Voltaxic Burst

Ok.

*Deep breath*

Alright, Voltaxic Burst.

In my many many iterations and thought experiments regarding this skill, I have had by far the most success with a self-cast variant. This version was possible because I had discovered a very fun gameplay synergy with Charged Dash. I would cast 2-3 VBs, pop a Quicksilver flask, and begin channeling CD/psuedo-moving. As you release CD and teleport to it's projection, VB's buff timer would expire, triggering the multiple queued explosions, and the enemies would be vaporized. It was very fun, and felt strong from my perspective.

In the initial version, I utilized two Voltaxic Burst skill gems linked to an Unleash support gem in a 6L. This was amazing for mapping. It was also terrible for bosses (and even more so when I utilized a Divergent Unleash gem) To fix this, I switched to a VB+Intensify+Spell Echo 6L setup. This provided much more bossing damage but it ultimately highlighted the fundamental flaw of this Voltaxic Burst build.

Using a self-cast nova spell, the build dictates a melee-esque playstyle. Due to the delay, any self cast of this skill that does not utilize traps, mines, Arcanist Brand support, totems, or the Astral Projection unique is punished harshly while facing bosses and dangerous rare monsters. While ideally you would precast the spell and unleash the burst damage right as the timer expires, this execution is cumbersome as the player must dodge enemy projectiles, melee animations, and area of effects, limiting the opportunity to cast VB. When you are able to get the casts off, there is a matter of timing the explosion to deal damage to the enemy when the player is able to safely attack. While a player using a melee attack skill can immediately feel the effect of "button press" to "monster kill/damaged", Voltaxic Burst users have a 2.5 second delay between the "button press" and "monster kill/damaged" phases.

One could argue that the Less Duration support gem is the solution to this problem. It might be - I have not introduced that gem into my setup as I was able to purchase and utilize a "3% increased VB damage per .1 second duration" enchanted helmet for the majority of my experimentation with this skill. That being said, when I was forced to replace that helmet with one lacking the enchant, my damage dropped noticeably. If one were to Utilize the Less Duration support, the best-in-slot enchant changes from the one I utilized to the "VB deals 40% increased damage" enchant. For a skill whose damage scaling is strained with innate 40% chaos conversion, downgrading (upgrading?) to a enchant with a lower damage potential does not feel exciting.

Despite all of these issues, I still think there is a strong build somewhere on the passive tree with this skill gem in the games current version. I have said in previous posts that I was stubbornly attempting to make it work with Trickster as the skill was inspired by that ascendancy but I have exhausted all mental energy on making it work in that avenue, primarily because there are not enough eHP/defensive notables around the Shadow starting nodes. That being said, with heavy investment into dodge, evasion, and Ward items, Trickster should be viable but at this point in time I am not interested in pursing this route.

I am currently convinced that this spell will absolutely shine on an Inquisitor. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with that section of the tree.

As for solutions to making Voltaxic Burst better, I have very few:
-When supported by Arcanist Brand, VB should place a debuff on the monster that is similar to the buff placed on the player when the brand cast it. This way, when VB is cast by Arcanist Brand, the explosion is centered on the monster as opposed to the location of where the monster was when Arcanist Brand cast the spell. (This is the same issue facing VB builds that utilize Astral Projection or any ranged CoC setup - the monsters simply move out of the explosion before it goes off.)

-As for the chaos conversion, maybe have the conversion be increased to 100% on critical hits? This would allow players to utilize the Serpentine Spellslinger notable; a player and I discussed a Poison based Voltaxic Burst build and it seems possible, but very weak? I did not run the numbers, but the skeleton of that build exists.

-I want to say to either increase, decrease, or remove the delay, but quite frankly, the skill would be a little nuts - currently when I am on the finaly stage in an Azurite Delve, I simply hold down VB and the monsters all die the moment an explosion goes off.

I will likely come back in the future and discuss my success and failures with other iterations of a Voltaxic Burst Build. I will plainly admit that this was the first league where I played without a build guide and I learned so much about the game, creating builds, balancing offense and defense, etc. I also admit that it is likely this skill requires more investment than I had available to me.

You know what I hate the most about this skill? The fact that I have to hold a fucking BOW to convert lightning and void energy into an explosion around my character.

