Self casting, channelling (flameblast) feedback

With as much help as self casting supposedly got, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not enough to feel good yet as a playstyle.

I felt crazy and figured I'd give self cast flameblast a go. I know, probably not the greatest, but I wanted to give it a try. Disclaimer: I play SSF. I'm no POE expert, just your average player who can clear end game content at my own pace. Gearing takes quite some time and I still cannot craft the gear I would ultimately like. While able to get through T16s, kill guardians, kill eater of worlds and searing exarch, and nearly all end game (splinters and guardian maps take forever to get on SSF), it's really painful. There is not enough cast speed available on the tree IMO. Even with determination and defiance banner, it's still very difficult to stand and cast at a cast rate of 9.8 for more than a millisecond. There's so much damage trade off for survivability necessary. Especially against bosses.

For example, Eradicator - you stand still for a moment and you get zapped for like 75% of your health (94% shock avoidance). Even when moving that boss is overtuned and has practically unavoidable lightning damage. Enslaver (60% ignite avoidance), still get igniting basically 100% of the time for a huge DOT. You spend 99.9% of the fight running around avoiding all the incoming damage, with practically 0 up time on damage because standing still for a millisecond gets you zapped or burned or smashed, you get the idea.

For reference, the build has ~5.5K life, 1.2K ES, 13K armour, life on kill, ES on kill, about 500+K average hit and 300+K ignite dps. Damage is low because of necessary survival trade offs. Runs temp chains and flammability. Chill and shock on hit. Just posting for reference, not for suggestions. Build is what it is, with the gear I've gotten and crafted. Just wanted to share my experience and say that IMO the archetype could still use some love.

Pastebin -- https://pastebin.com/7EHA846g

Conceptually, there has to be some middle ground. My gear is not great, but it's good enough to clear this content fairly comfortably, if a little slow. I am not saying my build should be facerolling this stuff, it's not that good, but the playstyle and archetype is pretty bad. I could try to go for bigger ignites, or CWC, or rip someone else's build but that's not how I like to play. I like SSF and I like trying to create my own builds and after reaching this point in the end game, it's just not very fun to play with this skill anymore because the gear requirements are quite high for "end game damage" and the time investment is well, very high.

TL;DR - self casting can be viable and decent enough given enough play time and patience (which is a lot). There's probably plenty of people who've cracked into great builds with different self cast spells. Self-Channelling, specifically, presents more abundant problems with survival and still feels very weak and inferior in comparison to "meta" builds. That's my feedback.

Side note, even after all these hours, cannot get 1 empower or enlighten drop. Why are these so dreadfully rare?

I played flameblast maybe a year ago and it felt fine (trickster)

this game is NOT balanced around SSF. let this sink in - your self-inflicted handicap is a very big part of your experience. the gear you use (starting with chest) is really bad for todays 'standard' - replacing it with something more end-game viable is very very easy in normal game (starting with weapon with 35%+ cast speed)

also playing flameblast without ignite prolif. why?


but the general conclusion is sound - cast speed depravation is what makes self-cast a so-so choice. my eye of winter inquis took a while to feel allright and the biggest impact was adding frenzy charges to the build - it is amazing what just the basic 3 can do

Good feedback, sid. I know the game is balanced more around trade power, but at the same time, I enjoy "earning" my gear, even if it is slower. It is just the play style I prefer.

No ignite prolif is because the build does not struggle with AoE mob clear, it struggles with single target. AoE mobbing can be a little tricky but this stems from the fact that actually taking the 1 second to cast the skill at full stacks is dangerous even with the estimated 70+% phys damage redux.

Yes, the chest is the best 6 link I got, can't make another yet and it's actually relatively fine for the build. I basically stopped playing this league because other better options came along than the slow grind toward shaper/elder frags and conquerors. It takes too long to keep my attention this time around. Again, I know this can be "solved" by trade league, but if I could trade off some life/util nodes for cast speed on the tree, I would do it in a heartbeat most likely. 35% cast speed on a one hander is not a thing. Max is 32 and hitting that along with +1 gem, other damage necessary pretty tough with the lack of currency dropping IMO.

Main thing I think would be the really long currency and gear grind for weapon/amulet/rings to help the cast speed and gem levels for damage. Just don't feel like grinding that many more hours on the char. Getting full ele avoidance was another goal, but the necessary annoint oils not dropping, again, another super long grind.

Point still stands, the playstyle is gimped comparatively and my mistake was starting with this as opposed to something more viable and quick for league starting. Which brings up the related point of getting build archetypes to be more similar in power level in terms of the time and investment needed to reach "minimum" end game viability for damage, survivability and utility. :)

just two quick notes:

profane wand has a cast speed implicit (14%) and essences of Misery guarantee cast speed roll. +1gems is a prefix (cast speed is a suffix) so there is no affix cannibalization

oh and i couldnt find Flame Surge in your links - it is free damage on an ignite build