SlightRedeye - Elemental Incinerate. HC, New league and Self-Found build.

The damage was recorded using a level 17 Added Cold, level 19 GMP and level 19 Spell Echo.
Once the gems are leveled I expect a 160k shotgun.

(Use a Cloak of Flame, I just happen to have a 4-off colour perfect legacy Coil from my 1.1.0 build.)

Level 76, 4k life, 60k shotgun (4L), Acro, lvl 12 AA and 79% resistances. 179 mana/s regen.

Bandit Quests: Oak - Skill Point - Skill Point

Level 1-30 - http://poeurl.com/y8CIHaW

Pick up Life on the tree, level as Tendril's or Flameblast.

As soon as you can, complete the recipe for +1 to Gems with a Scepter/Wand. (Magic Weapon + Alteration Orb + Ring)

Try to cap resistances as best you can with gear.

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Level 31-50 - http://poeurl.com/y8CHU6r

Resists should be capped going into Cruel difficulty.

Gem levels are how you scale your damage, if you feel weak then farm briefly and level up the gem.

Herald of Lightning is useful, but shouldn't be chosen over Purity of Lightning if resists are not over-capped.

Life on gear is optimal, forget about armour/eva/Grace.

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Level 50-70 - http://poeurl.com/y8CKdBp

Cap resistances before you enter merciless. Farm Docks if you lack gear, Merc Ledge is not worth the risk at 35% resists.

If you want resists early then take some aura reservation nodes and run two purity auras. If you want more damage, do this also and run both Heralds. Grabbing aura nodes delays life/Acro which are incredibly useful stats that outweigh auras imo.

Run your spell of choice in a 3-linked weapon all the way until level 65+. After level 30 you can run a Blood Magic gem and fully reserve mana for auras. This helps sometimes to gain extra resistances, use Heralds or carry 3 life flasks. 3 Well-rolled life flasks are insanely good early game.

You can transition into Incinerate as soon as you acquire a 4-Linked piece of gear with BBBG colours and can run Clarity on Blood Magic with some mana regen in your gear. Ideally you want to farm until you obtain good rings and all the aura effectiveness nodes in the tree including Inner Force.

Do not run Incinerate on Blood Magic. You will drain too much life, not leech anything and deal less damage. Reserving 500 life is miles better than draining 250/second of it.

Incinerate - Spell Echo - GMP/LMP - Added Lightning, this makes up the 4-Link.

The item mods are in order of importance. Look for an item which has 2 or more of these stats in each gear slot.

Wand/Scepter: Spell Damage > Mana regen > Cast Speed > Mana

Shield: Spell damage > Life > Mana Regen > Resists

Rings: Mana Regen > Life > Resistances

Amulet: Spell Damage > Life > Mana Regen

Gloves: Life > Resists > Strength

Boots: Life > Movement > Resists (Atziri's Step here if possible)

Helmet: Life > Resistances > Strength

Chest: Life > Resists > Evasion > Mana

Gems should be linked in this specific order of importance.

Incinerate - GMP - Spell Echo - Added Lightning - Added Cold - Faster Casting

Clarity - Blood Magic - Reduced Mana

Purity of Lightning - Purity of Fire - Reduced Mana - Temporal Chains

Herald of Ice - Herald of Thunder - Empower - Reduced Mana

Cast when Damage Taken - Enduring Cry - Immortal Call - Arctic Armour

Lightning warp - Reduced Duration - Faster Casting

Quality Added Lightning and Cold gems mean you freeze and shock twice as often. The shattered mobs deal approximately 2k damage per explosion, just killing the first four mobs in a pack results in a chain reaction that helps white mob clear speed noticeably.

Quality Incinerate is the most useful gem you can have.