[3.14] Perry's Unleash Exsanguinate (Phys DOT Trickster)

"But what if I don't have a Cold Iron Point?"
Let's pretend you have a +1 Wand with some spell damage. Remember, GGG introduced a +1 Gem recipe in 3.14 Ultimatum League.

Clip from Zizaran showing recipe:
https://clips.twitch.tv/MagnificentSavoryOxChocolateRain-zhbKD3VLAWSB8SJu

Reddit Discussion Thread, for clarifications:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/mts3k2/1_to_spell_gems_of_each_type_recipes_found/



Clearing Setup (Wand + Mistwall + Chain Support)
(POB vs "Not a Boss")
950k Exsanguinate DPS (3 Stacks)
200k Corrupting Fever DPS (3 Stacks)

Single Target Setup (2x Wand + Swift Affliction Support)
(POB vs "Sirus")
1.1 Million Exsanguinate DPS (3 Stacks)
500k Corrupting Fever DPS (10 Stacks)

Kill all Bandits for the extra two skill points.

If this is your first character in a new league, it is always worth considering helping Alira for the extra Elemental Resistance. If you do this, you can always change your bandit choice later using the Vendor Recipe:
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Deal_with_the_Bandits.

Choosing Trickster gives us tons of durability while clearing maps, and a big 20% More Damage multiplier for Exsanguinate's DOT component.

Specifically, Trickster grants us the following:
- Recover Life/Mana/ES on Kill
- 9% Reduced Damage Taken
- Stun Mitigation
- 31% Increased Cast Speed
- 20% Skill Effect Duration (Enduring Cry, Steelskin, Corrupting Fever, Exsanguinate, Vaal Grace)

Ascendancy Order

For our first two labs, we prioritize the damage from "Prolonged Pain".

My recommendation is to leave "Escape Artist" for your last 2 Ascendancy points.

If this is a Trickster Guide, why are we talking about Scion?

One of the hot new builds of 3.14 Ultimatum League was Exsanguinate Scion. Some people were spellslinging, some people were self-casting, and a very small few were even using Unleash Support (like me). Enki has written a guide on this Scion build, which covers what Zizaran league-started with in Ultimatum.
Here's a reference link:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3102014

So which one is better?

There's no clear winner, in my opinion -- these are just two different builds. But as long as we're here, let's talk about the differences.

Unleash vs No Unleash?

Using unleash costs you an entire support gem, which is roughly 40% more damage. On the other hand, Unleash allows us an amazing amount of clearspeed, especially while also using Chain Support. Unleashing Exsanguinate + the three "seals" means we cast 4 spells at once, which lines up very well with Exsanguinate (DOT stacks 3 times) and Corrupting Fever (DOT stacks up to 10 times).

Against Single Target, Unleash gives us very realistic uptime on all of our damage. We can reposition and avoid deadly mechanics without missing out on too much DPS.

While farming Awakener 8, tier 16 conquerors, and wave 20 Simulacrums, I have always felt like I've had enough damage -- which makes me happy to include Unleash for Quality of Life.

Block vs Dodge?

The point of the Scion Ascendancy here is to go Gladiator + Necromancer, which is an amazing foundation for a block-based defense with a "Recover #% of Life When You Block" Shield.

The point of our Trickster build is to use Dodge, Acro, and Phase Acro in order to maintain uptime on our Ghost Shrouds, which give us 9% generic Damage Reduction.

So if you can be 75/75 Block or 75/75 Dodge, what's the difference?

Three Key things:

1. "Block" is an event, which can trigger "Recover #% of life when you block" on a shield

2. Wind Dancer Keystone

2. Mistwall Unique Shield

Because we are a dodge-based build, our defense synergizes incredibly well with Mistwall. This is now a normal item drop as of 3.14 Ultimatum League, and is no longer a Boss-Drop exclusive to Conquerors. As long as we have not blocked recently, we can be at 75/75 Dodge AND 75% chance to block attack damage.

