[3.17] 👑PoE on Steroids: ✨Flicker Strike✨ CoC Ice Nova / Spear ❄️ - S-Tier T16s, Sirus, map/boss ✔️

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4hpkj4 wrote:

I really appreciate the recommendations. This is the most fun I've had playing this game. Flickering around is probably my new favorite way to play the game.

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BruteNewb wrote:

Been playing it for about a week now and I'm 30-40ex deep. The tldr bottom line is it is very fun and therefor a success.

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Cazziuz wrote:

well igotta say , after conversion its a beast though i have onlyt ran like 1 test map , but it was crazy fast ...

but seriuslythank y ou for the pob,made my day, now im off to nap before w ork tonight ,then imma smash maps once im home ,lol thanks again !

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KurbadsN7 wrote:

Realy cool build, but i have been strugling with gearing it for the past 2 days. Finaly i did itand I must say it is a lot of fun. Wrecking yellow maps with my eyes closed :D

Of course, there will be some teething problems but I am creating a DPS and Tankiness Checklist below that you can check to make sure you're getting set up right to crush content for a good price!

+ Bucketloads of fun in a PoE-only flavour!
+ Theoretically a one-button build with autoaim and teleporting!
+ Ridiculous clearspeed without any explode chest needed.
+ Decent to very high single-target DPS, plus ability to "triple spec" - from Ice Nova (clear) to Ice Spear (bossing) to Cyclone CoC (Maven mostly).
+ No seriously it's like building 3 chars at once!
+ Good scaling all the way to 20m sDPS after which it plateaus.
+ Possibly the cheapest variant of Flicker Strike that can hit 10m sDPS.
+ It's Flicker Strike, come on!

- It's Flicker Strike! Backtracking for lootis annoying, loss of control can be dangerous.
- If you run Eldritch Altars or Strongboxes, having to stop feels bad.
- Tankiness depends on decent rares which you have to snipe, especially since everyone logged off to play Elden Ring.
- Horrible for SSF, you need 5 uniques.
- Build stops scaling well after 50ex pretty much, this is when you want to go pure phys/cold Flicker (needs about 100ex though lol).
- Needs a decent rig.
- Ultimately a melee build - you NEED to have clean Pinnacle boss mechanics to pull it off.

- 50% increased teleport range Flicker Strike (Ashes of the Stars + Divergent Flicker = "offscreen" mobs at top/bottom of screen! Also scales spell gems.)
HoI shatter all day
- Very good scaling with currency (video has no 21 Ice Nova/Spear, Bottled Faith or even Zealotry, uses cheap cold cluster, no Awakened GMP, no +2 Prism Guardian, no Hatred Crit Watcher's etc)
- Significantly cheaper than traditional Phys -> Cold Flicker with way more defensive auras (Purity of Elements, Determination, Defiance Banner) and no + Frenzy Ring / Glove / Strike requirements
- Funded by billions of failed Omniscience crafts

- 25-30k armour with just 1 Granite flask
- ~8-9k VMS with Vaal Discipline for annoying Archnemesis DoTs
- Divine Shield, which really stacks up in maps + certain boss fights
- Ailment immunity from Purity of Elements
- Hits 7k ES comfortably even with no Presence of Chayula
- ES on Hit recovery is ridiculous (50-70 hits / sec - excluding CWDT-Ball Lightning), for 1.5k-2k ES recovery before leech.
- Can swap to Cyclone CoC without respec once you are too old for this shit (Flickering can give some headaches lol)

Video used a WAY worse version of this and was at about 15ex. Crucially, some clips do not feature Multistrike, which I later realised was a huge multiplier because my base AS was so low. Mapping speed went up by no less than 30%, too... So yes, the video showed some "slow" Flickering XD

This is the 20ex version I'm currently using (all content cleared, Maven however is impossible with Flicker.)

Version 1.01: https://pastebin.com/rxDFdEpz

"Dual Spec" Swap (only recommended for Pinnacle bosses):

- Use Clusters with Eye to Eye + Repeater instead, these cost 25-40c each and 2 regrets to swap out.
- Drop Wise Oak -> Dying Sun
- Increased Critical Strikes -> GMP (or Anomalous GMP for mana costs but make sure your Ice Spear still costs at least 1 mana or Inspiration is disabled).
- Assassin's Mark --> Sniper's Mark (which is insane for Multiboss Arenas too)

Your PoB will then morph into Version 1.0b: https://pastebin.com/fWTFaTww

It is however important to note that for Pinnacle bosses you need to drop Brittle Ground - Flickering isn't considered movement so you just Flick to the target, release the button a little and walk a step, then hold it down again.

