[2.5] Raider Blade Flurry, Physical Crit Sword aka. A Grey Wall of Innovation



Disclaimer
This build is still a work in progress as I am still leveling in the league and trying things out. Feedback is always welcomed! I'll also note that this is not a very unique or innovative build. But I haven't really found a guide quite for this and I figured it might be helpful to some of the newer players. I'm also posting this now just to save my progress, more content will be added in the next few hours. I can add Leveling Skill Trees if there's a demand for it.


Introduction
Spoiler

Why Raider? Patch 2.5 saw some major changes to the Raider Ascendancy, which truly makes the ascendancy shine. The change to Way of the Poacher and Rapid Assault makes our sustain a lot better and makes ascendancy talents actually useful during boss fights.


Why Blade Flurry? Why not? The skill is extremely powerful and you get it quite early in the leveling process and you can use it straight out of the box and it carries you through the entire game.



Credit
Spoiler
I feel the need to give credit where credit is due, since I've basically just stolen all of this from others. For obvious reasons I have to give credit to Mathilification for being one of the first major streamer to test and showcase Blade Flurry and for the feedback he has given us.
Massive thanks to ProjectPT who helped me a bunch with the skill tree before Breach was released and also has answered a lot of my questions on mechanics and skill interaction.



Pros/Cons
Spoiler
+ Powerful
+ Cheap
+ Easy
+ Fast
+ Fun
+ 8 Frenzy Charges
+ Acrobatics
+ Easy Onslaught

- Not Ci
- Makes the game too easy



Passive skill tree


Gear
Spoiler
More info coming soon!

As a general rule you want to be capped on your elemental resistances in Merciless. You want to look for gear with Life, Attack Speed, Crit, Evasion and Physical Damage.

I'm using the Relentless Fury one handed axe in my off hand. This is a very cheap unique to get (unless the Mathil effect hits it soon) and gives you culling strike and Onslaught on kill which is very nice.




Current (2016-12-06, it's all shit but it works for now)
Spoiler



Mechanics
Spoiler
Coming soon!


Leveling
Spoiler
I started off just using Flame Trap and Sharpel Shot until I finally got a decent melee weapon and then I switched to Cleave and Dual Strike with Faster Attacks and Added Fire Damage. You get Blade Flurry at around level 28 after finishing the quest Sever the Right Hand in Act 3 Normal, I recommend using this as soon as possible with Melee Physical Damage and Faster Attacks. When you get a four linked armour piece add Increased Area of Effect (for general clearing) and Concentraded Effect (for bosses).

I recommend using Poacher's Mark with Blasphemy early on for the Mana and Life Leech and Frenzy Charge generation and after you've aquired the Normal Labyrinth Passives switch that to Assassin's Mark with Blasphemy for the Power Charge generation, Life and Mana leech and bonuses to crit. Crit won't be very useful early on while Frenzy Charge will actually give you something useful while leveling.

For Passive Skill Tree progression I went straight to the Shadow area and picked up those points and then went to the Duelist area. After you've done that the pathing is more or less done and you can work on just filling out the damage and life nodes.


Skill Gems and Links
Spoiler
Blade Flurry + Melee Physical Damage + Faster Attacks + Increased Area of Effect
Hatred
Herald of Ash
Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + Blood Magic + Fortify
Summon Ice Golem
Vaal Lightning Trap
Vaal Haste + Blood Rage + Increased Duration


Screenshots
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My gear is pretty terrible so I haven't even capped my resistances in Merciless. Going to sort that out today though. Damage is without any Frenzy Charges or Onslaught effect. Tooltips for Blade Flurry is a bit misleading so take it with a grain of salt. I'm saving up to get a sword upgrade as well, rocking a yellow rapier that I bought for 2 alchemy's at the moment, though I might add that I am not struggling with any content right now.

Defenses
Spoiler


Charges
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Blade Flurry Damage
Spoiler



FAQ
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Multistrike?
Does not work with Blade Flurry.

Melee Splash?
Blade Flurry is an Area of Effect attack so Melee Splash will not add anything.

Bandits?
Normal - Help Oak for 40hp.
Cruel - Help Kraityn for 8% attack speed.
Merciless - Help Kraityn for 1 extra Frenzy charge.


Changes
Spoiler

20161206 Added some screenshots.
20161205 Opted to change from Blasphemy + Assassin's Mark to Hatred.
20161204 Added Banits to FAQ.
20161204 Added guide.


