Poet's Pen
Blade Vortex / Bladefall
Poison Assassin build

Updated for Patch 3.5

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: moderately low

Poet's Pen is one of the most popular wands in Path of Exile. It provides unique trigger mechanic which makes your attacks cast spells socketed in Poet's Pen. On top of that, Poet's Pen increases the level of socketed Gems, making them more potent as your progress. It makes Poet's Pen one of the best leveling items in PoE (you can use Poet's Pen starting at level 12) and also, an extremely powerful weapon even in the late game.

You can also find the full list of our other Path of Exile Builds right here: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Like most Poet's Pen builds, our build uses Frenzy as the primary attack. Frenzy has high Attack Speed and generates Frenzy Charges for even more Attack Speed(and damage). In this build, you aim to reach 4 Attacks per second (Poet's Pen has an internal cooldown of 250ms so reaching four attacks is optimal) and with each attack, you will trigger spells socketed in your wands. Because of high Attack Speed, it's easy to quickly reach 20 stacks of Blade Vortex, which combined with Frenzy and Bladefall casts can easily apply over 100 Poisons on a single enemy while fully buffed. 

For defenses, this build utilizes Dodge Chance, Evasion, and moderately high Life, which should allow you to farm all the Path of Exile's content with proper investment in gear. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Poet's Pen is one of the best leveling weapons in Path of Exile. You can wield them from level 12, and you don't have to worry about the weapon slots forever. Merely upgrade other gear, which should increase your defenses (top priority) and grant Attack Speed and Spell Damage bonuses.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Frenzy setup
	Frenzy - your primary attack skill. Attacks with this skill to trigger Poet's Pens' spells. You can use any other attack until Frenzy becomes available
	Faster Attacks Support
	Life on Hit Support

Ethereal Knives
	Ethereal Knives - one of the first Spells available for the Shadow class. Can be used until you are level 28 and can socket Bladefall instead
	Lesser Poison Support - adds Chaos Damage and grants 40% chance to Poison on Hit
	Unbound Ailments Support - increased the damage you deal with Poison and its' duration

Blade Vortex
	Blade Vortex - spawns ethereal blades around you which deal damage with every hit
	Lesser Poison Support
	Unbound Ailments Support

Utility Gems
	Lightning Golem - will increase your Attack Speed which is the core attribute of every Poet's Pen build
	Despair - the recommended Curse for this build
	Haste - one of the best Auras for the early levels

Bandits:

We suggest killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

32 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Trickery 2) Fangs of the Viper 3) Fatal Toxins 4) Acrobatics

59 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Toxic Strikes 2) Thick Skin 3) Heart of Oak 4) Harrier

Recommended leveling items:

Praxis - amazing leveling ring which will help you sustain your Frenzy spam
+(20-25) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana (3-6) Mana Regenerated per second -(8-4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit

Doedre’s Tenure - the best gloves leveling gloves for this build. They provide insane Spell Damage bonus with no downside for Poet's Pen
(50-60)% increased Spell Damage +20 to Intelligence 15% reduced Cast Speed +32 to maximum Energy Shield

The Poet’s Pen - the core weapons for this build. They can be used as soon as you reach level 12 (and can afford them)
(11-15)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Active Skill Gems per 25 Player Levels Adds 3 to 5 Physical Damage to Attacks with this Weapon per 3 Player Levels (8-12)% increased Attack Speed Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Attack

4. Final Skill tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

113 Points Final Skill Tree
113 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Noxious Strike
2. Toxic Delivery
3. Unstable Infusion
4. Deadly Infusion

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS/TRIGGER] Frenzy setup
	Frenzy - your primary Attack Skill. Because of high Attack Speed, it can also deal significant damage with Poisons it applies, that's why it's the best to set it up in a 6-linked Dendrobate
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - increases the number of Frenzy's projectiles
	Faster Attacks Support
	Deadly Ailments Support - increased the damage of ailments caused by Frenzy
	Added Chaos Damage Support - adds flat Chaos Damage to supported skill
	Unbound Ailments Support - again, used to increases the Damage of your Frenzy's Poisons even further

[AURA] Clarity
	Clarity - grants increased Mana Regeneration

[GOLEM] Lightning Golem
	Lightning Golem - this Golem increases your Attack Speed

[AURA/CURSE] Despair
	Despair - the recommended Curse for this build
	Blasphemy Support - makes your Despair Curse work as an Aura around you

[DEFENSE] Immortal Call setup
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - will auto-cast supported skills after a certain amount of damage is taken by the player. It is required to keep this Gem at level 1
	Immortal Call - grants brief immunity to Physical Damage. Is auto-cast and should be at maximum level 3
	Increased Duration Support - increases the duration of Immortal Call and Vaal Grace buffs
	Vaal Grace - increases your Dodge Chance for a brief duration. Also grants the Grace Aura spell which should be used for the increased Evasion Rating

