[3.22 Ancestor] Pneumatic MoltenStrike Trickster [50M+ DPS] | 30 DIVS to 40 DIVS.



Introduction
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Of course it takes a small uptime to build up to 50m+ dps, as it takes a while for the poison stacks to stack up. In about 2 seconds, your dps is at its peak.
We have many projectiles too, so it stacks up fast.

POB link / Ninja
Damage in POB
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Assuming all projectiles hit. And not sure how poison actually works in pob but, here's the numbers anyway.

Without Punishment
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Melee hit of 5.14m + 28.6 projectiles of 2.56m = 78M dps

With Punishment (Monsters with low life)
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Melee hit of 7.06m + 28.6 projectiles of 3.52m = 107M dps

How do you get 28.6 projectiles?
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4 from skill gem.
2 from helmet enchant.
1 from large cluster - fan of blades
1 from passive - Multishot
4 from gmp skill gem
1 from tattoo (Cost : 8 div) - least priority to get.
(Total 13 projectiles)

Double the number with Returning Projectile Support.
(Total 26 projectiles)

(Anomalous Returning Projectile has 20% chance to proc again).
(0.2 * 13 = 2.6 projectiles will proc again)

Hence, a total of 28.6 projectiles will spawn per cast.
Penalty from GMP and RP supports doesn't affect poison damage.


Defences
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Based on POB, 48k eHP.
30k EV, 5.5k+ ES.
Great amount of ES gained on hit.
Poisoned enemies cannot deal critical strikes.

Is it Uber-Viable?
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I believe it's viable. Just that I don't have fast reactions/quick fingers, and I've yet learnt most mechanics of the bosses (i.e. Uber Shaper / Elder / Maven / Eaters of the World etc.)

Showcase
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Some Elder Guardians + Maven's Invitation = https://youtu.be/mjrGiJGDdrc

Why trickster?
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Choice of Ascendency
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(1) Escape Artist - Go for ES helm, and ES mastery (+100% ES on equipped helm). Together with a good EV/ES body armour to increase defences.
(2) Soul Drinker - A little survivability, with nice attack speed
(3) Swift Killer - Extend charges duration. Enable us to have max charges (3/5/4).
(4) Polymath - nice extra damage.

Forbidden Flame + Flesh
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Assassin's Toxic Delivery (Cost : About 40c each)
Poison you inflict with Critical Strikes deals 25% more Damage
+0.5% to Critical Strike Chance per Poison affecting Enemy, up to +2.0%

Skill Tree at 95.
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Pantheon / Bandits.
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Arakaali + Ralakesh - to cope with DOT
Kill all bandits.

Core Items (Weapon + Important Synergy)
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Dagger (Self-Crafted with Harvest in less than 1 div)
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Needless to say, craft at two elemental lines, with T2 and above. Critical mods / Attack speed mods are good to have. Any other bonuses is fine too.
Must have an open prefix slot to craft : Hits can't be evaded

Ruby Flask (Less than 10c)
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To be able to go low life = more auras = can wear better body armours > shavs.

Brutal Restraint (Balbala) (Cost a few divs, depending on what you want)
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Yup, Traitor will help us maintain our flasks longer. Able to keep uptime of flasks (without killing monsters) for about 2 minutes.
Flasks Gain 4 Charges per empty Flask Slot every 5 seconds

Look out for "% increased Flask Charges gained"
The rest are small bonuses.

Watcher's Eye (ES on hit = 50 chaos) (costs more for other mods, mine cost 2ex)
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ES gained on hit is essential due to the number of hits we deal. It's a huge layer of defence, and allows us to forgo Ghost Reaver.


Curses Set-up (semi-core)
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What you want on your gloves/ring.
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(1) Double-corrupted gloves, with curse temporal chains + despair on hit.
(2) A corrupted glove with temporal chains on hit + rare ring with despair on hit (more expensive)

Why Mercenary's Lot? (Cost : 1 div)
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Well, any gloves work as long as there's these two corrupted implicits. But of course, choose the one which benefits the most according to your budget.

Of course this gloves give quite a bit of damage too.

Anathema (50 chaos on average) - Get more int for more ES.
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A cheap way to unlock max curses limit. With one power charge in Shadow's area, we can have up to 4 curses easily without much investment.

Which curses do we use?
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(1) Temporal Chains (Curse on hit on gloves)
= allow your poison to last significantly longer = more dps.
(2) Despair (Curse on hit on gloves + Self-cast)
= reduce chaos resistance = more poison dmg.
(3) Assassin's Mark (Link with Mark on Hit)
= increases crit chance/dmg, as well as providing frenzy+power charges (mark mastery + superior quality gem)
(4) Punishment (Self-cast)
= increases damage by a huge amount when monster is at low life.

Despair (Curse on hit + Self-cast???)
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Yes. Curse on hit gives us a very good QoL. But why self-cast? It's because of this jewel.

Cost 1 div.

We just have to self-cast it every 10 seconds, or whenever we see rare/unique bosses. It's a must-have QoL jewel, instead of relying on wither totems which will die fast and not reliable.

