Matriarch Chlorinne - Venom Zealot

[SirName]

Specs​

Spoiler: Stats

Name: Chlorinne
Class: Assassin
Experience: 830387828
Level: 82

Naked/Gear
Strength: 149/189
Dexterity: 20/65
Vitality: 311/352
Energy: 25/36
HP: 1145/1198
Mana: 146/186
Stamina: 560/686
Defense: 5/1973
AR: 100000064/1605114773

Fire: 196/156/96
Cold: 215/175/115
Lightning: 185/145/85
Poison: 185/145/85

MF: 30 Block: 19
GF: 102 FR/W: 30
FHR: 65 IAS: 40
FCR: 20

Spoiler: Skills

Fire Blast: 3/7
Shock Web: 1/5
Blade Sentinel: 1/5
Charged Bolt Sentry: 1/5
Wake of Fire: 1/5
Blade Fury: 1/5
Lightning Sentry: 1/5
Wake of Inferno: 0/0
Death Sentry: 20/24
Blade Shield: 1/5

Claw Mastery: 1/5
Psychic Hammer: 1/5
Burst of Speed: 20/24
Weapon Block: 1/5
Cloak of Shadows: 1/5
Fade: 1/5
Shadow Warrior: 13/17
Mind Blast: 1/5
Venom: 20/24
Shadow Master: 0/0

Tiger Strike: 0/0
Dragon Talon: 1/5
Fists of Fire: 0/0
Dragon Claw: 1/5
Cobra Strike: 0/0
Claws of Thunder: 0/0
Dragon Tail: 1/5
Blades of Ice: 0/0
Dragon Flight: 1/5
Phoenix Strike: 0/0

Spoiler: Gear

Head: Guillaume's Face with Realgar Jewel of Fervor
Body: Chains of Honor Archon Plate
Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Gloves: Trang-Oul's Claw
Boots: Gore Rider
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
Rings: Raven Frost & Rare manasteel ring (Grim Band)
Weapon: Passion Legendary Mallet
Shield: Sanctuary Blade Barrier
Switch: Demon Limb for enchant & Spirit shield for small buff to BoS and Venom
Charms: Assortment of Steel ones

Introduction​

Your regular everyday assassin gets her target assigned in the contract silently in the night without anyone noticing. However, if you are looking for to give someone a something of a harsher end, say one that includes all of the following: poisoning, beating to a pulp with a hammer, electrocution and corpse disposal by exploives. That's when you call Chlorinne.

I wanted to make a poison Zealot. Could have made a paladin with charms, but thought Assasin with Venom could work better. Worked out that it made sense to make the needed Passion runeword in the most hard hitting one hander possible to offset the lowish ed. This led me to Legendary Mallet which Chlorinne is Zealing at 5 fpa thanks to Burst of Speed. Another core item is Trang-Oul's gloves for 25% poison damage. Rest of the gear was more or less there to fill any gaps: enough skills for 5 hit Zeal, resists, AR, FHR, PDR, CB, DS, some extra ED. Was not going to block with the shield but needed resists so ended up with Sanctuary Blade Barrier.

Thoughts in random order​

Dol, that a-hole of a rune which crammed itself into Passion even though none of the other runes wanted its company is what killed most of the fun of this Mat. I mean Passion already has the completely pointless Blinds target which only purpose is to instantly remove any useful curse already applied (to balance the overpower I guess..). So there you are happily Zealing at 5fpa with that range 1 weapon of yours, which is bad enough, when just as your target is at a sliver of health, 3 hits from starting a CE chain by Death Sentry, off they go. "Oh no you don't" you say in your head and Dragon Flight the f****r (that says fleeer of course) only to miss and need to do it again. Now you finally finished the monster but oh, you also just arrived at a new monster pack. Which is fine, cast Cloak of shadow and start again. The process just leaves so many loose ends here and there and I prefer a methodical approach: Clean up this particular spot before moving to next.

