[2.0] The Samurai (2H Crit Katana Wild Striker)

Just very quickly, the character was supposed to be spec throw with abyssus but it didn't work because I didn't do my research and GGG loves changing things so returning players like myself who take a year off are clueless and end up halfway with a character scratching their head. So now it got turned into wild striker which I had a blast with since I put it on my 4-link at lv45, now its turned into a beast (from my standards anyway) and I'm sharing it all with you so that you may perhaps take the ideas and turn it into something actually great. It's a "good" build otherwise, but certainly fun to play and different then what most people play currently if your tired of the same ol boring builds.

Perhaps the most confusing and mysterious skill to come out of 2.0, Wild Strike raised many questions pre-awakening launch. Now that people have gotten their hands on this gem, there's been a handful of theories of best setups and whatnot along with some builds finding success.

The skill is melee, turning 60% of your physical damage from your weapon into a random element each time it strikes. In addition, a special effect is then exploded out from the attack, which is also considered an attack BUT NOT MELEE like the initial hit, being a pure elemental property, consisting of 3 effects: an exploding fire effect, and Arcing lightning bolt, or a freezing pulse like hit. Most people I've seen have been using 1h setups, taking advantage of rapid speed to dish out more special attacks from each strike. However hardly anyone at all was going 2h, which is what you'll be doing if you follow this guide.

Because we focus so much on increased attack speed and physical damage rather then elemental, our single target skill, Double Strike, also benefits without clashing with WS, allowing us to burst down bosses with the skill

Originally was going to use this for spectral throw, it turned out that this 2h sword was and is a viable weapon to use with Wild Strike, provided we go crit and amp attack speed up. The weapon in question is the stylish but deadly, Katana or Samurai Sword:



This amazing piece of steel not only has a great implicit mod, but also has a base crit-chance of 6%, higher then any other 2h sword. What this means, is that with max crit roll you'll achieve higher then 8% local crit chance. Combined with the 40% crit multi mod makes a deadly combo that is currently underused atm. Further combine that with the raw power 2Handers are known for and you have insane damage for all the element effects that come out with each strike you do with the sword, which directly scale off weapon, attack, or elemental damage only.

When looking to craft or buy the sword, prioritize crit chance and pdps. Attack speed, while super beneficial, actually isn't too important to have high attack speed on the base since we'll get ton from tree/gems to surpass 6 aps. If you can get all of that with crit multi as well then your samurai powers will be unstoppable!

So something you'd enter in poetrade is something like this:
two-hand sword
min pdps:380
min crit chance: 7.4

And select your sword from there. If you have money I suggest a 450 pdps minimum to compare to my dps, 500+ would surpass my dps screens.

Here's the lv85 spec I plan to do:
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgAAOygDlm49voBgQ4MJKk19W6xHUUzKSm-e2L01krXybqpKyD8npDki4kfihrMs6QDudweHE5ykwONLV_GzwzqbtV-whMUqOFVLYeImlRa_D6ski4w2cFIqC_PqtUhtbGKsnao2PWyMsAuIW6XLVYW9NmVNvqcZtC2DFSBHfoTZh2qplBR1W6_dDSmldPEY20p945-Hdg2NMHyNfSP2fytW-nfXTZICEaPnRNIDJ9RS5w_cvTGwy_VYdXSgBiD-HcFJyNxW6J-C4JUxnqZXTeP-j5AK

The tree will change overtime as I shape-shift it to reflect with dealing with certain challenges of the build/character. For now this is what I currently plan until those challenges are overcome.

This is my current dps atm with no charges using rare resist helm (now 38k):


This is with 4 frenzy/power charges and Onslaught up (now 56k but forgot to take screen):


This is with Abyssus and all 4 F/P charges with Onslaught up:


This is the same but with Atziri's Promise used:


These damages can only be boosted further with a GG sword and max quality/level gems and perhaps better gear overall.

This build uses 2 mandatory uniques: The Blood Dance Boots and Daresso's Defiance. Because we go Vaal Pact, we can't run Blood Rage. So in order to generate frenzy charges, we use the BD's to do that for us. The boots are great and cheap, under 5c in warbands even for some top rolls. With bigger pockets I suggest you buy a bunch then corrupt them to try to get +1 to maximum frenzy charges, don't forget to 4-link them then color them each time before using a vaal orb!

