Level 100 Crit Flicker Strike Berserker^3.25

Notes

FAQ:
Why is this considered an advanced build?
	Trauma stack managament is often difficult, and can result in situations where your character randomly explodes for no apparent reason. Troubleshooting these problems can often boil down to experience.  It's also a ramping build, requiring you to attack for up to 8 seconds to reach the build's maximum DPS. Being a berserker build, it will require a concious investment into defenses and recovery before the build damage can be scaled further.

How hard is it to leaguestart a melee build?
	Pretty *easy*, it's all about your weapon. Good weapon, good leaguestart. Below are the expected weapon DPS values per act that you should aim for assuming a 2H axe weapon:
		Act 1 Brutus / level 8: 30+ hybrid dps
		Act 1 Merveil / level 13: 70+ hybrid dps
		Act 2 Vaal Temple / level 21: 140+ hybrid dps
		Act 3 Gravicious / level 28: 200+ hybrid dps
		Act 4 Malakai / level 33: 300+ hybrid dps
		Act 5 Kitava / level 50: 400+ hybrid dps
		Act 9 Blood Aqueducts / level 66: 600+ hybrid dps
		White maps: 700+ hybrid dps
		Yellow maps: 900+ hybrid dps or 700+ pure physical dps
		Red maps: 1000+ hybrid dps or 850+ pure physical dps
	If you miss a weapon upgrade you'll definitely struggle, so it's worth spending currency to craft something on the fly. Slam an essence or gamble an alchemy.

What happens if I fall behind with my weapon progression?
	Often times, identifying weapons should be good enouhg to keep up with the above recommendations during campaign. If you have an open prefix don't forget you can craft flat added damage. If you get unlucky with weapon drops a lot of the time its best to just use the vendor recipe of (1 Weapon + 1 Rare Sash + 1 whetstone) to guarantee a high physical damage mod on the highest level base you can find. Remember that you can benchcraft attack speed to further bump the DPS value. 

Can I leaguestart as this build?
	Yes, kinda. This build leaguestarts as a generic boneshatter (of complex trauma) build, and only swaps to flicker strike once a stable source of frenzy charges is obtained (Retaliation Charm). Most flicker strike variants always leaguestart with a different skill gem, so no surprises here. 
 
What kind of build is this?
	This build is a speedmapper. It's meant to clear maps as fast as possible.

What content is it good for?
    Alch-and-go strategies, strongboxes, shrines, expedition, abyss, breach, harbinger, ritual, mirror of delirium, harvest, heist, incursion, and lab running. The more expensive versions can eventually scale and excell at more difficult content such as uber lab running, 5-way timeless conflicts, wave 30 simulacrum, or 100% delirious maps.

What content is it bad with?
    (Uber) Bossing, beasts, essences, legion, blight, delve, or anything that requires you to attack in place, follow a path, or kill a target in an instant. The more expensive versions can attempt some of this content, including guardian boss farming for Maven invitations. Uber bosses remain outside of the scope of most flicker strike builds.

Can this version do Uber bosses?
	Nope, you've been warned.

Is this build SSF friendly?
	Neve. There may be a way to get Juggernaut to work, but it will never reach the damage potential of Berserker.

How does this build work?
	This build uses the Trauma support gem to add absurd amounts of flat physical damage by combining Juggernaut's Untiring recovery and Berserker's Blitz attack speed. With damage solved, the build is free to invest into more defensive options, resulting in an incredibly tanky Flicker Strike build.

Can I play this build as a Raider/Slayer/Jugernaut/etc.?
	You can only play this build as drafted with Berserker. There's may be other trauma stacking versions, notably Slayer using Stasis Prison, but they require drastically different gear and passive trees.

How do I use this guide?
	Use the Loadout selection in the top right corner to select a set of configurations, gear, skills, and passive skills that match the level of investment you are willing to spend. The mirror tier and double mirror tier level of investment do infact eventually add up to multiple mirrors worth of gear.

What pantheons should I use?
    For major god use Lunaris for the reduced elemental damage taken if hit recently. For minor god use Grukthul in general, as it is a very reliable source of physical damage reduction.

Why only X total life? Are all Flicker Strike builds complete glass canons?
	The default and lategame variants rely on a lot of uniques to facilitate gearing and frenzy charge sustain. That said, this build eventually becomes incredibly tanky against all forms of damage by stacking sources of reduced and less damage taken, gains a regeneration rate of "yes", and can withstand a lot of punishment compared to other glass canon flicker strike variants. It's not quite immortal but it comes very close to it.

Why does this build not use Awakened Multistrike? Isn't it good for flicker strike?
	Multistrike is a necessary evil at low investment. It's used for frenzy charge sustain and to manage trauma stacks. Awakened Multistrike would just be a very expensive DPS loss.

Can I use "Damage recouped as life" instead of the Forbidden Flesh/Flame jewels?
	You'd need 100% damage recoup to substitute the Forbidden jewels. This is incredibly difficult considering the gear options available. Anything less and the build would not work. Stacking recoup is not particularly useful if you are already using Untiring properly.

Why do I sometimes stop attacking entirely?
	You are running out of frenzy charges or mana. Minimum Frenzy charges don't count. There's several situations that can contribute to your build not generating enough charges, including enemies being "Evasive" or blocking your attacks, you being blinded, monsters stealing charges on hit, etc. It's recommended to keep a fully leveled 20/20 Frenzy gem with you to deal with these situations as the damage of this gem matches Flicker Strike damage profile.

