Im a max rank trickster and I've found that upgrading your censer has quite a bit of advantages. First off, you won't increase your damage at all unfortunately. However, since upgrading my censer I've found that it makes enthralling enemies a lot easier, especially big enemies like griffins and trolls. Like it's almost cheating. I've went entire fights against a griffin without my teammates or I taking any damage because it was too distracting trying to hit my illusion of myself that I kept moving around the battlefield. Also it increases the damage your pawns do when you use your buff when you upgrade your censer. But the biggest thing is that when you get the dragon illusion spell (most op spell in the game imo) if you upgrade your censer, literally every single time you use it, it will stagger and knock down large enemies like griffins, trolls etc. setting your team up to do massive damage while it's down, and when it gets back up, use the dragon illusion again and boom knocked it back down. It's cheese lol trickster is very fun and easy once you realize the purpose isn't for you to do direct damage rather indirect damage, by causing enemies to hurt themselves or buffing your team to do absurd amounts of damage. And keep the enemies distracted. It's more a crowd control vocation than a "support" or damage dealer.
I rushed to get Trickster, but I feel like it has key Ranks that you need to get to. Rank 4 for Aromatic Rally. Once Dragon’s Delusion comes in, you finally have all the tools you need in combat. But ya, the control/positioning is the trick. I found it super useful when I notice the environment has something to my advantage.
jib, feels very weak atm. I litteraly had enemies where i needed to fist fight kill them in order to progress.....Same happens if your unlucky with mage..like with the stonegolems. Trickster should 100% be a pawn. Also buff him to..maybe 2 ghosts..and if you throw your ghost that should have 3x the range...its so often a miss.
@@Shadowclaw25You probably played him wrong. Maxed out Thief and mystic spearhand and Im faster with trickster when it comes to killing big bosses like dragons. Trickster is a field-support-controller.
An ingame guide literally says that buffing physical damage makes agroing easier, and buffing magical damage buffs simulakr's health. I'm sometimes surprised how people miss such things.
I was literally going to say the same thing, so yeah magic and strength are important. Magic especially makes the simulacrum survive longer, once you generate enough aggro.
"I'm sometimes surprised how people miss such things." . I know! Do you know some people don't even read the terms and conditions of their Apple enduser contract? I swear, some people...
Honestly this class is so cool. I think the team deserves some credit for making something unique and refreshing even if not everyone is going to like this play style.
A useless class. Initially excited, but it's just running around while companions fight. Fun against single enemies, frustrating against many. Poorly executed idea, no justification in its current form.
@@mortho8587bro trickster is low key op. I just made a golem fight and kill a gryphon 😭 it just takes strategy and skill. If it could be put on a pawn, it would be tooo busted.
@@BrandonSibley-lj1mv So, fundamentally, I totally agree with you. And it's also an awesome class, and I think the idea is mega. And as you already said, 1v1, facing bosses, the class can perform incredibly well. I would even go so far as to say that in small groups or against bosses, you could do without the healer and bring along another damage dealer. However, as soon as you have many enemies on one screen, like 7, 8 goblins for example, or goblins and skeletons or whatever, then it becomes very hectic and very confusing. Because then you have a lot of creatures chasing you or trying to kill your illusion, and it quickly falls apart. Exactly when one opponent hits you once, poof, it's gone. And if 8 opponents are sticking to your backside, try casting the spell again. And that's what I meant. I think the idea is great. Just for me personally, the class should have fewer situation-dependent skills that are good. For the fact that it deals no damage, I would like to have a bit more in my toolbox.
@@BrandonSibley-lj1mv So, fundamentally, I totally agree with you. And it's also an awesome class, and I think the idea is mega. And as you already said, 1v1, facing bosses, the class can perform incredibly well. I would even go so far as to say that in small groups or against bosses, you could do without the healer and bring along another damage dealer. However, as soon as you have many enemies on one screen, like 7, 8 goblins for example, or goblins and skeletons or whatever, then it becomes very hectic and very confusing. Because then you have a lot of creatures chasing you or trying to kill your illusion, and it quickly falls apart. Exactly when one opponent hits you once, poof, it's gone. And if 8 opponents are sticking to your backside, try casting the spell again. And that's what I meant. I think the idea is great. Just for me personally, the class should have fewer situation-dependent skills that are good, like the wall or ground. For the fact that it deals no damage, I would like to have a bit more in my toolbox.
Agreed. The OG DD largely stuck to traditional class types. To put a 100% support class that also behaves in a unique way(using effectively summons) was very creative. Most RPGs have some sort of support leaning class, but to make a 0 damage one is really cool.
Highly suggest as well to use the ground illusion for some reg mobs as well cause even if you dont trick them off a ledge they can trip and u can pick them up to throw them for damage as well as using the ultimate skill that summons the smoke dragon to stager large groups or bosses then your warrior pawn can knock em down and the team will make easy work of em. Ps if anyones curious u can unlock it on the roof of where u originally unlocked the vocation by finding the lady actually sitting up there.
I honestly hate this class. I thought it was a fun concept and I came into it super hopeful, but very quickly I realised that it's just a slog. It's not fun and all of the things you unlock for it are stupid. Walls and floors are so specific and niche that I never used them, the buff feels like it does next to nothing (even after upgrading my censer and the skill itself), the big spoiler ultimate skill is fun and all, but it gets old fast. I spent so many boss fights just summoning my simulacrum, doing the big AoE "look over here!" spell and then standing there doing nothing. It trivialised basically the entire game and I don't think I've ever been so bored in my entire life. I was so tanky that eating 7-8 hits in a row from a train of knackers did almost nothing and the inability to do ANY damage isn't just frustrating it straight-up almost breaks some quests and encounters. The fact that a metal ball on a chain does absolutely 0 damage when a wooden stick can finish off small enemies is baffling to me. I stuck with it, maxed out the vocation, and every time I ranked up I kept just thinking to myself "there's gotta be SOMETHING cool in this next level" and it never came. Just a bunch of super lame and specific skills that are useless for 99% of situations. I genuinely feel like I wasted my time and my gold by picking up this vocation and I do not at all look back on my experience fondly. I discovered the vocation randomly while I playing archer and I was just like "oh, awesome! I can't wait to try it out." so I dumped all my archer gear, switched to trickster and it was all downhill from there. At first I was confused and then I was bored and then it was over. Never again will I sit there completely idle while I watch a boss with 8 health bars slowly die over the course of (and I am not joking) about 15 minutes. It was a fun idea, but ultimately I think it's a huge flop. It barely even has any core skills. It's a crowd control class and that is absolutely it. It would be far better suited for a multiplayer game or as a vocation exclusive to pawns. Sorry for the rant, but I really had to get this off my chest.
Been so excited for this vid! I got trickster last night and love the aesthetic of the class but having trouble working out how to make it fun to play. Gonna get my throwing arm ready
I think you already figured it out, it's a lame urn smoke swinger, very stupid. They should have created a rogue/jester hybrid with acrobatics, high dodge, ability to perform magic tricks that create damage, etc. This character here is garbage.
@@HermannTheGreatah we found another “hur-dur my tiny brain needs to do DPS or this class is trash” person. I think a lot of games blend the trickster/rogue/assassin archetypes too closely. This is a breath of fresh air
@@HermannTheGreat Honestly, once I got a couple more abilities interrupt my head around the class as a dodge tank first and support second, I've been having a real good time with it. Whereas the other vocations have seemed to reward remembering an elemental weakness and throwing strong attacks during opening, trickster seems to gratify keeping track of everything's positioning. I tend to play support in group RPGs, so that's something I just like to do already. I don't think I'll take it to end game, but yeah the trickster has been a good time.
I was super excited for this class. I rushed getting it and played it for a while, but got really bored of it. It made me appreciate warrior more though.
It's not so bad because some times the pawns can use some of the skills in cheater NPC ways, and your damage is match out to your party via the damage buff.
You can get past the border by following the coastline too, there's a bunch of caves, a dragon guarding the entrance (it's sleeping, so just run past), lots of other tough enemies but you can simply run.
Upgrading your equipment is 100% useful It even says that strength for the trickster makes it easier to grab aggro and magic for the trickster makes your somalacron or whatever it's called have more health
@@Akihito_Kanbara I'll give Fex the pass, though. Considering their entire channel is based off the details. That said, I also cannot stand when youtubers fully ignore the giant pop ups XD The tunnel vision they have is insane!!
After watching this I decided to try it. It’s amazing!! One thing I started doing was just casting the wall and standing in it, then the smoke. The enemies would come after me, but not pass the wall, all the while my team pummeled them from behind! And no need for the simulacrum!
The fact that so many people are missing at what this class is good at and just saying it sucks is mind boggling. This has one of the highest skill ceilings out of all the possibilities out there.
@@gort-mb1ks obviously we couldnt have 50 like Morel but like 3-5. And the more you have created the more your stamina bar is capped off. Kinda like in Dragon age when you put on a stance and your stamina bar takes a certain percentage completely away to maintain the skill. It would be so insanely cool. I'm still going to make Morel using Warfarer for trickster and warrior. The hammer Black matter looks enough like a giant pipe 🤣
Just a big thank you for all your amazing guides, from elden ring to baldurs gate your insight is priceless. This is just another example of the countless hours you put in for a simpleton like me to get into the game.
Your videoes are so much better than RageGamingVideos, it's kinda crazy.. more simple and clear, not flashy clickbait thumbnails but polished easy on the eyes. Long term fan
Trickster is super fun to play. I got it up to six as soon as I unlocked it . There are a few things that are kind of hard without you doing stuff though, mostly golems that your pawns are WAY too stupid to target the vulnerable spots. Thats actually why I switched off the class. It took nearly ten minutes to kill a single golem, when my group had just torn a cyclops to bits in less than 30 seconds like a minute before. All that said though, other than two or three specific enemies, trickster works great, and I highly recommend people at least giving it a shot. It makes you think way different about the game.
