[3.7] ielthan’s Fireball Elementalist [Detailed] Long distance AoE farming | Fire n' forget
 I am making a series of guides for this season, including some retakes of already popular builds as well as a few attempts to make some different builds as well. Each guide will follow a similar stylistic setup, with the same level of thoroughness, so you know what quality to expect. My end goal is to create seven guides each season, one for each class, where each build is played and polished to a point where it can be recommended for most, if not all, content in the game. While not necessarily cutting edge, at least to a point where everyone can have fun. The motivation for doing this, is currently because I have a lot of spare time on my hands and intend to spend that time playing Path of Exile. And then it seemed like an obvious idea for me to contribute something to the community as well, and I like writing and explaining. With that being said, my first priority is to have FUN and if i ever stop having fun playing my builds and PoE, then i am simply gonna stop. Though that does not seem likely, and each build i have played this season has been incredible fun. This is my attempt at making a guide for a Fireball/Ignite Elementalist. So far it has been pretty successful and the AoE/ignite combo is amazing to watch. The guide will be updated whenever i manage to progress the character further and if there are good suggestions for change. 
Changelog - 3/7
-3/7-2019: Skills, tree and PoB updated -2/7-2019: Banners updated, skills updated, PoB updated -1/7-2019: Updated current gear and weapon recommendations + video -30/6-2019: Guide uploaded _______________________________________________________________________________________________________  Sometimes the best way to know if a build is something for you, is to see someone play it.
Twitch
I will be streaming most of the process of leveling up this character, so you can see how it works directly here.
Videos
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________  This section contains some short explanations of the mechanics of the build, to give an idea of how it works, as well as a list of the advantages/disadvantages. Personally, this build has been a lot of fun for me, and I think anyone who like explosions, fire and DoT is going to love this build. Not to mention the spread of the flames!
Mechanics
-Ignite: The primary source of damage in this build is the Ignite damage over time(DoT) caused by the Fireball. Ignite burns the enemies for a significant amount of damage over a short duration, and ends up dealing more damage than the hits themselves. -AoE: Or Area of Effect is used extensively in this build to hit as many enemies at once as possible with the core spells. By increasing the AoE of Fireball the clear speed, and thus leveling speed, is greatly increased as more enemies get afflicted by Ignite. -Chain reaction: By utilizing a combination of the above, it is possible to create chains of explosions. With Ignite Proliferation the fire spreads to nearby targets and overkill damage causes an explosion affecting all nearby enemies. So with enough damage, the cast of a single Fireball can cause a chain reaction of exploding and burning enemies. -Vaal: By using Vaal Fireball instead of only a normal Fireball, the clear speed is highly increased. Vaal Fireball shoots out a large amount of fireballs in all directions and is on a cooldown, which is refreshed by killing with the normal Fireball version. By using this version we also won’t need a large amount of cast speed, as we can just use the cooldown to clear around us. For a detailed description of how to play the build and more specifically how the skills interact, see the playstyle section.
Pros and cons
Pros--------------------------------------------- Cons +Fun to watch the explosions -The Vaal usage can feel clunky +Fast leveling -DoT slightly less safe than one shotting +Easy clearing -Initial hit underwhelming compared to DoT +High boss dps -Gem switching for difficult bosses +High sustain -Can feel squishy without regen items +Very cheap to level _______________________________________________________________________________________________________  Path of Building (PoB) is a great tool for making builds and seeing the numbers directly. By displaying percentage wise improvements from each skill point or each item, it is an excellent tool to optimize and understand your builds. Most importantly it makes it possible to share builds, to see how they work in detail. To download PoB follow this link, and choose either the .exe for direct install on windows or the zip file.
Link
The PoB pastebin can be found here. To input it into your own PoB, press the Import/Export Build tab, copy the link address into the Import from Pastebin field, press the button and finally press Import.
Modifications
The skill tree is rather versatile, in that the current build has an all round set of stats. A decent amount of life, energy shield, mana, dodge etc. Thus the tree can easily be modified to a different playstyle by just moving some points around. Some notable options: Eldritch Battery/Mind over Matter: This combo is an option if you want more mitigation in your build. It would come at the cost of less dps, as the points cost would not be worth it if taken from survivability points. Whispers of Doom: The current build has taken the skill point for an additional curse. If this can be gotten from an item instead, those points can be removed and put into more defense (or offense) elsewhere. Alchemist: Alchemist is an excellent option if you want some more effect from your flasks, and if a large portion of your regen or defenses come from flasks, this can be a great option for more of the good stuff. It adds some damage on top, which is nice. Mental Rapidity: For more cast speed these nodes can be a big help, which can be good if you don’t feel that you have trouble clearing the area or stacking up your Vaal Fireball fast enough. If you prefer to use the normal Fireball instead of Vaal, this node is very good. Skittering Runes: These nodes should only be taken if you consistently apply TWO curses, as the nodes are otherwise not worth it. If you prefer not to cast the curses all the time place these points into more cast speed or defenses. Dark Arts: These nodes are also a significant amount of cast speed and more movement speed as well, so if you want a build that feels a lot faster and you think the damage itself is fine, then these nodes are for you. Explosive Impact: Here a significant boost to fire damage can be found, as well as a small amount of AoE. If you prefer more damage instead of defenses, this is a great place to get it.
