Home / Build / [2.6] Low Life Ethereal Knives Witch (Occultist) – “The Shuriken Ninja”

[2.6] Low Life Ethereal Knives Witch (Occultist) – “The Shuriken Ninja”

Intro & build description

I made this Ethereal Knives build back in Perandus challenge league since EK wasn’t meta build and I wanted to try out how far I can push it with with Ascendancy classes and interesting mechanics occultist ascendancy offered. I was amazed how well it performed at the end of cruel and beginning of merciless since I got most of needed nodes and enough critical strike chance to crit reliably. Build is incredibly fast paced since we dash around with whirling blades and cast EK around. Great build to play in groups, you can clear in 6 man parties solo without problems.

Build Pros

  • Fun gameplay
  • Strong single target damage
  • Not expensive to start with
  • Adjustable for bladefall or blade vortex with minor skill tree changes
  • Works great in groups
  • Very mobile build to play
  • Spellcaster
  • Instant leech

Build Cons

  • Build includes lots of uniques
  • Low-life build, new players might get overwhelmed
  • Not the fastest clear speed out there

Passive tree(s) and Path of Building

Full build

Bandits

Bandits Quest Choice
Kill all bandits

Ascendancy skill points

LabyrinthsSkill point choice
Labyrinth 1Forbidden Power
Labyrinth 2Profane Bloom
Labyrinth 3Malediction
Endgame LabyrinthWicked Ward

Skill gem setup

Helm


Warlord's Mark

Herald of Ice

Blasphemy Support

Assassin's Mark


Body Armor


Ethereal Knives

Spell Echo Support

Controlled Destruction Support

Increased Critical Strikes Support

Pierce Support

Increased Critical Damage Support


Gloves


Clarity

Blood Magic Support

Cast When Damage Taken Support

Immortal Call


Boots


Summon Lightning Golem

Increased Duration Support

Vaal Haste

Vaal Discipline


2h Weapon


None


1h Weapon


Whirling Blades

Fortify Support

Faster Attacks Support


Offhand weapon / shield


Haste

Hatred

Discipline



Build uniques / Example rare gear


Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.trade

Helmet

Hubris Circlet

Hubris Circlet with at least 300 ES and maybe some resistances if you are lacking. If resistances are fine, get as much ES as you can.


Body Armour

Shavronne's Wrappings

Shavronne’s Wrappings is essential  in order to get all of our auras going. I played this build as hybrid till I farmed enough currency to afford Shavs. Any ES chest with 400+ ES paired with 70+ life will be just fine.


Gloves

Maligaro's Virtuosity

Not necessity to run Maligaro’s, I just picked them up for crit chance and crit multiplier. ES gloves with decent resistances will boost your survivability.


Boots

Brinerot Whalers

Very cheap and great boots for us to have. They offer movement speed, 2x damage multipliers for EK and immunity to shocked ground effect which is nice in my opinion.

Any rare boots with ES and life might increase our survivability.


Left Ring

Diamond Ring

Try to find some rings with resistances and stats you are missing for gems or items.


Right Ring

Diamond Ring

Look for stats, resistances and ES roll if possible.


Belt

Doryani's Invitation (Physical Damage)

Great alternative belt for this build is Crystal Belt. It skyrockets our ES pool, I chose to go with Doryani’s since Crystal Belt wasn’t released back then and I wanted some damage and leech on belt as well. Its up to you to decide which one you want for the build.


1Hand Weapon

Platinum Kris

Dagger is needed so we can whirl around quickly. Look for dagger with spell damage, %critical strike chance to spells and some attack speed since it increases attack speed of whirling blades.

Another way is to get Void Battery instead of dagger, but we could no longer whirling blade around. We would need to use Lightning Warp or Flame Dash. Damage would would be worth it though.


Offhand

Prism Guardian

Prism guardian allows us to use more auras + built-in blood magic is very nice since gem slots aren’t infinite. Any ES shield is fine till you can find/buy Prism Guardian. If you can drop couple of auras, titanium spirit shield with 400+ ES would give us huge ES gain.



Gameplay

Build in action.

Feel free to share your thoughts/experiences/tips about the build in comments section below.

About prime

Prime is knowledgeable in everything builds related. Mostly focuses on writing build guides and tutorials on how to play with certain skills.

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