Level 99 Crit Infernal Blow of Immolation Berserker^3.25

Notes

Infernal Blow
I always liked this skill, but it had huge scaling issues. In honor of melee league, I stopped playing RF for once and decided to go for melee. 
I started POE playing melee exclusively and my first grind ever was a Heavy Strike Jugg in Harvest (I know...) followed by a Ground Slam/Call of Steel Champ in Heist. 
I've also built Shield Crush (release version), STR stacking Rage Vortex, Cleave (when they added Vaal Cleave), Doryani/HOWA Flicker (very fun in Scourge), and Lightning Strike, so I have a decent idea of what good and bad melee feels like.

Infernal Blow is even better than before for mapping as expected, but still feels bad for bossing for a few reasons:
-Besides the explosions, it is an ordinary strike. It feels terrible when your attacks whiff from enemies moving out of range, so some form of +1 strike targets feels mandatory. I think slams and strikes with projectiles are much more practical because of this.
-The mana cost increases this league were scary since it can be a huge issue when you whiff with high attack speed.  
-While the explosions are good for ailments, they do feel very limiting. 16 exerts don't do much when only 2-3 explosions get it, and Intimidating Cry is practically unusable with IB because of this. The stack debuff only lasts 0.8 seconds, so you have to attack fairly fast to keep stacking while dodging in big boss fights. Maybe they could add a transfigured version designed around fewer but bigger explosions?

Tinctures and Runesmith enchants are both broken, so they kinda carried the experience. War Banner and Sione's Ambition are nice too. Going 1H with a Shield would probably improve the bossing experience a lot.
I'll probably mess around in SSF Standard with my +1 Endurance charge ring and Kalandra's Touch, but I don't feel like pushing this character too much further.


Ascendancy, Passives, Gems
-Wanted to try Berserker for the first time and take advantage of double exerts
-However, as I scaled my attack speed, I decided that scaling warcry buffs would be better
-I wanted to keep Rite of Ruin for the Rage effect, so I dropped Aspect of Carnage to get Blitz charges, which has competitive scaling thanks to extra Trauma stacks and Brittle overcapping crit
-Besides making me slightly tankier, this also made Leap Slam feel better since I wanted to fit in More Duration/Urgent Orders supports on Warcries

-I started with an Attack Mastery for +1 strike targets, but later dropped it as 4-5 points felt like a lot to give up and Ancestral Cry was good enough for mapping.
-I previously skilled the Lava Lash wheel to get the 40% Phys-to-Fire mastery, along with Concussive Force and Settling Ash, but the Mace enchant favors Phys scaling a lot more
-I really want to fit in more Masteries, such as MS per Rage and Warcry Debilitate. Instant leech feels broken for Tincture uptime and the inverted resistance Elemental Mastery should help Brittle/Sap
-I dropped reservation efficiency besides the Mana Mastery since Herald of Ash wasn't as strong without full Phys-to-Fire conversion, but I did consider Arctic Armor or stacking efficiency on corrupted jewels. Since I'm using Flesh and Stone in Sand for defense, I can't run Blood and Sand for damage
-I tried to fit in Stun capabilities, and it's nice for mapping but can be clunky on big bosses. Uber bossing would be nice if non-Ruthless attacks couldn't stun, but that would also be a little broken and is only really a problem when your damage gets too high lol
-Fortify duration is for QOL, as is Valor gain on Warcry. I used to have Rage gain on Warcry, but I've been experimenting with getting it from Vengeful Cry only

