[3.6] 5-Aura Flicker Strike Trickster - 3 Heralds+Aspect of the Cat+Hatred - All Content

Introduction



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Updates
10/14/18 – Posted up the character build guide.
10/19/18 – Corrected some wording and small errors.
10/23/18 – Added an alternative section for people that cannot afford certain uniques.
10/27/18 - Posted a Pastebin for Path of Building of the build.
12/06/18 - Added a gameplay video to show the build in action.

[UPDATE LOG] - With the 3.6 patch, this build is still fully functional. The patch doesn't affect this build at all so we can still flicker to our hearts content. Trees were also updated to match the new update. No real changes to the actual pathing of the skilltree.


This is my first build guide so the introduction may be a bit long. Feel free to skip past the introduction guide to the TL;DR section if need be.

Welcome to the 5-Aura Flicker Strike build with the class Shadow, ascendancy Trickster. This is going to be my first time writing an actual guide so do bear with me. Before we start, heralds are NOT auras. For the sake of the build, it sounded much better to categorize them as auras along with Hatred which this build will be utilizing. They all reserve a percentage of mana anyways, right? So do not expect to actually run 5 “actual” auras. Without further ado, I have an introduction of why I love Flicker Strike and the spawning of this build.

I have always been in love with the skill gem, Flicker Strike. I have played it in every league since I have been playing this game and have tried out many different builds, classes and ways to sustain Frenzy charges and the like. I understand that Flicker Strike for this current league (Delve) is not the best to use since Flicker Strike is so chaotic that it can put you behind walls in the mine or teleporting you too far away from the crawler.

I have a separate character that does the delves while all my other classes are just for testing and playing around with new items, builds and the like. With the new 3.4 patch, we were introduced to some new unique items which opened up some doors to new ideas and builds. Two of the newer uniques that brought this build into existence is Precursor's Emblem and Aul's Uprising Onyx Amulet (dexterity version).



These items bring more flavor to our older Flicker Strike builds and opens the door to some newer possibilities. The Aspects (ex: Aspect of the Cat) can be found on random gear this league as well which opens even more doors. With the Trickster ascendency Weave the Arcane, it allows us to use movement skills for no mana cost. This means we can fully utilize the mana pool depending on what type of build, auras and heralds we want to utilize. The main idea here is that the Aspects and Heralds only reserve 25% of our mana. So technically we could use up to 4 different Aspects and Heralds if we wanted to since it would completely reserve our mana. Along with Aul’s Uprising, we are then able to reserve Hatred for no cost. With this, we are now able to use any 4 mix of Heralds and Aspects with Hatred. Precursor’s Emblem also works nicely along with Flicker Strike since we are already relying on Frenzy Charges in general which the unique ring grants us useful mods pertaining to Frenzy Charges.

TL;DR: Long story short, Flicker Strike is my favorite skill and being able to utilize 4 different Heralds or Aspects along with Hatred, I just had to make a build for it. Aspects/Heralds reserve 25% so you can use any 4 of your liking. Trickster’s Weave of the Arcane makes Flicker strike free since movement skills cost no mana with this ascendency. Aul’s Uprising’s allows us to reserve Hatred for free making this a 5 aura/pseudo aura Flicker Strike build.

This is NOT a budget friendly or league starting build. I decided to give this specific Flicker Strike build a try because I found an Aul’s Uprising amulet, a decently rolled Precursor’s Emblem ring and had some gloves that granted a level 20 Aspect of the Cat.



Pro's & Con's

+ Insane clear speed
+ Use 5 aura/heralds/aspects at the same time!
+ High crit resulting in constant quick shatters and explosions
+ Can do all content in the game
+ Micro-transactions makes shatters and Flicker Strike look amazing
+ Reliable way to generate/maintain Frenzy Charges
+ Aspect of the Cast grants us more crit chance and DPS
+ 5000+ life naturally from life on items and skill tree

- Possible chance of running out of Frenzy Charges (Rarely ever. I never ran out of Frenzy Charges since starting this build at level 70)
- Not good for delving (going into the mines)
- Can clear all content but certain fights require different setups
- Backtracking to pick up items
- Not budget friendly or a league starter
- Required items may be difficult to obtain (costly, rare to find specific rolls on items)

Requirements

Required Attributes
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Strength: 191
Dexterity: 159
Intelligence: 111


Required Items/Uniques
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Needed to generate and sustain our Frenzy Charges for Flicker Strike.

