I'm Tenkiei but you can call me Ten, I enjoy analyzing games by understanding the bones of the underlying systems, so people often joke I'm an encyclopedia for any game I play. I've played a variety of games, from Roguelites and Immersive sims to 4X games and JRPGs. But I spend most of my time playing online games like Runescape, World of Warcraft Diablo, and Path of Exile. With thousands of hours in ARPGs naturally when Torchlight Infinite released I had to check it out. You can often find me over on YouTube sharing the secrets I've discovered or rambling through video essays about the games I love. Learn about the Gameplay & Gear Progression for the Wind Stalker Erika Dex Stacker Build.
Gear Setup
The equipment shown is core to the build. Great care must be placed to make sure all defensive/offensive thresholds are met in order for the build to operate at its best. If you wish to learn about how to craft your own gear like this please refer to our crafting guides.
This is an Endgame build, so pay close attention to the Legendary items and Corrosion only Aember mods used! Prices vary based on demand but you can craft most of the required items pretty easily. Tier 1 modifiers should always be the goal, but so long as you're able to cap your resistances and get to around 3k life, T3 modifiers are much easier to roll especially early in a season! See the super budget variant for an example of this.
Weapon Type: Hero's Longsword
Rarity: Rare
Desired Stats:
Your weapon is the single biggest upgrade you can make, craft or buy this first!
If you're trying to buy a sword, most important modifier is 1-5 Lightning damage to Attacks per 12 Dexterity. Gear Attack Speed or Gear Critical Strike Chance are both local modifiers that multiply with other bonuses therefore they add more damage than a global modifier such as "increased Attack Speed" would. If you have a higher budget, the Technique Ember suffix for Multistrike, Multistrikes deal Increasing damage is quite valuable.
Crafting Tips:
- Craft on an item level 85 high Attack Speed Sword like Hero's Longsword, Blizzard Sword or Talon Sword.
- Begin by crafting T3+ Dexterity with Cultivation Embers.
- Next add Gear Attack Speed and Multistrike Chance, or Attack Crit Strike Rating for this Gear using Soulburst Embers to fill the Suffixes.
- Add your first Prefix with Amplified Embers, to save cost T2 or T3 Elemental damage is fine.
- Craft T1, 1-5 Lightning damage to Attacks per 12 Dexterity with Ruling Embers.
- Finish the item by Enchanting it with Elemental Penetration.
Weapon Type: Hero's Longsword
Rarity: Rare
Desired Stats:
Most of the time your Off-Hand Weapon has the same stats as your Main Hand, only use the below Crafting Tips if you are using Joined Force which transforms your Off-Hand into a stat stick.
If you're trying to buy a sword, most important modifier is 1-5 Lightning damage to Attacks per 12 Dexterity. If you have a higher budget, the Technique Ember Suffix for Multistrike, Multistrikes deal Increasing damage is quite valuable.
Crafting Tips:
- Craft on an item level 85 high Attack Speed Sword like Hero's Longsword, Blizzard Sword or Talon Sword.
- Begin by crafting T3+ Dexterity with Cultivation Embers.
- Next add Multistrike Chance, and Critical Strike Damage using Soulburst Embers to fill the Suffixes.
- Add your first Prefix with Amplified Embers, to save cost T2 or T3 Elemental damage is fine.
- Craft T1, 1-5 Lightning damage to Attacks per 12 Dexterity with Ruling Embers.
- Finish the item by Enchanting it with Elemental Penetration.
Base Type: Mask of Calamity
Rarity: Rare
Desired Stats:
The main goal for a defensive Helmet is capping Resistances and getting Max Life, if you can get damage through Dexterity or Critical Strike Suffixes this is great but most of your focus should be on survival stats.
Crafting Tips:
- You want an item level 85 Dexterity base such as Demon Slayer's Eyes, Mask of Calamity, or Watcher's Gaze.
- Start by crafting Erosion and Cold Resistance with Tenacity Embers. If you get a different Resistance remember to craft Cold on Gloves or Rings.
- Use Cultivation Embers to add Dexterity to scale your damage.
- With Vigor Embers to craft Maximum Life and Life Regeneration to aid with survival.
- Finish the item by adding the enchantment for hybrid Evasion Rating and Life.
Base Type: Everlasting Cloud or Sanctuary of Calamity
Rarity: Legendary
Desired Stats:
Everlasting Cloud is best in slot due to offering a significant bonus to Dexterity. But if it's out of your current budget you can instead craft a Rare. This is one of your more expensive items along with the weapons but has a more significant impact on the build's performance than many other pieces.
- You want an item level 85 Dexterity base such as Secret Shadow's Protection, Watcher's Chest Armor, or Sanctuary of Calamity.
- If you're not using Legendary boots you probably need Erosion or ElementalResistance, this is crafted first with Tenacity Embers.
- Next add % Dexterity and if the Suffixes are not already full, +Dexterity to scale your damage using Cultivation Embers.
