



Spoiler http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAuMEBwVbB2MHpQx9EH8RUBVQFdcW8xoyGmwdFB3ZHwImPCjFKU8svy0fL502xTrYO-E8BTyOPV9DVENjRtdJskw1TLNN2E99T79RYFJTVmNXK1j1XcZgbWaeZ71tGXB9cU1_xoBWgW-CEIKbgziESIaui3qLjIx2j0aXlZf0ms-boZ2Ana6dxJ48n9-io6cIpyuplbUEtzG4k7vWwFTBxcHzw23GntDQ14bYJN-w4XPi9-Qi5oHr7uwY7DjtIO5v73zzvvrS



How does it work and what is the idea behind the build:



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Offense:

I created this build trying to make a build that would shockstack enemies and then blow up molten shell and deal additional damage, similar to a build which was in the Build of the Week video some months ago.

For this to work Static Blows is a must have to get the extra shock chance. Also I wanted to focus on Area of Effect nodes to increase the radius and damage of molten shell and any other abilites I was going to use with it.

Then I needed an ability which could shock stack a large amount of enemies around me very quickly.

I tried using Shock Nova with Elemental Proliferation first, but it is not a good ability for a combination with Molten Shell because it does not hit targets in a circle very close to you and that is where the melee monsters stand when they are attacking you to trigger your Molten Shell.

So I came up with linking Added Lightning Damage and Elemental Proliferation to Ice Nova so if it would shock one target it would spread out to nearby monsters. If monsters standing next to each other would get both shocked the Elemental Proliferation would cause it to spread to each other and so shocking each target 2 times with 1 hit.

I linked it to Mana Leech because the cost is very high with those support gems especially since I am using Rime Gaze to have additional damage trough the Concentrated Effect unique attribute.

So much for clearing large amounts of low to medium hp targets. But for killing single target large hp bosses and monsters there needs to be another ability because Ice Nova does not do great single target damage and you effectively waste a Support Gem slot with Elemental Proliferation.

I tought about first using Freezing Pulse with GMP and Added Lightning Damage which is very popular. But I found the damage subpar and the mana cost very high and not easy to sustain. Especially when casting additionally Molten Shell which costs 147 mana just with 2 Support Gems.

So I tought about Incinerate GMP and Added Lightning Damage. If you stand close to the target all projectiles can hit it and you Shock Stack very fast because the base cast speed of Incinerate is already really high. You add faster casting to it and you reach the highest damaging stage very fast. Now you do very high single target damage and when linked to Mana Leech sustaining itself indefinitely. The only drawback this ability has is that it stuns you at the location where you cast it so you have to stop casting and reposition if your enemy target moves. This can be sometimes annoying but most of the time you kill them fast enough that they wont reposition in time. It also means that you have to Tank the Monster that you want to kill. But more about that in the defense section.



One drawback of this build is now that it has no fast way of clearing large amounts of casters, because they don't trigger your molten shell.

Sure you can use Ice Nova but standing in a large group of spark skelettons is not a safe way to do it, even with 30 percent chance to block spells and maxed out resistances.



I have to admit that I am not entirely sure which ability is best for this purpose.

I tried Firestorm with various Support Gems but found it lackluster in damage and annoying to use.

Now I am leveling up a Fire Trap which could potentially the problem solver if it turns out to be a reliable source of damage for large caster groups. I will update this part if I have more information.



In my gear there is a lvl 16 Molten Shell with 16 percent Quality which I am gonna use instead of the one I use now that is in my wand. But I want it to level up first.



As a curse I use Elemental Weakness because I use all 3 Elements and it is probably the best curse for multi elemental casters.



Defense:



To trigger Molten Shell it needs to absorb a certain amount of damage, reduced by your armor and blocking of physical damage. Meaning the shield does not absorb the damage for you and only gives you armor as a defensive stat.

There are now 2 ways to trigger Molten Shell's explosion.



1. If your threshold for absorption is 2000 then it will trigger after your armor has prevented 2000 damage coming from enemies to reach you.



2. If your threshold for absorption is 2000 then it will trigger after you have blocked 2000 damage coming from enemies to reach you.



Now to trigger Molten Shell reliably you either need a lot of armor or block chance or both. Because if you get hit with Molten Shell on and you only have the armor value that it provides and nothing else it will take much more damage in total to trigger the explosion because much less of it is diverted onto Molten Shell.

Additionally if you have a lot of block chance many of the attacks will get blocked and not hit you at all AND will trigger Molten Shell.

So I took up a lot of blockchance talents and all the armor/es nodes in the Templar tree to get both things as high as possible. Base armor comes from Molten Shell and Granite Flasks. Your gear can be armor/es hybrid but I would not recommend it because the damage reduction from Molten Shell+Flasks with the passive talents reaches already above 50 percent.

Additionally you get +60 percent resistances to all elements alone from your passive tree. Which means you start with 0 0 0 in merciless as opposed to -60 -60 -60.

