[3.5] Alpha and Omega, Molten Strike Raider. League Starter and End Game Finisher

i do use blood rage (tho not in betrayal right now cause i want more regen first).
golems are not exactly worth using IMO. they die too quick and annoying. another thing on the screen to see and stuff. i usually just don't bother with them

i used charged dash for my movement skill to go through doors, over gaps, over ledges. its specifically really good in lab IMO

currently my betrayal build is just how it is to get me through. im still low level with basically no funds so my build is not how its going to be at the end. things will change.

Hey, first off I want to say nice guide! I've been wanting to try Molten Strike and really didn't like the idea of being a JUGG. I saw your guide and decided I'd give it a try. I started with a different build but RNG started giving me pieces of this build so I figured I should start swapping over.

I normally play big map clear aoe autobomber type characters so this will be one of the first times I try something like this, other than double strike a few leagues ago.

I had a few questions: Should I only swap to Beltimber Blade when i have 2 of them? I have one right now and I'm working on getting the Chaos for a 2nd. I got a ngamahu to drop as well so I can use that until I get the 2nd blade.

Assuming I can fix my resists, I was planning on using thief's torment for now. Is that fine?

Also I saw a previous post saying that you were planning on doing Avatar of Slaughter this league with leap slam, but you're still running cyclone. Are you just waiting to swap to the blades before using leap slam because of Ngamahu?

I'm still leveling, but I think I'll probably be at least 80 by the end of tonight if I go fast enough.

Thanks again for the awesome guide!

i would probably only swap to beltimber once you get two. thats what im going to do myself. since we have ngamahu's that will easily suffice until then.

thiefs torment is fine, yeah, though i see it as always unnecessary. the life gain on hit is not what makes or breaks this build, it just comes in handy specifically in delve. regular leech and regen work well enough for the whole rest of the game.
but yes it'll do fine.

ya im still running cyclone and that is primarily because of ngamahu. im still uncertain how i want to run this league though. running cyclone or leap slam really depends on two things.
#1 the links for molten strike
#2 how fast i want/feel comfortable going

so essentially im going to be running daresso's defiance this league and trying to get molten strike enchant helmet. this means you don't need an elder helm as seen in 1st post. so this means you'd need a 6L, but that helmet is ridiculously expensive and will be way more valuable this league i think. it is however the best DPS option by about 30%.

so since there is a body armor the links are going to be as follows. EITHER
molten strike, multistrike, ancestral/ele dmg with attacks, conc effect, combustion, immolate
OR
molten strike, multistrike, ele dmg with attacks, conc, ele focus, ancestral/added fire

the 2nd option is better if you have another source of applying combustion. this is where cyclone is really handy and is better than leap slam.

the 4L for leap slam would need to be leap slam, faster attacks, fortify, blood magic. not really any room for combustion. you could replace blood magic but then you might oom while going around maps.

cyclone plays really great and smooth but its obviously slower. i think in betrayal i'll try to do body armor links option #1 and use leap slam. at least until very high tier content and stuff.

since i won't have as much time this league to play as last i'll want to really zoom zoom when i can play so i really want to get a leap slam setup.
eventually i'll be looking to get essence of insanity crafted gloves for my leap slam setup to make it stupid fast.

Hello, thanks for your guide.
But in 3.5, I cannot use 2 Wildfire because it's limited to 1.
Does this mean serious disadvantage? Like, -20% DPS output approximately? Or worse?

not an issue. it just means you'll want a molten strike helmet enchant. even without it you'll go from 11 projectiles down to 9. not the worst thing ever. having that extra jewel socket actually helps a lot.

just got my armor. this cost me 25c in total.
bought 5x cards @ 3c (15), 2x cards at 8 alch (5), craft 1x with 1x pristine fossil (1), master craft (4) for a total of 25c.


swords are also starting to fall in price. getting down to 20c. should have mine pretty soon

Understood. Now I can keep it up with no worry.
I started POE 4 days ago and this guide helping me so much.
Thanks for all of your devotion.

Just wanted to give a quick update. Got both the Beltimber blades and got some gear to help get me through some early mapping. I messed around with cyclone for a bit but I really enjoy Leap slam for general map movement. Once I get a little more life, I'm going to attempt uber and hopefully get my last ascendancy.

I was just wondering how you approach gear upgrades from this point. Do you just hold out everything for a xoph's blood? It is already down to 5 ex as I'm writing this so I was thinking that'd be my plan. I'm not sure if I should focus on other pieces first or not.

Loving the build so far though. I got to do my first couple delves with it and man was it satisfying!

i got both my beltimber blades as well, they're getting pretty cheap now. later i'll get my perfect ones and try to get a syndicate craft of 30-35% on em.

man did it feel good to get those over ngamahu. insane.

so essentially right now i have avatar of fire spec'd because i do not have a xoph's blood. i do have a 6L armor tho not the armor i want, but i have max resistances and lacking life.

my personal next piece of upgrade will probably be a helmet with the molten strike enchant and then try to craft it some way. i'd prefer to get a rare helmet than a unique one, but w/e i can afford i guess.

my next upgrade will probably be upgrading rings and belts etc so that i can afford to drop resistances on amulet, then i can plan and save for xoph's blood.
boots i'll probably still end up with atziri's step for a little while, but you can use w/e boots you want so if you need to make up resistances there, do so.

once i get a molten strike helmet and a xoph's i'll be trying to 6L a daresso's defiance, which will be my end game chest this league. it'll drop my life down to around 6500, which is still decent, but you'll be open to one shots specifically in delve with just that amount.

right now im running war banner for the accuracy and adrenaline boost when planted. its working out well. it gives so much accuracy we don't need to spec any in the tree so it essentially saves you 3 points.

Hello just want to suggest a starter-mid budet changes.

So my suggest is to use Chernobog Pillar and rare gloves with crafted new conversation prefix. It will give u more damage(100% conv without xoph) and more survivebulity(more life. built in enfeeble on hit) in a lot less cheaper gear.

"

xMustard wrote:

i got both my beltimber blades as well, they're getting pretty cheap now. later i'll get my perfect ones and try to get a syndicate craft of 30-35% on em.

man did it feel good to get those over ngamahu. insane.

so essentially right now i have avatar of fire spec'd because i do not have a xoph's blood. i do have a 6L armor tho not the armor i want, but i have max resistances and lacking life.

my personal next piece of upgrade will probably be a helmet with the molten strike enchant and then try to craft it some way. i'd prefer to get a rare helmet than a unique one, but w/e i can afford i guess.

my next upgrade will probably be upgrading rings and belts etc so that i can afford to drop resistances on amulet, then i can plan and save for xoph's blood.
boots i'll probably still end up with atziri's step for a little while, but you can use w/e boots you want so if you need to make up resistances there, do so.

once i get a molten strike helmet and a xoph's i'll be trying to 6L a daresso's defiance, which will be my end game chest this league. it'll drop my life down to around 6500, which is still decent, but you'll be open to one shots specifically in delve with just that amount.

right now im running war banner for the accuracy and adrenaline boost when planted. its working out well. it gives so much accuracy we don't need to spec any in the tree so it essentially saves you 3 points.

I just finished act 10 and am gearing up for maps. Is there any sort of benchmark I should be looking at for life and evasion rating? I know I need to cap resistances, but was curious about evasion and life. I felt like going through act 10 I was getting hit really hard really often. I have both beltimbers and 6L chest, so I’ve really been focusing on offense. Need to toughen up a bit.