[3.9] [Updated] Caustic Arrow CI Trickster - Very tanky, fast mapper, safe playstyle

Ok! That's good to hear :) I'm trying this out right now, seems very fun and items are within my budget range!

Also what do you recommend when leveling getting all south nodes before getting WickedWard / CI ?

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rinseo wrote:

Ok! That's good to hear :) I'm trying this out right now, seems very fun and items are within my budget range!

Also what do you recommend when leveling getting all south nodes before getting WickedWard / CI ?

That entirely depends on your budget, if you can get decent ES gear early, you can go for CI/WW early as well (e.g level 60 tree has this in mind).

But, if not, you want to aim for at least 4.5-5K ES before migrating to CI, so before that, its best to just take some hybrid nodes and respec later, and fill out shadow area (so Blood Siphon, Revenge of the Hunted, Melding, Written in Blood), and after that, and after getting decent ES gear, slowly migrate from life nodes to ES nodes and CI/WW.

So, @rinseo inspired me to actually update level 60 tree to be more reasonable for mapping (e.g hybrid instead of straight up CI). Here are changes:

12th August 2019
- Changed level 60 tree to leveling tree
- Removed some inc chaos damage nodes at shadow start and replaced them with more defensive nodes
- Slightly optimized all trees

Level 60 tree now has nice balance between life and ES, so now it should feel pretty smooth (and requires around 10-11 respec points to CI version that will people get for leveling anyway).

Pastebin in main post is already updated.

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thedeathbeam wrote:

So, @rinseo inspired me to actually update level 60 tree to be more reasonable for mapping (e.g hybrid instead of straight up CI). Here are changes:

12th August 2019
- Changed level 60 tree to leveling tree
- Removed some inc chaos damage nodes at shadow start and replaced them with more defensive nodes
- Slightly optimized all trees

Level 60 tree now has nice balance between life and ES, so now it should feel pretty smooth (and requires around 10-11 respec points to CI version that will people get for leveling anyway).

Pastebin in main post is already updated.

Hooah! Big thumb up for this, appreciate it very much!

But just one more thing, I think in the main post there are missing one section with movement skill choice, and from what I've seen through different posts there's been some skill testing here and there. Should I just follow inside PoB "Skills" tab ? Body:Auras+Movement

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rinseo wrote:

"

thedeathbeam wrote:

So, @rinseo inspired me to actually update level 60 tree to be more reasonable for mapping (e.g hybrid instead of straight up CI). Here are changes:

12th August 2019
- Changed level 60 tree to leveling tree
- Removed some inc chaos damage nodes at shadow start and replaced them with more defensive nodes
- Slightly optimized all trees

Level 60 tree now has nice balance between life and ES, so now it should feel pretty smooth (and requires around 10-11 respec points to CI version that will people get for leveling anyway).

Pastebin in main post is already updated.

Hooah! Big thumb up for this, appreciate it very much!

But just one more thing, I think in the main post there are missing one section with movement skill choice, and from what I've seen through different posts there's been some skill testing here and there. Should I just follow inside PoB "Skills" tab ? Body:Auras+Movement

:)

Well, the "movement" skill sections is this (that is movement + auras):

There are 2 body skill gem sets:
- Default: This setup is for min-maxed and plan-to-be min-maxed builds, utilizing lvl 1 Clarity for our Watcher's Eye
- Budget: This version assumes absence of Clarity Watcher's Eye and Aspect of the Spider, so it's instead using Flesh and Stone for some extra defense

If you don't have clarity watcher's eye, then I would just follow second one (in PoB it is movement + auras (Budget)) as that one is using Flesh & Stone instead of Aspect of Spider + Clarity (even though, you can also just use Flesh & Stone and Clarity watcher's eye if you want more defense than damage).

But both setups are currently using Frostblink + Blink Arrow for movement (after some testing, I think that is best setup, even though Phase Run works really well too).

Ohhh this looks cool!

I have to say this is my favorite build. I have played a lot of builds before finding this one. Good job man. My question is if this build could be adjusted for blight with claws or daggers to accommodate Cobra Lash and Pestilent Strike. I've tried to start myself on converting it but I just don't understand the mechanics that well. Anything I adjust seems to make the build fall apart. THank you for your time.

Hi, thx for the very detailed build.
I'll begin Blight with a CA Trickster, because it has zero requirement to begin with and it can clean safe.

I have played the same build with CI Occultist and I can do all content quite easily. Even Uber Elder fight is quite relaxed. A Trickster version should give more dmg.

In Blight, as we don't need to attack all the time, it will leave time to manage the towers, while the AoE/DoT cures the blight ;)

Big build update

6th January 2020
- Reworked level 100, 90, 80 and 70 tree
- Removed level 60 tree for now
- Removed QoTF setup for now
- Removed budget setup for now
- Replaced Vicious Projectiles bow with +3/dot multi/chaos multi bow
- Added weapon swap with Caustic Arrow + Nova for clear
- Added 2 new gameplay videos
- Updated gear to not include legacy items after ES/quality nerfs
- Switched rare belt to Ascent from Flesh
- Added Withering Step
- Replaced Blink Arrow with Smoke Mine
- Replaced self cast wither with Wither totems
- Added Frenzy + curse on hit setup
- Added Flesh & Stone and dropped Aspect of Spider


Here are 2 new gameplay videos:

T16 Drox Lvl 80
Delve Depth 224 Lvl 80

Main post is already updated

Hey! Cool you're updating this guide, I was following your scourge arrow poison pf build and it's super detailed, hoping for something similar here.

Few questions:
- what do you think of using vertex / atziri's splendor as they're high evasion / es items, would they be good for this build?

- is utmost intellect worth it over 3 small es nodes? it should be?

- any other good corruptions on soul strike possible? I don't know how to get list of possible corruptions and a lot of the ones I've seen were crap (like point blank)

- do you plan to make an anointment section? anything else you'd consider a good alternative to avatar of the hunt? I was wondering dirty techniques just for the multi (it's not poison restricted), or amplify for both damage and aoe size. Or even faith & steel for the extra ES / ES recharge.

- any suggestions which catalysts are best to use?

- thoughts on aspect of the spider instead of flesh & stone? why did you drop it, is it worse? even after f&s nerf in blight? it's only for the ranged attack reduction right? the blind is the same thing we get from stibnite flask already

- is there any way to speed up the delay on arrow nova support? is it just a factor of attack speed? projectile speed?

- how much QoL is the deshret / maraketh jewel?

- btw if you used +2 to support gems instead of +2 to bow gems and awakened gems (ofc expensive setup) does that mean we could get lvl 7 awakened gems in the setup?

- what mods would you aim for except the 4 must haves (chaos multi, dot multi and +3 gems), that leaves 2 extra slots (1 if multimodded), anything good to craft on it left?

- what would you think about using "thread of hope" awakener jewel on the slot above acro with correct radius should be able to pick phase acro, Hunter's Gambit (skipping 3 travelling points that mostly give poison etc.) and maybe Silent Steps, makes any sense?

These are my thoughts after I rerolled from ranger (too expensive and squishy this league) into CA Occultist and ending up with similar build as your trickster one. Watcher's eyes prices are absolutely disgusting after atlas changes but otherwise it's a pretty cheap build.