Dragon flight is so cool though: such a good replacement tool for a Paladin Zealots Charge as it doesn't leave merc behind. Instead you "telestomp". However for hunting fleeers it is still not so good: merc was not hitting the target. This might have been due to merc's Thresher also only having range 1 and/or merc's attack speed combined with the speed of the target moving away. In the end If I chased, as Chlorinne was Bursting with Speed, I ended up running her past the fleeer, turn around and show the universal stop sign with her hammer. Now writing this I realize I could/should have mind blasted the fleeers, stopping them in their tracks instread of chasing. I need to test later how well this works.

Got a might merc as soon as it was possible. That worked wonders for NM but in Hell I started switching around. Felt Chlorinne was getting hit too much -> Defiance. The resulting 6k defense was not cutting it -> Holy Freeze to make enemies chill down and flee with less haste. Was only ok and damage was lacking -> Back to Might. Equipped Reapers when it became possible.

Apart from the fleeing (which was personally a huge minus) this character was quite fun. Although Chains of Honor is a nice armour I believe this character would have been so much better with Fortitude. Might be the old grass is always greener thing, but with that extra damage AND simultanoeously adding a buch of defence with Chilling armour, I would probably not have felt I was having the least bad merc choice as I still wanted some extra defence also. This character is quite near to an aggressin build, only that this has even lower damage output, but more freedom to put skillpoints to whereever. Another pro is of course the Passion inbuilt PI solution oskill Berserk.

Due to the heavy strength investment (which does of course increase damage nicely with a hammer type weapon) there was not enough statpoints available to invest in blocking. Perhaps a Berserker Axe Passion might have been better as it has more range and I could have opted for 50% block for better survivability. Though that would be at the cost of less physical damage.

I love the looks of Chlorinne: the black color, Archon Plate visuals, tree shield with barbs combined with the tree shaft of the hammer and the horns of the helm is just perfect.

Once again a Call to Arms which I still do not have would have been handy. However that would have been a bit of a problem as Chlorinne had dedicated the switch weaponslot the Demon limb for applying Enchant necessary for hitting anything and I don't like the hassle of prebuffing. Not actually sure Venom did much other than beef up LCS.

Ancients & Baal​

Ancients took several tries and one respec. Through Hell to Ancients I had no Shadow, points were allocated to Loightning Sentry to beef up the damage of Death Sentrys lightning. It did of course not do much even with the that investment but had no better idea where to allocate points. However dying to ancients over and over I decided to test if having one extra target soaking up the damage would help. Not completely sure that was the trick in the end, or if the ancient roll after respec was just easier to deal with altogether. Anyway Shadow seemed nice, often I did not need to place Death Sentries myself anymore as Shadow did it. After Ancients I went back to pits to get the last bit of exp needed to level 82 before heading for Baal. The last skillpoint was allocated to Blade Shield as I thought it could give a small edge against Lister.

About Lister. Oh what a show. He was cursed (of course). Tried to separate him from his gang by mindblasting them and running away. In the end I retreated very deep where I believed was safe only to find a pack of frenzytaurs I had missed... More mindblasting. In the end team Chlorinne prospered. Entered Baals chamber with only 1 full rejuvenation potion left in belt and cash for one merc resurrection if needed. Thanks to Dragon Flight Baal was instantly Decrepped and luckily stayed that way to his unclimatic end. Not that it was a biggie but after that Lister fight was thinking what can go wrong will go wrong. Tyrael did not dissapoint in this sense as he spawned the red portal in a position unaccessible to Chlorinne.

Oh, Hell was done on P1, Hell hellforge gave Mal.

