1.3 The Community's Molten Strike, Face Melting Build!! 1h+shield and 2h variants available

So I've gotten my Molten Strike character to 48, nothing serious yet but I've been having fun wrecking things despite my atrocious gear. Anyways, onto the point:

At the moment I'm thinking of running Lightning Coil as my chest slot end-game. Since the build grabs IR it should be a very strong option, and due to the complete lack of any unique requirements, gearing to counteract the lightning resist penalty shouldn't be too difficult. It's also pretty affordable, even a 5L is only 2 exalts in Ambush which is pretty manageable (for me at least). While you could definitely run a sick rare, or should run Kaom's if you're going 2H and can afford it, I feel like Lightning Coil is almost too good to pass up for this build because the damage reduction is so huge.

I was also leaning more towards going 1H for maps since I think I'll be able to achieve more than respectable damage still while getting a pretty ridiculous amount of survivability. The Testudo and Aegis shield block notables are extremely easily accessible for this build and offer a significant survivability increase, and I feel in general the one-handed nodes are just better (Water Dancing in particular is a lot better than Executioner if you're running RT). Once Ali_B mentioned Doryani's Catalyst and I realized how good, and achieveable it is for my budget, that pretty much made my mind up about things.

For those interested, here's the skeleton for the 1H build I'd be working towards:
http://poeurl.com/yNrmhpB
(yes it's a lot of nodes, level 98 to be exact. Not certain what areas specifically I'll fill out while I level but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, shouldn't be a hard decision)

Just some thoughts, hopefully it makes people think a bit :)

Thanks Fearmonger, some good stuff to think about :)

Finally got a 5L at lvl 62. Using my own variation of this build, maybe I just didn't get nodes in a decent order....I had some major troubles surviving fights in merc. Started merc at only 2k hp and I'm up to 3k HP (already killed piety in merc) now, but with the 5L I was able to add blood magic and run grace/hatred....HUGE survivability boost.

Went from kiting and using the small range that Molten Strike offers on most phys groups, to facetanking them while watching a video on my 2nd monitor.

Being able to run grace finally sling-shotted the survivability....I did run a map at lvl 60 and only died once (got too comfortable towards the end), but now at 62 (more importantly, with my 5L) I'm fairly confident I could start running maps without issue (and likely will).

For those interested, my stats now that I got off the blood magic passive: 3k hp (moving towards more %hp nodes, but my helm, gloves, belt and amulet do not have any life on them, boots and one ring has very low life), 4.6k armour (52% phy reduction @ 62), 5k tooltip dps......was able to do a map 2 levels ago with 2.5k hp, 2.3k armour and 3.5k dps....so a major change....should easily be able to map now.

started this as a first timer in ambush league, having fun so far. I was wondering if anyone thinks its possible or viable to add righteous fire or make a righteous fire/Molten strike build?

Ok, SO ALLOT of good information on this forum, SO Much so in fact that I think some of us might be lost in the Math of it all.

Can someone sum the basics up for us not as smart folk?

This is my Limited understanding of it all, please correct anything I mess up.

1. Nothing is Mandatory, got it, Amazing part of MS is its VERY flexible.

2. I am lost on if LgOh or Leech is worth it. Based on some maths I saw, it just does not heal you that much because some Dmg is X Minus this Dmg is Z and when you hit with X, you get
Z as dmg and your wasting your XyZ time? Im so lost.

3. Based on the spread sheet that is above my Military Education what have we decided, that if we follow the OP ( Because im too dumb to make a build by myself, I plagiarizer ) is the best 6L set up? ( I was lucky one day and clicked on the squiggle line drop onto an Armor with allot of holes and they all played connect the dots, was so strange )


Signed,

Not so Smart Soldier in Afgan

"

Fearmonger wrote:

I wouldn't do it, personally. You couldn't take Avatar of Fire because otherwise the 25% fire to chaos conversion would be a flat 25% damage penalty, and you'd have to build pretty different from the one in the OP if you wanted to take advantage of the global critical strike increase. And Blood Magic gem wouldn't really be viable (you'd just have to keep Blood Magic) because running anything more than 1 aura would put you on low mana and trigger the damage taken effect, so you'd lose a lot of survivability too.

Three Dragons + Static Blows is definitely a viable (if not potentially ridiculously strong) MS build but the biggest issue you'll run into is figuring out how to get both Static Blows and Point Blank since they're on total opposite sides of the tree. It is achievable but you have to plan carefully and it would take several levels before you'd reach the point where you could have both nodes.

Three Dragons + Static Blows sounds nice. When I look at the current Tree in the OP it seems Static Blows is not that far away and you could also take Purity of Flesh wheel and maybe drop some life nodes somewhere else if you need the passive points.

e: Static Blows and Chance to Shock right beside it gives you a 20% chance on hit to shock? Or is it calculated differently? Also together with AoF and Doryani's Catalyst you should be able to Shock Stack ok-ish?

Sorry I'm quite new to theorycrafting and know almost nothing about the mechanics :)

"

Nagisan wrote:

Finally got a 5L at lvl 62. Using my own variation of this build, maybe I just didn't get nodes in a decent order....I had some major troubles surviving fights in merc. Started merc at only 2k hp and I'm up to 3k HP (already killed piety in merc) now, but with the 5L I was able to add blood magic and run grace/hatred....HUGE survivability boost.

Went from kiting and using the small range that Molten Strike offers on most phys groups, to facetanking them while watching a video on my 2nd monitor.

Yeah this has pretty much been my experience too. Armour is very important to not get completely wrecked. I ended up making it to about level 35 with having found exactly 1 upgrade (a belt) over the uniques I had been using so I had something like 68 armour and everything was trucking me. When I finally managed to replace my Briskwrap with something that didn't suck, I ended up being at 1100 armour and things were much more manageable.