I'm just so goddamn salty over this skill. Voltaxic Rift. The Bow.

3.19 Preliminary Update.

Leveling with this skill (12-68) is tedious without a variety of thresholds being met. The skill works ideally in scenarios where you can cast it non-stop and simultaneously move, which limits our mobility to Frostblink with high amounts of increased amount of CDR or a Cyclone CwC setup. Another limitation is area of effect: Templar achieves this easiest, followed by Witch, who is than followed by Shadow. A final threshold that must be met is the defensive threshold: being in melee range and/or lacking in AoE scaling, players must build defensively in order to deal damage relatively safely. This is typically achieved with 3-4 defensive auras, investment in increased reservation efficiency, and investment in defensive ascendany nodes. The final point in the previous statement typically limits the Shadow to Trickster, the Witch to Occultist, and the Templar to Inquistor, although other ascendencies could work provided they acquire defensive Forbidden Flame/Flesh jewel combos.


I currently have taken my SSF VB Trickster to lvl 93 prior to migrating to trade league. My issue began when I leaned off of my defensive setups (exchanging Soul Drinker for Swift Killer), and my character began facing deaths at a higher frequency. One option I had was to unallocate Pain Attunement and not be at Low Life, but this would eliminate a major scaling element of the skill.

It is for this reason that I decided to reinvent the character with the intention of acquiring a Zerphi's Heart (for "Chaos can Shock") and leaning into crit scaling (as opposed to "Elemental Overload") and shock scaling. I believe the combination of these new elements should provide Voltaxic Burst the potential to scale at a more effective level while still maintaining it's mandatory defensive requirements.

When this occurs, I will return to the forums and post an update.

P.S. I believe Trickster has the highest overall potential for both bossing and mapping. The reason for this is the Shadow's proximity to the Mysticism node and it's "increased CDR" small passives - without this, it is difficult to bring Frostblink down to a good cooldown (additionally, we would be utilizing "The Stampede" boots to reach the 1.05s cooldown for Frostblink). In taking this node however, Templar and Witch ascendancies sacrifice their ability to utilize "while wielding a staff" crit nodes, which seem to be the ideal scaling for the skill prior to the acquisition of cluster jewels.

I have a question regarding the "1% more damage (etc.) for each cast waiting" modifier.

Is the number of casts waiting snapshotted when you cast the spell? Or does it get the modifier when that spell deals damage?

e.g. I've just casted the spell 30 times, does my very first cast get nothing? Or does it get 30?

Thanks! I really want to try and get this skill to work well since its last buff

I really hope, that someday we will get something like "cannot convert damage to chaos" or cannot convert damage at all. Or may be some others way to convert to chaos, other than voltaxic bow. This would enable this skill and some other concepts, that wouldnt be possible before.

"

Mark_GGG wrote:

"

TheTimtam wrote:

I have a question regarding the "1% more damage (etc.) for each cast waiting" modifier.

Is the number of casts waiting snapshotted when you cast the spell? Or does it get the modifier when that spell deals damage?

This modifier is dynamic and the valud is determined when the damage is dealt.

Thanks Mark!

Hi,

I've made another Volt Burst build in Sanctum and I've wanted to give my feedback on the skill.
I really like the skill but I think it needs some adjustments/buffs to make it more balanced.

The build I made: https://pobb.in/ttqJhSouNMpd
or Pastebin for PoB: https://pastebin.com/emBYJM0m

In short the build used Original Sin for full chaos convert, With Elemental Overload(sanctified relic) and Divergent herald of Agony for 100% poison.
Using Trickster.
I've focused on the reduced duration portion of the skill by using less duration support, Warped timepiece amulet with Window of Opportunity anointed,
The duration of Volt Burst is down to 0.68 seconds.

Overall the skill gem requires alot of investment in gear and the passive tree.
Although it plays well with trickster, I think the skill is too demanding on gear and passives to make any good build around it.
I think making the skill less demanding would make it more balanced.

The skill is both the best and worst at something.
It has amazing clear, I was able to comfortably do juiced T16's and super dangerous expeditions with the skill. the Corpse explosion portion of the skill is really the strongest part of it.
But bossing/single target was absolutly awfull. couldn't do a single maven invite with it lol.