Readouts​

Spoiler: Gear

Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 115
Fingerprint: 0xa7f40f03
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
27% Enhanced Damage
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
+120% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Strength
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Realgar Jewel of Fervor

Realgar Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x6d9ff57d
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
27% Enhanced Damage

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xdac7a23a
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +26

Chains of Honor
Archon Plate
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 884
Durability: 59 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x4fc3bfca
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+200% Damage to Demons
+100% Damage to Undead
8% Life stolen per hit
+70% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced by 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x9ce8ef1e
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+243 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Grim Band
Ring
Required Level: 46
Fingerprint: 0x586ae2f1
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Minimum Damage
+96 to Attack Rating
5% Mana stolen per hit
+6 to Energy
Fire Resist +11%
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 127
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x989f04f4
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+93% Enhanced Defense
+36 to Vitality
Replenish Life +13
+106 Maximum Stamina
Damage Reduced by 13%

Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 159
Durability: 31 of 34
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 94
Fingerprint: 0x3a3c86d7
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
10% Chance of Open Wounds
+196% Enhanced Defense
+20 Maximum Stamina
Requirements -25%
+10 Maximum Durability

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 68
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x3c3a34a1
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Curses (Necromancer only)
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+25% to Poison Skill Damage
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%

Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One Hand Damage: 104 - 189
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 133
Fingerprint: 0x7b7427eb
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
227% Enhanced Damage
+123% Damage to Demons
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 222 - 333 Fire Damage
8% Life stolen per hit
Fire Resist +16%
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds
Level 23 Enchant (8/20 Charges)

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 143
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xe62e194c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+33% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+93 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+7 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Passion
Legendary Mallet
DolOrtEldLem
One Hand Damage: 150 - 183
Durability: 47 of 65
Required Level: 61
Required Strength: 189
Fingerprint: 0x90c28cfb
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Increased Attack Speed
201% Enhanced Damage
58% Bonus to Attack Rating
+225% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
+1 to Berserk
+1 to Zeal
Hit Blinds Target +10
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
Level 3 Heart of Wolverine (12/12 Charges)
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Eld Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune

Sanctuary
Blade Barrier
KoKoMal
Defense: 359
Chance to Block: 40
Durability: 82 of 83
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 118
Fingerprint: 0x6a7c80f5
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+20% Faster Block Rate
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
+132% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+20 to Dexterity
All Resistances +64
Magic Damage Reduced by 7
Level 12 Slow Missiles (60/60 Charges)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Ko Rune
Socketed: Ko Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune

Spoiler: Charms

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xa79d786
Item Level: 43
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+13 to Attack Rating

Steel Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x99e1819d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25 to Attack Rating
+18 to Life

Steel Large Charm of Sustenance
Large Charm
Required Level: 44
Fingerprint: 0x5901a7da
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+74 to Attack Rating
+19 to Life

Steel Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xfe39a9e1
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+32 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0xe197a8f
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to Maximum Damage
+18 to Attack Rating

Steel Small Charm of Frost
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x21b4bb9a
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+35 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 2 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x873903d1
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Fine Small Charm of Storms
Small Charm
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x4990b8d0
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+10 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 19 Lightning Damage

Steel Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0x8a0f84d0
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+122 to Attack Rating

Steel Grand Charm of Quality
Grand Charm
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0xc83fc48
Item Level: 52
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+105 to Attack Rating

Steel Grand Charm of Quality
Grand Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0x9b58d03e
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+101 to Attack Rating

Steel Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0xa693fb33
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+121 to Attack Rating
27% Extra Gold from Monsters

Steel Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x8ab30056
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+107 to Attack Rating

Spoiler: Merc

Mercenary:

Name: Haseen
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Off-Nightmare
Experience: 66995588
Level: 82
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 181/181
Dexterity: 145/145
HP: 1647/1647
Defense: 1217/4039
AR: 1874/1874

Fire: 180/140/80
Cold: 180/140/80
Lightning: 180/140/80
Poison: 180/140/80

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 29 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xabb14357
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
8% Mana stolen per hit
6% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 20%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15

Prudence
Ornate Plate
MalTir
Defense: 2570
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 160
Fingerprint: 0x307dc003
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Faster Hit Recovery
+157% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +34
Damage Reduced by 3
Magic Damage Reduced by 17
+2 to Mana after each Kill
+1 to Light Radius
Repairs 1 Durability in 4 Seconds
Ethereal
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune

The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 35 - 417
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 89
Fingerprint: 0xf7bf5bc0
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
33% Chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
196% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 4 - 44 Cold Damage Over 2 Secs (41 Frames)
13% Life stolen per hit
33% Deadly Strike
Requirements -25%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Pics​

 

[Miron]

Congrats on the Mat!

