[1.2] The CI Crit Fireballer (Same in 1.3)

1.3 Changes:
Spoiler

Tree and concepts are largely unchanged from 1.3 update. Only major thing is doing less damage from crit nerfs and possible mana problems with sustaining Arctic Armour. Mana problems will force you to use Atziri ammy for a longer time before you can afford near GG mana regen gear. So just do not attempt incredibly hard bosses so you do not get perma-stunned to death (basically only Doms and Meg).

Sorry, but not going to bother bumping or updating anything unless somebody asks. Everything is basically the same.


Link to alternate Fireball build: Life Chaosballer.

I will be going over level progression. gem links, and items in this guide. The great thing about this build is, though unpopular, Fireball does work as well as most other skills if you build it correctly. The range of this build alone makes this hardcore viable.

You can do every map and every map boss with this build.

Don't be discouraged by the seemingly high cost of the gear that is listed for 190k shotguns. The build is perfectly serviceable mapping 66-75s with just a few thousand tooltip DPS and great clear speed if you take Piercing Shots.

Videos:
Spoiler

Really short Meg fight:
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Relevant Map Mods:
-Vulnerability
-95% extra lightning
-Unique boss deals +30% damage and attacks 25% faster

Sorry the video only shows half of Meg's health. I forgot to record at the beginning of the fight. You can still see how fast I can take her down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYfAhH2nbeQ


Shrine:
Spoiler

Tried to not pick up anything to make it go faster. As you can see, this build does not have the fastest clear speed. I mention below you can take Piercing Shots and give up Heart of Flame for much more clear speed, but you sacrifice single target damage.

Relevant Map Mods:
-2 rogue exiles
- -24 max res
-94% extra damage as fire

Almost died to reflect because this was the first time I encountered reflect using the 191k DPS link setup. But I think it says a lot this build can survive that damage and a big mistake. I popped ruby after I took all the damage.
Yes, I spent a long time not shotgunning second stage. Sorry, I was being lazy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTXtmrhmaEU


Hopefully the Shrine video shows you enough because my internet is garbage and it took forever to upload.


Offense/Defense Screenshots:
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Defense:
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Base Defense in Hideout
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With 98% Increased Armour Granite (Old ES stat)
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With 33/19 Rumi's (Old ES stat)
Spoiler





Offense:
Spoiler

Conc Effect does not affect tooltip

LMP Q20 - Fireball Q0 - Spell Echo Q20 - Life Leech Q20 - Conc Effect Q0
3 Frenzy charges
Spoiler

Around 88k shotgun DPS (33k initial hit plus 55k AoE hit)


GMP Q0 - Fireball Q0 - Spell Echo Q20 - Life Leech Q20 - Conc Effect Q0
3 Frenzy charges
Spoiler

Around 98k shotgun DPS (36k initial hit plus 62k AoE hit)


If you want more tooltip DPS, you can add a PCoC for 6l or replace Conc Effect with it. But this setup does slightly more damage as a 5l.


6l Stats:
Spoiler

Defense:


Offense: LMP Q20 - Fireball Q0 - Spell Echo Q20 - Life Leech Q20 - Conc Effect Q20 - Fire Pen Q20

Around 103k shotgun DPS (38.4k initial hit plus 64.9k AoE hit)
*Fire Pen is not included in the calculation because it differs from case to case. 139050 shotgun DPS at 0% fire resist.

More Calculations:
Spoiler

You can replace Fire Pen and Life Leech with PCoC and Crit Dmg

LMP Q20 - Fireball Q0 - Spell Echo Q20 - PCoC Q20 - Conc Effect Q20 - Crit Dmg 20/20
w/ 3 Frenzy 6 Power
Spoiler


Around 191.9k shotgun DPS


Or... replace Life Leech and Conc Effect with PCoC and Crit Dmg
w/e 3 Frenzy 6 Power
Spoiler


Around 146k Shotgun DPS without Fire Pen calculation
With 0% Fire Res mob calculation: Around 197k Shotgun DPS


Or... keep Life Leech in and have these:
Sorry, no screenshots.