Sounds like you got some bad pawns. Every pawn I've had in the mid to late game had knowledge of how to fight golems and they died in like 1 minute. kkkkkkk
despite the fact that it does no damage, upgrading the weapon is still important. strength increases threat generation and magic increases simulacrum health.
@@TheBiggestMoronYouKnow Assuming you could dictate what stat you have predominantly yeah, you'd be a paper tank lol. Not much of an option in this game though.
So maxing both rogue for verve and sorcerer for sagacity can be really good for this class, while also getting the vitality skill from warrior for more health and the ability that lessens permanent health damage. An then magic archer stuff for team boosts
@@LeveledRogue you don't need more max HP or Loss prevention. The clone is there so you (and your party) don't get it. In fact, if you do get hit the clone immediately dissipates and you have to resummon it. Otherwise, yes, take the +pawn damage buff, but the defense one isn't necessary because they shouldn't be getting hit.
When I first unlocked this class, I switched to it in cat city, then went down to the nearby inn and got into an unavoidable duel which you have no chance of winning as you can't do damage. Hate this class, but it has some strong abilities. Should be interesting with Warfarer.
There is another quest where my pawns couldn't fight and I was the trickster 😭😭 I had to use dragons delusion to scare them and then picked them up and kept throwing them off the cliff that wasn't high enough to one shot anything 💀💀💀💀
I think it’s supposed to be combined with warfarer to make use of it, maybe with thief for easy backstabs or warrior for easy charge attacks, it’s definitely not supposed to be a solo class
It's such a cool and different support/tank class... If you could play with your friends. Who wants to rely on pawns for 99% of the damage? I watched mine walk off a cliff... I think they missed an opportunity here not making it similar to a Mesmer in guild wars 2. That's what I was picturing... Could have been super dope.
I have the Smoke Wall skill, the Aroma buff to teammates, the scouting ability and the one that pulls aggro towards you and your illusion (sorry I don't know the names of the spells). Here's some extremely helpful strats using this setup. 1) If you put your illusion into a smoke wall, most enemies will get confused and won't be able to attack it at all. The exception to this from what I've seen are lunging attacks and obviously SOME ranged attacks. Overlapping two smoke walls over each other and putting your decoy in the middle of it will sometimes make it invincible during fights. 2) Another wall strat is one that I call the "Pong" strat. Setup up two smoke walls parallel from one another and run your decoy back and forth from each wall from time to time. This is useful for if your decoy needs to be healed and you have the passive health regeneration for when your decoy is moving with you. 3) The decoy can be used with the scouting ability as well. Another good way to have enemies in a state of confusion and not know what to do is to use the decoy in the smoke wall strat as mentioned earlier and then use your scouting ability to fly up over the battlefield and then summon your decoy to it. Most enemies will be limited to whatever ranged attacks they have but will also just stand there staring at your decoy from time to time. 4) Now this last one isn't that much of a strat per say but for your team setup, I'd say that a sorcerer and mage are a must when playing this way. My main pawn is a thief right now but I might switch from a thief to some other fighter/tank class. When using this sort of team setup, make sure you're always telling your pawns to follow you. Perform one of the strats I mentioned above and then have your pawns follow you to a space obviously not too far away where they can cast their abilities at a safe enough distance. If it looks like the enemies are starting to aggro you and your team again, you don't need to reposition your decoy, just reaaply the enticing smoke so that they go back to attacking your decoy. Every now and then, redeploy your smoke wall. Again, you don't have to move your decoy when doing this, it's ideal to be able to summon two smoke walls at a time and when you feel like one is about to wear off, summon another one a good distance away from the first one and reapply aggro. This way the enemies have to waste time running over to wherever you just moved the smoke wall and decoy. You have two powerful ranged characters and a strong tank that will deal high single target damage against large bosses or any stragglers that break aggro on your decoy.
Curious why you never mention the master skills in any of your guides when I think they are often the best or one of the best skills a class can have. The illusory dragon for trickster seems crazy for its cc capabilities
Sleeping on the fake walls. Its so strong indoors especially like ruins and caves. If it blocks off the area floor to ceiling and you have your simulacrum behind it, it breaks enemy pathing and they are just lambs to the slaughter. Largely works on large enemies too. Some monsters like golems I make a V with the two walls and put the simulactum in the corner. Makes them walk around to reach it. The floating one you said for exploation can also be insane for combat too. Putting it on a ledge that enemies would have a hard time reaching or just off a ledge. I adore this whacky tank
Or you could just kill them. And if large enemies fall off cliffs and into the water, you cannot get thier mats. You could be the wall itself or you could force the large enemy to thier knees to kill them faster but nah waste time blowing smoke
@@wits_end.It REALLY seemed like you have bad pawns. Yeah, sure. Wasting all your stamina. If they fall into the water, then that’s *your* fault. Not the vocation. Seems like someone didn’t check where they killed their enemies. 😂And also if you read the GUIDE there are more ways to kill larger enemies. Make littler ones attack them, use tomes, cause you clearly get them easily, then if your such a brainless brute, then fine. Unequal your censer and punch them for gods sake. The fact that you didn’t realize any of these is crazy💀
I use Espiel by placing it above the fight then put the Simulacrum (R1) on the Espiel then (L2) out,,, the enemy will keep their focus looking up while the pawns go to work. Note; the Drakes once airborne will reach the Simulacrum (wash/rinse/repeat).
I’m watching this after getting to level 8 trickster. My first Large monster fight was a Medusa at MR1 trickster.. it took a while since I lost a pawn instantly. Then proceeded to kill a dragon. (Pawns are so over powered when they don’t get attacked)
I already blame myself for only thinking about it now, but this vocation really entices you to hold onto spell tomes and use them for the direct damage part.
I love the drip and lore for this class, but from a mechanical side I was bummed. Would be nice if Tricksters could do damage. Sure not as much as the other vocations but there should be a basic attack that does moderate damage at the very least. Or having illusions do damage would be fun as well
Cool creative vocation. Being unable to deal damage as the player character is definetly a turn off though. It would've been cool to see a pawn running around as a trickster doing what trickster does.
To help solve your stamina: Visitant Aura: Position your simulacrum slightly in the air. It will draw enemy attacks and avoid taking damage, meaning the boss is consistently staying in one area for your pawns and you’re not using up all of your stamina positioning. You’re also at less risk of getting hit, losing your simulacrum, and dealing with the angry boss. Drifting Brume: The ranged charged attack is great for maintaining aggro, but more importantly, your stamina continues to regen during this. So instead of spamming Suffocating Shroud, use Drifting Brume as your filler in-between using Dragon’s Delusion and Aromatic Resurgence. For augments: Athleticism (Mystic Spearhand), Zeal (Warfarer), Exaltation (Mage), and 2x Ring of Quickening will really help your stamina management. But Visitation Aura is the key to avoiding wasting so much stamina running around large bosses.
Espial incense let’s you place your clone high in the air, basically turning off any grounded enemies. all they can do is walk around and wait to die. if there are any ledges to jump off, you can place a clone while falling for the same effect.
So that was what that audio cue was about :O I thought i was getting mad. Anyway, strengths of the class is that it is probably the safest vocation, in that you have a very efficient pocket tank that uses almost no group resources and can also precisely be positioned for group aoe skills. It also has a lot of disruption. The main weakness is that your damage output is a lot lower than if you play a character yourself that deals damage, thanks to you usually being more efficient than the AI. However, I find it really fun to play. It could be a bit more creative with the disruption skills imo, but the core gameplay really fits the character's concept and it's incredibly pretty as well especially at night. Somebody else said it but I think this basically plays like a smooth version of the Minstrel tank Mesmer in Guild Wars 2.
It's funny how Mesmer being so unique is what got me addicted to GW2 (played since beta. Started Mesmer around month 3 and haven't touched anything else since) and now I can't stop playing Trickster. I think it would have been better though. 1. The Magic Archer shield that does retaliation damage for instance. That sounds MADE FOR trickster. Either putting it on your pawns or clone and giving them a skill based form of damage. 2. I think attaching the clone to an enemy should make it right for you. What it does now makes sense themewise, but unless you have two big mobs in one fight it doesn't do much. 3. No heal? Magic Archer gets TWO pawn only heals? When Trickster revolves entirely around keeping them alive? Granted, they shouldn't get hit at all, but a heal would be nice. Especially to off set HP drain from the attack buff. 4. That being said, more buff skills please. 5. I wish the long range clone throw move just positioned the clone ahead of you. It's near impossible to set up cliff falls by only sitting down and entering spirit form. Overall it's sooooo unique and fun to play. Absolutely in love with it. (Sorry for the text wall. See a Mesmer reference and got excited 😂)
Sticky Sim is ranged, you don't need to walk up to things. It also slightly homing. So big monsters are near 100% hit rate. PS: The Wall can be a good way to keep mobs away from stuff(like yourself). It can also extend the area mobs/monsters have to cover to chase you around when moving the sim. It's a bit hit or miss but was helpful a few times when I was using it.
The biggest issue I’ve encountered with the trickster is multiple smaller enemies. A group of ice harpies or too many wolves and hobgoblins can definitely melt your illusion and once they do they’ll head straight for you and more than likely stun lock you(enemy thieves especially). I originally thought stamina would be the biggest issue with the trickster but it’s actually poise/knockdown resistance. My party: trickster, 2x sorcerers, archer I upgraded my censer full elven (for max magic) and my armor vern(for the reduced weight) next ill try just upgrading both in dwarven just to see if the knockdown power still applies also knockdown res to prevent being stun lock when the illusion is down. With the trickster Positioning is everything
i *LOVE* trickster because i just wait for the enemy to stumble and i instantly run to pick them up and throw them off the edge or throw them at other enemies and im just laughing my ass off the entire time lmfaoo its so fun!!
