Flame Surge + Fire Trap Build! Cheap but Extremely Efficient! Videos Inside!

This is my first time writing a build guide, so please, feel free to let me know if I forget to mention anything!

Introduction:
This build is a life-based fire mage who relies on fire trap for clearing packs and flame surge for single target dps. Fire trap and flame surge works exceptionally well together because fire trap sets monsters on fire so that flame surge gains 50% MORE damage against them.

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Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Cheap (costs less than 10 exalt if you use a 5link)
- Huge Single Target Damage (Easily over 10k tooltip dps, not counting the 50% bonus damage)
- Fast Clear Speed
- Decent Survivability
- Straightforward Gameplay, Noob Friendly

Cons:
- Against hard-hitting monsters, your mana will run out very quickly that sometimes you will not be able to cast spells (because of MoM and AA mana drain).
- Not the best build to kill Atziri with, but it is 100% doable (check video section).

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Passive Tree:
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEABS0LYQ48EmkVUBZvFxwZhRpVGmwfAiFgJDwkqicvJ6ko-iycLR8xnjWSNsU22DboNuk6UjrhPfxAoEGHRKtE50WdSRtJUU3jVa5VxlhjWK9abV4TXz9gS2EhZKNqO20ZcXl07XTxeA15aHqqeu9_xoIegseE74UyhymHZYgbiPGMz49Gj6aa4Jwtna6euZ_LoLSio6SsplenCKdcqBipbqyvr7e18rc-uJO8n8EEwfPDhsbYz2XQ0Ngk2wvjauOf55Hr7uxV7w7vhfIv8kXzBvPd9kj56P4K_o8=


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Videos:
-level 77 Shrine Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_FYHEPQMUA&feature=youtu.be
**Sorry for the lag at the beginning of the video. I forgot to close my other client.

-Normal Atziri Kill with 0 Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40cgMaLKxOw

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Skills:
5l Flame Surge: Flame Surge + Iron Will + Concentrated Effect + Life Leech + Faster Casting
For 6l, add Fire Penetration Gem

- Explaination: Since we start as Marauder, we are bound to get a lot of strength nodes in our passive tree. So, the Iron Will gem gives a HUGE dps boost to Flame Surge. Currently, I have 563 strength, which is converted to over 100% increased spell damage. The other gems are pretty straightforward. I use conc effect because Flame Surge is mainly used for single target anyways, so the reduced AOE radius doesn't matter.

Fire Trap: Fire Trap + Increased Burning Damage + Chance to Ignite + Elemental Proliferation
Or put Fire Trap in Doryani's Catalyst so we only need: Fire Trap + Increased Burning Damage + Chance to Ignite

Auras: Clarity + Discipline + Reduced Mana + Tempest Shield (Optional)

Cast When Damage Taken Setup: CWDT + Enduring Cry + Immortal Call + Increased Duration

Other Gems: Arctic Armour, Flammability, Searing Bond (optional)

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Defensive Mechanisms:
1. Mind over Matter (30% of Damage is taken from Mana before Life)
2. Arctic Armour
3. 40%+ Block Chance
3. High Life Leech % (over 10% with proper gears) Combined with Flame Surge's High Damage
4. 200+ Life Regen
5. 79% max resist (without auras)

-Explaination:
Since 5 or 6 link Flame Surge costs tons of mana and has a very fast cast speed, I decide to get the Eldritch Battery (EB) keystone in the passive tree in order to sustain the high mana cost. EB allows me to have extremely high maximum mana (2~3k) and mana regen (200+/s). So, it is only natural to use the Mind over Matter (MoM) keystone and Arctic Armour skill. Arctic Armour is absolutely perfect for this build because it pretty much makes me immune to elemental reflect.

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Gears:
My Current Gears:
Spoiler


- Explaination:
Weapon: Doryani's Catalyst is absolutely the best weapon for this build. The most important point is that spell damage does NOT increase fire trap's burning damage, but elemental damage does! So a 100% spell damage wand would only increase Flame Surge's damage and fire trap's initial blast damage, but not fire trap's burning damage! Doryani's Catalyst increases both the initial damage and the burning damage. In addition, the free level 20 Elemental Proliferation saves us a gem slot, and the 1% ele damage leech gives us a little bit more survivability.

Belt: Fire damage Doryani's Invitation is a pretty obvious choice here. Not much to explain.

Gloves: I choose to use Meginord's Vise. Don't be fooled by its stats. Since we are using Iron Will gem, the gloves' REAL stats are: 20% increased spell damage (100 strength = 20% spell damage, thanks to Iron Will), 50 life (100 strength = 50 life), and 150+ armour. Not so bad now, huh?

Chest: Any 5link Ar/Es chest with decent ES and a high life roll would do. Strength is a good bonus since it increases our damage.

