[GUIDE] Scorched Earth (How to be a Fire Witch)

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAnEEswVbB2MI9BJpFE0VUBZvFxwZhRpsHwIkqilPKo0snC0fMYgxnjWSNsU22DbpOuE8BTwtPV9Bh0bXSRtM_03jUlNVrlXGVytdxme9aHRtGXF5eQN-WX_Ggh6Cm4M4h2WIG4jxi4yOvo9Gj6aSwZSgl4WXlZf0m6GcLZ2un9-iAKKjplenCKxZr2yvt7UEtz7AVMHzxYrGrs9l0NDYJNpi2t3bC9-w4XPjauQi5oHnY-w47FXtIO5v73zvhfAf8kX56P4K_o8=

And a build summary for those interested:
http://pathofpoe.com/builds/passive-calculator/share/AAAAAgMAAnEEswVbB2MI9BJpFE0VUBZvFxwZhRpsHwIkqilPKo0snC0fMYgxnjWSNsU22DbpOuE8BTwtPV9Bh0bXSRtM_03jUlNVrlXGVytdxme9aHRtGXF5eQN-WX_Ggh6Cm4M4h2WIG4jxi4yOvo9Gj6aSwZSgl4WXlZf0m6GcLZ2un9-iAKKjplenCKxZr2yvt7UEtz7AVMHzxYrGrs9l0NDYJNpi2t3bC9-w4XPjauQi5oHnY-w47FXtIO5v73zvhfAf8kX56P4K_o8=/

1) Curse enemy
2) Throw trap
3) ???
4) PROFIT!!!

I joke (sort of), but once you get some decent gear (5L or 6L searing, and potentially a Carcass Jack) you can more or less just throw traps out with a curse and watch everything except double resist mobs and some bosses melt in under a second.

The first thing I'm sure many will point out is that I'm completely lacking resists or mitigation of any sort really. Yep, and that's what this build is all about, surviving based on your own awareness and ability to play well, not relying on simply being able to face-tank everything you run into. I don't like playing gear-check games or play-styles, it gets old and boring pretty quick.

I do use 2 4L items to run CwDT-EC-AOE and another for CwDT-IC-ID-Molten, which help out a bit with survivability, but they really act as "oh-shit" buttons designed to prevent me from getting insta-gibbed (I started using these after getting insta-gibbed a couple times to 2-3 fast crits in a 74 map, I'll explain my deaths below when I discuss hardcore)

When you have to deal with a high or double resist enemy (this applies to bosses/uniques even if they don't resist fire) the basic idea is that between the curse, fire pen, and shock stacks we multiply our damage to the point that even resists don't matter a whole lot unless they're so far over-capped that -81% fire resist doesn't at least take them below 75%. To be able to shock stack you really want to focus on drawing bosses/uniques into large packs of enemies (preferably whites with low HP and resists for max duration shocks) and letting the huge AOE shock proliferates triple-stack the bosses.

If you find in high level maps that the enemy HP and resists are still a bit too much to overcome, then I would say that you can spec into EE (this can actually be done at lower levels to increase damage a lot in the event you can't get a searing touch or 4L), and then use either shock nova traps or spark totem to trigger EE and/or apply shocks.

General Trap/skill order Without EE:
(normal/no fire resists) Curse -> Fire trap
(with fire resists) Curse -> Shock Nova trap -> Fire trap
(with double resist or high HP no ads nearby) Curse -> Shock trap -> Shock trap -> Fire trap

General Trap/skill order With EE:
(normal/no fire resists) Curse -> Fire trap
(with fire resists) Shock trap/totem -> Fire Trap
(With double resist or high HP no ads nearby) Curse -> Shock trap/totem -> Fire trap

I don't have enough points yet to spec into EE, but it's my next passive to spec into for testing, but it's been very promising when I've had that as a map modifier.

First up is bandit rewards:
Normal - Help Oak
Cruel - Kill all
Merciless Kill all (you can help oak if you want the extra endu charge for use with CwDT)

21 Point Tree:


41 Point Tree:


61 Point Tree:


89 Point Tree: (level 70, build "complete")


If you're going to spec into EE early the tree diverges after the 41 Point build (points 42-89) to the following:


Gem Setup and Links:

I'm going to split this into two sections, those who are starting with currency and those without.

Starting without Currency:
3L Fire trap: FT - Ignite - Ele Prolif
$L Fire trap: FT - Ignite - Ele Prolif - Fire Pen (This setup can take you to 66/67 maps!)
5L Fire Trap: FT - Ignite - Ele Prolif - Fire Pen - AOE/Burn Dmg
6L Fire Trap: FT - Ignite - Ele Prolif - Fire Pen - AOE - Conc Effect

Starting with Currency: (assumed at least 4L searing touch)
Starting without Currency:
$L Fire trap: FT - Ignite - Ele Prolif - Fire Pen (This setup can take you to 66/67 maps!)
5L Fire Trap: FT - Ignite - Ele Prolif - Fire Pen - AOE
6L Fire Trap: FT - Ignite - Ele Prolif - Fire Pen - AOE - Conc Effect

Ultimately, whether you socket AOE or burn damage will depend on where you feel you need the biggest boost. If you feel like the AOE from passives is enough area, then go with burn damage to increase clear speeds, which will help you on bosses as well progressing in levels more quickly. If you are struggling to clear packs with one trap (after curse/EE procs) because the proliferate is not reaching far enough then put the AOE gem in and watch the screen melt.