Do note that "Low Life" on bosses is now also 50% so Assassin pops off very very hard once you nuke them down with the initial Brittle drop. (11.3m sDPS with this PoB).

Pop in a Bottled Faith over Diamond Flask for ~ 2 million more sDPS.

Usurper's Penance is a 3.15, 1c unique helm which grants up to 30% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Crit at "close range" (with no cooldown or per-skill limit apparently.)



Flicker Strike only works if you have Frenzy Charge generation. Since we need to focus on 100% crit chance, we play Assassin, and cannot play raider.

The previous good Flicker enablers are:

- The Red Trail which requires a Jewel Slot for Golden Rule, as well as likely a Voidheart to bleed on hit. Also, getting hit for huge bleeds sucked.

- Farrul's Fur + Aspect of the Cat. Not only is Farrul's really expensive, it limits the build to life only, disallowing Low-Life builds which are super powerful given how strong auras and Pain Attuenment is. On top of this, Aspect of the Cat is a huge waste of mana reservation for spell builds compared to other spell auras.

- Oro's and Terminus Est are low-tier Flicker enablers that more importantly disable the use of a shield, and once again Low-Life (Prism Guardian) is the way to scale spells.

To make sure we generate at least 1 Frenzy Charge, we use Ice Spear - GMP in all setups. Not only is Ice Spear - GMP among the biggest DPS combos you can have in a Cospri's, it makes sure you hit 6 additional times every other Flicker strike, oversustaining Frenzy Charges.



The real star of the 3.17 league is Ashes of the Stars though. Divergent Flicker Strike with 50% quality = 50% increased teleport range, making Flicker become an insane joyride I've never experienced before.

On top of this, Ashes' +1 all skills scales spells VERY hard. Anomalous Ice Nova also enjoys 1.5% increased damage PER QUALITY making 30% from Ashes translate to 45% increased Damage just from alt quality alone. Phantasmal Vortex enjoys 60% increased Damage, too. Not only that, as a mini-aura stacker all your auras get a +1, as does HoI.

Please help push the build further - this is just a CoC template and I'm already thinking of Mjolner variants with Shock Nova / Arc on the cards :)

For those that really want to go zoom and don't boss much, use Badge of the Brotherhood instead and spec Elusive on Assassin. Flame Dash cooldown becomes almost non-existent and your movespeed skyrockets.

Surprisingly Easy

Any Map Boss: They kind of just die even in Ice Nova form.

Conquerors: Just weave Baran's shotguns if you don't nuke him quick enough.

Sirus: You stick to him even if he teleports which is nuts for DPS and really satisfying.

Elder Guardians: All jokes because of teleporting except Eradicator immune phase, fuck that guy. Pop VMS + Vaal Disc and run around.

Eater of Worlds et all: CoC Ice Spear simply just does too much damage for these guys to matter, Flicker or Cyclone regardless.

Tricky

Uber Elder: Obviously, you love CoC, but don't flicker into Shaper balls or slam and that's about it, use it like a 3-round SMG burst instead of full-auto. Capiche?

The Feared: Sticking on a spinning Chayula is no good for your health, but honestly once you're past the 5m sDPS mark it's a nukefest.

ABSOLUTE GARBO

Maven: Please just slot Cyclone in, don't even bother trying. Flickering on the Brain WILL kill you. You can Flicker Maven herself sure, but just Cyclone the whole fight and it'll last less than a minute.

In fact, why do Maven at all this league??

Apex of Atzoatl: For the same reason, you can't flicker on the temple apex thing, because Flicker puts you on the hitbox of the degen or something. Cyclone swap out for these bosses!

