Blade Vortex Spell, AoE, Duration, Physical

Radius: 15

Mana Cost: (6-16)

Cast Time: 0.50 sec

Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%

Effectiveness of Added Damage: 25% Radius: 15Mana Cost: (6-16)Cast Time: 0.50 secCritical Strike Chance: 6.00%Effectiveness of Added Damage: 25% Requires Level 12 This spell creates ethereal blades which orbit in an area around you, dealing damage every 0.6 seconds to all enemies in their radius. As more blades are added, the damage becomes greater and more frequent. Per 1% Quality:

0.5% increased Area of Effect Deals (3-101) to (5-151) Physical Damage

Base duration is 5 seconds

Can have up to 10 active spinning blades

10% increased Critical Strike Chance for each blade

35% increased Hit Rate for each blade

35% more Damage for each blade

+(0-4) to radius Place into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. Acquisition

Level: 12 Purchase Costs

Normal 1x Orb of Transmutation

Sell Price

1x 1x Scroll Fragment Miscellaneous

Item class: Active Skill Gems

Metadata ID: Metadata/Items/Gems/SkillGemBladeVortex



Blade Vortex (often referred to as BV) is a spell that creates an ethereal blade that spins around the caster that deals physical damage, each blade lasting for the minimum duration of 5 seconds.

Skill functions and interactions

Blade Vortex's base damage is boosted by Physical Damage, Spell Damage, Area Damage, and Damage.

Interaction w/ Blade Blast: When targeted by Blade BlastBlade BlastSpell, AoE, Physical

Mana Cost: (6-16)

Cast Time: 0.50 sec

Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%

Effectiveness of Added Damage: 60%Requires Level 16Deals spell damage in a targeted area. When this spell deals damage, if your Lingering Blades or Blade Vortex blades are nearby, it will detonate them, dealing damage again in an area around them. Up to 50 Blades can be detonated this way.Per 1% Quality:

0.5% increased Area of EffectDeals (13-279) to (20-418) Physical Damage

20% more Area of Effect per Blade Vortex blade detonated

Unnerve Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit

+(0-2) to radiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. , the blades will detonate in sequence, increasing in AoE with subsequent detonations. The damage from these detonations scale solely from the Blade Blast skill.

Physical Damage: Because Blade Vortex deals physical damage, it can be boosted by supports and skills that are more commonly used to modify attacks, such as the Added Fire Damage SupportAdded Fire Damage SupportFire, Physical, Support

Icon: F

Mana Multiplier: 120%Requires Level 8Supports any skill that hits enemies.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Fire DamageSupported Skills gain (25-44)% of Physical Damage as Extra Fire DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. gem and the HatredHatredAura, Spell, AoE, Cold

Radius: 36

Mana Reserved: 50%

Can Store 1 Use(s)

Cooldown Time: 1.20 secRequires Level 24Casts an aura that grants extra cold damage based on physical damage to you and your allies.Per 1% Quality:

2% increased Area of EffectYou and nearby allies gain (16-25)% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage

You and nearby allies deal (14-18)% more Cold Damage

+(0-19) to radiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. aura.

Spell Damage: Despite the fact that it does physical damage, Blade Vortex is a spell and not an attack. It does not utilize weapon damage in any way. Blade Vortex is one of several skills that work in this manner. The others include Ethereal KnivesEthereal KnivesSpell, Projectile, Physical, Duration

Mana Cost: (5-20)

Cast Time: 0.60 sec

Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%

Effectiveness of Added Damage: 120%

Projectile Speed: 1300Fires an arc of knives in front of the caster which deals physical damage.Per 1% Quality:

1% increased Projectile SpeedBase duration is 6 seconds

Deals (7-633) to (10-949) Physical Damage

Fires 9 additional Projectiles

Maximum 40 Lingering Blades can be left in the ground at a time

Leaves a Lingering Blade in the ground for every 3 Projectiles fired

Leaves 50% fewer Lingering Blades in the ground if you don't Cast this Spell yourself

(0-19)% increased Projectile SpeedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. , BladefallBladefallSpell, AoE, Physical, Duration

