The Trickster is the third dagger class introduced. The class is widely thought of as a cooperative version of the Rogue. Her special ability is the Prism, and she wears leather armor whilst using the dagger for her attack method. The Trickster can be seen as a counterpart of the Rogue, in the sense that she is able to avoid enemy fire by placing decoys and teleporting, while still being able to help her group out by redirecting enemy fire at a decoy rather than the group. She is a medium-ranged class with average defense, so she must avoid being attacked as much as possible. This class is not recommended for beginners. See her stat gains, caps, and averages here.
The Trickster wears leather armor and uses daggers along with the Rogue and the Assassin. The dagger is comparatively poor in its lower-tier stages, and doesn’t provide a high damage or range output, but that is made up with the Trickster’s speed and dexterity. While climbing up the tiers, the Trickster finally reaches great damage output at the Mithril Dagger, and from then on it only improves.
The Dagger of Foul Malevolence / Dagger of Sinister Deeds are standard daggers with good damage and medium range. When combined with the Trickster’s ability, the Prism, to distract an enemy, these daggers can provide a significant damage output. Additionally, its medium range is sufficient for the Trickster to engage enemies at a relatively safe distance, meaning the Trickster does not have to tank hits like the heavy armor classes at short range. The Dagger of Sinister Deeds has a higher DPS than the Dagger of Foul Malevolence however it is notibly harder to get, only dropping from the Void Entity, the final boss of the Lost Halls.
The Queen’s Stinger is a rare dagger that has a unique but valuable quirk of having Armor Piercing shots. This is seen as a direct upgrade to the Bone Dagger because of its higher damage, range and ability to pierce armor. The Queen’s Stinger has a range of 5 and a damage of 65 to 155 (110). This dagger is really only effective when clearing crowds and on higher defense enemies and in turn is best used as a swapout between a tiered or similar untiered dagger with higher DPS, such as the Dagger of Sinister Deeds or Dirk of Cronus.
The Dirk of Cronus is an alternative dagger that sacrifices a little range for a bigger bump in damage. This is considered an upgrade from tiered daggers due to the noticably higher damage output however using this also puts the Trickster at greater risk, due to the -1.1 tiles of range as opposed to the tiered daggers. This dagger is also considered the rarest in the game, due to its status as an ‘event white.’
The Symbiotic Ripper is a rare ST dropping from the Son of Arachna. It used to be a formidable dps item, but as of Exalt Version 1.1.0.0 (Sep 2020), it’s dps is on par with the Dagger of Foul Malevolence with and additional drawback of an awkward projectile speed of only 7.5 tiles a second, a noticable reduction from almost all other daggers. This item also has a stat ‘bonus’ of -2 Vit, making this a usable dagger, but best used with other pieces of the Flesh Collector Set equipped.
The Corruption Cutter is a two-shot dagger that drops from the Corruption Phantom in the Cursed Library. What separates this dagger from other daggers is the rare ability of having two shots. This provides the dagger with the highest DPS up until ~43 Defense, where Avarice becomes a better option. The downside of this dagger is a poor true range of 2.84 tiles, meaning you have to get dangerously close to the enemy if you want to be able to deal the maximum amount of damage. This item is best carried as a swapout in conjunction with a higher ranged dagger.
The Trickster’s ability is the Prism. When the ability is used, you teleport to the location of your cursor when activated. A decoy appears where you were before the activation, and walks towards the way you were moving (if you teleport while stationary it goes in a random direction or stays still), causing enemies to attack it, if it’s close enough. The MP cost and duration of the decoy rises as you go through the tiers.
Note: Decoy walks about 8 cells (sometime less) and stops. If you change direction just on a small fraction of second before teleport decoy would ignore it and go to the previous direction.
The Prism is considered by many players the hardest ability item to master, but can be used in many different situations by improvising. Executing the ability properly can yield many rewards, such as increased soulbound drops, effective dungeon rushing and essentially providing a cloak for your entire party. Nevertheless, the Prism remains flexible to suit any particular situation.
The Decoy Prism is the starting prism. With a low cost of 60 MP, and a low duration of 3 seconds for the decoy, this is considered the best prism to use if the user wishes to solely teleport to another location or rush different areas, and it is thus not recommended to be used for decoy purposes.
The Prism of Phantoms and Prism of Apparitions, as opposed to the starting prism, is a suitable Prism to be used where the decoy is a concern for the Trickster. These prisms provide the longest duration of 8 seconds for the decoy to last, allowing the Trickster to attack the enemy as long as possible whilst the decoy is deployed.
The Ghostly Prism, revamped in Build 7.0.0, costs only 65 MP to use, and the bomb it drops explodes 6 times in a row. The bomb takes 3 seconds to detonate (twice as long as before) and each explosion deals 320-480 damage each (1920-2880 damage total). This can do very large damage relating to the Trickster however to maximise this ability’s function the timing of the bomb needs to be precise.
The Prism of Dancing Swords is an unique untiered prism that contains two decoys, but is without the teleport feature. It costs 95 MP to use, and each decoy lasts for 6 seconds, allowing for plays focused around diverting bosses/enemies with decoys. This prism can be very useful in situations that requires clearing something near enemies, such as destroying an Abandoned Switch in The Shatters, or Cavern Crystals within the Fungal and Crystal Cavern. This can also come in handy when rushing a dungeon with breakable walls in-between rooms, such as the Mad Lab or Parasite Chambers.
