[2.6] Varunastra Cleave Slayer. Starting Legacy league couldn't have been easier.

did you consider using Perseverance Vanguard Belt ?

Hi, I though about it, but in the end, I have 20s Onslaught every time I kill a rare mob, I don't need it permanent anyway. The other benefits are too small to sacrifice over 100 flat life on a belt.

Hi, I'm really interested in trying this build out, however my goal for my next character was to create a poison Cleave build, ideally using Slayer because of easy leach mechanics + new Carnage Heart. I then saw that Varunastra is CRAZY cheap and found this thread.

Do you think you could go more in-depth talking about a poison variation for this build? For instance, would poison be more of a respec thing post-Cherrubim or is it viable from the beginning of mapping? What would the new leveling & endgame tree look like? What would links be for both leveling and endgame (added chaos, poison, etc.)? Would Varunastra still be "good" for this poison setup or should I look for other weapons? Should I look for items/mechanics to apply poison or use gem?

I have never created an attack based poison character so any information would be greatly helpful!

Thanks in advance for your time.

Hi, added chaos and Poison gem are pretty bad for the build because we scale strictly weapon physical dmg so your most trusted option would be either Voidheart or Cospri's Will. Cospri's Will need to be 5 off colored or at least 4 to be working. Both options are much more pricey however they will be much stronger in end game. With Cospri's Will you will be able to dual curse enemies with Vuln and Temp or Vuln and Enfeeble. Voidheart allows you to use Cherrubim or any chest for that matter, but cost a ring slot. Voidheart have the additional benefit of bleeding, but its not that noticeable.

With either options, skill trees don't need to be changed at all. However your Aura setup will be different.
With Cospri, the best aura setup is Blasphemy + Vulnerability + Temp Chain + Enlighten/Enhance, and Arctic Armour.
With Voidheart, the best aura setup is Blasphemy + Vulnerability + Hatred/Grace + Enlighten

Poison variant of the build would actually works better with Soul Taker instead of Varunastra however, because of the much higher base speed (1.8 compare to 1.3 of Varunastra).

Hello,im kinda new to this game and using your build atm (and it's awesome!). So,my question might be dumb,but how to deal with lack of chaos res in merc? is it crucial and i have to get some from gear,or atziri's promise will be enough? (lvl 67 hc)

Hi, in most cases Chaos is the least of your problem, even in HC because the only PURE chaos dmg source is from degen, like alchemist bomb, zombie that spread degen cloud after dying, and they are all avoidable. 1 Atziri pot is good enough when paired with fortify from threshold jewel. The only advice I would give you is to take more life nodes before dmg node to help you not rip.

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Hi, in most cases Chaos is the least of your problem, even in HC because the only PURE chaos dmg source is from degen, like alchemist bomb, zombie that spread degen cloud after dying, and they are all avoidable. 1 Atziri pot is good enough when paired with fortify from threshold jewel. The only advice I would give you is to take more life nodes before dmg node to help you not rip.

I have 4.3k hp for now and gonna change some gear so will have about 4.5-4.6k,guess it is fine. Ty a lot for answer, keep your great job!

Can you update the main post with links to the gems or at least use their proper names? I followed this build and I'm up to level 75 now but when I was new player a couple of weeks ago the shortened gem names was annoying to figure out.

About the skill tree. There are 4 points in question. The first two fill the 'Deadly Dilettante' loop with 8% added weapon speed, and the other two partially fill 'By The Blade' with +15% accuracy and 4% axe speed. Would it not be better to use these 4 points to stretch somewhere else for greater benefit? For example, traversing into 'Brutal Blades'? Or is there something I'm missing?

Thanks for sharing this great build.

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Carnage heart was buffed in 2.6 to become one of the best Amulet for Slayer.

I thought I'd just give you a heads up that carnage heart doesn't really do much for slayer end game. The life leech rate only increases the rate at which you hit your max leech rate.

as a slayer you hit max leech rate extremely fast so It's very unneeded.

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norseman21 wrote:

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Carnage heart was buffed in 2.6 to become one of the best Amulet for Slayer.

I thought I'd just give you a heads up that carnage heart doesn't really do much for slayer end game. The life leech rate only increases the rate at which you hit your max leech rate.

as a slayer you hit max leech rate extremely fast so It's very unneeded.

Hi thanks for the information. Carnage heart leech rate is not the only important stat of the amulet. With Slayer you will pretty much gain increased damage while leeching all the time. Plus it has a good amount of stats and resistance and is a very strong item for its price. Not in the end end game scenario, but it will be sufficient all the way to t15.

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Maskawisewin wrote:

Can you update the main post with links to the gems or at least use their proper names? I followed this build and I'm up to level 75 now but when I was new player a couple of weeks ago the shortened gem names was annoying to figure out.

About the skill tree. There are 4 points in question. The first two fill the 'Deadly Dilettante' loop with 8% added weapon speed, and the other two partially fill 'By The Blade' with +15% accuracy and 4% axe speed. Would it not be better to use these 4 points to stretch somewhere else for greater benefit? For example, traversing into 'Brutal Blades'? Or is there something I'm missing?

Thanks for sharing this great build.

The reason why I fill out By the Blades and Deadly Dilettante cluster is because Varunastra benefits from the entire cluster as it is counted as all 1 handed weapon. Deadly Dilettante provides increases for 3 different weapon types that means x3 the individual benefit and By the Blades provides x2 the benefit. As far as efficiency goes they are the best clusters for Varunastra and every nodes can be filled.

As for gem links I will update it with full name, maybe with some indepth explanation too.