The order of operations in POE for receiving damage is as follows:
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Receiving_damage

Evade -> Dodge -> Avoid -> Block

In terms of maintaining uptime both on Wind Dancer and on Mistwall's "Maximum Block Chance", we have strong investment into evasion and dodge, and even a bit of damage avoidance from our skill tree. Not only that, but because we are a DOT build using Unleash, our playstyle synergizes very well with our defenses.

Exsanguinate (socketed in Body Armor):

Exsanguinate
Brutality
Controlled Destruction
Unleash
Efficacy
Chain // Swift Affliction

If you want EVEN MORE single target DPS, you can do a double-gem swap:
Unleash // Controlled Destruction
Chain // Swift Affliction

If you do this, you'll need to use either Cruelty or a level 3/4 Empower as a constant gem. In my experience, gem-swapping off of Unleash for single target has been unnecessary: 3 million DPS has been plenty for me, and Unleash represents excellent quality of life.

Corrupting Fever (socketed in Gloves):

Corrupting Fever
Brutality
Efficacy
Swift Affliction

Socket your Corrupting Fever in your Gloves. Eventually, you will want to craft a pair with an "Essence of Delirium" for "Socketed Gems deal 30% More Damage Over Time". The best base would be the new Apothecary's Gloves for the 18% increased DOT implicit. (Spell Damage, like from Fingerless Silk Gloves, doesn't affect Corrupting Fever.)

Auras (socketed in Helmet):

Pride
Herald of Purity
Maim
War Banner

Note that Enlighten is not needed for this build.

Flame Dash
Arcane Surge level 5
Second Wind

Cast When Damage Taken level 1
Void Sphere level 1

Steelskin level 20
Enduring Cry
Second Wind

Vaal Grace

Extra Defensive Options // Mana Reservation

If you're able to get any sort of Reduced Mana Reservation + Enlighten into this build, my recommendation is to think about including Aspect of the Crab, if possible.

https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Aspect_of_the_Crab

The weakest part of this build's defenses is Physical Spells. Aspect of the Crab, along with out dodge-based defense, is a great way to beef ourselves up. I haven't included this in my own build, because I feel the defenses are already A+, but it is worth mentioning.

We do not use any flasks to inflate our DPS. We could use a Sulphur Flask for 40% increased damage, but the utility & defense granted by our other flasks outweigh that increase, in my opinion.



Bubbling/Seething Life Flask of Staunching
Chemist's Basalt Flask of _____ (open suffix, personal preference)
Alchemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline
Taste of Hate
Chemist's Quartz Flask of Warding, my personal favorite flask

If you can find a jewel with the corrupted implicit "Corrupted Blood Cannot Be Inflicted on You," feel free to replace the "of Staunching" suffix with the suffix of your choice. The "Staunching" suffix does, however, protect us against any actual bleeds, like when a monster uses Puncture.

If you are not yet immune to ailments via your gear, you will need (at least) to have "of Heat" as a suffix on one of your flasks.

Taste of Hate

https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Taste_of_Hate

Taste of Hate is a fantastic defensive flask for our build. Any source of "Phys taken as _____", be it on flask, helmet, body armor, or shield corruption -- Each of these is a great inclusion in our Dodge-based build. This is where the majority of our physical mitigation comes from, other than Endurance Charges and Basalt Flask.

If you don't yet have a Taste of Hate, my recommendation would be a Jade Flask (for extra evasion), which also has synergy with our Ghost Dance ascendancy:

For this build, we have space for only one or two normal jewels.

Here is a Pathofexile.com Trade Query for all the things you might look for in a normal jewel.
Be sure to update this link for whichever League you are playing in:

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ultimatum/KrjXgDLs5

Feel free to play with the link above to find reasonably priced jewels.