Helm, Boots: Both pure ES and Ar/Es are fine. Again, just make sure it has decent ES and a high life roll (with resists if possible of course).

Amulet: The essential mods are mana regen and life. Some desirable mods to have are fire damage, cast speed, spell damage, strength, resists, etc. Those are optional though.

Rings: Pretty much the same as amulet. You want life and high mana regen (40%+) on them. Fire damage, cast speed and strength are great too but not necessary.

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My Current Stats:



My Flame Surge is level 19, so there is still plenty room of improvement. Also, as I've mentioned above, the dps does not include the 50% bonus damage for hitting burning enemies. The real dps is probably around 20k.

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That's all I have to say about the build. Thank you all for reading! Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!!
Seems like a really nice build, props for theory-crafting!
1H+Shield High Block&Spell Block Tank: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/868995
Ice Crash Crit Staff AKA "The Shaterring Karui": https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1289037
Tanky Block+AR+EV Ranger Crit Reave Dagger/Claw: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1301888
I love this idea. I'm going to use your concepts to make a low-life crit version to make up for iron will etc. I'd probably use atziri's acuity. Maybe if I get a chance to try it today I can update you and you can add a low-life version (no snapshot of course) to your guide. I could probably use your help in theorycrafting. Just got home from last night at EDC so I'm tired. Thanks for the idea!
What's your tooltip Fire Trap damage? And did you level using the same build or switch over at some point?
combining these two spells is probably on a lot of peoples mind since the release of flame surge. the whole setup is definitely not what I expected though and not sure how i feel about it. some likes and dislikes underneath, some within your control, some not so much.

likes:
-more raw % life than you expect for a AA +MoM char, nice.
-also plenty of flat life from str
-mana/life nodes are efficient

dislikes:
-15000 flame surge dps seems lack luster for a tree geared specifically for it+6l+lvl90
-too much focus on spell damage which as you say doesen't increase fire trap burn at all.
-iron will double taps strength which is nice but yet another support gem means you probably want 6l asap a.k.a not cheap as advertised (yes I read the 5l disclaimer which would make more sense if dps was 500k rather than 15k)
-aura's will still be strong and the build has 0 aura nodes.
-"low" max fire ress
-given all of the above + the fact that you need the leech it feels like you would cast flame surge on every rare rather than just bigger bosses
-hard to get every stat you need i suppose on a shield but feels like you could do better than 70 es on a EB char.
-elemental weakness is usually considered stronger for fire trap+prolif builds due to quality bonus and the fact that you already have a high ignite chance and only need to ignite one mob in a pack. the burned ground should work for bosses.
Last edited by Joo on Jun 23, 2014, 12:36:04 PM
Remember that rare gloves can roll up to 50 strength making that 100 strength on Meginord's Vise less impressive.

They're good starter gloves but with a good rare you would end up with a lot more life and possibly resists that could enable you to buy rings that have %fire damage instead of a resist. In a best case scenario you would gain 64 life and 24% fire damage + 10% Iron Will damage (50 strength, rings with 12% fire damage each).

This might have been obvious but since you had such a good reasoning for using Doryani's Catalyst over a rare weapon I felt like something was missing when you talked about the Meginord's Vise.

Other than that it's a great guide and an interesting build, might try something like it in the next leagues.

IMO poison arrow trapper is better.
Last edited by Magnific on Jun 23, 2014, 1:05:52 PM
"
Magnific wrote:
IMO poison arrow trapper is better.


And it's also a completely different build that gets no block and no leech.
Can this be played from a league-reset, or are things like doryanis and a 5-link required for it to be efficient?
I got to give you credit, you got to it first. I found a 19% Flame Surge around several days after it was added in a patch. I kept it cause, why not it was almost 20q someone might buy it. No one ever did so I started thinking what would be the easiest way to double dip with its extra damage modifier, fire trap. Hell most mobs die to the traps alone (when cursed), and you only have to occasionally go after the one or two stragglers who made it out of the AoE death zone. Invaders/Bosses are fairly simple just keep them burning with traps, and spam Surge.

Good build. I just hit cruel with my own, I had planned to try my hand at a guide if I could make the build to 80 and make sure it was map viable.

"
Vince wrote:
Can this be played from a league-reset, or are things like doryanis and a 5-link required for it to be efficient?


It's very viable, even with just two sets of 4L, one for Surge one for Trap. Obviously 5L is better and 6 is the sweet spot but for a new league, or at least a new character on a budget, yea it works. Quality on Surge just ramps it's cast speed, so you can do pretty good with just a default version. You'll definitely need the support gems but most of them are quest rewards so you can trade for easily. The ones that are drop only might be a little pricier, in a brand new league at the start but still doable.
Last edited by Maverickroll on Jun 23, 2014, 8:56:29 PM

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