3.13 Bladeblast Chieftain. GG HC build. high dmg/clear/surv. Blasting awakener! Strong as ever!

Hello and welcome Exile! I am Jauer and this is my new guide.

Update 16-4 ultimatum
The Bladeblast skill got nerfed with around 30 % and vigil got nerfed. build stil viable but it took a big hit.


Update 3-4-2021

With Ritual league nearing its end, many have had great succes with the build. Also there have been alot of variations build with soultether and corrupted soul keystone (timeless jewel) or Devouring Diademe, all seems very viable and if you browse all the pages from replys since launch of ritual, alot of people have demonstated that the original version in the guide and variations have been succesfull at dealing safely and easy with maven and all the special encounters added with the 3.13. read the guide and take a look at some of the replys of newer date(many have alot of details about their versions).

And last, im very happy with all the positive feedback, it made the huge effort in making the guide and keep up with it worth it!

showcase of a warlord kill in super scuffed ssf setup, in HC ssf ritaul lvl 85 or so
https://youtu.be/aCQjrvorPi8

UPDATE 13-1-2021

from looking at changes to chieftain and skills, the build stands equal strong for 3.13 even more juicy then last league since acces to harvest crafts, i tested my chief in perm HC ageinst full simulacrum and uber elder and it was smooth as ever.

i would consider it a tier 1 boss killer for the maven encounter. with the ability to absorb very high amount of damage while covering the area in explotions fast destroying all the bosses.

Changes
A stronger alternative to divine flesh is now the other glorius vanity mod combo IMMORTAL ambision(ahuana) and then replica soultether( or the other note + normal soultether). Since divine flesh was nerfed, this combo will give around 8,5k HP + 2500 es, and is more mitigation+ perm leech.

older updates
Spoiler
update 15/11-2020
added a video of wave 20 simulacrum in 3.12

Update 16-9-2020
i did a fast look at patch notes. and from my first look this is what i can say. TDRL. build is nerfed but still very strong.

Spoiler
From the changes to divine flesh, enduring cry and glancing blows the build is nerfed, but so is most other builds. It will function like it have done so far, just losing some defences, however there can be used other stuff instead

The corrupted soul version of glorius vanity. maby its better now then divine flesh.

The enduring cry nerf is minor since the chieftain gets the auto generation of charges anyways.

it can be argued if the glancing blows is worth it vs just having less block but blocking 100% of the damage.

So build is still good, and properly just as solid option as before since, what els can you build that is not nerfed and just as easy to build, and powerfull?


Anything below here is from 3.11 but its all still hold true outside glancing blow and divine flesh nerf. also the Harvest craft system is gone.

Update! hit lvl 100, by solo playing this build all the way, gonna take a well deserved break, if i can do all content and hit lvl 100 solo. so can you! #Hardcoreforlife


you can see my new 3.12 tanky spectre necro guilde here
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2989420


You can check my old Nebuloch guide here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2589795

My twitch stream (casually streaming sometimes):
https://www.twitch.tv/jauer_poe

I‘m a long time POE player and I try to make super viable and balanced builds for doing hard content in HARDCORE!

The build is copied from the streamer nugiyen (who probably copied from someone else). But I have been playing the build like many others and put a lot of effort into perfecting it. Also there seems to be no guides for this version so I decided to write one.

This build is very strong and can do all of the bosses, clears fast, and is very tanky.

The PROS:
- easy Leaguestarter, doesn‘t require any unique items to get going and only 1 specific jewel late game.
- easy gearing since tons of resistances from accendency and tree.
- 9k life!
- capped block to spells and attack with glancing blows keystone
- high life regen and leech. recovery on block!
- high phys/elemental and chaos mitigation with phys convertion, and timeless jewel.
- ailment immune with crafted gear, so no shock chill or freeze.
- caster playstyle
- corpse removal with explody chest is super good for survivability
- good clearspeed
- high single target damage
- can be min-maxed late game
- Solo self found viable.
- Scales well with support, good carry

So that all sounds to good to be true? Can this build really deliver? You bet!