Also consider that eventually, every build will want a jewel that has this corruption:
"Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you"

Because we are a caster build, you might consider also searching for a jewel with the corruption:
"You cannot be cursed with silence"

In SSF, I tend to Vaal any jewel that has life and res, looking for the Corrupted Blood corruption.

For this build, we have space for only one or two abyss jewels. We prioritize the following mod:
"#% chance to gain onslaught for 4 seconds on kill"

Even the Tier 2 version of this mod (3-5% chance) is enough (item level 50+)

Because the "Onslaught" mod only appears on Murderous and Searching Eye jewels, we cannot get too much DPS from this slot. Instead, we use this jewel to get things like Intelligence, Strength, Life, Resistances, etc.

Here is a Pathofexile.com Trade Query for all the things you might look for in an Abyss jewel.
Be sure to update this link for whichever League you are playing in:

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ultimatum/rR7OpaZHQ

Feel free to play with the poe.trade link above to find reasonably priced jewels.

Also consider that eventually, every build will want a jewel that has this corruption:
"Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you"

Because we are a caster build, you might consider also searching for a jewel with the corruption:
"You cannot be cursed with silence"

In SSF, I tend to Vaal any jewel that has life and res, looking for the Corrupted Blood corruption.

For this build, we have space for:
One Large Cluster Jewel
Two Medium Cluster Jewels
One or Two Small Cluster Jewels

Large Cluster:

Because Corrupting Fever does not scale with Spell Damage, we greatly prefer our Large Cluster Jewel to be:
"12% Increased Physical Damage"

Like most builds, we prefer our Large Cluster Jewel to have "8 Passives".

Like most builds, we prefer our Large Cluster to have 3 Notables. The "Force Multiplier" Notable is normally excellent on a Physical Large Cluster Jewel, but because our build is DOT, the "chance to deal double damage" text does not scale our damage. Note also that the word "overwhelm" does not scale our DOT damage.

Below is a Pathofexile.com Trade Query for all the things you might look for in a Large Cluster Jewel.
Be sure to update this link for whichever League you are playing in:

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ultimatum/ypG3lVWsR

In an SSF scenario, I would recommend crafting this via Harvest. "Reforge with a Phys Modifier" is a very simple way of hitting three notables on Physical Large Cluster Jewels.

Medium Clusters:

Medium Cluster Jewels are fairly important for our build, and represent a big chunk of our DOT Multiplier.

We prefer our Medium Cluster Jewels to have 4 or 5 Passives, and to be "Physical Damage Over Time".
In SSF, we can settle for "Damage Over Time" Medium Clusters instead.

Below is a Pathofexile.com Trade Query for all the things you might look for in a Medium Cluster Jewel.
Be sure to update this link for whichever League you are playing in:

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ultimatum/mwr9OZRI6

Note that "Flow of Life" and "Student of Decay" are good, but not great. Because these notables offer extra quality of life, I am including them here.

Harvest is still useful with "Reforge with a Physical Mod". I tend to craft my own Medium Cluster Jewels with Alterations.

Small Clusters:

In this build, we have room for one or two Small Cluster Jewels. We are prioritizing either Life ("Fettle") or Chaos Res.

Two and Three passive small cluster jewels are both appropriate here. If you have a Three Passive small cluster, you can consider intentionally not having a Notable, and instead just have a jewel with mods like:
- "Added Small Passive Skills Also Grant #% Chaos Resistance"
- "Added Small Passive Skills Also Grant +# to maximum life"

Below is a Pathofexile.com Trade Query for all the things you might look for in a Small Cluster Jewel.
Be sure to update this link for whichever League you are playing in:

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ultimatum/qRBnGy9fg

Best // Damage

The best annoint for this build is one of the new nodes on the tree, just above Resolute Technique: Vanquisher
https://poedb.tw/us/Vanquisher

The 40% Increased Physical Damage is global, which means that it will scale our hits, our DOT, and even our Corrupting Fever.

