[2.6] Corpse Explosion Ray (CwC Detonate Dead), Zero Budget SSF / League Starter

This sounds interesting.

Whelp, as it turns out, DD procs EE so at least the EE portion of this is a dud.

What uniques would you recommend for this build?

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dulper wrote:

Whelp, as it turns out, DD procs EE so at least the EE portion of this is a dud.

You would need to hit them with orb o storms first to trigger EE correctly.

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Aklyon wrote:

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dulper wrote:

Whelp, as it turns out, DD procs EE so at least the EE portion of this is a dud.

You would need to hit them with orb o storms first to trigger EE correctly.

Thats right, DD does proc EE but in general we don't care becase:
1. we one hit KO trash
2. curse effect flammability alone more than offsets the +25 fire res, and we are additionally debuffing using scorching ray
3. for bosses we use orb of storms to overwrite the EE applied by DD, so the ignite is dealing dmg based on the debufed fire res

@haveallama: uniques to consider:
Doryani's Catalyst: big chunk of double-dippling elemental damage, plus a bit of crit to help proc EO
Ngamahu Tiki: nice chunk of fire damage
Brightbeak: resists, but no damage, but makes shield charge very zippy for getting between packs (which is the ultimate limiting factor once you have all the damage you need)

There are probably others, I'll put a section in the guide.

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Aphorist84 wrote:

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Aklyon wrote:

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dulper wrote:

Whelp, as it turns out, DD procs EE so at least the EE portion of this is a dud.

You would need to hit them with orb o storms first to trigger EE correctly.

Thats right, DD does proc EE but in general we don't care becase:
1. we one hit KO trash
2. curse effect flammability alone more than offsets the +25 fire res, and we are additionally debuffing using scorching ray
3. for bosses we use orb of storms to overwrite the EE applied by DD, so the ignite is dealing dmg based on the debufed fire res

@haveallama: uniques to consider:
Doryani's Catalyst: big chunk of double-dippling elemental damage, plus a bit of crit to help proc EO
Ngamahu Tiki: nice chunk of fire damage
Brightbeak: resists, but no damage, but makes shield charge very zippy for getting between packs (which is the ultimate limiting factor once you have all the damage you need)

There are probably others, I'll put a section in the guide.

Brilliant thanks mate. I am currently running this on Softcore Legacy (Not as SSF) so I'm trying to work out what's best in slot. I am currently level 70. Build is working really well on pretty shoddy gear so far.

What about using The Scourge and using Minion Damage support as well as taking some minion damage nodes from the tree?

Update:
- Added "Notable Uniques" section
- Added "Just for fun" Vaal Detonate Dead to gem links section
- Added note on alternative ascendancy options

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haveallama wrote:

Brilliant thanks mate. I am currently running this on Softcore Legacy (Not as SSF) so I'm trying to work out what's best in slot. I am currently level 70. Build is working really well on pretty shoddy gear so far.

Good to hear the build is working for you!

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Torin wrote:

What about using The Scourge and using Minion Damage support as well as taking some minion damage nodes from the tree?

I think this would certainly work, but would probably be a completely different build than the budget-orientated one shown here, let me know if you end up giving it a go. Added a note to the ascendacy section mentioning this as an option.

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Aphorist84 wrote:

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Torin wrote:

What about using The Scourge and using Minion Damage support as well as taking some minion damage nodes from the tree?

I think this would certainly work, but would probably be a completely different build than the budget-orientated one shown here, let me know if you end up giving it a go. Added a note to the ascendacy section mentioning this as an option.

I did consider going Necromancer ascendancy but you get similar damage bonus with only advantage of not needing to have to resummon the Flame Golem for the damage boost.

Necromancer ascendancy gives you access to better defensive options than Elementalist but you lose Conflux and free Elemental Proliferation. Also with Necromancer you will want to use Offering spells so you need more skills in equipment and it takes more actions during gameplay. But you can summon more bodies per one cast of Desecration. Necromancer also gives 30% increased skill duration making your Burns stronger and your skills longer lasting.

Unfortunately I learned that The Scourge does not let you use Minion Damage support as that gives More damage while Scourge only works with Increased damage so one of the biggest advantages I considered
using The Scourge for does not work.

In the end I decided to try this with The Scourge but as Elementalist as well. I am just using The Scourge to get use of easy to access minion damage on the passive tree (and they are usually 15% which is better than fire damage passives). And Scourge itself gives 70% increased damage that double dips and lets you use Whirling Blades and summons wolves that are decent at making enemies not attack you. I also use Zombies as additional buffer since I took some minion life passives and minion regeneration on way to minion damage.
So far the DD build is solid, cannot really know how much of improvement The Scourge gives.

I got a question about your build: Is there a special reason why you use Rapid Decay instead of Increased Burning Damage? IBD has lower mana multi and does not reduce skill duration. Is reduced skill duration beneficial for burning or maybe it has no effect on burn duration?

Just on why I suggest Rapid Decay rather than IBD; it's a more multiplier in our Scorching Ray and ignites, and the reduced skill duration is only 15%, if you're doing self cast DD maybe the mana cost is an issue but CwC should be fine.

All that said I think there's a lot of flexibility in the link setup if you have a 6L, eg penetration / leech / rarity / ignite / even desecrate works (if using CwC) or firestorm. Still some more testing to do here.