In the ever-evolving world of Path of Exile, the meta landscape is frequently shaped by new content, patches, and balance adjustments. The recent patch notes may not have caused a seismic shift in the meta, but they've introduced some intriguing changes that significantly impact the melee ignite playstyle. In this guide, we'll explore the new support gems, delve into the ascendancy rework, analyze the passive skill tree changes, examine the effects of the ruthless support gem, and uncover powerful ignite-based uniques.

• New Support Gems: Controlled Blaze and Sadism
• Ascendancy Rework: Chieftain and Elementalist
• Passive Skill Tree Balance
• Ruthless Support Gem Enhancement
• Ignite-Centric Uniques: Dying Sun and Story of Davao
• Building Your Ignite Melee Character
• Conclusion

↖ New Support Gems: Controlled Blaze and Sadism

Path of Exile's latest update brings two new support gems, Controlled Blaze and Sadism, both of which cater to the melee ignite playstyle. Controlled Blaze enhances melee attack skills with a chance to ignite and provides more damage for recent ignites. Sadism speeds up damaging ailment durations at the cost of their overall duration. Balancing these gems is key to optimizing your damage output, as ignites and ailments rely on well-timed, consistent attacks.

↖ Ascendancy Rework: Chieftain and Elementalist

The Chieftain ascendancy received a rework that offers enticing options for igniting enemies. However, the Elementalist remains the undisputed king of ignites due to its "Shaper of Flames" node, which converts all damage to ignite and grants additional fire damage. This advantage, coupled with other benefits like exposure and damage conversion, makes Elementalist a strong contender for melee ignite builds.

↖ Passive Skill Tree Balance

The passive skill tree adjustments include new and reworked nodes that enhance melee-based ignite playstyles. As the game shifts from specific damage type nodes to broader ailment damage nodes, your ignite damage potential receives a significant boost. Notable nodes like "Dirty Techniques" now grant faster ailment damage, supporting your damage-over-time playstyle.

↖ Ruthless Support Gem Enhancement

The Ruthless support gem, previously focused on increasing damage with bleeding, has been revamped to enhance damage with all ailments caused by melee hits. This change empowers melee ignite builds, providing a substantial damage boost to your ignites, poisons, and bleeds. Ruthless becomes an invaluable support gem for any melee character focusing on damage over time.

↖ Ignite-Centric Uniques: Dying Sun and Story of Davao

Unique items play a crucial role in shaping build diversity. Dying Sun, which increases area of effect and projectile count, synergizes well with ignites, enhancing their coverage and damage output. Additionally, the Story of Davao unique weapon converts physical damage to a random element, effectively granting an innate 50% conversion to fire. This unique pairs perfectly with Elementalists, as the highest damage type is already fire.

↖ Building Your Ignite Melee Character

Creating a successful ignite-based melee character involves several critical considerations:

• Skill Choice: Choose melee skills that provide high damage output and strong ignite potential. Skills like Infernal Blow, with its built-in explosions, or other high-damage melee skills, are excellent options.
• Support Gems: Incorporate the newly introduced Controlled Blaze and Sadism support gems, along with the revamped Ruthless support gem, into your setup. These gems will significantly amplify your damage output.
• Ascendancy: Decide between Chieftain and Elementalist for your ascendancy based on your preferred playstyle. Elementalist's innate ignite synergy makes it a powerful choice, while Chieftain offers unique benefits like free support skills from gear and enhanced slam skills.
• Passive Skill Tree: Allocate points to ailment-based nodes and ailment damage multipliers to maximize your ignite's potency. Focus on increasing both duration and damage to strike the perfect balance.
• Unique Items: Consider using Dying Sun for increased area coverage and projectile count, as well as Story of Davao for conversion and ignite bonuses.
• Gear and Stat Priority: Prioritize items that grant increased fire damage, ignite damage, elemental damage, and life. Seek out gear with resistance and life modifiers to ensure your survivability.

↖ Conclusion

The current Path of Exile meta has ushered in exciting changes for melee ignite playstyles. With the introduction of new support gems, ascendancy reworks, passive skill tree adjustments, enhanced support gems, and powerful ignite-centric uniques, melee ignite builds are more viable and potent than ever before. Whether you opt for the Chieftain's raw power or the Elementalist's elemental mastery, constructing a melee ignite character promises a thrilling and fiery journey through Wraeclast.