[3.3] Wormblaster the 4.5th - Flameblast / Herald of Ash Slayer

and why temp chains over despair as seccond curse? not worth the extra damage taken?

EpisCube,
Don't you spam worms and flameblast constantly renewing HoA's burn duration anyway though? Is there other strong contenders among damage Gems?

What if i don't really worry about my tankiness? Slayer is used mostly for that sweet leech from each killed worm, right?

So Flameblast is a bit more important than HoA if I am choosing between 6L HoA or FB and use damage support with FB and I am willing to use 6th damage support for FB? I feel like Faster Casting is pretty much mandatory QoL for FB? Casting speed is very limited and slow FB feels bad.

Inc. AOE seems such a waste on HoA though :( How awful it's gonna be if I only will have 2 AOE clusters on the Tree and no Gem?

All builds require investment though. With Indigon you don't need any damage increases on the tree (only stuff like Pen), so you might be able to get more Life and whatnot. I didn't researched this subject deeply, but there is ways to make it work on a budget and with not too much brainstorming. You can't use Elder helmet in that case though and have to stand still to cast it indeed.

But I think damage can be worth it. You don't really oneshot Guardians or Shaper with your setup, right? It might very well be the answer.

What about using vortex over orb of storms so we can swap to double dyadus after vaalRF/flameblast, i tought about vaal immortal call too so we can safely VRF but seems like the duration is too low to make it quick enough with out endu charges, maybe the gluttony of elements amulet?

Thanks for the build, decent damage, pretty squishy endgame, few one shots.

"

Lhigtingtopo wrote:

and why temp chains over despair as seccond curse? not worth the extra damage taken?

Temporal Chains is used mostly as an additional defensive layer, but it does add a little damage too as it increases the burn duration. For pure damage, Elemental Weakness should be stronger than Despair because resistance reduction can doubledip in this case. After already applying to the worms which don't have any curse effect reduction, it would further increase the damage against a boss, now with less curse effect. Despair only adds 7% increased damage over time taken against Shaper / Guardians.

"

SunL4D2 wrote:

Don't you spam worms and flameblast constantly renewing HoA's burn duration anyway though?

After starting a burn on a boss, I just move around and dodge incoming attacks or spells until the boss dies / the burn ends. If a boss doesn't get oneshot, it's probably better to save flask charges and apply another when the first one has ended.

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SunL4D2 wrote:

Is there other strong contenders among damage Gems?

Inc. AOE seems such a waste on HoA though :( How awful it's gonna be if I only will have 2 AOE clusters on the Tree and no Gem?

With Herald of Ash only being scalable by modifiers to damage over time, there are no strong alternatives for support gems. Empower and Enhance (Enlighten too when using Loreweave) would work but they don't add a lot of damage.
With 2 AoE clusters, your RF radius might get too large for the worms to land outside if you've killed recently; it's probably better to take only one AoE cluster and the gem. Increased AoE support significantly increases the chance to apply a burn at all with Herald of Ash so it's probably the best choice.

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SunL4D2 wrote:

So Flameblast is a bit more important than HoA if I am choosing between 6L HoA or FB and use damage support with FB and I am willing to use 6th damage support for FB? I feel like Faster Casting is pretty much mandatory QoL for FB? Casting speed is very limited and slow FB feels bad.

6-link Flameblast may be more expensive to get but it does add more damage.
I agree with you on Faster Casting, in many situations you can't / don't need to spend too much time on casting Flameblast so it's better than Chance to Ignite.

"

SunL4D2 wrote:

With Indigon you don't need any damage increases on the tree (only stuff like Pen), so you might be able to get more Life and whatnot.

Damage over time modifiers stack multiplicatively with spell damage increases, so it would still be efficient to take them if there are some points left. I'd love to see if / how a version of this build using Indigon would work, but I don't know how to do it myself.

"

SunL4D2 wrote:

But I think damage can be worth it. You don't really oneshot Guardians or Shaper with your setup, right? It might very well be the answer.

The upper ceiling for DPS on this build is around 40 million (or 2 Shapers per second / 19 Shapers per burn), using Elemental Weakness instead of Temporal Chains and an Animate Guardian with Dyadus.
In more realistic situations without Vaal RF, Animate Guardian etc., the damage numbers are significantly lower, but still enough to oneshot the phases of Shaper, Uber Elder and Uber Atziri. Shaper Guardians can survive a burn depending on the map mods.

"

Lhigtingtopo wrote:

What about using vortex over orb of storms so we can swap to double dyadus after vaalRF/flameblast, i tought about vaal immortal call too so we can safely VRF but seems like the duration is too low to make it quick enough with out endu charges, maybe the gluttony of elements amulet?

