[2.6] The Kensei - A dual Ichimonji wild strike build that's actually good

That is indeed a great build. And proof of the incredible diversity that PoE offers, even if most people stick to a few popular skills at any given time.

However, I only paid 4.5ex for my 6L shav's, and a 6L Ngamahu's currently starts at 4-5ex. Likewise, the Chayula's and Xoph's are about on par. My helm/gloves/boots will be a bit more, due to good ES gear being more expensive than life gear, but your rings will be more as mine are dirt-cheap uniques. Overall, probably mine is a bit more expensive, but they're pretty comparative.

And finally, a small tip for you that might help you increase your DPS. Your thread says "I ended up converting all dps to fire with Ngahamu's Flame and Xoph's Blood." However (and despite the tooltip), this is inaccurate. They give you a combined 100% phys -> fire (and 50% lightning and cold to fire)... however, Wild Strike also gives you 100% phys -> random element. Due to the damage scaling bug (or inaccuracy of the wiki), this gives you 200% conversion, which then gets scaled. So, 33% of your attacks are 100% fire damage, but 33% go 50%->fire, and 50%->cold, which is then 50% converted to fire, and 33% go 50%->fire, and 50%->lightning, which is then 50% converted to fire.

In total, it's 100/3+75/3+75/3=83% of your phys (and only 50% of your Hatred's 36% phys-> cold). So you might want to look into an additional cold->fire conversion, as it would give you ~25% more DPS.

Regardless, it looks quite fun, and as you said, I love seeing other options for WS.

If you have more than 100% damage conversion of a damage type as you do in this case, what happens is that the damage conversion is normalized proportional to your total % conversion. So 100% to cold 25% to fire would turn into 80% cold 20% fire. It doesn't matter where the damage conversion is coming from.

edit: my mistake, I see the wiki info. I wonder if that writing is not just a misinterpretation of some GGG post that has never been not taken at face value?

yes, it is scaled proportionately. which is exactly what the math in my post says:

"

So, 33% of your attacks are 100% fire damage, but 33% go 50%->fire, and 50%->cold, which is then 50% converted to fire, and 33% go 50%->fire, and 50%->lightning, which is then 50% converted to fire.

In total, it's 100/3+75/3+75/3=83% of your phys (and only 50% of your Hatred's 36% phys-> cold). So you might want to look into an additional cold->fire conversion, as it would give you ~25% more DPS.

case: Wild Strike selects fire conversion
50% fire from axe, 50% fire from avatar/amulet, 100% fire from wild strike = 200% fire -> scale to 100% fire

case: Wild Strike selects cold conversion
50% fire from axe, 50% fire from avatar/amulet, 100% cold from wild strike = 100% fire, 100% cold -> scale to 50% fire, 50% cold --> 50% of the cold is converted to fire due to avatar = 25% cold (lost due to avatar), 75% fire

case: Wild Strike selects lightning conversion
50% fire from axe, 50% fire from avatar/amulet, 100% lightning from wild strike = 100% fire, 100% lightning -> scale to 50% fire, 50% lightning --> 50% of the lightning is converted to fire due to avatar = 25% lightning (lost due to avatar), 75% fire

since there is a 1/3 chance for each case, that means (100%+75%+75%)/3. or, again, 83%.

"

tsftd wrote:

yes, it is scaled proportionately. which is exactly what the math in my post says:

"

So, 33% of your attacks are 100% fire damage, but 33% go 50%->fire, and 50%->cold, which is then 50% converted to fire, and 33% go 50%->fire, and 50%->lightning, which is then 50% converted to fire.

In total, it's 100/3+75/3+75/3=83% of your phys (and only 50% of your Hatred's 36% phys-> cold). So you might want to look into an additional cold->fire conversion, as it would give you ~25% more DPS.

case: Wild Strike selects fire conversion
50% fire from axe, 50% fire from avatar/amulet, 100% fire from wild strike = 200% fire -> scale to 100% fire

case: Wild Strike selects cold conversion
50% fire from axe, 50% fire from avatar/amulet, 100% cold from wild strike = 100% fire, 100% cold -> scale to 50% fire, 50% cold --> 50% of the cold is converted to fire due to avatar = 25% cold (lost due to avatar), 75% fire

case: Wild Strike selects lightning conversion
50% fire from axe, 50% fire from avatar/amulet, 100% lightning from wild strike = 100% fire, 100% lightning -> scale to 50% fire, 50% lightning --> 50% of the lightning is converted to fire due to avatar = 25% lightning (lost due to avatar), 75% fire

since there is a 1/3 chance for each case, that means (100%+75%+75%)/3. or, again, 83%.

Thank you for putting it like this for me to fully understand it :)

I haven't done the math on 83% with full use of the fire penetration vs 100% with some use of the fire penetration.

For now I have dropped Xoph's Blood for a rare amulet and after a few guardian runs I feel it's better than before.

Hi, I'm interested in this build. Is this still viable in 3.0?

Technically, yes.

Personally, I've moved on to other builds -- though I would say that it's probably my favorite so far in all of my years of PoE (though to be fair, I'd never made a good endgame clearspeed build before).

I will note that the ES nerf has likely hurt the build quite a bit. It didn't depend on VP or CI+more ES node, so just the ES totals nerf. That being said, I was nowhere near "fully" geared. Skyforths, for one, would be amazing for the build, and might well make up for the ES nerf.

Just keep in mind that you'll need higher-end gear and/or more ES nodes in order to reach the same performance.