Burning Arrow Snipe
Elementalist Build

Updated for Patch 3.21

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The New Snipe Skill is a great addition to the Bow-wielding DoT builds. Instead of causing multiple Smaller instances of Bleeding, Poison, or Ignite, you're now able to cause one that's significantly stronger, but you have to Channel the Attack first. It's particularly great if the DoT Ailment is limited to only one instance - such is the case with Ignite. Burning Arrow is the best Bow Attack for this purpose, as it has one of the highest base Fire Damage. In addition to that, you will be using Alchemist's Mark to create Burning Ground which plays a surprisingly big role in your overall DPS. Having only a Channeling Skill is of course bad for clearing, so to dispose of smaller foes use another Burning Arrow with Ignite Proliferation and Multiple Projectiles. It elevates this build to one of the best in terms of clear speed.

Elementalist is the obvious choice for an Ignite Build due to the Shaper of Flames Keystone which grants tons of Burning Damage and guarantees Ignite with each Hit. With Mastermind of Discord and Heart of Destruction, your Elemental Damage is further magnified. The downside of playing as an Elementalist is the lack of much-needed Dexterity and Accuracy Rating, but that can be fixed with proper items. If you've played a very popular Explosive Arrow Elementalist Build, you may adopt some of the augmentations used there, such as equipping Dyadian Dawn Belt for more DPS or Cinderswallow Urn to replenish resources. The build has pretty solid defenses as you're allowed to use Bastion of Elements Keystone, The Brass Dome, and combine it with Determination. Most of your items are of Rare Quality, granting you a lot of flexibility.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Use Burning Arrow to kill enemies as you travel through a map. The Snipe Skill is to be used against bosses, be sure to hit them with the aforementioned Burning Arrow first as it's linked with Combustion. In addition to that, apply Fire Exposure and set up a Flame Wall. It may be hard to find a window of opportunity, especially against fast and mobile bosses. For Curse use Flammabiltiy nad Alchemist's Mark. For a Guard Spell, we recommend Molten Shell or Steelskin depending on how much Armour you have. For Auras use Determination, Malevolence, and Herald of Ash.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

To level up efficiently, use our Witch Leveling Guide using Ignite. It uses Spells but it's easier to level up this way. Transition into a Bow Skill later on after acquiring a good Bow with added Fire Damage and having a gear with a lot of Accuracy Rating.

Bandits:

Kill all three bandits and be rewarded with two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

32 Points Passive Tree
Allocate Maximum Life, Fire Damage, and Fire Damage over Time. Elemental Overload is great even early on.
 

70 Points Passive Tree
Get more Fire Damage over Time, Maximum Life, and Mana Reservation Efficiency.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

106 Points Final Passive Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels)
121 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Shaper of Flames
2. Mastermind of Discord
3. Heart of Destruction
4. Bastion of Elements

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 Ryslatha: Life Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds if you haven't used a Life Flask Recently; 60% increased Life Recovery from Flasks used when on Low Life

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Snipe setup
	Burning Arrow - The Skill you will Snipe with. It's the best Attack to cause Ignite with as it deals a lot of extra added damage against Ignited enemies.
	Snipe - Burning Arrow is now a Channeling Skill that you will use against bosses. The accumulated stages will result in one big Ignite.
	Burning Damage Support - You will deal more Burning Damage.
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - Grants more Elemental Damage with Attacks.
	Immolate Support - Adds extra flat Fire Damage which may be what you lack.  Deadly Ailments Support is better in most cases, especially if you already have some added Fire Damage from Items.
	Cruelty Support - Grants more Damage over Time and more Damage with Hits.  Swift Affliction is probably better, but it also reduces Igntie Duration which may be not desirable.

