



N E X T L E V E L I N C I N E R A T E





DISCLAIMER



This build is not necessarily better than other incinerate builds. The reason why I call it "Next Level" is because it's an advanced, complicated build. As you will see below, the theorycrafting behind it is reasonably intense. It has its own strengths and weaknesses, which I will discuss at length later on. I made this build to see if I could, and I think that in the end it's a pretty cool build. I'm hoping that by posting it we can make further improvements and push it forward!





INTRODUCTION



I got really lucky this league and self found a Shavs. I had never played an ES build before, let alone a low-life build. Needless to say I was eager to try it. I looked at a ton of different options and found that many low-life builds requite intense gearing. Items like a GG weapon and God Gloves were way out of my budget. I had also been wanting to make an incinerator. Sacrificing Righteous Fire to go low-life seemed to be a bad plan, so I got greedy. Really greedy. I decided that I wanted to go low-life AND righteous fire. When people see me in game and ask about my build, they usually say something like "LL RF? Is that even possible?" Yes, yes it is. It took a lot of work to get there, but I think it's worth it.



There are many different stages in the evolution of this build: transition to Low-Life, transition to Righteous Fire, leveling Arctic Armour as your ability to sustain is expands, adding Inner Force + Devotion, transitioning from gem-based life leech to Doryani's Catalyst, transitioning from HoI + HoT + Reduced Mana to HoI + HoT + Empower. Each of these stages has slightly different gearing priorities. If you try out this build you are likely to go through some or all of these stages depending on what level you start at. I hope to detail each step as a part of this guide.







Sustaining Righteous Fire| WARNING: MATH



In order to figure out whether you can sustain righteous fire, you can use the following equation:



B*F*(.9L + .7E) <= R*E



B = Buff Effect (ie: with inner force and devotion, B = 1.26)

F = 1 - your fire resist (ie: with 92% fire resist F=.08)

L = Your max life

E = Your max ES

R = Your % "life" regen (converted to ES by zealot's oath)





If you know all of your stats, you can simply plug them into this equation. As long as the left side is less than the right side, you are good to go.



If you examine the math, you quickly see that your life pool acts as an anchor weighing you down. The more life you have, the harder it is to sustain RF. Similarly, the more ES you have the easier it is. More regen and more fire resist also makes it easier to sustain.



CORE CONCEPTS:



1. You want to have the highest fire res possible. My build has 91% (without buff effect) or 92% (with buff effect). It's extremely important that your fire resist is level 23 as this is the level where Purity of Fire provides +5% rather than +4%. This is a bigger deal than just 1% resist -- all of your aura effect and buff effect works off this base value, so the higher it is the more help you get from your aura/buff effect. With level 23 purity of fire, every 20% of aura/buff effect that you have will give you 1% max fire res. With level 20-22, you will need 25% aura/buff effect for an extra 1% max.



The tree I provided gets 54% aura effect. Thus, you almost certainly want the two nodes before inner force to bump you up to 60%. This will give you the magic 91% fire res that you need. If you don't have level 23 purity of fire you'd only have 89% fire res.



If you take Inner force, your RF will burn another 15% hotter but you won't actually get any more fire resist because the game rounds down. That's why it's critical to take Devotion at the same time as you take Inner Force. This will put you at 80% aura/buff effect for 92% max fire res.



2. With Zealot's Oath, your life regen gives your ES regen instead. I use the vitality aura along with a good amount of life regen on the tree (about 7% for my current build, although you won't need quite this much if you aren't running Inner Force + Devotion)



3. Beyond that just get as much ES as you can and as little life as you can.









Defensive Concepts









THIS BUILD IS NOT CONSTRUCTED TO BE HARDCORE VIABLE. IT MIGHT BE, IF YOU ARE REALLY GOOD -- BUT I DOUBT IT



*Arctic Armour: you can sustain any level of AA depending on gear. This gives you great protection against small amounts of fire and physical damage. It also helps with reflect.



*Fire Resist: your fire resist will likely be 91-92%, making you very tough against all fire (especially with AA factored in). With a flask you are essentially fire immune. I've facetanked double Crematorium boss with boss damage/attack speed without any problems at all.



*Lightning + Cold Resist: You have 76% base lightning which is nice, but you can also switch your empower for reduced mana and swap out Herald of Thunder, Herald of Ice or both for Purity of Ice/Lightning. Note that you will lose a lot of damage when you do this, but for some content you may value the additional defense. You will get +7% max resist if you do this, potentially increasing your resists to 92/83/82 which is pretty spectacular elemental defense.



