Abyss-Stacking
Ethereal Knives
Ascendant Build

Updated for Patch 3.21

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Patch 3.21 has introduced a significant change to most of the Abyss-themed items, Lightpoacher and Shroud of the Lightless amongst them. The Body Armour makes you Penetrate 4% Elemental Resistances per Abyss Jewel affecting you, and the Helmet grants you an extra 5% of Physical Damage as Extra Damage of each Element per Spirit Charge. Spirit Charges are gained on Kill and last for 10 seconds (you can only have as many of these Charges as you have Abyss Jewels). You will also need to retain them - they tend to be consumed each time you use a Spell to Trigger Spirit Burst Skill, and you don't want that (we will explain how to achieve it later). To get as many Spirit Charges and Abyss Jewels you will need to allocate a lot of Jewel Sockets using Skill Points, that's the main reason to pick Scion - this character gains more Skill Points than other classes. We managed to accumulate 19 Abyss Jewels, resulting in 95% extra Fire, Cold, and Lightning Damage based on Physical Damage, which already quadruples the base damage. It also grants 76% Elemental Damage Penetration, which is unheard of in regular builds.

We've selected one of the best Physical Damage Spells - Ethereal Knives. To boost Spell Damage simply increase its Gem Level, link it with multiple Support Gems, and use proper Auras. The most efficient way to exploit the circumstances we've set up is to increase the base Physical Damage and invest in Critical Strikes. Shroud of the Lightless doesn't allow you to socket a six-link setup there, and while using a Bow may be a good idea, having The Squire Shield with a particularly good Wand/Dagger yields the best results. As for the other gear pieces, we've used other Abyss-themed items - Command of the Pit, Bubonic Trail, and Darkness Enthroned. To accommodate more Abyss Jewels use variants with two Abyss Sockets. It leaves little to no space for other Skills - you still need Auras, Movement Skill, Guard Spell, and a Curse. The defenses were merely an afterthought, but due to the multiple Abyss Jewels, you can get some extra Maximum Life on each resulting in around 6k of it.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Use Ethereal Knives against all types of enemies. Choose Flame Dash, Steelskin, and Sniper's Mark for your Movement Skill, Guard Skill, and Curse respectively. For Auras we recommend Zealotry, Haste, Herald of Ash, and Vitality. You may replace Haste with Grace for better defensive capability and Herald of Ash with Herald of Purity for more damage but worse clear speed.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

The build is good only on leveled-up characters, it needs to host a lot of Abyss Jewels. We recommend getting to level 85 or so by other means. You will have to respec a lot of Skill Points, there's no way around it, the build is just too specific. Use our Scion Leveling Guide. It uses Caustic Arrow and Ballista Totems.

Bandits:

Kill all three bandits and be rewarded with two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

27 Points Passive Tree
Get some Maximum Life and Bow/DoT nodes.
 

62 Points Passive Tree
Continue gathering Maximum Life and Bow, Chaos, and Damage over Time nodes. Get Charisma too to fit in more Auras.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

100 Points Final Passive Tree (doesn't include Cluster or Unique Jewels)
124 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Assassin
2. Path of the Shadow
3. Deadeye or Pathfinder (for Flask Charges)

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Ryslatha: Life Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds if you haven't used a Life Flask Recently; 60% increased Life Recovery from Flasks used when on Low Life

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Ethereal Knives setup use The Squire if you can
	Ethereal Knives - You're looking for a Spell that deals Base Physical Damage. There are limited opportunities to Convert the damage and you don't really need to do so. Ethereal Knives is probably the best Skill - it's simple, has great AoE, and can be upgraded with Nimis.
	Empower Support - Increases Gem level of Ethereal Knives resulting in more damage.
	Inspiration Support - Lowers Mana Cost, increases Crit Chance, and Elemental Damage. Use a Divergent one for 44% Reduced Mana Cost. Combined with a Flask that reduces Mana Cost, Militant Faith Jewel, or other Jewellery items, it should cost no Mana at all.
	Power Charge on Critical Support - Generates Power Charges on Critical Strikes, which is often, and grants more damage per such Charge.
Other recommended Support Gems which can be found as Wand/Sceptres Modifiers (Rune Daggers too, but the pool is more diluted with useless mods there). Simply select two as Support Gems for a six-link setup if you're using a Bow.
	Increased Critical Strikes Support - Can be found as Shaper Suffix on a Wand. It increases Crit Chance, which is good if you still need it. You probably will, It's hard to get 100% of it without this Gem.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - Can be found as Elder Suffix on a Wand. Use it if your Crit Chance is particularly high, it's one of the best Support Gems if you met this condition.
	Spell Echo Support - Can be found as Elder Suffix on a Wand. A significant damage enhancement - the Skill is beating repeated with increased Cast Speed. We heavily recommend the Awakened variant for even more damage.
	Faster Casting Support - Can be found as Shaper Suffix on a Wand. It simply grants more Cast Speed.
	Added Fire Damage Support - Can be found as Shaper Prefix on a Wand. Adds extra Fire Damage sourced from Physical Damage, it's actually quite good even if you have a lot of Spirit Charges already.

