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

Great Guide, I read everything but 1 Question remains for me.

When is a good time to switch to Avatar of Fire?
Do I need Three Dragons Mask first or is it ALWAYS a dps boost? If i was to judge the Tooltip, i wouldnt expect to increase my DPS.


I'm Level 72 right now. This is My Weapon+Skill Setup

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guffel87 wrote:

Great Guide, I read everything but 1 Question remains for me.

When is a good time to switch to Avatar of Fire?
Do I need Three Dragons Mask first or is it ALWAYS a dps boost? If i was to judge the Tooltip, i wouldnt expect to increase my DPS.

Unless you plan on running Fire Penetration, don't. This needs to be stickied somewhere...Avatar of Fire provides a damage increase but only against NON-FIRE RESIST MOBS. Against high Fire Resist mobs it provides LESS damage. Now, what is the one thing that slows down a normal Molten Strike build? Fire Resist mobs. You don't need more damage against crap without Fire Resist, you already kill it so fast it's a joke. Don't take Avatar of Fire (IMO!).

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Dmillz wrote:

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guffel87 wrote:

Great Guide, I read everything but 1 Question remains for me.

When is a good time to switch to Avatar of Fire?
Do I need Three Dragons Mask first or is it ALWAYS a dps boost? If i was to judge the Tooltip, i wouldnt expect to increase my DPS.

Unless you plan on running Fire Penetration, don't. This needs to be stickied somewhere...Avatar of Fire provides a damage increase but only against NON-FIRE RESIST MOBS. Against high Fire Resist mobs it provides LESS damage. Now, what is the one thing that slows down a normal Molten Strike build? Fire Resist mobs. You don't need more damage against crap without Fire Resist, you already kill it so fast it's a joke. Don't take Avatar of Fire (IMO!).

I actually disagree though it may be a preference in the end.

my reasoning:
With avatar of fire your WED gem multiplies that converted damage. Meaning you have (with a level 18 WED) 57% more damage as fire than you would physical.

Let's say that you have 1000dps that is physical. That would mean you have 1570 that is fire. This means any mobs with 36% fire resists or less you do less damage with physical (that's not counting armor). 1570 * (1-0.36) = 1000

Fire resist mobs of 36% or higher (at level 18 WED for example) you would do less.

That's NOT counting armor mitigation by mobs NOR is that counting for curses or even applying attack speed and other multipliers which would make the fire damage even more (since WED is after all of those increased amounts) pushing the fire resistance threshold higher.

You already do fire damage so now your 1 curse applies for all your damage and not a portion of it.

Besides, same argument can be said for physical armored mobs.

Of course having physical damage opens up the benefit of leech on gear as extra bonus to LL gem or using mana. Check out his (Dmillz) build which is a nice MS variation and takes advantage of the leech.

In the end it's likely down to playstyle and preference but I don't think it is at all clear cut.

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IRISHx wrote:

So i m really enjoying this build, so much so that I switched my main from a lvl 74 ST SCION to this. Currently lvl 61 in act 2 merci. I'm having trouble running 2 auras grace and hatred. Pretty much mana starved as I'm having to constantly use my mana flask after only a few mob hits with molten strike. only run 1 or the other. What's the cost of the 3 dragons helm in standard. I would of went another league but had enough gear and currency to sustain myself to this point.

I'm running both Grace and Hatred on mine.... but I use blood magic for my Molten Strike and other skills.

Is there any Unique Weapon I should look for?

If not, what is most important on a rare one? Obviously Attackspeed, but what about the Physical Proportion Damage of the Weapon?

Example: 250DPS Weapon with 250Phys DMG or 280DPS Weapon with 150Phys DMG

Is it Important to look for a high Physical DMG?

btw im using a 1hand+shield

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Dmillz wrote:

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Aedax wrote:

Are you happy with the switch to sword and board? I'm currently running 2H, but considering a switch after reading up on the last pages in this thread.

MUWAHAHA yess....yesssss, come to the dark side. YOU HEAR THAT KARTIKDON 1H FTW!

I think I'll have to do that :(

Seems like the increased survivability of it is far more useful than the slight (not needed?)damage boost from 2H.

