[1.1.4][Ambush]IncineKate {MoM-EB-AA-maxBlock-Incin-77/77/77}

Kate was a build that just seemed to come together for me of her own volition right from the very beginning. I knew I wanted to make a MoM/EB/Cybil's Paw/Anvil block build but had trouble deciding on a build. That is, until I stumbled across Eyestorm's take on it (found here: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/860157/page/1 ) and his tree jumped out at me like a facehugger with abandonment issues.

The choice of Witch for the class was totally off my radar but as soon as I saw Eyestorm's tree I could see the advantages (spell dmg, fire dmg, mana) that the Witch starting area offers. I knew I didn't want to use Saffell's Frame because I wanted to block attacks and take advantage of Tempest Shield and Life Leech this way. This meant that (1) I needed block passives and lots of them and (b) I needed spell block. This led me to decide to use Rathpith instead of Saffell's Frame. I also couldn't use Alpha's Howl because the sockets needed were RRBB (Reduced Mana-Purity of Fire-Purity of Lightning-Clarity) and I didn't have 500 - 5000 chromes to throw at the project. This, coupled with the need for block nodes, led to my decision to drop the Purity of Fire and use a rare helmet. I may also try out the Three Dragons in future but, if I do so, would then switch out the Doryani's Invitation for a rare belt with +Mana/Int/ES and ++Life.

Once all that was in place I grabbed my lvling kit, started a Witch and got up to lvl 69 uneventfully. I switched over to Incinerate when I could meet the lvl requirement for Cybil's Paw and, within a day or two of meeting its lvl requirement too, managed to 5L my Infernal Mantle. Once this occurred, Kate's damage output started to steadily and quite speedily climb as upgrades and new, build-specific BiS uniques rained down upon me.

I have since swapped out the Infernal Mantle for a Cloak of Defiance. I really had to monitor my mana closely to ensure that the spell dmg increase on low mana didn't come around to bite me in the ass. Then I got to the point where my mana regen was just reaching the tipping point where it was becoming insufficient. I decided that if I was going to be popping mana flasks all day that I may as well get more defense (+10% dmg to mana from the Cloak) for my efforts, switched to the Cloak and haven't looked back.

I also switched to Rainbowstrides for the added spell block and mana. Since my existing boots were pretty crappy the sacrifice in terms of life and resistances wasn't an issue. In fact, I made up the life loss by switching a single regen passive node and still came out with more regen! The loss of 10% MS is a pain but tolerable. All in all, I think the extra ~25 mana/s regen I gained will have a bigger positive effect on survivability because of its interaction with Cloak of Defiance.

The only fly in the soup is the loss of ~700 armour by switching to Cloak of Defiance. I originally grabbed Iron Reflexes to make use of its evasion but decided that 700 armour was not worth 4 passive points. Instead I grabbed some elemental damage and a +12% res node. The loss of armour is painful but can easily be made up by switching out my Purity of Ice aura for Determination or jacking up the level of AA to > 20.

*Currently running lvl 19 AA for the MS from quality but also currently capable of running lvl 20+ gems.

*Combination of 78% block, ~70% spell block, AA, MoM/Cloak of Defiance, Tempest Shield + LL and Cybil's Paw's LGoH + fire-based LL makes for extreme tankiness.

*Relatively low life (3-3.5k ... Kate is currently ~3400) but see above.

*Low chaos res but easily rectified by gear upgrades. The single chaos flask, whether it be a nicely rolled Amethyst or an Atziri's Promise, is enough, even at -60%, but higher chaos res is always nice. Nevertheless, care should be taken around chaos mobs. The nerf to poison zombies helped a lot though.

*Mana regen is through the roof (~320/s) but this number is variable and quite gear dependent. If GMP were substituted for LMP, mana leech might be an issue but I'm currently happy with 280mana/s for max lvl, 5L, LMP incinerate, 40% MoM effect and lvl 20 Arctic Armour. Any regen over and above this is gravy.

*%Mana regen on rings is very important.

*Quality on AA and 30% MS boots will make you not want to bash your face in with a brick while you run from Stash to Greust and back again. I've recently switched to Rainbowstrides for the extra mana and spell block and the loss of 10% MS hurts but the increase in survivability more than makes up for it. It is the difference between facerolling lvl 76 maps and playing lvl 78 maps carefully and facerolling every single map you come across.

*I dabbled with Vaal Molten Shell - LL - Increased Duration on my "things are hotting up" CwDT (lvl 18). I also tried Enduring Cry - Immortal Call - Increased Duration (sucks without +max endurance charges) and Shock Nova - Added Lightning - LL.

