Intro & build description
This is one of the builds that were extremely popular in 2.6 adapted 3.0 patch and Fall of Oriath Expansion. This build is based on Ring of Blades unique jewel that turns Ethereal Knives into a nova you shoot around yourself – that way it covers way more area and can clear maps very fast.
Build Pros
- Great combination of survivability and damage
- Fast clear
- Very cheap, so it's great as a league starter (but scales very well with investment)
- Versatile in gear choices (doesn't require lot of uniques to work but can be made stronger with them)
Build Cons
- Physical reflect will kill you
Passive tree(s) and Path of Building
Passive Skill TreeBandits
Bandits Quest Choice |
Help Kraityn |
Ascendancy skill points
Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
---|---|
Labyrinth 1 | Way of The Poacher |
Labyrinth 2 | Avatar of The Slaughter |
Labyrinth 3 | Quartz Infusion |
Endgame Labyrinth | Avatar of The Veil |

Skill gem setup
Helm
Enduring Cry
Hatred
Arctic Armour
Enlighten (as high level as you can get)
Body Armor
Ethereal Knives
Increased Critical Damage Support
Increased Critical Strikes Support
Spell Echo Support
Controlled Destruction Support
Power Charge on Critical Support / Added Fire Damage Support
Gloves
Vaal Haste
Vaal Grace
Increased Duration Support
Summon Lightning Golem
Boots
Cast When Damage Taken Support
Immortal Call
Increased Duration
Molten Shell
2h Weapon
None
1h Weapon
Whirling Blades
Faster Attacks Support
Fortify Support
Offhand weapon / shield
Curse on Hit Support
Herald of Thunder Support
Assassin's Mark
Build uniques / Example rare gear
Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.tradeHelmet
Alpha's HowlGreat evasion helm which guarantees that we will never die due to being frozen. It helps us by reducing mana reserved do we can use multiple auras and boosts their level by 2.
Body Armour
Belly of The BeastGreat defensive chest that gives a lot of life and good elemental resistances and flask life recovery.
Gloves
Slink GlovesLook for evasion gloves with at least 65 to maximum life and as high resistances as you can find.
Boots
Slink BootsLook for boots with at least 25% increased movement speed, 70 maximum life and some resistances.
Left Ring
Diamond RingLook for Diamond / Resistance base rings with high life, resistances and cast speed.
Amulet
Onyx AmuletGo full offense on amulet – look for spell damage, global critical strike multiplier (at least 25), increased cast speed and life. Resistances and attributes are nice bonuses.
Belt
Doryani's InvitationDoryani’s Invitation (Physical version) lets us get life leech from Ethereal Knives.
1Hand Weapon
Platinum KrisLook for dagger with high spell critical chance, spell damage and critical strike multiplier. Elemental damage to spells / attack speed is a nice bonus.
Offhand
Titanium Spirit ShieldLook for shield with spell critical chance, spell damage and as high life as you can find. Resistances are nice bonuses.
Jewel
Ring of BladesBasically the only mandatory item without which build cannot work. Get it as soon as you can.
Jewel
Jewel SetupOn jewels look for:
1.) Increased maximum life
2.) Increased Spell Damage while holding a shield
3.) Increased Cast speed / Cast speed while holding as hield
4.) Increased Spell Damage
5.) Increased Damage
6.) Increased physical damage etc
Flask
Flask Setup1.) Divine Life flask with instant recovery and bleed removal
2.) Divine Life flask with instant recovery and shock removal
3.) Vessel of Vinktar (Physical to lightning conversion version)
4.) Quicksilver Flask of adrenaline
5.) Basalt Flask of iron skin
passive skill tree is broken
The 3.0 Tree isn’t live yet, when it drops the skills will display properly.
What better?
“Power Charge on Critical Support / Added Fire Damage Support”
If you can keep power charges up, choose Added Fire.
Hello!
I can’t understand why you take vaal pact. Ethereal Knives doesn’t apply the life leech right?
Hi. Life leech applies to Ethereal knives.
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ethereal_Knives
That’s why i said that.
But, where’s in the tree will we get life leech ? Blood Drinker nodes?
The Blood drinker nodes do not work in our situation, the tree has been adjusted. We are using Doryani’s Invitation belt that gives us leech from physical damage and we also get life & mana recovery from Assassin’s Mark.
thanks for postin this. add to the build because its tough without it. ive been rockin a mana leech gem in my 5L which kinda sucks wish there was a better way to leech but before you get power charges you cant sustain off damage. build is pretty dope but i think you NEED belly of the beast b/c this shit is squishy af
In Helm you have enduring cry as blue gem buts it’s red ^^
Thanks for telling me, fixed now!
The single target for this build on bosses i’ve noticed isnt the best is their anyway to improve this?
Yeah, this build isn’t known as the fastest boss killer – you could try using Slower Projectiles Support for the boss kills.
The only problem with that is with my belly of the beast at the moment i have 5 link the colour are 1G (ethereal knives) 2B (Spell echo, Increased critical damage) 2R (Added fire, Empower) so i cant swap it out
5 blues and a green on the chest? need some unreal luck 😀
Yeah, it could be tricky with Belly.. You can always use something that’s easier to color for this exact setup. 🙂
Where i put my Legend gem?
Sorry, I don’t really understand your question because there is no such thing as Legend gem. Maube you meant Ring of Blades unique jewel? If yes – you put it in jewel sockets that are unlocked in Passive Skill tree.
Why do u choose raider and not berserker?
Faster movement therefore faster clearing (which is priority for the build).
Why raider elemental perk? doesnt scale up knives right, and is raider the best? Cause i already have 2 raiders i kinda want something else XD
Raider helps us to move and clear faster, gives lots of extra damage from Frenzy Charges. Raider is better choice than other ascendancies because the priority is to clear and move fast as possible and no other ascendancy is better for that.
my mana reg is terrible… all time potions
finnaly at lvl 90 the life leech is so so so so low maybe de build was 1 week losed
I made a few change to make this build better, but it’s kinda expensive :
Playing Dual Curse (Better option is an amulet with 1 additional curse)
Warlord’s Mark with Blasphemy and Assassin mark with curse on hit.
I’m not playing Artic Armour.
I changed some useless points in the tree (like attack damage leech as life, it doesn’t work with EK).
And the build is just fine.