[3.5][LeagueSC] TooManyBalls! (Grelwood Molten Strike, DecentMapping&SingleTarget, Farrul's Fur)



Originally created in PoE 3.1 Abyss League, this build was able to do all content in Abyss League.

Build was very cheap in 3.1 thanks to ridiculous amount of abyss jewels everywhere, this time, build still functions pretty well, but will require further investments before being able to do T16/T17 comfortably.

Character still built around Slayer + Raider, but I'll work towards a Farrul's Fur and use Slayer + Elementalist instead, this I believe will be the highest ceiling setup for MoltenStrike. For this variant build of this please refer to section 10.

Other builds by me
Spoiler

1. Elder Glacial Cascade Trapper
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2129120

2. TooManyFriendz (Poet's Pen Summoner)
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2219801


Change Log
Spoiler
2018/03/18 -- Added passive tree overview and Leveling trees.
2018/03/19 -- Added POB link with leveling tree in the Passive Tree section.
2018/03/19 -- Added new sections and passive tree details.
2018/03/22 -- Added gearing details.
2018/03/23 -- Viability updates.
2018/03/24 -- Added gear setups and correspondent stats.
2018/03/24 -- Added variant versions that build around expensive gears.
2018/03/28 -- Added current setup, probably won't invest in a Watcher's Eye, gonna spend $ elsewhere.

3.5.0 Thoughts on the MoltenStrike Change
Spoiler

Build should (mathematically) be better than before, though Grelwood's $ is expected to increase.

Math
Spoiler

a. base damage increased to 161% from 147% --> 161/147=1.095
b. projectile damage increased to -30% from -40% --> 0.7/0.6=1.167
c. projectile amount decreased to 9 from 11 --> 9/11=0.818
Ignoring the initial hit, total projectile damage = 1.095*1.167*0.818 = 1.045
So the damage haven't dropped if when Grelwood effect is up, and since Grelwood is also receiving a dmg buff, overall dmg should increase. (also frees one jewel slot)


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[Path of Nets 3.2 Pokemon League Guide]



1. Concept
2. Viability
3. Pros & Cons
4. Passive (Tree + Pantheon + Bandits)
5. Links
6. Gears (+ Flask + Jewels)
7. Stats
8. Leveling
9. Endgame $$$ Items
10. Variant Version
Spoiler
1.Xoph's Blood
2.Aspect of the Cat (Slayer + Elementalist)

11. FAQ
12. Previous Guides

1. Concept


Utilize Grelwood's passive effect and serve high quality meat balls for Shaper and Elder.
1. +2 projectiles if hit recently ---> +4 when dual wielding, 11/7 = 1.57x overall damage.
2. PointBlank & IronReflexes ---> saves us 4 passive points, allowing us to go grab EO and AOF
3. Decent base damage ---> with great passive effects, this sword also provides decent base damage

2. Viability


Unique Maps - All doable except Hall of Grandmasters.
Uber Lab - Doable around lv 78~82. Keep fortify up.
League Contents
Spoiler
Pale Court - Easy.
Breaches - Besides Chayula being dangerous due to lack of chaos resistance, others are easy.
Harbinger Maps - Still trying to get one, should be doable.
Abyss - Both of the boss fights are easy. Keep fortify up for those big bad sneaky rare monsters.
Bestiary Bosses - HAVEN'T EVEN RUN INTO ONE! :(

Atziri - Doable, beware of which one is hold the mirror or you'll kill yourself.
Uber Atziri - Same as above.

Shaper Guardians - Doable. Can finish dangerous mods if experienced and careful.
Spoiler
Chimera - Face-tank with full life leech.
Hydra - Moves around a lot, takes longer to kill than the other T16s.
Minotaur - Face-tank 90% of the fight, move out of the rock-falling zone and all is well.
Phoenix - Normal, minus max fire resistance can be dangerous, keep fortify up.

Shaper - Doable, but requires more investment than 3.1.
Spoiler
Before attempting Shaper, I recommend your character to have the following:
1. Above 6000HP, personally I like to go 7000 in endgame, but it's not necessary.
2. Cap your resist and get more than 100% cold resistance.(Shaper penetrates)

Elder Guardians - Doable, no map mods effect on these fights, usually easier than Shaper Guardians.
Elder - Doable, full life leech makes certain Elder attacks easy to survive.
Uber Elder - Haven't get Elder to eat Shaper yet.

3. Pros & Cons


+ Great to level with.
+ Cheap to begin, budget friendly but has high ceiling.
+ Simple skill, easy to scale.
+ Tanky & High Sustain.
+ Decent Mapping & Great Single Target.
+ Great to use in zoo fights.
+++ Easy to customize.
+++ Fun to Play.

- Cannot tank some one-shot hits.
- Cannot run reflect and no leech. (unless with certain gears and different ascendancy)
- Passive points refund.
- Ancient skill.
- Too many balls.


4. Passive


Standard version of the build with no passive altering endgame chase items.
PoB Link -- https://pastebin.com/LuFFsFA8
(PoB Link using my current setup, didn't add resist cause I am lazy. Spent about 3ex in total)
Spoiler
We create 22 balls while fighting single targets. Assume we land 5 balls, according to the PoB, we'll be doing 150k*5 + 80k = 830k Shaper damage without drinking flasks and using vaal lightening trap.

Tree Overview
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Ascendancy -- Slayer + Raider (Credits to sqvirel for highlighting the sequence)
Spoiler

Normal: STR/DEX node + skill point
Cruel: Slayer node + skill point
Merciless: Path of Duelist + DEX node
Uber: passive point + Raider node

I choose to grab Path of Duelist first because I can refund a bunch of points and ultimately use these points to gain a larger overall buff than taking Raider straightaway.
You can choose your own sequence, but this is the order I like to follow.