LMP Q20 - Fireball Q0 - Spell Echo Q20 - Life Leech Q20 - PCoC Q20 - Crit Dmg Q20
Tooltip: 23354
23354 x 3 (projectiles) x 2 (initial hit + AoE hit [no more Conc]) = 140124 shotgun DPS

LMP Q20 - Fireball Q0 - Spell Echo Q20 - Life Leech Q20 - PCoC Q20 - Conc Effect Q20
Tooltip: 15766
15766 x 3 (projectiles) x 2.69 (initial hit [1] + AoE Conc hit [1.69]) = 127231 shotgun DPS

LMP Q20 - Fireball Q0 - Spell Echo Q20 - Life Leech Q20 - Crit Dmg Q20 - Conc Effect Q20
Tooltip: 16837
16837 x 3 (projectiles) x 2.69 (initial hit [1] + AoE Conc hit [1.69]) = 135874 shotgun DPS




Bandits:
Spoiler

Kill all - Kill all - Kill all


Passive Tree:
Spoiler


8 Points:
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAuMHpR_HK3gsnEmyghDfsA==
Cast speed is much more important to this build than the spell damage because of less time standing still casting giving you more mobility and kiting ability. Practical Application is great because it gives you +20 to Str and Dex covering attribute requirements very early on.


18 Points:
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAuMHpQj0H8creCycSbJXK2pDbRmCELzqvYLAVN-K37DpAv6z
Completely viable to skip the mana and ES nodes and possibly just getting the 40% mana regen while going through Practical Application to the HP nodes. Skipping them and getting to HP nodes faster is probably the better choice in hardcore leagues.


30 Points:
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBBx4I9BGWH8cnqSt4LJxEq0lRVa5XK2pDaxdtGX5Zf8aCEI-mlSCVLqKjvOq9gsBUwfPfit-w6QLw1f6z
If you don't need the +30 nodes, then great. But they're here in this build progression just in case.


45 Points:


56 Points:
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAuMEBwceB6UI9BBYEZYW8xzcH8cmPCepKo0reCycLR8vnTbYOlhJG0lRSbFJskyzVcZXK18qakNrF20ZdFV-WX_GghCD24dlkyeVIJUuoqOsmLzqvYLAVMHz18_fit-w6QLr5OxV74jw1fFs-Tf-sw==
Here is where you start to make your own decisions. You can go for the fire damage cluster up top or just settle for the 18% fire damage and resistance by Elemental Dominion. Or if you feel you are having trouble, you can go straight for the life/es nodes. You should have a 3l or 4l by now and using some combination of Fireball - LMP - Spell Echo - [Life Leech (hardcore)]/[Conc Effect/Fire Pen (softcore)].


73 Points:


CI Switch:
Spoiler

I switched later than 73 points, maybe around 78-82 points because this was my first character in the new league and I was not getting any drops of currency or items, but here is the 70 point switch if you really want to.

Take the points you put to get down into the life/es nodes of Melding. Spec out of Heart and Soul and its int node and Cruel Preparation. This should be 14 respec points and should be all you have at the moment. Spec out of Written in Blood or at least the two lesser nodes if you want to, when you can.

73 Point CI:
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAuMEBwVCBx4HpQ5IEFgRUBGWFdcW8x_HJjwnqSqNK3gsnCy_LR8vnTW5NthBlkcGSRtJUUmyS65Ms1ZjVytd8l8qX2pknW0ZcFJw1XRVfll_xoIQhq6HZYnTjDaP-pUglS6dY6KjpLGnK6yYrrO9gsHFwfPQ0ND12Vvb59-K37DljukC6-Tr9exV8NXxbPId_rM=
You need to be using Life Leech in your build now to avoid dying. Not the biggest deal in softcore, but once you get to higher levels, you should be doing everything you can to not die.



87 Points:


From here on, you can pick wherever you want to go on your passive tree. The following is a Lvl 88 (108 points) tree:


Lvl 91 (110 points) Power Charge build (would take Alira merc):


You should be following the no power charge route until you get enough currency to gear yourself to 6l + Doryani's belt + over 6k ES. If you do make it to the level of gear I have in the gear section then you can make the choice to switch to the power charge build and getting rid of Life Leech in your links. I would not recommend it for hardcore leagues because the 100k+ shotgun DPS you would already be doing without making the switch is sufficient and safer.