I like how you can create a build 2 ways with this skill. it's really cool, but the increased duration route with the skill comes with an equal amount of clunk with it. Had another version with around 10-12seconds? duration and it is just super awkward to run in circles around a mob until a cast explodes finally.
Maybe a mechanic where you can cast volt burst again and all the queued casts would start bursting at the rate of your cast speed? So you don't have to run around for 10 secs until you start exploding.

Another note about the duration is that it does not play well with other mechanics in the game.
Meaning if you invest in less duration on the tree, you also get shorter arcane surge buff, shorter arcanist brand, curses, probably some other general buffs and I think wither too?

the 40% chaos conversion is really awkward to build around, without an original sin ring or voltaxic rift there's really nothing in the game currently to build around this conversion part of the skill. Although it makes the skill interresting and unique, I don't think it plays well with the other mechanics of the skill.

Another rather demanding part was the mana cost of the skill.
The skill costs 81 mana currently. In hideout, I have 163.5 mana regen & 0.16 seconds cast time, with some good investment in mana regen on gear and tree I can not cast it without waiting for regen.
While mapping it is not the biggest issue, but it is against bossing.
One direct buff to the skill would be reducing the mana cost, which would make the skill less demanding. freeing up passives and gear choices.

Idk if it was intended but the corpse explosion part works on alot of unique enemies, don't know if it works on shaper/quardian/conquerer bosses tho. I can't test because bossing sucks with this skill (i kept dying).
Honestly the clearing efficiency of the skill just comes purely from the corpse explosion part.
The damage from the skill is too low. I got it this far with using the original sin, and I think it's really telling that it takes a unique like that to make the skill function like any other balanced skill.
The gear is not as good as I could get in trade sure, but the gear is still comparable to other builds I've played in SSF, from that perspective Voltaxic burst is just underperforming to other skills.

1 more small trivial note: I used less duration with requires 111 strength.
Not the worst thing at all sure but it is another requirement that the skill has which makes it more difficult to plan around.

TLDR:
Lowering mana cost, removing/adjusting chaos conversion part already makes the skill alot easier to build around, so you can invest more in damaging nodes/gear.
Some way to make increased duration route of the skill less clunkier.
Also an alt quality with reduced duration would be cool.

TY for reading, still really like the skill, but I think it still needs some adjusting to be balanced.
Have a good day! <3

Hello Voltaxic Burst enthusiasts, it's me again :)

It's a little late, but I wanted to share my thoughts on the skill from where the build ended up in 3.19. Yes, 3. 19 - I did not get a chance to play in 3.20, but I plan on playing again in 3.21.

I had already shared my thoughts back than on reddit at this link https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/z7po2v/a_review_of_my_319_ssf_selfcast_voltaxic_burst/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb. However, I think it would be beneficial to post it here so the developers and balance team can have access to my insights into the skill.

I am on mobile currently, so I'm just going to hard copy/paste the reddit post. I may or may not adjust the formatting at a later time.


r/[object Object] icon
r/PathOfExileBuilds
u/-DRF- avatar-DRF-
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A review of my 3.19 SSF Self-Cast Voltaxic Burst Trickster
Build
r/PathOfExileBuilds - A review of my 3.19 SSF Self-Cast Voltaxic Burst Trickster
Hello there - Self-Cast Voltaxic Burst on Trickster is a build that I have been iterating on since it's introduction in 3.15. Despite being a relatively new player when it was introduced, I began trying to make my own build with it because I like to improve at the games I play. Up until yesterday, I have not played this build since the third week of the league or so.

The build that I have constructed was able to clear T16s and reach level 95 in SSF this league. A caveat before I post the PoB link: I transferred from SSF to Trade league yesterday in order to acquire an Esh Amulet in order to test Maven-Witnessed Conqueror/Elderslayer kill times before creating this post. At the time of this posting, "TheVoltaxicBurstMeta" can still be found under the SSF Kalandra league on poe.ninja but that will likely change.