Needed so we can reserve Hatred for free.



An item that grants us Aspect of the Cat. With this new Delve league, the Aspects can be found on any type of equipment except for weapons. You can find these for a couple of chaos on poetrade. http://poe.trade/search/anaisinomasito For this build, I have it on my gloves.


Alternatives?
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As mentioned, this is not a budget friendly build. Aul’s Uprising with Hatred reserving no mana can be quite expensive and difficult to find. They are running about 17+ exalted as we speak. At the time when I wrote this, they were running at 7-15 exalted. Duration will obviously affect prices which we can see here. Another alternative if you still want to run an aura, I would say go for an Aul’s Uprising with Haste reserves no mana, instead. http://poe.trade/search/igonyahikiyuki These can run from 6-15 exalted depending on if you can catch the guys selling it at those lower prices.

You are going to get a drop in DPS compared to running Hatred, but you are still going to have more DPS just because of the increased attack/cast speed. Having more movement speed is always a plus, as well. Another good thing with an Aul’s with Haste is if you use it for Elemental Reflect maps. What I would do here is turn off HoI and HoA to get rid of my major elemental damage buffs, and just leave AotC, HoP (since this Herald just gives added physical damage) and use Haste. You obviously could just run a Haste gem as well since you are only reserving 50% from AotC and HoP, but if you want to run 5 auras, then you will need Haste on an Aul’s Uprising.

If you still cannot afford an Aul’s Uprising with either aura, you are still going to be running 4 auras that generate you a respectable amount of DPS. You are still dishing out far more damage than you would normally. You can just run a rare amulet with life+resists if needed and with added physical damage, crit multi/chance and any other mods that will boost up your DPS.

As for Terminus Est, you cannot really replace it since it is what is generating our Frenzy Charges for Flicker Strike. If you want to go a different flicker route to generate your Frenzy Charges, be my guess. This build is really just so you can run 5 auras at the same time. Play it how you want it, but just letting you know that running 5 auras makes you feel pretty godly. :D


Gear

The only real required items for this build are the Terminus Est to generate our Frenzy Charges, Aul’s Uprising to reserve Hatred for no cost and an item that grants us Aspect of the Cat. What is great this league is that the Aspects are very easy to obtain in this league. Depending on where you find Aspect of the Cat, it could change your other items. You can virtually find “Grants Level 20 Aspect of the Cat Skill” on any item (boots, body armor, belts, rings, and amulets). Obviously we want to ignore Aspect of the Cat on an amulet since Aul’s Uprising is a required unique for this build in the amulet slot.

AotC can be found on any type of equipment so you can plan your equipment differently depending on where you find AotC.

My current gear
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Weapon Slot
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The main weapon for this build. Terminus Est is required for this build to generate our Frenzy Charges. Flicker Strike’s cooldown can be bypassed by using a Frenzy Charge and this weapon grants us a Frenzy Charge every time we get a critical hit.

Try to get a Terminus Est with a good Increased Critical Strike Chance. I would prioritize that before the actual Increased Physical Damage roll. But hey, if you can get both of best worlds, then be my guest. My Terminus Est is almost perfect, actually. Just 1% off of the critical roll. BibleThump. You can scoop one of these cheap off of poe.trade for a chaos. If you’re min/maxing the rolls then the price will change accordingly.


Body Armor Slot
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Kaom’s Heart is the standard body armor when we want that life. We do not really care about another 6L for the build so we can prioritize on getting as much life as we can on our armor. Kaom’s Heart is perfect for that. Since we do have some fire damage because of HoA, Kaom’s Heart gives us a bit of a DPS boost with its Increased Fire Damage mod.

If you are on a budget, getting a rare armor with life and resists will also suffice. You can also use a unique armor like Belly of the Beast (http://poe.trade/search/miutarihomitor), but do remember that you still need to find an item with AotC which can take up any slot of your equipment. Also remember, Aspect of the Cat can be found on any type of item so you can find an armor with AotC on it as well. If you do, try to get a piece of armor with decent mods. Prioritize in life then resists. Here is a search on poetrade with any type of equipment that grants AotC: http://poe.trade/search/anaisinomasito


Helmet Slot
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Starkonja is great for this build and a standard unique helmet that is found on a lot of builds. Since we are a Trickster where we naturally get a lot of dexterity and evasion, Starkonja boosts our evasion rating and grants us some pretty solid DPS because of its mods. It also gives us more crit chance which is important for our Terminus Est and gives us a respectable flat life roll.

