



Hello! This is my main character in HC, CorpsejackMenace, a level 100 Fire Trap Marauder. I started this character early in open beta after my hardcore characters kept dying, and focused on 3 key things: Have lots of HP, have lots of HP regen, and melt everything with fire traps. Let's dive into the details.



<<Update 01/06/2015: I'm now the 29th person to hit level 100 in a Hardcore league. Woot!>>



Advantages High HP - With over 250% increased life from the tree, clearing 6k HP without Kaom's Heart is quite easy which gives you a nice large buffer for surviving big hits in HC.

High HP regen - 8.6% regen means that having no leech is no problem, your HP rapidly replenishes itself over time after every hit.

Indirect damage - Thanks to the mechanics of traps, none of the damage comes directly from you. This means things like ele reflect, lightning thorns and corrupt blood are a non-issue, allowing you to attack freely into any pack.

Long range damage - Traps can be thrown to the edge of your screen, allowing you to stay out of danger and practically off-screen dangerous packs if it's required.

Prolif burns - Huge ignites with massive AOE prolif allows you to melt entire screens of monsters with ease. This also allows you to 'set and forget', simply toss a trap and let the mobs burn while you run around looting.

The Best Wingman - Your partner in crime, an incredibly tanky decoy totem, will handle any scary packs or bosses without complaint. He's a very valuable partner when it comes to surviving in a HC league.

Easy to gear - While my character wears a 6L Searing Touch and a Kaom's Heart, these items aren't required at all. A 4L or 5L with a decent rare chest will carry you even in maps.

Map mod flexibility - The only map mod this build strictly can't do is No Regen. Beyond that you can run any map provided you're comfortable with them (e.g. Minus max, extra lightning, extra damage comes down to your decoy skills).



Disadvantages Low armour - My character is currently sitting at 7k armour, which is relatively low for a high level HC char. Since switching to a CWDT setup, I haven't really noticed any issues with chargers/leapers/etc. I'd still be wary of large single hits like boss slams, etc.

Breakable traps - As my character doesn't spec into Clever Construction, my traps can be destroyed when they're thrown. Enemies like Arc mages, leapers, Evangelists can be a huge pain if they break one or more traps in a row before they can detonate. They've moved the trap nodes so far away from the Marauder start that I've given up hope of ever being able to spec into them. I've personally played the char for so long that I've kinda mastered dealing with such enemies, but for a newer player it could be a pretty big problem.

Dex requirements - While not a major issue, the tree doesn't naturally acquire very much dexterity, requiring either a minor investment on your gear, or speccing into +20/+30 nodes on the tree.



Gems Fire Trap + Ignite + Prolif + Fire Pene + Conc (5L) + Empower (6L)



The key 3 links are FT + Ignite + Prolif. As ignite rolls per-mob, rather than per-cast, as long as 1 enemy is ignited by your trap, you'll ignite the whole pack thanks to Proliferation. Fire Pene is next as your biggest enemy will be a monster's fire resistance, the more of it that you can remove/bypass, the better. Concentrated Effect is a great 'more' multiplier that will boost your damage significantly, this can also be replaced with Increased AOE until you have all the AOE on the tree and a high level Ele Prolif. Lastly, Empower to drive the damage up even further (if a leveled Empower is out of your reach, the Increased Burning Damage support is a great substitution).



Decoy Totem + Faster Casting + Totem Ele Resist + Portal



Your greatest tool for avoiding damage and pulling monsters into nice big meltable groups. Faster Casting helps you get out of the totem casting animation quicker (to help stay mobile), and it also causes the Decoy to start taunting faster. Totem Ele Resists helps keep it alive against casters. Portal linked to Faster Casting saves me a ton of scrolls. :P



Cast When Damage Taken (lv7) + Enduring Cry (lv9) + Immortal Call (lv8) + Increased Duration



This is the setup used to prevent large bursts of physical damage and (partially) make up for the lack of armour. This gem level setup (required lv43) seems to be a reasonable place to stop leveling them that allows for a decent length Immortal Call (2-3 seconds) while still being on a low enough threshold that it procs frequently enough.



