[3.26] 🗡The Nightblade🗡3.27 : Ascendancy rework

* I began this guide in 3.5 and called it Old & New School BF Assassin.
* In 3.7, with the rework to melee, my dream of a phys/chaos dual-dagger Assassin became a reality. I made an Impale version.
* In 3.8, the Assassin became a true shadow killer thanks to the Elusive buff. I devised the Invisible version. I changed the name to : The Nightblade Flurry Assassin.
* In 3.9, I made a tankier version with Mind Over Matter and shortened the name to : The Nightblade Assassin.
* In 3.10, I've added the cluster jewels and tested the Perfidy chest.
* In 3.11, I've tested a new Keystone, The Traitor, and beat Sirus A8 thanks to it.
I've gone SSF in Harvest, with dual claws and a new setup : General's Cry + BF.
Ddevised a Scion variant of the build, with Paradoxica and Saviour swords.
* In 3.12, I'm shortening again the name of the build : The Nightblade.
In league, adding Frost Shield and Corrupted Soul for a solid layer of defense.
In Standard, Chainbreaker keystone with a Lethal Pride/Akoya timeless jewel, for max Rage and Berserk.
* In 3.13 Ritual, I devised a variant with Arakaali dagger and Yriel's Fostering body.
* In 3.14, Chainbreaker becomes unusable. I went low-life with Petrified Blood and Bloodthirst. Sinvicta's Mettle in weapon swap to proc Rampage.
* In 3.15, big nerf to dmg ! I added Secrets of Suffering to Brittle enemies.
* In 3.16, we lose Dodge and gain Spell Suppression.
* No change in 3.17
* In 3.18, adding Impossible escape jewel for Iron Reflexes, to get Panopticon notable. + using Ming's Heart to down the Feared.
* In 3.19, Secrets of Suffering is nerfed. Back to Lori's Lantern.
* In 3.20, I remove Withering Step, which cannot refresh Elusive anymore. We gain Vaal Blade Flurry !
* In 3.21, improved setup with Cospri's Will and the return of the buffed Bino's Kitchen knife.
* In 3.23, added Ming's Heart ring and more Blind effect for better survivability.
* In 3.24, Unholy Might now grants 100% phys converted to chaos dmg.
* In 3.25, melee skills are massively buffed and we lose the Ancestral totems.
* In 3.26, rework of Assassin ascendancy, and the new Bloodline ascendancies.

Where and when to find the required gems. Thx to Xelathur !

Here are some advice for a smooth beginning :

1- Craft magic boots with movement speed. Go to a vendor in town and sell them : normal boots + an orb of augmentation + a quicksilver flask.
You'll get +10% movement speed on the boots.
Repeat and you'll get another +5%, up to +30% movespeed. /!\ Each time, it raises the level requirement of the boots.

* Get the Wanderlust unique shoes, for the +20% movement speed and freeze immunity :
Wanderlust

2- Get a Quicksilver flask in act 1, as a reward from Bestel after retrieving the Medicine Chest.

3- Get one or two rings/amulet with mana regen.

4- Craft two daggers with increased physical damage :
1 dagger + 1 blue Rustic Stash belt + 1 Blacksmith Whetstone.

Check the Vendor recipe system.

5- Our main skill, Blade Flurry becomes available at level 28. Before that, you can begin with Frost Blades and/or Cobra Lash. Surprisingly, Holy Flame Totem is useful to clear, up to level ~35. At level 12, Reave is also good for clear.
Use Smoke Mine for movement.

6- Good unique items :
* The Goredrill dagger at level 5, for some nice bleeding dmg.

* Helmet : the Goldrim from level 1 for good elem resis.

7- Get PoB Community fork, an essential third-party tool for the game.

8- Here is a simulation at level 28, when you get Blade Flurry :
https://pastebin.com/YnXgAK9J
> I've put only unique items for suggestions. Replace those you want with magic/rares.
More details in the next section, "Levelling".

See my Guide for the 10 acts

I always run out of mana, what can I do ?
Get :
- Paua amulet and Paua rings in act 1 town.
- Wurm's Molt belt and Slitherpinch gloves are dirt cheap (1 alch), Praxis ring is 1c.
Then :
or
- "-x total mana cost of skills" on ring or amulet.
- x% reduced mana cost of skills" on a jewel
or
- Mind Drinker on the tree.
Uniques :
--> On the tree, the Nightstalker cluster will give us all the mana leech we need.

