BV and BF-BB being meta skills, it's hard to compete.
I'm busy atm with another of my builds (the Pestilent Viper), but I'll eventually test the Nightblade in Ultimatum. Blade Flurry is still a fast hitting build with decent AoE for trials. I may try a new variant, with conversion from phys to cold, so as to freeze mobs.
Rahsaan's Workshop, a post to showcase a dozen of my home-made builds : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3432443
New to the game ?
> See the "League Start" and FAQ sections below.
Need advice for your build ? Set your character to public :
> Home - My Account - Privacy settings - uncheck boxes
*
Latest videos in 3.13
#9 : Mission - Most Likely - Impossible. Buying the Loath Bane ambusher, tanking the Shaper's slam, fighting Uber Atziri and Cortex (both with Maven), then the Feared invitation.
#8 : Arakaali's Shadow. A variation of the build in league, using several "toxic" minions to clear encounters.
I have created the build I wanted to play with my favorite Ascendancy and my favorite skill. It's not meta, but it's fast, fun and versatile. Since december 2018, I have done every content with it.
The name of the build comes from two gems :
- Blade Flurry, our main skill
- Nightblade support, which is tailored-made for Assassins.
I want to pay tribute to Mathil for his old BF Assassin. It has been outdated since 3.5, but it was the basis for this build.
* Blade Flurry Assassin
* Dagger / Claw / Shield
* Physical and chaos damages
* Max Dodge with Elusive
* High movement speed
CONS
- Not a 1-click-AFK build : we use several skills and buffs
- Clearspeed is nice but not super-fast.
- Becomes expensive for ultra-endgame (100ex and more). But still an off-meta build, so not that expensive.
- It's melee, so you'll die.
PROS
- It's melee, so you'll have fun !
- Boss killer
- All contents viable
- Beginner friendly | Can be done on a budget
* I began this guide in 3.5 and called it Old & New School BF Assassin.
* In 3.7, with the rework to melee, my dream of a phys/chaos dual-dagger Assassin became a reality. I made an Impale version.
* In 3.8, the Assassin became a true shadow killer thanks to the Elusive buff. I devised the Invisible version. I changed the name to : The Nightblade Flurry Assassin.
* In 3.9, I made a tankier version with Mind Over Matter and shortened the name to : The Nightblade Assassin.
* In 3.10, I've added the cluster jewels and tested the Perfidy chest.
* In 3.11, I've tested a new Keystone, The Traitor, and beat Sirus A8 thanks to it.
I've gone SSF in Harvest, with dual claws and a new setup : General's Cry + BF.
Ddevised a Scion variant of the build, with Paradoxica and Saviour swords.
* In 3.12, I'm shortening again the name of the build : The Nightblade.
In league, adding Frost Shield and Corrupted Soul for a solid layer of defense.
In Standard, Chainbreaker keystone with a Lethal Pride/Akoya timeless jewel, for max Rage and Berserk.
* In 3.13 Ritual, I devised a variant with Arakaali dagger and Yriel's Fostering body.
* In 3.14, Chainbreaker becomes unusable.
1- Get the Wanderlust unique shoes, for the +20% movement speed and freeze immunity : Wanderlust
* Or craft magic boots with movement speed. Go to a vendor in town and sell them : normal boots + an orb of augmentation + a quicksilver flask.
You'll get +10% movement speed on the boots.
Repeat and you'll get another +5%, up to +30% movespeed. /!\ Each time, it raises the level requirement of the boots.
2- Get a Quicksilver flask. Get it in act 1 as a reward from Bestel after retrieving the Medicine Chest.
3- Get one or two rings/amulet with mana regen.
4- Craft two daggers with increased damages :
1 dagger + 1 blue Rustic Stash belt + 1 Blacksmith Whetstone.
* Here is a simulation at level 28, when you get Blade Flurry : https://pastebin.com/YnXgAK9J
> I've put only unique items for suggestions. Replace those you want with magic/rares.
More details in the next section, "Levelling".
I always run out of mana, what can I do ?
Get :
- "#% phys dmg leeched as mana" affix somewhere on your stuff. 0.4% should be enough.
or
- "-x total mana cost of skills" on ring or amulet.
- x% reduced mana cost of skills" on a jewel
or
- Mind Drinker on the tree. Whenever you can, unallocate those two nodes.
Uniques : Wurm's Molt belt and Slitherpinch gloves are dirt cheap (1 alch), Praxis ring is 1c.
Should I get a Tabula Rasa ?
Many players will farm Blood Aqueduct in act 9 to get a stack of 9 Humility divination cards and then trade it to Navali to get the Tabula.
I think it slows your progression.
Better continue into the acts, accumulate currencies, and then buy a cheap rare 6-link chest. Many people sell corrupted ones for slightly more chaos. Get one with the right colors, some life and res.
If you drop a Tabula, sell it to a vendor for a divine orb, then add some chaos to buy a rare chest.
I want to make money !
I can advise you to not waste your time picking up rare items.
Just pick up 1-square items. Currencies, maps, frags, essences etc. Nothing to ID, nothing to vendor. Grab everything you walk on and then drop it into your stashes.
When you have 100+ alterations/jewellers/scour/chrom/fus etc. go sell in bulk them via the online trade and make some chaos.
I want to level fast !
Don't try to full clear the maps, it's useless. Go only to the points of interests : Essences, Breach, Abyss, Cassia, Ritual etc.
When you are in levels 75+, you can do Xoph's Breachstones. They are fairly easy and cheap.
I was able to go from level 78 to 79 with only 2 Xoph. 50% XP each !
In level 84, they still give 13% XP.
Interrogating Syndicate members, whatever you choose (kill, bargain etc.) also gives lots of XP + raid the hideouts. Do the Mastermind mission (200% inc XP) but do not go to the boss.
To level past level 90 :
- Delving at depth ~200.
- T15 Beachhead : safe and slow.
- T13+ Coward's Trial : fast and fun, more expensive.
- T14+ Poorjoy Asylum : fast but dangerous.
- Harbinger Reinforcements with 4 nodes in Valdo's Rest tree : just go kill the Harbingers and get out.
FAQ
I die too much. What can I do ?
Survivability check-list :
- 5k life for endgame, bare minimum.
- All elem res capped at 75%.
- Low positive chaos res.
- CwDT level 20 + Immortal Call
- A Panicked life flask : « Instant recovery when on low life »
- Flesh & Stone / Sand Stance
Which unique daggers for levelling ?
Widowmaker for the 10 acts
To begin Atlas : Bino's Kitchen, Goblinedge, Sanguine Gambol, Taproot.
How do you deal damage with poison ?
Actually, this build does not use poison for dmg.
Poison is used to get several bonuses from the Ascendancy nodes. See Offense section for more details.
Why do you keep Precision on level 1 ?
The more you raise the level of the gem, the more it reserves mana. So you can level it as much you want, to help you get 100% hit chance, and some more critical strike chance.
Why this low-level CwDT + Cold Snap ?
So that Cold Snap procs on every pack and chill them. Also gives chance to get Frenzy charges. A small but nice layer of defense.
Should I always use the Shaper's gloves ?
Use them if you have at least 350 or (better) 400 DEX.
Otherwise, Tombfist are also good, or rare Spiked gloves.
I don't like MoM. Must I really use it ?
No, it's just more survivability at the cost of less DPS.
Are the cluster jewels worth it ?
Yes, one large + one medium are definitely worth it.
See Endgame section for more details about cluster notables.
Can I use another main skill ?
Yes, Cyclone with the exact same setup. Double Strike is also good.
Can I use a shield ?
Yes, you can.
Best unique : Unshattered Will
A rare with tons of life, elem and chaos res.
Can I use claws ?
Yes, that should be less DPS and more survivability.
Take the big claw wheel with 3 notables + Claws of the Pride.
I've gone dual-claws in Harvest SSF.
Playstyle
A mini-guide to Blade Flurry
I remember back in november 2016 when they announced 2.4, this new skill, Blade Flurry (BF). On the moment I saw it, I knew that was the perfect skill I was waiting for. Fast, deadly, some AoE, increasing dmg while channelling. And the green waves when you release at max stage are so satisfying amazing.
It has remained my #1 skill ever since.
BF gives you +20% more dmg for each stage, with a total of +100% more when you reach 6th stage, basically doubling your DPS. Then, some more when you release the wave. That's where all the juice is.
Learn the perfect channelling, by releasing when the green circle pop, and then start back to stage 1 immediately. As it depends of your APS (attack per second), you gotta get used to it. Reaching 6th stage can take somewhere between 2sec and 0,5sec.
E.g., if you have 6 APS, it takes exactly 1 sec to reach max stage.
