[3.5]FJTHEBEAST| DW Nebuloch Chieftain Molten Strike |90% Dmg Mitigation|9M Shaper DPS| All content




Players feedback


Spoiler


Maloc :

"Great build ! Thx for posting it :).Played several MS builds, but always wanted to try out Nebuloch with it so I decided to give it a shot this league. What can I say, just killed Uber Elder twice, in one set :D !"


Robet24 :

"Mind you, I am a hardcore player. So far, so good though. TOverall the build feels extremely tanky. Just wanted to let people know that in this league with the heavy chaos damage, this build is very HC viable."

Aias_o_Telamonios :

"Deathless Shaper is just too easy with this (no enchant, abyssus, loreweave)" => Budget version

abalak :

"One of the best build i played so far and i started in 2013. Ez clap. Uber Elder 1 death (degen always got me), everything else deathless."

grimchip :

"i just one shot uber elder with this build. so thank you =) haven't been able to do uber elder with any of my other builds so far."



Path of Building links | Last update: Jan-8-2019


Spoiler


Bossing:
https://pastebin.com/jHUbMpGf (rare stygian vise)
https://pastebin.com/6uR3k9TC (Ryslatha's Coil, same dps)


Mapping:
https://pastebin.com/eYNMDrWi (Devoto's Devotion)

Tanky version:
https://pastebin.com/BWS8tDbR (The Formless Inferno)

Budget:
https://pastebin.com/iU2PybbC



BUILD UPDATE


Spoiler


[3.5] Changes to Molten Strike:


Molten Strike: enchant is now 2 instead of 3 projectiles, and we can use only one wildfire jewel, so we lose 3 projectiles, however the base damage is increased so we basically lose only 0-5% of our dps.

Leap slam: leap slam is now faster with low speed weapons (like Nebuloch); this is a buff

War banner: good synergy with Herald of Purity. Could be used but not very suitable for the build.

Nebuloch: double corruption is back = more dps + quality higher than 20

Ryslatha's Coil: got a great buff this patch. Considering its price, I think it's BIS this league (thank you Grimchip for the suggestion).

Dying Sun: now has less fire damage taken. That's great for this build (this compensates the loss of dmg mitigation given by The Wise Oak)



[3.4] Great buffs :


PoB : https://pastebin.com/Wve4k6aP
Enhanced (7M dps)

- Nebuloch degen is now 200 fire damage per EC instead of 400 => more net life regen, easier leveling and boss fights
- Great QoL changes to melee attacks including molten strike (although we will miss incursion corruption mods on Nebuloch)
- Consecrated Path can be used for faster mapping
- Templar area has now some interesting nodes. Pick them instead of the jewel socket and strenght/dexterity nodes
Image by Power19872013 (thank you very much!)


- I am also using rare 1h swords to generate endurance charges (just press x to swap weapons)



[3.3] Some changes that may be good for this build:


PoB: https://pastebin.com/yE0Hqr6k
- Try to get an attack speed corruption on your main hand weapon, and a chance to gain Onslaught on kill on your off hand
- Belts no more get +1 endurance charge. You can get it now on boots. So if you have enough regen without the boot enchant, get Kaom's roots with +1 EC.
- Endurance charge on melee stun support received a buff (+4% more damage per EC instead of 3%). It could be better than Physical projectile attack damage support, so do some testing on PoB and decide which is best for your current setup.


[3.2] Gear upgrade for uber elder:


All previous calculations are correct. Only values changed (DPS : more than doubled | Mitigation : up to 90%).

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PoB (lvl 95, current gear,Uber elder down, about 12 exalts, levelling trees included):

https://pastebin.com/A79m4J4Z

Budget version (my old gear, shaper down, about 200c):

https://pastebin.com/QCXhYCVz

Total build cost :

12-14 ex

Shaper/Elder dps :

Up to 4 million dps

Damage mitigation :

- physical : 90% (about 72% against shaper slam)
- fire : 91%
- cold : 90%
- lightning : 90%
- chaos : 54% (depending on chaos res on gear)

Tanked shaper slam. Tanked Atziri double flameblast.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

UPDATE:




New items:

- Loreweave : better dps and defences
- Belt with +1 to maximum Endurance Charges : better dps and defences
- Amulet with "gain % of phys damage as extra fire damage" : better dps
- Abyssus with +3 molten strike projectiles : huge dps boost.
- Basalt flask : better physical damage mitigation (downside of Abyssus)
- I also corrupted my old Nebuloch maces for the 30% quality (free because I already had the beasts, otherwise, it's about 20c)

New links:

- Replaced Endurance charge on melee stun with Physical Projectile Attack Damage Support. This was not good before because we lacked physical damage, however, PPAD is now better with Abyssus.

Passive tree + jewels:

-Replaced some physical damage nodes and jewels with attack speed mods for better mobility.

Build upgrade cost :

- Loreweave (6l 80% max res good rolls) : 7 ex
- Abyssus (+3 molten projectiles / 40 increased phys damage taken) : 2 ex
- Elder amulet (% of phys as extra fire) : < 1 ex
- Belt (+1 endurance charge good life resistances and WED) : 1 ex

=> total = 11 ex

I have already done shaper with my old gear. I'm looking to defeat Uber elder now :)
Edit: Uber Elder defeated :D





Introduction


Spoiler

Welcome to my guide. I am not a native English speaker. Therefore, any advice, remark, question or correction is very welcome :) .Also, I want to thank Engineering Eternity as I used one of his build guides as a template to write this one.

I wanted to build a solid tanky boss killer and map clearer around the unique one-handed mace Nebuloch to do all end game content. The build is reasonably budget friendly compared to what it is capable of as I spent around 250c for all my current gear.



The core item of this build is Nebuloch. It has a nice synergy with endurance charges:

Attack :

  • Adds 5 to 8 Physical Damage per Endurance Charge
  • Gain 40% of Physical Attack Damage as Extra Fire Damage


Defence :

  • +4% to Chaos Resistance per Endurance Charge
  • 1% reduced Elemental Damage taken when Hit per Endurance Charge
  • +500 to Armour per Endurance Charge


These stats make the item very powerful when you increase your maximum number of endurance charges. However, this power comes at a cost:

Downside :

400 (200 after 3.4) Fire Damage taken per second per Endurance Charge if you've been Hit Recently
What does that mean is that whenever you are hit, the mace applies a 400 (200) fire damage degen to your character PER ENDURENCE CHARGE.