*Flasks: Flasks are critical for this build. You have no need for a life or mana flask so you can easily run whatever combination you like of defensive flasks.



*Moderate ES: Tanky ES builds often have 8-10k ES, which this build definitely does not have. That said, you should be able to manage between 5-6k max ES by level 80-90, which is enough to survive quite a bit. You can restore your ES at about 500-600 per second by drinking a fire resist pot, more once your ES recovery kicks in. Note that your ES will never recover normally because of constant RF damage.



*Leech: You get decent sustain through elemental leech.



*Armor/Evasion/Block: You get a little armor and evasion but not much. At base I get about a 15% evade chance. You also get some block (24%).



*Freeze/Chill: You have a 20% chance per hit to freeze enemies and significantly increased chill duration. You probably won't freeze many rares but I freeze and shatter white/blue mobs all the time. It's pretty surreal with incinerate.



*Vaal Discipline: This only lasts for a couple of seconds but it will boost your ES well over 10k and give you insane ES regen. Your DPS is so high that you can often burn down threatening bosses within the duration. Best if used proactively.



*Immunity: You are immune to ignites, freezes and stuns and you have a chance to avoid chill.



*CWDT: You have access to CWDT which helps against physical damage. I'm not sure if a level 1 setup is optimal here. It's very possible that a higher level setup would be better.



STRENGTHS



*Elemental Damage

*Reflect - you aren't reflect immune like most builds but most reflect packs are easily burned down. If you are willing to go slowly you can do reflect maps, and there are a number of tricks that make this easier.

*Melee - Most monsters die before they get in range

*Small physical damage - negated by AA

*Predictable damage - you can prepare with flasks and Vaal Discipline.







WEAKNESSES



*Chaos damage - You might be able to gear for this, but I get seriously rolled by heavy chaos bosses.



*Big single physical hits - If you know they are coming you can often avoid these entirely or prepare with VD or flasks. If you don't see it coming though these can kill you really fast. The main problem is that you have no way to quickly recover your ES. Leech is nice but at the base level it's just not fast enough to deal with the most intense burst damage. One possible solution to this would be to craft a set of Vorici gloves and jewelry which would be expensive but potentially very powerful. CWDT helps a great deal, and it may be that having a higher level setup would be better.







*Arctic Armour: you can sustain any level of AA depending on gear. This gives you great protection against small amounts of fire and physical damage. It also helps with reflect.*Fire Resist: your fire resist will likely be 91-92%, making you very tough against all fire (especially with AA factored in). With a flask you are essentially fire immune. I've facetanked double Crematorium boss with boss damage/attack speed without any problems at all.*Lightning + Cold Resist: You have 76% base lightning which is nice, but you can also switch your empower for reduced mana and swap out Herald of Thunder, Herald of Ice or both for Purity of Ice/Lightning. Note that you will lose a lot of damage when you do this, but for some content you may value the additional defense. You will get +7% max resist if you do this, potentially increasing your resists to 92/83/82 which is pretty spectacular elemental defense.*Flasks: Flasks are critical for this build. You have no need for a life or mana flask so you can easily run whatever combination you like of defensive flasks.*Moderate ES: Tanky ES builds often have 8-10k ES, which this build definitely does not have. That said, you should be able to manage between 5-6k max ES by level 80-90, which is enough to survive quite a bit. You can restore your ES at about 500-600 per second by drinking a fire resist pot, more once your ES recovery kicks in. Note that your ES will never recover normally because of constant RF damage.*Leech: You get decent sustain through elemental leech.*Armor/Evasion/Block: You get a little armor and evasion but not much. At base I get about a 15% evade chance. You also get some block (24%).*Freeze/Chill: You have a 20% chance per hit to freeze enemies and significantly increased chill duration. You probably won't freeze many rares but I freeze and shatter white/blue mobs all the time. It's pretty surreal with incinerate.*Vaal Discipline: This only lasts for a couple of seconds but it will boost your ES well over 10k and give you insane ES regen. Your DPS is so high that you can often burn down threatening bosses within the duration. Best if used proactively.*Immunity: You are immune to ignites, freezes and stuns and you have a chance to avoid chill.*CWDT: You have access to CWDT which helps against physical damage. I'm not sure if a level 1 setup is optimal here. It's very possible that a higher level setup would be better.