- Add +Max life using Vigor Embers to help you survive.
- Then be sure to craft % Max life with Ruling Embers.
- Finish the item by enchanting it with the Life/Evasion hybrid mod.
Base Type: Hands of Calamity
Rarity: Rare
Desired Stats:
The main goal for your Gloves should be capping Resistances and getting Max Life, if you can get damage through Dexterity or Critical Strike Suffixes this is great but most of your focus should be on survival stats.
Mark of Thrill is a good way to get Fervor to fix your crit if you can pick a pair up for a few Flame Elementium.
Crafting Tips:
- You want an item level 85 Dexterity base such as Eternal Night Stalker's Hands, Hands of Calamity, or Secret Shadow's Wrists.
- Start by crafting Erosion and Fire Resistance with Tenacity Embers. If you get a different Resistance remember to craft Fire on Helmet or Rings.
- Use Cultivation Embers to add Dexterity to scale your damage.
- With Vigor Embers to craft Maximum Life and Life Regeneration to aid with survival.
- Finish the item by adding the enchantment for hybrid Evasion Rating and Life.
Base Type: Endless Night or Boots of Calamity
Rarity: Legendary
Desired Stats:
If Endless Night are inexpensive on the Trade House they're a great way to get % Dexerity, and Resistances. But if these are expensive you can craft a Rare with % Dexterity. Keep in mind you will need more Resistances on other pieces of gear without Endless Night.
Crafting Tips:
- You want an item level 85 Dexterity base such as Boots of Calamity, Watcher's Trail, or Demon Slayer's Feet.
- Start with the Suffixes.
- You can optionally start by rolling resistances using Tenacity Embers.
- Dexterity and % Dexterity come from Cultivation Embers and are a better choice to scale your damage.
- Movement speed feels great when mapping and comes from Soulburst Embers, but if you need Resistances to cap, that's more important.
- Then add as much life as you can by crafting with Vigor Embers. If you hit Life Regeneration it's a great way to add some recovery.
- Finish the item by Enchanting it with hybrid Life/Evasion.
Base Type: False God's Skin or Assassin's Amulet
Rarity: Legendary
Desired Stats:
If False God's Skin is inexpensive on the Trade House it's a great way to get a large amount of Dexterity, and Life or damage. Look for Dexterity per Character level or the Corroded % Attributes rolls. But if this is expensive you can craft a Rare with Dexterity instead. A crafted Amulet can be a good way to fix resistances as well. Sunset Ripple lowers your damage but gives you massive AoE for farming.
Crafting Tips:
- You want an item level 85 Assassin's Amulet.
- Start with the Suffixes, use Tenacity Embers to craft any Resistances you are missing elsewhere.
- Then use Cultivation Embers to craft Dexterity.
- At this point if the suffixes aren't full use Soulburst Embers to craft Critical Strike or Attack Speed modifiers filling the Suffixes.
- Add Max Life by crafting with Vigor Embers, if you hit Life Regeneration that's a great way to add some recovery.
- If you have 5 modifiers, skip to step 7. Otherwise use Ruling Embers to craft Injury Buffer.
- Finish the item by Enchanting it with -5 Skill Cost
Base Type: Protection Ring
Rarity: Rare
Desired Stats:
Rings are always a good way to get any Resistances you're missing. If you have resistances covered elsewhere focus on Max Life before looking for damage stats like Dexterity, Damage to Attacks, Attack Speed or Critical Strike modifiers. It's often more efficient to purchase a ring than crafting one for yourself, but if you can't find any for 5-10 Flame Elementium use Crafting Tips below to make one.
Crafting Tips:
- You want an item level 85 base, Prisoner Ring is great if you can afford it, otherwise look for Divine Punishment Ring for damage, Growth Ring for Life, or any Resistance base such as Heated Ring.
- Start by crafting Erosion and Lightning Resistance with Tenacity Embers. If you get a different Resistance remember to craft Lightning on Helmet or Rings.
- Use Cultivation Embers to add Dexterity to scale your damage.
- Alternatively, you can use Soulburst Embers to fill the suffixes with damage modifiers.
- With Vigor Embers to craft Maximum Life.
- For your last crafted suffix, consider one of the following:
- Lightning damage to Attacks from Essence Embers.
- Life Regeneration Rate or Life Regenerated per second from Vigor Embers.
- Life Regain from Ruling Embers.
- Melee damage from Amplified Embers.
- Finish the item by Enchanting it with -5 Skill Cost
- Alternatively: Use Restless Embers to craft the hybrid Erosion and Elemental Resistance suffix. This is expensive at the start of a season!
Base Type: Protection Ring
Rarity: Rare
Desired Stats:
The Stat priority is the same as your Left Ring. These are always a good way to get any Resistances you're missing. If you have resistances covered elsewhere focus on Max Life before looking for damage stats like Dexterity, Damage to Attacks, Attack Speed or Critical Strike modifiers. It's often more efficient to purchase a ring than crafting one for yourself, but if you can't find any for 5-10 Flame Elementium use Crafting Tips below to make one.