Keystone Passives
1. Iron Grip -- Provides ball damage via strength.
2. Elemental Overload -- Provides lots of extra damage if we crit.
3. AoF -- 100% phys-to-fire conversion, pick this unless you have Xoph or Watcher's Eye Conversion.
4. Large life nodes -- Lots of high quality life nodes around our damage nodes, makes us tanky.

Bandits -- Kill all for 2 extra points.

Pantheon -- Arakaali + Yugul
Spoiler
Major god:
Soul of Arakaali - Insane life leech after CwDT&IC stops BR's degen.
Soul of the Brine King - You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor god:
Soul of Yugul - 25% reduced Reflected Damage taken & Reduce cold damage taken after hit
Soul of Tukohama - While stationary, gain 2% additional Physical Damage Reduction each second, up to a maximum of 8%

5. Links


Molten Strike (4L/5L/6L)
4 Links: MS + Ancestral Call + Concentrated Effect + Elemental Damage with Attack
5 Links: Above + Elemental Focus
6 Links: Above + Damage on Full Life
Spoiler
The priority of Elemental Focus and Damage on Full Life isn't fixed or absolute, you can swap them if you like. Also, fire penetration can be swapped with Dmg on Full Life if you like.

Auras
Herald of Ash -- Extra Fire Damage
Anger -- Flat fire damage / Synergizes with Watcher's Eye

CwDT (High Level)
CwDT + Golem + Molten Shell + Immortal Call

CwDT (Low Level & Curse Setup)
CwDT(lv.1) + Blade Vortex(lv.8) + Curse on Hit + Projectile Weakness or other curses you prefer
CwDT(lv.3) + Blade Vortex(lv.10) + Curse on Hit + Projectile Weakness or other curses you prefer
Spoiler
Lv.10 Blade Vortex provides additional range, I personally uses the second setup.

Movement
Whirling Blades + Fortify + Faster Attack

Others
Ancestral Protector / Blood Rage / Vaal Skill

6. Gear


Mandatory Uniques -- Grelwood Shanks * 2 + Wildfire * 2
Spoiler

Recommended Unique
Spoiler
Helmet -- Starkonja
Chest -- Tabula / Belly of the Beast
Gloves -- Tombfist (one socket is good enough)
Boots -- N/A (Use Rare)
Belts -- The Nomad
Rings -- N/A (Use Rare)
Amulet -- N/A (Use Rare)
Flask -- Wise Oak
Luxury Items refer to $$$

Rare Gear
Spoiler
Helmet -- HP / Accuracy > Resistance > Str
Chest -- 6Link > HP / Resistance > Str
Gloves -- Attack Speed > HP > Resistance > Str
Boots -- HP > Resistance > Movement Speed > Str
Belts -- AED > HP / Resistance > Str
Rings -- AED > Flat Dmg / HP / Resistance > Accuracy > Str
Amulet -- AED > Flat Dmg / HP / Resistance > Accuracy > Str

Flasks
Have at least one of Instant HP Recovery / Bleed Immune / Freeze Immune

Jewels
Normal Jewels: HP / Fire Dmg > Attack Speed > Physical Dmg > Resistance
Abyss Jewels: Flat Dmg > Inc. Crit% if didn't crit recently > HP > Resistance

Refer to Stats for gear setup details, includes three versions based on budget level.

7. Stats


Condition:
1. Frenzy charges & onslaught on.
2. Auras / Golem / Curse / Ancestral Protector / Blood Rage on.
3. Against Shaper.
4. Flasks and Vaal skill off.

Budget Gear (50~60 chaos)
Spoiler
Tabula + non damage accessories + one-socket Tombfist

This setup should be able to carry you all the way to T15s easily.

Decent Gear (120~150 chaos)
Spoiler
6Link rare chest + one-socket Tombfist + the Nomad + decent rings

This is an example endgame setup for casual players. Able to do Shaper but not overpowered.

Endgame Gear
Spoiler
6Link Belly of the Beast + two-socket Tombfist + Darkness Enthroned + Watcher's Eyes Pen.

Since Xoph alters the tree a bit, I'll put it in the Variants section.


8. Leveling


How to beat the main story under 6~7 hours
Spoiler

Common Rule:
Do missions in the same/nearby area before going back to the NPCs.
Skip side quests that don't award you with a passive point.
If you have friends, having checkpoints opened for you will speed things up a lot.

Details for each act.
Spoiler

Act 1. Nothing too special, follow the mission and skip side quests.
Act 2. Go kill Kraityn first, go back and help Helena. Go and get rid of the roadblock, in the same area, kill Alira, then get the spider thingy. Now go kill oak and finish the pyramid run.
Act 3. Follow your quests and get to the battlefront. Get the ribbon spool and go straight to the docks and find the sulphite. Then you can go find the queen and turn everything in and go back to the sewers and progress.
Act 4. Same as Act 1, follow the missions.
Act 5. After Kitava awakens, leave the church and get all the items before going back to sin.
Act 6. Nothing to special, you can come back and kill the gods later if you feel your character's not strong enough.
Act 7. Same.
Act 8. Find a friend, have him/her run the other path, open portals for each other once you found your targets. Maps in Act 8 are annoyingly long, this is where you'll save time if you have a friend.
Act 9. Once you arrive at the Quarry, go kill Kira and then go find the powder in Refinery.
Act 10. Nothing to special, similar to Act 5, get everything before going back to town.


