Cheap Prolif Flameblast, HC viable - 2.3 updated

Just posting the build I used to get 99 lvl solo on PHC (ripped just after hitting 99 to https://youtu.be/NQi7YKPPz_Q)

2.3 PROPHECY

VIDEOS

nothing yet


BUILDS

Version I (recommended starting build)

Standard and recommended version of the build. It's best to start with this one, can be used to transform into different versions later. Requires only Shaper of Desolation Ascendancy perk to work properly.

BANDITS: Oak > Alira/SP > SP
Ascendancy: Shaper of Desolation > Pendulum of Destruction > Paragon of Calamity/Mastermind of Discord > Paragon of Calamity/Mastermind of Discord
http://tinyurl.com/fbver1f - finished tree


GEM SETUP

Flameblast + Increased Area of Effect + Elemental Proliferation + Controlled Destruction + Fire Penetration + Faster Casting
B-B-B-B-R-B

Blasphemy + Flammability + Purity of Fire + Arctic Armour
B-B-R-G

CWDT + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Vaal Haste
R-R-R-G

Lightning Warp + Less Duration + Rapid Decay + Faster Casting
B-R-G-B

Orb of Storms + Increased Critical Strikes + Faster Casting
B-B-B

Summon Lightning Golem + Enduring Cry + whatever
B-R-X


GEARING

Unique gear:
Cloak of Flame - best in slot, provides 10% chance to ignite, ignite duration, good fire resist, 15% physical damage reduction, easy colours. The only downside is no life.

Rise of the Phoenix (optional) - needed only when partying with a support


Rare gear:
Rings - Elreon rings, ideally with -8 cost + life + resists, dexterity is a plus, too.

Amulet - Elreon amulet, ideally with life + cast speed + dexterity.

Helmet, gloves - Life, resists, dexterity.

Boots - Life, high movement speed (ideally 25-30%), resists, dexterity.

Weapons - you want to use either wands or scepters, since daggers can't roll cast speed. Look for: high cast speed > flat fire damage > high spell + fire damage combined (in this order).

Belt - high life and resists. If you're already overcapped, look for one with Flask Effect duration or Flask Charges gained (or both).

Jewels - look for (in order of importance):
Life > Cast speed > Fire damage > Spell damage/Area damage/DoT > Reduced mana cost


Keep in mind you only need 109 dexterity and 174% resists at most, anything beyond that is useless. You will also need 12% (or so) mana cost reduction from jewels to reach 0 mana cost on a 6l 21/20 flameblast.


Enchantments:
Helmet:

x% reduced Lightning Warp duration - recommended, combined with leveled gems makes your LW instant at any distance.

x% increased Flameblast Area of Effect

x% increased Flameblast damage

Gloves:

it doesn't really matter, to be honest.

Boots:

cast/attack speed on kill - recommended

added fire damage on kill


Flasks:
Ideal flask setup would be:
1x Seething Hallowed/Divine Life Flask of Staunching
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Basalt Flask of Staunching/Heat/Warding/Grounding
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Granite Flask of Iron Skin or Rumi's Concoction
1x Alchemist's Ruby Flask of Staunching/Heat/Warding/Grounding
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline

Example:





Version II

A version that utilises Mind over Matter. Requires Paragon of Calamity Ascendancy perk to work properly (need to drop Purity of Fire and Arctic Armour). Look for flat mana on your gear in addition to standard mods. It is also recommended to replace your Ruby Flask with a mana/hybrid flask.

http://tinyurl.com/fbver2fix - finished tree

GEM SETUP

Flameblast + Increased Area of Effect + Elemental Proliferation + Controlled Destruction + Fire Penetration + Faster Casting
B-B-B-B-R-B

Blasphemy + Flammability + Enlighten + whatever
B-B-B-X

CWDT + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Vaal Haste
R-R-R-G

Lightning Warp + Less Duration + Rapid Decay + Faster Casting
B-R-G-B

Orb of Storms + Increased Critical Strikes + Faster Casting
B-B-B

Summon Lightning Golem + Enduring Cry + whatever
B-R-X



GEARING

Unique gear:
Cloak of Flame - best in slot, provides 10% chance to ignite, ignite duration, good fire resist, 15% physical damage reduction, easy colours. The only downside is no life.

Rise of the Phoenix (optional) - might be needed when partying with a support


Rare gear:
Rings - Elreon rings, ideally with -8 cost + life + resists, dexterity and mana are welcome too.

Amulet - Elreon amulet, ideally with life + mana + cast speed + dexterity.

Helmet, gloves - Life, mana, resists, dexterity.

