[3.8] Gilly's Storm Burst + Cast while Channelling + Arc Trickster | Deathless Uber Elder | SSF(HC)

The fundamental idea of the build is to be lightning focused with Storm Burst. There's quite a few Storm Burst builds out there, but I wanted to put my spin on it. So I decided to try Cast while Channelling with Arc. While Arc did indeed get nerfed, it's still a decent skill and it helps with clearing maps.

The idea is to have Arc consistently shock enemies and help clear maps while Storm Burst does all the damage. It takes about two seconds to ramp up Storm Burst and start melting bosses. Storm Burst works by channeling the skill obviously, and the longer we channel the more balls that will appear and explode, kind of like Blade Vortex or Summon Raging Spirit. So, that’s why we take increased skill effect duration nodes on the passive tree thus increasing the damage output of Storm Burst.

Here's my video that gives a quick fundamental rundown of everything incase you prefer to watch rather than read: https://youtu.be/KZnIl_GcOxg

I found Arc to feel better because of the adds phase. The video includes my footage of the Uber Elder Kill - ignore my babyrage during the fight. Just a disclaimer, for the boss kill videos I wasn't using Arc. I was testing out the Efficacy gem and didn't even switch out the Cast while Channelling gem, essentially I ran a 5-link. If that doesn't speak to the power and magnitude of the skill, I don't know what will!

27/04/2019 - Deathless Uber Elder kill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E25Msr9k5y8

Shaper kill: https://youtu.be/DygQwVieA6U

FirstUber Elder kill:https://youtu.be/G4sIU3UL7LA

+ High Effective HP.
+ Can do Phys Reflect maps.
+ Can do No Life/Mana regen maps.
+ Life and Energy Shield Leech with Blind and Taste of Hate combined help with survivability and sustain.
+ Can be budget friendly.
+ Plenty of mobility allowing you to zoom through areas.
+ Insane single-target damage.


- Can't do Ele Reflect maps.
- Uber Atziri has 2% inherit reflect, so it's easy to kill yourself on the boss. Still killable, just annoying.
- Semi-Flexible gearing options.
- Can get destroyed by Chaos Damage and any DoT's like Ignite can be nasty.
- Not the most zoom clear speed

Here's the link for Path of Building build: https://pastebin.com/8m7ngbrX

For just the passive tree I've inserted it here: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.6.3/AAAABAYCAASzBUIG5wceCPQJIA5ID8QRLRGWFr8aOBu0HNwdgx9BIAYgaCL0JpUnLyj6KgsrCCycMFsw-DLRM2w1kjlJOtg7fD8nQYdBlkVHSVFKyEyDTeNVS1ltWfNd8l-YYeJqQ2qMbAttGW6qcFJw1HGFcg90gXvDfIN_xoCzgh6Cm4LHhTKJ04qvjDaPGo_6kBGQVZFHkyeVLphToS-iAKKjotmkBaZXrJetO67_sNi1SLXytzi3PriTuMq5k7zqvorAZsHzwwnIFMt_0PXVpti92rnbC9_z42Lr7uv18NXyHfJF8o71b_X6-aT56P4K_o8=

For the Leveling Skill Trees, you can find them under the Leveling section.

Our damage setup is:
6 link: Storm Burst + Cast While Channelling + Arc + Energy Leech Support + Infused Channelling. Our 6th link comes from Shroud of the Lightless which gives us a level 20 Elemental Penetration (basically a level 20 Lightning Penetration).

If you're not using a Shroud of the Lightless then I would recommend using Lightning Penetration as the sixth link.

5 link: Storm Burst + Cast While Channelling + Arc + Energy Leech Support + Infused Channelling

4 link: Storm Burst + Cast While Channelling + Arc + Infused Channelling

For mobility we use two different skills
Our first is:
Shield Charge + Blood Magic + Faster Attacks
This setup allows us to zoom around the map faster and get out of danger.

The second is:
Flame Dash + Faster Casting + Blood Magic
This allows us to traverse over areas in which Shield Charge fails to do so.

Our Auras are:
Herald of Thunder + Wrath + Zealotry + Enlighten.
Enlighten level 3 in conjunction with the two unique rings, Circle of Regret, with the mod 'Herald of Thunder has #% reduced mana reservation' allows us to run all three auras. This will mean our mana is zero, which is why we use the Blood Magic gems for our movement skills.
Do note that the gloves we use provide a +1 bonus to Wrath and Herald of Thunder.

For helping defensives:
Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Wave of Conviction.
Wave of Conviction is a nice added bonus, and because of increased duration it more than often stretches far enough to hit targets and expose them to lightning damage, so it's an added bonus.

Our final defensive setup:
Orb of Storms + Increased Duration + Blind + Onslaught
Orb of Storm is pretty crucial to our build as it provides so utility. It blinds enemies while also giving us the Onslaught buff.
Some people may prefer to use Storm Brand over Orb of Storms, but Orb of Storms felt more reliable as it attacks a range of targets instead of just one.

