[2.3] (Trickster) Ethereal Knives MF Build. 8.5k ES, 150k DPS, 200+ IIR, 43 IIQ, Triple Blasphemy

https://youtu.be/qU5q0oxSY7k
Just a quick demonstration of the effectiveness of the build (Plateau with -10 max res). Notice the loot explosions throughout (sorry for the minor hickup and the mediocre quality).

https://youtu.be/HzJ4OrVN1yk
A somewhat trickier map (Shipyard with Elemental Weakness and no regeneration). For this, I had to deactivate Enfeeble and swap out Pierce for Mana Leech.

The idea of this build is to utilize a spell which scales well without massive gear investment, hence allowing us to stack large amounts of IIR and IIQ while maintaining decent DPS/clearspeed and full map viability.

I currently have no problems running any maps up to tier 15 and Atziri deathless, however a few map mods cannot be run or require minor gem adaptions (see the corresponding section below). Most map bosses can be done as well, although it's a good idea to skip some of the tougher ones (Malformation, Village Ruin, Excavation, all T15).

As the title suggests, the main skill of this build is Ethereal Knives (from now on EK). This is a projectile spell which scales with

-Physical damage
-Spell damage
-Projectile damage
-Cast speed

These are the main damage nodes one can pick up from the passive tree. From my experience, going crit requires too much gear and passive investment and is not recommended. This holds even more so due to the awesome "Controlled Destruction" support gem.

I further push the character by going low-life (Pain Attunement keystone for 30% more spell damage), employing five(!) auras (Hatred and Haste for damage and move speed; empowered Discipline and Clarity to boost the ES-pool and mana regeneration, Grace for defense), and auto-cursing enemies with three curses (Enfeeble and enhanced Temporal Chains for survivability, enhanced Projectile Weakness for offense - all supported by Blasphemy from Heretic's Veil). In the ideal setup, Projectile Weakness and Temporal Chains are augmented by a lvl 4 Enhance, which reduces monster speed by almost 75% (!) and greatly pushes damage (monsters take 95% increased damage from projectiles).

This is probably the tankiest caster build I have ever played. Actually, it is among the tankiest builds I have ever played in general.

The build benefits from a diverse layer of stacked defenses. These include:

-8.5k ES. 9.5k is easily obtainable if you sacrifice a bit of damage (taking the Melding nodes and using the Energy from Within jewel in the appropriate place). 10k ES should be possible with slightly better gear.

-30% faster start of Energy Shield recharge from the "Ghost Dance" Ascendancy skill (after about 1.5 seconds).

-48% Evasion rating; >50% possible. On top of that, 20% more chance to evade attacks while not on full Energy Shield (when it's needed the most) from the "Shade Form" Ascendancy skill.

-5% chance to dodge attacks and spell damage from the "Ghost Dance" Ascendancy skill.

-Capped resistances (obviously).

-CWDT linked to Immortal Call.

-Enemies are auto-cursed with enhanced Temporal Chains (-72% speed). -74% speed is possible with either a lvl 21/20 or lvl 20/22+ corrupted Temporal Chains.

-Enemies are auto-cursed with Enfeeble.

-22% chance to block from Prism Guardian.

-Stun Immunity from Eye of Chayula.

-Relatively high movement speed from increased Aura effectiveness Haste + gear and tree.

After the nerf to Scion in 2.3, I think that Shadow/Trickster provides the best combination of defense and offense. Here are some details about the individual nodes, and a suggestion in which order to take them.

(1) Ghost Dance. 20% Faster Start of Energy Shield Recharge is awesome (together with Shavs, this reduces the recharge delay to slightly more than 1.5 seconds). 5% Dodge+Spell Dodge is an effective 5% more multiplier to our EHP - very nice. 10% increased movement speed while on full energy shield greatly increases clearspeed.

(2) Shade Form. +250 flat ES and 500 evasion is huge. 20% *more* chance to evade attacks if not on full energy shield is also very nice (my unbuffed chance to evade is already at 48%!). The 20% increased cast speed after ES recharge has started is OK, but hardly noticeable.

