3.12 Spellslinger Fireball/Blazing Salvo Assassin/Scion. League Start Friendly balls of double fire

Sad Announcement:
After the unintentional nerfs to the build in 3.12 and 3.13, i will not continue updating it.
This still can be played under new inquisitor or go duo element for trinity.
Yet i am a bit discouraged by latest patches and need a bit cooldown to get back to this.

If you wish to do a guide inspired on this one, feel free to poke me and i will try to share all i know as good as i can.

If u have feedback or questions:

"
I stream on twitch 5 days a week: https://www.twitch.tv/trivial_matters/

Come and say hello! I even do live PoB analysis if u are not shy :D

If u can't catch me online, i have a discord server for my build/crafting help: https://discord.gg/UB5mucm

Alternatively u can post in this thread and wait for my response.

Pls do not pm me in-game or send forum messages. Both systems are very sub-optimal for a meaningful conversation.


Balls United: Fireball/B.Salvo Spellslinger Assassin/Scion !

Pros & Cons:
THIS SECTION WILL BE UPDATED ONCE I PLAYTEST THE NEW BUILD
+ Cheap and scalable, u can start slinging balls as early as level 24.
+ Starts with extremely good AoE out of the box.
+ Most content viable (for now, didn't want to say all content without having Vods)
+ Doesn't need uniques

- Your reservation and cooldown is level based, which can be problematic while levelling
- Gem Socket heavy (when levelling)
- Cannot use Salvo until high gem level (firestorm is better for levelling)

How this works:
Spoiler
Basically every attack releases up to 8 fireballs which travel more than one screen and gains area as it does. 16 new fireballs emerge and do the same thing. With awakened fork this repeats one more time.

Blazing Salvo or Firestorm will bring in extra dps vs bosses.

Scion is preferred due to easy access to life nodes and elemental immunity along with huge dmg. Assassin version will do more dmg, yet will lack defenses.


Part 1: League Start & Levelling

"
New Spellslinger Breakpoints:

Make sure you don't have too much attack speed, you can lose a lot of dps. If your wand has 1.5 attack speed, skip Wandslinger node until u get cooldown recovery!

How to avoid this:
Spoiler
Basically that list shows spellslingers cooldown at certain breakpoints and has an attack speed value to reach that cap. Lets say you have 0.5 sec cooldown (2 casts per sec). you want to have close to 0.5 attack time (2 attacks per sec). So if your atack time is 0.51-52 it will be very good (counting the frenzy charges)
However, if u have 0.49 ! U will attack and spellslinger will be on cd, which can make you lose half your dps.
Later on this is not a problem and you will even need to use faster attacks to reach the cap, but early on if u feel like u arent doing any dmg this might be there reason.

Videos:

first week budget gear, level 90, t15 map.
first week budget gear, level 90, t16 delirium portal
first week sirus 5 kill


Removed pre 3.12 videos to avoid confusion, u can still find them on my YT channel. here is pre-league guide: https://youtu.be/wzquCNHQhUQ

PoB and sample trees:
Spoiler

3.12 Scion Early Game: https://pastebin.com/ngKpFYXa
3.12 Skill Tree for Assassin: http://poeurl.com/c0Dd

Check gearing and gem sections for detailed info on how to proceed.


Necessary Skill Gems:
Spoiler

Note: These are only core gems. No awakened gems included.

Mapping Setup:
Scion and Assassin versions use same links unless specified.

5-6L Fireball: Fireball - Inspiration - Spellslinger -LMP - Fork/Controlled Destruction

Always use fork unless u have another source for it (like snakepit)

6th link will depend on mana reservation from your gear and chosen ascendancy:
Use Power Charge on crit if you are an assassin, its cheap and gives decent dmg.

Use Combustion for Scion, if u have enough mana reserve try controlled destruction.

4L BS: Blazing Salvo - Inspiration - Combustion - Spellslinger

2L Frenzy: Frenzy - Inspiration - Faster Attacks*

Faster attacks might be needed to get your attack speed in sync with Spellslinger Cooldown.

1L Herald of Ash

3L Weapon Trigger: Sniper's Mark - Wave of Conviction - Flame Wall


3-4L Cast when dmg taken: CWDT - Steelskin - Golem - (fire/chaos/stone/ice)

Use another golem if u are a scion

2L Flame Dash: Flame Dash + Arcane Surge (+ Second Wind if u can fit it)

For Heists: I advise having a unlinked Phase Run

Alternatively, u can remove Steelskin from CWDT and assign it to mouse left click to spam it on CD.

