[3.15] Saqawal's Twister Assassin | Easy/Unique Playstyle | All Content | Cheap Budget

I put in a post on feedback/suggestions, any replies or bumps/additions to it, would be appreciated in our battle to get this back from being nerfed.

Thanks all!

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3372564


So this has to be, by far my favorite Build so far, it has far surpassed my expectations and non come near to its strengths with this playstyle. First Glance most people will just assume its just another bad meme build, but its actually good at just about everything.

Someone made an inquisitor version and got build of the week for 3.19 Kalandra!
Heres the YT Video and forum guide links for it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_RSeYoKZfA
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3312541

Tornado Proc rate calculator (Make yourself a copy to edit it)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VQGkQCYIGkZ5UfuqJZcCl2HYHoRn0NcpduERgOM67wc/edit?usp=sharing


UPDATES 3.15
Spoiler

Swift Affliction Changed to 25% LESS Duration from 15% reduced(nerf)

Awakened Swift Affliction Changed to 25% Less from 25% reduced as well(nerf)(we no longer need awakened, just regular(buff in this aspect)

Gamewide Poison now does 50% more damage

Ascendancy Change
Noxious Strike: No longer has +30% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Poison. Increased Poison Duration for each Poison you have inflicted Recently is now capped, up to a maximum of 100% (previously uncapped).
Toxic Delivery: Now has Poison you inflict with Critical Strikes deals 25% more Damage” (previously 50%).

Swift affliction mana multiplier increased to 140%, Less duration changed to 130% (both nerfs)








Pros
Fast Mapper
Clears All Content
Pretty cheap budget
Has incredible Sustain
Great at delving, can Darkness farm very well.
Doesn't require any 6 Links
Can play with 1 Hand (You just run!)
Unique Playstyle


Cons
Not a league starter
Requires mostly unique items.
Dodge Based Build
Levels Important for Survivability
People might hate playing with you.(3.13 Added MTX for tornado! We can use spark spiders now! Huge buff!)
Malevolence Hurts the build a lot.
Cannot have your sound turned on with hardly any decent volume.
Blinds everyone on your screen, including the mobs. (tornado blinds)
Might not want to play other builds after encountering this playstyle

Video Gameplay
Spoiler

T16 100% Delirium Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1kF1zaCa0k

Standing in Delve Darkness for 11 minutes at depth 200
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBniwfvqBE8

Minotaur/Phoenix/Shaper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Wtw8fPtPw

Builds shared by other people in this forum!

A8 Sirus by Leknaat TrueRune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKLHKGrNuxA

Cortex by Leknaat TrueRune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqiIfcSCwco

Oshabi by Leknaat TrueRune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zh2yzV22hA

Mastermind (Catarina) by Leknaat TrueRune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSEvpTrJYs

More videos to come!


Changelog
Spoiler

UPDATES 3.15
Spoiler

Swift Affliction Changed to 25% LESS Duration from 15% reduced(nerf)

Awakened Swift Affliction Changed to 25% Less from 25% reduced as well(nerf)(we no longer need awakened, just regular(buff in this aspect)

Gamewide Poison now does 50% more damage

Ascendancy Change
Noxious Strike: No longer has +30% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Poison. Increased Poison Duration for each Poison you have inflicted Recently is now capped, up to a maximum of 100% (previously uncapped).
Toxic Delivery: Now has Poison you inflict with Critical Strikes deals 25% more Damage” (previously 50%).

Swift affliction mana multiplier increased to 140%, Less duration changed to 130% (both nerfs)



UPDATES 3.14
Spoiler

Only one Change.
Medium Cluster Exposure Therapy nerfed from 10% to 8% DoT Multi
Hardly affects us, Build still full viable!

UPDATES 3.13
Spoiler

Nerfs:
Disintegrator got a slight nerf, 7-8% dmg loss
Assassin got semi-gutted, another ~15% dmg loss
Phantasmal Haste got 75% nerf, now only .25% faster buff per 1% qual
Buffs:
Tornado can now use Spark Spiders MTX! We can now join groups again!


