Fake Discharger (Vaal Molten Shell)

I would like to start by giving credit to these three particular builds:

1. The ingenious Vaal Molten Shell build of mahamonkey:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1182483
Ever since I saw it I wanted to try something similar myself.

2. Simplesim45's Crit Vaal Molten Shell build:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1511368
This build has really impressed me with its insane damage output.

3. Mathil's Fakener:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1069569
I got a lot of ideas from him through his videos and to some degree my passive skill tree is based on this discharge build.

These three builds are truly amazing and inspired me to try on my own variant of Vaal Molten Shell.

As in the first two of the builds mentioned above we use Scold's Bridle to trigger Vaal Molten Shell explosions. Vaal Molten Shell explodes every time we take damage and due to Scold's Bridle this is every time we use a skill. I decided to use Cyclone since it works nice with a CoC setup and the faster we move, the more often Cyclone will use mana and thus trigger our fancy explosions. This results in kind of looking like we are using Discharge, which is why I call it the "Fake Discharger".

The core is a CoC-Nova build, meaning that we use a CoC Shock- and Ice Nova setup to get our desired soul charges. As we use Ice Nova and have a decent crit chance, Chill of Corruption will give us a 50% chance to get an additional soul out of almost every monster kill.
The passive skill tree then mainly focuses on getting elemental/spell damage, crit chance, increased skill effect duration (for longer Vaal Molten Shell duration), and energy shield.

I play this as a Shadow/Assassin, but it should work fine as a Witch/Occultist with a few adjustments to the passive skill tree. The additional base crit chance per power charge from the Assassin ascendancy class is quite useful and as it turns out, the 10% chance to get a power charge on a non-crit is sufficient to keep up our power charges, allowing me to drop assassin's mark and use warlord's mark instead.

I find it necessary to get the Vaal Pact and Ghost Reaver key stones. Vaal Pact helps a lot with reflect packs and with Vaal Molten Shell up we leach any lost life back in no time.

Here you go:
http://www.poeplanner.com/AAAABAYBMUV8pyuCxyj6wzqP-qbrNAo3gzdmLKYNfCyc6roFQq6zQZbQ9ZDW18_5N--ISbHKSm-ejDavt4dlEFh9W7QMRnHb1JAbmhNwVl3ybAtRTKa-idNwUioLVEcqOB2-A-4zh1fJPycqTetjES8rCtDQ215QMCBu7-vQH1Zjhq4V14MJ6_XyHWSduZPDCWNDDdHjhITFm7VfsKxHIvS-isrToS_lGfv1tDhSU5f0l5URUDW5X5jPMlltTLNLrhsl2Vssv-kC7BhJUfDVtUhfapMnDkh_xm0ZEZbBxZeXQkuFxd--PV9KyCM2hKIQkjIy2Ya8bw==

Normal: Passive
Cruel: Attack Speed
Merciless: Power Charge

There is one necessary and a few recommended items.

We certainly have to use Scold's Bridle for this to work (I know no way around that). Luckily, Scold's Bridle is affordable in Perandus League.

I highly recommend using two Elreon rings to reduce the mana cost of Cyclone because Scold's bridle will give us 400% of the mana cost as physical damage. Furthermore, this will make managing our mana trivial. Right now I am at 5 mana cost per cyclone which is affordable.

I use a Vagan dagger with decent crit chance. Getting accuracy on your gear can be kind of annoying, especially if you use Elreon rings.

For gloves I would either go for Vaal Caress or Maligaro's Virtuosity. The Vaal Caress seems to be the best option to get as much damage out of Vaal Molten Shell, but Maligaro's will make your CoC setup deal more damage, which results in giving you more flexibility since you are less dependent on Vaal Molten Shell.

Since we get barely any strenght from the passive skill tree, we have to get some strenght from the gear. I get it from the belt and the boots.

Talking about boots, I highly recommend getting 30% increased movement speed boots. More movement speed will result in more damage.

On the rest of the gear I tried to get as much evasion and energy shield as possible, since you can be interrupted while casting Vaal Molten Shell. Trust me, you do not want to fight some of the map bosses without Vaal Molten Shell up.
Getting armor instead of evasion works out too, making you more tanky but also more likely to get interrupted while casting Vaal Molten Shell.

Evasion Gear:


Armor Gear:


Flasks:

I use the following three jewels:

1. Atziri's Reign
Longer Vaal Molten Shell duration.

2. Chill of Corruption
50% chance to get an additional soul if we shatter an enemy, which is almost all the time.

3. Energy From Within
You can never have enough energy shield.

I use Curse on Hit linked with Warlord's Mark, Herald of Ice, and Herald of Thunder. We don't really need Assassin's Mark since we are an Assassin and I found the additional damage it provides to be redundant. Warlord's Mark on the other hand gives us some additional life leech which helps a lot with reflect packs, and the additional Endurance Charges are quite helpful because of the provided physical damage reduction.

In the beginning we have to be a bit careful since we don't have any power charges and our CoC setup needs them to work properly. For example, I try to avoid fighting certain enemy types like Rogue Exiles before I have 6 power charges. Once you have your power charges up, go around and kill a bunch of monsters until you have enough souls. Then you activate Vaal Molten Shell and go Super Saiyan. In Super Saiyan mode you are pretty much invincible due to Vaal Pact and Warlord's Mark. Try to run as fast as possible through the map to get more souls. As mentioned before, don't try to fight some of the bosses without Vaal Molten Shell. Please be aware that you don't have very much physical damage reduction, meaning that for example the residence map boss can one shot you.

No!

Sadly, I was quite unlucky with the map drops in Perandus. So far this is the only footage I can offer.

Overgrown Ruin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d18jgLaQ3TU

Gorge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLaJ4FjZ5-g

Plateau:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0g9OcV0df4

Underground River:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3EC1Ke4AzA

Residence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqg0FkxWu48

Precinct:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Jsv47joMk

Arid Lake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zL4f9LUGBE

http://www.poeplanner.com/AAAABAYBMUV8pyvDOiycBUKus0GWYeJVS9D118_5N--ISbHKSm-ejDa0DEZxXfJsC6a-idNwUioLVEcqOOtjES8rCtteUDAgbu_r0B9QQoMJY0MN0eOEhMWbtV-wUzUi9L6KytOhL-UZ-_W0OFJTl_SXlRFQNblMs0uuGyXZW-kCtUiTJ20Zl5c9XwQHg9tVxiM2hKIQkjIy2Ya8bw==