[3.1] Max block molten strike gladiator, League starter, All content viable

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leakvoid wrote:

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leakvoid wrote:

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3.1 in nutshell:
"In today's manifesto, we have highlighted and explained most of the significant nerfs in 3.1.0. Of course, there are plenty of buffs in 3.1.0 as well, but we'll leave those as pleasant surprises in tomorrow's full patch notes."
"We have a decent list of buffs to go with it, which will be posted tomorrow in the full patch notes!"

Single non-minion buff of all patch:
"Passive skills which previously granted increased Melee Physical Damage while holding a Shield now grant increased Physical Attack Damage while holding a Shield (it is no longer restricted to Melee)."
"Many passive skills which previously only provided defensive bonuses while using a shield now also grant increased physical attack damage and damage with ailments while holding a shield." That's false, they buffed one irrelevant cluster no-one ever takes

3.1 Patch rambling:
After Vaal Pact nerf only 3 strong defensive mechanics left: block on gladiator or necromancer, dodge/spell dodge and MoM.
MoM location makes it useful mostly for spell casters;
Necromancer is mostly for summoners;
Dodge/spell dodge can be quite hard to max out(Raider is probably the best here);
=> gladiator is our choice for post non-Vaal pact meta

Why it works:
Before "Melee Physical Damage" could not be used with Molten Strike - melee doesn't scale MS projectiles. Now its possible with "increased Physical Attack Damage while holding a Shield". Also, new support gem "ancestral call" should be good with MS for clearing maps.

Pro and Cons:
+ Very tanky, looks HC viable
+ potential for 78% chance to block with good shield and Anvil amulet,
+ 1-h weapon and shield melee build that actually does damage
- molten strike can still be subpar for clearing, even with Ancestral Call
- block is unreliable, you can always die to one-shot spike damage
- ele resistance penetration sucks 75% fire damage 76% cold
- threshold jewels could be expensive at the start of the league
- no space for new Abyss jewels
- some int rolls on gear are required

Why molten strike: its a highest scaling melee skill in the game, for comparison:
Blade Flurry DPS with perfect channeling: 334% of base damage
Average MS DPS with 7 balls: > 545.96% of base damage
Average MS DPS with 12 balls(dying sun + helm enchant): > 831.21% of base damage

This should compensate for RT 1-handed + shield low DPS setup; max block gladiators doomed to have this problem.

Links:
Against Bosses(ordered by importance): Molten Strike, Elemental Damage with Attacks, Conc. effect, Elemental Focus, Multistrike, Physical Projectile Attack Damage, Faster attacks, Added fire, (Cold to Fire, Fire penetration)
General mapping: Molten Strike, Ancestral call, Increased Area, ...

Gem links explanation

Best 6-link colors are 3R2B1G

Bosses vs Mapping:
Conc. effect <------> (Increased Area OR Item Rarity)
Multistrike <------> Ancestral call
Using Multistrike with Ancestral call MAY cause FPS problems
If you still want to use BOTH Ancestral call AND Multistrike (4R,2B), you can target area close to the boss (just hit ground) and try to get double projectile overlap.

Auras: Hatred, Herald of Ash

Utility: Reckoning, Endurance charge on Stun, Curse on Hit, Elemental Weakness

CWDT, Immortal call, Increased duration, Tempest shield

Mobility: Shield Charge, Foritfy, Faster attacks

Ancestral Warchief/Protector

Quality of life: Vaal Haste, Vaal Grace, Vaal Lightning Trap, Golem of choice

Block chance:
28%(ascendancy + tree) + 8%(damaged by hit recently) + 8%(anvil) + 3%(tempest shield) + 31%(shield) = 78%

31% shield is needed to reach max block, can get additional 1% from marauder area for 1 point

Tree:
Get outmatch and outlast for Uber lab; Socket jewels with x2 Wildfire

Base Tree

If you manage to convert all damage to Fire

With focus on Axes

Items:
High pDPS one-handed weapon; Anvil amulet if you want max block; maybe Kaom's roots; helm with Uber lab +3 MS enchant.

Late game

Anvil, Shroud of the lightless, Lycosidae, all the flasks listed below
Lategame Tree

Flasks:
Atziri's Promise
Lion's Roar
Wise oak while having same fire and cold res,
Dying Sun,
Taste of Hate,
Sin's Rebirth

Reason for writing build:
Gotta make those Uber lab Molten Strike enchants more expensive

Other variations:
Can be used with frost blades or static strike, damage would be much lower even with threshold jewels though

Bonus Molten Strike builds

Considering new busted Abyss jewels, some scion jewel version could be quite strong
Non-crit Frostbreath MoM Dodge scion
Crit claw elemental scion
HoWA crit MoM dodge Inquisitor
CI HoWA Inquisitor

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leakvoid wrote:

DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD, LET IT DIE