Build Showcase: Permanent Vaal Molten Strike (with a bit of Mana Stacking)
Hello folks,
I'm a rather new player when it comes to making my own builds, and tonight I'd like to present my first self-made build: **Permanent Vaal Molten Strike Mana Stacking (**PoB: https://pobb.in/w7RqLxF1RulW).
In 3.28, a new support gem was introduced called Vaal Temptation. The gem removes Soul Gain Prevention from the Vaal Skill in exchange for a Physical Damage over Time debuff that stacks every time you use the Vaal Skill.
To offset this, we use Runegraft of Quaffing (Mana Recovery from Flasks is also Applied to Life) and stack as much Mana Recovery from Flasks as possible (praise big Eternal Mana Flask).
To sustain the souls needed to cast the Vaal Skill, we use the combo of Hateforge (skills cost Rage instead of souls) and the Keystone Chainbreaker (from Akoya Lethal Pride: 1 Rage regenerated per 25 Mana Regeneration per second).
For the Vaal Skill itself, the lower the Soul Gain Prevention, the better, because the duration of the debuff from Vaal Temptation is equal to the Soul Gain Prevention duration of the Vaal Skill we use.
For damage, we use a combination of mana-stacking items:
Manastorm gives a buff that adds Lightning Damage equal to a percentage of sacrificed mana (up to 61% if we use a Volatile Orb on the shield);
Cloak of Defiance with high flat mana and insane double-corruption [we can insted use Doppelgänger Guise if we want to have high physical damage mitigation (increase chance to not die from Vaal Temptation dot)];
Khatal's Geyser is used to free up the prefix on the Mana Flasks, so we don't have to worry about our Flask to stop when we reach full mana
Arcane Cloak works similarly to Manastorm, but with a lower percentage (14% added Lightning Damage per mana spent);
For extra damage and safety against rares and uniques, we use Sigil of Power to trigger both Manastorm and mana-spent effects.
In the showcase video I made (https://youtu.be/2WogVS2jksk) — it's in my native language, sorry 😥 — I run some Delve nodes (1k depth) and maps, with two different setups:
For Delve and bosses, we use Increased Critical Strikes and Slower Projectiles for extra damage consistency;
For mapping, we swap in Greater Devour and Greater Multiple Projectiles for Headhunter Soul Gain and extra clear speed.
Sadly, the budget for the build is in "YES" territory — it's pretty expensive, didn't keep tab on all the investment, pecially on Volatile Orb uniques (the belt took like 50 tries).
I hope you find this build enjoyable, any tips to improve the build are apprecieated.
Have a great league, guys!
--Quick Update-- https://pobb.in/DvVjXC2KgU9Z
Changed Haste with Discipline, swapped Watcher's Eye Phase Mod (haste) for ES on hit (discipline). While mapping the build feels a lot better on tankiness (especially on high density areas), while bossing nothing changed.