In maps :
Pop Withering Steps, run near the enemies to wither them, then BF. With Whirling Blades, you can jump behind them, or right in the middle of them and blast with Blade Flurry. Channel till release then jump to dodge and attack again. Surprise them with impredictable moves. WB is very fast and allows for quick change in your battle tactics.
* Use Phase Run for extra 30% phys dmg : channel to 6th stage, Phase Run, release BF.
You can go Whirling > Flurry : Dash then blast.
Or you can go Flurry > Whirling : Channel and escape to release. Useful when those big Goatmen from Chimera will jump on you.
Offense
CRITICAL STRIKES
Daggers have critical chance as implicits. We get nodes on the tree and the Elusive buff for crit chance and crit multi.
COLD DAMAGE
It's a good idea to get some cold dmg somewhere on the rings or amulet. As we often crit, we will be able to freeze most mobs. Looking at you, Porcupines !
If we freeze them, they will shatter = won't explode with their spines on death.
DEXTERITY STACKING
We can use Shaper's Touch gloves and then stack Dexterity.
Because more Dexterity now means : more Accuracy, more Evasion + more DPS and more life !
For endgame, you can further increase the DEX stacking with a Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel on your tree >See Endgame section below.
POISON
Poison deals almost 0 damage with this build, but with Noxious Strike on the Ascendancy, it gives us life regen and allows us to use the powerful Vile Toxins support.
Chances to poison
On the Ascendancy, Noxious Strike : 40% chance to poison on any hit.
On the tree, two small nodes "Dagger dmg and Poison chance" : 2*10% chance to poison on hit with attacks.
So, on any attack hit, we got 60% chance to poison.
With Adder's Touch : 40% chance to poison with crits.
So, on crit we have 60+40 = 100% chance to poison.
> A non-crit has 60% chance to poison.
> A crit will always poison.
> For full calculations, go to PoB, "Calcs" and see "Chance to Poison".
This is why the Diamond flask is so good, as it greatly increases our chance to crit and poison.
> With Vile Toxins support, we get up to 45% more dmg when there are 9 poisons on an enemy.
Defences
In this game, getting DPS is fairly easy, while getting good defences is hard.
We use a combination of effects and buffs that synergize.
/!\ Here, you have to make choices. You can't get all these layers of defense.
LEECH
We easily cap Life leech at 20% of max life with Blood Drinker : 0,4% of atk dmg leeched as life.
For mana leech, you can get the Mind Drinker notable on the tree : 0.4% of attack damage leeched as mana. But it's best to get this same mod on some piece of equipment.
STUN
Any damage can stun the enemy, provided it removes at least 10% of his life per hit -see Stun. "Dealing at least 50% of maximum life will always stun."
As we deal huge physical damage, we stun small mobs all the time, and even rares. Physical damage has stun bonuses over other damages, making it even easier.
If you want to check how often you stun, you can set Endurance charge on melee stun support in your BF setup, and you'll see that you gain Endurance charges all the time.
> Additionnally, by using the Ryslatha's coil belt, we get a lot more phys dmg and we gain life each time we stun.
EVADE
It's easy to stack a lot of Dexterity on the stuff and the skill tree to improve our chances to evade attacks.
We can use the Dread Banner, which reserves only a small portion of mana (10%). With this banner, enemies nearby have up to 21% less acccuracy rating, which is huge, and is cumulative with the blind penalty.
You can blind enemies with Flesh & Stone / Sand Stance. This will drastically reduce their chances to hit you with attacks.
DODGE
Dodge may seem similar to Evade, but they are actually two separated mechanisms, like Armour and Energy shield.
We get attack Dodge chance on the skill tree with the Acrobatics Keystone.
Evasion is calculated before Dodge. So if the first fails, the second one is rolled -See Receiving damage.
I strongly advice to get Acro + Phase Acro. With the Elusive buff, you'll easily get 75% chance to dodge attacks and 70% to dodge spells, which are awesome layers of defense.
Technical explanations
Dodge is rolled for each hit you take -See Dodge. For instance, if you have 30% Dodge chance, on average you will dodge one hit out of three. If you have luck, you might dodge 3 hits in a row, but if not, you might miss 4 in a row. This is like rolling a dice, hoping to roll 5 or 6.
On the other hand, Evasion gives you a flat chance to evade -See Evasion. For each fight, the game will set a random order of miss and hit. And this sequence will be refreshed every few seconds.
For instance, say you have 25% chance to evade attacks. Then, the RNG may roll HIT – EVADE – HIT – HIT. Then for some seconds, you will always evade the second hit amongst a series of four, and always be hit by the other three.
Then, the RNG will be rolled again, and you may get EHHH, or HHEH etc.
Dodge and Evade chances are capped at 95%.
"Assuming a character has a 40% chance to evade and a 20% chance to dodge, a character has a 52% chance to prevent receiving a hit."
ELUSIVE
This buff is specially designed for the Assassin and we can improve it a lot.
Elusive grants 30% inc movespeed and 15% dodge chance against spells and attacks. This buff decays over time, until its values reaches 0.
With the Ascendancy, we get :
* Elusive on crit
* 50% buff effect.
* Another 48% inc effect with the Anomalous Nightblade support.
* With Withering Steps (WS) movement skill, we refresh the buff, then lose it and get it again on the first crit.
Elusive granted by WS has 48% inc effect.
* 45% inc effect from No Witnesses cluster on the tree.
Total :
* 143% inc effect = +73% movespeed and 36% dodge.
* 188% with Withering Steps = 86% movespeed and 43% dodge
REDUCED / LESS DAMAGE TAKEN
This mechanics is mostly useful for endgame.
In endgame, even if you have 6k life or more, you are still a glasscannon. Evasion cannot save us all the time, nor Dodge.
So we try to lower the damages we take = those that remain after all other sources of mitigation have been calculated. This is the real amount of damage withdrawn from our life pool -see Damage taken.
Ideally, if we'd get 100% reduced dmg taken, we would be invincible. But that's barely possible, or you have to sacrifice all your DPS -see this video for instance.
Fun for a YT video, but not realistic to play.
The main point is that nothing can reduce this reduction, e.g. you have no map mods that reduces damage taken.
* On the Ascendancy, with Mistwalker, no extra dmg taken from crit !
With Opportunistic : 20% reduced dmg taken when there 2+ rare enemies nearby.
* With Fortify support on the BF setup, we have 20% less dmg taken from hits (meaning : not DoT). So for 100 dmg dealt by the enemy, we take only 80.
* With the Infused Channelling support, we take 8% less physical damage from hits while channelling.
(* If we use the Unshattered Will shield, the Harbinger will give a bonus every 8sec for 4sec : immune to stun and elemental ailment and 20% less dmg taken from hits and DoT : a more powerful Fortify buff, half of the time.)
MIND OVER MATTER
MoM can give you a lot of tankiness.
But you need to reserve much less mana.
- Look for the mod "% of dmg taken gained as mana over 4 sec". You can get it on the skill tree with Battle Rouse notable. You can get it on rings, or with a Watcher's Eye / Clarity.
- CwDT level 1 + Cold Snap.
Cold Snap will chill enemies and can give you Frenzy charges when enemies die in the area.
- Clarity level 1
If you use MoM. Try to get the "% of dmg taken gained as mana over 4 sec" mod on your stuff or on a Watcher's Eye.
- Other buffs : Blood Rage, Plague Bearer, Ice Golem... /!\ If you use Blood Rage, put it in a weapon and have a weapon swap. This way, if your HP get very low, you can swap quickly to stop the degen effect.
Tips :
* Quickly put 20%q on your Infused Channelling gem, to get the Infusion buff faster (0.6 sec)
* BF 21/23 and Fortify 21/20 are best for DPS
* No quality needed for Blood Rage and all auras gems
* Level up Precision as you see fit. If you go MoM, level it up until you have 90 mana left unreserved. Ice Golem requires at least 70 mana to summon.
Thx to Red7Official for these tips.
Gearing
There are 3 unique items that really make the build shine :
1) Starkonja Helmet
2) Shaper's Touch gloves
3) Ryslatha's Coil belt
- Weapon : For the daggers, you want : inc phys dmg | adds phys dmg | attack speed 1.7+ | crit chance / crit multi | phys as extra chaos
- Shield : Life, elem resis, attributes, ailment avoir chance, stun avoid chance + inc global phys dmg.
A shield makes the build much less expensive but we lose DPS.
A very good unique : The Unshattered Will. It has all we need : life, elem res, inc channelling skill dmg and the Harbinger of Focus : stun and ailment immunities for 4sec every 8sec.
- Body Armour : The BiS unique is a Loreweave with 78% all max res (Legacy version : up to 80%).
- Belly of the Beast : lot more life.
- Carcass Jack : more AoE and AoE dmg + life, elem res
* More expensive : a rare body armour with :
* +max life and +% max life
* socketed attacks have -15 to total mana cost
10ex and more
* One with "10% chance to gain a frenzy charge on hit". Comes from Synthetised items or items with Redeemer's influence. Guarantees 100% max frenzy charges all the time.