Lv30ish
Spoiler

Gears: Tabula + The Princess/The Tempestuous Steel
Tree:


Lv60ish
Spoiler

Gears: Tabula + Innsbury Edge/Prismatic Eclipse
Tree:



9. Endgame Chase Items $$$


1. 6Link Belly of the Beast
2. Xoph's Blood
3. T1/T2 WED (40~50%) Accessories
4. Watcher's Eye (Pen / Extra Fire / Extra Fire converted from physical)
5. Farrul's Fur + Aspect of the Cat Accesory

10. Variant Versions


1. Xoph's Blood (or Watcher's Eye Conversion)
Spoiler

Build uses Xoph's to drop AoF. Ascendancy same as the normal version.
Tree Overview
Spoiler

Stats
Spoiler


2. Aspect of the Cat (Slayer + Elementalist)
Spoiler

Build around Farrul's Fur and Aspect of the Cat skill. Auto charges enables us to drop Raider.
Spoiler

Tree Overview (with Xoph)
Spoiler

Ascendancy
Spoiler

Stats
Spoiler
The helmet is there because I couldn't do beast craft in PoB, in PoE the helmet isn't needed, you just need to beast craft the skill on to your accessories. Whether the cat aura is taken into the calculation is unknown.



11. FAQ


1. Why not use Multi-strike?
Spoiler
Unlike Ancestral Call, if you look closely to how Multi-strike works, it repeats the attacks faster instead of duplicating the effects. Namely, it just provides you with 94% more attack speed with a downside of each hit does 30% less damage.
Set our original dmg is D & attack speed is As ---> DPS = D*As
With Multi-strike ---> dmg becomes 0.7D & attack speed becomes 1.94As ---> DPS = 1.358D*AS
So Multi-strike only provides around 35.8% more damage, way worse than other support options.


2. Why Slayer?
Spoiler
The balls takes sometime to land, making our sustain somewhat delayed from the initial hits. With Slayer's full life leech, we can save the leech for later and tank mobs pretty well.


12. Previous Guides


3.1 Guide
Spoiler

Hi guys! With 3.1.0's new support, Ancestral Call, many have been trying out Molten with it, this is another build that make use of this new support to help Molten in map clearing without sacrificing single target DPS. (Because balls overlaps)

Spoiler

Mapping is pretty fast and satisfying after reaching endgame with some decent attack speed and movement speed. You whirling blade into packs, hit mobs really quickly, on to the next pack.
Looks like Flicker Strike with Ngamahu's.


2017/12/28
Spoiler

Up to this moment, I've done Shaper 5~6 times, red Elder 6 times. I feel like the build is ready and complete. That being said, I do believe there's room for improvement, so while I am gonna try building new characters, I'll follow this thread and check out the cool suggestion you guys/ladies have to offer, and make improvements based on our discussion when I have time. My computer is crap, so I am not able to record any gameplay, if you played this build, or similar ones, and has videos showcasing your awesomeness, you are more than welcome to share and stole the spotlight :).

Have fun!

:you haven't done uber atziri yet :P
Spoiler

i'll come back and try uber atziri when i have the tickets, since i am just a casual player and had no luck in farming good uber atziri items in the past few leagues, most of the times i'd just sell the tickets for a decent amount of currency and go shopping for my future characters. Again, if you have footage of you finishing uber atziri, let us know!

Some players have done U-Atziri, they've listed their gears too, if you are interested, you can go to page 7 and check them out!



Tried a few other skills, didn't have much fun and ultimately went to play with Poet's Pen. Currently working on a Frostbolt&FreezingPulse build by using 2 pens, pretty fun so far. In theory it will do 1M+ DPS against shaper with 175% increased life and some ES, but I am not sure whether sustain will be enough. If the build performs well enough, i'll put up a guide.

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Contents

1. Build Concept
Spoiler

Build Concept

Molten Strike's balls takes some time before landing on an enemy, even with Vaal Pact, you kinda have to give it a sec to leech life from the balls. Some have been using claws to gain the VP effect with life gain on hit, but after seeing the new swords, Grelwood Shank, I thought I'd give it a try with swords.



(Calling it GS for short later on)

To solve the leech problem, I thought of Endless Hunger. After using POB to try out different kinds of passive tree, I ultimately decided to go Scion and pick slayer to achieve full life leech. For secondary ascendancy, I picked raider for frenzy charges and onslaught.

Is GS any good?
Spoiler

The condition granting 2 more projectiles is really easy to proc, for normal molten strike, we get 7 balls from using 2 wildfire jewels. If we add 4 more, that is similar to having a 1.57x dmg multiplier. Besides granting more balls, GS also provides some useful keystone passives like Iron Reflexes and Pointblank. Both of these are great for Molten Strike, and can save us some additional points. On top of all these cool and good mods, it also has nice DPS and is fairly cheap at the moment.


Ballz, how many and how fast can we serve them?
Spoiler

Without Dying Sun and enchantment: 11*3*7 = 231 balls per sec
With Dying Sun and enchantment: 16*3*7 = 336 balls per sec
With Multi-Strike: 16*3*13 = 624 balls per sec

Want some more?
Spoiler

With LMP: 18*3*13 = 702 balls per sec
With LMP+GMP : 22*3*13 = 858 balls per sec
Spoiler
just for fun, not recommended

Spoiler
poison potential perhaps? meme: 1000 stacks of poison

oh man, if only Volley works with Molten Strike, it'd be so cool...





2. Viability (If the community has provided videos, i'll post them here ^^)
Spoiler

Viability

Normal Atziri - pretty easy as long as you don't blindly use molten on the mirror

Uber Atziri - don't have the tickets yet, sry!

Vaal Temple - died once, I got a friend to help out with the map, he was playing Mathil's Claw MoltenStrike, he died once too, but was able to get the job done while I took a nap.
(without VP and the bosses moving so fast, i am not sure if this is doable without dying)

Uber Lab - I did my run on level 73, need to dodge some attacks, damage-wise, absolutely enough
Spoiler

2017/12/25 - can farm uber lab pretty well! fast movement and attack speed makes the run quicker than expected.