Having had the majority of my playthrough to really master this vocation, I've found it to be even better the more you get comfortable with it. Even if this class had a damage skill, there would be barely enough time to use it since you are constantly refreshing shroud, casting delusion for those sweet knockdowns, buffing your party, and restoring/repositioning your sim. It is good to have binding effigy as a back up plan but I wouldnt recommend it as part of your standard rotation. Team comp is also vital to this vocation more than any other. I highly recommend trying it out and really getting the hang of it before dropping it. Of course, its probably more efficient to run dps on another class against much weaker enemies, but for some really tough encounters, this class carries hard.
One other note: Espial Incense is really good if you ascend it to a high elevation and summon the sim to it. This breaks the ai and causes them to just walk in circles under it. Although sometimes the enemy ai will just start spamming attacks around it so its not consistent, but it can trivialize some bosses.
Trickster is by far the most powerful vocation in the game. A good tank makes everything easier and the trickster is perhaps the best tank ever in a class based game.
Trickster is such a cool vocation from the concept and the idea of gameplay, buuuuut im too much focused on Dealing dmg myself, well more im too impatient too use this vocation
The skill that creates illusionary walls has its uses too I have found. When I started fucking with the class I was a bit baffled, but stuck with it and find it strangely fun and pretty effective.
*_READ THIS HONEST REPLY._* *_Suffocating Shroud:_* Skills defuses smoke across a wide area that attracts the attention to you otherwise the Simulacrum... this actually works too good as, if your shadow gets destroyed they're all coming for you... As the design of the Simulacrum is to agro for you instead of the ability working to target the Simulacrum only- and not you specifically this is a design flaw. *_Illusive Divider:_* A very mid ability as it does provide a slight camoflouge and causes enemies to walk around it, you have no real control over the enemies path to take around this structure and limits it's function as the secondary aspect of this wall is to be a sight blocker it completely falls apart if your Simulacrum is behind it. Monsters jump fly and swing right through it to get to your Simulacrum. You can hide the Simulacrum inside the wall for some reason but then the enemies target you or whatever else is in the vacinity. You have to literally be inside of the wall to hide your Simulacrum there there's no exact point to this set up other wise sleight of hand but any other aspect just yield the same results as it's a setup you could do elsewhere for less, much easier if you need to prepare or heal or need a small break. *_Aromatic Resurgence:_* Boost offensive capabilities even if their health runs out although their health drains while active. Why, just why... I'll give you an attack buff but I'll take away health because this is an attempt to balance a skill that does the most taboo thing in gaming which is MORE DAMAGE... Oh, but this isn't exactly a debuff because your pawns can still fight after they have no health and of course when it runs out they'll be dead and you have to pick them up again as well as content with whatever they didn't kill. Hopefully they killed everything and will now be revived with literally half a health bar they probably wouldn't have had, otherwise yet, if you didn't use this ability and relied upon normal damage like a normal person, as well as Helm Splitter and Walmart "Arc of Might"... *_Visitant Aura:_* Allows you to go into spirit mode to roam around somewhat freely as it has a boundary limit you're also undetectable. Active until your stamina runs out. Sigh... This ability seems good at first until you realize their actual meaning behind it was to allow your shadow to be moved to boundaries you cannot access normally such as that 5ft of space above your Tricky Terrance off of a cliff that enemies can attempt to jump off properly... Not to mention you HAVE TO BE AT THE CLIFF IN ORDER TO ACTIVATE TRICKY TERRANCE PROPERLY to set any of this up... A lot of button pressing to get a monster to commit- as well as something relatively simple. You cannot do any abilities in the form even being prompt to have access to initiate abilities- other than call your shadow... Your body is also vulnerable while in this form. It's quite literally useless outside and inside of combat other than doing what you already were doing a bit better which was agro. *_Tricky Terrance:_* Allows you to create an illusionary platform that even you cannot interact with. This ability is only for literally cliffs and getting the enemy to behave differently... You may get a stubble, a jump attack, walk around, or a missed target attempt, any one of these... You have to literally be toes off the cliff in order to properly place this as well as recommend to set this BEFORE engagement, you could agro Simulacrum somewhere else then attempt this mid fight but eventually you must get tired of trying this due to the fall having to be death not just a small jump off, and hope the enemy doesn't get smarter and just decides not to jump off, or terrain mapping issues where the enemy doesn't perceive the cliff or goes to close to it while doing attacks that doesn't require movement... it's highly frustrating. *_Binding Effigy:_* Allows you to launch your Simulacrum that's already out, at distant targets to posses them from afar, I thought this move was good... it's Drifting Brume and Enthralling Aroma combined, just goes much further and is actually nerfed as the Simulacrum disappears if you miss and must be conjured BEFORE you do this move. Which is very bad due to you potentially having Suffocating Shroud active and just blew up your Simulacrum, otherwise it's very difficult to hit specific targets in a group as well as target specific monster body parts due to the mechanics of targeting in this game is for monkeys. You cannot go airborne as reliably or aim upwards when targeting with this ability it literally targets on your plane being ground level. For bosses it will always be the ankles or ass due to this. *_Fragrant Alarum:_* This ability allows you to see enemies through walls. That's literally it...Yeah, honestly I wanted to uninstall at this point. I'd rather have Mystic Knight than whatever the fuck they thought for this ability... STOP DOING DRUGS. To be an ability you unlock after rank 8... The most disappointing thing besides the Vocation Maister moves only being 1 for each class... We already have Visitant Aura, why would you give us another ability to scout or see enemies, ESPECIALLY since there's no way anyone had this in mind or was even a thought before the place you reach to get the damn vocation. There's nothing special about this ability at all other than seeing through walls at enemies this could have easily been a damn vocation button/interact skill instead. *_Dragon's Delusion:_* Allows you to summon an illusionary Strigory (Main Dragon) to instil fear to small enemies and stagger and or stun larger enemies. Yeah, at this point just drop the class... Yes is this ability does do a thing, but enemies running away just to come back especially for a vocation that is supposed to AGRO- literally does not make any damn sense, it doesn't benefit towards the rest of the ability, it contradicts them... If anything we should have had an ability to protect ourselves or possess the Simulacrum, or even more buffs or debuffs. A sleep ability even, that smoke essence is even used in other cultures for specifically that...like what... The possibilities... I sometimes ask am I being to harsh on this class... Then I realized it has 4 different actions/attacks/skills that literal do the literal literally literal same thing... *_• Beveling Fumes._* *_• Drifting Brume._* *_• Suffocating Shroud._* *_• Binding Effigy._* The main problem with Binding is that you must Invoke Essence your Simulacrum in order for it to regain health back, otherwise Effigial Incense to re summon it before latching onto the next target. This is really dumb due to you only being able to target one enemy at a time as well as your Simulacrum taking too much damage before having to Invoke Essence again and has you in constant fight or flight to target enemies whilst trying to not get mauled after the enemy goes down, this is tedious and the results are not much effective. I understand this class is to be played with Pawns and this essay is seemingly from a solo perspective. I understand it is for passive combat- I also understand it's for partially thinking outside of the box and not as binary brained, although. I was expecting more classes to be in the game... How did Mystic Knight not appear in this game as well as other classes from DD I and Dragon's Dogma online like Alchemist. I feel really cheated and I hyped this game up so much. We paid more for much less. TL:DR- This class is all over the place and does not do a clean job in what it's designed for as well as contradicts itself and sufferers from progression and roleplaying aspects.
The guide is wonderful thank you. Just my personal opinion though, I really dont like this class at all simply because while i was leveling it up there was a point where i had to go alone and my pawns couldnt come with me, and not being able to do any damage was insanely frustrating, especially when you are chain stunned by melee mobs and you cant get summon your ghost, and even when you manage to do it, you cant latch fast enough or bait fast enough. I understand that its probably my lack of ability with the vocation so no need to come back at me, im just saying.. this class can be very frustrating in certain circumstances and i think it would have been nice just to have at least 1 direct damage ability for use in a pinch.
Grab a fighter/Warrior (or Thief if you feel comfy with the class) pawn to off-tank with one good dps ability, one (or two) good stagger(s), taunt (or the aggro perk if Thief), and one situational. Use the mage & sorc. combo for the next two pawns. Mage will role healer/support with the Signature aoe utility as a must. Sorcerer will go elementalist dps with Seism required. Open the fight with Go command letting your OT gain initial aggro while you place your clone than mass aoe taunt, attack boost, and last spell is your pref/situational (I like double walls for protecting the team). As recommended in the video you will utilize throwing objects/ballista a lot if you want to personally do some damage. However your best damage output is actually through using the increased strength on holding enemies down augment. What really shines here is due to the fact that since you're personally no longer using a finishing move on downed large foes they will stay down a lot longer letting your pawns go ham, now cast the dps booster spell when this happens, slap Go! command, and realize you are now a wrestling-trickster-mobster. Throw in big finishing moves on your Thief/Fighter/Warrior and watch the health bars melt. That's how I've been playing and it's been a blast. For smaller enemies use your possession on the most available foe (preferably highest priority), aoe taunt, attack buff, and personal pref. last spell. Small fights can be rough if you try going in with this Vocation without the off-tank to gather foes who will interrupt your clone cast every time if let loose and your clone will die in big mob fights until you get used to how to approach each one. Thus I feel the OT is 100% necessary and fortunately you're really not missing out on anything once you get the hang of the mindset of a zero damage class. I'd say the hardest/worst thing for the class is quests with forced 1v1 fights (or worse)....but you can always remove your weapon and fully embrace that hidden Wrestler Vocation if ya have the heart for it ;) Edit: I want to add that the Augments for this Vocation are boo-boo for tanking with the only sort-of exception being the chance to craft extra items, which is really nice tbh but not something you'll put on for combat and you will be very inclined to hunt for those more beneficial augments within other vocations before playing this class.
