[2.2] The Occultist Vortex Blader - [PSC] LL Endgame Experimental Theory
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This is my first build guide. It's a Low-life Blade Vortex Occultist a bit different from the ones i've seen around.
This is an evolving build, and since the Chaos Innoculation passive changes (the first respecs), it changed several times until the last ascendancy respecs when i got Skyforth boots. The build will start from where I'm now, with these 3 items that really make it shine. Why Occultist
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The main point is: it gets Power Charges naturally and gives you +1 Power Charge. With this, u have a 3L free to other gems, and its not despicable.
On the other hand, its not the biggest damage dealer of all possible ascendancies. But it's well rounded, have a good flat ES node that helps with survivability (Wicked Ward) and a immunity to stun while on full ES (Vile Bastion), which saves you from dying several times. Later on, with Skyforth or a stun recovery stack, you can take off Vile Bastion and go to Profane Bloom, which gives 10% inc. damage for cursed enemies and a nice pack explosion like an Abyssal Cry on steroids. The Stats
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 ES/Life/Mana Actually I have 8174 ES and 450 free life, but it will go up with better rings and that %ES mastermod. I guess I will stop searching when I get to the ES I had before Skyforth, 8800. Life will go up with better gear and an Enlighten gem, but I have already felt the benefits of keeping some life. Just do it if you can. My mana pool is good enough for now. 1665 is good enough and I'm not thinking about improving it. Attributes You must get at least 155 dex for the Blade Vortex and 111 str for Inc. Duration and Blood Magic, all lvl20. Blood Magic goes to 114str and Blade Vortex to 159dex at lvl21. Being an Intelligence-based character, a Citrine Amulet was preferred, but i had to get more attributes on other items. This is how I managed to get the stats. The requirements are very unique in every build, as the items are diff. Some can be tweaked easily with Blessed Orbs, but only with time and patience the requirements will be fulfilled without any stat nodes in the Passive Tree. Don't be ashamed to get stats on Jewels if that's what it is needed at a given time in the building process. Block It's not a huge block build, but I decided to stick to a 25% block shield and ad 3% with Tempest Shield. I may go up whenever possible. Blade Vortex and Mana Regeneration
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The skill is highly mana demanding, and in order to stack all those powerful blades a big mana regeneration is needed.
There are several passives in the tree, but parsimony is the key. I went for Dreamer and Shaper only, got Mana Regen on jewels and an item, and I'm also using a Mana Flask to counter those less Regeneration mods on maps. The Ascendancy Points and Curse Choice
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With Skyforth I decided to regret the Vile Bastion node and go to Profane Bloom, which gives me more damage to cursed enemies and the chance of explosion on death. I didn't go to double curse because the Power Charge in Forbidden Power is better than an Warlords Mark imho, as the leech with a Life Leech gem + Atziri's Promise flask is sufficient.
So, the choice on Ascendancy was Forbidden Power, Wicked Ward and Profane Bloom. About the Curse, I ran Warlords Mark on the CWDT link for a while, but took it out when I got the Vulnerability on Hit on the gloves, mainly to get more damage and increase the duration of my IC replacing Warlords with ID in that link. Physical Mitigation
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Although not a melee skill, Blade Vortex demands me to be in the enemies' melee range, and so Physical damage mitigation is an issue.