Should I get a Tabula Rasa ?
Many players will farm Blood Aqueduct in act 9 to get a stack of 9 Humility divination cards and then trade it to Navali to get the Tabula.
I think it slows your progression.
Better continue into the acts, accumulate currencies, and then buy a cheap rare 6-link chest. Many people sell corrupted ones for a few chaos. Get one with the right colors, some life and res.
If you drop a Tabula, sell it to a vendor for a divine orb, then add some chaos to buy a rare chest.

I want to make money !
I can advise you to not waste your time picking up too many rare items.

Mainly pick up 1-square items. Currencies, maps, frags, essences etc.
Nothing to ID, nothing to vendor. Grab everything you walk on and then drop it into your stashes.

Don't try to full clear the maps, it's useless. Go only to the points of interests : Essences, Breach, Abyss, Cassia, Ritual etc.

When you have 100+ alterations/jewellers/scour/chrom/fus etc. go sell in bulk them via the online trade and make some chaos.

I want to level fast !

* Interrogating Syndicate members, whatever you choose (kill, bargain etc.) also gives lots of XP + raid the hideouts. Do the Mastermind mission (200% inc XP) but do not go to the boss.

* On the Atlas tree, allocate Wellspring of Creation keystone : enemies have 50% more life, deal 25% less dmg.

* To level past level 90 :
- Do some T13 maps where you're comfortable.
- Delving at depth ~200 and go horizontally.
- T15 Beachhead : safe and slow.
- T14+ Coward's Trial : fast and fun, more expensive.
- T14+ Poorjoy Asylum : fast but dangerous.

Basic

Items you need when you finish the 10 acts




Veteran

Items you need to acquire during white and yellow maps.




Endgame

Items you need to acquire during red maps.




Luxury

The sugar coating. These items will boost your DPS and defenses, but the build is perfectly viable without them.

3.23

#2 : Silent Steps
A Valdo's Box map. Testing a setup with improved defenses thanks to Ming's Heart ring and high blind effect.

#1 : Cyclone of Tumult
Testing this new Transfigured gem, as a worthwhile alternative option to Blade Flurry.

3.21

#3 : Born In The Shadows. Improved Cospri's Will setup with Born In The Shadows Saboteur ascendancy. +55% EHP = 220k !

#2 : In A Silent Way. New setup with Cospri's Will and two curses : Despair on Hit + Punishment. Effective Hit Pool has doubled.
(If the video is blocked in your country, here is an alternate editing with another track.)

#1 : Bino's Flurry

3.20

Phasing Through Time. Making the skills last forever by using a set of unique items to reduce my attack speed by 99%. Enjoy more than one minute of Vaal Blade Flurry !

An efficient strategy for Blight-Ravaged maps. Using Meteor Towers with the appropriate ring anointments so that these towers always stun and leave burning ground.

Vaal Blade Flurry. A complete test of the Vaal skill, with different setups.

Post on Poe Builds Reddit.

3.19

The Nightprowler

The Nightpunk. Enjoyable farming with cool music. What's not to like ?

Memory of the Grave.

3.18

The Feared

The Essential Guide to the Nightblade. Explaining the main mechanics of the build in 3mn.

3.17

- Soul In Agony. An Uber Eradicator fight !

- Stormblast

- The Elderslayers

3.16
- Atlas Invasion Event
- From Beyond the Wall of Mirrors. Uhtred Expedition boss.

3.15

- Life Is So Brittle. Testing Brittle effect against a very large selection of bosses, including Elder, Shaper and Sirus .
- Secrets of Suffering. The Forgotten fight (4 Synthesis bosses) with Brittle ailment.

3.14
- Delve 750 - Petrified Blood.
- Twinned Uber Elder / Maven.
- The Oshabi.

3.13
- The Maven
- Maven's Four Shaper Guardians

3.12
- Uber Elder deathless
- Kosis and Omniphobia together
- Grinding to level 96

3.11
- The true story behind the exile of the Shadow.
- T18 Purifier.
- Sirus A8 with the Traitor Keystone.

3.10
- T16 100% Delirious Promenade
- Aul, the Crystal King - depth 564 - 100% inc AoE
- The Simulacrum, Kosis wave 20

3.9
- The Hall of Grandmasters
- Mind over Matter setup

3.8 :
- Uber Elder deathless
- Delve 570 - Ahuatotli, The Blind
- Delve 600
- Towerless T15 Blighted Forest

3.7 :
- Best-of 3.7
- Vaal Temple

A mini-guide to Blade Flurry
I remember back in november 2016 when they announced 2.4, this new skill, Blade Flurry (BF). On the moment I saw it, I knew that was the perfect skill I was waiting for. Fast, deadly, some AoE, increasing dmg while channelling. And the green waves when you release at max stage are so satisfying amazing.
It has remained my #1 skill ever since.

