Level 100 CI Crit Molten Strike of the Zenith Trickster^3.23

Notes

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Introduction
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    This build utilizes the new Molten Strike of the Zenith ability which requires a 2 handed weapon. This ability causes your 5th attack to deal significantly more damage while 
	adding a bunch of extra projectiles. This ability has a few interesting interactions, notably with Nimis as well as with Multistrike. Nimis causes the projectiles to bounce, which
	adds an additional hit. Multistrike procs on the Zenith hit and causes all repeated attacks to also apply the Zenith Effect. This gives the ability an extremely good effectiveness 
	of damage, so when combined with the extremely high base damage of a 2-handed Energy Blade, we get a ton of effective damage output.

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FAQs
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- What is this build good at?
	- Uber boss farming, particularly one phase ubers like Exarch and Eater.
	- Simulacrum, you can get roughly 5-6 rewards consistently throughout 30 waves if played properly. You also die very infrequently.

- How expensive is this build pob?
	- 1/5 SSF Friendly
	- 2/5 Budget
	- 3/5 Moderately Expensive
	- 4/5 Mageblood / HH / Etc
	- 5/5 Mirror Tier
	
	- I would rank this build at about a 3.5 on the scale. It doesn't use a ton of very expensive items but each item is relatively expensive to craft. You can very easily scale this 
	build into 4 or 5 cost on the scale if desired.

- How does the build survive?
	- Avoidance Layers
		- 95% Evasion
	- Defensive Layers
		- 100% Spell Suppression
		- Fortify
		- Energy Shield
		- Elemental Resistances
		- Chaos Inoculation
		- Physical Damage taken as Chaos
		- Physical Damage taken as Elemental
		- Nearby Enemy Action Speed Reduction
	- Recovery Layers
		- Energy Shield Leech
		- Overleech
		- Energy Shield on Hit
		- Recover Energy Shield on Kill
	- Utility Layers
		- Elemental Ailment Immunity
		- Action Speed Reduction Immunity

- How does the build deal damage?
	- Molten Strike of the Zenith
		- Energy Blade
		- Critical Strikes
		- Quality Scaling
		- Returning Projectiles (Nimis)

- How does the build sustain its abilities?
	- Shavronne's Revelation gives us 40 Mana regen per second and we have a bit of base. You can also take Mana Gained on hit or Mana Leech.
	- Mana recovery on Kill from Trickster.

- How do you level this build?
	- This is not a leveling build, level any other shadow build and swap to this.

