Updated for Patch 3.23
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Guide notes |
February 4, 2024 -Build updated |
Build overview | |||
Tags: [CRIT] [ELEMENTAL] [ES] [CASTER] | |||
Budget: Defenses: |
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Boss DPS: AoE: |
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The new Arc of Surging is a very intriguing Skill. It drastically changes the behavior of the regular Arc, instead of Chaining between nearby Enemies it will Split towards 9 targets after Hitting the first Enemy. By default, it is actually a weaker variant of the regular Arc, as the Damage doesn't scale with amounts of remaining Chains. However, its unique interaction with the Hydrosphere Spell allows it to Split all additional beams toward a single Enemy, improving your Damage tenfold, which makes it one of the best Single-target abilities in the game.
As mentioned, the concept of this Build relies on the Hydrosphere. It creates a stationary Orb that can be targeted by your other abilities, but you can Hit it only once per second. It also applies Cold and Lightning Exposure to nearby Enemies. The Arc of Surging will Split up to 10 times upon Hitting the Hydropshere, and all Splits will be targeted at nearby Enemy. The additional repeats from the Unleash Support bypass the Hit Cooldown of the Hydrosphere, for a total of 40 Hits per single Cast. You can further increase the amount of Seals for even stronger Burst, but you will also have to wait longer for their recharge.
This playstyle is rather restrictive in terms of scaling your Damage. You don't need any Cast Speed, instead, you should emphasize dealing very high amounts of Damage per Cast. Additionally, the Arc of Surging has a rather good effectiveness of Added Damage. All things considered, the best option for this setup is to use Energy Blade and Spellblade Support to add massive amounts of Lightning Damage to your Spells, sourced from your Energy Shield. Arguably the best Ascendency option for such a style is the Inquisitor. It provides the Battlemage effect, which has the same effect as the Spellblade Support, i.e. adds the Damage of your Weapon to your Spells. The Inquisitor also allows you to very efficiently scale your Energy Shield, Critical Strike Chance, and Damage by stacking Strength and Intelligence. Furthermore, it provides a great defensive value of constant Regeneration.
You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List
You will start the fight by summoning the Hydrosphere. You shouldn't place it too close to your target so your cursor doesn't accidentally lock on the Boss instead of Hydrosphere. The Arc of Surging will Split upon hitting the first Enemy. To weaken your foe you shall use the conductivity and Elemental Weakness Curses.
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PROS |
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CONS |
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The final setup requires many end-game Items, we would advise leveling your character as a regular Spell Cast. The Arc of Surging can be used as soon as you acquire the Hydrosphere, which is at level 34. You should check out our Leveling Guide for Templar using Lightning Spells for more tips.
Bandits:
Killing all Bandits for 2 bonus Skill Points is the best option, the Build is very Passive Points starved.
Final Skill Tree:
113 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique or Cluster Jewels)
122 Points Path of Building(PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in the order:
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds; 100% chance to Avoid being Frozen
Minor God: Soul of Shakari: 50% less Duration of Poisons on You; 5% reduced Chaos Damage taken
[DPS] Arc of Surging setup | |
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Arc of Surging - a Lightning Arc surges toward the targeted Enemy, dealing Damage and Splitting simultaneity toward nearby Enemies. |
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Unleash Support - stores Seals over time, which are being used to repeat your Cast when you use the Skill. All repeats will target the Hydrosphere, which bypasses its Hit time limit. |
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Spellblade Support - adds 135% of your Weapon Damage to your Spells. |
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Lightning Penetration Support - your Lightning damage will Penetrate Enemy Lightning Resistances. |
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Increased Critical Damage Support - greatly improves your Critical Strike Multiplier. |
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Cruelty Support - this Support simply improves your Damage with Hits. Use the Increased Critical Strikes Support if your Crit Chance is still low. |
[DPS] Hydrosphere setup | |
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Hydrosphere - summons a stationary Orb that drenches nearby Enemies. It can interact with your Skills to cause secondary effects. You can Hit it only once per second, but the additional repeats from the Unleash Support can bypass that cooldown. |
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Faster Casting Support - makes summoning your Orb faster. |
[DPS] Energy Blade setup | |
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Energy Blade - a toggleable Buff, it significantly lowers your maximum Energy Shield and replaces your current Weapon with the Energy Blade which Damage is based on your Energy Shield. |
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Enhance Support - improves the quality of the Energy Blade Gem, which slightly reduces the maximum Energy Shield penalty. |
[UTILITY] Auras setup | |
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Wrath - an offensive Aura that improves your Lightning Damage. You can also use the Zealotry instead, depending on the Watcher's Eye Jewel you get. |
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Grace - a defensive Aura, it greatly improves your Evasion Rating, allowing you to Evade incoming Attacks. |
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Discipline - improves your Energy Shield, which is the main source of Damage and survivability. |
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Enlighten Support - this Support significantly reduces the Mana Reservation of all linked Auras. It also applies to Life Reservation when you are using Blood Magic Keystone. |
[UTILITY] Arrogance setup | |
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Determination - a defensive Aura that grants a lot of flat Armour Rating and helps improve it further. |
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Eternal Blessing Support - improves the Effectiveness of supported Aura and removes the Reservation. It disables any other Mana-reserving Aura, which doesn't affect this Setup. |
[UTILITY] Movement setup | |
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Frostblink - an instant short-ranged teleport that leaves a Chilling Ground in both teleport locations. It can be used during other actions. |
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Shield Charge - a quick charge towards the targeted location. It scales with your Attack and Movement Speed and has no Cooldown. |