Spellbooks. These are just crying for use with the Trickster. drop a wall and use a book. Not in every fight, of course, but you can deal damage against larger foes, especially before you have ranked up enough to really utilize your skills well.
Just wanted to put this out there; When you stick your Simu on an enemy, while all the other enemies will attack that one enemy, the enemy you stick it to will relentlessly come for you. They'll ignore all other pawns and NPCs to get to you. So when you attach your Simu to an enemy, prepare some distance...
So far I've played Fighter, Warrior, Sorcerer, Mystic Spearhand and Trickster. Trickster is my favourite, even though it totally sucks. It's just so fun to toy with enemies while your pawns beat the crap out of them.
Trickster seems like the sort of class that is more suited to an MMORPG or a tabletop game you play with other people. Playing a pure support class with pawns is not fun. The Trickster highlights the balance issues among the vocations in DD2.
What do you think about the fake wall/floor trick? Having Pawns firing through a "wall" while the enemies can't touch them sounds amazing. The same applies to enemies running off a cliff trying to attack "you".
the problem with those abilities is that they are situational abilities... if you know your going into an area where those abilities would be useful you can swap to them in a camp... but for the most part you rely entirely on your environment to get kills and you also lose loot drops doing this.
"Strength affects the trickster's ability to draw the attention of foes by swinging the censer, while Magick increases the Health of their conjured simulacrum."
There's an in-game tutorial popup that explains that strength increases your threat generation, and magic increases something else, can't remember. Point being, there's merit in upgrading your weapon.
I wonder if there is any equipment that does damage back to attackers? I haven’t found any but they do make good tanks if you can get the hang of them. Just curious for solo play throughs with each class. If that type of buff applied to the smoke clone then it would be much more viable.
The basic info guide when unlocking trickster says the more str you have on gear the more threat you generate and the more magic you have increases your shadows hp. Upgrading gear is good.
Just started this class as it uses same gear as magic mostly so thought i would try it. Its op as hell. Lvl 1 taking on unknown large creatures. Never worry if u can take on a large creature agian
the maister dragon smoke cloud skill looks incredible, but the rest of the class looks so lackluster. i commend capcom for creating a unique vocation that plays so differently, but everything about this class is just nullified by an arisen mage. you can spam the hell out of high palladium which is much more consistent at mitigating damage than the trickster's threat management. easily keeping your party near invincible during big monster encounters. and bonus points, if the player plays as a mage to support instead of trickster, they have access to levitate+frigor for unmatched traversal.
Not sure why it wasn't mentioned, but you also get skills to put out fake platforms that you send your summon onto to trick enemies into falling to their deaths.
I remember reading upgrading ur weapon does something like gives ur summon more health or something could be wrong but I do think it said that when I unlocked it but yeah I’m maining trickster and everything you said is exactly how I play him he’s actually kinda op sometimes I hardly ever get hit just gotta play him right I also though about changing my pawn to mage for heals but for now he is already a maxed out theif with hella damage which is nice to have too since you can’t deal damage yourself I’ll probably max level his mage vocation later though
Honestly, when i discovered the class i was very intrigued but by trying it i discovered it was unfortunatly not for me. However i give credits for trying to create a class who is so unique. I wish this class could deal damage in some way because i love the concept and the equipment (the censer is so cool). I am really sad to not like the gamefeel of this class haha.
I think the game tells u: strength=more threat from smokes, magicka= more clone hp, according to the tips given at least. Dragon delusion is a really strong spell however I won't say its op, it consumes half your stamina bar and you're stuck in a long wind-up animation so positioning is key here but it staggers dragons and such, I managed to kill my first dragon today with trickster actually, each time he's in animation to cast the meteor spell I get to interrupt it with dragon's delusion Also the wall is pretty decent spell, It lasts long I like using it before latching my clone into some monster and running into the wall, the latched monster will target u but if there's a wall he has to walk around and that'll give you enough time to basically clown on him I think the wall is a pretty good safety measure as well in-case you find yourself surrounded with no clone up just run behind it. Altho word of warning about the wall and also fickle floor, those spells won't work as far as I noticed if you place them ON the monsters, If running away it would be best to use the wall ahead of you and run behind it I wish they gave us a dodge button or resistance to stagger though, I mean I get it they want you to set-up and stuff but the game is easy, other vocations don't have to worry about such thing and just faceroll encounters, If game was harder I would say trickster is actually balanced(would love better spells maybe quicker animations, also when hit ur clone goes away + points why mage is good synergy, since you can eat a hit with the shield spell, all those are QoL tho) and I believe they missed the mark with latching effigy deleting your clone if u miss, that makes fickle floor kinda neutered, since there's no way for you to send your clone ON the fake floor as far as I know. fun thing about fickle floor, If u use it and monsters walk into it they'll trip but if u use it on the monsters nothing will happen I actually don't use the damage buff spell my personal best 4 spells are suffocating shroud(can't really function without it), Dragon's delusion, wall and latching effigy(kinda fun spell tho not really necessary, the clone alone would result in same effect kinda cuz it'll grp enemies in one spot and let ur sorc one shot hordes). Not sure how provocation/subtelty augmentation works, I ran subtelty(lowering threat) so I can get into the middle of things, put a clone and taunt everyone, and it works, I'm not sure provocation would increase the clone threat, would appreciate clarification on that one tho.
Written Guide: fextralife.com/dragons-dogma-2-trickster-build-guide/
DD2 Wiki: dragonsdogma2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dragons+Dogma+2+Wiki
Interactive Map: dragonsdogma2.wiki.fextralife.com/Interactive+Map
I would only use this vocation through Warfarer. Having Magic Archer and Mystic Spearhand on call after distracting would be awesome
Doesn't work. Simulacrum disappears when you swap to magick archer bow@@bwestacado9643
@@Fextralife That actually sucks and shouldn't be a thing. Damn, they finally got me to complain about something about this game lmao
Im a max rank trickster and I've found that upgrading your censer has quite a bit of advantages. First off, you won't increase your damage at all unfortunately. However, since upgrading my censer I've found that it makes enthralling enemies a lot easier, especially big enemies like griffins and trolls. Like it's almost cheating. I've went entire fights against a griffin without my teammates or I taking any damage because it was too distracting trying to hit my illusion of myself that I kept moving around the battlefield. Also it increases the damage your pawns do when you use your buff when you upgrade your censer. But the biggest thing is that when you get the dragon illusion spell (most op spell in the game imo) if you upgrade your censer, literally every single time you use it, it will stagger and knock down large enemies like griffins, trolls etc. setting your team up to do massive damage while it's down, and when it gets back up, use the dragon illusion again and boom knocked it back down. It's cheese lol trickster is very fun and easy once you realize the purpose isn't for you to do direct damage rather indirect damage, by causing enemies to hurt themselves or buffing your team to do absurd amounts of damage. And keep the enemies distracted. It's more a crowd control vocation than a "support" or damage dealer.
I rushed to get Trickster, but I feel like it has key Ranks that you need to get to.
Rank 4 for Aromatic Rally.
Once Dragon’s Delusion comes in, you finally have all the tools you need in combat.
But ya, the control/positioning is the trick. I found it super useful when I notice the environment has something to my advantage.
What’s best stats for Tricksterv
Do you guys have any recommendations for which pawn classes I should be taking into battle while using trickster? Fextra already mentioned mage.
@@toodleselnoodos6738 You can also get Dragon's Delusion early by talking to the trickster maister.
@donniedingles656 I'd personally think thief would be best because of their high dps
Played this class a bit, it’s a cool concept but would so much better if it was a pawn class.
jib, feels very weak atm. I litteraly had enemies where i needed to fist fight kill them in order to progress.....Same happens if your unlucky with mage..like with the stonegolems.
Trickster should 100% be a pawn. Also buff him to..maybe 2 ghosts..and if you throw your ghost that should have 3x the range...its so often a miss.
@@Shadowclaw25You probably played him wrong. Maxed out Thief and mystic spearhand and Im faster with trickster when it comes to killing big bosses like dragons. Trickster is a field-support-controller.
So imagine going into a rift stone and 90% of the pawns that show up are tricksters? Cmon man really?
@@unlucky7s561 why should this happen? its far away from reality. there is a nother good tank class as well and its not 90% tanks at the rift ...no?
@@Myrren33 Tricksters are game breaking but boring to play. Did you not watch the full video to see the abilities?
An ingame guide literally says that buffing physical damage makes agroing easier, and buffing magical damage buffs simulakr's health. I'm sometimes surprised how people miss such things.
I was literally going to say the same thing, so yeah magic and strength are important. Magic especially makes the simulacrum survive longer, once you generate enough aggro.
They’re dumb
Sadly, people read less and less these days. Contextual clues, comprehension, and patience to learn on their own is dying. Particularly in the USA.
"Skip.... skip.... skip.... skip.... ehhh what was it about?" Don't get it why people are playing some games if they do it like that way 😂
"I'm sometimes surprised how people miss such things."
.
I know! Do you know some people don't even read the terms and conditions of their Apple enduser contract? I swear, some people...
Honestly this class is so cool. I think the team deserves some credit for making something unique and refreshing even if not everyone is going to like this play style.
A useless class. Initially excited, but it's just running around while companions fight. Fun against single enemies, frustrating against many. Poorly executed idea, no justification in its current form.
