[1.2] Molten Ash Marauder crit build (decent survivability, excelent clear speed)

Lvl 74 Gorge full map clear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcEpYZl8vWI

Lvl 72 Torture Chamber boss fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhziSPBRKmg

Lvl 72 Jungle Valley boss fight (aka spider squishing), fried meatballs anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlehZfgHBd4

Lvl 74 Maze double Vaal boss fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jaOVMKhAkY

Old gem setup:

Lvl 74 Residence full map run. Forgot to use Topaz or/and Purity of Lightning on Dominus...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuerK7zsPfw

Pros:

+ Excelent clear speed (most maps within 5 to 6 mins)
+ Excelent single target DPS (over 95k "on average" with 700% crit multi using 6l setup)
+ CRAZY AoE DPS due to balls of magma AND Herald of Ash burning mechanics (read above)
+ Decent survivalibity (58 block chance with The Anvil and around 5k life with Belly of the Beast)
+ Fast pace gaming, very fast leaps, stuff dies quickly, bosses melts down in seconds
+ Offense as the best form of defence
+ Most of the map mods are doable

Cons:

- Offense as the best form of defence
- Some crazy situations like reflect packs of Boars / Flicker spiders with Vaal totem (phys dmg boost aura) with increased critical hit chance and damage on them and with some frenzy / power charges up might actually kill you almost instantly if you are unlucky
- Poorjoys Asylum map with current state of the build is a "no go"
- Atziri with the current state of the build is a "no go"

Updated Lvl 86 tree (different route to Ranger section to include some int)
https://www.poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgEAAAYB3AOHBLEJWAthFFIV9hjbGS4brRv6Hcoj9iThJd8nLyftKNsppTBUMfs0kzWSNe867T0-Pfw_m0d-Sn1KyExgTZJOKlb6WGNZ81uvXLBfP2J5Y3BlTWebZ6BsFm20bmluqnBycql4DXlofXV-vX_jgUGE2YcZh3aMz419kAqSfZPXlWaYb5tYm2qjiqQZpKypbqyqtfK2QbyfvYG-ir6nwQTBi8bY037T_NSP2L3bp9wj3Q3f7-Of5FHlz-oY7g7vDu_j8i_2SPcy-0X8S_zF_ro=

Build utilizes dual wield for attack speed bonus and easy acces to crit, dmg, attack speed and block nodes. With a proper gear (and decent dagger) it is possible to hit over 60% crit chance without single power charge and 700% crit multi. In terms of defence we have some armor and 48% chance to block. The build can be adjusted for more survivality while skipping some attack speed and damage nodes and taking life nodes. Also swapping the helmet for Bringer of Rain or adding The Anvil amulet (amulet works better for me).

Off hand crit chance is 53.5%. Gems are not maxed out yet (lvl 16-19). This is only melee part of Molten Strike. Balls of magma should be around 20k each according to my calculations. Assuming that only 1 ball always drops within the range of initial hit, we are able to reach more than 80k single target DPS on avg. This is "on average" - Crit Multi is ~700% and Crit Chance ~50% (more with better gear).

Build can be adjusted to more survivality. Skip some attack speed and phys dmg nodes and grab life.

Main attack:

New setup:

5l: Molten Strike - Weapon Elemental Damage - Faster Attacks - Added Fire Damage - Increased Critical Damage

or

5l: Molten Strike - Weapon Elemental Damage - Faster Attacks - Melee Physical Damage - Increased Critical Damage

I found that Added Fire Dmg scales better than Concentrated Effect (due to Doryani's elemental dmg increase and Weapon Elemental Damage) and just works better in most situations. At firts I was affraid that single target DPS will suffer because of spread increase, boy I was wrong ... Increased spread of magma balls (due to not using Concetrated Effect anymore) is not that painfull because their splash dmg area of effect (from the spot they hit the ground) is also increased. So in the end, they cover more ground than before. This helps in crowd fights and single target dmg is still huge because at least one allways lands near the target within the range of splash dmg.


6l Molten Strike - Weapon Elemental Damage - Faster Attacks - Added Fire Damage - Increased Critical Damage - Melee Physical Damage / Concentrated Effect (harder initial hit or harder hitting balls, matter of preference)


This build can achieve over 75k DPS from inital hit with above 6l setup (and another 20k per magma ball). Resulting in 95k DPS single target and CRAZY AoE DPS (due to 3 magma projectiles fired and HoA overkill dmg burning mechanisc).