Offensive Concepts











Pics are self buffed with level 17 haste, level 2 empower and level 20 offensive gems at level 90. It could get quite a bit higher.



*Insane single target: full on stage 3 buckshots for 240k not counting shock.



*Insane AOE: You cover a nice wedge of space with quality alone. I don't find Faster Projectiles to be needed at all



*Shock: You do a lot of lightning damage and easily shock most monsters. With quality added lightning you'd have a 20% chance to shock per hit (and you hit really, really fast). The shocks are generally going to be fairly short duration, but they reapply quickly.



*Freeze/chill: See "Shock".



*RF: RF burns pretty hot given your fairly large ES pool, and it burns even hotter with Vaal Discipline up. There are some situations where this is relevant, but generally you kill most monsters before they get close enough.



Strengths



*Killing monsters







Weaknesses



*Monsters that are very fast and run away constantly. Your shortish range and slow movement speed are annoying here.





Pics are self buffed with level 17 haste, level 2 empower and level 20 offensive gems at level 90. It could get quite a bit higher.*Insane single target: full on stage 3 buckshots for 240k not counting shock.*Insane AOE: You cover a nice wedge of space with quality alone. I don't find Faster Projectiles to be needed at all*Shock: You do a lot of lightning damage and easily shock most monsters. With quality added lightning you'd have a 20% chance to shock per hit (and you hit really, really fast). The shocks are generally going to be fairly short duration, but they reapply quickly.*Freeze/chill: See "Shock".*RF: RF burns pretty hot given your fairly large ES pool, and it burns even hotter with Vaal Discipline up. There are some situations where this is relevant, but generally you kill most monsters before they get close enough.





Passives and Bandits



Current Level 90 Templar Build

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUABAcMXwx9DXwQfxFQFy8Ziho4GmwajxslHKcc3B0UHU8dqiSwKPotHy9vNblBh0KjQ8hFnUZxRtdHBkuuTLNPBFNSU6VV1lcpV8lboFxrXypfamTnZp5odGjybRlvnnC7cYV0VXvXfA58S3_GgKSCm4LHgwmESIx2j0aP-pBVkyeUoJZ0muCboZu1na6ePKcIpyunVayYsUK0DLaGtzG3PriTvYLAGsHFwzrDbcaexq7KStDQ2RPZW9pi2rnb59-K4YjpAuq66-Tr7uwY7DjtIPba98H31_no-tL7CQ==





Level 90 Witch Build v1

https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMA34rZWxslS67pAm0Zpys1uRFQHNwNjWwLIvR_xsHFe9eP-uwYL2_ZE3C7tAyTJypTYpWycEZxHarhiIMJGo_22vsJGYqbtcM6ykpvnlfJDXzquij6-eiCx5Sg2mJodFOlDF8cp8autz5Bh1NSRZ2a4OvuuJPkIvfBGmzVpu08gpuaO-w4kFUnL4x2njzGnhB_DH23McAacYVG11cp8xGxQvrSZp4XL4CkVdZk50KjJLC2hu0glnR8S2jyW6CnVXwOpwidrl9q2-dHBtDQNsXYJIt6w21ca4RI4vcBbw==



More Energy Shield



More Energy Shield



Level 90 Witch Build v2

https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMA34rZWxslS67pAm0Zpys1uRFQHNwNjWwLIvR_xsHFe9eP-uwYL2_ZE3C7tAyTJypTYpWycEZxHarhiIMJGo_22vsJGYqbtcM6ykpvnlfJDXzquij6-eiCx5Sg2mJodFOlDF8cp8autz5Bh1NSRZ2a4OvuuJPkIvfBGmzVpu08gpuaO-w4kFUnL4x2njzGnhB_DH23McAacYVG11cp8xGxQvrSZp4XL4CkVdZk50KjJLC2hu0glnR8S2jyW6CnVXwOpwidrl9q2-dHBtDQLKam6zeDkNYfxy2LK3gsnA==



Stun nodes in case you don't want Eye of Chayula



Stun nodes in case you don't want Eye of Chayula



Level 90 Witch Build v3



https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgMA34rZWxslS67pAm0Zpys1uRFQHNwNjWwLIvR_xsHFe9eP-uwYL2_ZE3C7tAyTJypTYpWycEZxHarhiIMJGo_22vsJGYqbtcM6ykpvnlfJDXzquij6-eiCx5Sg2mJodFOlDF8cp8autz5Bh1NSRZ2a4OvuuJPkIvfBGmzVpu08gpuaO-w4kFUnL4x2njzGnhB_DH23McAacYVG11cp8xGxQvrSZp4XL4CkVdZk50KjJLC2hu0glnR8S2jyW6CnVXwOpwidrl9q2-dHBtDQLKam6zeDkNYfxy2LK3gsnA==



More damage at the cost of some ES



More damage at the cost of some ES



Leveling builds to be added -- note that this process is a bit more complex than with most builds.