@@mortho8587skill issue
@@mortho8587bro trickster is low key op. I just made a golem fight and kill a gryphon 😭 it just takes strategy and skill. If it could be put on a pawn, it would be tooo busted.
@@BrandonSibley-lj1mv So, fundamentally, I totally agree with you. And it's also an awesome class, and I think the idea is mega. And as you already said, 1v1, facing bosses, the class can perform incredibly well. I would even go so far as to say that in small groups or against bosses, you could do without the healer and bring along another damage dealer. However, as soon as you have many enemies on one screen, like 7, 8 goblins for example, or goblins and skeletons or whatever, then it becomes very hectic and very confusing. Because then you have a lot of creatures chasing you or trying to kill your illusion, and it quickly falls apart. Exactly when one opponent hits you once, poof, it's gone. And if 8 opponents are sticking to your backside, try casting the spell again. And that's what I meant. I think the idea is great. Just for me personally, the class should have fewer situation-dependent skills that are good. For the fact that it deals no damage, I would like to have a bit more in my toolbox.
@@BrandonSibley-lj1mv So, fundamentally, I totally agree with you. And it's also an awesome class, and I think the idea is mega. And as you already said, 1v1, facing bosses, the class can perform incredibly well. I would even go so far as to say that in small groups or against bosses, you could do without the healer and bring along another damage dealer. However, as soon as you have many enemies on one screen, like 7, 8 goblins for example, or goblins and skeletons or whatever, then it becomes very hectic and very confusing. Because then you have a lot of creatures chasing you or trying to kill your illusion, and it quickly falls apart. Exactly when one opponent hits you once, poof, it's gone. And if 8 opponents are sticking to your backside, try casting the spell again. And that's what I meant. I think the idea is great. Just for me personally, the class should have fewer situation-dependent skills that are good, like the wall or ground. For the fact that it deals no damage, I would like to have a bit more in my toolbox.
What a dangerously creative class. Im both intrigued and worried to play a class that does next to no damage.
the game is really easy, so just play whatever is fun to you. i'll stick to warrior tho lol
Agreed. The OG DD largely stuck to traditional class types. To put a 100% support class that also behaves in a unique way(using effectively summons) was very creative. Most RPGs have some sort of support leaning class, but to make a 0 damage one is really cool.
You have 3 other pawns that do dmg.
@@EXxCloudEXx yea but its kinda boring running around waiting.
@@lowfade3273sounds like you main magick archer
Your guides and build coverage for this game has been Incredible! Thank you for doing these!
Highly suggest as well to use the ground illusion for some reg mobs as well cause even if you dont trick them off a ledge they can trip and u can pick them up to throw them for damage as well as using the ultimate skill that summons the smoke dragon to stager large groups or bosses then your warrior pawn can knock em down and the team will make easy work of em. Ps if anyones curious u can unlock it on the roof of where u originally unlocked the vocation by finding the lady actually sitting up there.
Yesss was looking forward to this one , thank you!
I honestly hate this class.
I thought it was a fun concept and I came into it super hopeful, but very quickly I realised that it's just a slog. It's not fun and all of the things you unlock for it are stupid. Walls and floors are so specific and niche that I never used them, the buff feels like it does next to nothing (even after upgrading my censer and the skill itself), the big spoiler ultimate skill is fun and all, but it gets old fast. I spent so many boss fights just summoning my simulacrum, doing the big AoE "look over here!" spell and then standing there doing nothing. It trivialised basically the entire game and I don't think I've ever been so bored in my entire life. I was so tanky that eating 7-8 hits in a row from a train of knackers did almost nothing and the inability to do ANY damage isn't just frustrating it straight-up almost breaks some quests and encounters. The fact that a metal ball on a chain does absolutely 0 damage when a wooden stick can finish off small enemies is baffling to me.
I stuck with it, maxed out the vocation, and every time I ranked up I kept just thinking to myself "there's gotta be SOMETHING cool in this next level" and it never came. Just a bunch of super lame and specific skills that are useless for 99% of situations.
I genuinely feel like I wasted my time and my gold by picking up this vocation and I do not at all look back on my experience fondly. I discovered the vocation randomly while I playing archer and I was just like "oh, awesome! I can't wait to try it out." so I dumped all my archer gear, switched to trickster and it was all downhill from there. At first I was confused and then I was bored and then it was over.
Never again will I sit there completely idle while I watch a boss with 8 health bars slowly die over the course of (and I am not joking) about 15 minutes.
It was a fun idea, but ultimately I think it's a huge flop. It barely even has any core skills. It's a crowd control class and that is absolutely it. It would be far better suited for a multiplayer game or as a vocation exclusive to pawns.
Sorry for the rant, but I really had to get this off my chest.
Been so excited for this vid! I got trickster last night and love the aesthetic of the class but having trouble working out how to make it fun to play. Gonna get my throwing arm ready
I think you already figured it out, it's a lame urn smoke swinger, very stupid. They should have created a rogue/jester hybrid with acrobatics, high dodge, ability to perform magic tricks that create damage, etc. This character here is garbage.
@@HermannTheGreat why are you always negative? Does your life suck that bad?
@@HermannTheGreatah we found another “hur-dur my tiny brain needs to do DPS or this class is trash” person. I think a lot of games blend the trickster/rogue/assassin archetypes too closely. This is a breath of fresh air
@@HermannTheGreat so kinda like mystic spearhand?
@@HermannTheGreat
Honestly, once I got a couple more abilities interrupt my head around the class as a dodge tank first and support second, I've been having a real good time with it. Whereas the other vocations have seemed to reward remembering an elemental weakness and throwing strong attacks during opening, trickster seems to gratify keeping track of everything's positioning. I tend to play support in group RPGs, so that's something I just like to do already.
I don't think I'll take it to end game, but yeah the trickster has been a good time.
I was super excited for this class. I rushed getting it and played it for a while, but got really bored of it. It made me appreciate warrior more though.
This feels to me like a "chessmaster" class, were a player is controlling the field of battle like a version of The Sims.
the ultimate class hence the "pawns"
It's not so bad because some times the pawns can use some of the skills in cheater NPC ways, and your damage is match out to your party via the damage buff.
@@krhom70 I disagree. Mage with Celerity, one of the heals and High/Palladium blows this "class" away.
You can get past the border by following the coastline too, there's a bunch of caves, a dragon guarding the entrance (it's sleeping, so just run past), lots of other tough enemies but you can simply run.
There's also a canion following the river north of the resting town. There's a bunch of saurians, a minotaur and a chimera.
That run took me 5 hours and I enjoyed every second of it.
Upgrading your equipment is 100% useful It even says that strength for the trickster makes it easier to grab aggro and magic for the trickster makes your somalacron or whatever it's called have more health
When you get the class there's a tutorial that tells you what stats do. Magic boosts the health of your simulacrum, forget what strength does.
it boosts aggro gained
Blows my mind how people can't/don't read the massive pop ups.
@@Akihito_Kanbara I'll give Fex the pass, though. Considering their entire channel is based off the details. That said, I also cannot stand when youtubers fully ignore the giant pop ups XD The tunnel vision they have is insane!!
After watching this I decided to try it. It’s amazing!! One thing I started doing was just casting the wall and standing in it, then the smoke.
The enemies would come after me, but not pass the wall, all the while my team pummeled them from behind!
And no need for the simulacrum!
The fact that so many people are missing at what this class is good at and just saying it sucks is mind boggling. This has one of the highest skill ceilings out of all the possibilities out there.
when I see classes like this, it just makes it even stranger that they didn’t make this game have co-op. It’s literally built around the whole thing
co-op doesn't fit in this game
They can barely hit frames for one person imagine having multiple ppl in one game
@@marquisepixley684how?
image thinking every game needs co-op or multiplayer
Not everything needs to be co-op it’s a single player vision
I love the concept of the trickster however is it me or did it seem as though this was a huge opportunity missed in some areas?
Morel from HunterxHunter should have been used as inspiration. Deep purple and smoky jail would be great additions to the movelist
@@Broku.420This is just what I was thinking, imagine summoning the clones..
@@gort-mb1ks obviously we couldnt have 50 like Morel but like 3-5. And the more you have created the more your stamina bar is capped off. Kinda like in Dragon age when you put on a stance and your stamina bar takes a certain percentage completely away to maintain the skill. It would be so insanely cool. I'm still going to make Morel using Warfarer for trickster and warrior. The hammer Black matter looks enough like a giant pipe 🤣
Just a big thank you for all your amazing guides, from elden ring to baldurs gate your insight is priceless. This is just another example of the countless hours you put in for a simpleton like me to get into the game.
Your videoes are so much better than RageGamingVideos, it's kinda crazy.. more simple and clear, not flashy clickbait thumbnails but polished easy on the eyes. Long term fan
Swear I tried watching RageGaming he takes 20 min to provide information a 2 minute video could give you and frequently repeats himself
Hes trying to hard to make his content funny rather than getting to the point. Annoying af..I never watch his vids anylonger
Trickster is super fun to play. I got it up to six as soon as I unlocked it . There are a few things that are kind of hard without you doing stuff though, mostly golems that your pawns are WAY too stupid to target the vulnerable spots. Thats actually why I switched off the class. It took nearly ten minutes to kill a single golem, when my group had just torn a cyclops to bits in less than 30 seconds like a minute before. All that said though, other than two or three specific enemies, trickster works great, and I highly recommend people at least giving it a shot. It makes you think way different about the game.
Sounds like you got some bad pawns. Every pawn I've had in the mid to late game had knowledge of how to fight golems and they died in like 1 minute. kkkkkkk
Easy fix. Just hire thiefs. Never takes me long
The illusion walls can break enemy AI. And the endgame armor is easily the most fashionable.