I decided to run Arctic Armour, Fortify and some flasks to help counter its massive damage. I also use Tempest Shield. It will be shown in the Full Set part of the guide. ps. I used to run Herald of Ice (which I still use sometimes), but when I got one-shot by an explosive nemesis mob in a Plateau map I decided to defend myself more. i-n a p-l-a-t-e-a-u m-a-p! The Skills and Links
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Skills and Auras
My current auras are 5: Hatred + Clarity14 + Arctic Armour + Discipline on Mana Haste on Life I have also 3 Vaal gems to help when things get hard and Tempest Shield to get a tiny buff because... why not? *If you have problems pursuing "vaseline monsters", try Flicker Strike to make contact. Links 3L - Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + Fortify 3L - Cast When Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration 2L - Blood Magic + Haste 4L - Hatred + Clarity lvl14 + Discipline + Enlighten lvl3 1L - Arctic Armour 1L - Tempest Shield 4 Vaal Gems - Lightning Trap + Haste + Discipline + Clarity The big issue here is coloring. I've put my choice with my current colors, but the management is up to oneself's reality. Another point is the choice to put only 1 Aura in the bloodmagic link. It makes me have 450 life free, which is low but better than none. An Enlighten gem linked is a possibility, but I only have a lvl2 at the moment and I want to level it. At the current state I can't use another 25% aura, even with the lvl21 BM. Perhaps with an Enlighten lvl4 it will be possible. The Full Set
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The Passive Tree Tooltips
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Important info on tooltips:
Keep in mind that, unless curse immune, enemies take the following added damage: 25% Increased Physical Damage from Vulnerability on Hit 10% Increased Damage from Profane Bloom With 6 Power Charges, IAoE  With 6 Power Charges, Flasked and Vaal Haste, IAoE  With 6 PC, Flasked and Vaal Haste, Conc.Effect  Evolution and Comments Any thoughts to share? You're welcome. F Last edited by xaRiff on Apr 13, 2016, 9:37:35 AM Last bumped on Apr 14, 2016, 12:24:59 PM
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Hey there, I think your build looks fine. I am building something similar in HC. My tree the main differences are, I go for double curses, and will run warlords mark + enfeeble off of blasphemy. With warlords mark you solve your mana and life leech problems, and can go for added fire instead of LL gem (My shavs is only 5L). The tree has quite a bit more ES than your version and I go for arcane potency and sovereignty too, instead of the scion crit wheel which is pretty shit (imo) you can also save a point on leadership because your not a support and 30% radius buff is unecessary.
Have a look at my profile if your interested (Char is Billy_goes_LL or something), hf gl! Also: to solve stun issues as ES based char I use Lioneye's paws (if I ever get skyforths I would replace them ofc) Paws are not bad at all as the + str/dex also allows you to drop dex/str from tree. Last edited by thevdende on Apr 13, 2016, 8:03:09 AM
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Hi, I apreciate the thoughts. I'll try to address them the best I can with the time I have atm.
" I had Warlords for a while as part of my CWDT7 setup, triggering whenever things got harder than usual. The problem is that I play in parties a lot and I vaal most of my high-tier maps, and not being able to run a curse immune map would be a huge mess in my economy. Another point is the ability to run other auras keeping the curse "passive", which allows me to run haste+hatred+arctic, which is a big damage boost. The Added Fire Gem does not give me enough damage to legitimate a trade for Haste/Hatred, but I have lost my endurance charges. On the other hand, I believe you are heading to the right setup in hardcore, as some few packs can hurt badly, and keeping the endurances up all the time while trashing definitely help to mitigate the damage taken. " Your Tree has 12% plain more ES than mine plus 4% more Discipline buff, but the way to Sovereignty is a long one. I decided then to take more jewels nearby, so I have 4 more jewel spots. I really like the versatility given by jewels, and I would lose lots of damage and little tweaks given by them. Following this logic, I've stick to the True Strike wheel, nearby. There is also the "Path of the Savant" node, which I find very handful. I try to get more damage as I can to get closer to the damage output reached by other ascendancies. " Hey, u2, you're courageous to be a Vortex Blader in Hardcore. " Yeah, Eye of Chayula is also an alternative. I've managed to drop all the attributes from the tree already, but I've seen from other builds it's a difficult achievement. Good one, can't be perma stunned in Hardcore, for sure. Cheers! Last edited by xaRiff on Apr 13, 2016, 8:47:32 AM
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Well your reasoning makes sense to me, I mostly play solo, so I'm just browsing these builds because its the first low life I try to build (thank you mr. Brodiro).
But, If I fill my tree out a bit more and have 7 pts left like yours, I can grab some more jewel sockets at the cost of dropping dreamer. If your running blasphmy you can get away with it because of VP, and the manaleech from warlords mark. Playing HC, every build will have affixes it won't be able to run. I'm guessing mine will be phys reflect and curse immunity, although I can swap in LL for added fire for those maps (but then i'll have mana iussues I guess), and run an extra aura like haste (or maybe swap in a mana pot). Anyway, semantics, gl! | |
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I've done some math to check what the real differences would be between both trees.