The chilled ground from Vortex doesn't grant any bonus with Dyadus, the enemy has to be chilled by a hit. Instead, you can use an Animate Guardian dual wielding Dyadus, with Icetomb for Chill duration and other defensive gear in the remaining slots.
Orb of Storms also hits relatively fast, so it helps with proccing Elemental Overload, Elemental Equilibrium and Curses.
When using Vaal RF, I usually rely on quick life recovery (83% per second with belt, amulet and Soul of Arakaali). Vaal RF also removes all but one life, it doesn't count as damage taken, so Gluttony of Elements from Blood of Corruption doesn't help here.

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EpisCube wrote:

The chilled ground from Vortex doesn't grant any bonus with Dyadus, the enemy has to be chilled by a hit. Instead, you can use an Animate Guardian dual wielding Dyadus, with Icetomb for Chill duration and other defensive gear in the remaining slots.

Here's a really silly idea: dual dyadus with ancestral protector - brutality (so it doesn't mess up elemental equilibrium). It should still be able to chill bosses and you dont have to buy new dyadus when it dies :]

Anything besides the RF nerfs looking to hit this in 3.3?

HI this build can play in a new character??

For 3.3, I've only heard of changes to Vaal RF, Curse Effectiveness and Elemental Equilibrium so far. Vaal RF won't be able to trigger Herald of Ash anymore as it will be a pure degen; EE might get the debuff values lowered or something in that direction. Curse Effectiveness against bosses is getting buffed, which might counter the EE nerf. If these changes are all that affect this build, it'll still be viable in Incursion.
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Update:
Changes in 3.3 Patch Notes:

• The Writhing Jar: Worms spawned from The Writhing Jar are now destroyed when hit. This overrides effects which would otherwise prevent them from dying, such as the one found on the unique gloves Southbound.

We won't be able to proc EE and Curses on Worms anymore, that is around a 50% damage nerf. Herald of Ash should still work.

• Dyadus: No longer has the mod "Enemies chilled by you take 100% increased burning damage". Dyadus now has "100% increased Damage with Ignites inflicted on Chilled Enemies".

Animate Guardian with dual Dyadus is now completely useless for this build. Another 66% less damage if AG was used before (though never really needed).

Chance to Ignite Support/Combustion Support

• Has been renamed to Combustion Support.
  
• Now lowers the fire resistance of enemies ignited by supported skills, inflicting -10% fire resistance at gem level 1, down to -19% at gem level 20.

Small buff to the gem when not using Elemental Focus.

Flameblast

• Now deals 90% more damage with ailments for each stage (up from 50%).
• Now has +5% chance to ignite for each stage.
• Now costs 3 mana at gem level 1 (down from 6), up to 6 mana at gem level 20 (down from 9).
  

This is a Buff. The lower mana cost allows using only one Elreon ring instead of two.
When not using Elemental Focus, Flameblast now has 100% chance to ignite (50% from skill, 14% from curse, 49% from Combustion Support, 40% from tree). Combustion (pre 3.3: Chance to Ignite) will then lower enemy fire resistance by 19% and the ignite adds some damage too.

Vaal Righteous Fire

• Previously removed all of your energy shield and all but one life, instantaneously dealing fire damage to all nearby enemies based on the amount of life and energy shield lost.
• Now removes 30% of your life and energy shield and creates a Righteous Fire aura around you which burns enemies within its radius based on the amount of life and energy shield lost for 4 seconds. It also looks pretty neat now.
• Now deals 161% of life and energy shield lost as burning damage per second at gem level 1, up to 180% at gem level 20.
• Now also grants 20% more spell damage while active at gem level 1, up to 39% more spell damage at gem level 20. This is multiplicative with Righteous Fire's more spell damage effect.
• Now gains 1% increased burning damage per 1% gem quality (previously gained 1% increased spell damage per 1% quality).
• Now requires 40 souls per use (up from 16).
• Now prevents you from gaining Vaal souls for 10 seconds after use.

Vaal Righteous Fire won't be able to trigger Herald of Ash anymore, making it mostly useless for this build.

Vaal Flameblast

• Previously created a flameblast which grew without needing to be channelled until it reached 10 stages, then exploded.
• Now creates a flameblast which shrinks without needing to be channelled, and explodes every 5 stages, until it reaches 15 stages. Each subsequent explosion is stronger than the last.
• Now deals 90% more damage with ailments for each stage (up from 55%).
• Now has +5% chance to ignite for each stage.
• Now requires 30 souls per use (up from 16).
• Now prevents you from gaining Vaal souls for 6 seconds after use.

Vaal Flameblast is now probably a good way to reach higher damage against bosses, but the targeting might end up being more difficult. The best way to use it is probably waiting for the 3rd explosion to release the worms.

Does the number of worm killed under HoA affect the burning damage ? e.g Flameblast only needs to kill 1 worm to apply the overkill burn, or the more the merrier ?