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guffel87 wrote:

Is there any Unique Weapon I should look for?

If not, what is most important on a rare one? Obviously Attackspeed, but what about the Physical Proportion Damage of the Weapon?

Example: 250DPS Weapon with 250Phys DMG or 280DPS Weapon with 150Phys DMG

Is it Important to look for a high Physical DMG?

btw im using a 1hand+shield

You want the highest pDPS you can get, ele is ok to have but it's a luxury.

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Madcow1120 wrote:

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Dmillz wrote:

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guffel87 wrote:

Great Guide, I read everything but 1 Question remains for me.

When is a good time to switch to Avatar of Fire?
Do I need Three Dragons Mask first or is it ALWAYS a dps boost? If i was to judge the Tooltip, i wouldnt expect to increase my DPS.

Unless you plan on running Fire Penetration, don't. This needs to be stickied somewhere...Avatar of Fire provides a damage increase but only against NON-FIRE RESIST MOBS. Against high Fire Resist mobs it provides LESS damage. Now, what is the one thing that slows down a normal Molten Strike build? Fire Resist mobs. You don't need more damage against crap without Fire Resist, you already kill it so fast it's a joke. Don't take Avatar of Fire (IMO!).

I actually disagree though it may be a preference in the end.

my reasoning:

Spoiler

With avatar of fire your WED gem multiplies that converted damage. Meaning you have (with a level 18 WED) 57% more damage as fire than you would physical.

Let's say that you have 1000dps that is physical. That would mean you have 1570 that is fire. This means any mobs with 36% fire resists or less you do less damage with physical (that's not counting armor). 1570 * (1-0.36) = 1000

Fire resist mobs of 36% or higher (at level 18 WED for example) you would do less.

That's NOT counting armor mitigation by mobs NOR is that counting for curses or even applying attack speed and other multipliers which would make the fire damage even more (since WED is after all of those increased amounts) pushing the fire resistance threshold higher.

You already do fire damage so now your 1 curse applies for all your damage and not a portion of it.

Besides, same argument can be said for physical armored mobs.

Of course having physical damage opens up the benefit of leech on gear as extra bonus to LL gem or using mana. Check out his (Dmillz) build which is a nice MS variation and takes advantage of the leech.

In the end it's likely down to playstyle and preference but I don't think it is at all clear cut.

well shoot, now you have me thinking removing avatar of fire could be better with a few changes. Just the mana management I'm not sure about even with leech on gear. Hmmmmmmmmmm

"

Madcow1120 wrote:

well shoot, now you have me thinking removing avatar of fire could be better with a few changes. Just the mana management I'm not sure about even with leech on gear. Hmmmmmmmmmm

Seriously, I'm running 2% mana leech on gear and its freaking amazing. I only have to run 1 sanctified mana flask and only pop it very occasionally. This is with 200 mana free after auras. Eventually (after 2 week league and I start playing it again) I want to get my max mana up to around 600-700 so I can run 2 60% auras (maybe even Tempest Shield as well) and still attack with mana. Also max mana makes you mana leech faster.

"

Dmillz wrote:

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Madcow1120 wrote:

well shoot, now you have me thinking removing avatar of fire could be better with a few changes. Just the mana management I'm not sure about even with leech on gear. Hmmmmmmmmmm

Seriously, I'm running 2% mana leech on gear and its freaking amazing. I only have to run 1 sanctified mana flask and only pop it very occasionally. This is with 200 mana free after auras. Eventually (after 2 week league and I start playing it again) I want to get my max mana up to around 600-700 so I can run 2 60% auras (maybe even Tempest Shield as well) and still attack with mana. Also max mana makes you mana leech faster.

What I'm thinking is this. I use spectral throw - GMP - Blind - BM currently. Generally BM would switch to culling strike but in this case what I may do is tack on mana leech gem. I toss this out anyhow occasionally to blind and I would only need a tiny bit of mana.

Also, for you I see most people use life leech with tempest shield could you switch that for a mana leech? If that works it'd probably help more.

(very) temporary solution for anyone without mana leech gear would be something like wurms molt. cheap and has leech. May try this later.