Goodness I've finally reached level 96 after weeks of being forever 95.
Last month of Heist. I've around 12 Exalted, One Alternate Chain Support Gem levelling up so I can switch it as soon as it hit level 20.
Whatever I can do to make my build better? I looked for helmet with the right enchantment but so far those are out of my budget and so are the Awakened gems I haven't bought yet.
My attempts at going Cluster was a failure so while I'm still open to try it again, I'll like to have a more precise guideline on what to do with them.
"
bananacandy98 wrote:
Edit: Nvm, just defeated him.
Edit2: *them
I've got the Contract today while Heisting. How difficult are they?
Last edited by ArionAthreides#0856 on Dec 6, 2020, 1:41:51 PM
I went through the acts and finished at level 73 and I think I am done. I just don't have it in me to monkey around with my gear to get resistance capped. I have some currency, no chaos as I spent it all on a trigger wand, and some gear that is workable through act 10 if anyone is in need. I would like to dump it all to someone who can then send it off to another when they are done with the acts. The trigger wand is such a huge quality of life thing to have, it was brutal to have to cast desecrate and bone offering manually.
Made it through with 9 deaths, most of those came in the damn labyrinths which I was reminded are entirely joyless and I hope they cease to exist at some point.
With this guide I want to provide a simple & balanced caster build for beginners and veterans
that is fun and easy to play, scales well into endgame and has as few restrictions as possible.
It's not the strongest caster build out there, but it perfectly fits the niche I want it to be in.
Instead of just showcasing a build, this guide is made to be a comprehensive learning experience.
There's many indepth explanations and links to various wiki pages for new players to understand.
I've tried to keep it short, but some things just can't be explained properly with only a few words.
While I like the current setup, it has two main issues: the Necromancer + corpses setup is not very intuitive for a new player, and its damage is fairly hard to scale for a new player.
So i've worked out a new setup, based on ideas that previously didn't work out so well but became viable through new additions to the game. It's way more straightforward, lots of the BiS-gear are unique items and the damage potential is about 3x higher.
The downside is that it can't be as tanky as a properly built Archmage Necromancer, but it'll still be better than previous Elementalist versions of the build. It also won't be a SSF build any longer, which probably isn't much of a problem given that this guide is meant for new players.
Changelog
‣ 19th November 2020: added Plans for 3.13
Only showing the newest change, you can find the full changelog here!
Art done by sk_gunoo! _________________________________________________________________________
Path of Building is a tool that lets you fully plan characters from scratch, check out other peoples setups or import your own character to check DPS & defenses or compare potential upgrades.
I know that some people jump straight to the PoB without ever reading the guide, which often leads to failure and is then blamed on the build. Don't be that person!
I've invested lots of time into this guide and find it very rude when people just disregard that
and ask about things that are already well explained. This unfortunately keeps happening.
Here's an alternative build version using Hierophant and Unleash for those who want to try something different. It starts out stronger than the witch, but eventually falls behind in both damage and survivability as your gear improves.
+ smooth gameplay & progression + cheap & fully SSF-capable + can get really tanky + capable to do all bossfights - boss DPS is a bit lacking - can't run all mapmods
Main Mechanics in this Build
‣ Chaining: Arc is a lightning-based spell with the ability to chain from monsters and destroyable objects, even around corners and out of your line of sight! Each time it chains, it will also split to
a second nearby enemy from where it can't chain further. The amount of times Arc can chain depends on its gem level and can be increased by enchantments.
‣ Mana: By default, mana is used to cover skill costs and -reservation. This build however couples heavy mana investment with several gems and keystones for various offensive and defensive purposes. Mind over Matter redirects 30% of the damage we take to our life to mana instead while the Agnostic spends mana to heal our life back to full, the gems will be covered later in the guide. This makes our mana investment very efficient and augments the value of the base 6 mana we gain per level, but it also creates a high demand for sustain beyond the base 1.8% of mana being regenerated per second which we mostly cover through our ascendancy, flasks and passives.
