The Infernal Blow HEAVY METAL Marauder - Build Guide (1.1 Updated!)

Z, big fan of the YouTube Chanel and your content. In your opinion what are the positives and negatives of using a Bringer of Rain helmet with this build. I realize this means you can have a six linked chest.

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Olympieus wrote:

Z, big fan of the YouTube Chanel and your content. In your opinion what are the positives and negatives of using a Bringer of Rain helmet with this build. I realize this means you can have a six linked chest.

I'll chime in -- I don't think it synergizes very well. US is incompatible with blind, and block chance is more valuable the more you stack it. If I had one, I would try to get a really good phys staff, and then spec out of US and into some staff block points. Then I would swap out IB for Glacial Hammer/quality added cold damage. That should be *much* tankier than this build, with ~35% block, blinding, and chilling/freezing enemies. That build is something I'd like to try if I get can get either the BoR or a nice phys staff.

edit: I forgot Ziggy doenst have US in his build, so ignore that part. My build is a little different than his:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEAAecCcQSzBS0OrRLhFCAUTRjbGS4aOBpVG_ohYCXfJ-0otSmlMgkyiTboNulAoEOcR35KfVBHUFBUSVcNV-JYY1nzW69fP2BLYIhhIWFSZKNlTWaeZ6BuaXKpdO108Xbnd-V673uMfNmDOITZh2qHdozPkAqQVZBskc6ZK565ns2fy6IAouqkGacwp4SpaKmUq8WsqrndvYG-p8APwBrG2NIh0k3Uj9lh3Q3jaudS7DjvDu9O73zwH_Iv8932SPe--tL8xQ==

I just wanted to post and say that I just had the same experience as the OP. "Oh look, Melee Splash gem! Let me socket this with infernal blow, he said it was good!" *click* BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

I haven't giggled like that in a loooooooooong time!!

Wiki says:

Melee Splash does not work with melee skills that already have AoE, such as Ground Slam and Cleave. Infernal Blow has the AoE keyword for its explosion effect, but the primary hit is still single-target and will benefit from Melee Splash.


It is wrong ?

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Agamemnon80 wrote:

Wiki says:

Melee Splash does not work with melee skills that already have AoE, such as Ground Slam and Cleave. Infernal Blow has the AoE keyword for its explosion effect, but the primary hit is still single-target and will benefit from Melee Splash.


It is wrong ?

Melee splash does work with the initial hit of IB, and because it hits multiple targets, the first aoe explosion causes a chain reaction, blowing up almost the entire screen of monsters if they're low enough.

Hi Ziggy thanks for the great guide. I've been using this build on my Mara, with a few minor adjustments to my playstyle. I had a few questions for you that I was thinking about with my Mara as I've been playing him, and wondered what you thought about them.

1. I haven't specced into Iron Reflexes yet, well to be honest I did but I respecced out of it almost right away. I was finding that with it my phys resist without granites or endurance charges was around 40% or so, where as without it I have 30% phys resist and 35% evasion. This is at level 59 with 1555 armor and 1958 eva, auras up. I am using all self found stuff so my armor is a bit low, but with granites and no IR I get 65% phys reduction and 45% dodge, using armor pots with the +%eva affix. With endurance charges this feels like enough, so I am considering going a few more points down the IR path and grabbing Ondars Guile. With pots thats about 90% eva against ranged attacks, and even with pots down its still 70% ranged dodge. How do you feel about this approach vs. armor stacking with IR and grace?

2. So I got pretty lucky today with a Mindspiral Unique helm drop that made me think. Currently I am running a 5L weapon for my IB with a mana leech gem. On top of running a wurms molt belt I am sitting at around 3.8% mana leech. With Clarity at level 5 running like I have with a BM gem I have 18.8 mana regen per second. If you are not familiar with mind spiral, running that would mean I have no mana leech, opening me up to possible mana issues but also allowing me to drop the wurms molt belt in favor of a better rare and change the mana leech gem in my IB to Faster Attacks or something. The gain of running the Mindspiral is flat 11% cold and 12% lightning damage increase and 105 mana, as well as 6% of all physical damage taken gained as mana. Without doing a ton of math it feels like the increased damage would be great as well as being able to sustain mana with the % return from damage taken and my regen. The extra mana would also let me run say wrath and hatred easier, which are further buffed from the helm. I think I am going to do this, but I would still love to hear your thoughts on this.

I think thats about it, love the build and am having a blast blowing up everything in sight. Oh and if it is at all relevant, currently I've got about 1500 tooltip dps on IB, am running wrath determination on mana and level 5 clarity on life, and have fire and lightning res max with max res on cold with endurance charges up. I also run a cold res pot to help with when I have no charge up. I am running a 2h axe right now because I found 2 decent 5ls while levelling, so I havent taken any of the mace dps nodes. I may eventually depending on drops or purchases later but the extra points may be nice to go to the OG node if I do take it or Axe dps nodes. My damage feels fine right now so the OG node looks attractive. Anyway, Thanks a bunch.

G'day Sothickus! Sorry for the late reply.

1. I think not getting IR and going for an evasion/armor hybrid is viable. I don't know if Ondar's guile will be worth the passive points to get it though. If you are respeccing out of IR you might as well go all out and remove that section of the tree in favor of some life up near templar. Personally I think IR is a bit more reliable for a melee build rather than a half-hearted hybrid.

2. The damage increases from Mindspiral will do almost nothing for the build as it's almost purely physical and fire with the hatred conversion on top. I think the item will sacrifice too much survivability to be worth it. Having to run a higher level clarity will also mean you need to invest into better mana gear to run all of your auras. Not sure it's worth it overall but it's an interesting idea. But hell if it's working out well for you then that's awesome!

Glad you are enjoying the build and thanks for the interesting points!

Looking to go this as my first mara build.

Does this build leech life and that's how it stays fighting.

Hi . I have a 6L mahori with a dps of 18k without buffs .
Any suggestions about:

1. Thinking about going blood magic and replace weapon ele dmg gem with a life leech since i use like 170 mana per hit with infernal blow. Does it worth it ? i have like 3k hp

2. The leather and steel passive from duelist tree adds 24% or 48% armor if i have iron reflexes too ?

3. I use warlord mark as a debuff. Enduring cry would be better to gather faster charges ? What other debuff should i use ? i tought about elementa weekness since most of my dmg is fire . Enfeeble or temp chains ? Any suggestions ?

ZiggyD,
Thanks a ton for the responses to my questions. I have to say after some experimentation with the mindspiral your thoughts and impressions are pretty dead on. At least based on feel, the mana regen from damage taken gets nowhere close to the regen that I have with leech, even using a few level higher clarity from my witch and less auras. Most likely this from the effectiveness of this build at reducing damage incoming with all the armor/evasion/7 endurance charge/etc., so it ends up being counterproductive.

I still don't know where I stand on the IR/OG, seems like something I'll have to think about a bit more. Anyway, thanks again for the thoughtful post.

On an unrelated note I saw your? endless ledge vod up on youtube, was really a great watch. I haven't been able to race yet due to my schedule, but it is something I am really interested in so it was great to be able to at least see what the endless ledge was like. If there's another ziggy in poe and that vod wasn't yours then my bad for the confusion.