I got dabbed on by Xandro Blooddrinker, please advice

I'm a pretty new player so I haven't experienced much of the endgame content.

I got to maps with a toxic rain trickster in hc ssf with pretty bad gear, high evasion and low armor and I encountered the rogue exile Xandro Blooddrinker which I knew nothing about.

I pretty much went around the corner and he did a a triple ground slam on me which almost one-shot me before I realized he was there. I tried to get away but the map mod gave him some frenzy charges and I was in a narrow passage which made it difficult to escape. He just repeated the process a couple more times while my flasks where up and killed me.

I googled him and found out none of his hits can be evaded, which got me wondering if my character was supposed to be much tankier when taking on maps.

You can see him there I guess.
https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Centmare/characters

I had something like 2.7k hp and 16k evasion with Grace. Which other defenses should I have been running and how? I don't think I skipped many life nodes. And I'm not sure I'm supposed to have armor on that character.

Should I have been running molten shell? Or maybe some kind of CWDT set up?
Or did I just need better gear than that? I mean, it was a tier 1 map.

You could have more hp, maybe some es on top of that as trickster. Could also look at what map mods you roll

You also got unlucky bcs I don't think he's very common exile.

Molten shell doesn't do much if you don't have high armor. You could run a low lvl immortal call on cwdt setup

You can just write it off as bad luck really, rouge exiles are another random element in maps, you won't run into the guy every day and he is kind of a bane for evasion based builds since he ignores their primary defensive layer.

That said, improving your build is always a good idea so first thing you wanna do is get more life. 2.7k is on the low end. Rule of thumb is 300 life per act so you should have 3k in act 10. For maps you want even more than that. Depending on what other defensive layers you have 4-5k is a goal to follow.

As for armour, most builds these days run the determination aura to get at least some of it. A very common defensive setup is grace + determination + defiance banner. Provides both evasion and armor in good amounts, all the more if you use gear bases that are evasion/armor. Those can also roll spell suppression which is also usually run along those 3 auras. You could go a similar setup. Since you are trickster you can also consider taking eldritch battery and then use one aura linked with divine blessing as a duration based buff. You can take a look at my TR pathfinder to get an idea. Running molten shell depends on how much armor you can get. Steelskin provides 2,2 k extra hp, using molten shell only makes sense if you can get more than that so if you have >22k armor.

Thanks for the advice guys.

So would it have been a good idea to be running something like CWDT + steelskin + immortal call with increased duration support? Or maybe it's better to cast steelskin manually?

I guess I could have also rolled my granite flask to have the armadillo suffix too.

Are there better alternatives to Immortal Call if you're not running endurance charges?

Someone mentioned Determination, but even with Eldritch Battery I don't think I had enough Mana to have Grace, Malevolence AND Determination up.

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Centmare wrote:

So would it have been a good idea to be running something like CWDT + steelskin + immortal call

All guard skills share a global cooldown, so it doesnt make sense to have more than one.

Personally I just grab one and put on LMB, just like the "move only" button to make sure it gets triggered whenever the cooldown allows it.
But Im a softcore-andy... ^^

Anyways, your gear is pretty bad when it comes to the flat life rolls.
The %life rolls on your tree dont have much to work with, if you cant back it up with flat life on your gear.

Personally Id rather run a purity of elements early on to cover the res requirements (and also acquire ele ailment immunity) which allows me to focus on high life rolls on my gear.
This pretty much guarantees 3.5-4k life when I hit maps but you will sacrifice some dmg. But dmg is usually much easier to get than defenses and especially in HC dmg should be an afterthought to some degree.

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Centmare wrote:

Someone mentioned Determination, but even with Eldritch Battery I don't think I had enough Mana to have Grace, Malevolence AND Determination up.

I am running Grace, Determination and Petrified blood as auras on my Pathfinder and use Malevolence via blessing. So Grace + Determination + Defiance Banner isn't much of an issue reservation wise. Just a bit of reservation efficiency somewhere or an enlighten gem and you got it.

The blessing tech requires a good amount of energy shield, around 500 or so otherwise it's not a problem.

While you can certainly play how you choose, I personally wouldn't advise HC SSF for a brand new player, even if you are used to HC in other games. Step it down until you can learn the basics of character building and mechanics before cranking it back. This will allow you to experiment and learn from your mistakes.

PoE is unlike other ARPGs in that it is brutal AND unfair once you get to endgame.

Xandro doesn't hold back

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Centmare wrote:

I pretty much went around the corner and he did a a triple ground slam on me which almost one-shot me before I realized he was there. I tried to get away but the map mod gave him some frenzy charges and I was in a narrow passage which made it difficult to escape.

Proper movementskill (Flamedash) and make sure its "up" for emergency use. Especially if you use Withering Step. Blink Arrow can be good too but only if you are skilled at using it and its fast enough. Flamedash is IMO/IME the "best" option.

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Centmare wrote:

I googled him and found out none of his hits can be evaded, which got me wondering if my character was supposed to be much tankier when taking on maps.

You are supposed to be a lot more tanky.

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Centmare wrote:

I had something like 2.7k hp and 16k evasion with Grace. Which other defenses should I have been running and how?

If you want to get into SSFHC endgame as a new player: You kind of need some phys mitigation. And a lot more life. And Ghost Shrouds with enough ES. Somehow you missed 'Ghost Dance' on the tree. This is important for such a build.

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Centmare wrote:

I don't think I skipped many life nodes. And I'm not sure I'm supposed to have armor on that character.

Life nodes determine the tree and you are supposed to have armour.

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Centmare wrote:

Should I have been running molten shell? Or maybe some kind of CWDT set up?

Cwdt-enfeeble.

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Centmare wrote:

Or did I just need better gear than that? I mean, it was a tier 1 map.

You need better gear too.

In addition to what's been suggested by others, consider using the Frost Wall skill. While it's not popular in most game modes, I find it to be very helpful on certain builds that need some time to get their defences online.

The wall can give you a massive edge against nasty rogue exiles, soul eaters, and just rippy rares or beasts in general. It soaks most projectiles as well, and even some boss abilities. At the very least, if it doesn't help you land the kill, it will give you room to retreat.

If you're not a caster, link it to faster casting support for better results.

I've also had success with Temporal Rift but that's even more niche and requires quick reflexes. It also seemed to grow on my mind in a way that made playing other chars that didn't utilize it more difficult.

Overall I think it's important to understand that no one tool or defensive layer will make or break your chances. It's helpful to explore what's available and continue to grow your arsenal.

Knowledge is king if you ask me.. if I were you, I would read up on the rest of the rogues at this point for future reference. I know I did and that helped a lot (esp the baracus dark pact guy, he's insane.) Tormented Spirits can be fatal too, e.g. martyr and rogue's grip. I lost a few chars to them over the leagues.