Hey all, I have decided to level a hardcore SSF bladesin for this ladder. Looking for any tips at all. I plan to spec into claw mastery and blade sentinel/fury mostly, with less concern for the armour. Going to use Fade to get tanky. Suggestions for low/mid level runewords as well as leveling locations in NM/Hell appreciated 
X
Hey
since you’re gonna be going solo self found, I would suggest looking for one of the following weapons:
A Claw with either:
Ignores Targets Defense:
spawns on ilvl 25+ magic katars, or a claw can be bought from normal anya fairly quickly
Fools Mod (+max dmg/+ Ar per lvl):
spawns on any ilvl 50+ magic claw, it can also be bought from nightmare anya, if you’re lvl 45+
Another great option is:
4→6 Socket 1 hand Weapon with 4x→6x Eth runes for -100% target Defense:
Any 1h 4 socket weapon will work, and Crystal swords found in the Nightmare Far Oasis, or onwards, will receive 6 sockets from larzuck if you wanna burn a quest for it. You can use the 2x extra sockets for any extra mods you’d like to socket, I like using 2x P Skulls for 8% LL and 6% ML, or you could use 2x P amethysts for a decent chunk of attack rating, lots of possibilities. I personally think this is the best option of the 3, since it works on all monsters, including bosses, albeit reduced by 50%.
Basically, we’re trying to either remove all of a monsters defense, or use fool’s mod’s massive Attack Rating bonus on level to fix our chance to hit. Blade skills have a terrible chance to hit, its important to improve your chance to hit as much as possible.
There are some nice set items that can help solve attack rating problems, but they’re much harder to find. Ones to keep a look out for though, are:
** = this piece must be worn for the Attack Rating bonus
Angelic’s Ring** + Ammy/Armor
Hsarus’ Boots** + Belt/Shield I wouldn’t use the shield, unless you have all 3 pieces for CBF, but I think Rhyme is better
Sigon’s Helm** + Boots/Belt/Gloves
All of these combos provide a massive bonus to attack rating on level, as well as some other really nice extra 2 piece set bonuses, by using gear slots that we have underutilized.
Also, maxing out all the blade skills and synergies should be the priority. Claw mastery doesn’t actually boost the dmg or attack rating of any of the blade skills, even if you’re using a claw, so it shouldn’t be a focus at all. Your weapons dmg matters, but its not that big of deal at the beginning, it’s much more important to focus on making those blades actually hit. And just an FYI for future gearing, Grief does not work with Blade Fury/Sentinel. Blade Shield can also be really useful with a bit of life steal, it’ll help you buffer some hits by leaching life if you get surrounded.
Maxing Fade asap is definitely a good idea though, don’t forget you can craft a prismatic amulet using the cube (1 of each pgem and a magic ammy) for a 16→20 all res ammy. Rhyme shield should also be a priority, it gives you some decent all resists, MF and most importantly Cannot Be Frozen. You can farm up Hearth helm for CBF, once you hit hell countess, if you’d like as well.
I saw you asked, in another thread, about which affixes work with Blade Sentinel/Fury so here you go:
Blade Sentinel:
https://www.theamazonbasin.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blade_SentinelOnly the following bonuses are applied, in all their variations (Based on Character Level, % Enhanced Maximum Damage, Against Demons/Undead) and regardless of source:
+Minimum Damage
+Maximum Damage
% Damage
Critical Strike
Deadly Strike
Magic Damage, Fire Damage, Lightning Damage, Cold Damage and Poison Damage Cold and poison length
+Attack Rating
+% Attack Rating
-Monster Defense per hit
-% Target Defense
Ignore Target’s Defense
% Extra Gold From Monsters
% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Skill bonusBlade Fury:
https://www.theamazonbasin.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blade_FuryAll bonuses which apply to Blade Sentinel apply and the following additions:
Crushing Blow
-% Enemy Resistance
Chance to Cast On Striking
Slows Target
Freezes Target
Hit Blinds Target
Hit Causes Monster to Flee
Knockback
Prevent Monster Heal
Open Wounds
Life Stolen per hit
Mana Stolen per hit
Life After Each (Demon) Kill
Mana After Each Kill
Maybe aim for something like this by farming Nightmare Countess:
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/r40106ts
the calc doesn’t like when defense goes negative, so I added attack rating charms to fix the calc’s bug. With that said; you should use any attack rating charms you find anyways, especially max dmg/ar charms
Thank you!!!
20 charicter thanks
If you can find it, Cleglaws is amazing and will take you easily through nightmare. The gloves give knockback and slow which are great for blade fury, the sword adds damage as you level and with 2 pieces you get a solid AR bonus. Full kit gives you 35% CB as well. As solo self found this will be a lucky find though.
Some other things I look for for my BF sin - Mask of Horror for hit causes monsters to flee. If you can add in monster flee and knockback you can keep things away from you buy just attacking. Since you are ranged, these are good things.
A blessed aim merc is always an option, having a very high damage is nothing if you can’t hit, thus if you need to, or especially though normal use the BA merc.
You can play a blade sin in two ways, you can get very high def, slap on blade shield and face tank things, or you can be a glass cannon and snipe things from the back. Consider how you want to play…
here’s my set up
Woah clegs is amazing!!! Aporeciate the tips
I found myself amused by playing the ninja.
Few tips in the very budget gear, useful for the start of the season:
Req level: 25
Level 15 Thorns Aura When Equipped
+35% Increased Attack Speed
+320-380% Damage To Demons
+280% Damage To Undead
+75 Poison Damage Over 5 Seconds
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+5-10 To All Attributes
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Reduces All Vendor Prices 15%
4% Chance To Cast Level 5 Slow Missiles When Struck
2% Chance To Cast level 15 Valkyrie On Striking
+2 To Amazon Skill Levels
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 To Critical Strike
Cold Resist +30%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
For the weapon, always go for the fist weapon or daggers: they both have +75% ED from STR and DEX, so that you’ll have a sound multiplier for blade fury damage.
Pump DEX a little bit for AR.
No issues at all, apart from the few physical immunes at the begin of hell.