[2.0] Kinetic Blast Wander | Physical and Elemental | HC Viable [BOTW S4E6]

Hi there. I'll quickly intro myself then explain this build.
I'm Oos, I've been playing Path of Exile for two and a half years, you may have heard of me from a previous guide I made Crit Dagger Capped Block Ranger, the crit reaver got heavily nerfed in 1.3 but it was fun while it lasted.

2.1 Talisman update: I'm not playing a Wander this season, but have updated the thread with some trees. Read the most recent pages for other trees or general discussion. Enjoy.

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Build of the Week S04E06:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3aFnS5A1OI

I've been playing this Kinetic Blast Wander this HC league, I've always enjoyed wanders and Kinetic Blast is extremely strong.
The build is viable in hardcore leagues, getting decent defense, but clears extremely fast and is a great choice for softcore leagues too.

We focus on physical damage, then some of it is added as elemental damage from passive tree nodes and auras. So we do roughly 50/50 phys/ele damage. We stun, shock, freeze and burn everything, even map bosses.
Physical damage is also great for leech, so we utilise leech on gear/tree, we don't need clarity/eb/life leech gem and can sustain our attacks with no mana flasks.
Very fun and flexible build.

If you have any questions then PM me in game @Oos or reply in the thread.

Short GIF of build in action.

Old 2.0 post




Build is better as Ranger now.

Edit 2.1: This tree is how I would build, some nodes are optional and you can also pick up Frenzy charges if you prefer. Do what works for you, or look at the last few pages and see what other people are playing.

Here's a passive guide, I highlight the important nodes, and recommend what to get later.
http://i.imgur.com/g2w4dSl.jpg

For leveling in 2.0, Play EK and/or Searing Bond at the start, the tree works for it. At level 30 you can swap to Twyzel, using KB + LMP + Faster Attacks.

Grab all the HP first, you get some dps nodes along the way but focus on high hp, then get the Acrobatics cluster around 65-70 while starting maps. Then fill out all the dps after, get the Fusillade and Elder Power clusters first to buff your wand.



Frenzy Single Target
Frenzy + Crit Damage + Phys Proj DMG + Faster Attack
Kinetic Blast AOE
Kinetic Blast + GMP + Faster Attacks + Pierce + Power Charge on Crit + Phys Proj DMG
Defense (No Pots)
Defense (Jade + Topaz)



DPS screenshots taken with 6 Power Charges, 5 Frenzy Charges, HoIce, Hatred.
No aura bots, no atziri flask, no tricks etc.

The damage listed is per projectile, and each projectile creates 4 explosions at 75% damage.
A 10k projectile creates 4 explosions at 7500 damage.
(10,000 + (7500 x 4)) x 5 (gmp) = 200,000 shotgun dps per 10k sheet dps.
Basically, to work out potential shotgun dps, get your tooltip and multiply it by 20.


Build of the Week S04E06:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3aFnS5A1OI

New 2.0 Video:
Plateau map (2.0 speed clear)
Mid-level map because I don't play HC anymore and have no maps.
It's obviously capable of all content though, just showing you the build in 2.0

Shipyard 77 map (speed clear)
(49% pack size, desecrated ground, totems, ranged monsters)

Shipyard 77 map
(2 exiles, 44% pack size, 30% phys dmg reduction, curse immune)

Gorge 74 map
(Totems, 34% rare monsters)

2.0 Beta Changes



I've invested a fair amount of currency into my gear, but I'm level 91 and have only just got a 6L chest. I got to 90 with a 5L and worse gear than what's shown. I slowly traded and upgraded piece by piece.
This is just to give you an example of good gear, I obviously had worse gear while leveling and the build still works just fine.





General gear tips:
Aim for more life/mana leech on gear, we're not using life leech gem so all our leech will be from physical damage.
Obviously cap your resistances before starting maps. Aim for high evasion and life on gear too.