Notes
I am trying to fill in a range of items, where some can be bought easily while others are expensive, endgame items. For each slot there should be a rare item available, which provides numbers for which stats to aim for and how the build would look with those stats. Generally my aim is to make the build so most item setups can work with it, as long as items scaling with the relevant skills are chosen of course. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________  This section contains links to poeplanner to see the leveling trees directly. They are raw trees, so if you want more information, check the PoB instead. Ascendancies and Pantheons are shortly explained as well.
Leveling trees
In Act 2, kill all the bandits for the additional skill points, as the various bonuses are useless to this build. These trees show what to aim for at each of these levels. Try to pick the direction depending on what you need. If you are close to dying a lot, go for the defensive points next. If you are having a hard time killing monsters, go for more damage. Level 18 Level 38 Level 55 Level 68 Level 100
Ascendancies
The ascendancies should be picked in the order in which they are described below:
Paragon of Calamity: From this note you can get complete immunity to reflected damage! This is great for maps, and especially the corrupted maps you can’t reroll. The damage is negligible as it is a relatively small additive increase. The mitigation can be useful against areas with a lot of elemental damage. But the best part is the life leech, which can be very useful if you still don’t have a lot of regeneration on your gear. It can be a great option for leveling. Shaper of Desolation: This node helps us apply different ailments to the enemies, such as ignite, freeze and shock. We should be at 100% to ignite so it does not do much for us there, but shock increases the damage taken of enemies and freeze stops the enemies in their tracks. We mainly pick this to get to the next node. Beacon of Ruin: Here our ignite dps is increased by 20%, which is the most important part. Damage from shocks is improved with a high baseline and chilling enemies is more effective, which is all good stuff. Liege of the Primordial: The damage from this is rather small, but combined with an additional golem buff it can be decent. The main advantage of this is the possibility of getting an additional utility buff, such as a stone golem, which provides a large amount of regeneration, especially early on. In addition it makes your golems immune to elemental damage, so they are far more likely to survive. There are some alternatives which can be situationally good, and they will be mentioned here: Pendulum of Destruction: From this we get an alternating damage and AoE boost, which somewhat improves our overall damage and AoE. It is important to note that this node is additive, which means that it is a smaller increase in damage than it sounds like, which is why it is set as an alternative. The increased AoE can be nice if you are trying to stack AoE. Mastermind of Discord: Improves the effect of our herald buffs and reduces the cost. It provides fire penetration with Herald of Ash active, which is good for your fireball hits and explosions. But given how it does not work for Ignite, it is set as an alternative.
Pantheons
TL;DR Get Soul of Lunaris and Soul of Shakari Mayor gods Soul of the Brine King: Increased defense against stuns. This is a good choice unless you have a significant amount of stun resistance on your gear. Soul of Lunaris: Reduced physical damage taken and increased movement speed depending on nearby enemies. More dodge later on. Generally this is what i would recommend to reduce damage taken and how fast you can get away from dangerous packs. Soul of Solaris: Reduced damage taken if there is only one nearby enemy. So this is the one to take if you want more defense against bosses, but it should rarely be the physical damage from a boss that kills you in this build. Soul of Arakaali: Reduced damage over time taken. Generally flasks should make you immune to most dangerous types of damage over time, and your regeneration should take care of any remaining. Minor gods Soul of Garukhan: Additional evade if you have taken a savage hit. Viable possibility for additional evade if you are not capped. Soul of Yugul: To my knowledge i don't think there are any monsters which reflect chaos damage and chill/freeze immunity should be covered by a flask, so this does not do much. Soul of Abberath: This can be used situationally if there is a map modifier which is heavy on fire or against certain fire heavy bosses. Soul of Tukohama: Additional physical damage reduction when standing still, which you should not do in this build, so no reason to take this. Soul of Gruthkul: Physical damage reduction for each hit you have taken. This is a viable alternative when clearing. Soul of Ralakesh: Defense against bleeding, which you should be immune to with a flask mod. So no reason to take this. Soul of Ryslatha: Refill of life flasks, which can be useful for very long boss fights without a lot of monsters to kill, but otherwise redundant. Soul of Shakari: Reduced chaos damage taken, which can be good, especially if you are lacking chaos resistance. As a lot of people do, this can make a difference in a decent amount of encounters and thus i would recommend this. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________  In this section the gem links are shown, in addition to some alternatives to the most debatable links. First the setup is shown and for those interested in an explanation of the skills, check the explanation just below.