Therefore, I aimed to to find a balance between the attack and defense boosts and the degen applied by the item, and make a very strong character capable of doing all the game content and running most of the maps and map mods.


Build Summary


Spoiler

This build is a very strong build for pretty much all of game content and excels at killing bosses. It has a quite cheap introductory cost, only really requiring the Nebuloch mace and Wildfire jewel, and can scale very well with the more gear investments that you make, offensively as well as defensively.

I had 8 Endurance Charges (9 with belt corruption now):
3 base Endurance charges
2 from 2 Kaom's Way rings
3 from passive skill tree

With the regen per Endurance charge per seconde from the two rings (0.4% life regen per EC * 2), from the passive skill tree (0.2% life regen per EC) and from the Chieftain ascendancy (0.5% life regen per EC), from the boot enchant (2%), the amulet (1.5%, no more using it) and the Pantheon system (up to 2%, + refuced damage over time taken), I am able to compensate the degen applied by Nebuloch without using Purity of Fire or even a Ruby Flask.

I am using six active skill gems:

  • Molten Strike : which has a melee part and a projectile part. This is our main skill, used for mapping and boss killing. This skill converts 60% of our melee physical damage to fire damage. The remaining physical damage is converted to fire with the chieftain ascendency. This way, we can focus on increasing our fire damage.
  • Leap slam : for mobility and to apply fortify.
  • Vaal lightning trap (naw i replaced it with Lightning golem) : to shock enemies and make them take more damage (used especially on bosses or strongboxes, breaches, abysses …). Replaced this with lightning golem for more attack speed
  • Ancestral protector : grants us a more attack speed buff when up
  • Blood rage : for frenzy charge generation and attack speed boost
  • Enduring Cry : for endurance charge generation if not possible with other means and life regen


And three keystones :

  • Resolute technique for a 100% hit chance
  • Iron Grip for applying our strength bonuses to projectiles from molten strike
  • Point Blank to gain another more multiplier to the projectiles


For auras and heralds, I am using Herald of Ash, Flammability curse linked with Blasphemy to boost our damage and finally Arctic Armor to reduce physical and fire damage we take while stationary. Herald of Ash is our source of Endurence Charges combined with Tawhoa, Forest's Strength ascendancy key point. Herald of Ashe ignites enemies and Tawhoa, Forest's Strength gives us a 20% chance to get an EC on killing an ignited enemy.

We can also use Herald of Purity (instead of Flammability or Arctic Armour) as it increases our damage and summons minions that can distract bosses.

Although Nebuloch is our core item, other unique items fit very well in this build.
I will talk about every skill and item choice in detail later.


Stats


Spoiler


Path of building:
(Defensive stats given by the Pantheon system are not included in these numbers)

PoB (lvl 95, levelling trees included, Uber elder down, 12-14 exalts):
[3.4] https://pastebin.com/Wve4k6aP
[3.3] https://pastebin.com/yE0Hqr6k
[3.2] https://pastebin.com/A79m4J4Z

Budget version (my old gear, shaper down, 200c):

https://pastebin.com/QCXhYCVz

Stats (lvl 91, old gear):



Level : 91
Total Life : 7040
Life Regen : 2412 (without map mod interference)
Life Leech/On Hit Rate : 1436

Total Degen : 1574 (without map mod interference)
Net Life Regen : +838 (without map mod interference)

Armour : 24400
Block chance : 17%
Fire Resistance : 76%
Cold Resistance : 75%
Lightning Resistance : 75%
Chaos Resistance : 39% (with flasks)

Fire Resistance Over max : 68% (with flasks)
Cold Resistance Over max : 69% (with flasks)
Lightning Resistance Over max : 69% (with flasks)

Damage taken reduction (with flasks) :
- Physical : 93%
- Fire : 89%
- Cold : 86%
- Lightning : 86%
- Chaos : 51% (can be higher, but my gear is not optimal)
Screenshots

DEF - town


DEF - full buffs (minus one flask)


OFF (melee hit only) - town


OFF (melee hit only) - full buffs







Videos


Spoiler


All these are with old gear, damage, speed and mitigation are way better now :)

T15 Carcass boss :



T12 Necropolis cursed boss



T13 Double Boss Core map Slam



Mapping (Xoph's domain)



T11 Double Boss Lair map



T12 Torture Chamber map Boss





Pros & Cons


Spoiler

Pros
● Very strong boss and single target killer
● Very tanky
● Low entry cost
● Good clear speed
● All content done


Cons
● Can't do maps with no leech and no regen combined.



Class & Ascendancy Options


Spoiler

As mentioned previously, my character is a Marauder Chieftain.

This ascendency synergizes well with:

  • Molten strike: as it converts 50% of our physical damage to fire damage, thus providing as with a full physical to fire conversion (no need for avatar of fire or xoph’s blood)
  • Nebuloch: as it provides a source of endurance charge generation as well as life regeneration based on the number of our endurance charges, thus countring the degen caused by Nebuloch
  • Fire damage themed build: the chieftain has many fire damage boosts, like covering enemies in ashes, increasing fire damage per endurance charge and gaining a percentage of physical damage as extra fire damage. It also provides fire resistance and life leech from fire damage


For Ascendancy Progression, I would follow this order:

Spoiler

  • Ngamahu, Flame's Advance :
    50% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire Damage
    Damage Penetrates 10% Fire Resistance
    Every 10 Seconds, Gain 70% of Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage for 3 seconds
  • Hinekora, Death's Fury :
    1% of Fire Damage Leeched as Life
    10% increased Strength
    1% of Damage dealt by your Totems Leeched to you as Life
    10% chance to Cover Rare or Unique Enemy in Ash for 10 Seconds when you Hit them
  • Tawhoa, Forest's Strength :
    0.5% of maximum Life Regenerated per second per Endurance Charge
    When you or your Totems Kill a Burning Enemy, 20% chance for you and your Totems to each gain an Endurance Charge
    6% increased Fire Damage per Endurance Charge
  • Ramako, Sun's Light :
    +100% to Fire Resistance
    1% of Life Regenerated per second
    10% of Physical Damage taken from Hits taken as Fire Damage
    2% of Life Regenerated per second if you've taken Fire Damage from a Hit Recently
    Unaffected by Ignite






Passive Tree & Progression


Spoiler


Passive tree progression :

- 20 points : https://tinyurl.com/y9sn7quo

- 57 points : https://tinyurl.com/ydfb2r69

- 101 points : https://tinyurl.com/yc7ccsg4

- 118 points (complete tree) : https://tinyurl.com/y7xkopzt

You can use Sunder or Double Strike up to level 50-60 if you want.

