Intro & build description
Flicker strike is pretty interesting skill in a sense it’s one of the most unique in the game. It completely differs from other melee skills because you jump from monster to monster extremely quickly almost without any need to aim. This build focuses on utilizing 1-handed weapons and high critical strike chance and Lycosidae shield which makes your enemies unable to evade your attacks.
Build Pros
- Amazing dps
- Very fast clear
- Unique and satisfying playstile
- Hardcore viable
- Can easily farm endgame labyrinth
Build Cons
- Physical reflect can be harsh
- While using flicker strike, you briefly lose control over your character
Passive tree(s) and Path of Building
Passive Skill Tree [116p]Bandits
Bandits Quest Choice |
Kill all bandits |
Ascendancy skill points
Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
---|---|
Labyrinth 1 | Bane of Legends |
Labyrinth 2 | Headsman |
Labyrinth 3 | Endless Hunger |
Endgame Labyrinth | Brutal Fervour |

Skill gem setup
Helm
Cast When Damage Taken
Immortal Call
Increased Duration Support
Enduring Cry
Body Armor
Flicker Strike
Increased Critical Strikes Support
Multistrike Support
Melee Physical Damage Support
Melee Splash Support
Increased Critical Damage Support
Gloves
Hatred
Herald of Ash
Frenzy
Summon Ice Golem
Boots
Ancestral Warchief
Increased Critical Strikes Support
Melee Physical Damage Support
Concentrated Effect Support
2h Weapon
None
1h Weapon
Whirling Blades
Faster Attacks Support
Blood Magic Support
Offhand weapon / shield
Vaal Haste
Increased Duration Support
Blood Rage
Build uniques / Example rare gear
Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.tradeHelmet
AbyssusEven though this helm is getting nerfed when Fall of Oriath comes, it is still extremely strong offensive option.
Gloves
Spiked GlovesIdeally look for for Spiked gloves with life, resistances and perhaps attack speed or physical damage to attacks.
If you can afford it – Atziri’s Acuity is very strong option.
Boots
Titan GreavesLook for armour boots with at least 25% increased movement speed, life and resistances.
Left Ring
Diamond RingLook for Diamond rings with as high life and resistances as possible, physical damage to attacks / attack speed are nice bonuses.
Belt
Leather BeltLook for belt with high life, resistances and elemental damage with weapons (this combination can be a bit expensive).
1Hand Weapon
Platinum KrisLook for dagger with as high flat physical damage and %crit chance as you can find (xx-xxx physical damage), attack speed doesn’t matter. Good base to look for is Platinum Kris.
Offhand
LycosidaeVery important item for the build – while using this shield, your hits cannot be evaded by monsters which allows us to disregard accuracy at all.
Jewel
Jewel SetupOn jewels look for:
1.) Increased maximum life
2.) Melee physical damage while holding a shield
3.) Increased damage, etc
4.) Any attributes or resists you might be missing
Flask
Flask SetupFlask setup for the build:
1.) Divine life flask with instant recovery
2.) Divine life flask with instant recovery
3.) Taste of Hate
4.) Atziri’s Promis
5.) Surgeon’s Quicksilver flask of Adrenaline / Basalf flask of iron skin
sorry im new how do you remove Flicker Strike cd ???? with no terminus ?
You need to generate Frenzy charges to bypass cooldown – we do that by using blood rage and Frenzy skills.
are there specific ranks for the “cast when dmg taken”-setup or just max it all?
It’s mostly a preference but personally I like it with ~lvl 9 or so. It’s up to you.
Is terminus or Oros not more powerful than 1h dagger? i have been playing flicker since the game was in beta and i just dont see how this build is as viable as the other options, especially since this was how you played flicker before the items mentioned above became the mainstream for the build.
Here’s a discussion about it – https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/6lhpvy/30_oros_flicker_immolate_a_game_changer/ .
Hmm the link doesnt really answer my question, i was just wondering why you would run a 1h crit dagger over terminus or oros, is it just flat out better dmg and survivability?
