[2.2] Nokternl's Forever Flicker CoC Boom Build (160k+ DPS)







Welcome to my first guide.


To Do list
Things I will add to the guide in the near future.

TODO (listed by priority) -
  • DPS Calc (Current, at max charges) - Flicker strike 88% to hit, 8.47APS, 91.38 chance to crit. 67% proc rate, 53% proc on hit, at avg 4.5 procs/sec.
    Bladefall avg dps per cast (8405 x2.3) = 19331 per bladefall = 87k
    Avg 20x BVs up = 51k DPS Vortex.
    51+87 = 138k DPS.
    VMS = 2.3 times damaging self per second. Approx 45k DPS from VMS. = ~180k DPS.
    Flickerstrike damage is not taken into account.
  • Pre-51 Flicker Weapon mod priorities
  • Additional item options/preferences


Changelog
Things I have changed in the guide.

Changelog -
  • 8th May '16
    Added the build guide video, and splash title art.
  • 7th May '16
    Added a third video showing myself and the first other player I know of trialing my exact build, partied and clearing twinned Argus in chateau map.
    Changed the Passive Trees to get Coldhearted Calculation early to help with Int requirements. I had accidentally missed this when creating the passive trees in the first post.
    Changed the linked Terminus Est used in the post to the newly updated colours.
  • 5th May '16
    Removed Discharge from the standard build description as it isn't really required. Will add it as a very late build option down the track.
    Adjusted Gem Socketing colours, especially for Terminus Est


FIRST UP, AN INTRO AND A WARNING!

I'm Nokternl. Thanks for taking the time to read my guide.
This guide is an ongoing project, and will be updated as necessary as I make changes to the build.
The idea of the formatting of this guide is to allow you to quickly and easily view the 'steps' as you level, and to be able to view extra information as required if you need more detail as to how and why we use a particular item/gem/link.

I hope you enjoy the guide and the build! Let me know how it goes :)

THE WARNING/DISCLAIMER
I am great at writing walls of explanatory text, so I will try to hide most of it behind spoilers, for those who really want to understand my reasoning behind certain decisions in this build. I'll keep the main parts as concise as I can, and spoiler out the 'bonus' content. After all, information is power :)



BUILD INSPIRATION

Ever since I started playing Path of Exile, I have wanted to create a viable, yet affordable flicker strike build which addresses as best as possible the shortcomings of the skill, whilst working with its strengths. I have finally managed to achieve this, and hope you enjoy it...

Thanks goes to...
  • GGG, for this great game!
  • Many great players who have helped me theorycraft, test, respec, and put up with my ranting and raving over the various directions I have headed with this build over multiple characters. I have great respect and thanks for all who've helped out with my builds and supported myself and my stream, including but not limited to -
    Kaoms_Heart, Ferinal, THE_Haensel, Duewell, LeoKang, Shaokei, Warlock, Namtro, Grave_Intentions, and BurialGrounds!
    If I forgot you, I'm sorry, it's late!
  • POE Wiki for useful links I have used in this guide

Anyone else I have missed will be added!



BUILD SUMMARY

This build harnesses the great clear speed potential of flicker strike, whilst negating the biggest problems flicker strike characters usually face. This has resulted in a build that has become a perfect base for Cast on Crit, without ever slowing down. It is not Hardcore viable as yet, but we do utilise several layers of defense and by late build have a decent life pool.

We quickly generate Frenzy Charges to boost our attack speed and keep our flicker strike going, Power Charges to help us reach 95% Crit Cap, and Endurance Charges for some added defense.

Late game, we bring more DPS into the build with the slightly expensive but very worthwhile addition of Scold's Bridle, Vaal Molten Shell, and an optional Fevered Mind Jewel (or 2!).

How does Flicker Strike work, and what limitations does it have?


Flicker Strike is a melee attack, where your character teleports to a nearby enemy and attacks once. It has a cooldown timer, so you cannot use it quickly unless you expend a Frenzy Charge to bypass it.
Most Flicker Strike builds hit trouble when they run into a tough mob or boss and run out of Frenzy Charges, leaving them standing helplessly next to the boss and waiting to be pummelled into the ground.
The elite Flicker Strike builds overcome this problem purely by out-DPSing everything, so that even the toughest mobs die quickly. These elite builds, however, cost a lot, and we are talking 100s of Exalted orbs worth of mirrored weapons and amazing gear. If you have that sort of currency laying around, you're reading the wrong guide and should look up multi-million DPS flicker strike builds. For the rest of us without the freedom of excessive currency, we have to work around the issue of running out of frenzy charges.

