Poison Blade Vortex
Assassin Build

Updated for Patch 3.22

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Blade Vortex is a Physical Spell that creates multiple ethereal blades that orbit around your character dealing massive Damage based on the number of blades spawned. At maximum efficiency, they hit almost 8 times per second, which is great for inflicting massive amounts of Poison stacks on your Enemies. As an Assassin, you get increased Poison Duration for every Poison inflicted recently. You can also scale them through Critical Strikes, which is rather unusual for a DoT Build. 

You can easily sustain 10 Blades at all times thanks to the Unleash Support, and you don't need them all while clearing Maps, only against particularly dangerous Enemies. The Build is focused purely on gaining Damage, so overpowering your opponents shouldn't be a problem. To make your Map Clear better, you should use the Obliteration Wand, which grants you a 20% Chance to Explode Enemies with Chaos Damage on their Death. This Explosion also can inflict Poison, leading to a very satisfying chain reaction. It is not a bad Weapon for pure Damage, but obviously, there are better options if you care only about Single-target. The Cold Iron Point Dagger grants 3 levels for all your Physical Skill Gems, which can be beaten only by the craziest Rare Items available out there, and you can wield 2 of them! Another great and cheap Unique Item for this Build is the Ungil's Harmony Amulet. When boosted by Catalysts, it can grant over 400% increased Critical Strike Chance, which makes the Assassin truly shine. 

Unfortunately, as an Assassin, you don't have much access to defense. You will receive 20% reduced Damage but only if there are more than 2 Rare and Unique Enemies nearby. You will Evade most of the incoming Attacks and Suppress most Spells, but you cannot do much against Physical Damage that goes through Evasion. You could use the Determination Aura, but without any Armour on the Passive Tree, it won't make a big difference anyway, so it is better to use Purity of Elements to get rid of all Elemental Ailments instead. 

The Build is very cheap to get started. With just basic Rare Items and some common Uniques, you can easily farm Tier 16 Maps on the first day, but it won't be deathless. Investing more currency which you will accumulate over time will improve the Quality of Life or allow you to drop some Damage for the sake of Defenses. 

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1. Gameplay

You will need to recast your Blades only every 8 seconds, or more frequently against Bosses.  In the meantime you can freely run past your Enemies, inflicting heavy Poison Damage. The Plague Bearer enforces this playstyle further and takes only a few Hits to fully charge. Occasionally you will have to use your second Curse, Despair, or drop Spell Totems that will quickly apply all 15 stacks of Wither. To move around you should use Flame Dash or Whirling Blades, depending on the Weapons of your choice. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You can level up this character easily with Blade Vortex. At first, you should focus on the Hit portion of this Spell, but as you progress you can experiment when the Poison starts to work better. You will probably need the Chance to Poison Support and Herald of Agony to reach the Poison Cap. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Blade Vortex setup
	Blade Vortex - primary Spell used in this build. It has solid base DPS and it should carry you through early levels just with its' based damage, and you will still Poison enemies with it.
	Chance to Poison Support - grants a high chance to Poison enemies, which combined with a few Passives and Herald of Agony will easily reach 100% Chance to Poison.
	Cruelty Support - grants high bonus DPS both to direct Hits and Poison DoT.
	Efficacy Support - improves the Damage and Duration of your Poisons. The Duration will also affect Blades, so you will have less recasting to do.
	Faster Casting Support - on lower levels makes casting Blade Vortex much faster. Later on, you can replace it with Unleash Support which will summon a few Blades with each Cast.
	Void Manipulation Support - improves the Chaos Damage you do, which affects the Poison.

Aura setup
	Herald of Agony - this is a must-have Herald Spell for this build. It grants you Poison Chance, and the Minion it creates is a powerful ally.
	Herald of Purity - this is another useful Herald. It boosts your Physical Damage and also creates useful Minions.
	Clarity - you will need Mana Regeneration to keep casting your Blades.
	Vitality - Life Regeneration is also useful during the leveling process. Try to get enough Strength to keep this Aura on a relative level.

