Build of the Week Season 2, Episode 4 Supplementary Notes:

This week's Build of the Week episode is about a build that we're suggesting for players who are unsure what to run in the upcoming two-week Ambush/Invasion charity race. As mentioned in the video, we've prepared some additional notes that you can refer to if you're building the Molten Strike Duelist build demonstrated.

Passive Tree Links

Here are links to the passive skill trees shown at various points in the video:

Quest Rewards and Bandit Quests

The following Bandit Rewards were chosen:

Normal: Help Oak (40 Additional Life)

Cruel: Help Kraityn (8% Attack Speed)

Merciless: Help Eramir (Additional Skill Point) or Help Oak (Additional Endurance Charge)

The following Quest Rewards were chosen:

Normal Difficulty:

Enemy at the Gate: Molten Strike

Mercy Mission: Fire Trap

Breaking some Eggs: Decoy Totem

The Caged Brute: Leap Slam

The Siren's Cadence: Added Fire Damage

Intruders in Black: Hatred

Sharp and Cruel: Melee Splash

Lost in Love: Enduring Cry or Smoke Mine (You will not get another opportunity to receive either of these two gems from quests. Enduring Cry is more fundamental to the build, but Smoke Mine is a great strategy for Strongboxes, so you will need to sacrifice one of these gems temporarily or trade for one.)

A Fixture of Fate: Temporal Chains or Purity of Fire or Purity of Lightning

Cruel Difficulty:

Enemy at the Gate: Grace

Mercy Mission: Melee Physical Damage

The Caged Brute: Immortal Call

The Siren's Cadence: Faster Attack

Sharp and Cruel: Life Leech

Lost in Love: Vitality (Not mandatory - this is just the most useful choice)

Sever the Right Hand: Faster Attack

A Fixture of Fate: Elemental Weakness or Purity of Fire or Purity of Lightning

Merciless Difficulty:

Mercy Mission: Blood Magic

The Caged Brute: Flammability or Purity of Ice

A Fixture of Fate: Multistrike or Cast when Damage Taken (If you don't have Multistrike, take that, if you do, take Cast when Damage Taken)

Example Gear at Level 72

Gems Used:

Because of the way I linked the items above (they don't exist on the live realm so I can't use regular item links), I wasn't able to link the gems the build uses. Here they are, at level 72:

Weapon: Grace, Hatred, Reduced Mana

Helmet: Enduring Cry, Leap Slam, Faster Attacks, Smoke Mine

Shield: Enfeeble, Blood Magic

Gloves: Reduced Mana, Purity of Ice, Purity of Lightning, Purity of Fire

Boots: Cast when Damage Taken, Increased Duration, Enduring Cry, Immortal Call

Body Armour: Molten Strike, Melee Physical Damage, Multistrike, Melee Splash, Blood Magic

Important Vendor Recipes

Cartographer's Chisel: This recipe is worth preparing for if you intend to run maps later. Even if you are not doing maps, these are always in high demand and can be easily traded, especially as more groups arrive at maps. You can find maps in later Merciless, and especially from farming Merciless Piety.

1 of either Stone Hammer, Rock Breaker or Gavel with 20% Quality

1 Map

Ruby, Topaz or Sapphire Ring: This recipe is useful early in the game. It can be used to gain resistance rings for bosses. A potentially important one is the Sapphire ring for normal Merveil. Due to the presence of Invasion bosses and Rogue Exiles, it's important to be able to swap resistances in easily.

1 Iron Ring

1 Red (Ruby), Green (Topaz), Blue (Sapphire) Skill Gem

Granite Flask: This recipe is quite important, but you shouldn't jump into doing it as soon as possible, as it can be quite expensive. This is to be done with some consideration, later into the game, if you need to generate a Granite Flask.

1 Ruby Flask of Iron Skin

1 Sapphire Flask of Iron Skin

1 Topaz Flask of Iron Skin

Increased Physical Damage Prefix: This recipe can be useful when you are not finding sufficient weapon upgrades. The rarity of the Rustic Sash determines the mod you will gain. The higher the rarity, the more increased physical damage +%. Be careful using this very early, as it can give your weapon a level requirement you don't yet meet.

1 Desired Weapon to Upgrade

1 Rustic Sash (Normal, Magic, Rare, Unique)

1 Blacksmith's Whetstone

Glassblower's Bauble: Due to how rare these can be and the number of flasks you need, you should plan around this recipe from the start. You can vendor flasks with a combined quality of 40% or higher for a Glassblower's Bauble.

If you have any improvements for this build you'd like to suggest, please post them in this thread! Best of luck in the event.