Radius: 12

Mana Cost: (12-23)

Cast Time: 0.70 sec

Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%

Effectiveness of Added Damage: 90%Requires Level 28Ethereal weapons rain from the sky, dealing damage to enemies in a sequence of volleys, each wider but less damaging than the last. Enemies can be hit multiple times where these overlap.Per 1% Quality:

0.5% increased Area of EffectBase duration is 6 seconds

Deals (44-411) to (66-617) Physical Damage

6% less Damage per Volley

100% increased Critical Strike Chance

20% reduced Critical Strike Chance per Volley

5 Volleys

Leaves a Lingering Blade in the ground for every Volley

Maximum 40 Lingering Blades can be left in the ground at a time

Leaves 50% fewer Lingering Blades in the ground if you don't Cast this Spell yourselfPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. , and Shockwave TotemShockwave TotemTotem, Spell, AoE, Physical, Nova

Radius: 24

Mana Cost: (21-39)

Cast Time: 0.60 sec

Critical Strike Chance: 5.00%Requires Level 28Summons a totem that shakes the earth around it, knocking back and damaging nearby enemiesPer 1% Quality:

1% increased totem lifeDeals (33-362) to (65-672) Physical Damage

Totem lasts 8 seconds

25% chance to Knock Enemies Back on hitPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. . Its damage can be amplified by Spell Damage on items and passives from the skill tree, as well as support gems that increase spell damage.

Leech: Leech effects that apply to Spell damage and to damage types dealt by Blade Vortex (Physical by default) will work as usual. Note that leech effects which apply to attacks do not apply to Blade Vortex because it is a spell, not an attack.

Area of Effect: Increases and decreases in to Area of Effect from support gems, passives, and equipment will augment the radius in which the skill deals damage (e.g. Increased Area of Effect SupportIncreased Area of Effect SupportSupport, AoE

Icon: E

Mana Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 38Supports any skill with an area of effect.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Area DamageSupported Skills have (30-49)% increased Area of EffectThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. , Concentrated Effect SupportConcentrated Effect SupportSupport, AoE

Icon: o

Mana Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 18Supports any skill with an area of effect, regardless of whether that skill deals damage.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Area DamageSupported Skills have 30% less Area of Effect

Supported Skills deal (35-54)% more Area DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. and Carcass JackCarcass Jack

Varnished CoatQuality: +20%

Evasion: (928-1044)

Energy Shield: (180-202)

Movement Speed: -3%Requires Level 62, 96 Dex, 96 Int(120-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield

+(50-70) to maximum Life

+(9-12)% to all Elemental Resistances

(40-50)% increased Area of Effect

(40-50)% increased Area Damage

Extra gore"...The discomfort shown by the others is amusing, but none

can deny that my work has made quite the splash..."

- Maligaro's Journal ).

Cast Speed: Faster Casting SupportFaster Casting SupportSupport, Spell

Icon: f

Mana Multiplier: 120%Requires Level 18Supports non-instant spell skills.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills have 0.5% increased Cast SpeedSupported Skills have (20-39)% increased Cast SpeedThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. , Spell Echo SupportSpell Echo SupportSpell, Support

Icon: k

Mana Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 38Supports spell skills, making them repeat when cast. Cannot support Vaal skills, totem skills, channelling skills, triggered skills, instant skills, or skills which reserve mana.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Spell DamageSupported Skills Repeat an additional time

Supported Skills have (51-70)% more Cast Speed

Supported Skills deal 10% less DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. , and Cast Speed from passives and gear will increase the rate at which blades are generated.

