(3.9) CI 9.7k ES/Eva/Block Hybrid Flicker Strike/ Blade Flurry Trickster BUFFED

So this is my CI, Evasion/Energy Shield/Block -Hybrid Flicker Strike/ Blade Flurry Trickster.
It took me a quite long journey to get this thing working during the past.



Current 3.8 POB's

Nothing really big has changed in 3.8.

The nerfs to Trickster are not impactful, finally flicker strike is fully usable again with the changes to multistrike.
A bit sad that the alchemist (flask cluster) got split apart, but yeah.. made the best out of it.

Also managed to get a nice timeless jewel.

My state of this Build still sits at above 9,5k es, 18k unbuffed evasion. Shaper Blade Flurry dps is around 7.9 mill.

3.8 Pastebin
https://pastebin.com/xvwgsxbm


3.8 Passive Tree


Of course, with good gear, but here is a great example that you can do it on a budget:

"
Desarotion wrote:


So as i said i cleared Shaper with my Character and this was my gear including a lvl 21 hatred. The timeless jewel was pretty nice at the ranger jewel socket it gaves me defense and a bunch of damage.
The entire gear cost me something like 8-9 ex and yeah for this budget it performes very well. In the 6 link i tried diffrent skills like cyclone for better clearing and than i just used flicker for small mobs and movement. Its up to you what you use even against the legion. Its a nice tanky template for a Ci trickster with so many options.





So why Flicker/ Flurry?

Flicker Strike has one of the fastest clear speeds in Path of Exile, well at least as a melee *lol*
Being gone before the mob actually hits you is also a nice defensive mechanic, which i don't want to rely on since the attack decides where you will be in the next seconds unless you stop attacking due to desync for example (even with lockstep!).

So a huge focus was spent on the defense and the mechanics, to give you as a player that little bit more time to react and prevent yourself from dying.

Also with the buffs to hp and spike damage to bosses, i really felt the need to switch to a more controlable skill against those to be actually able to react.
Thats where Blade Flurry comes into play, really strong, really easy to control and low mana cost.

"
If you have questions or struggle, please stick to this forum thread and read the guide carefully (also check F.A.Q.).
However, if you still struggle make a forum post here, don't forget to make your character section visible or post your tree and gear. Thank you!
You can also catch me on stream:
https://www.twitch.tv/tomahawkyoo


My profile should always be public, so you can always check/ get the most recent spec of this build.


Videos


3.6 Changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aECze_LF1k0


Really old Videos

2.3 Update CHECK ME OUT FIRST!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4kZYzU4PW4

Ascendancy Trickster Update
https://youtu.be/uvG9wSTS-Tw
Gear Explanation Video
https://youtu.be/p20CEM-ySuU
Gear Explanation Video in German/Deutsch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs3AMr-3DU0


Stage 3 Explanation
https://youtu.be/l70DOquT4Zg

Explanation of Herald Mechanic's
https://youtu.be/A-AbUlWTqoc

2.4 Videos

T16 Minotaur Run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhfMBrgCwug


T16 Chimera Run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_S139aOP68

2.5 Preperation
https://youtu.be/l70DOquT4Zg


Dry Peninsula Clear with a 5link and Bino's Kitchen Knife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng3rOJaf4to

Normal Atziri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YTfjTyy5Hc

T12 Village Ruin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZLBhAKxg9c&feature=youtu.be
T14 Palace
https://youtu.be/96No6CBa4KE
T15 Abyss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CEJLYR-F-w
T14 Palace with fun mods
https://youtu.be/jb50fljYyjg
T15 Colosseum
https://youtu.be/MWKbzJIWcn4





Pros and Cons

Pros:
-Fast
-Fun
-Actually rebuildable CI character in Temp Leagues
-Tanky (Evasion/ Block is strong)

Cons:
-Needs certain Item's to make it run (Uniques are not the core of this build)
-Need a certain threshold of DPS to make Flicker Strike fluent
-Can be very costy, especially in end game
-Can cause eye cancer for some people (joke)
-Need awareness playstyle
-Very very Map Hungry



Stats



Shaper DPS is around ~7.7 Mil.
Defense stats




3.8 Tree and 3.8 Pastebin for Path of Building


3.8 Pastebin
https://pastebin.com/xvwgsxbm


3.8 Passive Tree





If you can kill all!
Oak is useless, Kraityn is not impactful.
Alira is a good option if you struggle with resists( i do struggle).



Ascendancy pathing




Pantheon choices


The Cast when damage taken - Immortal call combo will proc the increased recovery rate of energy shield.
We are quite flexible at minor gods, you can use anyone that fits your liking.



