Theory Crafting idea - Infernal Blow + Shockwave

I was looking at the gems update and noticed the new support gem "aftershock" and it just hit me..... this could bring back the "old" greatness of infernal blow, of being able to just walk up and 1shot a pack, instead of haveing to resort to multistrike and building up charges.

The reworked infernal blow, had its base dmg lowered alot, and seems to be buildt around the idea of many small quick hits to build up stacks.... which should help it overall in its single target department. However the draw back was that it suffered where it was best, its wave clear.

Walking up to a pack and being stuck standing and swinging (multistrike), or waiting for the delay (of the stacks) to run out just doesnt feel great when clearing.

What made the gem fantastic was that big slow swing that would just burst apart a group of mobs, in the old days. With a single swing, just hit em hard enough and you "pop" the group.

with the reliance of attack speed, and building up stacks, and lowered base damage, this 1hit -> group "popped" was made alot harder (esp during leveling, where gear isnt optimal). As a result, leveling with infernal blow suffered from the rework.

Now theres a fix! for the problems with the low base dmg the gem has.

Toss in a "shockwave support" and damage should be back.


Return of the days of non-multistrike Infernal Blows, 1shotting packs?

All praise the Aftershock support!


---- TL:DR version:
"shockwave" could be fantastic for infernal blow.


If anyone is planning to play Slayer + Infernal blow, I'd be intrested in your thoughts on the matter, and what kind of skill tree pathing your running.

*Shockwave, not aftershock.*

Build template: 2h mace, +5 to range (impact + tree), strength stacking.

Analyzing Shockwave, New Fortify and Rage Support, all sound viable. Will need to test live.

Yeah Im gonna give Infernal blow a try this time.
Though was planning on useing Swords.

Impact +2 weapon range, upto +50% aoe range.
Blade Dancer +2 weapon range.
Master of the Arena +1 weapon range.
Brinkmanship +1 weapon range.
+
warlords reach (jewel) +1 weapon range.

And then Swap out Shockwave <--> fire pen, or something for bosses.

Hopefully the 1sec cooldown isnt to much of a issue.

Because I'm not certain, I was wondering if any of you guys knew.

Infernal Blow converts 50 percent of phys to fire.

Does a shockwave triggered by Infernal Blow also convert 50 percent to fire?

Becuase I'd hate to take avatar of fire for 100 percent conversion, and then only convert 50 percent of the physical shockwave damage.

I'm not quite sure how shockwave interacts with it's initial attack.

Arkadrel:

Swords are awesome and extremely tempting. Personally I'm aiming for Avatar of Fire and that means not going to Raider section and not taking the juiciest sword nodes. That leads me to axes, maces or staves. And I'm taking maces because of colors, you need 6 reds in your 6L? A handful of chromes is enough.

CaptainKillgore:

Going to tell you what I know, an unsupported Infernal Blow converts the damage of an unsupported Ancestral Warchief into 50% fire. No Auras, no nothing, just those 2 skills.

So, I would say that yes, IB's line seems to be global and with AoF you SHOULD turn the damage of shockwave into 100% fire.

BTW, if you guys have PoB, at this point I would say that this is my tree:
https://pastebin.com/kxJk8SVk

BMatrim :

I hope your right about Shockwave, working with Avatar of Fire.

Since you posted yours, I thought Id share mine too.
Here : https://pastebin.com/fVVxqLH8

Its 2h slayer w/ +6 weapon range.
atk spd + crit focus, AoF.
20% chance to gain end charge when hit (6 charges)
214% life nodes

Does Shockwave even work with Strike skills? It doesn't have the strike keyword...

"

RedArchol wrote:

Does Shockwave even work with Strike skills? It doesn't have the strike keyword...

I've tried it out now.
It works with infernal blow.

What does shockwave look like?
Its a ring around the impact strike (kinda like herald of ash), just much bigger.

The bad news?
The 50% phys -> fire, conversion from Inernal Blow, does not apply to the "shockwave support" gem, so it remains physical damage.

This also means that if you use "avatar of fire", your hurting the damage gained from Shockwave.


Right now Im actually considering re-rolling to a chieftain because of this.


Melee Splash doesnt seem to be very good.... all that talk of overlapping splash dmg, seems to be a big "meh" when you actually try it out.

While trying out Infernal blow + shockwave, I was compaireing it to other skill gems "heavystrike", "glacialhammer", ect.

I stumbled upon a odd combo that seems to work out pretty well.

Smite + Shockwave, actually seems to outdo my infernal blow atm.


Smite makes its own "aoe", and ontop of that, the shockwave also procs.
It results in you basically walking around and 1shotting packs.

Whats neat is that the "aura" effect, gained from smite, thusly also buffs up your Shockwave damage (unlike most other skill with +flat dmg).

So.... for now my character is running around useing Smite.

shockwave only works with maces or staves. swords are not supported