[2.5] [New Vid] Assassin: Wisdom and Action 800kdps on a 5L

@broseidon07

My current set up is Wrath, Discipline, and Blasphemy with a lvl 3 Enlighten, as well as the Templar and Shadow reduced mana reservation passive nodes.

If you pick up those 5 passive nodes, you could run 2 Blasphemies and Wrath, but you'd be missing Discipline, which is about 1500 ES. If you're not running Elemental Focus, you can run Herald of Thunder-Curse on Hit-Conductivity-Warlord's Mark. You won't have 100% uptime on your leech, but if you have a Vinktars or (better), the life and mana leech boot enchant, you can make that work fine.

Working in Wrath is quite difficult. Since we're CI, we need Discipline, and those two equal 85% mana. With some reduced reservation, you can get another 25% skill (AA or HoT), but it requires a level 3 enlighten to run Wrath, Discipline, *and* a Blasphemy.

The past level I actually spec'd out of dual curse, and used those points for the templar aura nodes, so I could run those 3. In addition to gaining additional auras, I simply couldn't find a way to apply my second curse satisfactorily. Cast when Stunned did ok if I ran temp chains, but what I really wanted, Conductivity and Warlord's, simply both need to be on blasphemies. You could run those 2, and Discipline (totaling 105% reserve) with a lvl 3 enlighten or the heretics veil unique and make it work, but you can't work wrath in also. I've tried. :/

I'd be interested to know what set up you find, however. I'm still experimenting on how to do it, and only recently figured the aura's (and 30% increased effect) were worth more than my other curse.

Another option is the Black Sun Crest, or a corrupted +1 level item, but it's almost certainly not worth giving up the ES to get an extra level on an enlighten gem.

So IMO I think the elemental focus is too much of a good multiplier not to run, on top of HOT/curse on hit not being 100% reliable, I think WM with blasphemy is the way to go. Discipline as you said is a must. So I guess the question is do you find Wrath more valuable than conductivity? I'm assuming by your post you meant all you run on your blasphemy is blas - WM - lvl3 enlighten.

So I guess really it comes down to wrath vs conductivity

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broseidon07 wrote:

So IMO I think the elemental focus is too much of a good multiplier not to run, on top of HOT/curse on hit not being 100% reliable, I think WM with blasphemy is the way to go. Discipline as you said is a must. So I guess the question is do you find Wrath more valuable than conductivity? I'm assuming by your post you meant all you run on your blasphemy is blas - WM - lvl3 enlighten.

So I guess really it comes down to wrath vs conductivity

Yeah, that's basically it. Even on the tree they are basically the same, as either way, you'll need to spend 4 points to be able to do it. The difference then is simple the damage numbers. Wrath (with my set up), is about a 21% damage increase. Conductivity is -44% penetration (but divided by 50% for bosses), for 22% penetration. We already have 57% pen in our build, so bosses would need to have over 57% Lightning resistance for conductivity to be a better option. Again, basically the same. Wrath will be better against everything except the most resistance mobs/bosses, but it also isn't affected by the new curse effect/hexproof map mods.

If you run heretics viel, it's possible to run 2 blaphemies, wrath, and discipline, with 94% mana reserved (using level 3 Enlighten). However, you lose over 100 Es just by running the helm, which is 1/3 of what discipline gives you in the first place, not to mention res. Not sure it's a good choice, but it's doable.

Loving the build idea.

Couple of questions...

Elemental Focus adds that wonderful MORE to the damage, but it does mean the loss of 50% increase from almost perma-shock, as it's a crit build. Are there any alternatives?

As the build really only has 5L that contributes to damage, do you see it hitting an effective cap that would stop real end-game performance?

How do you think this competes against the Phys assassin (BF-FA-MPhysD-AoE/Conc-MDoFL-Critical Hit) build?

Your 5L is:
BF-WED-LP-AOE/Conc - obvious choices - then EF.

What about swopping EF for FA? Does the tradeout of hitting that 6 stack (and the MORE damage that comes with it) plus the 50% increased from Shock work? (How many bosses are shock immune?).

If FA is wholly redundant because of other attack speed, what about Inc Crit Multiplier (5L) + Increased Crit Strikes (6L) (get back a flask)? I'm guessing the Crit Strikes isn't needed either.

And I agree...I can see a value in LL as 6th.

Just interested if you've explored the options above.


P.s. why haven't you taken Melding?

P.p.s is Crit Multiplier worth it? What about Elemental Overload instead? Get an awful lot of points back...

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Kroughfire wrote:

@Hyberch
I'm interested to see what you do for HC. I think using Arctic Armor is a great alternative to HoT, but I'm not sure. For CWDT/CWS, you can use both. Since we have endurance charge generation from Warlord's, I prefer CWS for the Ice Golem and Immortal Call, so they can be higher level. I understand the need for reliability in HC though. I really like your idea for Molten Shell, and will probably use that as well. We have a plethora of available sockets, so it's a nice added armor buff. For HC, yeah, the energy from within jewel will be nice in that area, and there are plenty of efficient life nodes right off the tree pathing for you to take while leveling.

