1.3 The Community's Molten Strike, Face Melting Build!! 1h+shield and 2h variants available

Which variant is more sustainable, yet still able to dish out damage?
2H mace or 1H+shield AoF?

Nice build.. my brother just tried this out, level 30+ and kicking ass. Just confused which route to take.. 2H or 1H. Please advice

How's the build for late game ? Map and even Atziri ?

Always thought as Molten strike as a lvling spell not an actual one I'll admit x)

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InSidiousGG wrote:

Which variant is more sustainable, yet still able to dish out damage?
2H mace or 1H+shield AoF?

Nice build.. my brother just tried this out, level 30+ and kicking ass. Just confused which route to take.. 2H or 1H. Please advice

I think you'd find that those who've taken it furthest have used one-handed variants in most cases. As with any build, the more you spend the better it gets for end game. Through to the 70's the required investment isn't that high, relatively speaking. You'll find on basic gear that it motors along until it reaches a plateau fairly quickly in the high 30's/low 40's, at which point your first minor upgrade will be needed - probably. You may then make it through to the 70's before you start feeling the need for the next upgrade to weapons such as Dorayani's Catalyst/Fire belt/Rainbow strides, and so on. A five-link LC is fine through to the mid/high 70's, but after that switching to a 6-link will make things a bit easier if you can afford one. Still, there are people who've taken on Atziri with just a five-link and succeeded.

I just came to this thread, wow...it's pretty intimidating with 120 pages lol. I've skimmed through some and will certainly take the time to go through it all, one or three pages at a time haha. I'm going to ask a few questions, feel free to say F/off and read :P or answer if you feel so inclined.

I see a lot of advice to use Geofri's etc and other 2handers along the leveling path. Could one not also use dual Ungil's Gauche for the sweet black chance and much faster attack speeds, transitioning into Mightflay's for the slightly faster attacks/10hp on hit? Well of course one could use them, I guess I'm more asking would there be a noticeable different in damage with well rolled unique daggers vs the 2 handers in early game leveling? I guess that is easily tested as I have all of those uniques anyhow!

Like most builds one sees all the goodies in the high end are Very expensive(at least for people in new leagues etc) I'll never own a Doryani's, I'm quite certain...just too much shop/town trading for my tastes =/ Wish I could force myself haha. How much of a difference is there in using/not using etc? Is it small/decent amount or night/day difference? I admit I'm one of those people that gets a bit upset late game if I know there is Giant upgrades that I just can't have hah! Anyhow, thanks if anybody can answer! Looks like a fun build.

Personally I used a Kaom's Primacy axe for the first two thirds of the journey before switching over to a Doryani's, a non-legacy Aegis shield, and a five-link Lightning Coil. Now I use legacy versions of Aegis, 6-link LC, and Soul Taker. Relatively speaking the catalyst isn't THAT expensive - with the right farming methods you could get the currency necessary to buy an average one in just a few days.

Unfortunately, there are very very few builds that can get you to Atziri on the cheap - it's just the nature of the beast. If everyone could do it that easily there'd be no point to all the farming, trading and upgrades. I used to get just as frustrated with all the upgrades necessary, but basically the game is balanced so that there are set rewards the further you progress, and for those with the wealth and appropriate gear there needs to be another plane that gives them a challenge yet will justifiably remain more or less out of reach for everyone else. In general terms I think that decent builds cobbled together with very basic gear have reaching the end of Merciless as the ultimate goal. Those with mid tier builds have Atziri and the higher maps to go for. The best have Uber to target, though obviously some players are simply smart enough and good enough to get there on surprisingly cheap and relatively weak builds. Others tire of the basic game and retool for PVP.

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timbo1959 wrote:

Personally I used a Kaom's Primacy axe for the first two thirds of the journey before switching over to a Doryani's, a non-legacy Aegis shield, and a five-link Lightning Coil. Now I use legacy versions of Aegis, 6-link LC, and Soul Taker. Relatively speaking the catalyst isn't THAT expensive - with the right farming methods you could get the currency necessary to buy an average one in just a few days.

Unfortunately, there are very very few builds that can get you to Atziri on the cheap - it's just the nature of the beast. If everyone could do it that easily there'd be no point to all the farming, trading and upgrades. I used to get just as frustrated with all the upgrades necessary, but basically the game is balanced so that there are set rewards the further you progress, and for those with the wealth and appropriate gear there needs to be another plane that gives them a challenge yet will justifiably remain more or less out of reach for everyone else. In general terms I think that decent builds cobbled together with very basic gear have reaching the end of Merciless as the ultimate goal. Those with mid tier builds have Atziri and the higher maps to go for. The best have Uber to target, though obviously some players are simply smart enough and good enough to get there on surprisingly cheap and relatively weak builds. Others tire of the basic game and retool for PVP.