Gem links
Vaal Fireball: 4-link: Vaal Fireball - Combustion - Ignite Proliferation - Greater Multiple Projectiles 5-link: Vaal Fireball - Combustion - Ignite Proliferation - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Burning Damage 6-link: Vaal Fireball - Combustion - Ignite Proliferation - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Burning Damage - Deadly Ailments For boss fights: Greater Multiple Projectiles -> Swift Affliction Immolate can be used as well, depending on your gear level and your current ignite scaling. Wave of Conviction: 4-link: Wave of Conviction - Curse on Hit - Flammability - Elemental Weakness Alternatives to Elemental Weakness Faster Casting to get it off faster Despair which is a large increase to DoT damage Malevolence: 1-link: Malevolence Alternative: Zealotry for increased Elemental Overload procs and more hit damage at the cost of ignite damage. Anger for more hit damage at the cost of ignite damage Leap Slam: 3-link: Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Fortify Support Cast when Damage Taken: 4-link: Cast when Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Increased Duration - Vaal Grace Keep Cast when Damage Taken = 3 Immortal Call = 5 Increased Duration = 7 Vaal Grace = MAX to ensure a good rate of activation vs benefits. Alternative to Vaal Grace: Blood Rage if you don’t get frenzy charges from gear as that is a major damage increase. Golem: 3-link: Stone Golem - Minion Life - Flame Golem
Explanation of skill setup
Vaal Fireball: Fireball is a projectile which deals spell fire damage in an area on collision with a chance to ignite. Ignite deals fire damage over a short duration. The Vaal part can be activated after killing 30 monsters, where monsters killed during the activation do not count. Thus there is always a short cooldown period between Vaal casts. The important part of choosing skills and gear for ignite damage is that ignite does not scale with spell damage. It does scale with elemental and fire damage though. So we get Combustion for more fire damage and higher chance to ignite and deadly ailments for more ignite damage. Ignite proliferation only increases the damage of ignite, but also causes ignite to spread to nearby targets which is massive for clearing. Greater multiple projectiles(GMP) is used for faster killing in between vaal casts. It should be said though that GMP can be replaced with another skill such as swift affliction, which is a significant boost to dps, but feels worse in between vaal casts. Wave of Conviction: Wave of Conviction is a coneshaped spell, which applies elemental exposure. Elemental exposure increases the damage taken of the target by 25% of the highest damage elemental hit of WoC(fire). This is also used to apply our curses, where flammability increases fire damage and elemental weakness increases all elemental damage. A strong argument can be made for despair instead of elemental weakness, especially in single target situations as it significantly DoT portion of Fireball. Malevolence: Malevolence increases damage over time, which our ignite is. In addition it increases the duration of ignite, which is good for distance clearing as well. Leap Slam: Leap Slam is the movement skill of choice in this setup. It allows for quick movement out of danger and over cliffs and such. Faster attacks for faster movement. It is linked with Fortify Support, so we can proc Fortify whenever we land near enemies, which is an additional 20% damage reduction against hits. Cast when Damage Taken: Cast when Damage Taken is a great way to get some defensive skills up whenever they are needed the most. So if you take a lot of damage, Immortal Call activates, which reduces the physical and elemental damage you take. So whenever you take enough damage, linked skills are activated. Immortal Call is the preferred defensive skill, as Steelskin and Molten Shell both have a flat cap of a low absorb amount, compared to the percentage damage reduction from Immortal Call. Vaal Grace is linked as well to increase the chance to dodge in emergencies, just as increased duration increases the time we have the defensive buffs up. Golems: As our ascendancy Liege of the Primordial allows for two golems, we might as well make full use of that. We can still only have one of each aura, so the optimal way to use it is to have different golems for different auras. For this purpose stone golem provides regeneration and flame golem provides more damage. Minion life is linked to increase their ability to survive, as that can be a problem in high tier maps. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________  Here the gear and stat priorities, in my opinion, are shown and discussed. I will try to keep it as simple as possible, and then i might add some interesting combinations later on.
Items - TL;DR stat priority
Here a summation of what you should look for on gear can be found. Offensive: 1. Fire damage as extra chaos damage, fire penetration 2. Fire damage 3. Burning damage, DoT damage 4. Spell damage, Cast speed, Area damage 5. Adds fire damage to spells Defensive: 1. Resistances (cap 75%) 2. Life 3. Energy Shield 4. Evasion Rating 5. Mana (if MoM) For special cases, slot specific priorities and explanations see next section.
Items - explanations
Main hand
For the main hand, stick to sceptres when leveling as they usually come with a high amount of elemental damage, which is what fireball scales with. If it has increased fire damage or increased burning as well it can provide a large amount of damage. Stat priority: 1. Fire damage as extra chaos damage 2. inc. fire damage 3. inc. burning damage, inc. DoT 4. Adds fire damage to spells 5. Inc. spell damage 6. cast speed 7. resistances 8. leech For leveling Lifesprig is a nice unique wand the first 30 levels or so. Once you reach the endgame, either a rare sceptre (shaped or elder perfect) with high stats in the order above. Dual-wielding two Doryani's Catalyst works nicely for map farming, as it provides plenty of damage and some life leech. It can be hard to afford with a new character though. A combination of Cerberus Limb and a shield with a high block chance can provide great survivability at a reasonable price, which can last through most content. The damage is decent, but in terms of pure damage, a rare dual wielding sceptre setup is better or a multi mod staff. Alternatively, a The Searing Touch 6-linked can provide a very large amount of DPS. Even as a 5-link it would be a DPS upgrade relative to Cerberus Limb, though it would be at the cost of some survivability. It would be essential that Vaal Fireball is socketed herein with its supports. If you want to invest, and want to significantly increase your damage, it is also a possibility to utilize multi mod crafting on a staff/bow, which can increase the damage of the build by 30-60% (relative to Cerberus Limb atleast) depending on your setup. This is the best damage option at the moment, even though The Searing Touch is very close. The advantage of a bow is the addition of the quiver stat stick. Another advantage to keep in mind; By choosing a 6-linked, two-handed weapon you do not necessarily need a 6-link chest. So the cost reduction of the chest can offset the cost increase of the weapon if you intend to invest in an expensive 6-link anyways.
