The Sentinel Fury Dancer
The Sentinel Fury Dancer
A guide to Blade Sentinel / Blade Dance (And now Blade Fury!) for Project Diablo II
Author: Skull Collector - Last Update: 16/05/2025 – Season 11
Disclaimer 1: This is a comprehensive guide which has a lot of text, and also you might need to read things in other guides. You have been warned.
Disclaimer 2: The objective of this guide is to.. well guide the player to construct his build. While i will give you some gear options, take in consideration that i'm not exploring every alternative the game have to offer, so i will try to explain which stats you should look for every content, so you can try different options compared to what i actually use, except in the case where a item is just too good for the build / content.
Introduction
Hi, I'm a very old player of PD2, and came back in season 10. Based on Blade Sentinel and Blade Dance builds, many people decided to combine those 2 in a unique character that can clean maps fast with Blade Dance (Unique skill from Chaos Runeword, basically a Barbarian Whirlwind), and also do all ubers fights with Blade Sentinel. This means that while skills and stats are optimized for both skills, and some gear is the same for both builds, you are gonna use a gear when Bladedancing, and then switch some items when bladesentineling (?).
There are many guides for Blade Sentinel, and some for Blade Dance, but I was unable to find a guide combining both skills, so here we are. Since s11, Blade Fury was also buffed, so in this guide i’m gonna cover 2 options. Either Blade Dance and Blade Sentinel for maps and boss respectively, or just Blade Sentinel and Blade Fury to do all the content.
This build is based on the assumption you want to play a dual claw build, since it's the best option for farming maps with Blade Dance, because it hit faster compared with Claw + Shield, and also it's better for bossing when using Blade Sentinel, basically because weapon block is kinda broken, and shield tends to have high STR requirements, which means less VIT to invest.
If you want to play a Claw + Shield build, I recommend you check the Phyxion Guide for Blade Sentinel, then adapt it for bossing (Or just use it as a map farmer, which is kinda the objective of his guide).
This build is hardcore viable, at least as much hardcore viable as most melee builds. So for hardcore players, I really recommend taking all the defensive options on gear choice's, and also use Blade Sentinel to kill dangerous aura mobs, like might or fanaticism, before spinning right to them.
For this guide, I'm also assuming you know the basics for Blade Sentinel, Blade Fury and Blade Dance, so I don't need to repeat basic info here. If you have some questions about how those skills work, I recommend checking these guides.
Phyxion Blade Sentinel Guide: https://tinyurl.com/s11sentinelguide
Xoxo Blade Dance Guide:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTopWRUKWdDgDHJmtejiVZnaG_GwDYFYL28jGUjtZiPb5zTDsFehAxoEsVtKYXDS7LGpuK5eZJ_SkwU/pub
Also, at the end of the guide, there is a short summary of how these skills work, based on the info of these guides.
Levelling
To level up at the start of season, there are two main lines. You can either go for Chain Lightning Sentry, or straight up level up with Blade Sentinel / Blade Fury. When you reach hell, you can farm to get your Chaos Runeword Claw, and then just use Blade Dance. I'm not gonna recommend specific gear for leveling, mostly because 99% of players just use whatever crap they find, and then start buying whatever endgame gear the guide recommends, so I will just give different options for gearing later on this guide.
Chain Lightning Route: Traps in general are always a good idea for leveling. Usually people go for Lightning Traps instead of Fire Traps, because that way is easier to farm Arcane Sanctuary (Ghost doesn't drop armor or weapons, so have a lot more chances for jewels, charms and runes). This is especially good if you want to get your Chaos Runeword Claw asap.
For equipment, just stack as much +skills as you can, and use whatever you find, since you want to switch to Blade Dance as soon as possible. You can spend some wss/low runes early to buy some trap charms, since you can later use them for Blade Sentinel.
Blade Sentinel/Fury Route: Might be a little awkward to farm mobs at first, but it does a lot of damage, and with the changes on previous seasons, farming isn't that bad. A good tip is to use Blade Sentinel while holding the "Show Items" key, so you can aim a zone, instead of a mob. The best zones to farm as Blade Sentinel before mapping is Chaos Sanctuary and Red Portals (The one on Frozen Tundra doesn't have phys immunity).
