Bladefall Blade Blast Poison
Assassin build

Updated for Patch 3.19

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Bladefall skill combined with Blade Blast is a popular choice for Assassins. Both of these Spells are dealing Physical Damage, but the main source of Damage will come from Blade Blast, Bladefall is used just so there can be Blades to be blasted. With Bladefall your main objective is to cast as many Blades as possible - that's why the usual Supporting gems for it are Unleash and Spell Cascade. Assassin Ascendancy offers great synergy with Poisons which are the main way of dealing Damage with this build. Despite being Assassin, we don't really make use of Critical Strikes, as the current Perfect Agony is just not worth the investments. Critical Strikes are not entirely useless,  as occasionally landing one will grant us an Elusive effect, which is a great defensive tool that also gives lots of Movement Speed. They also have a Culling Strike effect, meaning they will kill any enemy under 10% maximum Life on hit.   

The build is Life-based with a lot of Evasion Rating and Chance to Suppress Spell Hits. Assassin Ascendancy offers you additional Damage or Defense depending on the number of enemies nearby and Mistwalker provides a global increase to Elusive effect, and you take no extra damage from Critical Strikes. Noxious Strike grants almost instant Life Regeneration from every pack of monsters you kill. Withering Step grants more Elusive effectiveness and Phasing, and applies few Stacks of Withered, increasing Chaos Damage enemies take by 6% per stack. The Damage from Blade Blast can overlap, that's why it is important to get a reasonable amount of increased AoE. It is a common practice to own a Helmet with a mod granting Concentrated effect for socketed Gems and put Bladefall there -  the number of blades but they will be placed closer to each other so a single cast of  Blade Blast can hit more often. Poison is the main damage source when fighting bosses, and with a lot of Blades concentrated in a small area it's really effective.

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1. Gameplay

You cast Bladefall and then instantly after - Blade Blast, the Blades explode dealing a massive amount of damage and then you activate Plague Bearer. With Plague Bearer this build plays really smooth, you can stack the maximum amount of charges on it within seconds, and then kill small opponents nearby just like with Righteous Fire. To slay more healthy opponents, just use Wither linked with Totems to increase the Chaos Damage they take massively. With increased Wither effectiveness from Passive Tree, 15 stack grants over 120% increased Damage Taken. Use the Withering Step to instantly refresh your Elusiveness with increased effect and apply some Withered stacks - be aware any Skill use will cancel Withering Step so use Plague Bearer first.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling process can be quickly done with any Physical or Chaos Skill, but not necessarily a Spell, it can be an Attack. What we recommend is Ethereal Knives until you can use Blade Vortex. It is the king of early leveling, and you can buy the Vaal version of it for very cheap to help you with Act Bosses. Prioritize Physical Damage first, then go for Poison and Chaos Damage. You can start using Blade Blast after you get access to Bladefall, so in the middle of Act 3, to start getting used to this quite specific gameplay style. Plague Bearer offers some serious Damage, so start using it as soon as you can. Picking up Spell Suppression Passives is surprisingly very effective even at low levels.  Leveling is pretty straightforward, you can level up with your End-Game Skill as you acquire necessary gems.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Blade Vortex setup
	Blade Vortex - Whirlwind of Blades spins around you, every Cast adds a stack that makes them stronger. For the early 12 levels, you can use  Ethereal Knives, the first Physical Spell you can get
	Chance to Poison Support - at first you need this Gem to apply Poisons at all
	Arcane Surge Support - at first Poison will be fairly weak, you need to focus on Hit Damage at the early levels
	Cruelty Support - very strong Support that boosts both Poisons and our Hit Damage

Bladefall setup
	Bladefall - it deals pretty good Area Damage but most importantly creates lots of Blades on the ground
	Spell Cascade Support - makes Bladefall generate even more Blades
	Faster Casting Support- makes the entire setup more smooth to play
	Concentrated Effect Support - Blades fall closer to each other

Bladefall setup
	Blade Blast- detonates every nearby Blade dealing high Physical Damage
	Chance to Poison - you need this Gem until you get all the Poison Passives in the Passive Tree
	Cruelty Support - it boosts both generic Damage and Damage over Time, ideal support for us
	Void Manipulation Support - grants a lot of Chaos Damage but disables Elemental Damage, which we don't deal anyway

