https://pobb.in/2RWMTfdoroWT

Edit: slightly updated pob: https://pobb.in/fa4WQBcMF0NH
Bad video of a t16 ashen woods map: https://youtu.be/rEltfzIQtl4
Changes: Added 1 str tattoo, replaced BV+Arc brand with lvl 1 versions, and I got lucky hitting a lvl 4 empower, so I put that in over inc aoe.
Inc aoe increases radius by ~20%, so not as wide anymore, but empower lvl 4 was a significant damage upgrade and now I don't need to swap in conc effect for bosses (Empower 4 beat conc effect on dmg anyway). DPS estimate went from ~24.5mil to ~33mil from that gem swap and the tattoo.
These changes also significantly improved the mana management and clunkiness. Just did a couple t16's and it was buttery smooth.

Premise

For this Phrecia event, I wanted to try running a spell-based impale build that wasn't Relic of the Pact, specifically by using entropic devastation gloves. Since those only apply impale on crits, surfcaster's 100% crit chance with a fishing pole really reeled me in...

So I started browsing poeninja for Settlers builds using those gloves and found the only viable spells (other than relic/blood sacrament) were bladeblast of unloading (BBU) and seismic trap. I really didn't want to play a trap/mine build, so settled on blade blast. I researched 3-4 different setups ran in Settlers and adapted them to Phrecia with the fisherman ascendancy.

Now that I've got the build to the point it can clear a t17, I figured I'd share here and ask for suggestions on how to further increase damage and max phys hit.

The Build

Pros:

• Fairly quick
• Good DPS
• Screen-wide clear (with inc aoe gem)
• High leech rate (including instant leech its ~75% of my ES pool per second).
• Essentially a two button build once you have it going
• Satisfying sound effects

Cons:

• Relatively squishy (cleared the T17 with 2 deaths to trash, 2 deaths to boss. First T17 of the event tho, so cut me some slack)
• Takes a while to hit your stride. Build doesn't feel "good" to play until you get Flesh/Flame jewels, two clusters and some ES.
• MANA - holy cow is a 6-link BBU hard to sustain. I'm running a max clarity+ 40 mana per sec from shavronnes ring + -10 mana on other ring + another -10 mana from watchers eye, and between blade vortex triggers and actually casting BBU, I run oom in 2-3 seconds.
• Phys max hit is very low
• Can die to degens (no passive regen, so if you aren't leeching, even burning ground will kill you if you stand still too long)
• Need to level using other skills. I did KB until I could use both fishing rod ascendancy nodes, then just grabbed a pole, marylene's fallacy, and any spell to get to maps.

Setup is pretty simple: you run blade vortex on arcanist brand, keeping 5 brands (with mastery) up at essentially all times, and then you cast blade blast of unloading at or near 10 stacks of blade vortex. I Frostblink -> cast a brand -> cast BBU -> repeat. Can clear synth unique maps in ~2.5 mins.

By using Flesh/Flame to get triggerbots from the Demolitionist Ascendancy, we double the proc rate of all triggered spells. Since arcanist brand triggers BV, every brand activation will trigger two BV stacks. With 5 brands you get 10 stacks per activation. Then you run brand recall + enhance + automation to trigger brand recall twice, which triggers arcanist brand again. This leads to you having ~70% uptime on 10 stacks of BV for the full dps of BBU.

The very high cast speed from surfcaster makes casting frostblink + brands very smooth. The issue is, between mana regen and not having 10 stacks for ~30% of the time, the build still ends up feeling a little clunky at times.

I scaled the damage using a timeless jewel with 4 x 40% crit multi nodes, marylene's fallacy, and the very high base damage of BBU. Because of how impale works, about half the damage comes from the impales (with +2 from watcher's eye mod). Casting Call of Steel will immediately deal the damage of your impales, and its free to cast, so I use that to deal a little more damage if I can't cast or get close enough to the target. Also, for bosses, I swap increased AOE for concentrated effect, so the spell isn't screen-wide when bossing. So I may BBU up close to a boss, but then dash and call steel while dodging an ability to keep damage up.

Hopefully I wrote this coherently lol. Would appreciate any suggestions/feedback or even questions. I'm sure I've forgotten to explain something.

Gear was not cheap but not super expensive, maybe close to 40 div for everything. I have not cleared shaper/elder, but I imagine if I can clear citadel in 4 portals, I can do those. Probably will not attempt ubers unless I/we figure out some improvements.