[Torment] Splode's Bridle - Scold's Vaal Molten Shell Incinerator (now with videos)

Based on the concept above, there are still quite a few different ways one can take things. Here's the main decisions I made, in short list form, for the busy exile :

- AA to mitigate Scold and some reflect
- EB to support AA
- Heralds - to boost Incinerate damage mainly, but also pretty good with VMS, and gives free status ailments + auto single curse
- Vaal Pact absolutely necessary to stand a chance against reflect
- Purity of fire to further mitigate reflect
- No CoD/MoM because we lack the available mana due to the auras/buffs we want, and our mana regen is already stretched thin
- No Shackles + Temporal Chains to extend VMS duration because it's annoying, it lowers the proc rate, and just feels unnecessary to me (but that's an opinion, Shackles is definitely a reasonable option)
- Cloak of Flame because coupled with AA and PoF (which we already run) it provides the same amount of Defense against phys as a Lightning Coil, with 110% more resists and semi-useful chance to ignite. It's also a lot easier to chrome
- Focus on making the build clear well even when VMS is inactive. In practice, this means putting Incinerate in a 5/6L and VMS in a 4L rather than the other way around

As stated above, this works just as fine for Templar or Witch, and also works as Shadow.

Final Templar tree at lvl85 (anything above that is gravy)

Note that this is by no means the only way to go about it (probably not the best either) ; there is a fair amount of leeway on passives here. I'm fairly satisfied with the performance of this particular tree though.

Bandits : Oak/Kill (I personally prefer Kill, but the difference is minimal), Kill, Kill/Oak (I'd advice Kill there too)

Main link 1 (chestBBBRG) : Incinerate - Spell Echo - Faster Casting - Life Leech - LMP/GMP
Both LMP and GMP work perfectly fine, it's mostly a matter of preference. I prefer LMP as it gives higher single hits which means a better chance at proccing status ailments and heralds.
6th is luxury and at your discretion ; Added Chaos would be my go-to.

Main link 2 (any 4L RRRB) : Vaal Molten Shell - Increased Duration - Life Leech - Increased AoE
The possibility of replacing AoE for Conc exists for a ridiculous boost in damage, but it's just unnecessary - 77/78 map bosses just go down fast enough without any DPS supports. Might be worth switching for Atziri if you want to do that

Auras (any 4L BGRR) : Clarity - Purity of Fire - Herald of Ice - Reduced mana

Obligatory CwDT (any 4L RRRR) : CwDT - EC - IC - Inc Duration
sadly, this needs to be in pretty much every build under the sun

HoT-CoH (3L BBG) : Herald of Thunder - Curse on Hit - Temporal Chains
I like TC because it gives better status ailments (freeze/shock) on top of substantial defense, but you can put whatever you want there. Elemental Weakness would be a prime choice is you want to go full DPS

Mobility (3L BR/G) : Lightning Warp - Reduced Duration Arctic Armor

Scold's is obviously the expensive part ; got mine for 1ex and change at the end of the first week of Torment. The rest is mostly trash. Chest is self linked (300 jewelers 0 fusings, lol), belt is self found and so is the amulet (which is a disgrace, I need to do something about that). Everything else I bought for a handful chaos a piece at most.


This is plenty enough to clear 76/77s comfortably (haven't gotten to 78s in Torment yet).

Here's the main decisions I made, in short list form for the busy exile :

- AA to mitigate Scold and some reflect
- EB to support AA
- Heralds - to boost Incinerate damage mainly, but also pretty good with VMS, and gives free status ailments + auto single/double curse
- Vaal Pact absolutely necessary to stand a chance against reflect
- Purity of fire to further mitigate reflect
- No CoD/MoM because we lack the available mana due to the auras/buffs we want, and our mana regen is already stretched thin
- No Shackles + Temporal Chains to extend VMS duration because it's annoying, it lowers the proc rate, and just feels unnecessary to me (but that's an opinion, Shackles is definitely a reasonable option)
- rare armor based chest simply for ease of coloring (and because I had one on hand), but a good Saintly or maybe a Lightning Coil would be good. I dropped the idea of Cloak of Flame due to needing RRRRB which would be a bitch to chrome.
- Still focusing on making the build clear well even when VMS is inactive. Incinerate goes in the Pledge and VMS goes in the chest
- Windscreams for double cursing
- (newly added) Unwavering Stance, as stuns are a liability when you get interrupted and can't leech anymore, and especially a nuisance when casting VMS. Without it you need to be careful to pre-cast it away from mobs, especially chargers, flickerers, etc. On a 5L, casting VMS itself also has a chance to stun you if you are cursed with Vulnerability (especially as a map mod) or Warlord's, which is extremely annoying.