In addition, the "Crush" keyword is actually beneficial to our build, unlike "Overwhelm". Overwhelm only cares about hits, which is not the primary source of our damage. Crush, on the other hand, will lower the enemy's Physical Damage Reduction.

Note that Physical Damage Reduction cannot go negative, unlike Elemental Resistances, but the Crush Debuff will still help us against Endurance Charges and the map modifier, "Enemies have +#% increased physical damage reduction."

Alternatives // Defense

If you feel like your build already has sufficient damage and you're instead looking for defense, my recommendation is "Discipline and Training" from the Templar's starting area.
https://poedb.tw/us/Discipline_and_Training

Helmet Enchant:

The lab enchantments for Exsanguinate and Corrupting Fever, in my opinion, are not great. However, because we have other auras in our build, we have some good DPS options elsewhere.

Pride: 15% Reduced Mana Reservation (allows for Vitality inclusion, especially with Enlighten)
War Banner has 40% Increased Effect (~~ enemies take 5% increased damage)

If you're able to get any sort of Reduced Mana Reservation + Enlighten into this build, my recommendation is to think about including Aspect of the Crab, if possible.

https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Aspect_of_the_Crab

The weakest part of this build's defenses is Physical Spells. Aspect of the Crab, along with out dodge-based defense, is a great way to beef ourselves up. I haven't included this in my own build, because I feel the defenses are already A+, but it is worth mentioning.

Boot Enchant:

We are mostly stun immune already because of Ghost Shrouds and the Crafted Ailment Avoidance hybrid modifier on our chest piece. Of the remaining boot enchants that are relevant to our build, I would choose the following:

#% Damage Leeched as life if you've killed recently
#% life regenerated per second if you've been hit recently

My gear is all self-crafted in SSF SC Ultimatum League.

Although Exsanguinate is a level 12 Skill Gem, I do not recommend self-casting it as soon as possible.

My recommendation for this build is to level with Caustic Arrow from the very beginning of the game. Caustic Arrow is very easy leveling, and the skill tree will be virtually identical when we swap later to using Exsanguinate.

Caustic Arrow
Pierce
Void Manip
+ Mirage Archer
+ Vicious Projectiles

We can swap to Exsanguinate at level 24, when we get Spellslinger. Attacking with Frenzy to generate frenzy charges is a quick way to progress through early leveling.

Exsanguinate
Spellslinger
Controlled Destruction
+ Efficacy

We can scale our damage with Herald of Purity early on in the game as well, or we can set up a second Spellslinger 4link with Reap at level 28.

Swapping to Self-Cast Exsanguinate:

This will happen at level 38, when we have access to our key skill gems: Unleash and Chain. If you're like me and don't want to worry about the Library Quest, you could consider swapping after Act 5 Kitava, when your character has access to Lily Roth and all the skill gems.

Exsanguinate
Brutality
Unleash
Chain // Swift Affliction
+ Controlled Destruction
+ Efficacy

Generic Leveling Gear:

Boots: Wanderlust
Body Armor: Tabula Rasa
Helmet: Goldrim
Amulet: Karui Ward
Rings: Le Heup of All, Praxis
Belt: Rustic Sash with Life + Resistances
Gloves: Lochtonial Caress

Leveling Weapons:

My recommendation is to dual wield wands while leveling. A shield is a great source of additional life and resistances if you need it, but the amount of damage that you get from two weapons is very high.

Stats to Prioritize on Wands:
- +1 to level of All Physical Spell Skill Gems
- +1 to level of All Spell Skill Gems
- #% Increased Physical Damage Over Time Multiplier
- #% Increased Damage Over Time Multiplier
- #% increased Spell Damage

GGG introduced a +1 Gem recipe in 3.14 Ultimatum League.

Clip from Zizaran showing recipe:
https://clips.twitch.tv/MagnificentSavoryOxChocolateRain-zhbKD3VLAWSB8SJu

Reddit Discussion Thread, for clarifications:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/mts3k2/1_to_spell_gems_of_each_type_recipes_found/

Mid-Leveling Upgrades:

Skullhead
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Skullhead

Goldrim's older brother. Always a great starter item.