For those looking for more DPS and end game, you can get a Flicker Strike helm enchant. You actually can find these pretty easily on poetrade since useful uniques are generally what people put enchantments on. Starkonja or a solid rare helmet with life, resists and Flicker Strike helm enchant are best in slot. This could also change if you find a helmet with AotC on it. Prioritize life and resists as usual if you do. Equipment with AotC poetrade search: http://poe.trade/search/anaisinomasito


Gloves Slot
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These are the rare gloves where I found AotC on poetrade. I originally bought these for a few chaos and then crafted it a bit to get passable mods the best as I could while not losing AotC. I crafted lightning resist on them because I had an open suffix and also needed it to cap off my lightning resistances. If I did not find AotC for my glove slot, then I would highly recommend a Tombfist (http://poe.trade/search/onoyohesamitoz) with two Abyssal sockets for life and a good DPS boost.

Tombfist socketed with a murderous and a searching eye jewel gives us maim and intimidation which grants us even more DPS along with the other good rolls Tombfist gives us. These gloves also give us a decent amount of life with its maximum percent life mod. If you are feeling extra rich, you can get a corrupted Tombfist with curse enemies with Enfeeble on hit. If you do, then your gems/links might change a bit but not much which will be explained later in the gems section.


Boots Slot
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Some rare boots that I crafted with using some fossils. I ended up hitting some pretty decent life mods with some resists here and there. I crafted cold resist on them to cap my resistances. The movement speed is a plus. Either you find some rare boots with AotC on them, or just find some with good life+resists. Movement speed is also a plus if you can, but I would still prioritize life and then resists first. You can also find AotC on boots so be on the lookout for that as well. http://poe.trade/search/anaisinomasito

If you end capping your resistances other ways, then you can also use a pair of Darkray Vectors (http://poe.trade/search/aremikeniusuka) as they are dex based boots which also grant us Frenzy Charge based mods such as +1 to Frenzy Charges and increased movement speed per Frenzy Charge. Honestly, I would recommend these if you are on a budget since you can find a pair less than a chaos or so. If boots still could be corrupted with +1 Frenzy Charges, then this could have potentially been the best in slot item.


Belt Slot
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A Stygian Vise with good life rolls and resists is always solid for any build. A lot of our resists and life is coming from this belt alone. I crafted this one with some fossils myself. Hit some decent life and resists and then crafted increased elemental damage for more DPS. Just any belt with life+resists should get you by just fine.

As usual, if you hit a belt with AotC on poetrade, then try to get one with life+resists. If possible, you can also can craft it yourself but be careful of getting rid of your AotC mod that is originally on the item. There is not really a good unique belt that covers all of our needs of life+resists so a rare Stygian is probably best in slot. For the eye jewel, try to prioritize life first. Try to get added physical, attack speed or critical strike multiplier for the other mods if possible. Here is the eye jewel I use in mine.


Ring #1 Slot
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Now, let me make something clear. This ring is not needed for this build. It is more so because it is a new item that I wanted to include it in a build that I got as a drop. I just love Frenzy Charges and Flicker Strike so I thought to use this ring for some flavor. Precursor’s Emblem is a unique ring that can have up to three random types of charge mods. These mods are totally at random so find one that suits your needs and cost the best. You can find all of the info and different Frenzy Charge mods the ring can get at this link: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Precursor%27s_Emblem_(Frenzy_Charge)

The obvious best rolls are going to get really expensive so it is on your own decision on what you want. The more normal Frenzy Charge mods for the ring will average around an exalted or so. If you are lucky, you might find someone selling it cheaper just so they can get it off of their hands. I got mines as a drop which dropped with some decent Frenzy Charge rolls. The roll you should definitely prioritize (I would even say it is almost required to make the build run like butter) is “% chance that if you would gain Frenzy Charges, you instead gain up to your maximum number of Frenzy Charges.” With this mod, your sustain/gain for Frenzy Charges is near permanent unless you are somehow the unluckiest person ever. Ever since I used this ring, I have never run out of Frenzy Charges for my Flicker Strike not even once yet. Precursor’s Emblem comes with some life and some resists depending on which kind of Precursor Emblem base ring you get which helps us there too.

