Fire cyclone Marohi - a variant going from 1.3 to 2.0

Herald of Ash is a very cool skill. Not only does it look cool with burning hands and burning enemies, but also it helps significantly when clearing maps.

Herald of Ash has two effects: A percentage fire damage to attacks (based on the physical damage) and an overkill burning effect to nearby enemies when we kill a monster. What we focus on with this build is the overkill fire damage: We amplify it with the support gems Increased Burning Damage and Elemental Proliferation.

Because the effect is based on the total overkill damage, we want to have a very high damage per attack. The cheapest weapon that fits the bill here I could find was a 5l Marohi Erqui, which I bought for 4 exalt. The build works even with a 4link, but will obviously be a bit weaker (unlinked Marohis are 1-2 exalt). Marohi is the highest damage (not DPS) unique weapon in the game, and anything rare with higher damage is 100+ exalt.

We also focus on damage rather than attack speed, because attack speed does not add to overkill damage. Taken together, everything starts burning down really fast once we get the first kill in a group of monsters.

This build is cheap, with a 5l Marohi maybe about 6-8 exalt, with a 4l Marohi more like 3 exalt. Reaching max resists is not very hard, we have lots of life (5000+) and high defense. We also can get 6 endurance charges, which makes us quite tanky (in practice I have 5 at the moment, will get the 6th with the next level / with the expansion). Life regeneration is more than 200 per second.

Mapping is fun, even fracture maps, the burning over time is quite nice for party play. The build even works with bad internet connection and lags (I live in South America), with careful play this might be hardcore viable, not sure. I can facetank a lot of things. Can do almost all map mods (physical reflect is hard, for elemental reflect you have to turn off Hatred, but you can run half / no regen maps).

Clearspeed was high enough today to do Oba's Cursed Trove.

The graphics effects of burning damage just look very cool.

Although it is probably possible with better skills, I was not able to kill Atziri with this build yet. When I tried, I had no way of getting out of her flameblast things and just kept dying. I have to admit though that I wanted the full treat and went in without looking at any videos first. I got her to the split phase, but that was about it.

Herald of Ash and all investment into burning damage does not help for single-target DPS. It also does not help to kill the minions getting to Atziri.

There are also certainly stronger builds around that clear things way faster, but most of them will cost you much more than a few exalt.

Also, we do not make use of the stun potential of the weapon and the build, maybe this would be something that could be explored.

Since the mana left is exactly zero, skills cannot be used unless linked to blood magic.

Current passive tree in 1.3:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEAAdwEswmWDjwSaRQgFHEWbxccFy8YkRo4Gj4abBrkG_okqiUnJd8nLykuLdI0jjWSNuk5DjpSOtg7OzwFPC1BP0d-SshM_1BHUeZV1l1JXz9k52VNZp5nm2jyaqVr2W6qcXl2rHdTd-N4DXuMfLh82YCkggeCm4TZhVKGO4iPkFWRzpSHl3maO52unsWfPp_fogCkGalurY2uPq9stfK2LLc-u-28n702voq-p8AawGbGrs9-2L3ZYdl837LjauRR6hjrCew47w7vfPAf9zL46_rS_TD-Cg==

Possible passive tree in 2.0:
http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEBAdwB5wSzCZYLYQxfEmkUIBRNFm8XHBcvGJEaOBo-G_ocpx0UJd8pLi3SNI41kjkOOzs8BTwtQT9HfkrIUEdR5lOlVdZXDVnzXz9k52VNZp5o8mvZbqpxeXIPcql2f3asd1N343loe4x8uHzZfuCApIIHg1-DzITEhNmFUoY7jHaQVZHOlIeWbJd5nleexZ7Nnz6f36IApBmnMKlurKqtja9stfK2LLcxtz68n702vqfAZsEExPbGrsbYz37SIdi92WHfsuNq5FHqGOsJ7w7vfPAf8kH3MvrS_Ev-Cg==

As for the bandits, I chose life, then skill point. I think I chose damage on merciless, not sure.

Walking up is required for the mana reserved nodes and the burning damage. Not sure if I will be able to run all the auras with 2.0, might work with Alpha's Howl and Enlightens.

Resolute technique means we always hit. Don't have to worry about accuracy.

Might pick up Unwavering Stance in the expansion.

Weapon:


This is the item the build revolves around. 5l Marohis can be found for a few exalt, unlinked are about 1 exalt. If you start from scratch, by the time you really need the Marohi you quite likely have found enough currency to afford one.

4l: Blood Magic - Cyclone - Melee Physical - Concentrated effect
5l: Blood Magic - Cyclone - Melee Physical - Concentrated effect - Added Fire
6l: Not sure what I would add, to be honest. Increased Area of Effect is already built-in. Faster attacks is an option but doesn't help the burning damage.


Armor:


The belly is pretty nice, but the links in there are not really actually needed. I should also re-color them for using Faster Attacks with Leap Slam. However, I was using Kaom's for a while and built the rest around that, now my colleague wanted to have it back ;). Works fine, no need for anything linked in here to be honest - Leap Slam is just for convenience.


Helmet, Boots, Gloves:


On helmet and boots look for life, defense, and resists. Boots need move speed. On the gloves look for life, resists, damage and leech, though the damage doesn't actually help that much since we attack very slow (is more efficient for fast attack builds). Helmet can give a ton of defense. Also look for dex and int maybe if you need it.

As for the gems:

4l HoA: Reduced Mana - Herald of Ash - Increased Burning Damage - Elemental Proliferation
4l Curses: Blood Magic - Enfeeble - Warlord's Mark - Enduring Cry
4l Auras: Reduced Mana - Determination - Hatred - X (either put a gem to level in there or put Haste which you swap for Hatred for reflect maps)


Belt and jewellery:



Meginord's is pretty ideal, actually found it myself. For the jewellery, look for life, resists and stats since we need quite some dex and int to use all our gems. Le Heup of All is pretty good, found it myself as well. On the amulet, look for life leech because this makes playing just a lot more convenient, especially if you are too lazy to curse everything with Warlord's Mark.


Flasks:



Sapping for life flasks is ideal because we don't use mana anyways. One for bleed, one for freeze, maybe one for shock or burning. Atziri's Promise gives damage and leech boost and is very cheap now. Granite flask gives tankiness for boss fights.

Playing is pretty easy. Switch on Hatred, Determination and Herald of Ash (with 100% of your mana reserved). Get your endurance charges up and jump in (or walk in). Cursing with Warlord's Mark makes you not loose your charges. Enfeeble is the more defensive option for boss fights. You could also put the curse on the leap slam in the chest if you want I guess, have not tried that.

With 6 endurance charges and armor, physical damage reduction is pretty good. Once you kill something, the rest burns down pretty quickly.