First off, why Handmaiden? Because my character was female and such devotion to Dreeg and his venomous ways sounded cool. So… Anyone trying this build has to make a female character. That’s a rule now. 
The character began as an experiment to test the viability/power of Nidalla’s Justifiable Ends (henceforth NJE) and the durability of a Nightblade/Occultist combo but evolved into a whole lot of fun.
Ultimate viable? Yes.
Hardcore viable? I don’t play hardcore but I would say yes.
Updated: March 26, 2016.
After playing around with many iterations of the build, significant changes have taken place in the gear/devotion areas.
Pros
- Fast clear speeds
- Kills most Heroes/Bosses easily
- “Fire and forget” damage on targets you don’t want to engage for long durations
- Good AoE with Devotions
- Two heals/buffs that are always on
- Fun! Can be a rush.
Cons
- Can be squishy without decent gear/devotions
- Some people may not enjoy the frequent button spam (shrug)
- Very slow energy regen and very high rate of energy consumption; you will become a potion addict.
Active Skills
- Shadow Strike
- Pneumatic Burst
- Blood of Dreeg
Passive Skills - Solael’s Witchfire
- Possession
- Veil of Shadow
Granted Skills - Dreeg’s Afflicted Spines
- Dreeg’s Infinite Gaze
- Gaze of Beronath (optional)
Damage Types Dealt - Acid & Poison (primary)
- Chaos (secondary)
- Piercing & Cold (tertiary, via Shadow Strike)
Combat
In the earlier levels, stack Acid/Poison/Poison Duration and hit targets in priority order using Shadow Strike enhanced by NJE until everything’s dead or the pack is thin enough to just melee down. Most tougher targets, including many Hero monsters up to and including Ultimate difficulty will only require one or two applications of SS+NJE. At higher levels, with more legendary gear and devotions, the need to skirmish will lessen dramatically.
Activate Blood of Dreeg, Shadow Strike one target, apply a few rapid melee hits to trigger attached devotion and item procs then evade, using Dreeg’s Infinite Gaze (at higher level, also Dreeg’s Afflicted Spines) when appropriate while waiting for the very short cooldown of SS (thanks to NJE), then hit the next priority target and so on and so forth. With Dreeg’s Infinite Gaze/Afflicted Spines, Tainted Eruption, and other procs pitching in, the AoE damage is surprisingly effective. Blood of Dreeg and Pneumatic Burst keep you healed when necessary and provide solid health regeneration (@85, mine tends to be ~800-1250/second depending on gear selection).
The combat takes on a certain “fire and forget” mentality where you SS something then move on and rotate back to it a few seconds later. This may take some adjustment to for some people. Thanks to the fast cooldown of SS and constant repositioning, the combat can be a frantic rush, which I quite enjoyed. I had very fast clear speeds across all difficulties.
On Ultimate, Diseased Heroes take slightly longer to kill due to inherent resists. Night’s Chill, Mark of Dreeg, and Manticore’s Acid Spray all work to reduce those resists. Eventually, such enemies cease to be an issue. Loghorrean was never a problem, Ultimate included. Tainted Eruption and Pretty Great Pants both bestow a Confuse effect that is a wonderful built-in crowd control, helping to mitigate damage you receive.
Positioning and proper Shadow Strike target selection (with an eye for maximizing Nightfall targets and escape routes from within packs) are often crucial on Ultimate.
Near the end of your journey, when all the devotions, gear, and stats are in place, everything becomes far more forgiving. Up-front melee is possible and safe against all but the largest packs or hardest hitting foes.
Videos
Gameplay example - Upper Bastion of Chaos
Ultimate Fabius
Skills (Grim Calc)
Base Skills @ 85
With Gear @ 85
Occultist Skill Tree
Nightblade Skill Tree
“With Gear” is while wearing Blade Breaker Sash, which is general purpose wear. When wearing Empowered Alchemists’s Belt or Tinker’s Ingenuity, Nightblade skills (apart from NJE) all drop by 1. I wear Alchemist’s for Shar’Zul and Tinker’s for Fabius.
Blood of Dreeg and Pneumatic Burst are activated in the pic, because they are always on in combat.