BF gives you 25% more dmg for each stage, and another 20% more at max stages.
Learn the perfect channelling, by releasing when the green circle pop, and then start back to stage 1 immediately.
In maps :

With Whirling Blades, you can jump behind enemies, or right in the middle of them and blast with Blade Flurry. Channel till release then jump to dodge and attack again. Surprise them with impredictable moves. WB is very fast and allows for quick change in your battle tactics.

You can go Whirling > Flurry : Dash then blast.
Or you can go Flurry > Whirling : Channel and escape to release. Useful when those big Goatmen from Chimera will jump on you.

CRITICAL STRIKES

With high crit chances on the daggers (base crit chances are buffed in 3.27), Power charges on the Ascendancy, Nightblade support, etc. Crit is everywhere for the Assassin.


ELUSIVE

Our signature buff.
Elusive decays over time, until its values reaches 0. At 100% of its effect, it grants 30% inc movespeed and 15% chance to avoid attacks and spells. We can reach more than 200% base Elusive effect, doubling its bonuses at the start (60% movespeed, 30% avoid).

We slow the decay of Elusive over time with the Incorporeal amulet anointment : the effect reduces 50% slower and is removed at 20%, when it becomes weak. In 3.27, we can use the Cat node from Oshabi's Bloodline ascendancy to further improve Elusive, by getting 50% chance to kill it at 50%.

CHAOS DAMAGE

With Overwhelming Malice buff (from a cluster jewel), we convert 100% of phys dmg to chaos, meaning we are immune to reflect.

COLD DAMAGE
It's a good idea to get some cold dmg somewhere on the rings or amulet. As we often crit, we will be able to freeze most mobs. Looking at you, Porcupines !
Freezing enemies prevent any on-death effect.

DEXTERITY STACKING
We use Shaper's Touch gloves and then stack Dexterity.
Because more Dexterity now means : more Accuracy, more Evasion + more DPS and more life !

For endgame, you can further increase the DEX stacking with a Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel on your tree

CURSES

Despair on hit on the Gloves, then cast Punishment to finish the fight quickly.

In this game, getting DPS is fairly easy, while getting good defences is hard.
We use a combination of effects and buffs that synergize. We've talked about Elusive.

SPELL SUPPRESSION

Nerfed in 3.27 : it will now prevent 40% of spell dmg taken (down from 50%).

How to reach 100% spell suppression ? (possible but not mandatory)
* Inveterate cluster : 39%
* Intuition notable : 8%
* Dagger mastery : 2*10%
* Magebane keystone with 495 DEX : 33%
Total : 100%

LEECH

Our life and mana leech is easily capped with Nightstalker cluster on the tree.

STUN

Any damage can stun the enemy, provided it removes at least 10% of his life per hit -see Stun. "Dealing at least 50% of maximum life will always stun."
If you want to check how often you stun, you can set Endurance charge on melee stun support in your BF setup, and you'll see that you gain Endurance charges all the time.

> Additionnally, by using the Ryslatha's coil belt, we get a lot more dmg and we gain life each time we stun.

REDUCED DAMAGE TAKEN

This mechanics is mostly useful for endgame.

In endgame, even if you have 6k life or more, you are still a glasscannon. Evasion cannot save us all the time, nor Dodge.
So we try to lower the damages we take = those that remain after all other sources of mitigation have been calculated. This is the real amount of damage withdrawn from our life pool -see Damage taken.

The main point is that no map mods can reduce this reduction

* On the Ascendancy, with Mistwalker, no extra dmg taken from crit !
With Opportunistic : 35% less dmg taken when there 2+ rare enemies nearby.

* With Fortify on hit (Mastery from Rampart cluster), we have 20% less dmg taken from hits (meaning : not DoT).

* With the Infused Channelling support, we take 14% less damage from hits while channelling.

(* With the Unshattered Will shield, the Harbinger will give a bonus every 8sec for 4sec : immune to stun and elemental ailment and 20% less dmg taken from hits and DoT : a more powerful Fortify buff, half of the time.)

There are 5 unique items that really make the build shine :
1) Starkonja Helmet (cheap)


2) Shaper's Touch gloves (cheap)


3) Ryslatha's Coil belt (expensive)


4) Cospri's Will (expensive)


5) Ming's Heart ring


- Weapon : Best unique is Bino's Kitchen. For the other dagger, you want a 2nd Bino or a rare with : inc phys dmg | adds phys dmg | attack speed 1.7+ | crit chance / crit multi | phys as extra chaos

- Shield : Life, elem resis, attributes, ailment avoir chance, stun avoid chance + inc global phys dmg.
A shield makes the build much less expensive but we lose DPS.

