[2.2]The Sparkster - Lowlife Spark Trickster - 75/69+ Block 9k+ES

In the past i focused a lot on builds with high bosskill potential and loved to do t15 maps uber etc. but over the time i realized how fruitless all that effort is, t14-15 maps being hard and expensive to sustain and having bad layouts, uber farming being barely profitable this league

so i started crafting a build focused on speedfarming t11-13 maps because i can actually sustain those tiers and they're pretty fun to do and have plenty of maps with generally good layouts

Sparks biggest counter in general is maps with bad layouts and it takes me double the time to run t14-t15 due to that than only a tier or two lower for example so instead of Inquistor which would be a no brainer if you based your build around doing t14s-15s i chose to go with Trickster

Reasons why i picked Trickster:

- Ton of attack and cast speed which reduces animation lock and improves whirling blades speed for ultimate zoom zooms

- 250 Base ES which gives me 1000+ total ES with my tree making the build extremely tanky

- Trickster is a cool name

I went with block/spell block + high ES pool so i can play as fast and recklessly as i can, not having to worry about whirling into packs, spell block also mitigates reflect issues on the occasion that my Vinktars is down which only really happens in curse immune maps where i'm stripped of Poachers mark

In regular maps poachers mark + flask nodes will recharge your Vinktars on every decently sized pack and you get 7 second duration on it

- At least a 5L shavs

- Vinktars

- Either a +1 curse lazhwar or doedres damning

- rumis concoction

Skyforth is not neccesary, it's just a huge QOL which will open up gear slots and passive points

Q: I can't afford skyforth, what do i do?

You run Assasins mark instead of projectile weakness on your curse on hit setup

Q: But how do i solve stun problem?

Option 1:

- Use rathpith to solve the spell block, i don't recommend rainbowstride because i would still run reckless defence because it gives you 4% block which you need to get block capped without spending even more nodes on block, but if you want to i cant stop you

- Use eye of chayula

Option 2:

- Craft stun avoidance on your helm
- Get stun avoidance as your boot enchant
- take stun avoidance nodes

a high %stun avoidance would make you as good as stun immune as any life based build out there since you'd have very low chance to be stunned, you'd still have to deal with block animations and it might not feel as smooth, but i already ran a build to 95 using this method and stuns weren't a huge issue

Option 3:

- Use Lioneyes paws, this will also solve your attribute requirement issues and using whirling blades negates the loss of movespeed


Whichever budget option you do to replace skyforth will cost you some nodes and gear slots so don't expect to hit my ES or damage, it will still however be more than enough to clear even t12 maps just a bit slower

But that's expected of a budget option

Shipyard - ele weakness - monster life, boss life

Village Ruin - Vulnerability, 60% less recovery, extra crit, monster damage

Random Gorge if you're into that

inb4 omg 2 min gorge so slow

no cheats aka no attack speed dagger, no full yolo dps tree, no dps gear, no Haste, just my regular mapping setup i take into other maps

if you want to turn this build into gorge speed farming be my guest, i'm sure with all the twinks you can get under 1:30 easily, Trickster is very suited for speedfarming type builds

i'm just not into that stuff personally but still wanted to show that even with a defensive setup the build can go very fast

Shrine

this is to showcase why i didn't base the build around running t14s and why i dont really intend to run them at all, layouts in all of t14-15 maps are pretty Spark unfriendly with tons of small rooms, walls, doors, nooks and crannys which not only significantly reduce your clear speed, they also make it hard to sustain your flasks comfortably

but i still like to include bad maps in my guides just so players would have full perspective on the build

this map can also show you that not having Vinktars up all the time isn't so detrimental as it would appear on first sight

but you can enchant leech on your boots if you still feel unsafe

- Shade form, no debate, if you're playing ES trickster and you're not taking this node you're doing it wrong

- Walk the Aether - pretty much permanent 20% AS/CS since you always have it up due to whirling blades, it also makes no regen maps so much smoother since you can whirl without worries

You can level this build extremely fast, although you will need a different setup for HC leveling, i don't have enough experience with HC leveling to recommend good setups so i won't even try to mislead you, i'm sorry but you'll just have to find your own way

How i leveled:

- Dual axiom perpetuum

- Flesh and Spirit

- Using chill of corruption as soon as i got herald of ice

- Put spark - vaal spark - faster proj- pierce - spell echo - inc critical strikes in your tabula

Other good leveling gear options:

- Goldrim

- Seven league step or Wanderlust for boots

- Le heup of all

- random rare life + res belts you find on your way

- Karui ward for amulet - it will help with some attribute requirement issues you might have and boost your proj speed/movespeed

I wouldn't switch to full lowlifing before lvl 65-67

Use Orb of storms + pcoc to get power charges before you get skyforths if you plan on using them otheriwse just use assassins mark with herald of ice + coh

Passive tree around lvl 20

passive tree around lvl 40

Passive tree around lvl 60

Passive tree when you equip shavs and switch to lowlife

My planned passive tree which would give you 10k+ES with good gear

Yolo dps i just wanna go fast tree

if you want to get spell block capped you can take those spell block nodes in witch tree but even with "only" 69% block i feel very good and it does its job of preventing me from deaths to reflect if i have vinktars down

you will probably need couple of more mana reserved nodes with skyforth, i'm not sure

use poe.mikelat calculator to find what you exactly need for your setup
For bandits i took all 3 skill points, i have 75% crit which makes me crit capped with diamond flask so i didn't deem power charge neccessary and i don't feel like i need faster trash clear so i didn't wanna take frenzy

there's plenty of options how to go with bandits:

Normal: skill point or %all resistances if you have bad gear

Cruel: skill point or cast speed for more dps or attack speed for more zoom zoom

Merciless: Skill point or power charge or frenzy charge

Spark - Spell echo - Faster projectiles - Increased Critical strikes - Pierce - Lightning penetration in order of priority

Herald of ice - Curse on hit - Projectile weakness/Assasins mark if no skyforths - Poachers mark

Purity of Lightning - Wrath - Enlighten - Lightning golem when it comes out tommorrow xD

Vaal Haste - Vaal Discipline - Increased duration - Tempest shield

Herald of thunder/Arctic armor - Discipline - Blood magic

Whirling blades - Faster attacks - Fortify

other options include:

use enduring cry although strength requirements will be pain in the ass

take couple of more mana reserved nodes and a 21 blood magic to use purity of ice instead of arctic armor/herald of thunder

but imo if you wanna go with a defensive buff i'd just use arctic armor

i didn't find it that necessary so i stuck with herald of thunder

Lightning golem is gonna be huge for the build and i can't wait for it to come out with the next patch

- i highly recommend Energy from within

- Reckless defense is also reccomended to get high block and spell block

Rare jewels can have a variety of rolls that are good:

- %maximum ES
- Crit multi for spells
- Crit multi for lightning skills/global crit multi
- Lightning damage
- Spell damage while holding a shield
- Spell damage
- Projectile damage
- Cast speed when holding a shield
- cast speed with lightning skills

you will need some dex on gear and jewels if you dont want to take the 30 dex node for max lvl vaal haste, proj weakness and poachers so dexterity or all atributes is also not a complete waste if you need that