[3.1] Trickster MoM EE EO Bodyswap aka THE THING

Introduction
Welcome to my Bodyswap build! This is my first time making a guide and I am happy to share it with you. DISCLAIMER: I started this build with a tabula, some awful uniques and a dream. I do not know how it will do on a 5 or 4 link.

Quick demonstration GIF:

Some tooltip dps, we are ignited and have EO:
My character
Spoiler



Ascendancy Revamp!
Spoiler
Overall I'd say we're in a much better spot than we were with this ascendancy!

We are getting in 6 points what we were previously getting with 8 points and can now look at picking up patient reaper(defensive), swift killer(offensive) or Harness the Void(offensive). I am leaning towards Patient Reaper because of the loss of 50% mana regen.

Escape Artist (was Shade Form) gives us immunity to stun which is a godsend and potentially a lot more energy shield / evasion overall on top of 8% more reduced damage taken if hit recently. The only question is how good is immunity to stun when you haven't been hit recently. That will be the deciding factor in if we take Soul of the Brine King vs Soul of Arakaali for 50% increased Recovery of Life and Energy Shield if you've stopped taking Damage Over Time Recently. This has synergy with immortal call when you're bleeding, and a potion to turn off your self ignite in emergencies.

Only sad part here is we're losing 50% mana regen from Weave the Arcane :( this hurts MoM.

*I ended up NOT remaking this character in bestiary league because I wasn't enjoying it, maybe next league.


Pro's & Con's

+ Fast clearing
+ Hilarious

- Mobs that use Detonate Dead are bad!
- Mobs that run away/kite are bad!
- Bad boss kill speed
- Delicate at high map tiers

Builds biggest accomplishment: T15 Rare/Corrupted Reef Map (had help with the boss >.>)

Skill gems

Bodyswap - Controlled Destruction - Chance to Ignite(Recently Changed!) - Fire Penetration - Increased Area Effect - Efficacy(Recently Changed!)

Note:Elemental Focus + Added Lightning will do more for you than Chance to Ignite/Efficacy until you swap to Mokou's+Innocence uniques and pick up Elemental Equilibrium

Switchables: Swap Concentrated Effect in place of Inc AOE for bosses

Cast when Damage Taken(lvl 13) - Immortal Call(lvl 14) - Volatile Dead(lvl 16) - Increased Duration

Optional For Bossing - Replaces CWDT setup
Detonate Dead - Chance to Ignite - Arcane Surge - Controlled Destruction

Desecrate - Spell Cascade - Faster Casting - (INC AOE for easy swap here)

Blasphemy - Flammability - Summon Stone Golem

Cast When Damage Taken(lvl 1) - Ball Lightning(lvl 1) - Increased Critical Strikes

For Bosses: Spell Totem – Unearth – Faster Casting - Greater Multiple Projectiles

Unique Items
Dual Apep's Rage: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Apep%27s_Rage
These give us a tremendous amount of cast speed and damage, while costing us nothing because mana is no object to us. Chaos resistance is an extra cherry on the cake.
Atziri's Promise flask: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Atziri%27s_Promise
This gives us a bit of damage and leech.
Eye of Innocence: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Eye_of_Innocence
Mokou's Embrace: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Mokou's_Embrace
Together these two uniques give us budget leech, which the build really needed, and some wacky levels of damage while we're ignited.
Lightpoacher: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Lightpoacher
If you can handle the loss of life and higher resists on the hat slot, this is a nice DPS hat.
Optional/Expensive
Bronn's Lithe https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Bronn%27s_Lithe
High dex requirement and all off colors make this a potentially very expensive luxury item, but it is a good item nonetheless.

Passive Tree

Labyrinth: Walk the Aether → Weave the Arcane → Ghost Dance → Shade Form
Bandits: Kraityn

Pantheon: Soul of the Brine King (get the Forgotten Soldier asap!), Soul of Grukthul

level 85 path of building link:
https://pastebin.com/3bNfMFY7 This is where my character is currently at, this will always be the most up to date

When you first start off you'll want to pick a leveling skill such as frost blades, firestorm, etc. Anything will do for now. I did not use bodyswap until I did the first lab and picked up Walk the Aether. Take any big strength/dexterity nodes you need to keep leveling those gems!

25 Points:

45 Points:

62 Points:

78 Points:

Level 85:
Important: You need to only be dealing fire (and chaos from the weapons) damage when you pick up Elemental Equilibrium, so that means no +XX cold damage to spells on rings for example. If you can't make that happen then don't pick up EE yet or you will nerf your damage considerably.