Herald of Agony + Purity, is now a 7.5% dps increase over Phantasmal haste as it currently sits, so worth going vs phantasmal haste, UNLESS you have the phasing while affect by haste watchers eye


Edit: after some play-testing, Build still functions fine, got maven kill down, shaper guardians, still clears all content perfectly fine.




Ok, Lets get into the Idea of the build.

Introduction
Spoiler

This build is based entirely off Triggering Tornados from the Saqawal's Flock Unique helmet.

The Helmet as seen above, has no cooldown, and triggers a Tornado Every time you gain Avian's Might, or Avian's Flight.

You Gain Might & Flight by using Aspect of the Avian which we get from Saqawal's Talons Unique Boots. Aspect of the Avian, by default, grants 4 seconds of Might, then switches to 4 seconds of Flight, Endlessly switching between when the duration runs out.


We Abuse this mechanic, by reducing the base duration of 4 seconds, as far as possible. Without any aura's the lowest you can get this duration down to is .186 seconds, thats 5.05 Tornados Triggered every second.

Tornado also has some unique features. Each tornado, repeatedly hits the same target as long as it is within the tornado. From the testing I have done, it is around 4-5 hits every second the target is in the tornado. So if we were to have, 8 tornados a second, each hitting 4-5 times a second, thats 25 hits a second, not including the fact that Tornado Can also Shotgun with GMP if it were to bounce off a wall/object, similar to how spark functions.

We abuse this massive amount of hits that tornado is generating, by stacking poisons. >:D

Note to keep in mind for the rest of the guide: Reduced Skill Effect Duration, is the most important stat for the Tornado Proc rate, only having 55% vs 60% will lower your damage/proc rate significantly


Path Of Building
Spoiler



Cheap Starter Versions
(Updated Aug 11, 2021)

https://pastebin.com/TZhsk6nQ (Level 72)

https://pastebin.com/aEjD4p6y (Level 92)


My Current/Final Builds:

Current Expedition League
https://pastebin.com/Jw9q7rSD (Updated Aug 11th, 2021)

Ultimatum Final
https://pastebin.com/vKsXG0Xx (Updated May 9th, 2021)

Ritual Final
https://pastebin.com/jvK2AaMN (Updated April 20th, 2021)

Heist Final
https://pastebin.com/vmAFeX1S (Updated Jan 21st, 2021)




Leveling Tree's (I leveled as Blade Vortex)
https://pastebin.com/ypZ7idNc




Ascendancy/Pantheons/Bandits
Spoiler

Ascendancy
Going Assassin of course for the poison and defensive capabilities
Noxious Strike -> Mistwalker -> Toxic Delivery -> Ambush and Assassinate

Pantheons
Soul Of Brine King For Anti Stun/Freeze Lock
Soul of Abberath for Anti Burning Ground

Bandits
We Kill all Bandits for +2 Passives


Gear
Spoiler

Current Gear
Spoiler

Note: Explody Chest not required, read Chest Section.







Helmet
Spoiler


Saqawal's Flock, No other option here, just try to get as much of the stats as you wish to pay for. Shouldn't be more than a few chaos for a mediocre/good one.

It is highly recommended you get 1 white socket and 2 Green, 1 Blue on the helmet, as you can swap from Increased Duration, to unbound ailments for more boss Dps.

If you are looking for a good Enchant, Withering Step, Plague Bearer, or a mana reservation one would be really the only options as there is no enchant for tornado.

Boots
Spoiler


Saqawal's Talons Are again, the only option here.
The only thing that truly matters, is that you try to get ATLEAST -1.80 Seconds on them. it goes to -2.00, so anything in-between is ok. Higher(lower?) the better obviously.
MAKE SURE ITS NEGATIVE, NOT POSITIVE SECONDS, we are trying to reduce duration!