The chest, Daresso's, is probably the best unique chest atm. It has high armour, high evasion, leech, decent life, and most important generates endurance charges on kill, which then if you get hit, you lose them but gain Onslaught for 1 sec per charge, a powerful boost of speed combined with Wild Strike to unleash so many slices and dices you could have time to cut cheese as well as your enemies. The chest is also fairly cheap un-linked.

Furthermore, with bigger pockets you can get Abyssus or Rat's Nest as a helm, powerful damage boosters. While abyssus's crit multi doesn't effect wild strikes elemental effects because they aren't melee, its added physical does effect them providing a boost to them as well. It also amplifies our single target skill a butt ton. The Nest is just a simple damage boost with much needed crit chance if you can cap resist on just gloves/rings/ammy and belt. The boost in damage is not that high but it doesn't come with a draw back either. If you have money I suggest testing which one you like. I don't recommend Devoto's Devotion, its damage increase is minimal (around 2k) but with Iron Reflexis it does give you a ton of armour (double that of abyssus/rats).

Here's my current gear. You should aim for a 450+ pdps sword with 7.5 crit chance at least to get comparable damage, otherwise a 380+ pdps would suffice as well if your on the lower budget.



The sword cost me 2ex (yes it was a good deal), which I 6-socketed myself (took me a bit) the rest of the stuff was either self found or bought for under 10c (gotta be vigilant on poetrade) excluding the chest, which again I 6-socketed and 5-linked myself. All together even with top gear and decent weapon the build should stay under 10ex.(like you would want nice resist rings if you wanted to have the unique helms or maybe Maligaro's, otherwise the budget is way lower.)

Additional Notes:
-Accuracy is a must on at least 2 items, above 100, preferably 250. All in all you want to stay above 87% hit chance even above lv80.
-Elemental weapon damage is better then added physical unless you get above 14 (like 10-20 on ammy is actually 15 physical damage added). Ammy and belt are best to get it on.
-Rustic sash is best option but a strength or life belt is also decent if its rolls are desirable. Elemental weapon damage increase is a big nice bonus if you can.
-For gloves you want attack speed, around 10 should suffice. If not then accuracy and added phys with life and at least 2 resist.

For Jewels, you want 8% increased attack speed with swords on EVERY jewel, which we use three. If you have trouble getting int/strength or capping resist then feel free to use unique jewels or resist mods on jewels to aid you in that, but the attack speed is essential on at least 2. Damage wise, crit multi WITH ELEMENTAL skill or Swords/two-handers is recommended, 10% nothing lower. Do not get anything that says melee, area damage, projectile, etc, its not worth it. 2 mana gain on hit and life mods aren't bad either if you have speed and damage/multi.

Our gems setups are as follows:
Main: Wild Strike - Multistrike - Faster Attacks - Added Fire - WED - Life Leech/Critical Chance/damage

Single Target: Double Strike - Multistrike - Faster Attacks - Melee Physical Damage - Critical Chance/PCoC - Critical Damage

With these two setups, we can alternate between the two to handle different situations. See a ele reflect rare? Use double strike. A big rare with phys reflect? Use Wild Strike. Simple and versatile. I wanted crit chance and damage on DS because my plan anyway is to use abyssus so the more I can crit the easier it is to demolish a boss very quickly.

Here's our movement skill:
Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Fortify - Hatred (Stun/

With this setup we can easily take advantage of the Fortify effect which reduces damage taken by 20%! However because it's linked to leap slam we free a slot from using it in our main or single target setups which allows us to use more damaging gems instead. So it's a win-win.

Aura's: Hatred(see leap slam) - Herald of Ice - Curse On Hit - Assassin's Mark - Mana Leech

Hatred is linked to leap slam because we don't have room for more gems with full setup, however if you can put it somewhere else because you don't have two 6-links but still have 6-sockets then do so to add one of the alternative gems to leap slam setup.