For more protection against spells you get 12 percent blockchance applied to spells from your passive tree and you can use unique items that apply normal blockchance to spells. I use Rathphit Globe because the shield has a good energy base amount, good blockchance, a high converter and spell damage. You can also you use the unique boots that apply blockchance to spells if you can get your hands on them. But do not use the Amulet because you NEED Eye of Chayula.



I chose to build CI because it now with the buff provies a much larger pool than health if you have decent gear and means you will most likely not get oneshot or bursted down before you can disengage with a quicksilver flask. Additionally I would have to use healing flasks with health and it would take room away for the granite and mana flasks. Mana Flasks are necessary for certain map mods but more to that later.



But CI has its drawbacks. First you are likely to get stunned. A lot. You HAVE to take Eye of Chayula. If you don't you get stunlocked and blocklocked if you have a high chance to block and can't disengage in time.

Second you are very likely to be frozen. This is counterable by having flasks with "Dispels Frozen and Chilled" attribute or having Dream Fragments.

Third puncture does A lot of damage to Energy Shield even with Armor and you can't use pots to regain your shield like you could with health. More armor and a larger pool of ES plus standing still and tanking the effect are the things you can do against it.



With the blockchance above 50 percent for normal attacks and 30 percent for spells, max resistances, over 50 percent physical damage reduction trough spells, and not getting stunned or block recovery stunned at all plus a very big ES pool you can facetank pretty much everything. But you need to disengage in time before your ES runs out, that is the drawback of ES; you won't get oneshot but you have to disengage to regen your shield.

For this purpose you need a quicksilver flask with "Dispels Frozen and Chilled" because that is what most of the time will cause you having to flee.

For other flasks I recommend 3 Granite Flasks and 1 Mana Flask. Most of them should have Dispels Frozen and Chilled so you can always avoid that. For other mods it is not that important but quick recovery is good for example.

The flasks I linked are just a product of my lazyness. I am sure there are much better options for the granite flasks especially. I use 2 Mana Flasks at the moment because for map mods like "Can not regenerate life or mana" and "50 percent reduced mana, life and energy shield recovery" I turn off clarity and use 2 mana pots instead of one. In most cases in normal maps the mana flask is not needed but i keep it just in case.



Auras:



I use Tempest Shield, Clarity and Discipline with reduced mana.

Tempest shield gives me 5 additional block chance with inner force and damage trough block which is insanely good. Honestly it is very underrated because the 600 dps does not look like much but you can block a lot of attacks and the damage happens without you having do do anything for it. I can stand in front of a rare Voidbearer and tank it and it will kill itself only trough Tempest Shield long before my ES pool reaches half.



Discipline is obviously there for a larger ES pool, very standard stuff.



Same with Clarity, its there for more mana regen for your skills and can be turned of for mana flasks in no regen or reduced regen maps.









My characters defensive stats without Tempest Shield, Molten Shell and Granite Flask:



Spoiler



My characters defensive stats with Tempest Shield, Molten Shell and a Granite Flask:



Spoiler



My current gear:



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Pros and Cons:



Spoiler

Pros:



- Insanely fun to play, making monsters explode all over your screen is huge fun!

- You can tank almost everything with ease and have only to disengage sometimes

- Huge AOE and Single Target damage vs most monsters

- Can do almost all map mods without big sacrifices or increase in difficulty(Exceptions are Blood Magic and Vulnerability paired with 50 percent reduced energy mana and life regen which makes your energy shield regenerate insanely slow)

- Has a very fast clearing speed compared to most builds



Cons:



- Requires decent gear and Eye of Chayula to work

- Large caster groups are sometimes not easy to deal with, especially when they can freeze you

- Needs a lot of strength and dexterity for all skills to work

- Incinerate is annoying to use against disengaging fast bosses because you have to reposition yourself constantly



Why not Elemental Equilibrium:

Spoiler I tried it and it would work with big physical damage groups when you first hit them with cold and lightning damage and then a big hit of molten shell. But agaist bossmobs where you use Incinerate a lot it will reduce your damage. Honestly it can be good in some situations but I found it annoying for having to worry about it. If you want to add depht to your playstyle you can use it.



I am very grateful for every feedback I get. Please comment and tell me what you think about it.



P.S.: If someone wants to sell me a Dream Fragments he can pm me or write me up ingame. Here is my current passive tree at lvl 79(I play always solo never in parties):How does it work and what is the idea behind the build:My characters defensive statsTempest Shield, Molten Shell and Granite Flask:My characters defensive statsTempest Shield, Molten Shell and a Granite Flask:My current gear:Pros and Cons:Why not Elemental Equilibrium:I am very grateful for every feedback I get. Please comment and tell me what you think about it.P.S.: If someone wants to sell me a Dream Fragments he can pm me or write me up ingame. Last edited by Shyrk on Apr 8, 2013, 1:43:32 AM