[3.2] Molten Strike Ascendant [Under Construction]
NOTE: With the sunset of the Craiceann items this guide will be getting a major overhaul in the future.
Intro: Prior to 3.2 I disliked lab. I would often try and run through as fast as I could, cheese the boss if possible, get my Ascendancy Points, and never return. I always heard about how lab was profitable but I found the whole process tedious and annoying. I wanted a character that I could not put a lot of currency into that specialized in traversing the lab and facetanking Izaro. On days where the lab layout is sweet I can enchant up the bases I found while mapping and get all those juicy full-key-run loot explosions at the end. On top of these goals I wanted to do something with new items in 3.2 so we are utilizing some new fated uniques and the new Craiceann "set" that makes Aspect of the Crab as powerful as it can be. To further fit the crab theme we are dual wielding Grelwood Shanks which provide fabulous synergy with the build. These weapons drop off an Elder Guardian and they even look kind of like crab claws. The shanks allow our fab lab crab to... stab. Quick Reference:
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"Final" Skill Tree
Links
Item Stat Priority
PoB: https://pastebin.com/S0Jh7n8k YouTube: Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/thi3n Update Log:
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1. Pros and Cons
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Pros:
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In Depth Gear Explanation
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Grelwood Shank really makes gearing more flexible for us since Iron Reflexes while Stationary will allow us to get Armor or Evasion based gear.
Elder/Shaper items can give us free links for quality of life things like Culling Strike/Blind or Increased Area/Duration/Crit Strikes. Weapon
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Grelwood Shank. If you want to be a crab and do lab... you have to stab. Dual Wielding shanks provide additional projectiles for Molten Strike after getting hit. While not 100% required, these weapons really do it all in terms of lab farming. 160% increased armor and Iron Reflexes when stationary (turns Evasion into Armor). Point Blank for free all the time which saves us some points on the tree. Prior to getting Grelwood Shank the Passive tree is weapon agnostic so items like Ngamahu's Flame, Wasps Nest, or a high Phys Imperial Claw with a Lycosidae are great choices. Other than that pick your favorite rare/unique with high physical damage and attack speed to scale Molten Strike.
Stats to look for (if you're using a rare): Physical Damage (% and Flat) > Attack Speed > Good Weapon bases like Imperial Claw
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Craiceann's Chitin. The Crab Helm gives us block chance and spell block while sporting Crab Barriers and more importantly makes it to where we can't lose crab barriers if we've lost any recently (in the last 4 seconds). Rares with high life and resist are another option. Some other Uniques worth mentioning: Starkonjas, Lightpoacher, The Formless Inferno, Obscurantis, Voll's Vision, The Three Dragons
Stats to look for (if you're using a rare): Life > Resists > Armor/Evasion > Life Regen NOTE: High budget builds should look at the Molten Strike Projectiles helm enchant.
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Craiceann's Carapace. We crab people now. Aspect of the Crab comes from this on top of sporting a huge amount of life and bleed immunity. Other perfectly viable options are Belly of the Beast, Loreweave, Brass Dome, and Shroud of the Lightless. Rare Chests can also be great for league starting and budget versions of the build.
Stats to look for (if you're using a rare): Life > Resists > Armor/Evasion > Life Regen NOTE: If you don't use Caiceann's Carapace you'll want to Beast Craft Aspect of the Crab onto an item. Also look into Evasion based body armors because Iron Reflexes turns that into armor for us!
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Craiceann's Pincers. If you would gain a Crab Barrier you can now get up to your max Crab Barriers. On top of that unique effect it also just gives a massive amount of armor and life regen. Solid lab farming gloves in their own right. Meginord's Vise is a solid option as well for similar reasons but likely you'll want a rare to plug in resists since we are so unique heavy. Tombfists are also great value since abyssal jewels sockets and intimidate are both desired.
Stats to look for (if you're using a rare): Life > Resists > Armor/Evasion > Life Regen NOTE: Min Maxers will want an Insanity Essence Craft for their Leap Slam setup. Gripped Gloves are a great base for the Projectile Damage and no enchant is of particular use.
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Craiceann's Tracks. Instead of losing all our Crab Barriers when we get hit we only lose 5-7 instead. Also makes us immune to stun while sporting Crab Barriers. Provides some much needed Cold Res and gives great life and armor as well. Koams Roots are another great option as the Unwavering Stance prevents immunity to stun while making our chance to evade zero. NOTE: This doesn't remove our evasion rating though! So we still convert all evasion rating into armor during Iron Reflexes. Ralakesh's Impatience for stationary synergy and Atziri's Step for additional defensive layers should get a mention as well.
Stats to look for (if you're using a rare): Life > Resists > Armor/Evasion > Life Regen *NOTE: Movespeed doesn't matter to us since we are leap slamming for movement. No enchant or Corruption is required. Life/Mana Regen after being Hit is probably the most useful.
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The Nomad. 3.2 Gave us a couple new fated versions of The Magnate and this one has some serious synergy with the build. Literally every stat is useful on The Nomad except for the implicit of the belt... brave Vaal Orb users wont find many good corruption options for us. A rare Stygian Vise, leather belt, or a Darkness Enthroned are probably your best other bets as Abyss Jewels do help our build quite a bit (more on this later). Belt of the Deceiver gets a mention as well since it provides all useful stats for our build.