--------

Early setup:

4L Fireball : Fireball - Controlled Destruction - LMP - Spellslinger
3L Firestorm: Firestorm - Spellslinger - Elemental Focus
1L Frenzy
1L Herald of Ash


Start with 3-4L fireball + Herald of ash. Firestorm can be taken at level 28. Ass mana reserve gets lower, slowly add the links

Before Level 24:
Since GGG loves tweaking gems right before league start, you can just check what racers are using atm to start. Alternatively u can just level with anything u like, its only for 2 acts.


Gear:
Spoiler
For Leveling, a wand with added fire damage and a spell dmg base shield is enough to carry you until act 7-8.

Best upgrade will be an Essence of Horror Crafted Helm (hopefully with 30% spellslinger cooldown enchant). Followed by shaper body armor with 1.5 base spell crit.





Wand:
Spoiler
Wands have a couple mods that work for nicely.

Fire dmg to attacks or spells / %spell or %fire dmg / +fire or spell gem levels / crit multi are the best mods.

When comparing wands, i urge you to copy them to PoB to get a clear look.

Crafting:

Essence of Anger gives flat fire dmg, which is the best mod dps wise. A couple tries generally nets you a very decent starter wand.

Your wand MUST have a suffix slot open for crafting: Trigger Socketed Spells when you use a skill'

Average cost at day 6 Heist: Depends on how deep you want to go. You can get a decent one as low as 5c.


Shield:
Spoiler

Life + one of the following prefixes (%spell/fire dmg, fire dmg as chaos, fire gem levels). Suffixes are for resistances.

Crafting: Do not try to craft a budget one, just buy it.

Bench: Craft chance to deal double damage.

Average cost at day 6 Heist: 3-4c


Body:
Spoiler

Start with a corrupted 5L body armor with a lot of life.

Next upgrade should be a 5L shaper body armor with a lot of life (around 100) and 1.1-1.5 to spell critical strike chance mod.

You can craft this via alterations, or use fossils (aetheric + pristine)

Bench: %life and % mana

Average cost at day 6 Heist: 20c-1ex depending on the base.


Helm:
Spoiler
Enchant: Spellslinger has reduced cooldown recovery rate (20 or 30)

20% is enough for starting, roll life and res on the item. Merciless enchant is pretty much free.

This should be the first item to focus on, upgrade to a 30% cooldown enchant and use an essence of horror to get socketed gems deal 30% more ele. dmg mod.

Bench: +1 Level of AoE gems / 8-10 area of effect. (Or +Life if u dont have it and too squishy)

Average cost at day 6 Heist: 20% enchanted helm 1 alch, 30% is 5c, essence of horror is 10c.

Gloves:
Spoiler

A glove with temple mod 'adds fire damage vs ignited enemies' along with high life. This provides huge dps boos due to our damage effectiveness.

Bench: Craft Critical chance/elemental dmg if crit recently.

Average cost at day 6 Heist: 5c

Search link: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Heist/Y95g46cY



Belt:
Spoiler

Life and T1 cooldown recovery will be what you are looking for in the end. Until then use a belt with life and resistances.

Also you can find the 'adds fire dmg vs ignited enemies' mod on belts too.

Craft: %increased damage (t2 is 4c), or resists.

Average cost at day 6 Heist: Cooldown belt is around 70c, placeholder belts can be found for 1c



Boots:
Spoiler

This is same as belt but you also want movement speed.
Start with a generic move speed boot with life and resists.

Upgrade to a boot with 70+life, 25+ move speed and cooldown recovery mod

Craft: Life or move speed if u are missing them, otherwise resists.

Average cost at day 6 Heist: These boots can be found as cheap as 5c but a good one worth buying is around 60c.

Trade Link: (Make sure the item has a craft slot for the missing mod!)
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Heist/v0dj4DjuE


Amulet:
Spoiler

+1 fire or int gems until u can afford both, crit multi is always nice if u can find one.

Str/dex base will give your all missing stats. Rest is life and res.

Until then use an amulet from temple for fire damage leeched as life (1-2c)

Average cost at day 6 Heist: 40c

Craft: Situational; life,stats,resists,aoe are all cool.


