Path of Exile 2 offers a vast selection of melee and POE2 Currency ranged skills, but few stand out like Molten Strike. This hybrid ability combines hard-hitting melee attacks with ranged fire projectiles, making it one of the most versatile attack skills in the game. Whether you prefer a pure melee tank or a hybrid projectile build, Molten Strike can be tailored to suit your playstyle.

This guide explores how Molten Strike works, the best ways to scale its damage, ideal weapon choices, and optimal passive skill tree investments to maximize its potential.

How Molten Strike Works
Molten Strike is a melee attack that also releases magma orbs (projectiles) on hit. These projectiles explode upon impact, dealing additional area-of-effect (AoE) fire damage.

Molten Strike's damage is split into two parts:

Melee Hit Damage: The initial melee attack deals direct physical damage, which can be converted into elemental damage.Magma Orbs (Projectiles): These fire-based projectiles scale with attack speed, projectile count, and AoE, creating massive area damage.Because of this dual-damage nature, Molten Strike builds can be customized in many different ways.

How to Scale Molten Strike’s Damage
To fully maximize Molten Strike’s effectiveness, focus on five key areas:

Boosting Attack Speed for More Projectiles
Increasing Projectile Damage AoE
Converting or Scaling Fire Damage
Enhancing Melee Hit Damage
Choosing the Best Weapon Gear
1. Boosting Attack Speed for More Projectiles
Molten Strike benefits greatly from attack speed since faster attacks mean more projectiles per second.

Ways to Increase Attack Speed:
Passives Gear: Look for items and passive nodes that boost attack speed.
Frenzy Charges: These naturally increase attack speed, making them ideal for Molten Strike builds.
Support Gems:Faster Attacks Support – Directly increases attack speed.Multistrike Support – Repeats the attack multiple times in rapid succession.The faster you attack, the more magma orbs you generate, significantly boosting overall DPS.

2. Increasing Projectile Damage AoE
Since Molten Strike’s magma orbs explode on impact, scaling projectile damage and AoE make the build much stronger.

Key Support Gems for Projectile Scaling:Greater Multiple Projectiles (GMP) Support – Increases the number of projectiles, covering a wider area.Ancestral Call Support allows the melee attack to hit additional enemies, generating even more magma orbs.Increased Area of Effect (AoE) Support – Expands the explosion radius of magma orbs.

Passive Skill Tree Focus:
Projectile Damage Nodes – Found in the Ranger Duelist areas.AoE Expansion Nodes – These help cover a larger area with magma explosions.Fire Damage Nodes – Enhances projectile effectiveness.By investing in projectile scaling, you can blanket the screen with deadly magma explosions.

3. Converting or Scaling Fire Damage
Since Molten Strike’s projectiles deal fire damage, converting as much physical damage into fire damage makes the build more effective.

Ways to Convert Damage to Fire:
Avatar of Fire Keystone: Converts 100% of physical damage into fire damage.Cold to Fire Support Gem: Converts extra damage into fire, making it an excellent synergy for Molten Strike.Use a Weapon with “Adds X% Physical as Extra Fire” – Some weapons naturally boost fire conversion.Best Support Gems for Fire Damage Scaling:Elemental Damage with Attacks Support Increases fire-based attack damage.Combustion Support – Ignites enemies, reducing their fire resistance.Ignite Proliferation Support – Spreads ignite effects to nearby enemies.

By converting all damage into fire, you can fully maximize the elemental scaling potential.

4. Enhancing Melee Hit Damage
While the magma projectiles provide most of Molten Strike’s damage, the initial melee attack can still be scaled.

Ways to Boost Melee Hit Damage:
Use a High-Base Damage Weapon – Axes and swords work best.Invest in Melee Physical Damage Nodes – Helps both the melee hit and projectiles.Critical Strike Chance Multiplier – If using a crit-based build, invest in critical strike nodes.Support Gems for Melee Damage Scaling:Melee Physical Damage Support directly increases melee hit damage.Ruthless Support – Every third hit deals more damage, ideal for slower attack speed builds.Close Combat Support: Increases damage when fighting enemies at close range.

This setup allows you to deal significant upfront melee damage before cheap Path of Exile 2 Currency the magma projectiles finish off enemies.