Colossal thanks to kidpid for coming up with the build idea, general skill setup, devotion and testing.
1.0.0.9 Update!
Changes:
Shoulders: From Ancient Zantarin’s Shoulderguard of Nature’s Bounty to Elite Devil’s Spaulders with Bladeward Powder
Hands:“Empowered” Shadow’s Grasp to Iceskorn Talons with Outcast’s Warding Powder
Feet: Venomspine Greaves to Consecrated Exalted Treads of Nature’s Bounty with Spellward Powder (look mainly for health on the feet slot)
With the new changes brought by 1.0.0.9, the resistances of the build have improved quite dramatically across the board. This allows us to finally use a pair of gloves instead of the little-wittle baby cuffs we were using before by replacing the Zantarin Shoulderguard with the Devil’s Crossing Shoulderguard. However, this resulted in a loss of hp and resistance (most notably vitality), which is why the boots is changed from Venomspine to a crafted green one. Overall, this resulted in more damage and more efficient resistance capping.
I have also taken this opportunity to post the finalized grim calc setup after testing and gear changes:
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-Oiuaez (before +skills)
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-JASvrP (after+skills)
As always, 90 to physique.
Important Note:
I forgot to mention this: while the Rift Scourge Slicer that I am currently using, Venomfang of the Defiler, is the best in slot for this build, not many are going to have access to this exact combination of prefix and suffix. However, the Venomlash is quite close in performance to the Slicer while being a lot easier to acquire, so if you are having trouble finding the Slicer, I highly recommend the Venomlash-Basilisk Claw setup.
Main Thread:
Hello there. You may remember me from the ever-so-slightly controversial Venomblademaster build, and I am here to bring you another build, this time focusing on poison Shadow Strike, instead of Cadence, and on a Witch Hunter instead of a Blademaster. As you may inferred by now, this build uses Shadow Strike as its main source of damage accompanied by a multitude of DoTs, and consequently focuses on maxing the Shadow Strike tree (mostly Nidalla’s Justifiable Ends and the main skill itself). However, getting to max ultimate rank on Shadow Strike without employing the Deathmarked set is quite hard, and therefore may require an otherwise non-optimal gear, more on that in the gear section.
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-Oiuaez (before +skills)
http://grimcalc.com/build/1009-JASvrP (after+skills)
Bindings: Scorpion to Shadow Strike | Abomination to Blade Spirit | Manticore to ABB or CoF | Chariot to Possession
Equipped Gear:
Head: Cowl of the Venomblade with Leathery Hide + Mankind’s Vigil
Chest: Stealth Jacket of the Venomblade with Hollowed Ground + Outcast’s Elemental Scales
Feet: Venomspines Greaves (yes, really) with Mark of Mogdrogen + Outcast’s Spellward Powder
Amulet: The OAless Eye of Beronath with Focusing Prism + Survivor’s Preserverance
Belt: Spellbreaker’s Waistguard with Dense Fur + Outcast’s Spellward Powder
Badge: Badge of Mastery (+5 Shadowstrike) with Arcane Spark
Weapon: Basilisk’s Claw with Oleron’s Blood + Outcast’s Venom
Weapon: Venomfang Rift Scourge Slicer of the Defiler with Vitriolic Gallstone + Essence of Ch’thon (maybe Outcast’s Venom is better)
Ring: Incorruptible Viloth’s Ring of the Untamed with Corpse dust + Survivor’s Ingenuity
Ring: Incorruptible Cronley’s Signet of Attack with Corpse dust + Survivor’s Ingenuity (I would use 2x of the aforementioned Viloth Ring if I can)
Legs: Stonehide Dreeg-sect Legguards of Menhir’s Wall with Scaled Hide + Outcast’s Elemental Scales
Shoulders: Ancient Zantarin’s Shoulderguard of Nature’s Bounty with Scaled Hide + Outcast’s Warding Powder
Hands: “Empowered” Shadow’s Grasp with Mutated Scales + Outcast’s Warding Powder (Sadly, the need of overcapping Shadow Strike outweighs the need of good gloves. I tried to use “Assassin’s” xxx but the prefix only exists on the slots that are too much to give up)
Relic: Malediction
Edit 1:
BiS Section:
Of the gear I am using, I believe the Weapons, Head, Amulet, Relic, Badge, Chest, Waist, and 1 Ring are Best in Slot.
Incorruptible Viloth of … (or other good pre/suffixes if you do not need the Incorruptible) would be a BiS
This leaves the Shoulder, Legs, and Feet slots open for you to get items that are tailored to your resistance needs, which is why it’s hard to say the exact affix combination for BiS. But Zantarin’s Shoulderguards would be the best MI for that slot with the +3 LA/BoD.
Alternatively, you can leave Shadow Strike at 24/16 and use a good pair of gloves instead, like Venomfang or Iceskorn. With Iceskorn, I do not believe it’s better than reaching ultimate ranks with Shadow Strike, since a lot of its value is diminished with the wasted +2 LA (however, this is likely to be a completely different story if you are not using, say, Zantarin’s Shoulderguards).
(With auras + lethal assault active)
A note for the gear section:
You may think that the amount of greens listed are too high to farm. But equipped gear does not necessarily mean obligatory gear, or even best in slot. The “requirement” is for you to cap Shadow Strike; if you have another setup that gets max ultimate rank, you can use that and tailor your open slots (such as feet and leg slot) to your resistance needs. I have found this setup to be pretty good at both, but again, there is no need to follow this gear setup by the letter. As for the ring slots, the Judiciary Set seems to be pretty good.
This build is very likely to get a significant buff with the upcoming expansion, since it will bring new poison/acid affixes to better support the damage types.
Playstyle
Use Shadow Strike immediately off of cooldown while keeping Lethal Assault, Blood of Dreeg, Pneumatic Burst, Curse of Frailty, and Blade Spirit active. Use Oleron’s Might off of cooldown as well. While the main damage origins from Shadow Strike, the DoTs are pretty influential too: I was reaching 110k, 120k in DoTs, so that’s something worth mentioning
Pros and Cons
- Great single target damage (evident by kill times)
- Good AoE
- Reasonable HP and DA
- Great OA
- A lot of open gear slots
Side note: You may have wondered how this build compares to Cold SS Spellbreakers. From playing both builds, I can safely say that this build is equally, if not better, than its Spellbreaker equivalent in terms of damage. However, there is one significant advantage over Coldbreakers, defenses: Poison WH SS have a much easier time getting a sufficient amount of hp and resistances than Coldbreakers because of skills such as Blood of Dreeg and more free gear slots.
This build is untested in Crucible, but I am sure it will perform very well if my Coldbreakers are any indication.
- Energy issues (need a steady supply of potions)
- Low armor
- Only 198% overcapped on poison/acid resistance
- I’m using such a bad pair of gloves
- I’m using such a bad pair of boots
Closing:
This build turned out to be surprisingly good, contrary to original expectations, with the MQ + Dummy kill times (videos coming soonTM). If you do decide to give this build a spin or have any optimization suggestions, be sure to comment below (I am posting this thread not 2 days after its completion).
Colossal thanks to kidpid for coming up with the build idea, general skill setup, devotion and testing.
Still LF Deathmarked sets for rerolls…