Since I only really chose the Precursor’s Emblem for flavor and just to have a reason to use some new items, a rare ring would be the other obvious choice here. Maxing your resists is a bit difficult depending on where you get your AotC and what kind of equipment you are using. For example, it was a bit difficult for me to get my resistances capped since I am using a valuable ring slot (since I am using Precursor’s Emblem for one of my rings) which rare rings are usually easy to get resists+life on. I am also using a Kaom’s Heart which sports no resists and with only a juicy life roll. I could have simply gone for a good rare with life+resists, but since I was able to max my resists, might as well get as much life as I could with Kaom’s Heart. I actually had to get “Sentinel” on the skill tree to get 10% to all elemental resistances to cap my resists off. It came with 24% increased evasion and armor though so it was not the worst outcome. We are dex+evasion based, after all.

It is completely up to your preference here but I think Precursor’s Emblem is pretty sweet. I am actually trying to get a better modded one but man do they get expensive with the right combination of Frenzy Charge mods. If you get a rare ring, prioritize life+resists as usual unless you already capped them. Get added physical damage, crit chance, crit multi and/or elemental damage to fill any other mod slots if you get your certain resists capped beforehand. You can also get your AotC on your ring.


Ring #2 Slot
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Your other ring slot can be totally up to you. Follow the same guidelines and try to get life and any resists to fill whatever you are missing. For me, all I needed was at least 15% more to my resistances and this ring covered that and more. I crafted this ring and got a bit lucky with some of the mods. I just attached some more added physical attack damage for the open mod slot. Good DPS with respectable life+resists to finish the capping of my resists.

Just remember, if you choose to not use the Precursor’s Emblem, getting more life and capping your resistances is a whole lot easier since you can just find rare rings with life+resists a whole lot easier. Decent rings are not too expensive either if you are not worried about getting the best rolls. Choose what works best for you and your budget.


Amulet Slot
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One of the key unique items to make this build work and possible. If it was not for this unique amulet, the 5 aura/pseudo aura Flicker Strike dream would be dead. Aul’s Uprising allows us to reserve Hatred for the free. Hatred is the only real aura of the build alongside the other 4 mana reservation pseudo auras. Aul’s also gives us a decent flat life roll, some attributes and increased evasion to boost up our evasion some more. This is especially beneficial since we are already dex+evasion based naturally because of being a Shadow/Trickster.

Another great thing about this item is that it also comes with the mod “Nearby Enemies grant 25% increased Flask Charges.” Since we are using Flicker Strike, we are always going to be in the face of our enemies so we are constantly getting increased flask charges when we flicker through mobs. As long as you are flickering, you are always going to have charges to pop your flasks constantly. Really, this along with Precursor’s Emblem make this build shine and possible.


Jewels
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These are completely not needed for the build. I just included them into my build because I needed two jewel slots while I was progressing this character from earlier on. Since I had two jewel slots from before I made the build, I just equipped a decent Watcher’s Eye jewel in since I had two Hatred mod rolls on it and then a pretty solid jewel that I crafted. This is totally for quality of life. If you want to get rid of the jewel slots, then be my guess. You are technically going to be getting some skill points back from the actual jewel slot nodes and the other nodes leading to them. Your choice.

If you do choose to use jewels, then obviously prioritize life, DPS mods and then whatever other resistances or attributes if needed. This can definitely play a factor depending on which equipment you got your AotC on and whatever other mix of items you choose to use.


Flasks
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These are the current flasks that I am using for this character. As you can see, this is really just for pure DPS. None of these flasks are required but they do bring the DPS to a whole new level once you pop all of them. One thing to note is that this is the best DPS flask setup you can potentially get if you are just looking for raw damage for this build. Feel free to swap out any of these flasks for more defensive options.

For me, the only real nuisance is being frozen so my Diamond Flask has immunity and removes freeze/chill on use. Diamond flask is also useful for making our critical chance lucky which boosts our DPS and critical strike chance. Get whatever other mods you want on your Diamond flask for your preference. This is how I like my current setup. I do substitute my flasks for other utility and life flasks depending on what bosses and maps I play. Pick your poison, mates.


