Flicker Strike, known for its chaotic blend of teleportation and destruction, remains a timeless favorite in Path of Exile. In the 3.26 league, the Champion ascendancy provides an unexpectedly strong and fulfilling Flicker Strike experience, establishing it as a viable and thrilling option for league starters. This comprehensive guide will explore the details of constructing a Flicker Strike Champion, addressing all aspects from skill tree development to equipment choices and, importantly, how to effectively leverage your PoE Currency to gain an advantage.

Why Champion for Flicker Strike?

While often overlooked for Flicker Strike, Champion provides several key advantages:

Fortify on Hit: The "Fortify on Hit" node provides permanent Fortify, significantly enhancing survivability, which is often a vulnerability in Flicker Strike builds. This enables you to engage directly with groups of enemies without the fear of being instantly defeated.

Adrenaline: The adrenaline buff delivers a considerable increase in damage during boss encounters and challenging situations, alleviating Flicker Strike's dependence on the sheer volume of attacks to inflict damage.

Accuracy & Impale: The Champion class excels in accuracy and impale mechanics, facilitating easier gear selection and damage scaling. Impale, in particular, proves to be exceptionally effective against bosses.

Survivability: In addition to Fortify, the Champion class provides built-in defensive layers, minimizing the necessity for costly PoE buy Currency investments in the early stages to maintain survival.

League Start Gearing and Skill Tree Progression

Your initial focus should be on acquiring the Flicker Strike skill gem as soon as possible. The early game should be relatively smooth with any decent melee weapon. Prioritize increasing accuracy and attack speed.

Skill Tree: The early skill tree should focus on life nodes, accuracy nodes, and melee damage. Prioritize taking the Iron Reflexes keystone early to convert evasion to armor, further enhancing survivability. As you level, path towards the Champion ascendancy nodes.

Gearing: Early on, prioritize gear with life, resists, and accuracy. Don't worry too much about crafting or optimized items. As you accumulate PoE Currency, upgrade your weapon to one with high physical damage and attack speed. Look for vendors selling decent weapons. Later, you can begin crafting or purchasing better gear.

Mid-Game Power Spikes and PoE Currency Investment

As you advance through the acts, it will be necessary to begin investing PoE Currency to enhance your damage output and survivability.

Weapon: It is essential to have a quality two-handed sword or axe that offers high physical damage and attack speed. Consider crafting a suitable weapon using essences.

Jewels: Seek out jewels that provide life, attack speed, and accuracy.

Armour: Aim to maximize your armor through equipment and passive skills. Prioritize life and resistances on your armor pieces.

Cluster Jewels: Medium cluster jewels featuring "Feed the Fury" and "Precise Commander" are outstanding additions, as they enhance attack speed and accuracy.

At this point, effective farming and trading become crucial. Completing daily missions, selling valuable items, and comprehending the economy can greatly augment your PoE PC Currency reserves.

Late-Game Optimization and Endgame Content

By the end of the campaign, you should have a solid foundation for your Flicker Strike Champion. Now, it's time to fine-tune your build and tackle endgame content. This involves:

Optimized Gear: Crafting or acquiring high-tier gear with optimal affixes. This requires a significant amount of PoE buy Currency, so focus on efficient farming strategies.

Forbidden Flame/Flesh: These jewels can provide powerful ascendancy nodes from other classes. Raider's "Avatar of the Veil" is a popular choice for phasing and elemental ailment immunity.

Awakened Gems: Leveling and corrupting Awakened gems provides substantial damage and utility.

Map Modifiers: Learn to adapt your build to different map modifiers. Some modifiers can be extremely dangerous for Flicker Strike, while others are easily manageable.