Well, I’ve never played Oro’s so I don’t have opinion on that build. I don’t think this build lacks damage at all, has great leech, 20% cull and stun immunity. It can clear T16s, Uber & Shaper so I think it’s alright not being Oro’s or Terminus build.
ok perfect, that is what i was looking for, the description didn’t really say if it could run all content, I really like how you balanced the defensive with this build, I will definitely give it a shot. Thanks!
what do you use for melee splash?
Put it in your gem setup.
where is melee splash coming from?
There was a mistake in gem setups – the given setup was for single target, it’s now fixed. (Added Fire Damage Support is substituted with Melee Splash Supp.)
I’m having trouble leveling past part 2 ~ act 3, any tips to help get past “bumps in the road” while leveling?
At the beginning good idea is to use 2-hander with high damage and sunder (if you can afford Tabula Rasa use that too). Geofri’s Baptism is a good option for weapon in early levels.
I meant more like act 8 (as in part 2 ~ act 3), it feels like im doing no damage and just dying slowly even though im 4 levels higher than the area
idk. i’am enjoing this build now. It was little bit hard to clear areas with Fire Attack Support . After change on Melee Splash it’s sound like “wow” 😀 I’am new in poe, was playing only 2 times before, so all of this info stuff is pretty hard for me, but this build i like more that arc inquisitor build 🙂 Iam lvl 75 now trying some low lvl maps. 1 tip which helps me in exp – don’t use dagger xD i mean for exp find some xx-xxx 1h-2h weapon till u got dagger with high phys dmg.
At present i’ve got trouble with Blood Rage… Abyssus equpted and thats why my blood rage burns me out very fast. Lightning Coil also equiped but i can’t understand how it can balance that damage. No any dmg reduction or smth. Only -60% lighting ressist etc…
In general this build very interesting to play, but if you stop – you die as well
Hey, glad you’re enjoying the build! Here’s great discussion about the Lightning Coil https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/1stglx/biweekly_unique_item_discussion_1_lightning_coil/ . Endurance charges help with Blood Rage degen, so you could cast Enduring Cry from time to time.
Oh, i’am using it. Thx for answer! Now i think i’am better with Blood Rage, coz of huge lifesteal. I have 1 more question please… This item build is “end game” items? I mean should i find something better after 90+ lvl? Coz all items are cheap(except Atziri’s Acuity ofc :D) and at 82 lvl i bought all of this. My dps now under 5 charges is ~16-17k. So i can enchant my gems to 20% quality and lay up chaosses for Atziri’s Acuity. And it will be my final dps or i can somehow improve it? Sry coz of my bad english and also for stupid newbee questions…
Good to hear you’re doing better with it!
Some good upgrades would be:
Amulet with at least 30% crit chance and at least 30% crit multiplier, #-# physical damage to attacks and at least 30% – 40% increased elemental damage with attacks. Look for amulet with as many of those mods as possible and as high rolls as possible.
Rings – best rings would be Diamond Rings with #-# physical damage to attacks, % increased elemental damage with attacks, life and resistances.
Get belt with %increased elemental damage with weapons for damage boost, obviously don’t forget about life and resists, make sure they are capped. (Some of the jewelry I mentioned will be more expensive than Acuity btw if you want to go all in on damage).
Physical damage to attacks and attack speed is great on gloves as well but again, don’t forget about life.
And the most importatly always look for upgrades on your weapon, that’s the most important part.
Thx a lot for advices! I’ll keep go that way with your build. Best luck to you.
When you say reflect can be harsh, does it mean that it’s impossible to do or I just need a lot of money to out-gear it?
Just asking cos some builds are downright reflect impossible
It’s doable but you have to be careful with crits and double reflect mobs (Phys reflect rare mob in Phys reflect map).
In boss fights you have to stop and attack with frenzy all the time? Seems like other flicker strike builds can keep flicker striking the boss non stop.
For tougher bosses switch to Blade Flurry, it should do the trick. But when properly geared you shouldn’t have problems killing bosses up to T13-T15 with Flicker Strike.
How to progress through the skill tree when leveling?
Also, I’m level 40 right now and I don’t get how you’re supposed to be able to kill bosses with flicker, are you really supposed to just stand and hit with frenzy? Would it not be better to just go raider?
At what lvl i can use flicker strike properly ?