Hexblade Poison Build

Core Mechanic

The Hexblade class item, Cursed Dagger, applies debuffs to the opponent without spending Stamina, and powers up adjacent weapons in proportion to the number of debuffs the target carries.

In short: Poison Dagger and Death Scythe rack up debuff density → the weapons around Cursed Dagger scale exponentially. It is one of the more technical Reaper builds, but when it lines up, the damage spike is huge.

Recommended Subclass: Hexblade

Hexblade is mandatory at Round 8. Cursed Dagger sits in the class-item slot, which improves placement efficiency.

Core Items and Placement

Item	Role
Cursed Dagger	Adjacent-weapon amp core; applies debuffs
Poison Dagger	Stacks debuffs; crafted from Pestilence Flask
Death Scythe	Drops large amounts of poison debuffs
Pestilence Flask	Poison source
Emerald	Socketed in weapons for extra poison application
Banana	Stamina supply (Cursed Dagger itself is free, but the other weapons cost)

Center Cursed Dagger and surround it with Poison Dagger and Death Scythe as your main attackers. The more debuffs you stack, the bigger the adjacent-weapon damage. Socket Emeralds into weapons to lift the debuff count further.

Build Order

Early game (Rounds 1-6)

Hunt for Pestilence Flask and Cursed Dagger while transitioning Wooden Sword → Poison Dagger. Lay the Stamina baseline with Bananas.

Mid game (Rounds 7-12)

Take Hexblade at Round 8. Put Cursed Dagger in the middle and surround it with Poison Daggers and Death Scythes. Socket every Emerald you see into the weapons.

Late game (Round 13+)

Run more Pestilence Flasks so you can stack a heavy poison count within the first 10 seconds. Once the Cursed Dagger adjacency boost is firing on full debuff density, a single Death Scythe swing can spike to 30-50 damage.

Tactics and Positioning

Debuff density is the win condition, so take every poison source you can fit (Pestilence Flask, Fly Agaric, Poison Dagger). Defense, however, is thin, so cover the basics with a shield and helm to avoid early collapse.

Difficult Matchups and Counters

• Buff-strip archetypes: Cursed Dagger itself cannot be removed, but cleansing your debuffs deflates its boost. Counter-strip with Amethyst of your own.
• High-armor (Turtle): poison still hits as fixed damage, but raw damage through armor is weak. Swap one weapon to an armor-piercer.
• Opening-rush: with low debuff density early, your damage is low. Tighten early-game damage taken.

Variations

Pairing with Venomancer (Snake) is hard for placement reasons, but combining with Vampiress (Nocturnal Rock Lifter) creates a lifesteal + debuff hybrid. A variant that swaps Emeralds for Amethysts strips opposing buffs while still applying debuffs.