* A chest with "Killed enemies explode, dealing 3% of their life as phys dmg". BiS for farming. Can actually turn Blade Flurry into a very capable farming skill.
- Helmet : Starkonja with "40% inc BF dmg" enchant is BIS. Life, DEX, crit chance, Evasion, attack speed, are all what we need.
- Gloves : Shaper's Touch are BiS for this build. Enchantment and corruption are optional and you don't even need a good roll.
Other choices : Tombfist (second best choice), Asenath Gentle Touch (amazing as it curses and make mobs explode, but very expensive).
- Boots : Atziri's Steps for life, spell dodge, lot of EVA +30% movespeed.
Replica Three-Step-Assault have life, DEX and Elusive effect.
Any rare with life and the elem res. You can also look for : chance to avoid stun, atk or spell dodge, 35% movespeed...
Also look for "Tailwind if crit recently" mod = 10% more dps
- Amulet : Life, res, crit multi, added phys dmg, gain phys as extra cold...
- For mid-game, Hyrri's Truth.
- An Aul's Uprising with no mana Hatred.
- A physical Impresence with no mana Vulnerability. 1ex
- Rings : Life, phys dmg, crit, DEX, elem resis, gain phys as extra cold...
Useful mods : Warlord's Mark on hit, Aspect of the Cat / Aspect of the Spider.
- Belt : Best in Slot is Ryslatha's Coil.
Life, life gain on stun and 10-20% more phys dmg.
- Jewels : Murderous Eye Jewels, Crimson or Viridian Jewels.
Mods :
- Crit multi
- Attack speed
- Phys dmg = phys dmg with 1h-weapons / daggers, aoe dmg etc.
For crit and APS, look for : while dual-wielding / with one-handed weapons / with daggers / if you've killed recently + life, res, attributes...
Watcher's Eye
* A Clarity mod to improve mana regen for Mind Over Matter, if you use it. Best one is "15% of dmg taken gained as mana over 4sec".
* A Pride mod with Intimidate on Hit.
* Ascendancy
1 - Mistwalker, for the increased Elusive buff.
2 - Ambush and Assassinate for more dmg.
3 - Opportunistic, for more dmg against enemies on full life or low life
4 - Noxious Strike, for life recovery with poison
* Bandits : Alira. Crit multi, mana regen and elem res.
* Pantheon : Arakaali and Tukohama.
* Enchantments :
- Helmet : 40% increased Blade Flurry Damage.
- Gloves : Commandment of Blades. Throws some daggers, helps to clear.
- Boots : 16% attack and cast speed if you've killed recently OR Regenerate 2% life and mana per second if you've been hit recently.
Crafting
Daggers
- Buy a level 83+ Ambusher : 1.5 base aps.
/!\ Imperial Skean also have 1.5 aps but they are now considered Rune Daggers, meaning they can roll caster mods. We don't want that.
- Scour + 20%q.
Then, you have two options : hideout bench or fossils
* with bench
- Spam alteration orbs to get the flaring mod = added phys dmg
- Regal orb
- Annul to leave only attack speed and phys dmg
- Multi mod. Crafting the mods costs 7ex, but it’s deterministic.
- Perfect fossil for >20%q. I settled for 23%.
- Optionnally, Encrusted fossil to get white sockets. I didn't use it.
- Shuddering for speed + Serrated for attack mods + Sanctified for higher rolls.
- You can add Aberrant : more chaos, no lightning, to try and get "phys as extra chaos". But then you need a Primal Resonator (4 sockets), which is more expensive.
Body armour.
Buy a 6-link EVA-based one, with high item level (82+).
- 20%q with Armourer Scraps,
- Perfect Fossil to improve quality. Got 29% and decided to settle for it.
- Encrusted Fossils to get white sockets. Or use Vorici's bench in Research hideout.
- Scour
- Pristine for life mods + a Serrated in the hope of getting "socketed attacks have -15 to total mana cost" + Sanctified to get higher values
Then you pray for RNGesus (there's no other god left in Wraeclast).
Delve
Delving is a great way to test the limits of your build in the hardest possible conditions.
When you've done some multi-modded 550+ delves, Beyond T15-16 maps will feel much easier !
Enemies you must spot :
- Screamers with their lightning sonic wave. Can kill you in <2 sec.
- Blue felines and their exploding blue aura.
- Zombies that spread caustic ground on death. Because of them, very deep delvers (1000+) go CI, as it's otherwise impossible to survive the chaos degen.
- Areas like Haunted remains nodes have those small grey ghosts (like mini-Shapers) that can insta-kill you with phys dmg.
How deep can we go ?
Greatly depends of your knowledge of the Mine and your stuff.
I think 300 is easily doable. 400 is still possible.
Things can become very hard past 500.
Going past 600 was a nightmare. And my absolute best is... 700.
Endgame
Advanced options from the past leagues. This is for seasoned players.
Timeless jewels :
- Brutal Restraint to juice up the nodes nearby.
Adds DEX on every small node and mods on the notables, like : life, gain 5% phys as cold, crit chances, poison dmg...
You can socket the jewel in the Shadows or Ranger socket, where there are plenty of notables available. .
- More offensive : Lethal Pride of Akoya, to get the Chainbreaker keystone : mana regen instead generates Rage ! I have put it in the Duelist socket to modify the Iron Grip keystone.
- More defensive : Glorious Vanity of Doryani to get the Corrupted Soul keystone : 20% life as extra ES. This will allow you to sustain the Frost Shield.
Put it near Point Blank keystone so as not to break your tree, as the mods given are very random and seldom useful for us.
3.8 : ANOINTMENTS
Amulet
Ambidexterity is a solid choice : Amber - Azure - Black
You can't go wrong with it.
Best DPS comes from Nightstalker or Panopticon (with totems placed).
Other choices include : a fat life node, Weathered Hunter, Holy Dominion, Hematophagy, Aspect of Stone, Soul of Steel...
Rings
Amber + Amber on each ring, for 2*25% inc Scout Tower dmg. The easiest and most balanced choice.
Pop a Scout Tower near the pump, then a Stun level 3 as a support, then a green one tier 3.
Map anointing
- For beginners : 3 amber for 60% reduced costs of towers. You'll build a lot of towers even before the encounter begins.
- For maximum loot, 3 Teal or 3 Crimson, depending on your budget, to get lucky chests = content of the chest is rolled twice and the best is kept. This number of lucky chests is increased by the Awakening bonus !
3.9 : CATALYSTS
- Abrasive on the Ryslatha's belt
- Prismatic on a ring with lots of elem res.
- Turbulent on an amulet with phys as extra lightning/cold
3.10 : CLUSTER JEWELS
A selection of notables with the best ones.
Large cluster with 2 jewel sockets : Dagger or Dual-Wielding. 8pts.
- Drive the Destruction (20% faster life leech)
- Feed the Fury
- Fuel the Fight (for mana leech)
- Hit & Run
- Martial Prowess
- Wind-Up (Dagger only)
Medium cluster with 1 jewel socket : Channelling or Crit Chance. 5pts is ok, since it's cheaper than a 4pts and you won't have to allocate the fifth point.
- Overwhelming Malice for Unholy Might
- Precise Focus
- Rapid Infusion
- Unwavering Focus
Small cluster : Life. 2 or 3 pts.
- Fettle
- Peace Amidst Chaos
- Enduring Composure : Endurance Charges when hit. Now the Juggernaut is jealous !
3.11 : ENRICHED UBER LAB level 83
With a Dedication to the Goddess, you can access the Eternal Labyrinth of Potential, where the font can give various enchantments for the belt.
The best one for us is : "20% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments while you have Elusive".
These ones are also good :
* 30% reduced Effect of Curses on you while on Consecrated Ground
* +300 to Evasion Rating while you have Phasing
* Enemies Withered by you have -6% to all Resistances
Ancestral Protector and Warchief : (A) 40% inc Placement speed
Blade Flurry : (A) Final Flurry has 20% inc AoE
Blood Rage : (A) 2% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge when you Hit a Unique Enemy
Ice Golem : (A) 20% inc effect
Withering Step : (D) 20% chance to not remove Buff
Supports
Nightblade : (A) 20% inc Effect of Elusive = +3% atk and spell dodge.
Vile Toxins : (A) 10% inc Poison Duration. Useful to better stack them.
Boss fights
Malachai, The Nightmare
He can kill you instantly when he reappears from underground.
Watch your steps : the red spots on the grounds are often deadly.
Atziri/Uber Atziri
Vessels of the Vaal : go to the left one and stay near it while it activates. There is a delay before the second one activates, which will allow you to kill the first one before.
