Vortex Gaming

· The 'Class Lock' series involves playing through all base classes and selecting builds suitable for each.
· After solo play, the next class is unlocked, and the pros and cons of the build are shared to determine recommendations.
· This video covers the Hunter class, the Amazon ascendancy, and the popular 'Whirlwind Blade' and 'Vortex' build, which has gained traction with the new 'Spirit Walker' ascendancy.

· The core of the build lies in the synergy between the 'Whirlwind Blade' and 'Vortex' skills.
· Whirlwind Blade maintains attacks up to stage 3, and based on this stage count, Vortex deals additional damage and fires more projectiles.
· Whirlwind Blade absorbs enemies' elemental ground effects (fire, cold, shock), and cold effects, in particular, can shatter enemies with 50% additional cold damage.
· Frenzy charges are acquired through the 'Barrage' and 'Ice Shot' skills, which are effective for both area of effect and single-target damage.

· This build boasts excellent area clear capabilities, providing a satisfying shattering effect on enemies.
· Due to firing numerous projectiles, it can hit enemies off-screen, and with more Frenzy charges, more projectiles are fired, filling the screen.
· 'Ice Shot' enhances the next few attacks, and upon hitting, it generates ice shards that explode after a short delay. This significantly boosts single-target damage and area clear.
· Thanks to the 'Barrage' and 'Ice Shot' combination, single-target damage is also excellent, and Vortex can hit the same target multiple times every 0.6 seconds.
· In boss fights, projectile bouncing off walls allows for multiple hits on the same target, causing bosses to disappear in an instant.
· With good gear, 'Whirlwind Blade' can be cast very quickly, and the skill's jump distance increases with attack speed rather than movement speed.
· The 'Spirit Walker' ascendancy provides additional projectiles and high projectile speed, synergizing extremely well with this build (6 additional projectiles, 200% projectile speed increase).
· With the 'Haste' support gem, you gain a 200% self-damage increase, which, considering the additional projectiles, results in tremendous damage potential.

· Vortex can sometimes fly in the wrong direction or get stuck on terrain, failing to hit monsters.
· While single-target damage is good, damage becomes unstable if projectiles don't bounce off walls at the correct angle or if the boss arena is too large for projectiles to return, introducing an RNG element.
· This build has very low survivability. Evasion is low, and finding good energy shield-based armor is difficult, making high evasion alone insufficient for survival (30% evasion).
· During the campaign, survivability relies heavily on life and resistances, and the build is vulnerable to stuns.
· The screen can become visually chaotic with Vortex covering the entire area. Especially when cold effects and ice shards trigger simultaneously, it's hard to assess the situation, leading to deaths from not seeing ground effects.
· Act 1 leveling is very difficult. Using a spear build might be better in the early stages, and even in the current 0.2 version, the spear build feels somewhat weak.

· Despite numerous drawbacks, the build's satisfaction level is high enough to offset them.
· It provides a satisfying gameplay experience, especially through cold effects and Frenzy charge generation.
· With the next patch, particularly with the 'Spirit Walker' ascendancy, it is highly recommended as a league starter.
· Tested with the Hunter class and Amazon ascendancy; the 'Spirit Walker' ascendancy will be considered in the next patch.
· Currently, it's a satisfying build, and we hope it doesn't get nerfed in the patch.

· We hope this video was helpful. In the next 'Class Lock' series, we will cover the 'Monk' class.
· If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.