[3.6] Righteous Fire Obliteration Trickster

It turns out the RF Oblit Slayer may not be dead after all!
(https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2013175)

Video

Gear & Gems

POB


I've been looking for alternatives to my (now-defunct) RF Oblit Slayer build since before the Slayer Ascendancy was gutted. I've played a Juggernaut variant with Kaom rings and Endurance charges, which came close, but was rather pricy, as well as a Hierophant that split the RF degen to the manabase. While it was a little cheaper than the Jugg, it still wasn't exactly 'cheap', plus it wasted a good amount of stats to get a decent enough manapool/mana regen. This Trickster variation is by far the one that has performed the best. The concept is rather simple, use Scold's Bridle to hit yourself with an instant-cast skill every second in order to trigger the ES recovery. This ends up being a sort of pseudo-regen that sustains RF. Since we're scaling Evasion to a high amount in order to achieve respectable ES recovery, Queen of the Forest becomes an obvious pick for even more zoom zoom. It's worth noting that you also have to scale your ES pool a bit in order to get the full recovery off of each Ghost Shroud trigger. Lastly, the Trickster ascendancy lines up very well with this build, granting a more multiplier for DoTs, some ES based on the Eva of your chest (and some Eva from Scolds as your helm), and some movespeed.

Since we have a More Multiplier for DoTs, it would only be reasonable to use a DoT skill as our single target. Scorching Ray would be an obvious pick, but having to reset your channel every second to trigger Scolds could be pretty obnoxious. I opted for Vortex, as it has exactly a 1 second cooldown at level 20. This means that we'll want to scale our RF and Vortex through generic scaling rather than specific "burning" nodes. Minion damage and Spiritual Aid becomes a perfect fit, as it will scale both while at the same time scaling Obliteration pops. I didn't push this build to its limit as I got bored of Synthesis, but there is definitely room for improvement. There might be a more optimal single-target weapon swap for instance, I just tossed a Doryani's Catalyst + Rise of the Phoenix as it was the first thing that came to mind (notice that I don't even swap into it for the boss fight). Another obvious improvement would be integrating a Vaal Skill or two. Vaal Righteous Fire is an obvious pick, but I can also see Vaal Cold Snap being a possibility. It is also worth mentioning that while Purity of Fire will make things run far smoother, it isn't required outside of Bossing, so feel free to swap that for a Herald of Ash for better clear (and pretty visuals!). I'd like to also point out that my Flame Dash wasn't set up properly during this video. You generally want the Arcane Surge linked to it to be somewhere around level 7~9 for it to trigger after EVERY cast. I was in the process of leveling it to 20 before selling it with a GCP for 20% quality which is why you might see some slight mana issues.

So with all of that said, how does it stack up to the now-defunct Slayer variant? Well, I think it has a place of its own. It benefits in that you can concentrate solely on evading as you drop Vortex, and that the high Evasion rating required for this mechanic doubles up as a defensive layer. On that note, the Ghost Shrouds do stack up, so while we're only cycling on 1 stack constantly, we always have 2 more sitting behind should we be hit. The physical mitigation should be approximately the same, while the elemental is a little less (now that Loreweave was nerfed). It's much faster for clear due to Queen of the Forest, but requires an Onslaught flask which is a bit of a pain. If you don't mind losing some movespeed, you can drop this for a Ruby Flask (although I'm not so sure these are immensely valuable after the change). I can't quite say how much cheaper/expensive this build is, but it should be around the same ballpark. Lastly, and probably most importantly, it differs in that the Slayer was super lazy where you just had to walk around while things popped. The walking part is no different with this build, however you DO have to actively cast Vortex every second to keep your ES up, which can be a little tiresome if you play for extended periods of time. It's not as terrible as a Pathfinder piano, but it can wear you down if you play for 4~6 hours or more.

On that note - I'll probably put myself through the pain of testing this build concept as a Piano Pathfinder during the Flashback event. While I reckon it will work, I doubt it will be as enjoyable. Having done that, I will have tested what I think to be all of the viable variations to RF + Obliteration (and am rather confident to say that is the best alternative to Slayer).

currently leveling it and its going great! when does righteous fire become sustainable without flasks?

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Shadowgale wrote:

currently leveling it and its going great! when does righteous fire become sustainable without flasks?

Hi! I'm glad it's going well. I'm currently testing the Pathfinder variant to wrap this whole thing up. As to your question, it's somewhat arguable. I started off as soon as I hit 70 and could equip QotF. It felt well enough at that point, but felt much smoother at around 75 iirc.