Skill gems

As we stated from before, depending on where you get AotC and what other equipment choices you choose, these skill gems can change slightly. There are a couple of minor skill gem setups that might differ for you based on preference. I personally change the setups here and there when I experiment with other equipment as well. This build utilizes one 6 link setup, and three 4 link setups. My armor slot is equipped with a Kaom’s Heart which has no sockets. Like I said, preference.
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6 Link - Main Attack – Flicker Strike Setup
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Flicker Strike > Increased Critical Strikes Support > Multistrike Support > Damage on Full Life Support > Melee Physical Support > Melee Splash Support

This is pretty much your basic setup for your Flicker Strike. If you want more single target damage (damage boost in general but sacrificing splash damage) and/or for boss fights, then swap out Melee Splash Support for Ruthless Support.


Now, the above mentioned setup is assuming if you are not running Blood Rage. With Blood Rage (which will be brought up in a later skill gem setup), since we are losing 4% of our maximum life per second, it makes Damage on Full Life Support invalid.


If we are losing life, then we do not get the DPS buff from Damage on Full Life Support. This is where your preference can come in. Without running Blood Rage, you are safer and are getting more consistent damage, but there might be times when you are getting hit so Damage on Full Life Support does not work. With using Blood Rage, though it is a bit riskier (since we are constantly losing life), and slightly weaker than using Damage on Full Life Support, you can at least be guaranteed that you will be dishing out constant damage without having to worry about one of your gems not being in effect.

If you do end going the Blood Rage route, then swap out Damage on Full Life Support for Ruthless Support. In this case, if you want more single target damage, then swap out Melee Splash Support out for Elemental Damage with Attacks Support because we are getting rid of Damage on Full Life Support so it opens up a different skill gem link route for us .


4 Link – Aura/Utilities – Herald Setup
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Herald of Ash > Herald of Ice > Herald of Purity > Enlighten (level 4)

These next 4 link setups can be slotted into either your boots, gloves or helmet. Whatever equipment is easier to get the right colors for these gem links, go for that. For my build, my boots and gloves has the same color setup so I socket these gems in either or.

Though this is the case, I would highly recommend socketing your three Herald skills into the same equipment which will be explained in a bit. Now, the Enlighten here is totally for my own preference. These can be a bit expensive depending on the duration of the league. I corrupted my level 3 Enlighten myself to get it to level 4. Since I had it lying around from an earlier build, I just thought to use it along with my Heralds.

The reason why I am saying this is based on preference is heavily dependent on your CWDT (Cast when Damage Taken) setup which will be brought up in the next set of gem links. I socketed an Enlighten because I personally like having Summon Ice Golem at a higher level so I can get a higher critical strike chance. You can have it auto-cast with the CWDT setup that is going to be mentioned later, but you will be missing out on some extra critical strike chance. The reason being because you need to keep your CWDT gem at a lower level so that means that your Summon Ice Golem has to be at a lower level. As usual, your own preference here.

If you want to auto-cast your ice golems off of CWDT, then you can replace Enlighten with a Portal or some other utility gem. Depending on your setup and where you want your gems for your links (your 4 link setups), you can possibly move the gems around to your liking. As long as you keep your 3 Heralds together, you can pretty much mix and match gems except your CWDT setup which will be explained after.

The reason why we want to keep our Heralds altogether is so we get the maximum benefit from Enlighten when it decreased the mana reservations. If you separate the Heralds to other links, we could be missing out on some saved mana reservation. You would rather have all of the Heralds decrease in mana reservation rather than just one or two of them, right? This is also especially important because without Enlighten lowering the mana reservation for all three Heralds, we will not have enough mana to cast Summon Ice Golem if it is not apart of your CWDT setup.

4 Link – CWDT/Utility – Cast when Damaged Taken/Utility Setup
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Cast when Damage Taken Support (level 2) > Immortal Call (level 4) > Enfeeble (level 6) > Summon Ice Golem (level 20)

Your standard CWDT setup. As mentioned earlier, if you want to auto-cast your Summon Ice Golem, then you need to keep it at level 4 in order to have it properly auto-cast off of Cast when Damage Taken Support (level 2). If you do not use Enlighten, then you will not be able to cast Summon Ice Golem unless you have it in your CWDT setup at a lower level. With no Enlighten, then your mana will be fully reserved so that means non-movement skills will never be able to be casted. Your choice on how you want to go about it.

