PoE 3.25 CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin

It is no surprise that melee skills have made a resurgence in PoE 3.25. Grinding Gear Games has done a pretty good job of bringing a lot of the power back to melee skills, so much so that the vast majority of the builds in this league utilize at least one of such.

Today, the build we are going to talk about uses Cyclone but in a different way. Instead of being the main damage dealer, it is just something that activates the core part of the build.

If you are interested in creating a character that can do bossing and mapping easily, then read further. This is our build guide for the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League!

Basics

The CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin makes use of the Cyclone attack skill gem to trigger the transfigured version of Vortex. What makes this Transfigured Gem amazing is that it can deal incredible amounts of damage thanks to the interaction with another spell skill gem: Frostbolt.

You see, Vortex of Projection causes up to five Frostbolt projectiles to explode, dealing massive cold damage to nearby monsters. The resulting vortex deals cold damage over time, so enemies that do not die from the explosions will be eliminated by this effect.

So, what are the mechanics used in this build? The main one is the Cast on Critical Strike Support (aka CoC), specifically the "Awakened" version. This particular support gem casts Vortex of Projection automatically whenever you land a critical strike using a supported skill. This is where Cyclone comes in.

The reason why Cyclone is used to trigger CoC is that it has a considerable area of effect. But more importantly, it has a very high attack speed, which causes Vortex of Projection to get cast more often than using any other attack skill gems in PoE.

Another mechanic that you need to be aware of is the cooldown recovery rate or CDR and how it should be aligned with Cyclone's attack rate.

Every spell in Path of Exile has a cooldown, meaning, you have to wait a brief period before you can use it again. Cooldown recovery rate is a stat that basically reduces the cooldown of your spells so that you can use it without waiting too long.

That said, the breakpoint you should be aiming for is 52% CDR. Why? Because this number is perfectly in sync with Path of Exile's server tick rate. In other words, if you have 52% CDR, the cooldown of your spells is exactly a single tick (or 33ms)!

So, how does attack speed factor into this equation? Attack speed affects the attack/trigger rate of CoC. Without getting too complicated on the math, you need to get a 10.1 attack rate if you have 52% CDR. This is so that both Cyclone and your spell+CoC are on the same trigger window to maximize efficiency.

When you have it sorted out, casting Cyclone will trigger Vortex of Projection immediately once it is off cooldown!

Now, you are probably asking how this build compares to others that use the Ice Nova of Frostbolts — another Transfigured Gem that was introduced a couple of leagues ago. Ice Nova of Frostbolts can also work with Frostbolt projectiles. However, the reason why we've opted for Vortex of Projection for this build is that Ice Nova of Frostbolts has lower effectiveness of added damage, has a lesser area of effect when cast on the Frostbolt projectiles, and does not cause cold explosions like the transfigured version of Vortex.

Even though Vortex of Projection got nerfed in Patch 3.25, where its effectiveness of added damage saw a 100% reduction (from 270% to 170%), it is still more powerful than the Ice Nova of Frostbolts. Hence, we still recommend Vortex of Projection for this build.

Anyway, if you want to increase the damage of the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin, look for any of these modifiers on your gear:

• Increased Cold Damage
• Increased Spell Damage
• Increased Critical Strike Chance
• + to Critical Strike Multiplier
• + to Maximum Power Charges

Playstyle

Even though there are a few mechanics at play here, the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin is actually pretty easy and straightforward to use.

Just simply look for packs of monsters when you enter a new zone or map and then use Cyclone. That’s it!

When you encounter a monster that is tough to beat, use Frostblink once to apply an empowered Chill effect for more damage. More on this in the "Gems" section of the build guide.

Ascendancy

Because critical strike chance is important on this build, the ascendancy class you should use is the Assassin. That is because it has access to notable passive skills that improve your crit chance and Power Charges as well.

Opportunistic allows you to breeze through the campaign because you deal more damage against rare or unique enemies. This also acts as a defensive node because you take 20% reduced damage if there are at least two rare/unique monsters nearby.

Unstable Infusion increases your Maximum Power Charges by one. Early on, this notable passive skill allows you to gain a Power Charge reliably, though this secondary effect is no longer needed when you wear the mandatory unique items for this build.

Deadly Infusion amplifies the effects of Power Charges. When you take this ascendancy node, each Power Charge grants a 5% critical strike multiplier, which is insane considering that having eight Power Charges is quite achievable on the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin. This notable passive skill also gives you a boost to your crit chance, making it easier for you to reach the cap.

