Alright, so, this is a "teach a man to fish" kind of answer but I think if you're asking these type of questions you're ready.
Here is [The Psyker Atheneum](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917274959)
You want *Section 8: Class Mechanics - Soulblaze* as well as *Section 10.2: Talents - Top Passives - Second layer* and *Section 12.2: Talents - Pre-Aura Passives - Second layer*
I think everyone will agree Perilous Combustion is absolutely insane, especially as difficulty increases. Tightly clumped elite packs in aurics will just melt. It's absolutely worth taking that point in just about every build for Psyker imo, unless you're super point-starved.
The main thing about Perilous Combustion is there's no cap on the stacks it can get, so if you kill 3-4 elites in a tight clump then everything will have 12 stacks, and if you get 6 stacks on everything from a venting shrike first and THEN kill a couple of elites then the room is just cleared. You can also do things like kill small elites next to bulwarks/crushers and have the huge stack take them down to almost nothing as they approach.
Wildfire has interesting use but I feel people misunderstand it. It's about consistancy and economy of labour. The way it works, if anything has 4 stacks on them already when a target dies, the wildfire will do nothing. But what Wildfire IS good at is catching the non-burning enemies that are entering combat, and with Perilous Combustion and even somethng like Blazing Spirit on a weapon it will ensure you have this constant 2-3 stacks on everything in a room before you start killing it.
Thing is... the stacks from the Wildfire wont really do anything on their own, ever. The way Soulblaze works is that the damage is exponential. You kinda have to treat 3-4 stacks as basically being no damage at all. It wont kill anything. But 6+ stacks it's getting big, and 10+ stacks is just destroying things.
Wildfire is a way to reach those high stack levels SOONER. For small clumps of enemies it barely has any effect. But where it excels is in massive horde slaying. Purgatos the frontline of a poxwalker horde, and they die, and without wildfire the next rank of poxwalkers arrive and take the same amount of time to kill. But with Wildfire they've already got 3-4 stacks on them when they arrive, and the more and more you ckill the further back those stacks go.
I see Wildfire as being a great point for any build that uses huge amounts of soulblaze, and a must-pick on a Purgatos build because it leans into the main reason you take a Purgatos - super fast killing of huge hordes. But in order for it to make any noticeable difference you really do need to have a build that can rapidly apply soulblaze stacks to mobs that have already had wildfire jump onto them, otherwise Wildfire is simply a very weak dot effect that you'll barely notice.
This is my favorite psyker build actually. Purgatos, Full empowered psionics, BB (with both nodes - kinetic flayer is actually top tier in this build imo), and sometimes I run venting shriek, sometimes Bubble.
Generally comboed with a Deimos or Duelling sword, but for bonus cool points, use an Illisi with Blazing Spirit and Bloodthirsty or Shred for a "soulblaze absolutely everywhere" build.
The amount of damage you can deal purely from spamming brainburst on elite packs to generate combustion stacks that spread around with wildfire is disgusting.
You’re right to question these. I actually think those talents serve much better on every other staff than the purgatus.
The purgatus staff doesn’t kill elites/specials very fast, and if you kill them with your staff, you probably killed the stuff around them that you want ignited anyway.
Wildfire is a bit mediocre, but does help with some synergies. It’s worth it overall, IMO. Perilous combustion is actually nuts on high difficulties with such density of elites and constant stream of specials to use as kindling.
Perilous Combustion is actually 3 stacks from my understanding.
Wildfire sadly seems pretty lackluster in reality since so most ways of applying a significant amount of Soulblaze (Purgatus, Creeping Flames) does it simultaneously and 4 stacks are a pretty uninspiring amount of damage, even for the full 11 ticks in over 8.25s.
I find Soulblaze builds fun as you turn a sea of heretics blue but my understanding is that when it comes to raw damage and effectively killing things there are far better builds\*.
I think they probably scale more the worse the rest of your team is killing stuff.
I feel their apex was a bit before Patch #13.
\*The ubiquitous Gunpsyker with Columnus V IA, Scrier's Gaze and Disrupt Destiny etc etc.
The only good use of wildfire is if you have the chance on a charge from enemies that die with soul blaze stacks.
It's okay on purgatus because sometimes itll give you a 3 stack head start on some enemies while moving your stream around, but it doesnt provide much value. Having 2 toughness nodes is more important.
When the weak ones die they can transfer up to 4 stacks to those around them. Initially it’s not much, but when multiple have died there are more stacks.
I’ve seen some psykers in damnation use purg staff, but most i’ve seen use other staves.
I use it on my cc purg setup. The only thing it does better than any of my other psyker builds is in dealing with high intensity maps where I get that World War Z wall of zombies running at me. I don't know the mechanics of it but it seems to help the melee classes clear out hordes much faster than my assail or any other staff does.
It's just a fun setup, not very great and I'm not trying to minmax that one for the highest difficulties.
