Viper Strike of the Mamba
Trickster Build

Updated for Patch 3.23

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Viper Strike of the Mamba is quite likely the most potent Poison Skill yet introduced. A regular Viper Strike is already great - its uniqueness stems from the Poison Duration that you can scale up alongside your Skill Effect Duration, resulting in long-lasting Poisons, which translates into more DPS. The alternate variant allows you to only Poison non-poisoned enemies, deals more Poison Damage, and combines both of your weapons' Hit with each Attack, which is a trait rarely seen. The gimmick of Poisoning an enemy with no Poison on them has never been utilized to the degree a patch 3.23 allows us for, not only because of this new Skill but also a new Tincture that can roll a modifier similar to the one found on Medium Cluster Jewels - Low Tolerance. We can even upgrade this Tincure effect by 150% if we use only two Flasks. In addition to multiple Low Tolerance notables, which increase your Poison Damage by 300% each as long as your target is not poisoned already, we can use a Poison Mastery with the same effect. It results in one big Poison.

The Viper Strike of the Mamba is especially potent if the character wields two weapons, both high in damage. It's hard to find a weapon with damage higher than the Rebuke of the Vaal. Its damage output is all over the place but that's no issue at all because Poisonberry Tincture provides you with the Poison Conflux. Combine it with other sources of flat Damage like The Covenant, and you can easily reach the DoT cap (with the Alchemist's Mark) without using Swift Affliction or Sadism Support Gems - remember that reducing Skill Effect Duration also lowers your Damage per Poison so these are undesirable. To gain even more Damage implement the Ambush Skill with Perfect Agony Keystone. You can use Ambush to gain immense bonuses to Crit Chance and Damage. The skill has a high Cooldown, but it doesn't matter because the Poison you can inflict also has a long duration, allowing you to boost every one of your Poisonous Strikes. Perfect Agony and a bit of Critical Strike Multiplier will then enhance your DPS. We could pick Assassin as it specializes in Critical Strike Skills and Poison, but there's only one good passive there - the Toxic Delivery which you can obtain with a pair of Forbidden Jewels. Instead, you should play as a Trickster and benefit from the major defensive boons for Spell Suppression and resource recovery.

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1. Gameplay

Use your secondary setup with Bino's Kitchen Knife to clear - it will quickly Poison large groups of enemies. Combine it with another Skill setup like Cobra Lash, and keep your Plague Bearer on for an even smoother experience. To fight bosses, swap to your Rebuke of the Vaal Swords and Viper Strike. This setup will unlock Ambush, Wither, and Alchemist's Mark Skills to help you take down big foes. Withering Step will apply a lot of Wither stacks so use it often. For a Guard Skill select Steelskin. Your other Curses are Despair and Temporal Chains. Your Auras are Malevolence, Grace, and Precision.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Follow our Shadow Leveling Guide - Trap version. Poison is not the best leveling archetype for beginners, and the build itself is not one you would normally use on your first character so we expect that respecing the setup shouldn't be an issue. 

Bandits:

You should kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

123 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique or Cluster Jewels)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Polymath
2. Escape Artist
3. Spellbreaker
4. Heartstopper

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Abberath: 60% less Duration of Ignite on You

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Viper Strike of the Mamba setup
	Viper Strike of the Mamba - It's the most potent and straightforward Poison Attack in the game. Its Poison Duration scales up with Skill Effect Duration, allowing you to inflict a long-lasting Poison. This version does not allow you to Poison enemies that are already Poisoned, and it's much stronger.
	Deadly Ailments Support - In exchange for Less Hit Damage it grants you more Damage with Ailments.
	Melee Physical Damage Support - More Melee and Poison Damage, but less Attack Speed.
	Cruelty Support - Cruelty buff grants more Damage over Time. If you need a blue Gem, replace it with increased Critical Damage Support.
	Efficacy Support - Increases Skill Effect Duration and grants more Damage over Time, both of which increase your Damage per Poison.
	Unbound Ailments Support - Vastly increases Poison Duration and grants more Poison Damage.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Malevolence - Grants more Damage over Time and increases Skill Effect Duration for a longer and more powerful Poison.
	Grace - Adds and increases Evasion Rating, your main defense layer against Attacks.
	Precision - Adds Accuracy and increases Critical Strike Chance, both will be important.
	Enlighten Support - Linked Spells Reserve less Mana.