Within our passive tree, we grab the following Keystones:

- Resolute technique: This Keystone provides us with a 100% hit chance at the cost of no crit. This is very good for this build because the crit base of Nebuloch is low and we cannot scale its crit damage easily. Also, we can ignore accuracy on gear and tree because of the 100% hit chance

- Iron Grip: The bonus of melee physical strength will apply to molten projectiles projectiles

- Point Blank: gives up to 50% more multiplier to molten strike projectiles when used with Concentrated Effect.

Defensively, we mainly are looking to get as much life and life regen as possible. This will provide us with a good EHP pool AND increase our resistance to Nebuloch degen when hit. For example, if we have 10% regen on the tree, if our HP is 5000, we will regen 500 HP per second. If our HP is 10000, we will regen 1000 HP per second without investing more in HP regen. This is very effective against Nebuloch degen as it does only scale by fire damage taken.

Offensively, we should pick Resolute Technique as quick as possible, then we pick up some mace nodes, but we mostly focus on scaling our attack speed, projectile damage and fire damage to best benefit our molten projectiles. We also get 4 jewel sockets for more life and other useful stats.

For Bandits, we will be killing all of them for the extra 2 Skill Points.

You will want to get the Wildfire jewel socketed as soon as possible to make Molten Strike feel good while leveling. These are socketed in the jewel sockets to the left and top of the Marauder start.

Do not dual wield Nebuloch until you are confident you can regenerate enough life (see in-depth analysis section later)



Pantheons


Spoiler

These may vary depending on the map or boss we are going to face. Useful Pantheons for the build:

Major:
Soul of Arakali - upgrade all

Minor:
Soul of Tukohama - For when sitting stationary against Guardians or Shaper (upgrade for life regen)
Soul of Shakari- For chaos damage reduction (upgrade for poison immunity)




Gem Links


Spoiler

Here are the following gem links for the build. Support gem links are show in order of importance. 4 Links can go in Helmet or Gloves (I am using Kaom's Roots Boots that have no sockets). 3 Links can go in Weapon 1 or 2. All gems should be at least level 20 (for main skill).

X – X : linked
X , X : do not need to be linked but are placed in the same item

6 Link

For mapping :

Molten Strike – Elemental Damage with Attacks - Elemental FocusAncestral call- Concentrated Effect - Endurence Charge on Melee Stun / Physical Projectile Attack Damage (After you get Tawhoa, Forest's Strength on merciless lab and depending on gear, use PoB to compare. You can also use Melee Splash for smoother mapping)



For Shaper/Elder:

Molten Strike - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Elemental Focus - Fire Penetration– - Concentrated Effect - Endurence Charge on Melee Stun / Physical Projectile Attack Damage (After you get Tawhoa, Forest's Strength on merciless lab and depending on gear, use PoB to compare)



You can also use Combustion. It gives 1-2 more dps than Elemental Focus if you ignite the enemy (so you can't use both at the same time). But Combustion does not work on mosters that can not be ignited.

When mapping I usually kill the boss without swapping between Ancestral Call and Fire Penetration as the damage is sufficiente to kill bosses even in tier 15 maps

I don’t like to use multistrike with Nebuloch because this mace has a low attack speed rate. Also, using multistrike will increase our mana usage which is problematic especially in maps with no leech mods and will also reduce our hit damage resulting in less enemy stuns. The dps from multistrike is not even higher than using other gems.

I like to use Endurence Charge on Melee Stun for the theme and for the damage boost. When you get Tawhoa, Forest's Strengt after completing merciless lab, you can use Physical Projectile Attack Damage instead. Herald of Ashe-Tawhoa, Forest's Strengt combo can generate enough endurance charges.


4 Link
Leap Slam - Faster Attacks – Fortify - Blood Magic



Leap Slam with Faster Attaks is a fast mobility skill. We link it to Fortify to apply the Fortify buff and to Blood Magic to spend life instead of Mana (because we have much higher life regen than mana regen)

4 Link
Herald of Ashe , Blasphemy – Flammability , arctic armor



Herald of Ashe and Flammability will boost our DPS, while Arctic Armor will increase our resistance to fire and physical damage while not moving. These shoukd be on helmet or gloves to evoid deactivating them when you swap weapons.

3 Link
Vaal Lightning Trap - Multiple Traps/Lesser Multiple Projectile/Grater Multiple Projectile - Increased duration (Changed this to Enduring cry, Cast when damage taken-lightning golem)



While on Vaal Lightning Trap, mobs (and bosses) are shocked and take more damage. We use other support gems to increase its duration (Increased duration support) and to increase its area (GMP and LMP to add multiple projectiles because it's a projectile skill or MT to throw multiple traps at the same time)

3 Link
Ancestral Protector, Enduring Cry, Blood Rage (Changed this to Ancestral Protector-Culling strike, Blood Rage)



Blood Rage and Ancestral Protector will increase our attack speed rate. BR will also allow as to gain some frenzy charges. Enduring Cry will help us sustain Endurance Charges while with bosses or where there is no mobs to stun or kill (trial traps, lab, map bosses) and to quickly regenerate some life when needed.

You can use Culling Strike with Ancestral Protector.





Gearing


Spoiler



Uniques
Spoiler

Required uniques for this build :

● Nebuloch (2) - This is the core item of this build as it provide offensive and defensive stats. With my 8 Endurance charges, replacing this mace with a mirror tier one-handed mace (550-600 pDPS) will decrease damage.



● Wildfire Jewel (1) - Damage boost for Molten Strike.



Very useful uniques :

Kaom’s way (2) - A very nice ring for this build. It has no life nor resistances but gives increases the maximum number of endurance charges by 1 (+2 to maximum endurance charges when using two rings) and a 0.4% life regen per endurance charge (+0.8% per EC for 2 rings), which is very good to compensate the degen applied by Nebuloch.