I appreciate the approach to the topic, as well as everything else about fextralife. You're great, keep it up!
the most vague explanation on where to find Luz. very cool fextra.
despite the fact that it does no damage, upgrading the weapon is still important. strength increases threat generation and magic increases simulacrum health.
So if you go strength you could be a shitty tank 😂
@@TheBiggestMoronYouKnow Assuming you could dictate what stat you have predominantly yeah, you'd be a paper tank lol. Not much of an option in this game though.
So maxing both rogue for verve and sorcerer for sagacity can be really good for this class, while also getting the vitality skill from warrior for more health and the ability that lessens permanent health damage. An then magic archer stuff for team boosts
@@knowwhoiamyet that’s what the simulacrum is for
@@LeveledRogue you don't need more max HP or Loss prevention.
The clone is there so you (and your party) don't get it. In fact, if you do get hit the clone immediately dissipates and you have to resummon it.
Otherwise, yes, take the +pawn damage buff, but the defense one isn't necessary because they shouldn't be getting hit.
The VIDEO I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
When I first unlocked this class, I switched to it in cat city, then went down to the nearby inn and got into an unavoidable duel which you have no chance of winning as you can't do damage.
Hate this class, but it has some strong abilities. Should be interesting with Warfarer.
There is another quest where my pawns couldn't fight and I was the trickster 😭😭
I had to use dragons delusion to scare them and then picked them up and kept throwing them off the cliff that wasn't high enough to one shot anything 💀💀💀💀
Trickster, Thief and Archer sounds like a really fun tricky dickhead Warfarer build.
@zainyousif7563 That happened to me too lol I reloaded the game and switched back to theif then switched back again after the duel
I think it’s supposed to be combined with warfarer to make use of it, maybe with thief for easy backstabs or warrior for easy charge attacks, it’s definitely not supposed to be a solo class
saaame thing happened to me. this class looks so cool but god does it feel boring af
Finally the guide i was waiting for!
I crossed the border illegally
There is no border problem in Ba Sing Se
In the trickster tutorial in game it says Strength let’s you generate more threat and magic damage increases the health of your similacrum
Upgrading the weapon should increase the strength and magic stats, which will increase your threat gen and the health of your simulacrum.
It's such a cool and different support/tank class... If you could play with your friends. Who wants to rely on pawns for 99% of the damage? I watched mine walk off a cliff... I think they missed an opportunity here not making it similar to a Mesmer in guild wars 2. That's what I was picturing... Could have been super dope.
Mesmer is so fun. Arenanet made some fun professions.
I have the Smoke Wall skill, the Aroma buff to teammates, the scouting ability and the one that pulls aggro towards you and your illusion (sorry I don't know the names of the spells). Here's some extremely helpful strats using this setup.
1) If you put your illusion into a smoke wall, most enemies will get confused and won't be able to attack it at all. The exception to this from what I've seen are lunging attacks and obviously SOME ranged attacks. Overlapping two smoke walls over each other and putting your decoy in the middle of it will sometimes make it invincible during fights.
2) Another wall strat is one that I call the "Pong" strat. Setup up two smoke walls parallel from one another and run your decoy back and forth from each wall from time to time. This is useful for if your decoy needs to be healed and you have the passive health regeneration for when your decoy is moving with you.
3) The decoy can be used with the scouting ability as well. Another good way to have enemies in a state of confusion and not know what to do is to use the decoy in the smoke wall strat as mentioned earlier and then use your scouting ability to fly up over the battlefield and then summon your decoy to it. Most enemies will be limited to whatever ranged attacks they have but will also just stand there staring at your decoy from time to time.
4) Now this last one isn't that much of a strat per say but for your team setup, I'd say that a sorcerer and mage are a must when playing this way. My main pawn is a thief right now but I might switch from a thief to some other fighter/tank class. When using this sort of team setup, make sure you're always telling your pawns to follow you. Perform one of the strats I mentioned above and then have your pawns follow you to a space obviously not too far away where they can cast their abilities at a safe enough distance. If it looks like the enemies are starting to aggro you and your team again, you don't need to reposition your decoy, just reaaply the enticing smoke so that they go back to attacking your decoy. Every now and then, redeploy your smoke wall. Again, you don't have to move your decoy when doing this, it's ideal to be able to summon two smoke walls at a time and when you feel like one is about to wear off, summon another one a good distance away from the first one and reapply aggro. This way the enemies have to waste time running over to wherever you just moved the smoke wall and decoy. You have two powerful ranged characters and a strong tank that will deal high single target damage against large bosses or any stragglers that break aggro on your decoy.
Curious why you never mention the master skills in any of your guides when I think they are often the best or one of the best skills a class can have. The illusory dragon for trickster seems crazy for its cc capabilities
Because Beginner Guides assume players won't have them, and I'd have to spoil the locations to tell you how to get them.
@@Fextralife I didnt read that they were beginner guides; any plans for end game builds that assume you have access to mostly everything?
Yes, I have plans for endgame builds that use specific weapons armor etc@@Creepjacker
Thanks for getting these out so fast! I just finished up ff7 so I'll be starting my playthrough soon!
Who cares
@@thekaptain1555 I care
Everyone saying trickster is bad and should be a pawn class , clearly got no TRICKS.
This vocation slaps.
Im just glad I’m having fun and playing this class effectively and “correctly.”
Heck yeah! Thank you for the video!! 🎉❤
Love this game truly
Sleeping on the fake walls. Its so strong indoors especially like ruins and caves. If it blocks off the area floor to ceiling and you have your simulacrum behind it, it breaks enemy pathing and they are just lambs to the slaughter. Largely works on large enemies too. Some monsters like golems I make a V with the two walls and put the simulactum in the corner. Makes them walk around to reach it.
The floating one you said for exploation can also be insane for combat too. Putting it on a ledge that enemies would have a hard time reaching or just off a ledge.
I adore this whacky tank
Or you could just kill them. And if large enemies fall off cliffs and into the water, you cannot get thier mats. You could be the wall itself or you could force the large enemy to thier knees to kill them faster but nah waste time blowing smoke
@@wits_end.”Or you could just kill them” are you 3?
@@wits_end.It REALLY seemed like you have bad pawns. Yeah, sure. Wasting all your stamina. If they fall into the water, then that’s *your* fault. Not the vocation. Seems like someone didn’t check where they killed their enemies. 😂And also if you read the GUIDE there are more ways to kill larger enemies. Make littler ones attack them, use tomes, cause you clearly get them easily, then if your such a brainless brute, then fine. Unequal your censer and punch them for gods sake. The fact that you didn’t realize any of these is crazy💀
@@Soulknight-jw8ht Im aint stopping you. Go ahead and waste your time. GO ON WASTE IT
@@wits_end. Yep, your 3.
I use Espiel by placing it above the fight then put the Simulacrum (R1) on the Espiel then (L2) out,,, the enemy will keep their focus looking up while the pawns go to work. Note; the Drakes once airborne will reach the Simulacrum (wash/rinse/repeat).
This would have been a PERFECT vocation for a pawn… that’s a pity.
I have a feeling that was its original idea but they couldn't get the pawn ai to use it right
It would be absolutely broken if a pawn played this correctly, you’d never get hit and can cast infinite meteors
Except the entire point is that it keeps your pawns alive so they can serve you.
I’m watching this after getting to level 8 trickster. My first Large monster fight was a Medusa at MR1 trickster.. it took a while since I lost a pawn instantly. Then proceeded to kill a dragon. (Pawns are so over powered when they don’t get attacked)
I already blame myself for only thinking about it now, but this vocation really entices you to hold onto spell tomes and use them for the direct damage part.
The pop up explained magic increases the simulacrum health and the strength increases how often you attract mobs
I love the Trickster Vocation.
Did not enjoy this class at all unfortunately. I would only play to find seeker token. Not being able to defend yourself is rough.
Not my taste of a vocation, but major props to capcom for trying something totally new and fresh
I love the drip and lore for this class, but from a mechanical side I was bummed. Would be nice if Tricksters could do damage. Sure not as much as the other vocations but there should be a basic attack that does moderate damage at the very least. Or having illusions do damage would be fun as well
spinx gives an amazing weapon for trickster that basically will grant u 10-1000 gold with square hits
Cool creative vocation. Being unable to deal damage as the player character is definetly a turn off though. It would've been cool to see a pawn running around as a trickster doing what trickster does.
yeah its weird one of the most support oriented classes isnt available for support characters
To help solve your stamina:
Visitant Aura: Position your simulacrum slightly in the air. It will draw enemy attacks and avoid taking damage, meaning the boss is consistently staying in one area for your pawns and you’re not using up all of your stamina positioning. You’re also at less risk of getting hit, losing your simulacrum, and dealing with the angry boss.
Drifting Brume: The ranged charged attack is great for maintaining aggro, but more importantly, your stamina continues to regen during this. So instead of spamming Suffocating Shroud, use Drifting Brume as your filler in-between using Dragon’s Delusion and Aromatic Resurgence.
For augments: Athleticism (Mystic Spearhand), Zeal (Warfarer), Exaltation (Mage), and 2x Ring of Quickening will really help your stamina management.
But Visitation Aura is the key to avoiding wasting so much stamina running around large bosses.
Thx for this and other videos that focus on how great this game is,
Thanks for the guidance! I was so confused lol
Espial incense let’s you place your clone high in the air, basically turning off any grounded enemies. all they can do is walk around and wait to die. if there are any ledges to jump off, you can place a clone while falling for the same effect.
Trickster is cool but I’d prefer a pawn have it as I personally have no interest in non damage types
The "Detection" augment was a great idea to make every player at least try out the trickster for a little while.
So that was what that audio cue was about :O I thought i was getting mad.