Infernal Blow Support Gems
-You have some flexibility:
--Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks for Ele Reflect immunity is just too convenient, although you'll still die to Phys Reflect without more Fire conversion and Combust from Infernal Cry will also trigger Ele Reflect
--Awakened Melee Phys gives Intimidate, and I think that's better here instead of getting Intimidate from the tree, Intimidating Cry, or rare gloves. The AS decrease lowers your Trauma stacks slightly, but the higher max hit helps with ailments and stun.
--Ruthless and Endurance Charge on Melee Stun are for Stun memes and probably not that great otherwise. ECMS is nice for Brutal charge uptime while mapping, but infinite power Enduring Cry or Warlord's Mark covers it too.
--Trauma conveniently synergizes with Stun memes and you'll probably have a lot of phys mitigation for the self-damage anyway. 40-50 stacks is noticeably painful. Sadly, it doesn't seem practical to proc Vengeful Cry with Trauma.
--Crit Damage is the best if going Crit
--Inspiration can bring IB down to 0 cost, which is an option if you want to run Cannot Leech or Cannot Recover maps
--Awakened Elemental Focus is good if you don't want ailments, but 2H Mace certainly does with the Runesmith enchant. Similarly, Awakened Fire Pen also suffers since your damage is split.
--Trinity is the strongest behind Trauma but you need Phys conversion to Cold/Lightning to enable it. Hatred Watcher's Eyes are cheaper now right?
--Multistrike is a trap since it only adds 1 explosion charge per set of strikes

Warcries
-Since exerts are awkward with Infernal Blow, I am maximizing Warcry buffs instead. Ancestral, Battlemage's, Infernal, and Vengeful are all insane damage buffs and are only limited by duration/cast time.
-I get almost all the Warcry buff effect and duration passives in range. I get buff effect implicit on my body armor, but did not want to get buff effect on my helm as it is a prefix.
-Sadly, there are very few sources of skill effect or Warcry duration. Belt corrupt was the easiest one I found. Elder boots can roll supported by More Duration/skill effect duration, but Ralakesh feels too good.
-Urgent Orders and More Duration seem mandatory to make this practical, but also jack up the mana costs. Don't expect to pull this off without mana leech
-I tried linking Efficacy for another 25% increase, but it doesn't seem to be worth the 130% cost multiplier. You can link Inspiration if you're willing to drop a Warcry (I'm not)
-Weapon swapping has slight utility for Warcry buffs, but you do lose uptime from swapping
--Al Dhin for 25% buff effect, dual wield for 50%
--Crusader 2H Sword/Axe/Mace for 25% buff effect and mana regen (and utility Runesmith enchant)
--Redblade Banner for infinite power if you don't have Sione Flesh/Flame. 
--Chober Chaber for 15% duration, a 6L with Inspiration corrupt would be nice

Weapon
-Crafted 2H Mace with phys prefixes, crit chance, and Runesmith enchant was 8 Div at time of buying
-Had 1 open prefix and suffix so I Warlord slammed T5 hybrid phys% and unveiled double damage (removing Strength) on 1st try
-Weapon with Runesmith enchant is currently 10+ Div
-Looking to craft on a 29/30% quality base, then synth on +1 Max Endurance charge implicit

Armor
-Bought for ~10-15 Div?
-Had 11% Taken as Fire already, rolled Warcry buff effect and uptiered with 1st Orb of Conflict
-Used ~4 Tailoring Orbs for Defense enchant
-Actually cannot meet Strength requirements without Attributes implicit from Ashes, which is a problem...
-I think I'd prefer T1 Life if possible
-Could consider Brass Dome for crit damage reduction, but can't use 15% Life mastery with that

Helm
-Bought as is for 10-15 Div?
-Wanted Life, Armor, Int, Res, and Acc
-Could consider Mana Reservation efficiency suffix, but otherwise don't see the need to upgrade further

Gloves
-Started with rare gloves and made it a priority to get +1 strike target implicit, but I really wanted to try some unique gloves
-Bought Celestial Brace with +6 Max Fort in week 2 of league for 6 Div?
-Bought +7 Max with AS corrrupt for under 3? Much later in league
-Always wanted to try these gloves, Soul Ascension is another option but more expensive
-Not interested in Admiral's Arrogance, but it's also good
-Rare gloves with +2 strike targets probably feels the best, especially with Sione's Ambition