‣ Block: Another defensive layer which comes in two ways, Chance to Block Attacks and Chance to Block Spells, each with a base cap of 75%. Blocking hits prevents all damage and status effects except for stun, however non-hitbased damage over time can't be blocked. While we won't reach the block cap, it's still enough damage prevention coupled with some ways to heal us on block.
‣ Elemental Overload: This keystone provides a 40% more damage multiplier in exchange for removing all critical strike multiplier, with the condition to crit atleast once within 8 seconds.
While the damage potential is lower compared to scaling crits, the damage is also way more consistent and only takes small investment, which allows us to invest more heavily into mana.
‣ Spiritual Aid: A notable that applies all stats with the wording "Minions deal #% increased Damage" and "Minions deal #% reduced Damage" to our damage. This gives some more liberties while gearing and makes said stat from our ascendancy not go to waste. Note that minion damage stats with different wording, such as "Golems deal #% increased Damage", "Minions deal #% more Damage" or "Minions deal # to # additional Lightning Damage" won't apply to us!
Here's a small collection of generic advice for newer players:
‣ Information: Knowledge is a strong skill in Path of Exile, and it helps to know where to find it. First there's the ingame Help Panel, which you can reach through its icon next to your skillbar.
The Path of Exile Wiki should be your first stop for further information, poedb for plain data.
Lastly, Engineering Eternity has a youtube channel with lots of informative videos.
‣ Lootfilter: You will soon realize that there's lots of redundant loot in this game, a good Lootfilter reduces screen clutter and highlights potentially valuable or important drops. Neversink's Filter is always a good start and you can further customize it at Filterblade.
‣ Flasks: Unlike most ARPG's, this game is directly balanced around using all your flasks.
This goes beyond the typical life & mana flasks that you're probably used to from other games, during your act progression you'll gain access to various utility flasks which grant powerful buffs. Flasks can also be crafted, but it's not needed until maps so i've kept it for their own flask section. For now, focus on keeping your life & mana flasks updated, get all utility flasks from quests when mentioned and try to get a feeling for your flask usage.
‣ Crafting: Gear can be enhanced in various ways through crafting and recipes, while the latter can also create currency used for crafting. You outlevel gear pretty quickly during act progression, so it's not advised to invest too much at this point. Limit it to Orbs of Transmutation, Orbs of Augmentation, Orbs of Alteration, Chromatic Orbs and various Essences you can find for now,
use Jeweller's Orbs and Orbs of Fusing only on useful gear you've looted. Try to focus on intelligence-based gear for an easier time to get the right colors.
‣ Crafting Bench: After unlocking your first hideout, you'll gain access to the Crafting Bench.
This can be used to craft a targeted affix on gear, if it isn't already there and has a slot available. Use it to craft any damage affixes, Life, Attributes or Elemental Resistances missing on your gear.
Recipes need to be found first, the Crafting Bench tells you all undiscovered recipe locations.
‣ Trading: You can freely trade with other players if you have a Lv25+ char and aren't in SSF. Path of Exile's own trading site is good for buying gear, poemap is convenient for bulk map trades. If you want to sell something, you either need premium stash tabs, set up a shop in the trade subforums or use Acquisition. For pricechecks, look for similar stuff on the trade site, check poe.ninja or use Awakened POE Trade.
‣ Stash Tabs: The default stash space is pretty limited, if you like the game and are able to, consider buying more stash tabs. Getting a Currency- and Map Tab is highly recommended, Premium Tabs make trading easier and if you want, a Quad Tab makes a good dump tab.
Purchased tabs are account-wide, you won't lose them when temporary leagues end.
There's also a stash tab sale weekend each month, wait for that if you're not in a rush.
Full Leveling Section
Your journey through the ten acts can be seen as an extensive tutorial, slowly confronting you with the majority of game mechanics and increasingly more difficult enemies to learn to counter.
This section will help you while playing through the ten acts and shows the recommended
passive tree progression, gem setups, quest progression and exp farming zone for each act.