Breaches - Piece of cake.
Spoiler

Xoph - Pretty easy, face tank and show him that fire damage is also our strong suit, but be nice to him and thank him if he drops the necklace.


Tul/Esh/Uul-Netol - Easy, noting to special to mention.

Chayula - Haven't done this one yet, if you have decent chaos resist, it won't be too hard.



Abyss - Keep fortify up and watch rare abyss mobs melt
Spoiler

on t14-t16 some rare abyss monsters hit pretty hard if you have high or multiple damage mods on your map, you can still tank most of it, but for the sake of safety and our EXP, keep fortify up and don't stand still for too long, whirling blades out and wait for the leech to get you back to full life, it only take a sec.

Remember, without VP, you still need to dodge some dangerous shits.
and
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
(well, in POE, you can die pretty quick to overconfidence. LOL)


Spoiler

2017/12/26
Finally met a lich boss, got this fight on T11 map, pretty easy, clean kill. Since our movement speed is so high, avoiding the projectiles is really easy to do.


2017/12/28
Ran into lich bosses few more times on T13 and above. All clean and still are easy to deal with.


Elder and his Guardians
Spoiler

1. Took down red T12 Elder on level 85, died once, wasn't familiar with its attacks and damage
2. Got Elder to spawn at red maps again, T11, clean kill, not even dangerous (was well geared though)


some thoughts on Elder and Guardian fights
Spoiler

1. Some guardians move around, might take a bit more than 20 sec per phase.
2. Consecutive Elder tentacle hits might cause death, however, we move pretty fast, don't seem to be a problem. Room for error is pretty big too because of the full life leech.
3. The one shot attack Elder uses on map bosses will not cause us to lose life due to full life leech, this makes Elder fights a joke imo.
4. We can hit multiple portals, this also makes Elder phase 2 a joke.
5. Due to 3 & 4, Elder fight is very easy even with average gears.




Shaper Guardians
Spoiler

Chimera
Spoiler

2017/12/25 - corrupted map with monster dmg, mobs cannot be cursed and other minor stuffs


Hydra
Spoiler

2017/12/26 - corrupted map with attack speed mod and crit %, died once.

She moves around a bit, so this fight might take longer due to how molten strike works.

Video provided by picketingcarl
(https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/picketingcarl/characters)


Phoenix
Spoiler

2017/12/27 - corrupted map with ele resist, phys reflect and other minor mods.
Clean, but had to go home once for flask.


2017/12/27 - second run, had boss dmg mod, attack speed, ele resist. Clean kill, requires some dodging due to boss dmg, survived a blast somehow, but dont try it...

Minotaur
Spoiler

2017/12/27 - corrupted map with some mods, didnt remember what is was. Anyway, clean kill, totally tankable, even opened up an abyss by accident when fighting minotaur.

I had Taste of Hate in this fight, if you dont, might not be able to fully facetank, but absolutely doable.




Shaper
Spoiler

Died once on third phase, got stunned by a yellow ball and took a hammer slam in the face due to the stun.

He knew this was what I needed and was kindly it enough to drop it. ( 2 usage Dying Sun)




3. Pros & Cons
Spoiler

Pros
+ Tanky - thanks to GS, we gain Iron Reflexes and 80%*2 armor while standing still.
+ Sustain - Some nice leech from passive tree, Atziri's Promise, blood rage.
+ Single Target - 150K/80K per ball on mobs/shaper on POB (can get more easily)
+ Budget Friendly - Can be used as League starter. Has high scaling if you have the currency (or luck)
+ Clearing - Pretty fast, whirling blades into packs, hit once or twice, move on
+ Simple - Pretty beginner friendly build start with, not much dmg conversion, DoT stuff

Cons
- Not instant leech - need to dodge some dangerous attacks
- Passive points refunding - in order to utilize scions ascendancy, this is inevitable
- Reflect and no leech - maps with these mods can be a problem, doable, but better to just skip them if you can.
- Lag - with Vaal Haste, 4 frenzy and onslaught, we can make a lot of balls, hundreds of ball per sec, so yeah, you might experience some performance issue.

TL;dr
Spoiler

Decent mapping with great single target. Tanky but not the tankiest build out there.
Great league starter, can build into endgame with some/affordable investments.
Spoiler

This build isn't as deadly as Steph Curry, isn't as defensive as Hassan Whiteside, isn't as fast as Kyrie Irving. This is however an all-around build like Kawhi Leonard.
Put some currency into it, the build becomes LeBron James.
If you want to do it all, this is the build that offers everything.



Note that Abyss League provides so many OP things for attack builds.
Things might change in the next league, build may not be op then, but I am confident it will still be viable, at least tier 2 imo.



4. Build/Passive Tree
Spoiler


2018/1/5 Final Version
1. Took off Pure Talent and refunded the 3 points connected to Templar's starting point. That 5% pen and 1% leech doesn't really justify losing 15% life.
2. Jewels in passive tree isn't restricted besides 2 Wildfires. Other sockets can be located for either normal jewels or abyss jewels. (#Abyss jewels tend to provide more DPS)

PoB Link:
https://pastebin.com/uZWfK5gr

PoE Planner:
https://goo.gl/w2QuhA

Ascendancy/Pantheon (Credits to sqvirel for helping out, I was lazy and didn't do this part)
Spoiler

1) Labyrinths:

Normal: STR/DEX node + skill point
Cruel: Slayer node + skill point
Merciless: Path of Duelist + DEX node
Uber: passive point + Raider node

You can grab Raider before getting to Duelist starting point ascendancy. Normally when I play Scion, I grab two ascendancies first, but by getting to the duelist starting point, I could refund a bunch of points and ultimately use those points to gain a buff larger than taking Raider.
Again, you can choose your own sequence, but this is the order I picked when I first played this.