Here she is: TheVoltaxicBurstMeta (This is not a comprehensive level 1 to Endgame PoB - I did create a prototype of a highly detailed, easily understood one early in the league but I would like to review, revise, and rewrite it before posting it, and I will do so as an update to this post if this one gets significant traction)

(Edit: Barely 1M DPS vs Guardian Enemy in PoB on a 5-Link, 1.1k hp after LL, 4.2k ES, 74% evasion, 20% phys reduction from armour, 14% of phys taken as fire, 6% of phys taken as lightning, 73% chaos res)

I recommend looking at the skill tree while going over the Build Mechanics section of this build to explain why I made the pathing decisions that I did. I was fairly conservative with the configuration options and the integer scaling options for Orb of Storms and Lightning Bolt, but please let me know if anything looks funky in those sections.

I created the build in SSF in order to A) push myself as a player to learn more about the game systems and how to min-max them, B) ensure that this build works in SSF environments without trade-worthy gear, and C) figure out what Atlas Passive Tree strategies would be most beneficial to people interested in league starting this build in SSF for 3.20. For example, while my character is currently equipped with an Algor Mortis unique glove, I will not be discussing it as I have acquired 5 of them in SSF and I do not feel it provides more value than a well-crafted rare glove.

Voltaxic Burst and it's "Problems"

I have been of the opinion that this skill gem is not as problematic to use as many others seem to believe. Rather, I am of the opinion that people's perception of this skill gem is where the problem lies: "It has a delay", "You can't fully scale it because of the weird 40% chaos conversion", "You have to use Voltaxic Rift", "You have to be in melee range," etc. Let's address those:

The Delay - Yes, the delay can be a problem if you do not have sufficient defense as you wait for it explode. So you build for defense. You can lower the delay via a couple clusters on the Passive Tree or a Less Duration Support gem if you want, but I found the pathing to those clusters does not adequately award the investment and the opportunity cost of the support gem is too great to utilize. The primary way to solve this is simple - cast speed. This will be explained in more detail below.
40% of Lightning Dmg Converted to Chaos - The biggest scaling issue with the skill. Many people tried to solve this problem with Voltaxic Rift. Which I thought was....fucking stupid. From both a roleplay perspective and an opportunity cost perspective. "Yes, let me use a bow in order to enhance the magic spell I am casting which results in an explosion around my body without the use of arrows. Also, let me have multiple dead modifiers on two pieces of gear just so I can fully convert the lightning damage to chaos damage." Voltaxic Rift got reworked in 3.19 in order to lessen my frustration at dillusional players to be used primarily with Attack Skills. Therefore, the best way to deal with the conversion is to ignore it, and instead focus on the base lightning damage and use generic damage scaling options - namely added damage and critical damage.
Pseudo-melee playstyle - This is easily solved with Area of Effect scalers. My experiments with AoE increases were rather lackluster. Experimentation with Elementalist and Occulist provided good sources of increased AoE but the rest of the relevant ascendancy nodes left much to be desired. Additionally, experimentation with investment on the passive tree as Shadow, Witch, and Templar either had too high of an opportunity cost to justify or resulted in poor pathing. The better solution is to invest in this build's defenses as if we were playing a melee build.
Why Trickster?

"Inspired by the Shadow's Assassin, Saboteur and Trickster Ascendancy classes, we've created the Ambush, Blade Trap and Voltaxic Burst skill gems." - Expedition Announcement Page

I initially chose Trickster for Voltaxic Burst because the game devs created Voltaxic Burst because of the Trickster and I trusted The Vision. Every underperforming VB Trickster I created since 3.15 was fundamentally stronger on the passive tree compared to VB Inquistors or VB Witches that I created. The biggest obstacles to the builds were my lack of knowledge regarding game mechanics, crafting, itemization, and endgame systems. Once 3.19's Trickster rework information was released, I immediately knew that a strong Voltaxic Burst build existed. The Shadow Tree I created for VB was strong on a fundamental level and the new Trickster, new support gems, and new passive cluster were able to enhance the build at a level that other ascendancies could not do without significant investment.

