[2.3] LL Blade Vortex Trickster - Great DPS, Tanky, Fun!

Videos(More to come)




Pros and cons

Pros:
1. Very fast clear and melts high end content easily and safely (e.g. uber lab/atziri)
2. Run most map types comfortably
3. Shatter all the things
4. Zero mana cost Whirling Blades
5. Shade form/Ghost Dance is broken

Cons:
1. Not a cheap build


What this build requires

Shavronne's Wrappings (6-8 exalts)

The Vertex Vaal Mask (12-20 chaos) Can also use a heretic's veil but it's 5 exalt+


How to play and general information

This build makes use of Herald of Ice, Hatred, and decent crit(7 power charges) to shatter all the things. A cwdt/IC setup, Vaal discipline, high ES and a touch of evasion makes you very tanky. The clear speed is high, without sacrificing single target dps(switch Increased AoE for Concentrated Effect). If you want to run uber lab or farm atziri this might be for you.

Map Mods:

Blood magic: Skip this
Curse immune: Just pay attention and use flasks as necessary. Can use Life leech if necessary.
Elemental Reflect: No problem
Physical Reflect: Use Phys to lightning instead of increased Critical damage or increased AoE/controlled destruction(if 5 Link)
Reduced/no regen: This ascendancy handles these mods perfectly. Read the Skill tree section for more info.
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Skill tree

Ascendancy

Tree


We're using Trickster(shadow). There's other viable classes such as Assassin and there are guides for those so I am not going to touch on them.

So what does Trickster offer us?

Walk the Aether
Movement Skills cost no Mana
20% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've used a Movement Skill Recently

Free steroid for whirling blades and Blade vortex. Zero mana cost whirling blades means we can freely use the skill in no regen maps.

Weave the Arcane
25% increased maximum Mana
50% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
20% chance to Recover 10% of Maximum Mana when you use a Skill


We mostly take this for "20% chance to Recover 10% of Maximum Mana when you use a Skill". This allows us to stack BV and also means Whirling blades can refill our mana in no regen maps.

Ghost Dance
20% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
5% chance to Dodge Attacks
5% chance to Dodge Spell Damage
10% increased Movement Speed while on Full Energy Shield


Some nice defensive stats and movement speed.

Shade Form
+500 to Evasion Rating
+250 to maximum Energy Shield
20% increased Attack and Cast Speed if Energy Shield Recharge has started Recently
20% more chance to Evade Attacks while not on full Energy Shield

This is in my opinion one of the strongest ascendancy notables. 20% chance to evade and +500 evasion basically turns us into a hybrid with very little ev scaling. On top of that, 250 ES and steroids on ES recharge. This is the main reason we go Trickster.

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Skill Gems

6L - Blade Vortex - Spell Echo - Increased Duration - Controlled Destruction - Increased Area of Effect - Increased Critical Damage
5L - Blade Vortex - Spell Echo - Increased Duration - Controlled Destruction - Increased Area of Effect
4L Blade Vortex - Spell Echo - Increased Duration - Controlled Destruction

Power charges
Blade Vortex - Power Charge on Critical - Increased Duration - Herald of Ice

CWDT setup:

CWDT(lvl 4) - Immortal Call(lvl 6) - Increased Duration - Vaal Discipline


Auras
In Vertex: Blasphemy - Warlord's Mark - Discipline - Enlighten

Blood magic - Hatred - Vaal clarity

Movement

Whirling Blades - Faster attacks - Fortify

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Leveling

Start as hybrid and switch to CI if you can't afford Shavs. When you have shavs switch to Low Life.

You can use the same tree with minimal respecs, just travel up the elemental damage nodes and use Firestorm or whatever you prefer.

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Gear

To scale your offense you want Spell damage, critical strike chance, critical strike multiplier. Cast speed, Increased AoE and Skill effect duration are important as well. Attack speed is useful for QoL on your whirling blades.

To scale your defense you want ES, Evasion, and capped resists on merciless. Hybrid bases are nice, but you don't really need much evasion. I have hybrid helmet(Vaal mask) and a hybrid shield and I feel it's enough.

Weapon:

Spell Crit Dagger. Mods to look for are Flat Cold damage, Cold damage leeched as life, Critical Strike Multiplier, and attack speed(QoL for Whirling blades). Divinarius is also a good choice as it gives us Spell damage/Crit/Increased AoE and isn't terribly expensive.

Shield:



This is one of the best places for us to pick up some evasion so pick up a hybrid shield with good ES rolls and some resists. You can also get an ES base with some Critical strike/Spell damage but I prefer to get some evasion here.

Helmet:


Vertex or Heretic's veil. We need this to fit our auras. Blade Vortex Duration is the best enchant here.

Gloves:


ES, Evasion, and resists are the stats we're looking for. You can also use a nice high ES pair.

Boots:


ES, Evasion, and resists also for our boots. Again, a high ES pair will work as well. Movement speed isn't terribly necessary as we're using whirling blades, but if you want you can look for some movement speed as well.

Belt:


Energy shield, resists, strength. We'll need some strength in our gear, and this is the easiest place to pick some up.

Rings:


Energy shield and resists. Critical strike chance doesn't hurt here either.

Amulet:


Energy shield and resists. Critical strike multiplier, cast speed, critical strike chance, and spell damage are all nice as well.

For jewels you want the following mods:

% Increased Maximum Energy Shield
% Increased Damage
% Increased Area Damage
% Increased Physical Damage
% Increased Spell Damage
% Increased Spell Damage while holding a shield

And to a lesser extent:
% Attack and Cast Speed




Flasks:

Hey Mate,
I just startet a BV and iam following ur guide. But i miss the Bandits u pickd.
Wod be cool if u can add this ;)

Greetings ~

"

TekkiTakk wrote:

Hey Mate,
I just startet a BV and iam following ur guide. But i miss the Bandits u pickd.
Wod be cool if u can add this ;)

Greetings ~

kill - kill - alira

Ty so much for the build. I try it for the next league !

What would be better for HC? Trickster or assassin? and why

Been doing this build in ESC since I had the best luck of my PoE career and found a Shav's this league. I switched to lowlife around lvl 84. I'm lvl 87 right now and still trying to get the hang of playing a LL build. It feels different than life builds, and my normal reactions to dealing with damage (mostly mashing life pot keys), especially degen, are not well suited to the build. So, I'm just going to have to get more practice in.

Just wanted to see if anyone has advice on how to improve my build. I still need to save up some more currency to try to at least 5L my Shav's. It's going to be a long time before I can afford a Vinktar's, so I'll have to make due with regular flasks for the most part. I spent most of my chaos just to get the gear and gems I have now.

Right now I'm sitting at 20,636 DPS for BV with auras up in hideout.

Here's my current tree:


I definitely need to respec my first bandit choice, since I took Oak. I still need to pick up the 3 additional power charges as well. Haven't decided whether I should spec out of Force Shaper (top right) to do that or not.

Here's my stats:
Offense


Defense


Here's my gear:


Any advice on how to improve the build and what to prioritize would be greatly appreciated!! I can probably get a few more levels if I can get my reactions to be smarter for this build and stop dying :) I think it's mostly due to me not realizing fast enough when I'm in trouble, and the fact that I don't have much stun mitigation.

.