Utility setup
	Flame Dash - it is a great mobility Spell that can be used by every character.
	Despair - it is your main offensive Curse, it lowers the Chaos Resistances of affected foes.
	Steelskin - grants you a temporary shield against incoming Damage. .

Bandits:

Kill all Bandits to get additional 2 Passive Tree Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:
30 Points Passive Tree
We recommend this order:
1) Trickery 2) Resourcefulness 3) Revenge of the Hunted 4) Fatal Toxins 
60 Points Passive Tree
Allocate:
1) Growth and Decay 2) Serpentine Spellslinger 3) Instinct 4) Inveterate 5) Charisma 6) Blood Drinker
 

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - frees you from the worry of Attributes and Resistances, while also boosting your Damage.

Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Damage (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Tabula Rasa - the best leveling Item out there, it grants you access to a 6-link setup very early in the game.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Goldrim - grants you tons of Elemental Resistances, and can be worn at level 1.

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Perandus Blazon - this Belt provides you with plenty of Attributes, and makes your Flask sustain much better.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(20-30) to all Attributes (6-8)% increased Quantity of Items found +20% to Fire Resistance 20% increased Flask Effect Duration -2 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits

Wanderlust - common Boots for leveling, they make you immune to Freeze Ailment and boost your Mana Regeneration.

+5 to Dexterity +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

Seven-League Step -  the best Boots to level up with, they grant you an unmatched amount of Movement Speed which will save you a ton of time.

50% increased Movement Speed Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

103 Points Final Passive Tree (doesn't include Cluster or Unique Jewels)
118 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Noxious Strike
2. Toxic Delivery
3. Ambush and Assassinate
4. Opportunistic

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris: 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Ralakesh: 25% reduced Physical Damage over Time taken while moving; Moving while Bleeding doesn't cause you to take extra Damage

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Blade Vortex setup
	Blade Vortex - summons up to 10 Blades orbiting around you, dealing more Physical Damage for each Blade you have summoned. You should also use the Vaal Version with a summons an independent Vortex of Blades.
	Unbound Ailments Support - increases the Damage and duration of your Ailments.
	Deadly Ailments Support - increases your Damage over Time from Ailments significantly.
	Unleash Support  - allows you to create up to four Blades with a single cast greatly increasing the smoothness and speed of this Build.
	Efficacy Support - improves the Duration and Damage you deal with your Poisons. It also prolongs the lifespan of the Vortex itself.
	Void Manipulation Support - boost your Chaos Damage, which means Poisons.

[UTILITY] Aura setup
	Grace - it is your main defensive Aura, it grants you tons of Flat Evasion Rating and boosts it even further.
	Purity of Elements - grants you plenty of Elemental Resistances and provides immunity to all Elemental Ailments.
	Herald of Purity - boosts your Physical Damage and creates useful Minions which can tank a few Hits for you.
	Herald of Agony - grants you Poison Chance and improves your Damage with Poisons.
	Defiance Banner  - improves your Evasion Rating and lowers the Enemy' Critical Strike Chance. It has rather low priority.
	Enlighten Support - lowers the Mana Reservation of linked Auras. Link it with your 3 most Mana-reserving Auras.

[UTILITY] Divine Blessing setup
	Malevolence - the best Aura for DoT builds which increases your Damage over Time and offers various bonuses via Watcher's Eye Jewel.
	Divine Blessing Support - converts regular Aura into a temporary Buff. You can experiment with the new Guardian's Blessing Support instead, but you will have to keep your Minion alive somehow.
	Inspiration Support - lowers the Mana Costs of support Skill. Use it if your Energy Shield is not high enough.

[UTILITY] Wither Totem setup
	Wither - inflict a powerful Debuff on the Enemy. It increases the Chaos Damage they take and can stack up to 15 times.
	Spell Totem Support - summons a Totem that will cast this Spell for you. It allows you to focus on dealing Damage instead of debuffing the Enemy.
	Multiple Totems Support - more Totems inflict stacks faster.

[UTILITY] Curse setup
	Despair - lowers the Chaos Resistances of affected foes, which increases the Poison Damage they take in the result.
	Temporal Chains - slows the Enemy down, and makes all effects last longer on them. Ideally, it should be applied via your Gloves automatically.