Mistwalker is the perfect node to round out your notable ascendancy passive skills. This grants the "Elusive" buff when you land a critical strike. This gives you a 15% chance to avoid all damage from hits and 30% increased movement speed. Take note that the effects of this buff wanes over time until it reaches 0%. Do not worry, this buff will immediately get activated again thanks to your insanely high crit chance.

If you have some PoE currency to spare, you can purchase the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewels that have either "Ambush and Assassinate" or "Polymath" as the matching modifier.

Ambush and Assassinate provides you with a 40% increase to your critical strike multiplier against enemies that are on full life. Additionally, it causes you to deal 15% more damage to enemies that are below 50% of their maximum HP.

Polymath essentially gives you a huge damage increase and life/mana/energy shield recovery for each different type of Mastery you have allocated on your passive tree!

Gear

To make the most out of the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin, you need to have your critical strike chance, cooldown recovery rate, and attack speed all sorted out. Pay very close attention to CDR and attack speed. Make sure that your CDR is 52% and your attack speed (denoted by Cyclone’s attack rate) is at 10.1.

Import your character in Path of Building (POB) so that you will know the exact values that these things are currently at.

Aside from that, there are unique items that are required for this build to work. That is why you should only try this if you have enough PoE currency.

Now, if hitting the optimal 10.1 trigger rate is too expensive and out of reach, you could aim for anything higher than 6.0 to make things feel smooth.

Weapon

The first of many unique items that you need to use for the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin is Cospri's Malice. This one-handed sword has a unique effect, where you trigger a socketed cold spell on a melee critical strike. Because of this, you will insert the Frostbolt spell skill gem here.

To help you achieve the 10.1 attack rate for your Cyclone, get a Cospri's Malice that has a 14% increased attack speed. While you are at it, look for one that has high cold damage as well.

Shield

Since this build is a Power Charge-stacker, you will use the Malachai's Loop unique Harmonic Spirit Shield. When you equip this shield, you not only gain two Maximum Power Charges, but you also get increased spell damage for every Power Charge you have.

The Assassin, admittedly, is an ascendancy class that is not known for its defensive prowess. Hence, you should improve your survivability by looking for the right mods on your gear.

Having said that, Malachai's Loop is affordable, which means that you can corrupt it with a Vaal Orb for a chance to obtain either "5% Reduced Area Damage taken from Hits" or "8% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage" without breaking the bank.

Body Armor

This build is capable of dealing incredible amounts of damage. However, its survivability leaves much to be desired. Fortunately, there are multiple ways you can address this — one is by equipping the Lightning Coil.

With this unique Desert Brigandine, 50% of physical damage from hits is taken as lightning damage. Wait, if this body armor has a downside that reduces your lightning resistance by quite a bit, how can you rectify that? Well, by using the Topaz Flask, of course!

Since this unique body armor is relatively inexpensive, purchase one that has the corrupted implicit "2 to Level of Socketed Duration Gems" or "+2 to Level of Socketed AoE Gems" to increase the damage output of your Vortex of Projection.

Aside from the Lightning Coil, you could craft body armor to address any issues that you may have with the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin.

We highly recommend that you use the Necrotic Armour, which is one of the new armor base types GGG introduced in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur. This boasts the highest evasion and energy shield values compared to its counterparts.

If you are going this route, use the Deafening Essence of Doubt to guarantee the flat evasion rating mod. Spam this particular essence until you get life, spell suppression, and elemental/chaos resistance.

To finish the craft, use Grand Eldritch Ichors to get "Melee Hits Have an 11% Chance to Fortify" and Grand Eldritch Embers for "+25% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spell Damage."

Helmet

You only have several self-crafted pieces of gear on this build, which is why you need to make them count. That said, the helmet you are going to use is a self-crafted one with the new Majestic Pelt as the crafting base. This is so that you gain huge amounts of evasion rating.

Since Vortex of Projection is a blue gem, you will need a considerable amount of INT to be able to use it. Fortunately, you can force INT onto a helmet by utilizing the Essence of Spite. Spam the Majestic Pelt with this essence until you get spell suppression, elemental/chaos resistance, life, and evasion.

For the implicit modifiers, use Grand Eldritch Ichors until you acquire "9% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills" and Grand Eldritch Embers for "5% Increased Damage per Power Charge."

