Best spells to use with Cast on Melee Kill discussion

So I tried out several spells on a Ground Slam Marauder and have found (in my opinion) the best spells to use with the newly improved Cast on Melee Kill gem are Ethereal Knives, Glacial Cascade, and Firestorm.

Ethereal Knives is probably the best one, but may not be as accessible for some builds due to the dexterity requirements. Firestorm and Glacial Cascade however are certainly doable with the Templar starting area.

I like Firestorm because it along with Ground Slam and Concentrated effect it does a good amount of damage. Plus the sight of filling the entire screen with falling flames is really cool to see.

More notes --these were all tested at level 1, with level 1 Cast on Melee Kill as well on Merciless Ledge, so if anybody can test with higher level gems in maps and give more details it would be most welcome.
-Flameblast, and I'm going to assume Incinerate too, don't work at all with the skill, which I figured but just thought I'd test. Fireball, while cool, I didn't think was all that great either.

-Arc doesn't really do much it seems, since there typically aren't enough targets after the first few you kill to make it worth it. Shock Nova is pretty bad, but Ball Lightning and Storm Call both seemed okay. Haven't tried with Spark yet.

-Freezing Pulse, Glacial Cascade, Ice Spear, and Arctic Breath are all decent choices too. I personally liked Glacial Cascade the best, plus it looks cool.


Any other thoughts or experiences people have with the new gem, please share!
Last edited by tachiKC on Sep 12, 2014, 1:08:30 AM
ive used it long since in this setup


this is non-RT build so these detonate deads crit from time to time. frequently enough to make a difference

sadly it requires a 6Link pretty much and that 140% multiplier hurts

but it is effective - the higher maps the better as DD scales with mobs health (plus that insignificant flat dmg that i completely ignore)

second use is to bring up molten shell:

heavy strike + CoMK + Molten Shell + whatever.. - it is faster than doing it manually and deals damage in the process
I have already leveling a CoMK character before the change. I have tested almost all spell (not discharge since I still don't have Romira's Banquet). The best spells are actually quite depend on your build and your attack skill used.

For example, if you build around physical damage (not only physical damage from weapon. You need to use most physical damage node in passive), EK will be the best choice. But cyclone doesn't work great on that. You should use Reave, Ground Slam, or Cleave (I don't know why, Cleave + EK is not as good as Reave or Ground Slam).

If you build around elemental damage, Freeze pulse is a fair choice. It deals good damage, hit multiple target (but not much). Again, Reave, Ground Slam, or Cleave is the best for those "front" skills, like Freeze Pulse, Glacial Cascade (Cleave works as normal now. But Ball Lightning is not as great as I thought).

If you will get some AoE passive, or use Carcass Jack, AoE is the best. "Front" skill like Glacial Cascade and Flame Surge really work. But the real best is self-centered skill - Ice Nova. It improves my clearing speed a lot. In fact, Firestorm works too, but it take time. Storm Call and DD are also another good options, but you need to have a great AoE % to make it useful.

For arc...It works. Although it's not as good as those AoE skill in term of "true" damage, it works well for any attack skill you used in any situation, especially when the pack is spread. Also, it shocks. In utility point of view, Arc is the best.

Maybe if you use Romira's Banquet and Oro's Sacrifice, discharge is the best choice. I'm actually build towards it.


PS: Did anyone notice that CoMK now will noly cast once even if you kill multiple mods in one-shot? I would say the current CoMK work great with small pact size. But for a large pack size that you can kill so many mods in one-shot, the previous CoMK + Ice Nova is the real King.

(If you can afford dual wielding two Doryani's Catalyst, you can simply use all mace and weapon nodes in passive while your elemental spell is strong like hell.)
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Last edited by WillisTheWillis on Sep 12, 2014, 2:01:09 AM
discharge is going to be insane... stack charge on kill items/buffs and you're good to go.
studying for GGG's C++ technical exam...
I did some thinking about cast on melee kill, and i just dont really see it worth it.

Anything you do with it, will be outclassed by infernal blow with proper links. And you probably need at least a 6 link to really make it work.

IF! I would run it tough, i would most likely try to get a Crown of Eyes, and run a dagger/caster shield setup.

This way both my melee skill and the casted spell would get a decent boost.

But in the end, its gonna be more of a gimmick than a real build enabler (at least in my opinion)
I see it as something that really just needs a large amount of supports that should benefit both the attack and the spell to make it easy to use. I see it as a fun aoe alternative for things that already hit hard in a single shot. for example, links off the top of my head:

Frenzy - CoMK - PCoC - Discharge

Flickerstrike - Multisrike - CoMK - Ice Nova -Added Chaos -Added Light

Crown of Eyes also synergizes well with this gem.
Better stay in the land of the damned, Exile. Here, even the very words are corrupted by Nightmare.
would raging spirits be a total waste considering it doesnt benefit from the spell damage? I just think it would be cool to like SRS with dominating blow and get 2 minions every time you kill something
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Nikola wrote:
would raging spirits be a total waste considering it doesnt benefit from the spell damage? I just think it would be cool to like SRS with dominating blow and get 2 minions every time you kill something


raging spirits could be good, they benefit from the same support gems as your melee attacks (if you go phys damage)

det dead does not benefit from spell dmg neither. Im currenly trying reave+EK, works good against packs so far. I use general physical damage modifiers ofc (+ added fire/hatred)

In general you want both your attack and spell to benefit from the same passives/support gems
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Last edited by Ludvator on Sep 12, 2014, 11:29:24 AM
My first thought when I read about the CoMK buff was that it would go well with the Herald of Ash prolif build that was BotW. You focus on killing the first mob, then use CoMK to proc a Ice Nova and also proc EE, which boosts the Burn damage.


In general, I think non-crit builds will benefit from CoMK far more than crit builds, since usually I am short on slots for supports I want to use my main skill when using Crit builds (due to it adding Increased Crit Damage, Increase Crits, and Power Charge on Crit to the desireable supports)
"
Ludvator wrote:
"
Nikola wrote:
would raging spirits be a total waste considering it doesnt benefit from the spell damage? I just think it would be cool to like SRS with dominating blow and get 2 minions every time you kill something


raging spirits could be good, they benefit from the same support gems as your melee attacks (if you go phys damage)

det dead does not benefit from spell dmg neither. Im currenly trying reave+EK, works good against packs so far. I use general physical damage modifiers ofc (+ added fire/hatred)

In general you want both your attack and spell to benefit from the same passives/support gems


Im thinking a staff build would be pretty badass with SRS COMK. I know staffs aren't the ideal weapon though but if its within reason to get a +2 fire gem staff with good phys rolls it could be very nice. Not sure about the best skill to use however.

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