Lioneye's Remorse
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Lioneye%27s_Remorse

Lioneye's is an exceptionally "thick" shield with upwards of 200 flat life. We need strength on our build anyway, so we will likely have enough to equip this. This shield can hold us over for a long time, until we find something with Life and +1 Phys Gems, or until we find a Mistwall.

Endgame Gear:

Atziri's Step
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Atziri%27s_Step

Cold Iron Point
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Cold_Iron_Point

Mistwall
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Mistwall

Replica Mistwall
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Replica_Mistwall

Given the option, I would prefer to use Replica Mistwall. It is substantially less common, but worth it in a Trade League setting. Spells (and specifically Physical Spells) are harder to mitigate than other kinds of damage, so I would be willing to make this change, given the option.

Because Mistwall tends to be relatively inexpensive in Trade Leagues, I would consider buying & corrupting many of them, looking for a corrupted implicit:
"#% of Physical Damage from hits taken as ____ Damage"

If you have any specific questions about finding bases or crafting gear, please either leave a comment here or come talk to me on stream, at https://www.twitch.tv/perrythepig .

Rings

Method: Alt/Aug/Regal on a Vermillion Ring

We want to prioritize one thing on our ring: Tier 1 Life.

Other good mods:
- Strength
- Chaos Res
- Ele Resistances

Ring Upgrades

Eventually, you will want a ring with the following mod:
"Curse enemies with vulnerability on hit, with #% increased effect"

We can get this mod in one of two ways:
- Crafted, via a i75+ Warlord Ring
- Drop-only from Delve, from a Delve Node with "Contains Physical Items"

In addition to this, there is a great DPS Unique Ring that we can look for, assuming it has the right modifiers:
Circle of Guilt, Synthesized Iron Ring
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Circle_of_Guilt_(Synthesised)

Because we use Herald of Purity in this build, we can benefit from the following two modifiers:
1. (40-60)% increased Physical Damage while affected by Herald of Purity
2. Herald of Purity has (40-60)% increased Buff Effect

With a max roll ring with these two modifiers, this ring would represent about a 15% total DOT damage increase over a ring with no damage modifiers. Unfortunately, it doesn't have much life on it. If you choose to add this to your build, I would recommend looking for extra life elsewhere in the build, perhaps with a second small Life cluster jewel or a hunter-influenced #% Life Stygian Vise.

Starter Body Armor

I made a video about buying an Incursion Body Armour with a Guatelitzi prefix (life/%life). This is a great item to start with, both in SSF and in Trade League. I recommend this 4 minute video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Wsyo41RUc

Relying on a non-unique body armour also gives us the option of crafting "#% Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments", which helps us work toward 100% immunity.

Alternatively, a Tabula Rasa with a good corruption ("+2 to level of socketed duration gems", "+1 to level of socketed gems", etc.) is a good choice for DPS.

Endgame Body Armor

My ideal Body Armour would have the following mods:

Prefix: 100 to Maximum Life
Prefix: Physical Damage from hits taken as ____ Damage
Prefix: #% Chance to avoid Elemental Ailments (either crafted or unveiled)
Suffix: #% Chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on hit
Suffix: ---
Suffix: ---

We can create this body armour using the following base:
ilvl 83 Redeemer-influenced, dex/int Base

(Dex/Int for coloring considerations. Other than that, the base is flexible. "Best" is Carnal Armour because of the Ghost Dance & Escape Artist ascendancy points.)

There are a number of ways you can go about crafting this body armour: essences, fossils, alterations, veiled chaos, etc.

You could even Awakener Orb two body armours, one Redeemer-Influenced with "Frenzy on hit" and the other (non-Redeemer) with "Phys taken as Ele", depending on what you have available. If you are unfamiliar with using an Awakener Orb, make sure you double check how it works before using it.

