[3.10] - Blade Blast Glad - LL tank with 7.5k ES, Aegis Aurora, 120+ k armour, 2M DPS - All content

Hi there !

Let me introduce one of the tankiest character I have ever made. And despite hight investment on defenses, damage and clear speed is okay. This build allow you to go deep in the Delirium fog and farm a lot of splinters. Simulacrum is made quite easy (gif is in wave 19).



This build heavily revolve around the new clusters jewels and the notable Stalwart Commander and Aegis Aurora to replenish up to 2500 ES on block. 3 larges, 6 medium and 6 small clusters are required to make this build shine.

Most of your energy shield comes from discipline. A lvl 23 discipline (lvl 21 in a +2 aura shield) gives 4k ES.

Defense

The idea is to replenish a lot of energy shield on block. We achieve this with Salwart commander notable, Aegis aurora and gladiator's high block. To use all 3 auras, we go low life with Shavrones

Stalwart Commander
* Grace has 30% increased Aura Effect
* Determination has 30% increased Aura Effect
* Discipline has 30% increased Aura Effect

Stawlart Commander x 12 = +360 % effect for these 3 aura:
* Lvl 20 discipline : 217*4.6 = 998 ES
* Lvl 20 grace : 2575*4.6 = 11845 Evasion
* Lvl 20 determination : 51*4.6 = 234 % more armour

With Iron reflexes, grace and determination gives you 11845*3.34 = 39633 armour. And that is before any %armour increase and not factoring armour on gear or other source of aura effect increase.

With min-maxed gear you can go up to 130+ k armour. With Aegis aurora, that's 2600 ES recovered on block.

With Pain forged, Violent retaliation and Versatile combatant, we are nearly all the time at 79% block / spell block.




Offense

There are various way to go for damage, but I have choosen Blade Blast for various reasons :
* It is a spell and we are low life, we have 30% more damages with Pain attunement
* It is a physical spell, we block a lot of hits and it can be boosted with violent retaliation (50 blocks in the 10 past second = 400 % increased physical damage)
* It can shotgun on bosses if we have a lot of blades to detonate
* It can be cast automatically with cast on critical
* We don't need a very high % crit because if we don't crit, blades accumulate and detonates after

Blade blast is paired with Bladefall in Poet's Pen :
* Combine well with Blade Blast supported by cast on crit
* Gladiator has better increases in attack speed than in cast speed

We go pure physical :
* High more from brutality
* Vulnerability on hit on Shaper touch is cheap this league
* We can stack -% to total physical damage
* Combine well with Outmatch and Outlast or Blood in the eyes
* Combine well with war banner

We go crit :
* 6 x precise commander on medium cluster jewels = 300% increase crit chance and +90 to crit multi
* Allow to cast blade blast with cast on crit linked to power siphon
* We're on the bottom left of the tree where transcendant flesh shines


Videos

The quality is not very good and video capture droped my FPS. Delirium is hard for my computer but I will try to make better ones soon.

Simulacrum, waves 19 and 20 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BP3F0-jrnE&feature=youtu.be

Maze of the minotaur, to evaluate Boss DPS :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWXUobvzzJw

A quick recorded video of a run to kill a conqueror (A lvl7), with a metamorph fight and a good stack of delirium splinters :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF-naYiJHRQ&feature=youtu.be


Pro/Cons

Pro :
* Very tanky, especially against physical hit (very high armour)
* Lag / Freeze friendly if you re not in degen
* Decent clear speed (I regularly have 15+ delirium splinters per map)
* Can do all content
* Can do all map mods excepts phys reflect

Cons :
* Vulnerable to high elemental spikes or degen (we're not a herald stacking build with 90 @all res)
* Lots of builds clear faster
* Not a starter league, need some currency to gear up
* Small light radius


PoB

https://pastebin.com/PDMJ4wKp


Passive tree

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQCAANdBosJuwomDPcOPBRxFHUY2xm0G5cg4yFgKaUqYzJOOlI9AECgRJ5Gt0nVTP9OKlO7W69eE1_aYVJoWGhlapNyqXTxhmCJ2I9gkAqS95stnMSplayvr3q3Ir54vqe-rcC_wo7Tb9eW5ebqGO9O82_z3fcy-AL4ofjr?accountName=Tartos&characterName=Tartank_Two

Ascendencies (order of acquisition) :
* Pain forged
* Versatile combatant
* Violent retaliation
* Outmatch and Outlast or Blood in the eyes

Anointment :
* Fusillade if you're low on accuracy
* Assassination for the crit
* Foresight if you're low on ES
* Diamond skin, Sanctuary or Faith and Steel if you lack resists
* Charisma for mana reservation reduction
* Soul of steel for max res



Gear

Here is my current gear, I will details various gear tiers later


I still have to work on the flasks


You can add a crit Cindershallow Urn and if you have enought currency a Bottled Faith.

