With Path of Exile ready to expand on March 4th, Grinding Gear Games is ready to unleash new information about new Ascendancy class skills. We are pleased to present the reveal the Trickster, the final of the three Shadow specs coming in Ascendancy. We have an exclusive trailer, screens and a mini interview with GG's Chris Wilson.
Ascendancy will see nineteen total classes in which players can specialize their characters. One of them is the Trickster, the third of the three specs in the Shadow class.
Here are some of the Trickster's new skills as mentioned in the video:
Walk the Aether improves the Trickster's movement skills by removing their mana cost and granting a speed buff when they're used.
Weave the Arcane not only bolsters the Trickster's mana pool and regeneration, but can restore a portion of his mana when he uses a skill. This is great for fast-casting skills like Incinerate.
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Ghost Dance rewards the Trickster for keeping his energy shield fully charged and makes it easier for him to do so. The diverse set of defensive bonuses synergises well with skills like Vaal Discipline.
Shade Form grants a variety of bonuses when the Trickster's Energy Shield starts recovering and while it is damaged. It's the perfect tool for Tricksters utilising both Energy Shield and Evasion.
Patient Reaper increases the Trickster's Damage over Time effects and provides huge recovery bonuses when they kill enemies. This combines well with the regenerative effect of the Essence Drain skill.
Swift Killer grants Frenzy Charges on kill, and increases the number of these that the Trickster can have. This greatly helps sustain skills like Flicker Strike.
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After learning a bit more about the Trickster, we chatted with Grinding Gear's Chris Wilson to find out a bit more:
MMORPG: Why did you choose ‘Trickster’ as the Ascendancy name? How does the name embody the design?
Chris Wilson: There are two reasons: Officially, Trickster shows a kind of a jack of all trades compared to the other specs in the Assassin group. It’s a class with lots of versatility and is represented in his skills.
Unofficially, a very long time ago, Trickster was the favored name of the entire class and we called it that for a very long time internally but changed for a broader vibe of Assassin. When the time came to begin Ascendancy, we wanted to bring back the Trickster name again.
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MMORPG: What has been the design philosophy behind the Trickster? How do new skills enhance the Shadow class?
CW: Tricksters will improve the way players use their classes. The Trickster is designed to assist with evasion and energy shields. This combination of shields wasn’t very good for people to use for a long time but with these new skills, it provides a lot of bonuses to the player.
Players can choose which of the Ascendancy skills they want to use. If they want to focus on evasion and shields, they can. If they want to boost damage over time, they can do that too.
Tricksters have choices that can boost those damage over time skills and it should make people pretty happy to see skills here as it’s rather the flavor of the month at the moment.
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MMORPG: How do you envision the Trickster playing? Will players mainly use Trickster skills or continue to use skills from the Shadow as well? Do Trickster skills effectively replace certain Shadow skills?
CW: Ascendancy skills are passive skills that enhance the active skills from Shadows. Ascendancy unlocks a smaller skill tree and players will be able to choose how they want to play. Some Tricksters will be different than others and can specialize what passives they want to utilize most.
In addition, there are some interesting ways for players to ‘double down’ on skills from the Shadow tree with those in the Trickster tree to give themselves a rather large bonus.
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People will really be pleased to see the Trickster today as it is the final spec reveal of the Shadow options. This is a complete class arc of an Ascendancy build, the first one, in fact. People will get the final puzzle piece in how Ascendancy classes are designed.
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