[2.6] Well-dressed Posh Duelist/Champion - probably the most useless build that works

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Update in progress (2.6)
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Summary: 1h mace, RT, Molten Strike Duelist, NOT budget (due to one particular item)

Offense: elemental aliments multipiers + elemental penetration + lots of balls
Defense: shield nodes, AR/EV equipment, AA, freezes

This is a FOR FUN build. It deals no problem with tier 10+ maps so it is not a pushover but if you are after e-peen raising clear speeds, I'm affraid this is a wrong guide. It however got me to lvl 92 with little trouble.


Gameplay video for people eager to judge 'if it works':
https://youtu.be/gnaVMHD-9-A (no regen, +life, dual boss etc Necropolis)


Meet the Dude. No one else is manly enough to wear a flora-themed red coat. He reminds me of a Handsome Prince from Shrek series.




The Build

It is a melee character. Not a fancy reave stand-off type, not a faux melee like sweep or ground slam. It is as melee as it gets. If you are the efficiency seeking type - I'm afraid this guide is not for you. This is not the fastest clearer, nor the safest clearer. In fact it is a concept build that I simply enjoy playing that by accident is pretty effective at it.

The Offense

It is a Molten Strike (MS) build so it uses all the MS components:
- Point Blank
- Iron Grip
- RT (not mandatory if you find enough +Accuracy on gear. Going heavy-crit however is out of the question due to build already being spread very thin)
- (2.6) Wildfire jewel. +2 projectiles? sounds like a HUGE %more multiplier :)

What makes this build different from Box MS build is:

- we select a solid elemental scaling weapon (Atziri's mace)
- we scale both initial hit and projectiles
- we convert all phys into elemental ending with pretty even 1/1/1 cold/fire/lightning split
- the attack speed is of secondary importance


The Core



Yes, it is a 6 link and I think that 6 link is a must for this to work. What makes it special is that built-in Ele Prolif. I'd also like to warn you: coloring this is a nightmare. These colors == 450+ chromes, easily. This is not a 'tabula rasa with stats'. Plan your links carefully as recoloring them is just.. not something I'd like to do again. You've been warned.


Lets walk trough the links

Molten Strike: Pretty straightforward. Quality adds a lot so it is good to get q20 even if it means using a low lvl gem for a while
Multistrike: MS is one of the very few gems that in my opinions benefits mechanicaly from it. Quality is nice but not mandatory. Can wait for bit of spare cash.
WED: pretty mandatory as it is one of the strongest multipliers available. Quality just like in case of Multistrike can wait.
And now we move to the werid stuff
Elemental Proliferation (lvl 5 from chest): what makes this build work. It spreads all status aliments evenly around the player making most mobs IGNITED, SHOCKED and at least CHILLED if not FROZEN.
Physical to Lightning: great paper dps boost, gives us SHOCKS. Removes all physical leech from the build. Quality highly welcome (I'm releveling mine so the linked one is bare)
Melee Phys Damage: multiplier for our initial hit. The initial hit is VERY important due to the Ele Prolif. The bigger the initial hit the longer the spread effect. Quality an option.
Hypothermia: straight up damage multiplier. Due to Prolif pretty much everything is chilled, even in higher maps. Does wonders vs bosses that have adds. Quality HIGHLY recommended. Longer the CHILL, longer the damage boost.

6th link variations (in place of Hypothermia)
GMP: 2.0 changes to GMP 'less' value made it a viable support. Tried to play with it but it didnt won me over. One can give it a try. Quality is a mixed one: higher attack speed == mana woes. This build is very thin on mana.
Culling Strike: very strong contender vs bosses. 2.0 version (with damage and no penalties) is a very strong gem for a little mana price tag it has.

6th link variations (in place of Melee Phys)
Fire Penetraion: you deal ~45% fire damage. You get fire pen from the tree. Works great vs bosses at the cost of initial damage. Pick your poison.


Further scaling:

Hatred, Herald of Ash, AA + lvl 3 Enlighten. Can also be done with lvl 2 enlighten in any +1 gem levels item (like Geoffrey's Crest or one of the corrupted boots that float around).

Hatred is our only source of cold damage (so our attack can CHILL and FREEZE), HoA is just a nice damage bonus that also makes sure most of the stuff we fight is on fire, AA makes sure that stuff we fight is CHILLED. Combined with Abyssal Cry slows down stuff a lot.

Elemental penetraion / Weapon damage nodes (2.6)
There are two options available:
- Primeval Force: weapon elemental damage cluster with huge %penetration and weapon ele damage. It doesnt double dip but still. Cons: costly passive-point wise.
- Lava Leash + Fangs of Frost. Scales our two strongest elements + huge penetration.



Sustain:

Elemental leech from Doryiani's Catalyst and Dyadian Dawn (sad thing that Dyadus is so bad that the for-Dyadus belt works best without it..). The second one applies only vs chilled enemies but due to: CHILLs from Hatred spread by Ele Prolif, CHILLs from mobs unfreezing spread by Ele Prolif and CHILL constantly applied by Arctic Armor (passively and via ice trail) it is pretty much always on. it is 1%, throw in some +LGOH on gear and it is pretty sustainable vs most situations.

Weapon:

Pretty much the only choice: 80-100%+ ele damage is just difficult to pass on. Try to get one as close to 300pdps as possible (people mostly price them by the cast speed or ele damage treating it as a caster stick with leech).

In pre 2.0 used to Ele Prolif + HoA. Currently impossible to sustain.

The tree:



Molten Strike scales via physical damage but not MELEE physical damage (this scales only the initial hit). It is impossible to pick only non-melee-specific mace/one-hander nodes so there are built-in inefficiencies in the tree. We have to accept it. Nodes that scale the 'initial hit only' are not wasted, are just non-minmaxed.