Another core issue for flicker strike is that historically it has been generally a Solo only skill. Most of the frenzy charge generation items have required your character to land the killing blow on enemies to get a chance at a frenzy charge, and joining a party A) makes the enemies tougher and needing more flickers to kill, and B) doesn't guarantee that you get the kill rather than your party members.

This build addresses both of these limitations.



CORE CONCEPTS & PASSIVE TREES

The build utilises the Unique 2 handed sword, Terminus Est, to bypass the flicker strike limit of only generating frenzy charges on kill, by way of its "Gain a Frenzy Charge on Critical Strike" mod.

Terminus Est mods
Apart from the Frenzy Charge on Crit mod, the Terminus Est gives us a pretty lacklustre 322.9 maximum Physical DPS, +10 mana on kill, 20% increased Attack Speed, 18% increased Accuracy Rating, and 10% increased Movement Speed. That equates to 1.56 attacks per second, and a base 5% chance to critical strike. Not very good for a 2 handed weapon, and leaving us with a lot of work to do to get some damage, or even some decent critical strike chance out of it...

Enter the Assassin Shadow Ascendancy class
Ascendancy brought with it the Assassin class for Shadows, and the ability for us to finally get some good critical strike chance out of lower crit based weapons like the Terminus Est. We go with Deadly Infusion for the first 4 ascendancy points, and Ambush for the final 2, along with our passive tree and some item selections.
This sets our build up for close to or capped critical strike chance for our flicker strike and spells that are cast when flicker strike crits, in the process also giving us virtually permanent frenzy charges and therefore, permanent flicker.

Now we have the core issues out of the way, we build on the concept...
We could go down the general flicker strike route of stacking our physical damage with melee physical gems, melee splash, added fire, etc... but at the end of the day, our 2H sword core damage is just too low for this to be particularly effective, and we have just made such a big effort to raise our critical strike chance that we should use it to our advantage...

Cast on Critical Strike, the perfect companion
With our huge chance to critical strike every flicker strike, and no slowing down due to the charge generation, cast on crit is the perfect route for us. It keeps our mana costs low (the cast on crit spells have no mana cost, so flicker strike has less mana multipliers), and lets us scale damage well without having to consider the low base damage of the Terminus Est.

Issues to consider...
This build requires a lot of crit chance (Global preferably, for both melee and spell crit) to be effective, and this is why much of our life pool comes in the later levels. Without crits, we lose damage and effectiveness, and can run the risk of losing our frenzy charges and dying. This reason, along with the unpredictability of flicker strike, is why I recommend you don't try it in Hardcore.



ITEM OPTIONS, GEMS, LEVELLING & GEAR

Early on, we can use any skill we like to level. Some go down the Spark route, others like Molten Strike, etc. We will be getting some Physical Damage passive nodes, so you can use Ethereal Knives if you like. Level with whatever method makes you feel most comfortable.

Using flicker strike before level 51 -
Spoiler

Although you can relatively safely use flicker strike before Level 51 when you can wield the Terminus Est, you are still vulnerable to the issues outlined above regarding maintaining Frenzy charges. Since you are limited to a chance to generate a frenzy charge on kill, you may still need to resort to another skill to take down tougher bosses and packs. If you're crazy enough to want to play this build in Hardcore, keeping to levels under your own will help you be able to kill faster and keep charges up, at the cost of XP gain and therefore levelling speed.

Since you cannot use Cast on Crit until level 38, you should link your flicker strike with the following support gems (listed in priority) until you reach level 38.
At the minimum, you should only start to use Flicker Strike on a 4 Link with GRRR sockets, if you don't own a Tabula Rasa. This will still work decently while you continue to level.

  • 4L - G - Flicker Strike
  • R - Multistrike
  • R - Melee Splash
  • R - Melee Physical Damage
  • 5L - R - Added Fire Damage
  • 6L - R - Weapon Elemental Damage

Important note - Don't go and buy a 6L that has GRRRRR sockets for end game, as when we move to Cast on Crit, the socket colour requirements change to RGGGGB! This is why I so strongly recommend the Tabula Rasa while you level.

