This build harnesses the incredible speed and flask sustain of the Pathfinder Ascendancy to deliver a devastating poison-based attack build. The core of our strategy revolves around the skill Venom Gyre, which perfectly embodies the "Spiral Volley" concept. You will use Whirling Blades to move through packs of monsters, which simultaneously builds up a large number of stored projectiles within Venom Gyre. When you encounter a tough enemy or a boss, you unleash this stored "volley" of spiraling, poison-inflicting blades for immense burst damage. This creates a fluid and engaging playstyle that excels at both clearing maps at lightning speed and melting down the toughest endgame bosses. If you want an additional edge for gearing early or quickly scaling into endgame, PoE 2 Currency can be a useful resource for progression.

The build is exceptionally well-rounded. Offensively, we stack poison damage, duration, and application speed, amplified by the Pathfinder's Master Toxicist node for massive single-target damage scaling. Defensively, we achieve near-permanent uptime on our utility flasks, granting us huge amounts of Evasion and Armour. Combined with 100% Spell Suppression and ailment immunity, this build becomes remarkably resilient. It's an excellent choice for both new players looking for a strong league starter and veteran players wanting a build that can be refined for all content in the game.

Build Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Exceptional Clear Speed: High movement speed from flasks and Whirling Blades, plus poison proliferation from the Ascendancy, wipes screens instantly.
  • Massive Single-Target Damage: Pre-loading Venom Gyre projectiles lets you deliver a deadly poison burst to bosses in seconds.
  • Excellent Defenses: Permanent flask uptime for Armour and Evasion, capped Spell Suppression, and easy ailment immunity.
  • Engaging Playstyle: Alternating between dashing with Whirling Blades and releasing a projectile volley is satisfying and effective.
  • Strong League Starter: Works well on low budget, scales heavily with investment.

Cons

  • Damage Over Time Nature: Poison damage ramps over time; requires mobility and patience.
  • Projectile Management: Forgetting to store Venom Gyre projectiles greatly lowers boss damage potential.
  • Gear-Dependent Peak: Maximum performance needs specific enchantments, cluster jewels, and sometimes expensive uniques.

Ascendancy Path (Pathfinder)

  1. Nature's Reprisal: Enables poison spread on kills for chain-reaction map clears.
  2. Master Toxicist: Boosts poison duration and damage, key for boss DPS.
  3. Nature's Adrenaline: Consistent flask charges for near-permanent uptime.
  4. Master Surgeon: Instant life recovery, bleed removal, and permanent ailment immunity while flasks are up.

Gem Links and Setups

Main Skill: Venom Gyre (6-Link)

Gem Reason
Venom Gyre Main skill: Fires projectiles that can be caught and re-released in a nova.
Nightblade Support Critical multiplier and Elusive for speed and defense.
Returning Projectiles Support Doubles poison application per projectile for bosses.
Awakened Deadly Ailments Support High DoT multiplier at the cost of hit damage.
Awakened Unbound Ailments Support Extends poison duration for more total damage.
Awakened Vicious Projectiles Support Further boosts projectile DoT, ideal for poison scaling.

Auras and Buffs (4-Link)

  • Grace: Large flat evasion boost.
  • Determination: Substantial armour gain.
  • Malevolence: More DoT and longer durations for skills.
  • Purity of Elements: Resistances and full ailment immunity.

Movement and Utility (4-Link)

  • Whirling Blades: Movement skill and projectile storage generator.
  • Faster Attacks Support: Improves responsiveness of Whirling Blades.
  • Withering Step: Applies Withered stacks to amplify chaos damage against enemies.
  • Plague Bearer: Charges up from poisoning, releases chaos aura for clearing.

Gearing and Stat Priorities

Prioritize Spell Suppression cap, high Life, Resistances, and Chaos DoT Multiplier for maximum efficiency.

Weapon

Use a Claw for synergy with Nightblade and attack nodes. Seek high attack speed, added chaos damage, and DoT Multiplier. Wasp Nest is a great inexpensive starter.

Shield

Look for high evasion, Spell Suppression, Life, resistances. Shaper shields can add “+1 to caught projectiles” for Venom Gyre.

Body Armour

Dendrobate is strong early. Later, consider Hunter armour with "+% effect of Marks" and "Additional Curse" or high evasion with Life, resistances, and Suppression.

Helmet

Prioritize Life, resistances, Spell Suppression. Enchant: "Venom Gyre projectiles return to you an additional time" is a huge DPS boost.

Gloves and Boots

  • Gloves: Life, resistances, Suppression, Attack Speed.
  • Boots: Movement Speed, Life, resistances, Suppression.

Amulet and Rings

Amulet: +1 Chaos Skill Levels and DoT Multiplier. Ashes of the Stars is BiS. Rings: Life, resistances, attributes. Hunter ring can curse with Despair on Hit.

Flasks

  • Divine Life Flask: Bleed/Corrupted Blood removal.
  • Jade Flask: Increased evasion suffix.
  • Granite Flask: Increased armour suffix.
  • Quicksilver Flask: Increased movement suffix.
  • Dying Sun Ruby Flask: Extra projectiles for damage/coverage. Sulphur Flask with duration is an alternative.

Comparison of Key Build Aspects

Aspect Advantages Considerations
Clear Speed Proliferation and high movement make clearing extremely fast. Requires active flasks for consistent speed.
Boss Damage Pre-loading projectiles melts bosses quickly. Cannot burst instantly; reliant on poison ramp-up.
Survivability Permanent buffs from flasks, ailment immunity, evasion, and armour. Damage avoidance reliant on flask uptime.

This build is capable of tackling all content while maintaining top-tier speed and safety. By integrating powerful gearing strategies and flask management expertise, it provides strong performance from the league start to full endgame optimization. For players aiming to accelerate gearing or jump into high-tier content early, resources like buy PoE 2 Currency can complement the natural progression of this setup.