Immortal Call and Enfeeble are your standard CWDT gems to trigger. Immortal Call grants us invulnerability to physical damage and Enfeeble curses enemies with reduced critical strike chance/critical strike multiplier and reduced damage. If you do end up putting Summon Ice Golem on a different link or just any other gem in general, you can fit whatever other gem you want or if you want it to auto-cast, then make sure it is low enough level for your Cast when Damage Taken Support to work.

4 Link – Movement/Utility – Movement and Aura/Utility Setup
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Leap Slam > Faster Attacks Support > Hatred > Portal

This is your basic movement skill with utilities. Since I do not currently run Blood Rage, I just use this other slot for Portal. I hate opening my inventory to use portals so I just use the gem instead. Do note, Portal can be socketed in any slot since it is a white gem. It does not have to be linked to anything either. If you do end up running Blood Rage, then you can replace the Portal for it. Just remember if you do use Blood Rage, then you are not going to be running Damage on Full Life Support in your Flicker Strike setup.

Aspect of the Cat
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Aspect of the Cat is granted to us on whatever equipment that has the mod on it. It is not a skill gem or anything so all you have to do is activate it in your skill slot. AotC grants us Cat’s Stealth and Cat’s Agility buffs in sequence.

Cat’s Stealth grants us an increased critical strike chance and makes you less visible to enemies. It also gives you a chance to avoid damage for its short duration. After this buff ends, it swaps over to Cat’s Agility.

Cat’s Agility grants us more attack and cast speed for a longer duration compared to Cat’s Stealth.


Bandits
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Kill all of them!


Passive Tree

One thing to note is that whenever I am interested in trying a new build that requires a new class, I just level them to 70 first and then begin my actual builds. What I mean here is that I don’t use my actual build as I level up my character. I already have other builds to farm for me so I just buy the items I am missing if I cannot farm them or obtain them easily. Level 70 is generally the perfect level to fully start your build, meaning you should meet all required equipment attributes, level requirements to use gems at level 20 and high enough level to use all the required items.

For example, for this build, I knew I was going to be using Terminus Est for my end game weapon so I used random two handed uniques as I leveled up. I just used Double Strike (since you can use it at level 1) and then Cyclone (can be used at level 28) to level up to 70. After I got him to level 70, all I had to do was equip all of my Flicker Strike setup gear and I was good to use it from the get go. This is completely your choice though.
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Level 70
Level 100

I would mainly focus on the level 70 skill tree to actually make your build so you know where all of your needed skill points for the build to successfully run at level 70 need to be. I did not have to respec once for this build. The only real things you need to worry about are meeting the needed attributes so you can use gems and certain equipment as you level your way up. The two nodes that grant +30 Strength and +30 Intelligence is needed for this build (my setup, specifically and what I needed as I leveled up), but it could change depending if you decide to use different skill gems and items. This is why you can see how early I grabbed them on the skill tree. I personally grabbed those two nodes a bit earlier just to meet these types of requirements as I leveled my character to 70.

This is preference, but I did not grab Vaal Pact until I was at level 70 when I could fully use my build. I like having life leech and life regeneration as I level my characters to 70. Maintaining life in the earlier stages of the game is a bit annoying since sometimes life leech is a bit difficult to come by depending when you start and where you are during the league. So, as long as you follow the level 70 tree, you should be able to efficiently use the build from the get go.

Some more tips I can give is that you can ignore the critical chance/critical strike multiplier nodes if you need to use other nodes for life and attributes as you level up. The crit nodes definitely boost your DPS, but they are not really needed until you start using Terminus Est when our crit chance and multiplier matter. Vaal Pact and the critical nodes were the last nodes I grabbed as I reached level 70. The build felt insanely smooth right when I used it when I got to level 70. I never ran out of Frenzy Charges once since I used the build at level 70.

