Fyregrass' Comprehensive Storm Brand Assassin Guide - Currently Dead Build. Revisit in 2 weeks.

Just started this build and been clearing maps pretty smoothly, but bosses don't seem to be dying as quick as I expected. I realize I'm only lvl 89 and don't have a lot of the expensive gear yet but would love some guidance on what my next upgrades should be (best bang for my buck), considering I want to improve my bossing ability so I can one-shot them before they can one-shot me.

https://pastebin.com/gYiVfM28

Crafted these 2 today. Still have to do some rerolling on the helmet for higher life roll, but for now they are massive upgrades.
I might craft some tailwind boots but I really enjoy replica Inya's.

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elainesoup wrote:

Just started this build and been clearing maps pretty smoothly, but bosses don't seem to be dying as quick as I expected. I realize I'm only lvl 89 and don't have a lot of the expensive gear yet but would love some guidance on what my next upgrades should be (best bang for my buck), considering I want to improve my bossing ability so I can one-shot them before they can one-shot me.

https://pastebin.com/gYiVfM28

I think wise oak and lightning pen helmet enchant are decent boss dps increases for rather low budget. Also brand loyalty clusters.

Hey all, sorry for the late reply, been really busy with IRL stuff, grinding to 100 and farming mirrors. I will try to respond to as much as I can here:

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Vampz wrote:

Completly loving this build, highest boss dmg build i ve ever played, im not going back :D

One question to Fyregrass if you can answer plz.

why do we run Vaal haste? I thought we didnt benifit much from cast speed, dmg wise. woudnt it another vaal skill be better? maybe defensive (vaal grace)

Otherwise it s competing for charges with Vaal RF for nothing, or am i missing something?

Direct increases to Cast Speed increases activation speed. Also whilst it does compete with souls, we typically are only popping these abilities on conquerors or monoliths really, and in those cases, both are available and usable at the same time. Vaal Grace is an acceptable replacement for Vaal Haste if you would prefer it.

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Pantheon please ? Cant find it :( Btw awesome guide and build i love it.

I'm going to add this in but it doesn't really matter. Lunaris for mapping, Solaris for Sirus, Abberath/Gruthkul/Shakari based purely on personal preference. For the most part we die to things that won't be prevented by Pantheons.

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MsOtherName wrote:

Hey. Loving the build so far. Invested some into the body, helmet and gloves. Nearly done once i have T1 Res and Life everywhere

Got a question tho. What should i focus on next? I am running assassins mark ring right now since a good rolled power charge one is just too expensive and i also like to boss.
Should i have another ring ready with conducitivity? Due to my high investment i am not sure if assassin is really worth it right now.

I am at ~400 crit multi. Next jewel upgrades would be 10ex+ per.

Also. Why are we using wave of conviction? When we are applying ele weak with the ring.


Also. What do you think about a Corrupted Soul jewel but with Revitalising Lightning for 35% lightning dmg + 0,2% leech or Ritual of Thunder for 35% lightning dmg and 4% pen. I can get any of those for 1 point extra with corrupted soul.

I would highly recommend getting +1 power charge rings even if all the other stats on them are worthless. Build around them as they are one of the larger sources of damage available to us.

Wave of Conviction applies elemental exposure, it is a debuff, not a curse, they stack.

As for the Corrupted Soul jewel, anything you suggested there is fine as long as they are one point investments (I assume they are notables replacing Arcane Vision)

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Lophie wrote:

Curious as to what my next upgrade should be. I'm still missing a cluster wheel, so missing at least two more brand loyalty/ grand design jewels. In terms of items, what should I prioritize?

I have 20 raw ex atm. Thanks!

Definitely go for power charge rings first and foremost. Even if it means reworking other pieces. It would be acceptable to replace your boots with two toned boots in order to fit the rings in.

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R3clamation wrote:

I do really like the idea of running 3 large clusters and forgoing the 3rd notable, though I will look into testing this out on pob. I hear the cold conversion is pretty nice and might minmax to that later once I'm done with lightning!

