How do you level stormweaver through the campaign?

I've tried out various builds (pure cold, pure spark, fire/lightning etc) and they all seem incredibly lacklustre.

The only real success i've had is with pure cold and it's still about 10 times slower than my pathfinder and witch levelling experiences. I'm level 49 now and I've hated every second of sorceress so far.

It's not a glass cannon, it doesn't do crowd control, it's not particularly tanky and to do any sort of DPS you have to queue up 3-4 effects in a row and if anything interrupts that chain (like a mob moving sideways slightly) you have to start all over again. It feels very clicky and awkward and unfun.

I'm not really having any survivability issues, but I don't see a way to pump up my DPS with the skills available. It doesn't help that every build I look up is focused on end game map clearing and divine grinding.

Any suggestions?

I would concentrate on items that provide specific damage boosts to the skill you use for your primary damage, or simply add additional levels to your skills. I am trying to recall my Sorc leveling experience, as I have leveled all classes to at least 55ish, and Sorc was one of the slowest in terms of damage coming online. I think Spark honestly was the best skill for me and the gear I had; it was slow in those early levels, but the beauty of PoE is you can use really any skill you want so long as your weapon type allows.

In my experience spark is a solid choice.

Early Flame wall + Orb + Conductivity (for bosses/rares)

Flame wall flat fire damage and ignite is broken early - useless late
Orb apply shock and hit for dps increase, late u can apply exposure

Mana Tempest is great, learn how to use it.

The nodes that scale with int/mana are only worth if u have some already, early they can be bait.

The proj speed then duration nodes are great, prioritize getting them.

For support gems Acceleration + Pierce are always solid,
Early Arcane Tempo always.

Then the big trick, as you transition into archmage then MoM(later) adjust your casting speed and mana regen, drooping Arcane Tempo or add Considered Casting/Inspiration.

If you are playing a mana build and are out of mana frequently there is something wrong, spec more mana regen/reduce cast speed and increase hit damage instead.

+Lvl of Skill on gear is king.

Do not underestimate proj speed/duration for spark, they are goodl.
Adapt your support gems as you progress.
Shock is good (20% more dmg),add shock magnitude or chance(if you are not shocking frequently)
Pen is bait, crit is also bait early, get the more dmg for no crit support if your gem sockets allow.

its easier to use a staff early and later get wand+focus(for EB).

Because of the many options/decisions you can make to scale spark it can be tricky to get going but you scale very well.

Thanks for the advice!

I'll give spark another go although i find the concept of a primary attack that you can't aim fundamentally weird. I had trouble with it simply refusing to go through doors or around small obstacles.

I'll take on board the tips about proj speed and duration as well I guess the idea isn't to spam it but to fire once every few seconds so the screen is full.

Mana tempest is another one I had trouble with, standing still in this game is usually a death sentence, so it's yet another example of a sorceress playstyle that forces you to do something the mechanics really pressure against.

I followed the "Cold Snap Frostbolt Stormweaver Leveling Guide" from maxrollgg website.
But i changed it a bit by making Cold Snap the only spell that is cast by Meta-Spirit trigger gems (instead of the Comet which is an overkill waste of Meta Energy for 99% of enemies in the campaign).

It worked really well for me all the way to the end of act "6".
Its nowhere near as fast/easy as my Minion Witch leveling but it was never problematic.

Gearing offense stats were +levels to cold spells, % cold dmg increase, Gain % damage as extra Cold damage, Mana Regen, Freeze build up.
Defense was the usual Energy Shield, resistances and Max life, along with Move Speed on boots.
I followed the guides passive skills build.

Ive seen a streamer that litteraly destroyed all the boss with a spark + firewall build. Maybe she had a very good wand but it was really stupid. Like every boss from acte 2 normal to acte 3 cruel was killed in less than 20 sec.

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I'll take on board the tips about proj speed and duration as well I guess the idea isn't to spam it but to fire once every few seconds so the screen is full.

No, the idea is to spam while walking and fill the entire area/screen(later) with damage. You should be spamming + walking either forward(clear) or away from the boss/rare.

Spark with proj speed + duration will go quite far and pull the packs os mobs towards you, that's why you spam to fill the area with dmg and kill them before they get close.

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I had trouble with it simply refusing to go through doors or around small obstacles.

That's a weakness of the builds, but with wall + orb + tempest you can create a good position right at the door to gun enemies as soon as it opens, but doors are your enemies overall.

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Mana tempest is another one I had trouble with, standing still in this game is usually a death sentence, so it's yet another example of a sorceress playstyle that forces you to do something the mechanics really pressure against.

Its the opposite, you never want to stand still too much in the tempest, the main idea is to cast it, move to the edge and weave some sparks while you walk out of the storm. Early you wont notice too much but later with Archmage and even worse with MoM it will cost too much to stand on it, you just take the first few shots then walk away before the cost ramp up too much.


You should always be walking while casting, if enemies are ahead you cast while you walk, that's the trick. (early you can have relative 'safe' positions on your flame wall+orb but later you need to be a bit more mobile to avoid the dangerous rares)

To add my $.02

Look for a Chiming Staff. It can be just a base white one. Sigil of Power is really good boost to dps. Use it on the back bar and set up your skills so it auto swaps weapons for ya.

Use your passive tree for offense early on and rely on gear for defenses. Once you get into a better loot pool, you can start respecing your tree out of offense and into mana/defenses.

If you are having survivability issues, work on resistances. Anything around 60%+ should do ya. Just remember you'll lose 10% res per act finished. Also look into a wand/shield combo. You'll block more than you think AND it gives you a much needed socket foe a soul core/rune of your choice. Id recommend a Blazon Crest Shield for the low str req

Play cast on minion death with raging spirit

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EndlCry2#1156 wrote:

Its the opposite, you never want to stand still too much in the tempest, the main idea is to cast it, move to the edge and weave some sparks while you walk out of the storm. Early you wont notice too much but later with Archmage and even worse with MoM it will cost too much to stand on it, you just take the first few shots then walk away before the cost ramp up too much.


You should always be walking while casting, if enemies are ahead you cast while you walk, that's the trick. (early you can have relative 'safe' positions on your flame wall+orb but later you need to be a bit more mobile to avoid the dangerous rares)

Ok this definitely helps with clearing, thanks! I was instinctively trying to do the same dodge and shoot gameplay as my pathfinder and bone witch whereas this has a very different rhythm.

Thanks again for patiently explaining all this stuff in detail.