[3.12] POISON ASSASSIN - SAFE AF - Viper Strike / Blade Flurry / Pestilent Strike WHATEVER

IF YOU HATE GETTING HIT YOU’VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE.

Welcome to my Poison Assassin. If you’re like me and hate playing like the meta, then I’ve got something for you. I played a normal Cyclone build this season and still suffer nightmares from it. It’s definitely not too off-meta, but it’s not a Replica Alberon Warpath poison build, so it’s also not too meta. If I see another Blade Vortex Alberon I’m gonna get a stroke (although it’s objectively better).

Fair warning: This build is heavily inspired by rahsaan’s Nightblade build, so props to him to making such a fun and engaging build. This is just my own spin on it. Go to his build if you'd prefer a version that concentrates on physical: The Nightblade
My version is 99% poison because I like seeing enemies HP dwindle away

Path of Building for people who don’t give a shit:
https://pastebin.com/WLJLAueG

Keep in mind this is at peak perfomance, when all our buffs and chakras align, which honestly should happen a lot, just making sure here

Pro
- zoom zoom
- Incredibly evasive and max block
- Poison clear is satisfying to look at
- Bino’s kitchen knife makes clear incredible
- Plague Bearer in general
- Has a ranged option for bosses you don’t even want to see
- usually reflect immune
- it’s god damn fun


Con
- Single target can be lacking, we need to ramp it up
- We physically couldn’t be closer to the enemy with our main damage skill
- Only 4,5k health without Corrupted Soul
- Not everyone likes attack and forget playstyle
- Lots of uniques

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"That sounds really neat and stuff, but how much do I have to invest to reach p e a k perfomance?" Depends on what your concept of budget is. I'd say this is low to medium budget. It's probably not something you should start your league with.

Cost
Most expensive thing is the breastplate, which cost about 5 exalted, but it’s heist, anything can happen. No clue what it normally costs.
I’d say, with Bino’s Kitchen Knife as your weapon about 1-3 ex without Farrul’s Fur, our breastplate.
I got a good single target dagger for 100 chaos, if that says anything.


The honest worst part is that we have quite alot uniques, so it's hard to really improve the build besides switching out the dagger, shoes and gloves and some accessoires.

But let's get to the tanky stuff, what keeps us alive?

Our Defense
+100% stealth and 15% to avoid damage from Cat’s Stealth
80% evade chance because of evasion rating and blinded enemies
75% block chance because of Mistwall
75% attack and spell dodge chance because of Flask, Phasing / Elusive, (Phase) Acrobatics
Budget Temporal Chains through Maddening Presence
More damage reduction and dodge chance from our Pantheon
We can essentially fuck off incredibly fast with Whirling Blades and poke from far away


All this makes sure that damage has to go through ALOT of layers to actually hit us, and even if it gets past that, we still have Immortal Call to receive about 25-30% less damage.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Let's get to the juicy stuff then.

Gems

Dagger
Whirling Blades - Fortify - Withering Step

You can switch out Fortify with Blood Magic to manage Mana pool. This is just an additional damage reduction which is hard to keep track of.


Shield
Plague Bearer - Increased Area of Effect - Empower

Poisonous Righteous Fire, deals HUGE amount of damage and fills up incredibly fast, you will learn to love it.


Helmet
Herald of Agony - Malevolence - Precision - Enlighten

Pretty standard Aura setup for Poison.


Body Armour
Blade Flurry - Vile Toxins - Melee Physical Damage - Deadly Ailments - Awakened Added Chaos Damage - Nightblade

Blade Flurry can be swapped out for whatever you like. I chose it because it feels really smooth to play. Viper Strike has the highest damage, but you stand even closer to enemies and it feels kinda awkward to play. Same goes for Pestilent Strike, but you can swap out Bino's kitchen knife for bigger damage since it proliferates poison on its own. Reave also works but is kinda shit ngl
Nightblade support can also be swapped out for e.g. Unbound Ailments or Swift Affliction for higher damage but less defense.