About The Build

Leveling - Leveling with VB sucks. I've tried it on multiple characters and while it doable I do not recommend it to anyone trying to reach maps swiftly on league launch. Luckily, I find that it is possible to level using a mindless Elemental Overload Spark build had much better, much faster results. Additionally, you can easily respec into the VB tree using no more than the refund points awarded to you throughout the campaign.
Build Playstyle
My keybinds - LMB: Phase Run / RMB: Voltaxic Burst / Q: Frost Shield / W: Assassin's Mark / E: Frostblink / R: Sigil of Power / M3: Vaal Discipline / M4: Vaal Grace
This is an 8 button build, but it is not a button intensive build. Phase Run is automated. I hold down RMB while clicking LMB to stutterstep cast VB. I frequently cast Frostblink for mobility and to reposition. As for Q, W, and R, I use them as necessary. Assassin's Mark is used primarily for map bosses and tanky rares, Frost Shield is for extra defense and offense against tougher packs and single enemies, and Sigil of Power is used primarily for hardhitting tanky rares.
Gameplay
Rule #1) Keep Moving - It takes at least 2.5 seconds to deal damage. Once you start casting VB, you don't want to stop casting until everything is dead. The stutter-step technique was not something I was employing prior to my very first Breachstone run but once I discovered it, I could not remember how I played prior to it. The only time you don't stutter step is when you are running from insane Lake of Kalandra monsters or equally terrifying packs. Since Evasion is half of our primary defensive layer, not getting hit for 3.33 seconds resets our entropy value which effectively reduces your chance to be hit by an enemy. Click here for more info.
Rule #2) Do the boss mechanics - Simple.
Rule #3) Stay in the Circle - Frost Shield is a DPS buff and defensive layer so long as you stay in it's circle. Sigil of Power is a DPS buff as long as you stay in the circle and a defensive layer once fully charged if the enemy stays in the circle. Use them as needed.
Build difficulty
Gearing - Gearing is challenging but not overly difficult. This build does rely on Betrayal crafts (Trigger Craft, Phys taken as Fire/Lightning chest, Phys taken as Fire helm) which can be considered somewhat advanced for amateur PoE players, and I would also advise being comfortable creating strong 4 affixes rare gear in an SSF environment (Alt+Aug+Regal+Crafted). Additionally, you are the Intelligence and Dexterity hybrid class and we utilize Pain Attunement, so you are going to prioritize energy shield modifiers over life modifiers which are more difficult to roll. Finally, you want to take full advantage of Escape Artist, and you want to dual wield wands or rune daggers to take advantage of the Mysticism cluster which provides significant mana regen and survivability in the form of cooldown reduction for mobility skills.
Playstyle - For regular packs, you're basically casting VB nonstop and Frost Blinking everywhere, with Phase Run thrown in for extra mobility once the enemies are dead. For rare monsters, you're going to be casting VB while stutter stepping around the enemy in a circle and you can cast Frost Shield for additional defense and offensive if needed. For very tough rares and map bosses, you stutter step, apply Assassin's Mark, than cast Frost Shield and Sigil of Power when able.
Build Mechanics

