[Guide][HC] Fite's Detonate Dead Build (Scion/Templar/Witch)

"

GedPoE wrote:

Ok finally today I gave this a try with a 6L and lvl 19 desecrate, and in my opinion is not worthy, you can do the same stuff a lot stronger and easier with flameblast

Same build?

I'm lvl 54 doing mericless ledge - still using SB as it way much faster clear speed.
I do feel that DD have the potential to be great when starting mapping.

What can boost DD damage though for lets say piety runs?

"

Trophy_Machine wrote:

I'd love to hear from someone who tried this build in the new leagues and found the DD damage very lacking in the mid-game (as I do), but discovered that DD became very good later on.

I complained on this forum a few days ago about DD doing shit, but have been converted over the weekend.

Around the 2nd half of Merciless Act 3, it suddenly started working. I am now doing 66/67 maps (at charlevel 61!) and it blows everything to hell. It now works better than Searing Bond, and that is saying something.

So have faith and persevere.

"

Potatooman wrote:

What can boost DD damage though for lets say piety runs?

- linked gems: Fire Penetration, Chance to Ignite and Concentrated Effect (Elemental Proliferation and Increased Area of Effect are to increase the AOE, not the damage)
- curses: Flammability or Elemental Weakness
- DPS nodes: the Burning Damage cluster and Immolation cluster above the Templar, and the DoT cluster at the bottom of the map (and maybe lose some 4% inc AOE nodes for the time being). There is also a DoT cluster below Eldritch Battery.

What about increased burning damage gem? Why is anybody talking about it?

I see some people here having the same doubts as I had, so I thought I'd share my experience.

While levelling searing bond had a way faster clear speed, up to the point that I thought DD would never start doing decent damage. Somewhere in Merciless (I believe it was act 2) I switched to DD and suddenly it worked.

My links at the time: DD - Fire Penetration - Ele prolif - Chance to ignite. I think this is the minimum setup to make it work.

I'm lvl 69 now and have a 5link with conc effect added to the above links. The damage is great, especially solo. I cast desecrate - > DD and everything burns rapidly. The only dps passives I have are the ones in the templar start, fire walker in witch area and growth and decay at duelist.

It can be tedious to hit moving single targets, because of the reduced aoe (conc effect), but I have hopes that will be solved up to some extent when I get a Carcass Jack. For the 6L I wouldnt add increased aoe though. The smaller aoe range doesnt bother me that much, I would go for increased burning damage instead, but thats personal preference I guess.

Dont give up on your DD build yet! :)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the support gem "Increased Burning Damage" does not work with Detonate Dead, since the burning damage you deal is done by Ignite caused by Detonate Dead fire damage, and not directly by the skill itself. Only burning and fire damage from skill points and gear work on DD ignite.

Regarding how weak 4-link DD feels in mid game:
Between levels 40 and 60 I tried out DD couple of times. The damage was just dreadful, and Searing Totem was so much faster at clearing stuff. Even white mobs could withstand multiple Detonations.

However, after reaching level 60 or so and starting to do some Docks runs (note that many of the mobs here are inherently resistant to fire) Detonate Dead far surpassed Searing Totem as my farming skill as DD now kills white enemies with single explosion.
I still use Searing Totem in tandem with DD when killing Rares, but for everything else DD is just better because of the much larger area on which it deals damage to. Clearing large packs with Searing Totem is much worse than using DD.
It is also really important to keep up that Flammability on your targets at all times.

I am going to start doing maps now and expect to have quite high clearing speed.

I am lvl 60 with shit gear and have started using dd along with sb.
Currently only have 3L: with DD + Fire Penetration + chance to ignite
I am around docks area about to do piety and I see a decent amount of damage on white mobs usually 2-3 dd hits to kill.

I noticed DD with no quality is slow as hell. Therefore, getting a 2nd gem in your alt weapon to lvl 20 and turning into 20 qual is really important (or in ambush i have had lvl 18-19 gems drop from strong boxes so there is a possibility of getting a really high dd early)

Searing Bond + Inc Burn still good enough to level with ? or should I choose somethin else?

"

Simplexity99 wrote:

Searing Bond + Inc Burn still good enough to level with ? or should I choose somethin else?

Yes it's still great, can use flameblast as well as they both work well with the nodes picked up along the way. If on hardcore keep to small flameblasts once the possibility of reflect is there and kill with burning like you would with DD.

In fact I have killed piety on Merciless now and SB + flameblast is still totally outclassing DD. I really hope the HP scaling hits in on maps so DD can start doing the damage i would expect!

Hey fite, quick question, how does the AOE life leech nerf affect your build? I know it screwed VP over big time but just wondering if life leech got screwed badly as well. Thanks!

"

Tiaro wrote:

"

Simplexity99 wrote:

Searing Bond + Inc Burn still good enough to level with ? or should I choose somethin else?

Yes it's still great, can use flameblast as well as they both work well with the nodes picked up along the way. If on hardcore keep to small flameblasts once the possibility of reflect is there and kill with burning like you would with DD.

In fact I have killed piety on Merciless now and SB + flameblast is still totally outclassing DD. I really hope the HP scaling hits in on maps so DD can start doing the damage i would expect!

ah great thanks!! I've been using Spectral Throw along with Firestorm to level up to 24 but i think ill drop spectral throw and use my flameblast more :D