[3.14] CoC Poison Bladefall / Blade Blast Assassin | SSF Viable

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buttcaake wrote:
So glad this exists. Just want to ask. Can this be played if I'm starting from scratch. Like a league start. Building up as I go?


I league started this in SSF, switching from self-cast bf/bb around level 80. I didn't have an ungil's harmony until level 93 so it was hard to push into red maps (it will basically double your damage). However I have some tips in the gear > amulet section to help secure one on SSF. Trade league would be a very easy league start.
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efun wrote:
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buttcaake wrote:
So glad this exists. Just want to ask. Can this be played if I'm starting from scratch. Like a league start. Building up as I go?


I league started this in SSF, switching from self-cast bf/bb around level 80. I didn't have an ungil's harmony until level 93 so it was hard to push into red maps (it will basically double your damage). However I have some tips in the gear > amulet section to help secure one on SSF. Trade league would be a very easy league start.


That sounds awesome. I am leveling as a spellslinger right now on SSF standard. Very easy. Ungil is pretty common, so I'm sure I'll eventually get one. Can't wait to switch to CoC. This will be my first attempt.

You can also add menagerie to that list btw. I get it randomly from that too. And also from navali's 5 unique vendor prophecy.

Also edit: I should have atleast a 5 link before using CoC right? And is it worth it to farm a tabula in the meantime?
Last edited by buttcaake on May 18, 2021, 8:28:45 AM
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buttcaake wrote:

Also edit: I should have atleast a 5 link before using CoC right? And is it worth it to farm a tabula in the meantime?


The 6th link gives you up to 64% more damage (deadly ailments), whereas on some builds the 6th gem might only be 20-30% more damage. So you can decide how much that's worth it to you!

If you only have a 5-link I recommend staying at/below 6aps and using only bladefall (cyclone - CoC - bladefall - spell cascade - deadly ailments). If you are still below 6aps when you get a 6-link, use another support gem (vile toxins) instead of adding in blade blast.

Unlike slinger or self-cast bf/bb where blade blast is your real damage dealer, bladefall does half (or more) of your DPS. So you can think of your link tradeoff as "how much more poison damage would a support gem give me" vs. "how much more damage can I get by increasing my attack speed and using 2 spells". If you can go from 6 aps to 9 aps, that's about 1.5x the damage so it's worth using bf/bb instead of only bladefall with an extra support gem like vile toxins.

The problem with staying below 6aps is that you get a ton of attack speed on the recommended tree, and having onslaught (silver flask) feels so good because of the extra move speed during cyclone, which puts you way over 6aps.
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efun wrote:
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buttcaake wrote:

Also edit: I should have atleast a 5 link before using CoC right? And is it worth it to farm a tabula in the meantime?


The 6th link gives you up to 64% more damage (deadly ailments), whereas on some builds the 6th gem might only be 20-30% more damage. So you can decide how much that's worth it to you!

If you only have a 5-link I recommend staying at/below 6aps and using only bladefall (cyclone - CoC - bladefall - spell cascade - deadly ailments). If you are still below 6aps when you get a 6-link, use another support gem (vile toxins) instead of adding in blade blast.

Unlike slinger or self-cast bf/bb where blade blast is your real damage dealer, bladefall does half (or more) of your DPS. So you can think of your link tradeoff as "how much more poison damage would a support gem give me" vs. "how much more damage can I get by increasing my attack speed and using 2 spells". If you can go from 6 aps to 9 aps, that's about 1.5x the damage so it's worth using bf/bb instead of only bladefall with an extra support gem like vile toxins.

The problem with staying below 6aps is that you get a ton of attack speed on the recommended tree, and having onslaught (silver flask) feels so good because of the extra move speed during cyclone, which puts you way over 6aps.


Hmm. I have 6.21 aps right now. It will be counted as 6 right? It will be okay? I have not taken unpredictable offensive yet. Im using a critical strike chance support too. It feels better than going spellslinger. Even though main crit chance is low. Effective crit is alright.

My aps goes up to 8.78 if i take channeling wheel and acuity. Im not sure what im doing yet. Do u check pob?

And is it necessary to level cyclone till 20?

Edit: My aps is at 8.33 now. I got an onslaught boot. When i get onslaught, i get 9.5 aps. Is this okay?
Last edited by buttcaake on May 19, 2021, 12:14:26 AM
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buttcaake wrote:

Hmm. I have 6.21 aps right now. It will be counted as 6 right? It will be okay? I have not taken unpredictable offensive yet. Im using a critical strike chance support too. It feels better than going spellslinger. Even though main crit chance is low. Effective crit is alright.

My aps goes up to 8.78 if i take channeling wheel and acuity. Im not sure what im doing yet. Do u check pob?

And is it necessary to level cyclone till 20?


I see you already swapped to bf/bb which was going to be my recommendation!

You don't want to have aps more than 6.06 with one spell in CoC or you're attacking faster than the cooldown. Imagine you have a skill with some fixed cooldown but you keep trying to cast it slightly before the cooldown - you'll miss it and have to wait until the next time you try to cast it. If you have two spells in CoC, you can go up to 12.12aps without any issues because you have a separate cooldown for each spell.

