Empathica's Void Knight "No Crit" Hybrid Rive Build Guide

Budget friendly

Controller friendly

Hardcore viable from campaign to 500c+

Limited reliance on meta items

Easy Campaign

EXTREMELY flexible

Slow without investment in PrefixExperimental Haste Effect

Is not falconer or warlock

Lower ceiling than min-maxed crit

Melee

Uses Frostbite Shackles

The core of the build is simple. We use Rive as a main source of damage because of the immense power given by some of its key nodes. Focused Strike 1/1 is expensive in terms of point investment, but the freedom it gives us in gearing is not within my mathematical ability to give you a value for. Flame Drinker's Blade 1/1 may seem slightly counterintuitive while using Apathy's Maw but given that we will have large amounts of PrefixMelee Physical Damage no matter what and that it scales infinitely I would be remiss in not using it here. Foe Cleaver 1/1 is what makes Two-Handed Rive so special. Doubling damage values and ailments like Ignite and Shred Armour makes lots of Two-Handed weapons viable for Rive when they would otherwise underperform. The attack pattern is also simple.

Mapping

Void Cleave into a pack, auto triggering Abyssal Echoes. If something lives longer than your Volatile Reversal window (the Void Rifts it releases stack so you want to be in a position where both would hit and you're not out of attack range) lay it on and finish the job. Healing Hands provides extra on hit ailment stacks, ward, and having it on our hotbar allows us to generate ward without something to hit.

Bossing

Ideally you want to know as much of a boss's pattern as possible to maximize your attack windows. Cast Abyssal Echoes manually when you can, weaving it between attacks. On controller Void Cleave will always go the same distance so be sure Volatile Reversal is off cooldown so you can snap back if you want to use it to debuff or activate a mod like PrefixExperimental Frenzy Effect. Otherwise, Volatile Reversal as often as possible to maintain the buffs/debuffs.

For Controller Players

Void Cleave always going a set distance can cause some issues in later corruption because positioning will not be as precise. Lunge,Smite and Rahyeh's Chariot 1/1 all come with their own issues and make the build feel slower, but all come with their own advantages as well. Lunge also has the unfortunate issue of getting stuck on nothing occasionally, so I tend to avoid it for hardcore.

Early game is less flexible than late game if you want to really breeze through it, this is what I've found as best practice after numerous runs through the campaign. Rive is very good for key skipping through dungeons at a reasonable pace even if you are self finding equipment.

You can start using Rive at level 5 when you get it. Take Sever 1/3 and immediately path to Foe Cleaver 1/1 (should be around level 11). 3 points in Bound Weapon 3/4 might seem like a waste but Foe Cleaver 1/1 is well worth it and eventually Scrap Metal 1/1 will convert these into damage and armor. Next path to Focused Strike 1/1 which should come online around 31, if you don't have any skill increases. +1 from PrefixLevel of Rive or Thorn Slinger helps lower the level requirement by a lot. After that go for Flame Drinker's Blade 1/1 and Savagery 3/3.

Early levels will be a breeze if you max Fearless 8/8 first and put some SuffixHealth Regen Per Second on your equipment. Then Armour Clad 5/5, Valiant Charge 3/5 and Time and Faith 4/5 for 20 total points in sentinel. After that, Defiance 5/8 so you can pick up and slot Healing Hands, which increases survivability by a lot without worrying about leech. After this, 5 into Abyssal Endurance 5/10 to pick up Volatile Reversal.

After you have these main skills it is a lot more flexible, and this leveling template can even be used for Forge guard or Paladin. Even as Void Knight, it can be worth to start with more points in paladin or forge guard for the immediate benefits because respec'ing is so easy.

Example Builds

• Level 20
• Level 30
• Level 45
• Level 67

For Hardcore Players

The main consideration for hardcore is making sure you have SuffixReduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes on your weapon before attempting soulfire bastion at early levels (very reasonable to do from level 28 onward), and maybe even lightless arbor. I very reliably can get through T1 Soulfire in rare gear if I focus on SuffixNecrotic Resistance, SuffixPhysical Resistance and around 700 health to start. I go from 28-44 very quickly there.

Endgame mostly consists of looking for a decent weapon to get you through monoliths. Refer to the equipment section and filter for what to look for. You want close to 100% SuffixReduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes for starting empowered, along with stats similar to the level 67 build variant. Nothing in unempowered is particularly dangerous if you are hitting those checkpoints for your stats. Standing too long in Lagon's beam (ending the storm) or Gaspar's tri-beam (The Last Ruin) is dangerous as always. MG players can swap to ward fairly quickly with the budget ward build variant.

For Hardcore Players

You want to path to Hammer and Anvil 5/5 ASAP after getting Volatile Reversal. I kept the build as life until 400c or so because I was worried about being caught off guard with low ward. I think someone who is on the ball doesn't have to worry as much as I do, because I actually did die to a spire shot on one toon because I was chilling on idle ward while looting so there's the caveat.

Filter Here

A basic leveling and early endgame filter. Everything shown should be worth at least considering, though this will be less true as the game goes on.

Late game filter will be added soon.

Q: When do I swap to a ward build?

This will vary for softcore and hardcore players, but as soon as you have basic Frostbite Shackles and Last Steps of the Living and around 150% ward retention and PrefixIncreased Healing Effectiveness you can reasonably get going using the budget ward build variant as a template.

Q: Rive doesn't have a void tag?

While this is true, skills have a very low base damage and rive specifically has both generic damage and void multipliers on the skill tree.