The Trio
Always kill the girl first : she launches a physical rain that can insta-kill you. Pop an anti-bleed flask and kill the two others.
Atziri
She reflects 2% of any damage dealt to her. So, to avoid killing yourself, use Sibyl's lament ring on right slot (-40% of reflected phys dmg taken) and Yugul's Pantheon (-25%). Then you should be ok with reflects. On the tree, Master of Force notable also gives -20%.
Avoid cursing her, because she reflects curses.
For the clone phase, quickly spot the one with the mirror while it appears, and attack any other three. Never attack the mirror clone, as it reflects 100% of dmg.
Minotaur
Use large AoE to channel BF while standing at the limit of his ground circle.
Take care when he dives like a mole and watch his trails while he moves underground : he targets you at the moment of diving. So he will reappear at that spot.
Blind him (Sand Stance or Stibnite flask).
Hydra
Not much to say here. Usually, I go to close range, run around her or whirling-blade through her.
Chimera
Multiple totems are very useful here, to kill mobs as soon as they exit their cage. You can go at the center of arena and raise three totems around you while you attack all around.
Phoenix
Dodge his big explosions. Run away and while he concentrates, kill the small phoenixes.
When he cyclones towards you, dodge sideways and start BF-ing while he finishes his movement.
Use WB to move through him and attack with BF while he turns around.
Shaper
This build was designed to assasinate the Shaper.
* His attacks are very telegraphed. He even announces them with catchphrases : for instance, he says : « Gaze into the abyss » before his beam. Because when you are the master of the Atlas of Worlds, you might as well quote Nietzsche when you launch a kamehameha ! He channels his beam for 3 sec so that's when you want to go full BF.
* Learn the rhythm of his warp and slam (« Behold my misery »). He warps for one second and a half, then reappears where you are. Move at this moment.
* Use multiple totems to kill the mobs during the portal phase (« The power from the void »), while you explode the cold balls at the edges of the arena.
* Be cautious at the end of his purple rain (« Ultimate chaos ») when you exit Zana's bubble, the remaining projectiles can still kill you.
* The third phase is harder, because of the clone. But it's just a hint to how difficult Uber Elder fight will be.
Uber Elder
"Even as we rise, the shadows of failure continues to haunt us"
Izaro
* In this fight, your main enemy is the Shaper. Elder is more of a nuisance. So this fight should be called the Uber Shaper, as the latter is still the most dangerous antagonist.
* This fight is really hard for any melee build. You will have to learn it the hard way. I have failed maybe 10 times before my first victory.
* Stats and stuff :
- 5500k life, bare minimum
* You must do two things at the same time : attacking one boss while keeping an eye on the other, and on the squids... When you attack, consider you have less than 2 sec before being hit by an icy projectile.
* In this fight, what has saved my life more often that not is counter-intuitive : slow down. For instance, do not use Whirling Blades too much. Most of the time, just walk to dodge : that is why I prefer my 30% movespeed boots to the Kaom's Roots. When Elder is siphoning and slows you down, do not panick : just walk. Use WB only for emergency, otherwise you won't control your char and get killed by any projectile.
We can reach very high DPS, so don't hurry. Take your time to explode the cold balls on the edge of the arena. Same for big squids. Otherwise, the ground with be splattered with cold and phys DoT, which makes the end of the fight a nightmare.
* Getting stuck in a corner of the map is guaranteed death within seconds. You must remain in control of your freedom of movement. That is why you need to stay around the center most of the time, and so you need to keep the map clean.
* Try to move in circles in the upper side of the map. During portal phases, use your multiple totems + Vaal Warchief. Same during Elder invuln phase : use your totems, run around to avoid his icy proj.
* Now, clench your teeth and blast those bastards. I am myself a decent player but certainly not a virtuoso. But I am stubborn. That is the way of Wraeclast, I guess :
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome, always.
Delve bosses
- Kurgal, the Blackblooded : His green beam does high physical degen. In the second phase, watch out for his deadly lasers. Use the totems all the time while you dodge and also during the mob phase.
- Ahuatotli, the Blind : When he launches his deadly blood attacks, run behind a pyramid on the corner.
- Aul, the Crystal King : Probably the most difficult boss of the game. He has a ton of HP and hits like a truck.
* Learning the shield charge phase is the most difficult part. If a clone hits one of the cocoon, then Aul will unleash is cold beam phase, which is very hard to survive. So you want to attract the clones between the cocoons and then avoid to walk on the cold degen ground they leave.
* If you have the deadly "100% inc AoE" mod, then you must be ready to sacrifice at least one quarter of the arena.
Conquerors
- Drox : Just be sure to destroy his banners and watch out for his big fist of Justice.
- Al-Hezmin : Shakari Pantheon for poison immunity. Do not walk into the pool at the center while it's filled (chaos degen).
- Veritania : Nothing special to say here, her attacks are well telegraphed.
- Baran : Take your time to find a good spot between his debuff runes and burst him.
Sirus
* /!\ A corrupted jewel with "Corrupted blood cannot be inflicted on you" is mandatory to (have a chance to) survive his beam.
* First three phases are easy. Dodge when he shouts "Die !" and watch out his projection, which launches meteors.
* Whirling Blades through him to espace his corridor.
* To escape his maze, look for the flares that indicate the way. Just like emergency exits on a plane !
* Take your time to dodge his attacks between phases. Then, walk under his throne to begin a new phase.
* In the 4th phase, the most important thing is to never lose sight of him. Quickly spot him among his clones.
"I somehow picked this one, and no regret at all! Great build overall im having a great time!"
"To hell these meta archers\necros\miners. The melee is where the real fun and action you kind find. For a casual player with work\family the details provided in your guide are super important as they save me time for researching. Thank you very much man ^__^"
"I am new to the game and your build has helped me so much with learning the game."
"This guide just keeps on delivering."
" The impaler, poison, evasion, elusive, shadow cat blade flurry is the best of the assassins in the creed. Altair would be proud."
"Hello, just wanted to thank you for this guide, it is really complete. I started the league with this and it's a lot of fun."
"Thank you very much for this guide. This is my first playing and it really saved me."
"Its my first time using someone's build (im kinda new to poe)
and it is very well written and really nice that you update the build regularly. so even a noob like myself understands it."
"LvL80 able to clear tier 11 maps. best build i played."
"Big fan of this build.lots of strategies to employ during combat."
"It may or may not be a 'top tier meta' build, but it has made me enjoy playing my first league of POE immensely. It feels very much much like an Assassin, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Hey man! I just started this game around a month ago, and I've been hooked ever since. Your blade flurry assassin build is actually what made me enjoy this game so much."
"I'm really enjoying this build in 3.8. The added phasing and elusiveness makes for a great playstyle"
"It is tons of fun and one of the few builds I have played that feels like the theme it matches."
"Awesome build my guy, I love the layered mechanics."
"Looks great and investments required not so bad as for usual OP builds."
*
Well, i guess that's it :) I recommend this build if you need a good rush of adrenaline !
If you have any question or criticism, feel free to ask. Thx to all those who asked me questions and helped me improve this build.
In 3.10, I killed it faster and gave it a farewell, thinking it would be the last time.
But then, endgame bosses had their life quadrupled. So in 3.12, to celebrate the two years of the build, I made a requiem for the Uber Elder, thinking that I would bury them for good.
And now, on top of it all, the fight can be witnessed by the Maven...
So when my YT channel hit 100 subscribers a few days ago, I thought : ok, to celebrate this, I'm gonna do it for the very last time. (Well, until they buff it again probably...)
So here it is, Exiles, the Uber Elder witnessed by the Maven and in fact, twinned by the Maven !
Hey! Happy birthday (tarde pero seguro)! It's been a long time since I played this build and a lot of things have changed. May you take a look at my char and give me some advice? I come back to chase level 98 again.
Hey! Happy birthday (tarde pero seguro)! It's been a long time since I played this build and a lot of things have changed. May you take a look at my char and give me some advice? I come back to chase level 98 again.
Hey, thank you ! :) Gracias ;)
Now, I advice to use Steelskin rather than Immortal Call. IC is good if you have Endurance Charges. Otherwise, Steelskin is probably better.
Get Overwhelming Malice on a medium cluster jewel, replace the Sin's Rebirth with an anti-curse flask.
To minmax, you can get an Enchantment for the belt now. See Dedication to the Goddess (Uber Lab level 83).
Alternate quality gems
You can use an Anomalous Ancestral Protector : 40% inc placement speed.
Anomalous Herald of Ice (10% inc AoE) or Divergent (+10% chance to freeze)
Replace the Fortify support of the totem with Vaal Ancestral Warchief.
I have never gone beyond 96. Good luck for level 98 !
Rahsaan's Workshop, a post to showcase a dozen of my home-made builds : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3432443
#9 : Mission - Most Likely - Impossible. Buying the Loath Bane ambusher, tanking the Shaper's slam, fighting Uber Atziri and Cortex (both with Maven), then the Feared invitation.