For DPS, physical damage roll are very important, they scale from the nodes on the tree, they provide great damage and help us leech too.
Crit chance and crit multi are also very strong. Then for bonus get accuracy and attack speed.
Like all crit builds, the damage will scale exponentially, every small upgrade you get will scale off everything else. Every level and gear upgrade is very noticeable.

Wand:
Required - High physical dps. Local crit chance roll.
Bonus - Elemental dps rolls. Crit multiplier. Attack speed.
Local crit roll is very important for this build. All the other crit from your tree, gear and power charges scaled from the local crit number on your wand. So the difference between a 8% crit wand and a 10% crit wand is huge.

Invest a lot into your wand, it's a very important slot. If you want to get a cheaper wand, look for high physical dps wands with open suffix, then master craft crit yourself (up to 27%).

Imbued Wand is the best base for wanding, due to its 1.5 base attack speed. But any high physical dps 1.35+ speed (and crit) wand will be fine.
Don't use a wand without a local crit roll, I can't emphasise this enough. You're missing out on so much crit without it.



Rough Wand DPS Benchmarks:
I started mapping with a 130 pDPS wand, it's a little low but will be fine for 66-69 maps.
For 68-74 maps 160 pDPS wand will be fine.
For 74+ maps you'll want a good wand, 185+ pDPS recommended, but the sky's the limit.

Invest in a decent 1ex wand at first, like the one I listed above. Then when you're 80+ buy a crazy wand if you enjoy the build and want to take it further.

Shield:
Required - High evasion, life, resistances.
The shield slot has a lot of opportunity to roll high evasion. I'd focus on evasion base, but early game just use whatever has high hp/res.

Amulet:
Required - Life, physical damage roll.
Bonus - Crit chance, crit multiplier, mana/life leech, accuracy, elemental damage rolls.
Amulet is a very important slot for all crit builds. If you want to snipe cheap amulets then search for the stats you want but leave off either life or crit chance, then master craft that mod yourself.

Rings:
Required - Life, physical damage roll.
Bonus - Resistances, accuracy, mana/life leech, attack speed, strength.
Rings are also a great slot of dps, but they can also provide you with leech and high resistances. Focus on getting life and a physical damage roll first.

Chest:
Required - 5L
At first if you don't have much currency, buy a 5L rare/normal evasion chest. This will be fine until you can later upgrade to a unique chest.
Daresso's Defiance is now the prefered chest in 2.0, it allows us to use the old CWDT + Immortal Call setup.
Other options are:
Belly of the Beast (High life)
Lightning Coil (hard to cap resistance but great physical mitigation and a little lightning damage).
Hyrri's Ire (Nice dodge)
Lioneye's Vision (Best in slot DPS for SC, hard to roll correct colours).

Carcass Jack (Good for softcore for increasing clear speed).

Tips for getting a 6L:
So, at 90ish I luckily fused a 6L Belly. The cheapest way to acquire a 6L is to buy a 6s of the chest you want to use, throw fusing into it until it gets a 5L, then sell the 5L and repeat the process.
This takes quite some time. In Bloodlines I have 5L 4 Belly of the Beast, 2 Lightning Coil, 6 Cloak of Defiance using this method. I was making a slight profit on average, then I hit the jackpot and got myself a 6L Belly.
Remember, this takes a long time, you might make profit, you might make a loss (until you get a 6L), but it's the most efficient way to get one (efficient for currency, not time).

Belt:
Required - Life, rustic base, resistances.
Bonus - Weapon elemental damage roll, strength.
Belt is a good slot to pick up any strength you need, and also get a nice damage boost with the rustic base and weapon ele roll.
Option uniques:
Meginord's Girdle is good at the start but when you have better gear a solid rustic belt with WED roll will out perform it.

Helmet:
Required - Life, accuracy, resistances.
Bonus - High evasion.
Helmets can roll accuracy, make sure you take advantage of this.
Optional uniques:
Rat's Nest (great dps, recommended for softcore).