As stated above, this works just as fine for Templar or Witch, and also works as Shadow. I would actually advise to go with Witch because the templar casting animation with a staff is fugly (yes I am shallow like that, it's otherwise the same thing though).

(new) Final Templar tree at lvl90, modified to include US

Previous version tree without US ans with moar deeps

(new) Final Witch tree at lvl90 with US, a bit better than the templar version (no points wasted on Practical Application)

Bandits : Oak/Kill (I personally prefer Kill, but the difference is minimal), Kill, Kill/Oak (I'd advice Kill there too)

Main link 1 (Pledge BBBRG) : Incinerate - LMP/GMP - Faster Casting - Life Leech - Added Chaos
Both LMP and GMP work perfectly fine, it's mostly a matter of preference. I prefer LMP as it gives higher single hits which means a better chance at proccing status ailments and heralds.
6th is absolute luxury and at your discretion ; faster proj could be good.

Main link 2 (Chest 5L RRRRB) : Vaal Molten Shell - Increased Duration - Life Leech - Fire Pen - Increased AoE
The possibility of replacing AoE for Conc exists for a ridiculous boost in damage, but it's just unnecessary - 77/78 map bosses just go down fast enough without it. Might be worth switching for Atziri if you want to do that

Auras (any 4L BGRR) : Clarity - Purity of Fire - Herald of Ice - Reduced mana

Obligatory CwDT (any 4L RRRR) : CwDT - EC - IC - Inc Duration
sadly, this needs to be in pretty much every build under the sun

HoT-CoH (any 4L BBBG) : Herald of Thunder - Curse on Hit - Temporal Chains - Elemental Weakness
I like TC because it gives better status ailments (freeze/shock) on top of substantial defense, but you can put whatever you want there. Elemental Weakness would is a prime choice is you want to go full DPS. If you decide to use Windscreams you can just put both in there.

Somewhere : Arctic Armor
if you are lucky enough to get a green socket spare socket on pledge or chest put it there, else together with the above if you don't double curse, else an unset ring if you have 2 6Ls and are double cursing.

In the current market, Scold's is 3ex, a 5L Pledge is 6ex, the chest would be about 2ex (bought unlinked 10c). Windscreams are about 30c. The rest is self found and should be cheap to buy.

We can expect up to roughly 1k self damage per second from sustain casting Incinerate (250 ish mana cost per second in an 'endgame' setup). Something needs to be done about it. One could conceivably use that to proc a low level CwDT ~2 times/sec and compensate with leech or something. I decided to just negate it completely, which is relatively easy thanks to AM and Incinerate's low cost/high speed. We don't need any actual self damage to be done to proc VMS, and we can then enjoy the full extent of our leech without the worry of killing ourselves when hitting nothing.

Note that not mitigating the self damage and wearing Cloak of Flame can let you self-ignite and profit from Mokou's Embrace super strong cast speed bonus. That's also fairly cool.

Vaal skills need souls to be triggered, and have relatively short durations. They are meant to be powerful temporary buffs, so not the central part of a build - in concept.
We try to maximize the duration of it to make it easier to charge it up again while the previous cast is still active, allowing us to chain it. This is relatively easy in certain (if not most) situations.
But there will always be times when the skill is not available : the beginning of a map is the most unavoidable one. Getting the kills for that first charge can be a major sticking point if you invest all you have into the Vaal skill and your character is too weak without it. There are also those times when the mob density is just not enough to get you enough kills, or when you simply need to spend some time picking up and organizing loot, etc.
I consider it necessary to keep a certain balance of power between on and off time of your Vaal skill in order for the build to be enjoyable. My first Vaal Molten Shell build in Rampage was godly with the buff on, but struggled to get the first few kills per map safely (and in those situations mentioned above) , which was certainly not an enjoyable experience. This ultimately hurt the overall build experience a lot.

All of this is to say, I made the choice with this build to keep it fairly powerful even when the VMS is inactive, at the cost of some damage and utility when it is. In practice, this means putting Incinerate in a 5-6 link and VMS in a 4L rather than the other way around (although that part might change at higher levels of gear and gems, if a 4L Incinerate turns out to be enough to clear comfortably with. The other option is using a staff for 2 5+Ls, Pledge and Searing Touch being prime candidates, but that's not something I have tested at this point) . The build gets so facerolly with VMS on, that more damage would not really matter much (outside of pretty numbers), and a stronger Incinerate makes for a much smoother and enjoyable time when VMS is off.