Some notes on some nearby notables:

Essence Surge - Next to CI:
Spoiler
Taking this allows you to forego life leech in your links as long as you play carefully. However, fast and hard hitting content will eventually kill you without life leech.

Blast Radius - In Witch start:
Spoiler
Previously thought the added AoE damage does nothing to mob taking the initial hit of Fireball, corrected by Bada_Bing. However, this still does not seem worth it considering the three points needed to get only 12% more area damage and the AoE increase having almost no effect on Fireball's small AoE. The AoE after the final impact simply explodes the fireball damaging EVERYTHING in its AoE.

Piercing Shots - Right edge of tree at about Shadow:
Spoiler
Pierce is deceivingly effective with Fireball. Spec into this for faster group clearing speed. I was specced into this notable for the majority of levels 80-88 simply for the clear speed. The only reason for speccing out of this is to kill bosses faster because the AoE explosion was not damaging them due to pierce. It's more important to down bosses faster, hitting harder for more life leech, and GMP still gives you plenty of clear speed.

If you want an idea of how good this notable is for clear speed, I would spec out of Heart of Flame's 71% increased fire damage just for the 30% pierce. The other side's 10% pierce is a notable increase in pierce, but up to you if you want to spend the extra point.

Mind Barrier and Deflection - Witch start by power charge and next to Ghost Reaver:
Spoiler
Standard block notables. Take them for harder content because they add a lot of survivability. Mind Barrier much more essential then Deflection.

Alchemist - Witch start by power charge:
Spoiler
This is essential to get. The 30% increased flask effect is ridiculous.



Gem Setup:
Spoiler


Fireball - LMP/GMP - Spell Echo - Life Leech - Conc Effect - Power Charge on Critical/Fire Penetration
Spoiler

LMP gives more consistent damage on single targets than GMP because GMP's spread is too large to focus from distance, but GMP is very fun to use (especially if you have the dragon mtx) so give it a try just to have some fun. Life leech is mandatory and getting quality on life leech ups your sustain significantly. As of 9-28 update I am using GMP for most everything and switching in LMP for hard bosses I need to keep distance from.

As a 6l, Fire Pen would give the most damage. Using PCoC and respeccing into power charges (including Merc Alira) would give you a lot more crit and a damage increase on par with Fire Pen.

*Update: Fireball - LMP/GMP - Spell Echo - Increased Crit Dmg - Conc Effect - Power Charge on Critical
This is the final combo I am using with 1% leech from Doryani's belt. A pack of 8 blue devourers sprung up on me in Dark Forest (73) and not popping any flasks brought me down to 1/3 hp. The 1% life leech was not enough to bring me up fast enough without flasks or avoiding hits. Facetanking is not viable in most cases like it is with Life Leech linked. But everything MELTS if you use your flasks properly and warp around to avoid damage.


Reduced Mana - Clarity - Discipline - Herald of Ice
Spoiler
Herald of Ice not necessarily needed if you are having mana problems, but it's nice to shatter enemies when necros are around. It adds around 9% more sheet damage. Remember! Quality on Red Mana does not affect auras.


Assassin's Mark - Blood Rage - Increased AoE - Increased Duration
Spoiler
Having Ass Mark is amazing because you can sustain power charges much more easily and get them started almost instantly.


Lightning Warp - Reduced Duration - Faster Casting/Arctic Armour
Spoiler
I have Arctic Armour in there just because I am using a Cast when Stunned setup on the other 3l. If you opt for Chayula instead of Atziri's Foible then you can free up a 3l for Arctic Armour and use faster casting with Lightning Warp. The duration of the chilled ground is not a big deal.


Cast when Damage Taken - Enduring Cry - Immortal Call/Molten Shell - Increased AoE/Increased Duration
Spoiler
Kept CwDT at lvl 1 until I switched to Chayula. Currently lvl 9 with Molten Shell instead of Immortal Call.


Cast when Stunned - Molten Shell - Conc Effect
Spoiler
The Conc is there because I did not know what else to put in it. Molten Shell can now be leveled beyond the CwDT restrictions because it is linked with Cast when Stunned. Leave it at whatever level your strength can sustain. I have mine at lvl 16 (132 str) and it does enough to sometimes take out all trash mobs around you.

