Home / Build / [3.2] Essence Drain Shadow (Trickster)

[3.2] Essence Drain Shadow (Trickster)

Intro & build description

Trickster ascendancy synergize very well with Essence Drain since trickster is all about high life, mana and energy shield regeneration and recovery rate. Essence Drain makes it even stronger since it regenerates 0.5 % of damage dealt as life on it’s own. If you haven’t played Essence Drain before, now its a good time to give it a shot.

Build Pros

  • High effective life pool
  • High regen thanks to Trickster ascendancy and essence drain
  • Very high damage once build is complete
  • 2 defensive curses supported by blasphemy, which makes it very safe

Build Cons

  • Feels slow at the beginning

Passive tree(s) and Path of Building

Leveling [37p]
Leveling [68p]
Leveling [107p]
Full Build

Bandits

Bandits Quest Choice
Kill all bandits

Ascendancy skill points

LabyrinthsSkill point choice
Labyrinth 1Patient Reaper
Labyrinth 2Swift Killer
Labyrinth 3Ghost Dance
Endgame LabyrinthShade Form

Skill gem setup

Helm


Contagion

Arcane Surge Support

Abyssal Cry

Increased Area of Effect Support


Body Armor


Essence Drain

Efficacy Support

Controlled Destruction Support

Swift Affliction Support

Void Manipulation Support

Empower Support


Gloves


Void Manipulation Support

Swift Affliction Support

Efficacy Support

Controlled Destruction Support


Boots


Cast When Damage Taken Support

Immortal Call

Vaal Detonate Dead

Concentrated Effect Support


2h Weapon


None


1h Weapon


Whirling Blades

Faster Attacks Support

Fortify Support


Offhand weapon / shield


Blasphemy Support

Enfeeble

Temporal Chains



Build uniques / Example rare gear


Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.trade

Helmet

Rare Helm

Rare helmet with high Energy Shield(200+), high life(80+) and elemental resistances.


Body Armour

Vaal Regalia

Rare Vaal Regalia with high Energy Shield (450+), high life (90+) and elemental resistances.


Gloves

Allelopathy

These gloves has build in Blight(22 lvl), very easy and strong 5-link. Sockets in these gloves doesn’t need to be linked to have an effect. Use any rare ones till you buy/find Allelopathy.


Boots

Rare Boots

Rare boots with high life, at lest 25% movement speed and elemental resistances.


Left Ring

Rare Ring

High life (65+), elemental resistances and flat energy shield.


Right Ring

Rare Ring

High life (65+), elemental resistances and flat energy shield.


Amulet

Rare Amulet

High life, decent flat energy shield roll and elemental resistances.


Belt

Heavy Belt

High life, high strength roll for gem requirements and elemental resistances. Should be very cheap.


1Hand Weapon

Rare Dagger

Dagger with high attack speed and high spell damage. Anything else on the dagger is just a bonus.

Consider using Essence of Delirium to craft your dagger if you can afford it.


Offhand

Thorium Spirit Shield

High life, elemental resistances and as high energy shield as you can get. Pair it with some spell damage or cast speed and you’re golden.


Jewel

Jewels

Stats on rare jewels:

  1. Increased maximum life
  2. Increased spell damage
  3. Increased spell damage while holding a shield
  4. Increased cast speed

Flask

Flasks

Flask Setup:

  1. Seething Divine Life Flask of Grounding
  2. Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching
  3. Witchfire Brew
  4. Perpetual Silver Flask of Reflexes
  5. Chemist’s Basalt Flask of Iron Skin


Feel free to share your thoughts/experiences/tips about the build in comments section below.

About prime

Prime is knowledgeable in everything builds related. Mostly focuses on writing build guides and tutorials on how to play with certain skills.

11 comments

  1. I’m kinda new in PoE but your gloves are all slotted of support gem. Is it a mistake?

    • The gloves have a line “Grants Level 22 Blight Skill” that means every support gem in gloves is going to support the Blight skill granted by them.

  2. I have a first question, why do you use two curses on a character and additionally a flask that already gives a curse which naturally does not work.
    The second question: the use of the Blight which makes you stand still when there is a spell totem Wither giving a good increase in the damage to the solo target.
    Third: what is the essence of Abyssal Cry if almost all mobs die somewhere behind the screen and the effectiveness of this skill approaches 0.

    • 1.) Yes, the 3 curses do not work together. We can run enfeeble when we need more defense and turn it off and use Witchfire Brew in maps or encounters where you need damage.
      2.) It’s another damage skill on top of your ED, why wouldn’t you use it if you need more single target damage? Yes, you stand still while attacking but so do most builds that aren’t totem users or summoners. You could drop 1 support gem and socket Spell Totem in gloves as well.
      3.) Abyssal Cry hinders enemies which reduces their movement speed. In combination with temporal chains they barely move, so you can be safe getting in the middle of packs that don’t die off-screen. It’s just a matter of playstyle, you could drop it completely if it doesn’t fit you.
      4.) About essence of Delirium – I hadn’t considered that, thanks for pointing it out. Essence of delirium craft would be ideal, but kinda expensive.

  3. Why the use of Immortal Call? I doesn’t it need a source of endurance charges to be effective? I couldn’t find one on this build…

  4. Sebastián Molinari

    Hello, some tips on leveling as first char in POE?? Thanks

    • 1.) Get wands with as much spell damage as possible.
      2.) Can use Blade Vortex on lower levels as it’s great for leveling
      3.) Grab damage nodes on tree until you feel that you need more survivability
      4.) Save up for Tabula Rasa if you can (can easily level to maps with that)
      5.) Use Elreon jewelry (with -mana cost mods)

  5. Can we use spell damage and essence of delirium wand rather than dagger?

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