Same as Chain Lightning Sentry, just stack +skills, and eventually when you can afford your Chaos Runeword Claw, then you can start getting damage items for Blade Dance.
S11 Update: They buffed Blade Fury, and is kinda good for farming big packs and/or closed maps with many walls. Also, now Shadow Warriors can cast Blade Sentinel (I mean, they always could, but IA is really good now). Both skills benefit more from +skills equipment now, so you can use both.
Stats
As with many guides, the basic recommendation is to put enough points of STR and DEX to fill equipment requirements, then dump all points into VIT. To help plan your builds, your highest STR/DEX equipment should be a War Fist, which requires 118 STR and DEX (-10 if it's ETH, which you will want at some point).
Skills
20 - Blade Sentinel
20 - Claw and Dagger Mastery
20 - Blade Shield
20 - Blade Fury
1 - Cloak of Shadows (Mostly for Hardcore players, Softcore players can skip it).
1 - Tiger Strike (Only if you're gonna use Blade Dance).
1 to 3 - BoS
1 - Fade
1 - Venom
X - Weapon Block
Optional: Dragon Flight
Optional: Shadow Warrior
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Those are the general skill distribution.
Tiger Strike is a must for Blade Dance. Each charge increases the AoE of the skill, so when you use Blade Dance, you can hit more distant enemies. Just take the 3 charges, then you are fine to go during the next 5 minutes. After that, repeat the process.
BoS reduces your IAS breakpoints. For Blade Dance that doesn't matter, but you should plan what you gonna do when bossing with Blade Sentinel. I'm gonna leave you a BP calculator for trap laying so you can calculate yourself your BP's: http://d2r-sin-ias.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/
About Weapon Block, i usually max it, but you should aim for around 50% block. Take in consideration that DEX doesn't increase block with weapon block, and increase blocking chance works only in a ratio 1:5.
Weapon Block also gives Faster Block Rate. The advanced sheet doesn't show the breakpoints, but basically are 13, 32 and 86. Is easy to achieve 32, and 86 seems just too high to care about, but not impossible to get.
Dragon Flight is nice to have, but I don't usually use it while mapping with Blade Dance, since it consumes all Tiger Strike charges. If you want to use Blade Sentinel/Fury in maps, Dragon Flight is an ok mobility skill. For boss content is cool to have, but not a must.
Mercenary
Act 4 Dark: Is good to hire, since it can carry you on LoD content with some investment on gear. Late game is still really good, spamming Amp Damage. +skills and FCR gear is what you want for this merc.
Act 2 Defiance Aura: Most likely your endgame merc. You want a merc that doesn't die while spinning, so Defiance Aura it's huge for that purpose. Templar Might is the BiS chest for your merc. I usually recommend Lava Gout for gloves so it gives you Enchant Fire. Besides that, equip him with defensive items, like Vampire Gaze, String of Ears, and PDR chest if you don't have Templar Might. For boots, use either Marrowalks or Rite of Passage for CBF. If you don't have a claw with amp damage, you can give your merc a Reaper's Toll.
Act 5 Might Aura: Since Templar Might is an expensive armor, maybe you would want to give A5 merc a chance. He kinda uses the same gear as A2 Merc. In case you need amp damage, he can take a Vile Husk.
Act 1 Vigor Aura: Last alternative is A1 Merc. FRW is really strong for Blade Dance. It's really hard for this kind of Merc to survive, so you have to invest heavily on her, and have a huge clear speed to keep her safe. Xoxo on Discord recommended me Innocence RW + Demon Machine. While I still didn't test myself, after looking at the stats, that seems correct.
Mapping
While mapping you can use either Blade Dance or Blade Sentinel / Fury. Blade Dance is the fastest way, but you need to farm a Chaos Runeword Claw. On the other hand, using Blade Sentinel / Fury + Shadow Warriors might be a little slower in comparison, but you don’t need to do many gear swaps for bossing.
