Guide: Fireball CI Curser - Proliferated Burning Critical Fire Damage | In-depth | SC |

About the fire traps:

On paper the dps of traps is much better than fireball. In reality I think it can hardly match it.
The reason is: movement. Let me explain ... you create something on the ground that gets triggered by mobs walking on it, therefore you don't HIT anything so any mechanic based on hitting does not work. This means elemental proliferation doesn't work since there is nothing created by hit that it could spread!

Further more the burning on traps works on relation with mobs staying in the burning patch, once they leave the patch the burning ends. Coupled with the limited number of traps you might get, 3/6 under most circumstances, the fact that mobs are mostly spread out NOT tightly grouped (this is rather an exception than the rule), and the fact that even with Aoe increased area and effects you can still "miss" and one or more of your traps might not be triggered at all or by small number of mobs, I think basing your char around traps is less effective than basing it around other skills. So, whether you move (and this build is a kite-ish one, so you WILL move a lot) or the mobs do, the overall efficiency and kill speed are lower that the FB with or without multi-projectiles.

Based on the above I would say, having a fire trap for this build is a very good idea but basing your dps on traps is less so. Even with the massive benefit of Temporal chains, still to many things could go wrong for me to like it.

Probably can be played as such, but I can imagine a large number of situations where it would suck.

Of course this is just my opinion, based on how I understand trap works, so don't take my word for it if you think you can do it. And please post your findings if you can :)

@crackmonster
I would love to talk to you mate :) About this build, a few things I think would raise the quality of your guide even higher, and, oh yes, about making fire builds SHINE :) I don't have any voice software installed atm, but that takes 5 minutes tops, so let me know if we can do that somehow. Sadly i don't have access to a private voice server atm :/

"

vandaall wrote:

The reason is: movement. Let me explain ... you create something on the ground that gets triggered by mobs walking on it, therefore you don't HIT anything so any mechanic based on hitting does not work. This means elemental proliferation doesn't work since there is nothing created by hit that it could spread!

And here i thought the initial hit of the trap would trigger proliferation.. this somewhat changes things and to my pleasure giving me a another reason not to use traps. :D

EDIT: Proliferation does work with fire trap.

"

@crackmonster
I would love to talk to you mate :) About this build, a few things I think would raise the quality of your guide even higher, and, oh yes, about making fire builds SHINE :) I don't have any voice software installed atm, but that takes 5 minutes tops, so let me know if we can do that somehow. Sadly i don't have access to a private voice server atm :/

Sending you a pm, moment :)

Big ups on your testing, fire must shine!

Heyo, I made a witch myself with a practically identical skill tree using a (nuclear) firetrap before I read this thread! The effectiveness is very much the same - great minds think alike I spose ;P

Current skill tree @ lvl 69




Now, I utilize an ice spear with elemental proliferation to build up power charges and immobilize groups while cursing (as well as some healthy damage thanks to very high crit chance and curse) I wasn't however been using temporal chains... but I realize now that is probably the easiest way I could have gimped myself aside from noobishly not grabbing enough ES...

A few notes:

-Firetrap DOES work with ele prolif
-Firetrap damage will NOT be reflected back to you (!)
-Everything hit by the enormous AOE on trap will take the same damage as the one hit the hardest thanks to elemental proliferation.

Thanks for the guide, will help me optimize this beast quite a bit :)

@ Crackmonster:

Really nice guide. good read, well explained. Love the NUKE video too :]

I had a tanky fireball witch on the way, but wasnt fully happy about it. Now i made some changes to adapted to ur build a bit and its sooooooo nice with ele proli.

Currently lvl 46 and going strong.

I wonder if, in ur opinion going for shadow area for the ES/EV nodes is mandatory? There are many travel points to get there, so i was thinking about going further in templar area for the AR/ES nodes instead.

My current build:


what im thinking off:


Lookin forward to ur thoughts.

Hi, great presentation and nice build :). What are your thoughts on running an ice spear/GMP combo alongside fireball and speccing elemental equilibrium to proc -50% weakness to fire before the fireball hit and after to proc weakness to the burn? Also would help with CC by chilling/freezing mobs which should cut down to some degree need to kite as much. Also, there are some nice synergies in the build with detonate dead, tho reflect will be a concern at high levels.

Hey guys, i got a little distracted yesterday :)

"

ReluctantPuppet wrote:

Heyo, I made a witch myself with a practically identical skill tree using a (nuclear) firetrap before I read this thread! The effectiveness is very much the same - great minds think alike I spose ;P

Current skill tree @ lvl 69

Spoiler

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMABAcFQgVbDkgPxBGWEmkVUBccGmwfAilPKo0snC0fNsU22Dt8PAU9X0GWRtdJG1BCUlNYrlqmW1ldxl3yY0NmT20ZcFJw1XF5fll_xoFJghCCHoV9h2WIG4hCi4yMNo5kj0aPppeFl5WboZwtnaOdrp-0n9-iLqKjpwius6-3sji1BLb6uMrAUcHzz2XQ0Ngk2t3cx9-w4XPjhOQi7FXtIO9874XxbPId8-r3pvfX_Ks=

Now, I utilize an ice spear with elemental proliferation to build up power charges and immobilize groups while cursing (as well as some healthy damage thanks to very high crit chance and curse) I wasn't however been using temporal chains... but I realize now that is probably the easiest way I could have gimped myself aside from noobishly not grabbing enough ES...

A few notes:

-Firetrap DOES work with ele prolif
-Firetrap damage will NOT be reflected back to you (!)
-Everything hit by the enormous AOE on trap will take the same damage as the one hit the hardest thanks to elemental proliferation.