Why do I sometimes run out of mana?
	Without enough investment into mana cost reduction it's possible the build will struggle to leech enough mana to continously cast. This is more noticeable with the squire version, as the additional support links ends up ballooning the cost of the skill.

Why is Vaal Molten Shell / Immortal Call slotted but not enabled?
	This build could use either of them effectively, but only one guard skill can be used at a time. When using Molten Shell, a large portion of the extra guard will be consumed by trauma generation. When using Immortal Call, you'll momentarily lose all endurance charges in favour of a limited buff. Either one works, but at lower attack speeds it's better to use Molten Shell.

Can this build sustain "permanent" Berserk buff?
	Yes, kinda. All builds have a mathematical limit of 13-15 seconds duration when sustaining berserk. Even with infinite rage on hit, the rage loss per second will eventually get large enough to instantly deplete your rage in a single server tick, at which point berserk will enter its 5 second cooldown.

Why do I randomly die during maps?
	Either trauma damage or elemental damage, most likely. You can read the death message to confirm if it was trauma self-damage (it will mention sudoku). With that in mind, here's a long list of stuff that can contribute to your death:
		* [Map mod] Reflects physical damage
		* [Map mod] Cannot regenerate
		* [Map mod] Reduced life recovery
		* [Map mod] Reduced aura effect
		* [Map mod] Less armour
		* [Map mod] Monsters can steal charges
		* [Map mod / Debuf] Temporal Chains (more effect duration = more trauma stacks)
		* [Map mod / Debuff] Vulnerability (increased physical damage taken)
		* [Debuff] Increased damage taken (multiple sources, notably Delirium, Beyond, and Essences)
		* [Monster Mod] Reduced life regeneration (certain essences and redbeasts)
		* [Monster Mod] Cannot regenerate life above 50% (common mod)
		* [Monster Mod / Boss Mechanic] Cannot regenerate life
		* [Altar] Reduced flat armour and evasion
		* [Altar] Reduced physical damage reduction
		* [Altar] Reduced defenses per frenzy charge
		* [Altar] Reduced recovery per endurance charge
		* ... And of course, just large amounts of incoming damage.
	The reason as to why has to do with how the build interacts with trauma. If anything upsets the mitigation, recovery, and self-damage balance you'll (very) quickly notice it. Some of this problems can be built around (ie: unaffected by curses, shock immunity), but some have to be consciously avoided, like map mods.

How can I lower trauma damage?
	Sometimes, missing a little bit of armour (from bad gear rolls) can result in the build not being able to use the recommended settings. Assuming you follow the build guide correctly, the only real option you'll have left is to lower the level of the Trauma support gem. If you are struggling with self-damage lower the gem further by vendoring the gem with one orb of scouring (the support gem cannot be corrupted). Remember that flasks contribute a decent amount of armor to your build but are unreliable, so you shouldn't plan around them.

How important is Fortify? Should I use the fortify gem or passive tree nodes if I can't get it on my weapon?
	It's very important. Reduced damage taken is a more damage multiplier for this build because it allows you to use higher Trauma gem levels. If you have to, swap a support gem over taking the passive points. The Fortify gem gives 19% more melee damage at max level, making it a solid gem choice. You can also use a large mace/scepter cluster jewel to provide fortify on hit if you are using a mace.

Help, how do I level this build past level 93? (I keep dying)
	Use the Wellspring of Creation atlas notable (enemies deal 25% less damage), stop juicing your maps, stop clicking altars, and lower the max level of your trauma support by 2 or 3 gem levels. Wellspring of Creation in particular helps a lot and does not drastically affect your mapping time.

Can I use Headhunters / Inspired Learning / Behead with this build?
	No, the moment you steal Soul Eater you'll be dead within a second. Soul Eater extra attack speed scales Trauma stacks way too high and the build can't handle it.

Can I use Lightning Coil and convert physical damage to elemental damage and increase my defenses?
	Short answer is you should avoid it. In practice, converting to physical to elemental damage will result in you taking more combined damage than if you just tanked everything using physical damage reduction.

Alternative Gearing Options:
	Some of these options are really good for gearing but are ultimately not used for one reason or another.
		[Amulet] Defiance of Destiny
			Good defensive option. Nerfed compared to previous patches. This item makes you effectively immortal against small hits that deal less than 20-25% of your max unreserved life.
		[Amulet] Aul's Uprising
			Provides the ability to slot an additional 50% reservation aura. Whatever aura it provides can be supported with Arrogance to increase its effectiveness.
		[Helmet] Abyssus
			Probably the best melee helmet in the game. The main reason Abyssus is because the build struggles with mana reservation and mana costs.
		[Weapon] Frostbreath
			Frostbreath is good for trauma builds that struggle to sustain trauma. Decent alternative to Brightbeak, but it requires a mace mastery to apply chill with physical damage.
		[Armour] Farrul's Fur
			Farrul's Fur becomes obsolete too quickly to recommend it. Not particularly useful for lategame.
		[Armour] The Fourth Vow
			A popular choice for armour stacking builds that use Divine Flesh. Good alternative if you decide to invest into timeless jewels.
		[Flask] Progenesis
			Great defensive option, but very expensive and not mandatory.
		[Gloves / Helmet / Shield / Chest] Spell Suppression Gear
			Spell suppression is a really good stat to have, specially for bossing, but pursuing 100% comes with an opportunity cost. Since this is primarily a speed mapping build, the choice is made against it.