For whatever it's worth, cold conversion storm brand is an entirely different build. Cold conversion deprives us of power charges and doesn't give us much room to scale the conversion to any point where it is worth taking.

Cold Conversion storm brand is best played as a LL Occultist, this build however requires an investment of 200-300ex at a minimum before it starts to feel really good, this is why I opted to write an Assassin guide instead.

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Pretty fun. I play with a support sometimes and was wondering if it's better to swap to penance when running with one? I couldn't tell a difference though. I guess for bossing storm brand is better.

If your suppport is fully min maxed with 100s of inc aura effect, it is ideal to play with Penance Brand and to wear 2x call of the brotherhood whilst replacing your Wrath Aura with Herald of Purity and Herald of Ash/Ice. This set up boosts your base phys damage, which gets converted to lightning, which will be massively buffed by his Wrath Aura, then it gets converted to cold and Buffed both via Phys and Spell damage from both components of Hatred. PoB it ideally if you can figure out how to simulate it.

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roetetoet wrote:

I am bad player, mainly because I am in my 50 and not 20 anymore :) I usually play summoners because I got arthritis in my hands so builds like this are normally not for me.

Well fuck you arthritis I am enjoying the hell out of it. I die a lot but I accept that as I have been warned.

Currently farming legions, could never do that as necromancer.

The guide is insane, and old man noob like me found everything and understand everything.

SO A BIG MASSIVE THANK YOU!

I really appreciate all the kind words from both yourself and everyone else. It makes me happy to hear it has helped players such as yourself in the way that it has. I suffer from very bad RSI and storm brand has helped me overcome these pains as well. Hope you had a great league!

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I'm still working on the chest here but for anyone else who is trying to craft it, you don't need to start over if you don't hit the right mod on your Maven orb. You just need to add phys or rem/add non phys and it'll hit the explodey mod again. After that you can Maven orb again and it will hit the explodey mod.

In case others are aware, it isn't guaranteed btw. It can attempt to re-elevate your other elevated mod and remove explode mod again whilst doing nothing to your crit.

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Alcheringa wrote:

If you want to surprise the monsters with your death, there are other builds you can play. Like cast on death... You spend 90% of your time dead and the remaining 10% struggling monsters (especially in the ritual - proximity shield is really hurt you). It is not a build suitable for investment, you need to spend a lot of currency especially for decent items. You can make better builds with the currency(30-50ex) you spend on this build.

Actually, I got to level 100 with this build and this is my first character I've managed to take to 100.

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chloris143 wrote:

Hi!
Thank you for the build I'm loving it! Been running T13-T14 no problem but I'm seeing the need for more dps on higher tier maps. Also getting a lot of 1shot. I've put in some of my other chars gears. POB says DPS is 3mil+ without the 3rd set of cluster. Running at 1.3mil with 2 sets of cluster. What's the best upgrade that I can do to get better dps with a budget of 12ex?

POB https://pastebin.com/H4h26jXc

Thank you.

Update:
Got Replica soul Tether and switch to Militant faith. POB says 3.7mil dps now :D
Guess my next upgrade should be gloves? that would destroy my res balance again x.x

Get power charge rings and helm. 3 more power charges alone gives you almost doubled DPS. Even if the rings have terrible stats, it would be best to find resistances and stuff on jewels or boots instead. The advice given by Damfan is also really good though


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Sangundam wrote:

Is there any specific reason using Vaal Regalia chest base for endgame crafting?

It gives the highest amount of base energy shield which is one of the few ways we can afford to squeeze ES into this build. We are starved on defensive layers so everything counts.


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Nephiiz wrote:

The issue with my character suddenly stop moving still persists and I don't know why. I thought it was because of having Brand Recall on left mouse button to move but even if I change it to the Move Only option my char still gets stuck. This never happened on other builds and it didn't even happen while leveling this build. I've died many times because I need to keep moving while using Flame Dash and my char just stops moving. Pretty annoying tbh. Other than that it's a pretty fun build to play.