Sockets are 2 Green, 1 Red, 1 Blue /// G-G-R-B

Gloves
Spoiler


Saqawal's Winds Again only choice.
Same as the boots, the only thing that truly matters, is that you try to get ATLEAST -1.80 Seconds on them. it goes to -2.00, so anything in-between is ok.
MAKE SURE ITS NEGATIVE, NOT POSITIVE SECONDS, we are trying to reduce duration!

Sockets are 1 Blue, 3 Red sockets, R-R-R-B

Rings
Spoiler


TWO, Timetwist Rings. We want reduced skill Duration!

Try to get 10% REDUCED skill effect duration on both. -8% & -9% is acceptable, but you want to get the -10% as your first upgrade after you got the build up and going as it is the most important stat to get up first.


Disclaimer: I know there is hardly any for trade, best & cheapest option, is to Get any Timeclasp Ring, and upgrade it with the Rift in Time Prophecy in the laboratory map. Its a 1/21 Chance to get a perfect -10%. Costs only 2c per attempt, so generally is the way to go, its how I get mine. Or you can pay the 5ex+ for an already rolled one. Depends how rich you are?

Amulet
Spoiler


Warped Timepiece Unique Amulet

Get 15% REDUCED Skill effect duration. 15% Movement speed if you wish, should be very cheap, only 5c if that.

Make sure to blessed orb it to get 24 dex/int, we will need the intellect.
Cast speed will only affect lightning warp, so not really worth worrying about anything but duration & Movespeed. Attack Speed does nothing for us.

We will be annointing Corruption on it for the chaos Damage & withered effect. (Annoint is 1 Crimson 2 Black Oils)

Weapon
Spoiler


So I now recommend Using The black Cane & a Shield over Disintegrator.

Black Cane Gives us 44-66 Physical Damage to Spells per phantasm minion we have(up to the maximum of 11 phantasms is 484-726 Dmg to Spells)

The Shield Gives us up to 16% Quality to Support Gems and +2 Levels, This is great because we also put aspect of the avian on the shield, and put in our swift affliction and less duration in there, This will get a less duration gem up to 70% less duration when previously best you could get was 61%. Significant upgrade.

Here is how i crafted the Shield
Spoiler

Basically searched for Shields with The Catarina Mod (+2 Support gems and 8% Quality to Support gems) And Some Decent Life on it as well

Ideally, You want The Catarina Mod, Life and One open Prefix & Suffix to make sure you can craft what you need on there, if not, you can try using annulment orbs to get what you want off(its what i did)

Took me 3 different shields, but considering they were only costing me less than around 20c per try, it wasn't too bad.
From there i crafted on the 7-8% quality of socketed Gems Prefix and Beastcrafted the aspect of the avian onto the shield, and it was done.



Disintegrator Unique Staff
This I feel is no longer the best weapon for the build as it used to be, but is still a great choice for getting the build up and going!

Chest
Spoiler


Couple different Options Here.

My personal recommendation is to just grab a Kaom's Heart. It alone grants me 1400+ Life, and is our main source of life, which is needed to prevent 1 shots. Without it, you just simply wont even hit 5k Life. I am Currently at 5.7k hp with the inc dmg kaoms above. For getting that additional benefit, you can grab a nice corrupt on it as above, but is definitely not needed.

If you got the currency, there is A few expensive options you can go. These options have a 12% max life belt with chaos damage, to compensate for the lack of hp from kaoms, as you won't need the strength anymore. (sample Below)


Option 1)Would be to get a Replica Shroud of the Lightless as below, For this to be better, you need some GG jewels to begin to be better than a %inc Damage Corrupted Kaoms


Option 2) Get an Explody chest with 100+ life, and %Increased Life, preferably with frenzy charge on hit as well, as then we can replace green nightmare with another good damage abyss jewel. The explody chest will help with 100% deli content, and delving.
Also allows us to get some extra sockets for a CWDT setup, or whatever you want, 6 enlightens/enhances, your choice :P


Option 3) Get a high life rare with double %Increased Life and some resists, same as above got the available sockets above to help some, and the resists help with being able to swap out some jewels for more damage oriented variations





Belt
Spoiler


Few Different things you need on your belt.
Going to 100% need strength on your belt as you are more than likely going to be wearing Kaom's Heart. That means we need to get to 191 Strength.