Ring:
Spoiler

A herald of anguish ring with 'Herald of Ash reserves less mana' mod is very cheap and lets you get 6L + 4L with herald.

Effect of H.o.Ash is better than fire damage.

Mind that u can get up to 24 reservation via life/mana catalysts

Average cost at day 6 Heist: 30c

Snakepit is very good and lets you drop fork gem on fireball granting you a gem slot as well as less mana reservation (fork is 140%), yet it is expensive on first weeks of a league

Average cost at day 6 Heist: 3ex

Alternatively shaper rings with life gain on spell hit / Spell damage mods provide decent early game milage.

Otherwise any ring with resist/life and useful stuff is welcome


Clusters:
Spoiler

Most important is large cluster with doryani's lesson, which is our source of leech. This requires minimum ilvl of 68 and always buy one with 8 sockets.

Calamitious Visions is around 60 and gives 10% more dmg.

A 3 passive small life cluster with a few beneficial mods can be found as cheap as 3c.



Bandit: Alira

Panteons: I am using Lunaris/Tukohama, this is very minor and wont effect your game much.
Bench Crafting Service: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2515748

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/trivial_matters/
Last edited by Trivialmatters on Jan 14, 2021, 1:37:38 PM
Last bumped on Nov 14, 2020, 2:41:21 PM
Part 2: Lategame Fireballs

Scion Version:
Spoiler

POB and Explanations:

Endgame PoB Link level 98

This is a fully automated one button setup.

Demonstrates a 275k hit per salvo with 10 projectiles, 3.3 casts per sec. (around 9m single target with 40%'ish increased are effect)

Fireball adds 2.5m extra, while taking care of clear quite efficiently.

Note: I checked unnerved to simulate extra dmg from flame wall as they give very similar amount of dmg.


Spellslinger Setup and Options:

4L Helm:
Fireball, L.M.P., Spellslinger, (Awakened)Fork

This will be our bread and butter clear, socketed in a helm with Essence of Horror mod.
4L is more than enough to clear anything barring full delirious.

If u wish more boss punch, u can swap LMP with slower projectiles vs bosses.

6L Body:
Blazing Salvo, Spellslinger, Inspiration, Combustion, (Awakened) Controlled Destruction.

This is the 5L we are using for clear. Last spot will be a gem with no mana increase at the start. (I choose alt q Blind for perma blind and 40% crit chance)

You can use better gems by using jewels with '1% reduces mana reserved' corruption.

Required Gear:

Conqueror's Efficiency: this jewel lets up reserve the setup above.

A Sulphur flask: i am using Bottled Faith, but a regular one will also work.



Assassin Version:
Spoiler
POB and Explanations:

Endgame PoB Link level 98

This is a fully automated one button setup.

Demonstrates a 246k hit per salvo with 10 projectiles, 3.3 casts per sec. (around 8.5m single target with 40%'ish increased area effect)

Fireball adds 2.7m extra, while taking care of clear quite efficiently.


Spellslinger Setup and Options:

4L Helm:
Fireball, L.M.P., Spellslinger, (Awakened)Fork

This will be our bread and butter clear, socketed in a helm with Essence of Horror mod.
4L is more than enough to clear anything barring full delirious.

If u wish more boss punch, u can swap LMP with slower projectiles vs bosses.

4L Goves:
Blazing Salvo, Spellslinger, Inspiration, Combustion

This is the 4L we are using for bossing. In a shaper gloves with Slower Projectiles and 70 crit multi mods.

You can use better gems by using jewels with '1% reduces mana reserved' corruption.
If the current setup above does not fit, drop 'combustion support' from Blazing Salvo, and add Power Charge on Critical support.
You will link your combustion to Frenzy so you will still have that extra penetration vs bosses.

Required Gear:

Conqueror's Efficiency: this jewel lets up reserve the setup above.

A Sulphur flask: i am using Bottled Faith, but a regular one will also work.

Kaom's Heart: Solves our life problems (get one with increased life enchant if u can.
Later you can swap to a Replica Shroud of the Lightless with very good abyss jewels.


