Hello,

Never posted a build here before, but felt like sharing this homebrew rendition of Blade Trap Trickster because prior to this build, I had never killed a single Uber Boss (but not without trying).

PoB link Character Link - SSFHCRbtw

Bandits: Help Alira

The build is so bulky against specifically what Uber bosses do, that I'm sort of surprised I haven't seen more discussion about Trickster as a boss-tank in the same vein as Jugg and Dor. I'm currently 4/7 with Maven/Exarch/Eater left to do.

source: dude just trust me

Uber^2 Elder Fail Compilation Enjoy 10 minutes of me not doing the fight correctly at all and still not dying til the last phase. I bricked this attempt (too much degen, me not smart) I think this is a better sell of the defensive concept than a clean kill lmao.

ghosted Veritania showcase

For reference:

• 0 Endurance Charges
• No Molten Shell
• No Armor
• 75 Fire/76 Cold/76 Lightning Resistance
• 37k Evasion with Grace, so not even close to capped

The defensive layers this build abuses are:

• Huge ES (can be even bigger than what I have)
• CI
• Capped Spell Suppression (thanks to Spellbreaker)
• 66% Suppression (Spellbreaker + Inveterate + Suppression Mastery) ~ 56% when not on full ES
• Spellbreaker's "50% chance to start energy shield recharge when you suppress a spell"
• Ghost Shrouds
• CWDT Level 3 Immortal Call with Increased Duration Support
• Arakaali Pantheon and Lunaris Pantheon (explained below)
• Brutal Restraint (Balbala) for The Traitor, which means permanent Quicksilver with ghetto CB immunity
• One Step Ahead for Freeze/Chill/Uber^2 Elder suck-spell-thing
• Dirt Cheap Forbidden Jewels (Born in Shadows/Pyromaniac)
• Lethe Shade on every boss (fuck yo degens)

When fighting Uber bosses that don't Ignite or Shock, use Born in Shadows for that ridiculous 15% less damage taken mod, or Perfect Crime (replace Inspiration with WED or Damage on Full Life Support). For Uber^2 Elder, run Perfect crime to keep up with killing the degen mobs. For Uber Sirus/Exarch/Eater, run Pyromaniac to negate the status effects. For Uber Sirus/Exarch, run Arakaali + Gruthkul Pantheon, for everything else run Lunaris + whatever ailment you're trying to avoid.

The big scary attacks that these bosses do are all spells (except for Shaper slam - have to still dodge that one). If you're at full ES, you shave 66% off the spell hit, proccing Immortal Call and Lunaris Pantheon's reduced elemental damage taken if you've been hit recently. Both of these are generic (i.e. not specific to hits) reductions to elemental damage, so they also apply to DoTs (Sirus puddles/Void Anomalies/Cortex ground stuff, you get the idea). Because of Spellbreaker your ES recharge has a 50% chance of kicking in on suppress - this recovery alone is so powerful, you can omit Wicked Ward entirely from this build. It kicks in on Die Beams, on Cortex' Circus AoE dodge spells, the Purple Ball phase on Uber Shaper/Uber^2 Elder, and with very reliable consistency.

Things I've face-tanked with my Trickster:

• Uber Shaper's Frostbolt Barrage
• The entire "Dodge the Purple Balls" mechanic
• Uber^2 Elder Slam/Massive AoE/Projectiles
• Uber Exarch ball phase (still need to kill him, ymmv)
• Uber Sirus Die Beam
• Uber Sirus YouWillLongForNonExistance.mp4 Beam
• Uber Sirus Tunnel Phase
• Sometimes, even Uber Sirus Meteor if I was unlucky (probably low rolled - Vaal Grace tech could work here, didn't bother trying because not consistent)
• Literally everything that Uber Cortex does; if the map didn't roll damage mods you only have to move out of degen pools.

The total cost of this build is anywhere from 20div to 50div if you wanted to minmax the gear more than I cared to. You could get a different Watcher's Eye if you got Spell Suppress on your Body Armor, you could get CB immunity on your Energy from Within jewel and run a second flask maybe? Sky's the limit. I self-crafted the Helmet/Chest/Gloves with Essences, stopping on prefixes that jived (ES on Helm/Gloves, Hybrid rolls on Chest) and some resists to cap. Bought the rings for 10c each, belt for 100c then Crusader slammed hoping for %ES, but got %Lightning damage, which is also good.

For damage you uh... throw Blade Traps? Try to throw them on top of the enemy for damage :^).

You could use a Arcanist Brand + Conductivity setup if you really wanted to, slap a Bear Trap in there too. I'm so jaded from trying to kill Uber bosses with homebrew melee builds that have 8+ skills to press to do burst windows that I opted for a more relaxed playstyle this time around. Very dummy-proof gameplay.

If you've been bashing your head against the uber bosses to no avail, and don't have the currency to make builds that delete them instantly, try out Ephemeral Edge Blade Trap Trickster - it's very easy to play, and incredibly forgiving.

final edit: I'm going to give this build away to anyone who wants to play it. You can PM me in game, I'll just leave it open while I work.