Review of low-investment (poverty farmer) Ephemeral Edge Blade Trap Trickster and Metamorph/Essence/Heist Altas Strategy

https://youtu.be/jcvI-ygeCeY

https://pobb.in/matHxu0uCx26

Map clear video above, PoB as well.

First impresions here: https://old.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/zj5q7b/3_days_into_the_league_review_your_build/izv39bm/

Atlas Tree setup: here

The idea behind this league starter was to get going on literally no budget by using three different easy-access uniques: Ephemeral Edge (1c) 2x, Bated Breath (1c), Shroud of the Lightless (5c unlinked and 80c linked, although 80c unlinked when I bought it and ~100 jewellers and 100 fuse to 5L).

Those four uniques already enable a breeze through campaign and well into yellow maps. To get red map viable, I bought my rings (10c each) and my helmet (20c). Gloves are self-crafted on a base I bought for 20c iirc, but by now you can just buy similar gloves for probably 10c if you setup your search correctly. Sin Trek boots are pretty much BiS and cost 1c, just take care to grab a high ES roll.
Amulet also cost me 10c, although there doesn't seem to be exactly the same available right now.
All this got me up to T16 maps, even if a bit clunky when doing nasty 8mod corrupted ones. You are able to run influence though, and start to farm for bigger upgrades.

Resists are capped using Grand Spectrum jewels. They were 2c when I bought them (and 100c for the minimum Endurance Charge), so if you go the same route maybe you can go for rare jewels with res instead and spend less that way. Minimum Endurance Charge I bought to invest, I did not and do not feel like phys damage is a problem.

I have now completed my atlas, gotten all 4 watchstones (bought Maven and UElder, the former because memory game and the latter because it'd take me too long to farm a set myself), killed Maven'd Shaper, Cortex, Guardian Invitation. Lack of access prevents me from doing the other Invitations (sans Feared), I don't feel like I need the atlas points badly enough to buy sets right now.

Note that especially the longer bossfights like Guardians, Shaper, etc. I only did after aquiring the Forbidden Flesh+Flame combo. I did kill a Maven'd Hydra by using two flask slots for mana flasks and portaling out once for refill, but that was too clunky even for me.

Overall I'd estimate around 1div for rares, generous 1div (jewels+cluster), 2.5div (flesh+flame) and assorted eldtrich currency resulting in a 5div build. The biggest upside (for me) was the fact that I could start easy comfy mapping right out the gate. I can also run any map mod combinations even if some are more scary than other, none completely bricks the build. Therefore I run most of my maps unid and save chisel that way. And I completely negate most Exarch altar downsides: Extra Chaos damage? Immune. Burning Ground? Immune. Fire/Chaos res? Deals lightning damage. Chaos Degen during Flask? Immune. Meteor? Don't spam flasks anyway. I just read the reward lines and ignore the penalties.

Downsides of the build is a mediocre clear: It took me 4min to clear one City Square map, as can be seen in the video. Sometimes even 5min, depening on the mods on the map.

I designed my atlas strategy around my build's strengths and weaknesses: Good defenses, decent single target and mediocre clear. Therefore, I went for the single target encounter-type league content, and heist because it's nearby and easy to click on.

Metamorphs in my map drop 4-6 catalysts and assorted other items that are hard to price but can mostly be ignored. I also get 4 organs per map, which are also hard to estimate. So far I think I've done around 50 Metamorphs in Tane's Lab and gotten 2 divines raw, and assorted other currency (3x chaos stacks, stacked decks, lots of jewellery some of which good but most bad). Overall I estimate around 10c profit per Metamorph encounter, with Metamorphs spawning 80-90% of the time.

Essences are also good money, most shrieking essences go for 2c+ and they get duplicated. On average I'd also say maybe 8c per map (sometimes multiple shriekings, sometimes multiple essences, sometimes special essence upgrades, etc).

Heist is even spikier, with a Smuggler's Cache spawning what feels like 60-70% of the time. I get ~300 coins (maybe 1c) and a contract per click, and also chance for a blueprint. Contract prices vary by job (deception 9-10c, perception/counter 4c, rest 1c if it sells at all), and I have no idea if precious high value targets even fetch a premium. Still, compasses with a smugglers cache go for 12c/each, which means a 3c per map just to break even. I don't feel bad to estimate an average return of 5c per cache, which is great because it's just one click.
Additionally, caches spawn in multiples sometimes (see video for 6 in one map), which I suspect means I get one cache per map on average again.

Overall, 20c profit per map before altars and map loot itself. Investment is just the map itself if rare unid, or chisel+alc if not. Map sustains itself mostly (with 10 favor slots on City Square), sometimes have to run a couple Cursed Crypts in between. I might need to go Singular Focus + last two slots to completely sustain. That however kills map boss map drops like Cortex and Guardians. Not sure if worth, because I do not pick up the extra drop chance nodes (wtb atlas tree anoint kthxbye).

TL;DR: Build is cheap and good for the content I do with it (Metamorph, Essence, Heist + Exarch Alc&Go). Would not do again because clear is too delayed for my tastes, but cannot fault the build for that. Farming strat offers an estimated 2div/hr from mechanics before altars and map loot. Overall recommend if you're looking for something facetanky that is comfy in all map content and have no budget (or starting late).