Note that Witch is actually probably better for this build as it saves one relatively dead point. I went with templar mainly because I needed a non-witch character for the level 85 challenge. I will eventually add witch trees.



Bandits

Kill ALL the bandits!





Leveling builds to be added -- note that this process is a bit more complex than with most builds.Note that Witch is actually probably better for this build as it saves one relatively dead point. I went with templar mainly because I needed a non-witch character for the level 85 challenge. I will eventually add witch trees.



Gear and Gem Links





Original Gearset





INCINERATE + GMP + SPELL ECHO + FASTER CASTING + ADDED LIGHTNING + ADDED COLD [OPTION: FASTER PROJECTILES]







CAST WHEN DAMAGE TAKEN + ENDURING CRY + IMMORTAL CALL







HERALD OF THUNDER + HERALD OF ICE + EMPOWER







REDUCED MANA + PURITY OF FIRE (L21) + DISCIPLINE + VITALITY







RIGHTEOUS FIRE + INCREASED BURNING DAMAGE [OPTION: INCREASED DURATION] + CONCENTRATED EFFECT [OPTION: second VAAL DISCIPLINE or VAAL SUMMON SKELETONS] + VAAL DISCIPLINE







HASTE [OPTION: GRACE] + CLARITY + BLOOD MAGIC + REDUCED MANA







ARCTIC ARMOUR





INCINERATE + GMP + SPELL ECHO + FASTER CASTING + ADDED LIGHTNING + ADDED COLD [OPTION: FASTER PROJECTILES]CAST WHEN DAMAGE TAKEN + ENDURING CRY + IMMORTAL CALLHERALD OF THUNDER + HERALD OF ICE + EMPOWERREDUCED MANA + PURITY OF FIRE (L21) + DISCIPLINE + VITALITYRIGHTEOUS FIRE + INCREASED BURNING DAMAGE [OPTION: INCREASED DURATION] + CONCENTRATED EFFECT [OPTION: second VAAL DISCIPLINE or VAAL SUMMON SKELETONS] + VAAL DISCIPLINEHASTE [OPTION: GRACE] + CLARITY + BLOOD MAGIC + REDUCED MANAARCTIC ARMOUR



variation 1

Inspired by spl0ck









Gems: Haste is dropped, Discipline is moved to Blood Magic Link and replaced by Empower in the Righteous Fire link.



Eye of Chayula is optional and may be replaced with a rare amulet if you wish. If you do, I'd suggest picking up the stun nodes in the witch area.



The Vertex is optional and may be replaced by a rare helm if you want. This may give you more ES.



Note that this setup requires a quad red item, which is why I picked Armour/ES hybrid boots. If you want to min max you should just eat the cost of chroming a vertex or set of ES boots 4R.



Also, for this setup to work you MUST have either a level 4 empower OR a level 21 purity of fire OR a +1 gem levels 4R link item of some sort.



PROS: Better ES(+900-1500 ES, depending on your gear), better movement speed (up by about 40% for me), some chaos resist (from the Vertex), easier mana sustain (slower cast speed plus less reserved mana). You might even be able to spec out of some mana nodes.



CONS: Lower raw DPS. I lost about 2k tooltip DPS with this change.



Ultimately I think this setup is better than the original in most scenarios as the huge gain in movement speed more than makes up for the loss of DPS. There may be certain specific situations where the higher DPS setup is better.