If you are looking for the Highest DPS Body armour, I would recommend a level 4 Empower along with the following:
Prefix: "+1 to level of socketed active skill gems" (Shaper)
Prefix: "+1 to level of socketed support gems" (Redeemer)
Suffix: #% Chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on hit

Belt

Method 1: Fossil Crafting an i84 Stygian Vise

Reference this site and click on the corresponding base at the top menu:
https://poedb.tw/us/mod.php

Fossils:
- Pristine Fossil - (More Life Modifiers, no Armor/Energy Shield/Evasion modifiers)

And maybe also the following:
- Aberrant - (More Chaos Modifiers, No Lightning Modifiers)

Use a one- or two-socket resonator, and craft your own belt.

Method 2: Essences

Essences of Envy can be used to put Chaos Resistance on a belt. Rolling a handful of these until you hit Tier 1 Life is a great way to make a belt as well.

Aim for the following, in order of importance:

- # to Maximum Life
- Chaos Resistance
- Elemental Resistances

The best Influenced Belt for this build, in my opinion, would be a simple Hunter Stygian:
Prefix: "#% Increased Maximum Life"

You can attempt to Hunter Exalt this onto an existing Stygian with an open Prefix and no open suffixes. Before Exalting, you could use Fertile Catalyst on the belt to ensure you have the best chance of Exalting the %Life mod.

Helmet

Method: Fossil Crafting an Elder i85 Helmet

Reference this site and click on the corresponding base at the top menu:
https://poedb.tw/us/mod.php

Fossils:
- Pristine Fossil - (More Life Modifiers, no Armor/Energy Shield/Evasion modifiers)
- Jagged Fossil - (More Physical Modifiers, no Fire Modifiers)

Use a two-socket resonator with the above two fossils, and craft your own helmet.

Aim for the following modifiers:

- Prefix: # to Maximum Life
- Suffix: Nearby enemies take 9% increased Physical Damage

If you have a helmet with an empty Prefix, I recommend crafting:
"#% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire Damage"

If you have a helmet with an empty Suffix, I recommend crafting:
"#% Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments"

Gloves

Method: Essnce Crafting any high item level "Apothecary's Gloves"

Reference this site and click on the corresponding base at the top menu:
https://poedb.tw/us/mod.php

Essence of Delirium:
"Socketed Gems deal 30% More Damage Over Time"

The purpose of this is to create a pseudo 5 Link for our Corrupting Fever. Because "Spell Damage" doesn't apply to Corrupting Fever's damage, it's hard to scale the gem's damage too well. This Essence is perfect for us, so as long as we can get 50+ Life on the gloves, we'll settle in the short term.

If you have gloves with an empty Prefix, I recommend crafting:
"#% Increased Damage during any Flask Effect"

If you have gloves with an empty Suffix, I recommend crafting:
"#% Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments"

Boots

Atziri's Step is simple, easy to farm, and fantastic for our build. While it's not the only option, I highly recommend it. If I wanted an upgrade, I would consider a corrupted pair of Atziri's Step before looking elsewhere for an upgrade.

Corruptions to look for:

#% Chance to Dodge Attacks
#% Chance to Dodge Spells
#% increased Movement Speed
#% increased Maximum Life
+1 Maximum Endurance Charges

Amulet

Good: i82 Warlord Amulet (+1 Physical Gems)

Better: i82 Hunter Amulet (+1 Strength Gems, Physical DOT Multi)

Best: Awakener Orb +1 Phys // +1 Strength

In this build, we will always be looking for Strength and Intelligence. If you find a Jade Amulet (Dex Implicit) in SSF, my recommendation is to use the Onyx Amulet Recipe first to ensure you have a relevant implicit on your amulet. This small step will get you 16 Strength and Intelligence, which can make gearing easier down the line.
https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Vendor_recipe_system

Great question. If you're not already using & upgrading pantheons, take a look at this short video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOYrx98913U