Boots:
Required - Life, resistances, 25-30 move speed.
Bonus - High evasion, strength.
You need high movespeed with this build to kite, especially at lower mapping levels when your damage isn't as crazy.

Gloves:
Required - Life.
Bonus - Attack speed, physical damage, life/mana leech, accuracy.
Gloves can roll T1 attack speed on master craft, so if possible, look for open suffix gloves and craft this yourself.
Optional uniques:
Maligaro's Virtuosity (great crit rolls, just lacks defense. Not recommended because rare gloves can be amazing, but this is a good cheap option).
Thunderfist (put single target in here).

Flasks:

Everyone prefers a different flask setup, but above is what I use.
You need a dispel freeze flask, a curse immune flask, an instant health flask. The rest is up to you really.
Atziri flask or Taste of Hate are good options too.



Kinetic Blast AOE:
Kinetic Blast + Power Charge on Crit + Faster Attacks + Greater Multiple Projectiles
This is all you really need to be successful with the build.
For 5th link I'd add Pierce.
For 6th link I'd add Phys Proj Damage. Other options include Slower Projectiles, Weapon Elemental Damage, (Quality) Accuracy, Life Gain on Hit, Crit Multi (softcore only).
I upgraded to a 6L at around level 90, before that I didn't have any pierce and still cleared great.
Pierce sets off the Kinetic Blast explosions every time it pierces, it's great for clear speed.

Single Target:
Frenzy + Crit Multi + Faster Attacks + Physical Projectile Damage
Frenzy in 2.0 is NUTS. 4% more damage per charge + all other bonuses.
Honestly though, Kinetic Blast is the best single target. I kite rare/boss monsters to a wall, and shotgun them with KB explosions.

Auras:
Hatred + Herald Of Ice.
These are the important auras. Hatred will scale your physical damage, and Herald of Ice increases our clear speed so much. The shatter on kill effect sets off a chain reaction and just pops entire packs, very satisfying.
Link Mana Leech to HoIce for instant full mana every pack killed.

Instead of HoIce you can use Herald of Thunder + Assassin's Mark + Curse on Hit. Then you can drop Power Charge on Crit in your main AOE links.
I prefer having Enfeeble on the monsters but it's up to you.
HoIce on-kill effect is insane though and a huge part of this build, so Hatred + Ice is recommended.

You could possibly drop Hatred for Grace, but it's not really needed.

CWDT:
Because you're evasion based you need a good CWDT setup for scary physical monsters.
Cast When Damage Taken (6) + Immortal Call (7) + Increased Duration (20)
I use a higher level CWDT IC setup than most people, but it ensures a longer IC duration. I'll sometimes drop to half HP but will be immune for 4 seconds. With good pot usage this is never scary.
This was changed in 2.0, it;s no longer free. You have to self cast Enduring Cry or use Daresso's chest to get the old setup back.

Optional:
The rest is up to you really, all personal preference.
I use a Smoke Mine for opening Strongboxes safely.
Lightning Warp for navigating the map easier.
You could also use manual curses, manual Enduring Cry/Immortal Call.
Vaal Haste is also a great option.
Verdanian suggested Frost Wall + Spell Totem + Faster Casting, great for shotgunning bosses/rares.
Up to you what you do with your free gem slots.


Normal - Oak (HP)
Cruel - Kraityn (8% attack speed) or Oak (18% phys damage) [Kraityn recommended]
Merciless - Alira (power charge)


Q: No Jewels?
A: I didn't include them in the main build so that people didn't get confused or take empty nodes. Jewels are VERY strong when rolled correctly and I recommend you use them if you find one worth 2 skill points.

Q: How's Reflect?
A: Ondar's was changed to Arrow Dancing, I don't think it's worth taking anymore, but that's up to you. I tested attacking into the 2.0 reflect, and the Thornflesh mob, it was fine, especially with a Jade flask up.
With good leech, pot usage and evasion, reflect is not an issue.
In hardcore I'd avoid going over 400% crit multiplier, but below that you're safe.

