Kill All btw)
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Major Pantheon: Upgraded Arakaali OR Brine King Being unable to use flasks for recovery makes ES builds very dependent on other sources of regen/recoup, which is why I made the ES-on-Hit Watcher's a must-buy. That's not always available however - what about phased bosses or GGG's favourite "kill you after enemy is dead"? This is where the Pantheon comes in big time to help the build's major weakness: Degens and Bleeds. On top of being handy with your Vaal Discipline key, Arakaali is extremely high-value, cutting all Bleeds/Poisons/CorrBlood and annoying Degens by 10% straight up, then reducing the overall duration of those (and worse debuffs) by 20%, and giving a ghetto 40% chaos res against Poison and poison pools / Toxic Archnemeses, etc. You -may- want to run Brine King in two situations: if your gear is good enough to handle Chaos and you're fast with VDisc, or if you run 150++ quant maps with Double Added as or Beyond / rare juiced maps, where the size of average incoming hits goes up enough to mini-stun you on a regular basis. Do note that you don't need to fully upgrade Brine King since Purity of Elements makes you immune to Chill and Freeze. Minor Pantheon: Ralakesh
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Likewise, this is among the most useful Pantheons in dealing with bleed, and allows you to not have to spend on a Corrupted Blood jewel (only for regular mapping - on Sirus you want a CB jewel for sure. Mastery Choices
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High priority masteries 1) Energy Shield Mastery: Stun Threshold is based on 50% of ES instead of Life 2) Energy Shield Mastery: 30% Increased Light Radius / Radius based on ES instead of Life High value masteries 1) Reservation Mastery: Either 15% Effect of Auras OR 8% increased damage per Aura on you. 2) Accuracy Mastery: Dex Provides +3 instead of +2 OR 40% Increased Accuracy vs Uniques 3) Armour and Energy Shield Mastery: Defend with 120% Armour while not on low ES 4) Charge Mastery: 3% Increased Damage per Charge Flex masteries 1) Attributes Mastery: +5 Dex per Allocated Mastery OR 5% Increased Attributes OR 1% per Lowest Attribute Nothing much to say here - some variants of the build have 8 masteries or more, meaning this is worth 40 Dex, which is higher than the nearest 30 Dex Node (Alacrity). If you get enough from items you can swap this to 5% increased Attributes for an Int boost as well, or go full offense with 1% per Lowest Att. Adjust as required. Map Mods to Avoid
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Elemental Reflect No-go. No explanation needed. Enemies Steal Power/Frenzy/Endurance Charges on Hit No-go. You may nuke most of the map but the one mob that hits back is going to stop you from Flickering and now has an insane crit + damage boost. Monsters have x% chance to avoid elemental ailments Doable but dangerous, slow and annoying. Half the build's clear is Herald of Ice explosions and preventing freezes means you have to "manually" kill mobs, drastically slowing clearspeed and allowing counterattacks. No Regen Doable but dangerous, not very safe if you don't have ES on Hit Watcher's. We leech enough mana to not need mana regen - however your single target DPS will drop so make sure there aren't too many other rippy mods. Beyond Doable only with mid-investment - your PoB had better be at least 5m DPS to nuke down T16 Beyond safely, and you want to be at 6.5k HP. Ice Spear generally is the far superior choice as it blows up Beyond packs. 💥💫BB Unloader 1000% AoE 70m DPS🗡️🔪🔫: view-thread/3466787 FlickerCoC Ice Nova / Spear Assassin: view-thread/3225536 🔨⚡CWC Lightning Conduit Mjolner Trickster: view-thread/3300148 VD Arcanist Brand Necro: view-thread/2911667 Last edited by primaeva#0673 on Jul 26, 2024, 2:59:54 PM Last bumped on Nov 25, 2024, 5:13:02 PM
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3.24 FRESH LEAGUE START + LEVELLING ADVICE
LEAGUE START LEVELLING SECTION (BETA)
Spellcaster shadows are one of the worst top-of-tree classes to level or league start with, due to all the overperforming spells being locked out of quest rewards. There are thus two paths to take here:
Path A. Be stubborn and/or skilled - Oldschool players
Use Explosive Traps / Stormblast Mine + OOS to do it the old-fashioned way until the Library quest in Act 3. If you want to do Path A, you probably don't need this section / guide at all! See you at level 75 to transition.