If you're slightly over it usually isn't a big deal. The latest version of PoB actually tells you exactly how bad it is: If you go to Main Skill > Cyclone/Bladefall/Blade Blast and select Bladefall, it should have "CoC Triggering Skill" and "Trigger Rate". You can play around with your aps on your gear/tree and see what "Trigger Rate" you get. Ideally, your trigger rate is your cyclone APS (if you have one spell in CoC) or half your cyclone APS (if you have two spells in CoC, since they trigger one after the other).

All leveling cyclone does is increase its AoE, which lets you fight bosses from slightly further away. If you have enough str for it I would level it but don't worry too much.
Last edited by efun on May 19, 2021, 12:27:05 AM
edit: double post
Last edited by efun on May 19, 2021, 12:26:20 AM
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efun wrote:
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buttcaake wrote:

Hmm. I have 6.21 aps right now. It will be counted as 6 right? It will be okay? I have not taken unpredictable offensive yet. Im using a critical strike chance support too. It feels better than going spellslinger. Even though main crit chance is low. Effective crit is alright.

My aps goes up to 8.78 if i take channeling wheel and acuity. Im not sure what im doing yet. Do u check pob?

And is it necessary to level cyclone till 20?


I see you already swapped to bf/bb which was going to be my recommendation!

You don't want to have aps more than 6.06 with one spell in CoC or you're attacking faster than the cooldown. Imagine you have a skill with some fixed cooldown but you keep trying to cast it slightly before the cooldown - you'll miss it and have to wait until the next time you try to cast it. If you have two spells in CoC, you can go up to 12.12aps without any issues because you have a separate cooldown for each spell.

If you're slightly over it usually isn't a big deal. The latest version of PoB actually tells you exactly how bad it is: If you go to Main Skill > Cyclone/Bladefall/Blade Blast and select Bladefall, it should have "CoC Triggering Skill" and "Trigger Rate". You can play around with your aps on your gear/tree and see what "Trigger Rate" you get. Ideally, your trigger rate is your cyclone APS (if you have one spell in CoC) or half your cyclone APS (if you have two spells in CoC, since they trigger one after the other).

All leveling cyclone does is increase its AoE, which lets you fight bosses from slightly further away. If you have enough str for it I would level it but don't worry too much.


Yes. I watched 2 videos of the explanation of CoC and I understood. Very cool.

Man. Thank you for this guide. I love it. This is the most fun I've had since playing flicker strike in heist. Build feels so smooth. I just need to polish up my gear now.

Just to clarify. 12.12 aps is the one I should aim for? Not 9?
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buttcaake wrote:

Yes. I watched 2 videos of the explanation of CoC and I understood. Very cool.

Man. Thank you for this guide. I love it. This is the most fun I've had since playing flicker strike in heist. Build feels so smooth. I just need to polish up my gear now.

Just to clarify. 12.12 aps is the one I should aim for? Not 9?


Yes, 12.12aps is your limit and anything getting you closer to that will increase your DPS. You can go up to 15aps if you find cooldown recovery on gear (at least 14%, can sometimes find it on Jun unveiled belts, or crusader/shaper belts or boots). But it's hard enough to get to 12aps I think, just if you get lucky with gear/jewels later!

If you haven't tried it yet, withering step while cycloning will give you a movement speed boost. Withering step on bosses will also increase your DPS a lot by applying wither stacks.

Btw to calculate your single target crit chance you can use "# of Poison on enemy: 4" and tick "Do you use power charges?" in PoB. Looks like you are at 78% (93% with diamond flask) which should be good enough for now!
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efun wrote:


Yes, 12.12aps is your limit and anything getting you closer to that will increase your DPS. You can go up to 15aps if you find cooldown recovery on gear (at least 14%, can sometimes find it on Jun unveiled belts, or crusader/shaper belts or boots). But it's hard enough to get to 12aps I think, just if you get lucky with gear/jewels later!

If you haven't tried it yet, withering step while cycloning will give you a movement speed boost. Withering step on bosses will also increase your DPS a lot by applying wither stacks.

Btw to calculate your single target crit chance you can use "# of Poison on enemy: 4" and tick "Do you use power charges?" in PoB. Looks like you are at 78% (93% with diamond flask) which should be good enough for now!


Understood.

Doesn't using another skill cancel withering step? I haven't tried activating it while channeling cyclone. Will try it out next time I'm playing.

Lmaoo. I completely forgot to tick power charges in config. I was wondering why my crit chance is still so low. Thank you
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buttcaake wrote:

Doesn't using another skill cancel withering step? I haven't tried activating it while channeling cyclone. Will try it out next time I'm playing.


Only the initial start of a channeling skill is considered "using a skill". For example, if you start cycloning in the green circles in the labyrinth, you will take damage once ("take damage when a movement skill is used"). But if you start cyclone outside of them and move into them, you won't take damage, since continuing channeling isn't considered using a skill.

So, as long as you press withering step while already cycloning, your elusive buff and applying withers to nearby enemies will last until you use another skill, for example toggling plague bearer, or stopping and starting cyclone again. You can easily test this out in hideout.

You can check the "Gameplay tips" section of the guide for more details on how to maximize your DPS using this interaction.

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