The CONS:
- can‘t LEVEL from scratch with the build. you need to reach library to buy the gems. i suggest no sooner then after cruel lab.
- super clearspeed requires explody chest but it’s totally fine without.
- Map mods: Elemental reflect is impossible => insta rip
- Like any other build the super endgame items need effort and currency
-You have to cast two spells, so the playstyle can feel abit clunky. but when you get use to it and have some castspeed gear its not bad.

Videos: sorry I got this annoing thing with making wierds sounds from time to time.

Simulacrum lvl 20
https://youtu.be/oUJ1__4p76I

LVL 100!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/696600201

review of the build after doing lvl 100

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/696624025

Harvest boss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlVr3D5ya3Q

Awakener 8
https://youtu.be/b5tonKQO4jk

showcase of how tanky the char is vs Awakener 8
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/693743784

Uber Elder
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/689937888

Clearing a t16 map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW41y_5Fi14

Cortex, done another with 3 damage mods. but this one gave a nice surprice
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/691557955

The closest call this char had. blue seeds are very scary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SblNhPz-ZE&feature=youtu.be

Crafting guide: how i make my gear showcase of BIS chest
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/694153737



The passive tree.
PATH OF BUILDING FORK VERSION (google how to get it). See NOTES IN THE POB
https://pastebin.com/TTwPsCka
The POB is not 100% what im currently using, but my stats and gear when i just turned 98, with current gear at 99 i got 9,5k life and a fair amount more damage

Here is my fully decked lvl 99 tree all buffs up, almost 36 mill with 40 blades.

https://pastebin.com/FW8BrzyJ

Options to the passive tree
Spoiler
Most HC versions of Blade blast chieftains look very similar, but there are some options to costomise the tree. one big point is i dont spec alot of aoe notes, so if you want to pimp the aoe clear alot you can take the 3 notes to get the big aoe note in the witch(and drop 3 life notes). another option is you can use the Intuitive leap jewel, in the witch jewel soccet, and get the big mana spell block, the big aoe note, and the herald note on top. this is a great option if you run both herald of ash and herald of purity.

another option is to move some points around and get more cluster jewels going, here is endless options, so im not gonna debate that, you are just as good at figuring something out as me or any els.



Leveling tree (there are 3 versions in the POB)
https://pastebin.com/sXaxhMwG

Ascendancy, Pantheon and Bandits
Spoiler

Bandits: kill all for +2 skill points. Oak is not a bad option thoe. For early game i can suggest getting Alira, since it gives all res and mana regen, makes mana substain much better. respec it later(20 regrets+ onyx amulet to any vendor)

Ascendancy:
1: Ngahamu flame advance. To be able to convert physical to fire, with Avartar of fire keystone we convert 100% to fire. also gives a 40% avarage more fire damage.

2: Hinekora, Death´s fury. Gives life leech from all fire damage, and applys covered in ash(20% more damage, and 20% slow)

3: Tosalio, Cleansing water. this gives alot of resists, perfect for just before entering maps to counter the big reduction to resist penalty. nice life regen, and phys convertion to fire(a reduction) the best part is it gives 50% inc recovery to all sources, like leech regen, block.

4:Valako, storm´s embrace. this grants change to get endurance charge on kill, +1 endurance charge, regen pr endurance charge. and 15% more damage if used a endurance charge. when you get this i suggest switching from steelskin to Immortal call. Also run as high lvl CWDT you can. make shure your Immortal call never is higher level then the CWDT!!!.

Pantheon

For most scenarios i use for major. Solaris. Arakali can be used in places with degen, or chaos damage.(lab)

for minor i use mainly Gruthul, for the phys reduction.

Soul of shakari for poison maps or Hunter influence.

Ralakesh for LAB.

Yugul for Shaper, or redeemer maps.