(3) Weave the Arcane. Together with Clarity and one other mana node on the tree, this basically solves all mana issues (some mana regeneration rate on rings is still needed though).

(4) Swift Killer (optional after Uber Lab). Throughout regular mapping, this generates Frenzy charges like crazy and almost constantly pushes my DPS by 25%.

DISCLAIMER: If you think that you will not be able to get your hands on a +1 Curse Eye of Chayula amulet eventually (although this should become affordable once you run this build for a while), choosing Witch/Occultist might be the better option for you. But otherwise, I think Trickster clearly dominates Occultist.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYCAAMeBx4NHw18DkgPqxEvEVARlha_Fy8YPBhWGGoZihqPGyUc3B0UHaofQSL0JIsksCepKPoqOCsKLKYtqC9vNAo1uTdmPChBh0ZxSVFLrkyDTm1V1lfJWAdauVxrXIpd8l9qYlpk52qMbAttGXC7cNR0gXX9eC9713zlf8aApICzgseDCYRIhG-ExYsOjxqPRo_6kNaRR5MnlS6XBpuhm7WcMpy-oS-i2aXEpwinK7DYsZC0DLVIuJO9J76AvorDOsNtxKLIFMrT0NDUQtkT2Vvfit-Y4YjpAuq662Pr7uwY8NX1b_ba99f5pPno-tL7Cf5J?accountName=habkor&characterName=Scardor

Offense


Defense


Misc

* Body: 5L+ Shavs. A 5L Shavs is quite cheap nowadays (around 4-5 Ex currently) and provides vastly better defenses than Solaris Lorica, but the latter is also feasible if you are on a very tight budget.
* Shield: Prism Guardian (for most of our auras on life - Hatred, Haste and Grace). Cheap.
* Helmet: Heretic's Veil. This saves one or two gem slots and is required for the optimal setup with all auras and curses (due to its reduced mana reservation for curses). Currently costs around 4-5 Ex. If you are on a budget, just take a rare helmet with as much ES and resistances as possible.
* Amulet: +1 curse Eye of Chayula for stun immunity and enabling us to triple-curse enemies (several Ex). Until you can get your hands on one, a normal Eye of Chayula will do (very cheap).
* Boots: +1 Gems corrupted Wondertrap for massive IIR and increased defenses (several Ex). Normal ones work just fine (very cheap).
* Gloves: Rare Gloves with as much ES as possible, ideally also with some IIR. And whatever else you need (missing resistances, dexterity, you can also master-craft +all attributes from Haku).
* Belt: A rare Rustic Sash (due to its increased Physical Damage) with as much resistances as possible and +flat ES. A Physical Doryani's invitation works too (and its added strength is very useful), but it lacks flat ES.
* Wand: As much Spell Damage and Cast Speed as possible. Increased projectile speed and additional intelligence are recommended.
* Rings: You should aim for (in that order): (1) Missing resistances. (2) 40%+ mana regeneration rate. (3) A free prefix to master-craft increased ES%. (4) Flat ES. (5) Intelligence. (6) IIR.

Now to gems:

* Level 20 EK with max quality (corrupted lvl 21 would be optimal).
* Spell Echo, Controlled Destruction, Life Leech and Pierce as support gems. IIQ as last link in case you own a 6L Shavs. In temporary leagues, you can either use IIR instead of IIQ (requires recoloring of course), or you just go for even higher damage with Empower lvl 4 or Added Fire Damage.
* Hatred, Haste and Grace as auras in Prism Guardian.
* At least enhanced (lvl 3+) Temporal Chains and Projectile Weakness as permanent curses in Heretic's Veil (or in your rare helmet/somewhere else if you don't use Heretic's). Preferably also unenhanced Enfeeble (if you have a +1 curse Eye of Chayula).
* Cast When Damage Taken + Immortal Call in order to mitigate physical damage spikes.
* Empowered (lvl 3+) Discipline and Lightning Golem (optimal to use in +1 gems Wondertrap).
* Further recommended for utility: Decoy Totem to taunt tough enemies, Vaal Discipline for emergency, Lightning Warp linked to Less Duration for mobility.