Leveling Gem setup:


Leveling Gear:


Leveling Passive Tree:

Ascendancies: I went with Ghost Dance -> Escape Artist -> Harness the Void -> Swift Killer.

Bandits: We're helping Alira to help out with resist and also give us extra crit multi. Mana regen is useless.

Pantheon: Both Soul of Lunaris and Soul of Solaris are solid choices for our major God pantheon choice. I went with Lunaris since we rely a lot on dodging and evasion already so it's a nice added boost.

Our minor God pantheon selection is Tukohama, since we're stationary while we cast Storm Burst, this is a great fit for our build.

For those of you interested in SSF. It went extremely well, I was surprised at the potential this had. I played during the Flashback league and opted to do HCSSF as a test. Unfortunately I did die, but I was just starting to creep into Red Maps, and could comfortably clear those maps. We also slightly change our gem setup to include Increased Duration instead of Lightning Penetration as this frees up a lot of passive nodes since getting access to Might of the Meek is a bit difficult in SSF.

Missing is my chest armour which was an Inpulsa 5-link (I got really lucky.) I destroyed it for memes, but a Tabula Rasa's is fine (I gave up trying to farm one).

At some point you'll want to refund Quick Recovery and take either another jewel node either above Witch or between Shadow/Witch, or Cruel Preparation head towards Blood Drinker. Whatever you prefer and need.
Path of Building link: https://pastebin.com/9egzZUEf

Passive Tree link: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.6.5/AAAABAYCAASzBUIG5wceCPQJIA5ID8QRLRGWFm8Wvxo4G7Qc3B2DH0EgBiBoIvQkqiaVJy8o-ioLKwgsnDBbMPgy0TNsNZI26TlJOtg64Tt8QYdBlkVHRZ1JUUmxTINN41NSVUtZ81q5XfJh4maeakNqjGwLbRlwUnDUcYVyD3SBfIN_xoIegpuCx4UyidOLDow2jxqP-pBVkyeVLphTmuCiAKKjotmkBaZXrJetO67_sNi1SLc4tz64k7jKuZO86sBmwfPDCcgUy3_Q9dWm18_Yvdq52wvf8-Ni42rr7uv174jwH_DV8h3yRfKO9W_1-vk3-aT56PrS_gr-jw==

Storm Burst orbs deal damage over a selected area. The spell deals damage when it's created and each time it jumps around (which is every 0.4 seconds). The orb will explode at the end of its duration resulting in more damage. Each orb has a base duration of 1.2 seconds.

The sweet spot without sacrificing gem links or investing too much gear for us 2 seconds. Another option if you want to go further is to hit 2.4 duration, though that might require sacrificing a gem link to achieve. To achieve the 2.0 second duration we need at least 67% increased duration. This means going down to the Scion area is an absolute requirement for this build.

Why do we want 2 seconds? Because it's not that hard to achieve, and remember the balls jump every 0.4 seconds - meaning two more jumps of doing damage to our target. That's a 50% increase in damage.

Going down to Scion and grabbing the two different skill effect duration nodes gives us 75% increased skill effect duration (assuming you're using Might of the Meek). That means our orb duration is now 2.1 seconds.

If you want to achieve the 2.4 second duration then grab some boots with Increased Duration (another 15%) and replace Infused Channelling for Efficacy. This would bring the total increased skill effect duration to 106% which is roughly 2.5 seconds.

I didn't do this in my original setup because I liked the added survivability Infused Channelling provided. I probably wouldn't recommend going out of your way to do this though, as finding the boots might be a bit of a pain, and Infused Channelling is such a great skill already. Just stick with the skill effect duration nodes on the passive tree with Might of the Meek and you're good to go!

14/09/2019 Since Synthesis encounters were readded into the core mechanic game, the Circle of Regret rings are now obtainable and up for sale on the market too!

17/06/2019 Hey my dudes, sorry for the lack of update. Not much has changed. Trickster got hit with a bit of a nerf, but the build will still run fine. And with the new Legion mechanic, our arc/vaal arc will dumpster large packs of those Legion mobs.

27/05/2019 Changed the Pantheon setup. No longer using Soul of the Brineless King as Escape Artist makes us immune to stuns because Ghost Shroud charges are always up and recharging. I've also put up the SSF section which is primarily the same as non-SSF with some adjustments.

30/04/2019 We've done a slight tweak to the build. So you'll find changes here and there thorughout the forum post. We're no longer taking Weave the Arcane, we now take Swift Killer as the final ascendancy. And, we're using Blood Magic instead of Fortify with our Shield Charge skill. The same applies for our Flame Dash skill, we are replacing Enhance with Blood Magic. We no longe use Power Charge on Critical in the Orb of Storms setup because of the new ascendancy nodes we take, instead replace it with Increased Duration gem.

27/04/2019 - Uploaded Deathless Uber Elder video