[3.3] CI Infinite Flicker Strike (Gladiator/Juggernaut) UberLab Viable

Howdy Exiles!



I'm pretty new to ARPGs and haven't done anything too impressive in PoE (this is my first league playing), been playing a homebrew the last few days that I haven't seen too much similar to so I'd figure I'd share the build. I know I've likely screwed some things up due to my inexperience. That said, I'd like to share what I have in case it catches anyone else's fancy. Additionally, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Build is a WIP, I'm not claiming anything is fully optimized as-is. This is my first toon I've sank 10+ exalts in so progress is sporadic.

If you don't want explanations and just want the PoB link, skip to the below "Skill Tree" spoiler.

Pros/Cons
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+ Maps quickly. It is a Flicker Strike build after all.
+ Moderate/High survivability. Vaal Pact, Stun Immune, Chaos Immune, Bleed Immune, almost block capped, high spell block, Flickerstrike helps with avoiding projectiles, high innate chance to blind, decent physical damage mitigation.
+ Consistent. Being an infinite flicker build means you don't have to worry about running out of charges due to not having the damage to oneshot a magic pack or getting bad RNG.
+ Really smooth to level due to scaling lightning damage instead of physical from a weapon type (more on this later). Just avoid chaos damage as much as possible...
- Not a budget build.
- Dependant on getting labs done ASAP, highly recommend getting carried through each lab as you hit the level requirement (30/40/50/60).
- Can't always control your toon.
- Not millions of Shaper DPS.

What makes this different from other similar builds?
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The other CI Infinite Flicker builds I've seen all went Shadow. I went Scion sacrificing damage for survivability as I'm not the most mechanically skilled player out there.

Build Theory:
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The infinite frenzy charges come from The Red Trail which grants you a frenzy charge on hit whilst bleeding and then using The Golden Rule to reflect inflicted bleeds to one's self. We then use Apep's Supremacy to convert bleeding damage taken from physical to chaos in conjunction with taking Chaos Innoculation to make us immune to our reflected bleeding.

We scale off lightning damage as it opens up options for our chest piece since unlike a pure physical build we can then make use of one or two blue sockets (this irrelevant if you get a six-linked white socket chest off of the corruption altar, YMMV).

Skill Tree:
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Level 88 Tree: https://pastebin.com/bG6vvtuQ

Bandits:
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Kill all. We can do more with points in this build.

Ascendancy:
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Normal Lab: Duelist STR/DEX node and passive point.
Cruel Lab: Gladiator Ascendancy and passive point.
Merciless Lab: Path of the Duelist and Marauder STR node.
Uber Lab: Passive point and Juggernaut Ascendancy.

We want the Duelist starting point to grab Vaal Pact efficiently (without a ton of flat DEX nodes). Unfortunately being a CI build Slayer has significantly less value to us, so we take Gladiator primarily for 25% chance to bleed and 50% of block chance applied to spells. We then take Juggernaut mainly for the stun immunity, free accuracy and endurance charges during bossing. Elementalist is another tantalizing option for damage and eReflect immunity but I don't want to deal with stuns period and being able to double curse comes in quite handy.

Pantheon:
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Major: Lunaris
Minor: Tukohama

Flat % physical damage mitigation is always welcome.

Gear:
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Weapon:
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1H weapon that gives us a lot of flat damage. Prolly not BiS but it's cheap and it hits hard.

Mandatory armor:
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These are core to the build.

Rare armor:
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Jewelry:
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ES/resists/flat damage/eDMG with attack skills. The belt is up to you, I just like Darkness Enthroned due to it being able to give a ton of ES and flat damage.

Jewels:
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Golden Rule is mandatory. 2x Might of the Meek placed in the upper 2 Scion nodes gives us a ton of ES and resists with a few other things. The Red Nightmare placed in the lowest Scion node lets us turn all that resist into block chance. A lot of it (13%). Also gives us 46% to gain an endurance charge on kill so we're always capped for the extra physical damage mitigation and Immortal Call duration whilst mapping. Reckless Defense could also be a good fit here unless you get % block chance applied to spells as a corruption implicit on Apep's Supremacy.