[UTILITY] Secondary Burning Arrow setup
	Burning Arrow - It's used to dispose of weaker enemies. The Divergent option is probably better in this setup. Use it against bosses too before you start sniping to apply Ignite and Combustion.
	Ignite Proliferation Support - Ignite spread to nearby enemies which enhances your clear speed.
	Combustion Support - Combustion lowers Fire Resistance and grants more Fire Damage for Skills in this setup.
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - More Arrows will significantly improve your clear speed.
	Mirage Archer Support - Another tool that increases Clear Speed. It summons a Mirage Archer that uses the same setup.  Life Gain on Hit Support may be a suitable alternative if you don't need it. Another alternative is  Awakened Fire Penetration Support to have a chance to apply Fire Exposure on Hit.
	Chain Support - Projectile Chains. It is another tool that drastically improves clear speed.

[UTILITY] Various skills
	Frostblink - A mobility Skill that also Hits enemies. Use the Anomalous version for increased AoE.
	Hextouch Support - Linked Skill will apply linked Hex Curse on Hit.
	Flammability - Anomalous Flammability would be the best variant of this Skill. It reduced the Fire Resistance of the afflicted enemy.
	Wave of Conviction - You have to have a source of Exposure, and Wave of Conviction is one of the easiest ways to apply it. You may also use Starlight Chalice Flask, Awakened Fire Penetration Support Gem, Master of Fire Notable from Cluster Jewel, Eldritch Implicit on Rare Gloves, or Archdemon Crown Helmet.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Determination - Adds and increases Armour to mitigate incoming Physical Hit Damage.
	Malevolence - More Damage over Time and Increased Skill Effect Duration. Extremely good Aura for any DoT build.
	Herald of Ash - Grants more Burning Damage and increases clear speed. It also provides more Fire Damage sourced from Physical Damage.
	Enlighten Support - Lowers Mana Reservation Cost of Linked Skills. It may not be needed at all.

[UTILITY] Alchemist's Mark setup
	Alchemist's Mark - Alchemist's Mark is the most useful one in this case. It creates a Burning Ground underneath the Marked enemy on Hit.
	Mark on Hit Support - Linked Mark is applied on Hit against though enemies.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell
	Molten Shell - Molten Shell is great if you have a lot of Armour. It mitigates a portion of incoming Hit Damage for some time.

[UTILITY] Flame Wall
	Flame Wall - Projectiles passing through Flame Wall have added Fire Damage. Try to set it up between you and your target.

[UTILITY] Precision
	Precision - If you lack Accuracy use Precision. Even at level 1, it adds 93 Accuracy. It's not really useful, but Accuracy is in short supply in this build.  Vitality may be used instead to regenerate Life.

6. Gear Setup

The base Flat Damage on your Bow will be the top priority. You can actually use a Bow with many different types of added Damage - Fire, Lightning, Cold, or Physical. With Shaper of Flames, it will all add up to cause Ignite, as you can Ignite with any type of Damage. Burning Damage and DoT will be mostly sourced from the Skill Tree and Gems so you won't need a lot of it on a Weapon. Just be sure that Fire Damage is the most prominent. It's rather easy to achieve. Remember to have a high Accuracy Rating with around a 95% chance to Hit. The Bow will probably require around 200 Dexterity so be prepared to get Items with this stat on them. Besides the usual Armour or Evasion, we heavily encourage getting Spell Suppression Chance. It's extremely impactful. Remember to cap the Elemental Resistances at 75%, and have at least positive Chaos Resistance. Life Recovery May be a huge issue - if that's the case use Vitality Aura, Cinderswallow Urn, Bloodnotch with Immutable Force, or rare modifiers. Try to get immunity against various DoT Effects be it from the pantheon, Flasks, Passives, Boots, or Jewels. If you have a problem with Mana sustain, allocate Eldritch Battery or try to lower the Mana Cost of Skills. Skill Gem Level is not important. Polaric Devastation and Circle of Anguish are your recommended Rings. For Body Armour, we encourage getting a good Brass Dome.

Our recommended items will:

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

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Blizzard Crown is extremely good as it adds more Damage with no drawback. It's where you can get extra Accuracy, Dexterity, Resistances, Spell Suppression, and other, harder-to-get modifiers.