Q: What about Chain?
A: I tested Chain for a few hours, the auto targeting is nice but it really nerfs your damage. Test it out yourself but I feel as though pierce is superior.
Chain would only be more effective with insane top end gear, where the only thing slowing you down is being able to hit a monster with a projectile, chain will auto target for you.

Q: I cant leech enough, why?
A: Mana leech is capped at 12.5% of your total mana per second. If you don't have a large enough mana pool then you may run out of mana.
You may also not be doing enough physical damage yet.
So focus on flat mana rolls on gear, physical damage rolls on gear and get a good wand.
At lower levels you should use a mana/hybrid flask if you need it.

Q: How much does this build cost?
A: I'd suggest having around 3ex to start, you can comfortably get a rare 5L chest, a decent wand and average gear in the rest of your slots for that price. Like all crit builds though, the more you invest, the crazier your clear speed.

Q: Frost Wall?
A: Frost Wall is great, you can shotgun single monsters with it. I tried it out for a while but it just slowed me down, you can kite high HP targets to a wall and shotgun them with Kinetic Blast explosions. But try out Frost Wall for yourself and see what you think.
Another option is Frost Wall + Spell Totem + Faster Casting.

Q: On the way to Elder Power (40% wand dmg), why is it better to get the ele nodes over the physical ones?
A: Those nodes are stronger than the 12% phys damage nodes, they're like mini added fire gems. With all the ele conversion nodes and our auras, we add a lot of our physical damage as elemental, so with the high crit we shock/ignite/freeze most monsters.
If you want to take your damage to the next level you can use Weapon Elemental Gem and scale this even further.

---

I've written so much now, and will probably add more later.
If you have any questions then PM me in game @Oos or reply in the thread.

nice build

"

Aonara wrote:

nice build

Thanks.

I added two videos and some more information about the build. Guide complete.

In non-reflect maps is there any size of reflect pack where you have to pay attention to herald of ice's shatter damage being reflected or have you never really been afraid of herald of ice's on-kill effect killing you from reflect?

"

ShadeFinale wrote:

In non-reflect maps is there any size of reflect pack where you have to pay attention to herald of ice's shatter damage being reflected or have you never really been afraid of herald of ice's on-kill effect killing you from reflect?

I answered it in the FAQ:

"

Q: How's Reflect?
A: With Ondar's Guille reflect is really not an issue, now that my damage is crazy I try to avoid reflect maps but they're manageable. Reflect monsters are no issue.
Ele reflect was a little scary with Weapon Elemental gem. HoIce can also be a little scary in ele reflect maps.
With good leech, pot usage and Ondar's, reflect is not an issue.
In hardcore I'd avoid going over 400% crit multiplier, but below that you're safe.

But I'll expand on it here.
When I got a 6L I tested WED as the 6th gem, giving me a lot of elemental damage. I rolled a ele reflect map (18%) and cleared it without dropping below 50% hp. Honestly though, I wouldn't want to run WED + do reflect maps, but this is only something you should worry about at higher gear levels.

Herald of Ice does take damage down at a faster rate than it's leeched back, this would only be an issue if you were to explode a huge sea witch pack in an ele reflect map (with no potions up). I haven't encountered anything like this yet.

Ondar's Guille + Flasks make reflect a non-issue.
The aura is only 14% reflect.

Some examples from my Shipyard video:
Phys reflect (Jade flask used)
Ele reflect (Jade + Topaz flask used)
Even if you offscreen them without a flask you're safe. I've made it to 90+ playing pretty aggressive in HC and haven't had any scary moments with reflect.

Sorry for rambling on, but I hope that helps.

EDIT: Some people asked, so here it is.

