Vaal Molten Shell

For the non-Vaal counterpart, see Molten Shell.

Vaal Molten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Vaal, Guard
Level: (1-20)
Cooldown Time: 0.50 sec
Can Store 1 Use(s)
Souls Per Use: 50
Can Store 1 Use(s)
Soul Gain Prevention: 14 sec
Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 4Applies a buff that raises your armour, and takes some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Each second, the skill deals reflected damage to surrounding enemies based on the damage taken by the buff in that second. When the buff is removed, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken by the buff. You cannot have the buff at the same time as any other Guard skill.Base duration is 9 seconds
Modifiers to Skill Effect Duration also apply to this Skill's Soul Gain Prevention
Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour
(35-39)% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield
Buff can take Damage equal to 0% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 0
0% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield
Buff can take Damage equal to 30% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 30000
Reflects (300-9000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage when Buff expires or is depleted
Reflects 0% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage each second,
or when Buff expires or is depleted

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
1% increased Skill Effect DurationCorruptedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

Acquisition
Drop restricted
Drop level: 4
Vaal Molten Shell can drop from the Vaal Vessels found in Vaal side areas.Vendor Offer
1x Scroll FragmentMetadata
Item class: Skill Gem
Metadata ID: Metadata/Items/Gems/SkillGemVaalMoltenShell

Vaal Molten Shell is a vaal spell that creates a shell around the user that grants extra armour and absorbs incoming hits, absorbing more damage with increased armour. Each second or when expiring, the shell deals fire damage around it based on how much damage it has absorbed.

Skill functions and interactions

• Duration: Skill duration modifiers will increase the duration of Vaal Molten Shell.

• Critical Strike Chance: Since Vaal Molten Shell deals reflected damage, its damage cannot critically strike.

• Damage reflection: Vaal Molten Shell doesn't trigger on reflected damage.

• Molten Shell: Molten ShellMolten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Guard
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost: (8-12) Mana
  Cooldown Time: 4.00 sec
  Can Store 1 Use(s)
  Cast Time: Instant
  AoE Radius: 15Requires Level 4Applies a buff that adds to your armour, and can take some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. When the buff expires or is depleted, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken from the buff. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 3.00 seconds
  This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect
  Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour
  75% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield
  Buff can take Damage equal to 10% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 5000
  Reflects (100-3000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage when Buff expires or is depleted
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. and Vaal Molten Shell will replace each other's respective buff when cast, if possible. Due to how guard skill cooldowns are shared you can cast Molten Shell constantly without risking removing your Vaal Molten Shell buff, because if you do so Molten Shell will never be off cooldown while Vaal Molten Shell is active.
• Order of Operations: Guard skills happen after all other mitigation when receiving damage, so your character always takes 65-70% of damage directly to their base resources (ward, energy shield, life, mana). To reach the damage cap of a level 20 gem, the character would need to heal (.65/.35*30000=) 55714 points of the affected resource(s) over the buff's duration.
• Soul Gain Prevention is only applied after the buff effect is calculated, so the modifier ChosenChosen
  Prefix
  +(3201-4000) to Armour during Soul Gain Prevention will grant additional Armour during and after the skill's effect, but the added Armour will not be taken into account when calculating the buff's damage absorption.

All Guard skills

Below are the 5 skill gems with the Guard gem tag:

Gem
Arcane CloakArcane CloakSpell, Duration, Guard, Lightning, Arcane Level: (1-20) Cooldown Time: 4.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 16Spends a portion of your mana to grant a buff that takes some of the damage from hits for you until depleted. The buff grants added lightning damage based on the amount of mana spent by this skill. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 3.00 seconds Spends (45-64)% of current Mana 75% of Damage from Hits is taken from Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to Mana Spent by this Skill's effect Buff grants Added Lightning Damage equal to (10-14)% of Mana Spent by this Skill's effect This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Buff EffectPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	16	N/A	N/A
Immortal CallImmortal CallSpell, Duration, Guard Level: (1-20) Cost: (21-36) Mana Cooldown Time: 3.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 34Take less Physical and Elemental Damage for a short time. Consumes up to 5 Endurance Charges to lengthen the buff and further lessen Physical Damage taken. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 1.00 seconds 20% increased Buff Duration per Endurance Charge removed This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect (25-34)% less Elemental Damage taken (25-35)% less Physical Damage taken 15% less Physical Damage taken per Endurance Charge removed Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Cooldown Recovery RatePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	34		N/A	N/A
Molten ShellMolten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Guard Level: (1-20) Cost: (8-12) Mana Cooldown Time: 4.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: Instant AoE Radius: 15Requires Level 4Applies a buff that adds to your armour, and can take some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. When the buff expires or is depleted, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken from the buff. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 3.00 seconds This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour 75% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to 10% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 5000 Reflects (100-3000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage when Buff expires or is depleted Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	4		N/A	N/A
SteelskinSteelskinSpell, Duration, Guard Level: (1-20) Cost: (4-16) Mana Cooldown Time: 3.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 4Applies a buff which can take some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 1.50 seconds This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect Buff grants Immunity to Bleeding 70% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before Life or Energy Shield Buff can take (54-2209) Damage Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (0.5-10)% increased Cooldown Recovery RatePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	4		N/A	N/A
Vaal Molten ShellVaal Molten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Vaal, Guard Level: (1-20) Cooldown Time: 0.50 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Souls Per Use: 50 Can Store 1 Use(s) Soul Gain Prevention: 14 sec Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 4Applies a buff that raises your armour, and takes some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Each second, the skill deals reflected damage to surrounding enemies based on the damage taken by the buff in that second. When the buff is removed, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken by the buff. You cannot have the buff at the same time as any other Guard skill.Base duration is 9.00 seconds Modifiers to Skill Effect Duration also apply to this Skill's Soul Gain Prevention Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour (35-39)% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to 20% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 10000 Reflects (300-9000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage each second, or when Buff expires or is depleted Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationCorruptedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.	4		N/A	N/A

Strategy

Unlike its non-Vaal counterpart, Vaal Molten Shell will persist for the full duration, regardless of how many times an explosion is triggered. This unique property offers potentially vastly more utility than Molten Shell at the cost of less availability. Because of this, it is recommended that Vaal Molten Shell be saved for an occasion in which it will offer the greatest benefit, such as during an encounter with a unique monster or even a troublesome rare.

Due to the nature of Vaal Molten Shell, it has synergy with support gems that utilize the potentially frequent explosions, such as stun or life leech; however, the rather steep soul cost of Vaal Molten Shell gates the strength of the gem. In addition, while the armour offered during Vaal Molten Shell's duration is first-rate, it may cause conflicts with Cast when Damage Taken SupportCast when Damage Taken SupportSupport, Spell, Trigger
Icon: !
Level: (1-20)
Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 250%
Cooldown Time: 0.25 sec
Can Store 1 Use(s)Requires Level 38Each supported spell skill will track damage you take, and be triggered when the total damage taken reaches a threshold. Cannot support skills used by totems, traps, or mines. Vaal skills, channelling skills, and skills with a reservation cannot be triggered.This Gem can only Support Skill Gems requiring Level (38-70) or lower
Supported Skills deal (65-27)% less Damage
Trigger Supported Spells when you take (528-3272) total Damage from Hits

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
Supported Skills require (0.5-10)% reduced amount of Damage taken to TriggerThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket..

Items which deal damage to you will also trigger the explosion:

• Scold's BridleScold's Bridle
  Mind CageEnergy Shield: (73-84)Requires Level 65, 138 Int(80-100)% increased Spell Damage
  15% reduced Cast Speed
  +(30-60) to maximum Mana
  Your Skills deal you 400% of Mana Spent on Upfront Skill Mana Costs as Physical Damage"The sharper the pain, the sharper the mind.
  A curious paradox."
  - Shavronne of Umbra when using any skill
• Eye of Innocence when igniting an enemy