My current gear




Flasks



Jewels

Aim for 2-3 Critical Strike Multiplier rolls on jewels.


Energy from within is placed at melding to convert all the life into energy shield.


For endurance generation the red nightmare is placed next to nullification


Watcher's eye with the desired rolls





Gem setup

Single target:


Also consider the Jeweler method to get the right colors on items.

Clearing skill:


Aura:


Defensive skills:




Mobility skills:


For Power Charge generation at bosses:

Use Brinerot Flag in the 2nd weapon slot with any Warcry you like and link it with Increased duration and Enhance

Enhance is not needed!



How to get started


Read me Before you start!


It's really important that you stick to the stages until you got all the gear requirements for the next higher Stage!

I know it seems a bit wrong, to stack increased/flat physical damage on jewels, power charges in the tree and then change it all in stage 3.

But there is a well thought reason for this, which is simply your budget, Stage 3 is a lot more expensive. So even the little things will make this build work, or not.

I've written the guide in a way, where you can start with a limited amount of currency and later upgrade the character, after you gained more currency.

So to make it all work, please, stay at one Stage and slowly progress to the next.



Stage 1 Life Based


Stage 1, getting started.

Start as a life based character.
Because you can't get good energy shield on gear at low levels.

Pretty much aim for life nodes instead of energy shield on the passive tree




How to level the Char


There are several ways to level this.

Blade Vortex, (Spellcaster)

Since the 1st nodes in the Tree are Global Physical Damage, Global Crit. and Force Shaper, which is global Physical Damage too. We can Level as Spellcaster.
Just aim for those Global Nodes before taking the Dagger nodes.

Weapon:


A Wand /Dagger with Spell damage, Cast speed should do the Job too

Gem Setup: Blade Vortex/Blade Fall:

OR

OR


Aura's:
and




Shield Charge (Melee)

When you reach level 16, you can also switch to Shield Charge with Face breakers
Again, take all the Global Phys and Crit. Nodes, since Dagger nodes won't affect your Dps.

"Weapon":


Belt:


Shield:


Make sure that you are NOT wearing a Weapon

Gem Setup Shield Charge:

OR


Aura's:
and



The examples for leveling might be outdated, please let me know, with what skill you had the best experience to level this character.

Switch to Blade Flurry once you can.

With this setup you should be able to get the 1st 4 Ascendancy points.

We go straight for Trickster and take Weave of the Arcane and Swift killer.
This deletes any mana issues with movement skills and charge generation.

Start to look out for "Flicker Strike" Gear.

What to aim on Gear?


Get as much evasion and energy shield as possible, evasion is another layer of defense.
The idea is, to evade most of the attacks and if you get hit, the energy shield pool will absorb the incoming damage and leeched back completely until the next hit comes. Later block comes also into play.

Aim for crit, crit multi, accuracy, flat phys and more energy shield.
Also elemental damage with attacks will boost damage through phys. to lightning / hatred / herald.
As for rings, diamond and steel rings should be the ones you want to have.

To make this build work, you should have a chance to hit around 90% and at least a crit. chance of 85%.
Also the Build lacks in strength.

If you can get it through Gear you can save 1-2 Passive Points. But depending on the Gear itself, you can take a 30 Strength node to make room for damage mods /resists on Gear. Just try out what suits you the best at that point.


Level with this Setup until you can wear




Stage 2 CI Based


With the gear mentioned at the end of Stage 1, you should be at level 70-75 and wear at lest a 5link.

Now you can start to try out Flicker Strike as it's Gear dependend.

Stage 2 Gear Spec aka. Bino's spec





Make Sure you get the Right Atziri's Splendour version (high eva AND es) a High ES one is ok too.



Why Splendour
Why Atziri's Splendour? 1st Easy to color, 2nd guaranteed Drop (in new leagues) pretty Cheap. You can use a Rare!

Why Vertex
Good Eva, Good ES, +1 Socketed Gems

Why Death's Door
Bleed imunmity and one extra endurance charge, enough said. Worth every chaos![/u]

Why Shaper's Touch
Shaper's Touch is giving us a massive energy shield, melee phys. damage and accuracy boost and they are cheap.


The next step is getting the next 2 ascendancy points, which will go into ghost dance and escape artist.

With at least 6-7k ES you can start to respec into CI.

Time for Respec.


You can take the 4% red. Mana at the CI wheel earlier if you have mana problems (like not having a Enlighten level 4)

You should be able to kill mob packs fluent with flicker strike.