Chayula switch: Using Arctic Armour in a +2 cold weapon. You can put whatever you want in this link. But, you should have a Vaal Molten Shell or Vaal Discipline in there.


*Quick Note: Arctic Armour allows you to do reflect maps (but double reflect hurts). Reflect maps start to hurt a little as you get high DPS, but I still haven't died to reflect unless there's also -max resist and/or double reflect.


Gear:
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Current Gear:
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*6l Gear changes:
Spoiler

Only replaced chest and gloves



Divinarius is a good (and currently cheap) weapon to get. Eventually you will want a weapon with about the same stats as a Divinarius except with mana regen. I lucked out finding one with +2 to cold skills for Arctic Armour. It is not necessarily needed considering the mana cost and how tanky you already should be.

Dream Fragments is kind of required because you can use Wanderlusts until you can afford a Dream Fragments. The only downside is much less ES from using such low level boots.

Mokou's ring is fun to play around with while leveling. By all means use until you find a ring with resists, mana regen, and ES/mana in that order of importance.

Atziri's Foible is required to cover attribute costs while leveling beyond lvl 75 or 80. It simply costs too much time to find gear to continually cover your attribute costs. This also gives you an enormous amount of mana regen to sustain Arctic Armour until you get mana regen on other gear.

Eye of Chayula: The only reason I switched to Eye of Chayula is because I had enough currency to get mana regen on both my shield and weapon. You should be trying to almost cover the mana regen you would lose from Atziri's Foible. This is only for very high level maps. It is perfectly viable to not get yourself into hard hitting situations and not have to spend a considerable amount of currency upgrading gear.

Shield should just be pure defenses until you can afford much better. A good option is Rathpith, which gives close to max spell block when paired with Alchemist notable and Rumi's Concoction flask.

Unless you are using the Vorici's three red socket recipe, I found using a Armor/ES hybrid helm is best to get your CwDT setup. Standard as much ES and resists as you can get here.

Gloves also have same concept as helm. Switching to Maligaro's would give a big DPS boost, but right now my resists are not covered elsewhere. If they were, yes I would switch to Maligaro's.

Doryani's Invitation is not required. It gives great stats, but you can just as easily get a cheap 70+ str belt with resists and ES letting you drop the +30 str node on your tree. I also don't think the 1% life leech is enough to remove Life Leech from your links. Possibly okay at lvl 70-80/85 but definitely not as you get into 74/75+ maps.

Rainbowstrides are not required either, but are really great boots. Unless you have a Rathpith, think about getting these as your first big ticket item after Dream Fragments.

Topaz Flask should be used to deal with Exiles/Storm Herald/Temple Piety/etc. In my opinion, the most dangerous element.

Always have a staunching (bleed) flask somewhere. Corrupted Blood destroys you so fast so spam Fireball as much as you can and once your ES starts decreasing, pop the staunching.

Rumi's Concoction is what makes this build very tanky. The additional block chances you get with it are significant. Paired with the Alchemist notable, you get so much more out of flasks and Rumi's is no exception. It's easy to get to max block and around 40-55% spell block with a Rainbowstrides and max if you also use a Rathpith.

So the only required uniques are Dream Fragments and Atziri's Foible. You can easily get up to 72 maps with no Rainbowstrides, Rumi's, Divinarius, Doryani's, Rathpith.



Maps:
Spoiler

Going over some of the harder map bosses in this section. Everything not mentioned you can basically tank with Granites (for low maps) or a combination of flasks and Rumi's (for high maps).

Mods:
Spoiler

Half or no life regen are doable for low level maps. This is because you have to turn Arctic Armour off with these mods while using a mana flask. Arctic Armour is a huge part of your survivability when content starts hitting really hard.

Reflect is easy with Arctic Armour on. Double reflect still hurts and will kill you if you're not careful.

Blood Magic: Obviously not doable.

Fire Resist: Doable, but will be slow.

Elemental Equilibrium: Doable, much faster than Fire resist, but still slower than normal.