Utility Gems
	Grace- this aura will be the main source of your Evasion Rating during leveling. You can use DMG aura if you prefer, but we find it unnecessary
	Herald of Agony - This Herald grants more Poison Damage, more Chance to Poison, and summons Agony Crawler Minion
	Clarity - helps sustain mana at early levels. You can keep it at a low level so it doesn't reserve your whole mana
	Despair - a Curse that you will cast manually, for now. Enemies take more Chaos Damage and Damage over Time, and it increases your damage with Hits
	Withering Step - Use it to gain Elusive buff, which grants Chance to Avoid Hits and Movement Speed

Bandits:

You should kill all the Bandits and take two more Passive Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

36 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Trickery 2) Will of Blades 3)Fangs of the Viper 4) Revenge of the Hunter 5) Fatal Toxins

66 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1)Blood Drinker 2)Force Shaper 3)Atrophy 4)Serpentine Spellslinger 5) Written in Blood 6) Instinct

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - overall good ring with increases in the stats that matter, such as Damage, Attributes, and Elemental Resistances

(10-30)% increased Damage +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Dream Fragments - solves a lot of mana problems and also provides immunities to Freeze and Chill

+(20-30)% to Cold Resistance 20% increased maximum Mana 50% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(30-40)% to Cold Resistance Cannot be Chilled Cannot be Frozen

Extractor Mentis - Onslaught and Unholy Might are very useful for faster campaign progression

+(16-24) to Strength and Intelligence +(30-50) to Strength Recover 1% of Life on Kill 5% chance to grant Onslaught to nearby Enemies on Kill 5% chance to grant Unholy Might to nearby Enemies on Kill 10% chance to gain Onslaught for 10 seconds on Kill 10% chance to gain Unholy Might for 10 seconds on Kill

Goldrim - one of the best and most versatile Helmets for leveling, grants a lot of Elemental Resistances

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Tabula Rasa - with Tabula you can instantly 6-link your Skill, increasing the damage and utility of your leveling setup

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Wanderlust - great boots for level 1 characters, they have a decent Movement Speed bonus and make you Immune to Freeze

+5 to Dexterity +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

Rare Wand - there are not many uniques for Poison builds at low levels. Getting bonus Levels for your Spell Gems is the best damage boost, it is a common mod around level 15

Min. requirements: +1 Level of All Physical Spell Skill Gems Optional affixes: Cast Speed Mana Regeneration

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

118 Points Final Skill Tree 
118 Points Path of Building(PoB) link 

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Noxious Strike
2. Mistwalker
3. Opportunistic
4. Ambush and Assassinate

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 Garukhan 60% reduced Effect of Shock on you; You cannot be Maimed

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Blade Blast setup
	Blade Blast - It detonates blades you previously cast with Bladefall, the damage can overlap which means that one enemy can be hit with several explosions, each dealing damage. The more Area of Effect increases you have, the bigger chance for the damage to overlap, and that's really good.
	Vile Toxins Support - greatly boost our Damage per every Poison we apply to enemy
	Deadly Ailments Support - more damage with Ailments - Poison, in this case, but Less Damage with Hits - we deal Damage with Poisons only anyway
	Void Manipulation Support - this Support Gem increases Chaos Damage but reduces Elemental Damage, but that is fine, this build doesn't deal Elemental Damage
	Efficacy Support - this gem increases the Damage over Time and Skill Effect Duration, resulting in longer-lasting and more powerful Poisons
	Unbound Ailments Support - longer Ailments duration and more Poison Damage. Duration is very beneficial for our scaling with every Poison on enemy

[UTILITY] Bladefall setup (to be put in Helmet with "supported by level # Concentrated Effect")
	Bladefall - Creates blades that are later detonated, the damage here doesn't matter at all, just the number of blades and the speed at which these are placed. Even without any Damage Supports it can kill packs of weaker monsters
	Spell Cascade Support - Bladefall Spell will be repeated in front and in the back of the original location resulting in more blades
	Faster Casting Support - by casting faster the Spell, you create more blades
	Concentrated Effect Support - it can be found in Elder-influenced Helmets and it's mandatory, so if you don't have it as a mod, use it as Support Gem instead of Unleash
	Optional Support Gem
	Unleash Support - gains seals which are used upon cast to cast skill more times. Without a good amount of Cast Speed, it can be clunky and lock you in place, so this Support is optional.