Jewels/Clusters/Watcher's



Helm: Usurper's Penance


Amulet: Ashes of the Stars


Body Armour: Shavronne's Wrappings (5 off-colour)


Shield: Prism Guardian


Weapon: Cospri's Malice


Rings: 2x Rares with Resists and Dex/Str/Int


Gloves: High ES (~200ES) Rare with Int and preferably Dex


Boots: High ES (~170) Rare with Int, 25% or even 20% Movespeed will do


Belt: Rare Crystal Belt with ES, Resists

Main 6L (Chest Armour): (Divergent) Flicker Strike + (Awakened) Cast on Critical Strike


In the Cospri's (3L): Ice Spear + (Anomalous) Greater_Multiple_Projectiles_support + (Phantasmal) Frostbolt



Vortex Damage Loop (3L+Flame Dash): (Phantasmal) Vortex + Bonechill + Arcane Surge +
Flame Dash


Mark on Hit (2L): (Mark on Hit + Assassin's Mark OR Sniper's Mark


CWDT Loop (3L in helm - rolls red slots easily): Cast When Damage Taken + [Vaal] Molten Shell + Ball Lightning

Major Pantheon: Upgraded Arakaali OR Brine King

Being unable to use flasks for recovery makes ES builds very dependent on other sources of regen/recoup, which is why I made the ES-on-Hit Watcher's a must-buy. That's not always available however - what about phased bosses or GGG's favourite "kill you after enemy is dead"?

This is where the Pantheon comes in big time to help the build's major weakness: Degens and Bleeds.

On top of being handy with your Vaal Discipline key, Arakaali is extremely high-value, cutting all Bleeds/Poisons/CorrBlood and annoying Degens by 10% straight up, then reducing the overall duration of those (and worse debuffs) by 20%, and giving a ghetto 40% chaos res against Poison and poison pools / Toxic Archnemeses, etc.

You -may- want to run Brine King in two situations: if your gear is good enough to handle Chaos and you're fast with VDisc, or if you run 150++ quant maps with Double Added as or Beyond / rare juiced maps, where the size of average incoming hits goes up enough to mini-stun you on a regular basis. Do note that you don't need to fully upgrade Brine King since Purity of Elements makes you immune to Chill and Freeze.

Minor Pantheon: Ralakesh

This is a huge section that gets asked for. I would first like to impress upon most players asking this to eventually develop a personal favourite levelling method - meaning no matter what character you're building, you automatically use a set of tried and true levelling builds.

This is because there are a few skills that either scale super well or are so mechanically superior for hit-and-run (drop it and keep running, barely breaking stride) that it'll get you through the campaign in say, 5 hours with cheap "twink" gear. These builds usually crush white and early yellow maps too until you're about level 80, at which you can transition to

In general, north half of tree is great at using spells to level, and the southern hemisphere excels at attacks. No surprise there. I hear Hollow Palm is excellent for that.

For almost all spell builds - like this one - I recommend Armageddon Brand (used to be Storm Brand). Here's what you need:

1) Tabula Rasa, of course
2) 2 x Axiom Perpetuums, later 2 x Shades of Solaris
3) Seven League Steps (you can always sell again after) and at least 2 Quicksilver Flasks
4) Replica Karui Ward
5) 1 or 2 Berek's Respite is great for clear.

Run Freezing Pulse till Storm Brand at 12, then Arma at 28. Links would be Onslaught - Combustion - Faster Casting - Ignite Prolif (remove if Berek, use Conc Effect instead) - Immolate.

You can Wave of Conviction - Hextouch - Flammability - EleWeakness (if you have Whispers of Doom) for bosses.

Basically, if Armageddon Brand can take a racer with 0 gear and a 4L to maps in 3 hours and 39 minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19-THLhhGR4 it's going to do you the same. Watch the middle parts of the video and that's how you play it. Just always be running to the next checkpoint/boss and drop Armageddon Brands behind you.

For the passive tree, just basically make sure you have Runebinder and the Brand cluster next to it. That's it. I've levelled a Witch to 80 without ascending just to show how good Armageddon Brand levelling is before. You don't need to overthink it.

Barebones Arma Brand tree which is all that's needed to power Arma Brand into 75+ - after this start building towards the edge of the tree (reservation nodes, etc):


Since you are using Shades of Solaris (they do no damage on crits) - do not spec into Power Charge gen at all on the tree or as Assassin - take Mistwalker and Opportunistic and hold your other points for when you switch to CoC.

When do you switch to CoC? Do Cyclone CoC at 75 - 80 until L90, then go full Flicker. You need the additional points for Flicker to finally feel smooth.