Precursor's Emblem (2) - Can be very expensive. If possible, get ones with +1 to max EC, and gain % of fire as extra chaos dmg per EC. There are also some other useful mods like Life regen.

Kaom’s roots - Excellent boots. It provides a high amount of life, stun immunity through Unwavering Stun and prevents lowering our animation below base speed. That means that even when we are chilled, frozen or affected by Temporal Chains, we still can move as if nothing was there.



Bloodgrip : nice cheap amulet with dps boost, life, life regen and reduced bleed damage taken (can be replaced with a good rare)



Tombfists : Good gloves. You gain some life but lose 2 gem sockets. Rare gloves (with life, resistances and damage mods) can be better than Tombfist, so all depends on what is available.

Belly of the Beast : Belly is good for this build, but I prefer Loreweave for more tankiness and better degen mitigation.

Loreweave : I think that Loreweave is the best body armour for this build. It provides a very good dps boost, usually provided by rings and amulet (Kaom's Way do not provide Added Physical Damage or Increased Elemental Damage). It also fixes our maximum resistances, thus reducing the degen applied by Nebuloch and lower the defensive advantage that has the Juggernaut over the Chieftain.

Abyssus : Abyssus is a very good choice if you want to get some damage boost and stats. It is also cheaper to get the +3 molten strike projectiles enchant on an abyssus than on a rare helmet.

Deidbellow : Deidbellow is a great alternative over Abyssus, it gives you more attack speed and results in almost the same damage. However, it is very hard to find one with the projectiles enchant.

The Formless Inferno : Very good defensive helmet against physical damage

Devoto's Devotion : Very good helmet for clearing maps.



Rares

Spoiler

For Rare Gear in general, we will be looking for gear with a lot of life, elemental resistances and offensive stats such as added flat physical/fire damage, elemental damage with attacks, fire damage and attack speed. The base type of the gear only matters for the socket colours and affixes you are trying to get. Here are the specific affixes that we want to look out for on our gear:

Offensive:
● #% Elemental Damage with Attacks or #% Fire Damage (Jewelry) or #% Gain of Physical Damage as Extrat Fire Damage (Elder Amulet)
● # - # Fire Damage to Attacks (Jewelry or Gloves)
● # - # Physical Damage to Attacks (Jewelry or Gloves)
● #% Attack Speed (Jewelry or Gloves)



Defensive:
● +# to Maximum Life (Jewelry or Armor)
● +# to Maximum Life / +# to Innate (Armor)
● +#% to Elemental Resistances (Jewelry or Armor)



Jewels

For Jewels we want to look for the following Affixes:
● #% Fire Damage
● #% Increased Physical Damage (One Handed/Mace/Dual Wielding)
● #% Increased Maximum Life
● #% Attack Speed (One Handed/Mace/Dual Wielding)
● #% Increased Area Damage
Also, jewels can be used to adjust resistances so that we get maximum profit from the unique flask The Wise Oak. The best jewels will have increased maximum life and attack speed with maces. The attack speed will help you leap slam faster.




Keep in mind that our gear and skill gems have some stat requirements. We need at least :

- 155 strength
- 122 dexterity
- 111 intelligence

If you cannot afford all these stats on gear, use some +30 stats passive skill points on the passive skill tree.

Sometimes, Nebuloch low attack speed may be a problem. So I tested other options and this is what I recommand :

Weapons to use for mapping (quick jumping between packs) :


Main hand (leap slam uses main hand weapon) :


or any other rare mace with high attack speed and physical damage. A shaper one with "Gain > 35% of Physical damage as extra Fire Damage" and Attack Speed > 1.8 APS would be great. Be sure to not have elemental resistance on it to keep "The Wise Oak" bonus.

Grelwood Shank is a good weapon for mapping with this build. We lose only about 16% of our dps (low physical damage but gain 2 additional projectiles and Attack Speed) and some elemental/chaos mitigation, but we gain Iron Reflexes and Increased Armour while Stationary, so we keep the same amount of Armour while using 2 Nebuloch maces.

Off hand :


Weapons to use for bosses (full dps/mitigation mode) :




Weapons to use to generate Endurance Charges :






Enchants


Spoiler

These are some great enchants for this build but not all required and will not break the build if you do not have them:

● Helmet - “3 Additional Molten Strike Projectiles” enchantment
This adds a hude dps boost to molten strike. I don't have this enchant right now as it is very expensive

● Boots - “Regenerate 2% of Life and Mana per second if you were Hit Recently”. This is a great enchant to counteract the degen applied by Nebuloch and triggered by hit
Other good offensive enchant for bosses is "Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently"



● Gloves : if you are using a rare Gripped Gloves pair as I am doing, do not enchant your gloves or you will loose the implicit (Increased Projectile Damage). 



Flasks


Spoiler


● Magic Life Flask

You will want this to be a slow recovery flask. It is also good to have bleed immunity or shock immunity on this flask to prevent the degen applied by Nebuloch from increasing.



I am also using some unique flask options for this build:

● Forbidden Taste – I like to use this flask on any regen/leech character. It provides an instant recovery of up to 100% of your life but applies a chaos damage degen. I use it whenever I take a big hit and the regen. Do not quality this flask to limit the degen duration.



● The Wise Oak – The Wise Oak is a great offensive and defensive flask. It provides a maximum of 15% elemental penetration and reduces elemental damage taken by 10%. To take advantage of both its offensive and defensive boosts, we need to have our elemental uncapped resistances equalized. After you buy your rare armors, use jewels to min max your resistances. This flask is about 9% damage boost.



● Atziri promise – This flask is very cheap and can boost our damage by about 9%. It also provides additional chaos resistances that is useful against some mobs and bosses.



● Dying Sun – This is a great flask for this build as it adds 2 more projectiles to Molten Strike (5-6% more dps than Atziri's Promize). The problem is that this flask is very expensive and limits the defensive utility of The Wise Oak.


The fifth flask is situational and varies according to the map mob type or boss as well as the mods on the map.

If for example the map boss deal extra lightning, we should use a Topaz Flask that increases our maximum lightning resistance.

However, this flask should have the “of warding” affix. This will help us get rid of curses that can lower our dps or endanger us.