The choice of AOE + Conc may seem a little odd given the huge amount of AOE on the build, but after testing, the ability to clear large packs was a lot less consistent when socketing CE without AOE, because the traps didn't go off as consistently and the proliferating burns didn't reach out far enough (remember enemies will run away once they catch on fire) to burn them down before they got out of the DoT. Ultimately it didn't hurt survivability at all, but it does increase clear times significantly as it causes you to have to set more traps instead of just one. The lack of Burn Dmg on the searing setup may seem odd, but with searing + passives the increased burn damage is really overkill since it won't increase clear times vs whites/blues/golds all that much, and the larger AOEs help tremendously in shock stacking and burning enemies down before they run out of range.

The Support links are below and in one section as you should have 1 or more 4L setups by the later point in the game where these become necessary/useful.

EE Proc/Shock stacks:

4L: Shock Nova - Trap - Multiple Traps - Ele prolif
5L: Shock Nova - Trap - Multiple traps - Ele prolif - Reduced Duration (with Sunblast)/ Light Pen
6L: Shock Nova - Trap - Multiple traps - Ele prolif - Reduced Duration - Light Pen

4L: Spell Totem - Spark - Fork - Faster Cast
5L: Spell Totem - Spark - Fork - Faster Cast - LMP (if running EE)/Light Pen (if trying to shock-stack)
6L: Spell Totem - Spark - Fork - Faster Cast - LMP (if running EE)/Light Pen - Added Light Dmg/Light Pen

Curse/Aura/CwDT supports

4L: Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 1) - Enduring Cry (lvl 5) - Ice Nova (lvl 8, if using EE)/Temp Chains/Enfeeble - AOE (max lvl)

4L: Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 8-13) - Immortal Call (level req. capped with CwDT) - Inc Duration - Molten Shell (level req. capped with CwDT)

4L: Reduced Mana - Clarity (max lvl) - Vitality/Grace/Determination/Purity of <X> - Flammability

The two CwDT slots work wonderfully together to ensure that every 1/3 of your HP you take as damage you get around 2-3 seconds of physical invulnerability thanks to IC. The aura item just serves to provide whatever mitigation or sustain you want. Clarity is basically required as we spam skills a fair bit (doubly so if you go EE+shock trap), it also lets us run 50% regen maps without too much trouble. I personally opted for vitality + clarity, but Grace is a definite option to give yourself a bit more evade to work with.

The 4L or 5L chest should go to your shock stack/EE proc. If you go the EE route and you don't have enough currency for sunblast, then I would really recommend you stay away from shock nova traps as they will be inconsistent, spark will offer far more consistency for that purpose. A couple other options for a 4L EE proc might be:

Spell Totem - Ice Spear - GMP - chain/Faster casting
Lightning Trap - Multi Trap - Chain - GMP/reduced duration

The trap should obviously be used in conjunction with sunblast, while the totem is a bit more versatile.

Solo Mapping:
I'm still fairly new to mapping, I have a level 80 duelist FB build but never really mapped a lot on it, so my 78 fire witch is the first character that I'm actually chaining maps on. So far I have not found any mods that I flat out cannot do, although a couple combinations get fairly dicey if not outright un-doable.

So far I have 33 deaths on this character, and all of them came in maps. This is okay with me however because I'm still learning how to play the character better, and I really push the limits on what should/shouldn't be done just to test the waters knowing full well that I'm going to RIP (RIP'd 3 times to twinned, LMP, extra damage orchard bosses, RIP'd 5 times to extra damage, faster attacking museum bosses, ect.). I have not died on any map where I've avoided the RIP boss & Mods combos, and I have not died in the storyline at all.

Group Mapping:
Actually one of the better ways and more powerful roles we can play. Make sure no one in your party is running lightning damage first, but if you're in EE, just throw a spark totem/shock trap out, and the occasional fire trap to add to DPS, but our primary role in large groups is to act as a damage multiplier with shock stacks & burn fields while letting the largest DPSer do their thing. This is partially true, however in our 4-man group I'm currently the highest DPS, although there are a couple guild members with 50k+ DPS that I simply shock things when I run with them.

tl;dr
Don't do RIP bosses with bad mods and you will not die in maps unless you get careless. In parties play the DPS multiplier with shock stacks if someone there has significantly higher DPS

First map run with my 6L (was using 4L until this point):


Solo run on 67 alched thicket map:


Vaal Ruins map (68), kept incredibly harmful mods to showcase the minimum damage dealt with the build while showing that even at absolute minimum the build is still viable and relatively effective. (totems, fire res, enfeeble, end charges)


Museum map run (68), kept RIP mods for the bosses and then burned the unique boss(es) in museum down (added L dmg, more dmg & atkspd, lmp)


4-Man Party run on 73 Dark Forest map:


Twinned Blacksmith Kill (solo) with enfeeble and boss damage & attack speed mods (the video freezes for a few seconds in the beginning =/)