With No gear on, you should have around 120-130 Strength just from the tree alone, depending where you are at with your levels.
That means the rest will come from the belt or clusters if you have the choice.

You are Going to also need Life, Fire resist (around 35-45%), and around 15-20% cold resist. I picked up the first belt above, for 3c, there were a few others for fairly cheap as well. Second one is a slightly upgraded version with chaos dmg added onto it(aspect of cat does nothing, ignore it). The third would be something that youd try to get for min-maxing.

Additonal Option if you are really trying to push the build, is to get a belt like this, this is assuming you are NOT using a kaoms, and using an explody chest or shroud of the lightless, as you won't need the strength on the belt, and can grab the %life




Jewels & Clusters
Spoiler

Regular Jewels
Spoiler


Most of your resists, are going to have to come from your jewels unfortunately. You get 5 Jewel slots, 6 if you get a Stygian Vise Belt. Three of these are going to be used to get your resistances.

Cheap way to get most of your resists, is to use 3x Grand Spectrum CRIMSON Jewels. These give 7% for each one you have, up to 3, so with 3, they give 21% All Resists, for each jewel. They should only cost you 1c/ea.

One of your jewels should have a chance to hinder enemies if you have the touch of cruelty passive on the large cluster jewel, so we get the benefit from it.


For this build to have Any sustain, you NEED a Watcher's Eye with Life Gained on hit while affected by Vitality. This is HUGE as we hit so many times a second, with a group of mobs, you are practically impossible to kill if it doesn't 1 shot you.

For a 2nd mod, you can grab Vitality damage leech % if possible,

or go the phantasmal haste route and get Phasing while affected by haste(less dmg this route)


The Green Nightmare you use only if you have a phasing jewel and all your resists with this on.



Cluster Jewels
Spoiler

We only use one Set of Cluster's for the tree, 1 Large, 2 Mediums, 2 Smalls

We will need to also get 2 intellect via our cluster jewels so that we can use the staff, we will be at 107(111 with catalyst on amulet)staff requires 113 intellect.

Large

We are looking for an 8 passive, Increased Chaos Damage Large Jewel with both Overwhelimg Malice, and Grim Oath

If you are rich and have the currency, get either Touch of Cruelty or Unwaveringly Evil. This 3rd notable is not required, but helps if you can get it.


You'll need to grab an abyss jewel with chance to hinder, so we still get benefit from touch of cruelty from the large cluster jewel if you are using this passive


Mediums

We are looking for two, either a 4 or 5 passive, Chaos Damage Over Time Medium Clusters.

The two notables would more or less be your choice, I personally go with Haemorrhage And Unwaveringly Evil as above.
Wasting affliction and flow of life are also great choices. Once again, your choice on this one as there is several good options.

Smalls

We are looking for two 3 passive, increased maximum life Small Clusters

Options are Surging Vitality(medium Life+Healing), Flow of Life(lower Life+dmg), or Fettle(maximum life)

These are the best candidates to get all the resists you can get as well as some intellect if you still need it.



Gem Sockets/Links
Spoiler

Helmet
Spoiler


Socket Colors

If Using Black Cane/Avian Shield Setup
W G G B or R G G B

General Use / Mapping Setup


If you want to Gem-swap for a lot more single Target damage Switch These.
Inc Duration -> Awakened Unbound Ailments
GreaterMultiProj -> Awakened Deadly Ailments
Greater Volley -> Vile Toxins


If Using Disintegrator Staff Setup
W G G G or R G G G



If you want to Gemswap for alot more single Target damage Switch These.
Inc Duration -> Awakened Unbound Ailments
GreaterMultiProj -> Awakened Swift Affliction



White Socket is to gem swap for bossing, not NEEDED, but helps a bunch, dont stress over it, it can come later.