My Gear


Spoiler


Current gear :




Old gear :




Cost


Spoiler


Current gear :
- Loreweave (6l 80% max res good rolls) : 7 ex
- Abyssus (+3 molten projectiles / 40 increased phys damage taken) : 2 ex
- Elder amulet (% of phys as extra fire) : < 1 ex
- Belt (+1 endurance charge good life resistances and WED) : 1 ex

=> total = 11 ex (11-15ex range)


Old gear :

Helmet : 43c
Weapons : 10c each
Body armor : bought the base 6-linked for 35, essence crafted it for 8c, 43c total
Rings : got the prophecy from Navali and bought one for 29c (now they cost 1 ex each)
Amulet : 2c
Gloves (crafted) : 40c
Boots : 50c
Belt : dropped as is
Jewels :
- Wildefire : 2c each
- Rares : 2c + 8c
Flasks : Only bought The Wise Oak for 30c (max roll). Can be purchased with 8-10c
Total cost: 250c (400c if you buy everything, much less if you manage to regenerate enough life without Kaom's Way Rings)



Achievements


Spoiler

- Normal Elder : deathess
- Red Elder / first time for me : deathless (under 2 minute for every boss fight)
- Shaper Guardians (first time ever):
* Minotaur : very easy
* Chimera : very easy
* Hydra : very easy
* Phoenix : had some troubles at first but after knowing the fight mecanics it became a medium fight)
- Shaper : done. You just need a good internet connection and understanding of the fight.
- Uber Elder (with updated build : loreweave + abyssus) : done :D I had to borrow another computer for this fight because mine can't handle such fights xD
- Uber Atziri : done. easy. take antireflect pantheon and you're good.




In-depth analysis


Spoiler

Here I discuss many aspects of the build (Math is not updated sry, but after 3.4 we have better net life regen)


Degen vs Regen

Degen = damage taken from two Nebuloch maces after being hit

X : number of endurance charges
L : total life
d : fire damage taken after mitigation
r : % life regen from tree and gear
Degen = 400 * x * 2 * d

Regen = fix amount of life regen from passive tree and gear + regen from endurance charges
r : % life regen from tree and gear
% life regen from endurance charges = 2 * 0.4% (from two Kaom’s Way rings) + 0.5% (from Tawhoa ascendancy keystone) + 0.2% (from passive tree) = 1.5% per endurance charge
Regen = r * L + 1.5 * x /100 * L

In our case, we have 8 endurance charges
(the math here is not updated for the new gear.Now I have 9 EC and Loreweave, so my max fire res is always 80%, this helps reduce the degen by a lot. Just adjust your regen to your fire damage mitigation)
If we assume that :
- we are only taking 24% of degen fire damage in most situations (76% fire resistance)
- we have a fixed percentage of life regen from passive skill tree (8% + 3% from Ramako ascendancy keystone + 2% from other ascendancy points) and gear (2% from Kaom’s Roots enchant that triggers with the degen and 1.5% from Bloodgrip)
- no flasks and pantheon powers are not active.

let’s determine how much total life we need to negate the degen from Nebuloch we must have :

Regen > Degen
r * L + 1.5 * x L/ 100 > 400 * x * 2 * d
L * (r + 1.5 * x / 100) > 800 * x * d
L > 800 * x * d / (r + 1.5 * x / 100)
L > 800 * 8 * (24/100) / (16.5 / 100 + 1.5 * 8 / 100)
L > 1536 / (28.5 / 100)
L > 5390

So with 8 endurance charges, such gear and passive skill tree, and without taking into account other fire degen mitigation sources (Pantheon system, Purity of Fire, Ruby Flask…) and Life recovery sources (Flasks, Leech, Pantheon system …), we must at least have 5390 total life to make this build work. So, do not use this exact same setup unless you have more than 5390 life.

If you want to replace one ring, you will reduce the degen but also the regen, and you will need at least 4978 total life.

If you replace the two Kaom’s Way rings, you will need 4518 total life at least.

If you use a level 20 Purity of Fire with the original setup, you will need 4492 total life.

If we use one single Nebuloch with the original setup, we will need 2695 total life only but we will lose damage and other defensive stats

Keep in mind that we may need less total life than this if we take into account other factors like life leech, life flasks, Pantheon powers and other factors.


Damage mitigation

(These values here are with old gear, now I have way better mitigation:
- Fire Damage Taken : 9%
- Cold Damage Taken : 10%
- Lightning Damage Taken : 10%
- Physical Damage Taken : 7% (28% against shaper slam, enough to tank it)
- Chaos Damage Taken : 37% (can be decreased further with better gear))


Damage taken(without Pantheon/Enfeeble) of:

- Fire Damage Taken : 89%
- Cold Damage Taken : 86%
- Lightning Damage Taken : 86%
- Chaos Damage Taken : 51%
- Physical Damage Taken : 93%


Explanation :

Nebuloch mace gives very good defensive stats :
+4% to Chaos Resistance per Endurance Charge
1% reduced Elemental Damage taken when Hit per Endurance Charge
+500 to Armour per Endurance Charge

With two maces and 8 endurance charges, we gain :
64% Chaos Resistance
16% reduced Elemental Damage taken when Hit
8000 Armour

Elemental Resistances :

Normal resistance cap is 75%

We have +1% to maximum Fire Reistance from “Barbarism” on the passive skill tree so we have after capping elemental resistances :

- Fire Resistance : 76%
- Cold Resistance : 75%
- Lightning Resistance : 75%

(With Loreweave, these values can be always capped at 80%)

So after this mitigation the % we should take from the initial hit is :

- Fire Damage : 24%
- Cold Resistance : 25%
- Lightning Resistance : 25%

However, we have some sources of reduced Damage Taken such as :

- Fortify : 20% of all sources of damage
- 2 Nebuloch maces bonus : 16% of Elemental damage
- The Wise Oak flask : 10% of all Elemental damages

and less Damage Taken:

- Arctic Armor : 12% of Physical and Fire damage

These sources reduce the damage taken after the first layer of mitigation (resistances. So, after this, we should only take :

- Damage after mitigation * (1-Less Damage modifiers to damage taken)* (1-Reduced Damage modifiers to damage taken)
- 0.24*(1-0.12)*(1-(0.20+0.16+0.10))=0.24*0.88*0.54= 11% of Fire Damage Taken when Hit
- 0.25*(1-(0.20+0.16+0.10))=0.25*0.54= 14% of Cold Damage Taken when Hit
- 0.25*(1-(0.20+0.16+0.10))=0.25*0.54= 14% of Lightning Damage Taken when Hit

Chaos Resistance :

I am currently not capped at Chaos Resistance because I didn’t manage to get enough resistance on my gear. However, with the bonus from 2 Nebuloch maces and the Atziri Promise flask I am at +39% Chaos Resistance. With Fortify, we only take 49% of Chaos Damage on Hit.