Thanks for the guide, will help me optimize this beast quite a bit :)

Very similar build yea, it looks good :D

I also checked out proliferation with traps yesterday and it does work, but thank you for telling. I don't often play much with traps so its good hearing it from someone who does.

"

Miazga wrote:

@ Crackmonster:

Really nice guide. good read, well explained. Love the NUKE video too :]

I had a tanky fireball witch on the way, but wasnt fully happy about it. Now i made some changes to adapted to ur build a bit and its sooooooo nice with ele proli.

Currently lvl 46 and going strong.

I wonder if, in ur opinion going for shadow area for the ES/EV nodes is mandatory? There are many travel points to get there, so i was thinking about going further in templar area for the AR/ES nodes instead.

My current build:

Spoiler

Passive skill tree build

what im thinking off:

Spoiler

Passive skill tree build

Lookin forward to ur thoughts.

You know what, that's a pretty good question. I also have had my eyes on the many wasted points to get there, so i created another version of my build and compared it.

here is the old build:


Relative gain:

7% reduced mana cost of skills
20 dex
6% energy shield
50% evasion
10% energy shield cooldown

And the new:


Relative gain:

44% Armour
8% mana
10 int
10% elemental damage
18% fire damage
20 str

I almost think the new version is better. You lose around 1-2% total energy shield, and you gain, for example with my current gear, 6.5% fire damage. You lose 10% shield cooldown recovery and evasion which works well with grace, but it is not crucial to the build. I think i like this version better because, at minimal defensive cost, you get to invest more points into offense which is part of what i love about fireballer.

So to answer your question, even if you chose to build different, i don't think those es/ev nodes are mandatory in any way. If you wanted, instead of replacing them offensively, you could even place those points into defense and get more survive-ability out of your build.

You also need 49 dex from gear now, for skills, but you have all the strength you will ever need.

I will have to test out how it works with lower shield cooldown a less evasion, and i'm even using a couple of es/ev pieces of gear at the moment, but i think it looks better. Good question :D

EDIT: Now i have adjusted it a little more, this seems much better:

"

hongmannnn wrote:

Hi, great presentation and nice build :). What are your thoughts on running an ice spear/GMP combo alongside fireball and speccing elemental equilibrium to proc -50% weakness to fire before the fireball hit and after to proc weakness to the burn? Also would help with CC by chilling/freezing mobs which should cut down to some degree need to kite as much. Also, there are some nice synergies in the build with detonate dead, tho reflect will be a concern at high levels.

To me it sounds like a lot of work that may be hard to execute. I think i would prefer running an extra cures, so both elemental weakness and flammability, but then again i think 3 curses is the sweet spot for setup time.

In the end though, it's all about how you prefer to play. If you find it entertaining to set up elemental equilibrium for the ultimate blast, by all means go for it. You could even use 4 curses and equilibrium :D

Detonate dead, yea i used to have a totem with faster casting and that, and i think i will get it again at some point. Sometimes in certain situations (badly positioned necromancers for example), that would really help out and speed up the process.

It has just been brought to my attention that Temporal chains increases the duration of ignite by 100% and not 50%, effectively doubling it. Good news for more impressive numbers :P

Great Guide !

In reference to Flame Trap I love it. I use the guides Fireball Combo with the new Burning Gem. Currently I have the trap unlinked even and its great for my play style. My strategy is as follows:

1. Temporal Chains Curse
2. Flammability Curse
3. Elemental Weakness Curse ( using + 1 curse Ring)
4. When the mobs are off screen drop the 3 fire traps
5. I move in closer and start fireball barrage
6. Once mobs trip trap plus the fireballs nuking = death


So far I am lvl 59 and have just solo finished Merc. Took down Merv in like 10 secs with traps letting her burn off screen and dropping in the fireballs.

Not saying my strat is perfect but works well especially verse large groups mobs ( rushers / Goatmen).
I haven't dropped the point into CI yet due to lack of ES but that will come.

Again I am fairly new ( like 2 weeks in ) and do not know all the math etc. But I found this to be a great guide , good enough that I switched from Freezing Pulse build for higher dps output. I like melting faces more.

Thanks for awesome guide !

"

Crackmonster wrote:

"To me it sounds like a lot of work that may be hard to execute. I think i would prefer running an extra cures, so both elemental weakness and flammability, but then again i think 3 curses is the sweet spot for setup time.

In the end though, it's all about how you prefer to play. If you find it entertaining to set up elemental equilibrium for the ultimate blast, by all means go for it. You could even use 4 curses and equilibrium :D

Detonate dead, yea i used to have a totem with faster casting and that, and i think i will get it again at some point. Sometimes in certain situations (badly positioned necromancers for example), that would really help out and speed up the process.

That is a fair point, I'm up to level 34 atm and threw the ice spear/GMP combo on a totem to hopefully automate the fire/ice EE proccing synergy. Don't have EE yet since I'm fleshing out the core build but once I get there I'll check it out and report back.

I'm playing around with various combos of fireball/firetrap/DD in my searing touch to see what works best for me, so far most packs die so fast that getting off a double curse seems like a feat, let alone 4 :p.

First of all, I absolutely love this build! It's been a lot of fun and I can't believe that I could ever have so much fun watching mobs' life dwindle down to nothing. I'm only a lowly 47 but it doesn't even feel like I've been leveling. I have some questions for Crackmonster and the other high levels.

I'm seriously thinking about putting one of those snazzy "increase burning duration" into the staff but I don't think that I could ever get rid of any of the gems I have in currently (fireball, elem prolif, fire pene,increased critical damage, and faster casting.

Crack, you mentioned shavronne a few times. Do you have a build in mind? oO I'm curious about the type of madness utilizing a shavronne..