[UTILITY] Plague Bearer and Withering Step setup
	Plague Bearer - Plague Bearer deals fixed amounts of Damage and cannot be supported by Damage Support Gems. It stores part of your Poison Damage and can be toggled to deal AoE DoT in a similar way to Righteous Fire
	Withering Step - Refreshes your Elusive buff with increased effect, granting you more Chance to Evade Hits and Movement Speed. It also applies a few stacks of Withered debuff.
	Empower Support - increases the Plague Bearer damage by a lot since scaling levels is the only way to increase the upper Damage limit
	Increased Area of Effect Support - Plague Bearer covers much more area with is important for a map-clearing tool

[UTILITY] Herald and Auras setup
	Herald of Agony - Herald Skill that causes you to deal more Physical Damage, Poison Damage and summons useful Agony Crawler Minion
	Malevolence - Aura Spell that grants more Damage Over Time and increases Skill Effect Duration making it the most beneficial Aura
	Grace- this aura provides a lot of Evasion Rating and a way to scale it even higher. Vaal version increases the chance of Evade even further for a short duration

[UTILITY] Wither setup
	Wither - Use for tough opponents. It's a Channeling Spell that causes enemies to take more Chaos Damage by applying a debuff on them, it's really powerful.
	Spell Totem Support - You don't want to be Channeling Wither, you have other Spells to cast. Use Totem to cast it for you.
	Multiple Totems Support - More Totems will stack the debuff much faster

[MOBILITY] Flame Dash
	Flame Dash - it is a very universal Movement Skill that you can use to cover greater distances and gaps or dodge incoming attacks. Shares Cooldown with Withering Step

[UTILITY] Temporal Chains and Despair (ideally from "curse on hit" modifiers on specific items)
	Temporal Chains - a very strong curse for this build. It slows enemies, making it easier to dodge their attacks, but also increases the duration of effect on them, making our poisons and wither stacks last longer.
	Despair - it is another strong curse for this build. it adds flat chaos damage  and makes our poison deal much more damage

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find all the recommended and required gear for this build. The most important stats to increase your Damage are Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier and Chaos Damage. For defense just look For Maximum Life and cap your Elemental Resistances by any means necessary, ideally on Evasion-based items. The build is pretty cheap and you save a lot of cost by picking up Suppression Chance in Passive Tree. You will need around 100 Strenght and 200 Intelligence in total, it's not hard to get but requires some effort. As DoT build we don't really have access to Life Leech, so we must rely on Life Regeneration and Life Flasks

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Besides decent Maximum Life, Spell Suppression, and Elemental Resistances it is good to have "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Concentrated Effect", this saves you an extra Support Gem Slot that can be very useful. Later on, look for the optional affixes such as Added Damage to Spells and lower Chaos Resistance of your opponents.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances 13% chance to Suppress Spell Hit Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Concentrated Effect Regenerate 60+ Life per second Nearby Enemies have -#% to Chaos Resistance

Helmet enchantments: Bladefall has an additional Volley Blade Blast has 24% increased Area of Effect Blade Blast deals 40% increased Damage

(Weapon) Obliteration - Newly buffed, it grants a lot of extra Chaos Damage and very satisfying explosions. Those explosions deal Chaos Damage, so they can Poison as well, making explosive chain reactions.

Gain (30-40)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage Enemies you Kill have a 20% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage

(Weapon) Rare Wand - it will outperform Obliteration damage-wise, but won't provide those satisfying explosions and its cost can be quite big.

Min. requirements: +1 Level of Physical Spell Skill Gems +20% Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplier Gain 8% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage Optional affixes: +20% Damage Over Time Multiplier +1 Level of Physical Skill Gems 50% Chaos Damage

(Shield)Rare Shield - later on, you can swap one Obliteration for Rare Shield. You will deal slightly less Damage, but gain valuable defensive options like a higher Chance to Block or Maximum Resistance. Sadly only Energy Shield-based items can get modifiers for Skill Gem Levels

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life +1 Level of Physical Spell Skill Gems Gain 8% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage Optional affixes: Maximum Elemental Resistances Regenerate 60+ Life per second Chaos Resistances

(Body Armour) Carcass Jack - Area of Effect makes Bladefall spread worse but makes up by increasing Blade Blasts and Chaos Explosions radius. Also has decent Life and Elemental Resistances

(120-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +(50-70) to maximum Life +(9-12)% to all Elemental Resistances (40-50)% increased Area of Effect (40-50)% increased Area Damage Extra gore