2) Pantheon:
Major god:
Soul of Arakaali - Insane life leech after CwDT&IC stops BR's degen.
Soul of the Brine King - You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor god:
Soul of Yugul - 25% reduced Reflected Damage taken
Soul of Tukohama - While stationary, gain 2% additional Physical Damage Reduction each second, up to a maximum of 8%



Abyss Jewels are OP, I want more sockets!-2018/1/7
Spoiler

If you find/buy/have OP abyss jewels, you can tweak the tree a bit, refund some points and locate the sockets.
With Belly of the Beast, your flat life jewels' effect get magnified, providing lots of offensive and defensive stats.

My lv92 tree now looks like this.

Spoiler

With that setup, when I go Super Saiyan, I hit 300K per ball. Counting the initial hit damage, I only need to land 3 balls to reach 1M+ DPS against Shaper. Also, I have 7K+ life to help me do crazy sextant-ed maps. Lebron James playoff mode!



AoF Version with FirePen Watcher's Eye
Spoiler



This is a updated version, the new version has been really fun and satisfying, I'll be sticking to this version from now on. That being said, I'll leave the original process of building this character for your references. - 2017/12/25
Spoiler


Keystone Passives: Iron Grip/Elemental Overload
Bandits: Kill all
Pantheon: Arakaali and Yugul/Tukuhama

I personally like to have my builds finished around at lv85-lv90, since the last ten passive points are harder to obtain for most causal players. Anyway, links are listed below:

POB Link - https://pastebin.com/W0fcd47c
(added leveling trees, 2017/12/24)
POB updated and now provides Abyss sockets and jewels, I'll post the new POB link in the next section

Online Passive Tree:
https://goo.gl/U7UHdE

My take on GS and MS
Spoiler
Besides the upside of having 4 more balls, GS also provides Point Blank and Iron Reflexes. Because of this, I chose not to go to raider side of the tree and went to templar side and grab EO.

Via dual wielding GS, we can have 11 balls per strike, if we count the AC attacks, we get 33 balls per strike while mapping and 22 balls while bossing. Assuming we land half of balls on the boss, we can get over a million damage on them, if they happen to have minions around, even more single target DPS.

Currently, +3 projectiles and Dying Sun are kind of expensive, if you happen to have these things, you can in theory get 16 balls per strike.



Some Numbers/Data/Stats (has an updated version in the Updates section)
Spoiler

My in game status with 4 frenzy, HOA, Anger. I will explain why I went Anger instead of Hatred later.
(I am from Taiwan, hence the in-game description are in Chinese)



Tooltip DPS is based on the hit rather than the balls, so let's see POB stats.
(flasks and vaal haste are off) (against normal mobs)



Balls deal 80K dps each against shaper. (flasks and vaal haste are off)

Please know that the gear in POB are not highly rolled, I set them on median values so that the DPS does not get exaggerated.

(In game, I am currently using a two socket Abyss gloves and a two socket Abyss belt, the abyss jewels I have are all HP + 3 flat dmg, so in reality, I deal more dmg than the POB version.)


2017/12/25 - my current in game defensive stats
Spoiler

level 90:
Life: 6K life with out Belly of the Beast
Spoiler
might be able to get 6.4K with belly, 6.2K with Lightless

Armor: while standing, 12213, 50% physical mitigation
Spoiler

I bought a lv19 grace to try it out, if you are on hardcore or would like to be even more tanky, taking Grace will give you roughly 20K armor while standing, 60-63% physical mitigation.

Block %: 17%
Movement Speed: 48% (30% boots without frenzy and onslaught)
Spoiler

With four frenzy charges and onslaught, we can get 68% movement speed. With a quicksilver flask on, we get 108% movement speed. This is also a factor why Lab runs are pretty easy with this build.





5. Updates
Spoiler

Updates

2017/12/24 - faster attack speed with high dps at the cost of losing 100 life
Spoiler

Updated a version of passive tree that has a Pure Talent jewel and focuses more on attack speed to further utilize Anger and Abyss jewels.


POB Link: https://pastebin.com/QFMpCSyn


(Took precision because I didn't have accuracy on my rings, not really needed if your hit chance is above 90%)



In this version of tree, Pure Talent gives 5% pen, 1% leech and 25 attributes at the cost of around 100 life. The penetration effect does not matter while clearing trash, but can make boss fights a bit easier. Hematophagy route doesn't provide us much leech since we are dealing mostly fire dmg, so the leech from pure talent can make boss fights smoother too.
(Hematophagy provides +maximum leech per sec, so still pick it nonetheless.)



2017/12/25 - added abyss jewels, again, median valued and just 3 mods so DPS doesn't get exaggerated.
Spoiler

POB Link - https://pastebin.com/mkmXDvrA

not intimated dps PER ball against Shaper (flask and vaal haste off)


intimated dps PER ball against Shaper (flash and vaal haste off)


Super Saiyan Blue against Shaper

if you go Super Saiyan on trash, DPS is around 270K PER ball

Like mentioned above, the gears in POB are at most good rolled, not too crazy, definitely not insanely good. In actual POE, I have better jewels and better rolled gears. Abyss jewels with 4 mods are pretty cheap at the moment, I think it's because it's new, and most people do not know how to value it and price it properly.

My current DPS
Spoiler

I deal 180K to shaper with my character when I am super saiyan against shaper. If I can land 10 balls on him, I can deal 1.8M DPS in theory.
Oh and my rings are just normal defensive rings, if you have good steel rings or ones with AED mod, you can probably hit 200K per ball, if you also have more balls than I do, 16 per strike, and manage to land half of the balls wit Ancestral Call, you can deal 16*200K = 3.2M to shaper.