AT lvl 99 with almost done gear.DONT be intimidated by my gear, the build works fine on normal rares, for the most part! i just like to put alot of time and effort into my characters!check the CRAFT TIPS under gear explained
I regret not saving my gear when i was starting farming t16 maps. like i had regular rares on every iteem. a 70% fire scepter, and first got a conc effect helmet at lvl 96.
mygear

Forbidden taste flask i use all the time now, but in start i just used the divine flask. most recently i dropped the bottle faith, so i am using that now, after i crafted my current boot (lvl 99 50%) i dropped the quick silver for Cinder Swallow. until you got propper mana regen use a enduring mana flask
with armor mod is really good, els curse is also good mod.


gear_explained

All the gear here is the endgame setup. you dont need it to start!, just get regular rares. With HARVEST its not hard to craft your own super gear so i strongly advice to do that. thats how i got all my gear.

Below each item i added a spoiler how to produce the items. something i first learned after waisting alot of crafts and currency :( save your time and money do it right the first time.

Body armor: here you want to get crusader mod with
explosion mod, phys taken as elemental and life. surfixes just resists:
A more min maxed chest will have 2 influences: crusader and redeemer. to get frency charge on hit mod.
its possible for bosses to switch for a Chest without explody mod but more life, this is super endgame luxury.

craft_chest

the ideal base would start with explody mod. this is however super rare, so i suggest the following
to force on the explody mod, you need to have your surfixes blocked. so i suggest, roling 2 or 3 desired surfixes, that can be done with chaos or alt+ regal(+bench craft) now it does not matter if you have a phys prefix like phys reflect or the phys taken as lighting damage. now you simply need to augment phys mod, until you have all 3 prefixes, the explody mod is forced to come on since there is only 3 mods. now you remove a phys(and add if failed) until the reflect is removed. you can then add life. if you have lighting resist, switch it to another resist. you can now add/remove phys as lighting until t1. so now you can try to rerole the life to a tier one or 2.


Helmet: here you want a CONC effect elder helmet with life. you can also get spell block or other good mods on it. a 3 option is elder+warlord for 10% phys taken as fire prefix. i crafted ASPECT OF THE SPIDER here, but that can be used on any base you see fit.you need to craft avoid elements on this item(surfix)

enchantmentyou can use many diff, i got one with reduction to aura, to help on mana and squezy in clarity. try some diff enchants im not shure what is best.

craft_helmet
there can be many different versions or stats you want, so i suggest using pristine fossils to you get the conc effect+ t1 life. you can now remove any surfixes you dont want, or recraft em. the % armor can be roled by add Defence. leave a slot open for ailment immune. you can also add aspect of spider here, or you can put it elswhere if you maby got 6% spellblock surfix


Amulet:I strongly advice to use the turquice base(dex int) since it saves you to not need perf roled dex on other gear, and gives you just enough int to handle everything. here a warlord neck can give you +1 phys gems, phys as extra fire or fire pen. surfixes there is many options like regen, +2 max block castspeed ect. for annoint ARcane swiftness is a must! this note gives 75% spell damage, 5% castspeed 3 block, and vital 20% avoid ailments(needed for immunity) also 20% stun avoidence that is nice.


craft_amulet
Here i fucked up alot, but do as follows. get a warlord base. role T1 life, and a high mana regen(maby pristine + lucent fossils or just alt regal) its importent you dont have any mods you cant remove, such as stats iir ect. Now the example base got 2 mods(rare) craft can not role attack mod(1 ex bench) and augment it 3 times with phys. this will force on +1 phys gems, % phys gained as fire. and 5% reduced phys damage taken. finish off by crafting surfix+1 minimum frency charge (1 divine)


Rings:here you can get many things, like lvl 22 Herald of ash, essences crafted i got t1 dex on both mine thats very hard. i suggest to get dex on gloves and maby one ring or amulet. makes gearing so much easyer.
For bench craft you want to add the minus mana cost of skills!


craft_ring
I got no real guide line here, since there can be so maby options you want. if you have acces to alot of fracture prefix crafts, you can try roling a few rings with
if you dont get anything usefull you can try fracture them to hope to lock the essence mod. rest is just roling with life fossils or chaos spamming. finishing with add or remove or change the resists. you can also make some juicy versions with warlord base or others. a other good option is to craft + min frency charge surfixes.