Off hand
In the off hand there is either the option of picking another sceptre and dual wielding, in which case the stat priority is the same as in the main hand. The alternative is to have a shield, if you prefer more survivability. Stat priority rare shield: 1. spell block chance 2. block chance 3. energy shield 4. evasion rating 5. inc. spell damage 6. resistances 7. life 8. mana 9. armour There are excellent rare spirit shields which can provide a substantial amount of defense and offense as well. If you are going with the Cerberus Limb, make sure that the block chance is above 30%. Leper's Alms is a very good shield, in terms of pure defensive stats. On the other hand, if you are going with the multimod bow setup, either a shaped quiver with a chance to gain onslaught or a Rearguard for additional block chance can be helpful. It is also a possibility to just grab a stat stick quiver with whatever resistances or defensive stats you need.
Helmet
Helmets are usually a good source of defensive stats, especially energy shield and life. Apart from that there are late game options such as elder helmets and certain uniques which provide a decent boost to damage as well. Stat priority: 1. life 2. inc. energy shield 3. resistances 4. maximum energy shield 5. intelligence 6. mana A rare helmet following this stat priority should be the best option in most cases, and can provide a significant boost to your defenses. So if you feel squishy, this can be a good slot to look at. For late game an Elder 5-link (Increased Area of Effect) helmet can be highly useful to slot Storm Brand into, to further increase the area in which your curses are applied. Doedre’s Scorn can provide a decent dps boost at the tradeoff of higher reliance on your curses and fewer defensive stats.
Body armour
Body armour is the best slot for raw defensive stats. Here can usually be found a significant amount of life, energy shield and resistances. There are also some cases that provide great utility and a large amount of damage. And most importantly, this is the second place where we can get a 6-link. Stat priority: 1. life 2. energy shield 3. resistances 4. fire damage 5. evasion rating For leveling the best bid is a Tabula Rasa, as it can be very expensive to get a 6-link any other way(if it is your first character at least), and there is hardly any other way to match the damage output of a 6-link. Once you get through the acts, a rare 5-link or 6-link can do wonders for survivability. A decent 6-link can be bought at a reasonable price, but if you are trying to keep the budget low, a 5-link can do to begin with. If you can afford it, a Kaom’s Heart can give a high amount of survivability, with a massive amount of life and increased fire damage. This comes at the cost of sockets, so by using this some skills should be removed. Wave of Conviction is a possibility and auras can be moved to unset rings instead. Carcass Jack provides a nice boost to damage and greater AoE, which can help a lot for clearing. This is a cheaper, more allround option than going with the Kaom’s Heart and should be perfectly viable later on. For the allrounder of allrounders, a Loreweave provides both a substantial buff to survivability and decent buff to damage. With an increased resistance cap, the amount of elemental damage you take falls further.
Gloves
The gloves can give a decent amount of energy shield and has a few options for higher damage. High ilvl versions come with spell damage, and it is possible to 5-link if you want Faster Casting. Stat priority: 1. life 2. resistances 3. spell damage 4. energy shield 5. evasion rating 6. attributes For leveling and when starting maps, rare gloves are usually the best bid. Doedre's Tenure can provide a significant amount of damage, if you can get used to the reduced cast speed though. Similarly Allelopathy can be an upgrade to Doedre's, but rares are still better for defensive stats. For high-end options Shaper or Elder gloves are the best options. Shaper gloves can get 5-link (Faster Casting) so if one of your links can use that (Storm Brand, Wave of Conviction) it can be useful. Elder gloves can have increased spell damage and most importantly frenzy charge generation, which is a very large damage increase for a non-weapon slot. As long as you get one with plenty of defensive stats on top, this should be the best option.
Boots
The boots are the main source of passive movement speed, and can have a decent amount of defensive options. Stat priority: 1. movement speed (30%) 2. resistances 3. life 4. energy shield 5. evasion rating 6. attributes Rare boots will suffice for most content, as they can provide a high amount of stats and can give a high amount of movement speed. For a decent price Atziri's Step boots are also an option as that can provide a high level of survivability. Most importantly the increased dodge and spell dodge can bring you closer to dodge cap, which is significant in terms of reducing the incoming damage flow. Windshriek provides the option of an additional curse, which means that it is possible to fit in projectile weakness as well, or simply to remove the points in the skill tree and use them elsewhere, which can be a decent option. A high tier option could be Elder rare boots which can effectively be 6-linked, with Increased Duration and Spell Totem. That can be a decent buff to your Wave of Conviction totem setup, and convert it into a decent source of damage. Or just open up slots for other skills. Elder boots can also give you increased spell dodge like the Atziri's Step.