[UTILITY] Helmet setup socketed in Lightpoacher (2 Abyssal Sockets)
	Archmage Support - It's needed here to increase the Mana Cost of Spirit Burst, which is a Spell that comes with the Lightpoacher. If the Cost of it is too high it won't trigger and you won't lose your precious Spirit Charges. It will cost only 1 or 2 Mana, so the character should stay below this threshold at all times. All your other Skills should cost 0 Mana.
	Spirit Burst - Automatically consumes all your Spirit Charges when you use any Skill. You don't want to do that, the damage it causes is too low and it's better to keep these charges for a passive bonus. It has no Mana cost by default.

[DPS] Various Gems socketed in Shroud of the Lightless (2 Abyssal Sockets)
	Steelskin - A Guard Spell that stops Bleeding at mitigates a portion of incoming damage for a duration.
	Flame Dash - Use it to move faster or avoid precognited attacks.
	Sniper's Mark - Enemies affected by it receive increased Projectile Hit Damage.
	Inspiration Support - Use a Divergent one to lower the Mana Cost of all linked Skills.

[UTILITY] Arrogant Aura setup
	Vitality - Keep it at Level 1. You can use  Precision or  Clarity instead, it doesn't really matter as long as it reserves an insignificant amount of Life.
	Arrogance Support - You have to have some of your Life Reserved. If you're not on Full Life, you will lose 20% of your Mana each second due to the Agnostic Keystone. It ensures that you have exactly 0 Mana constantly. You'll still be able to cast Spells due to the Inspiration Support Gems.

[UTILITY] Other Auras these don't need linking
	Herald of Ash - Adds Fire Damage sourced from Physical Damage, increases, and grants more Spell Fire Damage. Slain enemies will inflict Burning all around them which enhances clear speed. Use  Herald of Purity if you want more Physical Damage, it results in higher DPS.
	Zealotry - Grants more Spell Damage and Spell Critical Strike Chance. It's the best damage-wise Aura.
	Haste - Increases Movement and Cast Speed. It's great if you value Clearing, but consider these alternative options -  Grace for Evasion,  Determination for Armour, or  Hatred for pure DPS.

6. Gear Setup

We've taken drastic measures to maximize the number of Abyss Sockets. We have selected five Unique Abyssal gear pieces with such sockets in them - Lightpoacher, Shroud of the Lightless, Command of the Pit, Bubonic Trail, and Darkness Enthroned. Also, The Squire is a great addition we've used alongside a Rare Wand with multiple built-in Support Gems. This way it's possible to have a 9-link setup despite the limited availability of regular Gem Sockets. The multiple Abyss Jewels should get you all the stats you normally would associate with a generic Spell-caster - Cast Speed, Maximum Life, added damage to Spells, and Crit-adjacent mods. The build varies a lot in price because of these Jewels, you can get them for 1c or a few Divines each. Get around 18 of them and one Unique Kurgal's Gaze. Energy Shield is insignificant. Don't reduce the Mana Cost of Skills by a flat amount (like 7), but by percent (like 7%), it would make your Spirit Burst cost 0 Mana, and that's bad.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Lightpoacher (2 Abyssal Sockets) - A core element of the build, it grants you the extremely powerful Spirit Charges on Kill, and also the undesirable Spirit Burst Skill, which we've managed to disable with Archmage Support Gem socketed there. It grants tons of extra Elemental Damage to Ethereal Knives.

Has 2 Abyssal Sockets Trigger Level 20 Spirit Burst when you Use a Skill while you have a Spirit Charge +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances +1 to Maximum Spirit Charges per Abyss Jewel affecting you Gain a Spirit Charge on Kill Gain 5% of Physical Damage as Extra Damage of each Element per Spirit Charge

Helmet enchantments: 30% increased Ethereal Knives Projectile Speed 40% increased Ethereal Knives Damage Ethereal Knives fires Projectiles in a circle

(Weapon) Rare Bow - You may want to use a Bow instead of our recommended Squire setup. Here you will need to get the mods that'd increase the Level of Socketed Gems, Support Gems, and some Global Critical Strike modifiers. It's the cheaper option.

