Immortal Incinerator (03/12/13)

TL;DR: Incinerate, the Fending cluster, and Projectile Weakness are a fun combination! There are much better Incinerate builds out there now with Shavronne's Wrappings, though.

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Immortal Incinerator
Click on the header above to reach the passive skill tree! I've rethought the build, and I think this is probably the best way to go about making an Incinerate build in Hardcore. It's still pretty experimental, so I'll have to wait until later levels to confirm its viability and make more tweaks. It can now also be done as a Templar.

The name comes from two key skills that inspired the build: Incinerate and Immortal Call. If you know how either work, you can probably guess where I'm going with this. You could say the idea is to turn your Templar into a living Flame Totem. The objective is to be able to stay in a single spot and withstand any offense as you cast Incinerate so it can progress through its stages.

Main focuses:

• Eldritch Battery is taken to give you a high amount of maximum Mana so that, combined with Clarity, Inner Force, and high Mana Regeneration, even with three 40% Mana Reserved auras you can still cast Incinerate constantly.
• Unwavering Stance is taken to completely negate stuns, the cause of cast interruption. I consider this a necessary component for Incinerate even if you won't get stunned very often at high levels, as it will cause you to have to restart the stages again. Perhaps you won't need it at high levels-- that will require some testing.
• Projectile Weakness is used so that you can knock enemies back (constantly, considering overlapping multiple projectiles and high cast speed), possibly stun lock them, and still get the benefit of a high damage output. In this case it may work better than Flammability because rather than adding to the layer of more damage with Fire Penetration, it adds another layer of damage multiplication.
• Righteous Fire is used to heighten damage output if wanted, therefore you should probably have a Bubbling + Dousing flask at hand. This will require some testing to check viability.
• Enduring Cry is used to reach 7 Endurance Charges which also greatly increases your Life Regeneration, aiding in lessening the degeneration of Righteous Fire.
• Discipline is interesting in that it won't increase the actual usable Mana by much, but because it increases the maximum Mana substantially it also increases the Mana regeneration substantially, which is very important for Incinerate.

Gems (Supports ordered by importance):

• Incinerate + Iron Will + Fire Penetration + Faster Projectiles/Casting + Mana/Life Leech + Lesser/Greater Multiple Projectiles
• Molten Shell + Iron Will + Fire Penetration + Increased Area of Effect/Concentrated Effect, preferably in a Rime Gaze
• Projectile Weakness + Enduring Cry + Increased Area of Effect
• Purity + Determination + Haste + Discipline + Reduced Mana
• Clarity + Grace (if you remove Unwavering Stance) + Blood Magic + Reduced Mana
• Blood Rage + Immortal Call + Increased Duration
• Righteous Fire + Lightning Warp + Faster Casting

Equipment:

• Caster weapons are needed. The ideal choices are wands and sceptres, as daggers' implicit modifiers don't affect Incinerate, and the increased burning damage of Searing Staff doesn't either. You'll want increased spell/elemental/fire damage and cast/projectile speed on them.
• You'll also want a shield to take advantage its defensive properties. Of course, caster modifiers are ideal. Saffel's Frame is ideal in an alternate weapon set.
• Rime Gaze is ideal for a helm as it likely fulfills all Eldritch Battery needs and acts as a 5-linked item for Molten Shell so that you can use Increased Area of Effect.
• On everything else you'll want the typical armor, life, resistance, and fire caster modifiers.

Bandit Rewards:

• Normal: Side with Oak for +40 Base Maximum Life.
• Cruel: Side with Alira for +4% Cast Speed.
• Merciless: Side with Oak for +1 Maximum Endurance Charge.

Okay, the post has been updated substantially. It is no longer using the Blood Magic gem as Eldritch Battery comes with far too many benefits, possibly eliminating the need for additional linked gems to cast Incinerate constantly. Fending has also been removed because with just Projectile Weakness it becomes trivial. Oh, and my Hardcore character is going along pretty strongly with only defensive passives thus far.