The transition between levelling setup, either Chain Lightning Sentry or Blade Sentinel / Fury to Blade Dance may be a little slow, since Blade Dance benefits more from pure damage, instead of +skills. So even if you get your Chaos Runeword, you might want to farm Chaos Sanctuary and Red Portals before doing the jump to t1 and t2 maps.
If you choose Blade Dance, just spin forward, ignore whatever doesn't die, kill the boss with Blade Sentinel, keep spinning, and that's it. If you need Resistance, use Fade, but eventually you should switch to BoS to get higher clear speeds. FRW is huge for smoother Blade Dance farms. You need at least a little of Life and Mana Leech to sustain. Crushing Blow is nerfed, but still good for clearing high hp pool mobs. Besides that, just stack as much Enhanced Damage as you can.
If you choose Blade Sentinel / Fury instead, take in consideration that only Blade Fury can leech. Also, leech for Blade Fury works only at 75% effectiveness. Shadow Warriors help farming on maps with Blade Sentinel. Try to get a High ED weapon, and then get as many +skills gear you can.
Main and Off-hand Weapons: For Blade Dance, you want a Rare/Crafted Claw (War Fist, Suwayyah or Scissors Suwayyah) with high ED (400% should be the final goal) and ETH if possible. Take in consideration Blade Dance consumes durability, so you need a Zod there. Having other mods like Life/Mana Leech, Crushing Blow or Deadly Strike is a nice bonus. Having %Chance to cast Amp Damage on strike is great.
Until you get this, you could just use any strong ED weapon you found.
Best corruption is Enhanced Damage, or 3 open sockets.
Your off hand claw must be Chaos Runeword. Best base weapons are the same for the main claw, and you also want good weapon mods on this base, like Claw Mastery.
If you are gonna map with Blade Sentinel / Fury you also want a High ED Rare/Crafted Claw, with Enhanced Damage and +skills.
In the off-hand, just use a claw with +5 or +6 Blade Sentinel Skill.
Like I said before, take in consideration that for Blade Sentinel, IAS does matter. IAS in pd2 while using dual claws is calculated with your fastest claw, Main or Off Hand. Remember you have an IAS calculator on the skills section.
Since s11, Shadow Warriors AI was updated and the new unique Weapon Whispering Mirage let us summon 1 additional shadow for each claw. So you could also play 1 or 2 of these. This might be useful until farming the Rare/Crafted Claws. Shadow Warriors can’t use Blade Dance, and only does 1 tick of damage while using Blade Fury. They use Blade Sentinel normally. Shadow Warriors mimic the skills you have in the Left and Right buttons of your mouse. So if you use Shadow Warriors, always keep Blade Sentinel on left click, and your main skill on right click.
Switch Weapons: CtA + Lidless Wall.
Helm: For Blade Dance, Guillaume's Face is the best option on the slot, mostly because of the Crushing Blow. FHR and Deadly Strike are also welcome, and this helm is cheap.
For Blade Sentinel / Fury, Any +skills helm are ok. Probably a Rare/Crafted Circlet with skills and teleport would be the best, but Steelshade and Harlequin Crest are ok too.
Vampire Gaze is also nice as a defensive alternative.
Best corruption is just 3 open sockets, with Enhanced Damage jewels. Other QoL affixes are welcome. Helms also could roll +1 skill, so for Blade Sentinel / Fury, this corruption is better than 3os.
Chest: Fortitude Runeword is kinda the standard chest any skill choice. You can also use Lionheart Runeword until you farm Fortitude. Tyrael Might is BiS, especially on Blade Dance, but really expensive, so most likely this is gonna be one of your last upgrades. You can also try to get a good Rare/Crafted Chest with Enhanced Damage and defensive stats, but prob Fortitude is gonna be better than anything you find / craft.
Best corruptions here are +1 skill or just 3os. If using Tyrael Might or a Rare/Crafted Chest usable for bossing, I recommend using Jah Runes on the sockets, unless you are rich and can afford multiple armors.