[UTILITY] Wither Spell Totem
	Wither - Wither applies a stacking debuff on affected monsters that increases Chaos Damage they take. Wither is cast by your Spell Totem
	Faster Casting Support
	Spell Totem Support - allows you to spawn a Totem which uses the supported spell; Wither in this case
	Arcane Surge Support - grants increased Spell Damage and Mana Regeneration. Keep this Gem at level 5 so that spawning your Totem will grant the buff

[DPS] Blade Vortex (1st Poet's Pen)
	Blade Vortex
	Lesser Poison Support
	Deadly Ailments Support - grants increased Damage with Poison

[DPS] Bladefall setup (2nd Poet's Pen)
	Bladefall - a great AoE Spell that greatly increases your clear speed
	Lesser Poison Support
	Deadly Ailments Support

5. Gear Setup

Poet's Pen builds extremely powerful and does not require any expensive gear. You can easily play this build with just four links and grind your way up. Below you will find all the required and recommended gear. Like most of our builds, we try to list only moderately cheap and easily obtainable items.

If you are looking for cheap PoE Currency or Unique Items, we would love to invite you to our market section, which you can access via the links on top of this page.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Devoto's Devotion - this is our only recommendation for the helmet slot. It grants Attack Speed and Movement Speed which are extremely important in this build (not to mention you are not using any movement skill at all)

10% reduced Global Physical Damage +(50-65) to Dexterity 16% increased Attack Speed (150-200)% increased Armour and Evasion +(15-25)% to Chaos Resistance 20% increased Movement Speed Mercury Footprints

Helmet enchantments: Blade Vortex has +3% to Critical Strike Multiplier for each blade 12% increased Blade Vortex Area of Effect Bladefall has an additional Volley

(Weapon) The Poet’s Pen - the core items for this build

(11-15)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Active Skill Gems per 25 Player Levels Adds 3 to 5 Physical Damage to Attacks with this Weapon per 3 Player Levels (8-12)% increased Attack Speed Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Attack

(Body Armour) Dendrobate - is the best Body Armour for its' amazing Poison Damage and Duration bonuses. If you are low on currency, you can craft 4-links on it, and it will be still fully viable

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 10 Lesser 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

(Boots) Rare Boots

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 350 Evasion Rating 30% increased Movement Speed 40 Dexterity Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance

(Boots) Atziri's Step - great pair of boots for this build. It will, however, require you to get additional Dexterity on other pieces of equipment

180% increased Evasion Rating +(55-75) to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed (14-16)% chance to Dodge Spell Hits

Boot enchantment: Adds 120 to 180 Chaos Damage if you've taken a Critical Strike Recently 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently

(Belt) Rare Belt - aim to get the highest defensive stats

Min. requirements: 120 Maximum Life 27% Fire Resistance 33% Lightning Resistance 32% Cold Resistance

(Amulet) Impresence (Chaos) - grants increased Damage over Time, additional Chaos Damage as well as makes your Despair Aura reserve no Mana

+(10-16) to all Attributes (30-40)% increased Damage over Time Adds (17-19) to (23-29) Chaos Damage +(50-70) to maximum Life +(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance 100% reduced Despair Mana Reservation Gain Maddening Presence for 10 seconds when you Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy

(Ring) Rare Ring - dual-res ring will save you up a bunch of Chaos

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 40 maximum Mana 40% Fire Resistance 40% Cold Resistance Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating (increases the number of Poisons caused by Frenzy) increased damage with Poison (Essence of Delirium crafted jewelry)

(Ring) Rare Ring - this time with Fire and Lightning Resistances

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 40 maximum Mana 40% Fire Resistance 40% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating (increases the number of Poisons caused by Frenzy) increased damage with Poison (Essence of Delirium crafted jewelry)

(Gloves) Rare Gloves

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 400 Evasion Rating 35% Lightning Resistance 35% Cold Resistance Optional affixes: increased Attack Speed

(Jewels) Abyss Jewels - at least one Abyss Jewel is recommended with the chance to Hinder on Spell Hit

Recommended affixes: maximum Life Added Chaos Damage to Spells chance to Hinder on Hit with Spells Optional affixes: maximum Mana

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - these should provide extra Life and damage bonuses

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life increased Chaos Damage/Damage over Time Optional affixes: Attributes  (to match Dendrobate requirements)

(Flask) Witchfire Brew - grants increased Damage over Time

100% increased Evasion Rating Creates a Smoke Cloud on Use 50% increased Charges used (25-40)% increased Damage Over Time during Flask Effect Grants Level 21 Despair Curse Aura during Flask Effect

(Flask) Coralito's Signature - grants increased Poison duration, which greatly increases your maximum DPS output

Your Critical Strike Chance is Lucky Take 30 Chaos Damage per Second during Flask effect 25% chance to Poison on Hit during Flask effect Your Critical Strikes do not deal extra Damage during Flask effect (50-75)% increased Duration of Poisons you inflict during Flask effect Grants Perfect Agony during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Staunching (immunity to bleeding) Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Heat (immunity to freeze and chill) Ample Quicksilver Flask of Reflexes (increased Movement Speed and Evasion Rating)

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below.

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