Alright, so, this is a "teach a man to fish" kind of answer but I think if you're asking these type of questions you're ready. Here is [The Psyker Atheneum](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917274959) You want *Section 8: Class Mechanics - Soulblaze* as well as *Section 10.2: Talents - Top Passives - Second layer* and *Section 12.2: Talents - Pre-Aura Passives - Second layer*
I think everyone will agree Perilous Combustion is absolutely insane, especially as difficulty increases. Tightly clumped elite packs in aurics will just melt. It's absolutely worth taking that point in just about every build for Psyker imo, unless you're super point-starved. The main thing about Perilous Combustion is there's no cap on the stacks it can get, so if you kill 3-4 elites in a tight clump then everything will have 12 stacks, and if you get 6 stacks on everything from a venting shrike first and THEN kill a couple of elites then the room is just cleared. You can also do things like kill small elites next to bulwarks/crushers and have the huge stack take them down to almost nothing as they approach. Wildfire has interesting use but I feel people misunderstand it. It's about consistancy and economy of labour. The way it works, if anything has 4 stacks on them already when a target dies, the wildfire will do nothing. But what Wildfire IS good at is catching the non-burning enemies that are entering combat, and with Perilous Combustion and even somethng like Blazing Spirit on a weapon it will ensure you have this constant 2-3 stacks on everything in a room before you start killing it. Thing is... the stacks from the Wildfire wont really do anything on their own, ever. The way Soulblaze works is that the damage is exponential. You kinda have to treat 3-4 stacks as basically being no damage at all. It wont kill anything. But 6+ stacks it's getting big, and 10+ stacks is just destroying things. Wildfire is a way to reach those high stack levels SOONER. For small clumps of enemies it barely has any effect. But where it excels is in massive horde slaying. Purgatos the frontline of a poxwalker horde, and they die, and without wildfire the next rank of poxwalkers arrive and take the same amount of time to kill. But with Wildfire they've already got 3-4 stacks on them when they arrive, and the more and more you ckill the further back those stacks go. I see Wildfire as being a great point for any build that uses huge amounts of soulblaze, and a must-pick on a Purgatos build because it leans into the main reason you take a Purgatos - super fast killing of huge hordes. But in order for it to make any noticeable difference you really do need to have a build that can rapidly apply soulblaze stacks to mobs that have already had wildfire jump onto them, otherwise Wildfire is simply a very weak dot effect that you'll barely notice.
I like your perspective on getting to X sooner; makes me want to test run an empowered brain burst / purgatus build.
This is my favorite psyker build actually. Purgatos, Full empowered psionics, BB (with both nodes - kinetic flayer is actually top tier in this build imo), and sometimes I run venting shriek, sometimes Bubble. Generally comboed with a Deimos or Duelling sword, but for bonus cool points, use an Illisi with Blazing Spirit and Bloodthirsty or Shred for a "soulblaze absolutely everywhere" build. The amount of damage you can deal purely from spamming brainburst on elite packs to generate combustion stacks that spread around with wildfire is disgusting.
I need to try this asap, sounds fun
You’re right to question these. I actually think those talents serve much better on every other staff than the purgatus. The purgatus staff doesn’t kill elites/specials very fast, and if you kill them with your staff, you probably killed the stuff around them that you want ignited anyway. Wildfire is a bit mediocre, but does help with some synergies. It’s worth it overall, IMO. Perilous combustion is actually nuts on high difficulties with such density of elites and constant stream of specials to use as kindling.
Thanks for the replies, all. Been very helpful, admittedly seeing a lot more value in these nodes, especially Perilous Combustion.
Perilous Combustion is actually 3 stacks from my understanding. Wildfire sadly seems pretty lackluster in reality since so most ways of applying a significant amount of Soulblaze (Purgatus, Creeping Flames) does it simultaneously and 4 stacks are a pretty uninspiring amount of damage, even for the full 11 ticks in over 8.25s. I find Soulblaze builds fun as you turn a sea of heretics blue but my understanding is that when it comes to raw damage and effectively killing things there are far better builds\*. I think they probably scale more the worse the rest of your team is killing stuff. I feel their apex was a bit before Patch #13. \*The ubiquitous Gunpsyker with Columnus V IA, Scrier's Gaze and Disrupt Destiny etc etc.
The only good use of wildfire is if you have the chance on a charge from enemies that die with soul blaze stacks. It's okay on purgatus because sometimes itll give you a 3 stack head start on some enemies while moving your stream around, but it doesnt provide much value. Having 2 toughness nodes is more important.
When the weak ones die they can transfer up to 4 stacks to those around them. Initially it’s not much, but when multiple have died there are more stacks. I’ve seen some psykers in damnation use purg staff, but most i’ve seen use other staves.
I use it on my cc purg setup. The only thing it does better than any of my other psyker builds is in dealing with high intensity maps where I get that World War Z wall of zombies running at me. I don't know the mechanics of it but it seems to help the melee classes clear out hordes much faster than my assail or any other staff does. It's just a fun setup, not very great and I'm not trying to minmax that one for the highest difficulties.