Path B. WAY easier leaguestart + braindead, but requires muling
Mule a witch for 5-7 minutes to get a second Quicksilver and some gems. You 100% gain back your 5 minutes or more, just from the second Quicksilver and increased single target damage. 1. Roll a Witch. Hit the Beach. Make Hillock your Bitch. 2. Pick Rolling Magma as a reward and get Elemental Prolif. BUY A SECOND ROLLING MAGMA AT LEVEl 1 AND STASH IT FOR YOUR SHADOW. Then use your main Magma + Ele prolif till the end of the Ledge/Climb, till you reach the Prison. Make sure to leave your Arcane Surge at level 1. For the rewards, take Flamewall and Frostblink. Then buy Holy Flame Totem and Summon Phantasm. Then do the Tidal Island quest for a Quicksilver. Transfer all these gems, and the L1 Arcane Surge, the Quicksilver, to your stash. Roll your Shadow. On your Shadow, just take Explosive Trap and link it to Chance to Poison (you find this on the Beach), and power through till you can equip Holy Flame Totem at 4. Your levelling is now solved and the rest is determined by what colours you find. SHADOW LEVELLING: Level 1 Explosive Trap (reward)- Chance to Poison (Beach) Rolling Magma (muled) - Elemental Proliferation (muled/reward) Level 4 Holy Flame Totem (muled) - Summon Phantasm (muled) Frostblink (muled/bought) - Arcane Surge Level 1 (muled) Rolling Magma (muled) - Elemental Proliferation (muled/reward) Flame Wall (muled/bought) Level 8 Holy Flame Totem - Combustion (bought) - Added Fire Damage (bought) - [Summon Phantasm (muled/bought)] Rolling Magma (muled) - Elemental Proliferation (muled/reward) - Combustion (bought) Frostblink (muled/bought) - Arcane Surge Level 1 (muled) Rolling Magma (muled) - Elemental Proliferation (muled/reward) Flame Wall (muled/bought) Level 16/18 Pick Blade Blast to try your luck in the Lab. Take Faster Casting. Pretty much you just run these until Level 28 and hit the Library Quest, then you become a Armageddon Brand Recaller. You can keep Holy Flame Totems + Flame Wall for a single target boost. Level 28+ after Library DROP: Flame Wall / Holy Flame Totem / Rolling Magma Armageddon Brand - Combustion - Immolate (ASAP AT LEVEL 38 GO BACK AND BUY IT / REWARDS) - Fire Penetration Brand Recall - Spellslinger Frenzy -- SHOOT FRENZY AT BOSSES TO RECALL BRANDS DOWN AND DROP THEM ON BOSSES. Shield Charge - Faster Attacks - Momentum (optional) Blood Rage! Faster is better HIGH PRIORITY GEMS/SUPPORTS TO GET ASAP GET AUTOMATION ASAP and replace SPELLSLINGER / remove Frenzy. IMMOLATE IS MASSIVE DAMAGE (38). Done. Rush to end of campaign just Branding and running, recall on bosses. Jungroan has some Mine Tech. Please check his channel for his guide, it's probably way better! Remember, Armageddon Brand Recaller was also massively buffed so if you want to roll that as a Saboteur, I mean, it's a very proven and fun playstyle and you should stick with it if you love it. BBoU is only superior later when you have so much mobility that the pulses clearing entire screens makes it a very, very zoomy build with high burst. TRANSITION TO BBoU ONLY AT 50 (experienced players) / 75 (newer players). Here's the Arma Brand PoB: https://pobb.in/pSxINapui1bI RESEARCH QUESTIONS (How to advance the build. If anyone wants to add to this topic or add ideas, post your results here with video preferably and you will be credited with the "expansion" to the build - your own shiny section!)
Mar / April 2024: Research Ideas
1. Archmage: Can an Archmage version of this pop off? We are tired of using the PC stacking combo to get the damage into unethical levels. What about using Mana, which can double up as a defensive layer as well as resource solve, as well?