Min. requirements: +1 to Level of Socketed Gems +2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems (crafted) Global Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: increased Projectile Speed increased Spell Damage chance to deal Double Damage (crafted)

(Weapon) Rare Wand/Sceptre - A good Wand or Sceptre can be immensely expensive, but powerful. Look for the built-in Support Gems with additional Cast Speed or Global Critical Strike modifiers. It's used only with The Squire.

Min. requirements: at least two of the listed built-in Support Gems Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Increased Critical Strikes Socketed Gems are supported by Level 20 Increased Critical Damage Socketed Gems are supported by Level 20 Spell Echo Socketed Gems are supported by Level 20 Faster Casting Socketed Gems are supported by Level 20 Added Fire Damage increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells Global Critical Strike Multiplier increased Cast Speed Gain #% of Physical Damage as Extra Lightning/Cold/Fire/Chaos Damage

(Off-hand) The Squire - It lets you link additional three Support Gems to your main-hand setup, which results in a lot more damage. Don't worry about increased Mana Cost, your Skills (except Spirit Burst) should cost no Mana.

Has 3 Sockets All Sockets are White +(5-8)% to Quality of Socketed Support Gems Socketed Support Gems can also Support Skills from your Main Hand (100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(3-5)% Chance to Block

(Off-hand) Rare Quiver - If you're using a Bow, combine it with a Rare Vile Arrow Quiver. It should increase your Maximum Life, Global Crit Chance/Damage, and grant you some extra Elemental Damage sourced from Physical Damage. It's also where you can Convert some of your Physical Damage to any other type of Damage, but it's not that important.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life Gain 15% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold/Lightning/Fire Damage Global Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: increased Projectile Speed increased Global Critical Strike Chance increased Burning Damage #% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage Elemental Resistances

(Body Armour) Shroud of the Lightless (2 Abyssal Sockets) - This Body Armour grants you tons of Elemental Penetration and some Maximum Life sourced from the number of your Abyss Jewels. Use the version with only two Abyss Sockets. Three Abyss Socket may work too, but you'd have to give up Flame Dash or Steelskin Skills.

+(20-25) to maximum Mana Has 2 Abyssal Sockets Penetrate 4% Elemental Resistances per Abyss Jewel affecting you 20% chance to Trigger Level 20 Shade Form when you Use a Socketed Skill (160-180)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield 1% increased Maximum Life per Abyss Jewel affecting you 1% increased Maximum Mana per Abyss Jewel affecting you

(Boots) Bubonic Trail (2 Abyssal Sockets) - Grants two Abyss Sockets, increases your Movement Speed, Reduces Ailments Duration on you, and increases Reservation Efficiency. The required Jewels don't need to be socketed in this particular item.

Has 2 Abyssal Sockets Triggers Level 20 Death Walk when Equipped (24-32)% increased Movement Speed while affected by a Magic Abyss Jewel (60-40)% reduced Duration of Elemental Ailments on You while affected by a Rare Abyss Jewel (16-24)% increased Reservation Efficiency while affected by a Unique Abyss Jewel

(Gloves) Command of the Pit (2 Abyssal Sockets) - Use these Gloves for two Abyss Sockets, Cast Speed, Maximum Life, and Arcane Surge on Hit. Be sure to socket the Hypnotic Eye Jewel Here, that's the blue one.

Has 2 Abyssal Sockets (6-10)% increased Cast Speed (4-6)% increased maximum Life With a Ghastly Eye Jewel Socketed, Minions have +1000 to Accuracy Rating With a Hypnotic Eye Jewel Socketed, gain Arcane Surge on Hit with Spells

(Belt) Darkness Enthroned - In this Belt, you can socket two of your most treasured Rare Abyss Jewels. It's better than a Rare Stygian Vise unless you have a very good one already.

Has 2 Abyssal Sockets (50-100)% increased Effect of Socketed Abyss Jewels

(Belt) Rare Stygian Vise - If it's too difficult to have all your Flasks up permanently, which is a requirement, use Stygian Vise with various Flask modifiers such as reduced Flask Charges used, increased Flask Charges gained, Flasks applied to you have increased Effect, and increased Flask Effect Duration.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life various Flask modifiers Optional affixes: Gain Alchemist's Genius when you use a Flask (Essence) Elemental Resistances Strength

(Belt) Mageblood - We try to avoid mentioning Mageblood. We all know it's good, but here, in particular, is even more so. It could reduce the Mana Cost of your Skills (except Spirit Burst) with just one Flask by 100%. It solves a lot of other issues.