High priority masteries

1) Energy Shield Mastery: Stun Threshold is based on 50% of ES instead of Life

This is what *sorta* allows us to shed Presence of Chayula (still the BiS option for tankiness) and use Ashes / a Rare amulet / Badge. I say sorta because you WILL still be stunned by rare-aura-stacking-Phys-substantial mobs - if you are running that content, you better make some adjustments against DoTs because you are going to NEED the Brine King Pantheon in the build.

If you don't run this Mastery at all, you'll be stunned almost all the time by the smallest amount of damage since we have what, 1500 life.

2) Energy Shield Mastery: 30% Increased Light Radius / Radius based on ES instead of Life

This is a binary option - either you need it badly or you don't. You won't noticed reduced Light Radius due to Low Life on outdoor maps, but obviously in underground/indoor maps the game becomes almost unplayable. I prefer Crimson Temple / Haunted Mansion / Toxic Sewers so this is mandatory for me. Save a point here if you don't need one.

High value masteries

1) Reservation Mastery: Either 15% Effect of Auras OR 8% increased damage per Aura on you.

15% Effect is the more balanced choice - it still is a substantial DPS increase (about 5% more) vs the offense option (about 9-10% more) - but 15% Effect also grants more ES and Armour from Discipline and Determination.

2) Accuracy Mastery: Dex Provides +3 instead of +2 OR 40% Increased Accuracy vs Uniques

Both of these serve as very slight DPS boosts and can easily be replaced by a high accuracy roll on your rings or gloves. They only really are noticeable against Evasive mobs - the problem is that Metamorphs and Archnemesis roll Evasive quite often, which is why I bumped this up to "high value". In any other league you may not want to waste this point.

3) Armour and Energy Shield Mastery: Defend with 120% Armour while not on low ES

This is actually a sleeper OP node - it is a flat 20% MULTIPLIER to all your Armour, with no "cooldown" per se.. The slight caveat is, it falls off after that one big mega hit (after which your ES drops below half / "low'). With high ES regain/sustain however, you're more often simply gaining a 20% multiplicative armour buff all the time and when you need it most.

4) Charge Mastery: 3% Increased Damage per Charge

This is a straight up massive damage boost for one point - more if you run the Badge variant or have Enduring Composure or the like anywhere in the build. Great 1-point wonder.

Flex masteries

1) Attributes Mastery: +5 Dex per Allocated Mastery OR 5% Increased Attributes OR 1% per Lowest Attribute

Nothing much to say here - some variants of the build have 8 masteries or more, meaning this is worth 40 Dex, which is higher than the nearest 30 Dex Node (Alacrity). If you get enough from items you can swap this to 5% increased Attributes for an Int boost as well, or go full offense with 1% per Lowest Att. Adjust as required.

For fast levelling:
Mistwalker -> Opportunistic -> Ambush and Assassinate

Standard Spec:
Unstable Infusion + Deadly Infusion is CORE.
You can swap between Opportunistic, Ambush and Assassinate and Mistwalker.

Mistwalker = Crit Defense + really good clearspeed boost just from walking around faster - ESPECIALLY with Badge of the Brotherhood swap.
Ambush and Asssassinate = Great for Pinnacle bosses, starting maps and Archnemesis content. Culling Strike + Low Life damage boons really come online against beefier targets.
Opportunistic = Middle ground between single target offense and defense.

Personally, I drop Mistwalker in this league because I want all the single target damage I can get, but those with a bigger budget can go Mistwalker.

Elemental Reflect
No-go. No explanation needed.

Enemies Steal Power/Frenzy/Endurance Charges on Hit
No-go. You may nuke most of the map but the one mob that hits back is going to stop you from Flickering and now has an insane crit + damage boost.

Monsters have x% chance to avoid elemental ailments
Doable but dangerous, slow and annoying. Half the build's clear is Herald of Ice explosions and preventing freezes means you have to "manually" kill mobs, drastically slowing clearspeed and allowing counterattacks.

No Regen
Doable but dangerous, not very safe if you don't have ES on Hit Watcher's. We leech enough mana to not need mana regen - however your single target DPS will drop so make sure there aren't too many other rippy mods.

Beyond
Doable only with mid-investment - your PoB had better be at least 5m DPS to nuke down T16 Beyond safely, and you want to be at 6.5k HP. Ice Spear generally is the far superior choice as it blows up Beyond packs.