#8 : Arakaali's Shadow. A variation of the build in league, using several "toxic" minions to clear encounters.
I have created the build I wanted to play with my favorite Ascendancy and my favorite skill. It's not meta, but it's fast, fun and versatile. Since december 2018, I have done every content with it.
The name of the build comes from two gems :
- Blade Flurry, our main skill
- Nightblade support, which is tailored-made for Assassins.
I want to pay tribute to Mathil for his old BF Assassin. It has been outdated since 3.5, but it was the basis for this build.
* Blade Flurry Assassin
* Dagger / Claw / Shield
* Physical and chaos damages
* Max Dodge with Elusive
* High movement speed
CONS
- Not a 1-click-AFK build : we use several skills and buffs
- Clearspeed is nice but not super-fast.
- Becomes expensive for ultra-endgame (100ex and more). But still an off-meta build, so not that expensive.
- It's melee, so you'll die.
PROS
- It's melee, so you'll have fun !
- Boss killer
- All contents viable
- Beginner friendly | Can be done on a budget
* I began this guide in 3.5 and called it Old & New School BF Assassin.
* In 3.7, with the rework to melee, my dream of a phys/chaos dual-dagger Assassin became a reality. I made an Impale version.
* In 3.8, the Assassin became a true shadow killer thanks to the Elusive buff. I devised the Invisible version. I changed the name to : The Nightblade Flurry Assassin.
* In 3.9, I made a tankier version with Mind Over Matter and shortened the name to : The Nightblade Assassin.
* In 3.10, I've added the cluster jewels and tested the Perfidy chest.
* In 3.11, I've tested a new Keystone, The Traitor, and beat Sirus A8 thanks to it.
I've gone SSF in Harvest, with dual claws and a new setup : General's Cry + BF.
Ddevised a Scion variant of the build, with Paradoxica and Saviour swords.
* In 3.12, I'm shortening again the name of the build : The Nightblade.
In league, adding Frost Shield and Corrupted Soul for a solid layer of defense.
In Standard, Chainbreaker keystone with a Lethal Pride/Akoya timeless jewel, for max Rage and Berserk.
* In 3.13 Ritual, I devised a variant with Arakaali dagger and Yriel's Fostering body.
* In 3.14, Chainbreaker becomes unusable.
1- Get the Wanderlust unique shoes, for the +20% movement speed and freeze immunity : Wanderlust
* Or craft magic boots with movement speed. Go to a vendor in town and sell them : normal boots + an orb of augmentation + a quicksilver flask.
You'll get +10% movement speed on the boots.
Repeat and you'll get another +5%, up to +30% movespeed. /!\ Each time, it raises the level requirement of the boots.
2- Get a Quicksilver flask. Get it in act 1 as a reward from Bestel after retrieving the Medicine Chest.
3- Get one or two rings/amulet with mana regen.
4- Craft two daggers with increased damages :
1 dagger + 1 blue Rustic Stash belt + 1 Blacksmith Whetstone.
* Here is a simulation at level 28, when you get Blade Flurry : https://pastebin.com/YnXgAK9J
> I've put only unique items for suggestions. Replace those you want with magic/rares.
More details in the next section, "Levelling".
I always run out of mana, what can I do ?
Get :
- "#% phys dmg leeched as mana" affix somewhere on your stuff. 0.4% should be enough.
or
- "-x total mana cost of skills" on ring or amulet.
- x% reduced mana cost of skills" on a jewel
or
- Mind Drinker on the tree. Whenever you can, unallocate those two nodes.
Uniques : Wurm's Molt belt and Slitherpinch gloves are dirt cheap (1 alch), Praxis ring is 1c.
Should I get a Tabula Rasa ?
Many players will farm Blood Aqueduct in act 9 to get a stack of 9 Humility divination cards and then trade it to Navali to get the Tabula.
I think it slows your progression.
Better continue into the acts, accumulate currencies, and then buy a cheap rare 6-link chest. Many people sell corrupted ones for slightly more chaos. Get one with the right colors, some life and res.
If you drop a Tabula, sell it to a vendor for a divine orb, then add some chaos to buy a rare chest.
I want to make money !
I can advise you to not waste your time picking up rare items.
Just pick up 1-square items. Currencies, maps, frags, essences etc. Nothing to ID, nothing to vendor. Grab everything you walk on and then drop it into your stashes.
When you have 100+ alterations/jewellers/scour/chrom/fus etc. go sell in bulk them via the online trade and make some chaos.
I want to level fast !
Don't try to full clear the maps, it's useless. Go only to the points of interests : Essences, Breach, Abyss, Cassia, Ritual etc.
When you are in levels 75+, you can do Xoph's Breachstones. They are fairly easy and cheap.
I was able to go from level 78 to 79 with only 2 Xoph. 50% XP each !
In level 84, they still give 13% XP.
Interrogating Syndicate members, whatever you choose (kill, bargain etc.) also gives lots of XP + raid the hideouts. Do the Mastermind mission (200% inc XP) but do not go to the boss.
To level past level 90 :
- Delving at depth ~200.
- T15 Beachhead : safe and slow.
- T13+ Coward's Trial : fast and fun, more expensive.
- T14+ Poorjoy Asylum : fast but dangerous.
- Harbinger Reinforcements with 4 nodes in Valdo's Rest tree : just go kill the Harbingers and get out.
FAQ
I die too much. What can I do ?
Survivability check-list :
- 5k life for endgame, bare minimum.
- All elem res capped at 75%.
- Low positive chaos res.
- CwDT level 20 + Immortal Call
- A Panicked life flask : « Instant recovery when on low life »
- Flesh & Stone / Sand Stance
Which unique daggers for levelling ?
Widowmaker for the 10 acts
To begin Atlas : Bino's Kitchen, Goblinedge, Sanguine Gambol, Taproot.
How do you deal damage with poison ?
Actually, this build does not use poison for dmg.
Poison is used to get several bonuses from the Ascendancy nodes. See Offense section for more details.
Why do you keep Precision on level 1 ?
The more you raise the level of the gem, the more it reserves mana. So you can level it as much you want, to help you get 100% hit chance, and some more critical strike chance.
Why this low-level CwDT + Cold Snap ?
So that Cold Snap procs on every pack and chill them. Also gives chance to get Frenzy charges. A small but nice layer of defense.
Should I always use the Shaper's gloves ?
Use them if you have at least 350 or (better) 400 DEX.
Otherwise, Tombfist are also good, or rare Spiked gloves.
I don't like MoM. Must I really use it ?
No, it's just more survivability at the cost of less DPS.
Are the cluster jewels worth it ?
Yes, one large + one medium are definitely worth it.
See Endgame section for more details about cluster notables.
Can I use another main skill ?
Yes, Cyclone with the exact same setup. Double Strike is also good.
Can I use a shield ?
Yes, you can.
Best unique : Unshattered Will
A rare with tons of life, elem and chaos res.
Can I use claws ?
Yes, that should be less DPS and more survivability.
Take the big claw wheel with 3 notables + Claws of the Pride.
I've gone dual-claws in Harvest SSF.
Playstyle
A mini-guide to Blade Flurry
I remember back in november 2016 when they announced 2.4, this new skill, Blade Flurry (BF). On the moment I saw it, I knew that was the perfect skill I was waiting for. Fast, deadly, some AoE, increasing dmg while channelling. And the green waves when you release at max stage are so satisfying amazing.
It has remained my #1 skill ever since.
BF gives you +20% more dmg for each stage, with a total of +100% more when you reach 6th stage, basically doubling your DPS. Then, some more when you release the wave. That's where all the juice is.
Learn the perfect channelling, by releasing when the green circle pop, and then start back to stage 1 immediately. As it depends of your APS (attack per second), you gotta get used to it. Reaching 6th stage can take somewhere between 2sec and 0,5sec.
E.g., if you have 6 APS, it takes exactly 1 sec to reach max stage.
In maps :
Pop Withering Steps, run near the enemies to wither them, then BF. With Whirling Blades, you can jump behind them, or right in the middle of them and blast with Blade Flurry. Channel till release then jump to dodge and attack again. Surprise them with impredictable moves. WB is very fast and allows for quick change in your battle tactics.
* Use Phase Run for extra 30% phys dmg : channel to 6th stage, Phase Run, release BF.
You can go Whirling > Flurry : Dash then blast.
Or you can go Flurry > Whirling : Channel and escape to release. Useful when those big Goatmen from Chimera will jump on you.
Offense
CRITICAL STRIKES
Daggers have critical chance as implicits. We get nodes on the tree and the Elusive buff for crit chance and crit multi.
COLD DAMAGE
It's a good idea to get some cold dmg somewhere on the rings or amulet. As we often crit, we will be able to freeze most mobs. Looking at you, Porcupines !