Inspired by spl0ckGems: Haste is dropped, Discipline is moved to Blood Magic Link and replaced by Empower in the Righteous Fire link.Eye of Chayula is optional and may be replaced with a rare amulet if you wish. If you do, I'd suggest picking up the stun nodes in the witch area.The Vertex is optional and may be replaced by a rare helm if you want. This may give you more ES.Note that this setup requires a quad red item, which is why I picked Armour/ES hybrid boots. If you want to min max you should just eat the cost of chroming a vertex or set of ES boots 4R.Also, for this setup to work you MUST have either a level 4 empower OR a level 21 purity of fire OR a +1 gem levels 4R link item of some sort.PROS: Better ES(+900-1500 ES, depending on your gear), better movement speed (up by about 40% for me), some chaos resist (from the Vertex), easier mana sustain (slower cast speed plus less reserved mana). You might even be able to spec out of some mana nodes.CONS: Lower raw DPS. I lost about 2k tooltip DPS with this change.Ultimately I think this setup is better than the original in most scenarios as the huge gain in movement speed more than makes up for the loss of DPS. There may be certain specific situations where the higher DPS setup is better.















Comments on Gear



With the way I have designed this build, all of the uniques except possibly Lioneye's Paws are pretty much mandatory:



Rise of the Phoenix is absolutely mandatory if you are running Righteous Fire. You don't need a +1 gem levels version like mine -- that's just gravy!



Alpha's Howl (RRRB) and Level 21 Righteous Fire are highly desirable if you are running Righteous Fire -- without it you will need to spend a LOT more points from the tree on regen. You will also need Alpha's Howl if you want to run all the auras that I have. If you don't want to run Alpha's you might be able to get away with it if you swap out Empower for Reduced Mana and spend a lot more passive points to make up the regen difference. I haven't theorycrafted this myself so I can't confirm. Note that if you ditch Alpha's Howl you will need to find another source of anti-freeze, such as Auxium or Dream Fragments. This will in turn put pressure on your other gearslots to provide more of whatever stats you are lacking. Four offcolor Alpha's is a huge pain, I know.



Shavronne's Wrappings are pretty much necessary as you need a relatively high ES pool to sustain RF. You could get away with Solaris Lorica if you were not running RF but then it would be a different build. You also *might* be able to use Solaris Lorica if you also dropped Alphas for a VERY high ES helm, but then you would have to make all the other adjustments listed above. Basically, if you don't have a Shavs then I'd suggest just going life based.



Doryani's Catalyst is not strictly necessary for the build but you lose a lot of DPS by picking something else. You will likely need to use a life leech gem in your incinerate link which will mean losing a bunch of DPS as well as freeze or shock potential. Note that Apep's Rage is not really viable for this build because of the increased mana cost.



Lioneye's Paws are the first real gearing choice. You need stun immunity, and the two best ways of getting it are these boots or Eye of Chayula. The - max life on Eye is nice as it makes RF easier to sustain, but you lose out on a ton of other stats. Similarly, Paws gives you a large chunk of STR and DEX, both of which are really nice to have. Running Haste/Grace and Vitality requires a lot of each of those stats. The main downside to running Paws is the -20% movement speed (net, you still get the +20%). It's painful especially given how hard it is to fit lightning warp but I've learned to live with it.



EDIT - Some folks claim that stun immunity is not necessary if you take the stun cluster in the witch area. I am somewhat skeptical of this, but it is worth testing. I've also been doing a bunch more theorycrafting and now think that it's totally viable to go Eye of Chayula + ES boots instead of Lioneye's + rare amulet. You will need to replace the strength and dex elsewhere, but that is likely doable. Getting a corrupted Eye with +1% max resists or fire/lightning leech would be pretty solid.



Unset Ring - you need one Unset ring to run AA. Alternately you can drop Increased Burning Damage or Concentrated Effect and fit AA in there, but I don't like this.



Other Gearslots - You get some flexibility with your ring slots, amulet slot, belt slot and glove slot. Here are the priorities for these gear slots:



1. Acquire required stats: Str/Dex if you need more, cap your resists (overcap if possible, but this is a luxury. Overcapping fire is especially nice)



2. NO LIFE. If you can avoid it, do not allow any excess life (or STR for that matter) on your gear. Every point of life that you get will make it harder to sustain RF.



3. ES/Mana/Mana Regen - you will want as much ES as you can get for obvious reasons. You will also need a great deal of mana and mana regen. I currently have 130% mana regen from gear and a total of 1402 mana (before reservation). That gives me 70 unreserved mana and a bit over 290 mana/second. I might be able to cut those numbers slightly but I'm pretty close to the minimum. Note that if you are running Reduced Mana instead of Empower you can skimp a bit on the mana/regen. Also note that Intelligence gives you both mana and ES.