2017/12/25
Spoiler

2018/1/10 40% Con vs 15% Pen
Spoiler

At first, 40% con gives more dmg on paper. But as you invest in some abyss jewels and flat dmg, when the base added dmg goes up, 15% pen will start to catch up and eventually surpass 40% con.

For endgame gear, use 15% pen with projectile weakness as curse for maximum dmg potential.

Finally got my hands on Watcher's Eye, on paper, 40% conversion is better than 15% pen, and I happen to run into a cheap one on the market for 50C.

I divined it twice and got this

6% ES, Life, Mana and 40% phy to fire conversion
(last mod is the one that gives you block % when you have discipline, trash mod for this build)
With this new toy, my dps on POB now arrived at 200K per ball against shaper.
Again, this is not required to make to the build work, just a silly-no-actual-trade-off-dps-boost item.

Spoiler
In my opinion, this jewel should not have the Life, ES, Mana so that using this will require you to sacrifice sth. With life on this jewel, you'd just put 5 of this if you are allowed to put 3...






2017/12/26 - added a new section showing stats based on budget



6. Gearing
Spoiler

Gearing

Since I am not on the international server, pricings may defer.

Mandatory:
Grelwood Shank - Pretty cheap at the moment, I got mine for 15-20C each, 190/17 and 182/19.
Wildfire Jewels - Must have for molten strike builds

Recommends:
Spoiler

These are just some good items you can use, non of them are must haves.

Starkonja's Head - High HP, attack speed, some crit to help proc EO (15C-25C)
(a rare helmet with MS enchantment is better imo, still saving $$)
(you can just use a rare helmet with decent life, resist and accuracy if possible)
Tombfist - Attack speed, intimidate on hit, one socket version is enough (30-40C)
Spoiler



Darkness Enthroned - Allows two abyss jewels, can provide lots of damage or resistance if needed
Spoiler



Astral Plate - roll some hp and resistances (divination cards are 35-45C each)
Belly of the Beast - always good for melee builds.


Spoiler

If your run lots of unique items, ele resist might be an issue and will force you to use highly defensive accessories.
Solution:
1. have your abyss jewels provide them at the cost of some damage lost.
2. don't use that many unique items. xD


Endgame Rares should have the following mods
Spoiler

Helmet: life / ele resist > accuracy > armor / evasion
Chest: life / ele resist > armor / evasion
Gloves: attack speed / flat dmg > life / ele resist > armor / eveasion
Boots: movement speed / life / ele resist > armor / evasion
Belts: WED > life / ele resist
Accessories: WED / flat dmg > accuracy / life / ele resist

Enchantments
Spoiler

Helmet: +3 > +2 > MoltenDmg > IceGolem effect > aura mana reservation
Gloves: doesn't matter that much
Boots: ele pen for boss fights > attack speed / cold / fire > crit % if you haven't crit recently



Flasks:
Dying Sun - 2 more balls per single strike, 6 if you count AC
Taste of Hate - good defensive and offensive flask
Atziri's Promise - additional dmg and leech
Wise Oak - dmg pen.
Spoiler

By all means, not mandatory. However, Atziri and Wise Oak are strong and pretty cheap, strongly recommend you grab these two.


Jewels:
Jewels are heavily situational, the priority sequence is just for reference, please adjust accordingly to your current gear, play style.
Normal Jewels: Life > projectile dmg / attack speed > physical dmg / fire dmg
Abyss Jewels: Life / flat dmg / attack speed > accuracy / dmg if killed recently > ele resist / crit % if you haven't crit


Things you can try
Spoiler

Watcher's Eye - Insanely OP if you have an Anger themed one.
(I'd like to get either the conversion or the penetration one, these 2 provides most dps boost on paper)
(finally got it, really good dmg boost with no trade off)

Pure talent - If we connect our tree to templar's starting point, we can gain 5% pen, 1% leech, 25 attributes from this (added a version that uses this, 2017/12/25)


Shaper/Elder Items - New mods provide some insanely OP things, lv 22 Anger, Fire dmg leech, curse on hit, blah blah blah.
(this things require either extreme luck or some serious investment, and will probably not be available to the majority of players)


My Gear (2017/12/25)
Spoiler

2 Grelwood Shanks: 190/17 & 179/18, good rolled, but there's room for improvement
Starkonja: 86 life & 125% evasion, no MS enchantment yet
Tombfist: 8% attack speed & 6% life wit 2 abyss sockets, got it for 1.5ex
Darkness Enthroned: 2 abyss sockets
Abyss jewels: HP + flat dmg or attack speed, 3~10C
Rings and Amulet: ~70 life, 80~100% resist each (defensive mods)



7. Skills/Links
Spoiler

Skill/Links

Main Skill
4L:Molten Strike - AC - Elemental Dmg with Attacks - Con. Effect
5L/6L: pick two from Dmg on Full Life / Elemental Focus / Fire Pen.
(I am currently using Dmg on Full Life and EF because these two provides the most DPS on paper)
Spoiler

Fire Pen. works best when you don't have too much pen.
Math:
Spoiler

For shaper, he has 40% ele resist, meaning he will only take 60% of ele dmg you deal.
Without any other pen, if we link a lv20 Fire Pen. as a support, his resist becomes 3%, taking 97% dmg. 97/60 = 1.61, that's a 61% more dmg boost provided by Fire Pen.

However, using our setup with Pure Talent, we get 13% pen without drinking Wise Oak.
Now shaper has 27% resist, taking 73% dmg. If we then use fire pen, his resist becomes -10%, taking 110% of dmg. 110/73 = 1.506, that's a 50.6% more dmg boost granted by fire pen.

However, if you run Flammability and counting the Wise Oak, Fire Penetration's effect will drop furthermore. If you do run Fire Pen, I would suggest changing curse to Projectile Weakness. And if you have the Taming, you probably want to run FirePen instead of EF to get the bonus dmg effect off of it.