The passive tree goals are just a pointer, it's not a big deal if you're over- or underleveled.
Keep in mind that this section includes major storyline spoilers, if you care about that.
‣ Kill the Zombie, pick up Fireball and switch left-click to move-only
‣ Get Arcane Surge from Large Chest and kill Hillock
‣ Buy Spark from Nessa, link it with Arcane Surge and throw away Fireball
‣ Check vendors for Boots with Movement Speed and a second Wand
‣ Get the Coast Waypoint, kill Hailrake on Tidal Island and get Quicksilver Flask in town
‣ Finish your quest in Mud Flats and Enter Submerged Passage
‣ Get the Waypoint, look for Flooded Depths and kill the Dweller of the Deep
‣ Get Orb of Storms, Frostblink and Skillpoint in town
‣ Orb of Storms provides extra damage while you cast Lightning Spells within its radius
‣ Set Orb of Storms to "attack without moving" (left-click icon in skillbar)
‣ Enter Prison, get Added Lightning Damage in town and link it to Spark + Arcane Surge
‣ Check vendors for any item with 3-linked blue sockets if needed for above
‣ Craft two wands with this recipe: Magic-rarity Wand + Topaz Ring + Orb of Alteration
‣ If needed, the recipe for Topaz Rings is Iron Ring + Green Skill Gem
‣ Start looking out for 2x Sapphire Rings
‣ Similar to above, the recipe for Sapphire Rings is Iron Ring + Blue Skill Gem
‣ Complete Trial of Ascendancy in Lower Prison
‣ Kill Brutus, then get Clarity and Flame Dash in town
‣ Replace Frostblink with Flame Dash and set it to "attack without moving"
‣ Progress to Ship Graveyard and get the Waypoint
‣ Look for Ship Graveyard Cave, get Allflame then get Cavern of Wrath Waypoint
‣ Travel to Ship Graveyard Waypoint and kill Fairgraves
‣ Go to town to get Skillpoint and Arc
‣ Replace Spark with Arc and set it to "attack without moving"
‣ Equip Sapphire Rings and kill Merveil
‣ Once in town, enter the Old Fields first
‣ Start looking out for 2x Topaz Rings
‣ If needed, the recipe for Topaz Rings is Iron Ring + Green Skill Gem
‣ Look for the Den, kill Great White Beast and get second Quicksilver in town
‣ Continue to Crossroads and get Waypoint
‣ Enter Chamber of Sins, complete Trial of Ascendancy on Level 2 and kill Fidelitas
‣ Get Herald of Thunder and Arcane Cloak
‣ Go back to Crossroads, enter Broken Bridge and kill Kraityn
‣ Back to Crossroads once more, enter Fellshrine Ruins and Crypt
‣ Complete Trial of Ascendancy in Crypt
‣ Back to town, enter Riverways and get the Waypoint
‣ Go to Western Forest, get Waypoint, kill Alira and Captain Arteri
‣ Look for Weaver's Chambers and kill Weaver
‣ Get Elemental Focus and link it to Orb of Storms
‣ Go back to Lioneye's Watch and get Skillpoint
‣ Go back to Riverways and follow the small dirt path to Wetlands
‣ Kill Oak, get Wetlands Waypoint and get two Skillpoints in town
‣ Make your way to the Ancient Pyramid, equip Topaz Rings and kill Vaal Oversoul
Start looking out for 4-linked Intelligence-based gear. You can also craft new wands with the same recipe as before, but this time the wands and rings need to have atleast item level 20 and the rings need to be rare - spare Essences can be used for this. To check item level, activate "Show Advanced Mod Descriptions" in Options and hold ALT while hovering the item.
