So, after reading many a blog here since i started playing, i decided to finally do one of my own. Today, we're going to be talking about Ember, because in general, and as of late for me, people seem to be discounting her viability in high level content.
So, here's my build. A bit resource intensive for newer players, but thats to be expected of an optimized build.
I use Ember Prime, but the prime version isn't necessary. The polarities should also be fine, since normal Ember start with 2 dashes.
First of all, you want max efficiency, you're going to be using her 2 a lot and want keep the energy drain of her 4 to a minimum. (Edit: You can use a R4 Fleeting instead to increase your duration at only a minimal loss of energy drain on WoF) To build on to this, i also added (Primed) Flow, to keep up her energy reseveres. You can also the Zenurik focus or even energy restores if need be. For damage, Transient Fortitude, the Flash Accelerant augment, Power Drift for the exilus, and Growing power for the aura. I also added on Stretch, giving her decent range without compromising her damage, and Primed Continuity to make up a bit for Transient and Fleeting, giving her a decent amount of duration, and with max eff. you can cast again easily. Now i hear a lot of people say the Firequake augment is good for late game for its ability to CC. I disagree. Not only does World on Fire already proc fire, which stuns them in place a bit, but Accelerant already stuns enemies. Besides, with this build, they'll die pretty quick anyway, i say Flash Accelerant is the supierior augment.
Now, to explain her damage in detail. Right off the bat she has 170% power strength, giving her 680 damage on her WoF, and a 4.25 multiplier to fire damage in her 2, bringing it up 2890 for enemies affected by it. Then there's also Flash Accelerant, giving allies in range, including yourself, bonus fire damage. With the current str of 170% that's 85% of the damage added as fire damage, bringing WoF's damage to 1258, with Accelerant to 5346. We also have Growing power, given a use of a good status weapon an extra 25% power str, bringing it up to 195% bringing WoF up to 780, Accelerant to a 4.87 multiplier and Flash Accelerant to +97% giving a total of 7483 damage when combined. Oh but we're not dont yet. What more could you possibly gain damage from you ask? Why, the largely forrgeten passive ability of Ember, which regens 10 energy per second she is on fire and adds 35% power str., giving us a total of 230%. WoF gets to 920, Accelerant to 5.75, and Flash Accelerant to +115%. giving us a whopping 11373 fire damage, to 5 targets at a time, in a range on 22 meters around you. "But why consider her passive in the calculations? How often do you get fire proced, plus it doesn't last very long." you may think. Well i have the solution. A self damage weapon with high status and low damage. Why wait for someone to fire proc you, when you can do it yourself? "But what weapon fits this description?" you may ask. The answer: The Scourge.
For some reason, the Scourge doesn't do nearly as much damage to yourself than it does to enemies, not that i'm complaining. Here's my build, as much status as possible while still giving corrosive/heat. (Edit: You can replace hellfire for vigilante armaments for 100% status) (Edit: Updated my Scourge build with my riven build for it)The heat is to set yourself on fire, obviously, and the corrosive is good for stripping armor while you burn them. Continous Misery makes you be set on fire for an extra long time of 12 seconds, and Vile Acceleration helps the charge speed on the throw a lot. So, in this way, the Scourge can be used as a sort of pocket passive activation. Set self on fire, proc growing power, use Accelerant to debuff/stun enemies, and activate the Flash Accelrant Buff, then turn on her 4 and start melting. Keep in mind that the passive can also restore energy as kind of a makeshift energy pad, though not while WoF is active. Here's the the rest of my loadout, for added firepower. Ember, while she can deal out quite a lot of damage, she can be a bit squishy, so i reccomend to add on some sort of defence mod to help her a bit if she gets into a tough situation. Let's compare some mod choices.
Without any defence mods, she has 801 EHP(Effective Health Points)
Steel Fiber alone gets her to 939 EHP
Vitality alone gets her to 1425 EHP
Redirection alone gets her to 1351 EHP
Primed Vigor alone gets her to 1388 EHP
Without any sort of energy cap increase, Ember has 225 max energy.
So Quick Thinking gives 766 EHP from her ENERGY ALONE. A total of 1567, already putting it in the running for a good choice. But, we're already using a (Primed) Flow mod. With normal flow, that takes her to 450 energy max, giving her 2334 EHP. But with Primed Flow? A whopping 2970 EHP. Not to mention energy orbs are more plentifull than health orbs. Quite impressive for a so called squishy frame who falls off in late game don't you think?
(Edit: Corrected EHP Calculations)