Key levels in this build -
Spoiler

  • Level 31 - We can start using Blasphemy with Poacher's Mark, and have 5 Max Frenzy charges by this point. This in conjunction with Blood Rage does a good job of keeping Frenzy charges up for the most part. Blood Dance boots are a bonus. You can also dual curse with Assassin's mark if you have Doedre's Damning until Curse on Hit is available at level 38. Requires B-G-*B (*if dual cursing Assassin's Mark)

  • Level 38 - Cast on Critical Strike, Cast when Damage Taken, and Curse on Hit all become available at level 38! This is when you should really have some good item links, as you can set up CWDT(Lvl.1) in a R-R-R link with Immortal Call(Lvl.3) and Increased Duration, as well as a CWDT(Lvl.1) in a R-G-B-B link with Blade Vortex(Lvl.8), Increased Critical Strikes, and Power Charge on Critical. End game, we will aim to combine a higher level Blade Vortex as a 5th link in a 5L Terminus Est, allowing us to self cast it before we jump into combat. If we're lucky enough to get a 6L Terminus Est, we can use Increased Duration or Immortal Call(Lvl.3) in the last link if we don't have it elsewhere in our gear sockets.

    Curse on Hit can be linked with Herald of Thunder and Assassin's Mark in a B-B-B item, with Herald of Thunder Aura being used instead of Assassin's Mark on a 2nd Blasphemy Aura. This helps increase your damage and reserves less mana, whilst still giving you frequent Assassin's Mark procs on nearby enemies. Perfect to use in Doedre's Scorn from level 39 for the added damage, curse duration and +1 curse level.

    Cast on Critical Strike can replace our Physical Damage Flicker Strike Setup, moving us to the R-G-G-G-G-B layout of Flicker Strike-Multistrike-Cast On Crit-Blade Vortex-Bladefall-Increased Critical Strikes. Let the fun begin!

  • Level 51 - Terminus Est. This is where the fun really starts. Once you are starting to get a high (60-70+) Critical Strike Chance on your flicker strike, you can trial running without Blood Rage, Poacher's Mark, and/or the Blood Dance if you're using them. See whether you can sustain your Frenzy Charges without them. If not, wait til you get more Critical Strike Chance and check again later. The best point to move over is after completing Normal and Cruel Labs, and spending the 4 ascension points to get Deadly Infusion for a massive Crit Bonus (usually from about 50% to 70% with full power charges!)

    Also, we lose Whirling Blades when moving 2h, so aim to have a decently rolled Quicksilver Flask for getting between packs once you move to Terminus Est(Preferably a 20% chance to gain Flask Charge when you deal a Critical Strike + more % increased Movement Speed during flask effect, and 20% Quality that flask as you can.


Recommended items -
Spoiler

Terminus Est (Lvl 51. Required. Cheap) -
The only core item you need for this build. Try to find a 180% Increased Physical Damage, as we still do damage with our flicker strike, and it all helps! You can start to use it at level 51, so before then you will be using as high a physical DPS sword or dagger as you can find, either dual wielded or with a shield. Attack Speed, Spell Damage, Critical Strike Chance/Multi are all bonus mods for the 1h starter weapons, and you should look to upgrade them as you level to 51.

Tabula Rasa (Lvl1. Highly Recommended) -
If you don't already own one, this is one of the core recommendations for this build to succeed well. You need your Cast on Crit to be 6 link, and 6L body armour is expensive, even for the crappy ones! A Tabula will happily suffice all the way through to mapping, so that you will be able to afford a 6L at your leisure. If you don't own a Tabula, all of your currency gained while levelling should be earmarked to be spent on one.

Doedre's Damning (Lvl1. Highly Recommended. Cheap) -
I recommend picking up a Doedre's Damning Paua Ring if possible. They aren't expensive, and come level 38 will be very useful to add Assassin's Mark to our curses. This will help with our critical strikes and power charge generation while we are still gaining our passive tree nodes. This ring will be replaced by a crit/life ring later when we don't need Assassin's Mark or Poacher's Mark.

Doedre's Scorn (Lvl39. Highly Recommended. Cheap) -
This helm is useful if you are using Doedre's Damning for dual curse while levelling. Whilst the Elemental Damage doesn't help us much, increased damage per curse on enemy does, and if you can link the curses into the helm, +1 level definitely helps!

The Blood Dance (Lvl44. Recommended) -
These are great boots for gaining Frenzy Charges. They work well with Blood Rage, and give you a decent movement speed too. Can be expensive but worth it til you have your critical chance high enough to be gaining your frenzy charges permanently from the Terminus Est. Replace them with 30% Movement Speed, Life, Resist boots when non longer needed.