Physical Damage Reduction :

For physical damage, we cannot have the exact value of the mitigation we have because of how Armour works. However, we have a base value we can rely on that does not take Armour into account:

- Physical Damage Reduction per Endurance Charge : 4%
- Fortify : 20% reduced Damage Taken when Hit
- Arctic Armour : 13% less Damage Taken when Hit

The “Ramako” ascendancy point from Chieftain transforms 10% of Physical Damage taken to Fire Damage, thus applying Fire Damage Reduction rules to this 10% portion of Physical Damage. The formula becomes :
0.9*(1-0.04*8)*(1-0.2)*(1-0.13)+0.1*0.11 = 43%(Physical Damage)+1% (Fire Damage)

So even with 0 Armour, we will mitigate 56% of the Physical Damage and receive 43% of initial damage as Physical Damage and 1% of it as Fire Damage.

If we consider Armour (about 30000 with current gear), we will probably reach 90% Physical Damage Reduction most of the time. This way, and with the Fire conversion, we will take only
0.9*(1-0.9)*(1-0.2)*(1-0.13)+0.1*0.11=0.06+0.01=7% of the initial hit damage with Armour.


Map mods

This build can do almost all map mods separately, however, some combinations are not doable :
- Maps without life or mana regen are doable because we have leech and a good amount of fire mitigation. However, combined with -max resistances or "cannot leech" mods, you should probably skip the map (test with your current gear) (if you use Loreweave, - max res maps wont affexct you, you can do them with no problems)
- Maps with -max resistances are doable even without purity of fire (use loreweave with 80% max res)
- Maps with elemental reflect :
You can skip these maps. You can also adjust your Pantheon, use Rise of the Phoenix, a rare sceptre with fire and burning damage, a 5 or 6l chest, purity of fire and run Righteous Fire for the trolls :D You can use Life Gain on Hit with MS instead of Elemental damage with attacks and deactivate Flammability.
- Maps with curses : just use a flask with "of Warding" suffix.


Damage Calculation

EDIT : After build update, we can reach 4M shaper dps. The problem is that we don't know exaclty how many balls will hit the target. It is estimated that most of the time, only 60% of the balls will hit shaper if we use conc effect and a wildfire jewel as the only source of AoE modifiers.

(Math here is not updated, just see how much damage a ball does, multiply it by the number of balls you have and then by your attack speed. You will probably do between 55% and 65% of that damage because balls will not all hit always)

Molten Strike projectiles travel normally from 5 to 20 units. With Concentrated Effect, the distance travelled becomes from 5 to 14 approximately.

Point Blank gives a 50% more damage bonus to projectiles if they travel less than 10 units, scaling down to 0% at 35 units (more distance applies a debuff up to 50% less damage).

With under 10 units distance, one projectile hits for 58.5k damage.

With 14 units distance (max distance with Concentrated Effect), one projectile hits for 55.5k damage

The melee hit is about 42.3k damage.

We have a 3.6 attacks per second.

So if we assume that all (7) the projectiles hit the target (Shaper), our dps in the worst case would be 3.6*(42.3+7*55.5) = 1550k dps




Chieftain vs Juggernaut

(math is not updated. Overall, Chieftain is better for Nebuloch, damage is almost double)
If we chose Juggernaut instead of Chieftain, we will lose :
1 - the free 50% fire conversion
2 - the free 100% fire resistance
3 - the 0.5% life regen per endurance charge
4 - the free life leech
5 - the damage boost (6% per endurance charge + ashes vs 5% per endurance charge)

and we will gain :
1 - a more reliable way to gain endurance charges
2 - 1 additional endurance charge and 5% increased area of effet per endurance charge (45% per 9 EC)
3 - better damage mitigation.

This will result in :

1 - Less passive skill points because we now need Avatar of fire for full conversion (4 points)

2 - Harder way to cap resistances : with the +100% fire resistance from Chieftain we will have much easier time acquiring necessary resistances (2 res items are less expensive and more available than 3 res items)

3 - Less Life: Chieftain has 10% increased Strenght. In addition, having to use 3 res items will prevent us from having more Strength from items (both are Suffixes). Strength gives us Life and damage for both the melee and the projectile parts of Molten Strike.

4 - Less Life regeneration : we will lose at least 6% life regen with Juggernaut and less life leech. Currently I can even play -12% max resistances maps without using Purity of Fire or a Ruby flask. This is not possible with Juggernaut. We will olso have more degen from the additional endurance charge.

5 - Less damage : we will lose at least 36% of our dps, probably more because the increased area of effect per EC has a bad synergy with Point Blank

6 - More mitigation :

With Chieftain we have :
- Fire Damage Taken : 89%
- Cold Damage Taken : 86%
- Lightning Damage Taken : 86%
- Physical Damage Taken : 93%

With Juggernaut we have :
- Fire Damage Taken : 92%
- Cold Damage Taken : 90%
- Lightning Damage Taken : 90%
- Physical Damage Taken : 93%

So, Juggernaut will take 3% less Fire Damage, 4% less Cold Damage and 4% less Lightning Damage. However, more mitigation with less life could be not useful:

Let's say we will take a hit of 30000 Fire Damage (Atziri flameblast final stage) :
- With Juggernaut, we wil take 30000*0.08=2400 Fire Damage
- With Chieftain, we wil take 30000*0.11=3300 Fire Damage

In this case, and if the Juggernaut version has 900 less life than the Chieftain version (1200 for a 30000 lightning or cold hit), the Chieftain will have more HP after receiving the hit, despite having less Fire mitigation. So the utility of the mitigation of Juggernaut will depend on how much life he has compared to Chieftain.

Overall, a Juggrnaut version of this build will cost much more currency, have less damage, less map mods choices, slightly better mitigation and endurance charges gain.




