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

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Kartikdon wrote:

Blocking is not an issue really anyways as well. Still quite viable to reach capped block.

Didn't say it was no longer viable, just that it had been affected. Capping the blocking will mean chasing it up in new directions to some extent.

Here's a Ranger variant I put together. Based on some napkin math with the first spreadsheet linked in the OP, I think it should get about 5% more damage with about the same survivability for two points less than the current beta build. It has less armor % and slightly less life / regen but gains 1% block, evasion % and a big buff to health flasks (which folks from Garena say are pretty good in the new build). It probably still has room to optimize a little more if anyone wants to take a crack at it. For example, I might be able to do better than the three points in elemental damage down by Point Blank.

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgIAr-ubjQBeGY7tgwgu037-un11G61I7niuPeK309fLo4pNkiP2jX1W-u4O_MVKfYd2Z6AUdaTCW68ppU4qhO9eExvIQzG2Qayv55HDhpuDdO0FLWBLeu8aVWEh7tkGOXnA3B1kozboMn46UhRxDjynMBiRUEcUIPcy6hj463zZcqmsqlnzZp7AGho4p4SQVXflV-LsODKJAnEEsxRN8B-0-aIA73yDOFFgT32AVn7i-tLjajbpFm8kqg4Uy0MZ6d7B3Q2QChGB3UZjp__TAec0joY7

Point by point comparison between the old tree and the new one that's been suggested shows two points of concern, particularly for anyone who's already heavily committed to end game (and expensive!) gear.

Unless I'm misreading the data, resists will be affected quite markedly, which means either having to reinvest in gear to make it up or by reverting back to the Diamond Skin nodes.

Also, there's a drop of 40 in Intelligence, which could play havoc on a build that contains maxed out gems that lean to high numbers on Int. for acceptance, such as Grace. For many it's virtually mandatory to use a passive like Wisdom OF The Glade to keep functioning. The shift away from Three Dragons and the now relocated Static Blows nodes means that the Int. picked up along the pathway has gone, so that will have to be made up by those who've relied on it.

Thankfully, while I've been heavily investing in gear upgrades of late, I've held off on the final two items, a ring and gloves, until I knew for certain how the new tree would play out. I can use them to tweak any little gaps that may be left over from the switch. Intelligence is one of the things I've really been focusing on, to ween me off my reliance on Atziri's Foible and thus allow me to use other amulets in general play for boosts and Stone of Lazhwar at need.

I completely reworked my Ranger build. Relative to the OP's beta passive tree, here are some differences:

Con:

* Less life regen
* 2% less block
* Less armor bonus
* Takes longer to get Resolute Technique
* Enemies can leech life from you



Pro:

* ~9-10% more damage (way more attack speed)
* Early access to Iron Reflexes (version linked is endgame and has dropped IR)
* EDIT: Early access to Point Blank
* 1 less point used (2 less counting that I've dropped IR by this point)
* More evasion bonus
* 30% chance to avoid being stunned
* +10% resists
* +20% flask recovery speed (again, reports from Garena are that life flasks are very strong)
* +80% flask health recovery (it should be possible to drop the life leech gem early without using Carnage Heart plus more versatile emergency buttons in the endgame)
* +4% move speed
* Less weapon-type dependency (spec given is still mace)
* Access to an extra +30 int node if needed
* Access to 6 unused +5% life nodes (+ Path of the Warrior) if you want more life instead of attack speed, block or weapon-specific nodes



https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgIAr-ubjQBeGY7tgwgu037-un11G61I7niuPeK309fLo4pNkiP2VvruDhR1pMI26DJ-OlJ82XKprKpZ82aewBoaOKeEkFV35Vfi7DgyiQJxBLMUTfAftPmiAFFgT32AVn7i-tLjajbpFm8kqg4Uy0MZ6d7BNZK18ti96dUM914fr2zFiqmVWK94DTwtxq63Pv4KqW4yCXJsbEbdDfzFLOk_JypNFSBKyG6qpDnQgUfiIuLiLAkz0TZsFvxLJ-2HGcT2kArvfIM4TGAEsZVmSn2Hdmeg

I'm not sure if it is optimized, but here are how my build changes shake out for the Marauder. More life, more block, and marginally less damage than the Ranger. Unless I'm missing anything, I think it's strictly better than the build in the OP, but I haven't analyzed it that much yet as it's time to start playing. I think I'm going to roll Marauder for the end-game bonuses, though the early game would probably be easier as the Ranger due to IR and PB.