Rat's Nest (Lvl55. Recommended. Expensive) -
The Rat's Nest is a great helm for this build. Added Attack Speed, Crit, EV, Rarity, and Movement Speed all works! Replace this only if you want to take the advanced route with Scold's Bridle for more DPS at level 65+, and only once you can afford to lose the Rat's Nest critical chance bonus. Fair warning, Rat's Nest is an expensive optional item.

Scold's Bridle (Lvl65. Highly recommended late game. Expensive) -
Scold's Bridle is a great helm for this build once you have enough critical strike chance, life, and currency to afford to use it. This item gives us a big damage boost, both to our CoC spells, and the ability to bring another big DPS skill into our arsenal, Vaal Molten Shell. More on this later...


Gem purchases while levelling -
Spoiler

Level 4 (Find/Purchase)
Vaal Molten Shell (Highly Recommended late game) -
I highly recommend the use of Vaal Molten Shell in conjunction with Scold's Bridle late game once your critical strike chance is very high. This adds a massive DPS boost to our character, with VMS "boom" explosions every flicker... You don't have to worry about getting this gem until later in the game, but if you find one or can get one really cheap after you buy the more required items (like Tabula Rasa and Doedre's Damning), get it :) Don't level it past level 13 initially, as it will depend on the amount of Str you have managed to get on your items as to how far this can level (My character currently has it at level 15 with 125 Str)

Level 8 (Act 1)
Increased Critical Strikes (2 Required, 1 Optional, co-level 1 more) -
Critical for this build (Pardon the pun!) Get these and start levelling them as soon as you can. The higher they are, the more you crit. Nuff said.

Level 10 (Act 1)
Flicker strike (Required, co-level 1 more) -
This is our core melee attack, and the basis of this build. The faster we flicker, the more crits we get, the more damage we do. Buy two of these gems as early as you can, and start levelling them with your character, even though you won't be using them til you can start generating frenzy charges reliably (using Poacher's Mark, Blood Magic, The Blood Dance, etc.)

Level 10 (Act 1)
Whirling Blades (Recommended for movement before level 51) -
Unfortunately, once we have the Terminus Est, we can't use this great skill to get around. Til then, a mix of Whirling Blades/Faster attacks and Quicksilver Flasks is the best option to get around quickly.

Level 12 (Act 1)
Blade Vortex (3 Required, keep one Lvl.8, co-level 1 more) -
One of our core late game skills, Blade Vortex will be part of our Cast on Crit, as well as our initiating skill, and also a low level Cast When Damage Taken trigger to help us keep our Power Charges up. You get this spell early, and can self cast it and move through mobs to help you level. Buy them early and level all but one. Keep one at level 8 for your low level CWDT.

Level 16 (Act 2)
Blood Rage (Required) -
This gives us an attack speed boost, along with some life leech while we are attacking, and a chance to gain a frenzy charge on kill, at the cost of taking damage per second while it is active. Life Regen on gear in the early stages (before you take Vaal Pact passive) can help combat this degen. Stop using this once Terminus crits are maintaining your Frenzy Charges.

Level 16 (Act 2)
Herald of Ash (Required) -
This is our core DPS buff, applying more damage to our Flicker Strike and spells. Given that we have physical damage nodes on our passive tree, this is the obvious choice of aura. We could use Hatred instead of Herald of Ash and Arctic Armour, but we have to consider our defenses, too...

Level 16 (Act 2)
Herald of Thunder (Highly Recommended) -
This gives us more DPS, and the ability to use it in conjunction with Doedre's Damning for dual curse, by linking it in 3 blue sockets with Curse on Hit at level 38 and Assassin's mark, to proc the second curse without having to run a second blasphemy (giving you more DPS and using 25% mana reservation instead of 35% with blasphemy.)

Level 16 (Act 2)
Arctic Armour (Highly Recommended) -
This aura is used for damage mitigation vs fire and physical. This works well with flicker strike, as it doesn't count us as 'moving' while we flicker, meaning the damage mitigation applies for us most of the time! Very useful in helping us survive reflected Physical and Fire damage.

Level 18 (Act 2)
Power Charge on Critical (2 Required, co-level 1 more) -
Power Charge on Critical Strike. We link one of these to our low level CWDT Blade Vortex to help us keep our Power Charges up full time. Can also be used with a self cast Blade Vortex prior to flickering into a pack with no charges. Remember, due to the Terminus Est, every time our blade vortex crits, we gain 1 frenzy and 1 power charge with this linked. Blade Vortex, Power Charge on Crit, and Increased Critical Strikes are a great combo for keeping our Frenzy and Power charges topped up.