Anyway, strengths of the class is that it is probably the safest vocation, in that you have a very efficient pocket tank that uses almost no group resources and can also precisely be positioned for group aoe skills. It also has a lot of disruption. The main weakness is that your damage output is a lot lower than if you play a character yourself that deals damage, thanks to you usually being more efficient than the AI.
However, I find it really fun to play. It could be a bit more creative with the disruption skills imo, but the core gameplay really fits the character's concept and it's incredibly pretty as well especially at night. Somebody else said it but I think this basically plays like a smooth version of the Minstrel tank Mesmer in Guild Wars 2.
It's funny how Mesmer being so unique is what got me addicted to GW2 (played since beta. Started Mesmer around month 3 and haven't touched anything else since) and now I can't stop playing Trickster.
I think it would have been better though.
1. The Magic Archer shield that does retaliation damage for instance. That sounds MADE FOR trickster. Either putting it on your pawns or clone and giving them a skill based form of damage.
2. I think attaching the clone to an enemy should make it right for you. What it does now makes sense themewise, but unless you have two big mobs in one fight it doesn't do much.
3. No heal? Magic Archer gets TWO pawn only heals? When Trickster revolves entirely around keeping them alive? Granted, they shouldn't get hit at all, but a heal would be nice. Especially to off set HP drain from the attack buff.
4. That being said, more buff skills please.
5. I wish the long range clone throw move just positioned the clone ahead of you. It's near impossible to set up cliff falls by only sitting down and entering spirit form.
Overall it's sooooo unique and fun to play. Absolutely in love with it.
(Sorry for the text wall. See a Mesmer reference and got excited 😂)
I just tryed it out and I rly didnt get it exept after that video. I was wondering WHEN the dmg spells will come XD - thank you for explanation
Attaching simulacrom to single enemy can actually be helpful, especially when climbing because they will just continue to thrash to get it off of them
It tells you that Str increases threat generated and Magic Damage increases your effigy's hp pool.
Magic stat on your weapon increases the health of your simulacrum. Strength stat increases the threat generation on monsters for your simulacrum.
Sticky Sim is ranged, you don't need to walk up to things. It also slightly homing. So big monsters are near 100% hit rate.
PS: The Wall can be a good way to keep mobs away from stuff(like yourself). It can also extend the area mobs/monsters have to cover to chase you around when moving the sim. It's a bit hit or miss but was helpful a few times when I was using it.
The biggest issue I’ve encountered with the trickster is multiple smaller enemies. A group of ice harpies or too many wolves and hobgoblins can definitely melt your illusion and once they do they’ll head straight for you and more than likely stun lock you(enemy thieves especially).
I originally thought stamina would be the biggest issue with the trickster but it’s actually poise/knockdown resistance.
My party: trickster, 2x sorcerers, archer
I upgraded my censer full elven (for max magic) and my armor vern(for the reduced weight) next ill try just upgrading both in dwarven just to see if the knockdown power still applies also knockdown res to prevent being stun lock when the illusion is down.
With the trickster Positioning is everything
Update: just found out knockdown res doesn’t prevent you from being staggered. I’ll probably stick to Vern for the weight reduction on armor
i *LOVE* trickster because i just wait for the enemy to stumble and i instantly run to pick them up and throw them off the edge or throw them at other enemies and im just laughing my ass off the entire time lmfaoo its so fun!!
Having had the majority of my playthrough to really master this vocation, I've found it to be even better the more you get comfortable with it. Even if this class had a damage skill, there would be barely enough time to use it since you are constantly refreshing shroud, casting delusion for those sweet knockdowns, buffing your party, and restoring/repositioning your sim. It is good to have binding effigy as a back up plan but I wouldnt recommend it as part of your standard rotation. Team comp is also vital to this vocation more than any other. I highly recommend trying it out and really getting the hang of it before dropping it. Of course, its probably more efficient to run dps on another class against much weaker enemies, but for some really tough encounters, this class carries hard.
One other note: Espial Incense is really good if you ascend it to a high elevation and summon the sim to it. This breaks the ai and causes them to just walk in circles under it. Although sometimes the enemy ai will just start spamming attacks around it so its not consistent, but it can trivialize some bosses.
Trickster is by far the most powerful vocation in the game. A good tank makes everything easier and the trickster is perhaps the best tank ever in a class based game.
Cant help but think of all the cool classes we could have gotten instead of thus, a paladin or blood knight would have been really nice.
Trickster is such a cool vocation from the concept and the idea of gameplay, buuuuut im too much focused on Dealing dmg myself, well more im too impatient too use this vocation
The skill that creates illusionary walls has its uses too I have found. When I started fucking with the class I was a bit baffled, but stuck with it and find it strangely fun and pretty effective.
*_READ THIS HONEST REPLY._*
*_Suffocating Shroud:_* Skills defuses smoke across a wide area that attracts the attention to you otherwise the Simulacrum... this actually works too good as, if your shadow gets destroyed they're all coming for you... As the design of the Simulacrum is to agro for you instead of the ability working to target the Simulacrum only- and not you specifically this is a design flaw.
*_Illusive Divider:_* A very mid ability as it does provide a slight camoflouge and causes enemies to walk around it, you have no real control over the enemies path to take around this structure and limits it's function as the secondary aspect of this wall is to be a sight blocker it completely falls apart if your Simulacrum is behind it. Monsters jump fly and swing right through it to get to your Simulacrum. You can hide the Simulacrum inside the wall for some reason but then the enemies target you or whatever else is in the vacinity. You have to literally be inside of the wall to hide your Simulacrum there there's no exact point to this set up other wise sleight of hand but any other aspect just yield the same results as it's a setup you could do elsewhere for less, much easier if you need to prepare or heal or need a small break.
*_Aromatic Resurgence:_* Boost offensive capabilities even if their health runs out although their health drains while active. Why, just why... I'll give you an attack buff but I'll take away health because this is an attempt to balance a skill that does the most taboo thing in gaming which is MORE DAMAGE... Oh, but this isn't exactly a debuff because your pawns can still fight after they have no health and of course when it runs out they'll be dead and you have to pick them up again as well as content with whatever they didn't kill. Hopefully they killed everything and will now be revived with literally half a health bar they probably wouldn't have had, otherwise yet, if you didn't use this ability and relied upon normal damage like a normal person, as well as Helm Splitter and Walmart "Arc of Might"...
*_Visitant Aura:_* Allows you to go into spirit mode to roam around somewhat freely as it has a boundary limit you're also undetectable. Active until your stamina runs out. Sigh... This ability seems good at first until you realize their actual meaning behind it was to allow your shadow to be moved to boundaries you cannot access normally such as that 5ft of space above your Tricky Terrance off of a cliff that enemies can attempt to jump off properly... Not to mention you HAVE TO BE AT THE CLIFF IN ORDER TO ACTIVATE TRICKY TERRANCE PROPERLY to set any of this up... A lot of button pressing to get a monster to commit- as well as something relatively simple. You cannot do any abilities in the form even being prompt to have access to initiate abilities- other than call your shadow... Your body is also vulnerable while in this form. It's quite literally useless outside and inside of combat other than doing what you already were doing a bit better which was agro.
*_Tricky Terrance:_* Allows you to create an illusionary platform that even you cannot interact with. This ability is only for literally cliffs and getting the enemy to behave differently... You may get a stubble, a jump attack, walk around, or a missed target attempt, any one of these... You have to literally be toes off the cliff in order to properly place this as well as recommend to set this BEFORE engagement, you could agro Simulacrum somewhere else then attempt this mid fight but eventually you must get tired of trying this due to the fall having to be death not just a small jump off, and hope the enemy doesn't get smarter and just decides not to jump off, or terrain mapping issues where the enemy doesn't perceive the cliff or goes to close to it while doing attacks that doesn't require movement... it's highly frustrating.
*_Binding Effigy:_* Allows you to launch your Simulacrum that's already out, at distant targets to posses them from afar, I thought this move was good... it's Drifting Brume and Enthralling Aroma combined, just goes much further and is actually nerfed as the Simulacrum disappears if you miss and must be conjured BEFORE you do this move. Which is very bad due to you potentially having Suffocating Shroud active and just blew up your Simulacrum, otherwise it's very difficult to hit specific targets in a group as well as target specific monster body parts due to the mechanics of targeting in this game is for monkeys. You cannot go airborne as reliably or aim upwards when targeting with this ability it literally targets on your plane being ground level. For bosses it will always be the ankles or ass due to this.
*_Fragrant Alarum:_* This ability allows you to see enemies through walls. That's literally it...Yeah, honestly I wanted to uninstall at this point. I'd rather have Mystic Knight than whatever the fuck they thought for this ability... STOP DOING DRUGS. To be an ability you unlock after rank 8... The most disappointing thing besides the Vocation Maister moves only being 1 for each class... We already have Visitant Aura, why would you give us another ability to scout or see enemies, ESPECIALLY since there's no way anyone had this in mind or was even a thought before the place you reach to get the damn vocation. There's nothing special about this ability at all other than seeing through walls at enemies this could have easily been a damn vocation button/interact skill instead.
*_Dragon's Delusion:_* Allows you to summon an illusionary Strigory (Main Dragon) to instil fear to small enemies and stagger and or stun larger enemies. Yeah, at this point just drop the class... Yes is this ability does do a thing, but enemies running away just to come back especially for a vocation that is supposed to AGRO- literally does not make any damn sense, it doesn't benefit towards the rest of the ability, it contradicts them... If anything we should have had an ability to protect ourselves or possess the Simulacrum, or even more buffs or debuffs. A sleep ability even, that smoke essence is even used in other cultures for specifically that...like what... The possibilities...
I sometimes ask am I being to harsh on this class... Then I realized it has 4 different actions/attacks/skills that literal do the literal literally literal same thing...