[UTILITY] Curses setup
	Despair - Lowers Chaos Resistance which makes your Poison deadlier.
	Temporal Chains - It lowers the Action Speed of your foes and increases your Damage per Poison as it now lasts longer. Wither and Curses will also expire more slowly.

[UTILITY] Steelskin setup
	Steelskin - It reduces Damage taken for some time or until it can take no more damage.
	Cast when Damage Taken - Linked Skill is activated all bu itself after taking enough damage.

[UTILITY] Plague Bearer and Withering Step setup
	Plague Bearer - A handy tool for improved clear speed. It deals DoT around you after you incubate enough Poison, which happens nearly instantly.
	Increased Area of Effect Support - Increases AoE of Plague Bearer for even better clear speed.
	Withering Step - Grants you the Elusive buff and instantly applies 9 or 10 (or even 14 with Ashes of the Stars) out of 15 Withered Debuff stacks after you link it to Enhance Support.
	Enhance Support - Improves the Quality of all linked Skill Gems.

[UTILITY] Mark and Ambush setup socketed in Rebuke of the Vaal
	Alchemist's Mark - Creates a Caustic Ground beneath the Makred enemy you Hit. It alone improves your DPS by a third as long as the enemy stands on it.
	Ambush - Exerts your next Viper Strike - it now has around 50% or even 60% base Crit Chance and +138% to Crit Multiplier. You can then easily cap your Crit Chance at 100% and benefit from Perfect Agony and the Crit Multiplier you've accumulated. The Viper Strike Poison should last longer than 5 seconds, as this is the Cooldown of this Skill.
	Enhance Support - The Quality of Ambush and Alchemist's Mark improves your Damage and Crit Chance.

[UTILITY] Wither setup socketed in Rebuke of the Vaal
	Wither - After the enemy becomes Poisoned and Cursed you will have time to apply Wither. Wither Skill combined with Withering Step will quickly apply all the 15 Stacks to increase their Chaos Damage taken.
	Infused Channelling Support - While Channelling you take less damage, and after finishing Channelling you will deal more of it.
	increased Duration Support - Increases the duration of Wither.

[DPS] Cobra Lash setup socketed in your weapon swap setup (Bino's Kitchen Knife & The Squire)
	Cobra Lash - It's the secondary Damagins setup used for clearing maps, and Cobra Lash just seems like one of the best options in our opinion.
	Deadly Ailments Support
	Chain Support - Chain improves Damage and clear speed of Cobra Lash.
	Void Manipulation Support - You can deal no Elemental Damage, but you're granted more Chaos Damage.
	Nightblade Support - Grants you the Elusive buff on Critical Strike, more Critical Strike Chance, and Crit Multiplier. Your Crit Chance without Ambush is low, but not insignificant.
	Faster Projectiles Support - Improves your clear speed. It can be exchanged for any Support Gem with additional Projectiles if you prefer these.

6. Gear Setup

Your goal is to reach the DoT cap which is around 35 million DPS. It's achievable as the Vipoer Strike of the Mamba is possibly the best-suited Skill for this job. This cap can be reached with various modifiers, the most important of which is the one that makes your Poison deal Damage faster. It can be gained from Dirty Techniques anointment, Wasting Affliction notables, Boots, and Brutal Restraint. We don't need Support Gems for that. The Skill Effect Duration is also important, it will increase the Poison Duration from Viper Strike. Try to balance out the faster Poison and increased Duration so that you can apply Poison every time the Ambush Skill is off-Cooldown - that is 5 seconds. You can of course make your Poison last longer, even 10 seconds if you prefer such a playstyle. You don't need a capped Poison Chance, but you can easily get the missing 15% as an Eater's Implicit on your Rare Gloves if you want to. Accuracy is provided by Swords, Precision Aura, and passives, so you don't need it. Most of the damage is sourced from Medium Cluster Jewels, The Covenant Body Armour, Forbidden Jewels, Tincture, and two Rebuke of the Vaal Swords. It's a combination of a lot of Flat Damage, and "increased Poison Damage on non-Poison enemies", which they are. the "more" Damage mods are gained from the Support Gems and Skills. You will also need Ashes of the Stars or Marylene's Fallacy. Ashes is a bit better in our opinion. The Jewels (Rare and Unique ones alike) can be expensive so keep that in mind. You will also need the Anathema Ring to apply 3 Curses. To gain more Damage, seek DoT Multiplier or Crit Multiplier mods as it does affect Poison after allocating Perfect Agony. Cap your Resistances and Spell Suppression, and look for extra Evasion and Chaos Resistance on the gear.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - A Blizzard Crown may be good here due to its added Cold Damage, but any other Rare Helmet with Eldritch mods for increased Duration of Ailments and increased Effect of one of your Hex Curses will result in pretty much the same DPS. Look for basic stats like Life and Resistances. With Escape Artist, ES is of value too.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Chaos Resistance Evasion Rating Energy Shield