If you want to learn the ins and outs of crafting in Path of Exile, be sure to read our ultimate crafting guide for more info!

Gloves

Grab the Velour Gloves, which is another new item base type in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur that boasts a high evasion rating. Spam it with Essence of Greed (Life) until you obtain spell suppression, elemental resistance, and chaos resistance.

If you still have an open prefix, go to your Crafting Bench and put "43% Increased Damage While Leeching" or "28% Increased Damage During Any Flask Effect."

In the endgame, use the gloves that you can obtain from the Temple of Atzoatl boss, specifically those that have the mod: "50% Increased Damage with Hits Against Chilled Enemies, +48% to Cold Resistance."

Anyway, there are some interesting implicit modifiers that you can roll on the gloves. Spam them with Grand Eldritch Ichors to obtain the mod "+% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage" and Grand Eldritch Embers for "% Chance to Unnerve Enemies for 4 Seconds on Hit."

You could roll cold exposure on hit and increased damage per Power Charge as they are both good alternatives as well.

Boots

To ensure that you have the effect of Endurance, Frenzy, and Power Charges up at all times, then you have to wear Ralakesh's Impatience. This also addresses the negative aspect of Malachai's Loop, where you lose all of your Power Charges when you have reached the maximum.

Amulet

For the amulet, wear the Badge of the Brotherhood to complement Ralakesh's Impatience. Thanks to this thing, your Maximum Frenzy Charges are equal to your Maximum Power Charges. This translates to a huge damage boost since you gain 4% more damage and attack/cast speed per Frenzy Charge.

Remember Mistwalker? This Assassin-only notable ascendancy skill allows you to gain the "Elusive" buff whenever you land a critical strike. Well, the Badge of the Brotherhood enhances the effect of Elusive by 8% per Power Charge, making your enemies less likely to hit you as a result!

The beauty of amulets in Path of Exile is that you can anoint them with various notable passive skills that can benefit your character. With that said, the anointment you should put on the Badge of the Brotherhood is Disciple of the Slaughter (Amber Oil, Verdant Oil, Golden Oil) to amplify the effects of Frenzy Charge.

If you are going to use Frostbite to improve your damage output, you should anoint your amulet with Whispers of Doom (3x Golden Oils) instead. Alternatively, you can purchase a Badge of the Brotherhood with the "You Can Apply an Additional Curse" corrupted implicit mod.

Rings

The rings you are going to wear for the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin are two crafted ones using the Harvest Reforge Lightning option from your Horticrafting Station. This gives you a considerably high chance of rolling lightning resistance, which is crucial for your survival.

Use the rings to address issues that you may still have on this build. Some of the modifiers to look for are chaos resistance, life, accuracy rating, and elemental resistance.

Leave at least one prefix open so that you can put “Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost” from the Crafting Bench.

Belt

There are two good belts that you can use for the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin in PoE 3.25. The first is the Mageblood — a unique belt in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur that allows you to enjoy the effects of up to four magic utility flasks indefinitely.

With the Mageblood equipped, you can easily rectify any problems you have with the build, including lack of elemental/chaos resistance, ailment immunity, and slow movement speed, among others.

It is important to keep in mind that you can no longer roll "% Increased Attack Speed" mod on flasks in the SoK League. Because of this, you can replace it with other flask mods that your character needs.

If you do not have the budget for a Mageblood at the moment, you could use a Stygian Vise that is crafted with the Deafening Essence of Envy (Chaos Resistance). Use this essence until you get some good mods, including life, mana, and elemental resistance.

You can even take things a step further by using a Hunter Exalted Orb for a chance to acquire the "Gain a Flask Charge When You Deal a Critical Strike" mod. Just make sure that you have an open prefix before using the said PoE Currency.