Orchard (Lvl 66):
Spoiler

This guy sucks. I would not attempt unless you're in softcore. Use Granites of Iron Skin to facetank and run clock/counterclock-wise to avoid the balls.


Thicket and Wharf (Lvl 67):
Spoiler

Once you switch to CI, these bosses are not a problem.


Museum (Lvl 68):
Spoiler

CI makes this much easier, but you can still attempt as life. Once you enter the room, take two or three steps in and start spamming Fireballs into the center of the room. They will eventually run up to you, but they should be almost dead by then. If they're not, use a Quicksilver to run into the room and start kiting.


Graveyard (Lvl 70):
Spoiler

Don't even bother with this one. It's doable with Sapphire flasks, but it just take too much time and the slow is too annoying to deal with.

If you really want to, use Sapphires to deal with the cold damage and use Lightning Warp to get point blank all the time while moving out of geysers. Adds should be taken care of with Molten Shell explosion (should be using Atziri's Foible with high level Molten Shell linked to Cast when Stunned at this point)


Villa (Lvl 70):
Spoiler

Another don't even bother.

If you really want to, take care of all adds first. Use granites to tank the bear traps while using Lightning Warp to get into point blank range.


Should be specced into CI by 70/71+

Colonnade (Lvl 71):
Spoiler

Take care of adds, avoid attacks like always, but facetanking is possible with Granites and/or Rumi's. The ground slam is not a problem with Granites and block up.


Temple (Lvl 71):
Spoiler

Need Rumi's and Alchemist node. Possible to facetank with Rumi's and Topaz up. Can DPS down from afar while avoiding Lightning Storms and Ball Lightnings.


Jungle Valley (Lvl 72):
Spoiler

Spawn the mobs, get into a corner.

Much easier if taken the Piercing Shots notable. The fireballs will go through the infinite adds and damage the boss.

Without pierce, keep spamming from your corner while your flasks are continuously recharged. EVENTUALLY, you will down it.


Torture Chamber (Lvl 72):
Spoiler

Discovered maphack with Power Charge on Critical on this boss. You can use it in place of Conc Effect and keep spamming. If youre power charges get recharged, you're hitting.

But if you don't want to do that, Rumi's and Topaz flasks with Alchemist node let you facetank it. Laser is still very scary. If totems are also on you, do not facetank because you will probably die if a laser comes out and totems are also warping on top of you.


Residence (Lvl 74):
Spoiler

Use PCoC trick or Rumi's and Topaz flasks. DO NOT get hit by Hand of God (the smash attack). Can avoid most damage of Lightning Spirits by running back and forth through them, Lightning Warp/Quicksilver/Run out of totems. Arctic Armour will take care of a lot of damage from suicide adds.

Need Chayula to facetank.


Necropolis (Lvl 75):
Spoiler

Again, too annoying to do. Use Sapphires if you want to do it, just takes time.


Crematorium (Lvl 76):
Spoiler

Arctic Armour plus Ruby flasks do a lot to mitigate the damage, but you will still have to kite around. Rumi's plus Ruby allows you to facetank.

With just Rainbowstrides and Chayula, I can only use Rumi's and facetank.


Shipyard (Lvl 77):
Spoiler

By now, you should have Rainbowstrides, Chayula, and Rumi's. Use Rumi's and Ruby to facetank or just Rumi's to facetank/kite. Don't stand in Firestorms.


Shrine (Lvl 77):
Spoiler

Rumi's plus Topaz to tank first stage. Second stage is easy.


Maybe I got lucky, but the 78s seem pretty easy with this build compared to all the other builds I have gotten to late end game with.

Courtyard (Lvl 78):
Spoiler

Just run around and kite. I personally don't feel this one is too hard for this build. Especially when you get to the level of gear I have, which you should have by the time you reach 78 maps.


Palace (Lvl 78):
Spoiler

This one also doesn't seem as hard as it should be. Just the standard Dom fight, except this time it hurts a lot but you have much better gear. I guess I wouldn't attempt this one with lower than 6.5k ES, but it is still pretty easy with how much damage you should be doing now and with Rumi's plus Topaz at your disposal.


