Viper Strike Slayer + Poison Chaining | Poison Duration | Poison Faster | Synthesis Implicits


TLDR my PoB Pastebin
UPDATE: I managed to kill shaper on the last portal
* Explanation of Chaining Poisons with demo and sample explosion calculations
Sample phys/poison chaining damage as % of mob health

Base 3% as physical - Base 1.5% chaos (50% phys as chaos - Atziri's + Unholy Might)

20% more from slayer ascendancy and 12% from frenzy charges

Phys increased: 61%

Chaos increased: 140%

Now we have 6.5% Phys hit and 4.8% chaos hit = 11.3% hit dmg


Poison Calc 20% of base hit (Start at .6% phys .3% chaos)

More Multi (20+12+20) Slayer/frenzy/malevolence
Increased % applicable to poison = 362%
35% faster poison|35% less duration|44%inc dur

.9% * 1.2 * 1.12 * 1.2 * 4.62 * 1.35 = 9.05% poison dps for 1.87 seconds

The insanity here is that a single explosion that is guaranteed to happen and can chain with itself is doing almost 30% of their hp as damage after the duration of the poison. This makes it very easy to hit a critical mass where packs close enough together just get absolutely deleted.
I know there are also other ways to scale the phys explosions, but that doesn't take away from how good this is!
Before the Synthesis exploding enemies mod, explosions that were 100% proc rate couldn't proc off themselves, and also explosions from Shaper maces couldn't proc off of DOTS. This interaction really couldn't work without them changing/improving and giving use the Synthesis %phys explosions


* Example Minotaur Run Watch this and witness the absurdity of hitting one pack once and chain explosion/poisoning the entire screen!

This is a pure poison build with the idea to take an underused mechanic and a crappy name lock skill(Viper Strike) and make it fun to play and viable for mid-late game. Though I used this as my flashback starter, I wouldn't recommend it since it would be much smoother if you already had some good gear pieces.

After some testing before the flashback race I decided I didn't need to go assassin for boosted poison duration because I can get up to 10 seconds just using Viper strike 10 seconds is more than enough and gives room for some "poison faster" mods for that sweet effective more multiplier. I picked slayer with the hopes of added survive-ability and for the inherent melee splash which goes a long way to fix the name lock issue once you couple it with ancestral call.

Similar to many bleed and poison builds. It took a while for more mods and crafts from delve|betrayal|synthesis to really make the mechanic viable again. Even so, making this build as a starter was quite painful, not tanky, and Herald of Agony carried me until I crafted decent poison weapons and dumped him for Aspect of the Spider.

This build finishes as a reasonably tanky and well-rounded character. Not proven against final endgame yet, and though it might be able to kill uber elder, it won't be easy. Currently running maps up to T16 fairly comfortably and will take on shaper soon enough.


Pros
+ Good clear speed and single target
+ Reflect Immune
+ Defences include: fortify, overleech, dodge, stun/freeze/action speed immune
+ Not winter orb
+ Poison scales the phys explosions and keeps them chaining to clean up multiple packs


Cons
- Requires many key items to really start rolling
- End game gear needs very specific crafts
- Being melee makes everything more dangerous
- Leech isn't great vs single target because we don't focus on scaling the hit damage.



Passive Tree and Bandits
Level 94 - Base passive tree

Make sure you use the viper strike threshold jewel and try and get a watcher's eye with ailments deal damage faster once you have good poison duration.

Some Notes:
* Resolute Technique just feels good to not miss and ignore being blinded by all the extra mobs in flashback, feel free to build around crit though
* Generic poison chance for the explosions to poison
* Life wherever you can get it! I also had to grab some res.
* Dodge is a nice secondary defense and is very nice since we drop our evasion for unwavering stance on Kaom's Roots


Bandit Reward: 2 passive points

Ascendancy: Impact first then order doesn't matter but you want all 4 ascendancies asap (Headsman|Endless Hunger|Brutal Fervour)

Other Ascendancy Classes:

If Slayer is too hipster for you, then there are other ascendancies you can use instead. Assasin and Pathfinder both have awesoeme poison options:

Pantheon
Major God: Soul of Arakaali is a must!

While using Blood Rage and a CWDT + IC, it procs the 50% increased life recovery rate

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul or whatever fits at the time


Gem Setups
Main Setup (GGGBBR):
Viper Strike - Vile Toxins - Deadly Ailments - Added Chaos - Unbound Ailments - Ancestral Call


Here we utilize Ancestral Call mixed with the slayer melee splash to put 3 poisons on each enemy in a pack with only 1 attack. This is generally more than enough to start a large explosion chain reaction which also creates their own poisons which help burn down the rest of their hp and create more explosions! Swap to Multistrike when fighting bosses that you are okay name locking and especially if they don't have additional mobs to hit/splash poison off of.



CWDT Immortal Call (RRR):
Cast when Damage Taken lvl 3 - Immortal Call lvl 5 - Increased Duration lvl 20
OPTIONAL - I like to throw in cold snap instead of inc duration.