Flasks

• Jade Flask
• Granite Flask
• Quartz Flask/Amethyst Flask
• Quicksilver Flask
• Life Flask/Bottled Faith/Progenesis

Flask Mods

• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah)
• 55% Chance to Avoid Being Shocked (of Bog Moss)
• 60% Increased Evasion Rating (of the Impala)
• 65% Reduced Effect of Curses on You (of the Owl)
• Abecedarian/Alchemist/Dabbler (prefix) for Increased Effect (Mageblood)
• Perpetual (prefix) for Increased Charge Recovery (Stygian Vise)

Jewels

The Watcher's Eye is another unique jewel that provides you with some amazing modifiers. Here are the ones that we recommend:

• Hatred
• +% to Critical Strike Chance
• Damage Penetrates % Cold Resistance
• % Increased Cold Damage
• Precision
• +% to Critical Strike Multiplier
• Gain a Flask Charge When You Deal a Critical Strike
• Grace
• +% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage
• +% Chance to Evade Attack Hits
• % Increased Movement Speed
• Zealotry
• Critical Strikes Penetrate Enemy Elemental Resistances
• Increased Maximum Total Energy Shield Recovery per Second from Leech
• Consecrated Ground You Create Causes Enemies to Take Increased Damage
• Vitality
• % of Damage Leeched as Life
• Gain Life per Enemy Hit
• Increased Life Recovery from Flasks

When you take a quick glance at the "Flask Mods" section of this build guide, you will see that one of the modifiers you need is "% Chance to Avoid Being Shocked." The reason why you need to have that flask mod is so that you can take advantage of Stormshroud. This unique jewel makes it easier for you to achieve full elemental ailment immunity, which is crucial for your survival.

As is customary for Power Charge-stacking builds in PoE, you should get Militant Faith (Dominus) so that the nearest keystone passive is transformed into Inner Conviction. By taking this keystone, you gain 3% more spell damage per Power Charge! For the explicit mods that should be on the Militant Faith jewel itself, go for "4% Increased Area Damage" and "1% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills" per 10 Devotion.

Then, grab a couple of Large Cluster Jewels (Cold Damage) and use Harvest Reforge Cold to get the following notable passive skills:

• Blanketed Snow
• Damage Penetrates 10% Cold Resistance Against Chilled Enemies
• Sadist
• 15% Increased Elemental Damage if You’ve Chilled an Enemy Recently
• 20% Increased Elemental Damage if You’ve Ignited an Enemy Recently
• 25% Increased Elemental Damage if You’ve Shocked an Enemy Recently
• Blast-Freeze
• 20% Increased Cold Damage
• Freezes You Inflict Spread to Other Enemies within 1.2 Meters

Make sure that each cluster jewel has "Doryani's Lesson" on it so that you can leech life from your enemies as you deal damage. Only Blanketed Snow is common among these Large Cluster Jewels, which means that one has Blast-Freeze and the other contains Sadist.

Gems

Now it is time to talk about the gems you are going to use for the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. Unless you know what you are doing, the gems that will be highlighted in this section are pretty much set in stone.

Body Armor

• Cyclone
• Vortex of Projection
• Awakened Cast on Critical Strike Support (lvl 8)
• Awakened Cold Penetration
• Awakened Added Cold Damage
• Awakened Elemental Focus

This is your main gem setup for this build. Cyclone is the attack skill that will trigger the Awakened Cast on Critical Strike Support, thus automatically casting Vortex of Projection in the process.

If you are wondering how you can get Awakened Cast on Critical Strike Support to level 8, just attain max level and then get the Critical Strike Mastery: +3 to Level of All Critical Support Gems.

Always remember that your cooldown recovery rate should be at 52% and your Cyclone’s attack rate is set to 10.1 to ensure maximum efficiency. Always look at your character's POB to get more accurate information about these stats.

Awakened Added Cold Damage and Awakened Elemental Focus should be leveled up to the max so that your Vortex of Projection will get plus two levels for even more damage.

Awakened Cold Penetration is there to greatly reduce the cold resistance of nearby monsters.

Weapon

• Frostbolt
• Greater Multiple Projectiles/Greater Volley Support
• Frostbite

Frostbolt is mandatory for this build as it has an amazing interaction with Vortex of Projection. To recap, every time Vortex of Projection is cast on your Frostbolt projectiles, the projectiles themselves explode to deal massive cold damage to nearby enemies.

You want to increase the number of Frostbolt projectiles, which is why you should put either Greater Multiple Projectiles or Greater Volley Support. The choice of which support gem to use depends on how you want the projectiles to act.

Do you want the projectiles to move in a straight line? Go for Greater Volley Support. If you need the projectiles to spread out a bit more, then opt for Greater Multiple Projectiles. Just make sure to only use one or the other and not both.

You do not have to worry about manually casting Frostbolt because it is automatically triggered by Cospri’s Malice.