*_• Beveling Fumes._*
*_• Drifting Brume._*
*_• Suffocating Shroud._*
*_• Binding Effigy._*
The main problem with Binding is that you must Invoke Essence your Simulacrum in order for it to regain health back, otherwise Effigial Incense to re summon it before latching onto the next target. This is really dumb due to you only being able to target one enemy at a time as well as your Simulacrum taking too much damage before having to Invoke Essence again and has you in constant fight or flight to target enemies whilst trying to not get mauled after the enemy goes down, this is tedious and the results are not much effective.
I understand this class is to be played with Pawns and this essay is seemingly from a solo perspective. I understand it is for passive combat- I also understand it's for partially thinking outside of the box and not as binary brained, although. I was expecting more classes to be in the game... How did Mystic Knight not appear in this game as well as other classes from DD I and Dragon's Dogma online like Alchemist. I feel really cheated and I hyped this game up so much. We paid more for much less.
TL:DR- This class is all over the place and does not do a clean job in what it's designed for as well as contradicts itself and sufferers from progression and roleplaying aspects.
The guide is wonderful thank you. Just my personal opinion though, I really dont like this class at all simply because while i was leveling it up there was a point where i had to go alone and my pawns couldnt come with me, and not being able to do any damage was insanely frustrating, especially when you are chain stunned by melee mobs and you cant get summon your ghost, and even when you manage to do it, you cant latch fast enough or bait fast enough. I understand that its probably my lack of ability with the vocation so no need to come back at me, im just saying.. this class can be very frustrating in certain circumstances and i think it would have been nice just to have at least 1 direct damage ability for use in a pinch.
You as a Trickster, 1 sorc with AOEs, 1 Warrior with Arc of Might & 1 flex slot/ mage. All fights become easy mode.
Trickster + 3 sorcerers multicasting meteor, that’s it roll the credits.
Grab a fighter/Warrior (or Thief if you feel comfy with the class) pawn to off-tank with one good dps ability, one (or two) good stagger(s), taunt (or the aggro perk if Thief), and one situational. Use the mage & sorc. combo for the next two pawns. Mage will role healer/support with the Signature aoe utility as a must. Sorcerer will go elementalist dps with Seism required. Open the fight with Go command letting your OT gain initial aggro while you place your clone than mass aoe taunt, attack boost, and last spell is your pref/situational (I like double walls for protecting the team).
As recommended in the video you will utilize throwing objects/ballista a lot if you want to personally do some damage. However your best damage output is actually through using the increased strength on holding enemies down augment. What really shines here is due to the fact that since you're personally no longer using a finishing move on downed large foes they will stay down a lot longer letting your pawns go ham, now cast the dps booster spell when this happens, slap Go! command, and realize you are now a wrestling-trickster-mobster. Throw in big finishing moves on your Thief/Fighter/Warrior and watch the health bars melt.
That's how I've been playing and it's been a blast. For smaller enemies use your possession on the most available foe (preferably highest priority), aoe taunt, attack buff, and personal pref. last spell. Small fights can be rough if you try going in with this Vocation without the off-tank to gather foes who will interrupt your clone cast every time if let loose and your clone will die in big mob fights until you get used to how to approach each one. Thus I feel the OT is 100% necessary and fortunately you're really not missing out on anything once you get the hang of the mindset of a zero damage class. I'd say the hardest/worst thing for the class is quests with forced 1v1 fights (or worse)....but you can always remove your weapon and fully embrace that hidden Wrestler Vocation if ya have the heart for it ;)
Edit: I want to add that the Augments for this Vocation are boo-boo for tanking with the only sort-of exception being the chance to craft extra items, which is really nice tbh but not something you'll put on for combat and you will be very inclined to hunt for those more beneficial augments within other vocations before playing this class.
Spellbooks. These are just crying for use with the Trickster. drop a wall and use a book. Not in every fight, of course, but you can deal damage against larger foes, especially before you have ranked up enough to really utilize your skills well.
Just wanted to put this out there; When you stick your Simu on an enemy, while all the other enemies will attack that one enemy, the enemy you stick it to will relentlessly come for you. They'll ignore all other pawns and NPCs to get to you. So when you attach your Simu to an enemy, prepare some distance...
Trickster class basically: Who want the smoke?
So far I've played Fighter, Warrior, Sorcerer, Mystic Spearhand and Trickster.
Trickster is my favourite, even though it totally sucks. It's just so fun to toy with enemies while your pawns beat the crap out of them.
I just came across this by accident 😮 and here I am looking at this video . I will recruit a trickster pawn this can be very useful 🎉
You can't use it on pawns
Trickster seems like the sort of class that is more suited to an MMORPG or a tabletop game you play with other people.
Playing a pure support class with pawns is not fun.
The Trickster highlights the balance issues among the vocations in DD2.
What do you think about the fake wall/floor trick? Having Pawns firing through a "wall" while the enemies can't touch them sounds amazing. The same applies to enemies running off a cliff trying to attack "you".
the problem with those abilities is that they are situational abilities... if you know your going into an area where those abilities would be useful you can swap to them in a camp... but for the most part you rely entirely on your environment to get kills and you also lose loot drops doing this.
"Strength affects the trickster's ability to draw the attention of foes by swinging the censer, while Magick increases the Health of their conjured simulacrum."
There's an in-game tutorial popup that explains that strength increases your threat generation, and magic increases something else, can't remember. Point being, there's merit in upgrading your weapon.
Damage and magick ups your threat and effigy hp respectively.
I wonder if there is any equipment that does damage back to attackers? I haven’t found any but they do make good tanks if you can get the hang of them. Just curious for solo play throughs with each class. If that type of buff applied to the smoke clone then it would be much more viable.
Strength increases your clone's health, magick increases how much threat you generate
The basic info guide when unlocking trickster says the more str you have on gear the more threat you generate and the more magic you have increases your shadows hp. Upgrading gear is good.
This class would make a lot more sense if there was multiplayer 😅
Just started this class as it uses same gear as magic mostly so thought i would try it. Its op as hell. Lvl 1 taking on unknown large creatures. Never worry if u can take on a large creature agian
Big tip for trickster. NEVER FIGHT A GOLEM. It is extremely painful and takes way to long
the maister dragon smoke cloud skill looks incredible, but the rest of the class looks so lackluster. i commend capcom for creating a unique vocation that plays so differently, but everything about this class is just nullified by an arisen mage. you can spam the hell out of high palladium which is much more consistent at mitigating damage than the trickster's threat management. easily keeping your party near invincible during big monster encounters.
and bonus points, if the player plays as a mage to support instead of trickster, they have access to levitate+frigor for unmatched traversal.
hmm somehow this class looks way less interesting than I thought. May give it a try tho
Not sure why it wasn't mentioned, but you also get skills to put out fake platforms that you send your summon onto to trick enemies into falling to their deaths.
I remember reading upgrading ur weapon does something like gives ur summon more health or something could be wrong but I do think it said that when I unlocked it but yeah I’m maining trickster and everything you said is exactly how I play him he’s actually kinda op sometimes I hardly ever get hit just gotta play him right I also though about changing my pawn to mage for heals but for now he is already a maxed out theif with hella damage which is nice to have too since you can’t deal damage yourself I’ll probably max level his mage vocation later though
Honestly, when i discovered the class i was very intrigued but by trying it i discovered it was unfortunatly not for me. However i give credits for trying to create a class who is so unique. I wish this class could deal damage in some way because i love the concept and the equipment (the censer is so cool). I am really sad to not like the gamefeel of this class haha.
Strength helps draw aggro Magick increases simulacrum health so better weapon does help
Cannot wait for your warfarer video. I like pairing trickster, sorcerer and mystic spearhand and it's super fun!
hi, more str. gives u me aggro and more magic gives ur clone more hp. its in the discription when u learn the trickster vocation.
I think the game tells u: strength=more threat from smokes, magicka= more clone hp, according to the tips given at least.
Dragon delusion is a really strong spell however I won't say its op, it consumes half your stamina bar and you're stuck in a long wind-up animation so positioning is key here but it staggers dragons and such, I managed to kill my first dragon today with trickster actually, each time he's in animation to cast the meteor spell I get to interrupt it with dragon's delusion
Also the wall is pretty decent spell, It lasts long I like using it before latching my clone into some monster and running into the wall, the latched monster will target u but if there's a wall he has to walk around and that'll give you enough time to basically clown on him I think the wall is a pretty good safety measure as well in-case you find yourself surrounded with no clone up just run behind it.
Altho word of warning about the wall and also fickle floor, those spells won't work as far as I noticed if you place them ON the monsters, If running away it would be best to use the wall ahead of you and run behind it
I wish they gave us a dodge button or resistance to stagger though, I mean I get it they want you to set-up and stuff but the game is easy, other vocations don't have to worry about such thing and just faceroll encounters, If game was harder I would say trickster is actually balanced(would love better spells maybe quicker animations, also when hit ur clone goes away + points why mage is good synergy, since you can eat a hit with the shield spell, all those are QoL tho) and I believe they missed the mark with latching effigy deleting your clone if u miss, that makes fickle floor kinda neutered, since there's no way for you to send your clone ON the fake floor as far as I know.
fun thing about fickle floor, If u use it and monsters walk into it they'll trip but if u use it on the monsters nothing will happen
I actually don't use the damage buff spell my personal best 4 spells are suffocating shroud(can't really function without it), Dragon's delusion, wall and latching effigy(kinda fun spell tho not really necessary, the clone alone would result in same effect kinda cuz it'll grp enemies in one spot and let ur sorc one shot hordes).
Not sure how provocation/subtelty augmentation works, I ran subtelty(lowering threat) so I can get into the middle of things, put a clone and taunt everyone, and it works, I'm not sure provocation would increase the clone threat, would appreciate clarification on that one tho.