Stats to look for: Life > Resists > Armor > Life Regen
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Thief's Torment. This was talked about in the Pros and Cons but Life Gain on Hit is an amazing defensive mechanic for us because every projectile of Molten Strike counts as a hit. Thief's Torment also provides mana gained on hit, reduced effect of curses on us, a large amount of all resists, and some Increased Item Quantity. The main drawback is losing out on a potential 140+ life (with 70+ life rings). Rare Elder Rings can also roll with the life gain on hit.
Stats to look for (if you're using a rare): Life Gain on Hit > Life > Resists
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The Effigon. Another new fated unique added in 3.2, this item provides Accuracy and Evasion (which Iron Reflexes turns into armor) but more importantly it provides Fire Pen and Hit's Cannot Be Evaded by blinded enemies. We have some reliable sources of blind which I'll talk about later (Stibnite, Abyssal Jewels) but this is huge in terms of making sure we get as many hits as possible to gain life back. A fire Impresence allows a flammability curse to be on blasphemy for free but it doesn't bypass the curse limit so a defensive curse is off the menu with this. High budget endgame users should look into Xophs Blood which saves Passive Points on top of being an extremely good amulet by itself. Xoph's users can also get some Ascendancy options which I'll talk about in the 4. Bandit + Ascendancy + Pantheon section.
Stats to look for (if you're using a rare): Phys Gained as Fire > Life > Resists
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Abyssal Jewels. 3.1 Brought us Abyssal Jewels and these scale really well with Molten Strike. Traditional Rare jewels with % life and Attack Speed are also options but I highly recommend flat life. As far as uniques go, Wildfire Jewels are obviously core for any Molten Strike build, Pure Talent is pure value when you can reach so many starting areas with our tree so that's a great choice as well. Lastly a Watcher's Eye really dictates what aura's we'll be using. Aspect of the Crab and Herald of Ash are core for us, but Anger and Vitality are on the table in terms of the great Watcher's Eye mods that you can get from those. Fire Pen and Fire Conversion in Anger are great in Anger versions and the Life Gain on Hit from Vitality is a great option if you are looking to move away from Thief's Torment for a higher life pool.
Stats to look for (for Abyssal Jewels): Life > Blind on Hit* > Phys/Fire damage with Swords/Attacks Stats to look for (for Traditional Jewels): Life > Attack Speed (swords, generic, dual wield) > Damage > Life Gain on Hit *NOTE: Blind on Hit is great for Effigon users!
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Elder/Shaper items can give us free links for quality of life things like Culling Strike/Blind or Increased Area/Duration/Crit Strikes. Molten Strike
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Molten Strike - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Ancestral Call - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Multistrike - Concentrated Effect
Alternatives: What can I say, there are a TON of options with Molten Strike, Damage on Full Life, Slower Projectiles, Elemental Focus, Fire Pen, and Life Gain on Hit are all valid options. I am a big believer in making the build your own by testing out different support gems. Path of Building is a good way to see your best damage output but there's an element of how the build "feels" based on how tanky you are with the rest of your stats that is really individual. I do highly recommend Multistrike, Ancestral Call, and GMP in terms of getting as many projectiles as possible for Life Gain on Hit from Thiefs Torment or Elder Rings.
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Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Fortify - Culling Strike/Blood Magic
NOTE: Culling Strike with quality gives increased attack speed on top of just having the nice effect of culling a boss. Blood Magic should probably make its way in to an insane Min/Maxed setup perhaps on Insanity Essence Elder Gloves with Supported by Faster Attacks.
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Ancestral Protector - Blind on Hit - Culling Strike
If you're wondering why protector over Warchief, that's because Warchief only helps the Melee portion of Molten Strike, not the projectiles.
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Aspect of the Crab. This gives us Crab barriers and is a large portion of initial lines of defense when taking damage before projectiles start raining down.
Herald of Ash. A staple of Phys to Fire converted damage and works as a more multiplier for very little mana reservation. Arctic Armor - I really like this aura and is a great option before Watchers Eye! Vitality/Anger/Determination. Depends on what you get with your Watchers Eye. Good mods to look out for are:
NOTE: Without any reservation reduction you'll want to run Vitality or Arctic Armor which only reserves < 35% of your mana. If you use Anger/Determination you'll need an Enlighten setup with something like HoA - Enlighten - Anger/Determination. Enlighten level 4 is not required and I suggest having enough mana unreserved to cast Molten Strike at least twice.
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Cast When Damage Taken - Golem* - Curse** - Molten Shell
*NOTE: Stone Golem has been my favorite golem so far but depending on your gear it may be better to have Ice Golem for the Accuracy/Crit which smooths out the uptime on Elemental Overload. **NOTE: Right now I really like a blue gem swap where I have Flammability for mapping with a switch to Enfeeble for harder encounters. Similarly, a Poachers Mark and Temp Chains swap is viable if you want a green gem curse swap. Try them out to see what your favorite curse is. Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Increased Duration A standard staple defensive setup.