Also, Cast when Damage Taken Immortal Call (with Enduring Cry on the same link, or self-casted) is a amazing survivability boost so its a great thing to go and add if you're running into difficulties.

"

shahmat1972 wrote:

1. Nothing is Mandatory, got it, Amazing part of MS is its VERY flexible.

2. I am lost on if LgOh or Leech is worth it. Based on some maths I saw, it just does not heal you that much because some Dmg is X Minus this Dmg is Z and when you hit with X, you get
Z as dmg and your wasting your XyZ time? Im so lost.

3. Based on the spread sheet that is above my Military Education what have we decided, that if we follow the OP ( Because im too dumb to make a build by myself, I plagiarizer ) is the best 6L set up? ( I was lucky one day and clicked on the squiggle line drop onto an Armor with allot of holes and they all played connect the dots, was so strange )

1. I wouldn't say nothing is "mandatory". I mean really you could take any build any direction you want, but that doesn't mean its a good idea to do so. Molten Strike is a new skill so you can expect that what's best to support it with is not widely known or agreed upon, this will change as the theorycrafting of the ability and its appropriate builds matures and people come to accept it.

2. Short answer: LGoH while levelling, Life Leech for end-game (maps onward). Long answer: It's just a math problem to determine which is better. LGoH * number of hits per second vs. Life Leech % * total DPS (not tooltip DPS)

3. The OP has solid advice, I would say, but nothing is set in stone. You can say its the best that the community has agreed upon.

"

Valicious wrote:

"

Fearmonger wrote:

I wouldn't do it, personally. You couldn't take Avatar of Fire because otherwise the 25% fire to chaos conversion would be a flat 25% damage penalty, and you'd have to build pretty different from the one in the OP if you wanted to take advantage of the global critical strike increase. And Blood Magic gem wouldn't really be viable (you'd just have to keep Blood Magic) because running anything more than 1 aura would put you on low mana and trigger the damage taken effect, so you'd lose a lot of survivability too.

Three Dragons + Static Blows is definitely a viable (if not potentially ridiculously strong) MS build but the biggest issue you'll run into is figuring out how to get both Static Blows and Point Blank since they're on total opposite sides of the tree. It is achievable but you have to plan carefully and it would take several levels before you'd reach the point where you could have both nodes.

Three Dragons + Static Blows sounds nice. When I look at the current Tree in the OP it seems Static Blows is not that far away and you could also take Purity of Flesh wheel and maybe drop some life nodes somewhere else if you need the passive points.

e: Static Blows and Chance to Shock right beside it gives you a 20% chance on hit to shock? Or is it calculated differently? Also together with AoF and Doryani's Catalyst you should be able to Shock Stack ok-ish?

Sorry I'm quite new to theorycrafting and know almost nothing about the mechanics :)

You're right that it's not that far away, but the build is already pretty pressed for points since there's several Key Stones and notables that you really want to acquire, so adding another that is out of its way means you're not going to be able to run your "full build" until an even higher level.

Yes, Static Blows + Chance to Shock nodes would give you 20% chance to shock with your Fire dmg (with 3 Dragons), it works the same mechanically as a lightning skill does.

Check out the updated progression and for the base build, its down to 83 points. I still need to add links to suggested build paths though post base completion. I changed the base b/c there are so many different paths people are wanting to take and so many options I decided to only place to key essentials.

Running through merc and maps I found CWDT + Enduring Cry w/o immortal was much more effective since we are stacking a lot of armour.

Totally agree with point 3 Fearmonger: Everything listed so far is the ideal choices from the community.

I currently need 3 points to finish the base model so I am going to skip them for now and go grab static blows and test Three Dragons. This sounds stupid and insane and should not be allowed with this build haha. Ill keep you posted about how it turns out.

And I am totally on board with switching to a 1h + shield. So many shield nodes right there to take. you get get the base build + shield nodes and have max block by 80 and pumping the rest of your points into 1H dmg from there.

"

Fearmonger wrote:

You're right that it's not that far away, but the build is already pretty pressed for points since there's several Key Stones and notables that you really want to acquire, so adding another that is out of its way means you're not going to be able to run your "full build" until an even higher level.

Yes, Static Blows + Chance to Shock nodes would give you 20% chance to shock with your Fire dmg (with 3 Dragons), it works the same mechanically as a lightning skill does.

Thats true of course. I was considering a 1H-Build with shield and you would still need to get some shield nodes which means even more points gone. How much Shield block does one want to archieve (Softcore)?

http://poebuilder.com/#character/AAAAAgEAAecCcQSzBS0OPBLhFE0ZhRoyGjgaVRpsGtsbyB0UI_YkqicvKMUppTJ-Mok26DbpOlI94j38QzFKfUw1TipRYFb6Vw1X4lhjWfNaSFuvXhNfP2BLYSFko2aeZ6BqHnB9cql0QXTtdud35XrvfNmE74d2jM-QCpBVkc6ezZ_LoLSiAKSspMKnMKeEqBipaKmVrKqsr6-NtkG307vtvJ_AGsOGxtjSIdfL3Q3jauOf55HsOO4O7w7v8PIv8wbzvvPd9kj3MvrS-6r8xQ==

Here is taking the base + 39% block (drop some depending on your shield and other items due to 75% cap).

Also running this much block i may suggest Stone of Lazhwar so we gain 50% of this as spell block. Only thing useful is its spell block but that is pretty huge.
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Stone_of_Lazhwar


SUPER TANK

Again, this is very low 80's build allowing everything else to be pumped into HP, 1h dmg, etc.