Gloves
Cobra Lash - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Deadly Ailments - Vicious Projectiles

This is our ranged attack, in case some boss really grinds your gears or you don't quite understand what he's doing. Just make sure to hit him so you get mana back, or pack a mana potion. Also really good for clear, since we use Pseudo 6L gloves. Feel free to swap out Cobra Lash with Venom Gyre, but go for Divergent Venom Gyre so it chains for better clear. The latter also has synergy with Whirling Blades.


Boots
Despair - Blasphemy - Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call

Our last Aura and CWDT Setup for less damage taken.




My Gear
Dagger
Bino for waveclear, switch to another (stronger) weapon for bosses, conquerors and during heists. You can kill bosses with Bino too of course, just takes a bit longer.


Sometimes when you can't find the right attributes on items, you may need to take a big Strength or Intelligence node on the tree, and I want you know that's okay.

For that one jewel slot in the leveling tree, get an abyss jewel that gives max life and chance for onslaught. Also, anoint corruption because it's pretty cheap and gives the best damage from all the chaos nodes I didn't take.


Pantheon & Bandits
Lunaris and Gruthkul for maximum Defense.

Kill all Bandits for maximum skill points. You can level with Alira to keep resistances capped though.



Videos?
Eventually, if someone wants to see some gameplay. Just be aware that I'm shit at this game, which is why this build exists in the first place.


Hope I didn't forget anything, if you got questions and or feedback, or want to blast my ass for copying Nightblade, don't hesitate
Last edited by Tabofren on Nov 24, 2020, 3:02:45 PM
Last bumped on Dec 7, 2020, 5:26:32 PM
really no one tried this?
I got your build running on standard today mainly to kill some time and farm when the events get boring, so far so good,my gems need some levels but the bosses are already an issue and i dont have a replacement for bino's
this is my equipment



Last edited by southcabeza on Nov 30, 2020, 10:55:16 PM
Hey,

thank you for quoting me as inspiration. Frankly, if you hadn't mentioned the Nightblade, I wouldn't have claim credits for your build. I'm sure it is original and quite different.
I like the concept of the Mistwall shield. Never actually used it. But now that you mention it, it is going to be useful in Delve, what with the chance to avoid ailments.

I think you can get Aspect of the Cat on another piece (ring preferably) and use a helmet with lot of life. The Starkonja or a good rare with "-chaos res to nearby enemies".
Or use the Maw of Conquest helmet + Golden Rule jewel + sextant poison mod to get 600% speed and (at least) double dmg. See here.

Cheers and thanks again,
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
Ah didn't think someone would reply, apologies!

"
I got your build running on standard today mainly to kill some time and farm when the events get boring, so far so good,my gems need some levels but the bosses are already an issue and i dont have a replacement for bino's
this is my equipment


Issue as in, lacking damage or you die / take too much damage? The builds not really a bosskiller so it usually takes some time for them to die, with the tradeoff that you should be incredibly tanky. I only got up to Awakening 6 until I honestly got bored with the league, so no clue how it fares later on. Your items looks really good for the most part, you just might have to swap out some flasks. Do you need two life flasks? Sin's Rebirth is a big damage boost if you don't get unholy might from anything else. Basalt flask actually isn't a bad idea, especially if you're already above the evasion soft cap, and sin's rebirth should give alot more evasion instead of the 2nd life flask.

Oh and you can swap out Nightblade support for e.g. Unbound Ailments, but you'll probably get hit more

"
I think you can get Aspect of the Cat on another piece (ring preferably) and use a helmet with lot of life. The Starkonja or a good rare with "-chaos res to nearby enemies".
Or use the Maw of Conquest helmet + Golden Rule jewel + sextant poison mod to get 600% speed and (at least) double dmg. See here.


This is actually insane and I might just tweak around to get that going, I never quite understood how Sextants work but now I kinda get it. Thanks alot!
Last edited by Tabofren on Dec 7, 2020, 5:30:15 PM

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