Stuff that I pick: the life/mana attack leech near duelist, shield nodes, jewels, mace nodes, phys weapons nodes and Mana Flows (for Int and flat mana that we need to build a respectable buffer)

The Gear:



As anyone can see the gear is from the 'junk' subcategory. What I'd improve if I had the money (this is 99% self found stuff): jewelry with flat phys (very big dps boost possible, 10% more damage easily), LGOH on rings, WED on rings.

Dyadan belt is to be replaced with a solid fire/cold res + life + other stuff (flask mods are preferred) belt as we no longer have to rely on its leech. Faster ignites is quite strong clear-speed mod

+projectiles enchant on helmet is AMAZING. it is nothing less but 66% more damage for +2. I was extremely lucky with mine.

Suggested enchants: 'of Spite' or 'of Fury' on gloves for nice AOE damage/chill. I use corrupted boots but '% leech if killed recently' is pretty much the option to go.

(2.6) Wildfire jewel (or 2). These are HUGE damage boosts. HUGE. Molten strike releases 3 projectiles by default. Enchant makes it 5. Wildfire - 7. 2*Wildfire - 9. It is 200% more multiplier from initial projectiles count. It is bonkers single target damage.

Gameplay tips and warnings:

Why Tier 10 maps are the threshold? higher maps can roll very non-amusing 'immunity to status aliments'. This mod breaks this build. Avoid. 60% reduced chance is bad enough but immunity is a map that simply some other dude can run.

Good AR/EV shield is mandatory. Something has to replace our chest slot. It is like playing with tabula. Aim for good life rolls on remaining pieces as your boots (Blood Dance) have no life to compensate.

Flasks: Granite and Jade I consider mandatory. Taste of Hate is cool (no pun intended) but somehow I feel better with plain Granite. Rumi's is also a good choice (instead of Jade). Two heal flasks - i just cannot play with single one. And a QS. I cannot jump around (headache) so I have to mostly run. If one is able to move by jumping, drop QS and pick Atziri's flask for extra damage (serious boost) and leech.

Playstyle: dangerous. Dude likes to be in the center of attention. Let the enemies surround you, drop magma balls, move on. It takes some time to get used to 'drop and forget' playstyle (and constant 'back for loot' trips are annoying) but hey, Dude has his looks.

Chill + Abyssal Cry is quite interesting vs bosses/tougher enemies.

Curses: Warlords or Ele Weakness for general clear. Enfeeble for bosses. Ele Weak / Enfeeble share the same socket color. Curses vs bosses were nerfed heavily but are still a great asset to use.

Decoy totem. Single strongest gem one can use vs bosses. Remember to cast it BEFORE using Enduring Cry yourself. Taunt cannot be overriden with another taunt!

Trigger melee gem + LGOH are AMAZING health replenishment. Do not underestimate this source of healing and these are phys-reflect safe due to Dyadian belt.

Ascendancy

Champion
Why? Because you like to have fortify. It is pure laziness and way of compensating for literally wearing a hip coat.

Other points are pretty situational. Worthy Foe (someone said it is bugged but i cannot confirm) equals to 20% more damage. It is huge - but i do not need more damage. My clear speed limit is set by the Molten Strike mechanics. The less damage taken after taunt is good (remember that bosses have 'taunt immunity period'). Last to Fall makes sure that freeze lockbox wont kill me ever again.


Hope you enjoyed. Have fun.

This is quite an interesting build. thanks for sharing it.

UPDATES:

--- fixed the tree somewhat. Now there are more 'damage with melee weapons' instead of 'melee damage'. Difference is rarely felt in practice but from time to time it does matter. also changed the pathing near the templar weapon elemental nodes. saved a passive point and put it into -%mana cost reduced node

--- sorted out my jewels. Previously used something picked randomly from the stash

Jewel stat priorities for me:
- %life
- damage/with 1h/maces/with shield
- (lightning res due to my so-so gear)
- shock/freeze duration and chance
- mana on hit/life on hit (got total 0 of both sadly)

--- sorted out links. now there is less risk of being OOM in a pinch.
- abyssal cry and leap slam (mana hungry and oh sh.. skills) are now on BM gem.
- now using 3 warcry gems depending on a situation. this playstyle is quite interesting but ofc is beaten by any automated cookie cutter fotm build out there. one click > all
- still thinking about getting a golem somewhere but this build is very socket hungry
- dinged by counter-attack skills. these are quiet heroes: LGoH with all tree means 200-300hp heals each time these trigger and vs big packs these can reach 500+ life a pop. worthy 4Link.

--- got +1 blood dance boots. this is HUGE as now my free mana is large enough to last before first balls land (and trigger mana on hit) thus pretty much removing OOM situations. great bargain as i've managed to get them for 25c. thank you dear seller.

Current tree:


Current gear:

updated to 2.1

new tree, new gear, note on mana management and a note on Dyadan belt

build as viable as ever

Updated to 2.4

no changes. cleared corrupted Colosseum with it. one of the smoothest high-end map experience so far despite it being a guy wearing recolored tabula rasa

Updated to 2.4

Hey there, nice Build. And I like the idea of using a Thousand Ribbon.


I Added your Build to the Buildlist. :)

Thanks!

changelog:
- updated gear info in the OP
- modified gem setup (removed rallying cry, added decoy totem)
- uploaded video: link to the boss fight https://youtu.be/gnaVMHD-9-A?t=209 (note that that was my 1st map of the day and the no-regen DOES affect the gameplay a lot esp in the movement skills area)

2.6 Update

- replaced tree with current version
Changes: removed Templar elemental wheel (Celestial notables), picked up Primeval Force for ele penetraion and ele reflect bonuses

- updates gearing description slightly

- Wildfire jewel section (it is bonkers, get it!)