Boots - Life, high movement speed (ideally 25-30%), mana, resists, dexterity.

Weapons - you want to use either wands or scepters, since daggers can't roll cast speed. Look for: high cast speed > flat fire damage > high spell + fire damage combined (in this order).

Belt - high life and resists. If you're already overcapped, look for one with Flask Effect duration or Flask Charges gained (or both).

Jewels - look for (in order of importance):
Life > Cast speed > Fire damage > Spell damage/Area damage/DoT > Reduced mana cost

Keep in mind you only need 109 dexterity and 174% resists at most, anything beyond that is (almost) useless. You will also need 12% (or so) mana cost reduction from jewels to reach 0 mana cost on a 6l 21/20 flameblast.


Enchantments:
Helmet:
x% reduced Lightning Warp duration - recommended, combined with leveled gems makes your LW instant at any distance.

x% increased Flameblast Area of Effect

x% increased Flameblast damage

Gloves:
it doesn't really matter, to be honest.

Boots:
cast/attack speed on kill - recommended

added fire damage on kill

mana/life leech on kill


Flasks:
Ideal flask setup would be:
1x Seething Hallowed/Divine Life Flask of Staunching
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Basalt Flask of Staunching/Heat/Warding/Grounding
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Granite Flask of Iron Skin or Rumi's Concoction
1x Alchemist's Ruby Flask of Staunching/Heat/Warding/Grounding
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline
(optional) 1x Mana Flask

Example:




Version III

Requires the Paragon of Calamity Ascendancy perk to work properly. This version runs an additional blasphemy curse instead of Purity of Fire.

http://tinyurl.com/fbver3 - finished tree

GEM SETUP

Flameblast + Increased Area of Effect + Elemental Proliferation + Controlled Destruction + Fire Penetration + Faster Casting
B-B-B-B-R-B

Blasphemy + Flammability + Elemental Weakness/Enfeeble/Temporal Chains + Arctic Armour
B-B-B/G-G

CWDT + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Vaal Haste
R-R-R-G

Lightning Warp + Less Duration + Rapid Decay + Faster Casting
B-R-G-B

Orb of Storms + Increased Critical Strikes + Faster Casting
B-B-B

Summon Lightning Golem + Enduring Cry + whatever
B-R-X


GEARING

Unique gear:
Cloak of Flame - best in slot, provides 10% chance to ignite, ignite duration, good fire resist, 15% physical damage reduction, easy colours. The only downside is no life.

Rise of the Phoenix (optional) - needed only when partying with a support


Rare gear:
Rings - Elreon rings, ideally with -8 cost + life + resists, dexterity is a plus, too.

Amulet - Elreon amulet, ideally with life + cast speed + dexterity.

Helmet, gloves - Life, resists, dexterity.

Boots - Life, high movement speed (ideally 25-30%), resists, dexterity.

Weapons - you want to use either wands or scepters, since daggers can't roll cast speed. Look for: high cast speed > flat fire damage > high spell + fire damage combined (in this order).

Belt - high life and resists. If you're already overcapped, look for one with Flask Effect duration or Flask Charges gained (or both).

Jewels - look for (in order of importance):
Life > Cast speed > Fire damage > Spell damage/Area damage/DoT > Reduced mana cost

Keep in mind you only need 109 dexterity and 174% resists at most, anything beyond that is useless. You will also need 12% (or so) mana cost reduction from jewels to reach 0 mana cost on a 6l 21/20 flameblast.


Enchantments:
Helmet:

x% reduced Lightning Warp duration - recommended, combined with leveled gems makes your LW instant at any distance.

x% increased Flameblast Area of Effect

x% increased Flameblast damage

Gloves:

it doesn't really matter, to be honest.

Boots:

cast/attack speed on kill - recommended

added fire damage on kill


Flasks:
Ideal flask setup would be:
1x Seething Hallowed/Divine Life Flask of Staunching
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Basalt Flask of Staunching/Heat/Warding/Grounding
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Granite Flask of Iron Skin or Rumi's Concoction
1x Alchemist's Ruby Flask of Staunching/Heat/Warding/Grounding
1x Perpetual/Chemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline

Example:







Version IV

This version utilises Soulthirst. Works extremely well for speedrunning low, good-layout maps. Sucks for higher maps.
Proof of concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8rhsNEEatc (2.2)





MAP MODS

monsters reflect x% elemental damage - while it's possible to do with Paragon of Calamity, Rise of the Phoenix, lvl 20 Purity of Fire, and Ruby Flask up, it's still a very risky mod. I recommend just rolling over.

Monsters have x% chance to Avoid Elemental Status Ailments - might slow you down a bit (especially vs bosses), but it's perfectly doable.