Vaal Temple (Lvl 79):
Spoiler

Too scared to try =P




On Power Charges:
Spoiler

I actually helped Alira in Merc while leveling this character and specced into Power Charges with PCoC linked instead of Conc Effect. I leveled like this until lvl 89 and was fine with switching PCoC with Conc Effect constantly just to test out different situations. To be honest, this isn't much of a crit build without power charges, because it only gives you about 30-35% crit chance with mediocre gear. While it's true Ass Mark does give you power charges, it's sometimes very hard to sustain. It does get easier to sustain the more damage you do because more damage = faster killing = more chances to get power charges, but it's still a hassle to sustain with if you have some bad luck.

The end point of almost all spell crit builds is the Void Battery. If you ever get enough currency or are lucky enough to find one, drop Conc Effect on a 5l or drop the Fire pen in your 6l to use PCoC. The sustain will help a lot more and the extra benefits from the Void Battery put power charges way above anything else. Then respec into helping Alira for another power charge. Hell, if you're on softcore try to get double Void Battery and go HAM.

For anybody interested, here is my current build with somewhat wasted power charges (have not specced out of helping Alira in Merc either):


I still use PCoC in place of Conc Effect sometimes. Honestly, with my current gear they seem to do the same amount of damage and it's just too hard to tell apart. Somebody do the math for me for I am too dumb and lazy to.

*Update: Respecced Merc bandits to extra point, specced out of power charges. My current build is above, but will relink here:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAuMDHgQHBUIHYwelDkgOXA_EEFgRLxFQEZYV1xXnFr8W8xslHoEfQSY8J6kqCyqNKworDSycLL8tHy9vL501uTbYO3xBlkJLRXxFfkcGSRtJUUmyS41LrkyzVmNXK1xrXfJfKl9qZJ1q-m0ZcFJwu3DVc7N0VX5Zf8aCEIRIhcWGrodlidOMNo_6lSCXl51joqOksacrrJius7TFtve4yrmTvYLBxcHzwwnDbcu90NDQ9dkT2Vvb59-K37DfvuWO5oHpAuvk6_XsGOxV8Gvw1fFs8h3z6vfX_rP_HA==
Last edited by meest on Dec 23, 2014, 4:05:10 PM
"
meest wrote:

Blast Radius:
Fireball's AoE is only the explosion that comes after the initial hit (final hit if piercing) The 16% increased AoE does almost nothing for it.


Fireball doesn’t have two components (initial hit followed by an explosion): As long as it pierces/forks/chains fireball does single target damage otherwise it does aoe damage. This might seem like nitpicking but it has consequences if taking piercing shots. As long as fireball pierces it has no aoe and concentrated effect won’t apply to the damage.
Imo concentrated effect would be superior to pcoc in your build: The 300% increased strike chance from 6 power charges will get you an additional 18% crit chance on fireball. The 110% increased crit damage from tree/gear gets the overall crit multiplier to 315%. That’s app. 57% more damage via additional power charge crits. On the other hand CE gives 50% (lvl1) to 69% (lvl20) more damage.
For pcoc to be a better choice you would need more crit damage on gear or use void battery(s) as weapon(s).
"
Molten Shell can now be leveled beyond the CwDT restrictions.


Is this true?
"
soloist wrote:
"
Molten Shell can now be leveled beyond the CwDT restrictions.


Is this true?

Only when linked with cast when stunned as cws doesn't have any level restrictions.
"
Bada_Bing wrote:

Imo concentrated effect would be superior to pcoc in your build: The 300% increased strike chance from 6 power charges will get you an additional 18% crit chance on fireball. The 110% increased crit damage from tree/gear gets the overall crit multiplier to 315%. That’s app. 57% more damage via additional power charge crits. On the other hand CE gives 50% (lvl1) to 69% (lvl20) more damage.
For pcoc to be a better choice you would need more crit damage on gear or use void battery(s) as weapon(s).


Yeah, but why not to have benefits from both? If you're using Assassin's Mark to generate charges you don't need PCoC, thus you can have benefits from CE(or FP or Echo)and you still run charges. Of course you need to curse a lot of mobs to sustain those charges, but still it's charges without PCoC. One free gem slot and FP/Echo/CE each gives a huge boost to your damage.