Playstyle

Primarily you are going to lay out a desecrate at the feet of a pack of mobs and then hold down the bodyswap button, stopping to desecrate to bridge the gap between packs that are too far apart. On bosses you will keep up your Unearth spell totem so you can focus on bodyswapping and moving out of stuff.

Additional Thoughts

Stats to go for:
fire damage
spell damage
elemental damage %
fire damage to spells
cast speed
life
mana

Gear to go for:
Rares with resists and life primarily, but look for the wanted stats as well when you are ready to go higher budget.

Make sure to craft a good Eternal life and mana flask! Recovery speed in particular is great.

I am currently looking into a solution to the single target damage bossing issue, most likely going to be Detonate Dead, possibly 6L through shaper/elder helmet if it isn't too pricey.

Conclusion
Bodyswap is a fun map clearing spell and I hope to refine this guide further as I learn more about it through further gameplay. Your thoughts, comments and criticisms are all welcome and will be taken in stride.
Last edited by Xaithai on Apr 15, 2018, 3:06:35 PM
Last bumped on Jun 20, 2018, 8:36:21 PM
Why are you using Elemental Equilibrium? Not sure what mechanics you expect but Body swap will proc it both for fire and lightning, meaning you get +25% resist in both elements

Tree is very unefficient. Why did you path over Faith and Steel when you are clearly life based?

I like the idea but its not thought through and needs alot of rework im afraid.

Kind regards.
The tree really needs some changes, you should never plan with lv 100. Better go for 90 or even 85.

I also dont think that added lightning damage is a very good idea. You should either use increased AoE or that Empower you already linked to a curse. With Conc Effect your AoE will be very small.

You have two curses but no additional curse on enemies from tree or items. Just go with one of them. It also makes no sense to use MoM but reserve 70% of your mana.

Desecrate is very slow, I would prefer a spell totem with Unearth, faster casting and GMP.

I dont think you would survive for long to be honest, you dont have much defense on this build. You don´t leech at all. You´ll probably die a lot.

I did some changes: https://pastebin.com/nBFGWUW0
Hello! Thanks a lot for your feedback, I appreciate it. I think my path of building link may have been a bit funky, I ended up going with 1 curse and using blasphemy + flammability instead of 2 curses, I will fix it up immediately.

I am looking through your changes and I like them, I will try them out as soon as I can and update the post! As for conc effect, I meant for it to be swapped in for bosses and increased aoe to be used for everything else, I will make that more clear in the post.

As for Elemental Equilibrium, I made a mistake here with the added lightning damage gem and I apologize. I really wanted to make it work but I don't understand it will enough, I will get rid of it.

My character is only level 76 right now, so mapping is very easy and abyss are no trouble, but I agree it will probably end up being delicate in the higher map tiers without some investment.
Last edited by Xaithai on Dec 20, 2017, 6:09:43 PM
So im currently running this build, Great build btw really enjoying it so far level 62 currently. One question, I currently have all the nodes on the passive skill tree thats from the level 78 spoiler, what path is next for the nodes that i take?
Hello! So glad you're enjoying it, I have a level 85 POB link but I'll make a level 85 regular link for you too, it will be up soon. :) I've made some updates today so make sure you doublecheck gems and uniques!
Hi there!

While looking for a build for my first playthrough I found this guide and really liked the concept (also the visuals on body swap).

Since I am a big noob can you enlighten me with why you have Elemental Overload and Controlled Destruction? Don't these two work against each-other? I guess you still keep 5% crit so the drawbacks are still worth it?

Thanks for the fun guide anyway, I'm having tons of fun.
Hi! I am sorry I didn't get back to your post sooner, my bad on that. Glad you're enjoying the build, fun is the name of the game after all. :)

As for Elemental Overload + Controlled Destruction... Basically, we're casting so fast and hitting so many mobs, I think you will find that once EO is up, it's up, at least that has been my experience so far. Your mileage may vary if you're a slower player though.

Have a good one!
Alright! That makes sense then!

Really I can't get enough of covering myself with the gore from my fallen enemies! This is a blast (hehehe, see what I did here?).
Why no Bronn's Lithe? Yes, the coloring is a nightmare, as well as the Dex requirement, but from what it offers it's a clear choice for this kind of build.

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