Belt
A belt is usually where are very high amount of life can be found. The same can be said for energy shield. Apart from that, the belt usually has flask buffs, which can be useful too. Stat priority: 1. life 2. energy shield 3. resistances 4. immunities 5. flask buffs A rare belt can do the job for most content, as long as it has high enough stats, but that can be accomplished cheaply. By getting a Shaper version, additional immunity can be covered and there is the option of more damage during flask buffs. Bisco’s Leash has some interesting interactions if you want to experiment a bit, as it gives you a killcounter and makes you stronger the more you kill in a streak.
Rings
Rings have a lot of useful stats, which can provide many interesting combinations. They are a good source of resistances, can have increased chaos damage and can have sockets. An Unset ring is assumed for the build above, which has a single socket. Stat priority: 1. socket 2. inc. fire damage 3. resistances 4. life 5. energy shield 6. mana A couple of rare rings can provide a decent amount of damage and help cover your resistances, while giving some survivability. There are some honorable mentions from unique rings, such as Le Heup of All, which is an excellent leveling ring. Two of those can boost your damage significantly and provide resistances as well. If the rest of your gear can compensate, an Essence Worm can give you a free aura, which can free up a lot of mana for MoM. But it should be a temporary option, as the stats are needed later on. To those who want to experiment, a The Hungry Loop can provide another 5-link, even though it takes a lot of time to level, and has a lack of stats just like Essence Worm.
Amulet
An amulet can have a wide variety of stats, just like the rings. It is a nice place to get some more damage, just as it has the possibility of percentage increases to life and energy shield. Stat priority: 1. inc. fire damage 2. inc. life% 3. inc. energy shield% 4. resistances 5. life 6. energy shield 7. attributes Rare amulets can fulfill the needs of most builds. For a significant boost, a Shaper amulet with chance to gain charges on hit can greatly improve both damage and survivability. A Ngamahu Tiki is useful for leveling as it provides a significant amount of fire damage as well as some regeneration. Similarly a Yoke of Suffering can increase your damage by ailment interaction.
Jewels
There is only one jewel which can be recommended as a unique jewel for this build which is Rolling Flames. Rolling Flames increases fire damage and increases AoE based on the distance a fireball has travelled. It can be a fun interaction to better kill enemies far away, but usually a rare jewel with the stat priority seen below, will be the better choice. Stat priority: 1. fire damage 2. life% 3. inc. burning damage, inc. spell damage 4. energy shield% 5. resistances 6. life I have tried to include some options in the PoB for examples of the best possible cases and some more moderate options as well. But generally if you can get jewels with good rolls on Maximum Life (7%) and Increased Fire Damage (16%) you are pretty well off. The rest are bonuses, but each addition adds significantly to the cost.
Flasks
For flasks, standard options such as this can be chosen: The most important part is to get the optimal immunity coverage, where immunity to freeze is essential, as you can otherwise get locked down. Immunity to bleed and poison can prevent unnecessary deaths and immunity to curses can be highly beneficial whenever curses are present. The Quicksilver flask with "of Adrenaline" is a significant movement speed boost.
My current gear
My current gear, which still has room for a lot of improvements, can easily carry me through mid tier maps and can do the job in high tier maps as well. I will update the gear when it changes. There is, as mentioned, still plenty of room for improvement, and my damage can rise significantly by changing the weapon setup for example. But right now the build is quite tanky and can easily survive in red maps. (I only die from noob mistakes) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________  This section contains a walkthrough of all the acts, which should give directions to complete all the relevant quests. Some areas are skipped on purpose because of a lack of rewards or simply poor rewards. But feel free to explore outside of these directions. The exploration is after all a part of the game content. For the same reason i have tried to avoid giving too accurate directions for where to find the zones, and instead focused on the order of the quests. I might add a section for leveling further after the acts later, and a small gearing guide while leveling.
