[1.0.5] Tell your neighbors, Searing bond is viable! (HC viable)

I ripped today in a map at level 73, the boss was down and there wasn't anything really close to me but my life kept draining, I hit a few pots (remove bleed) and stopped worrying about it until I saw my hp, and that was too late. Don't know what happened, might of been desyncing in a pack of monster near but there was no puncture or anything. GG. On another note I soloed Dominus yesterday at level 73 on merciless hc, showcasing just how much he is a joke with this build. Will upload some videos just to showcase the build. Thanks for those who helped me refine the build, and for a general idea ZiggyD's old build.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUAAP0CcQSzBVsQzBHCEmkUTRSwFxwXLxdQGYUaOBpsHwIjXySqJa8o-ilPKhMrtiynLdIxnjWSNsU22DbpOVI6MDrYOuE_J0GHRZ1G10rITC1N2E3jTm1VxlXWWAdZ81orXAxdxmTnbqpxeXqqgKSBb4LHh2WIG4jxi4yMRox2j0aQVZitmuCboZwtna6d2Z48oEOiAKPyplenCKeErFmsmLUEtfK3PriTvDfAGsauz2XQ0NQV2CTa3eFz42rkIudj6-7sOOxV7SDvhfAf8kX31_iT-ej60v4K_o8=

You wanna start getting area of effect nodes and respect into the elemental nodes later as it provides more to searing bond. Rush the 30 dex node first to be able to use traps, and then ancestral bond to get 2 totems out. What comes next is up to you, you can put in more life or damage.

1- I like leveling early with a good melee low lvl unique so take the nodes you want to level until 24 when you get searing bond http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBBLMFWxRNGmwpTzrYPAVN2IFvgziLjIx2na6ePJ_fogCnCNrd5CLsOO988B8=
2- Start using searing bond, take the holy fire burning nodes and head towards ancestral bond http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBBLMFWxJpFE0XHBo4GmwpTyoTLKc62DwFTdhZ81orcXmBb4M4i4yMdpBVna6ePJ_fogCj8qcIp4TAGtrd5CLsOO988B8=
3-Now go towards the scion life node while picking up the totem nodes, and you can also respec the area nodes of the beginning http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBAnEEswVbEMwSaRRNFxwaOBpsJa8pTyoTK7YspzWSOtg8LT8nRtdKyEz_TdhZ81orXAxdxm6qcXmBb4jxi4yMRox2kFWdrp48ogCj8qcIp4SsWa9stQS18rc-wBrFisau1BXa3eFz5CLnY-w47SDwH_iT_go=
4- More fire damage, more hp http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBAnEEswVbEMwSaRRNFxwaOBpsHwIlrylPKhMrtiynMZ41kjbFNtg62DrhPC0_J0bXSshM_03YTeNZ81orXAxdxm6qcXmBb4dliBuI8YuMjEaMdpBVnC2drp48ogCj8qZXpwinhKxZr2y1BLXytz7AGsWKxq7UFdgk2t3hc-Qi52PsOOxV7SDvhfAf8kX4k_4K_o8=
5-Elemental Equilibrium Respec for free points http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBAnEEswVbEMwSaRRNFxwXLxmFGjgabB8CJKolryj6KU8qEyu2LKcxnjWSNsU22DbpOtg64T8nQYdFnUbXSshN2E3jVcZV1lnzWitcDF3GZOduqnF5eqqApIFvgseHZYgbiPGLjIxGjHaPRpBVmK2a4Jwtna6ePKIAo_KmV6cIp4SsWbUEtfK3PriTwBrGrs9l0NDUFdgk2t3hc-Nq5CLnY-vu7DjsVe0g74XwH_JF-JP56PrS_gr-jw==

So first off, let’s look at searing bond. Searing bond is a skill which puts a totem up and links it to you with a beam which inflicts burning DoT damage on enemies it touches. It also links itself to other totems you summon, and we’ll be using this to our advantage. Since last patch, searing bond’s base damage has been increased by a lot and makes it really strong especially while levelling, where you can basically burn everything you touch almost instantly. Another thing which was changed is that the beams no longer stack over a target, so it isn’t as important to try a stack them on boss mobs and which lets us try other things.

