This is a comprehensive guide to the budget edition of the Flicker Strike Assassin designed specifically for Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League.

Intro

The damage output is sufficient for nearly all non-Uber content, and this build seldom faces defeat while remaining relatively affordable in the later stages of the league. Realistically, you can assemble a character for approximately 10 to 15 Divine Orbs, and that character will possess ample strength to tackle all non-Uber Pinnacles.

The primary objective with this build was to be an effective Shaper Guardian speed farmer, and it excels in that aspect. While it may not be the fastest build in terms of speed, the equilibrium between speed and damage makes it an excellent choice considering its cost-effectiveness.

How Does This Build Work In POE 3.23?

Now let's talk about how this build works. There are a few interesting interactions in this build.

The first of which comes from the new sword introduced last league, Rikiata's Dance. The sword gives you inversion, which makes it so elemental resistances are inverted when you attack an enemy.

For example, when hitting Phoenix, they have a base resistance of 50% cold resistance. When using Rikiata's Dance, the inversion causes the resistance to be flipped to 50 resistance. This is why we don't try to reduce the amount of resistance a mob has. If we were using something like Frostbite, it would only lower all our damage.

Rikiata's Dance is used in conjunction with Eye of Malice, the helmet we're using, causing the enemy's cold resistance to be increased by 50%. If we use the Phoenix example from before, this increases their cold resistance to 75% or negative 75% with inversion. Eye of Malice also gives us a ton of energy shield, so we can easily run a Divine Blessing setup with a 50% aura.

About The Gear

For the chest piece, we're using Utula's Hunger, which makes you get a ton of flat life as long as you don't have any life rolls on other pieces of gear.

Make sure that you're checking the rares that you buy or craft them for this build. You want zero life rolls, including things like regeneration or leech.

In the amulet slot, we're using Badge of the Brotherhood. This makes it so we have our frenzy charges equal to our power charges.

Regarding the anoint, it's crucial to choose Tribal Fury. The effectiveness of this build is notably diminished without the Tribal Fury anointment, making it a necessary inclusion for optimal performance.

In the boot slot, we opt for Ralakesh's Impatience. This choice has undergone changes in the current Affliction League. It ensures a constant presence of maximum frenzy power, and endurance charges. These charges don't manifest as buffs on your character, but you experience their effects without the need for a source to gain endurance or frenzy charges.

For the belt, we select Auxium. This particular belt is seldom utilized in the builds I've come across. Auxium allows you to accumulate a substantial amount of elemental damage with attacks for each power charge you possess. Given the scarcity of power charge stacking elemental attack builds, this belt isn't commonly employed. However, for our specific build, Auxium provides a noteworthy 210% increase in elemental damage with attacks. Additionally, it offers a substantial amount of energy shield, facilitating the smooth running of our 50% Divine Blessing aura.

The rest of the gear consists of rares, and since they don't have life on them, it shouldn't be too hard to obtain or craft. Just make sure to get the Rage on Hit implicit roll that allows you to use Berserk. While this doesn't provide a ton of extra rage, you still get a decent amount during the end of the fight. Since we aim to keep this build budget-friendly, that's perfectly fine for the damage.

There are different ways you could potentially get more rage that using that which was taken or some form of War Cry scaling. However, realistically, it's not something that you need, especially if you don't want to spend a ton of POE Currency on this build. If you were super rich, you could also consider getting +1 power charge rings, but honestly, it's never going to be worth the investment given how expensive they are.

Also Read: A Detailed Guide On How To Craft The Golembrand Witch In Path Of Exile 3.23

How Does This Build Sustain Flicker Strike?

Let's talk about how this build sustains Flicker Strike aside from the inversion mechanic mentioned earlier. This build relies on the generation of power charges to ignore the cooldown of Flicker Strike.

Flicker Strike of Power gives us a baseline of 50% chance to gain a power charge on crit. When used with Power Charge on Critical Support, you get an extra 54% chance to get a power charge on crit. This essentially makes it so, as long as you are critting, you can indefinitely sustain Flicker Strike.

In certain instances, you might face unfortunate circumstances with critical hits after a boss is no longer at full health, leading to the cooldown triggering. This concern primarily arises with pinnacle bosses and occurs infrequently. If desired, you have the option to use a Diamond Flask for those particular bosses, although it's not a major issue and serves as a minor inconvenience. Hence, I made the decision to forego the use of the Diamond Flask.

Conclusion

This outlines the mechanics of the build. Once you've arranged all the items, simply hold down the left or right mouse button and let the gameplay unfold.

The initial aim was to develop an affordable Flicker Strike, and that's precisely what this build is. You experience the thrill of playing Flicker Strike with slightly less damage but at one-tenth of the cost. Despite the reduced damage, it remains proficient in handling all non-Uber content with ease.