FASTEST MAPPER AND BOSS KILLER for 3.14 - Blade Blast Assassin League Starter

==================================================================================================================== GENERAL TIPS ==================================================================================================================== Bandits: Kill All You can mule (make a level 1 character/kill Hillock) a Ranger on league start for a G-G Bow + Pierce gem to help you level with Caustic Arrow You get FREE respec points as you progress through the campaign. Use these to respec your starting nodes (see 94 point tree) The items in this guide are are a GUIDELINE, listed with the main core stats you're looking for. More/higher stats (resists, attributes, etc) are always better! They are mostly kept reasonable and obtainable through self-crafting methods post-Harvest nerfs These POBs are designed to be honest and not exaggerate DPS. Most unecessary damage scaling options are turned off and some flasks may not be turned on. Awakened Gems are typically not used. (This is why Blade Blast is set to 10 Blades, not 40/50) You can turn them on yourselves/add poison stacks/more wither stats in Configuration to see how much the damage on Poison Blade Blast ramps up. On trade leagues you can search for "Empty Suffixes" or "Empty Prefixes" with a value of 1 for items with open crafting slots Upgrade your Pantheons Get Obliteration Wands as soon as possible! Keep an eye out on your Strength/Intelligence requirements, especially when adjusting your tree/replacing gear. You will need a lot of intelligence for Obliterations (Intrinsic Catalyst your Ungil's!) You can put the new Critical Catalyst on it later if you have enough intelligence for Obliteration. CAST SPEED IS IMPORTANT! Take cast speed at Shadow start once you swap to Blade Blast Do not worry too much about getting Despair on Hit ring. Monsters will die to explosions, and you'll only need Despair for bosses. Prioritize stats/resists you need over this mod! Ultimatum league is "Mediumcore". If you die in the encounter, you will lose the reward. A combination of strong defence and offence is your friend! ==================================================================================================================== 3.14 NERF ==================================================================================================================== Blade Blast received a reasonable but small nerf in 3.14. This build is still one of the/THE highest damage starters for softcore in 3.14, along with being a relatively cheap build and fast mapper. Flesh and Stone going from 25% to 35% means you'll probably have to drop Vitality early on. ==================================================================================================================== LEVELING ==================================================================================================================== Caustic Arrow + Toxic Rain Mines until 38 (Unleash) or Cruel Lab If you're a more experienced player, you can level with classic Stormblast Mine/Orb of Storms setup and respec starting elemental damage nodes. Leveling skill breakdown in Skills Section When you swap to Blade Blast: Bladefall - Unleash - Spell Cascade - Faster Casting Blade Blast - Poison - Unbound Ailments - Deadly Ailments ==================================================================================================================== GEM LINKS ==================================================================================================================== 6L: Blade Blast - Poison - Deadly Ailments - Unbound Ailment - Void Manipulation - Vile Toxins 4L: Bladefall - Unleash - Spell Cascade (Level 1) - Faster Casting (Can use Concentrated Effect or 5l Conc Helm, worse for mapping/better for bossing) 4L: Flame Dash - Arcane Surge - Withering Step/Smoke Mine - Second Wind 4L: Flesh and Stone - Herald of Agony - Vitality (if you can fit it) - Enlighten 3/4 (if you need it) 3L: Plague Bearer - Increased Area of Effect - Empower 3/4 (Optional) 2L: Cast When Damage Taken/Steelskin - Immortal Call (Keep these low level), Use Steelskin (levelled) > Immortal Call until you use Enduring Composure from Cluster Jewel Despair (Until Despair on Hit Ring) If you use Smoke Mine, try putting Detonate Mines on Left Click. You can drop it if you don't like it, but it's a lot of movement speed while mapping. Use Withering Step for DPS increase while running through mobs with Plague Bearer. It also refreshes your Elusive Late Game: Clarity (Read about more in Mana section) Bossing: Wither + Spell Totem + Faster Casting (replaces Plague Bearer while bossing). Place in Cold Iron Point for easy swap ==================================================================================================================== AURAS ==================================================================================================================== Flesh and Stone Herald of Agony Vitality (Might have to drop or down level after Flesh and Stone nerf 25% -> 35% until late game/if you don't care about regen) Enlighten 3+ (If you need it) Late Game/Bossing: Clarity The more maximum mana you have (can get on rings, Druidic Rite), the easier you'll be able to fit Vitality/Clarity. There is the option of getting Malevolence Reduced Reservation on your helmet/amulet and trying to fit it in over Herald of Agony, but it is most likely not worth your effort. ==================================================================================================================== SKILL GEM LOCATIONS ==================================================================================================================== ---------- 1 - 12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Caustic Arrow - Act 1 - Nessa - Enemy at the Gates Pierce Support - Act 1 - Nessa - Enemy at the Gates Mirage Archer - Act 1 - Nessa - Mercy Mission Void Manipulation - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Smoke Mine - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Frostblink - Act 1 - Nessa - Breaking Some Eggs Flame Dash - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Puncture - Act 1 - Nessa - Breaking Some Eggs Explosive Trap - Act 1 - Nessa - Enemy at the