VFB 2.0: The Asspoacher

https://pastebin.com/uuvqizQS - my current Character on AHC. Since Abyss jewels are still funky on PoB I'm missing two jewels from my Shroud and Lightpoacher which would put me above 6k hp.


https://pastebin.com/CEmceZjF - possible Softcore version which sacrifices about 1500 life for more damage and flask uptime.

Things to note: The empty flask slot can be used for whatever you wish to fit in, keep in mind lower duration flasks aren't of as much value as you will generally be riding out the full duration of your Stibnite.

Pretty self explanatory. The big upgrade will be one with a 30% Herald of Ice Mana Reservation Enchant as otherwise you will either not be able to run Hatred or will have to use a Coming Calamity Chest.


Esh's Mirror helps enormously with buffing up the Herald of Ice damage as it gives generic flat ele to an otherwise pretty hard-to-scale skill. With how fast you should go it's an easy source of a lot of extra power. Feel free to replace the Portal Gem with an Enlighten if you feel like mana is an issue.

Less the Goldwyrms but more the Enchant that allow you to sustain Shield Charge at Soulthirst APS values.


The build wouldn't function nearly as well without these considering they give a lot of consistency when chain shattering through packs (allows us to reach 100% crit chance vs full life mobs). If you manage to reach 100% crit by using the newly added jewels feel free to replace Increased Critical Strikes with Increased Critical Damage or even Cold Penetration (heavier on mana).


Nothing beats the Golden Hammer for speed. If you feel like you aren't dealing enough damage or want to push red maps consider a rare dagger or Doryani's Catalyst instead.


If you hit your 10s Stibnite Flask before every other flask this will give you 8(HC)/10(SC) seconds of Souleater which in good layouts pretty much is half the map. Make sure to always hit your Stibnite first and after that all your other flasks. Keep in mind if you hit your Stibnite and wait too long on the other ones killing something inbetween flasking will override the Stibnite by whatever else you press after getting a kill. So if Souleater feels inconsistent to you try to hit your flasks faster (But still in the correct order). Also don't hit your Life Flask if you don't have to as that gives some funky results sometimes.


Best duration flask to use after the Basalt duration nerf. I recommend anti-curse over anti-shock.


I picked Shroud since I'm not specced into the Ranger Conversion wheel so dealing mixed damage without penetration would hurt single target a lot. It's also easy to chrome and at least somewhat competes with Belly in terms of survivability. For the Softcore tree I definitely recommend a Carcass Jack instead. If you don't have the enchanted Lightpoacher The Coming Calamity is probably the best bet just for the reduced reservation. Still socket your GC in there as usual.

Fairly nice Power Charge generation QOL (Although the Assassin node in itself was plenty in almost all situations), some free mana and life gained on kill and extra added damage.

For Jewels anything that adds damage to spells isn't really of value as Herald of Ice isn't considered a spell. Good 3 props for SC would be Abyss jewels like these https://i.imgur.com/NQQSYnO.png. Make sure to get plenty of Abyss jewels are those increase the maximum stack size of Lightpoacher.

Other than that Inspired Learning is always a nice pickup for fast clearing builds.

Bandits I killed all but feel free to choose Alira if you feel like resistances are sketchy.
Pantheon doesn't really matter but I went for Soul of the Brine King as the major one and Soul of Ralakesh as the minor.

As for the Ascendancy itself Assassin is pretty much unavoidable as it first of all gives some nice base crit to Herald of Ice but more importantly 100% more crit chance vs full life mobs which increases consistency by a huge amount. For leveling I went Ambush -> Unstable Infusion -> Deadly Infusion -> Assassinate.