The Prism of Dire Instability is an interesting prism that combines the power of a spell and a decoy. Instead of teleporting the user it will send a decoy that detonates after 3 seconds, while attracting enemies towards it. This makes it a more accurate version of the Ghostly Prism, altough rarer, a bit more mana-consuming and without the teleporting ability. This is especially effective against enemies that attempt to sit on players such as Glupord the Slime God in his final phase or the Marble Colossus during his jumping phases.
The Echoes Prism is a rare and unique prism that hosts the ability the mark a location and teleport back to it. On the first activation a location is marked, on the second activation you teleport back to that target. The mark will reset upon changing location or waiting 30 seconds. This can be useful when attempting to rush and to keep a safe exit if things get sketchy. An example where this could be used is rushing an Abandoned Switch in The Shatters and after killing the Abandoned Switch, teleporting back instead of rushing back.
The Brain of the Golem is considered a must have for Tricksters. It has no teleport and places a stationary decoy that explodes after 7 seconds, inflicting 
Dazed on enemies within 1.75 tiles. This is incredibly valuable as it is one of only two abilities (along with the Quiver of Thunder) that inflcits dazed on the enemy. This is useful when fighting stationary enemies such as the Agonized Titan or Crystal Entity (if you can get close enough). It is part of the Lost Golem Set meaning it can be worn in conjunction with the other three pieces, the Carved Golem Remains, Golem Garments and Rusty Cuffs. Providing a powerful set with valuable set bonuses.
The Trickster is one of the few classes who aren’t just as effective fresh as they are maxed, but can still get soulbound damage in dungeon bosses and even large groups of gods. It is effective as a loner amongst a mob by sniping behind its decoy. The Trickster is not as frail as robe classes, but it isn’t as defensive as heavy armor classes either. The leather armor is good enough for the Trickster to get both her defense and dexterity up, and speed if they choose to use Coral Silk. Tricksters are known to be as decent dungeon rushers because of their ability to run through rooms quickly and bypass enemy fire, and as well the fastest of all classes when rushing towards any event boss, both being extremely fast and teleporting ahead, allowing them to be the first ones to reach bosses like O1, O2, and event bosses.
The trickster’s 75 DEX and 65 ATT gives it the highest dps of all dagger classes, and at 75 SPD the trickster is a speed demon. The prism and leather armor buff these already high stats, and the use of Tomb Rings can boost speed and dexterity even higher to abuse.
A huge mistake many players (including the experienced) make is accidentally teleporting on an enemy and end up getting instakilled. It is very important to watch where your cursor is before pressing the spacebar; if you have a hard time trying to make decoys without accidentally teleporting right on an enemy, you may consider using a Prism of Dancing Swords, as it does not include teleportation.(Note- You could also keep the cursor on your player so that you are in the same spot while the decoy moves past you so you don’t sit on a ice sphere/any other enemy.)
The Trickster is a valuable team fighter in battles involving enemies that shoot in one direction. Her ability to spawn decoy allows the boss/enemy to not fire at her or her teammates, and, unlike the cloak, does not suffer in effectiveness with the arrival of other players. Tricksters are great when teamed up with knights, who can take advantage of a trickster’s decoy to safely get in and stun a dangerous boss, allowing both of them to rack up damage in relative safety. In The Shatters, there is a secret Abandoned Switch that can only be accessed by teleporting to it. Killing the switch makes the second part of the dungeon much easier, faster, and safer.
Tricksters, due to their high DPS and teleport, do excellently in tombs, where the teleport can allow an instantaneous escape to safety over quicksand in the face of a mad tomb boss. The decoy is immensely useful for attracting the attention of a charging Nut or a raging Bes, and is useful for “pushing” Geb into a corner as well. Skilled tricksters can rush tombs effectively, using the teleport to escape jackals, scarabs, and other monsters in the way.
Against events the trickster is a slightly more difficult to use. Typically, the trickster’s decoy is thrown behind a skull or cube in order to divert its fire as the trickster makes a hit-and-run; the minions, however, may continue to fire at the trickster, especially if they’re spread out. The prism is much more useful at pentaracts - the combination of high DPS, high speed, and teleports allow tricksters to quickly and efficiently grind pentaracts to dust.
Against large events (sphinx, hermit, landlord), the significant DPS of the Trickster gives it an edge over other dagger classes. The decoy can be used in order to draw secondary fire (e.g. landlord minions, reapers, or in the case of the hermit, the main boss itself) but primarily, the Trickster, in this situation, functions as a raw DPS machine.
The Trickster is a high risk, high reward class that takes skill to play, but can yield multiple rewards when used properly. Much like a more team-oriented rogue, it is capable of serving a variety of roles - team support, solo role, damage dealer, and rusher. Its high speed and dexterity make it easier for the Trickster to get around, and her only real weakness is her average defense and lack of healing, alongside an inferior solo cloak in comparison to the Rogue. This class is for those who prefer to play the role of a fast, powerful, team-oriented dagger user.
