[2.2 PSC] CoMK Wormblast-Sparkwave Edition.

One man had a vision, of a world in which even the lowest of worms could defeat the mightiest of foes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/4anwb8/worm_detonator_abyssal_cry_berserker_boss_kill/

But the gods feared its might, the power to challenge even the gods themselves...

"Fixed a bug where Writhing Worms created by The Writhing Jar unique flask were too high level"

But even as they writhed in agony the worms refused to die, there still existed a Spark of life within them.

That day I made a vow, I would not let the dream die.



Hey guys, I hope you like it. I basically wanted to put together a guide on how CoMK and The Writhing Jar are really supposed to be used, in homage to c9q9md's worm detonator

Build Summary

In short, we use several Writhing Jars http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/The_Writhing_Jar, to spawn large amounts of enemy worms around you. We then use Sweep to kill them all in a single attack, triggering our Cast On Melee Kill setup. This setup can have up to 4 copies of Spark (though I prefer 3 with Pierce), triggering them all for every single worm we kill. Maximizing 'Reduced Flask Charges Used' and running multiple flasks allows for quite a lot of worms => an awful lot of sparks!

Videos

Tier 6 Catacombs: https://youtu.be/aDusL5NVAcs
Tier 8 Dry Peninsula: https://youtu.be/z_sSl5oSPhw
(Demonstrated how you can screw up the boss fight royally and it'll still work out :D)
Boss kill montage Tier 1-10: https://youtu.be/V5TLCgQJ5ow

[Videos made before I started experimenting with Quicksilvers, so excuse the slow movespeed:P]

Build Mechanics


So in my setup I use 3 Writhing Jars, each with at least 15% Reduced Flask Charges Used. Adding in 15% from the tree and 20% from a belt thats 50%, giving you 4 uses per flask. Spamming all the flasks therefore results in [8x3] 24 worms. Taking into account the Scion-Deadeye Ascendancy (+1 Proj) and using 3 Lvl 19 Sparks, we're also firing 24 Sparks per CoMK trigger. This equates to 576 Sparks triggered with a single Sweep :)

Now we introduce our sustain:

Now for every Spark that crits we gain a flask charge back. With the Scion-Assassin Ascendancy we gain free power charge generation and +1% base crit chance. We also get a LOT of global crit just from The Harvest (+240% at lvl 80). So every single time we 'wormburst' we fill all our flasks ready for another burst. Not only that but this thing even gives a load of leech from the Spark crits, so we will always full heal after every burst, it is quite quite insane.

The Skill Rotation, IMPORTANT:
I cannot stress how important this is, if your worms die to anything other than your sweep the combo will fail. Thankfully since all your sparks spawn near simultaneously they also expire likewise. The 'sparkwave' will usually last 3-4 seconds (max duration and 100% pierce) at which point you can 'wormblast' again. If you go off too early, you will need to self-cast spark in order to refill your Writhing Jars before attempting another burst.

Build Passive Trees

I'll be honest previous to this I'd never played a Sparker, so I shamelessly stole most of this tree from ZiggyD's Sparker from his streams in Perandus League, so props to him for a great tree :D.

40 Points: poeurl.com/ANH
Basically at this point you're progressing through Normal and you can level with Spark or whatever you feel like to be honest, just make sure to be levelling those copies of spark (You'll need at least 4).

70 Points: poeurl.com/ANQ
At this point you should be near the end of cruel and its when you can transition from self-cast Spark to Wormblasting.

102 Points: poeurl.com/ANP
Nothing terribly notable after this point, mostly more proj speed/damage and life.

Ascendancy

We take Scion-Deadeye/Assassin for this. Deadeye gives us +1 Proj, projectile speed and damage, amazing for spark. Assassin gives us power charge generation and increase base crit chance.


Bandits

Normal: Oak (+40 Life)

Cruel: Passive (No need for cast/attack speed or physical damage)

Merciless: Alira (+1 Power Charge)


Essential Gear

1) The Writhing Jar

Do I really have to explain this one?

2) The Harvest

Near-infinite flask charge generation on a stick. Was going for 50-55c in Perandus when I got mine. Its an expired league unique, so get it while you can!

3) '20% Reduced Flask Charges Used' Belt

Essentially gives you 4 uses of the Jars instead of 3, pretty much essential.

Non-Essential Gear, but really nice to have!

1) Winds of Change

Godly for Spark. Loads of Projectile Speed and Damage with some Life thrown in, perfect.

2) Lioneyes Vision

Again really nice for spark, since you want to run Pierce in one of your links. This lets you essentially run a 6-link on a 5-link (or a 7-link on a 6-link for the rich out there:P)

Current Gear Setup



Flasks

Just a little note about flasks, I've had good success with 3 Writhing Jars so you have 2 remaining. Now The Harvest gives you more or less perma up-time on whatever other flasks you choose. I personaly prefer a strong Divine-Seething for emergencies and a Quicksilver (movespeed = clearspeed), however granites/basalts would give you a loads more defence. If you want to be really nutty you could even throw a Vinktars in there!