FlickerCoC was an early dream of mine but a lot of build creators struggled to make it really viable back then, mostly because the IceNova/Frostbolt interaction was absent until 3.5.

That combination alone scaled damage hard enough for it to tackle endgame content, and so Flickering Arc and Blizzard was born - a new way to experience Flicker Strike without having to invest in a physical weapon.

Flickering Blizzard in particular became super successful and the video hit 100k views in a month, and has 150k today. Quite a few people on YouTube and Discord have reached out saying it was what got them into Path!

Sadly the many reworks to PoE endgame meant the low single-target damage of the build made it quite unusable in 3.9 onwards and the build fell to the wayside.

HOWEVER! I was always looking for a way to revive it, and it is now back!

With Masteries, Aura and reservation reworks, and now Eldritch gear affording so much cheap power, the build can function as a top-tier mapper and a very strong bosser - for SOFTCORE of course. You can use this 20ex build to farm up the 100 ex to become a real phys-cold Flicker build. :D

Occultist or Assasssin?

Assassin is the lower-budget and honestly more reliable build, primarily because of Ambush and Assassinate guaranteeing a crit fire which starts the Frenzy gen, plus shredding bosses once they hit low-life + inbuilt cull. Inbuilt Power Charge generation also frees you up from having to use PCoC.

Once you pass a currency threshold however - namely, being able to afford ES on Hit + base Hatred Crit Watcher's (so what, 30ex for just one jewel??), the gap is slightly closed. Occultist's primary gain is in slightly more ES and nuttier AoE, they gain 48% from power charges alone, making HoI really pop off even in Ice Spear spec. Resist shred is really good, and the -100% regen replaces all need for Frost Bomb. Finally they can even triple Curse and have a bunch of reduced damage taken, though at that point you kill stuff so fast you don't take damage at all.

TL:DR 20ex Assassin, >60ex Occultist. Trees are almost identical anyway, just throw a PCoC in Cospri's or something.

Can I build this on a budget / at level xx / how do I level?

I've addressed this in the video - I mean, I did actually try to build it cheap myself so I could give you an honest answer, and the answer is, don't do it. You need a 6L, off-colour Shavs and those are 5ex early league (3ex now). You need a 3ex Cluster. You need Disc on Hit ES Watcher's - and those are 4ex early league, (2.5ex now?).

So no, don't try it with less than 15ex!!! I mean, I did it with 8ex and a 5L and had a real crap time in T16s and had to bargain bin everything. Of course, if you're happy doing T14s to farm up the 15ex, by all means.

Also, level 90 is highly recommended. Just run Arma Brand to 90, (see levelling section for links)

And no, you cannot leaguestart a build using 5 rare-ish uniques, in-demand clusters and a bunch of alt-quality gems!

- THE BASE LL COC ICE NOVA BUILD is NOT MINE. It is almost a complete rip of themehmetbozlak's (YT) build - I spoke to him and he gave his blessing, even saying I didn't need his permission, what a gamer. If you want to stop being gimmicky and play a proper CoC build, hit up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xCJxPrUhoI - great presentation, explanation and a role model for my videos :'(
- I do think this is highly similar to Qozmo's LL Ice Nova chars as well, who maintains an excellent forum guide on it.
- Main adaptations: Mark on Hit for Sniper's/Assassin's, Strength focus for Determination + Divine Shield. Grace + Ghost Dance is a trap guys. Determination + Armour Flask + Freeze = much tankier and fewer random deaths.

- Smash Mouth obviously, what a banger of a song, check out their new songs!
- Piety Helm 1: /r/Suitsizesmall (the Lab hero yes)
- 3D Cospri's Malice: Dark_Minaz via SketchFab, what a god
- Spiderman dub: Jaboody ofc: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ30YNIcUWuSz8eVJZtLEjw

Research Question #1: How good is Crystallised Omniscience with this build?

We already have about 1,000 in stats, is swapping to Omniscience simply too insane to ignore?

Answered by: [No one yet!]

Research Question #2: Swift Killer Forbidden Flesh/Flame Combo - can someone upload a vid :D


Answered by: [No one yet!]

Research Question #3: Can someone run a high-end version of this build? We're talking 100ex and Mageblood!

It should do swell with Mageblood considering most of the flasks are already magic. I don't think you even need a Granite flask with that much damage + speed..

Answered by: [No one yet!]