- Weird Interactions?
	- Dread Banner
		- We use this to reduce the accuracy of enemies near us which increases our chance to evade.
	- Slower Projectile Speed
		- Molten Strike can have its damage massively increased on single target by reducing the speed of the projectiles. This causes them to essentially 
		bounce in place and all overlap on the target you attack.
	- Energy Blade Weapon Replace
		- Energy Blade inherits the links and colors of the weapon it replaces. So if you use a 6L 6W weapon of any kind, the Energy Blade will be 6L 6W.
	- Dying Sun Flask Effect
		- Our Ascendancy causes our flasks next to our Tincture to have 30% Increased effect, when we combine this with exactly 70% Increased Effect on 
		the Flask Enchant it causes Dying Sun to give us 4 Additional Projectiles.
	- Energy Shield Leech Mechanics
		- We overleech as a trickster, which means that as long as we are doing damage, we are always leeching even if our Energy Shield is full. 
		This means we can extend our healing from Leech for up to 5 seconds after we stop doing damage. Instant Leech reduces this duration by .5 seconds but is good for situations 
		where you are hitting many enemies. Increasing the Maximum total Energy Shield Recovery per second from Leech, increases the raw healing we can do at any given time and 
		is a huge bonus to our survivability. We do not have good ways to recharge or regenerate energy shield anyways, so we forego it with Ghost Reaver, which allows us to use 
		Shavronne's Reveleation with no real downsides.
	- Wind Dancer
		- This is ideally used for situations where you are not getting hit by tons and tons of enemies. Ubers is a good place to take this. Simulacrum would not be a 
		good place to take this. With 95% Evasion we are getting hit roughly every 20~ attacks. If you are getting attacked 40 or more times in the span of 4 seconds, you should 
		not take this keystone.
	- Calculating Damage
		NOTE: Realistically you don't need to do any of this. Take the nodes I tell you to take in each different PoB and focus on getting your average damage number up. If you
		want to learn how the build works and fine-tune it, then feel free to continue on.
		- Finding accurate damage on this ability is quite tough, so realistically the best thing you can do is figure out how much damage a Zenith hit will do to a Boss. To do this 
		you will take the Average Damage on your PoB and multiply it by the total amount of hits to get the Zenith hit damage, this is how you calculate that.
		- Returning Number of Hits is (P)rojectiles x (M)ultistrike Total hits [3 for normal, 4 for awakened]
		- Then take the Returning Number of hits and put your character info into this calculator -> https://moldydwarf.gitlab.io/MoltenStrikeDPS/moltenstrike-simple to get a %
		of projectiles that should overlap. 
		- The options you need to modify in the calculator are the Radius (for ball area) and the Tertiary Radius (max landing distance). You will find these numbers in the PoB calcs
		section. Note that PoB has updated to new terminology that GGG uses so 0.9 in PoB = 9 in the calculator, etc. You will need to check point blank off and on to get the number
		to update, but you are looking for "Total Chance to Hit an Enemy Per Ball" on the right, this is the % for the next step.
		- Multiply the Returning number of hits by this % to get the (O)verlapping hits. The reason for this is that All Nimis returns should be hitting
		on pinnacle bosses, however not all of the initial projectiles will overlap. The calculator allows you to find the estimated amount of overlaps.
		- To get the total number of hits take the Returning Number of hits and add them to the Overlapping hits.
		- Take the Total Number of hits and Multiply them by your (A)verage Damage in PoB depending on what boss it is set to to get your (Z)enith Hit Damage
		- So finally our equation looks like: 
			- ([P x M] + O) x A = Z
			- ([Projectiles x Multistrike Hits] + Overlaps) x Average Damage = Zenith Hit Damage
		- Using this formula for the main PoB on an Uber Boss would look something like:
			- ([15 x 3] + 40) x 2,795,513.7 = 237,618,664.5

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Ascendancy
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- Trickster
	- Polymath
		- Damage and Energy Shield / Mana Recovery on Kill.
	- One Step Ahead
		- Provides us immunity to Action Speed Slows, notably this does not protect you from movement speed slows or things like stun, but it does allow you to Leap Slam at 
		full speed regardless of your movement speed, and provides immunity to Freeze.
	- Escape Artist
		- Allows us to scale massive Evasion and Energy Shield while also interacting synergistically with our Oath of the Maji Warden Ascendancy.
	- Soul Drinker
		- Provides us a source of Energy Shield Overleech which makes us significantly safer.

- Warden
	- Oath of the Maji
		- Allows us to have a huge amount of ES/EV from not socketing any gems into our body armour.
	- Coated Blade
		- Allows us to equip Tinctures.
	- Nature's Concoction
		- Causes flasks near our Tinctures to have increased effect and to gain additional charges. This enables the +4 Proj from Dying Sun and makes things like Bottled Faith 
		extremely powerful.
	- Detect Evil
		- The last node taken, mostly a utility node that allows us to see Rares and Uniques on the map.

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Skills Used
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- Main Ability(s)
	- Molten Strike of the Zenith
		- Allows us to scale significant effectiveness of damage due to the sheer number of projectiles fired as well as gives a massive more multiplier 
		on the Zenith hit.
	- Energy Blade
		- The main base of our damage, converts a portion of our Energy Shield into a blade. Allows us to scale defenses and damage simultaneously.