A very good unique : The Unshattered Will. It has all we need : life, elem res, inc channelling skill dmg and the Harbinger of Focus : stun and ailment immunities for 4sec every 8sec.
You can upgrade to the Immortal Will, which summons a better Harbinger.

- Body Armour :
Cospri's Will to get two curses.
Another good unique unique is the Loreweave with 78% all max res (Legacy version : up to 80%) or Replica Loreweave with 72% all max res (more dangerous to play)
- Belly of the Beast : lot more life.
- Carcass Jack : more AoE and AoE dmg + life, elem res

* A rare body with "10% chance to gain a frenzy charge on hit". Comes as an explicit mod from a Redeemer's influenced armour or as implicit mod on a Synthetised armour (legacy). Guarantees 100% max frenzy charges all the time.

* A chest with "Killed enemies explode, dealing 3% of their life as phys dmg". Best in Slot (BiS) for farming. Can actually turn Blade Flurry into a very capable farming skill.

- Helmet : Starkonja is BiS. Life, DEX, crit chance, Evasion, attack speed, are all what we need.
Devoto's Devotion is also good : DEX, atk speed, movespeed, chaos res

- Gloves : Shaper's Touch are BiS for this build. Best corruptions : Despair on hit.

Other choice : Asenath Gentle Touch (amazing as it curses and make mobs explode, but very expensive).

- Boots : Any rare with life and the elem res. You can also look for : chance to avoid stun, atk or spell dodge, 35% movespeed...
Also look for "Tailwind if crit recently" mod = 10% more dps
Eldritch mods on rare boots. My current choice : +1% max fire res, chance to avoid being poisoned.
Uniques : Atziri's Steps for life, spell dodge, lot of EVA +30% movespeed.
Replica Three-Step-Assault have life, DEX and Elusive effect.

- Amulet : Life, res, crit multi, added phys dmg, gain phys as extra cold (+ extra lightning)...
- Unique : Marylene's Fallacy

- Rings : BiS : Lori's Lantern (for elem and chaos res) OR Ming's Heart (lose 25% of life and ES, gain chaos dmg and chaos res)
Gift From Above grants Consecrated Ground (= life regen), some crit and dmg.
For a rare ring :
Life, phys dmg, crit, DEX, elem resis, gain phys as extra cold...

- Belt : BiS is Ryslatha's Coil.
Life, life gain on stun and 10-20% more phys dmg.

- Jewels : Murderous Eye Jewels, Crimson or Viridian Jewels.
Mods :
- Crit multi
- Attack speed
- Phys dmg = phys dmg with 1h-weapons / daggers, aoe dmg etc.
For crit and APS, look for : while dual-wielding / with one-handed weapons / with daggers / if you've killed recently + life, res, attributes...

Watcher's Eye
* +50% chaos res while affected by Purity of Elements

- Flasks : Atziri's Promise, Bottled Faith...

* Ascendancy

Crucible Tree for the dagger (Legacy) - from 3.21

Thx to Sleepy Time.

Best mods on a dagger :

> Less global dmg + 30% atk speed
> +16% quality.
> 15% physical and chaos explicit modifiers.
> Lastly Overwhelms 30-35% phys dmg red. But its a big "IF" you get them at the right spots in the same tree.

> Bino's are worth if you get the "Less global dmg + 30% atk speed" and the phys and chaos modifiers. Premium if you get 16% qual on it too. Sadly Bino's has a lot of Caster mods on its Crucible tree.

> There is a strange interaction between Curse on hit rings with Mark on hit. It seems you can get the benefit of them both if you use Marks yourself. But only for a single hit. So you can do Arcanist brand + Mark instead of Mark on hit. It only works for 1 hit per application of Arcanist brand. Kinda good if you're looking for more DPS in Uber bossing scenarios.


* Dagger + shield : https://pastebin.com/AQrfL05Y
Poeplanner : https://poeplanner.com/b/JN5








*

The Uber-PoB -tree updated for 3.15
Several stages from levels 17 to 95. Use it mainly to find levelling items.

From fellow player Josiasss : Claw / Shield level 98. 6.2k life, Carcass Jack.

Variants from past leagues

Ultimatum. 4L General's Cry + BF, Sinvicta's axe in weapon swap to proc Rampage ; level 91.
- Ritual. Wasp Nest claw, Arakaali's dagger ; level 91.
- Heist. Frost Shield ; level 94.
- Harvest. SSF, dual claws ; level 90.
- Delirium. Loreweave, Bottled Faith ; level 93.

*

* Impale version from 3.7 Legion.

https://pastebin.com/94wGqLBG
Max Impale, Pride, Flesh & Stone + Maim, Rage, Berserk
Level 94 in Std.

