Any hope for this old build?

Hi everyone.
I tapped out somewhere around 3.20 and recently came back to play a bit with my old char - Blade Vortex Assassin (Standard). I know there's been a fair number of changes (probably all nerfs), especially with Withering Step and Elusive. I want to salvage the build into something workable without having to completely switch and refarm everything. It seems to be doing fine enough in T16s that aren't hyper-juiced, but it struggles badly with special bosses (guardians, conquerors, incarnations etc., haven't even tried any Elder/Shaper runs).

I've never been an expert on theorycrafting and doing a deep dive for this will probably just discourage me entirely, which is why I'm humbly asking for any advice, tip, direction you can give me on how to improve this - survivability, single-target damage, probably passives that changed over the years and no longer make sense here.

If it's impossible to do anything meaningful with it, then an advice on an alternate Shadow build that "feels" similar to this would also be appreciated.
Thanks for the help in advance and cheers in the new year.

https://pobb.in/G1x3xhGRZikB
Last edited by sipuss#3197 on Jan 9, 2026, 2:58:24 PM
Last bumped on Jan 20, 2026, 8:46:40 PM
Here's a link to what current-league BV characters are doing, it may give you some ideas on where to take your build for league-specific content once it comes to standard (if it does). I'd swap out those CIPs for something else, here's an example: https://poe.ninja/poe1/builds/keepers/character/Drohhan-4583/L_O_G_I_N_SPINNING?i=0&search=skills%3DBlade%2BVortex%26class%3DAssassin%26sort%3Ddps

I also checked standard characters, linked here: https://poe.ninja/poe1/builds/standard?skills=Blade+Vortex

I would see what they're doing and compare it to yours to get some build-progression ideas.
"Bonus points if it is Scion/Witch because they have nice knees. Ranger has ugly knees and other characters are men so playing them would be homoerotic." - CAKE, 10/20/21

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