Blade Barrier (1 point) is for fighting Fabius and other nemeses.
Thanks to Knibbels for sharing his variant.
My original spec did not include Possession and had more points in SS, Execution, and Nightfall. Regardless of not being able to remove mastery points I attempted full Occultist mastery for Possession, and it works.
Some readers have expressed skepticism about maxing both masteries. I assure you that it works, and that Nightfall is indeed a great delivery system for Tainted Eruption. In addition, full dual mastery gives you more HP and attribute points, which is never a bad thing. With enough +skill items, the points “lost” to dual full spec become moot.
If you wish to retain the “original” experience, you can stop Nightblade mastery at Merciless Repertoire and focus on adding as much +Poison and +Poison Duration as possible. The new build has sacrificed some Poison damage for greater durability.
Gear
The new version is more gear specific, but the payoff is worth it.
As with many Nightblade builds, it uses parts of the Deathmarked set. This is simply because the set is so good (too good, perhaps), and +2 to Nightblade skills is so valuable. Obtaining the pieces of this set will likely prove to be the greatest challenge. It was for me.
Head - Deathmarked Hood w/ Leathery Hide & Mankind’s Vigil
Shoulders - Deathmarked Shoulderguard w/ Mutated Scales & Flameweave Powder
Chest - Deathmarked Jacket w/ Ancient Armor Plate or Chains of Oleron & Mankind’s Vigil
Hands - Viperfang Grips w/ Unholy Inscription & Mankind’s Vigil
Legs - Pretty Great Pants w/ Scaled Hide & Flameweave Powder
Feet - Venomspine Greaves w/ Mark of Mogdrogen & Outcast’s Warding Powder
Belt - Blade Breaker Sash or Tinker’s Ingenuity or Empowered Alchemist’s Belt w/ Rigid Shell & Outcast’s Warding Powder
Weapon 1 - Venomlash w/ Shard of Beronath & Outcast’s Bastion
Weapon 2 - Deathmarked Decapitator or Deathmarked Claw w/ Mark of Dreeg & Outcast’s Bastion
Amulet - The Peerless Eye of Beronath w/ Wardstone & Breath of Life
Ring - Open Hand of Mercy w/ Corpse Dust & Mogdrogen’s Sanctity
Ring - Lifegiver Signet or Closed Fist of Vengeance w/ Corpse Dust & Mogdrogen’s Sanctity
Medal - Undying Oath w/ Wardstone
Relic - Dreeg’s Affliction
When wearing Tinker’s Ingenuity, all resists aside from Aether are full or nearly so.
If fighting the Aetherial nemesis, I swap Lifegiver for a Warding Signet with +47% Aether resist, and Beronath amulet for Avatar of Mercy (because his stun is so godawful annoying).
Getting all this gear may be difficult for many, but there are alternatives one can wear while searching:
- Alternate Helm: Hood of Dreeg, Terror of the Grove
- Alternate Shoulders: Mantle of Dreeg, Alchemist’s Mantle
- Alternate Chest: Spidersilk Hauberk
- Alternate Amulet: Avatar of Mercy, Pestilence of Dreeg, Empowered Plaguemancer’s Amulet
- Alternate Legs: Nidalla’s Legwraps, Empowered Hermit’s Legguards
- Alternate Waist: Thorn Girlde of the Misty Glade
- Alternate Weapons: Assassin’s Calling, Slithtongue, Manticore Longsword, Empowered Hound’s Bite
Suitable double-rare greens are of course also useful fillers.
Also, see bottom of page for the old gear listing.
Currently at +937% Acid damage, +1130% Poison damage with +200% increased duration, +337% Chaos damage, 170% Attack Speed.
Health Regen per second (without Giant’s Blood active):
- 809 w/ Open Hand of Mercy, Lifegiver Signet, and Blade Breaker Sash.
- 1256 w/ Open Hand of Mercy, Closed Fist of Vengeance, and Tinker’s Ingenuity.
If wearing both Judicator rings (Open Hand, Closed Fist), the granted power brings me to 2852 OA and 1957 DA, allowing me to avoid crits from most enemies (I do prefer the Lifegiver, however).