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Phase Run. For ignoring collision while going through traps/mobs in the Lab.
Vaal Lightning Trap. Applying Shock to tough rares and bosses.
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Bandit:
Ascendancy:
Alternatives: If you have Xoph's I recommend moving away from Chieftan for Elementalist or Champion. Here is my breakdown of our choices:
Pantheon:
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No uniques are required as this build is fine for a league start - but if this isn't your first character of the league then these will make the process easier: Wildfire Jewels, Goldrim, Tabula, Wanderlust, Wurms Molt, Lochtonial Caress, Karui Ward, Thief's Torment, Elreon -Mana Cost jewelery (resists/int a plus!), and buying skill/support gems with quality ready to be socketed in!
NOTE: If for some reason you miss a gem, all gems are available from Neesa after completing Act 6. NOTE: If you have a favorite way of leveling (Abberaths Hooves, Poets Pen, Sunder, etc.) then do that! 1. Low Level Tree Rush Resolute Technique and Avatar of Fire, the two first jewel sockets you pick up both have 40 str in the radius so plug in the Wildfire Jewels. MainSkill: Molten Strike - Ancestral Call - Lesser Multiple Projectiles* - Added Fire Damage - Life Gain on Hit - Summon Phantasm on Kill Mobility: Leap Slam - Faster Attacks *NOTE: The gems you link Molten Strike with are mostly arbitrary in the early game. The Wildfire jewels will absolutely carry your damage if it isn't your first character. I just listed some low level jewels that are fun to level with if you have a Tabula but they are in order of importance so if you only have a 3 link then Ancestral Call and Lesser Multiple Projectiles are fine until you start progressing. 2. Normal and Cruel Lab Grab Iron Grip and when in doubt, life it out. The Molten Strike setup you get at level 38 can be locked in forever. MainSkill: Molten Strike - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Ancestral Call - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Multistrike - Concentrated Effect Mobility: Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Fortify Auras: Herald of Ash, Arctic Armor, Clarity* Golem: Stone/Ice whatever you prefer. I prefer Stone. *NOTE: As soon as you pick up Thief's Torment no Clarity is required at all. 3. Merc Lab and Blood Aqueduct Grab the Ranger starting area and farm away in the Blood Aqueduct. Do your Merc Lab. Start grabbing utility gem setups as you get the links. My favorite 4 link utility setup is below. Utility: Cast When Damage Taken - Curse* - Golem - Molten Shell, Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call *NOTE: Flammability is great for players looking to push more damage. Poacher's Mark, Enfeeble, and Temp Chains are great defensive curses. 4. "Final" Skill Tree In true crab form, this is just a shell of a tree. Pathing along the outsides of the Passive Tree allows you to pick up Sword, Dual Wielding Nodes for those going shanks. But for those going Ngamahu's or Claws or Claw/Shield you can adjust the tree accordingly. Below are a few examples of trees based on your weapon choices. Dual Wielding Grelwood Shanks Ngamahu's Flame Alternatives: These trees are guideline, go off the beaten path and make the build your own!
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Mechanics of Ancestral Call
Mechanics of Molten Strike
Lab Compass
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What about X Item? What About Y Support? What about Z Ascendancy?
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I always encourage people to make the build their own. All of my guides are just that, guidelines. Take what is useful and apply your own ideas and create ways to make it work for your situation.
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Grab mana gained on hit via Poacher's Mark or Thief's Torment or just grab mana leech node under Herbalism.
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Other Guides: Последняя редакция: thi3n#0446. Время: 1 окт. 2018 г., 17:51:45 Last bumped29 мая 2018 г., 18:19:56
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I want to play as a crab. Lvl me bro?
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isnt it not safe to go with uncapped lightning resis? in the video you had 40 something in lightning resis and i didnt see any specify on getting gems for the tree for resis cap
Последняя редакция: FaberXzio#2981. Время: 4 апр. 2018 г., 2:53:11
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"I don't level people but I do like the desire you have to play as a crab. "The Wise Oak is a Bismuth flask so we get to the cap with that on. I've since moved on to elder two-stone rings which I'll be covering in the Endgame setup, currently buying up gear for the character to take on a bit of the endgame with some currency investment. Jewels with lightning resist and easy access to an 18% lightning resist node near the scion projectile start will also help if you want to go 100% uniques like I am in the video. |
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This Fab Crab, driving the Uber Lab Carry Cab, dungeon crawling to fill your stash tab, with one quick stab, lays Izaro on the slab.
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The Dab Crab!!
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Hey thi3n, i've check your profile lately and seen that you are using a totally different gear setup nowadays.
Is that to farm high tier maps/bosses, or you just found out that that setup is better for labing? Thx for the guide btw. Farming lab is super easy with the build. |
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"I'm working on a sample of some end-game gear that I'll be using to try and take the build into some of the high tier fights. The guide with the gear snapshot for lab farming remains the same and glad to hear you're farming the lab! |
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Leveling this build tonight on stream in preparation for Flashback as a potential league/event starter!
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