[1.2.X] Molten Strike CoC Flame Surge - Dual-wielding daggers, evasion, acrobatics, ondar's

Jungle valley boss
Random exile I found on a plateau map
Maze vaal with -% max resistances and temporal chains
Precinct full clear
I'm very sorry for constantly pressing the show loot button, it's just a habit that I've developed, it's very hard to control.

A video would probably explain it better, but since I’m going to make and upload them later I’ll try to tell you how to fight with this thing. Depending on my needs, I have two curses (Poacher’s Mark and Warlord’s Mark which became amazing in the 1.2 patch) – for most mobs and packs I use PM because it lowers their evasion (which is very important for a crit build) and as a bonus, it grants frenzy charges on kill, which is nice and does speed things up a bit. I then stand at the edge of a pack and spam Molten strike (this is not necessary all the time, but for harder packs it provides some defense). Molten Strike projectiles hit mobs, crit, ignite them and it triggers flame surge which obliterates them. Herald of Ice spreads some damage even further and helps chill/freeze them. For harder hitting packs/rares I use Warlord’s Mark as it provides very significant life leech. Either way, there is no way to run out of mana this way (except in 50% regen + no curse maps). I use Whirling Blades for mobility and one instant flask which also removes bleeding (very important) and one normal life flask (surgeon’s), which I also sometimes switch for another instant flask. I also use one surgeon’s topaz flask, surgeon’s ruby flask and surgeon’s jade flask with %increased evasion on use (which puts me at 50% chance to evade and consequently at 95% to evade projectiles, thanks to ondar’s.). I have a surgeon’s amethyst flasks for stuff like jungle valley boss. I feel very tanky, if I do take damage I heal it up instantly. However, I find that if I’m very sloppy, there is a chance I will die. For very tough maps, you can switch the off-hand dagger for Ungil’s Gauge for the increased block, it doesn’t lower your dps by that much. Ele reflect is not too big of a problem. If you are too trigger happy in a huge pack, use a ruby flask, but otherwise you can outheal/outleech reflected damage, hopefully. Reflect with -%max resists hurt much more severly.

Cast on Crit Flame Surge does 12,9k dps with melee strikes only (not counting projectiles), assuming 5 projectiles also hit the target it becomes 25,8k dps, 51,7k dps with all 15 projectiles (possible only while attacking in the middle of packs). Molten Strike itself has 4,8k tooltip dps (with charges up). Multiply dps by 166% or so for 6l with concentrated effect. Calculations do not include resistances, but all of them include 6 power charges (78% chance to crit). Other stats:
4291hp, 28% chance to evade, 56% chance to evade projectiles, 40% chance to dodge attacks, 46% chance to dodge spells, 36% chance to block attacks. 79/75/79 resistances. What do those stats mean?
I dodge 48% of spells (this is pretty straightforward). 72% total chance to evade/dodge melee attacks (80% with flask). 80% total chance to evade/dodge projectile attacks (98% with flask, which I think is reduced to a maximum of 95%).

click

Bandits – oak, passive, alira

How do I level this thing? Truth is, I have no idea. I had a level 86 shadow and I decided to take advantage of the free respec that came with Forsaken Masters. I don’t think leveling with CoC would be very efficient, because they nerfed the cast chance + it takes some passives to gather up high enough crit chance. I suppose leveling as a dual-wielding melee character might work (using Molten Strike or whatever you want. You can still use Ungil’s Gauche for the added survivability).

I only have 5l so far and I’m working on a 6l. I’ve chosen to 6l a lightning coil for the defensive value, but Carcass Jack or Belly of the Beast would be fine too, I guess. A good rare chest armor with life and resistances is fine too. I prefer having something to reduce physical damage, because attacks sometimes get through and they hurt. I leveled Flame Surge to level 19 yesterday, so it’s still not maxed.

5l setup is – Molten strike + multistrike + CoC + Flame Surge + Pcoc
For a 6l setup I think Concentrated effect would be best, but I guess Fire Penetration would work as well, especially if you wanted to retain your AoE range. You could also put another spell here.

Other links:
Purity of Lightning + Purity of Fire + Purity of Ice + Reduced mana – pretty standard. I switch purities based on current situation, but in reality, I only use Fire and Lightning.
Poacher’s Mark + Warlord’s Mark + Blood Rage + Vaal Haste (not a perfect combination, but I don’t have a separate Immortal Call + Increased Duration piece of gear to combine with Vaal Haste.)

Herald of Ice + Increased Area of Effect + Reduced Mana + Blind – AoE portion of Heral of Ice sometimes blinds enemies, which is nice.

Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + Blood Magic (I don’t have blood magic in that setup, because I haven’t gotten around to rechroming my dagger yet).

CWDT + Enduring Cry – I guess I could put immortal call here or something. I haven’t gotten around to that either.

I think for leveling especially, Vorici and Elreon are nice. Elreon's rings are overpowered for leveling. Zana is worth having in the end-game. I'm not entirely sure about Masters, but later you can have all crafting benches in your hideout anyway.

There are other ways to do this. You can have MS/Pcoc/multistrike/whatever on a separate link to gain charges and use either Double Strike or Cyclone or another Molten Strike to trigger Flame Surges. You can even forgo igniting enemies with Molten Strike and use Fire Trap linked with Multiple Traps. It’s up to you really. You can use Carcass Jack for the AoE. I decided to use a coil for the additional mitigation. You can also go 1h/shield I suppose, but I haven’t built a passive tree for that.