Ball Lightning of Orbiting Mjölner
Hierophant Build

Updated for Patch 3.24

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Mjölner is an iconic weapon, often a cornerstone of any build it is in. It Triggers socketed Lightning Spells on Hit with Attack four times a second. It's a one-handed weapon and has only 3 Sockets, so if your plan is to Trigger your main damaging ability, it has to be combined with The Squire Shield for 3 additional Support Gems. The Spell of choice is Ball Lightning of Orbiting. You could use other similar Spells and it won't change a build in any major way, but the Ball Lightning of Orbiting has the advantage of better DPS and overall efficiency thanks to the nature of Cyclone/Trigger playstyle. We use this Attack to Trigger our Spells its high Attack Speed and on-hit frequency. In Patch 3.24, the Archmage Support Gem has been reworked - it now simply grants damage based on your Maximum Unreserved Mana, you no longer need to spend a lot of Mana on linked Spell to gain damage. That's great as Mjölner reduces the Mana Cost of its Spell to 0 if it's Tiggered. It funnels the build into the Mana-stacking archetype where you play as a Hierophant with Divine Guidance and Sanctuary of Thought.

Hierophant can make great use of its vast Mana Pool to get a 100% increased Area of Effect and tons of additional Maximum Energy Shield. The Indigon Helmet, Ivory Tower Body Armour, and Shaper's Touch Gloves are other staples of such builds. The Helmet increases Spell Damage by up to 2000% if your Mana Pool and Mana Recovery are high enough, the Body Armour protects you against Chaos Damage and lets you keep all the Life that will be used to host Auras, and Gloves grant you all the necessary Accuracy while letting you benefit from Strength to get more Maximum Mana and Energy Shield. To spend a lot of Mana quickly you will use the Arcane Cloak which thanks to the Indigon will increase the Mana Cost of all your other Spells, but not the Spell socketed in Mjölner. You can keep spending significant amounts of Mana on the secondary setup which included Cyclone and Lightning Warp Triggered while Channelling. This setup is used primarily to Leech Mana and keep the Indigon's bonus to Spell Damage up. Mana-stacking builds often struggle with Mana Recovery, but this one is not. The rapid Hit Rate of Cyclone is Leeching Mana at a rapid pace, while all your other Spells Leech Energy Shield. With a Leech mastery to make 10% of all your Leech instant, you're able to recover all your Mana and ES back almost instantly.

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1. Gameplay

Use Cyclone to spin and trigger Lightning Warp and ball Lightning at the same time. Frostblink can be used while Channelling to move faster. Activate Arcane Cloak, Sigil of Power, and cast Conductivity when facing a tough opponent. Battlemage's Cry would be triggered automatically. your Auras are Wrath, Discipline, and level-1 Clarity.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You should start as a Life build, preferably by using Mind Over Matter and Archamge Support Gem linked to a Lightning Damage Spell such as Manabond. Allocate the Agnostic Keystone. Start stacking Mana as soon as Act 1. You can get a lot of Maximum Mana from Items and Passives. Start using Indigon as early as level 69. To wield Mjölner you will need a lot of Strength and Mana, so it requires quite a high character level. Overall, the leveling should not be hard as long as use Mana Flasks and have a source of Mana Recovery, such as Mana Regeneration from Clarity. The transition to the final version of the build as shown in this guide is gradual.

Bandits:

you should kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

116 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique or Cluster Jewels)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Arcane Blessing
2. Divine Guidance
3. Sanctuary of Thought
4. Conviction of Power

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

Minor God: Soul of Abberath: 60% less Duration of Ignite on You

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Cyclone setup
	Cyclone - It will trigger the Mjölner setup, Lightning Warp, and allow you to move around while using it.
	Lightning Warp - teleports to you while you channel Cyclone, offering more exciting playstyle and better mobility
	Cast While Channelling Support - Casts Ball Lightning every 0.3 seconds Whicle Channeling. Try to get the Awakened version.
	Mana Leech Support - Linked Attack Leeches Mana. It's great with Cyclone on account of its high hit rate.
	Culling Strike Support - Enemies with less than 10% of their Maximum Life die on Hit.
	Less Duration Support - You're warped much quicker and deal 20% more damage

