Blade Vortex is a bit of a niche skill with its limited range. But luckily, it’s still really strong in Path of Exile 3.3 thanks to Crit and Elemental Damage scaling. The build also relies on reliable crits for shocks and freezes to slow down incoming DPS. The mechanics are also really simple, just stay mobile and spam your skills.
On top of the simplicity and fairly easy gear requirements, the clear speed is perfect for the Incursion League.
Build Pros
- Great league starter with budget gear for lower content
- Good clear speed
Build Cons
- Early game is a bit slow if using BV
- Optimal Shaper/Elder gear is EXPENSIVE
Passive Tree(s)
POB link (Tentative 3.4 version) – https://pastebin.com/H3hUk29v
Leveling Trees:
Leveling skill-tree, 28 points
Leveling skill-tree, 51 points
Leveling skill-tree, 86 points
Note:
1. Once the skill-tree is finished, just focus 100% on more jewel slots.
Pantheon
Major God – Brine King
Minor God – Shakari
Bandits
Kill All
Ascendancy skill points
Elementalist
Ascendancy Nodes:
The way you start this is completely up to you, you have 2 options:
1) Pendulum of Destruction over to Mastermind of Discord.
2) Shaper of Desolation over to Beacon of Ruin.
Leveling Items and General Tips
Leveling Uniques
Recommended LvLing Uniques:
Frozen Trail
Wanderlust
Goldrim
Lifesprig
Tabula Rasa
Abberath’s Horn
With 3.3, the process of leveling for BV is much smoother than before. Buffing BV with added elemental damage support jewels can make it much easier. And since the build relies on scaling elemental damage, this goundwork plays well into end-game.
Stack all three of the Added Fire/Cold/Lightning at first, once you hit later levels, switch out the Cold/Lightning for Controlled Destruction & Elemental Focus.
If you want to level with another setup, go for Magma Orb, switching to Firestorm ASAP, supporting it with Spell Totem which you want to link to your Firestorm together with anything that gives it dmg such as Added Cold, Added Lightning. Once you hit later levels, add in Faster Casting, Controlled Destruction and Elemental Focus. This Firestorm setup can run until end-game assuming you get good gear ASAP.
Avoid these map mods:
- Reflect (All Maps)
- No Leech/Regen (All Maps)
If you are a brand new Path of Exile player, feel free to check out our various POE guides for noobs.
Skill Gem Setup
6L: Vaal Blade Vortex, Controlled Destruction, Physical to Lightning, Increased Area of Effect, Increased Critical Strikes, Increased Critical Damage
Curse on Hit Herald:
– Curse on Hit, Warlord’s Mark, Herald of Thunder
Mobility:
– Shield Charge, Fortify, Faster Attacks
Cast When Damage Taken:
– CWDT, Immortal Call, Warlord’s Mark, Increased Duration
Utility:
– Herald of Ice, Summon Lightning Golem, Flame Dash, Portal
Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear
In this section you will find all the suggested items for this build. We always try to include optional gear in our listing, or try your own assuming you get similar stat rolls. Aim for high-quality Rares if you’re replacing Uniques.
Stat Priorities:
Defensive Stats:
1. Life
2. Mana
3. Resistances
4. Strength
Offensive Stats:
1. Critical Strike Chance for Spells
1. Critical Strike Multiplier
2. Elemental DMG (and elemental specific such as cold/lightning)
2. Spell DMG
2. Area DMG
3. Cast Speed
Weapons
High-end Shaper/Elder Rares will work best in this build. You’ll want to run a hybrid weapon and shield setup. Make sure that the shield has buffs for spell damage and crit chance/multiplier. A Shaper/Elder Rare with extra added elemental damage is BIS.
Min. requirements:
90% Increased Spell Damage combined
Increased Crit Strike Spell Mods
Optional affixes:
+ Maximum Mana
Attributes
Helmet
Starkonja’s Head is a great choice due to massive damage buffs and crit chance. It should also be very cheap so it can be obtained easily.
Body Armor
Inpulsa’s Broken Heart is both BIS, and fairly cheap. Get it 6-linked ASAP. No real replacement for this.
Belt
Abyss Belts with Life and Resistances are a good option for end-game. Other Rares might do in a pinch, but not having good rolls can make you a lot more squishy than is tolerable. Abyss Jewels are also a great source for damage buffs like these:
Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
Added Damage to Spells
Optional affixes:
Attributes
Gloves
Hrimburn is BIS due to the scaling of multiple types of elemental damage. It’s currently running at ~15 Chaos, so it’s fairly easy to obtain with a little end-game farming, even in low-tier maps. Hrimsorrow can be used in a pinch though.
Boots
Rare boots with max rolled Life, Resists and Movement Speed are BIS. Item Rarity is also decent optional roll here if you don’t need any extra resists, stats or life.
Min. requirements:
50 maximum Life
30% increased Movement Speed
25% Fire Resistance
25% Lightning Resistance
25% Cold Resistance
Amulet
Attributes will need some help, so get a corrupted Amulet with as many stats as possible. Getting good Life rolls can help with survivability. The best way to scale damage is to get buffs to both Crit Chance and Multiplier on the amulet.
Min. requirements:
40 maximum Life
Attributes
Critical Strike Mods
Rings
Rare rings that buff your damage in a substantive way work best. Plugging any resist holes is good too.
Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
20% All Elemental Resistances
Optional affixes:
Attributes
Increased Elemental Damage
Flasks
1x Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching
1x Diamond Flask of Warding
1x Atziri’s Promise
1x Taste of Hate
1x Ample Quicksilver Flask of Heat
Needed Mods:
Curse Removal
Freeze Removal
Bleed Removal
You can swap the mods around if needed due to RNG.
Jewels
Intuitive Leap Unique Jewel can be useful for grabbing passives that buff your damage. The Melding and Charge on Kill passives in the PoB are very good for this. You could also opt for Life Regen nodes near Sanctity over Damage earlier in the leveling process if you don’t mind losing DPS, or if you can stack more Elemental Damage on your gear.
Recommended affixes:
% increased maximum Life
% increased spell damage
Optional affixes:
% increased Attack Speed