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Faster Attacks Support - improves the Attack Speed of your Shield Charge. |
[UTILITY] Various Utility Skills | |
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Conductivity - your main Curse, it lowers the Lightning Resistance of affected enemies. |
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Elemental Weakness - you can use a second Curse after you anoint the Whispers of Doom Notable on your Amulet. It further lowers the Elemental Resistance of your foes. |
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Steelskin - creates a small barrier that absorbs incoming Damage and disables Bleeding on you. |
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Defiance Banner - a Banner that improves your Armour and Evasion Rating, as well as reduces the Critical Strike Chance of nearby Enemies. You can also use Vitality Aura if you don't have enough Reservation Efficiency |
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The Build consists of many mandatory Unique Items, which are used to boost your Energy Shield. The majority of your Energy Shield comes from the Ivory Tower Armour, which grants you flat ES based on the amount of maximum Life you reserve with your Auras. Scaling maximum Life also synergizes very well with the Rathpith Globe Shield, which grants you an insane amount of Damage and Crit Chance. You will also use the usual Attribute-stacking Unique Items such as Cyclopean Coil or Eyes of the Greatwolf. On the very few Rare Items you will wear you should aim for lacking Resistances, Attributes, maximum Life, or Spell Suppression. To improve your Damage via other means than Attributes you should focus only on the Critical Strike Multiplier. Most of your Resistances will be sourced from your Flasks, but you might need some of them on your remaining Rare Items as well.
Stat priorities on items:
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333% increased Armour and Energy Shield (9-21)% increased maximum Life, Mana and Global Energy Shield Transfiguration of Soul Transfiguration of Body Transfiguration of Mind |
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Min. requirements: Has 1 Abyssal Socket |
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(10-15)% Chance to Block Spell Damage (120-160)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life Sacrifice 10% of your Life when you Use or Trigger a Spell Skill 5% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells per 100 Player Maximum Life 5% increased Spell Damage per 100 Player Maximum Life |
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+(40-70) to Intelligence +30 to maximum Energy Shield per 100 Reserved Life +(80-100) to maximum Mana Regenerate 2% of Energy Shield per second Chaos Damage is taken from Mana before Life |
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Min. requirements: 25% Movement Speed +60 to maximum Life 10% chance to Suppress Spell Damage Optional affixes: %increased Effect of Non-Damaging Ailments Elemental and Chaos Resistances Attributes % chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments/Bleeding/being Stunned |
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(80-120)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +4 Accuracy Rating per 2 Intelligence +1 Life per 4 Dexterity +1 Mana per 4 Strength 1% increased Energy Shield per 10 Strength 2% increased Evasion Rating per 10 Intelligence 2% increased Melee Physical Damage per 10 Dexterity |
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+(25-40) to maximum Life +(60-80) to maximum Life (5-15)% increased Attributes Cannot be Frozen if Dexterity is higher than Intelligence Cannot be Ignited if Strength is higher than Dexterity Cannot be Shocked if Intelligence is higher than Strength 1% increased Damage per 5 of your lowest Attribute |
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+(10-16) to all Attributes +(80-100) to all Attributes -4 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits |
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<Two random talisman implicit modifiers> Implicit Modifier magnitudes are doubled Recommended modifiers: (12-16)% increased Attributes (15-25)% increased Global Defences +(24-36)% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier (8-12)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% additional Physical Damage Reduction |
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Min. requirements: 50 to Maximum Life Optional affixes: Elemental and Chaos Resistance Attributes Cast Speed Energy Shield Critical Strike Multiplier |
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Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of Balbala Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic |
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Min. requirements: Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you Optional affixes: Maximum Life Global Critical Strike Multiplier Elemental and Chaos Resistance Attributes |
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Recommended affixes: Critical Strike Multiplier with Elemental/Lightning Skills Global Critical Strike Multiplier Critical Strike Multiplier with Spells increased Maximum Life Elemental Resistances Attributes |
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Recommended affixes: Added Small Passive Skills have (25-35)% increased Effect Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +# to All Attributes Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +# to Intelligence/Strength Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +# to Maximum Life |
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This Jewel's Socket has 25% increased effect per Allocated Passive Skill between it and your Class' starting location <Two random modifiers> +5 to Intelligence +5 to maximum Life +5 to Strength |
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(50-150)% increased Effect of Jewel Socket Passive Skills containing Corrupted Magic Jewels | |
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Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life Critical Strike Multiplier with Elemental/Lightning Skills Critical Strike Multiplier with Spells Global Critical Strike Multiplier |
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(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended modifiers: +(12-15)% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Grace (5-8)% additional Physical Damage Reduction while affected by Determination You take (60-40)% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes while affected by Determination Damage Penetrates (10-15)% Lightning Resistance while affected by Wrath |
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+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken Chaos Damage taken does not bypass Energy Shield during effect Removes all but one Life on use Removed life is Regenerated as Energy Shield over 2 seconds 25% increased Duration |
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Due to the Traitor Keystone you should use only 3 Flasks to make them permanently active even without killing Enemies.
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If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.
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