PoE 3.5 MoM/EB Hybrid Whirling Blades Cold DoT Trickster Builds

That is further cold damage over time create, but with a twist given that we’re going Trickster, will probably be working with two new uniques introduced in three.5 together with Whirling Blades as our major movement ability. What we got can be a fast+paced character created for all those who are sick and tired of walking+simulator builds, featuring a fascinating Mind over Matter and Eldritch Battery combo, lots of aura and buffs options, and three active capabilities.

Pros & Cons:
+ All the things viable
+ Quite tanky
+ Numerous harm prevention layers
+ Respectable damage
+ Quite good clear speed
+ Very versatile flasks
+ Can run all maps, even ele reflect maps
+ Plenty of clicking/very active playstyle
+ Looks awesome with MTX
- Essentially melee range
- Not really HC viable
- An occultist has clearly better damage
- Susceptible to plenty of small hits connecting if you’re not careful
- Chaos damage can be a problem
- ES-based gearing might be a problem due to Acrobatics
- Numerous clicking/very active playstyle
- Looks like poop without MTX

Gems Link:
Vortex
Our main skill is Vortex. It has no cast time, which means you can spam it endlessly. Cooldown decreases with each level, so getting level 21 gem is quite important. Do note that this skill deals cold damage more than the time which does NOT stack with other Vortexes but DOES stack with other sources of cold harm more than time, i.e. Cold Snap and Vaal Cold Snap, meaning we can have up to 3 sources of damage to a single target.

Vortex - Controlled Destruction - Elemental Focus - Efficacy - Hypothermia - Swift Affliction

Cold Snap/Vaal Cold Snap
This can be regarded as our utility ability and clearing ability at the same time. Cold Snap is mainly used on bosses to apply the Bonechill debuff. As compared to Vortex, this skill is better suited for the debuffing role due to its innate chill effectiveness bonus. On the other hand, Vaal Cold Snap substantially boosts our clear speed thanks to the use of the Soul Catcher flask which allows us to use the talent quite frequently and reliably.

Vaal Cold Snap - Bonechill - Hypothermia - Efficacy

Curses and auras
Due to being an MoM/EB hybrid, we’re able to run a variety of aura buffs. I’ve found that Grace is usually a perfect solution to increase our base (i.e., without the use of flasks) survivability while becoming much more effective thanks to Stibnite and Jade flasks, which are a staple of the construct. Frostbite assists in the clearing process by decreasing cold resistance of mobs. While it retains certain effectiveness on bosses, it is better suited for combatting non-unique monsters. More on that will follow. These you put in your helmet.

Dread Banner reserves only 10% of your mana, and in addition to looking spectacular, it makes nearby enemies less accurate. Nicely complements Grace and evasion flasks. The aspect of the Spider can be quite hard to come by, but it's most definitely worth it. It not only makes the enemies take more harm but also slows them by 30%. Great for any DoT-based create.

Grace - Frostbite - Blasphemy - Enlighten
Dread Banner
The aspect of the Spider

Trigger skills
Patch three.5 introduced the awesome "Trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill" craft. We take advantage of the quality of life it offers and links as provided below. Thanks to this our golem are always up (free attack and cast speed, both useful) without any action on our part. Desecrate is used as a prerequisite for the Feast of Flesh talent from the Devouring Diadem helmet. And Frost Bomb provides a significant harm boost, especially vital for single target.

Summon Lighting Golem - Desecrate - Frost Bomb
Elemental Equilibrium proc
Elemental Equilibrium is a no-brainer solution to increase our damage by a mile.
Storm Brand

Survivability talent
Because we’re not employing any Endurance Charges, the effectiveness of Immortal Call would be Miniscule, so I went for an additional Desecrate proc to make our recovery from the Feast of Flesh even more powerful and reliable.

