[2.1][HC] Demental's Blade Vortex Build - EB/GR/VP/MoM

This is more keeping track of my own progress at the moment until I level up to 80-90 to fully test the build's capabilities.

This is similar to other critical strike blade vortex builds. Except we won't be using Blood Magic linked to blade vortex or whirling blades. We are going to run Eldritch Battery, Ghost Reaver, Vaal Pact(optional) and Mind Over Matter to free up the Blood Magic socket. This means life leech will be applied to Energy Shield to be able to cast our skills freely and keep it at 100% for a permanent 30% less damage from Mind Over Matter.

For life sustain, we will be using Cybil's Paw. You can have up to 100 hits per second. This means an 8 life gain on hit Cybil's will give you 800 life per second PER monster at max stacks. If you want even more life gain on hit, you can dual wield Cybil's.

I am still deciding whether a Life Leech gem in place of Blood Magic would be better than a Warlord's Mark curse aura. If we chose Life Leech gem, it would free up a curse(and likely use Asssassin's Mark) and 35% mana.

If we used Assassin's Mark, it would put the total dps way above any other BV build currently out there.



I started as Shadow because you only lose 2% damage and gain 12 life and also gives you the option to incorporate Poison into your build. This could be done by dropping Life Leech support for Poison, and dropping Assassin's Mark for Warlord's Mark. I will likely make a poison based variant of this build in the future using less crit nodes and the extra curse node for Vulnerability + Warlord's Mark.



NOTES:


I will be updating this as I continue leveling on HC Talisman. If it works better than the other builds, I'll write a detailed guide.

Opinions and advice are most definitely welcome.

Ripped due to cat jumping on the keyboard and hitting Enter. Typed QQQQQQQQQQQQQQ111111 over and over in global. Zz!

Though, the EB/GR/VP/MoM setup was working perfectly. Trying again.

Currently 82 on HC Talisman.

Using Voidbringer gloves for crit chance/ES on kill/ES. It makes Blade Vortex cost more ES, making a 2500 ES pool give about 20-25 stacks built up before diving into monsters or starting a boss fight. Though I'll likely be switching to maligaro's so it will be possible to start boss fights at 50 stacks.




These two items I definitely recommend for leveling. Immortal Flesh makes you nearly immune to Tentacle Miscreations and much tankier towards physical attacking monsters(which you're lacking in the armour department.) Immortal Flesh's life regen turns into ES regen with Zealot's Oath for casting and MoM. This helps you sustain your ES indefinitely as long as you keep diving into monsters.

I am currently doing level 75 rare maps with no problems. At level 90 and when I finish 6Ling my Carcass Jack, I will rewrite this guide and finish it.

I really like the idea of this build over some of the other blade vortex builds. I was really curious of what your gem set ups are like.

"

Weaponx20 wrote:

I really like the idea of this build over some of the other blade vortex builds. I was really curious of what your gem set ups are like.

Hi. Sure I'll tell you. I'll also give a little update... I actually died again to a Deadhand unique mob. I wasn't paying close attention after being so confident that I felt the build was extremely strong and with just facerolling level 78 maps, but I've figured out a way to kill these Talisman enchanted mobs with no problem now.

I've also started using Empire's Grasp with Knockback support so that monsters immediately get pulled in to you. This means any unique monster that casts or has AI to walk away from you will get stuck and not fight back. I'll be removing the Knockback support after I buy enough crit/life/6% knockback jewels. 3-4 of them should do the trick. Here's the links:

*** Helmet *** - Geofri's Crest / ES/Armor base with life/resist
Vaal Grace
Cast When Damage Taken
Immortal Call
Increased Duration

*** Chest *** - Carcass Jack / Tabula Rasa
Blade Vortex
Increased Area of Effect
Faster Casting
Spell Echo
Added Fire Damage
--- etc ---
Increased Duration - if no knockback
Knockback - until 22% knockback from jewels

*** 1H *** - Cybil's Paw
Fortify
Whirling Blades
Faster Attacks

*** Second Hand *** - Cybil's Paw / crit dagger
Undecided CWDT Setup or Vaal Auras

*** Gloves *** - Empire's Grasp
Cast When Damage Taken
Molten Shell
Life Leech
Increased Area of Effect

*** Boots *** - Windscream (dual curse aura setup)
Blasphemy
Warlord's Mark
Enfeeble
Arctic Armour

*** Boots *** - ES/Armor base with life/resist/movement speed
Blasphemy
Warlord's Mark
Discipline
Arctic Armour

*** Belt *** - Rare with armor/life/resist

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Before I died at level 84, I was at 7k tooltip with 10 seconds of Blade Vortex. 4.6k HP and 2.3k ES. I removed Zealot's Oath and put a point into Vaal Pact. Also I dropped the Rathpith for another Cybil's Paw. That was letting me get 1600 regen per second vs a single boss, as well as enough leech for ES to be sustained indefinitely for 30% less damage.

The great thing about this build is that it relies on Skill Effect Duration passives. So you can have a long Immortal Call CWDT setup and a 16 second Vaal Grace/Haste.

It probably isn't the greatest idea to theorycraft a new build on hardcore, but I'm having tons of fun right now. I'm lacking only 400 fusings to 6L my Carcass, so my next go should be a lot better. If you decide to try it, let me know how it goes for you :)

I'm

One of the big negatives I've read on most BV builds is that they're curse reliant and reflect map weak. Is your build having issues with Curse immune maps or Reflect maps?

So far I'm at level 27 and really enjoying. Also what would you recommend for Bandits?

I was doing 78 physical reflect maps with no problem. I don't know about double reflect yet. You'll definitely need Life Leech gem in your BV links if you're doing a curse immune map. And I'd trade in Warlord's Mark for Herald of Ashe while doing those maps.

Oak, Passive, Passive.

Or I'd get the power charge from Alira in merciless if you plan on going the Assassin's Mark route, though if you're hardcore, I wouldn't.

Updating original post with bosses and monsters to avoid. Had another rip due to not knowing Dried Lake Corrupted Zone boss had a chance to use lightning thorns.

Demental, i know the pain of the dreaded "cat of death" bloody cat hates me lol

What gear were you using when you had 7k tooltip dps? I was at lvl 86 and could only manage around 4.1k dps so I must have been doing something wrong. My passive tree was exactly like yours and I had the same equips as you have posted up there. I also had the same gem set up. Any help would be great.

Also in the post above you also said you had 2.3k ES, but the only items you were wearing that gave ES were the Geofri's Crest and Carcass Jack. How'd you get up to 2.3k ES?