Boots
Spoiler

Socket Colors:
If Using Black Cane/Avian Shield Setup
G-G-R-B


Divergent Herald of Agony
(Poison Chance & damage)
Precision(level 1)
(We use for additional critical strike chance)
Dread Banner
(Reduces Enemies Accuracy)

These 3, Add in an Enlighten Support so you can level up vitality or precision more if you have the money.


If Using Disintegrator Staff Setup
G-R G-G



Swift Affliction(any level, qual)
(We use for the less duration)
Less Duration(20/20)
(We use for the less duration)
Divergent Herald of Agony
(Poison Chance & damage)
Precision(level 1)
(We use for additional critical strike chance)


You need at minimum, a 20/20 Less duration, do shoot for a 20/23, or a 21/23, as that gives you an additional % and it does make a little bit of a difference. Not having a high lvl/quality Gem, makes a big difference in the tornado count.


Gloves
Spoiler

Socket Colors:

If Using Black Cane/Avian Shield Setup
R-R-R-B

Cast When Damage Taken
(Procs Other Abilities)
Steelskin
(Absorbs damage of hits when procced)
Enfeeble
(Curses Enemies to do less damage and have less accuracy)
Increased Duration
(Makes Previous 2 last longer)

You can level these as far as they will go, as we mainly only need them for when we actually start taking some decent damage since they wont help with 1 shots anyway.

If Using Disintegrator Staff Setup
R B-B



Vitality
(Using only for the watcher's Eye)
Lightning Warp(level 1)
(Our Movement Skill)
Faster Casting
(Helps Our Movement Skill)
Portal
(Not Needed but helps!)



Weapon/Shield or Staff Setup
Spoiler

Socket Colors:

If Using Black Cane/Avian Shield Setup
Weapon
B-B-?


Shield
R G


Swift Affliction(any level, qual)
(We use for the less duration)
Less Duration(20/20)
(We use for the less duration)

If Using Disintegrator Staff Setup
G-G-G-R
4 Link.



Anamalous Withering Step
(Movespeed, Elusive, gives 10 wither stacks with enhance)
Enhance(level 4)
(Buffs Withering Step/Plague Bearer)(get if you can)
Empower(level 4)
(Buffs Withering Step/Plague Bearer)(get if you can)
Divergent Plague Bearer
(Additional Damage ability)

We use anomalous Withering step with enhance to get to the 10 Wither stacks when we use it, paired with Eternal Suffering from medium cluster, gets us to the 15 wither stack cap. Empower and enhance also buff plague bearer to do more dmg/aoe

For the 5 Link staff, you might need to be higher level to be able to use it, as you may not have enough mana without, as a workaround, you can take off precision if you Really want the 5L, if not, just get some levels, should fix any problems if they arise, also make sure your vitality/precision is only lvl 1



Defensive Layers
Spoiler

Build has a couple different defenses to not just, instantly die, and to be fairly tanky.

~5.5k HP
65% Attack Dodge
55% Spell Dodge
18% Block
Enemy is Blinded (25% chance to miss)
Dread Banner (19% reduced accuracy)(if you are using this version)
And some insane sustain from the Vitality Watchers eye.

The watchers eye, allows us to EASILY live through 2-300 stacks of Darkness in delve, which makes this a great darkness farmer for fossils(See Video Section where i stand in darkness for 11 minutes straight)

Unlike most dodge builds, this one actually has a respectable amount of hp, which allows us to live through most random 1 shots that the 4-4.5k hp dodge builds would just simply die to often. I managed to get to lvl 98 with only 13 deaths, which says a good bit about a dodge based (basically melee) build.



Additional Info you should read
Spoiler

Getting Aspect of Avian Duration down, is the most important thing you need to do, id hold out on any major upgrades, until you get that down, as it will be the biggest upgrade over anything else.

Get those 10% rings, 15% ammy, and some decent boots, anything below -1.80 is fine for the most part, but id shoot for -1.94 if you want to get it even better. You shouldnt really feel the need to get to -1.99 or -2, its such a minor difference from -1.94, id save that upgrade for way later.