Cast when Harm Takes (lvl 1) - Desecrate (lvl 1)

Movement ability - Whirling Blades
This is used to move very quickly around the map as soon as you get used to the short/long distances you travel based on how far away from your character you aim the cursor. We never stop moving, are not flask-dependent and don’t need to craft movement speed on boots. To feel good, we need a lot of attack speed, and Trickster helps a bunch in that regard. In comparison to other movement abilities, WB needs less investment, has a nifty cold-based microtransaction and looks way cooler. Fortify makes us take reduced damage, which is always good. The disadvantage is that the ability is incapable of crossing gaps, so you may use flame dash as a secondary movement ability or just go around, like me.

Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify

Leveling Guide:
This was the only construct I’ve played this league so it most definitely can be leveled as a league starter. Please find below the rough estimate of how I decided to level my create. The leveling process is not set in stone, and you should go for what you find most suitable for your current needs.

Remember that most of the skills will not be available from the get-go (including Vortex which you’ll get only after reaching level 28), so you’ll end up leveling with something else (like Freezing Pulse or Storm Brand). The construct will start to feel good only in the late-game when everything’s in place and working properly. So be patient because the end result is really worth it.

Points 1-20:
https://pastebin.com/JQkqdbpc
Standard elemental, life-based, non-crit Shadow start. Nothing fancy. We’re closing to reaching Witch area.

Points 20-40:
https://pastebin.com/fANZLq98
Slowly filling out the Witch area. Priorities are: Mind over Matter and Elemental Overload.

Points 40-60:
https://pastebin.com/AZCkyuem
A bunch of life nodes and Acrobatics/Phase Acrobatics.

Points 60-80:
https://pastebin.com/Tux4RTnw
Our first proper damage nodes (Breath of Rime and Fingers of Frost wheels).

Points 80-100:
https://pastebin.com/R4AKBx7V
We've arrived at the Templar area and start to take some jewel nodes.

Points 100-120:
https://pastebin.com/YV0Fn3QV
We can finally respect out of mana-based MoM and go for the Devouring Diadem. Some final touches like more jewel slots, life, chaos resistance, flasks.

Pantheon:
https://i.imgur.com/oN7pr30.png
As far as Major Pantheons are concerned, Soul of Lunaris seems like a perfect match for any avoidance-based construct considering that it increases our chance to evade and dodge.

When it comes to Minor Pantheons, on the other hand, Soul of Garukhan and Soul of Shakari. Ultimately, I decided to use the latter to bolster our defenses against chaos harm and cover one of our weak points.

Bandits:
While leveling, I went for Alira to cap my resists. As soon as I managed to obtain appropriate equipment, I respected for the "kill all" option.

Ascendancy:
https://i.imgur.com/9c7YP1d.png
Trickster offers some not too shabby damage bonuses from Patient Reaper and Prolonged Pain and provides a good framework for stacking various avoidance-based defenses. However, the most important advantage of Trickster more than yet another class, Occultist, in particular, is the attack speed and clearing potential given that from the get-go I knew I would value rapid clear ability more than bossing.

1) Patient Reaper
This will make your Vortex and Cold Snap significantly more powerful at low levels and will increase your survivability when killing mobs.

2) Swift Killer
For the much-needed quality of life in the form of speed, extra harm and easier proc of Elemental Overload.

3) Prolonged Pain
Our primary damage-related Ascendancy is notable. While it might seem mediocre in comparison with some Occultist nodes, it is more of a jack-of-all-trades solution considering the fact that it not only gives extra damage but also increases our survivability from damage over time and makes our abilities last longer. Very nice indeed.

4) Ghost Dance
Considering that we’re MoM/EB hybrid, Weave the Arcane seemed redundant. While Attack and Cast Speed bonus and extra damage mitigation are definitely nice, we don’t really care about our Mana pool, Mana recovery or "Manaless" movement expertise. For this reason, a not so popular Ghost Dance fits the construct perfectly because it strengthens our dodge- and evasion-based defenses. 40% increased Attack and Cast Speed is not too shabby either, but not particularly reliable.