Note: If you insist on using Whirling Blades (linked to Faster Attacks and Fortify), a very nice option is to use a corrupted Redbeak (100% increased damage on low life) with Culling Strike as corruption. Since the corrupted mod applies globally, this pushes the effective damage by around 11% and comes close to a decent wand. But it lacks projectile speed and intelligence, of course.

***Body***

EK - Spell Echo - Controlled Destruction - Life Leech - Pierce - IIQ

or

EK - Spell Echo - Controlled Destruction - Life Leech - Pierce - Added Fire Damage/Empower lvl 4 (for maximal damage).

Simply drop IIQ (or Pierce) if you only have a 5L.

I'm currently more than mana-stable with either setup.

***Auras on Life***

In Prism Guardian: Hatred, Haste and Grace

In Gloves: Clarity (linked to Blood Magic)

***Aura on Mana**

In +1 Gems Wondertrap: Discipline linked to Empower.

***Curses (all in Heretic's Veil)***

Temporal Chains and Projectile Weakness linked to Enhance. Enfeeble unlinked.



This gem setup leaves 7 free gem slots, which are recommended to use for

***Utility/Defense***

In Gloves: CWDT (lvl 1) - Immortal Call (lvl 3)

In Boots: Lightning Golem and Vaal Discipline (both linked to Empower)

In Wand: Lightning Warp linked to Less Duration. Decoy Totem (unlinked).

Cobalt Jewels are by far the most useful and easiest to roll.

For maximal damage, I recommend the following:

[Prefix]

Two of those: Spell Damage While Holding a Shield (up to 16%), Cast Speed While Holding a Shield (up to 5%), Physical Damage (up to 16%)

[Suffix]

Two of those: Projectile Damage (up to 12%), Spell Damage (up to 12%), Cast Speed (up to 4%), Attack and Cast Speed (up to 4%), Increased Damage (up to 10%).


Other useful (non-offensive) stats are

[Prefix]

Mana Regeneration Rate (up to 15%), Increased Mana (up to 8%), Energy Shield (up to 8%)

[Suffix]

Reduced Mana Cost of Skills (up to 5%), Projectile Speed (up to 8%), various resistance mods, various +stats mods.

I directly transitioned to this build with an existing char that was lvl 78 at the time. If you want to level a char from scratch, I would highly recommend playing life-based first and only transitioning to low-life around level 60-65 or so.

Below you can find a sketch for a point progression. It is not optimized though and will require you to use a few regrets once you respec to low-life. Feel free to modify it according to your needs.

20 points:

40 points:

60 points:

86 points (before transitioning):

86 points (after transitioning):

100 points:

105 points:

110 points:

Normal: Skill Point (preferred) or Resistances. Mana is really helpful early on, but becomes redundant at high levels. Resistances can be helpful with unoptimized gear. When in doubt, take the skill point, or mana for convenience and respec in late game.

Cruel: Physical Damage, Cast Speed, or Skill Point. No option strictly dominates the others. I took the skill point for more tree flexibility.

Merciless: Skill Point (or possibly the frenzy charge). Since our frenzy charges don't help us reliably vs. tough bosses, and trash dies instantly anyway, I think the skill point is superior.

This build is quite strong for an MF-variant and can tackle most difficult maps.

The following map mods cannot be run (or are simply not worth it):
Blood Magic, Physical Reflect.

The following map mods can be run with minor gem adaptions:

(1) Reduced life/mana regeneration rate (up to 60%). Simply replace IIQ with a leveled "Reduced Mana" support gem.

(2) No regeneration. Deactivate one curse (probably Enfeeble) to have some mana buffer, and replace Pierce for Mana Leech.

(3) Monsters are immune to curses. Quite annoying, but can be done with care.

(4) Elemental reflect. Simply swap out Hatred.