Righteous Fire Calculator v1.03b (semi-updated for Open Beta)

1.03b - Flammability's level can now be changed in the Curse Evaluation tab.
1.03a - Corrected the Oak Life bonus to 40 HP instead of 45 HP.

1.02a - The unique item Meginord's Girdle has been added.
1.02 - A tab has been added to compare Saffell's Frame and Springleaf.
1.01b - Redbeak has been removed. Confirmed to have no impact on RF.
1.01a - Fixed Redbeak to also increase damage taken from RF.

This will be more of a basic foundation instead of a comprehensive guide. There are many variations of Righteous Fire (RF) builds, but this guide will mostly cover what you need to just stay alive. I strongly recommend that you level up as melee or ranged and switch to RF no earlier than Merciless. RF can be effective early on, but you will have difficulties progressing and will most likely end up overlevelled. Vaal is particularly difficult to beat without enough sustain when using RF. I would also recommend that you make a default character for RF. You will die. The very nature of RF is killing yourself to kill your enemies. Save yourself the frustration and go with default. With that said, no one is stopping you from making a Hardcore RF character if you enjoy the challenge.

Gameplay will mostly involve running around like a headless chicken while managing flasks and dodging attacks. However, your enemies will magically die around you! RF is a nice change of pace from normal gameplay and also a great challenge for any player. Now let’s get to the guide!

-Righteous Fire deals 50% of your max Life per second as burning damage to your enemies.
-RF deals 100% of your max Life per second as burning damage to yourself.
-The self-damage can ONLY be reduced with fire resistance.
-The burning from RF can only be stopped by a flask of dousing (dispels burning) or until you reach 1 Life.
-Most support gems do not work with RF (Increased AoE is probably the most helpful one).
-Increased burning damage from the passive tree or equipment will increase the damage enemies take from RF, but it will also increase the damage you take.
-Inner Force will increase the damage you take from RF because it is considered a buff.
-The damage enemies take from RF will be lowered by their Fire Resistance. Using a spell like Flammability will increase the damage enemies take from RF.
-Energy shield will be used up first with RF, but it will not regenerate until after the burning is gone.
-Leveling up RF will only increase the spell damage bonus it gives. RF is not affected by spell damage, so if you aren’t using spells, there is no reason to level it up.
-RF will NOT damage totems or breakable environments (e.g. pots). That’s right, the Pyramid hates you. Also, Kuduku.

[84 points] – A general end-game build. There are 18 passive points from quests. This build will put you at level 67 (no passive point at level 1).

Passive Priority:
1. Elemental Adaptation – A must have for any RF build. It will increase your Resistance cap to 80%.
2. Life Regeneration – Life Regen will counteract the self-damage of RF. The maximum amount obtainable from passives is 7.4%
3. Endurance Charges – These will reduce physical damage taken and also help you keep your resistances capped. Make sure to get the node that increases Life Regen by 0.2% of max Life per charge.
4. Max Life/Flat Life – A large health pool is necessary to sustain RF and also to increase the damage enemies take. However, without enough Life Regen, getting more life will actually decrease your overall survivability by increasing RF self-damage.
5. Fire Resistance – Most of your Fire Resistance will be from equipment and Endurance Charges. Not much is needed from passives.
6. Other Passives – Reduced Mana Reserved is a good idea because this build uses up to three 40% mana reserved auras. A high level Reduced Mana support gem is enough late game, but this passive is needed to use all three auras early on. The +30 DEX or INT nodes are also worth mentioning. These nodes will help with leveling up skill gems. Lastly, increased Armor is always helpful.

I will mainly be focusing on skill gems that help you survive. I also mention some curses.

Auras:
Purity – A must have aura. It will help with overall resistances, but the important part is that it can increase your resistance cap by up to 4%. Requires 40% mana reservation.
Vitality – Another must have. The Life Regen is crucial to staying alive longer with RF. Requires 40% mana reservation.
Determination – This aura is recommended, but not necessary. It provides a percentage increase to Armor to help reduce monster damage. Requires 40% mana reservation.
Clarity – The Mana Regeneration will help you cast your other skills. However, a low amount of INT means that this aura probably won’t be used unless linked to a Blood Magic support gem. Make sure to have a high enough Life pool before linking Blood Magic though.