Belt: here you want high life. a elder base offers 4 really good mods. phys damage, % life, flat life. and life recovery rate. use a Leather or stygina vise base.


craft_belt
Here i did as followed. catalyst the base to 20% when its white(only uses 4 fertile)fossil spam to you get t1 life and % life prefix, i also landed t1 recovery surfix. now you can remove any non wanted mods. augment phys with locked surfixes and it gets eather reflect or %phys, rerole to a decent tier. remove any unwanted stats and craft the regen(or what you els want)


Gloves:here you dont need anything special. the Temple mod extra damage ageinst chilled enemyes are good. but many bases can be used. i suggest keeping your gloves nothing special to open up the ability to corrupt elemental weakness. you need to craft avoid elemement on this item.


craft_glove
i cant really say any general tips here since there can be many versions. if you get a glove with the temple mod you can try to fracture it. els use the same trick by adding a certain type of mod, and then remove add it until you get desired tier


Boot Best base to use would be shaper base with 31% + avoid ailments, this is needed to cap ailment immunity. Otherwise you would go for life, some resistances and movement speed. A bigboy-version would have also +1 endurance charges (warlord) or tailwind (hunter).


craft_boot
here you need the shaper base. the avoid ailment mod is very commen, so i suggest spamming pristine+prismatic fossils until you have the mod +t1 life. after that you can augment life(if surfixes are blocked)to hit the hybrid. finish off by crafting movementspeed + onslaught.


Shield: THIS item is importent to get "%life gained on block" (Shaper or warlord). Prefixes you really want are the "+2 to all res" (including chaos) to get your res cap to 78-77-77- 87)
Otherwise you want high life spell damage. You can also get good suffixes like block chance. Its possible to combine it with hunter base to also get "+3 chaos res" max but i don't think its worth it vs a high spell damage roll.


craft_shield
Here you want to start with a base(i85 shaper) and role the +2 to max res. when you have this together with some other mods you want like life on block, you can add, surfixes can not be changed.(2 ex) now you can rerole the life to get tier one. migth take a few tries. after that you remove the crafted mod and block surfixes.(random bench craft) now you augment caster and it will get spell damage, you can keep-+ to you get a high role Warning! t1 runic is extremly rare so i would suggest not rerole any t3-t2 lastly you can randomise the life spelldamage or other mods.


Weapon: Here you want a scepter so you can vigil strike, and the % ele implicit is good. what you want is high fire damage, since it scales explody, +1 to phys or spell gem or both. or gained phys as extra fire. many combos can be used. a importent part is it have a open surfix to craft trigger mod. a warlord base is the best since you can also get % damage from endurance charges surfix


craft_scepter
you want a ilvl 84 warlord scepter. you can try to use random add caster phys or fire mod from trash harvests. or fossils, what you aim for is to get t1 fire damage % prefix, its extremly rare. now you make shure you dont have any non wanted mods, if you hit the t1% fire its worth even adding 2 ex prefixes cant be changed and scour the surfixes. so the base got nothing els. now you craft, can not role attack mods(1 ex) and augment phys. you do that 2 times and garanteed +phys as fire and +1 phys spell gems. remove add until t1 % phys as fire. now you divine it. then you craft add fire surfix and add caster. if you dont get t1 you need to craft prefixes cant be changed, and then rerole the surfixes, you want cast speed. for the fire mods you can get % fire or exposure. finish off by removing the craft and add trigger. its like 3 ex + crafts but not bad for a mirror weapon:D


