Once again I'm back to my degenerate flicker behaviour. This time I bring you a phys-to-fire conversion flicker strike build that stacks fire resistance to make the most out of the newly introduced ring: Enmity's Embrace

Links

• PoB with allied merc enabled: https://pobb.in/8nnKgCForNTH
• Merc PoB (Kineticist with Haste): https://pobb.in/cIfFL0a5kfDZ
• Solo PoB: https://pobb.in/gWw4vGE6fq6r
• Current character: MalkFireFlicker

Videos

• T16.5 general mapping: https://youtu.be/HqzCRz-5TLU
• vs. Regular Maven: https://youtu.be/H2jOgwG1J_I

How it works?

The newly introduced ring Enmity's Embrace allows any character to gain ridiculous amounts of fire penetration by stacking fire resistance. However this ring also comes with a drawback that "reduces" a characters overall amount of fire resistance gained from gear and other sources.

By using a minimum rolled "65% reduced fire resistance" it's possible to reach upwards of 100-120 overcapped fire resistance as a solo character with a sensible amount of investment, which is roughly equivalent to 100-120% fire penetration.

With all this fire resistance it is then possible to abuse the Forbidden Flesh/Flame combo "Tasalio, Cleansing Water" so that any marauder build can convert this fire resistance into other types of resistances, which makes gearing significantly easier.

The rest of the build is there mostly to support the chosen skill, in this case Flicker Strike.

What content is it good at?

This build is a speedmapper. It's meant to clear maps as fast as possible.

It's particularly good at doing alch-and-go strategies, strongboxes, shrines, abyss, breach, harbinger, ritual, mirror of delirium, harvest, heist, and incursion.

With headhunter buffs it can scale and excell at more difficult content such as timeless conflicts, or 60-80% delirious maps.

What content is it bad with?

Uber bossing, titanic rogue exiles, blight, or delve.

The build has succesfully cleared Uber Eater of Worlds and Uber Cortex, although clearing this type of content requires a gem swap (Double Strike of Momentum), knowledge of the fight, and reacting to mechanics accordingly.

Two-Handed vs. One-Handed

It is quite well known that flicker strike struggles with defenses, and this build is not the exception.

The project originally started as a two-handed build that favored endurance charge stacking through a rare Eventuality Rod weapon. The build performed okay specially in the damage department, but it was clear that defenses where sorely lacking.

The one-handed version of the build makes a compromise and takes a well-rolled shield to achieve 65/65 block and spell block with recover life on block. This ultimately enables the build to perform more consistently without constant trips to the hideout.

All that said, the build has relatively low Max Hit values, so one-shots are still not out of the equation. Ultimately the biggest defensive layer against damage comes from Headhunter buffs.

Ancestral Fury vs. Gore Dancer

One of the main points of customization for the build comes from the ascendancy choice between Ancestral Fury, or Gore Dancer.

The effect of Ancestral Fury seems to require precise mouse cursor placement to activate, but when done correctly it will double the amount of damage dealt by the build. For flicker strike this double damage is very easy to pull off. Still, it is incredibly difficult to provide accurate damage numbers for this ascendancy. The PoB provided does NOT assume the DPS would be doubled, so keep that in mind.

Gore dancer, on the other hand, provides a very noticeable increase in survival rates through the instant leech effect. It allows for any non-oneshot damage to be easily brushed aside which makes the character feel incredibly tankier, specially against content that cannot one-shot the build.

Side note, but Defy pain is, in my opinion, a non-option. GGG needs to give this ascendancy a 10% missing unreserved base value that is completely unconditional otherwise it serves no purpose to any build until very late in the game when a character is already "immortal" through some other means, such as leech, bloodnotch, or near infinite regeneration.

How are Charges Generated?

Frenzy Charges: 39% chance on hit from flicker strike + ashes of the stars quality. 25% chance on kill from Blood Rage.

Power Charges: 12% chance on hit from assassin's mark + ashes of the stars quality. 100% chance on kill vs. marked from assassin's mark.

Endurance Charges: 10% chance on crit from Smashing Strikes (amulet anoint).

Note: The build gains 2 frenzy charges using a weapon swap trick with a redeemer shield that gives +2 min frenzy charges. Swapping weapons twice gives 2 frenzy charges to consume. It is not mandatory but it helps against bad RNG.

Crafting Tips

Creating a multimodded weapon with T1 increased phys and T1 flat phys weapons is easy through recombination and creates a clean base. Using multimod + prefixes can't be changed + crafted prefix and applying a veiled *chaos* can often times add a single veiled suffix, which could easily unveil into attack speed or critical strike chance.

Crafted hit's can't be evaded is *usually* about the same damage as hybrid phys when you account for the reduced passive tree requirements.

What's the Budget?

Current budget for the build sits at around 100-135 divs total. Headhunter costs are hovering at around 35 divs at the time writing.

The biggest mandatory expenses are Forbidden Flesh/Flame (~8 divs each), and perfectly rolled enmity embrace (5 div). Note that Guardian Blessing + Dark Marionettes spectres can be used in place of an enlighten level 4 support but will require extra monitoring.

Crafted gear accounts for ~35-40 divs worth of crafting expenses. Some gear (gloves, boots, ring) is cheaper to acquire using trade, but some pieces, such as the weapon, are too niche to be found under normal circumstances.

The build has a minimum character level requirement of 80 (enmity embrace) or 84 (royal plate). Ideally, transitioning into this build should only begin after level 90. VFoS or sunder zerker are good early builds to level up as.

This build cannot be leaguestarted with, or be ported into SSF, as it requires very high character level and two mandatory forbidden flesh/flames.

Edit: fixed PoB links, added notes.