-x% maximum Player Resistances - got to be careful around that, don't use more than 5 stack flameblast.

Players have no Life or Mana Regeneration - if your flameblast costs 0 mana then it's an almost free mod. Just take Rapid Decay and Faster Casting off of your Lightning Warp.

Players have Blood Magic - turn off your auras and it's doable.

Monsters are Immune to Elemental Status Ailments - doable by swapping Elemental Proliferation with Elemental Focus, although it slows you down a lot and makes reflect much more dangerous. I recommend just rolling over it.


WHY NO BEACON OF RUIN

In 2.3 Beacon of Ruin is getting buffed to 12 radius (from 9). Isn't it better to replace the Prolif gem with it now?
No.
Well, our beloved Elemental Proliferation is also getting buffed, to 16. That means, that after all modifiers applied to both, the gem is still about 68% better than Beacon, AoE-wise (and 35% better than Ascendancy Elemental Proliferation).

But isn't the damage increase from replacing Ele Prolif, more or less, making up for the AoE loss?
Well, I did some testing with the dmg numbers using Beacon of Ruin and Empower instead of Elemental Proliferation, and... my tooltip shows 46% more damage with this setup. Insane, huh?
Well, in fact, not really. Mind you, that when going Beacon of Ruin you cannot take Mastermind of Discord simply because if you do, you're most likely going to die to reflect. So you're pretty much forced to take Paragon of Calamity (which is not neccessary when using Ele Prolif gem).

What does that mean?
It means that while the Beacon of Ruin/Empower setup shows 46% more tooltip damage, it doesn't neccessarily mean it does that much more because - compared to the Ele Prolif version with 65% fire penetration - it has effectively only 40%.
So let's do some simple math on various monster resistance values that you could encounter, and how do they affect our damage.
For the ease of calculation I'm gonna assume here that our Elemental Proliferation Flameblast does 1000 damage, while our Beacon of Ruin Flameblast does 1460. I'm also going to consider the 44% fire res reduction we get from flammability. So:
Elemental Proliferation version (EP): 1000 damage, -44% Flammability, -65% Penetration
Beacon of Ruin version (BoR): 1460 damage, =44% Flammability, -40% Penetration

This is how the real damage values are for these specific resistances:
0% resistance
EP: 2090 damage
BoR: 2686 damage
28.5% more damage

50% resistance
EP: 1590 damage
BoR: 1956 damage
23% more damage

75% resistance
EP: 1340 damage
BoR: 1591 damage
18.7% more damage

119% resistance (75% + curse overcapped)
EP: 900 damage
BoR: 949 damage
5.4% more damage


Well, as you can see here, Beacon of Ruin does 5-29% more damage in all listed above examples. But let's not forget, that Elemental Proliferation provides 68% better proliferation radius as compared to Beacon of Ruin.

So you must ask yourself a question: is it better to deal 5-29% more damage when you already one shot everything, or have a 68% better proliferation radius and still one shot mobs?



2.2 ASCENDANCY

VIDEOS

https://youtu.be/q8HYwnoBBCE - -max 80 Courtyard
https://youtu.be/vmps8Aza7To - twinned core malachai



GEAR

The gear I'm currently using on my PHC Pizzablaster (SivluVeryOriginal)




RIPPED 99 LVL PHC GEAR (SivluTheRealPizza)





Explanation:
-Cloak of Flame is essentially bis, 10% chance to ignite, 16% physical reduction (with lvl 20 purity of fire) and easy colours. Carcass Jack could be an alternative if you're desperate for more clear speed
-Elreon jewllery is neccessarry to reach 0 mana cost on our flameblast
-It's very important to get a lot of cast speed from your wands as you want to cast flameblast as fast as possible - faster casting means better survivability and clear speed.

For a 6l and lvl 21 flameblast you will also need 3x5% reduced mana cost jewels

I guess everything else here is rather self explanatory.

ENCHANTMENTS

Helmet
Lightning Warp duration reduction (20%) > Flameblast radius increase (8%) > Flameblast damage (25%) > Everything else


Lightning Warp duration reduction enchantment combined with Rapid Decay, quality Less Duration and a high lvl Lightning Warp makes your LW pretty much instant at any distance. I tried both flameblast radius and lw duration and the latter just feels so much more impactive.

Boots
Cast & attack speed on kill > Added flat fire damage on kill > Everything else

Most of the time your damage should be more than enough so I'd go with cast speed.