Jewels: timeless jewel.
Update for 3.13!!
A stronger alternative to divine flesh is now the other glorius vanity mod combo IMMORTAL ambision(ahuana) and then replica soultether( or the other note + normal soultether). Since divine flesh was nerfed, this combo will give around 8,5k HP + 2500 es, and is more mitigation+ perm leech.

this is something you should work towards getting Glorius vanity
this with the Xibaqua role gives Divine flesh. This is a huge defence buff since it reduces alot of ele damage taken, and also phys since we convert phys taken to elemental. its not needed to get going but deffently the chase item of the build.Lethal pride is a good cheap alternative. it can offer alot of good notes, like life, phys taken as fire, fortify effect. more damage. i used this for long.
this jewel grants 15% phys taken as fire. 4% life. 20% fortify effect. its for sale btw :D

Cluster jewel: i use A spell damage base with 8 stats to get the Conjur wall note. giving 6% spell block, there is other good combos, like the free arcane surge. if your capped spell block you can propperly use other variants for more juicy mods.

Normal jewels: here you want mods like life, fire damage, area damage, i capped my phys block by this jewels to. you want one with Corrupting blood immunity this is MANDATORY for awakener, but also huge defence in maps since you can explode bloodlines packs in 1 hit and get 20 stacks without noticing. you can also get onslaugth on a abyss jewel, to free up higher lvl movement speed on boots.

craft_jewels
here is a way i did it. eather role or buy jewels with area damage + damage(surfix) now augment life and phys or the one that missed. my jewels are made by buying 3 stat jewles with life, remove a mod and augment phys. easy perfect 4 stat jewels to all slots.




mana

So mana substain is not 100% possible, you can get arcane surge on cluster jewel+ effect, and on the tree if using medium Thread of hope unique jewel.
the mana+ spell block note at witch is vital to substain mana, and some regen on gear. you will need to use an enduring mana flask until you got a good setup, doing bosses i flamedash to keep arcane surge active(keep it low lvl to proc often).


leveling_gear
Just get some good random rares, I'm not gonna explain anyone how to get regular items. You can find decent uniques that can help you, nothing special here, this is a no brainer. One important note is that you want some DEX on the items or your jewels or spec 2 DEX notes on the tree! You can also annoint some DEX on your amulet later.

here is some examples of leveling items that can aid you
Spoiler




Gem_links

Bladeblast


Bladefall
+ the conc from helmet. im not shure if the % on bladefall is bad, but it could acculy be a nerf to single target damage(more aoe of the bladefall)

A very big upgrade for this build is Awakened spell cascade. it allows you to drop 25 blades pr cast when your spamming since unleash is on cooldown. its like a 30% more damage doing most bosses, and also improves map clear alot. its expencive. but deffently a thing to aim for. i first got mine around half way thrue lvl 99, and regret i dident spend the currency earlyer.

Trigger weapon
IF you got curse on glove or ring you can maby use purifying flame for free concecrated ground. its regen and more crit chance.

Auras
+ ASPECT of the spider(crafted) you can play around with the level of clarity needed, this is not a mandatory skill and can be ofset by good regen or -cost crafts, clarity is in the shield as a 1 link.

Mobility, utility 4link
Here we get both effect of second wind with to flamedash and enduring cry. Enduring cry is put on movement bottom so it auto triggers when you move around.

Cast when damage taken
until you got your uber lab i suggest using steel skin.

If you can substain your mana without Clarity. You can now put increased duration on the setup


Vigilent strike



The build explained
defences

So the build is using alot of different mechanics to achieve high survivability.

-Alot of life, 9k and even more with perfect gear.

-5k ish armor depending on items.

-convert physical damage taken to elemental, so here is around 80% reduction of the converted amount. 10% from acendency with 15% crafted chest the build got 25% converted. with other items like warlord or bench craft on helmet it can be 35%, even more items can get this mod.

-With Divine flesh keystone from Glorius vanity timeles jewel the chaos resist is up to 85% and half the elemental damage is taken as chaos, this ends being around 82% resistence to elemental.