Currently my low lvl CwDT has Enduring Cry - Molten Shell - Frost Wall and my high lvl (aiming for lvl 20) has Enfeeble - Vaal Molten Shell - Increased Duration.

Frost Wall is simply incredible. It helps against melee, chargers, leapers, projectiles, even a few spells. It is far more effective than a low lvl enfeeble curse at mitigating dmg so I bumped up my Enfeeble to the high lvl CwDT in order to take advantage of having it at a high lvl. The Enfeeble is only really needed when the dmg is high enough to make my high lvl CwDt fire anyway.

I'm now pondering putting Devouring Totem in Enfeeble's place and self casting Enfeeble. The problem is the extra gem slot required. I need to remove Blind from my Tempest Shield setup or get an unset ring.

*The Lightning Warp linkage and the "things are hotting up" CwDT linkage are the 7 flexible/sacrifical/dumpStat gem slots.

*If you have a 5L Infernal Mantle and use Added Lightning (20q is like a free mini-keystone) then Elemental Weakness as your offensive curse goes from just being nice to being niiiiiiiice. Projectile Weakness is a nice middle ground between Ele Weakness on offense and Enfeeble on defense.

Since I switched to the Cloak of Defiance I focused on Enfeeble as my main curse. However Ele Weakness is still a great option if you are happy with your tankiness and want more dps. This is especially true since I switched out Added Lightning on my Incin 5L for Fire Penetration.

*Keep in mind how awesome the MORE modifier of the additional stages of Incinerate is. It goes without saying but, especially when it comes to Incinerate, tooltip dps are for shmucks. It's almost clichéd to say it these days but Kate melts map rares like they are trash mobs on the Docks.

*Granite flask + Molten Shell + base endurance charges are more than enough to handle physical damage because of AA and MoM/Cloak in combination with all the blockage. Low armour is not a problem although the way in which armour interacts with AA means that the more armour you can get, the better. This is (one of) the reason(s) why Doryani's is so awesome.

*Your choice of mana flask is important and must match your playstyle and current gear because if you reach low mana (which is easy to do with both incin and MoM) damage gets out of hand quickly thanks to the Infernal Mantle. This isn't as much of a problem with the Cloak but if you run out of mana your dps drop as your Incin begins to stutter and, at the highest lvl of maps, fire is life. By that I mean that the fire LL becomes important for dealing with poison map mods etc.

*I have a corrupted Stone of Lazhwar with the 5% dmg taken gained as mana mod. This is for spiky bosses like Temple Piety or Dominus' freaking stream of souls attack and maps with tons of spell casters. The extra spell block is nice, your dps go up with the extra cast speed and the corrupted mod makes for nice tankiness. This switch, however, isn't as great as it once was with the addition of extra spell block from Rainbowstrides.

Note that this img is outdated. I GCP reciped most of my lvl 20 gems and swapped out Added Lightning for Fire Pen. Tooltip dps is sitting at ~1750 with lvl ~14 gems.

This img is outdated too. Resistances are currently 77/80/77. ~70% spell block and ~320 mana/s regen are the other two significant changes. Life ~3400, total mana ~3200 and unreserved mana ~1200.

I -think- this is what I would consider a "complete" tree.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAuMEswbpB2MHpQkhD6sUTRZvGYUZihoyGjgabButHNwdFB6UHwIknSSqJpUnYSjFKU8snC0fLUctgzbFNuk62D3iRKtG10juSRtJskw1TdhQQlFgUzVVS1WuVcZXK13GYG1h4mJabRltbG17cH1zU3iufXV_xoFvghCCHoKbh2WMNox2j0aPppBVkyeXBpu1nC2ePKIAoqOnCKeEqZWsP6-3tQS1SLfTu-PAVMHzxKLPZdDQ037YJNo92wvcV93z3vbfmN-w42rkIud07DjwH_F2877z3frS_ro=

(1) get chaos resistance on gear
(2) get +1 to gem level corrupted mod on Rathpith for lvl 24 AA.
(3) 6L: Incinerate - GMP - Faster Casting - Added Chaos - Fire Pen - Mana Leech ... this, in turn, would require ...
(4) an unset ring with high mana regen in which to place AA. Failing this, I'd like to juggle my gem links a bit, get a corruped Rathpith with a +1 gem levels implicit and use Empower to get lvl 24 AA. Still waiting to find a Rathpith with the mod and right coloured sockets though.

I helped Oak in Normal and killed all of the Bandits in Cruel and Merciless. Helping Alira in Cruel for the +4% cast speed is an option but I am too lazy to grind the extra level to make up that skill point.