(Weapon) Rebuke of the Vaal - For your Viper Strike Setup, equip two of these. Viper Strike will apply one big Poison based on the joint damage of both of your weapons. These have very high flat damage.

+460 to Accuracy Rating Adds (49-98) to (101-140) Physical Damage Adds (49-98) to (101-140) Fire Damage Adds (49-98) to (101-140) Cold Damage Adds 1 to (210-250) Lightning Damage Adds (49-98) to (101-140) Chaos Damage (10-20)% increased Attack Speed

(Weapon) Bino's Kitchen Knife - Swap your weapon for this one if you're not up against bosses. Bino's has good stats, some Crit Chance with Crit Multiplier, Life Regeneration, and most importantly - enemies you kill with a Poison will afflict all nearby foes with the same, strong singular stack of Poison too.

30% increased Global Critical Strike Chance Adds (140-155) to (210-235) Physical Damage (40-50)% increased Critical Strike Chance +(15-25)% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +(8-12)% to Chaos Resistance On Killing a Poisoned Enemy, nearby Enemies are Poisoned and nearby Allies Regenerate 200 Life per second

(Off-hand) The Squire - A part of your clearing setup - it improves the Cobra Lash you've swapped to alongside the Bino's Kitchen Knife.

120% increased Block Recovery Has 3 Sockets All Sockets are White +(5-8)% to Quality of Socketed Support Gems Socketed Support Gems can also Support Skills from your Main Hand (100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(3-5)% Chance to Block

(Body Armour) The Covenant - Adds a lot of Chaos Damage to the socketed here Viper Strike setup, and increases your Maximum Life. It's a major damage source.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 29 Added Chaos Damage +(20-30) to Intelligence (210-250)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life Skills gain a Base Life Cost equal to 100% of Base Mana Cost

(Boots) Rare Boots - Maximum Life, Resistances, and Movement Speed are sought after on the Boots. You can also be on the lookout for Spell Suppression, Strength, and Chaos Resistance. For the Eldritch mods, seek the Eater's one that makes your Poison inflict Damage faster.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Evasion Rating Strength

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves shall grant you some Life, Resistances, and Spell Suppression. There's also the Eater Implicit for increased effect of your Marks or the missing 15% Chance to Poison, and the Exarh one for extra Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life 40% Total Elemental Resistances +12% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Evasion Rating Strength

(Belt) Rare Belt - Belt can be a source of Strength, Maximum Life, Resistances, and various Flask modifiers. What we recommend is a Stygian Vise or the Micro-Distillery Belt, as we plan to have two or three of our Flask Slots empty anyway.

Min. requirements: +90 to maximum Life +80% total Elemental Resistances +50 to Strength Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance increased maximum Life Armour

(Amulet) Marylene's Fallacy  - The less Critical Strike Chance is still not enough to cause you any issues with your Ambush-empowered Viper Strike - The attack will be Critical on account of your Precision Aura and passives like Dire Torment, Trickery, and Assassination. The extra Crit Multiplier will affect your Poison Damage after allocating Perfect Agony. Keep in mind that the Cobra Lash setup does not benefit from Ambush, so its Crit Chance will be low.