Level 18 (Act 2)
Concentrated Effect (Recommended) -
I usually recommend adding this to our high level Cast When Damage Taken, to increase the damage done by our Bladefall when it triggers. Since we are almost always right on top of our targets when it goes off, the extra damage seems most viable. Alternatively, you can consider Increased Area of Effect. Another good option here is Increased Critical Strikes if you haven't already got a very high Critical Strike rating on your spells.

Level 18 (Act 2)
Faster Attacks (While using Whirling Blades) -
Faster Attacks linked with Whirling Blades gives us the quickest movement skill before we move to the Terminus Est at level 51 and can no longer use it.

Level 24 (Act 3)
Poacher's Mark (Required) -
This is our bread and butter curse up until the point where our Terminus Est can take over frenzy charge generation for us. At that point, replace this with Warlord's Mark for Endurance charge gain and Life Leech, as WM's Leech applies to your spell damage as well as melee damage, as opposed to Poacher's Mark which only procs life and mana gain on the melee hit.

Level 24 (Act 3)
Assassin's Mark (Highly Recommended) -
Assassin's Mark is a great curse to help us do more critical strikes, and more damage. Kills with Assassin's Mark gains power charges faster, which means higher crit chance and more reliable frenzy charge generation with the Terminus Est. It's a win win situation, hence why it's highly recommended to use in a dual curse setup, at least until our critical strike chance is very high without the need for this curse.

Level 24 (Buy off Marauder/Templar/Duelist)
Warlord's Mark (Required) -
This is our main late game curse. Once Terminus Est takes over our power charge generation, this allows us to gain Endurance charges for more damage mitigation, as well as being able to leech more life and mana from damage we do to cursed enemies. Take care not to level this curse gem too high until you are set on your gear, as it has a very high Str requirement. Currently my character has 125 Str and my Warlord's Mark could only level to 13. Your experience may differ depending on the strength bonus from your items.

Level 28 (Act 3)
Bladefall (2 Required, co-level 1 more) -
This is one of our core Cast on Crit skills. We can also use a 2nd high level Bladefall in a CWDT setup for additional damage. Buy them early and level extras

Level 31 (Act 3)
Blasphemy (Required) -
Blasphemy allows us to curse every enemy we flicker to and kill. It ensures that whatever curse Mark we are running actually hits. From level 31 we will be using this with Poacher's Mark, and later will be replacing Poacher's with Warlord's Mark. Potentially Assassin's Mark could also be used with Blasphemy for dual cursing, but I don't really recommend this as it reserves 70% of your mana, leaving very little left over if you also want to run Herald of Ash, or arctic armour. Some modifications to the gearing could still leave you with enough mana to achieve this if desired, but I find the Herald of Thunder option better for a second curse.

Level 31 (Buy off Marauder/Templar/Duelist)
Increased Duration (2 Required) -
Increased duration is used linked with our Immortal Call CWDT to improve our damage mitigation, and late game in the Scold's Bridle Vaal Molten Shell option. It can also be used with the Blade Vortex Power Charge on Crit links as required.

Level 31 (Act 3)
Fortify (Recommended with Whirling Blades/Faster Attacks) -
Fortify helps with Damage mitigation, and can be linked in with Whirling Blades and Faster Attacks until you move to the Terminus Est at level 51.

Level 34 (Buy off Marauder/Templar/Duelist/Scion)
Immortal Call (Required, left at Lvl.3) -
Used with level 1 Cast when Damage taken to help us survive! Usually used in a link with CWDT and Increased duration. Add Lvl.8 Blade Vortex and Power Charge on Crit in a 5L Terminus Est for best results. If used in links with CWDT and Chaos Golem, level to 11, and keep CWDT at level 10 and Chaos Golem at level 12.

Level 38 (Act 4)
Multistrike (Required) -
One of these CWDT gems will be kept at level 1, ideally linked in a 5L or 6L Terminus Est eventually, with Blade Vortex (Lvl.8), Power Charge on Crit, Immortal Call (Lvl.3), and Increased Duration. The other is high level, typically used in conjunction with Summon Chaos/Ice Golem, Concentrated Effect, and Bladefall or Discharge depending on whether a map has the elemental reflect mod (or if you want to use Discharge at all. Big extra DPS with very little downside late game, mind you :) )

Level 38 (Act 4)
Cast on Critical Strike (Required, co-level 1 more) -
Critical for this build (Pardon the pun, again!), this gem lets our flicker strike do its thing.