There are a few ways to boost searing bond’s damage, the simplest and most important one being by levelling the gem. Searing bond scales extremely well on levels, and this is why you want to be using a weapon which gives +lvl to fire gems (Searing touch gives +2 to fire gems, adds % fire damage and %burning damage so it’s almost perfect for this build. Only wasted stat is %spell damage, which doesn’t affect searing bond).
Other than that, the increase burning damage gem is a must have and is very strong. Fire penetration does not work with searing bond and is, in a way, its biggest weakness but we’ll be working around that. Other gems to boosts searing bond’s damage are Empower, which adds levels to linked gems, and trap and/or remote mine.

The lack of fire penetration doesn’t affect PvE too much but when I was trolling around in PvP, I really saw how it affected the overall damage because I couldn’t kill my opponent with searing bond but fire trap with fire pen was shredding through his life. It still has a pretty strong effect on PvE and just the use of a curse will do a big difference. So the first option is to reach to the dual curse node which is possible but takes a good amount of points invested. The other one is to use Elemental Equilibrium. Now most people frown upon Elemental Equilibrium because it isn’t necessarily party viable, and while I’m mostly a solo player even when doing maps, it isn’t such a big problem with this build because searing bond is Damage over-time and thus, does not proc EE. This means that if you are grouping you can only use your searing bond so as to not proc EE. In solo play, you’re going to want to be using a spell totem with a spell of your choice. I use cold snap as it provides a decent source of crowd control and survivability. The spell totem is also very useful to link your searing bond to it, I’ll go over the implications of that in the remote mine section.

It'd be interesting to see if vulnerability ends up giving more damage than ele weakness/flamability. With elemental equlibrium, I think vulnerability could be switched in as we'd have enough fire pen, and the increase of 40% dmg of the total damage is pretty huge

Basically trap and remote mine are used to artificially boost searing bond’s damage by a good percentage. I prefer using remote mine only, as using both takes too much time since you have to detonate the mine first to get the trap out and wait for it to trigger (with the sunblast belt unique) to finally have your totem out. Path of Exile is a very fast paced game, and while this build isn’t as fast in terms of gameplay compared to most skills out there, it still needs to run fairly fast and this is why we use remote mine only, which can be detonated manually right after being placed and which provides a better %dmg increase than trap.

The downside of using remote mine is that it places the mine under you, and to actually kill things you have to be standing on the other side of the pack of mobs or in it, which puts you at risk. This build isn’t particularly tanky by itself. This is why the spell totem is particularely good, because you can cast it wherever you want and link it to your searing bond totem. This makes it really easy to take out a room of mobs let’s say, without even entering it. You cast your searing bond at the entrance and then cast your spell totem inside the room where it burns everyone :D. The spell totem might die fairly fast if all the mobs target it though, so you’ll have to distract them or just recast your totem. You can make your totem tankier by linking a minion and totem elemental resistance gem to it if you’d like but this makes it you need a 3B 1R which is quite hard on a strength based armor, (or Str/Int which could be fine, we’re taking some Ar/Es nodes aswell so why not).

It's important to note aswell that remote mines are pretty easy to destroy when they are set up, and leap slammers/arc users will make your life a nightmare. Just remove remote mine when clearing these zones

Normal: +40 life
Cruel: Passive Point
Merciless: Passive Point

4L:Searing bond, Increase burning damage, Remote mine, Empower
4L: Spell totem, Cold snap, Elemental Proliferation, Increased area of effect
3L: Clarity, Determination, reduced mana
4L:Cast when damage taken, enduring cry, immortal call, molten shell (this is totally subjective) 3L: Fire trap, Multiple traps, Fire penetration
2L: Leap Slam, Faster Attacks
Curses: Flammability, Elemental Weakness

Just ripped so they are on standard but still gives an idea.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAVysHY-aBEVC71jvh4vdtGacrwfOLeqKjf8Yc3MHFkycsv7QMhq40ChXXV8k3ZteGLKZWY6brN4PquoRIPI4Bbyj6gsf56EGHtz7GrhDM_od7IPiTjEbr7riTp5TR_acIna4SaRcccXnYJDbFNtjvhYgb7FUfApwth2Wvt0kbLJyIujWAGmzkIilP7Dg62E3YjHaePIFvBLMCcXy7JIv3wYV9FkBmnnFNms9DY7cxWPWdxMAaWfMqE1orLKej8uwYw221BF3GRtftIOFzi4wFWw==