Belt: String of Ears and Verdungo are the best options. While String is the best for Blade Dance, Verdungo is better all around for bossing, so you might want to just use Verdungo to avoid switching belts.
Best corruptions are FRW, All Resistance or FHR.
Gloves: Soul Drainers are kinda the to go option. The -enemy phys res is a huge boost for hard mobs, and it solves your sustain needs (For Blade Fury, you might need an extra source of leech). Laying of Hands and Ghoulhide are ok. Venom Grip is also good in Blade Dance for his Crushing Blow.
Best corruptions are Enhanced Damage, Deadly Strike or All Resistance.
Boots: This is kinda a flex slot. Damage wise, Gore Rider is the best for his Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike. Goblin Toe is also cool. If you don't have CBF, you can use Marrowalk or Rite of Passage. Rare/Crafted Boots are kinda ok for budget if you need some Resistances.
Best corruptions are FRW, PDR, FHR, All Resistance or Life.
Amulet: Seraph Hymn is the best, and also very cheap. Saracen Chance is ok, and could help to fit your resistances.
Best corruptions are Enhanced Damage, FRW and All Resistance. Also, this is a good slot to get CBF. Amulets can also get +1 skills, and as always, this is the best damage wise for Blade Sentinel / Fury.
Rings: If you don't have CBF, you must use Raven Frost here.
Wisp Projector is super strong for Blade Dance and Blade Sentinel / Fury, but also expensive.
Bul-Kathos Death Band and Carrion Wind are strong for Blade Dance.
Bul-Kathos Wedding Band and Stone of Jordan are nice for boosting Blade Sentinel / Fury damage.
Rare/Crafted Rings with Resistance and Life/Mana Leech are ok if you need that.
Best corruption is FRW, All Resistance, PDR, Life/Mana Leech.
Charms: Grand Charms of Shadow Discipline Skills, with FRW, FHR or Life if you go Blade Dance, or Grand Charm of Trap if you go Blade Sentinel / Blade Fury.
Small Charms with whatever you need between All Resistance, FHR, or just Max Damage.
Torch and Anni as always.
Best corruption for Anni is + All Resistance, but you might want to have +1 skills so you don't need to switch for bossing, or if you just gonna map with Blade Sentinel / Blade Fury
General tips for bossing
In this section I'm gonna talk about gear that you gonna use on all or most bosses in the game.
In terms of damage, you want to get as most +skills as possible. One thing to notice is that the damage tooltip ingame is pretty accurate, but not 100% accurate. So i highly recommend using Phyxion Damage Calc to know your exact damage, and plan your build (You have to make your own copy of the document): https://tinyurl.com/s11bladecalculator
You can use the link on the skill section to calculate how much IAS you will need. In PD2, your IAS BP will be calculated based on your fastest weapon, so one of your weapons should be a Runic Talon base, since it's the faster claw. Also you should consider if you are gonna use Fade or BoS. Fade PDR was nerfed, so using it over BoS is just a matter of taste. While Fade will let you use more charms of Life, FHR, etc, BoS solves IAS issues, while also giving you high mobility.
FHR I recommend trying to get the 48 BP. 27 is also fine.
FBR 32 is enough and easy to get.
For Deadly Strike, you should try to get at least 60%+. Take in consideration that the cap is 75%.
Also you really want to stack as much Life as possible for any boss content.
Main Weapons: In the main hand, you want a high ED Claw (Eth if possible) with +skills. Since it’s hard to farm this, you can use a Whispering Mirage, for the +2 skills, and the extra Shadow Warrior.
Best corruptions are Enhanced Damage and Deadly Strike, or just 3 sockets. On the sockets use Lo runes to max your Deadly Strike, or Ohm Rune / Jewel with Enhanced Damage. Jewel with QoL stats like, FHR, Life or Resistance are also welcome. +1 skills are of course also strong.
On the Off-Hand you want a magic claw +6 Blade Sentinel, or a rare/crafted +5 Blade Sentinel. Whispering Mirage is also ok.
Best corruption is 3 sockets with QoL Jewels, most likely you will want All Resistance here, or +1 skill.