Other that constant manually cursing of mobs, you can add Assassin's Mark to your CwDT setup instead of IAoE to help with charges generation.
Last edited by Sarunastm on Sep 6, 2014, 4:43:32 PM
what benefits have you picked frome the bandits? skillpoint or something else i guess power charge
First, let me apologize for neglecting this build. I wrote it and just completely didn't care about it. But if even one person is replying, I'll update and work on this build guide.

"
Bada_Bing wrote:
"
meest wrote:

Blast Radius:
Fireball's AoE is only the explosion that comes after the initial hit (final hit if piercing) The 16% increased AoE does almost nothing for it.


Fireball doesn’t have two components (initial hit followed by an explosion): As long as it pierces/forks/chains fireball does single target damage otherwise it does aoe damage. This might seem like nitpicking but it has consequences if taking piercing shots. As long as fireball pierces it has no aoe and concentrated effect won’t apply to the damage.
Imo concentrated effect would be superior to pcoc in your build: The 300% increased strike chance from 6 power charges will get you an additional 18% crit chance on fireball. The 110% increased crit damage from tree/gear gets the overall crit multiplier to 315%. That’s app. 57% more damage via additional power charge crits. On the other hand CE gives 50% (lvl1) to 69% (lvl20) more damage.
For pcoc to be a better choice you would need more crit damage on gear or use void battery(s) as weapon(s).


Bada is completely correct on this point and I will be revising my guide to reflect this. However, I do still feel the three points to get the miniscule damage increase is still not worth it when considering the comparatively tiny AoE Fireball has.

I have tested Conc effect in place of PCoC and it feels about the same, though your numbers are probably right. Speccing out of PCoC can give you two more skill points to work with, which can be used on pure damage nodes making your numbers absolutely better. PCoC should really be relegated to 6l status for THE hard hitting Fireball build. But I personally just like the power charge mechanic and do not feel like speccing out of power charges considering I have taken Alira's extra charge.

Edit: I forgot about the 4% increased spell damage per power charge. Have you taken that into your calculations? I'm bad at calculating all of that myself so I don't know if it would change anything.

"
Sarunastm wrote:

Yeah, but why not to have benefits from both? If you're using Assassin's Mark to generate charges you don't need PCoC, thus you can have benefits from CE(or FP or Echo)and you still run charges. Of course you need to curse a lot of mobs to sustain those charges, but still it's charges without PCoC. One free gem slot and FP/Echo/CE each gives a huge boost to your damage.

Other that constant manually cursing of mobs, you can add Assassin's Mark to your CwDT setup instead of IAoE to help with charges generation.


Ass Mark is terrible for keeping up power charges. Maybe it is just my luck, but even with 28% chance to generate a power charge on kill, it never seems to sustain the max (6) this build gets to. Though you certainly can use it in place of PCoC to generate charges if you'd like. Plus, your charges almost certainly dissipate in high map boss fights. Though I have killed 75/76 map bosses just fine without power charges when I was playing around with Conc Effect, which does lend more credence to yours and Bada's arguments of Conc over PCoC. And shows my bias towards power charges.

"
The_Dasher20 wrote:
what benefits have you picked frome the bandits? skillpoint or something else i guess power charge


Kill all (skill point) - Kill all (skill point) - Help Alira (power charge). I will be adding this to the guide.

Lastly, I have specced out of and respecced a lot of points since I wrote this build and there are a lot of things I will be revising now. I will try to provide more explanations in the guide.

If there are any more questions or improvements, please feel free to comment.
Last edited by meest on Sep 23, 2014, 4:34:49 PM
Updated. Massive revision on all sections making everything cleaner and clearer (hopefully).

Unless I have completely missed on points, this will probably be the final revision to the guide. Please correct me if I have.

Hopefully some others will use Fireball because I never see anybody using it.

Comments/questions welcome.
Updated.

Current Lvl 90 tree.
Replace screenshots - removed PCoC screenshots.
Added Maps section.
Going crit for you is a total waste, that's for sure. Having 330multi with a solid 7.9% is just absurd
It's hard to remember what you have forgotten
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Why are police looking for missing people? None of them were missing last time I saw them

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