Devotions
In order:
- Crossroad Chaos
- Rat
- Akeron’s Scorpion
- Ghoul (mainly for attributes and 4% life steal, though proc can be helpful)
- Manticore
- Crossroad Order
- Tortoise (mainly for DA and HP; shield is an afterthought)
- Unspec Crossroad Order
- Crossroad Primordial
- Behemoth
- Spider (for attributes and DA, slow retaliation is helpful)
- Abomination
- Ulzuin’s Torch (2 nodes, for chaos resist and OA)
- Revenant (1 node, for 3% life steal)
- Lion (1 node, for DA and HP)
The reason for these changes was the quest for higher DA and durability. I made a mistake during leveling, putting too many points into Cunning, at the expense of Physique. Also, despite its effectiveness I chose to drop Eye of the Guardian to facilitate Tortoise. It was the smallest drop in +Poison and the debuffs on both the Manticore and Scorpion procs were too valuable to discard.
Note: The devotions listed are in end-game order for when you have all 50 points. Feel free to pick up Eye of the Guardian devotion while you’re leveling up. Having all three (Scorpion, Eye, Manticore) procs activating in combat is quite nice. The devotion order list is flexible. Until you have the points to go after Abomination’s Tainted Eruption you can use other tools, then respec later. Spending one point for Bloody Pox in order to attach Guardian’s Gaze is also very efective. Thanks, Azerius.
Attachments:
- Tainted Eruption - Shadow Strike
- Acid Spray - Amarasta’s Quick Cut
- Scorpion Sting - Whirling Death or Belgothian’s Shears
- Abominable Might - Beronath’s Fury (due to it only triggering on a kill performed with the attached skill)
- Giant’s Blood - Blood of Dreeg
- Ghoulish Hunger - Pneumatic Burst
- Tortoise Shell - Solael’s Witchfire or Possession
Note: When fighting a major boss (ex. Nemesis, Sharzul) you may want to attach Acid Spray to Beronath’s Fury for regular debuff application, considering that Abominable Might wont help you if there are no minions left to slay. I make an exception for Fabius because I purposefully leave gang members alive for when I need to reactivate Abominable Might, heh.
Attribute Points
During leveling, my attribute point allocation was somewhat haphazard. My final tally was 45/34/8 (Phys/Cunning/Spirit). Because I ended up having dual full mastery, that amount of Cunning placement was unnecessary. It also cost me DA which I felt I was missing, on Ultimate.
If pursuing the dual full mastery (since Nightblade gives you plenty of Cunning), I recommend something closer to 70/10/7 or 80/0/7. This may allow you to avoid picking up Tortoise devotion and reacquiring Eye, but I’m speculating.
Someone asked about placing points into Spirit to boost Poison damage. Yes, that would give you minor boots, but the fact is that from all the bonuses on gear and devotions, your +Poison can be anywhere from +900-1500%. The minor boost from more Spirit isn’t required. Also, this is now more than ever a melee build. A less melee-heavy poison build can be found here, courtesy of Psyclown.
Leveling
I chose Nightblade to start and went all the way to NJE, then added Occultist up to Aspect of the Guardian. After Aspect I pushed to full Nightblade mastery. The goal is to get Nightfall and Abomination’s Tainted Eruption at about the same time in order to attach the devotion proc to the now AoE Shadow Strike. This helps trigger the proc almost every time you use SS if there are multiple targets in the radius, and their cooldowns are comparable.
After reading some feedback I decided to go for full Occultist mastery and Possession, despite my already full Nightblade mastery. It was worth it. If you don’t want to go full Nightblade for Nightfall, by all means stop early, as seen in Knibbels’ variant a few posts below. Full Occultist and Possession are far more valuable, giving you damage absorption and much more damage output.
Step by step (as far as I recall):
- Start Nightblade and work toward NJE.
- At level 15 equip Mark of Dreeg on a weapon for the Dreeg’s Infinate Gaze granted power. AoE damage should no longer be an issue.
- At level 25 I equipped Mistborn Talisman for the Troll Rage default attack. Attach your preferred devotion power to this for constant application.