Can't say anything gloves as I have no idea what most of them do, I'm sorry. :D



TREE




lvl 99 tree (finished)
http://tinyurl.com/treefbpr2
ASCENDANCY:
ELEMENTALIST > SHAPER OF DESOLATION > PENDULUM OF DESTRUCTION > MASTERMIND OF DISCORD



For early game (after getting flameblast at lvl 28) you want to get aoe and reduced cost nodes asap. Use prolif and take Breath of Flames after getting your first 2 ascendancy points and putting them into Shaper of Desolation. Not much else to say I guess, just prioritize life nodes over damage.

Bandits: Oak/Kill/Kill


LINKS/GEMS

Main skill:
Flameblast + Increased AoE + Controlled Destruction + Elemental Proliferation + Fire Penetration + Faster Casting - you can clear maps easily with just a 4l (I used a 4l until like lvl 85 doing maps up to T9 and then a 5l till lvl 94 which lets you pretty much do all map tiers). Keep Concentrated Effect and Chance to Ignite in your inventory to swap for bosses (inc aoe for conc, prolif for chance to ignite)

Auras: Purity of Fire, Arctic Armour, Blasphemy Flammability. Run only Purity of Fire and Blasphemy Flammability until you can afford not using mana flask (elreon jewellery)

CWDT setup: CWDT (level of choice, I personally chose 7) + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Vaal Haste (vaal haste is supposed to be self casted)

Lightning Warp + Less Duration + Blood Magic + Faster Casting/Rapid Decay - use faster casting until you can afford 20% lightning warp and more cast speed on your gear)

Orb of Storms + Increased Critical Strikes + Faster Casting - used to proc Elemental Overload



REFLECT AND MAP MODS

Alright, I'm pretty convinced it is not possible to die to reflect on normal maps with purity of fire and barbarism (+1% max fire res node)

Buuuuuut, it's obviously impossible to do elemental reflect maps.

You can also die to normal rare mob reflect on -max maps, that's why I used to stack only up to 5 stack fb on those.

Status ailment avoidance is perfectly doable, might be annoying on single targets but overall it's OK
Status ailment immunity now is an entire different story. I've done a map with this mod only once (and only because I couldn't reroll it). You can do it with swapping ele prolif for ele focus (up to 49% more elemental damage) and spamming 7-10 stack fb for bigger aoe. The thing here is, reflect becomes extremely dangerous with this kind of damage upgrade and stacking 7+ fb. Clear speed is also lower. Overall, if you can just reroll those.

Blood Magic is doable, just turn off all your auras. Done these several times.

Monster fire res is np when playing solo, it might get a bit annoying in party though, since it reduces your burning damage by a lot.



BEACON OF RUIN VS ELEMENTAL PROLIFERATION


Let's take a look at these:
Beacon of Ruin
Elemental Status Effects caused by your Skills spread to other nearby Enemies
Radius:9





As you can see here, Beacon of Ruin has 3 units smaller radius than Elemental Proliferation. But also compared to Elemental Proliferation it has no damage penalty and lets you use another gem in place of Elemental Proliferation. Sounds great, no?
But it isn't.

Radius difference is in fact huge, as we gotta remember that radius is scaled by our area of effect increases from the skill tree and gear (and in case of Elemental Proliferation gem also by Increased Area of Effect support).

So let's do the math:

We have 35% increased area of effect in the skill tree.

Beacon of Ruin: 9 * 1.35 = 12.15 (I'm not sure how it's rounded)
Elemental Proliferation: 12 * 1.74 = 20.88

Depending on how it is rounded the aoe difference of Elemental Proliferation compared to Beacon of Ruin ranges from 57.1% to 61.9% more.

Now that's an enormous difference, isn't it? Especially when you want to speedrun easy maps, like Gorge or Arid.

But what about the damage increase? It should be huge as well, right?
Yep, well, it is.

If I switched to Beacon of Ruin, I would use Empower in place of Elemental Proliferation. The damage increase would indeed be huge if we consider that I will not get the 21% damage penalty and on top of that increase my damage by about 20%.

But do I really need it? With my current damage of close to 6k tooltip (with ele overload and pendulum of destruction up) I could carry 3-4 man parties easily. For me it would only make reflect more dangerous while lowering my overall clear speed.





CET Timezone
Last edited by Sivluu on Jun 15, 2016, 6:26:51 AM
Last bumped on Dec 31, 2016, 12:27:01 AM
cant wait for this :).. also sad rip
Sad rip, nicebuild, deserved 100 :) good job mate ;)
So sad that rip, u deserved hit 100.

I would like to share with u my build, pretty similar tree but running searing touch (sadly 4 links) instead 2x wand, and essence worm with determination for get MoM. Pretty tanky :)
I hope like it.