CI Kinetic Blast Build [HC]:







Nice build man, I am playing a CI version on perma HC with 0% chance to evade and 0 Armour. With 615% crit multi I do not even drop a bit from phys or ele reflect as a result of VP + 11% life leech (10% free leech from Blood Rage).

caps my block chance and negates even double reflect. (I dont to phys reflect maps though, just for the safety)

I am not sure if pcoc is worth it. Here and then I manually curse Assassins Mark or use my PS single target attack to generate power charges which is even enough for all boss fights except for Shrine Piety and Palace Domi where pcoc definitely helps. (On curse immune maps I simply use a PS Chain 6L setup.) Using WED/Accuracy/Crit Damage as 6th gem will probably increase clear speed further.


That's my current setup. I messed around with Pierce and Phys Projectile Damage instead of Faster Attacks. Pierce was the worst for me when it comes down to pure clear speed. Phys Proj and Faster Attacks felt equal but I can sustain FA mana wise and I like it more. My AOE tooltip is around 32k with 3 Frenzy Charges and 6 Power Charges.

This build is definitely VERY STRONG and gets even more ridiculous the better your gear gets. It clears faster than any Mjölner Spec because there is simply no delay on your attacks. You shoot, everything dies instanly; Quicksilver; you move on...
It's like a Crit Archer (Harbinger, Windripper) with a shield.

"

Hartree wrote:

Nice build man, I am playing a CI version on perma HC with 0% chance to evade and 0 Armour. With 615% crit multi I do not even drop a bit from phys or ele reflect as a result of VP + 11% life leech (10% free leech from Blood Rage).

caps my block chance and negates even double reflect. (I dont to phys reflect maps though, just for the safety)

I am not sure if pcoc is worth it. Here and then I manually curse Assassins Mark or use my PS single target attack to generate power charges which is even enough for all boss fights except for Shrine Piety and Palace Domi where pcoc definitely helps. (On curse immune maps I simply use a PS Chain 6L setup.) Using WED/Accuracy/Crit Damage as 6th gem will probably increase clear speed further.

That's my current setup. I messed around with Pierce and Phys Projectile Damage instead of Faster Attacks. Pierce was the worst for me when it comes down to pure clear speed. Phys Proj and Faster Attacks felt equal but I can sustain FA mana wise and I like it more. My AOE tooltip is around 32k with 3 Frenzy Charges and 6 Power Charges.

This build is definitely VERY STRONG and gets even more ridiculous the better your gear gets. It clears faster than any Mjölner Spec because there is simply no delay on your attacks. You shoot, everything dies instanly; Quicksilver; you move on...
It's like a Crit Archer (Harbinger, Windripper) with a shield.

Damn, crazy. Can you show your wand?
I tested other gems as my 6L but pierce felt the safest. WED increased my clear speed but with no vaal pact I didn't want to risk it, theres always a low chance you can take some burst damage then pop yourself on reflect after.

As for PCoC, Assasin's Mark is better for clear speed but I prefer having monsters cursed with Enfeeble.
Thanks for sharing though, always nice to see different build variations.

Here he is. Using Enfeeble is definitely a good choice, can't deny that.
I am using Hartred + Herald of Ice, too. It's basically like 20/20 Temp Chains on Hit, everything is frozen and chilled, pretty fun :)
And if you struggle vs bosses I definitely recommend Vaal Haste, it's really helpful

"

Get some elemental nodes in the Shadow area and respec them at 59 when you can equip an Imbued Wand and start wanding properly.

why is it so important for it to be an imbued wand?
wouldn't any wand with 10+ crit and 150+ pdps do the work?

anyway nice guide, thanks

"

Booed wrote:

"

Get some elemental nodes in the Shadow area and respec them at 59 when you can equip an Imbued Wand and start wanding properly.

why is it so important for it to be an imbued wand?
wouldn't any wand with 10+ crit and 150+ pdps do the work?

anyway nice guide, thanks

Oh yeah, I was going to expand on that later. I'll add this to the wand/gear section:
Imbued Wand is the best base for wanding, due to its 1.5 base attack speed. But any high physical dps 1.35+ speed (and crit) wand will be fine.

Thanks :)