Skills:
Enduring Cry – Gives Endurance Charges based on the number of nearby enemies. The charges will increase your Resistances, physical damage reduction, and also provide Life Regen (with the passive node). A perfect skill for RF builds.
Rejuvenation Totem – This totem will give you a huge boost to Life Regen and also acts as a pseudo Decoy Totem.
Phase Run – This skill was used to avoid damage and run from mob to mob. However, it was removed in Open Beta and replaced with the Quicksilver Flask. I have not yet tested the new flask and I am also hesitant to use it because RF is very Flask dependent.

Curses:
Curses are situational. Feel free to swap between curses for different environments. Also, it is a good idea to leave your curses at level 1 for lower mana costs.

Temporal Chains – Great for reducing the damage you take from monsters. One disadvantage is that it requires DEX and INT to level up.
Enfeeble – Another good curse to reduce enemy damage.
Flammability – This curse reduces monster fire resistance so your RF will do more damage. It is a great way to kill things faster.
Vulnerability – I am not sure if the 40% increased Damage over Time applies to RF. However, it is important to note that the damage increase would be applied AFTER resistances. See the Curse Evaluation tab in the spreadsheet for a comparison against Flammability. Vulnerability is still a good curse to combat Energy Shield monsters or if you are using Physical Damage attacks.

Support Gems:
The only necessary support gems are Increased AoE and Reduced Mana. Reduced Mana helps a lot with auras and also curses because of their high mana cost. Increased AoE is great with RF because RF has no mana cost, so the gem gives an increased area at no cost. It is important to note that the radius of RF is extremely small without Increased AoE. The base radius of RF makes gameplay very risky because you have to be right next to monsters to damage them.

I used all Armor gear for the damage reduction with the exception of an Armor/ES shield for the All Resistance. Feel free to use another hybrid piece if you need the gem colors.

Equipment Priorities:
1. Life Regen – Having Life Regen on multiple pieces will add up and help you survive longer.
2. Fire Resistance – Fire Resistance mods are high for gear. This is why it is better to prioritize Fire Resistance on gear instead of passives.
3. Max Life – Increases your life pool to take more hits and sustain RF longer.

Specific Priorities:
Amulet – Onyx Amulet will help you level up non-strength skills because of the bonus to all attributes. However, try to find one with at least two of the Equipment Priorities listed above. Coral Amulets are very nice because they have an automatic Life Regen mod.
Rings – Coral Rings for max Life, or Ruby Rings for the fire resistance. Any other ring with the prioritized stats would be good.
Boots – Movement speed is very helpful on boots, especially because Armor equipment has a higher movement speed penalty.
Belt – Leather Belt is preferred because of the max Life. Heavy Belt will provide less Life, but is a good alternative. The Flask Recovery Rate affix is also very nice on belts.
Weapon – Whatever fits your build. A wand with spell damage works well for casting spells, but wands also have high INT requirements. A general weapon with Fire Resistance or strength also works. Lastly, the Life Gained on Enemy Death mod can provide a bit more mitigation for RF damage.
Shield – An Armor/ES Shield works great because of the bonus to all Resistances. Otherwise, a high Armor shield also works.

Flasks:
I would recommend two Life Flasks with increased Armor, one Life Flask with the Dispels Burning mod, and two Ruby Flasks with 20% quality and increased charge recovery. Movement speed is also a great mod to have on any flask. Ruby Flasks really help with RF. They allow me to actually start regenerating Life while RF is active!

Unique Items:
There are many Unique Items that work well with RF. Here are the most notable ones.