If we freeze them, they will shatter = won't explode with their spines on death.
DEXTERITY STACKING
We can use Shaper's Touch gloves and then stack Dexterity.
Because more Dexterity now means : more Accuracy, more Evasion + more DPS and more life !
For endgame, you can further increase the DEX stacking with a Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel on your tree >See Endgame section below.
POISON
Poison deals almost 0 damage with this build, but with Noxious Strike on the Ascendancy, it gives us life regen and allows us to use the powerful Vile Toxins support.
Chances to poison
On the Ascendancy, Noxious Strike : 40% chance to poison on any hit.
On the tree, two small nodes "Dagger dmg and Poison chance" : 2*10% chance to poison on hit with attacks.
So, on any attack hit, we got 60% chance to poison.
With Adder's Touch : 40% chance to poison with crits.
So, on crit we have 60+40 = 100% chance to poison.
> A non-crit has 60% chance to poison.
> A crit will always poison.
> For full calculations, go to PoB, "Calcs" and see "Chance to Poison".
This is why the Diamond flask is so good, as it greatly increases our chance to crit and poison.
> With Vile Toxins support, we get up to 45% more dmg when there are 9 poisons on an enemy.
Defences
In this game, getting DPS is fairly easy, while getting good defences is hard.
We use a combination of effects and buffs that synergize.
/!\ Here, you have to make choices. You can't get all these layers of defense.
LEECH
We easily cap Life leech at 20% of max life with Blood Drinker : 0,4% of atk dmg leeched as life.
For mana leech, you can get the Mind Drinker notable on the tree : 0.4% of attack damage leeched as mana. But it's best to get this same mod on some piece of equipment.
STUN
Any damage can stun the enemy, provided it removes at least 10% of his life per hit -see Stun. "Dealing at least 50% of maximum life will always stun."
As we deal huge physical damage, we stun small mobs all the time, and even rares. Physical damage has stun bonuses over other damages, making it even easier.
If you want to check how often you stun, you can set Endurance charge on melee stun support in your BF setup, and you'll see that you gain Endurance charges all the time.
> Additionnally, by using the Ryslatha's coil belt, we get a lot more phys dmg and we gain life each time we stun.
EVADE
It's easy to stack a lot of Dexterity on the stuff and the skill tree to improve our chances to evade attacks.
We can use the Dread Banner, which reserves only a small portion of mana (10%). With this banner, enemies nearby have up to 21% less acccuracy rating, which is huge, and is cumulative with the blind penalty.
You can blind enemies with Flesh & Stone / Sand Stance. This will drastically reduce their chances to hit you with attacks.
DODGE
Dodge may seem similar to Evade, but they are actually two separated mechanisms, like Armour and Energy shield.
We get attack Dodge chance on the skill tree with the Acrobatics Keystone.
Evasion is calculated before Dodge. So if the first fails, the second one is rolled -See Receiving damage.
I strongly advice to get Acro + Phase Acro. With the Elusive buff, you'll easily get 75% chance to dodge attacks and 70% to dodge spells, which are awesome layers of defense.
Technical explanations
Dodge is rolled for each hit you take -See Dodge. For instance, if you have 30% Dodge chance, on average you will dodge one hit out of three. If you have luck, you might dodge 3 hits in a row, but if not, you might miss 4 in a row. This is like rolling a dice, hoping to roll 5 or 6.
On the other hand, Evasion gives you a flat chance to evade -See Evasion. For each fight, the game will set a random order of miss and hit. And this sequence will be refreshed every few seconds.
For instance, say you have 25% chance to evade attacks. Then, the RNG may roll HIT – EVADE – HIT – HIT. Then for some seconds, you will always evade the second hit amongst a series of four, and always be hit by the other three.
Then, the RNG will be rolled again, and you may get EHHH, or HHEH etc.
Dodge and Evade chances are capped at 95%.
"Assuming a character has a 40% chance to evade and a 20% chance to dodge, a character has a 52% chance to prevent receiving a hit."
ELUSIVE
This buff is specially designed for the Assassin and we can improve it a lot.
Elusive grants 30% inc movespeed and 15% dodge chance against spells and attacks. This buff decays over time, until its values reaches 0.
With the Ascendancy, we get :
* Elusive on crit
* 50% buff effect.
* Another 48% inc effect with the Anomalous Nightblade support.
* With Withering Steps (WS) movement skill, we refresh the buff, then lose it and get it again on the first crit.
Elusive granted by WS has 48% inc effect.
* 45% inc effect from No Witnesses cluster on the tree.
Total :
* 143% inc effect = +73% movespeed and 36% dodge.
* 188% with Withering Steps = 86% movespeed and 43% dodge
REDUCED / LESS DAMAGE TAKEN
This mechanics is mostly useful for endgame.
In endgame, even if you have 6k life or more, you are still a glasscannon. Evasion cannot save us all the time, nor Dodge.
So we try to lower the damages we take = those that remain after all other sources of mitigation have been calculated. This is the real amount of damage withdrawn from our life pool -see Damage taken.
Ideally, if we'd get 100% reduced dmg taken, we would be invincible. But that's barely possible, or you have to sacrifice all your DPS -see this video for instance.
Fun for a YT video, but not realistic to play.
The main point is that nothing can reduce this reduction, e.g. you have no map mods that reduces damage taken.
* On the Ascendancy, with Mistwalker, no extra dmg taken from crit !
With Opportunistic : 20% reduced dmg taken when there 2+ rare enemies nearby.
* With Fortify support on the BF setup, we have 20% less dmg taken from hits (meaning : not DoT). So for 100 dmg dealt by the enemy, we take only 80.
* With the Infused Channelling support, we take 8% less physical damage from hits while channelling.
(* If we use the Unshattered Will shield, the Harbinger will give a bonus every 8sec for 4sec : immune to stun and elemental ailment and 20% less dmg taken from hits and DoT : a more powerful Fortify buff, half of the time.)
MIND OVER MATTER
MoM can give you a lot of tankiness.
But you need to reserve much less mana.
- Look for the mod "% of dmg taken gained as mana over 4 sec". You can get it on the skill tree with Battle Rouse notable. You can get it on rings, or with a Watcher's Eye / Clarity.
- CwDT level 1 + Cold Snap.
Cold Snap will chill enemies and can give you Frenzy charges when enemies die in the area.
- Clarity level 1
If you use MoM. Try to get the "% of dmg taken gained as mana over 4 sec" mod on your stuff or on a Watcher's Eye.
- Other buffs : Blood Rage, Plague Bearer, Ice Golem... /!\ If you use Blood Rage, put it in a weapon and have a weapon swap. This way, if your HP get very low, you can swap quickly to stop the degen effect.
Tips :
* Quickly put 20%q on your Infused Channelling gem, to get the Infusion buff faster (0.6 sec)
* BF 21/23 and Fortify 21/20 are best for DPS
* No quality needed for Blood Rage and all auras gems
* Level up Precision as you see fit. If you go MoM, level it up until you have 90 mana left unreserved. Ice Golem requires at least 70 mana to summon.
Thx to Red7Official for these tips.
Gearing
There are 3 unique items that really make the build shine :
1) Starkonja Helmet
2) Shaper's Touch gloves
3) Ryslatha's Coil belt
- Weapon : For the daggers, you want : inc phys dmg | adds phys dmg | attack speed 1.7+ | crit chance / crit multi | phys as extra chaos
- Shield : Life, elem resis, attributes, ailment avoir chance, stun avoid chance + inc global phys dmg.
A shield makes the build much less expensive but we lose DPS.
A very good unique : The Unshattered Will. It has all we need : life, elem res, inc channelling skill dmg and the Harbinger of Focus : stun and ailment immunities for 4sec every 8sec.
- Body Armour : The BiS unique is a Loreweave with 78% all max res (Legacy version : up to 80%).
- Belly of the Beast : lot more life.
- Carcass Jack : more AoE and AoE dmg + life, elem res
* More expensive : a rare body armour with :
* +max life and +% max life
* socketed attacks have -15 to total mana cost
10ex and more
* One with "10% chance to gain a frenzy charge on hit". Comes from Synthetised items or items with Redeemer's influence. Guarantees 100% max frenzy charges all the time.
* A chest with "Killed enemies explode, dealing 3% of their life as phys dmg". BiS for farming. Can actually turn Blade Flurry into a very capable farming skill.
- Helmet : Starkonja with "40% inc BF dmg" enchant is BIS. Life, DEX, crit chance, Evasion, attack speed, are all what we need.
- Gloves : Shaper's Touch are BiS for this build. Enchantment and corruption are optional and you don't even need a good roll.
Other choices : Tombfist (second best choice), Asenath Gentle Touch (amazing as it curses and make mobs explode, but very expensive).