Some explanations:
* Martyr's Crown gives us Pain attunement
* Kaom's roots have no movespeed, but they give us freeze and stun immunity, and gives us minimal action speed. Without them, you can be stuck in permanent delirium maps or simulacrum when you have 50-100+ enemies hitting you and 10 stack of debuf. You can replace them with rare boots with tailwind and cannot be frozen for boss fight like Sirus.
* We don't have easy access to %increased energy shield, so we get them on jewelry and stack as much intelligence as we can


Watcher eyes mods:
Get + % block chance while affected by determination. For the second one, you can choose between :
* % increased movement speed while affected by grace
* % energy shield regen while affected by discipline
* energy shield gain for each enemy hit while affected by discipline
* % increase energy shield recovery rate while affected by discipline
* Flask charge when you crit while affected by precision
* + % attack speed while affected by precision
* + % crit multi while affected by precision


Gems

In Poet's Pen : Bladefall + concentrated effect + (awakened) spell cascade => Concentrated effect pairs well with Blade Blast for overlapping explosions. Awakened spell cascade is a great damage boost but is very expensive. Do not put quality on bladefall or spell cascade : it increased blades spreading and reduce Blade Blast explosion overlap.

6L in body armour : Power siphon + Blade blast + cast on crit + brutality + increased area of effect (omit for 5L) + Energy shield leech => I use energy shield leech because we have no ES regen

In shield : grace + discipline + enlighten

In helm and gloves :
* A 2L RR with bloodmagic + determination
* A 2L RR with shield charge + fortify
* Flamedash (or wathever moveskill you like), precision, war banner, portal

If you replace Kaom's roots with rare boots with "cannot be frozen", a lvl 20 CWDT setup with vall motenshell + bladevortex or bladefall + tempest shield


Cluster Jewels

You can start mapping with 2 larges cluster jewels, but you will need 3 to perform well in red maps.

3 large cluster jewels with 2 jewels sockets :
* Small passives grants 12% physical damage
* Iron breaker : enemies endurance charges or physical reductions can cut our damage a lot, this notable helps us to go through their defense
* Furious Assault : Attack speed (for Poet's Pen) + generic physical damage
* Master the fundamentals or Battle Hardened. Choose between these 2 if you need resistances or want higher armour

6 medimum cluster jewels :
* Small passives grants 6% increased effect of auras from your skills
* Stalwart commander
* Precise commander
* 1 jewel socket

6 small cluter jewels :
* Small passives grants 6% incresed energy shield
* Stalwart commander
* Added passive have % increased effect (35% is best because small passives gives 8% ES, but they are expensives)
* Additional stats or resists according to your needs - try do grab chaos res here


Pantheon and bandits

Major : Soul of Arakaali => reduce shock effects and damage taken over time + ES increased recovery rate
Minor : Soul of Abberath or Soul of Shakiri => to reduce fire or chaos damage over time

Bandits : Help Alira (crit multi + we lack resistances because we use lots of uniques) or kill all bandits for 2 skill points


Leveling guide (posted by bouziot)
As a LL ES build with cluster jewels, it may be tricky to lvl it up for less experienced players. Here is my approach, since the guide doesn't discuss this (feel free to add yours btw :))

The goal:
- to reach lvl.60-63, where you can wear your Shav's and large cluster jewels and switch to ES, as comfortably as possible.

Assumptions:
- you have a budget of 4-20c to spare for leveling items and a couple of regrets (not unreasonable as the build can be quite expensive and is not for the start of the league).

Steps:

1. Pick the leveling gem of your choice. I went for Blade Vortex, as it was easily accessible since Act1 and is consistent with the build logic (phys spell).

2. Link it with the support gems of choice. For Blade Vortex, I went with added damage support gems (fire, lightning, cold) and iron will which were readily available and had a low level requirement. I then switched/added to increased aoe and spell echo once they were accessible (act3-4). Link these gems to a 4L-6L armor (ideally a tabula rasa). Damage is more than enough for leveling content, but you have to be close to enemies, which brings a question on survivability that is dealt in Step (4).

3. Choose your leveling uniques. To support a spell choice, I went with Axiom as the weapon, and Hrimsorrow (fated to Hrimburn) as gloves. Adjust accordingly if you go for a phys attack skill instead. Use Atziri's Foible in case you run into mana problems (e.g. due to the 6L provided by Tabula Rasa).


4. Follow the same skill tree development as the guide, leaving open gaps where the jewel slots are (or filling them with jewels you get while leveling). As you progress through the tree, take all major +% life slots to increase survivability. Your skilltree by lvl.60 should look like something like this:

Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.10.0/AAAABAQCAFuvXhMUTZzEAef8SxiRDY3Tb49gBS2bLWFShmA6UoIHGNvz3e9OvJ826HTt-KF2rA48FHG-p0d-KaWfy2qTSdUZtPNv-OvPfmhYCbtAoKcwZU2Hdmegwo5M_4nYtyJyqb02Tir3MuoYRrdoZa2N2XzXlhR1dPEhYOXm459KfXrv


To get a nice flat boost in life, consider wearing Springleaf and its fated version The Oak.