To get used to beeing CI i have some advice for you:

Use Vaal Discipline, remove Blood Rage Gem out of its socket. This will stop the debuff or simply put it into your weapon /shield and press weapon swap two times.
This will also stop the debuf.

To counter the degen itself, you can craft "Reduced Damage Taken from Damage over Time" at the Leo Bench (level 3)

Struggling with a certain tier of map, will be an indicator to improve your gear/ gem level and quality.




F.A.Q.


My damage is too low, can't sustain flicker

Gem level and quality play a huge roll, especially at the beginning. Also a 5l is a musst to start with, unless you got really good gear.
But overall it really depends on the gear, you have to be able kill trash mobs with one or two hit to get a fluent gameplay with flicker strike.

My energy shield is so low

You have to get energy shield on every item possible, either flat or percentage. Also a high evasion roll on the chest piece will give you energy shield through escape artist (ascendancy) and shaper's touch glove also add a ton through strength.

Why not Assassin

Damage is not a problem, however sustaining mana can be an issue (trickster will solve that).
Also the defense from trickster will make gearing a lot easier in addition we have more freedom for offensive nodes in the passive tree itself.
Swift killer and blood rage in addition is enough to sustain frenzy charges.

Why no Eye of Chayula, Valyrium for Stun immunity?

With this setup you can reach 7-8.5k ES and 46% chance to evade (and more).
Also we have some Block (and more of it with Rumi up).
So many attacks will be evaded/ blocked, which makes room for DPS on the Amulet.
Trickster is imune to stuns if you haven't been hit recently, in addition you can get "80% chance to avoid beeing stunned if you've killed recently" as an enchant on boots.

End game boss viable?

This build has enough defense and offense to encounter all of those bosses.






I hope you enjoyed this Thread and Have fun testing the Build.

Last edited by Toma_Hawk on Jan 2, 2020, 9:59:56 AM
Last bumped on Apr 7, 2020, 1:01:41 AM
Alright, so This build is awesome. I've seen first hand of what this build can do and it is awesome.
Though, not exactly MF friendly. :P But great for getting bosses ready for culling(sometimes a bit too fast) Overall, Wonderful, and fun looking build. +++
Found a new Amulet! :)

can u make a new league friendly build, like bino + zealot, in the new tree, u can download it from a link in this post and post a screenshot of it ?


new passive tree:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1488902

https://github.com/EmmittJ/PoESkillTree/releases/tag/2.2.3

Last edited by ferrum83 on Dec 7, 2015, 8:01:22 PM
Of course :)

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwYAsNii2cgU9W9qjBa_df2Eb-LV1ELtQbVIbWzrY-d07LARL9sa6NaMCysKEHsi6gW1uXxd8r46wzotVcLsjb8OSCoLGYqbtSo4Fqq0xTqtUUcRlnBS-wmExT3R2-dvhD7PN9R_xpAbidP22gV9bAhHBv8cvebtP5MncFYaj_GK9vzQ0Nh2vopsC--ImhOnNI_6X2q5PqEvIvT5N9vU7Bjw1VxArGZtGdfPLL9JUVS9LOERUNlbSbEV1xXtfeM1uRslhq6Wi6crHU9LrlZj1bktH-kCTLMgbtAfBAdQMO_rHwI2xdgkpwidrhps98E=

Tree Explanation:

Since Bino's has a higher crit Base, you most likely won't need as much Powercharges as i did.
So i removed one.

You will also have slower attack speed, so you won't need Spirit Void.
I may can throw it out of my current Tree, depends on the Changes they announced (mana cost of melee skills, increased mana gained per Level)

thx, but I wanted u make the build in the new skill tree, because they change the skills around shadow alot, if u go to the link you can download the new skill tree and see for urself.

And I was wondering if u will try new curse auras, with new support gem that will change linked curses to auras, aura assasins and poachers mark ?


heres picture of new tree around shadow

http://imgur.com/N4hY6RP
Last edited by ferrum83 on Dec 8, 2015, 11:01:15 AM
My Link is the 2.1 Passive Tree ;)
Last edited by Toma_Hawk on Dec 8, 2015, 12:03:05 PM
did u see screenshot ? the tree is diffrent for shadow
Dude! Copy the Link into your 2.1 Passive tree, DON'T click it, it will redirect you to the old Passive Tree.
Hi, love the build so far, flicker is so much fun ^^.
But I'm having a little trouble while leveling. Do you have any tipps for leveling?
Also what should my priorities be early on. Just up my equipment or are good links mor important. Should I focus more on damage nodes or on the defensives?
And I know flicker is not a good build to level, but I wanna do it anyway ^^.
Just find it too much fun.

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info