Defensive Mechanics
Mandatory Masteries: (Evasion) Grace has 25% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency / (Evasion and Energy Shield) 30% of Chaos Danage taken does not bypass Energy Shield / (Life) Vitality has 100% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency [helps combat chaos/poison that hits our pitiful life pool] / (Resistance and Ailment Protection) Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you / (Energy Shield) Discipline has 25% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency
Ghost Dance: We use evasion and energy shield, we use Ghost Dance.
Wicked Ward: We use Wicked Ward to help combat ground degen effects and to synergize with one of our ascendancy nodes, Spellbreaker, which has a 50% chance for ES Recharge to start when you suppress spell damage.
Spellbreaker node: chance for ES recharge to start when you suppress spell damage, prevents +10% of suppressed spell damage while on full Energy Shield, and a hefty +20% chance to suppress spell damage
Soul Drinker node: Energy Shield Leech effects are not removed when Energy Shield is filled - helps keep us at full ES and to mitigate damage over time.
Escape Artist node: Big Evasion Gains, Big Energy Shield Gains if utilized properly.
Spell Suppression: All of my Spell Suppression comes from the Passive Skill Tree and the Trickster node. I initially wanted to farm Atziri's Step but at the time the kills were taking too long so I just spent the time leveling for passive skill points, which in turn turned into the spell suppression I was looking for.
Punishment: Enemies who hit you are debilitated for 2 seconds. The defensive property of this curse is questionable considering we utilize Evasion, and thus the odds of us getting hit by the same enemy twice in a 2 second window is relatively low.
CWDT+Steelskin: Triggers at 1980 damage at lvl 14 CWDT. Extra hitpoints is good for us.
Vaal Grace+Vaal Discipline: Vaal Grace for terrifying monster packs that won't die quickly, Vaal Discipline for terrifying DoT debuffs that rapidly eat large amounts of your energy shield.
Frost Shield: 20% of damage dealt to you from enemies inside Frost Shield's radius is taken from Frost Shield's life. 60% of damage dealt to you from enemies outside Frost Shield's radius is taken from Frost Shield's life.
Sigil of Power: Enemies in Area deal 20% less Damage while at maximum Stages.
Auras: Arctic Armour, Vitality, Grace, Discipline. Defiance Banner is currently being used simply because I am still on a 5-link
Offensive Mechanics
Mandatory Masteries: (Spell Suppression) Critical Strike Chance is increased by chance to Suppress Spell Damage / (Mana) Regenerate 5 Mana per second while you have Arcane Surge [so we don't go OOM] / (Critical) 50% increased Effect of non-damaging Ailments you inflict wit Critical Strikes
Pain Attunment: 30% more damage while we are on low life.
Soul Drinker node: Energy shield overleech allows us to take full advantage of the powerful Energy Shield Leech support gem
Polymath node: 3% more damage per different type of Mastery. I actually didn't use this until I was desperate to add more damage to my build.
High Voltage: The addition of this notable to the passive tree was perfect for the build. Because the build is highly mobile, I was always tempted to take the Mysticism cluster directly across from it for the "increased Cooldown Recovery Rate of Movement Skills"
Punishment: "Enemies take 78% increased damage while on low life." At one point, I compared Punishment to Conductivity and the former beat out Conductivity. However, after acquiring an Esh Amulet and after finally fighting Maven witnessed Elder/Shaper/Sirus Guardians and hearing Maven yelling "Vitality!!" multiple times, I reexamined the results and found that Conductivity wins out over Punishment finally. However, until that point Punishment beats out Conductivity. Punishment is still in the PoB at the time of this writing.
Orb of Storms + Overcharge Support: A godsend. Slap this on a trigger weapon, invest one skill point into the Critical Mastery noted above, and easily get a 31% Shock against a T16 Shaper Guardian. Prior to obtaining the trigger craft I was running Arcanist Brand plus WoC and possibly one more link.
Assassin's Mark: Additional base Crit Chance and Crit Multi, and consistent Power Charge generator versus bosses.
Frost Shield: Additional base Crit Chance per stage. Did I mention VB has a base crit chance of 6.5%?
Sigil of Power: Added Lightning damage per stage. Did I mention VB has 230% effectiveness of Added Damage?
Choir of The Storm: This amulet is The SSF chase item. I purchased this on trade yesterday and it increased my DPS by 200k. It likely increases it more, as I imagine it procs at least twice a second.
At the current level, I believe the build is close to the peak of what it can achieve at this current stage, which I would call Tier 2. I want to reiterate that I only acquired the Esh Amulet yesterday but already it has made bossing significantly easier and that opens up a whole new level of farmable content. I do believe this build has good boss killing potential but that involves acquiring the right clusters jewels, possibly a timeless jewel, an Energy From Within, a league specific reward and than a significant revision of the passive tree to lean more into the Energy Shield defenses.

-DRF-

Hello GGG Devs assigned to read Skill Gem Feedback forums :)

I have once again league-started a Voltaxic Burst Trickster for 3.21 and I am currently writing a reddit post regarding my insights.

However, this post is about a potential bug with Voltaxic Burst.

When Voltaxic Burst is detonating and the skill effect is occurring, there are instances where the enemy is not taking any damage from Voltaxic Burst. I believe these instances occur when either one of two things are occurring - when the character has Phasing and is occupying the same space as the enemy, or when there is a very small environmental object that causes line of sight issues. A third possibility may be that minimum area of effect distance is too high (which, sounds like bollocks to me as I'm typing this) to hit nearby enemies with larger character models.

If I had to choose one, my guess would be the line of sight issue, and if that's the case, the issue may be an environmental one and not a skill gem one.

Maybe adding a skill gem effect MTX could help highlight small objects that prevent damage from occuring (possibly an inverted color scheme?). Regardless, it's such a small overall issue, but I just thought you guys should know.

Occurred most recently in Coves and Harvest plots.