[1.3] FrozenFlame - Flame Surge as a detonator skill?!? (all level maps with 4-6 ex gear)

Welcome Exile,
If you are looking for chip, extremely satisfying, endgame build with balanced DPS and survivability you are in good place :)

Build concept:
Spoiler

This build binds 3 skills in nice working combo. Herald of Thunder + Flame Surge + Herald of Ice have some common things. They are all AoE and elemental skills so it is possible to boost all 3 with proper gear and passives.

The combo:
Herald of Thunder is so good skill. It can be use to apply curses or mana leech. Its only weakness is "cannot apply shock" mod. But freeze and ignite are not forbidden. With 3dragon mask and Adding Cold Damage gem HoT can apply those 2 status. I'm using HoT in 4L: HoT -Increase Area of Effect - Added Cold Damage - Elemental Proliferation. Almost all mobs on screen are frizzed and ignited.
Flame Surge is used mainly by RF chars because it have 50% MORE dmg for burning targets. Disadvantages of this skill are "cannot ignite" mod and rather small AoE. All those problems are solved with the build: Putting 3Dragons helm and using Herald of Thunder allows to freeze and shock targets. Killing a shocked enemy turns on HoT. HoT makes everything ignite. Flame Surge can apply shock so it makes 100% MORE damage to monsters. And when frozen mob is killed Herald of Ice starts to make chain reaction of mass destruction.
Herald of Ice make AoE cold damage to mobs. I'm using it in 4L: HoI - Cold to Fire - Increase Area of Effect - Reduced Mana. HoI - Cold to Fire - Increase Area of Effect - Reduced Mana.Cold to fire gem is crucial for 2 things: Because of 3Dragons helm only fire damage can shock and it is nice way to restart HoT timer. Also Cold to Fire gem reduce by half potentially reflected cold damage. Reflected fire damage can be stop with Arctic Armor skill.

And fun thing is that this build evolved from elemanal cycloner...


Videos:
Spoiler


75 level map:
http://youtu.be/pdJMkRO-0wM
66 level map just for fun and to show that reflect damage is not that bad with Arctic Armour
http://youtu.be/LhyLw9koP84


Pros and Cons
Spoiler

Pros:
* It is extremely satisfying to blow up the whole packs with fast single spell.
* Safe – all mobs are frozen 75% of time
* Easy to level as with elemental spell you choose
* No need for legacy items
* Devourers are frozen before they can attack
* Low levels map are a joke – you can let heralds do almost all the work
* Reflect is not a big problem with Arctic Armor

Cons:
* Some map mods are hard:
* Elemental reflect is not doable.
* AA is not working with –regen.
* Reflect can kill you with –max ress.
* Bosses without minions are hard – elemental proliferation is not working so they are not frozen



Offence and Defense
Spoiler


Offence
Dps is really good. Heralds dps is hard to calculate but Flame surge dps is 15k with level 17 spell. Including ignite + shock it is 30k dps. It is nice for noncrit char.

Defense
* HoT + proliferate makes all mobs frozen including bosses for 75% of time. Can be more with dual curs Temporal Chains. This is so much better than armor or evasion or even block!
* 4k life
* Can sustain max level AA (I have 17 atm and reflect can’t kill me)

Items with cost:
Spoiler

Helm:
3 Dragons. This is only one crucial unique for this build. Cost few chaos.

Weapons:
2x Doryani’s Catalyst. This is BiS item for the build. Huge elemental damage and some elemental life leech. 2ex for each.

Chest:
5l link is enough, with some ES for Eldritch Battery. Cracass Jack will be very good with 20% AoE increase, 12% area damage, some life, ES and ress. Cost is from few chaos to 20-30ex for 6L Jack.

Glows:
Rare with life, ress and eventually ES or mana. Nothing special. Few chaos max.

Rings/amu:
Rare with life, mana and ress. Very important is mana regen to sustain AA and some dex. Few chaos each.

Boots:
Life + ress + movement speed. Some mana will be cool. Few chaos max.

Belt:
Life + ress. Good with some mana/ES. Few chaos max.

My items (far from perfect):


Links
Spoiler

Herald of Thunder (4L or 3L in Doryani’s Catalyst)
HoT -Increase Area of Effect - Added Cold Damage - Elemental Proliferation.
There is no place for reduce mana but it is OK. This setup freezes and ignites all mobs.

Flame Surge (5-6L)
Flame Surge – concentrated effect – increase AoE – spell echo – faster casting – fire penetration
With HoT and HoI it can freeze and shock mobs

Herald of Ice (4L)
HoI - Cold to Fire - Increase Area of Effect - Reduced Mana.
Cold to fire gem is crucial for 2 things: Because of 3Dragons helm only fire damage can freeze monsters and shatter them for more HoI explosions. It is very efficient way for destroying whole pack of mobs. Also Cold to Fire gem reduce by half potentially reflected cold damage. Reflected fire damage can be stop with Arctic Armor skill.

Additional skills:
Arctic Armour, Clarity + Reduced Mana, Elemental Weakness curse, CWDT setup with Immortal Call and Enduring Cry, Vaal Storm Call – very useful skill with only 16 souls. Deals a lot of damage and can freeze monsters.

Tree:


Any feedback is welcome :)
ing: Storm_Gaze
Last edited by LeMing on Feb 6, 2015, 6:28:42 AM
reserved
ing: Storm_Gaze
Looks great!
I think that new version of the immortal belt, for extra mana regen and 1 or even 2 bereks grip rings will be amazing and let you be stronger vs reflect ( even with less max res)
Also I think may e going for AOF is possible? I'll try working something up
my builds:
- COLB (Cast On Last Breath) first ever build: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1632595
- the Flash: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1367774
- the oro's bridle build: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1409823
Interesting idea.
Would the Pyre ring (100% of cold converted to fire) work over a cold to fire gem or do you think that would make the fire reflect too much for AA?
Last edited by GoatEatingToilet on Jan 7, 2015, 4:31:36 PM
very interesting build and tried it out, orgasmic when whole screen frozen and shatters. however it does feel very squishy against bosses that has high ele res and hits hard.

In a 5l do u prioritise fire pen over faster casting?
Last edited by MaxClip on Jan 7, 2015, 11:22:14 PM
Hi, thanks for feedback.
Pyre ring convert all cold damage to fire so there will be no ignite from added cold damage in HoT with 3Dragons.
Bosses with some minions are very easy. I just have to avoid killing minions to proliferate frozen status to the boss. Single bosses are much harder but vall storm call helps a lot.
In a 5l fire pen and faster casting are very similar. On lower level maps all dies from HoT + HoI, on harder maps with mobs with fire resistances I prefer penetration a little bit.
ing: Storm_Gaze
Last edited by LeMing on Jan 9, 2015, 5:04:37 AM
Hi. Love you're video. Can you advise tree for leveling, wanna try this in HC.
Just wondering what the skill effect duration in the tree does or how important it would be to pick up.
"
Kohar wrote:
Hi. Love you're video. Can you advise tree for leveling, wanna try this in HC.

Hi,
I never play HC so I can't help you with HC leveling tree. Just fulfill the tree taking first what you really need to grab first. Depends on what spell you like to level and what gear you have.

"
VintageGweilo wrote:
Just wondering what the skill effect duration in the tree does or how important it would be to pick up.

Hi,
It's a really good question. I took those nodes last just to help with longer bosses fight. HoT hitting few seconds more when there is no other mob without the boss is very nice. With better gear / play you probably be fine without this.
ing: Storm_Gaze
I found that Cold snap with Romiras ring works grait as a detonator skill
ing: Storm_Gaze

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