Unless you are somehow the unluckiest person ever, the setup should be able to sustain itself and especially with Precursor’s Emblem with the Frenzy Charge mod “% chance that if you would gain Frenzy Charges, you instead gain up to your maximum number of Frenzy Charges.” If you end up not having this mod on the ring, there is much higher chance of not being able to maintain and generate your charges. Though the build can do without Precursor’s Emblem and can still sustain and generate Frenzy Charges efficiently, that mod just makes it near permanent. I highly recommend and would even almost say it is required for the build. It makes that much of a difference. I never ran out of Frenzy Charges after I started using the ring even once.


Ascendancies and Pantheons

Ascendancies
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1st Lab: Weave the Arcane
2nd Lab: Harness the Void
3rd Lab: Swift Killer
4th Lab: Patient Reaper

Weave the Arcane first is a no brainer, but the other three choices can be done in a different order depending on where you are starting this build from. I personally took Patient Reaper as my second lab before Harness the Void since I did not really need to worry about DPS at the time. I needed more survivability so I chose Patient Reaper so I would recover a percent of my life on kill while I leveled to 70. I took Harness the Void as my third lab until level 70 here too.

When I hit 70, I then refunded Patient Reaper for Swift Killer since we could start using the build and utilize our Frenzy and Power Charges. My forth lab was obviously to get Patient Reaper once again. Helps you with some life sustain when clearing out mobs.


Pantheons
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Soul of Solaris as your Major God.

This is really good when we are engaging bosses or just tougher unique enemies which are usually by themselves since Flicker Strike will clear all of the trash for us in a jiffy.


Soul of Gruthkul as your Minor God.

If you do end up getting hit, we can get up to 5% of physical damage reduction which helps a bit more with our defenses. We are already pretty tanky with 5-6k+ life and with a decent evade chance because of all of the evasion and dexterity that we have.


Playstyle

The build is actually quite simple. Run around and/or Leap Slam until you see an enemy and then use Flicker Strike to shatter everything to oblivion. Pop your flasks during your flicker(s) or before you flicker. If you are self-casting your ice golem, then always make sure it is summoned so you get the critical chance buff from it. If it is on your CWDT setup, then you should be fine too. Obviously make sure all of your heralds, your AotC and Hatred are on before you start a map. Just knowing that you can run all of those pseudo auras alongside Hatred is an awesome feeling. It is like an aura bot but for yourself while being able to dish out respectable damage.

For boss fights, feel free to swap out your melee splash gems for more DPS on boss fights. To be honest, I personally get a bit lazy and just leave my setup as is. The setup I have for this actual build is the one I currently use. I mean, if it really comes down to it, then I will swap the gems. Sometimes I might swap my DPS flasks for some utility and life flasks as well. It just really depends on what I want to farm or do that day. Totally up to you.

Media

Here are some sample videos of the build in action.

Videos


Conclusion

Honestly, the only real reason why this build came to existence is because I wanted to use some of the new items along with my favorite skill gem, Flicker Strike. I do not know about you, but just knowing that I can use 3 heralds and AotC alongside Hatred, it feels pretty awesome. The micro-transactions just make this build that much more enjoyable as well. I also love the sound of rapid shattering of mobs which this build never fails to do.

At end game, you are sitting at 6k+ life as long as you are getting as much life on all of your equipment and follow the given skill trees. I basically have life whether it is flat or as a percentage on every single item except my weapon. Along with the skill tree, getting 6k+ life is easy. The build is a balance between being fairly tanky, respectable evasion, having capped resists and dishing out respectable damage to Shaper (600k+) and bosses. Depending on the min/maxing and jewels you utilize with the build, you can easily get the damage to a million or more.

Overview of Current Gear (all together)

Spoiler





Path of Building/Pastebin Code

Spoiler
https://pastebin.com/4eTiNpgu


Thanks for checking out my first build guide. I put in a decent amount of time into this guide and tried to be as thorough as I could, so hopefully most of the questions and concerns are answered, but if you have any questions or comments, drop them here and I will try to get to them when I can.

Enjoy and stay strong, exiles! #flickerliveson! #flickerstrikeforever
*Want to try out some fun hipster builds? Check out my thread below!*
[Build/Stream Thread]
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2246315
Last edited by Bakuhakubasugasu on Mar 25, 2019, 1:24:34 PM
Last bumped on Jun 17, 2019, 9:21:59 AM
Made an audible "ooooooo" when I first saw this. Flicker and Trickster are my two favorite things in this game, and I'm glad to see people still working with and updating builds utilizing them.