Switch Weapons: CtA + Lidless Wall.
Helm: This is the flex slot in each fight, unless you want to have 4 different 3os Tyrael Might, so i will recommend a different helm for each big Uber Boss
Chest: Fortitude Runeword is good enough for any boss. Tyrael Might is better, except in Rahtma and Lucion Fight. I will explain why in their respective sections.
Belt: Similar to the chest slot, Verdungo is the BiS, except for Lucion (Technically you can use Verdungo, but most people use other options that are going to be explained in his section).
+2% max all resistance is pretty strong corruption for an all around boss belt. All resistance, FHR and PDR are good too.
Gloves: Many bosses are demons, so Laying of Hands is a good option in general, but I will recommend some alternatives for different fights.
Some good corruptions are Deadly Strike or Enhanced Damage. Increased Attack Speed is also good if you plan to use Fade.
Boots: This slot is also very flexible for different fights. Since in some fights you might just want to use Gore Rider, you will probably want to have 60% Deadly Strike on the other gear slots. If you don't have a problem capping your Deadly Strike, you can just use defensive options in this slot, like Waterwalks.
Amulet: Seraph Hymn is BiS and cheap. Mara is ok if you need Resistance and Highlord is also ok for IAS and Deadly Strike, but Seraph is overall just better.
For Corruption and Desecrate, +Skills is better than enhanced damage, but enhanced damage is still ok. You can also roll Max Resistances and CBF here, which both are cool.
Rings: Bul-Kathos Wedding Band and Wisp Projector are kinda the best, but sometimes you will want to just use defensive options, so be patient and don't expend much currency on this. Also if you don't have CBF, just use a Raven Frost.
Best corruptions are PDR, All Resistance and Life.
Charms: Grand Charms of Trap Skills, most or all of them paired with Life. A couple with FHR are also nice to have, to get your BP.
For Small Charms, fill your slots with Resistance charms until max your caps, then you can use FHR to get the BP, and finally Life charms.
Again, obviously you need Torch and Anni.
Best corruption for Anni is +skills. More Vitality is also nice.
Uber Ancients, Mini Ubers and Uber Tristram
These fights are kinda easy, so you can even do it on a budget. So most of the entries are the same as general gear.
s11 update: With the changes of Shadow Warrior, they help a lot, not only tanking, but also helping killing bosses and their summons.
For ancient and mini ubers you don't need any special consideration.
For Tristram you should overcap your resistances. Mephisto aura reduces -50% All res, and Baal Lower Resistance Curse reduces -75%. So you might want to use Fade for killing these guys, then switch to BoS to finish Diablo.
Main Weapons: Same as described in General Gear, or you can use 1 or 2 Whispering Mirage, to get extra shadows and help on the fight.
Switch Weapons: CtA + Lidless Wall.
Helm: You can use one of the Vampire Gaze that I will recommend later for Dclone and Lucion, or even the Guillaume Face you use for mapping. If you really want a specific helm for this content as a luxury, you can use a +2 skill helm, like Harlequin Crest or Steel Shade, corrupted with +skills and / or with jewels of Enhanced Damage or QoL stats.
Chest: Fortitude is ok, Tyrael Might is BiS.
If you have Tyrael Might, there are a lot of good corruptions, from just 3 sockets, to Max Life%, FHR, All Skills, All Resistance, or PDR.
Belt: Same as described in General Gear.
Gloves: Same as described in General Gear.
Boots: Same as described in General Gear.
Amulet: Same as described in General Gear.
Rings: Same as described in General Gear.
Charms: Same as described in General Gear.
DClone
For this fight you need to max your Fire Resistance to 90, since fire is the highest source of damage.
Get as much as PDR as you can, since meteors and some summon do big chunks of physical damage.
Any way to mitigate cold and lightning damage are ok, but in theory you should avoid getting hit by the skills that do these types of damage.
Main Weapons: Same as described in General Gear. (Whispering Mirage must be tested. My guess is Shadow Warriors gonna die too fast to make it worth, at least for t1 and t2. For t0 might be ok).