For other Jewels: %ES, %Melee Damage, %Lightning Damage, %Attack Speed with Swords.


Flasks:
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Still unsure what I want for the last two, Rumi's gives us armor and a ton of block, anti-chill and anti-curse are pretty important.

Gems:
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Attack Skill:
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Depends on your socket setup, I grabbed a sub optimal chestpiece that had six linked white scokets for versatility.
Mapping: Flicker Strike + Damage on Full Life + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Multistrike + Melee Splash + Ancestral Call
Boss with ads: Flicker Strike + Damage on Full Life + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Multistrike + Melee Splash + Lightning Penetration
Boss with no ads: Flicker Strike + Damage on Full Life + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Multistrike/Ruthless + Elemental Focus + Lightning Penetration

Auras:
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Wrath and Discipline.
With an Enlighten you can add either Herald of Thunder or Arctic Armour.

Mobility Skill:
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Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks

Setup Skill:
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Charged Dash + Poison + Fortify + Increased Critical Strikes

This setup lets me proc Fortify and Elemental Overload, raise my max resists, proc bleed and get my frenzy charges all before entering line of sight of ads. Also lets you get places Whirling Blades can't.

CwDT #1:
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Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Tempest Shield

CwDT #2:
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Cast when Damage Taken + Enfeeble + Cold Snap


Leveling:
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I did the whole campaign using Storm Cloud/The Tempest with a 4 link with Rain of Arrows + Added Lightning Damage + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Elemental Focus. Swapped Rain of Arrows for Barrage against bosses. Tombfist with a Searching Eye Jewel, Sacrificial Heart, Wake of Destruction, Le Heup of All and an all resist String of Servitude were a big help.


Hope that made sense, if you have any questions or suggestions please let me know!
Last edited by moddedaccount on Jul 24, 2018, 5:50:41 AM
Last bumped on Jul 24, 2018, 2:21:35 AM
nice concert, have you try guardians or shaper yet?
"
pharaoh000 wrote:
nice concert, have you try guardians or shaper yet?


This is the best performing toon I've made so far (I know I'm still a noob), I've done a deathless T14 corrupt rare map and yellow elder with one death, though I blame that death on me not knowing the mechanics as that was my first elder fight.

I know that's not super impressive but for me it's the best I've done.
Last edited by moddedaccount on Jul 22, 2018, 9:02:25 PM
Im not sure 1.5% es regen is good enough and you also take vaal pact.

cures on bosses is not so effective so what if the second ascendancy is juggernaut? or even shadow (for poison chance)?

for the weapon, I don't know a good 1-handed unique but good choice on hyaon, I guess it mainly for frenzy charge synergize?
final is your lv88 skill tree, is that your current one? what do you aim for at lv 92-95?
"
pharaoh000 wrote:
Im not sure 1.5% es regen is good enough and you also take vaal pact.

cures on bosses is not so effective so what if the second ascendancy is juggernaut? or even shadow (for poison chance)?

for the weapon, I don't know a good 1-handed unique but good choice on hyaon, I guess it mainly for frenzy charge synergize?
final is your lv88 skill tree, is that your current one? what do you aim for at lv 92-95?


1. I take occultist purely for stun immunity. Otherwise I would likely go Elementalist for immunity to reflect, guaranteed shock and extra pen.
2. Hyaon's Fury has a ridiculous amount of damage on the weapon and the frenzy charge synergy makes it really good for the price.
3. It was my current, I wanted to make sure the build came together before level 90. I'm looking at getting more ES and possibly another jewel slot.
If you take occultist only for stun immu then juggernaut would 150% better, consider that pls.

I never try block before, I hope that enough defend for flicker build.
I regretted and swapped to jugg, the more I think about it having endurance charges on bosses would be really useful and the accuracy gives me more options for gear. The STR node also helps a lot.

Block is quite nice once you're stun immune as it's animationless making it just free hits negated.
Last edited by moddedaccount on Jul 23, 2018, 1:14:57 AM
Switching from Occultist to Juggernaut has made the build more consistent and easier to gear. Also capable of tanking hits from Argus while fortify is up.

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