Gate Swift Assembly - Act 1 - Nessa - Mercy Mission ---------- 12 - 24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toxic Rain - Act 1 - Nessa - The Siren's Cadence Blastchain Mine - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Swift Assembly - Act 1 - Nessa - Mercy Mission Void Manipulation - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Withering Step - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Summer Skitterbots - Act 2 - Yeena - Intruders in Black ---------- 24 - 38 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malevolence - Act 3 - Clarissa - Lost in Love Despair - Act 3 - Clarissa - Lost in Love ---------- 38+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bladefall - Act 3- Clarissa - Sever the Right Hand Unleash - Act 4 - Petarus and Vanja - The Eternal Nightmare Spell Cascade - Act 1 - Nessa - Mercy Mission Faster Casting - Act 2 - Yeena - Sharp and Cruel Blade Blast - Act 2 - Yeena - The Root of the Problem Poison support - Act 3 - Clarissa - A Fixture of Fate Unbound Ailments - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Deadly Ailments - Act 2 - Yeena - Sharp and Cruel Plague Bearer - Act 3 - Clarissa - Lost in Love Flesh and Stone - Act 3 - Siosa - A Fixture of Fate Herald of Agony - Act 2 - Yeena - The Root of the Problem --------Late Game Links----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blade Blast - Act 2 - Yeena - The Root of the Problem Poison support - Act 3 - Clarissa - A Fixture of Fate Vile Toxins - Act 4 - Petarus and Vanja - The Eternal Nightmare Void Manipulation - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Unbound Ailments - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Deadly Ailments - Act 2 - Yeena - Sharp and Cruel (Awakened Gems will need to be obtained from Fighting Sirus or Traded from another player) Bladefall - Act 3- Clarissa - Sever the Right Hand Faster Casting - Act 2 - Yeena - Sharp and Cruel Unleash - Act 4 - Petarus and Vanja - The Eternal Nightmare Spell Cascade - Act 1 - Nessa - Mercy Mission Flesh and Stone - Act 3 - Siosa - A Fixture of Fate Vitality - Act 3 - Siosa - A Fixture of Fate Enlighten support - This will need to be found or traded from another player. Herald of Agony - Act 2 - Yeena - The Root of the Problem Flame Dash - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Second Wind - Act 3 - Clarissa - A Fixture of Fate Smoke Mine - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Despair - Act 3 - Clarissa - Lost in Love Clarity - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Cast When Damage Taken - Act 4 - Petarus and Vanja - The Eternal Nightmare Immortal Call - Act 6 - Lilly Roth - Fallen from Grace Plague Bearer - Act 3 - Clarissa - Lost in Love Empower support - This will need to be found or traded from another player. Increased Area of Effect - Act 4 - Petarus and Vanja - The Eternal Nightmare ------Bossing----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wither - Act 1 - Nessa - The Caged Brute Spell Totem - Act 3 - Siosa - A Fixture of Fate Multiple Totem - Act 4 - Petarus and Vanja - The Eternal Nightmare ==================================================================================================================== MANA PROBLEMS ==================================================================================================================== Early game: Acquire a Enduring Mana Flask as soon as possible. You can craft Warding/Staunching on it with Bestiary if it is "Enduring Eternal Mana Flask" with no suffix Mid/Late Game: Non-Channeling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost (Elreon Unveil) prefix craft on Rings can help mana costs more manageable This mod DOES scale with Fertile Catalysts. If you are crafting your own late game rings, you can catalyst them while they are still white/normal rarity (costs 4 catalysts only vs 20 once rare) + Mana/% increased Mana Regeneration on rings You can use a level 1 Bladefall > Level 20 to cut down on mana cost Eldritch Inspiration in your cluster setup (More Below in Cluster section) Level 20 Clarity or as high as you need ==================================================================================================================== NOT ENOUGH INT FOR OBLITERATION??? ==================================================================================================================== +30 Int node Primal Spirit Attribute (Intrinsic) Catalyst your Ungil's and Blessed Orb it to perfect roll Int somewhere on a ring/cluster jewels/jewel ==================================================================================================================== CLUNKY??? ==================================================================================================================== Cast speed and Enduring Mana Flask! Make sure you take the CAST SPEED nodes at the start of Shadow. The 12% makes a very big difference, and you can go for more on boot enchant/Serpentine Spellslinger cluster/cluster jewels until you are content. ==================================================================================================================== KEEP DYING :( ==================================================================================================================== Make sure you have your Warding and Staunching flasks, Heat (ideally Grounding) until Elemental Ailment Immunity (More Below in Ailment Immunity Section) Make sure your resistances are capped Always use Flesh and Stone in Sand Stance This build is not very tanky, but it has a LOT of damage/dodge. This allows you to cut boss fights very short. ==================================================================================================================== FLASKS ==================================================================================================================== Early Game: Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching Enduring Eternal Mana Flask of Warding Chemist's Quartz Flask of Heat (or Grounding) Chemist's Diamond Flask of Grounding (or Heat) Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline Mid Game (Elemental Ailment Immune): Replace Diamond Flask -> Coralito's Signature Replace Suffix (Grounding/Heat) on Quartz Flask with a useful suffix (Quickening, Curing, another Warding) Bossing Setup/Mana problems solved: If you get enough mana regeneration to comfortably drop your Mana Flask, you can run a powerful unique flask like an Atziri's Promise or Bottled Faith. ==================================================================================================================== Anointment ==================================================================================================================== Early game - Freedom of Movement (Clear Sepia Violet) Mid/Late game - Dire Torment (Opalescent Oil Azure Oil Crimson Oil) ==================================================================================================================== Elemental Ailment Immunity ==================================================================================================================== You want to reach 100% Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments on this build. You do this with a combination of: 20-25% Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments Craft on Helmet/Gloves (Total 50%) - These will unfortunately need to be recrafted for 25% (2c an attempt), so make sure you are going to use those Helmet/Gloves for a while This craft is from Bazaar Map 1% Chance to Dodge Attack hits (2 Points) Small Cluster Jewel with Elegant Form - 30% Thick Skin Life Cluster - 20% Crystal Skin (3 Pts on tree, not ideal) - 20% ==================================================================================================================== Mid -> Late Game Transition ==================================================================================================================== The biggest transition in this build is getting enough resistances on your Helmet/Gloves/Belt/some on jewels/clusters in order to free up your rings for mana/mana regeneration rolls or despair on hit. How much mana regeneration you want is subjective, so mess with it until you get a comfortable amount. Resistance Scion jewel can help with resists if you're severely lacking them on gear. Cluster Jewel Setup (Especially Overwhelming Malice for Grim Oath) is your first big upgrade into late game. ==================================================================================================================== Early game tree has more damage then Cluster tree??? ==================================================================================================================== The cluster grants Unholy Might from Overwhelming Malice, which is turned on globally for the POB ==================================================================================================================== Cluster Jewels ==================================================================================================================== 1 Large Cluster setup is very huge power spike for this build. This build does not need 2 Cluster setups. Try to get some attributes you need/resists on your cluster jewels, as this build uses a lot of uniques Large Cluster: Chaos Large Cluster (8 Points) You ideally want **Overwhelming Malice** (VERY strong for this build, most important notable), Grim Oath, and another third notable Harvest Augments are currently very rare in 3.14, so you can settle for an 8 point with Overwhelming Malice + 1 or 2 other notables There's no way to target Overwhelming Malice, so you'll need to alt/aug/regal, scour alch/binding, chaos, or Harvest reforge for it Crafting perfect 3 notables (REQUIRES HARVEST AUG PHYS): Overwhelming Malice has no tag and a very low weight (very rare), so we want to start with it Acquire ilvl 68+ 8 Point Chaos Large Cluster Jewel. Harvest any Reforge/Reforge Chaos/Chaos/Alt Aug Regal + Annul until you have Overwhelming Malice, Any Notable or Open Prefix, any non-notable stat suffix (or none), and an open suffix. (Or try to buy a ilvl 68+ cluster jewel like this) Harvest Augment Physical, the only physical mod is Grim Oath suffix If you don't have a chaos notable prefix, Harvest Augment Chaos (with both suffixes filled). The only chaos prefixes are notables Craftofexile emulator - https://pastebin.com/kmvruszg You can also get Overwhelming Malice on a Critical Strike Chance Medium Cluster Jewel (does not stack) Medium Cluster: Chaos Damage Over Time Multipler (4 or 5 Points) Haemorrhage (even post-nerf) is still an incredibly strong notable for this build Eldritch Inspiration - Can help greatly with mana sustain Septic Spells - Decent damage and some cast speed Eternal Suffering - Nice for inflicting wither while mapping without the use of Withering Step Brush With Death Crafting your own: Acquire ilvl 68+ 4 or 5 Point Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplier Medium Cluster Jewel Harvest Reforge Chaos/Reforge Chaos More Likely until 2 notables you like. You can also augment critical to add Haemorrhage as a prefix Critical Strike Chance (4 or 5 Points) You can also get Overwhelming Malice on a Critical Strike Chance Medium Cluster Jewel, but it is still untagged and low weight. Quick Getaway - nice quality of life stats (cast speed/movement speed) Small Cluster: Elegant Form - 1% Chance to Dodge Attack Hits (2 Points) - 30% Elemental Ailment Immunity Enduring Composure - % Increased Armour (2 Points) - Endurance Charge generation for some physical mitigation + allows us to use Immortal Call Try to get a useful resist or int/attributes roll on these too ==================================================================================================================== Optional Passive Nodes ==================================================================================================================== No Witnesses - Elusive nodes grant a lot of speed and defense while mapping/scales your Elusive effect. You can drop these after atlas progression if you are looking to min-max DPS for bossing. Primal Spirit - Mana, Mana Regeneration, Strength, and Intelligence are all useful stats for us. Can drop if you have no problem with these stats. Druidic Rite - Mana, Mana Regeneration, and nice flask QOL mods for mapping. The flat mana helps a lot with reserving Clarity/Vitality as well. ====================================================================================================================