Act walkthrough
Act 1
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 3-link blue-blue-green Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above -Kill first zombie, pick up fireball, run along the beach, kill Hillock and enter town -Use fireball, buy vaal fireball if you can, get elemental prolif. + arcane surge, continue -Leave town and look for waypoint. Go to Tidal Island right next to it -Kill Hailrake and pick up Medicine Chest -Go back to waypoint and go to Mudflats. Find three glyphs in nests -Go to the Fetid Pool area and kill all monsters. -Head back to Mud Flats, find the Glyph wall, enter Submerged Passage -Get waypoint and return to town. -Back to Submerged Passage, go to Flooded Depths, kill Dweller in the Deep -Back to Submerged Passage, go to The Ledge, go to The Climb, go to The Prison -Find the trial of ascendancy and complete it -Go to Upper Prison, Wardens Chambers and kill The Warden -Go to Prisoner's Gate, take waypoint back and get Flame Dash and Combustion -Go to The Ship Graveyard, find waypoint, go to Ship Graveyard Cave -Find The Allflame. Back up, go to Cavern of Wrath, get waypoint -Take waypoint back to Ship Graveyard, find Fairgraves, turn in, kill him -Return to town, get Storm Brand, get lesser multiple projectiles -Go to Cavern of Wrath, Go to Cavern of Anger, Go to Merveil's cave and kill her -Head to Act 2
Act 2
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 4-link blue-blue-red-green Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above -Go to The Forest Encampment -Go to The Old Fields, go to The Den, kill The Great White Beast -Back to The Old Fields, go to The Crossroads. -Head north-west, go to Chamber of Sins -find and complete trial of ascendancy -Go to Chamber of Sins 2, kill Fidelitas and talk to Helena -Get Herald of Ash -Back to Crossroads, head south-east to The Fellshrine Ruins -Go to The Crypt, find and complete trial of ascendancy -Go to The Crypt 2, find The Golden Hand. Head back to town -Back to Crossroads, follow the road north-east to The Broken Bridge -find and kill Kraityn -Back to town, get Controlled Destruction, get Faster Casting -Go to The Riverways, pick up waypoint -Go to The Western Forest (in the west) -Find and kill Alira, follow the road and kill Captain Arteri. -USE THE THAUMETIC EMBLEM -Go to The Weaver's Chambers, find the boss area and kill the boss -Back to Riverways, go to The Wetlands, find and kill Oak -Get waypoint, head back to town and turn in everything -Go to Act 1 town and turn in -Back to The Wetlands, go to The Vaal Ruins, go to The Northern Forest -Go to The Caverns and follow the stairs to the top -Kill Vaal Oversoul -Head to Act 3
Act 3
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 4-link blue-blue-red-green, resistance and life items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above -Help Clarissa and enter town -Go to The Slums, Go to Crematorium. Find Tolman -Complete trial of ascendancy -Back to town. Turn in and go back to Slums -Go to The Sewers. Find three busts, pick up waypoint -Go to The Marketplace, go to The Catacombs -Complete trial of ascendancy -Back to Marketplace, go to The Battlefront, get waypoint and quest item -Go to Solaris Temple 1, Solaris Temple 2, get waypoint and talk to Dialla -Back to Battlefront, go to The Docks -Find Thaumetic Sulphite, find Fairgraves and get waypoint -Go to Solaris Temple 2 and talk to Dialla -Head back to town, get Flammability, Elemental Weakness and Anger -Go to The Sewers, go to The Ebony Barracks, kill General Gravicius -Go to Lunaris Temple 1, Lunaris Temple 2 and kill Piety -Back to town if needed -Back to The Ebony Barracks, go to Imperial Gardens -Find waypoint, Go to The Library -Find Siosa, get quest -Look through the walls in nearby rooms for a Loose Candle, and pull it -Go to The Archive, find four pages, head back to Siosa -From Siosa get: Burning Damage, Blood Rage, Spell Totem, Wave of Conviction and link as shown above (if possible, get what fits with your gear) -Go to Imperial Gardens -Complete trial of ascendancy -Go to The Sceptre of God, head up the stairs and kill Dominus -Head to Act 4
Act 4
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 4-link blue-blue-red-green, resistance and life items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above, resistances cap at 75% get as close as possible with gear -Head to town -Go back to Act 3, complete the labyrinth and get ascendancy (ELEMENTALIST) -Back to Act 4 town, go to The Dried Lake, kill Voll and get banner -Back to town, use banner on mine, turn in and get a golem of your choice -Go to The Mines, The Mines 2, find Deshret's spirit -Go to Crystal Veins, find Dialla -Go to Daresso's Dream, continue through the arena until you get to Daresso -Kill him -Back to Crystal Veins, go to Kaom's Dream, find Kaom -Kill him -Back to Crystal Veins, turn in, back to town, turn in -Get: Greater Multiple Projectiles, Curse on Hit, Immolate, Ignite Proliferation, Cast when Damage Taken in that order of priority, in case currency is unavailable -Back to Crystal Veins, enter The Belly of the Beast, find Piety (yes again) -Kill her, enter The Harvest -Kill Doedre, Malygaros, Shavronne and turn in -Kill Malachai (a lot of killing in this area) -Head to Act 5
Act 5
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 4-link blue-blue-red-green, resistance and life items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above, resistances cap at 75% get as close as possible with gear -Kill the Overseer and head to town -Go to Control Blocks, find Miasmeter, kill Justicar Casticus -Go to The Square, go to The Templar Courts, go to Chamber of Innocence -Find High Templar Avarius, kill him, kill Innocence and talk to Sin -Head back to town, turn in, back to Chamber -Go to The Torched Courts, go to The Ruined Square, find waypoint -Head south-west and find the Reliquary, find three relics -Back to The Ruined Square waypoint, go to Ossuary -Find Staff of Purity -Back to Ruined Square, head south-west, go to Cathedral Rooftop -Find Kitava and "kill" him -Head to Act 6
Act 6
