BM Flicker + Dbl Strike Scion & ST

PhantomSX's : BM Flicker + Dbl Strike Scion & ST

I've been always interested in trying a flicker strike build that worked reliably and finally after many tries, a few failed attempts to make a I've finally found one that I like personally. (Not sure if there is already a BM Flicker build out there, but here's the one I'm working on and trying to optimize.)

So why use blood magic as a resource for Flickering. Well getting the mana to use flicker strike over and over again for me was quite difficult and I didn't really want to waste links or skill points getting the required mana and mana regen to get it to be consistant.

Current skill tree - LvL 70
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAAAecFLRNMFHEaVSFgI_YkmyW8JvgppTBPMHcxnjIJNZI26DpSQKBBdEMxRmlHfkp9SshN404qVvpYr1oaWkhaUluvYEthIWSjZU1lp2XwZ6Bqk2xGbmluqnJsdO12K3gNeu989YCKhNmE74Zgh2qHdojxiiKQbJStlZubXZ65plenMKiaqW6plKvFtfK2Qb6nwA_ApsDzwaPSTdLq1e3dDd-_4mHuDu_w8pf3TfzF_o8=

I mostly focused on 2H physical, Axe physical damage and attack speed to get a high speed hard hitting flicker strike. Currently running at 150% increased Life and hoping to increase it further, since this is a BM flicker build. I've also picked HP Regen so that I take less damage from Blood Rage since getting Chaos res can be hard on good 'cheap' gear. I took Iron Reflexes for more gearing options since running full evasion gear would make it difficult to get red coloured sockets.

I'm eventually going to try Lava Lash and Ice bite to see if that effects the dps from the links, just for some added dps. If this doesn't effect it hopefully someone will let me know before I have to spend a few respec points :P

Skill Gems + links

Flicker strike
4 Link - Flicker strike + Melee splash + Melee Physical Damage + Multistrike
5 Link - Flicker strike + Melee splash + Melee Physical Damage + Multistrike + Added Fire
6 Link - Flicker strike + Melee splash + Melee Physical Damage + Multistrike + Added Fire + Faster Attacks

You absolutely need Melee splash and Multistrike for this build to work. Without having either of these you can't keep keep your frenzy charges up at all times.

Double Strike
4 Link - Double Strike + Multistrike + Faster attacks + Melee Physical Damage
5 Link - Double Strike + Multistrike + Faster attacks + Melee Physical Damage + Added Fire
6 Link - Double Strike + Multistrike + Faster attacks + Melee Physical Damage + Added Fire + (Gem of your choice)

This is mainly for single target damage for bosses. Flicker strike really isn't made for most boss fights due to not having anything to get frenzy charges off of.

Spectral Throw
4 Link - Spectral Throw + LMP + Faster Projectiles + Added Fire Damage

This is good to toss around when you need to get frenzy charges to start off your flickering. These will also follow you around if you flicker across a map if they don't run into any terrain.

Blood rage
2 Link - Blood rage + Reduced Duration

Now, I only run Blood rage with reduced duration because I don't like to take damage when I'm running around a map trying to find mobs! This happens rarely to me that the cool down runs past the 10 second mark (the current duration of my blood rage)

*Aura*
2 Link - Hatred + Reduced Mana

This is a strange idea that i wanted to try out at around LvL 65 and it worked surprisingly well, but that's just in my opinion. Added 30% + cold damage helps boost DPS. ( you can take this out if you want to as well as the reduced mana reserves node behind blood magic if you don't want to run hatred)

CoDT
2 Link - CoDT + molten shell

This is about the only thing that I've currently thought of putting on CoDT because I'm running a Daresso's (I'll explain later) as a chest piece so enduring cry is a waste of a slot.

Gear



2H Axe - Kaom's Primacy
I chose this because it gives you culling strike and has high physical damage. I managed to pick mine up for 3 Chaos on PoE.xyz, but that was a lucky breaky. You'd probably be able to pick up a decent one for 10 - 15 chaos (not entirely sure, but seen one with high dps go for 25). The life gain on kill also helps with sustain when you're in a giant mob trying to survive. (Cause stopping isn't an option!)

Chest - Daresso's Defiance
This one can get expensive, but I also managed to pick this one up at a fair prices. This could run you 1 - 2 Ex, but imo it was well worth the buy. It gives you life, high defensive stats, life leech, which is needed btw, some dodge chance (Cause RNG is good...). The main thing I'd like to point out is that this is a good way to pick up endurance charges for this build since you're always killing things, although you loose the endurance charges when you get hit for the onslaught mod (which, in case you didn't know, gives you 20% attack speed, cast speed and move speed) so, more APS, the faster and quicker you can clear. This mod can stay up for quite awhile at times so this is well worth a buy.

Other gear

Aim on getting HP, at least a gear piece with some Life leech for back up, resistances and if you can really afford it try to get 4 res gear.

Leveling

You're mainly going to be using spectral throw and double strike to level up with since flicker strike is hard to get going at lower levels, mainly since mana is a thing. I'd recommend picking up an early multistrike if you can and link it to your double strike. This will make taking down bosses more bearable. You'll also want to avoid taking your axe phys nodes early on and focus mainly on the 2H nodes so you don't lock yourself into certain gear.

Problems
So far I've noticed that it can lag your PC if you go into really big areas with a large mob base. That and if you party with a decent sized group. Desyncs are also a major problem with this build. I've died many times because /oos has a 10 second refresh and I died a mile away from where i was actually standing. Physical reflect is also something you DO NOT want to flicker other wise, well try it and find out. Anything that lowers your resist and and HP regen is also a big no because this is a life based build and if you are running hatred it doesn't help that problem at all. I haven't ran 70+ maps, so I'll let you know how that goes, hopefully without dying too many times. Probably a build you don't want to try in hard core unless you are REALLY careful and NEVER desync.


This is my first build that I've posted so I'd like to get any feed back if possible and also if you have any ideas to optimize this build or better gearing choices then feel free to let me know :) thanks, and hope you try this out and enjoy it.