Conclusion


Spoiler

This is the most powerful build I have ever played. It has a lot of damage and makes you almost unkillable.
Last edited by fjtheknight on Jan 13, 2019, 8:12:23 PM
Last bumped on Jun 1, 2019, 8:08:36 AM
FAQ



Spoiler


Q - Can I use a rare amulet instead of Bloodgrip?
A - Yes you can. Look for an Marbel amulet (for the % life regen) or any other base amulet with life, resistances (if needed), flat physical damage, extra physical damage as fire damage (elder), % increased fire damage, strenght or other stats.

Q - Can I use Death's Door instead of Kaom's Roots?
A - Death's Door will increase you damage but also the degen applied by Nebuloch. If you can get enough life and regen with it you can use it.

Q - Is Belly of the Beast better than a rare Body Armour for this build?
A - Belly will give you mor life. A rare Body Armour with Strength wil give you more damage and resstances. The best armour for this build is Loreweave.

Q - Is it better to use Greater Multiple Projectile for dps and mapping?
A - GMP will result in more projectiles but less damage per projectile and reduce our overall damage. Using Ancestral Call generates enough AOE for mapping.

Q - Can I use rare rings instead of Kaom's Way rings?
A - This may result in a reduction in defences and an increase in damage, but at a high cost. Use rare (Opal) rings with life, strength, added flat physical damage, % of physical damage as extra fire damage (essence), increased fire damage, attack speed, strength and resistances if needed...

Q - How do you deal with shock?
A - Use a flask with the suffix "Of Grounding" / Use the "Soul of Arakaali" pantheon power after capturing the boss "Shock and Horror" in Torture Chamber Map

Q - How do you generate Endurance Charges for Boss fights?
A - If you killed some mobs before the fight, you just refrech endurance charges duration with nduring Cry once in a while. If not (Uber elder), use Enduring Cry with Voll's Devotion amulet and the Brinerot Flag shield (weapon swap). I usually engage directly and just use Enduring Cry occasionally.

Q - Can we play this as a Juggernaut?
A - A Juggrnaut version of this build will cost much more currency, have less damage, less map mods choices, slightly better mitigation and endurance charges generation. See in-depth analysis for more details.

Q - Is this build HC viable?
A - Yes it is (according to Robet24, thank him for testing out the build in HC).



EDIT TIMELINE:



Spoiler

14/3/2018 : General formatting

15/3/2018 : Added 2 videos (T15 Carcass boss + T12 cursed Necropolis boss) and some screenshots

16/3/2018 : Added some explanations (regen vs degen, damage mitigation). Added some Q&A

17/3/2018 : Added some more videos. Added a Chieftain vs Juggernaut analysis. Corrected some calculations

21/3/2018 : Added some achievements (Shaper + Guardians). Added some item recommandations for mapping and Shaper.

22/3/2018 : Added some map mods recommandations.

23/3/2018 : Added some gems recommandations. Added a "Damage Calculation" section.

16/4/2018 : Build update : new gear, new gems.

19/4/2018 : Added PoB link for updated build.

26/4/2018 : Uber Elder done. Uber Atziri done.

19/12/2018 : Updated for 3.5.

Last edited by fjtheknight on Dec 19, 2018, 4:48:32 PM
1. Bloodgrip looks like a colossal waste. You're better off with a killer rare ammy and then using Death's Door, which gives bleed immunity and an extra EC. You're right there if you really want to take Unwavering but life builds don't tend to get stunned very much, if at all, so I wouldn't bother. Losing mobility on boots sucks too. Mapping is already arduous with MS as it is because of the ramp up for the projectiles and their random hit nature.

2. Belly still seems BIS.

3. An MS build without GMP? Seems like a mistake. You generate massive power through each projectile, not to mention the increased AOE you get from having more. This sorta seems like you don't understand MS. I'd definitely lose the EC on stuns. You can generate enough mapping without it.

4. Not sold on Kaom's Signs. They are good, they do give some nice stats that synergize with your build, but Hysteria rolled Opals would still generate more dps. And flat too, no EC shenanigans. Plus you'd get life and resists. Taking up both ring slots makes it really restrictive to gear.

5. You really want to generate lots of attack speed with MS to proc those projectiles. I feel you fall short here. I'd definitely take Ambidextrous and lose Indomitable (which I've always felt to be a noob trap). Run Ahn's Contempt in lieu of your rare helm. It gives lots of life, added damage and better defense against crits. You also +20 to all attributes to help cover dex and int.
Deliver pain exquisite
"
1. Bloodgrip looks like a colossal waste. You're better off with a killer rare ammy and then using Death's Door, which gives bleed immunity and an extra EC. You're right there if you really want to take Unwavering but life builds don't tend to get stunned very much, if at all, so I wouldn't bother. Losing mobility on boots sucks too. Mapping is already arduous with MS as it is because of the ramp up for the projectiles and their random hit nature.


Hello! Thank you for your reply. Bloodgrip is a good amulet to start with but I am already planning to replace it with a good rare as I said in my original post:

"● Bloodgrip : nice cheap amulet with dps boost, life, life regen and reduced bleed damage taken (can be replaced with a good rare)"

I haven't find yet a good one for the build :)

Death's Door can be good because it increases the dps and physical mitigation (+1 EC), but :
- it will increase the degen caused by Nebuloch
- has no life (which is highly mandatory for this build because we need the highest amount of life regen)
- is quite expensive
I think Kaom's Roots are better for this build. For mobility I'm using Leap Slam with Faster Attacks which is ok.

Ancestral Call gives enough AOE for mapping with MS I think. I will add a video on mapping later.

"
2. Belly still seems BIS.


Belly is a good unique for this build. A good rolled rare will :
- give as more dps if it has strenght (about 2%)
- give less Life, but not too much (150-200) because we already have high amount of "Increased Maximum Life" on the tree and can acquire more on jewels
- give more resistances and armor
Also, a 6 linked belly is quite expensive (which is the case for a good rolled rare). Currently I am happy with my current budget body armour and I have other priorities to ameliorate the build (amulet especially). Overall, Belly is a better choice if you can afford it (I will add that to the gear recommandation, thank you!)


"
3. An MS build without GMP? Seems like a mistake. You generate massive power through each projectile, not to mention the increased AOE you get from having more. This sorta seems like you don't understand MS. I'd definitely lose the EC on stuns. You can generate enough mapping without it.