When do you use punishment?
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Usually only rare/unique bosses. When you can see their life bar is about to hit 50%, just use punishment and you don't have to attack it anymore. Nice to see the hp bar go down with punishment :) yes it affects the poison damage

Flasks (4 flasks) and belt.
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REMEMBER TO ON FLASK 1 + 2 AT THE START OF EACH INSTANCES! - I died too many times because I didn't on my flasks :(

Flasks choices
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These two unique flasks grant us the greatest dps.
Ruby and Sapphire Flasks grant us more resistances to cover up from our gears.
You may choose to go 'Taste of Hate' as it gives us more tankiness. I prefer having more dps with this magic flask.
You may even go Topaz if you lack lightning resistance instead.

Synergy in build.
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To grant us greater synergy due to 1 less flask (Traitor), it will be good to wear a Micro-Distillery Belt to maximize this synergy.

Mods for belt
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(1) Energy Shield
(2) Flask Charges gained/effect/duration. (Avoid reduced charges)
(3) Any other dps mod.
(4) Some stats/resist if possible.

Cost of Flasks (in order) = 10c / 80c / 5c / 2 div
Cost of belt = depending on mod. 1 div ++

Auras/Reservations, Helmet + Gloves
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Check out the helmet (Bought the base helm with the enchant 20c. Essence crafted)
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Discipline (Any quality) - Precision - Arrogance - Wrath

You want as high ES as possible, some resist. An open prefix for physical damage from hits taken as fire.

Gloves.
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Grace - Anger - Herald of Agony - Enlighten

WHAT? Arrogance + Wrath??? Enough life to reserve???
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Cost : 1 div.

Yes, thanks to this amulet, Wrath has no reservation costs, hence able to fully benefit from arrogance support. (You can link it with empower/enhance too (but lack of sockets).
Wrath is the best choice for damage, as well as given ES%!


(Body Armour)
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Cost : 3 div.
Mods to look out for.
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Good amount of EV (to give ES from ascendency), as well as some ES as well. Suppression + some resistances. If you have an open prefix, go for physical damage from hits taken as fire/lightning damage.

Use eldritch ember to "Gain Endurance Charges every x seconds".
12% elemental resistances + 12% physical reduction is too good to miss.
Fully utilize our ascendency - Swift Killer.

Sockets
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Phantasmal Molten Strike - Multistrike - Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks - Awakened Unbound Ailments - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Anomalous Returning Projectiles

The penalty from the projectile gems doesn't affect poison build.
More hits bring far too much more goodness than other support gems.
(a) More ES gained on Hit.
(b) Wither stacks up faster.
(c) Frenzy + Power charges up faster.
(d) Assuming not all projectiles will hit the enemy, more projectiles will overlap each other.

You don't need to have alternate qualities for most gems for a start. Eventually, you'll get it.
To do reflect maps without a worry, Awakened Elemental Damage is important.
Cost : 3 div

(Boots)
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Cost : 50c for base. Essence Crafted (2 div).

Mods to look out for.
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Try to get EV/ES boots.
Fractured : Suppression.
Essence Craft : Avoid Elemental Ailments.
Get some ES and resists.
Any other mods is a bonus.

Sockets
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Assassin's Mark - Mark on Hit
Despair / Steelskin

(Dagger and Shield)
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Dagger has been mentioned @ Core Items.
Mods to look out for (Shield)
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Decent EV/ES, with suppression. Some resists and a bit of damage with leftover open slots.

Sockets
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Whirling Blades / Frostblink / Ancestral Protector

Blood Rage - Punishment - Enhance

Just cast punishment on rare/unique monsters when they hit 50% life :)

(Ring)
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Cost : 1div, threw a hunter's ex.

Mods to look for.
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Flat Elemental Damage, with Elemental Damage with Attack skills. ES, Stats, Resists.

(Other jewels)
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Cost of Cluster Jewel : Self-craft in less than 1 div. (Trade = 8div++)
Cost of Ancestral Vision : 1.5 div.

It's not a must to go for the cluster jewel with these notables. But the two extra sockets are very much needed.
Ancestral Vision to cap our avoid elemental ailments.

On weapon swap.
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Get a weapon that gives endurance charges while stationary. It's good to build charges at the start of the map. When you swap weapons, make sure you have enough stats.

(Tattoos)
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For 10 Dex nodes,
7x 15% avoid stuns from hit
The rest flask effect duration (as many)
If you have the money, flask effect / additional projectile.

For 10 Int nodes,
Change enough nodes to All Attributes +4,
and the rest to global defences.

For a 30 Dex notable,
Get Onslaught on Hit.

You don't really need a loyalty tattoo (minion), but I went for Utula, for some instant leech.

Hotkey Management
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Ctrl Hotkey are all auras.

Important Q&A
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Why no Ghost Reaver?
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I find that the Watcher's Eye ES gained on Hit is sufficient. I rather have the ES recharge when I'm not attacking, than to not heal any ES.

Welcome any feedback! Thanks!
Last edited by zxcroyale#2293 on Oct 27, 2023, 3:31:48 AM
Last bumped on Oct 26, 2023, 6:38:11 PM
Showcase :
Some Elder Guardians + Maven's Invitation = https://youtu.be/mjrGiJGDdrc
Last edited by zxcroyale#2293 on Oct 26, 2023, 7:24:58 PM

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