Level 38 (Act 4)
Cast when Damage Taken (2 Required, 1 left at Lvl.1) -
One of these CWDT gems will be kept at level 1, ideally linked in a 5L or 6L Terminus Est eventually, with Blade Vortex (Lvl.8), Power Charge on Crit, Immortal Call (Lvl.3), and Increased Duration. The other can either be kept at level 10, or levelled much higher, and is typically used in conjunction with Summon Chaos Golem(Keep at level 12 if CWDT is level 10, as this is the first level the Golem grants 4% Physical Damage Reduction), Concentrated Effect, and Bladefall. I only keep CWDT and Chaos Golem underlevelled if I choose to run Immortal Call in these links, in which case Immortal Call will be levelled to 11.

Level 38 (Act 4)
Curse on Hit (Highly Recommended for dual curse option) -
If you go down the route of Doedre's Damning, you'll preferably want to link this gem with Herald of Thunder and Assassin's Mark in 3 linked blue sockets to proc your second curse. Ideally, this would be in Doedre's Scorn for levelling from 39.


Aura choices -
Spoiler

Poacher's Mark - For early flicker strike, use Poacher's Mark with Blasphemy until you have your Terminus Est and enough Critical Strike chance to keep your frenzy charges up without Poacher's Mark, Blood Rage, or Blood Dance boots in use.

Dual Curse with Assassin's Mark - If you have decided to dual curse, run Assassin's Mark alongside Poacher's Mark.

Arctic Armour - This defensive aura is very useful to help mitigate physical and fire damage from enemies or reflect, and should be used if you have enough mana left while running the Herald(s). You may have to use Herald of Thunder and Curse on Hit to apply Assassin's mark in this case.

Herald of Ash - You should use this Aura for most of your mid-build. It gives the biggest DPS buff to your attacks and spells, however once your critical strike chance is very high, the added shocks granted by Herald of Thunder help outweigh the damage from Herald of Ash, and I believe Herald of Thunder is a better late build aura.

Warlord's Mark - Once you don't need Poacher's Mark to generate your frenzy charges to keep flickering, you should move to Warlord's Mark on Blasphemy. This curse grants you 2% life and mana leech for all the damage you do, along with Endurance charges for more defense.

Late build - I am currently running Blasphemy Warlord's Mark, and either Arctic Armour and Herald of Thunder for normal/difficult zones/maps, OR Herald of Thunder and Herald of Ash for much easier farming areas like Dried Lake where the defenses from Arctic Armour aren't required as much, allowing a slightly faster kill/clear speed from the additional DPS.

Flask choices -
Spoiler

I am currently using the following flasks -
  • Alchemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline - For fast movement speed over a shorter duration (we just need to get from pack to pack quickly for our flicker strike to take over
  • Surgeon's Silver Flask of Warding - Gives us Onslaught (for more Attack Speed), immunity to Curses for 6 seconds, and refills as we critical strike.
  • Surgeon's Basalt Flask of Dousing - Gives us 20% more Physical Damage Reduction for 6 seconds (On top of the 4% from our Golem, ~13% from Arctic Armour, and extra from any Endurance Charges), in addition to removal of burning.
  • Chemist's Jade Flask of Reflexes - Grants much needed Evasion, with bonus Evasion rating. Would prefer to upgrade this to a Surgeon's in the future so it refills as I crit.
  • Surgeon's Eternal Life Flask of Staunching - Life regeneration, bleed removal, and refills as we crit. I only hit this flask if I seem to be losing health (gotta be quick sometimes!)
  • [dbLinkedItem id="10031955758" inline="0"][dbLinkedItem id="10031955771" inline="0"][dbLinkedItem id="10031955776" inline="0"][dbLinkedItem id="10031955784" inline="0"][dbLinkedItem id="10031955787" inline="0"]


