The Surfcaster is easily the strongest pick for any self-caster Build out there if you can manage to obtain a Fishing Rod, which grants you guaranteed Critical Hits and a massive boost to you Cast Speed. The other aspects of this Ascendency are quite good as well, so your journey to get the Fishing Rod won't be too bad. It is also very effective at Chilling and Freezing Enemies, which greatly improves your survival, although the majority of your defense comes from your Gear. 

Build examples: Fishing Rod Arc Surfcaster

The Whisperer is quite a powerful option on its own, althrough it true potential lies in the Kinetic Black of Clustering, which is undoubtedly one of the strongest Build out there. It provides tons of Mana, extra Damage through Rage and Fork, while also providing plenty of survivability against Physical Damage, although you can also opt for permanent 4 Power and Frenzy Charges, which grant even more Damage. 

Build examples: Kinetic Blast of Clustering Whisperer

The Ancestral Commander received a quite sizable nerf that lowers the defensive benefits of this Ascendency, but it is still very good. It now grants only 2 maximum Endurance Charges and recovers 10% of your maximum Life upon taking a Hit, but it is still a massive amount of defense. For your remaining points, you can get even more defense, or pick additional Strike targets and repeats, which leads to a substantial improvement for your Clear Speed. It is a strong, simple, and universal Ascendency that can fit many Builds with excellent efficiency. 

Build examples: Tectonic Slam of Cataclysm Ancestral Commander

The Blind Prophet also receives a minor nerf regarding the base Critical Strike Chance you can get with any Weapon, but it is still a very powerful modifier for just 2 Ascendency Points. This Ascendency is all about the Damage you get for the Attacks, especially if you use Projectile Skills that can overlap while returning, which replaces the very powerful and expensive Nimis Ring. The downside here is the automatic Blind effect on yourself, which can be negated with just the Minor Pantheon power. This Ascendency offers rather poor defensive options, although you can get tons of maximum Life if you decide to use Abyssal Jewels, which is a good, although a bit expensive, way to scale Attacks with a massive amount of flat Added Damage and Critical Strike Multiplier. 

Build examples: Lightning Strike Blind Prophet, CoC Rolling Magma Blind Prophet

The Servant of Arakaali is your best choice for the easiest Campaign run imaginable. After the first Labiryth Trial, you will get a free level 15 Envy aura, which makes the entire leveling process a breeze. Once you reach the Maps, you can opt for the Chaos and Minion theme of this Ascendency, or swap for the other, also powerful Ascendencies, depending on your playstyle preferences. The Servant has quite limited Build choices due to specific modifiers that greatly benefit Minions and Chaos Damage. You might also experiment with some niche possibilities, such as Poison Blade Vortex, although other Ascendencies might be a better choice. However, if you enjoy the Poison Minion Archetype, you won't be disappointed with the Servant. 

Build examples: Summon Raging Spirit Servant of Arakaali

The Paladin is quite underrated Ascendency that is simply good for what it does. You will always want to get the Notables that increase the Elemental Damage taken by nearby Enemies, and summon Elemental Relics that grant you free Wrath, Anger, and Hated Auras. You can then greatly increase the effect of your Magic Flasks, Taunt Enemies to make them take even more Damage, or get the level 30 Grace or Determination Aura, which still incurs the Reservation Cost, but might save you plenty of Attributes to fulfil their requirements and provides more Defenses than the usual level 20 Gems. This package is suitable for almost every Elemental Attack Build imaginable, including both Melee and Ranged combat types. 

The Behemoth is finally a reasonable choice to pick. You still don't have access to Auras, but you can now use important Utility Skills such as Guards or Berserk. On the other hand, you can no longer Exert your Attacks with Warcries. This Asceendency is greatly emphasizes the brute strength of Marauders. You will get a lot of Damage through easily sustainable Rampage streaks, get tanky and fast with the Fortification, and you will always be raging at full potential thanks to the Sheer Fury. This ascendency offers a lot of early power at the cost of limiting the endgame potential. You will still be able to conquer most of the content, although at the higher levels of investments you might want to consider swapping to the Ancestral Commander. 

The Wildspeaker is another Ascendency that offers a specific way of building up your Character. The primary draw of this Ascendency is the automatic Frenzy Charge generation, allowing you to use Flicker Strike with any Setup you want. The Scourge of Wilds allows you to scale your Damage through stacking Dexterity, which can be paired with Weapons that add Cold Damage based on that Attribute. Alternatively, you can pick the Pack Mentality to summon Wolves that adds tons of Physical Damage to your Attacks, which can be useful for certain Unique Setups such as Facebreaker Gloves, Voidforge Sword, or Doomfletch Bow. The permanent and enhanced Tailwind, or guaranteed but weaker Spell Suppression, is also very good in every scenario.

Build examples: Flicker Strike Wildspeaker

The Puppetter is a Minion-themed Ascendency that specialises in Raised Zombies and Animate Weapons. However, the Graveyard Shift Notable makes your Zombies count as Corpses, meaning your Enemies can Detonate them too, which essentially disqualifies this type of Build, with the exception of the Raised Zombies of Falling. The Animate Weapon branch is very strong, and you can create some powerful Builds with it, but you are locked to this specific Skill Gem only. The Feeding Frenzy Notable could be used by other Minion Builds, but the Paladin or Servant of Arakaali would simply yield better results. 

Build examples: Animate Weapon Puppeteer

The Daughter of Oshabi mixes a lot of interesting themes, but it is quite challenging to combine them into one coherent Build. The Shrine branch is very powerful for any Mapping scenario, but occasional death or leaving the area will completely reset your momentum. Additional Wisps for your Wand Attacks, paired with stacking Evasion to increase your Attack Damage, might be a great concept for a character, but choosing a Whisperer is usually a simpler and more effective way. The Spellslinger bonuses are great, but the Spellslinger itself is a somewhat struggling archetype. 

Build examples: Poison Spellslinger Daughter of Oshabi

The Polymath received a lot of Buffs and one small nerf. The nerf targeted the only thing that could make this Ascendency worthwhile, which is the clipse Solaris Wand, which gains an insane amount of Damage through stacking Light Radius. This Ascendency offers a huge variety of bonuses, but most of them are quite counter-synergistic and not really helpful compared to simple Damage or Defense gains. 

The Vaal Skills are one of the most intriguing Skills in the game, often leading to game-breaking Builds once a new method is discovered, promptly followed by crushing nerfs soon after. The Architect of Chaos offers a portion of that power by partially enabling a sustainable Vaal Skill Build. There are very few powerful use cases, such as Vaal Cold Snap or Vaal Storm Call, but it is often tied to specific Unique Items, greatly limiting the possibilities. It is a great Ascendency to explore new ideas, but the raw performance is not that great for 99% of Builds. 

Build examples: Vaal Storm Call Architect of Chaos

The Harbinger somehow managed to become even worse than before. Picking the Visiting Harbingers is not mandatory to unlock the following, more generic and useful, Notables. However, you can still have only one Visiting Harbinger summoned at the same time. The only promising Build for this Ascendency revolves around the Foulborn Doedre's Scorn for the level 30 Impending Doom Gem, which requires a lot of Curse Area bonuses for better overlaps.

  
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