- Aura(s)
	- Mana
		- Blood and Sand
			- Molten Strike projectiles are AoE melee hits, this is a massive source of AoE damage.
		- Grace
			- We have a lot of base evasion, this allows us to scale it further.
		- Purity of Elements
			- Our gear is difficult to craft and has little room for elemental resistance rolls, also provides us immunity to elemental ailments.
		- Precision
			- Allows us to cap accuracy and crit chance.
		- Dread Banner
			- Provides additional evasion by reducing the accuracy of enemies.

- Utility
	- Assassin's Mark
		- Allows us to scale our crit chance and crit damage, also our source of Power Charges.
	- Ancestral Protector
		- A much needed source of Attack Speed

- Movement
	- Leap Slam
		- Movement skill that scales mainly on attack speed, allows us to cross gaps and move even when movement speed slowed due to us being action speed slow immune.

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Gear
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- Main Gear
	- Mainhand
		- Energy Blade, explained above.
	- Helmet
		- Provides us a large amount of Energy Shield as well as Evasion thanks to our ascendancy. Also provides a large amount of Physical Damage reduction due to conversion.
		- Crafting Notes
			- Base
				- Hubris Circlet with as high of a Fractured Intelligence roll as you can afford, ilvl 84+
			- Crafting
				- Use Single Resonators with a Perfect Fossil until you hit 28%+ quality.
				- Use Single Resonators with a Dense Fossil until you hit t2+ of Energy Shield %, Energy Shield +, and an open prefix.
				- Craft 8% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage.
				- Use Eldritch Currency to obtain needed resist suffixes for your build.
			- Finishing
				- Use Eldritch Currency to Apply the proper Implicits
				- 4 Socket and 4 Link the item.
				- Change Resistances to desired ones for your build with Harvest
	- Body Armour
		- The main source of our Energy Shield and Evasion, this is where you should spend the majority of your crafting resources because it will impact your 
		character's strength more than the other crafted pieces by a very large amount. The base EVA/ES gets doubled, and then our ascendancy gives us a bonus amount of ES as well.
		- Crafting Notes
			- Base
				- Realistically you won't be able to afford an ilvl 86 Fractured Suppression Sadist Garb so give up on that idea. Go for as high of Fractured Suppression as you can 
				afford on an ilvl 84+ Sadist Garb. Higher Suppression Chance here can potentially save you a passive point or two.
			- Crafting
				- Use Single Resonators with a Perfect Fossil until you hit 28%+ quality.
				- Use Single Resonators with a Dense Fossil until you hit t2+ of Energy Shield %, Energy Shield +, and hybrid Energy Shield%. Try to make sure the chestpiece is 
				above 450 ES and 1900 EVA if possible.
				- Use Eldritch Currency to obtain a single high tier resist suffix and one open suffix.
				- Craft %Attributes.
			- Finishing
				- Use Eldritch Currency to Apply the proper Implicits.
				- Sockets do not matter, just make sure they are empty.
				- Change Resistances to desired ones for your build with Harvest
	- Gloves
		- Gloves are going to be a major source of Energy Shield and Spell Suppression.
		- Crafting Notes
			- Base
				- Sorcerer Gloves with a high Intelligence Fracture are extremely expensive, so you can substitute with Arcanist Gloves if you like. Get ones that are ilvl84+.
			- Crafting
				- Use Single Resonators with a Perfect Fossil until you hit 28%+ quality.
				- Use Single Resonators with a Dense Fossil until you hit t2+ of Energy Shield %, Energy Shield +, and hybrid Energy Shield%.
				- Use Eldritch Currency to obtain a single high tier resist suffix and one open suffix.
				- Craft Spell Suppression.
			- Finishing
				- Use Eldritch Currency to Apply the proper Implicits.
				- 4 Socket and 4 Link the item.
				- Change Resistances to desired ones for your build with Harvest
	- Boots