Last update: 2016-12-04.
Last edited by TMYNO on Dec 6, 2016, 5:48:03 AM
Last bumped on Feb 2, 2017, 4:33:55 AM
Reserved for future updates.
Last edited by TMYNO on Dec 4, 2016, 7:26:26 AM
can you give an idea of the sword/s to be used for this build? =D
example:
"
uswh0le wrote:
can you give an idea of the sword/s to be used for this build? =D
example:


You want a sword with fast base attack, as much physical, attack speed and crit as possible. That's the golden drop.

That sword that you got is pretty good tbh and should be able to carry you for a while. The good thing about Blade Flurry is that it is so strong that you can really go far with a mediocre weapon.

Edit: For my off-hand I'm currently using an one-handed axe just as a stat-stick, since if you have a "non valid weapon" for Blade Flurry it will only base your attack off your main hand weapon. Instead of giving you an avrage of both weapons. The issue with doing that is that the tooltip because very unreliable and you should probably try and figure out yourself if something is an upgrade or note and not rely on the tooltip.

This is very good unless you have two swords that are very on par with eachother.

edit2: formatting.
Last edited by TMYNO on Dec 4, 2016, 9:05:32 AM
"
"
uswh0le wrote:
can you give an idea of the sword/s to be used for this build? =D
example:


You want a sword with fast base attack, as much physical, attack speed and crit as possible. That's the golden drop.

That sword that you got is pretty good tbh and should be able to carry you for a while. The good thing about Blade Flurry is that it is so strong that you can really go far with a mediocre weapon.

Edit: For my off-hand I'm currently using an one-handed axe just as a stat-stick, since if you have a "non valid weapon" for Blade Flurry it will only base your attack off your main hand weapon. Instead of giving you an avrage of both weapons. The issue with doing that is that the tooltip because very unreliable and you should probably try and figure out yourself if something is an upgrade or note and not rely on the tooltip.

This is very good unless you have two swords that are very on par with eachother.

edit2: formatting.


thanks for the explanation =D
with that said, i'mma try to use any of these two as an OFF-HAND...

or this one...


edit: sorry, another question... what would be the addtional gems for the possible 6-link setup? i can think of is ADD FIRE DMG/WED + CONC/INC CRIT/CRIT MULT maybe?
Last edited by uswh0le on Dec 4, 2016, 10:07:50 AM
"
uswh0le wrote:
"
"
uswh0le wrote:
can you give an idea of the sword/s to be used for this build? =D
example:


You want a sword with fast base attack, as much physical, attack speed and crit as possible. That's the golden drop.

That sword that you got is pretty good tbh and should be able to carry you for a while. The good thing about Blade Flurry is that it is so strong that you can really go far with a mediocre weapon.

Edit: For my off-hand I'm currently using an one-handed axe just as a stat-stick, since if you have a "non valid weapon" for Blade Flurry it will only base your attack off your main hand weapon. Instead of giving you an avrage of both weapons. The issue with doing that is that the tooltip because very unreliable and you should probably try and figure out yourself if something is an upgrade or note and not rely on the tooltip.

This is very good unless you have two swords that are very on par with eachother.

edit2: formatting.


thanks for the explanation =D
with that said, i'mma try to use any of these two as an OFF-HAND...

or this one...


edit: sorry, another question... what would be the addtional gems for the possible 6-link setup? i can think of is ADD FIRE DMG/WED + CONC/INC CRIT/CRIT MULT maybe?


I'm actually using the Lavianga's Wisdom right now. It's very cheap.

I'm probably going to go Inc. Crit or Crit Multi depending on what my crit chanse looks like. But I haven't gotten hold of a six-link right now to test it out.
double Scaeva maybe as the starter weapon for late game? And what do you think about Raider vs Assassin as blade flurry as starter build. Cannot chose between them.
"
gopotan wrote:
double Scaeva maybe as the starter weapon for late game? And what do you think about Raider vs Assassin as blade flurry as starter build. Cannot chose between them.


Scaeva is alright as a starter, they're a bit slow and does not come with any attack speed but they'll probably do better than trash yellows anyway. If you can afford them, they are at the moment a couple of chaos each. You only need one though if you are using a mace or an axe as an off hand.

The Assassin will have a higher damage potential than going Raider. I like Raider though for the Frenzy charges and the Onslaught. It gives you pretty insane bonuses passively and your clear speed is very respectable.

I don't think you can go wrong with either to be honest but Assassin will probably be the safest option.
Would you mind making your account unprivate so I can see your current gear etc? Keen to try this.
"
Would you mind making your account unprivate so I can see your current gear etc? Keen to try this.


Yeah, of course, didn't know it was set to private! I'll do it tomorrow and write a post when it's done.

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