What works well with Blade Spirit? Looking for ideas :)

[r3bs]

Hey guys, just rushed the Blade Spirit skill on my Nightblade, gotta say this thing's damage is absolutely glorious, at least for a newbie like me on Normal+Veteran difficulty. Warden lasted like 10 seconds total against it.

I haven't chosen my second mastery yet, and just don't know which direction to go. I've read somewhere that on higher difficulties reflect mobs will be a big issue for Blade Spirit and it will one-shot me, so i want to work on this issue somehow. I should get lifeleech somewhere, or huge regen, or another way of dealing with it. I am already going to max Nightblade's passive which gives Piercing resist for this reason.

Also as far as i understand Blade Spirit will not get benefits from pet bonuses, but i still would like to pick Shaman for Brianthorn. Would it be a bad idea? Also i don't know if Blade Spirit will benefit from any auras, like Arcanist's aura for example. Is there any way to increase the speed at which Blade Spirit travels or i should just pick some AOE cc skill to slow down enemies?

Anyway i would appreciate any input on what other mastery i should pick to synergise well with this skill :)

p.s.: i am going full Cunning if that matters.

[Aelies von Saladir]

1. Shaman is quite a solid addition to Nightblade. You can use Savagery as default attack replacer. Also, you didn't mention that you use dual blades. If you really don't use it, then you can go 2H in shaman's skill. Even if you do use it, savagery is still useful. Plus you will benefit from either stormpact or Primal Bond (which increases your bleeding damage).

2. You don't need to worry too much about reflect mob. They are rare, they have orange-yellowish glow around them when they use reflect and you can easily wait for reflect to run out.

3. As fas as I know, there's no way to speed up Blade Spirit.

4. You should puit a few points into Physique ASAP. You'll want it. At least as much as cunning.

5. If you want AOE slow down, go for occultist.

[r3bs]

Hi, i am indeed not using dual blades - i am still looking at this passive as it's + pierce and cold % damage, but i am thinking that a caster off-hand with cooldown reduction and some pierce bonus might be better to spam more Blade Spirits? I don't know what else these things can roll though.

I guess i will follow your advice and get some PHYS on the next few levels.

[Aelies von Saladir]

I think Dual Blade only +% Pierce damage for your dafault attacks and replacers and not Blade Spirit and if it does, it only works if you're using two melee weapons. So if you're really going for Trickster (Shaman+Nightblade), 2H is still a viable option. I don't advise going for Caster off hand, though the choice is yours.

[feliscon]

Originally posted by Aelies von Saladir:

I think Dual Blade only +% Pierce damage for your dafault attacks and replacers and not Blade Spirit and if it does, it only works if you're using two melee weapons. So if you're really going for Trickster (Shaman+Nightblade), 2H is still a viable option. I don't advise going for Caster off hand, though the choice is yours.

No, Dual Blades counts across the board as long as you wield two melee weapons. Pretty sure.

[Sin]

You can go full Pierce / Bleed caster with Nightblade by equiping caster armour & offhand for mana regen and a +cast speed and/or +pierce / bleed weapon.

Blade Spirit for Damage.
Phantasmal Blades & Blade Trap for Damage & Lifesteal.
Pneumatic Burst for Healing, Throw speed, Movement speed & Avoid melee & ranged chance.
Devotions: Empty Throne, Harpy, Crane, Assassin's Blade, Assassin, Unknown Soldier. (modify for final boss if you need to)
Here was my build at the end of first playthrough, devotions included: http://grimcalc.com/build/UW6ZfO

Hybrid it with another mastery after level 48. Or max out Veil of Shadow & Night's Chill so that anything that survives long enough and manages to get close, gets slowed and takes bulk extra pierce damage.

[Astasia]

I have been thinking of doing a blade spirit build for a while. Back in the day the level cap was too low to really do much with them, and since then the skill has changed dramatically several times, so old ideas and builds don't work any more.

As of the latest patch, my first thought was arcanist for the +elemental and +cold damage in the tree, but thinking about it I believe the only cold damage the spirits do is when they expire and explode. I'm not sure focussing on that part of the skill is as useful. Still the tree has a bit of %OA, extra crit, and even some CD reduction in Ascendance.

Soldier has Field Command and Squad Tactics which at the very least buff your own offense, all damage, and attack speed, which should apply to the spirit, I'm not sure they can "double dip" and get the buff again from the aura, if they can I think it makes soldier the best option. Then Olerons Rage is +12% OA and +90% pierce damage.

Shaman has Devouring Swarm to debuff bleed resists, and Primal Bond for extra bleed damage.

Occultist has Curse of Frailty for a defense debuff.

Demolitionist has a good pierce damage buff in Temper, and you could lob Flashbangs around for a defense debuff.

Nightblade itself has ofcourse the most to offer, Night's Chill, Blade Trap, Dual Blades and Anatomy of Murder, all useful for a Blade Spirit build.

I think soldier is probably going to provide the most consistant benefit, with straight damage and pierce damage bonuses, while arcanist will make them more like powerful mobile bombs that do decent damage while up but explode for tons of damage. In either case keep Veil of Shadow/Night's Chill on the enemy, and spam Blade Traps between spirits.

That's all theorycrafting, I haven't played with the new version of the skill at all yet, it's something I intend to get around to soon though.

[r3bs]

Thanks for the detailed answers guys, i've decided to go Shaman as a second spec, i am currently a level 40 Trickster with maxed Blade Spirit and points in Grasping Vines (+Entangling), Briarthorn (+Ground Slam) and Anatomy of Murder (a bit). I am running with a caster off-hand and almost everything i've equipped has +pierce% and +bleed%. As for Devotions, i am slowly moving towards Unknown Soldier, don't know how good it will be but the concept sounds cool.

So far Briarthorn + Vines do a very good job at keeping mobs off me, i don't know if Briarthorn will fade away at later levels w/o any pet bonuses, but i think i will be able to reallocate points into something to make up for that, probably Veil + Chill, but right now i dont see much use for this aura since mobs rarely come close. I still don't have any spammable attack - running around with a default weapon attack at left click and use it only for barrels :) I was thinking about Phantasmal Blades but i dont think i will be able to sustain them right now, they consume quite a lot of energy. Either way they remain an option later on if i find a way to get some good energy gain.

Now thinking about what i would've/could've done differently - i could go Occultist as a second mastery, and max out Curse of Frailty + Bloody Pox, with some points in Hellhound. This would leave me with the option to also get use of Poison/Acid stuff from both trees later on. Anyway, still happy with my current build :)