‣ Focus on having 75% Cold-, Fire- and Lightning Resistance from now on
‣ Kill the Blackguards in City of Sarn and enter town
‣ Go to Slums, enter Crematorium, finish Trial of Ascendancy and kill Piety
‣ Get Sewer Key in town and go back to Slums
‣ Enter Sewers, get Waypoint, find three busts and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Get Marketplace Waypoint and finish Trial of Ascendancy in Catacombs
‣ Enter Battlefront, get Waypoint and kill Captain Aurelianus
‣ Go to Docks and get Thaumetic Sulphite
‣ Back to Battlefront, enter Solaris Temple and talk to Lady Dialla
‣ Destroy the Undying Blockade in Sewers
‣ Enter Ebony Barracks, get Waypoint and kill General Gravicius
‣ Enter Lunaris Temple, kill Piety and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Get Imperial Gardens Waypoint and finish Trial of Ascendancy
‣ Go to Library and finish Siosa's quest
‣ You can now buy all unlocked gems at Siosa (currency needs to be in inventory!)
‣ Throw away Herald of Thunder and the Added Lightning Damage linked to Arc
‣ Move Arcane Surge from Arc to Arcane Cloak
‣ Get Increased Duration and link it to Arcane Cloak
‣ Get Lightning Penetration and Archmage and link them to Arc
‣ Get Second Wind and link it to Flame Dash
‣ Archmage will eat through your mana, it's a good idea to use two mana flasks now
‣ Enter the Sceptre of God and kill Dominus
‣ Enter the Dried Lake, kill Voll and enter the Mines
‣ Free Deshret's Spirit in Mines Level 2, progress to Crystal Veins and get Waypoint
‣ Get skillpoint and Sigil of Power in town and replace Orb of Storms with it
‣ Throw away Elemental Focus that was linked to Orb of Storms
‣ Get Increased Duration from Siosa and link it to Sigil of Power
‣ Complete the first Labyrinth, you can enter it through the Sarn Encampment
‣ Read up on the Lord's Labyrinth and Izaro to get an idea what's going on
‣ After finishing the Labyrinth, ascend to Necromancer and get Essence Glutton
‣ Get Desecrate from Siosa and keep it Lv1
‣ Get Spell Cascade in Act 1 and link it to Desecrate
From now on, start each bossfight by casting Desecrate then use Sigil of Power, then Arcane Cloak and then burst the boss down with Arc while standing inside the Sigil radius. Repeat this procedure from Arcane Cloak onwards if needed.
‣ Go back to Crystal Veins, enter Kaom's Dream and kill Kaom
‣ Now enter Daresso's Dream and kill Daresso
‣ Get Spell Echo in town and link it to Arc
‣ Get Increased Area of Effect and link it to Sigil of Power
‣ Get Cast when Damage taken, then get Wave of Conviction and Tempest Shield from Siosa
‣ Link them together and don't level up either of these gems from now on
‣ Kill Piety in Belly of the Beast, and finally Malachai in the Harvest
‣ Kill Overseer Krow and enter town
‣ Find the Miasmeter in Control Blocks and kill Justicar Casticus
‣ Get Silver Flask and Skillpoint in town
‣ Replace a Mana Flask with Silver Flask and try to roll of Staunching on it
‣ Make your way to Templar Courts, kill Avarius and get any unique jewel in town
‣ Get Ruined Square Waypoint, kill Utula and get Assassin's Haste in town
‣ Keep this jewel for now and use it once getting the first jewel socket
‣ Finish the quest in Reliquary and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Look for the Sign of Purity in Ossuary
‣ Kill Kitava on Cathedral Rooftop
‣ You will suffer a permanent -30% resistance penalty after this fight
‣ Clear the Twilight Strand to unlock Lilly as Skillgem Vendor
‣ Get to Mud Flats and kill the Dishonored Queen
‣ Enter Karui Fortress, kill Tukohama and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Use Soul of Tukohama
‣ Finish Trial of Ascendancy in Prison and kill Shavronne
‣ Enter Prisoner's Gate, kill Abberath and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Get Riverways Waypoint
‣ Enter Wetlands, kill Puppet Mistress and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Light the Beacon and kill the Brine King
‣ Use Soul of the Brine King
Start looking out for a shield to replace one weapon. Once you've found a good one, get Tempest Shield from Lilly, link it to the Cast when Damage taken setup and don't level it up.