Jan 2024: Research Ideas
1. Eye of Innocence self-ignite CWDT: insufficient self damage to keep up BV. 2. Bow CoC + Manaforged + Asenath's: FAILED
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Even with double procs and 2 BV CoCs (both at 100% crit and accuracy capped mind you) we weren't getting the juicy, juicy 10 stack pops. Damage seemed around 5-10m too - 10 times less, lol. Widowhail + Asphyxia's was a pretty nutty combo though, for low price. 3/10 wouldn't recommend. You think you want 1-button, but BoW CoC isn't the way to do it - you having to aim and hit to build BVs is terrible. 3. RAGE VORTEX COC BV - now this one should be spicy with our AoE 4. Post-Ralakesh nerf plan (would be glad, don't want to be locked to ammy) 5. Tainted Pact shenanigans w Divine Flesh (failed tests earlier, will go again): FAILED TWICE.
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Tried to do an autocast loop with Warlock and just CWDT-Falling Zombies (so I wouldn't actually have to become Wardloop). It was just too much work and would at best do 10% of the damage of the full version, for the luxury of not pressing any buttons. Sorry boys - just not worth scaling or tinkering with to save a bit of clunk. Gear used:
Jan 2024 TROUBLESHOOTING - especially mana sustain!
Running out of ES / Mana! 1. Check if you are using a Level 1 Blade Vortex! This makes a massive, massive difference in mana expenditure. 2. Run a flask with the "Reduced Mana Cost of Skills During Effect" mod! " 💥💫BB Unloader 1000% AoE 70m DPS🗡️🔪🔫: view-thread/3466787 FlickerCoC Ice Nova / Spear Assassin: view-thread/3225536 🔨⚡CWC Lightning Conduit Mjolner Trickster: view-thread/3300148 VD Arcanist Brand Necro: view-thread/2911667 Last edited by primaeva#0673 on Mar 27, 2024, 10:20:42 AM
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is the cd on the belt mandatory?
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" Actually no! I'm Sabo now, and using a Graven's Secret for the boom :) Arn's Anguish is strictly better but you'd have to drop Utula's Hunger and that's a lot of the build savings. If you have tons of divines just put life back on the gear, get a sick rare chest, and pump with Arn's Anguish. 💥💫BB Unloader 1000% AoE 70m DPS🗡️🔪🔫: view-thread/3466787
FlickerCoC Ice Nova / Spear Assassin: view-thread/3225536 🔨⚡CWC Lightning Conduit Mjolner Trickster: view-thread/3300148 VD Arcanist Brand Necro: view-thread/2911667 |
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"alright, what about the helmet, is there alternatives? the rare one with maximum power charges corrupt is pretty hard to find with a good resistances and dex on it |
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What would you level with as Saboteur to have minimal respecing?
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" Lowering the res requirement unlocks some 30-70c helms! https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Affliction/Oq6Rj98sE Then you can pick up res on Graven's, charms, and clusters. Alternatively bite the bullet and drop 2 passives for Dex, giving better helms! Try now! 💥💫BB Unloader 1000% AoE 70m DPS🗡️🔪🔫: view-thread/3466787 FlickerCoC Ice Nova / Spear Assassin: view-thread/3225536 🔨⚡CWC Lightning Conduit Mjolner Trickster: view-thread/3300148 VD Arcanist Brand Necro: view-thread/2911667 Last edited by primaeva#0673 on Dec 24, 2023, 7:55:30 PM
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ty, now I can play this poggers build
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" Just dropped a new video and some new PoBs. Too tired now however, back to work in 5 hours, ugh! I'll dedicate tomorrow to the guide exclusively. Day 4 video with v2.0 PoBs (30m / 38m, Sab vs Assassin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs9NBHJLc8k 💥💫BB Unloader 1000% AoE 70m DPS🗡️🔪🔫: view-thread/3466787
FlickerCoC Ice Nova / Spear Assassin: view-thread/3225536 🔨⚡CWC Lightning Conduit Mjolner Trickster: view-thread/3300148 VD Arcanist Brand Necro: view-thread/2911667 |
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plss which skill is good to lvl ?
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