Endurance Charge on Melee Stun give more dps than Greater Multiple Projectile because it gives "3% more Damage per Endurance Charge" while GMP gives "Supported Skills deal (35-26)% less Projectile Damage" and 4 additional projectiles. Using GMP (11 balls) will result in less dps (about 120k dps less) than using ECMS (7 balls).

Using Ancestrall Call is enough to generate AOE for mapping.

We can generate EC without ECMC but I use it for the dps on more consistancy on EC generation. I can generate EC with Tawhoa (20% chance on killing ignited enemy) but I am using Elemental Focus for dps which prevents elemental ailments. Relying on Herald of Ashe for endurance charge generation is not enough I think. Enduing Cry can be tedious if we must check every time if we are about to lose our ECs.

"
4. Not sold on Kaom's Signs. They are good, they do give some nice stats that synergize with your build, but Hysteria rolled Opals would still generate more dps. And flat too, no EC shenanigans. Plus you'd get life and resists. Taking up both ring slots makes it really restrictive to gear.


A mirror tier Hysteria rolled Opal ring (T1 flat, T1 WED, 10% phys gained as fire) will generate 7.5% more damage, but will decrease our defences even if it gives more life (defensive stats from Nebuloch + phys dmg reduction). Also the cost of these rings is much higher than a Kaom's Way. In addition, we lose >250 net hp regen. I feel that I don't need more dps for now (haven't tried shaper yet, so I can't say much about this, but according to Path of Building, I already have about 1.5M shaper dps with current gear without vaal lightning trap=shock)

"
5. You really want to generate lots of attack speed with MS to proc those projectiles. I feel you fall short here. I'd definitely take Ambidextrous and lose Indomitable (which I've always felt to be a noob trap). Run Ahn's Contempt in lieu of your rare helm. It gives lots of life, added damage and better defense against crits. You also +20 to all attributes to help cover dex and int.


I am already using Ambidexterity (can't find Ambidextrous on the tree). Also, I have some attack speed on jewels.
Why is Indomitable a noob trap? It reduces Extra Damage taken from crits by 20% and also increases armour. The reduction works on all types of damage and not only physical damage.

Ahn's Contempt is bad for this build. It gives less life (-200 than my current helmet) and also takes 2 jewels slots on the tree to reduce the maximum power charge to take advantage of its added chaos damage and the crit damage reduction. It doesn't have resistances neither. It can work in other setups (rare rings and amulet). Also, the damage will decrease with this helmet even with the added chaos damage because it will require two jewel slots and even if we manage to get power charges without sacrificing jewels it will only increase the dps by a very small amount (about 0.2%).

Thank you!
I looked at the build, I liked it, but I can not understand how to generate the enduranсe chardge on the boss except for cry.
I tried to make a similar build and the only thing I couldn't figure out how to really solve was shock - it increases the already precarious balance of the degen and you really just MELT.

I tried using Veruso's to stop this but it was pretty hard to find a way to get even more uniques into the build without GG gear.

Also, as you already said, maximum life is very important. Since so much of the regen is % life, the higher the life, the more you mitigate.
Last edited by Rengomania on Mar 15, 2018, 8:52:32 PM
Drop a PoB!
"
Velidor wrote:
I looked at the build, I liked it, but I can not understand how to generate the enduranсe chardge on the boss except for cry.


What I do :

I have beaten elder in red maps without any preparation, just engage, use enduring cry once in a while, and stun adds whenever they spawn to generate endurance charges :)


What you can do :

That depends on what boss you are talking about.

For map bosses (bosses we meet after killing some mobs, which is 90% of the time), we already have 8 endurance charges. We just need to use Enduring Cry to refresh their duration once in a while. I usually kill the boss without having to use Enduring Cry because my charges last for 17 seconds.

For other bosses (solo bosses), we can :

- engage with the boss and use Enduring Cry every 4 seconds to gain charges progressively (1 charge per use). That means that we need at least 28 seconds to gain 8 charges (adds will generally spawn before that).

- engage with the boss and use the unique flask The Writhing Jar. The flask gives 2 worms per use. With 2 worms and 1 boss we will generate 2 charges per Enduring Cry use. The worms stay alive for more than 8 seconds so we can use Enduring Cry 3 times per flask use. To gain 8 charges, we will need 12 seconds with this method. If we do not engage with the boss, 2 worms give only 1 endurance charges per Enduring Cry use. That means the flask would only give as 6 charges before we engage and takes 20 seconds to do so.



If the boss spawns adds quickly, we will need less time to be at full endurance charges.

- use The Redblade Banner (gear swapping) which gives warcry cooldown recovery with these methods and speed up the process (can use it without engaging with boss)



- use 2 The Writhing Jar flasks (but lose another flask slot).

The safest way to generate all the charges is to use 2 The Writhing Jar flasks + The Redblade Banner shield without engaging, than engage when all charges are up.

If you want to engage directly without preparation (and that's what I do), you will lose some damage and damage mitigation at first because they scale off endurance charges. However, you have a higher net life regen (1250 vs 800) and these bosses are less scary at the start of the battle, so you should be safe. I have also a free flask slot to use for every specific boss/situation, so you can use that for early fight stages.

Last edited by fjtheknight on Mar 18, 2018, 8:25:23 PM
"
HeavyBurden wrote:
Drop a PoB!


Path of Building (lvl 95) : https://pastebin.com/jqEGBBEE

Also available under "Stats" section
"
Rengomania wrote:
I tried to make a similar build and the only thing I couldn't figure out how to really solve was shock - it increases the already precarious balance of the degen and you really just MELT.

I tried using Veruso's to stop this but it was pretty hard to find a way to get even more uniques into the build without GG gear.

Also, as you already said, maximum life is very important. Since so much of the regen is % life, the higher the life, the more you mitigate.


To solve problems related to shock, you can :
- use a flask with the suffix "of Grounding". This flask will remove shock on use and you will be immune to shock during flask effect. I have a free flask slot for such purposes.
- use the "Soul of Arakaali" pantheon power after capturing the boss "Shock and Horror" in Torture Chamber Map. This will give you 30% reduced Effect of Shock and 30% reduced Shock Duration.

With the current tree and gear, even if I am shocked, I still regenarte life more than I lose (>34% life regen without pantheon powers)

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