‣ Find the Silver Locket in Broken Bridge and get Granite Flask in town
‣ Replace your low item level Quicksilver Flask with Granite Flask
‣ Enter Crossroads, get Waypoint then enter Crypt through Fellshrine Ruins
‣ Finish Trial of Ascendancy and find Maligaro's Map
‣ Go back to Crossroads and enter Chamber of Sins
‣ Kill Maligaro in Maligaro's Sanctum
‣ Finish Trial of Ascendancy in Chamber of Sins Level 2 and enter the Den
‣ Make your way to Ashen Fields and kill Greust, then get Skillpoint in town
‣ Get Northern Forest Waypoint and enter Dread Thicket
‣ Collect all Fireflies and kill Gruthkul, then get Skillpoint in town
‣ Find Kishara's Star in Causeway and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Get the Vaal City Waypoint, enter Temple of Decay and go back to town
‣ Finish the second Labyrinth and get Mistress of Sacrifice
‣ Get Bone Offering, use it occasionally together with Desecrate for more defenses
‣ Get back to the Temple of Decay and kill Arakaali
‣ Enter the Toxic Conduits and kill Doedre
‣ Go for Quay first, find Ankh of Eternity, kill Tolman and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Kill the Gemling Legionnaires in Grain Gate and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Enter Solaris Temple, get Sun Orb then enter Solaris Concourse and get Waypoint
‣ Go back to Doedre's Cesspool and go for the Grand Promenade now
‣ Get Bath House Waypoint and finish Trial of Ascendancy
‣ Enter High Gardens, kill Yugul and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Enter Lunaris Temple through Lunaris Concourse and get Moon Orb
‣ Go to Harbour Bridge and kill Solaris & Lunaris
‣ Find the Storm Blade in Vastiri Desert and speak to Petarus & Vanja in town
‣ Look for a blocked entrance in Vastiri Desert
‣ Go to town, talk to Sin and then to Petarus & Vanja
‣ Kill Shakari and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Get Foothills Waypoint, enter Boiling Lake and get Basilisk Acid
‣ Enter the Tunnel and finish Trial of Ascendancy
‣ Get Quarry Waypoint, enter Refinery and get Trarthan Powder
‣ Go back to Quarry and kill Garukhan and get Sekhema Feather
‣ Go to town and give the feather to either Tasuni or Irasha, get Skillpoint
‣ Enter Belly of the Beast and kill the Depraved Trinity
‣ Go left on Cathedral Rooftop and kill Plaguewing
‣ Now go right, enter the Ravaged Square and go south
‣ Enter the Control Blocks, kill Vilenta and get Skillpoint in town
‣ Optionally find the Teardrop in Reliquary
‣ Go back to Ravaged Square and get its Waypoint in the upper part
‣ Enter Ossuary and complete Trial of Ascendancy
‣ Get to Desecrated Chamber through Torched Courts and kill Avarius
‣ Finish the third Labyrinth and get Plaguebringer
‣ Enter the Canals and make your way to the final bossfight
‣ You will suffer another permanent -30% resistance penalty after this fight
‣ Talk to Lani for two Skillpoints
‣ Find Kirac in the Templar Laboratory and finish his quest
‣ Now it's time to look at the second part of this guide!
‣ Gear up for endgame and switch to the endgame gem setup
‣ If you lack currency, run Currency Delve nodes and/or start doing the Chaos Orb recipe
Hey, I'm currently playing this build in Mayhem League. It is rough as certain events can just rek you (like torment on certain mobs), but so far the build is doing ok. I'm level 88 and this is my gear. (I know the flasks need to be adjusted)
I have one question. I want to upgrade my armour now, so I would either craft something from this (both ilvl 86 amd 85):
Or get an Shroud of the Lightless. Was Shroud of the Ligthless discussed before? Is it worth the trouble to craft a proper Shaper or Hunter base armour over a Shroud which just needs to be 5-linked?