FAQ
Spoiler

Have I tried the Chieftain Version?
Yes, Yes i have, i prefer the assassin variant as i feel it is tankier, and does more dmg/plays to the strengths of the build. That being said, the chieftain version is definitely not bad.


Aurastacker version outdated due to phantsmal haste nerf D:
Spoiler

There is an aurastacker variant that uses a 1h weapon like this

in order to boost hastes quality up to 92%, which is then further increased by Aura effect, generally getting up to ~240% faster buff expiration. that version can get up to 30 tornados a second, but has trouble getting the dmg as it doesnt use the staff.
(Update feb 8th, Phant haste & aurastackers got nerfed, probably a shitty option now)




So thats it. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to message me in-game, ill be happy to talk! Have fun with the tornados!

Last edited by Supaspork on Apr 16, 2023, 8:18:21 PM
Last bumped on Oct 3, 2023, 2:08:59 PM
It looks great! ))
POB shows 1kk dps?
"
Vjsman wrote:
It looks great! ))
POB shows 1kk dps?


Thats total poison damage for each stack of poison, unfortunately pob doesnt do a good job of showing how many hits per second we are getting so it only shows for 1 poison stack.


Realistically, you would look at the poison dps, and multiply that vs the number of hits you are getting a second, because thats only assuming 1 stack, so for ex. at 50k psn dps, if you are at .12 duration, thats 8 tornados a second, each hitting 4-5 times a second, so.. 32-40 hits/second x the 50k psn dps, thats 1.5m to 2m.

My current build is at 71k, at 12 tornados, so 3.4 to 4.2m dps. this is obviously just for the first stack of poisons, on the 2nd second, you are still getting the dps of the first stack, so it ramps up, like any poison build
Last edited by Supaspork on Oct 26, 2020, 6:02:55 AM
I want to try it ))
I looked at the cost of things approximately - 500-700с and Cluster Jewels with 3 passive 50EX.. how bad it will be with two passive with Large Cluster Jewels??
"
Vjsman wrote:
I want to try it ))
I looked at the cost of things approximately - 500-700с and Cluster Jewels with 3 passive 50EX.. how bad it will be with two passive with Large Cluster Jewels??


Two passive is just fine, get overwhelming malice and touch of cruelty, three is just mainly for the rich people, as I say in the guide
Thanks for sharing! I'm gonna give this a shot.

Question:

How important is the increased damage on Koams? Does this provide a noticeable difference?

"
Pracis wrote:
Thanks for sharing! I'm gonna give this a shot.

Question:

How important is the increased damage on Koams? Does this provide a noticeable difference?



The fire dmg does nothing, the increased corrupt, at my current gear, i lose 4k Poison dps, i go from 75.6 to 71.3, so a decent different, around 5%, i wouldnt prioritize it over other things though until you are trying to min-max the build
Last edited by Supaspork on Oct 26, 2020, 11:09:25 AM
Then, you only need 6 sockets on weapon?... Isn´t neccesary to be linked?...
"
Vyr75 wrote:
Then, you only need 6 sockets on weapon?... Isn´t neccesary to be linked?...



Pretty much, you can get away with 2L/3L or 2L/4L on staff, but its not super important, definitely don't need 6L though, 5L at most really
Last edited by Supaspork on Oct 26, 2020, 12:05:54 PM
Hey, I got it, but I don´t generate cyclones so manys as you, could you quick check what could be my mistake?... Thanks in advance...

I think I followed the guide good but I don´t know how to generate so many cyclones, is there so much difference in - seconds in globes and boots?... I got it -1.8 plus...

Well your help is very apprecited, thanks...

And I got so much mana free I only have 62% mana reserved + a bit form level 1 vitality, I need 1 more aura or something?...

My cyclones only have 2.33 attacks per second, this is far away from 8-12 you are speaking... I think I´m doing somethin really bad...

And the last, I shot cyclones in 4 directions, you only left cyclones behind you, thats why?...
Last edited by Vyr75 on Oct 26, 2020, 4:36:38 PM

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