Any questions I had were answered by the guide; very thorough and well written by the way. Can't wait to get started, ty again.
Gonna give this ago! love flicker strike too

Any alternative amulet suggestion? Only one on delve is 18 Ex. res' are maxed so life and crit ?
Last edited by AFKiing on Oct 16, 2018, 2:17:34 PM
I played flicker strike and loved it, but don't know how to get past the reflection physical damage buff on maps, with quite alot of dps would use my flicker and kill myself
"
AFKiing wrote:
Gonna give this ago! love flicker strike too

Any alternative amulet suggestion? Only one on delve is 18 Ex. res' are maxed so life and crit ?


When I used flicker I had a second terminus with cyclone and different gems, was an easy delve not super fast, but powerful
"
AFKiing wrote:
Gonna give this ago! love flicker strike too

Any alternative amulet suggestion? Only one on delve is 18 Ex. res' are maxed so life and crit ?


If you still want to go the Aul's Uprising route, you can still get one but get one that reserves Haste for no mana instead. They will run from 6-8ex instead of Hatred. You will get quite a large DPS drop comapared to using Hatred, but it is still going to be a lot better than running no aura. http://poe.trade/search/igonyahikiyuki

I actually have one for Haste so I can deal with elemental reflect maps. Turn off my elemental auras and then just use Haste aura to improve overall speed (DPS) to get more DPS without elements. It is totally on you.

I mean, if it comes down to it, you can just use a rare amulet that will boost up your DPS with life+crit mods on it too. You just won't be able to run an additional aura, but you still have your heralds+AotC.

This build was more so for the fun of it and my love for Flicker Strike. I had some of the uniques from previous delves so I just thought of the idea to make a Flicker Strike build with as many auras as I could.

"
D_B_R_S wrote:
I played flicker strike and loved it, but don't know how to get past the reflection physical damage buff on maps, with quite alot of dps would use my flicker and kill myself


As I mentioned to AFKing, you can actually get an Aul's with Haste instead. You are still going to get a bit of a DPS buff without elements. It is just boosting your over all speed. I also turn off my heralds except Herald of Purity since that just gives us more added physical damage.

You can get by pretty efficiently that way. You just have to find your way around map mods.

EDIT: I noticed that you meant physical reflect, sorry about that. I have an Oro's Sacrifice to cover physical reflect maps. I have every Flicker Strike weapon and method possible on hand. Haha. I just use Oro's in my secondary weapon slot.


Cheers.
*Want to try out some fun hipster builds? Check out my thread below!*
[Build/Stream Thread]
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2246315
Last edited by Bakuhakubasugasu on Oct 16, 2018, 10:24:41 PM
What bandit choice did you make?
"
macdonnp193 wrote:
What bandit choice did you make?


I personally went with killing all of the bandits to get the two skill points.

There is nothing wrong with taking Alira's route either though because she grants us 15% to all resists and critical strike multiplier. This is actually beneficial to us because getting resistances capped is difficult depending on where you get AotC and with the uniques eating certain slots. We also rely on critical hits so having increased crit multiplier is also a huge plus.

I'd rather use the extra skill points to grab another jewel socket, but that is totally on you.

I really think it is heavily dependent on your current situation and gear.

Cheers!
*Want to try out some fun hipster builds? Check out my thread below!*
[Build/Stream Thread]
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2246315
"
"
macdonnp193 wrote:
What bandit choice did you make?


I personally went with killing all of the bandits to get the two skill points.

There is nothing wrong with taking Alira's route either though because she grants us 15% to all resists and critical strike multiplier. This is actually beneficial to us because getting resistances capped is difficult depending on where you get AotC and with the uniques eating certain slots. We also rely on critical hits so having increased crit multiplier is also a huge plus.

I'd rather use the extra skill points to grab another jewel socket, but that is totally on you.

I really think it is heavily dependent on your current situation and gear.

Cheers!


Thank you for the swift reply! I went with Alira as well, since I figured the crit and resistance bonus would help, but I wasn't sure if the attack speed, evade and movement speed buff from Kraityn would be of benefit as well. I probably won't take the skill points until I see what gems and gear I get in the future, as you said. Thank you again!
cool build, maybe you have POB link to share?

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