Switch Weapons: CtA + Lidless Wall.
Helm: Vampire Gaze with 3 sockets. Fill the sockets with 1 or 2 Vex Rune until you get 90 Max Fire Res, then use Jah Rune.
Chest: Fortitude is ok, Tyrael Might is BiS.
For Tyrael Might, stack as much life as possible with corruption and sockets.
Belt: Same as described in General Gear.
Gloves: Ghoulhide is BiS. If you don't use Ghoulhide, you will probably spend more time hitting skeletons rather than Diablo itself. It also has 20 IAS and up to 40 life, so it's pretty strong.
Best Corruptions are Enhanced Damage and Deadly Strike. All resistance is ok.
Boots: Waterwalk are super strong. Max Fire Resistance, FBR and Life. There are no other boots to consider.
Best corruption is Max Fire Resistance, but PDR, Life and All Resistance are also ok.
Amulet: Same as described in General Gear, but Seraph Hymn is insane strong here.
Rings: You most likely want defensive rings here. So first of all, if you don't have CBF, you must use Raven Frost. Nature Peace is nice to have if you need to fit your Max Fire Resistance. Also life spirit is good. If you don't need Raven or Nature, the best rings are Dwarf Star. Block, Life and Fire Absorb, all incredibly good for this fight. You could use +skill rings, but the defensive stats of Dwarf Star are so good that it seems like a waste to change it for some damage.
Best corruptions are PDR, Life and All Resistance.
Charms: Same as described in General Gear.
Rathma
Main damage source in this fight is Poison and Magic.
Poison is the biggest threat in this fight. Mendeln does a huge ton of poison damage in phase 1 and 3, so you must max your Poison Resist to 90.
Additionally, you need gear with the mod Reduced Poison Length. The cap is 175%, even if the advanced stat sheet doesn't show it. You can do the battle with 150% PLR, but if you can go for 175%, do it.
There aren't many ways to reduce Magic Damage. So if you can fit something, that’s cool. Still, you can do the fight without any item that reduces Magic Damage, but in that case, you should be careful with Rathma, and try evading Rathma Skillshots as much as possible.
Cold Damage can be dangerous in the first phase of the battle, but as long as you play with patience and evade the ice projectile, you will be fine even if you only have 75 Cold Resist.
Mendeln also uses Lower Resist, for a -25 to -33 (Depends on tier) all resistance curse, so you have to overcap your resist to deal with this.
In this fight you don't need much PDR, but it is recommended to have some, so you don't have problems with purple Void Knights and with the mob between each boss fight.
Main Weapons: Same as described in General Gear, but you can also use a Plague Runeword Claw for Off-Hand, since Cleansing Aura on this fight is strong. (Whispering Mirage must be tested. My guess is Shadow Warriors could be useful in this fight).
Switch Weapons: CtA + Lidless Wall.
Helm: Andariel Visage is BiS for the fight, usually paired with 3 sockets corrupt. For the sockets you will want 1 or 2 Gul Rune, to cap your Max Poison Resist, then fill empty sockets with Jah.
Chest: Chest is one of the main pieces of gear where you can get a lot of PLR. So instead of Fortitude or Tyrael's, the most popular option here is a Rare/Crafted Chest with Enhanced Damage and 75% PLR. You will also want others good mods on this armor, like Life, Assassin Skills or some defensive stats. The second alternative is to use a Gladiator Bane, which gives Magic Damage Reduction and 50% PLR. I tested this second option, and made Rathma a lot easier to deal with, but you will need an extra 25% PLR on other gear pieces.
Best corruptions here are 3 sockets, All Skills, Maximum Life, CBF, Maximum Poison Resist or Magic Damage Taken Reduced.
Belt: In this slot I like to use Verdungo for his defensive stat, but if you need PLR, you can get 25% in this slot with a Rare/Crafted Belt.
Best corruptions are Max Resistances or FHR.