Skill Setups

Main Skill: CoMK Spark
6-link: CoMK-Sweep-Pierce-Spark-Spark-Spark
5-link: CoMK-Sweep-Pierce-Spark-Spark
4-link: CoMK-Sweep-Spark-Spark

Backup Skill: Self-cast Spark
4-link: Spark-SpellEcho-Pierce-LightningPen

Auras/Buffs
4-link: Blasphemy-Warlords Mark-Herald of Ice-Arctic Armor

Cast when Damage Taken Setup (Max Level)
4-link: CwDT-Immortal Call-Blood Rage-Increased Duration

Movement Setup
4-link: Leap Slam-FasterAttacks-Fortify-BloodMagic/FlameGolem

Conclusions

Hopefully this gives a decent idea of how the build works and how to try it yourself if you want! I should point out that it is by no means limited to Spark, although you would need to tweak the build to cater for it, but the core principles (Jar/Flask Charge Reduction/CoMK) shouldnt change. I haven't had a change to test it, but one possibility is if you can get enough crit you might even be able to drop Harvest and take Pathfinder-Master Surgeon for the flask generation on crit (10% chance).

Also I see no reason why it wouldnt work for loads of other spells, here are a few ideas:

1) Blade Vortex (saw someone trying this with a tabula on reddit this morning): Instant 50 blades in one wormburst.

2) Summon Raging Spirits: 50 spirits spawned instantly in one burst.

I'm sure there are loads of others!

Good luck exiles :D

Nice to see my build creating other new builds! :D

I am currently trying to make something out of the flask once more.
I might try this version, though I want it to do more damage quicker :D

Clear speed looks good though, especially in small spaced maps. If I were to give any "advice" it would be more movement speed. Looks like you move very slow.







I got some sick shit planned which will probs warrant enother nerf. If what I am thinking of is working, I think crashing instances with comc is doable due to so much shit on screen. I won't go into detail until I have actually tested it, and I also wanna keep it a bit to myself until I have done so. As of now it is purely theoretical and it might be utterly shite, but if my numbers are correct, it will destroy vaal spark by a mile.

Cant stop laughing looking at this :D
Also sweep looks sooo badass!
What about higher tier maps (12+) and reflect?

@c9q9md Yeah in those videos, it was earlier on in my build when I was more worried about survivability. I run Quicksilvers of Heat now and its basically always on, makes a huge difference :). I can't believe CoMK has flown under the radar for so long!

@silverthorne Thanks man! It is really happy in higher level maps, I just finished my Twinned challenges yesterday running through a beyond twinned Shipyward (T13) and spawned Haast and the fire one and still managed it with no deaths. As far as reflect goes, as long as its not a ele reflect map its not too bad. Yeah the mob hurts but usually other sparks are hitting not reflect targets which kinda counters it and you technically have 4 seething flasks to spam just in case you catch one alone. Its definately noticeable but I don't think I've ever actually died to an ele reflect rare.

What do you think about going Deadeye/Pathfinder or Deadeye/Inquisitor?

I think if you can find a good method of power charge generation (Victario's Acuity is a great alternative) they are both good alternatives if you want a bit more damage at the cost of having the health/resists on your amulet. I'd definately choose Deadeye-Inquisitor over Deadeye-Pathfinder since it gives almost as much damage, lots of crit chance and you don't really need the flask charges gained from the pfinder.

thanks for this build i had a lot of fun with it for a while!
until noticed its basically destroys your fingers!
since you have to spam those flasks so much!
otherwise i would keep playing it

Playing in hardcore perandus right now and it's been a relative breeze since switching to the flasks.

Rocking purity of lightning, lightnign leech ammy, +2 spark helm (insane!), and valako's sign for some additional life leech.

Most packs up to tier 4 die from a single pop on each of the three flasks. map bosses are an insta gib by getting right up on them and popping all the worms + sweep. 10 projectiles per spark, 24 worms, 3 spark gems = 740 sparks. Average damage for a level 17 spark was 1500, goes to 1700 with the sulphur flask. if every spark hit, that would be 1.2m damage. Even if they don't thats a ton of potential damage out there for a single swing that can be spammed for 11 mana. insanely fun and weird build. Im hoping to roll leech enchant on my boots now (0.5% of Damage Leeched as Life and Mana if you've Killed Recently)

Very creative build.

I feel like Bladefall/Vortex are also really strong for COMK Harvest builds, so I think that's the variation I'm going to go with. Sweep - COMK - Bladefall - Blade Vortex. If you have additional links slot more aoe spells or phys spells for poison. I assume Glacial Cascade would aim on worm kill (had a lot of fun using glacial cascade mines), so that might be a good choice for a 5th link. Also EK isa lway sgood. Since you wouldn't be using projectiles, Sion with Berserker/Assassin or maybe just plain Berserker seem like the more optimal classes. Can use self cast Blade Vortex with Inc Crit/charge on crit to sustain power charges.