[UTILITY] Plague Bearer setup
	Plague Bearer - stores part of your Poison Damage up to a limit. You can release it to deal a fixed amount of Damage around your character within a few seconds.  It can't be improved with regular Support Gems.
	Increased Area of Effect Support - increases the Area of Effect of your Plague Bearer.
	Empower Support - the Damage of this Spell is limited by its Gem Level, so this Support is the only way to improve it.

[UTILITY] Other Utility setups
	Flame Dash - it is your main Movement Spell, it teleports you in a short distance and can store up to 3 charges.
	Withering Step - grants you the Elusive Buff which improves your Movement Speed, and applies Withering stacks to nearby Enemies. It shares Cooldown with the Flame Dash.
	Summon Stone Golem - this Golem will grant you a bit of sustain via Life Regeneration.
	Steelskin - it is the best Guard Skill for this Build, it grants you plenty of additional Shield and disables Bleeding effects. It will require a lot of Strength to use it at max Gem level.

6. Gear Setup

There are a lot of Unique Items you can use with this Build. Most of them will greatly improve your Damage in the early stages, but some are great all the way to the end-game. You should look for useful Corrupted Implicits on them, especially on the most cheap ones. Offensively you should focus on Physical Gem Levels, DoT Multiplier, Chaos Damage, and Poison Duration. Extra Chaos Damage based on your Physical Damage is also great. On the other hand, Spell Damage does nothing for Poison Damage, so try to avoid it. Defensively, just try to get as much maximum Life as you can, but Spell Suppression or Physical Damage taken as Elemental is also good. Try to use bases that grant you Evasion Rating as well as Energy Shield, which you need to cast your Spells. You will also need plenty of Attributes, especially if you want to use a lot of Tattoos. 

(Weapon) Cold Iron Point - the BiS Daggers for this build. You should dual-wield them for maximum DPS. They will add tons of damage at a very low cost, and the downside is negligible since you don't want to deal any Elemental Damage anyway. You can also try getting a Corrupted one with an increase to DoT Damage or a chance to grant you the Unholy Might buff.

30% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +3 to Level of all Physical Spell Skill Gems Deal no Elemental Damage

(Weapon) Obliteration - if you feel comfortable with your Damage, you can use this Wand instead. The Explosions will greatly improve your Clear Speed, and they can chain from each other. With Corrupted Implicit you can get Power Charge generation.

(33-37)% increased Spell Damage Gain (30-40)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage Enemies you Kill have a 20% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage

(Weapon) Rare Shield - if you need more defense, you can use a Rare Shield with Life and high Block Chance. It could also have Elemental Resistances or Spell Suppression. You can also get some Damage here, with the bonus to Gem Levels, Spel Critical Strike Chance, or Effect of your Curses.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life 50% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells +1 to Level of all Physical Spell Skill Gems increased Effect of your Curses

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - at first it can be a plain Helmet with Life and Resistance. Later on, try to get Mana Reservation Efficiency and improved effect of your Temporal Chain Curse. It could also lower nearby Enemies' Chaos Resistance. You should craft a Focus mod that improves the duration of your Ailments.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life 50% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Mana Reservation Efficiency (Exarch Implicit + Essence) Attributes  increased Duration of Ailments you inflict while Focused increased Temporal Chains Curse Effect (Eater Implicit + Enchant)

(Helmet) Devouring Diadem - it saves you the troubles of crafting a Rare Helmet, but it usually is expensive for the first few days of the League. It also saves you 3 Passive Points on the Eldritch Battery Keystone.

