DfA and purifying flames

[Mxtof]

A DfA/non-crit build is fine while advancing in TLs when first starting ANB, but it cannot get you into higher trials. Thermal shock and Shatter become your strategies with an ELR/GMC set mage.

Oh, that's absolutely true. On the last ANB -- which was concurrently my first one -- I had no Fire Lily yet, only VoWS to level up (painfully, but it worked), but once I had an almost decent ELR/GMC set (mixing up XP and crit attributes is...complicated) my ANB finally took off. But I wasn't aiming at high trials, so even my clumsy DfA build worked well until trial 110.

That aside, you probably could still squeeze blood out of your Fire Lily (non-crit build) up to ~TL160 or so -- but that requires the best ELR Legendary gear (most, if not all at L77 and celestialized), all socketed and enchanted. So, if you keep your Fire Lily (non-crit build), ToP as a companion trinket is a bit better than VotWS; instant power gain by ToP vs. the incremental stacking by VotWS before it procs. And maybe re-think your main attack (if not already) with Frost Bolt (Arc Lightning as an active secondary, to help aggro mobs), and Abilities Frost Nova, Immolate, and Frost Beam (and with added Frost Damage on the Trinkets, Bracer, and Belt). Make sure when using Immolate it's at L7 or higher for Thermal Shock to proc. Two Maggies and an Eileen are ideal to vortex mobs (and vanquish them) to quickly advance to the Boss stages.

Frost Bolt is mandatory, so no debate. I was (and still am) torn between Fire Ball (because it helps stacking more fire charges during the boss fight) and Arc Ligthning (because of the buff/debuff bonuses). I ended up using the latter, as most people do.

Fire Lily, though, will run out of gas near TL160 or so, and then a Crit build (all new gear) would be needed if you want to shoot for the top Leaderboards. There are players that have both sets, but you can imagine the freakin' time and effort to get there (I get ill just thinking about it). So its your choice on how well you think you can compete (I, for one, will NEVER compete at the top levels).

Naaah... I know very well I don't have enough juice in me to get there, let alone enough time. I'm just here for the fun, I'll leave the rest to younger more talented players. The way I see it, trial 119 will be my ceiling for quite a while.

Anyway, thanks for your most informed advice.

[WarriorSeven]

A DfA/non-crit build is fine while advancing in TLs when first starting ANB, but it cannot get you into higher trials. Thermal shock and Shatter become your strategies with an ELR/GMC set mage.

That aside, you probably could still squeeze blood out of your Fire Lily (non-crit build) up to ~TL160 or so -- but that requires the best ELR Legendary gear (most, if not all at L77 and celestialized), all socketed and enchanted. So, if you keep your Fire Lily (non-crit build), ToP as a companion trinket is a bit better than VotWS; instant power gain by ToP vs. the incremental stacking by VotWS before it procs. And maybe re-think your main attack (if not already) with Frost Bolt (Arc Lightning as an active secondary, to help aggro mobs), and Abilities Frost Nova, Immolate, and Frost Beam (and with added Frost Damage on the Trinkets, Bracer, and Belt). Make sure when using Immolate it's at L7 or higher for Thermal Shock to proc. Two Maggies and an Eileen are ideal to vortex mobs (and vanquish them) to quickly advance to the Boss stages.

Fire Lily, though, will run out of gas near TL160 or so, and then a Crit build (all new gear) would be needed if you want to shoot for the top Leaderboards. There are players that have both sets, but you can imagine the freakin' time and effort to get there (I get ill just thinking about it). So its your choice on how well you think you can compete (I, for one, will NEVER compete at the top levels).

[Mxtof]

As you no doubt have guessed, I'm a new player enjoying the gameplay of DfA. Now I know it's not a very popular build, and I'm well aware of its limits when it comes to push, but I don't really enjoy frost beam nearly as much for now. Maybe one day if I get bored... Anyway, let's get to the point.

The way I see it, the limits of this build boils down to a simple fact: not enough charges. So I couldn't help but notice the brooch of purifying flames, and wonder if this trinket could improve thermal shocks, and speed up the boss phase. But I'm a low-glory-insecure-noob (damn firelily took most of it), so I humbly ask: has any old timer tested this trinket on a DfA build, and if yes, is it worth replacing VoWS for a crit built, or ToP for a lily build?

Thanks in advance.