Note: From lvl.30 and on, you can change weapon to the Poet's Pen and equip the gems of the build; however, as the large cluster jewel haven't been placed yet you will have no extra phys damage so your damage will be quite low. I did better DPS at that point with BV.

5. Once you can wear Shav's, respec all life nodes (around 15-20 respec points, most of which you have already gained during leveling). Use the points you reclaimed to populate the first cluster jewel group and then proceed to the second as you start mapping. Follow then the rest of the guide.


Achievements

* A8 Sirus
* Hydra on 100 % delirium / 90 % quantity map
* Kosis on wave 20 simulacrum
* Uber Elder
* Cortex
Last edited by Tartos on Apr 28, 2020, 6:29:31 PM
Last bumped on Jun 17, 2020, 11:22:33 PM
Hello!

Seems like a nice build... May I ask you how many exalts do I have to get to make the build work properly?? Not to maximize it, only to make it profitable and able to kill Shaper, Elder, Sirus, you know...
You need at least 2 large cluster jewels costing 50-60 chaos each + 4 medium cluster jewels costing 40-50 chaos + 4 small cluster jewels costing ~10 c each.

For gear, the most expensive is shavronne, 5L costing something like 200 c, and with 50c budget for the other stuff, you should be fine.

That's something like 3-5 ex, with twice that amount it should be very confortable (6L shav + 3 large cluster jewels + other upgrades).
I have around 30ex from mine build and looking for new build.

I am very intesresting in your build.

1/ Does it make FPS drop like VD build?

2/ I know block build is bad with degen but how we deal with it?

3/ Can this do less block map?

4/ Is there any tips for some content like simulacreum, Sirius,...

Thanks
1> I will do more testing, but i don't think bladefall + bladeblast drop much your FPS. For me it's delirium fog and lots of monsters / debuffs that drop my FPS (and my computer is becoming old with a 7600 GTX graphic card + I play on Linux and that does not help for perf).

2> It's the main drawback of the build. Energy shield leech helps, pantheons are focused on degen, and with sorrow of the divine + life flask you can counter it temporarly.

3> Yes, your block can rise quickly with violent retaliation. But extra elemental damage + less block can be tricky with a third anoying mod.

4> For simulacreum, the only problem is Kosis on wave 20 if you don't have enought DPS. For Sirus you should avoid flames on ground other things are ok (I'll try to upload a video soon)
Do we need Awakened spell cascade? What will happen to our damage if we don't have it?

Can you make a list recommend mod for watcher's eye?

Thank you
Awakened spell cascade is a great damage boost because you're throwing 5/3 = 66 % more blades on the ground and increase the number of Blade Blast explosions. This is most visible for bosses when the damage boost from violent retialition is not very high.

But you can still do decent damage without and clear quite well. I acquired it lately due to it's price and have done nearly all the atlas (and cortext boss) with normal spell cascade. You can increase the number of blades with the following setup :
* Drop precision and war banner
* Link another bladeblast with spellsinger

For watcher eyes mods, the mandatory one is + % block chance while affected by determination. For the second one, you can choose between :
* % increased movement speed while affected by grace
* % energy shield regen while affected by discipline
* energy shield gain for each enemy hit while affected by discipline
* % increase energy shield recovery rate while affected by discipline
* Flask charge when you crit while affected by precision
* + % attack speed while affected by precision
* + % crit multi while affected by precision
Seems like very good defenses, and a well thought build plan; just wish it had more damage.

All in all good work though.
i have some questions.
-can i use coc cyclone for this build?
-why r u using sharper's touch?
-the mechanic is that we recovery hp on block but we dont take damage at all when we block so would it be necessary?
-can i use coc cyclone for this build?

> Have not tried but I think it won't work as well as with poet's pen : You loose 1 link in your 6 L (must socket Blade blast and Bladefall in it) and wands have more natural crit chance - power siphon helps for additionnal crit with power charges. Another point is that Bladefall and Blade Blast should not be linked togeter : you want packed blades so that explosions overlaps, and you want more AoE for explosions. That means concentrated effect for Bladefall and increase AoE for Blade blast.

-why r u using sharper's touch

> Good question, I will update my post to explain it better : We are in the bottom left of the tree and have 200 + str without any investment, just pathing. With shapper touch it's 20 % increase ES, a stat we are lacking. And we need some accuracy too, stacking int with shaper touch gives us plenty of it.

- the mechanic is that we recovery hp on block but we dont take damage at all when we block so would it be necessary?

> You will take damage 1/5 of the time, + damage from degen. In juiced T16, simulacreum or against bosses, you will take damage. And this allow you to stand and attack, and because you don't have to kite, it increses you DPS.

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