(Body Armour) Dendrobate - very strong Damage option, but requires a lot of Dexterity, which puts a strain on your gear. Has decent Elemental Resistances and Evasion Rating, but does not provide Maximum Life at all

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 10 Chance to Poison (130-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +40 to maximum Energy Shield +(15-25)% to all Elemental Resistances (75-100)% increased Damage with Poison if you have at least 300 Dexterity (15-25)% increased Poison Duration if you have at least 150 Intelligence

(Body Armour) Rare Armour - good Rare can beat those 2 uniques if you invest enough into it. Frenzy Charges or Additional Curse on top of high Maximum Life  will provide a massive boost to Damage

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances 10% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Hit Optional affixes: Attributes You can apply an additional Curse Regenerate 60+ Life per second

(Boots) Atziri's Step - Spell Suppression is what makes this pair of Boots really stand out, especially after the nerfs to Rare items. But except for that, they are pretty mediocre

+(20-26)% chance to Suppress Spell Damage 180% increased Evasion Rating +(55-75) to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed

(Boots) Rare Boots - You need Movement Speed and Life, the rest should be focused on Elemental Resistances. It's best to cap your Spell Suppression using a Helmet, so you don't need to worry about it in this slot

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances 30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Attributes Regenerate 60+ Life per second

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - High Roll on Maximum Life and Elemental Resistances are a priority, if you're satisfied with the defenses, look for a mod or two that will increase your Poison Damage. Eldritch influences provide strong chaos damage over time multiplier and some nice defensive options.

Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Duration of Ailments on Enemies Regenerate 60+ Life per second +#% to Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier

(Gloves)Asenath's Gentle Touch - every Hit you make will apply Temporal Chains, and cause Explosions that can Poison to further boost your clear speed

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(60-80) to maximum Life +(60-80) to maximum Mana Curse Enemies with Temporal Chains on Hit, with 40% increased Effect Non-Aura Curses you inflict are not removed from Dying Enemies Enemies near corpses affected by your Curses are Blinded Enemies Killed near corpses affected by your Curses explode, dealing 3% of their Life as Physical Damage

(Belt) Rare Belt - it's the same case as with Gloves, you should aspire to gain as many defensive stats as your budget allows you for - mostly Life and Elemental Resistances. There are only a handful of offensive mods, such as increased Chaos Damage.

Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life 100% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Regenerate 60+ Life per second increased Chaos Damage maximum Life %

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - we are looking for either Skill Gem Levels or Damage over Time Multipliers, ideally both of them on top of good Life and Resistances

Min. requirements: 70maximum Life 30% Total Elemental Resistances +1 Level of All Physical Spell Skill Gems Optional affixes: Damage over Time Multiplier

Recommended Anointments: Dirty Techniques Corruption

(Ring) Rare Ring - Use Iolite Ring for more Chaos Damage, Two-stone Ring for more Elemental Resistance, or Vermilion Ring for more maximum Life. It's obligatory to have "Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit, with #% increased Effect" mod, as it's the one that increases your Poison Damage. It's a good place to look for more Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, Attributes, or some offensive mods.

Min. requirements: 60 to Maximum Life Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit, with #% increased Effect Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Intelligence Strength

(Ring)Ming's Heart - gives tons of Chaos Resistances and Damage, but heavily reduces Life, and can be further boosted by using Noxious Catalyst. Use only if you are comfortable with your defenses

+(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance 25% reduced maximum Energy Shield 25% reduced maximum Life +(40-50)% to Chaos Resistance Gain (40-60)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Jewels offers a lot of mods that'd increase your Poison Damage, and getting three of them and maximum Life can be quite expensive. There is a mod that you can get by corrupting Jewels that grants you immunity to Corrupted Blood which is useful.

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life increased Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier increased Chaos Damage increased Damage over Time Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Malevolence mod is very good but also expensive, you can look for a mod for Grace to improve survivability

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Flask) Atziri's Promise - gives you some Chaos Resistance as well as a decent boost to your Damage by adding extra Choas Damage

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

(Flask) Sin's Rebirth - very strong flask which gives Unholy Might on demand, as well as removes Burning

Creates a Smoke Cloud on Use Gain Unholy Might during Flask Effect Grants Immunity to Ignite for 4 seconds if used while Ignited Removes all Burning when used

Other suggested Flasks: Sulphur Flask with increased Evasion  Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed Life Flask with Bleed Removal

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.