- This is mentioned above in the Devotion section, but I will say again: devotion spec is flexible while leveling. Use Eye of the Guardian while working toward Abomination. Try attaching Guardian’s Gaze to both Troll Rage and Bloody Pox (1 point) to determine which you like best.
- Once at NJE, switch to Occultist Mastery and work toward Aspect of the Guardian.
- If you don’t want to pursue Nightfall, stop Nightblade at NJE and finish the Occultist mastery for Possession. After that you can go a bit further in Nightblade for Merciless Repertoire.
- If you like the idea of Tainted Eruption via Nightfall (as I do), you can finish the Nightblade mastery before Occultist since the damage/absorption granted by Possession wont really be required until latter parts of Ultimate, in my opinion.
- Once you hit 50 you equip Venomlash (or two), and make Elite your playground. If not possible, two Elite Slightongues should do the trick (get them from the Wightmire cave where the shrine is).
- At level 55 you can use Shard of Beronath instead of Vitriolic Gallstone, allowing you to ditch Mistborn Talisman for something like Blight or Torment.
- At 70 you equip Dreeg’s Affliction as your final relic.
- At 75 you can equip the Deathmarked Set for the massive +2 to Nightblade skills bonus, allowing you to rearrange skill points for maximum effect.
Stop reading here unless you’re interested in the old version of the build.
OLD VERSION
This is the previously posted build, which is still viable. It is dependent on hit-and-fade tactics and has less durability than the newest version, but the gear is easier to obtain.
Skills
Base Skills @ 85
With Gear @ 85
Gear
Head - Praetorian Faceguard w/ Leathery Hide
Shoulders - Praetorian Shoulderguard w/ Silk Swatch
Chest - Spidersilk Hauberk w/ Sanctified Bone
Hands - Viperfang Grips w/ Unholy Inscription
Legs - Empowered Hermit’s Legguards or Nidalla’s Legwraps w/ Scaled Hide
Feet - Venomspine Greaves w/ Mark of Mogdrogan
Belt - Empowered Alchemist’s Belt w/ whatever is needed
Weapon 1 - Venomlash w/ Shard of Beronath
Weapon 2 - Venomlash w/ Mark of Dreeg
Amulet - Avatar of Mercy w/ Wardstone
Ring - Void Touched Imperial Signet of Blight w/ Corpse Dust
Ring - Harmonious Emerald Ring of Spines w/ Corpse Dust
Medal - Undying Oath w/ Wardstone
Relic - Dreeg’s Affliction
Weapon augments are Outcast’s Bastion.
Most armor augments are Mankind’s Vigil.
With devotions, the character sheet looked like so:
Sheet I
Sheet II
Blood of Dreeg and Pneumatic Burst are activated in the pics, because they are always on in combat.
Damage stats are +1013% Acid damage, +1345% Poison damage with +411% increased duration, 170% Attack Speed, and 722 Health Regen/s (or 824/s if using Lizard instead of Eel).
Devotions
In order:
- Crossroad Eldritch
- Akeron’s Skorpion
- Eye of the Guardian
- Crossroad Chaos
- Rat
- Crossroad Primordial
- Eel or Lizard
- Unspec Crossroad Primordial
- Unspec Crossroad Eldritch
- Behemoth
- Unspec Crossroad Chaos
- Manticore
- Crossroad Ascendant
- Chariot of the Dead
- Jackal
- Abomination
Two points remaining: - Ulzuin’s Torch (for chaos resist and OA), but can spend wherever you like.
Devotion ability attachments are as follows:
Skorpion’s Sting - Whirling Death.
Acid Spray - Amarasta’s Quick Cut.
Guardian’s Gaze - Beronath’s Fury.*
Tainted Eruption - Shadow Strike.
Giant’s Blood - Blood of Dreeg.
Wayward Soul - Pneumatic Burst.
Abominable Might - Dreeg’s Afflicted Spines or Belgothian’s Shears.
*Note: Spending one point for Bloody Pox in order to attach Guardian’s Gaze is also very efective. Thanks Azerius.
If you have questions or suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them.