Gear Examples from Heist:

My gear at level 90:



Budget Gear i used until red maps (sadly don't have helm link anymore)
Spoiler



For your questions, catch me live:
https://www.twitch.tv/trivial_matters/
Bench Crafting Service: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2515748

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/trivial_matters/
Last edited by Trivialmatters on Oct 5, 2020, 10:13:22 AM
reserved
Bench Crafting Service: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2515748

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/trivial_matters/
the build looks interesting and it seems to be great for leveling new characters. i've wanted to play an assassin spellslinger for while, since the VD necro is pretty fun. i'll be keeping an eye on it, and cant wait for the optimized tree, thanks.
Hi there,
looking to give this guide a go.

Just looking at the POB now. What is the Thread of Hope supposed to be covering? I can't see why it's in use right now.

Cheers,

NVM, it was in the "before maps" tree. Still has it in the tree but im not concerned too much.
Last edited by Ayeartee on Aug 2, 2020, 11:37:18 PM
"
Ayeartee wrote:
Hi there,
looking to give this guide a go.

Just looking at the POB now. What is the Thread of Hope supposed to be covering? I can't see why it's in use right now.

Cheers,

NVM, it was in the "before maps" tree. Still has it in the tree but im not concerned too much.


thread should only be appearing in endgame tree, it lets you grab glancing blows and 2 life nodes for extra defenses.
Bench Crafting Service: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2515748

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/trivial_matters/
Really looking forward to seeing this completed! I love your wander guide and would also follow this guide as a league start and then transition to your other build :)
Thanks for the guide! looking to try your end game wander build before the league ends or maybe next league.
Hey, I'm "working" on your build.

The clear is excellent but single target dps is quite bad. My "work" consist in finding a way of increasing single target dps.
I'm probably not at your level in build creation so I wanted to ask if you made progress on your side?

What I have tried so far with the 2 green socket config you advertize, is switching GMP and Fork for added cold damage and hypothermia on map boss. Single damage is about 40% higher, but aiming with a single ball is quite a loss of QoL and damage uptime. While 40% is not even game changing, I'm even more worried that conquerors (or boss with bad map mods) won't get chilled with just added cold damage support and hypothermia would be useless.
I have to do more testing and run the numbers through pob.

One other possibility would be to run a single green socket config (I'm not counting white sockets in a league start environnement) with GMP to be switched to LMP on bosses. The clear would suffer a bit but without Fork but honestly I think it would still be a fine clear. And 3 projectile is good to shoot at bosses without perfect aim, while the downside of LMP (6% less proj dmg) is "negligeable"

What your opinion on the topic now?
"
Rootsmann wrote:
Hey, I'm "working" on your build.

The clear is excellent but single target dps is quite bad. My "work" consist in finding a way of increasing single target dps.
I'm probably not at your level in build creation so I wanted to ask if you made progress on your side?

What I have tried so far with the 2 green socket config you advertize, is switching GMP and Fork for added cold damage and hypothermia on map boss. Single damage is about 40% higher, but aiming with a single ball is quite a loss of QoL and damage uptime. While 40% is not even game changing, I'm even more worried that conquerors (or boss with bad map mods) won't get chilled with just added cold damage support and hypothermia would be useless.
I have to do more testing and run the numbers through pob.

One other possibility would be to run a single green socket config (I'm not counting white sockets in a league start environnement) with GMP to be switched to LMP on bosses. The clear would suffer a bit but without Fork but honestly I think it would still be a fine clear. And 3 projectile is good to shoot at bosses without perfect aim, while the downside of LMP (6% less proj dmg) is "negligeable"

What your opinion on the topic now?


i will be working on this tonight, for cheap early league part i have a hybrid version in mind which will solve the EHP problems. I am testing also snakepit for free fork (it has been very cheap for a long time anyways) and using controlled desto instead of fork for some dps boost. Also single target seems better with Wave of Conviction atm as when u get more area firestorm is negatively effected.

For late game, Low life will give 2 dmg auras with 30% more dmg which should bring it to acceptable levels. I will just abuse reckless defense jewels to cap block (u are crit immune anyways)

btw the more i play with it, the more gmp looks overkill, maybe i might drop to lmp permanently and change gem setup a bit (if i can get rid of the mana reduction necessity, that will be huge too).

One note: that pob is not optimized for attack speed (early draft :/ ) and it should be :D
Bench Crafting Service: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2515748

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/trivial_matters/
Last edited by Trivialmatters on Aug 13, 2020, 4:42:18 AM

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