Crafting Tips:
- You want an item level 85 base, Prisoner Ring is great if you can afford it, otherwise look for Divine Punishment Ring for damage, Growth Ring for Life, or any Resistance base such as Heated Ring.
- Start by crafting Erosion and Lightning Resistance with Tenacity Embers. If you get a different Resistance remember to craft Lightning on Helmet or Rings.
- Use Cultivation Embers to add Dexterity to scale your damage.
- Alternatively, you can use Soulburst Embers to fill the suffixes with damage modifiers.
- With Vigor Embers to craft Maximum Life.
- For your last crafted suffix, consider one of the following:
- Lightning damage to Attacks from Essence Embers.
- Life Regeneration Rate or Life Regenerated per second from Vigor Embers.
- Life Regain from Ruling Embers.
- Melee damage from Amplified Embers.
- Finish the item by Enchanting it with -5 Skill Cost
- Alternatively: Use Restless Embers to craft the hybrid Erosion and Elemental Resistance suffix. This is expensive at the start of a season!
Base Type: Infinity
Rarity: Legendary
Desired Stats:
- Get Max Life.
- Also make sure to have Warcries are cast immediately, +1 Warcry Skill Charge Limit.
- Finally, look for one of the following Major Talents.
- Well Matched.
- Quick Advancement or Queer Angle (allocate the other in Bladerunner).
- Falling Leaves to replace the Ronin tree with Steel Vanguard or Ranger.
- Off The Beaten Track for generic damage bonuses.
- Versatile to convert Cast Speed from Dexterity into Attack Speed.
- If you can't get one of the above, these are also usable.
- Rushed to go faster when mapping!
- Endless Fervor (Use the Endless Fervor Infinity step on your Talent Tree).
- Poisoned Relief for additional defenses via Injury Buffer.
- Peculiar Vibe.
- Kinetic Conversion for additional defenses while moving.
- Poison Immunity for significant Physical mitigation if you have 80% Erosion Resistance.
Gameplay & Build Info
- Hit and run is the name of your game. Erika can feel a bit clunky when testing on a target dummy, but her playstyle is great when fighting bosses. Hot Pursuit leads to incredibly high Multistrike damage during Stalker. To maintain Stalker you need to move after the buff falls off. With Interest, Cat's Agility gains 9 seconds of duration when you refresh Stalker leading to permanent uptime.
- The build excels at clearing Beacons quickly, gaining up to 80% movement speed, which translates into 160% increased damage for attacks, so you're not only fast but also strong.
Build Scaling
This build is a Dexterity Stacker, meaning your base damage comes from weapons like Hero's Longsword, this adds damage directly to your attacks so Falling Leaves gives 60% more damage with almost no downsides. Modifiers on gear which grant Dexterity, % Dexterity, or bonuses per Dexterity are your primary means of scaling damage.
Multistrike is a fast attack which deals escalating damage. Normally when your Multistrike is interrupted while moving, your count is reset to 1, but Erika preserves her Multistrike Count when moving thanks to Cat Walk. If you have a maximum Multistrike Count of 7, and execute 4 attacks then move your next attack has the damage bonus from count 5 and your Multistrike continues as normal. Always remember to watch your buffs, the instant Stalker ends; it's time to move!
Thunder Slash excels at single target damage because you convert Steep Strike chance into Multistrikes but it has a small area of effect. Luckily Berserking Blade is another Slash-Strike which offers 360 degrees of coverage. Between the two skills you can take on anything.
The build's biggest weakness is recovery, but this is addressed in multiple ways. Life Regain helps recover health after a big hit, but Resurrection Warcry is even better. This Warcry Weakens enemies, reduces their damage, heals you and reduces the damage you take. Because a Legendary enemy counts as 5 normal enemies you usually have at least 15% additional reduced damage taken.
Erika's main defense is her speed. She excels at manually avoiding enemy attacks. This is a key skill to master when fighting bosses. Having +80% Movement Speed means you don't have to use a Mobility skill to avoid most attacks.
If you want to be tankier, invest in the Steel Vanguard tree for Physical damage Taken as Elemental or Erosion damage. This makes you significantly tankier while also giving you access to more Sealed Mana for additional Auras, but comes at a damage loss which can be made up for by having better gear.
Mistakes to Avoid
1. Core Items
This build doesn't require many Legendary items. Everlasting Cloud is quite a lot of damage, but the only item that cannot be replaced is a Dexterity stacking weapon like Hero's Longsword.
2. Never Stand Still After Stalker Falls Off.
A majority of your damage comes from Stalker stacks, these need to be refreshed by moving. So if you stand still tunneling damage into a boss even after Stalker ends you lose a majority of your damage.