-with the shaper prefix on shield giving +2 to max resists(both ele and chaos) the build ends up with 78-77-77-87 resist. So this buffs all types of damage reduction.

-Immortal call on cwdt lvl 20 setup with inc duration support. allows you to sacrifice 5 endurance charges and gain up to 90% phys cap for 3 sec. and 34-35 reduction to elemental. with enduring cry thoes are regenerated fast agein.

-The build have 5 endurance charges. so thats 20% phys reduction.

-Enduring cry gives a short boost of +2k life every time it procs+ 10% phys reduction

-With the keystone Glancing blows and the shield and spell damage + block notes on the tree, and eather 6% block to spells on helmet(elder) crafted or roled on shield or cluster jewel Conjured Wall+ amulet annoint Arcane swiftness we reach cap to block to both spell and attack.

-with shield with life on block(5%) is a huge surv, in general mapping and bossing.

-The accendency gives 50% increased recovery if taken fire damage recently(so phys or fire) with the elder mod on belt 20% life recovery(+20% from fertile catalysts so total of 24%) we reaches 74% increased life recovery. that boosts both Leech, Regen, Flasks and the block. so meaning with 9k life you almost recover 800 hp pr block. and the leech goes up to almost 38% of HP pool pr sec. while being on consecrated ground, we get up to 3+k regen pr sec. why it feels like we almost have insta life regen.

-Ailment immunity. this is a huge factor in surv, since shock makes you take alot extra damage. also chill and freeze can be deadly. this is 100% mitigated with amulet annoint and 2 crafted items with 25% avoidence and a shaper boot.

-Corpse explotions: this is huge for clear, but just as much for survivability, since when the corpses explode deaths effects are removed. like porcupine projectiles and cold explotions in delve.
this is not a must but just something you wanna get. it does nothing for bosses so a high hp chest swap will be better(and keep your nice chest safe in your stash :D)


Playstyle
here just bladefall and then detonate the blades. use vigilant strike on bosses, a neat trick is to do it 2 times in a row to trigger the 15% more damage mod from accendency.


Leveling tips/guide
Spoiler
So im not really going into to much detail, i expect most can make a workable stuff, up. and figure out how to combine gems with others and so.
what type of gems to get for different secondary skills at what lvl ect.
Also this is written in the note section of the lvling POB.
Start with groundslam 2h. dash and ancestral totem lvl 4. move to earth shatter lvl 12 with using warcry.
Add herald of purity/Ash at lvl 16. swap to melee phys support at lvl 18.
keep rocking this setup, swap protector for warchief at lvl 28.
Do liberary quest and pick the gems needed for endgame. its possible to swap at lvl 28, but later also fine.
first accendency is the phys convertion, rest is up to you.
when going bladeblast, respec the points in melee and 2h damage into the life route out of maruder.
Last edited by DUKE_OF_SNUFF on Apr 16, 2021, 3:18:28 PM
Last bumped on May 8, 2021, 10:25:56 AM
Reserved
Good shit - Keeping chief alive
Leveling one right now !
Used Ground Slam then Earthshatter + Cry then Bladeblast / fall.

easy peasy
Updated the current gear. i finally finished my belt and min max crafted a few jewels
-Added section about defences
-Added section about bandits, accendency, Pantheon
Last edited by DUKE_OF_SNUFF on Jul 23, 2020, 9:11:45 AM
Thanks for the new guide! Started leveling it, but I am "intimideted" by your bis gear )
pob say to me that cinderswallow urn boost dps for something like 3m is good to take it and left a granite flask?
"
Beskaius wrote:
pob say to me that cinderswallow urn boost dps for something like 3m is good to take it and left a granite flask?


yes its a great flask i think i should use it. atm im looking to recraft ms on my boot, then lose the quick silver and use that flask instead.
added my new weapon decided to write a small guide how to craft the items, with harvest most items can be done pretty easy.

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