As you can see - no Multistrike in the gem setup. Just Faster Attacks. Multistrike gives crazy attack speed and tooltip DPS, but your single hit dmg will suffer. And we need high single hit damage for proper burning damage proliferation. Quality Faster Attacks is imo enough to compensate for Multistrike. Quality Increased Critical Damage is also highly recommended. Weapon Elemental Damage has higher priority than Melee Physical Damage in this setup because it increases DMG of Molten Strike initial hit (melee part) AND projectile part AND burning effect from HoA overkill dmg. Melee Physical Damage increases only melee part and burning effect from HoA overkill dmg (due to harder initial hit).

AOE DPS support setup:
Herald of Ash - Hatred - Elemental Proliferation - Reduced Mana

Utility skills:
Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Blood Magic
Cast When Damage Taken - Elemental Weakness - Increased Duration (we use Hatred also)
Cast When Damage Taken - Enduring Cry - Immortal Call - Inreased Duration

That's basically all you need. There's room for another aura in this build. I suggest using Purity of Lightning.

Helm



Abyssus for great damage increase. Build is crit based so more critical damage increase is allways nice to have.

If u feel that you will be to squishy swap Abyssus for Bringer of Rain or add this amulet to the mix (and I recommend Anvil over BoR, tested them both):



Armour



Getting proper colors in this armor might be tricky. Also it is now not a mandatory item. The other options are Lightning Coil + Purity of Lightning as your third aura, or Belly of the Beast.

Carcass Jack is nice because of increased AOE. It gives more AOE to Elemental Proliferation, more AOE to Leap Slam, more AOE to Curses. There'se also area dmg ont that armour, nice life and all resistances. Still, if u think you will be to squishy choose one of the other armour options.


Belt



I suggest using this cheap little belt. It has dual leech. We need at least 2% mana leech and 4% life leech on this build to work properly. Having 2/3 of those needs covered by one item is realy nice. There's also much needed int on it. Another option here are Slitherpinch gloves and belt of your choice.

Main hand weapon



Doryani's Catalyst. Good base damage, good attack speed, around 100% elemental dmg increase (for Molten Strike, Hatred and HoA burning effect), nice GLOBAL crit chance, lvl 20 Elemental Proliferation support for your leap slam and 1% elemental dmg leech on top of that. Excelent weapon for this build. Putting leap slam in this weapon is realy good idea. Cold damage elemental status aliment (freeze & chill) from active Hatred aura will trigger with this build with 50% of your leap slams and proliferate, resulting in some crowd freezes :)


Off hand weapon

A decent crit dagger with 200+ physical DPS. I'm using self found and crafted:



Attack speed on dagger is also important but not mandatory.

Jewelry, boots and gloves of your choice

Desirable stats - as allways - resists, life, crit, phys dmg, attack speed, movement speed.
As you can see, gear is not THAT expensive. Few exalts here and there, overall under 10 ex easilly. The tricky part is to get enough resistence and some life from the rares.

1. Why no Avatar of Fire?

Avatar of Fire will increase dmg of this build but not by significant amount imo. And after specing into Avatar of Fire, having no physical part of dmg, elemental reflect might became a problem. Other than that, we need some phys dmg source to leech mana.

2. What about physical reflect, u use Abyssus...?

Due to the Molten Strike mechanics (60% of dmg converted to fire dmg) physical part of dmg is not that BIG. Having lots of elemental dmg and elemental leech from Doryani's keeps me safe from phys reflect mobs even with Abyssus on the head. Also having 48% chance to block attacks helps with phys reflect (58% block with Anvil).

3. And elemental reflect?

Having some part of damage as physical and with 4% physical dmg leech, ele reflect is not a big deal.

4. Is this build viable on high lvl maps (76-78) ?

I've played lvl 76 maps with this build without any problems. Clear speed was still excelent and ability to kill bosses quickly is very handy. If I will find time I will post more videos in the future.

5. Is this build Atziri viable?

Not at the current state. Way to low hp pool (I consider 5,5k hp as minimum to try Atziri). Also build requires better gearing to go for Atziri. Atziri's Acuity might be perfect for large and instant life leech. Vaal Pact with another 4% life leech from amulet is not enough.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEABLMOFBPMFCAUTRiRGekaOBznHRQg8CE0Iq8nLyftKS4t0jBUMfsyiTbpOFM62D0-Pfw_m0TnTdhP81BHUeZR-VcNV-JYY1nzXz9gxGaeZ1hnm2oeajtsFnKpdud35Xy4fr1_44cZi0-MdozPj0aQVZHOk9ebWJtqnsWezZ8-ogCkrKcwp4SoGKyqr420L7T5u-28n8AaxtjLQ8zb0iHcI97B42rjn-RR5K3qGOw47MvvDvAf8azyL_ZI9zL60vxL