As a general rule of thumb:
* you want both RF pantheons (spider and firebull).
* The more life you get, the more degen you'll have.
* The more evasion you get, the more ES you'll get.
* Make sure your maximum ES is equal to or (slightly) greater than the ES you're recovering per tick.

This means that for your initial gear, you want to aim for the most evasion you can get with at least 70'ish life and proper resistances. Make sure your grace and purity of fire are leveled accordingly. On the tree, your core nodes come first (spiritual aid, EE, EO, etc), then get big life nodes, and then prioritize all of the evasion nodes you can get while at the same time scaling your ES properly. Lastly, get all of the life nodes that are worth 5% increase (and further on the ones worth less than that).

A few other things that my help:
* DO NOT use Blood Rage
* Use a Ruby/Jade flask
* Vortex cooldown scales as you level, so if the cooldown isn't close enough to 1 second, use something like molten shell instead. You can always use flame dash to set off another Ghost Shroud stack.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! And last few things I’m wondering about.
How important is the 6th link?
What’s with all the minion nodes on the passive tree?
What’s ur explanation and other possible options for the cast when damage taken setups?

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Mintz wrote:

...

I think I answered all this between the vid/guide. 6th link isn't necessary, use the bench to roll BBBB on your qotf. You can run with a 4-link or 5-link just fine. Minion nodes convert to generic increased damage through spiritual aid node. No clue what other cwdt setups could work, I just picked what I usually use. Good luck!

This is my favorite version so far. It was a bit difficult to get used to at first but I got the hang of it later. Now at level 90 it feels so smooth and efficient. I'm glad we got rid of the clunky BV. Vortex is more mobile thus makes dodging hits easier. I also use Vaal RF and it feels easier to kill bosses and stay alive with this version. Please keep updating this build every league and thank you for your work!

Edit: The Pale Court, Elder and Shaper down.

Does this build hold up after the ghost shroud nerf?

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QuorryFail wrote:

Does this build hold up after the ghost shroud nerf?

Hey, sorry about the late reply. I myself haven't tested it, but I imagine it could still work out. The stat requirements are likely a bit higher to get started with. The new defensive skills having a global cooldown means you won't be able to 'cheat' them out through molten shell. Look up some other instant utility skill to trigger your shroud stacks each second until you level your vortex high enough.

All in all, I'd recommend just going Pathfinder, it seems to be the more reliable/easier to gear version to this concept. That said, if you really want to try Trickster out, try contacting Cihonidas or look his profile up at least, he seems to have made it work this league. Best of luck!

(Pathfinder video in the same YT channel, forum thread here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2512762)

Patch Notes:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2627574

Trickster (Nerfed)
Ghost Dance: Now grants +3% to chance to evade while you have Energy Shield (from +5%), 2% reduced damage taken per Ghost Shroud (from 3%), and when hit, causes you to lose a Ghost Shroud and recover Energy Shield equal to 4% of your Evasion Rating (from 5%).

Righteous Fire
Now deals 35.8 base Fire Damage per second at gem level 1, up to 1541.8 at gem level 20 (previously dealt no base Fire Damage per second).
Enemies now burn for 20% of your maximum Life and Energy Shield per second as Fire Damage at all gem levels (from 40%).
Now gains 1% Burning Damage per 1% gem quality (from 1% Spell Damage per 1% gem quality)."

Several Damage over Time-only skills, such as Righteous Fire, Contagion and the Death Aura from Death's Oath, can now break barrels and other objects throughout the world.

Do you think the build will hold after Trickster nerf? :)

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Patch Notes:
Do you think the build will hold after Trickster nerf? :)

Whoops. Sorry, I haven't been paying attention to these threads. I mean, Most of the trickster nerfs aren't too relevant, the only relevant one is from the previous patch where ghost stacks are generated at a slower rate. The smaller recovery rate can be bypassed once you get good enough gear, so that'll only make it harder to get started is all.

The RF nerf also doesn't hurt us much, because if you run the numbers, that base fire damage accommodates so that if you have 7k (combined) life/es or less, you're dealing the same or more damage. It's only builds that go past 7k (combined) es/life that got a damage nerf. So that'd be Shavronne's pure ES RF builds and Kaom's Heart life builds for the most part.

So that said, the build technically should still work, but it's probably way too high of an investment to get started early on. Pathfinder is still probably just the best way to go about this.