Flammability // Lightning Warp + Reduced Duration + Empower



Your primary curse, as well as a mobility skill. I'd ideally like to get all 3 of these gems linked to Faster Casting at some point, but that'll involve mixing around links a bit more. Stay tuned for further iterations of this. The Empower is a temporary fix until I sort out 3 blue sockets on my helm, though I don't mind leveling a spare.



As I have Kaom's Heart, this is all the sockets I can physically have. If you're on a lower budget and have a rare chest, you could juggle things around to add a few supports to some of your skills.



Gear



The gearing process for this build is fairly straight forward. Get lots of life and resistances first and foremost, as well as some dexterity for Fire Trap (you'll need 95 dex total for lv20). Past that the goal is to maximize armour from gear, and if possible get some %fire damage from rings or amulet. Strength is also nice as it's just additional life.



Although it probably goes without saying The Searing Touch is absolutely required. +2 levels on Fire Trap in addition to the huge amounts of spell, fire and burning damage make it impossible to beat with a rare. The gearing process for this build is fairly straight forward. Get lots of life and resistances first and foremost, as well as some dexterity for Fire Trap (you'll need 95 dex total for lv20). Past that the goal is to maximize armour from gear, and if possible get some %fire damage from rings or amulet. Strength is also nice as it's just additional life.Although it probably goes without saying The Searing Touch is absolutely required. +2 levels on Fire Trap in addition to the huge amounts of spell, fire and burning damage make it impossible to beat with a rare.



Flasks





2 instant life potions for those 'oh shit' moments, one that removes freeze (for boxes) and one that removes bleed (for puncture, blood rain, etc).



Next you run a beefy granite to buff your armour (which can take me from 7k to 20k). The 4th slot is most importantly your warding (curse immunity) flask, sometimes I run a Topaz in this slot, sometimes a Ruby, but it could even be another granite or a Quartz flask depending on your specific needs. The most important part is that it can take off nasty curses like Vulnerability or Silence. Lastly is a Quicksilver for getting around quickly. 2 instant life potions for those 'oh shit' moments, one that removes freeze (for boxes) and one that removes bleed (for puncture, blood rain, etc).Next you run a beefy granite to buff your armour (which can take me from 7k to 20k). The 4th slot is most importantly your warding (curse immunity) flask, sometimes I run a Topaz in this slot, sometimes a Ruby, but it could even be another granite or a Quartz flask depending on your specific needs. The most important part is that it can take off nasty curses like Vulnerability or Silence. Lastly is a Quicksilver for getting around quickly.



Passives



The primary goal is to get a good pool of life and life regen, the BM keystone, and all of the increased AOE. 119 points (final tree). -- As the passive tree has gone through 3 fairly significant adjustments over the course of this build's existence, it's hard to really provide a proper leveling guide with passive trees at 10/15/20 point intervals.The primary goal is to get a good pool of life and life regen, the BM keystone, and all of the increased AOE.



Bandits Normal - Help Oak for +HP.

Cruel - Kill all 3, take a skill point.

Merciless - Kill all 3, maybe help Oak if you want an extra Endurance for CWDT.



Screenshots Imgur Album



Videos Courtyard!

There was an unpleasantly large number of avians in that one. There was an unpleasantly large number of avians in that one.



I think that about covers it! If you have any questions, comments, feedback, etc, I'll do my best to answer and address everything. Thanks for reading! Hello! This is my main character in HC, CorpsejackMenace, a level 100 Fire Trap Marauder. I started this character early in open beta after my hardcore characters kept dying, and focused on 3 key things: Have lots of HP, have lots of HP regen, and melt everything with fire traps. Let's dive into the details.< >I think that about covers it! If you have any questions, comments, feedback, etc, I'll do my best to answer and address everything. Thanks for reading! IGN: CorpsejackMenace Last edited by Munsie on Jan 7, 2015, 3:55:18 AM