Gem level progression

Level			Armour	Damage taken from Buff	Damage Reflection	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	4	16	50	35%	300%	0	0
2	6	20	60	35%	390%	841	841
3	9	27	74	35%	540%	3099	3940
4	12	33	91	35%	750%	7433	11373
5	16	41	115	36%	990%	22895	34268
6	20	50	141	36%	1260%	49725	83993
7	24	58	171	36%	1590%	95714	179707
8	28	67	204	36%	1950%	169595	349302
9	32	75	241	37%	2340%	283759	633061
10	36	83	282	37%	2760%	453996	1087057
11	40	92	328	37%	3240%	703128	1790185
12	44	100	378	37%	3750%	1061223	2851408
13	48	109	433	38%	4290%	2065870	4917278
14	52	117	495	38%	4860%	2507110	7424388
15	55	123	545	38%	5460%	2573731	9998119
16	58	130	599	38%	6120%	7611351	17609470
17	61	136	657	39%	6780%	13437908	31047378
18	64	142	719	39%	7500%	25052147	56099525
19	67	148	786	39%	8220%	43869436	99968961
20	70	155	858	39%	9000%	242081178	342050139
21	72	159	909	40%	9810%	N/A	N/A
22	74	N/A	962	40%	10650%	N/A	N/A
23	76	N/A	1018	40%	11490%	N/A	N/A
24	78	N/A	1076	40%	12390%	N/A	N/A
25	80	N/A	1137	41%	13320%	N/A	N/A
26	82	N/A	1201	41%	14280%	N/A	N/A
27	84	N/A	1268	41%	15270%	N/A	N/A
28	86	N/A	1338	41%	16290%	N/A	N/A
29	88	N/A	1412	42%	17310%	N/A	N/A
30	90	N/A	1488	42%	18390%	N/A	N/A
31	91	N/A	1528	42%	19500%	N/A	N/A
32	92	N/A	1569	42%	20640%	N/A	N/A
33	93	N/A	1610	42%	21780%	N/A	N/A
34	94	N/A	1653	42%	22980%	N/A	N/A
35	95	N/A	1696	42%	24180%	N/A	N/A
36	96	N/A	1741	43%	25440%	N/A	N/A
37	97	N/A	1786	43%	26700%	N/A	N/A
38	98	N/A	1833	43%	28020%	N/A	N/A
39	99	N/A	1880	43%	29340%	N/A	N/A
40	100	N/A	1929	43%	30690%	N/A	N/A

Gem quality

Type	Additional Effects per 1-20% Quality	Weight
Superior	(1-20)% increased Skill Effect Duration	1

Item acquisition

Vaal Molten Shell has restrictions on where or how it can drop. Vaal Molten Shell can drop from the Vaal Vessels found in Vaal side areas.

Recipes

Vaal Molten Shell can be created from the following recipes:

Amount	Part	Description	Meta
6	The Magma CrabThe Magma Crab6Level 21 Vaal Molten Shell CorruptedDrink deeply of living rock and be as stone, with blood afire.	Level 21 Vaal Molten Shell	M
9	Volatile PowerVolatile Power9Vaal Gem Quality: +20% CorruptedUnlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.	Random corrupted Vaal gem with 20% quality	A
1	The VoidThe Void1Reach into the Void and claim your prize.	Random divination card set exchange	A

Video demonstration

Click to load content

Alternate skill effects

Vaal Molten Shell has the following alternate skill effects:

Item	Effect(s)
Divine Molten Shell EffectDivine Molten Shell EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Molten Shell becomes a Divine Effect.	Your Molten Shell becomes a Divine Effect.
Encasing Molten Shell EffectFile:Encasing Molten Shell Effect inventory icon.pngEncasing Molten Shell EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Molten Shell becomes an Encasing Effect.File:Encasing Molten Shell Effect inventory icon.png	Your Molten Shell becomes an Encasing Effect.
Invisible Buff EffectInvisible Buff EffectSkill Gem EffectRemoves the visual effects on the player from arctic armour, tempest shield, blood rage, molten shell, plague bearer, phase run, petrified blood, withering step, any aura, any blasphemied curse, or any herald gem.	Removes the visual effects on the player from arctic armour, tempest shield, blood rage, molten shell, plague bearer, phase run, petrified blood, withering step, any aura, any blasphemied curse, or any herald gem.
Magmatic Molten Shell EffectMagmatic Molten Shell EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Molten Shell becomes a Magmatic Effect.	Your Molten Shell becomes a Magmatic Effect.
Stygian Molten Shell EffectStygian Molten Shell EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Molten Shell becomes a Stygian Effect.	Your Molten Shell becomes a Stygian Effect.
Viper Molten Shell EffectViper Molten Shell EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Molten Shell becomes a Viper Effect.	Your Molten Shell becomes a Viper Effect.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.16.0	Buff will now grant +50 Armour at gem level 1 (previously 25), up to +858 Armour at gem level 20 (previously 429). Buff no longer grants 20-29% more Armour. Now grants 35% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 40% at gem level 20 (previously 35%).
3.14.0	Vaal Skill Gems can now only be obtained from a set of specific methods such as Corrupting Gems, Vaal Side Areas, Divination Cards (that specifically grant Vaal Skill Gems) and the Lapidary Lens in the Temple of Atzoatl.
3.11.0	Now grants 25 additional armour at gem level 1 (from 60), up to 429 additional armour at gem level 20 (from 1030). Now grants 20% more armour at gem level 1, up to 29% more armour at gem level 20. Now causes 30% of Damage taken from hits to be taken from the buff before your life or energy shield at gem level 1, up to 35% at gem level 20 (from 80% at all levels). The buff can now take Damage equal to 30% of your armour (from 60%), up to a maximum of 30000. Now reflects 300% of Damage taken from buff as Fire Damage each second or when the buff expires or is depleted at gem level 1 (from 100%), up to 9000% at gem level 20 (from 3000%). Now removes and is removed by any other Guard skill.
3.7.0	Now has a base duration of 9 seconds at all gem levels (from 5). Now grants 60 additional armour at gem level 1 (from 17), up to 1030 at gem level 20 (from 943) Now creates a buff that can take damage equal to 60% of your armour. Now causes 80% of damage from hits to be taken from the buff before your life or energy shield. Now reflects a portion of the damage taken from the buff as fire damage every second until the buff expires or is depleted. Now reflects 100% of damage taken from the buff as fire damage when the buff expires or is depleted at gem level 1, up to 3000% at gem level 20 (previously stated 1050% at gem level 20). Now has a Vaal Soul generation cooldown of 14 seconds (from 7 seconds). No longer has an added damage effectiveness multiplier or critical strike chance, as reflected damage cannot benefit from added damage, nor can it critically strike. Shares its cooldown with other guard skills (Steelskin and Immortal Call).
3.4.0	Now has a Soul Gain Prevention duration of 7 seconds (up from 5).
2.6.0	Changed the explosion effect. The new one has better performance.
2.4.0	Vaal Molten Shell now causes an explosion when it prevents any physical damage, rather than when it takes any hit.
2.3.2	When switching between regular and Vaal Molten Shell, the shield will now visually destroy and recreate itself. Fixed a bug where Molten Shell buff effect bonuses did not apply to Vaal Molten Shell.
2.3.0	Vaal Molten ShellVaal Molten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Vaal, Guard Level: (1-20) Cooldown Time: 0.50 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Souls Per Use: 50 Can Store 1 Use(s) Soul Gain Prevention: 14 sec Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 4Applies a buff that raises your armour, and takes some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Each second, the skill deals reflected damage to surrounding enemies based on the damage taken by the buff in that second. When the buff is removed, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken by the buff. You cannot have the buff at the same time as any other Guard skill.Base duration is 9.00 seconds Modifiers to Skill Effect Duration also apply to this Skill's Soul Gain Prevention Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour (35-39)% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to 20% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 10000 Reflects (300-9000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage each second, or when Buff expires or is depleted Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationCorruptedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.'s duration has been reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds at all gem levels. Its damage has been reduced at high levels. It does the same damage at gem level 1, up to half the damage it previously did at gem level 20.
2.2.0	Cast time reduced from 1 sec to 500 ms.
2.1.0	Fixed a bug where Molten ShellMolten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Guard Level: (1-20) Cost: (8-12) Mana Cooldown Time: 4.00 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Cast Time: Instant AoE Radius: 15Requires Level 4Applies a buff that adds to your armour, and can take some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. When the buff expires or is depleted, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken from the buff. Shares a cooldown with other Guard skills.Base duration is 3.00 seconds This Skill's Cooldown does not recover during its effect Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour 75% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to 10% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 5000 Reflects (100-3000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage when Buff expires or is depleted Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. could be applied multiple times via Spell Echo.
1.1.0d	Vaal Skill soul counts were initially balanced for Merciless difficulty, where there are more monsters. We want them to be easier to use in Normal and Cruel difficulty. We have halved the number of souls required for each skill. In Cruel difficulty, skills require 50% more souls to uses. In Merciless difficulty, they require 100% more (which is the same as before the patch).
1.1.0b	Fixed a bug with damage feedback on Vaal Molten ShellVaal Molten ShellSpell, AoE, Duration, Fire, Physical, Vaal, Guard Level: (1-20) Cooldown Time: 0.50 sec Can Store 1 Use(s) Souls Per Use: 50 Can Store 1 Use(s) Soul Gain Prevention: 14 sec Cast Time: InstantRequires Level 4Applies a buff that raises your armour, and takes some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Each second, the skill deals reflected damage to surrounding enemies based on the damage taken by the buff in that second. When the buff is removed, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken by the buff. You cannot have the buff at the same time as any other Guard skill.Base duration is 9.00 seconds Modifiers to Skill Effect Duration also apply to this Skill's Soul Gain Prevention Buff grants +(50-858) to Armour (35-39)% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield Buff can take Damage equal to 20% of your Armour, up to a maximum of 10000 Reflects (300-9000)% of Damage taken from Buff as Fire Damage each second, or when Buff expires or is depleted Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality: (1-20)% increased Skill Effect DurationCorruptedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket..
1.1.0	Introduced to the game.