Passive Trees -

Late game gear choices and gem linking, and why! -
Spoiler

By the time we are happily flicking around with our Terminus Est, we should be aiming for the following gem links -
  • 6L Body - R-G-G-G-G-B - Flicker Strike - Multistrike - Cast on Critical Strike - Blade Vortex - Bladefall - Increased Critical Strikes
  • 4L - R-R/B-G-B - Warlord's Mark - Blasphemy - Herald of Ash/Herald of Thunder - Arctic Armour
  • 4L - R-R-B-B - Vaal Molten Shell - Concentrated Effect - Increased Critical Strikes - Increased Duration
  • 4L - R-R-B-X - Cast When Damage Taken(10) - Summon Chaos Golem(12) - Immortal Call(11) - Bladefall / Herald of Thunder / Other desired gem.
  • 5L Terminus Est - R-G-G-B-B-R - Cast When Damage Taken (Lvl.1) - Blade Vortex (Lvl.8) - Power Charge on Critical - Increased Critical Strikes - Blade Vortex (Max) - Increased Duration OR Immortal Call(3)

Advanced Mechanics - Scold's Bridle, Vaal Molten Shell, & Fevered Mind

This setup is what brings the real "Boom" to my build. Scold's Bridle gives us more spell damage. We don't need the cast speed because most of our spells are triggered, and our skills deal us 400% of Mana Cost as Physical Damage. As Cast on Crit Flicker Strike doesn't cost much mana (like, 28), and we have instant life leech with Vaal Pact, this is easily countered.

Why would we want to damage ourselves? Enter Vaal Molten Shell. While active, this amazing spell explodes every time you take damage. With the speed at which we flicker between mobs, and the fact that we are almost always right on top of our enemies, this adds a great deal of DPS to our build, with very little drawback. We don't have Life on the Scold's Bridle unfortunately, but the extra utility and damage really outweighs it. At full power charges and only linked with increased critical strikes and increased duration, my Vaal Molten Shell does over 10k damage, every boom, over a 21.8 second duration. 99% of the time this vaal skill is ready to re-cast before it's run out!

Where does Fevered Mind come in? This is a fairly expensive little jewel, and can be considered a late and optional inclusion, but warrants a mention. For 100% increased mana cost, it gives us an additional (up to 30%) spell damage. Usually not that great, but given its synergy with Scold's Bridle and our low mana cost, it means that for now 56 mana per Flicker Strike, we do more damage on our Blade Vortex, Bladefall, Discharge AND Vaal Molten Shell, whilst also dealing more damage (still easily sustainable via leech) to ourselves, meaning more frequent Cast When Damage Taken procs, which leads to more Immortal Calls, more uptime on our power charge on crit generating Blade Vortexes. A win/win situation all around, really, and why I really recommend going this route late game.


My current gear, including with gem and socket layouts -
Spoiler

My current gear -
As you can see, I have managed to build a bit of Increased Rarity into my gear without limiting myself too much. This gear is by no means end-game, however.
The Gloves should be replaced with +AS +Accuracy, with new 30% MS Tri-Res Boots, Crit/Life/Accuracy Rings and Crit/Life/Spell Damage Amulet making up the lost resists.
Ultimately, aim for Vaal corruptions of +1 Curse or +1 Frenzy Charge on Amulet, +1 Power Charge or Culling Strike on a 5L or 6L Terminus Est, and +1 Frenzy Charge on Boots.






BANDITS, JEWELS, & OTHER LEVELLING OPTIONS

Recommended Bandits -
Normal - Help either Oak for +40 Max Life or Kraityn for +10 All Elemental Resists
Cruel - Kill all for Passive Point
Merciless - Help Alira for +1 Power Charge

Recommended Jewels -
Early on, get jewels that give combinations of the following (in order of importance) -

  • Global Critical Strike Chance
  • % Max Life
  • Accuracy
  • Global Critical Strike Multiplier
  • % Damage
  • % Area Damage
  • Attack Speed (and/or with swords/two handed)
  • Physical Damage (Global, not restricted to melee/swords)
  • Melee Critical Strike Chance (and/or with swords/two handed)

Bonus Jewels -
We have 4 Jewel Slots on the standard Passive build. Depending on your critical strike chance for flicker strike and spells whilst at max power charges, you may have the ability to use one or more of the following Jewels as bonus options -

(Right click, Open in new Tab)



Thank you for reading my guide! I hope you have found it informative.
Please consider leaving me a comment, question, constructive criticism, or suggestions as to how I could further improve upon my build!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have in-game or on my stream and I will endeavour to help as much as possible.