- Boots : Atziri's Steps for life, spell dodge, lot of EVA +30% movespeed.
Replica Three-Step-Assault have life, DEX and Elusive effect.
Any rare with life and the elem res. You can also look for : chance to avoid stun, atk or spell dodge, 35% movespeed...
Also look for "Tailwind if crit recently" mod = 10% more dps
- Amulet : Life, res, crit multi, added phys dmg, gain phys as extra cold...
- For mid-game, Hyrri's Truth.
- An Aul's Uprising with no mana Hatred.
- A physical Impresence with no mana Vulnerability. 1ex
- Rings : Life, phys dmg, crit, DEX, elem resis, gain phys as extra cold...
Useful mods : Warlord's Mark on hit, Aspect of the Cat / Aspect of the Spider.
- Belt : Best in Slot is Ryslatha's Coil.
Life, life gain on stun and 10-20% more phys dmg.
- Jewels : Murderous Eye Jewels, Crimson or Viridian Jewels.
Mods :
- Crit multi
- Attack speed
- Phys dmg = phys dmg with 1h-weapons / daggers, aoe dmg etc.
For crit and APS, look for : while dual-wielding / with one-handed weapons / with daggers / if you've killed recently + life, res, attributes...
Watcher's Eye
* A Clarity mod to improve mana regen for Mind Over Matter, if you use it. Best one is "15% of dmg taken gained as mana over 4sec".
* A Pride mod with Intimidate on Hit.
* Ascendancy
1 - Mistwalker, for the increased Elusive buff.
2 - Ambush and Assassinate for more dmg.
3 - Opportunistic, for more dmg against enemies on full life or low life
4 - Noxious Strike, for life recovery with poison
* Bandits : Alira. Crit multi, mana regen and elem res.
* Pantheon : Arakaali and Tukohama.
* Enchantments :
- Helmet : 40% increased Blade Flurry Damage.
- Gloves : Commandment of Blades. Throws some daggers, helps to clear.
- Boots : 16% attack and cast speed if you've killed recently OR Regenerate 2% life and mana per second if you've been hit recently.
Crafting
Daggers
- Buy a level 83+ Ambusher : 1.5 base aps.
/!\ Imperial Skean also have 1.5 aps but they are now considered Rune Daggers, meaning they can roll caster mods. We don't want that.
- Scour + 20%q.
Then, you have two options : hideout bench or fossils
* with bench
- Spam alteration orbs to get the flaring mod = added phys dmg
- Regal orb
- Annul to leave only attack speed and phys dmg
- Multi mod. Crafting the mods costs 7ex, but it’s deterministic.
- Perfect fossil for >20%q. I settled for 23%.
- Optionnally, Encrusted fossil to get white sockets. I didn't use it.
- Shuddering for speed + Serrated for attack mods + Sanctified for higher rolls.
- You can add Aberrant : more chaos, no lightning, to try and get "phys as extra chaos". But then you need a Primal Resonator (4 sockets), which is more expensive.
Body armour.
Buy a 6-link EVA-based one, with high item level (82+).
- 20%q with Armourer Scraps,
- Perfect Fossil to improve quality. Got 29% and decided to settle for it.
- Encrusted Fossils to get white sockets. Or use Vorici's bench in Research hideout.
- Scour
- Pristine for life mods + a Serrated in the hope of getting "socketed attacks have -15 to total mana cost" + Sanctified to get higher values
Then you pray for RNGesus (there's no other god left in Wraeclast).
Delve
Delving is a great way to test the limits of your build in the hardest possible conditions.
When you've done some multi-modded 550+ delves, Beyond T15-16 maps will feel much easier !
Enemies you must spot :
- Screamers with their lightning sonic wave. Can kill you in <2 sec.
- Blue felines and their exploding blue aura.
- Zombies that spread caustic ground on death. Because of them, very deep delvers (1000+) go CI, as it's otherwise impossible to survive the chaos degen.
- Areas like Haunted remains nodes have those small grey ghosts (like mini-Shapers) that can insta-kill you with phys dmg.
How deep can we go ?
Greatly depends of your knowledge of the Mine and your stuff.
I think 300 is easily doable. 400 is still possible.
Things can become very hard past 500.
Going past 600 was a nightmare. And my absolute best is... 700.
Endgame
Advanced options from the past leagues. This is for seasoned players.
Timeless jewels :
- Brutal Restraint to juice up the nodes nearby.
Adds DEX on every small node and mods on the notables, like : life, gain 5% phys as cold, crit chances, poison dmg...
You can socket the jewel in the Shadows or Ranger socket, where there are plenty of notables available. .
- More offensive : Lethal Pride of Akoya, to get the Chainbreaker keystone : mana regen instead generates Rage ! I have put it in the Duelist socket to modify the Iron Grip keystone.
- More defensive : Glorious Vanity of Doryani to get the Corrupted Soul keystone : 20% life as extra ES. This will allow you to sustain the Frost Shield.
Put it near Point Blank keystone so as not to break your tree, as the mods given are very random and seldom useful for us.
3.8 : ANOINTMENTS
Amulet
Ambidexterity is a solid choice : Amber - Azure - Black
You can't go wrong with it.
Best DPS comes from Nightstalker or Panopticon (with totems placed).
Other choices include : a fat life node, Weathered Hunter, Holy Dominion, Hematophagy, Aspect of Stone, Soul of Steel...
Rings
Amber + Amber on each ring, for 2*25% inc Scout Tower dmg. The easiest and most balanced choice.
Pop a Scout Tower near the pump, then a Stun level 3 as a support, then a green one tier 3.
Map anointing
- For beginners : 3 amber for 60% reduced costs of towers. You'll build a lot of towers even before the encounter begins.
- For maximum loot, 3 Teal or 3 Crimson, depending on your budget, to get lucky chests = content of the chest is rolled twice and the best is kept. This number of lucky chests is increased by the Awakening bonus !
3.9 : CATALYSTS
- Abrasive on the Ryslatha's belt
- Prismatic on a ring with lots of elem res.
- Turbulent on an amulet with phys as extra lightning/cold
3.10 : CLUSTER JEWELS
A selection of notables with the best ones.
Large cluster with 2 jewel sockets : Dagger or Dual-Wielding. 8pts.
- Drive the Destruction (20% faster life leech)
- Feed the Fury
- Fuel the Fight (for mana leech)
- Hit & Run
- Martial Prowess
- Wind-Up (Dagger only)
Medium cluster with 1 jewel socket : Channelling or Crit Chance. 5pts is ok, since it's cheaper than a 4pts and you won't have to allocate the fifth point.
- Overwhelming Malice for Unholy Might
- Precise Focus
- Rapid Infusion
- Unwavering Focus
Small cluster : Life. 2 or 3 pts.
- Fettle
- Peace Amidst Chaos
- Enduring Composure : Endurance Charges when hit. Now the Juggernaut is jealous !
3.11 : ENRICHED UBER LAB level 83
With a Dedication to the Goddess, you can access the Eternal Labyrinth of Potential, where the font can give various enchantments for the belt.
The best one for us is : "20% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments while you have Elusive".
These ones are also good :
* 30% reduced Effect of Curses on you while on Consecrated Ground
* +300 to Evasion Rating while you have Phasing
* Enemies Withered by you have -6% to all Resistances
Ancestral Protector and Warchief : (A) 40% inc Placement speed
Blade Flurry : (A) Final Flurry has 20% inc AoE
Blood Rage : (A) 2% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge when you Hit a Unique Enemy
Ice Golem : (A) 20% inc effect
Withering Step : (D) 20% chance to not remove Buff
Supports
Nightblade : (A) 20% inc Effect of Elusive = +3% atk and spell dodge.
Vile Toxins : (A) 10% inc Poison Duration. Useful to better stack them.
Boss fights
Malachai, The Nightmare
He can kill you instantly when he reappears from underground.
Watch your steps : the red spots on the grounds are often deadly.
Atziri/Uber Atziri
Vessels of the Vaal : go to the left one and stay near it while it activates. There is a delay before the second one activates, which will allow you to kill the first one before.
The Trio
Always kill the girl first : she launches a physical rain that can insta-kill you. Pop an anti-bleed flask and kill the two others.
Atziri
She reflects 2% of any damage dealt to her. So, to avoid killing yourself, use Sibyl's lament ring on right slot (-40% of reflected phys dmg taken) and Yugul's Pantheon (-25%). Then you should be ok with reflects. On the tree, Master of Force notable also gives -20%.
Avoid cursing her, because she reflects curses.
For the clone phase, quickly spot the one with the mirror while it appears, and attack any other three. Never attack the mirror clone, as it reflects 100% of dmg.
Minotaur
Use large AoE to channel BF while standing at the limit of his ground circle.
Take care when he dives like a mole and watch his trails while he moves underground : he targets you at the moment of diving. So he will reappear at that spot.
