[Merc] Flash Grenade Melter (Easy, Cheap, Fast Clear on T16+)

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven't been replying been busy with life. Updating this guide now.

I have been playing though and the build continues to scale, here's a new 2-minute video of waves 14 & 15 on a max-difficulty simulacrum: https://youtu.be/eMaRwic8uvs

I have continued to find upgrades, the biggest of which are:
1. Prism of Belief unique jewel for +3 level to Flash Grenades. When you have the mana, this is a mega upgrade. It's only 50ex because Flash Grenades are so far from the meta.
2. This one is expensive, but I switched to Ingenuity (5-50+ divs) + breach rings with big flat physical damage, life and mana (only 1-5 div per ring though because they are off meta), and Atziri's Disdain (10ex for cheap rolls, 10 divines for insane rolls). I needed to go with Ingenuity to get enough resists + attributes to be able o drop my helmet. The result is I now have 4k ES and 3k life by default, and that ramps to 8K ES with Grim Feast. This makes us even more tanky.
3. Megalomaniac with useful skills. For me that was Pile On (+60% increased damage vs. broken armor enemies for boss DPS) and Forthcoming (reduced CD for more DPS).

I'll get the Maxroll tree updated and the original build guide post here updated as well.

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Cacao2017#7189 wrote:

With Temporalis infinite build getting a nerf the prices might drop a little, last chance before they get insane and it is THE endgame item for this build because payload is the best support gem(on top of not increasing mana costs...). I stun pinaccle bosses in 2 casts of flash grenade. With the witch hutner action speed debuff and oil grenade they will only get one attack in per rotation. That and getting attack speed on jewels or gloves(for temp chains maps) are the only two things this guide really is missing. Fun build you really only die to stuff on the ground or an unlucky freeze

I have definitely thought about trying the build with Temporalis, and you do get 9 points back from CD allocation to respec into attack speed. I've just gone away from it because I want to avoid going too meta and I'm not having issues with pinnacle bosses outside of Arbiter trying to get through 1 shot phases.

I am pretty much done now with my witch hunter, don't feel like going for the ingenuity setup. A pretty decent budget pickup is a +3 flash grenade prism of belief, only 1 divine. Gave me around 2k~damage on tooltip. Feels bad to play without temporalis and it's too squishy with it.

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Raxxor#8320 wrote:

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xacebop#1994 wrote:

wait.. did he just say leveling isnt too bad it was only ~ 50 deaths in campaign before he used trade?
50? thats like, more than all of my characters combined

Are u dumb or what? Grow up kid, I had around 200 deaths with my first character using the frostferno shitty witchhunter and what is the problem??? Do you think pro saying 50 deaths is too much and u have that with all your chars combined???? 50 deaths is a very good amount for a first time character for example...

you need better role models son

Here's the Temporalis version of the build in action vs. Breach Boss Difficulty-4. I think I found a good blend of tankiness & DPS, where I can still face tank all the attacks but kill the boss in ~45-50 seconds if I just let loose: https://youtu.be/9TgWGuOPN8Y
^ At the end of the fight I just stand still and tank the bosses attacks, including the hand slam.

That said, I hate that the best version of this build is so meta. Just hard to beat Temporalis & Howa: https://youtu.be/9TgWGuOPN8Y

The version without Temporalis works fine, but takes 3 minutes to clear the same boss (though it is tankier).