4. DPS stats - Cast Speed, Spell Damage, Fire/Cold/Lightning damage are all nice if you can get them







Comments on Flasks



I like to have one flask of each elemental flavor and as much physical reduction as I can get. A ruby flask is pretty mandatory as it allows you to regen your ES. I also really like Taste of Hate as it does double duty as an ice flask and as great anti-physical tool. It's too bad you don't get any damage from it!



For physical mitigation you can use a granite or a jade. I'd probably be better off with a jade but I haven't switched yet. I'm almost certain this would be an improvement as it gives you opportunities to survive damage that you wouldn't otherwise be able to survive. Mitigating heavy incoming damage that quickly outpaces your leech is often a losing battle, but a few lucky evades may give your sustain a chance to pull you through. Rumi's Concoction is an excellent choice here too, I just don't have one yet on Torment.



As far as suffixes, you should shoot for at least one anti-bleed flask and at least one anti-curse flask, especially if you aren't way overcapped on fire. Getting cursed with Elemental Weakness or Flammability will degen you hard if you aren't overcapped. You can power through it in some situations with just a fire pot, but sometimes they just chain curse you and you can't keep up on charges. Anti-curse solves this problem. Note that Vulnerability and Shock will also degen you a bit, but not nearly as much as as losing your fire resist will. I get by without a shock flask.



EDIT: If you are using a gear configuration that drops Alpha's Howl, be sure to carry an anti-freeze flask.



For prefixes you want anything that gives you more charges or charge recovery. Surgeon's sucks because you don't crit.







Opportunities for Improving

There are a couple of main ways that I could improve my setup:



1. Gem levels. Level 21 incinerate, added cold, added lightning, herald of ice and herald of thunder would all be really nice. My empower is only a pathetic level 2, so getting a level 3 or 4 gem would be a substantial dps boost. I also need to get a quality added lightning.



2. Corrupted gloves. The absolute dream is Elemental Weakness on hit. I've corrupted quite a few pairs and failed to hit anything good. +1 Gem Levels and +Cast Speed implicit would also be nice but not nearly as good as Ele Weak.



3. Corrupted other stuff. +1 gem levels on Lioneye Paws is nice but not a huge bonus. Chaos resist corrupted Alpha's would be a small improvement. If we are in magical christmas fantasy land then I'd like a +1 shavs please (never happening).



4. Better Jewelry. Most of my jewelry I bought cheap. High +%ES on rings would be amazing.





Comments on Gems



NOTE: My use of added lightning and added cold has a lot to do with the fact that I am using Doryani's. If you are using a spell damage wand, then using Added Chaos and Fire Penetration may be better.



The gem spots are relatively fixed, but there are a few options which are listed above. The burn damage from RF is situationally useful, but you get so much damage from incinerate that you don't really need it. You can swap out support gems for more active skills, particularly vaal skills.



If you want, you can switch your RF to your weapon (along with VD and one support gem, either Increased Burning or Increased Duration) and get a 4 link CWDT setup, either CWDT + EC + IC + Enfeeble or Increased Duration instead of Enfeeble if you can get the colors.



The biggest missing thing in this build is Lightning Warp. It might be possible to fit it in, but it'd be hard. I don't think you can afford to drop CWDT. I started off with LW instead of CWDT and found it to be too squishy.



Note that if you want to try to put active skills in a gem swap you need to have a second copy of Rise of the Phoenix or you will degen like crazy. You'll also need to re-enable your auras. It's possible that if you had identical auras set up in both shields that they wouldn't turn off on weapon swap -- I haven't tried it. This might be one way to squeeze in Lightning Warp.



If you favor more defense and don't mind slow run speed, consider Grace over Haste.







Alternative Gear/Gem Setup

Some good discussion in the thread has led to several proposed changes to the build which appear viable. The most common variation drops Alpha's Howl for an ES helmet, often either The Vertex or Scold's Bridle. A rare ES helm would also work.



If you are using The Vertex, you can put in a setup with Reduced Mana (level 21 may be needed depending on your exact setup), Empower, Purity of Fire, and another aura. You need to hit level 23 Purity of Fire, so with the vertex you only need a level 2 empower and level 20 purity of fire.



If you are using any helm without + gem levels you can achieve the same effect with either a level 4 empower/level 20 purity or a level 3 empower/level 21 purity.



In either case, you will need to adjust your overall aura setup. One good example of this is provided by spl0ck on the first few pages of the thread. He drops the Charisma cluster, Haste, and swaps Empower on HoI/HoT to Reduced Mana. He sockets Discipline in the helm along with Purity of Fire



Another version that I worked out based on spl0ck's build keeps the Charisma cluster, drops Haste, and slots vitality in the helm and runs Discipline off life. This allows you to run a non-Alpha's helm while still keeping your Heralds empowered.