+1 to Level of Socketed Gems Socketed Gems have 20% reduced Mana Reservation Trigger Level 15 Feast of Flesh every 5 seconds (180-220)% increased Energy Shield 10% chance for Energy Shield Recharge to start when you use a Skill Eldritch Battery <One Veiled Mod>

Recommended Veiled Mod:  (81-90)% increased Duration of Ailments you inflict while Focused

(Body Armour) Dendrobate - a great early-game Body Armour that grants you tons of Damage if you are able to fulfill the Attribute requirements. The additional Support is also useful if you lack the Poison Chance. It is quite cheap, so you can look for Corruption for additional Gem Levels, and link it using the Tainted Currency.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 10 Chance to Poison (130-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +40 to maximum Energy Shield +(15-25)% to all Elemental Resistances (75-100)% increased Damage with Poison if you have at least 300 Dexterity (15-25)% increased Poison Duration if you have at least 150 Intelligence

(Body Armour) Rare Armour - a proper Rare Armour can provide you with similar levels of Damage, but also improve your Defenses. For Damage look for Gem Levels, Frenzy Charge generation, and additional Curse. Then you can get maximum and increased Life, Physical Damage Reduction or taken as Elemental, Life Regeneration, or Block and Spell Suppression Chances.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: % of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Elemental Damage Spells have +#% to Critical Strike Chance #% increased maximum Life chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Hit +1 to Level of Socketed Active Skill Gems You can apply an additional Curse

(Boots) Rare Boots - primarily look for high bonus Life and Movement Speed, then just try to add missing Resistances and possibly Chaos Resistance.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: 5% increased Action Speed (Searing Exarch Implicit) Chance to gain Onslaught on Kill Chaos Resistance Attributes % chance to Avoid Bleeding Ailment

(Gloves) Asenath's Gentle Touch - the BiS pair of gloves. It automatically applies the Temporal Chains Curse, Blinds enemies, and causes corpses to explode for extra Damage. Optionally they can be Corrupted to inflict Despair too, but it will be the weaker version than a proper self-casted Curse.

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(60-80) to maximum Life +(60-80) to maximum Mana Curse Enemies with Temporal Chains on Hit Non-Aura Curses you inflict are not removed from Dying Enemies Enemies near corpses affected by your Curses are Blinded Enemies Killed near corpses affected by your Curses explode, dealing 3% of their Life as Physical Damage

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - regular Rare Gloves can be focused on Defensive modifiers such as high maximum Life, Spell Suppression, Life Regeneration, or lacking Resistances. You can still get a bit of Damage via Eldritch Implicits.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes Chaos Resistance Life Regeneration Spell Suppression Chance Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier

(Belt) Rare Belt - here you can get tons of Life and Resistances. You can also get some Chaos Damage bonus. It should always be a Stygian Vise base, as it allows you to use extra Abyss Jewel.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes % increased Life increased Chaos Damage Flask and Flask Charges modifiers

(Jewel) Abyss Jewel - here you should look for maximum Life, lacking Resistances, or Attributes. Chance to gain Phasing on Kill is also very useful. Damage-wise, look for increased DoT or added flat Physical or Chaos Damage for your Spells.

Min. requirements: +30 to maximum Life Optional affixes: Elemental Resistance Attributes % increased Damage over Time while Dual Wielding Added Spell Physical Damage while Dual Wielding % chance to gain Phasing for 4 seconds on Kill

(Amulet) Ungil's Harmony - grants absurd amounts of Critical Strike Chance, and the downside doesn't affect this Build in the slightest. You can use Critical Catalysts to push the Crit Chance up to 420%.

+(16-24) to Dexterity and Intelligence (250-350)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance Your Critical Strikes do not deal extra Damage +(30-50) to maximum Life +(30-50) to maximum Mana 40% increased Stun and Block Recovery

Recommended Anoint: Corruption Dirty Technique

(Ring) Ming's Heart - it can grant you an absurd amount of Extra Chaos Damage, especially when you use Chaos Catalyst to make the bonus 20% stronger. In return it lowers your maximum Life significantly, so your goal is to get enough Damage elsewhere to avoid using this Ring.

+(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance 25% reduced maximum Energy Shield 25% reduced maximum Life +(40-50)% to Chaos Resistance Gain (40-60)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage

(Ring) Circle of Guilt - this Ring significantly buffs your Physical Damage when you are using the Herald of Purity, but be careful, as it has many combinations of mods. You can also use the Circle of Nostalgia for the same set of modifiers with Herald of Agony, the end result is very similar.