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgEAxthYY_ZIjM89_F8_7w4nL-Of-6qgtPMG5FEn7YcZbBb8S3zZcqmsqg4Uy0MZ6cAaWfOQVRo4p4TsODKJV-J35QSz8B8UTQJxogD60maeUWBPfYBWfuLjajbpFm8kqjboMn46UpAK3Q1KfYd2Z6D8xRR1pMK0-d7Br42ple98gzivbMWKPC0M9-nVXh_Grrc-_grYvTWStfJuqqlueA1Yr0rIPycVICzpKk2kOdCBR-Ii4mebd-OuPsT2Vvqjiu4OTZIj9hutSO494rfT18vRNgSxTGCVZg==

Guess it must be working for you, but gee it seems like you used a lot of passives to get places without using much in between - like the five passives you used to get down to Iron Grip. Best of luck with it though. All things being equal on your gear, how did the resistances look when you finished?

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timbo1959 wrote:

Guess it must be working for you, but gee it seems like you used a lot of passives to get places without using much in between - like the five passives you used to get down to Iron Grip. Best of luck with it though. All things being equal on your gear, how did the resistances look when you finished?

I made a mistake on the Marauder one, so not as good as I first thought. Dropping the attack speed cluster hurt the damage too much, so I had to drop a little life which brings it a lot more into parity with the Ranger build which I think I like better, all things considered.

This is all theoretical for me as I haven't played Molten Strike past about level 35 so it's entirely possible I'm missing some things. I'm very open to suggestions. Also, you are right that there is quite a skillgrimage going on, so there will be periods during levelling of not much advancement and then a burst. Regarding the 5 nodes to Iron Grip in particular, it may be that it's not worth going down there for it at all (thoughts?), but if you want it you have to either spend 5 nodes there, skip the life wheel and head down under Marauder, or take the path under Duelist. I tried all three methods and spending those 5 points works out best in the long run vs. the other two options, unless I made a mistake somewhere which is entirely possible. It's pretty complex why this is, but it has to do with getting a good amount of block without overcapping it (assuming Lioneye + Temptest Shield), picking up bigger boosts (3 nodes in the life wheel add 24% + 20 life by themselves), minimizing the total number of 10 stat nodes taken (especially for dex), etc. For example, the OP build and both of mine all take 29 10-stat nodes if I'm counting correctly -- my Marauder actually does slightly better here due to 2 of them being int nodes which may allow you to drop a 30 int node or use gear or level a gem you couldn't otherwise.

Regarding resists, mine should be the same as the OP build + 10%. Specifically, that would be gear + 22% with a shield + 8% fire (+ 10% to all for my builds).

FYI, here is my updated Marauder build, though it can still probably be made better -- I didn't spend much time on it, I just roughly ported the Ranger over and tweaked it a little:

https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgEAxthYY_ZIjM89_F8_-6qgtPMG5FEn7XzZcqmsqg4Uy0MZ6cAaWfOQVRo4p4TsODKJV-J35QSz8B8UTQJxogD60maeUWBPfYBWfuLjajbpFm8kqjboMn46UpAK3Q1KfYd2Z6D8xRR1pMK0-d7Br42ple98gzivbMWKPC0M9-nVXh_Grrc-_grYvTWStfJuqqlueA1Yr0rIPycVICzpKk2kOdCBR-Ii4mebd-OuPsT2Vvqjiu4OTZIj9hutSO494rfT18vRNgSxTGCVZjIJcmxsRocZbBb8Sw==

A little heads-up to people regarding life. While a lot of the nodes have been nerfed, those above Master of the Arena still have pretty good numbers, so for those taking (or considering) that loop across to Leather and Steel it's a very viable alternative to other life clusters, especially as you can basically save yourself a passive gaining the 20% on those three nodes.

Though I am not running my MS character right now, the mana on kill/hit node closter by point blank has been extremely useful so far in the early levels on my archer. Might be looking into pushing into mana use to gain a gem slot.

Also look into Shadow start guys... Still tweaking my version but at the moment it is better then the other races.

What would be best gems in BoR for max block AA build? i can cast of mana (low level molten strike in 6 link costs only 36 mana per cast,i have 2% mana leech) and i dont need LL because i rarely even lose my ES,currently running molten strike+added fire+multistrike+WED and i have 20k dps with 300 dps mace,is there any better setup?