This setup is needed to go with the pantheon selection

Aura:Malevolence And Aspect of the spider, I used Herald of Agony while leveling and into low maps.

Malevolence aura grants up to 20% more damage and poison duration, it is a must!
Optional, use Herald of Agony for 10% more dmg and chance to poison for your phys explosions. The agony crawler also does very nice damage without any scaling if you keep up virulance stacks. I used it to carry me during the leveling and early maps.

Frenzy+ Atk speed: Blood Rage

Again needed to proc Arakaali Pantheon

Movement Skill: Leap Slam

I picked leap slam, but can be any skill that matches your weapon setup.

Totem: Ancestral Protector

This is amazing for the 20% more attack speed and you can link it with Withering Touch Support for a very nice DPS boost in longer fights.





Equipment
My current gear / TL;DR:
Spoiler

For now refer to PoB and the below sections
PoB Pastebin

Poison And Exploding Swords

Exploding Sword

Poison Faster Sword


Both of these items may or may not be available in the future with Synthesis not going core. While not defining the build itself, the addition of these two swords make 1) Mapping amazing with chaining poisons and explosions and 2) Essentially a more multiplier for poison since we have poison duration to spare. The 20% here and 15% from the watchers eye is a 35% more multiplier and 35% less duration for poison. This less duration also helps the chaining explosions + poisons do their magic quicker! :)

Body Armour


This chest gives us some nice poison duration and damage along with some resists and a pseudo 7th link. The lesser poison grants flat chaos damage and chance to poison (albeit the chance to poison on viper strike is absolutely not needed at this point)


Helmet, Gloves and Boots


This could for sure be better if I spend more crafting it. Basically the important part is the enchant and the life + resists. Adding the Delve -9% chaos resistance is just a nice cherry to have on top that helps your boss damage and scales the phys/poison chaining explosions!


Double Tombfist is best in slot here, but feel free to make insanity gloves or other decent rare. While leveling I used The Embalmer for an easy 5 link for my main skill.
Note for Tombfist: The intimidate only affects attack damage but still slightly helps us max our leech faster since we don't otherwise scale our hit damage. That being said the maim is a higher priority for defensive purposes!



I eventually swapped to Kaom's Roots because I was looking for ways to increase my life pool. I ended up really appreciating the stun/freeze/action speed immunity and since I'm leap slamming everywhere, I didn't ultimately mind loosing out on movement speed. Unwavering stance does nullify your evade chance so no use blinding enemies or stacking evasion at all. This is partly why we pick up dodge on the tree and flask so we have some avoidance.

Belt


Nothing special here, get life and res. This is a good slot to craft your aspect of the spider otherwise rings/amulet work as well.

Rings and Amulet




Get Life|Res|Flat phys/chaos

Flasks


Writhing Jar is nice to proc your Killed Recently More multiplier vs bosses and add some leech pools along with some instant recovery. Atziri's is a must for the chaos damage in general and phys as chaos for the phys explosions.

Other Flasks are up to you, I took dodge|onslaught|move speed

Jewels

Viper Strike Threshold Jewel gives incresed poison damage for stacking lots of poisons on bosses and unholy might which is most impactful for the phys explosions. Watcher's Eye with "Ailments deal damage faster"
Other than that get life + % chaos damage + resists + Dexterity/Int to hit the Dendrobate thresholds.




Levelling and Progression
Poison leveling (Act 1-10)
Spoiler
Placeholder, but basically just use Herald of Agony to carry you until you can scale your own poison better



Map Mods

Map Mods with comments:

* Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
No problems

* Ele/Phys Reflect
No problems

* Player Dodge chance is Unlucky. This one is quite dangerous when together with lots of damage mods

* +#% Monster Physical Damage Reduction
Only slightly lowers our poison damage

* +#% Monster Chaos Resistance
Moderately to greatly lowers our poison damage

* Monsters cannot be slowed below base value
Maim from tombfist + Aspect of the spider hinder effect is a really nice defensive layer that gets stripped away with this map mod, be moderately wary.

* Monsters have a #% chance to avoid Poison, Blind, and Bleeding
Annoying as crap and will make high red maps really really clunky.

* Finally never run a no leach map, it won't end well
I believe that the no leech mod is exclusive to red tier maps, so feel free to run unid maps til then
Last edited by Tyfoid on May 30, 2019, 6:58:50 PM
Last bumped on Jun 17, 2019, 11:09:26 PM
Dang Yo!
First thing I noticed is your font is terrible on your images.
These weapons are sad
hi, i like your font, is this a cheap build ?
Looks like 3.7 is going to be a nice patch for this build. Not sure what's happening with synth. crafts but the new supports/auras like pride and or close combat seem solid. Congrats on being 1 league ahead of the meta.
Looks good, im definitely going to try out this build. But could you maybe come up with and alternative for the weapons?
Hi love your idea with the explosion. The new glove Asenath Gentle Touch could replace your weapons?

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