Ambu’s Charge – This chest will give you 2.0% extra Life Regen on Low Life. It will also generate endurance charges from critical hits and share them with your allies. A very good chest armor, but it is not necessary.
Araku Tiki – This amulet almost seems as if it was made for RF. Flat Life Regen, Flat Life, Fire Resistance, and also 1.0% Life Regen on Low Life! However, you will lose attributes if you were using an Onyx Amulet.
Kaom’s Sign – This ring increases your max number of endurance charges by 1. You can also equip two of them for double the effect! The downside is that you will need to cover fire resistance elsewhere if you were using Ruby Rings.
Meginord's Girdle - A very good belt that has Strength, 10% max Life, and also 25% increased Flask Life Recovery Rate. The last mod basically means your Life Flasks recovery the health over a shorter period of time, which results in a higher Life Regen. A rare belt will need very good mods to compete with Meginord's.
Redbeak - Redbeak adds 100% increased damage on Low Life. Unfortunately, this does not work with RF. However, it is a good way to amplify the damage of other skills because Low Life is easy to achieve with RF.
Saffell’s Frame – An amazing shield for RF. The 5% increased resistance cap will provide a lot more survivability. The shield also gives spell damage, which is beneficial if you end up supplementing RF with spells. There is no reason not to use this shield except for the level 59 level requirement.
Springleaf – An alternative to Saffell’s Frame, but not quite as good. This shield gives 6.0% Life Regen on Low Life. This may seem like a lot, but the increased resistance cap from Saffell’s is more valuable. See the Shield Evaluation tab in the spreadsheet for more details.

You can choose to help one Bandit or kill them all in each difficulty. Killing them all gives you a passive point.

Normal - Definitely help Oak. The flat 40 HP bonus is extremely good. It works in conjunction with % Life increases, so it will end up being a lot more than 40 HP. The mana from Alira is not completely useless, but it's not needed either. Kraityn's 8% All Resistance can be tempting, but resistances shouldn't be a problem with gear, Purity, and Endurance Charges.

Cruel - Oak gives 12% Physical damage, Alira gives 4% Cast Speed, and Kraityn gives 4% Attack Speed. None of these are particularly great for RF. If you plan on using RF as your main source of damage, you can just go with the passive point. Otherwise, choose whichever one works with your end-game supplement to RF.

Merciless - Help Oak for the +1 Max Endurance Charge. Alira and Kraityn give +1 to Max Power and Frenzy charges respectively. The other charges are completely useless if you don't plan on using skills that generate those charges (such as Power Siphon and Frenzy). An extra Endurance Charge provides a good boost in survivability and synergizes well with RF.

-Life Flasks do not stack with themselves and neither do Ruby Flasks. Use them one at a time!
-Use the Dousing Flask to get rid of the burning effect when all monsters are dead, or if you’re going to die.
-Sometimes it is better to use a Ruby Flask to get to another group of monsters instead of using a Dousing Flask.
-Gather large groups of monsters before using RF to make sure you recover your flask charges.

-Use the spreadsheet to find out if a piece of gear will actually increase your survivability.
-Try to get Auras and Skill gems early on to level them up. Place them in empty sockets on your gear; you don’t even have to use them!
-Be very careful around Fire Resist monsters. They will take longer to kill.
-Use Enduring Cry and Rejuvenation Totem before activating RF.
-Try to constantly be moving if there are ranged or spell casting monsters.
-You can cast multiple auras from one hotkey. This is done by switching the aura on that key after you cast it. Auras do not have to be on your action bar to be in use. This will free up room for whatever skills you want to use.

Once you are able to sustain RF, many different build options open up. Here are a few examples:

-Spell caster: RF gives a huge bonus to spell damage if leveled up. You can pick up a spell as your main source of damage if you are able to sustain RF. Ethereal Knives linked to Iron Will is a good choice for this. EK has a low DEX requirement and the massive amounts of Strength from the passive tree will add a lot of damage with Iron Will. Other spells like Freezing Pulse will also work, but usually have higher stat requirements. Another benefit of spells is that you don't have to worry about Accuracy.

-Melee: Spending three extra points to get Resolute Technique will allow you to always hit with attacks. Using Ground Slam or Lightning Strike linked to Life Leech or Life Gain on Hit can add a lot of survivability. You also get a lot of Melee damage bonus from Strength.

This section is empty because all items were wiped with Open Beta. I will update with my new gear when I have reached a high level (may take a while because I won't be playing an RF build right away).

This was a farming run through Ruthless Dread Thicket. I almost died a couple times. I have learned a lot since then, and my gear has changed significantly too. Sorry for the low quality. Video Link

This was my Merciless Vaal attempt at level 60. Video Link

Would it in any way be possible to have like for instance:

+4% max resist from aura and 5% from for a total of 84% max fire res and tons of HP regen to be able to have equal regen to hp lost ratio? I've played with the idea for a while since some games tend to have something like this. I saw a unique shield that could raise it 5% more to 89%. Just walking around and killing everything by being next to it with full hp/hp regen nodes etc. Any way to achieve this atm?