[3.27] 🗡The Nightblade🗡Demo video #3 : The Simulacrum, wave 15. PoB links updated

There you go, Exiles, I have completed the Simulacrum.

Before that, I've tried different setups, which were unsuccessful :
1- full poison with Perfect Agony. High DPS but not enough defences.
2 - Pseudo max-Block with Versatile Combatant. It was useless, tbh. I didn't make it past wave 14.

And at the end, the solution was the simplest you could imagine : I have... added more life on the tree. And at the last moment (just before wave 14) I replaced one of the Ming's Heart with a rare ring for more life (and it's no mirror-tier ring, btw, just the first one I found in my stashes...) and put a Rosethorn Tincture that I crafted on the moment.


Not gonna lie, I also had a very expensive item :


This is not a powerful item, Exiles. This is crazy busted. 15 withered stacks at all times, without the Nightshade tincture.

I've made so many mistakes during the fight, this is stupid haha. For instance, I had Temp Chains and Despair both self-cast, but I forgot I had Despair on hit on the gloves.
And I've made the first 10 waves without removing Perfect Agony (from my previous attempt at a poison setup), which was cutting my DPS by 40%...
I guess I was under the influence of Delirium...

The PoB of victory : https://pobb.in/xwvyWEE1oVnA

Video coming soon !

I've stopped playing this league, but still kept checking here for your progress. Well done on finally doing it!

Just curious, did you try playing with excess sustenance passive yet? The one that gives you 200 life on hit? If not no worries, I'm just glad you managed to do it :D!

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Woundshot#3097 が発言:

I've stopped playing this league, but still kept checking here for your progress. Well done on finally doing it!

Just curious, did you try playing with excess sustenance passive yet? The one that gives you 200 life on hit? If not no worries, I'm just glad you managed to do it :D!

Yes, I have tried. It does grant more survivability against mobs, but the problem was getting insta-killed by Omniphobia or Kosis. Nice anointment anyhow, it is totally worth trying (and less expensive than Incorporeal).
Thanks for inspiring me to do the Simulacrum. I didn't think the build could do it !

Demo video of The Simulacrum.

The build shows wave 15 of the fight, with some technical explanations added.

PoB : https://pobb.in/HtJJtUNTwBVE
Improved compared to the video with an Unnatural Instinct jewel, south of Scion.

Thoughts about Blade Flurry : a cool and niche skill that would deserve to reclaim its former glory

Nowadays, BF is almost exclusively played with General's Cry. I had briefly tested this setup when General's Cry was released during Harvest league, but I didn't like it. In fact, I never play proxy builds (trap, mines, totems, General's Cry...), because I like to do the dmg myself.

For some times, we had Divergent Blade Flurry (more AoE) and Anomalous Blade Flurry (inc elem dmg while channelling) but they were nothing spectacular.

In 3.26, GGG released a Transfigured version of BF, Blade Flurry of Incision, which replaces "more dmg per stage" with "more crit chance per stage".
But it seems no one is playing this variant.
More crit chance per stage could be useful for a CoC build, but even then, it'd be clunky because you'd need to wait max stage to get all the crit chance you need. Might as well go Cyclone, as it's been done for years. Admittedly, Incision plays no purpose, hence no one wants to play it, and the few who have tried have ended up disappointed.

IMO, a better variant Blade Flurry of Incision could also begin with large AoE and then gain dmg and lose AoE as you channel longer, like Flameblast of Contraction. But for the moment, Incision appears to be a dead variant.

On the contrary, Vaal Blade Flurry is fun. I have played it when it was released in 3.20 and I think it is pretty good. Tbh, I have barely touched it for the last 3 years but it is definitely worth another try. It could be improved with the new Chaos Bloodline, to boost either its AoE, its dmg or the frequency with which to use it (Priest of Yaomac).

Blade Flurry itself has received powerful buffs in 3.25 and 3.26 so we can't complain. GGG hasn't forgotten about it.

With all this said, I think that BF deserves a good Transfigured version.
For instance, it could be modelled after Incinerate of Venting : more stages, more dmg and more AoE per stage, no final release. This variant of Incinerate is smoother to play, as you can channel to your heart content ; when, on the contrary, Incinerate of Expanse with only 4 max stages and a big release, feels clunky : to get a big ignite, you must stop casting it all the time, which should not be the point of a channelled skill...

Now let's imagine a Blade Flurry of Venting : more stages, no release. You gain dmg the longer you channel and you don't need to start from 0 every few seconds. To compensate for these bonuses, the dmg effectiveness of this variant could be lower and you'd gain less dmg per stage. But past a point, you'd get more dmg than with base BF, provided you channel long enough. And maybe some blind effect while channelling, or other defensive bonus (built-in block maybe ?)
Let's call it the Blade Flurry of Badass Fury for good measure, and we have a solid new variant for 3.28 !