Again, no right or wrong whichever you choose, FirePen helps you when maps have resist mods a lot. So depending on what you want to do better, mapping or bossing, choose accordingly.



How about Multi-strike?
Spoiler

Let's take a look at this one with some math involved.
Attacks with this support repeats 2 additional times, in other words, one click three hits. However, unlike Ancestral Call, where you hit once and trigger the balls twice, with multi-strike, you hit three times and trigger your balls three times, no magnifying effect.

The skill actually just grants us 94% "more" attack speed and saving you some mana, let's give it a buff and set it to 100% more, meaning if you use this, you deal twice as much as one would without it. Remember, using Multi-strike gives a penalty of 0.7x per strike, this also applies to our balls.

Math
Spoiler

Set our dmg at 5L without Multi to X, attack speed A. Our DPS would be AX.
Now put in our buffed Multi-strike, the stats become 0.7X & 2A, giving us a DPS of 1.4AX.
So we can see Multi-strike as a 1.4x dmg multiplier.

Other support gems we have besides AC can have more than 1.5x multiplier, resulting in better DPS.

I've tried Multi-strike, with it I can achieve 13 attack speed while on 4 frenzy, onslaught, blood rage and totem. You can create double the original amount of balls, but your balls also deals only 0.7x of original dmg.


However, if you have good steel rings and lots of flat dmg, the double attack effect will double your flat dmg effects. So if you want, you can gear around a Multi-strike Support with steel rings and flat dmg abyss jewels. In endgame, I'd say you might get higher DPS with crazy good gears by using Multi-strike. But right now, I don't see an benefit, at least not good enough, to absolutely use Multi-strike.

Movement
Whirling Blades - Fortify - Faster Attack
(put leap slam on weapon swap)

CwDT
CwDT - Immortal Call - Molten Shell - Ice Golem
CwDT - BV - CoH - Flammability (Flammability / Ele Weakness / Projectile Weakness)
Spoiler

L20Q20 PW works better than L20 Flammability.
Not much DPS difference, only about a 4% increase against shaper.


Aura/Buff
Ancestral Protector
Blood Rage ( I put mine on weapon so that I can turn it off manually)
Vaal Haste ( or lightening, depends on you)
Herald of Ash
Spoiler

Some times balls miss, with HoA, other mobs that dies will help us finish the job, hence HoA.

Anger
Spoiler

Hatred provides more dmg while leveling, but after our attack speed reaches high enough, anger becomes the better option, if you still feel like using Hatred, change your curse to Ele Weakness



8. Leveling
Spoiler

Leveling

Afterthoughts (2017/12/26)
Spoiler

1. Link MS with Faster Attacks for smoother gameplay in the early stages.
2. You don't have to get EO this early like I did, you can pick it up after you feel you have enough attack speed or crit % to proc it.


I did my character by getting EO first, needed to test it out a bit, then traveled down to Duelist side through Marauder. With a closer look at the tree, I think it'd be better to just travel to Duelist from Constitution, grab the socket on the way and put the second wildfire into it.

Btw, you do not have to locate the jewel sockets yet if you dont have one available, just locate it after you get good ones with life and dmg on it. (or put abyss jewels in it if you really want to)

Level 30ish
Spoiler




Level 65ish (done 2-3 labs)
Spoiler


(you can put your Wildfire in the socket that's on the path and then relocate it into the socket in the duelist region)


Useful Uniques while Leveling:
Spoiler

Tempestuous Steel - cheap, 1C


Innsbury Edge - cheap, 1C


Tabula Rasa - 15~20C

Darkness Enthroned - below 10C
(the new belt is pretty good, not op, but really decent imo, can be used all the way to the endgame)



9. Customization
Spoiler

Customization

Want to be more tanky? Swap for Arctic Armor and Grace.
More ballz plz! Use Multi-Strike.
Have a belly in your stash? Wear it.
Happen to have a +3 MS Rat's Nest? Put it on! (or a normal Rat's Nest)

other items you can try
Spoiler

Helmet: Rats Nests, Obscurantis, LightPoacher, Devotion
Chest: Belly of the Beast, Shroud of the Lightless, Yriel's Fostering, Perfect Form
Gloves: Shaper's Touch, Winds of Change, Volkuur's Guidance, Snakebite
Amulet: Xoph's Blood, Impresence, Karui Charge, Carnage Heart
Belts: Doryani's Invitation, Dyadian Dawn, The Retch, Headhunter
Boots: Bubonic Trail, Kaom's Roots, Redblade Tramplers

Spoiler
Xoph's Blood is pretty damn OP, with the ash thing and AoF, you can reach 400K/250K dps per ball against trash/shaper. It's a luxury item, so don't worry about getting it too much if you don't have the currency.


Spoiler
actually, you can even change the swords, you can have one Grelwood to give you PointBlank and IronReflexes, and use another rare or unique sword you like, but for the sake of creating more balls, let's keep using two :P


(just a few I can think of now, if you have something else in mind, feel free to make some suggestions :)



There's a lot of room for customizing this build as Molten Strike is one of the most straightforward skill to use. Besides the swords and Wildfire, everything else can be changed to suit your style of gameplay.



10. Budget Setup and Correspondent Stats
Spoiler

(without taking into the swords' costs)

A. 6L chest 50C and only average normal rares


B. 1.5ex ~ 2ex


C. 3~5ex


D. Meme


"

With the cheapest setup, 6L MS gives you around 65K DPS per ball, if you are also unlucky, and can only land 5 balls per strike, you still deal more than 300K dps, if you take the initial hit in to account, you deal 350K dps, not great, but definitely enough for T15.
With the insane setup, and some luck by landing half of the balls, you can deal 3.3M dps, but this is just a meme, unrealistic and super hard to do. Unless you are a fulltime gamer or freaking lucky.