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Fr0sst/characters

Last edited by Fr0sst on Mar 20, 2016, 4:41:49 PM
Can you discuss why you chose the Ascendancy nodes that you did? It seems to me that the ele prolif might be more useful than the golem ascendancy, allowing you to drop a link from your gear. I'd love to understand your thought process on this.
"
magnus962 wrote:
Can you discuss why you chose the Ascendancy nodes that you did? It seems to me that the ele prolif might be more useful than the golem ascendancy, allowing you to drop a link from your gear. I'd love to understand your thought process on this.


Updated original post, thanks for the question.

BEACON OF RUIN VS ELEMENTAL PROLIFERATION


Let's take a look at these:
Beacon of Ruin
Elemental Status Effects caused by your Skills spread to other nearby Enemies
Radius:9





As you can see here, Beacon of Ruin has 3 units smaller radius than Elemental Proliferation. But also compared to Elemental Proliferation it has no damage penalty and lets you use another gem in place of Elemental Proliferation. Sounds great, no?
But it isn't.

Radius difference is in fact huge, as we gotta remember that radius is scaled by our area of effect increases from the skill tree and gear (and in case of Elemental Proliferation gem also by Increased Area of Effect support).

So let's do the math:

We have 35% increased area of effect in the skill tree.

Beacon of Ruin: 9 * 1.35 = 12.15 (I'm not sure how it's rounded)
Elemental Proliferation: 12 * 1.74 = 20.88

Depending on how it is rounded the aoe difference of Elemental Proliferation compared to Beacon of Ruin ranges from 57.1% to 61.9% more.

Now that's an enormous difference, isn't it? Especially when you want to speedrun easy maps, like Gorge or Arid.

But what about the damage increase? It should be huge as well, right?
Yep, well, it is.

If I switched to Beacon of Ruin, I would use Empower in place of Elemental Proliferation. The damage increase would indeed be huge if we consider that I will not get the 21% damage penalty and on top of that increase my damage by about 20%.

But do I really need it? With my current damage of close to 6k tooltip (with ele overload and pendulum of destruction up) I could carry 3-4 man parties easily. For me it would only make reflect more dangerous while lowering my overall clear speed.
CET Timezone
Flameblast seems really cool to play, awesome build. Also, that rip ):
"
Sivluu wrote:
"
magnus962 wrote:
Can you discuss why you chose the Ascendancy nodes that you did? It seems to me that the ele prolif might be more useful than the golem ascendancy, allowing you to drop a link from your gear. I'd love to understand your thought process on this.


Updated original post, thanks for the question.

BEACON OF RUIN VS ELEMENTAL PROLIFERATION


Let's take a look at these:
Beacon of Ruin
Elemental Status Effects caused by your Skills spread to other nearby Enemies
Radius:9





As you can see here, Beacon of Ruin has 3 units smaller radius than Elemental Proliferation. But also compared to Elemental Proliferation it has no damage penalty and lets you use another gem in place of Elemental Proliferation. Sounds great, no?
But it isn't.

Radius difference is in fact huge, as we gotta remember that radius is scaled by our area of effect increases from the skill tree and gear (and in case of Elemental Proliferation gem also by Increased Area of Effect support).

So let's do the math:

We have 35% increased area of effect in the skill tree.

Beacon of Ruin: 9 * 1.35 = 12.15 (I'm not sure how it's rounded)
Elemental Proliferation: 12 * 1.74 = 20.88

Depending on how it is rounded the aoe difference of Elemental Proliferation compared to Beacon of Ruin ranges from 57.1% to 61.9% more.

Now that's an enormous difference, isn't it? Especially when you want to speedrun easy maps, like Gorge or Arid.

But what about the damage increase? It should be huge as well, right?
Yep, well, it is.

If I switched to Beacon of Ruin, I would use Empower in place of Elemental Proliferation. The damage increase would indeed be huge if we consider that I will not get the 21% damage penalty and on top of that increase my damage by about 20%.

But do I really need it? With my current damage of close to 6k tooltip (with ele overload and pendulum of destruction up) I could carry 3-4 man parties easily. For me it would only make reflect more dangerous while lowering my overall clear speed.

Exactly what I was thinking about since yesterday! Thank you for the answer. I made a similar build using a good staff (with damage to spells, searing touch is much worse I guess) and Kaom's Heart, but your build seems to be a better idea. I'll probably try that soon :)
Can we contact you IG if we have any questions?
Yea sure, don't hesitate if you have any questions or whatever. @SivluVeryOriginal
CET Timezone
dual consuming makes it possible to do ele reflect maps, no? :)

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