If it is worth crafting, I can either go with a shaper base or a hunter base. Getting an Awakaner's Orb will be probably impossible in just one week, or I will pay a fortune. So is it better to get the Hunter Offerings mod or the Shaper mods?
This is my first time playing this build since a long time, it has completely changed. So any help is appreciated!
By the way, a Thread of Hope is also veeeery expensive, so I might have to skip that. Is that a problem?
Another question: How does this build get to 1 million dps? My Arc tooltip dps currently is at 67.000, and my gear is pretty endgame-ready. So what do I improve to get another 950k dps? :D
Last edited by goozaan#1433 on Dec 7, 2020, 6:41:02 PM
By the way, a Thread of Hope is also veeeery expensive, so I might have to skip that. Is that a problem?
Another question: How does this build get to 1 million dps? My Arc tooltip dps currently is at 67.000, and my gear is pretty endgame-ready. So what do I improve to get another 950k dps? :D
I can't answer all your questions but:
Thread of Hope - needed to get sufficient points for cluster jewels which are probably also going to be impossible to get so I would skip it.
DPS on tooltip isn't accurate, or at least isn't what is referenced by 1m DPS, what they're talking about is POB. The tooltip on mine in Heist, without having cast any spells but with Wrath on is only 220k but in POB it is 4m Sirus. That is with many, many, hours of playtime and thus significant currency input of several hundred exalts in gear to get there.
I got less incentive on Mayhem due to Void League, so I went back to Heist to try the existing build.
For science, I switched my tanky setup to more aggressive setup by replacing a ring that seems good:
with Essense Worm:
And I finally realized how important a higher DPS helps. With Essence Worm + Wrath, my trade-off is:
* +23% absolute DPS
* -7% absolute Life (3851 --> 3581)
* -2% absolute Mana
* -5.3% absolute EHP (life + MOM + Arcane Cloak)
The life drop looks huge, but it is tricky, because relative ratio is not huge, and actual EHP drop is smaller. That comparison gave me more confidence for the switch.
I also had to sacrifice Chaos Resistance (-33%), and also realized that it is useless if mobs are killed early.
---
Some examples:
* with higher DPS we can kill map mobs easier without them hitting us at all
* with higher DPS some bosses just get melted
* one funny example is Hunter: previously I found it quite annoying to catch it, now can just kill it without any snakes spawned
---
Cinderswallow is also nice quality change. For people who hasn't try this: highly recommend! Its combination of long duration + pseudo life/mana leech + onslaught is enjoyable. We can just jump into mobs and 'leech' those life/mana back.
Small bonus: with Storm Brand as secondary skill, and some fire spell damage, watching mobs burnt by green wildfire is also interesting experience.
For this build, we don't really need to buy the most expensive version (increase critical strike unveiled mod is nice, but if we already trigger EO, this mod is waste of money), something cheap like below is good enough.
Last edited by billybob630#2960 on Dec 8, 2020, 5:57:24 PM
By the way, a Thread of Hope is also veeeery expensive, so I might have to skip that. Is that a problem?
Another question: How does this build get to 1 million dps? My Arc tooltip dps currently is at 67.000, and my gear is pretty endgame-ready. So what do I improve to get another 950k dps? :D
I can't answer all your questions but:
Thread of Hope - needed to get sufficient points for cluster jewels which are probably also going to be impossible to get so I would skip it.
DPS on tooltip isn't accurate, or at least isn't what is referenced by 1m DPS, what they're talking about is POB. The tooltip on mine in Heist, without having cast any spells but with Wrath on is only 220k but in POB it is 4m Sirus. That is with many, many, hours of playtime and thus significant currency input of several hundred exalts in gear to get there.
However, the most important question for me is, is the Shroud of the Lightless an OK endgame armor and can compete with a crafted hunter/shaper one?
I got myself a Thread of Hope large. If I find time i gonna roll some cluster jewels and try that out.
Last edited by goozaan#1433 on Dec 8, 2020, 12:37:57 PM
