[3.10] Sovyn's Lazy Pally - Tanky Templar with Max Block

Just moved on to 73 maps, so far so good using this combo:

Molten Strike - Faster Attacks - WED - Multistrike - Fire Pen

Some thoughts on support gem choices - Faster Attacks and Multistrike are essential. WED provides more dps than Melee Phys, though again mana leech is currently a problem. Using Fire Pen really helps to take down rares/uniques, more so than Added Fire Damage, and white mobs pretty much get one shot by the projectiles. For a 6l, I think Conc Effect, Added Fire, or Melee Phys are all viable choices.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/911557 - This thread has a lot of really good insight.



Also want to say Doryani's Catalyst is soooooo good. 300+ pdps, 1.6 atksp, increased elemental damage... Once I can solve the mana issue, I want to replace clarity to take advantage of the ele prolif. A possible combo keeping in line with the lazy theme: Romira's Banquet for mana leech and power charges -> Cold Snap!

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tins00 wrote:

Some thoughts on support gem choices - Faster Attacks and Multistrike are essential. WED provides more dps than Melee Phys, though again mana leech is currently a problem. Using Fire Pen really helps to take down rares/uniques, more so than Added Fire Damage, and white mobs pretty much get one shot by the projectiles. For a 6l, I think Conc Effect, Added Fire, or Melee Phys are all viable choices.

Melee phys damage is better for me than weapon elemental as the damage is slightly higher plus the leech is better, can get by with 2% mana leech item with a 4-link combo. However, when we get to 5-link and certain supports like melee splash, you almost have to use the blood magic support, making molten strike only a 4-link again, limited to to a paltry 3 DPS support gems. Whereas Reave we can run as a true 5-link off of mana, using 4 DPS support gems, as it's a pure physical skill, so leech is not such a problem.

I still think molten has a lot of potential and may recommend as the starter skill for the build as it comes from the very first quest (hillock).

Also, I believe GMP would be worth exploring as one of the strongest supports to make the AOE more consistent on molten.

Multistrike seems to be almost required (for endgame) else molten is simply way too slow. Faster attacks is fine but not required.

Concentrated effect makes the tooltip DPS go up quite a bit as I recall, will have to reevaluate that one though.

Updated the guide for 1.1.3 today. Very conservative:

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05-08-2014 -- Added Molten Strike as a recommended skill for early game

I may reconsider, but reave is still hanging in there as the go-to endgame skill.

I have tested this 4-link combo today and it does work:



Pretty much the best 4-link combo possible for this skill in my testing so far.

Once I get the Molten Strike gem to level 16 (my lowest reave gem currently) I'll have to run timed comparisons vs. a 4-link reave.

Pleased to report that 5L Molten Strike is sustainable with 3% mana leech even without MPD.

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tins00 wrote:

Pleased to report that 5L Molten Strike is sustainable with 3% mana leech even without MPD.

Nice! Unfortunately for most that would mean compromising the stats on two items though.

May I ask what supports you are using for that -- same as above? Do you find WED better than MPD in your setup -- given same gem levels of course? Is your weapon physical or a mix?

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Sovyn wrote:

Pretty much the best 4-link combo possible for this skill in my testing so far.

Once I get the Molten Strike gem to level 16 (my lowest reave gem currently) I'll have to run timed comparisons vs. a 4-link reave.

I Have to disagree, faster attacks is a must in my opinion. You almost permastun a lot of mobs that way. I spend a lot of chromes testing different combo`s, the best combo seems to be in order of importance:

Molten strike - Multi Strike - Faster Attacks - Melee Physical damage - Concentrated Effect and/or Fire Penetration

The first 4 are mandatory imo. In a five link you can add concentrated effect for better overall clearing speed or fire penetration if you want to put down fire/elemental resistant bosses more quickly.

Faster attacks only has a 115% mana multiplier, which keeps the cost of your MS lower. WED has a too high a mana multiplier (150%) in comparison to the extra damage you get.

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Sovyn wrote:

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tins00 wrote:

Pleased to report that 5L Molten Strike is sustainable with 3% mana leech even without MPD.

Nice! Unfortunately for most that would mean compromising the stats on two items though.

May I ask what supports you are using for that -- same as above? Do you find WED better than MPD in your setup -- given same gem levels of course? Is your weapon physical or a mix?

Yep using Molten Strike - Multistrike - Faster Attacks - WED - Fire Pen.

I think with a standard pdps weapon, WED and Melee Phys should provide similar damage, with Melee Phys slightly preferable because of lower mana cost and better mana leech. However, right now I'm using these two bad boys:



The Catalyst fits in perfectly with this build, with high pdps and attack speed, with the added bonus of 100% increased elemental damage. The Invitation serves as a fire version of a rustic sash, with 30% increased fire damage, while also providing high armour and two resists. With these two items, WED starts to outperform Melee Phys. Another upside is the 1% elemental life leech on each, meaning life leech on other gear is not required. This opens up slots for mana leech. Gearing can be a bit of a challenge, as the Catalyst has a high int requirement.

I like using Faster Attacks with Multistrike, just because without it combat can be a little clunky. You can't move during the three hits, so the faster those hits are out the more maneuverable you are.



My passive tree differs in 3 areas:
1. Point Blank and Iron Grip keystones for Molten Strike.
2. Specialized mace nodes for Doryani's Catalyst
3. Picking up max elemental resistances (just heard it was strong and wanted to try it. To be honest don't really notice a difference.)

I still have max block/spell block, just quite a bit less life. Will be picking up more life nodes though.

What are your opinions on max resists, Sovyn? Good, bad? Overkill?

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TonyTravel wrote:

I Have to disagree, faster attacks is a must in my opinion.

Tony, thank you for your post. There are so many supports that could work with molten strike that everyone will have a favorite combo.

I tested faster attacks, and while the mana multiplier is indeed reasonable, it is nonetheless a demanding support on the mana cost as APS (attacks per second) goes up. As you know, each time the skill cycles, it costs mana, and the more often that occurs, the more mana regen and leech is needed to keep up -- especially an issue with an elemental skill. As multistrike is the best gem for speed as it attacks three times for each mana cost, I found fire penetration to have the best overall clearing speed feel for endgame content that tends to all be quite resistant to elemental.

Outside of the realm of opinion, I'll be empirically testing several 4-link combos once I get my molten strike gem to level 16. The competition/reference point will be Reave (green) - Melee Physical Damage (red) - Multistrike (red) - Concentrated Effect (blue), which is my standard recommendation for a 4-link. The test will entail running the same area many times with each combo and timing with a stopwatch, then averaging each group of runs for better data quality.

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tins00 wrote:

What are your opinions on max resists, Sovyn? Good, bad? Overkill?

Overcap resists are pretty much only needed for things like merciless dominus, map temple/shrine piety. You are spending 5 points there for 3% overcap. Would have to test these encounters with/without to see if it is enabling or not with your particular gear (life pool).

Also, it would remain to be tested as to whether the 30% fire damage is better or worse than the 24% physical + 12% life from the one handed damage and life nodes you are passing up. I suspect worse.

Interesting variation with the unique items you have chosen. The weapon could be faster, ideally, and the belt would have life too, ideally, but we can't have everything or it would be overpowered, I suppose.

guys you think that LS is viable on this build ?