You're not the first person to mention this. I think its a bug, perhaps make a ticket to GGG. I've never encountered this myself so unfortunately I can't offer any help here.

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elainesoup wrote:

Just started this build and been clearing maps pretty smoothly, but bosses don't seem to be dying as quick as I expected. I realize I'm only lvl 89 and don't have a lot of the expensive gear yet but would love some guidance on what my next upgrades should be (best bang for my buck), considering I want to improve my bossing ability so I can one-shot them before they can one-shot me.

https://pastebin.com/gYiVfM28

So you have a few things, most of your gems are level 19 with no quality. Getting 21/20 Storm Brand + 20/20 to your support gems brings DPS from 2.4m to 3.1m. Getting 2x Power Charge rings then brings it to 4.2m. Additionally you are missing a lot of crit. These could easily come from an explody chest, a Bottled Faith or a Crit/wrath Watcher's Eye (may be worth dropping the leech).

If I simulate a crit watcher's eye and putting 16% crit multi on all 3 of your small jewels, it brings your DPS to 5.6m DPS per brand, well over double your current DPS. Finally, adding a Bottled Faith brings it to 6.6m, almost triple your current damage.

As mentioned by Astratrea, Wise Oak and more brand clusters will also increase it further!
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Here just to say is one of best guides I ever saw in many years in this foruns. Also one of the best build i played.

best of luck

hey fyregrass, do you think a POB like this player's is overkill? and if so, do you think it's a reasonable goal to work towards?

https://pastebin.com/s96zjw7T

How can improve my damage my pob says that i have 1.3M dmg and i have good gear whats is wrong with my char?

So, I was impressed with the guide so I figured id give it a try. I currently have about 10ex to spend and am not sure what to go for next. Obviously, I need to level a bit and switch to +2 passives from the bandits. But I'm not really sure where to go next. Should I just focus on that so I can get my third cluster wheel going? Or something else?



https://pastebin.com/LUUSX9HP

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Quarkor wrote:

So, I was impressed with the guide so I figured id give it a try. I currently have about 10ex to spend and am not sure what to go for next. Obviously, I need to level a bit and switch to +2 passives from the bandits. But I'm not really sure where to go next. Should I just focus on that so I can get my third cluster wheel going? Or something else?


https://pastebin.com/LUUSX9HP

I'd say get better clusters for sure. One of your large clusters has 10 passives and just 1 notable. Also third cluster is pretty big damage increase.

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ovenjohnson wrote:

hey fyregrass, do you think a POB like this player's is overkill? and if so, do you think it's a reasonable goal to work towards?

https://pastebin.com/s96zjw7T

Not fyregrass but that's some pretty nutty gear. Reasonable to work towards if you want to really push the build, but you can do just fine with a lot less.

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hoelzo wrote:

How can improve my damage my pob says that i have 1.3M dmg and i have good gear whats is wrong with my char?

What are you noticing that makes you think there's something wrong? With the gear you have you should be doing pretty much all content in the game except for 100% delirious.
As far as things to improve I'd say remove the nodes I marked in red and put the points in the ones I marked in green http://puu.sh/Hi0I5/ae9d30a712.jpg
You can also try to get a lightning pen watchers eye, which will do more for you than crit since we have so much crit already, pen helmet enchant or boot enchant, which will help with boss damage.
Other than that, your gems are 20/20, you should corrupt them or buy at least 21/20 storm brand.
You can also get a 4% increased damage per 10 devotion militant faith, bottled faith flask, and swap your chaos golem for a lightning one.
Finally, I don't see any fire damage to spells on your gear so I'm not sure your cinderswallow is being used to full potential.

Just wanted to say that Timeless Domain carries earn you the fastest xp.
Amazing build, if not the best with all the trade links. Very unique, thanks fyregrass

Back after week, can't play this build as my game crashes in 2 minutes after starting the map :(