* Mind Over Matter version, a tankier setup from 3.9 Metamorph.

https://pastebin.com/BvnDEvgs
Note : If you don't like MoM, you can use the same tree, just remove the Keystone.

Leech

Leech can be improved with the Gladiator's Perseverance cluster : up to 20% inc recovery/sec from life leech. You'll leech the same amount but x1.2 faster.

Blind

When blinded, an creature has its chance to hit halved -see Blind. With the Sand Stance from Flesh & Stone, all nearby enemies (in melee range) are blinded, meaning we get a lot more chances to evade their attacks.

> My current Evasion rating is ~10k. I have normally 34% chance to Evade. If the enemy is blinded, it goes up to 67% (PoB numbers).

Note that spells do not have an accuracy rating, so you cannot evade spells.
More expensive option : Asenath's Gentle Touch gloves. Enemies near curses corpses are blinded.

Reduced dmg taken
* On the skill tree, two notable nodes :
Crystal Skin, for 5% reduced elemental dmg taken.
Silent Steps : 5% reduced dmg taken from blinded enemies (and remember, with Sand Stance, we can blind all nearby enemies).

So, if a blinded enemy does elem dmg to us, we will take only 100-5-5 = 90% of his dmg.
If we have Fortify atm, only 90*0.8 = 72.
If there are two rares or more, 80*0.8 = 64
If we have the Harbinger of Focus buff at this moment, 64*0.8 = 51%
etc.

Note that you have to choose whether you want more defense or more DPS. For the moment, I don't use Silent Steps nor Opportunistic.

Additional sources of damage reductions include :
* The Berserk buff : 19% less dmg taken from all sources
* Immortal Call buff against phys dmg
* Ruby, Sapphire and Topaz flasks against fire, cold and lightning dmg respectively
* The Wise Oak flask.

The combination of all these reductions allows us some mistakes in dangerous situations.

Avoidance
Also a lesser-known but powerful defense. And there are neither any possible maluses against it in maps.

With Silent Steps cluster, 100% to avoid blind = immune.
With Unpredictable Offensive cluster, 40% to avoid stun while channelling.
Heart of Oak notable : 20% to avoid stun.
With Crystal Skin cluster, 20% to avoid elem ailment. + % to avoid other ailments and dmg.
(Optionnally, another 8% to avoid elem ailment with Thick Skin).
While Cat's Stealth is active, 15% to avoid all dmg from hits !

With the annointed passive Aspect of Stone, 20% to avoid phys dmg from hits.
Oil recipe : Violet - Golden - Golden
Expensive but worth it.

IMPALE

Impale more than doubles our phys dmg.



RAGE

More DPS and less dmg taken with Berserk.



* Watcher's Eye : Pride / Precision





LEVELLING


Endgame
The daggers I've got are worth 10-15ex each.
You can get a very decent DPS with a less expensive dagger. Example build lvl91 with two 320 daggers : https://pastebin.com/L38Xd1Th
- Dagger is the only very expensive part of this build.

Prices on Poe.trade in Standard.

- Daggers : 2ex for a good 300 pDPS/1.6 APS ; 4-5ex for 350/1,8 ; 15ex+ for 400/1,8. (x2)
- Starkonja : 6c for good rolls in life and DEX. ~4ex with "40% inc BF dmg" enchant.
- Shaper's Touch : 5c. No need for a good roll.
- Loreweave : 50c for a 5-link. Try to get one with 78% max res. For a 6-link, pre v3.6 80% max elem resis : 5-6ex.
- Atziri's step boots : 1c. Try to get one with 16% spell dodge chance. Rare ones with life, elem resis, stun avoid chance : 1-2ex.
- Hyrri's Truth amulet : 20c. A good rare one : 1-2ex.
- Ring with 70 life, phys dmg, DEX and two 25% res : 50c - 1ex. Elder's ring with Poacher's Mark on hit : 50c-2ex.
- Ryslatha's : 25c to 10ex and more, depending on mix/max rolls.
- Jewels with life, phys dmg / crit / aps : 30c-1ex each.

Total : 15ex for endgame viable stuff. 25ex to feel comfortable.
Of course, add some exalted if u buy 20/20% gems.

Hardcore
Level 91. 6.3 life. 1M DPS, up to 1.5M with flasks.

PoB : https://pastebin.com/Hf4CS5Vp

- Belly of the Beast. Warlord's Mark on the ring.
- Fortify on BF setup.
- High uncapped res with jewels, for Elem Weakness maps.
- Basalt flask
- Acrobatics + Phase Acrobatics on skill tree