Duration: Increased Duration SupportIncreased Duration SupportSupport, Duration

Icon: D

Mana Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 31Supports any skill with a duration.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills have 0.5% increased Skill Effect DurationSupported Skills have (45-64)% increased Skill Effect DurationThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. , Less Duration SupportLess Duration SupportSupport, Duration

Icon: d

Mana Multiplier: 120%Requires Level 31Supports any skill that has a duration.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills have 0.5% less Skill Effect DurationSupported Skills have (40-49)% less Skill Effect Duration

Supported Skills deal (10-19)% more DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. , and duration-modifying passives and equipment will affect the duration of the blades (including Temporal ChainsTemporal ChainsSpell, AoE, Duration, Curse

Radius: 22

Mana Cost: (16-33)

Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 24Curses all targets in an area, Slowing them, and making effects on them expire more slowly.Per 1% Quality:

Cursed Normal and Magic Enemies have 0.5% less Action SpeedBase duration is (5-5.95) seconds

Cursed Normal and Magic Enemies have (20-29)% less Action Speed

Other effects on Cursed enemies expire 40% slower

50% less Effect of Curse against Players

Cursed Rare and Unique Enemies have (10-14)% less Action Speed

+(0-7) to radiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. on yourself [1].) It is possible to have multiple blades active at the same time, up to a maximum of 10 blades. Once the limit is reached, creating a new blade will simply remove the oldest existing active blade, similar to Summon Raging SpiritSummon Raging SpiritSpell, Minion, Duration, Fire

Mana Cost: (4-12)

Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 4Summons a short-lived flaming skull that rushes at nearby enemies and attacks them rapidly. Enemies will not directly engage these spirits, and can pass through them.Per 1% Quality:

1% increased Minion Movement SpeedBase duration is 5 seconds

Maximum 20 Summoned Raging Spirits

Minions gain 15% less Added Damage

Minions cannot Taunt EnemiesPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. .

Poison: As Blade Vortex deals physical damage, it can easily scale poison damage.

Visual effect: Blade vortex's visual effect does not scale with Area of effect modifiers. Instead, to give a rough indication of radius, there are several versions of the knife effect, each rotating at a different radius. The skill will always try to have one knife using the largest-radius effect that's not larger than the actual radius of the skill, but that skill results in discrete visual changes where you need to reach a certain threshold before the next wider effect can be used. The full radius is always used mechanically. [2]

Multiple casts: When Blade Vortex is linked to Unleash SupportUnleash SupportSpell, Support

Icon: q

Mana Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 38Supports spell skills, making their effect reoccur when cast. Cannot support skills with cooldowns, triggered skills, Brand skills, Vaal skills, channelling skills, skills which reserve mana, or skills used by totems, traps, or mines. Cannot modify the skills of minions.Per 1% Quality:

Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Spell DamageSupported Spells gain a Seal every (0.9-0.71) seconds, to a maximum of 3 Seals

Supported Spells are Unsealed when cast, and their effects Reoccur for each Seal lost

Supported Skills deal (20-11)% less Damage when ReoccurringThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Active Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. , the damage is defined by the initial cast and does not inherit the less damage multiplier. [3] This behavior includes the Greater Spell Echo Support from Pledge of HandsPledge of Hands

Judgement StaffWarstaff

Quality: +20%

Physical Damage: 87.6–163.2

Critical Strike Chance: 6.50%

Attacks per Second: 1.30

Weapon Range: 13Requires Level 68, 113 Str, 113 Int+20% Chance to Block Spell Damage while wielding a StaffSocketed Gems are Supported by Level 30 Greater Spell Echo

(120-160)% increased Spell Damage

100% increased maximum Mana"To shake a hand is to double your power."

- Jaetai, Queen's Advisor .