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 5-link blue-blue-blue-red-green, resistance!, life items, energy shield items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above, resistances cap at 75% get as close as possible with gear -Go to The Twilight Strand, clear all the monsters -Back to town and turn in, go to The Coast, go to Tidal Island -Find Manuscript, head back to The Coast, go to The Mudflats -Kill The Dishonored Queen, pick up Eye of Conquest, go to Karui Fortress -Kill Tukohama -Go to The Ridge, go to The Prison -Complete trial of ascendancy -Go up the stairs, kill Shavronne -Go to Prisoner's gate, find Abberath (follow the sides until Valley appers) -Kill Abberath -Back to Prisoner's gate, go to The Western Forest, go to The Riverways -Get waypoint, go to The Wetlands -Find and kill The Puppet Mistress (follow the sides) -Head back to town -Get: Multiple Totems, Immortal Call -Back to The Riverways, go to The Southern Forest, go to The Cavern of Anger -Go to The Beacon, find the lighthouse beacon, light it, throw in the flag -Talk to Weylam, go to The Brine King's Reef -Find and kill Tsoagoth -Head to Act 7
Act 7
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 5-link blue-blue-blue-red-green, resistance!, life items, energy shield items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above, resistances cap at 75% get as close as possible with gear -Go to The Broken Bridge and pick up The Silver Locket -Go to The Crossroads, go to The Crypt -Complete Trial of Ascendancy -Head down, find Maligaro's map -Back to Crossroads, go to Chamber of Sins 1 -Find waypoint. There is a device in the middle of the room. Input Malygaro's map -Find and kill Malygaro -Back to waypoint, talk to Silk, go down to Chamber of Sins 2 -Complete trial of ascendancy -Go to The Den, go to The Ashen Fields, find The Forest Encampment -Kill Greust, talk to sin -Go to The Northern Forest, go to The Dread Thicket -Find all the fireflies, find The Dreadweaver and kill -Return to town -Back to Northern Forest, find Greust resting place and complete -Go to The Causeway, find Kishara's Star, go to The Vaal City -Talk to Yeena, go to The Temple of Decay, continue down -Find and kill Arakaali -Head to Act 8
Act 8
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 5-link blue-blue-blue-red-green, resistance!, life items, energy shield items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above, resistances cap at 75% get as close as possible with gear -Head to town -Complete the next labyrinth and get ascendancy points -Head to The Toxic Conduits, find and kill Doedre -Go to The Quay, find The Ankh of Eternity, find Clarissa (at resurrection site), kill Tolman sadly -Go to Grain Gate, find Gemling Legion and kill -Go to Imperial Fields, go to Solaris Temple 1, go to Solaris Temple 2 -Find the Guardian of the solar orb, kill him and get the orb -Back to Toxic Conduits, go to The Grand Promenade -Go to The Bath House -Complete trial of ascendancy -Go to The High Gardens, find Yugul and kill it -Go to The Lunaris Concourse, go to Lunaris Temple 1, Lunaris Temple 2 -Find the Guardian of the lunar orb, kill and get orb -Back to town, turn in -Back to Lunaris Concourse, head south-east, find The Harbour Bridge -Head to the middle, enter, kill Lunaris and Solaris -Head to Act 9
Act 9
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 5-link blue-blue-blue-green-green, resistance!, life items, energy shield items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above, resistances cap at 75% get as close as possible with gear -Head to town -Go to The Descent, go to The Vastiri Desert -Find The Storm Blade, get waypoint, back to town and turn in all quests -Back to The Vastiri Desert, go to The Oasis -Find Shakari and kill her. Back to town and turn in -Go to The Vastiri Desert, go to The Foothills -Find and kill Boulderback, pick up Calendar of Fortune -Get waypoint, go to The Boiling Lake, kill The Basilisk -Back to The Foothills, go to The Tunnel -Complete trial of ascendancy -Go to The Quarry, get waypoint -Find The Shifting Sands area by the sides, kill Garuhkan, get feather -Back to The Quarry, go to The Refinery -Find The Trarthan Powder and return to town to turn in -Back to The Quarry, head down into The Belly of the Beast -Head all the way down into The Rotting Core -Clear each of the three areas, enter core, kill the Depraved Trinity -Head to Act 10
Act 10
Look for: Sceptres with high elemental damage, 5-link blue-blue-blue-green-green, resistance!, life items, energy shield items Notes: Always turn in and pick up quests in town, sell/buy, equip gems as explained above, resistances cap at 75% get as close as possible with gear, aim for 3k life + energy shield -Head to the Cathedral Rooftop, help Bannon and go back to town -Back to Cathedral Rooftop, go to The Ravaged Square -Head down, go to The Control Blocks, find and kill Vilenta -Portal to town, take waypoint to Control Blocks, go back up -Head east, go to Reliquary, find The Teardrop -Back to Control Blocks, back up, head north and find waypoint -Go to Ossuary -Complete trial of ascendancy -Find Elixir of Allure, go back to town and turn in -Back to The Ravaged Square, head east and find The Torched Courts -Go to The Desecrated Chambers, find Chamber of Innocence -Kill Avarius Reassembled, get Staff of Avarius, back to town and turn in -Head to The Ravaged Square, talk to Innocence and go to The Canals -Go to The Feeding Through, find Sin and Innocence chilling -Kill Kitava -Complete Act 10! Complete the third labyrinth. (This can be done before killing Kitava as well, because Kitava decreases your resistances by 30%, but it shouldn't be a huge problem either way) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________  I can be contacted on twitter for short questions, on my stream for conversations, and in the comments. If you want random pictures, memes, discussions or whatever, feel free follow me on insta @ielthan1 or twitter @ielthan1. Last edited by ielthan#6109 on Jul 3, 2019, 10:19:21 AM Last bumped on Sep 12, 2019, 10:21:59 PM
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 Here i have made some short descriptions of how i try to play the build and how I have set up the skills.
