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

I'm currently level 31 with this build and thus far, I'm loving it. Coincidentally, 1.1.3 hit today, which means Molten Strike is now a thing. At the same gem level, MS was yielding a tooltip DPS within one point of Infernal Blow. In practice, I'm liking MS more but it may end up being a matter of personal preference which one wins out - time will tell. That being said, Molten Strike naturally synergizes with the Heavy Metal build just as much as Infernal Blow does, though gemming will likely differ quite a bit since MS can take advantage of LMP, GMP, Conc Effect, et. al. I'm sticking with MS from now on but following this build to the letter otherwise. We'll see how it goes during leveling.

I am level 65 with this build so far. Am much needing to replace my amulet with a better int/dex so i can run higher auras.

Was wondering at later levels when armour isn't an issue with normal pieces can I drop grace for say another dps aura or even vitality for some regen to run with blood rage?

Also what do others think of Molten Strike, the poster before me posted about it. but as my internal blow is like almost lvl 17 I am not sure I like the idea of dropping my core dps attack down.

Also finding with my dual CWDT setup its basically leap slam spam all the time to keep charges up then pop Infernal blow.

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Anitelu86 wrote:

Also what do others think of Molten Strike, the poster before me posted about it. but as my internal blow is like almost lvl 17 I am not sure I like the idea of dropping my core dps attack down.

I was fortunate that MS was added while I was at lower levels, so gem level wasn't much of a concern. That said, you could level one in your off-weapon slots to toy around with later on.

Having played with it a bit more, it has two downsides that I can see: 1. The "RNG" factor of the globs; that is, even in tight packs you'll sometimes see a straggler or two come out alive because none of the globs landed on or near them, and 2. the delay between swing and AoE damage, a problem that infernal blow does not have. That being said, with conc effect those globs stack up on a single target very quickly for some pretty incredible damage.

Since hitting merciless I've noticed a huge spike in damage taken. I'm level 61 & nearing 2k health with 3300 armour and with some mobs am seeing near instant deaths (3 shot).

I'm thinking it's gear related, but, with no combat log it's hard to tell if it's elemental damage that is getting me or physical.

I've resorted to farming the ledge to overlevel areas, but, even 4-6 levels above the area I'm having a hard time leveling due to the xp penalty.

Most of my gear is level appropriate. There are a few pieces that are underleveled, but, I haven't been able to find or craft decent upgrades due to bad luck with RNGesus.

At this point I'm considering another toon as this one has hit a wall that isn't much fun right now.

Same as discodave197. At the end I wonder if the construction is viable at high level.
No update?
sorry bad english

The tree is not horribly wrong (I think a couple of nodes are wasted... Rock breaker iE, 5 points for 52% damage and some stun, thats 10% damage per point, seems a bit inefficient).

Get life on every gear piece and max your resists.
Get a 5L main attack and a decent weapon.
That's pretty much all that matters.

Act 3 cruel is one of the first real gear checks.

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discodave1977 wrote:

Since hitting merciless I've noticed a huge spike in damage taken. I'm level 61 & nearing 2k health with 3300 armour and with some mobs am seeing near instant deaths (3 shot).

Im playing this build at lvl75. He's definitely squishy for a melee character. Like the guy above said, you'll need lots of life on all your gear to make it through. Even then you will still take a ton of damage from chaos attacks. And sometimes you will still insta-rip from a blue pack's alpha strike. That's just part of the game.

My main strategy was to Leap Slam all over the place, dodging the worst of the attacks and stunning things. Then using Infernal to finish them all off. Also, a Decoy Totem in my CwDT link helped a lot. A whole lot.


As for Molten Strike, the delay on the balls landing is a major downside. You can make two IB attacks in the the same amount of time. I prefer Infernal's instant AoE damage that splashes across most of the screen when they pop.

Im having a lot of fun with this build
Im lvl 78 so far and most of the time i have no problems with killing anything
My only weakness is chaosdmg since i have -60% resistance and haven't taken care of it yet.
Got 4k HP, 200hp/sec and ~50% phys dmg reduction without grace or determination and hit the cap when using granite flasks
Resistances are maxed out.
With my melee splash my infernal blow deals ~5k dps without hatred, thats enough to blow any white mob nearly instantly away so far and im saving for a marohi erqi to get some more dps and even more AoE dmg
My cwdt combo is: enduring cry + molten shell + immortal call which in my eyes is better than a decoy totem since immortal call triggers pretty often and that 1-2 sec invulnerability is pretty nice
Ive got some lifeleech from gear and passives and in combination with warlords mark you usually have enough life leech to survive the most fights
For hard fights im using a 5k dps glacial hammer linked with a lifeleech gem and a flask wich grants lifeleech
My worst enemy so far are the voidbearers with swiftness aura or lmp/gmp
Imo infernal blow is better for soloplay, molten strike is more suited for group play since the explosion of infernal blow doesnt scale with the increased monster life when in a party

At some point you really should invest some chaos orbs and buy some high armour/life/dual res items. I did this before starting to map

The highest lvl of maps i did so far was 70/71 so i unfortunately also dont know how this build works out in end game, but its a lot of fun to play and im going to try and see how far i get with this one after i got good enough gear

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Fool_of_a_Took wrote:

With my melee splash my infernal blow deals ~5k dps without hatred, thats enough to blow any white mob nearly instantly away so far and im saving for a marohi erqi to get some more dps and even more AoE dmg

You are having fun with 5k DpS? On a twohanded build????
In lvl70 maps?

I was doing 13k DpS with a onehander and still felt completly useless.

I felt so slow in clearing my maps that I actually bought an Abyssus to get me 5k more DpS, though it sacrificed half my tankiness. At least now I can murder useless white packs.

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Peterlerock wrote:

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Fool_of_a_Took wrote:

With my melee splash my infernal blow deals ~5k dps without hatred, thats enough to blow any white mob nearly instantly away so far and im saving for a marohi erqi to get some more dps and even more AoE dmg

You are having fun with 5k DpS? On a twohanded build????
In lvl70 maps?

I was doing 13k DpS with a onehander and still felt completly useless.

I felt so slow in clearing my maps that I actually bought an Abyssus to get me 5k more DpS, though it sacrificed half my tankiness. At least now I can murder useless white packs.

Yeah im having fun with 5k dps
If i wanted best dps+speed I would lvl a spectral thrower...
My mace is pretty slow and i only have a 4l combo so far, thats why im saving for a 5l or 6l marohi erqi so i can use faster attacks...