Gloves: I don't know if this is a popular alternative, but I just use Ghoulhide to kill Void Knights faster. I guess it's a matter of taste. You could also use Venom Grip just for the Max Poison Resistance, but every other stat in this glove is trash. Another option is to use Gravepalm in case you need Deadly Strike, which I think is what the vast majority of players do.
Boots: On this slot people usually just use Rare/Crafted Boots with PLR and Resistance, mostly poison and cold so you can overcap to protect from Lower Resist. If you don't need PLR here, you can go for Waterwalk for a defensive approach, or Gore Riders in case you want extra Deadly Strike.
Amulet: This is the second slot where you can get 75% PLR, and Seraph Hymn isn't super good here, since bosses aren't demon or undead, and they don't summon much mob. So, BiS here is a Assassin/Trap Rare/Crafted Amulet, with defensive stats and of course, 75% PLR.
Best corruptions in this slot are Max Resistances, CBF, All Skills or Enhanced Damage.
Rings: If you need PLR, rings can roll 25%, so Rare/Crafted one's with Resistances and Life are cool. As always, if you don't have another source of CBF, use one ring slot for Raven Frost, and if you need to close your Max Resistances, take a Nature Peace. If you don't need any of this, go for +Skills Rings.
Ring can also get Magic Damage Taken Reduced as corrupt, so for this fight this is the best. Life corrupt is also great.
Charms: Same as described in General Gear.
Lucion
In this battle, the main source of elemental damage is Lightning. Lucion also does some Physical Damage, and his summons does some Fire Damage. So for this fight Max your Lightning Resist and try to get at least 20%+ PDR.
While this fight is simple, Lucion has a big pool of Life, therefore it is really important to stack as much damage as possible, unless you want to lose the fight for the lack of potions.
Main Weapons: Same as described in General Gear. (Whispering Mirage must be tested. My guess is Shadow Warriors could be useful in this fight).
Switch Weapons: CtA + Lidless Wall.
Helm: Even if stacking damage is important, most people still use Vampire Gaze with 3 sockets corrupt in this slot. Fill it with Lo Runes to get your Max Lightning Resist, then as usual, use Jah Runes to increase your Life Pool.
Chest: Fortitude give's Max Lightning Resist, and for some weird reason, Lucion isn't labeled as Demon, so Tyrael Might isn't super good here. So just go for Fortitude.
Belt: Thundergod Vigor give's up to 8% Max Lightning Resist, so most people use this. If you can Cap your Max Lightning Resist with another piece of gear, you can use Verdungo instead of TGods, but since PDR isn't super important, most people go for the TGods route, so they can use more Jah Runes on their helmets.
FHR and All Max Resistance are the best corruption options.
Gloves: Like I said before, Lucion is not a Demon or an Undead, so you could just use Gravepalm. The mobs that are summoned by portals are demons, and for that reason I use Laying on Hands in this fight.
As always, I recommend Deadly Strike or Enhanced Damage for corruptions.
Boots: You can use Waterwalks for defensive purposes, or Gore Rider if you need the Deadly Strike. You can consider Marrowalk or Rite of Passage to get your CBF in this slot.
FRW, FHR, Life or any generic defensive corruption is cool here. Also you can roll Max Lightning Resist if you still didn't capped.
Amulet: Even if Lucion isn't a Demon, Seraph Hymn is still nice to use this fight, so you can clear summons faster.
If you don't have CBF, this slot is really good for Corruption or Desecrate. +skills and Max All Resistance are also nice.
Rings: If you have a Wisp Projector, this is his moment to shine. Lightning Absorb, +skill and Spirit, are all incredibly good for the fight. Bul-Kathos Wedding Band is also really good, and as always, if you still need Max Light Resistance go for Nature Peace, or Raven Frost for CBF.
Life and All Resistance seems like the best corruptions here.
Charms: Same as described in General Gear.
Appendix A - How does Blade Dance work?
Blade Dance is a pretty simple skill. Basically everything it works for standard melee builds, also works for Blade Dance.
IAS isn’t required, since the skill hits at fixed frames, so for weapons, the only thing it matters is average damage. That’s why I recommend War Fist, Suwayyah and Scissors Suwayyah as base weapons, but technically, you should just pick whatever it hits harder.