=====================================================================================================

I am still trying out different setups to find the best all around version, so any ideas or suggestions are extremely welcomed.

If there's grammar error or badly-explained things, plz let me know, I'll correct those or elaborate a bit more.

Thanks for reading this and have fun !!!




Last edited by peterfang93 on Dec 7, 2018, 2:40:25 AM
Last bumped on Apr 4, 2018, 12:43:08 AM
I saw Engineering Eternity is working on a similar build with the same weapon, only going AoF. I'm curious about giving this a shot; how would you level it? Go down to Duelist first and refund once you can Scion ascendancy to duelist start?
I will try to get my hands on a anger based Watcher's Eye with phys converted to fire.
With a high rolled, let's say 35%, we can get 95% of our phys to fire without going to AoF, thus saving us more points to spend. Imo, AoF's position cost too many points to reach, so if budget is not an issue, Watcher's Eye will be the most efficient way.
(POB's version is without the Eye and AoF, still does tons of damage, and by not getting AoF, we can spend more points on health.)

In POB, taking EO seems really good, but I wasn't too sure about the difficulty of proc-ing it. So I decided to pick up EO ASAP to test it out in combat. Then I traveled to Duelist side, through Marauder, to obtain leech to make gameplay smoother and easier. Afterwards, refund the points between Marauder and Duelist.

I'll add leveling later today with the trees and gears. ^^

Currently on T14-T15, can tank double bosses on rare T14 T15 maps and kill most of them under 10~15secs.
Can you please give a leveling advice on when to start using molten strike ?
Is going directly to elemetal overload really a good idea with having no crit to begin with ?

What uniques would you suggest while leveling ?
TwitchTV: http://www.twitch.tv/akumanotsubasa
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkumaNoTsubasa
Please use http://pobb.in for your guides instead of pastebin!
"
Can you please give a leveling advice on when to start using molten strike ?
Is going directly to elemetal overload really a good idea with having no crit to begin with ?

What uniques would you suggest while leveling ?


I was not sure how often we could proc EO, so I went there straight away to test it out while I progress. In reality, I think after your attack speed is higher than 4~5, it becomes pretty easy to proc. You can of course pick EO after acquiring Ice Golem or Starkonja/Rats Nest/Diamond Rings.
Btw, CwDT-BV setup can also help proc EO.

In my play through, during second part of main quests, boss fights where you can actually hit something for more than 10 secs, EO procs very nicely. Endgame boss fights or mapping, EO will come up often enough in its 8 sec span to keep it going.

For leveling, I only used 2 unique weapons(after level 20), Tempestuous Steel and Innsbury Edge. I was lazy to buy new swords after level 60, still managed to kill Kitava fairly fast, allowing him only one to two attacks per phase. If you want your level 50-66 easier, I'd say Prismatic Eclipse will do it.



As for when to start using Molten Strike, I used MS from the very beginning after reaching the first town.
Note: I linked MS with Faster Attacks before I get to level 50ish, faster attack can make mapping smoother, and allows faster movement skill usages before we get enough attack speed from passive tree.
Last edited by peterfang93 on Dec 24, 2017, 8:58:22 PM
Started to try this build. The Manacosts trouble me in the begining. Even with a Mana per hit mod.

Your PoB Link is partially very nice in terms of the trees but the used items lack in help of what to use, except the two weapons and gloves.

Also you socketed 3 Wildfires into the PoB Tree, only two are allowed.

How to progress the ascendancy ?
My guess would be Slayer -> Raider -> Path of the Duelist ?

It would be REALLY VERY helpful if you would make your characters public or at least post your current gear as it is now.

edit: Never used wise oak. To make it work, do I have to have my fire res at a max of 74%?
TwitchTV: http://www.twitch.tv/akumanotsubasa
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkumaNoTsubasa
Please use http://pobb.in for your guides instead of pastebin!
Last edited by AkumaNoTsubasa on Dec 25, 2017, 9:25:33 AM
"
Started to try this build. The Manacosts trouble me in the begining. Even with a Mana per hit mod.

Your PoB Link is partially very nice in terms of the trees but the used items lack in help of what to use, except the two weapons and gloves.

Also you socketed 3 Wildfires into the PoB Tree, only two are allowed.

How to progress the ascendancy ?
My guess would be Slayer -> Raider -> Path of the Duelist ?

It would be REALLY VERY helpful if you would make your characters public or at least post your current gear as it is now.

edit: Never used wise oak. To make it work, do I have to have my fire res at a max of 74%?


In the leveling trees, the lv65 one has three wildfire to let you know that you can get a socket earlier and use hit harder with MS. Once you get to the duelist side you can relocate wildfire, as the original one will get refunded afterwards. Mana issue is not sth i had with my run, I had 2 life and mana flasks, and one quicksilver while leveling.

For leveling, you should be able to complete story quests with average rares you pick up along the way.

I can link my real character if you want to see it, but it's in chinese.
https://web.poe.garena.tw/account/view-profile/peterfang93/characters

Wise Oak will provide the penetration effect as long as you have your fire resistance higher than others. It depends on your absolute resistance value. (the ones in the brackets on your ingame tooltip)
Your profile is hidden:

Can't you post your items when you click your char profile on the upper left while writing a post ?
TwitchTV: http://www.twitch.tv/akumanotsubasa
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkumaNoTsubasa
Please use http://pobb.in for your guides instead of pastebin!
"
Your profile is hidden:

Can't you post your items when you click your char profile on the upper left while writing a post ?


I think that's because it blocked outside connection to my countries forum, i can see my characters without loggin in, and I checked my profile's privacy settings, everything is public here.

I will try to link my gears in my country's forum and redirect it to here.

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