Min. requirements: +80 to Maximum Life 300 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Dexterity Nearby Enemies take % increased Elemental/Fire Damage Chaos Resistance increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills Spell Suppression Chance (61–70)% increased Duration of Ailments you inflict while Focused (crafted)

Helmet enchantments: 40% increased Burning Arrow Damage

(Weapon) Rare Bow - Get a Bow with as much Elemental DPS as you can afford, all the other modifiers hardly matter. These "Added Elemental Damage" modifiers are Suffixes, for Prefixes you can look for Accuracy, Dexterity, or DoT Multiplier.

Min. requirements: 600+ Elemental DPS  Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating DoT Multiplier Fire Damage over Time Multiplier Damage Penetrates #% Fire Resistances Chance to deal Double Damage increased Attack Speed

(Off-hand) Rare Quiver - Quiver can too add extra Elemental Damage to your Attacks. Here we encourage getting extra Maximum Life, Attributes, Resistances, and additional offensive modifiers.

Min. requirements: +50 to maximum Life Adds Elemental Damage to Attacks Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Accuracy Rating Dexterity increased Attack Speed increased Damage with Bow Skills +# to Damage over Time Multiplier with Attack Skills

(Body Armour) The Brass Dome - Brass Dome is extremely good if well-rolled. It adds tons of Armour and Maximum Elemental Resistances which are usually low in such builds.

(350-400)% increased Armour +(1-5)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances Strength provides no bonus to Maximum Life Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes

(Body Armour) Loreweave - Loreweave is good too for similar reasons. It also has other great modifiers like extra Attributes, Added Damage, Increased Elemental Damage, and increased Rarity of Items found.

Has 6 Sockets +(8-24) to all Attributes Adds (4-10) to (14-36) Physical Damage to Attacks (20-60)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +(15-50) to maximum Energy Shield +(20-60) to maximum Life +(20-50) to maximum Mana (6-30)% increased Rarity of Items found (15-50)% increased Elemental Damage Your Maximum Resistances are (76-78)%

(Body Armour) Hyrri's Ire - Another powerful chest piece. It adds a lot of Dexterity, Evasion, Cold Damage, and Chance to Suppress Spell Damage. You may want to use Grace instead of Determination with this one. Be careful not to add too much Cold Damage to your Attacks.

+(40-50) to Dexterity (140-220)% increased Evasion Rating 25% increased Chill Duration on Enemies (105-145) to (160-200) Added Cold Damage with Bow Attacks +30% chance to Suppress Spell Damage

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Here we would recommend looking only for the most basic stats like Armour, Evasion, Maximum Life, Resistances, Attributes, and Suppression.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +90% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Chaos Resistance Attributes Life Regeneration Rate Spell Suppression Chance Socketed Attacks have -15 to Total Mana Cost

(Boots) Rare Boots - Boots offer mostly basic modifiers like Movement Speed, Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, Attributes, and Spell Suppression Chance. Apply the Eldritch modifier to make your Ignites deal damage faster.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +50% Total Elemental Resistances 30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Attributes Spell Suppression Chance chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - On the Gloves seek Accuracy, Resistances, Attributes, and Suppression for Suffixes and various types of added Elemental Damage to Attacks with Maximum Life for Prefixes.

Min. requirements: +50 to Maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances 300 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: Attributes Added Elemental Damage Added Fire Damage against Burning Enemies Ignites you inflict deal Damage #% faster Spell Suppression Chance Chaos Resistance increased Damage over Time

(Belt) Rare Belt - Rare Stygian Vise offers an Abyss Socket that you can use to gain extra Accuracy if needed, but it should primarily grant Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, Strength, and increased Elemental Damage with Attacks.

Min. requirements: +80 to Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances 50 Strength Optional affixes: increased Maximum Life increased Damage increased Elemental Damage with Attacks

(Belt) Dyadian Dawn - It's the best option for a belt by a long shot. It has solid basic stats and makes your Ignite deal damage faster which is a big improvement.