Mapping

This spec is fine for groups although you will sometimes fall behind due to your run speed. The damage is excellent and you can easily carry through a lot of content.



The spec is excellent solo although it is held back some by it's movement speed.



Difficult mods



*DO NOT RUN: Blood Magic, No Regen



*PREPARE (doable but require specific preparation)

-Max Resists (you can do this but you can't turn on RF. DPS is still good even without RF)

-Elemental Weakness (only avoid if not overcapped)

-Vulnerability (annoying but doable if you want. Easy if you don't turn on RF))

-Half Regen (super annoying. You have to turn off AA and your dps will drop due to stutters in your casting)



*TAKE CARE (adds risk but generally fine)

-Elemental Reflect (you may have an easier time without RF, or alternately using RF to kill large packs. Swap out added lightning for added chaos)

-Shocking Ground (standing on shocking ground will give you a mild degen. nothing to worry about, just be prepared)







This spec is fine for groups although you will sometimes fall behind due to your run speed. The damage is excellent and you can easily carry through a lot of content.The spec is excellent solo although it is held back some by it's movement speed.

Tips and Tricks

Coming Soon





FAQ



Q: If you can afford a shavs, couldn't you get a higher DPS build using something else?

A: Probably, but I wanted to do this. Maybe you do too? It's pretty fun.



Q: Is this hardcore viable?

A: Probably not. If you are really good with flask use and level up as something else and then switch to this at level 80-90 then you could probably do it, but your play has to be really tight. Almost all of my deaths now are VERY avoidable.



Q: Do I have to run ghostflame mtx?

A: No, but given that only like a third of your damage is fire I find it to be very appropriate, aesthetically speaking.



Q: Is it Atziri Viable?

A: I'm not sure. I'm extremely confident that you can faceroll Atziri herself. The trio will be the tough nut to crack in that zone. I'll try it eventually and report! I can say that I soloed Death and Taxes EASILY.



Q: Is it Uber Atziri Viable?

A: I'm also not sure about this. I think that you'd probably have a good chance against Uber herself, especially with Purity of Lightning. The trio again... I don't know. I'm skeptical, but I won't rule out the possibility. If any of you have the nuts/resources to try this I'd love to hear about your experience.



Q: Can I do it without Shavs?

A: Probably but it's also probably not worth the effort. I'm pretty sure it'd suck. If you don't have a Shavs there are plenty of great life based incinerate builds with similar gameplay.



Q: Can I swap out X piece of gear for Y?

A: Check the gear section for my thoughts.



DISCLAIMERThis build is not necessarily better than other incinerate builds. The reason why I call it "Next Level" is because it's an advanced, complicated build. As you will see below, the theorycrafting behind it is reasonably intense. It has its own strengths and weaknesses, which I will discuss at length later on. I made this build to see if I could, and I think that in the end it's a pretty cool build. I'm hoping that by posting it we can make further improvements and push it forward!INTRODUCTIONI got really lucky this league and self found a Shavs. I had never played an ES build before, let alone a low-life build. Needless to say I was eager to try it. I looked at a ton of different options and found that many low-life builds requite intense gearing. Items like a GG weapon and God Gloves were way out of my budget. I had also been wanting to make an incinerator. Sacrificing Righteous Fire to go low-life seemed to be a bad plan, so I got greedy. Really greedy. I decided that I wanted to go low-life AND righteous fire. When people see me in game and ask about my build, they usually say something like "LL RF? Is that even possible?" Yes, yes it is. It took a lot of work to get there, but I think it's worth it.There are many different stages in the evolution of this build: transition to Low-Life, transition to Righteous Fire, leveling Arctic Armour as your ability to sustain is expands, adding Inner Force + Devotion, transitioning from gem-based life leech to Doryani's Catalyst, transitioning from HoI + HoT + Reduced Mana to HoI + HoT + Empower. Each of these stages has slightly different gearing priorities. If you try out this build you are likely to go through some or all of these stages depending on what level you start at. I hope to detail each step as a part of this guide. IGNs



Standard: Gyakufu | Gyakufuu

Warbands: Tsukikage

Tempest: Yamakage Last edited by swarmofseals on Feb 4, 2015, 9:20:24 PM