[UTILITY] Ball Lightning of Orbiting setup socketed in Mjölner and The Squire
	Ball Lightning of Orbiting - Has an extremely high hit rate independent of Cast Speed. This version of Ball Lightning spirals out of its cast location, which lets it hit more enemies around you consistently, rather than firing out in a straight line. It will damage bosses multiple times.
	Archmage Support - Archmage grants added Damage based on Maximum Unreserved Mana. Lightning Warp will cost you no Mana to Trigger, but it will gain bonus damage based on how much Mana has been recently spent on Ball Lightning and Archmage.
	Arcane Surge Support - Up to 40% more Spell Damage, 60% with Arcane Blessing.
	Slower Projectiles Support - reduces Ball Lightning's projectile speed, but also increases their damage significantly
	Lightning Penetration Support - Penetrates Lightning Resistance. Use the Awakened version to apply Lightning Exposure.
	Controlled Destruction Support - With Elemental Overload and low Crit Chance, Controlled Destruction seems like the best Support Gem

[UTILITY] Battlemage's Cry setup
	Battlemage's Cry - It improves your Cyclone's damage by harnessing the Spell Damage increase from Indigon and making it apply to Attacks.
	Call to Arms - Triggers Battlemage's Cry for you.

[UTILITY] Wrath setup
	Wrath - Used for more Spell Damage and added Spell Damage to Attacks.
	Eternal Blessing Support - You can cast Wrath off-charge if it's your only Mana-Reserving Skill.

[UTILITY] Various Gems
	Arcane Cloak - Quickly spends most of our Current Mana to fuel Indigon and forms a protective barrier that absorbs most of the incoming damage.
	Increased Duration Support - Increases the Duration of Arcane Cloak and Sigil of Power.
	Sigil of Power - The more Mana you spend while inside of the sigil, the more Lightning Damage is being added to your Spells and Attacks. Enemies inside the sigil deal less damage at the final stage.
	Frostblink - A movement Spell you can cast while Channelling Cyclone.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Clarity - You don't need it to Regenerate Mana, but to meet the condition for one of the best Watcher's Eye mods.
	Discipline - Adds Maximum ES and improves ES Recharge Rate.
	Arrogance Support - Linked Auras should reserve all of your Life.

[UTILITY] Conductivity
	Conductivity - Lowers Lightning Resistance of your opponent.

6. Gear Setup

There are not that many parameters to pay attention to - just Maximum Mana, Maximum Energy Shield, Intelligence, and Strength. All durability and damage are gained from these stats. You will, of course, need capped Resistances and preferably high Chaos Resistance, and using Mageblood for that is the best idea, otherwise, you'll have to gain all the necessary Resistances from just a Belt, Rings, and Boots (or use Purity of Elements instead of Wrath). The build uses a lot of Unique Items and only some of them have any Resistances, so gearing up on a budget can be difficult unless you can find a reasonably cheap Belt that will make your Flasks, which should bear the burden of capping Resistances, last indefinitely. You could even find a way to get the Traitor Keystone if that would help. Your clear speed is tied to Movement Speed.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Indigon - Increases your Spell Damage as you spend more and more Mana. You have a lot of Unrserved Mana that you can quickly spend with Arcane Cloak.

(150-180)% increased Energy Shield (6-10)% increased maximum Mana Recover (8-10)% of Life when you use a Mana Flask Non-instant Mana Recovery from Flasks is also Recovered as Life (50-60)% increased Cost of Skills for each 200 total Mana Spent Recently (20-25)% increased Spell Damage for each 200 total Mana you have Spent Recently, up to 2000%

(Weapon) Mjölner - Socketed Lightning Spell - Ball Lightning of Orbiting - costs no Mana if Triggered, which it will be with Cyclone every quarter of a second. It will be your main damaging ability.

15% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold Trigger a Socketed Lightning Spell on Hit, with a 0.25 second Cooldown Socketed Lightning Spells have no Cost if Triggered +300 Intelligence Requirement +200 Strength Requirement (80-120)% increased Physical Damage Skills Chain +1 times (80-100)% increased Lightning Damage

(Off-hand) The Squire - Used to upgrade Mjölner setup with 3 additional Support Gems, making it a six-link build.