Lvl 62 now, A2 Merc. Still running HoT, Discipline, Blasphemy/Warlord's Mark. However in my last posting I said I'd use Energy from within in the jewel socket above the witch tree because of the 3 life nodes left to it. Meanwhile I've altered my opinion and taking the Melding cluster is better for Energy from Within. Still taking the other life nodes as well.

However, depending how it goes I might chose to drop HoT for AA or maybe permanent enfeeble blasphemy.

For IC the level doesn't matter much. You get much more length using increased duration and using up endurance charges. I want to cast IC as often as possible so I still think the better route is CwDT. As said, I have another 4L with CwS, Summon Ice Golem, Enfeeble and Molten Shell.

My profile is public in case you wanna check. I got roughly around 1500 life and 3500 ES this far but only about 30 mana free. Works fine though.

Did now also first trial and generate now Power charges as well but doing enough damage and will postpone the skill tree power charges for later.

I also accidentally took a skill point for the bandits in cruel.. will have to respec that...

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Genovi wrote:

Why do you recommend picking up Life nodes while leveling when it's an ES build. You spec out of them later?

In Harcore, if you die, you're dead! So you want at least 6k ES before speccing to CI and you also need to have life in order not just to die instantly form poison/chaos damage

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Kroughfire wrote:

Again, basically the same. Wrath will be better against everything except the most resistance mobs/bosses, but it also isn't affected by the new curse effect/hexproof map mods.

I tend to think killing trash isn't hard with enough damage you'll 1- 2-shot almost all white and blue mobs.. The thing you need to spec for ist most resistant bosses and mobs. So I think the benefit of Warth isn't that great as it wont increase your kill speed much. But I'm not high lev yet with this build.

Dumb question but is it possible to run with Cyclone?

Hello there...

Liking the build so far and it's a well done guide.

I'm kinda short of the enlightend gem level 3, only got level 2.

Ran with Black sun Crest but feels like im losing out on a lot of ES.

What is your take on using Heretics Veil? (just dropped ;P)

Is it high enough ES and does lack of Quality on Blasph. make it worthless?

If i use it would it be better to run dual curse?

Feels like the build is powerful just lacks a bit Attack Speed, but with the right jewels it might get there.

Have a nice day.

Edit:
And one extra thing, you've linked Cast when stunned with Vaal Haste and Vaal Dicipline. Am i missing something or isn't it right that Vaal gems cant be triggered?

@Altissimus
Sorry, I should have been clearer in the main post. I was running increased the Inc. Crit Multi gem until I bought a Vinktar's, then switched to Elemental Focus since Vinktar's gives me an instant shock against single targets, meaning ele focus is a better multiplier (49%) than crit multi (approx 27%) vs bosses.
Also, if you want to drop crit and go ele overload, then you'll really need to switch ascendancies (to either Elementalist, Berserker, or Raider). Both are totally viable (and overpowered0). Crit just has more damage potential, in my opinion, and my ES is already pushing 11k on less than perfect equipment.

@hyper_ch
I tend to agree with you concerning the pen. Also, I missed another 10% curse effect from a quality blasphemy. I'm still spec'd into wrath and 30% increased aura effectiveness at the moment though, as the damage is going to be very comparable, and I am enjoying the extra 100ish base ES from Discipline (so, about 500ES on our EHP), and Vaal Haste is even more... Hasted.
I'm still calling it personal preference. Both are completely doable, and it's very easy to switch and test on the tree. That said, it's 3 more skill points than just dual curse, so maybe it's not equivalent.I'm going to be honest and say I have no idea. I'll run some numbers on it soon, and hopefully find a list of known boss resistances.

@ToJestNapad
You absolutely can run cyclone, and there are no tree changes that you would need to do to make it work. Even the gem colors work, so you can switch between them to see which you like better.

@Birddog
Black Sun Crest is suboptimal; you simply lose too much ES (around 1500ES in exchange for 60-70 int). HOWEVER, Heretics Veil is a very good unique for the build (barring the fact that it doesn't give you any int). If you're struggling with mana at all, or want to run a dual curse version, it's a decent option. I would still recommend a rare, but if you're having problems with enlightens, switch to dual curse Conductivity-Warlords, and use Discipline. You can also use 1 point on the 4% reduced mana reservation passive just under CI. Wrath and Conductivity are completely on par with eachother (see above post), but dual curse doesn't require a lvl 3 enlighten. (also, you're right, Cast when Stunned doesn't affect those skills. I'm simply finishing leveling the gem, and had an open socket there, haha). I have 8% Attack Speed, and 17 or 18 multi on all my jewels, and they fill a very large gap. with 5 jewels, it's roughly 40% additional attack speed. With another 30% or so from Dex, we're sitting at a good amount (I'm at 120% increased attack speed from gear and my tree). You can pick up Claw Attack Speed, Crit multi, and a Damage mod jewel for around 10c (some as low as 5, some 15), so it's pretty optimizable. But a 2 stat with AS and multi is where most of your damage comes from, the extra damage roll is just icing.