[Theorycrafting] Bloodseeker and the Search For Immortality

I decided I want to get a level 100 character, without expending a ludicrous amount of money.

I put together a build that I hoped would get enough DPS to clear 77s and 78s while being practically immortal.


Bloodseeker is the central item that my build revolves around. I wanted to use the instant leech to its fullest extent and attack exclusively with bloodseeker so that I have a 100% uptime on my leech.


Lightning Coil is my choice for the body armour and main defensive mechanism, together with acrobatics and the grace aura. It's flat-out the best defensive chest piece and the demand in HC speaks for itself.


I couldn't think of a shield that would aid my purpose other than crest of perandus, which isn't going to be as good with acrobatics after 1.3, so I decided to try out an off hand and decided on Soul Taker which allows me to not use BM or any mana, meaning I can always attack and therefore always leech, as well as not having to invest into any resource management.

Since I want to hit exclusively with Bloodseeker, I chose a skill that would only work with claws (or rather, with claws but not axes) and decided on reave. Dual Strike was the other possibility, but having played around with a WoE BoR I found the lack of good AoE rather disappointing, I also couldn't decide on a 5Link setup for it in my GRRBB coil (I don't want to drop pcoc, but I don't want to be forced into a 6L).

The rest of the gear is composed of standard uniques for a crit build and resistance capping.




The problem I'm having (and where I need input) is with DPS. I can't reach 20K DPS which I would say is the bare minimum for a build like this. I hit 13K, with a tree that isn't for this build but that I imagined would net me a higher amount.

The planned tree includes claw passives and more life.

I'm willing to change almost anything that doesn't change the core idea of Bloodseeker + Soul Taker, and I'll even bend a little if there is a clearly better off-hand that allows me to farm without a worry in the world and lets me not invest in a casting pool.

Suggestions for alternatives to reave are most welcome.

Yes 20k AoE dps is the goal to quickly clear blue packs in 77-78 maps.

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mazul wrote:

Yes 20k AoE dps is the goal to quickly clear blue packs in 77-78 maps.

Not even, in 6l party you need at least 30k if no crit.

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lolozori wrote:

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mazul wrote:

Yes 20k AoE dps is the goal to quickly clear blue packs in 77-78 maps.

Not even, in 6l party you need at least 30k if no crit.

Yeah, I assumed solo.

I would guess using vulnerability curse would make those 13k close to a virtual 20k.

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lolozori wrote:

I would guess using vulnerability curse would make those 13k close to a virtual 20k.

Nope. Vulnerability takes a significant time to cast. With 20k dps solo, you clear average blue mobs in 1 second. Even if you got 100% cast speed increase, that is 0.25 seconds you take casting it.

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mazul wrote:

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lolozori wrote:

"

mazul wrote:

Yes 20k AoE dps is the goal to quickly clear blue packs in 77-78 maps.

Not even, in 6l party you need at least 30k if no crit.

Yeah, I assumed solo.

I play mostly solo. So 20K seems like a fine figure to me.

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lolozori wrote:

I would guess using vulnerability curse would make those 13k close to a virtual 20k.

That's a good idea but if you look in my helmet you'll see I'm already running assassin's mark which as far as I know is the best curse for a crit build.

I think reave desynchs a lot and I'm not exactly happy using it, and that seems to be a limitation of this build more than anything else.

(Posted from my phone so excuse any spelling mistakes)

If you're going to use bloodseeker unique, i recommend Exalton's bloodseeker shadow, he reached level 99 in invasion hc league, and it was a beast of a build, and he uses soul taker/bloodseeker combination aswell.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/918971

I dont think anyone will give you more information than this guide.

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yotmato wrote:

If you're going to use bloodseeker unique, i recommend Exalton's bloodseeker shadow, he reached level 99 in invasion hc league, and it was a beast of a build, and he uses soul taker/bloodseeker combination aswell.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/918971

I dont think anyone will give you more information than this guide.

That's partly where the inspiration came from but I dislike the CI playstyle and I'm weird - I don't like mana.



I guess I'm going to have to go dual strike if I follow exalton's guide.

I think the logic behind going CI its simply the leech cap. Remember that leech is capped at 20% of your maximum Life, or ES if you're using Ghost Reaver.

So, for Bloodseeker, CI is the natural choice afaik, since you will have a way higher ES pool, translating in a way higher leech cap.

I believe this is the logic behind it, because bloodseeker doesnt have vaal pacts drawback (40% leech effectiveness). Another advantage of going CI is that you can take full advantage of Melee Damage on Full Life gem.

As for the attack/skill choice, i believe your only option here is Dual Strike i'm afraid.

From the wiki:

"Dual Wielding: Most other melee skills will alternate weapons or only use the main hand while making dual wielding attacks. Dual Strike and Cleave are the only current exceptions. If the player's weapons have different critical strike chance or accuracy values, it is possible to critical or miss with one weapon, but not the other."

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Dual_Strike

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Reave . Reave alternates, meaning that when you hit with soul taker your leech won't be instant.