Shield

• Frostblink
• Bonechill Support
• Awakened Unbound Ailments

Frostblink is not only used for traversing the map quickly, but to also make your enemies a lot easier to defeat. Bonechill Support applies Chill to nearby monsters, causing them to take increased cold damage based on your Chill Effectiveness.

Awakened Unbound Ailments is a nice complement to Bonechill Support as this increases the chill effect by 69% at gem level 5.

Helmet

• Zealotry
• Vaal Grace
• Hatred
• Enlighten Support

Since the Divine Blessing Support has been removed in PoE 3.25, you should now put Zealotry along with your other auras as well. Zealotry is an aura that gives you a boost in spell critical strike chance and spell damage, making it an invaluable aura for the CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin.

Hatred has been rebalanced in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. Instead of providing you with more cold damage, you now gain extra cold damage based on a percentage of your physical damage. For this build in particular, it is a nerf because you only have a limited amount of physical damage. However, the reason why it is still included in the setup is mainly to take advantage of the Watcher's Eye mods mentioned earlier.

Because you are wearing mostly evasion-based gear, using Grace makes sense. Utilize its Vaal Skill whenever you find yourself in a rough spot.

Enlighten Support is basically there so that you can activate the aforementioned auras with some mana left in the tank. The good news is that you do not even need a level 4 Enlighten just to enable them all!

Gloves

• Precision
• Cold Snap
• Assassin's Mark
• Mark on Hit Support

You want to ensure that enemies are hit by your attacks. Precision can certainly help you in this regard because it grants a considerable boost to your accuracy. It even increases your critical strike chance as well.

Cold Snap is a spell that allows you to create an expanding area that deals cold damage over time. This is not mandatory, but it is nice to have, especially for mapping.

Assassin's Mark increases your critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier on enemies that are cursed by this Mark Skill. This is automatically applied on rare or unique enemies thanks to Mark on Hit Support.

Boots

• Vitality
• Arrogance Support
• Steelskin
• Automation

There are some really nice mods that you can get from the Watcher's Eye jewel when you have Vitality enabled. But more importantly, Vitality gives you a huge amount of life regeneration, which is critical for your survival. It is linked to Arrogance Support so that it does not require mana to activate.

Since you do not have a lot of armor to work with, Steelskin is the ideal choice for the guard skill. What makes this appealing is that it makes you immune to bleeding when it is active. It is linked to Automation Support to alleviate the need to activate Steelskin manually.

Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Tasalio Scout
• 4% Increased Effect of Your Marks
• Tattoo of the Arohongui Warrior
• 5% Increased Cold Damage
• Tattoo of the Hinekora Storyteller
• +3% to Chaos Resistance
• Tattoo of the Hinekora Warrior
• 3% Increased Maximum Energy Shield
• Tattoo of the Rongokurai Guard
• Guard Skills Have a 6% Increased Duration

Passive Tree

POB

CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin

Final Thoughts

The CoC Vortex of Projection Assassin is an amazing mapper and an excellent boss-killer in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. This build excels at killing even the most difficult pinnacle bosses in the game!

This build utilizes cooldown recovery rate and attack speed to great effect. Although you need to keep an eye on these stats to maximize efficiency, we promise you that it will all be worth it!

Anyway, the new Transfigured Gem, Vortex of Projection, deals massive cold damage. Its interaction with Frostbolt projectiles allows you to clear maps quickly. You could say that this build truly embodies the "Spin-to-Win" playstyle!

Despite the nerf to effectiveness of added damage, Vortex of Projection can still obliterate any monster foolish enough to get hit by the cold explosions.

Although this build requires some pretty expensive items to work, every piece of gear you obtain feels like a worthy upgrade!

We hope that this build guide has provided you with the information you need to create this character. Be sure to bookmark this page, as well as our ultimate crafting guide, for future reference.

With all of that said, good luck on your adventures in Wraeclast, Exile!

PROS

+Utilizes Vortex of Projection to great effect

+Careful use of CDR and attack speed mechanics ensure that nothing can stand in your way

+Excellent map clear speed thanks to interaction with Frostbolt and Vortex of Projection

+Makes pinnacle bosses trivial

+Spin-to-win playstyle promises a fun and smooth experience

+Still amazing in Patch 3.25

CONS

-Expensive to put up

-Only relies on evasion rating and elemental ailment immunity for survival

-Not billed as a tanky character