Now Herald of Ice is the main Aura. Hatred provides a massive boost in damage, but the HoI setup is required to sustain our mana but also to generate power charges. If you crit, shatter an enemy, HoI effect takes place causing icy explosions to nearby enemies, which can chain. The significance to this is that these explosions can actually leech mana to us, allowing us to sustain Wild Strike without much potting at all. This is essential because we're mana based and WS has a steep mana requirement.

Note: If using Abyssus and you feel a bit squishy, lose Hatred, add Herald of Ash & Arctic Armour. Since we stand still when he attack, we benefit from AA's phys reduction, as well as fire reduction for bosses such as Crematorium. I use this setup, and just keep Hatred in weapon swap and use it whenever I face an easy map or when leveling to clear a bit faster as well as shatter more often.

Defense Setup: CWDT - Immortal Call - Warlord's Mark - Summon Chaos Golem/Increased Duration

Bread and butter for every Daresso build, when we take damage immortal call takes place using the charges generated by Daresso to make us immune to physical damage for a short time. We won't gain DD's Onslaught bonus in this process however so its recommended to have a higher CWDT lv to only proc when you need IC's power. We also have Warlod's mark which is extra leech in dangerous situations and triggers despite not being dual curse because assassin's mark only triggers if we crit and and kill and enemy while WM triggers when we take damage so its a balanced back n' forth curse setup.

Leveling is also a fun and easy experience, using the main skill rather early instead of using a completely different leveling setup until you reach a certain level like most other builds do. Though because of the way I built my character I had ended up using some 30+ regrets. You don't want to do that. So here's 20 interval guide till you get to use your glorious piece of steel:





Should be at act 4 normal after this so I invest a tad more into health along with getting RT ahead of time. After getting RT and finishing act 4 normal, you beeline to sword nodes to buff yourself before or around the level of getting Rigvald's charge to make things a breeze. This whole next 20 pts is barren until you get sword nodes so bear with it since act 1+2 cruel are a joke anyway.



Damage wise your set. From here you'll want to start prepping for crit transition at lv70. You don't have to go crit right away but it is recommended, thus gearing ahead of time will save some headaches and allow a smoother transition. I recommend getting the sword, and at least the final amulet your going to use before reaching lv70. Here's the lv69 spec just before you hit 70 should look like:



After this you basically use 8 passive regrets from quest and spec out of RT path into crit nodes.



From here on out just follow the main tree in the "The Tree" section, getting the life nodes before the damage ones to bump survivability so your bale to do maps easily.

So when can you use Wild Strike and what skills did you use for early leveling?

I used spectral throw and double strike from get go into early lv40's (or act 1 cruel). It was then that I fiddled with other skills and liked Ice Crash so used that a bit for ledge farming. I wasn't until Act 2 around lv45 that I had tried Wild Strike and loved it and used it then on. When you get Rigvald's and have sword nodes then using Wild Strike becomes easier and the ideal skill to use from there on out.

The essential part is getting a 4-link then using Wild Strike - Multistrike - Faster attacks - Mana Leech(GEM). I used this setup ALL the way to lv70 and even a bit past that until I 5-linked my Daresso's. So I recommend buying a cheap <lv55 5-link link chest then alching+scour something decent early on or before you can use Daresso's or are able to 5-link your Daresso. The 5th link would be Added Fire and should make clearing even easier then I was ableto do which was already pretty fast but slowed down around 65-ish.

On your travels you'll also run into 3 bandits, each difficulty, we'll be helping one of them each time in this order:
-Oak
-Kraytan
-Alira

I chose Alira for 4 power charges instead of another frenzy charge. This allowed me to reach over 50% crit chance with all charges up which is fairly high for a 2h.

Excuse all my videos for their lag, my comp sucks and I can barely play the game without recording anyways so they're will always be choppiness/stutters/freezes. Aside from that I will add more in the future when I can get a smooth map run but for now here's a quick Voll Run using Abyssus~


Quick Voll Run

73 Catacomb

72 Underground Sea

Dabbled into mana gain on hit jewels, wasn't so hot and certainly wasn't a substitute for mana leech from herald of ice nor was able to get rid of thrill killer nodes. sustain was alright but I found myself whiffing more then I'd like to on non-crits (which do happen often). Currently trying to solve the crit issue, as getting and maintaining 4-power charges is somewhat a hassle, but there's honestly not much you can do about that without passive investment.