I'll point them: 290 - 340 Intel 90 - 80 Dex 30 - 20 Str 188% - 200% Maximum ES 20% - 35% ES recharge rate 100% - 85% Mana Regen 40 - 20 Max Mana 49% - 16% Max Mana 0 - +1% Max Light Res 20% - 34% Reduced Mana Reserved 84% - 40% Spell Damage 171% - 150% Crit Multi 380% - 355% Crit Chance 5 - 4 Jewel Spots
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both trees:
http://poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMAAQPuBUIHHg18DkgPqxEPES8RUBGWFr8XLxhqGYoajxslHRQdqh2-IG4i9CSLKPoqCyo4KwosnC2oL28zhzW5OVI9X0GWRnFJUUmxS65Ms1AwUlNV1lfJWAdca1yKXfJfamTnbAttGXBScLt1_XvXf8aApILHgwmESIRvhMWJ04w2jmSPRo_6kyeVLpeVl_SboZu1oS-io6crrJius7GQtAy1SLb6uZO-gL6KwfPDCcM6w23K09Af0NDQ9dRC18_ZE9lb217fiuGI6QLquutj6_XsGO-I7-vw1fId9tr3pvfX-Tf56PrS-wk= http://poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMAAAPuBUIHHg18D6sPxBEvEVARlha_GDwYVhmKGo8bJR2qHb4gbiL0JIso-ioLKjgqUysKLJwspi2oL28zhzQKNbk3Zjt8PV9BlkZxSVFJsUuuTLNQMFBCUlNTNVfJXIpd8l9qbAttGW-ecFJwu3X9dwd713_GghCCx4MJhG-ExYcTidOMNo_6kNaTJ5Uul5WX9Ju1nKShL6Kjpyuus7GQsnC0DLVIuMq5k70nvoC-isHzwwnDOsrT0B_Q0ND11ELXz9kT2VvbXt-K37DhiOkC6rrrY-v17BjviO_r8NXyHfba-Tf56PsJ_kk=)) As thought, I care more about damage and you about survivability. The tradeoff for that big reduced mana reservation may weaken me badly, but someday I'll test. The big reservation gap between our trees made me question about what an how many auras do you use. How many % does Discipline reserve on your mana only with the tree reservation? Do you use Enlighten? What's the % tooltip? Another idea: Have you tested if Vile Bastion's regen works even with VP? Have you considered getting the Profane Bloom ascendancy point? It's great. Last edited by xaRiff on Apr 13, 2016, 2:38:12 PM
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Hmm I took another look at it and changed it once again, I haven't had time to play much recently, so my char is only lvl 74 atm. My toolip dps with 5 power charges is around 7-8k. Running, off of the top of my head, Herald of Ice + Discipline on bloodmagic, Hatred, warlords mark and clarity on mana. I don't have the 2 curse node yet in my tree, im not sure what ill run once I get that, definately will run two curses on blasphemy though, will most likely drop herald of ice if necessary, or clarity if I can get away with it.
With that tree I also took the 40% Es from shield node which is a nice boost, and took an extra power charge (I helped oak for an endurance charge so its total 6 powercharges 4 endurance charges). | |
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~removed double post~
Last edited by thevdende on Apr 13, 2016, 6:05:42 PM
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Hi again.
With a power charge from bandits, 2 from the tree and 1 from forbidden power, the power charge total sums up to 7. About that Shield ES node, i've tested it and its not as good as it seems. I wouldn't trade a jewel socket for it, but it's all about what you have to equip. Have you looked at my tooltips in the guide? Your DPS seems a bit low. When you have the time to log in, let me know how much % your hatred reserves on your mana? Try to check also the idea of changing Vile Bastion for Profane Bloom; with your actual DPS, it'd be a very good boost. Cheers. Last edited by xaRiff on Apr 14, 2016, 12:27:07 AM
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Yea, you are right about profane bloom, I guess I will respec it but I reaklly hate doing lab as low-life, will wait for it to be a very easy lay out I guess. Vile bastion is a bit useless with vaal pact and it doesn't help you against bosses, which is when its most important to have ES leech going.
So I'm lvl 81 now, got all my reservation nodes, and double curses running. Hatred reserves 33% of my mana, and my blasphemied curses each 22%. I stopped running clarity because I can get 6 stacks off of my normal mana and can sustain casting bv on one creep (I might keep a lvl 1 clarity going). Atm I have 6 power charges (I took an endurance charge from merci HC reasons) and with taste of hate up I'm at about 14k tooltip. My bv is lvl 18 so there is a bit of space to grow there too, I'm very happy with dps though there is no need for me to spec into mroe dps right now so I will go for the 40% es shield node next (sitting on 6.9k ES atm). TIL: respeccing ascendancy points doesn't require you to run lab again xD Last edited by thevdende on Apr 14, 2016, 12:29:59 PM
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