Flicker Strike + Multistrike + Ancestral Call

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to ask how the gem combination on the title worked. For example, with multistrike, the Flicker Strike skill will target 2 other nearby enemies:

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When multistrike is linked to attacks that involve player movement (such as Flicker Strike) the skill will first travel to the destination selected and then will travel to any enemy within range for the next two attacks.

- Poe wiki https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Multistrike_Support

The same kinda goes for ancestral call (as far as I know; any corrections are welcome)

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Ancestral Call is a support gem. Attack skills that are linked to Ancestral Call will attack two nearby enemies at the same time, automatically selecting valid targets within range for the attacks.

- Poe wiki https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ancestral_Call_Support

So does using these three cause my Flicker Strike to hit 5 mobs per attack?

Thanks in advance for the answers ^ ^ !!

Edit: "Can't you just try it in-game?"

This youtube video that I casually found and picked for its 30 second duration shows you how Flicker Strike and Ancestral Call work together.

Since Flicker Strike is a Strike (duh), Ancestral will effectively work, and will target 2 nearby enemy when you hit an enemy. You will, of course, travel to the first hit enemy, while the other only takes the damage.

As for the Flicker Strike + Multistrike, Wikia states:

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When multistrike is linked to attacks that involve player movement such as Flicker Strike the skill will first travel to the destination selected and then will travel to any enemy within range for the next two attacks. If no enemy is available the attacks will be targeted at or near player location.

As for the Multistrike + Ancestral Call, we know that Ancestral Call will kick in with each repetition of the attack. So, this means that with Flicker Strike, you can hit up to 9 times per attack, provided you have 9 enemies (not sure if Ancestral Call will strike the same enemy twice) and they are not too close to you

The last part is usually why Flicker Strike build prefer to use Melee Splash instead of Ancestral Call: a pack that is too, well, packed (for example, a pack of Inua Totems) could potentially waste one or two Ancestral hits, while Melee Splash will make sure you will hit them all at the first of the 3 repetitions

Some last word of advice if you are coming back after a long time: there has been a rework on "cooldown bypassed by charges": now repetitions too will consume 1 charge for bypassing. In other words, if you want to Multistrike your Flicker, consider to have at least 2 Frenzy Charges, because they will both be expended for allowing the first 2 repetitions.
Thankfully, Flicker Strike has been reworked in order to have a natural chance of gaining frenzy charges, and using Oro will generate 2 of them at each hit (1 for ignition, 1 from frenzy)

You will perform "up to" 9 hits with a single attack as mentioned above by Maxtrux. The mirages from AC cannot hit the same target as you and themselves. So on lone boss, AC is a complete wasted link.
(On some skills like Molten Strike and Lightning Strike, thru certain technique and positioning, it does. Not on Flicker Strike though.)

As of recent patch (3.7? Not sure. The same time they removed splash from Slayer), all melee skills have built-in splash but the range is limited to weapon range. It is very short. Therefore, Melee Splash support is still recommended for clear.

With Melee Splash and AC, you have two dead links against lone boss. In order to avoid hassle of gem swap, you need to be creative such as to consider having two setups (6L on single-target, 4L on clear, weapon-swap, etc).

Consider allocating Tribal Fury notable on passive tree to possibly drop AC.

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jeerinho wrote:

As of recent patch (3.7? Not sure. The same time they removed splash from Slayer), all melee skills have built-in splash but the range is limited to weapon range. It is very short. Therefore, Melee Splash support is still recommended for clear.

I would not call that "splash", as it is misleading. When you hear "splash" you think about a Strike skill that still damages nearby enemies with an area of effect, which is something you will even boost with the nodes near Tribal Fury.

What Legion brought was a first attempt to give Strike builds some extra bonus, while giving some more relevance to Weapon Range (which brought Cyclone to be the broken thing it is nowadays): if, between you and the enemy you are hitting, there are other enemies, those enemies will be hit by the skill too. "Between" is to be intended as "in a row". If the skill creates projectile after hit (Molten Strike, Lightning Strike, Frost Blades), all enemies caught in the Weapon Range will be hit by the melee damage, but only the intended target will create the attack's projectiles.

In other words, while once you would have used Frost Blade, as they sponsorize, "for hitting the Necromancer that cowers behind his skeletons without hitting them", now that Frost Blades will hit some of those skeletons.

The whole "weapon range collateral damage" thing has no relevance when using Ancestral Call, since the extra target are "pinpointed" - they, and only they, are hit.
Also, it won't be of any use to a Flicker Strike build, as it bypasses any Weapon Range logic. Perhaps we can see a way for it to recycle Weapon Range like Cyclone does, maybe something like "+x% to maximum hitting range per 1 additional weapon range", but not for now

Your suggestion on having 2 different sets boss vs mapping is also correct - both Melee Splash and Ancestral Call are useless when going against one single boss that does not call any backup (Conquerors except Drox, Sirus...). You will want to put something extra for single target damage. Just remember you can socket gems in your Second Weapon slot, and they will be ready when you want ... while gaining experience like if they were on your main set

Thanks for your input everyone <3

Your explanations on how these gems interact will help a ton cause I'm planning to play a Flicker Strike build this coming Heist. (Kinda going for the theme of theft; so I'm playing as an assassin-crit-flicker strike cause it feels like a ninja)

I'll probably do the weapon swaps with two sets of gem links for clear and single target as mentioned by jeerinho; as well as see how things look in path of building for the single target dps and check out how the melee splash works with it (thanks Maxtrux).

Also, yup. I just got back to Path of Exile ^_^ I returned just when Delirium league was ending (sadly didn't get to play it much, it was a pretty good league though). I stopped playing a few years ago just before the end of Perandus league cause of life xD

...and boy have there been a ton of changes since I left T_T

There are Elder/Shaper (not sure which one exactly) influenced-boots with the affix "Socketed skills are supported by Level # Fortify". This makes the boots a pseudo-5L. It is another option for the clearing setup.