Blade Vortex is a Physical Spell that spawns ethereal blades that orbit around you dealing damage to all nearby enemies. You can summon up to 10 Blades, and with each Blade active your DPS goes up drastically. Also, by using Chieftain we utilize 100% Physical to Fire Damage Conversion, and very high defensive bonuses. The only downside is that it requires quite a few specific Uniques to truly shine, and a Crafted Bow which will cost approximately 7-8 Exalted Orbs with just the most required stats.
Blade Vortex is a Spell that has to be played in Melee Range as it has a quite low radius, however, by using Chieftain Ascendancy Class we can easily reach enough defensive stats to allow that playstyle.
Choosing chieftain as an ascendancy provides us with multiple very strong benefits such as built-in physical to fire conversion, life leech, life regeneration, and overall tankiness. This will be my build of choice in this upcoming league as it is a great build to start in a fresh economy since it is not reliant on anything to perform very well.
Build's PROS & CONS
PROS
good clear speed
insane DPS
can do all content
solid defenses
0 Mana Issues thanks to Eldritch Battery
high Life Leech
CONS
slow to level up without respeccing half of the Skill Tree
requires a bunch of specific Uniques
hard to get the perfect Socket colors on Bow
Leveling is a bit tricky with this character. You don't get any Spell Damage nodes early on, and you may find it hard to get all the Dexterity/Intelligence Gems on lower levels if you can't find anyone to buy them for you(You can buy POE currency at eznpc.com) The good part is that most of the Blade Vortex's damage comes from Skill Gems and you should be fine without having to refund a lot of your Passives later on. On lower levels, you should focus on increasing your defenses (Life/Resistances) and Mana Regeneration Rate so that you can use Blade Vortex without any issues.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
Blade Vortex setup
Blade Vortex : primary Spell used in this build. It has solid base DPS and it should carry you through early levels without any Spell Damage related Passives
Added Fire Damage Support : adds high Fire Damage based on the Physical Damage of Supported Skill
Faster Casting Support : on lower levels makes casting Blade Vortex much faster. Later on, you can replace it with Unleash Support which will summon few Blades with each Cast
Inspiration Support : increases Blade Vortex's Elemental Damage
Armageddon Brand setup
Armageddon Brand : Armageddon Brand is also a good addition during leveling. It deals high AoE damage and applies Combustion debuff, increasing your overall DPS
Combustion Support : increases Fire Damage and applies a debuff to Ignited enemies
Utility Gems
Summon Lightning Golem : increases your Attack and Cast Speed - use while you still have empty sockets, most likely up until Maps
Flammability : one of the recommended Curses for this build
Herald of Ash : grants high bonus Fire Damage based on your Physical Damage and causes AoE Fiery explosions when killing enemies
Recommended leveling items:
Xoph's Inception : a decent leveling Bow which grants added Fire Damage and will heal you for quite a lot as most of the enemies will be Ignited by your Armageddon Brand
The Signal Fire : the best Quiver for this build, which just happens to have a level 24 requirement
Le Heup of All : grants high DPS bonus and All Attributes which will be required for sure when playing Marauder Spell Caster character
Victario's Flight : one of the best leveling Boots for this build. Not only they grant high bonus Movement Speed, but also a decent Mana Recovery mechanic
Goldrim : the best leveling Helmet in Path of Exile which fixes your Elemental Resistances for at least a few entire Acts