+(25-35) to Strength +(70-85) to maximum Life +(20-40)% to Fire Resistance +(20-40)% to Cold Resistance 1% of Attack Damage Leeched as Life against Chilled Enemies Ignites you inflict with Attacks deal Damage 35% faster Deal no Physical Damage

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - The Amulet may provide you with Maximum Life, Resistances, Accuracy, Added Damage to Attacks, Damage over Time Multiplier, Attributes, and increased Elemental Damage.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life 200 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: Damage over Time Multiplier increased Elemental Damage with Attacks Added Elemental Damage to Attacks Resistances Attributes

Recommended Anointments: Dirty Techniques Farsight Mark the Prey Weathered Hunter Charisma Growth and Decay

(Ring) Rare Ring - On Rings, you can get extra Accuracy, increased or added Elemental Damage with Attacks, Maximum Life, Resistances, Flammability Curse on Hit, and Attributes.

Min. requirements: 80 Maximum Life +60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Flammability Curse on Hit increased Elemental Damage with Attacks adds Elemental Damage  Attributes Accuracy Rating Non-Channelling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost

(Ring) Circle of Anguish - You're using Herald of Ash so Circle of Anguish is a sound option. Try to get increased Fire Damage, Buff Effect, or Reservation Efficiency.

<One to three random Synthesis implicit modifiers> +(20-30) to Strength Adds (20-25) to (26-35) Fire Damage +(20-30)% to Fire Resistance <Two Random Herald of Ash modifier>

(Ring) Polaric Devastation - It should Cover enemies in Ash, they'll take 20% increased Fire Damage. It has other good stats like Resistances, increased Ignite Duration, and Elemental Damage.

(15-25)% increased Elemental Damage (15-25)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +(20-40)% to Fire Resistance +(20-40)% to Cold Resistance (10-20)% increased Duration of Ailments on Enemies Left Ring slot: Cover Enemies in Ash for 5 seconds when you Ignite them Right Ring slot: Cover Enemies in Frost for 5 seconds when you Freeze them

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Besides Life and Resistance, seek the Fire or DoT modifiers. The best one would make your Ignites deal damage faster. Use Abyss Jewels if you need Accuracy.

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Damaging Ailments deal damage #% faster Elemental Resistances Fire Damage over Time Multiplier increased Burning Damage

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Large Cluster Jewels with increased Fire Damage have multiple good notables you can implement. Use one or two of them.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Burning Bright 1 Added Passive Skill is Corrosive Elements 1 Added Passive Skill is Cremation 1 Added Passive Skill is Master of Fire

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - Burning Damage Medium Cluster Jewels offer great notables as well. Blowback and Wasting Affliction may be the best ones for more DPS.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Circlink Oblivion 1 Added Passive Skill is Blowback 1 Added Passive Skill is Brush with Death 1 Added Passive Skill is Cooked Alive 1 Added Passive Skill is Student of Decay 1 Added Passive Skill is Wasting Affliction

(Jewel) Bloodnotch - Bloodnotch will Recover Life instantly after taking damage from a Stunning Hit. Combine it with Immutable Force and Energy Shield Mastery to lower your Stun Threshold.

(40–60)% of Damage taken from Stunning Hits is Recovered as Life

(Jewel) Immutable Force - Get a copy of this Jewel with at least 800% Recovery, and combine it with Bloodnotch. It's a great source of Life recovery, and Stuns will have no effect on you.

(500-1000)% increased Stun and Block Recovery

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - You can place it in various places to get more Dexterity and for other notable upgrades such as extra Accuracy or increased Ignite Duration.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of (Asenath-Balbala-Nasima) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Your Auras are Determination and Malevolence. Malevolence's mod for extra Damage over Time Multiplier is the best one.

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

(Jewel) Cinderswallow Urn - Seek Cinderswallow Urn with Life Recovery on Kill, Life Regeneration every second, or reduced Mana Cost.

+90 to Maximum Charges Recharges 5 Charges when you Consume an Ignited corpse (175-200)% increased Charges per use Enemies Ignited by you during Effect take (7-10)% increased Damage Veiled Suffix <One of the three modifiers>

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal Granite Flask with increased Armour Jade Flask with increased Evasion Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed or Freeze Immunity

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.