Gem level progression

Level Mana

Cost Physical

Damage Radius Exp. Total Exp. 1 12 33 6 3 to 5 N/A 0 0 2 15 39 6 4 to 6 N/A 15,249 15,249 3 19 48 7 5 to 8 N/A 41,517 56,766 4 23 56 8 7 to 10 N/A 81,983 138,749 5 27 64 9 9 to 14 +1 147,968 286,717 6 31 73 9 12 to 18 +1 250,557 537,274 7 35 81 10 15 to 23 +1 405,086 942,360 8 38 88 11 18 to 27 +1 447,718 1,390,078 9 41 94 11 21 to 32 +1 615,318 2,005,396 10 44 100 12 25 to 38 +2 834,639 2,840,035 11 47 106 12 30 to 45 +2 1,570,760 4,410,795 12 50 113 13 35 to 53 +2 1,633,987 6,044,782 13 53 119 13 42 to 63 +2 2,151,030 8,195,812 14 56 125 14 49 to 73 +2 2,812,189 11,008,001 15 59 132 14 57 to 86 +3 5,099,360 16,107,361 16 62 138 15 67 to 101 +3 9,400,731 25,508,092 17 64 142 15 74 to 111 +3 15,273,366 40,781,458 18 66 146 16 82 to 124 +3 26,286,582 67,068,040 19 68 151 16 91 to 137 +3 62,890,590 129,958,630 20 70 155 16 101 to 151 +4 212,046,017 342,004,647 21 72 159 17 112 to 167 +4 N/A N/A 22 74 N/A 17 123 to 185 +4 N/A N/A 23 76 N/A 18 136 to 204 +4 N/A N/A 24 78 N/A 18 150 to 225 +4 N/A N/A 25 80 N/A 18 166 to 249 +5 N/A N/A 26 82 N/A 19 183 to 274 +5 N/A N/A 27 84 N/A 19 201 to 302 +5 N/A N/A 28 86 N/A 19 222 to 333 +5 N/A N/A 29 88 N/A 20 244 to 367 +5 N/A N/A 30 90 N/A 20 269 to 404 +6 N/A N/A 31 91 N/A 20 282 to 423 +6 N/A N/A 32 92 N/A 20 296 to 444 +6 N/A N/A 33 93 N/A 21 310 to 466 +6 N/A N/A 34 94 N/A 21 326 to 488 +6 N/A N/A 35 95 N/A 21 341 to 512 +6 N/A N/A 36 96 N/A 21 358 to 537 +6 N/A N/A 37 97 N/A 21 375 to 563 +6 N/A N/A 38 98 N/A 22 393 to 590 +6 N/A N/A 39 99 N/A 22 412 to 619 +6 N/A N/A 40 100 N/A 22 432 to 648 +7 N/A N/A

Calculating DPS

Blade Vortex's in-game tooltip DPS gives the average damage of one hit from one Blade Vortex instance, multiplied by casts per second. This value is misleading primarily because Blade Vortex can hit more than once over its duration, thus not cast speed must be used, but hits per second (rounds per second, spin rate), over the duration of the stacks.

Math and tables

Base spin rate of Blade Vortex is 600 ms. Blade Vortex hit more frequently with more stacks it has. As gem says: 35% increased Hit Rate for each blade. So spin time is calculated as





Assuming spin rate increases for 35% for each stack, we have the following data:

Stacks Hit Rate (ms) Hits Per Second 0 600 1.667 1 444 2.250 2 353 2.833 3 293 3.417 4 250 4.000 5 218 4.583 6 194 5.167 7 174 5.750 8 158 6.333 9 145 6.917 10 133 7.500

Each stack of Blade Vortex increases hit damage with the following formula:

Where is per-stack damage increase factor.

Then we need just multiply hits per second with hit damage.

Assuming 35% more damage per stack, then using base hit damage as 1, we would expect the following per-hit damage increases:

Stacks Damage Per Hit Effective DPS Multiplier 0 1.00 1.667 1 1.35 3.04 2 1.70 4.82 3 2.05 7.00 4 2.40 9.60 5 2.75 12.60 6 3.10 16.02 7 3.45 19.84 8 3.80 24.07 9 4.15 28.70 10 4.50 33.75

Finally, to obtain sustained DPS from tooltip use the following formula:

or in expanded form

Item acquisition

Upgrade paths

This item can be acquired through the following upgrade paths or vendor recipes:



Amount Ingredient General

Notes Type 6 The Fox The Fox 6 Level 20 Gem "Masters of wit, strength and cunning. To survive the harsh winters, you must be like the fox."