		- The main source of our movement speed, as well as a source of Brittle for bossing.
		- Crafting Notes
			- Base
				- Sorcerer Boots with as high of a Fractured Intelligence roll as you can afford ilvl84+.
			- Crafting
				- Use Single Resonators with a Perfect Fossil until you hit 28%+ quality.
				- Use Single Resonators with a Dense Fossil until you hit t2+ of Energy Shield %, Energy Shield +, and one open prefix.
				- Craft Prefixes cannot be changed and use a Veiled Chaos orb. Ideally you will hit a veiled prefix here, if you get a suffix you can block Focus CDR or Immune to 
				Elemental Ailments while focused and try to unveil Str/Dex. If you fail and have the open prefix still you can craft prefixes cannot be changed and Veiled Chaos again 
				in hopes of a prefix or another shot at the suffix. If you hit Str/Dex craft Movement Speed and slam in hopes for a Resist.
				- If you hit a prefix unveil for movement speed, take whichever one you can get. There is a very small chance you don't hit movement speed, if this happens you will 
				need to restart from the Dense Fossil step.
				- Use Eldritch Currency to obtain a single high tier resist suffix and one open suffix.
				- Craft Strength
			- Finishing
				- Use Eldritch Currency to Apply the proper Implicits.
				- 4 Socket and 4 Link the item.
				- Change Resistances to desired ones for your build with Harvest
	- Amulet
		- Ashes of the Stars
			- This provides us a significant amount of damage and energy shield due to the large amount of quality it gives to active skill gems. Try to get 28%+.
			- Finishing
				- Anoint Arcane Focus as the overall best defensive/offense choice, or Titanic Impacts for pure damage.
				- Bless the Implicit to Maximum roll.
				- 20% Attribute Quality with Catalysts.
	- Ring 1
		- Shavronne's Revelation
			- We are going Ghost Reaver which disables Recharge, and we don't have great access to Regen anyways, so a huge boost in Int/ES is 
			definitely welcomed. This is also our source of mana recovery.
			- Finishing
				- Bless the Implicit to Maximum roll.
				- 20% Defense Quality with Catalysts.
	- Ring 2
		- Nimis
			- Provides us Returning Projectiles which effectively doubles our damage.
			- Finishing
				- Bless the Implicit to Maximum roll.
				- 20% Resistance Quality (if you need to, its expensive.)
	- Belt
		- Provides a large amount of Energy Shield as well as some Strength and Resistances.
		- Crafting Notes
			- Base
				- You will need to obtain a Shaper or Crusader Crystal Belt ilvl84+. You can make this with a Crusader Exalt if you like, but check the base prices first.
				- You will also need another belt of the Influence you did not go with, the ilvl does not matter besides being able to roll the tier of modifier you are looking for, check craftofexile.
			- Crafting
				- Alteration roll each belt until it has the following modifier and NO OTHER INFLUENCE MODIFIERS:
					  Crusader Belt -> T1 increased maximum Energy Shield
					  Shaper Belt -> T1 increased Energy Shield from Equipped Body Armour
				- Use an Awakener's Orb on the NON-Crystal Belt first, and then on the Crystal Belt second.
				- Hopefully you will have one suffix open, if you do not you will need to get one of them open. If you have an open prefix you can use a Suffix -> Prefix beast. If you do 
				not have an open Prefix you will need to Annul.
				- If there are junk suffixes, craft Prefixes cannot be changed and scour the item.
				- Craft "Can have up to 3 Crafted Modifiers" and then a Resist you need and then Hybrid Strength + Intelligence.
			- Finishing
				- Bless the Implicit to Maximum roll.
				- 20% Defense Quality
	- Belt Option 2
		- Headhunter
			- This will mainly be used for Simulacrum, there is a separate PoB set up for this exact belt. This belt provides an immense amount of offensive and defensive 
			stats when you are able to kill many rare monsters back to back. Try to get as high of a strength roll as you can.
			- Finishing
				- 20% Attribute quality from catalysts.