Blind him (Sand Stance or Stibnite flask).
Hydra
Not much to say here. Usually, I go to close range, run around her or whirling-blade through her.
Chimera
Multiple totems are very useful here, to kill mobs as soon as they exit their cage. You can go at the center of arena and raise three totems around you while you attack all around.
Phoenix
Dodge his big explosions. Run away and while he concentrates, kill the small phoenixes.
When he cyclones towards you, dodge sideways and start BF-ing while he finishes his movement.
Use WB to move through him and attack with BF while he turns around.
Shaper
This build was designed to assasinate the Shaper.
* His attacks are very telegraphed. He even announces them with catchphrases : for instance, he says : « Gaze into the abyss » before his beam. Because when you are the master of the Atlas of Worlds, you might as well quote Nietzsche when you launch a kamehameha ! He channels his beam for 3 sec so that's when you want to go full BF.
* Learn the rhythm of his warp and slam (« Behold my misery »). He warps for one second and a half, then reappears where you are. Move at this moment.
* Use multiple totems to kill the mobs during the portal phase (« The power from the void »), while you explode the cold balls at the edges of the arena.
* Be cautious at the end of his purple rain (« Ultimate chaos ») when you exit Zana's bubble, the remaining projectiles can still kill you.
* The third phase is harder, because of the clone. But it's just a hint to how difficult Uber Elder fight will be.
Uber Elder
"Even as we rise, the shadows of failure continues to haunt us"
Izaro
* In this fight, your main enemy is the Shaper. Elder is more of a nuisance. So this fight should be called the Uber Shaper, as the latter is still the most dangerous antagonist.
* This fight is really hard for any melee build. You will have to learn it the hard way. I have failed maybe 10 times before my first victory.
* Stats and stuff :
- 5500k life, bare minimum
* You must do two things at the same time : attacking one boss while keeping an eye on the other, and on the squids... When you attack, consider you have less than 2 sec before being hit by an icy projectile.
* In this fight, what has saved my life more often that not is counter-intuitive : slow down. For instance, do not use Whirling Blades too much. Most of the time, just walk to dodge : that is why I prefer my 30% movespeed boots to the Kaom's Roots. When Elder is siphoning and slows you down, do not panick : just walk. Use WB only for emergency, otherwise you won't control your char and get killed by any projectile.
We can reach very high DPS, so don't hurry. Take your time to explode the cold balls on the edge of the arena. Same for big squids. Otherwise, the ground with be splattered with cold and phys DoT, which makes the end of the fight a nightmare.
* Getting stuck in a corner of the map is guaranteed death within seconds. You must remain in control of your freedom of movement. That is why you need to stay around the center most of the time, and so you need to keep the map clean.
* Try to move in circles in the upper side of the map. During portal phases, use your multiple totems + Vaal Warchief. Same during Elder invuln phase : use your totems, run around to avoid his icy proj.
* Now, clench your teeth and blast those bastards. I am myself a decent player but certainly not a virtuoso. But I am stubborn. That is the way of Wraeclast, I guess :
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome, always.
Delve bosses
- Kurgal, the Blackblooded : His green beam does high physical degen. In the second phase, watch out for his deadly lasers. Use the totems all the time while you dodge and also during the mob phase.
- Ahuatotli, the Blind : When he launches his deadly blood attacks, run behind a pyramid on the corner.
- Aul, the Crystal King : Probably the most difficult boss of the game. He has a ton of HP and hits like a truck.
* Learning the shield charge phase is the most difficult part. If a clone hits one of the cocoon, then Aul will unleash is cold beam phase, which is very hard to survive. So you want to attract the clones between the cocoons and then avoid to walk on the cold degen ground they leave.
* If you have the deadly "100% inc AoE" mod, then you must be ready to sacrifice at least one quarter of the arena.
Conquerors
- Drox : Just be sure to destroy his banners and watch out for his big fist of Justice.
- Al-Hezmin : Shakari Pantheon for poison immunity. Do not walk into the pool at the center while it's filled (chaos degen).
- Veritania : Nothing special to say here, her attacks are well telegraphed.
- Baran : Take your time to find a good spot between his debuff runes and burst him.
Sirus
* /!\ A corrupted jewel with "Corrupted blood cannot be inflicted on you" is mandatory to (have a chance to) survive his beam.
* First three phases are easy. Dodge when he shouts "Die !" and watch out his projection, which launches meteors.
* Whirling Blades through him to espace his corridor.
* To escape his maze, look for the flares that indicate the way. Just like emergency exits on a plane !
* Take your time to dodge his attacks between phases. Then, walk under his throne to begin a new phase.
* In the 4th phase, the most important thing is to never lose sight of him. Quickly spot him among his clones.
"I somehow picked this one, and no regret at all! Great build overall im having a great time!"
"To hell these meta archers\necros\miners. The melee is where the real fun and action you kind find. For a casual player with work\family the details provided in your guide are super important as they save me time for researching. Thank you very much man ^__^"
"I am new to the game and your build has helped me so much with learning the game."
"This guide just keeps on delivering."
" The impaler, poison, evasion, elusive, shadow cat blade flurry is the best of the assassins in the creed. Altair would be proud."
"Hello, just wanted to thank you for this guide, it is really complete. I started the league with this and it's a lot of fun."
"Thank you very much for this guide. This is my first playing and it really saved me."
"Its my first time using someone's build (im kinda new to poe)
and it is very well written and really nice that you update the build regularly. so even a noob like myself understands it."
"LvL80 able to clear tier 11 maps. best build i played."
"Big fan of this build.lots of strategies to employ during combat."
"It may or may not be a 'top tier meta' build, but it has made me enjoy playing my first league of POE immensely. It feels very much much like an Assassin, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Hey man! I just started this game around a month ago, and I've been hooked ever since. Your blade flurry assassin build is actually what made me enjoy this game so much."
"I'm really enjoying this build in 3.8. The added phasing and elusiveness makes for a great playstyle"
"It is tons of fun and one of the few builds I have played that feels like the theme it matches."
"Awesome build my guy, I love the layered mechanics."
"Looks great and investments required not so bad as for usual OP builds."
*
Well, i guess that's it :) I recommend this build if you need a good rush of adrenaline !
If you have any question or criticism, feel free to ask. Thx to all those who asked me questions and helped me improve this build.
I'm a late starter this league with the build (I have been busy with my Pestilent Viper before).
Here is my variant for this league :
PoB level 89 : https://pastebin.com/BzrzUzt4
My idea was to go full cold conversion to slow down enemies.
* So I've begun with Hatred, Frostbite + Herald of Ice.
* Hypothermia support for BF. On the paper, Hypothermia gives less DPS than Vile Toxins (39% against 45%), but it gives them on the first hit (well, the second one if you chill on the first), while you need 9 hits for Vile Toxins to deliver all its dmg. So overall, Hypothermia is as good, or even better.
* Cold Conduction medium cluster notable : enemies you chill are shocked = 15% more dmg.
* Level 1 CWDT + (Vaal) Cold Snap to chill and generate Frenzy charges.
* My good find so far is the Goblinedge dagger. I've recommended it briefly the other day, and it's actually better than I thought !
Each time you cull an enemy, you get +3sec to your power and frenzy charges duration. That's how I've finished Ultimatum encounters with more than 10 minutes of frenzy charges !
But it has a not-so-good synergy with the Power charge ascendancy, since you lose crit chance if you've gained a Power charge recently. So that's a drawback.
The 140 life on kill is also good. Usually, I don't rely much on life on kill (I always favor effects on hit), but it's useful this league, because we have to kill so many enemies !
Overall, I can recommend this dagger : it's dirt cheap (like 1 alch or less) and it's available from level 60. I'm still using it at level 89, going into red maps. I'll check what good corruption we could get for it.
* My other dagger is a classic rare one, with fast attacks and 380 phys DPS :
1ex iirc
Chilling and freezing is not enough to win the trials. We also need good AoE dmg for clear, which is the weak point of the build.
To make up for this, we can use :
* Vaal Ancestral Warchief, with a 4L all to himself, with Melee Phys, Added Cold and Culling Strike. Slam them to your heart content, Warchief !
* Rampage at every trial. We have several uniques to get the mechanics. I'm using the Sinvicta's Mettle in a weapon swap :
I have chosen to use Sweep on a 4L, with Accuracy, Multistrike, Fortify and Added Cold.
Who said an Assassin can't wield a 2H-axe like a true Berseker ??
--> Kill just one enemy, swap back to daggers and Rampage will proc on the 15th kill as usual.
* Last but not least, this league, we can't do without an explode chest when reaching red maps.
3ex
Videos coming soon !
Good luck and have fun :)
Rahsaan's Workshop, a post to showcase a dozen of my home-made builds : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3432443