Thanks for the reply Timbo, Two things from me, I'm not sure how much I even care about farming Atziri in bloodlines. I mostly just want a build that does NOT feel bogged out come mid maps really. I have a crit/3dragon's FT character at 79 already and while not pimped out(4.4Khp/over maxed res/3.8K tooltip) by any means can easily do merc dom/maps etc for farming already. I'd hate to play a different one that felt noticeably weaker for even more $$(I'm aware that FT builds are notoriously joker easy...so I may have to concede that one haha) and secondly I wish I knew how to make 9-10 exalts in a few days of farming! I work a lot, but some weekends I get some good time in and with the before mentioned FT build I tried running piety/dom etc runs all day. I think I ended up with @Maybe@ the equivalent to 1 exalt in chaos recipes/minor drops. RNG at work I'm sure, but still rather daunting to think I "might" have to farm 10 entire full days for one weapon lol.

The truth is I don't like FT play so much, always preferred melee so I'm definitely going for this. I'm just trying to look at all the angles and the reality of how much time I can put in etc...try to use the best version/progression I can etc so I don't feel like I wasted that time(never wasted really...but with limited time you know what I mean!) I keep seeing people mentioning the 2hd burn prolif version...but don't actually see that title mentioned on any of the OP 2 hand variants. I love burning stuff haha. Is that some other persons build or is that really all of the variants here? Anyhow! thanks for replying, I like to take a day - 2 break before starting a new build so I appreciate anything!

Okay, I'm a bit confused on your pricing for the Catalyst. I know a few builds are using them now and maybe putting pressure on the prices, but I just checked xyz and there's still a lot going in the region of 3 - 4 ex. I sold mine recently for 8 ex, but it was one of the best available. So that's what I meant about a few day's farming (Piety or Dom, not Atziri at that level) it isn't hard to make an ex a day by various methods, so on that basis it should only take a few days to buy a Catalyst. Bear in mind that they are perfect for this build given all the fire damage and are still pretty underrated in my view, especially for the price. I initially switched to a non-legacy ST afterwards which cost me considerably more, yet in terms of just basic dps I was surprised that it didn't really improve the numbers that much over the Catalyst. Not so much a knock on the ST as a testament to how much kick the Catalyst has when used properly via gear and skill tree boosts.

Best of luck either way.

Would Herald of Ash be a good addition to this build ?

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timbo1959 wrote:

Okay, I'm a bit confused on your pricing for the Catalyst. I know a few builds are using them now and maybe putting pressure on the prices, but I just checked xyz and there's still a lot going in the region of 3 - 4 ex. I sold mine recently for 8 ex, but it was one of the best available. So that's what I meant about a few day's farming (Piety or Dom, not Atziri at that level) it isn't hard to make an ex a day by various methods, so on that basis it should only take a few days to buy a Catalyst. Bear in mind that they are perfect for this build given all the fire damage and are still pretty underrated in my view, especially for the price. I initially switched to a non-legacy ST afterwards which cost me considerably more, yet in terms of just basic dps I was surprised that it didn't really improve the numbers that much over the Catalyst. Not so much a knock on the ST as a testament to how much kick the Catalyst has when used properly via gear and skill tree boosts.

Best of luck either way.

Hey Timbo! thanks again for the reply. I guess I'm a bit confused as well haha. I must be getting back invalid returns on my searches somehow but the last several days I've used POE/trade and there has not been a Doryani's Catalyst for less than 9 pure exalt on the Bloodlines league. Standard I see some for 4 exalt. Torment I see as low as a whopping 1.75 exalts! hah. But bloodlines...lowest with many several searches over the last couple days now is 9. For me(somehow?) Holy shit, must be nice to be on torment =/ Anyhow, I'm still going to play the build :P I like playing new characters, if it ends up bogging down later then so be it, can always play something else till $ comes in or something drops!

Well i dont know what builds are hardcore viable for atziri the max block incinerators are gone maybe leaving raizqt's rf incinerator as a good way to farm. So the price goes up, I certainly wouldn't go anywhere near her in hardcore.
Derzelaz it is a good addition you will need to either wear alphas or get a reduced mana node eg 2 points going towards sovereignty to manage it while running hatred/anger and grace/determination.