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(80-120) to Accuracy Rating +(210-240)% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +(80-100) to Evasion Rating (10-15)% increased Light Radius 40% less Critical Strike Chance Critical Strikes have Culling Strike

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars  - The extra Quality will positively impact a lot of your Skills, including the Viper Strike of the Mamba, so we can safely recommend this Amulet too. It's also good for your secondary setup. It's very similar to Marylene's Fallacy in terms of Viper Strike's DPS.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

Recommended Anointments: Potency of Will Dirty Techniques

(Ring) Anathema - We plan to apply three Curses - Alchamist's Mark, Despair, and Temporal Chains. This Ring allows us to do that as the base Maximum Power Charges number is three.

+(15-25) to maximum Energy Shield +(30-40) to Intelligence (10-15)% increased Cast Speed (10-20)% chance to gain a Power Charge when you Cast a Curse Spell Your Curse Limit is equal to your maximum Power Charges

(Ring) Rare Ring - Look mostly for Maximum Life and Resistances. You can get them here in bulk. Other stats we've listed are much less important.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +110% total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Attributes Non-Channelling Skills have -(7-6) to Total Mana Cost

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Get some Maximum Life and missing Attributes or Resistances here. Critical Strike Multiplier mods for Swords or when Dual Wielding, which you can find on Viridian Jewels, are pretty much as good as Chaos Damage over Time or Poison Damage/Duration modifiers.

Recommended affixes: Attributes Resistances increased Maximum Life Critical Strike Multiplier Chaos Damage Multiplier

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - We would advise against these and recommend Voices instead, but if you can't get the best or second-best Voices, these will do the job. Look for the listed Chaos Damage notables.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Wicked Pall 1 Added Passive Skill is Unwaveringly Evil 1 Added Passive Skill is Unholy Grace 1 Added Passive Skill is Grim Oath 1 Added Passive Skill is Touch of Cruelty

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - Low Tolerance is the bread and butter of the build - each of these notables increases your Poison Damage by 300%. Get as many of these notables as you can reasonably fit in the build, that's up to 6 with two Voices. Wasting Affliction will improve your DPS with its faster Poison, but Circling Oblivion will increase the Poison Duration. Tinker with both of these to fix your Poison Duration at no less than 5 seconds.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Low Tolerance 1 Added Passive Skill is Circling Oblivion 1 Added Passive Skill is Haemorrhage 1 Added Passive Skill is Wasting Affliction

(Jewel) Voices - It can host 3 Medium Cluster Jewels, which is one more than a regular Large Cluster Jewel allows you to, and that's a big advantage. Even the cheap Voices with 5 passives are relatively good. Get one or two of these.

Adds 3 Jewel Socket Passive Skills <Random empty passive skill node mod> Corrupted

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - The Traitor will keep your Flasks up most of the time. You will also benefit from upgrades to the notables in its radius - look for increased Duration of Elemental Ailments on Enemies, Poisons you inflict deal Damage 10% faster, or Onslaught for 8 seconds on Kill. Your Tincture will not get you extra Flask Charges, but we still have only 1 or 2 Flasks to benefit from Enduring Suffusion.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of Balbala Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame & Flesh - Get the Toxic Delivery set for 25% more Damage.

Requires Class <Random Character Class> Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh Requires Class <Random Character Class> Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - You have Precision, Grace, and Malevolence. Malevolence can give you a lot of DoT Multiplier, Grace may get you some extra Suppression, and Precision has a good Crit Multiplier modifier.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Flask) Atziri's Promise - It adds Chaos Damage sourced from your Elemental and Physical damage, which you have a lot of from two Rebuke of the Vaal Swords.

+35% to Chaos Resistance Gain (5-8)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Effect Gain (5-8)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect "Death needs not your understandin

(Flask) Magic Poisonberry Tincture - It's a core element of this build. With it, you're able to Poison with any damage. It's the reason to use Rebuke of the Vaal with their 1k mixed DPS. Get the magic modifier for increased Poison Damage on non-Poisoned enemies, and one of the additional mods we have listed here. We have also picked up Enduring Suffusion for the increased Effect of this Tincture per empty Flask Slot.

All Damage can Poison Recommended affixes: Poisons you inflict on non-Poisoned Enemies deal up to 300% increased Damage Melee Strike Skills deal Splash Damage to surrounding targets, with (19-0)% reduced Area of Effect Hits Inflict (6-7) Withered Debuffs for 2 seconds on Enemies that are on Full Life

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleed Immunity (optional) Jade Flask with increased Evasion (optional)

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.