- Ezomyte Proverb random level 20 gem Automatic 13 The Cataclysm The Cataclysm 13 Level 21 Spell Gem

Corrupted The mighty warriors traded in blows, the nimble archers in arrows, yet it was the brazen thaumaturgists who would bring catastrophe to all. random corrupted level 21 Spell gem Automatic 3 Gemcutter's Promise Gemcutter's Promise 3 Superior Gem

Quality: +20% "I swore to use my position to help the people. What good is power when it just accumulates on the already-powerful?" - Erasmus, Imperial Gemcutter random superior gem (Q20) Automatic

Quest reward

This item is given as a quest reward for the following quests:

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Blade Vortex.

Alternate skill effects

Blade Vortex has the following alternate skill effects:

Item Effect(s) Demonic Blade Vortex Demonic Blade Vortex Skill Gem Effect Your Blade Vortex becomes a black and red demonic vortex. Your Blade Vortex becomes a black and red demonic vortex. Illusionist Blade Vortex Effect Illusionist Blade Vortex Effect Skill Gem Effect Replaces the standard effect on a Blade Vortex gem with an illusionist version. Replaces the standard effect on a Blade Vortex gem with an illusionist version. Sawblade Blade Vortex Sawblade Blade Vortex Skill Gem Effect Your Blade Vortex becomes a Sawblade Effect. Your Blade Vortex becomes a Sawblade Effect.

Version history

Version Changes 3.10.0 Blades created by this skill can now be destroyed with Blade Blast Blade Blast Spell, AoE, Physical

Mana Cost: (6-16)

Cast Time: 0.50 sec

Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%

Effectiveness of Added Damage: 60% Mana Cost: (6-16)Cast Time: 0.50 secCritical Strike Chance: 6.00%Effectiveness of Added Damage: 60% Requires Level 16 Deals spell damage in a targeted area. When this spell deals damage, if your Lingering Blades or Blade Vortex blades are nearby, it will detonate them, dealing damage again in an area around them. Up to 50 Blades can be detonated this way. Per 1% Quality:

0.5% increased Area of Effect Deals (13-279) to (20-418) Physical Damage

20% more Area of Effect per Blade Vortex blade detonated

Unnerve Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit

+(0-2) to radius Place into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. 3.6.0 Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 16 (was 19).

Now deals 3 to 5 Physical damage at gem level 1 (from 7 to 10) and 101 to 151 Physical damage at gem level 20 (from 123 to 185).

Now has an added damage effectiveness of 25% (from 30%). 3.5.0 Added physics interactions. 3.3.0 Now has 35% increased hit rate for each blade (up from 10%).

Now deals 35% more damage with hits and ailments for each blade (up from 30% for hits and 20% for ailments).

Now has 10% increased critical strike chance for each blade.

Now has a limit of 10 active spinning blades (down from 20). 3.0.0 Blade Vortex had its 'more spell damage' scaling modifier changed to 'more damage with hits for each blade', and separately 'more damage with ailments for each blade'. 2.6.0 Blade Vortex's radius has increased from 14 to 15 units.

Blade Vortex gains 1 additional unit of radius every 5 levels.

No longer gain increased area of effect radius.

You can now only have one instance of Blade Vortex active at once. 2.5.1 Blade Vortex's "More Damage per Blade" modifier has been changed to apply only to spell damage instead of all damage types. This will remove a double-dipping effect that should not have been occurring. 2.5.0 Blade Vortex has been refactored. Instead of separate hits for each active blade, the blades now increase the frequency at which all enemies in the radius take damage, and the amount of damage they take. The skill now has a base hit frequency of 600ms and has 10% increased hit rate per active blade. Its damage has been reduced by 30% at all levels and it deals 30% more damage per active blade. 2.4.0 Blade Vortex now has a stack limit of 20 (down from 50). It now deals 63% more damage at level 20. 2.2.0 The frequency with which Blade Vortex's can repeatedly hit the same enemy has been halved, but its damage and damage effectiveness have been doubled. 2.1.1b Extra Gore now doesn't trigger every time Blade Vortex hits.

Fixed a bug where some of the visual effects on Blade Vortex weren't being updated when swapping in and out support gems which modified the area of effect.

Fixed a bug where some of the effects of Blade Vortex weren't finishing their animations smoothly. 2.1.0 Added to the game.