Really interesting idea for a char. Did you try act3 merc?

 

[PhineasB]

Really nice Mat, SirName, and great write up. It looks like she is quite balanced for offense and defense, nice job on the gear combo!

I share your frustration with the flee spec on Passion—I recently did an enchanted zeal Sorc, and the flee almost breaks the runeword for those trying to Zeal with it. Aside from Rabies Druids, monster flee is one of those mods that actually is a strike against an item in most cases, I think. But the option to zeal or zerk keeps it in the mix nonetheless to allow off the beaten path builds (like your Chlorinne).

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Really cool Mat! I saw Venom Zealot and initially thought Pally and then read "Matriach." Not sure I've seen a combo like this before. And 5FPA on a Legendary Mallet is impressive!

 

[Maltatai]

Really interesting character!

All your reporting on Passion's quirks really gets you thinking.
My impression is that zealing with Passion without it being a chore depends on open wounds and prevent monster heal being applied, from Hwanin's belt and Duress or something like that. Blackhorns would be nice to have too. Either fleers bleed out or at least they are not healed when they return. But still, the point of being a zealot was sort fo this skill zeal after all so it must remain frustrating still. I hope I can find the runes with a suitable character and try it out sometime. Really hyped about combining zeal with some sort of initial attack.

Psychic hammer is a good choice for catching fleers too. It auto-targets to some extent in a way that mind blast does not and the merc can often catch up and finish or engage the enemy. Maybe a psychic hammer followed by a mind blast so you can catch up yourself during the stun? On the other hand the knockback from psychic hammer should allow for a dragon flight to hit I suppose, and in this particular case Chlorinne should of course use the hammer themed skill

 

[SirName]

Thank you all for your comments!

Congrats on the Mat!

Really interesting idea for a char. Did you try act3 merc?

I have yet to do so on any character. This could have worked but of course no might -> less damage. Nevertheless added using act3 merc to todo list.

Really cool Mat! I saw Venom Zealot and initially thought Pally and then read "Matriach." Not sure I've seen a combo like this before. And 5FPA on a Legendary Mallet is impressive!

Actually after burst of speed and the ias from Passion only 40 extra ias was needed for 4 frame Zeal. Just did not find any room to cram that in. Best choice for me would have been trading the Sanctuary shield for my double of fervoreded Mosers and make up for the resists drop with charms. But style requirements made this a no no.

 

[SirName]

Really interesting character!

All your reporting on Passion's quirks really gets you thinking.
My impression is that zealing with Passion without it being a chore depends on open wounds and prevent monster heal being applied, from Hwanin's belt and Duress or something like that. Blackhorns would be nice to have too. Either fleers bleed out or at least they are not healed when they return. But still, the point of being a zealot was sort fo this skill zeal after all so it must remain frustrating still. I hope I can find the runes with a suitable character and try it out sometime. Really hyped about combining zeal with some sort of initial attack.

Psychic hammer is a good choice for catching fleers too. It auto-targets to some extent in a way that mind blast does not and the merc can often catch up and finish or engage the enemy. Maybe a psychic hammer followed by a mind blast so you can catch up yourself during the stun? On the other hand the knockback from psychic hammer should allow for a dragon flight to hit I suppose, and in this particular case Chlorinne should of course use the hammer themed skill

More hammers you say? I like this idea. There is even room in my combat hot keyes (QWER) if I move the less often used Shadow to pre combat hotkey row (1234).