Rotation - ability usage
The first point of note here, is how important it is to get a good feeling of how much of an effort is needed to kill monsters. For instance if you can clear a pack by simply casting one Fireball, then there is no reason to use your entire rotation on the monsters. Keep it as light as possible and try to test it out whenever you can. It can save you a lot of time in the long run.
TL;DR what should i do
Low-medium gear: Normal/magic packs: Fireball Rare packs: Storm Brand - Fireball Tough rares/Bosses: Storm Brand - Totems - 10xFireball - repeat Use Vaal Fireball on cooldown for faster clears Use Vaal Righteous Fire after casting Totems and try to time it with boss phases if you can, otherwise use on cooldown. Maintain Arcane Surge with Flame Dash whenever you have the opportunity.
Explanation and notes
Generally when you are running around and killing stuff, fireball itself will suffice for almost everything and casting it a few times usually takes care of most magic and rare packs, though there are some rare packs which are tougher. So for the routine clearing i mostly just use fireball to kill stuff. Whenever Vaal Fireball is ready i use it, at least if there are any monsters nearby as it cleans up the entire area nicely. For boss fights it is better to wait for the best time to use it, like right before add phases or in a burst phase. For the tougher enemies, Storm Brand curses in addition to Fireball spam quickly brings down most monsters. The exception being the toughest of bosses, beasts, betrayals and such, where the additional damage from Wave of Conviction can do some work, plus Vaal Righteous Fire. Be careful with Vaal Righteous Fire, as it deals a lot of damage to yourself when activated and do not use the normal Righteous Fire in this build as there is a good chance that it will kill you if you are not careful. You should be wary of how you use Blood Rage as well, as that kan be a significant life drain if you don’t have some leech or regeneration. A Stone Golem more than evens out the life loss at most levels, so i usually don’t start using it until i have the golem or life leech. For Legion encounters i usually use a Vaal Fireball as well as the tough guy rotation to proc them, which usually gives me enough time to get another Vaal Fireball ready for when they spawn for easy spawnkilling. Try to move as much as possible and let Ignite do its work. It is a DoT so hitting an enemy with new fireballs more often than every 4-5 seconds shouldn’t really be necessary, even if it does deal a bit more damage. (Unless it is boss fights where you try to optimize the damage more).
Setup
This is my personal skill setup: Left msb: Move Middle msb: Anger/Herald of Ash Right msb: Fireball Q: Storm Brand W: Wave of Conviction Totems E: Vaal Righteous Fire Msb 4(R): Flame Dash Msb 5(T): Vaal Fireball The setup here is made like this based on how easy it is for me to use the skill. I always keep Left msb clear, because i need to be able to move out of danger without attacking enemies. I prefer not to use Middle msb at all, so the aura goes there. Right msb is the easiest and Fireball is the most frequently used skill, so Fireball goes there. An important note is that i have set the rest up like i have because i could set two skills to my mouse instead of keyboard which makes it easier to reach. Here Flame Dash on msb 4, as i need to be able to move out of danger quickly, and Vaal Fireball on msb 5 because i want easy access to the clear button. After that, it is simply sorted after how much i use the skills from left to right: Q(Storm BRand) W(Totems), E(Vaal Righteous Fire). If i could not bind to my mouse i would move those two to the other end on Q and W and move everything else to the right. Last edited by ielthan#6109 on Jul 2, 2019, 4:23:34 AM
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Reserved for future expansion
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This is similar to the build I am using right now and it is a blast to play.
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Thanks for the build. However I am concerned about the lack of defenses. Life is kinda lowish but it would be OK if not for the fact that the only thing you have for defenses is 20% evade and 10% dodge. I feel like this build will get chunked and one shot constantly in the late game without something more.
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You can save a point by connecting at the curse node instead of near the Witch area.
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" I can see what you mean. The alternative would be to move points out of low damage nodes and some life nodes to reach phase acrobatics. That would increase the overall mitigation substantially. From a quick point switch it seems like a loss of approximately 20% dps, but given the increase in survivability that might be worth it. Perhaps switching over to evasion focused gear instead of energy shield might be beneficial too. I will try to improve it and update it tomorrow. |
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" Well spotted! There are apparently a few points that can be freed up that way :D |
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I'm excited to try this! I used Engineering Eternity's old fireball build for Synthesis league, but I'm looking forward to trying a new fireball build in Legion. I love the skill and wish it got more love. Great work so far!
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Last edited by Ratsneve#9638 on Aug 21, 2019, 2:41:18 AM
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