+(25-35) to Strength +(30-50) to Dexterity +(15-25)% to Fire Resistance +(15-25)% to Cold Resistance Magic Utility Flasks cannot be Used Leftmost (2-4) Magic Utility Flasks constantly apply their Flask Effects to you Magic Utility Flask Effects cannot be removed

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Try to increase the Ethereal Knives Gem Level by one or even two with the Amulet. Maximum Life, Cast Speed, and Critical Strike modifiers are great as well. You can Craft a Prefix for a 5% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills if need be.

Min. requirements: +50 to Maximum Life +1 to Level of all Physical Skill Gems Optional affixes: Resistances +1 to Level of all Skill Gems Global Critical Strike Multiplier increased Global Critical Strike Chance increased Cast Speed 5% reduced Mana Cost of Skills (crafted)

Recommended Anointments: Tireless Natural Remedies Longshot Marked for Death

(Ring) Rare Ring - We've mentioned that you can get all the necessary Resistances from Abyss Jewels, however, it is better to get them on a Ring. Jewel's Suffixes are more valuable. Remember to have some Maximum Life here too. Optional modifiers are Global Crit Multiplier and Reduced Mana Cost of Skills - not flat, but percentage.

Min. requirements: +50 to maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Global Critical Strike Multiplier Chaos Resistance Attributes 5% reduced Mana Cost of Skills (crafted)

(Ring) Nimis - Nimis makes all the Projectiles return to you. It's probably the best-in-slot Ring as it quite literally doubles your damage per Cast.

+(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance +(30-50) to Dexterity (25-35)% increased Projectile Damage Projectiles Return to you Projectiles are fired in random directions

(Jewel) Abyss Jewels - For Prefixes look for added Damage to Spells, preferably Physical, and Maximum Life. For Suffixes - Cast Speed and Critical Strike modifiers, preferably Crit Multiplier or Cast Speed if you've Crit'd recently. One of them has to be Magic due to the Bubonic Trail's bonus.

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Resistances Attributes Crit Chance Crit Damage Added Damage to Spells increased Cast Speed

(Jewel) Kurgal's Gaze - Increases the effect of Arcane Surge on you, it translates to more Cast Speed.

+(10-20) to Intelligence 8% increased Effect of Arcane Surge on you per Hypnotic Eye Jewel affecting you, up to a maximum of 40%

(Jewel) Militant Faith - Try to get a Militant Faith Jewel that reduces Mana Cost of Skills per 10 Devotion and one that doesn't have a negative impact on your Notables, as they may or may not get transformed. It's purposeless if you already have reduced your Mana Cost enough by other means.

Carved to glorify (2000-10000) new faithful converted by High Templar (Avarius-Dominus-Maxarius) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Templars Historic <two random mods of devotion>

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - Another way to have your Flasks up permanently, is to give up some of them and pick the Traitor Keystone from Brutal Restraint. It's not an ideal solution, but good enough if you see no other way to get enough Flask Charges because you haven't picked the Pathfinder Ascendancy. You can use only one Historic Jewel.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of Balbala Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame & Flesh - All Ranger's Keystones are good. Pathfinder is used for Flask Charges sustain, Raider increases mobility, and Deadeye - Damage (to sum it up briefly). Pick one that is currently the cheapest.

Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Large Cluster Jewels are primarily used for extra Jewel Sockets, but their secondary role is also of the essence. Get three copies with the Elemental Damage bases. Sadist is the best Notable to have on all three Cluster Jewels.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Sadist 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - There's not much space left for Medium Cluster Jewels, the build is short on Passive Skill Points already, but if you really need the extra Critical Strike Chance, get Basics of Pain and Quick Gateway Notables.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Basics of Pain 1 Added Passive Skill is Quick Gateway

(Flask) The Writhing Jar - Spirit Charges will disappear after 10 seconds. Some boss fights have long invulnerability phases, so to not lose them, release Worms from time to time and kill them, the 10-second counter resets this way. You can do it indefinitely as you passively generate Flask Charges.

Recovers (120-168) Mana over 5.00 seconds Recovers (435-609) Life over 5.00 seconds Consumes (16-18) of 40 Charges on use Instant Recovery (75-65)% reduced Amount Recovered 2 Enemy Writhing Worms escape the Flask when used Writhing Worms are destroyed when Hit (20-10)% reduced Charges per use

(Flask) Atziri's Promise - It adds tons of extra Damage sourced from both - Physical and Elemental types of Damage. Chaos Resistance and Life Leech are excellent additions too.

+35% to Chaos Resistance Gain (5-8)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Effect Gain (5-8)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect

Suggested Flasks: Silver Flask with increased Cast Speed Quicksilver Flask with reduced Mana Cost of Skills and increased Effect Diamond Flask with increased Crit Chance

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.