<One to three random Synthesis implicit modifiers> +(10-20) to all Attributes Adds (8-10) to (13-15) Physical Damage +(350-400) to Armour (40-60)% increased Physical Damage while affected by Herald of Purity Herald of Purity has (40-60)% increased Buff Effect

(Ring) Icefang Orbit - it is a very cheap Ring that grants a decent amount of Damage, and allows you to inflict Chill. It also boosts your global chance of Poison, which includes Corpse Explosions.

+(20-30) to Dexterity 25% chance to Poison on Hit (40-60)% increased Damage with Poison You are Chilled when you are Poisoned Non-Chilled Enemies you Poison are Chilled Poisoned Enemies you Kill with Hits Shatter

(Ring) Rare Ring - you can also use a Rare Ring that will grant you a decent amount of Damage, but also provide you with necessary maximum Life or Resistance modifiers.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes increased Chaos Damage Damage over Time Multiplier Chaos Resistance

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - your Jewels can provide you with a mix of defense and offense. Aim to always have maximum Life here, as well as some Poison Damage, DoT Multiplier, or Resistances and Attributes. You can also get Flask Duration or Mana Reservation Efficiency here.

Min. requirements: increased maximum Life Recommended affixes: Resistances Attributes Poison Duration Poison Damage DoT Multiplier

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - eventually you will run out of efficient Passives on the Passive Skill Tree, and you will have to resort to Cluster Jewels instead. There are quite a few useful Notables to get, and the differences in their power are not that great.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Grim Oath 1 Added Passive Skill is Unwaveringly Evil 1 Added Passive Skill is Wicked Pall 1 Added Passive Skill is Unholy Grace 1 Added Passive Skill is Unspeakable Gifts 1 Added Passive Skill is Battle-Hardened 1 Added Passive Skill is Master the Fundamentals

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - those are even more efficient than Large Clusters, all thanks to the Circling Oblivion Notable which increases the Duration of your Poisons. You should back it up with the Flow of Life Notable to get both Damage and maximum Life, but you can use any other useful Notable you can find.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Circling Oblivion 1 Added Passive Skill is Flow of Life 1 Added Passive Skill is Eternal Suffering 1 Added Passive Skill is Haemorrhage 1 Added Passive Skill is Wicked Pall

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame&Flesh - at the later stages you can borrow some useful Notables from other Shadow's Ascendencies. For Damage, there is only the famous Polymath Notable from Trickster, but we suggest getting Defensive ones such as Born in the Shadows, Mistwalker, or One Step Ahead instead.

Allocates <Ascendency Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh/Flame Recommended Notables: Polymath Born in the Shadows One Step Ahead Mistwalker

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - a Malevolence Watcher's Eye is one of the best Jewels for this build. It grants up to over 20% Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier which is hard to replace with any other Jewel.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura mods: +(18-22)% to Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence Damaging Ailments you inflict deal Damage (10-15)% faster while affected by Malevolence

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - by default, it gives you plenty of Dexterity, and with the correct seed, it can grant you tons of useful modifiers such as maximum Life, Poison Damage, Onslaught on Kill, or better Flask sustain.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of (Asenath-Balbala-Nasima) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) Balance of Terror - with the return of Sanctum, we can utilize this Unique Jewel once again. It automates the Wither application, which allows you to skip using the Spell Totem setup.

+(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances <2-3 random curse modifiers> Recommended Curse mod: Inflict Withered for 2 seconds on Hit if you've cast Despair in the past 10 seconds

(Flask) Sin's Rebirth - it will grant you the Unholy Might buff on demand, which is very powerful for this Build. It grants you 30% Extra Chaos Damage based on your Physical Damage.

Unholy Might during Effect Grants Immunity to Ignite for 4 seconds if used while Ignited Removes all Burning when used

(Flask) Coralito's Signature - as a Diamond Flask it boosts your Critical Strike Chance, and it also adds an extra DoT Multiplier for your Poisons.

25% chance to Poison on Hit during Effect Your Critical Strikes do not deal extra Damage during Effect +(20-30)% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Poison from Critical Strikes during Effect Take 250 Chaos Damage per Second during Effect

Suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding Removal Quicksilver with Critical Strike Chance bonus Jade Flask with Evasion Rating bonus

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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