120% increased Block Recovery Has 3 Sockets All Sockets are White +(5-8)% to Quality of Socketed Support Gems Socketed Support Gems can also Support Skills from your Main Hand (100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(3-5)% Chance to Block

(Body Armour) The Ivory Tower - It's important not to die of Chaos Damage, as it would normally penetrate your Energy Shield. It has quite a lot of Mana and Intelligence.

+(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

(Boots) Rare Boots - Prioritize Maximum Mana, Movement Speed, and Intelligence. Then, seek Strength, Chaos Resistance, and Energy Shield. For Eldritch mods try to get Movement Speed, Chaos Resistance, and Cooldown Recovery Rate for Movement Skills.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Mana 30% Movement Speed +45 to Intelligence Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Strength Energy Shield Freeze Immunity

(Gloves) Shaper's Touch - Provides you with all the required Accuracy and grants extra Mana and Energy Shield sourced from Strenght. If you have Whispers of Doom Allocated, Corrupt them for a chance for Elemental Weakness Curse on Hit.

(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

(Belt) Rare Belt - We heavily recommend Mageblood, but until you can get one you'll have to use a Rare Stygian Vise with a lot of Elemental and Chaos Resistance with as much Maximum Mana and Attributes as you can afford. Make sure to include some Flask modifiers, you don't want to run out of Flask Charges.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Mana +90% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Attributes Attributes Chaos Resistance Flask modifiers

(Amulet) Eyes of the Greatwolf  - Eyes of the Greatwolf with increased Mana and Attributes is one of the most expensive items, but having a copy with just Maximum Mana should be better than most other Amulets.

<Two random talisman implicit modifiers> Implicit Modifier magnitudes are doubled

(Amulet) Astramentis  - A very affordable item with tons of Attributes. A good Rare Amulet with flat or increased Attributes and Maximum Mana or Resistances could be better.

+(10-16) to all Attributes +(80-100) to all Attributes -4 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits

Recommended Anointments: Window of Opportunity Whispers of Doom

(Ring) Rare Ring - We recommend an experimented base of a Ring for more powerful Suffixes as you will need a lot of Resistances and Attributes here. You can of course use any other Ring, like Amethyst or Cerulean, and get Maximum Mana as their Prefix.

Min. requirements: +50 to Intelligence +70 to Maximum Mana Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Chaos Resistance Strength Dexterity

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Around 6 Rare Jewels will be used, not quite enough yet to make it an Adorned build, but that is also a valid approach. Seek Maximum Mana, Energy Shield, Attributes, and Resistances.

Recommended affixes: increased Maximum Energy Shield increased Maximum Mana Attributes Chaos Resistance

(Jewel) Split Personality - Strength and Mana on two Split Personality Jewels socketed in a Cluster Jewel near Divine Shield, where the distance to the start is 60, will get you tons of these stats.

This Jewel's Socket has 25% increased effect per Allocated Passive Skill between it and your Class' starting location <Two random modifiers>

(Jewel) Healthy Mind - You can socket it near Instability and allocate Cruel Preparation to get additional Maximum Mana.

(15-20)% increased maximum Mana Increases and Reductions to Life in Radius are Transformed to apply to Mana at 200% of their value

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - The most important is Maximum Energy Shield sourced from Maximum Mana - it's one of Clarity mods. Lightning Penetration from Wrath is the second-best upgrade.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Scintillating Idea and Storm Drinker are the two best Notables you can get here. We've used only one Large Cluster Jewel, but if you plan to revise the Passive Skill Tree, prioritize the outer Jewels Socket to fit more of these.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Scintillating Idea 1 Added Passive Skill is Storm Drinker 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction 1 Added Passive Skill is Overshock

(Flask) Coruscating Elixir - Grants Fire Resistance, Maximum Fire Resistance, and prevents you from dying instantly from any Chaos Damage that you take while you have no Mana left.

+40% to Fire Resistance +5% to maximum Fire Resistance 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

Other suggested Flasks: Topaz Flask with Chance to Avoid being Stunned Sapphire Flask with Reduced Effect of Curses on you Amethyst Flask with increased Elemental Resistances Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.