- Flasks
	- Unique
		- Bottled Faith
			- Provides us a significant amount of damage as well as critical strike chance. We place this next to our Tincture to improve its effect. If you are only going 
			to Boss on this build I suggest that you apply the 70% Increased Effect Enchant. If you are going to try to boss and other things, you can probably get away with just using 
			the "Use on Full Charges" enchant. Try to get as high of a Critical Strike Chance roll as you can.
		- Dying Sun
			- Provides us an absolutely massive amount of damage during effect. We place this next to our Tincture to improve its effect. To get the most out of this flask 
			you will need EXACTLY 70% Increased effect on the Enchant to enable +4 Projectiles. If you manage to get some flask effect somewhere else you will need less. Make sure 
			that the AoE roll is 10% as this will make our overlap as good as it can be. Try to make sure the increased Charges per use and less duration rolls are as low as you can afford.
		- Oriath's End
			- An extremely powerful flask for things like Simulacrum. Provides us a massive explody effect that increases our clear capabilities subtantially. Craft use on 
			Full Charges. If you do not want to use this flask you can get another Dying Sun and craft Use on Hitting a Rare or Unique Enemy, or you can use a Replica Rumi's Concoction, 
			a Taste of Hate, or a Stibnite flask with any Suffix you like with Use on Full Charges.
	- Basic
		- Diamond Flask
			- Gain a Flask Charge when you deal a Critical Strike allows you to easily proc this on bosses with the Used when Charges reach full enchant.
			- Suffix can be Increased Crit or Attack Speed, roll the other one on your other magic flask.
		- Silver Flask
			- Gain a Flask Charge when you deal a Critical Strike allows you to easily proc this on bosses with the Used when Charges reach full enchant.
			- Suffix can be Increased Crit or Attack Speed, roll the other one on your other magic flask.
		- Tincture
			- All Damage can Freeze or Cull is ideal as a base, anything is fine though.
			- The main mod you are looking for is +2 Proj if you've been hit recently, you will just proc this naturally as it only says "Hit" not hit by attacks.
			- For a prefix get whatever you can, Lightning Pen will be ideal.

- Jewels
	- Unique
		- That Which Was Taken
			- Fortify is Mandatory here, the chance isn't super important but get as high of one as you can that allows you to get other good mods.
			- The best secondary mod is going to be Spell Suppression, but this combo will be absurdly expensive, you can get basically anything that seems worthwhile, damage, 
			energy shield, int/str, etc.
		- Watcher's Eye
			- Chance to Evade Attack hits while affected by Grace is the mandatory mod here.
			- Secondary mods would be Phys taken as Element while affected by Purity of Elements, if you are REALLY made of money you can go for any good third mod. Maybe Precision.
		- Thread of Hope
			- Large Ring, get as low of - to elemental resists as you can afford.
		- Lethal Pride
			- Use the timeless jewel finder in PoB to find these.
			- Go for 1 Intimidate node and as many Double Damage nodes as you can afford, Strength is also good.
		- The Adorned
			- 125%+ to make this gem worth it, if you are using the Energy Shield on hit jewels and want more ES you can go for 134%+ but I don't think it is worth it.
		- Inspired Learning
			- This Jewel requires 4 nearby notables to be allocated and provides us with a mini-Headhunter effect. This is a good place to get corrupting blood immunity if you desire it.
	- Cluster
		- Large Cluster
			- You want Martial Prowess and Feed the Fury as the 2 front nodes on the cluster jewel. Any 3rd node that allows you to get those is fine. Claw clusters are insanely cheap 
			for this setup and ones that will gives you actual damage like Attack / Sword / 2 Hand will be significantly more. Decide for yourself if like 5x+ price is worth 12% damage per jewel.
	- Basic
		- We use Corrupted Magic jewels for Adorned, these are relatively difficult to make so you can try to buy them.
		- Prefix will always be 8% Maximum Energy Shield.
		- Suffix you have a bunch of choices depending on what you need.
			- Int / Str or Flat Strength if you need Strength.
			- All elemental resistances or 1/2 Resistances if you need resists.
			- Crit Multi with Elemental Skills for pure damage.
			- Gain 3 Energy Shield per hit for sustain while doing Simulacrum or clear.

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Leveling
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- This is not a build that you can effectively level as, it is very painful. Play any league start Shadow build and transition into this when mid 90s with gear.










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