Boots
-Was using a rare, but decided I wanted Ralakesh for Endurance charge uptime
-Bought Ralakesh when it was 6 Div, wanted high Cold Res roll
-Current prices are ~2 Div for uncorrupted, ~1.2 Div for corrupted
-Looking for +1 Max Endurance charge corrupt, 1st double corrupt attempt hit +1 gems/% life and 2nd poofed, but it's a cheap gamble

Belt
-Was using a rare before swapping to Ralakesh, naturally felt it would be best to swap to Arn's
-Arn's with effect duration corrupt and decent rolls was 4 Div? Needed high Res roll and duration helps Warcry buffs
-Tainted Catalysts are fairly cheap, rolled until it added 1% max life
-Honestly wouldn't swap to Mageblood if I got it lol
-Could consider a Hunter/Elder belt with Life and % Life, but Arn's is currently 32% more DPS and I plan to get more max charges

Rings
-Was using whatever to get Life and Res
-I wanted to swap from RT to Crit for alternate ailments, so had to get new rings with T1 Accuracy. Thankfully can get decent rings for a few Div with all the nice rares from shipping this league
-Crafted a Nameless Ring to get curse immunity with Flask, about 4 Div in Crit Multi essences to hit T1 Accuracy, another 3 Div to lock+reforge Chaos for Chaos Res and lock+reforge Life for Life
-Tried 1 unveil for non-channeling costs, but failed

Amulet
-Bought Ashes in week 1 of league for ~2 Div? The idea was to maximize Infernal Blow explosion damage, and the duration on Banner and CDR on Warcries is nice too
-3 Golden Oils for Whispers of Doom was maybe 3 Div? Was running some combination of Flammability/Punishment/Assassin's Mark/Warlord's Mark
-Recently swapped to Sione's Ambition, feels like I'm playing LS
-Trying to craft a Focused Amulet (50 Div) with Life, Gain Phys as Lightning/Cold, and Crit Multi. This would add about 450 Life, 7% DPS, and hopefully enable Trinity for another ~10-15% DPS depending on tree changes. Currently down about 1500C in Crit Multi essences

Flasks
-Mostly defensive
-Flagellant Life Flask is a personal preference for Pathfinder at home, especially since I'm too lazy to get a CB immunity jewel
-Swap in Bottled Faith for instakilling bosses, overcapped Crit isn't wasted thanks to Blitz charges
-Tincture is broken, and I didn't realize it was affected by quality for the longest time. Ironwood Tincture is the funny option for maximizing Stun, with 35% effect + IAS for Trauma stacks 

Jewels
-Started with Light of Meaning (Fire for ~80C early in league), Watcher's Eye with Purity of Elements mod to max Chaos Res, and 3-4 mod rares with % Life and AS
-Large Clusters exist for Life/Mana leech and the funny 40% chance to double stun duration from Heavy Hitter, could definitely improve but too lazy

-Made a huge change later to swap from Resolute Technique to Crit, which meant getting Accuracy and scaling Crit. As an extra challenge, I didn't want to use Precision aura
--Budget option for Impossible Escape is funnily enough on RT (bought for 1 Div, currently 40C) for Warcry effect/duration, Crit, and +10 max Rage. Avatar of Fire (bought for 1 Div, currently 7 Div) gets you +2 max res and Mace crit.
--Since I figured Abyss Jewels would be best for Accuracy, I also added Tecrod's Gaze, which synergizes with Blitz charges. I will need a 20 Strength Tecrod's (~40C) to equip my body armor when I swap off Ashes
--I only looked for Abyss Jewels under 1 Div with 200+ Accuracy. Some nice 5-6 mod jewels might exist, but it generally just seems like they increase access to good 3-4 mod jewels. Was temporarily using Darkness Enthroned before Arn's

-Upgraded Watcher's Eye with Chaos Res and +1 max res mod for 14 Div (currently still ~14)
-Upgraded to Phys Light of Meaning for 8 Div (currently ~3.5), which was about 8% more DPS
-I needed a Voices to keep my 2 Large Clusters while also having enough slots for Flesh/Flame, 3 passive Voices was somehow only 24 Div at time of buying (currently 45+)