Also, Raw Damage is way more important than skills.
Recently someone on Discord told me that for Charms, Shadow Discipline Skillers was better than Max Damage (Assuming you have at least 1 point on venom). So I checked ingame and he was totally right. He also said that this was true for endgame builds only, so maybe if you don’t have an endgame weapon, max damage is still better, but I recommend just investing directly on Shadow Discipline Skillers.
Appendix B - How does Blade Sentinel work?
Before starting, I want to appreciate Phyxion for his great guide. 99% of the info on this appendix is based on his guide. You have the link to that guide at the start of this guide.
Let’s start with the basics. When you cast this skill, a Blade will spawn in your position, then the blade will move to the position of the cursor at the moment you casted the skill, and will turn back again to the initial position. This process will repeat for 50 frames. Everytime the blade turns back, it causes AoE damage around the blade. Each blade does a tick of damage each 5 frames. At the same time, when an enemy is hitted by a blade, it cannot receive damage from another blade during 5 frames. Also, the AoE damage when the blade turns back can only happen once every 12 frames. All of this might sound really technical and hard to process, but basically what I'm trying to point here is that spamming BS on 1 close target is really bad. Instead, usually you should try to aim at the edge’s of the screen.
Another consideration is that some effects don't work with blade sentinel.
The following effects don't work for Blade Sentinel: Crushing Blow, Open Wounds, Ignore Target Defense, -% Target Defense, Life/Mana Stolen per Hit, Life/Mana After Each Kill and Chance to Cast on Attack/Striking/Cast. Also, -x% Enemy Physical Resistance works at half power, so if you have an item with -8% EPR, the blades will pierce only 4% instead. Everything else works as usual.
Blade Sentinel does need IAS, and actually you should aim to get the faster BP. The BP is the same as laying traps. Here you have a link to a calculator:
http://d2r-sin-ias.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/
+Skills items usually give more damage than enhanced damage or max damage items. Remember to use the damage calculator in the section “General Tips for Bossing” to check that out if you aren’t sure.
Appendix C - How does Blade Fury work?
Blade Fury is more simple than Blade Sentinel, except for developers that must work hard to make it function properly. Cheers to them.
In PD2, Blade Fury has 100% pierce, when a star hits a wall, the projectile divides on other 3 stars, and this can also happen at 50% chance when hitting a mob. So this skill shines on closed maps or against big chunks of mobs, but is weaker on open maps and low density zones. Also this is a channeling skill.
Blade Fury does use IAS. Don’t believe wiki lies (Just joking, but this was confirmed by developers on Discord). In theory, Blade Fury should have a fixed Wind-Up frame rate (Whatever that means, but I'm guessing the time until it gets on channeling position), and throw stars at fixed frame rates too. In reality, both things are affected by IAS, but the BP’s wasn’t revealed. You could assume that, since Blade Fury it’s a trap, it uses the same BP as any trap, like Blade Sentinel, but I don't have confirmation on this. So yeah. I don’t know, just use BoS and a fast base claw and you will be good.
Unlike Blade Sentinel, most effects work for Blade Fury, like Crushing Blow, Cast on Strike %, all forms of leech, etc. For balance reasons, the leech for both life and mana have 75% efficiency, and the divided stars have 80% less chance to proc on strike skills. Take in consideration that since it’s a ranged skill, Crushing Blow is globally nerfed (In most cases worthless unless bossing, but atm I wasn’t able to find a build that hit harder than standard Blade Sentinel), and -enemy phys resistance works at 50% efficiency.
The Damage Scaling for Blade Fury is kinda the same as Blade Sentinel. In most cases +skills is better than enhanced damage, except in extreme cases like Fortitude.
Important: At the moment this guide was updated, Blade Fury have a bug. For damage calculation, always take your faster weapon as your main weapon, no matter what you do.
Final words
I hope this guide helps new people that want to try this build, and if you have any suggestions to improve the guide, or destructive critics, feel free to leave it at the Reddit post.