You can find me on POE (Nokternl), or streaming with Survivor's Beacon @ http://twitch.tv/survivorsbeacon

Have a great day!
Nokternl

Last edited by Nokternl#7871 on May 7, 2016, 3:27:50 PM
Last bumped on Jul 29, 2016, 3:11:46 PM
*RESERVED*
Very organised and in-depth build guide on a build that has very good potential.
𝟙𝟡𝟘𝟛

𝕹𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝕺𝖍 𝕿𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊
𝓜𝓞𝓢𝓣𝓗𝓐𝓣𝓔𝓓
The build guide was well put together and thought out. Giving a road map to the gems and when to buy is something I find very useful. You obviously put a lot of work into this. I can see it being used as a template for other builds as well.

Looks to be a lot of fun and I am sure there will be a good amount of players who will find this quite useful. Good work!
<3
really intresting had a similar thought but havent thought about the scolds combo... i took a kik bit diffrent approach:

life/es hybrid with ev as secondary defense


119 points tree
4 points can be saved with intuitive leap at the shadow

bandits:
life
attack speed
power charge

gear:
Spoiler

gloves -> shadow and dusk


instead of cwdt setup you could use something else mb cwdt + malee totem? :D

dont get me wrong you build seems really funny but as malee your lifepool seems a bit low therefor emy thought with the es/life hybrid
Thanks for the supportive replies and suggestions so far.

Intuitive leap may be a good option, I'll look into its cost and consider it!

As far as I know, you can't cwdt a totem, as summoning a totem is no longer counted as a spell, or else I would be cwdting decoy totems on my low level one and never being attacked :-)

The damage addition of vaal molten in conjunction with Scold's is a combo I am finding hard pressed to beat.

I have about 4700 life at the moment with another 40% to get. Bit low at the moment but working on getting it earlier in the build!

Thanks again!
Nok
"
Nokternl wrote:
Thanks for the supportive replies and suggestions so far.

Intuitive leap may be a good option, I'll look into its cost and consider it!

As far as I know, you can't cwdt a totem, as summoning a totem is no longer counted as a spell, or else I would be cwdting decoy totems on my low level one and never being attacked :-)

The damage addition of vaal molten in conjunction with Scold's is a combo I am finding hard pressed to beat.

I have about 4700 life at the moment with another 40% to get. Bit low at the moment but working on getting it earlier in the build!

Thanks again!
Nok

oh yeah totally forgot that cwdt doesnt work with totems...
my thought was since you could use crown of eys you would double profit from crit + spell crit and therefore the overall casts should be higher... its just a thought mb ill try it out myself... currently have to level 2 more chars from 87->90 after that mb this will be my next build :D nevertheless nice mechanic build! keep us updated :)
"
Nokternl wrote:

...
Intuitive leap may be a good option, I'll look into its cost and consider it!
...


Ok, though it's on the more expensive side (and this build is meant to stay pretty cheap), the Intuitive Leap is worth considering in later stages. I picked one up for 27c to test...

I was able to get a benefit from using Intuitive Leap in the socket above Blood Drinker (where the Power and Frenzy Charge nodes are on the right) and adding the 8% Phys Damage passive to the left of Fangs of the Viper. This allowed me to remove the Ev & ES node under Nullification, the Dex node to the left of the Blood Drinker nodes, and the 2 Power and Frenzy Charge Duration nodes, freeing up 3 passive points, at the detriment of not having the option to put Inspired Learning in there.

As an afterthought, I realise that super late build I can use Inspired Learning in the Jewel socket near the lower Frenzy Charge (next to Heartseeker) once I have specced into Acuity, though this is pretty much one of the last nodes I plan to get, so late 90s...

So nice suggestion Xracks, squeezed a little more passives in there!

I haven't changed the passive trees yet because it doesn't seem to take the jewel into account to let me remove the nodes. :(
"
Nokternl wrote:

...
I haven't changed the passive trees yet because it doesn't seem to take the jewel into account to let me remove the nodes. :(


Passive trees have been updated without the Intuitive Leap taken into consideration. Getting life earlier into the build now. at level 97, you should have enough money to invest in Intuitive Leap to free up the 3 passives, getting us to the equivalent of ... 124 or 125 on the Lvl. 100 passive tree. The extra 3 nodes could go towards Berzerker for another 18% AS, or the jewel slot right by it, giving us 20 more str and the slot.

If anyone is following this guide, please give me some feedback as to whether you are finding any particular stages difficult.

Knowing me, I'll probably end up running another new character up from level 1 to test it. Maybe even in HC to see :)

Last edited by Nokternl#7871 on Apr 27, 2016, 1:30:59 AM

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