Crackling Lance
Trinity Elementalist Build

Updated for Patch 3.17

NOTE: THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, COMPLETE UPDATE WILL BE MADE AFTER PATCH 3.17 GOES LIVE

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Crackling Lance is a very interesting Spell that was added in Patch 3.12 and then severely boosted later on. It deals massive Lightning Damage, which is increased by each stack of Intensity (on top of the standard bonuses granted by the corresponding Support Gem). This build revolves around converting 50% of your Lightning Damage to Cold Element via Call of the Brotherhood Ring and using Trinity Support that boosts your Elemental Damage significantly. The use of Trinity is optional, as you could technically reach similar DPS with other Gems, but sounds cool and looks cool (adds a new circular buff indicator on top).

As of lately, Elementalist became one of the best and most popular Spell-caster classes which is oriented on increasing Elemental Damage and effects of Ailments they inflict, but also it became much more efficient to boost your damage by using different types of Golems. In this build, you are going to use five different Golems which boost your damage and survivability, by also being linked to Meat Shield Support, they will taunt nearby enemies reducing the number of hits your character takes directly. For the defenses, you are looking at a very tanky Hybrid Build which around 9,000 combined Life and Energy Shield, with decent block Chance, Corrupted Soul Passive, two types of Leech, Physical Damage mitigation, and Life Recovery. Overall, this build is quite tanky, and thanks to massive DPS (over 10,000,000 Shaper DPS when fully buffed), you can easily farm all the content in the game.

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

1. Gameplay

This is a tanky Hybrid Spell-caster build which allows you to Dash/Flame Dash around Maps and obliterate everything by self-casting Crackling Lance. Entire screens of enemies will die nearly instantly, with only Bosses requiring several hits to be killed. This build offers amazing defenses, so you can basically jump into packs of enemies without worrying too much about surviving. As a character, you should be even able to easily take on most of the AoE hits the game has to "offer" - like for example Shaper's Slam. This build utilizes five different Golems, but thanks to Elementalist Ascendancy they will be resummoned automatically when slain. It leaves you with only 3 Skills that you are going to use, your Movement Spell of Choice (Flame Dash or Dash), Crackling Lance, and Hydrosphere. Hydrosphere reduces Cold and Lightning Resistances of all enemies in its' radius, and should be used mainly against Bosses - you should know that you need to hit it with Crackling Lance so that it starts pulsing and applying Cold/Lightning Exposure with increased effect from Mastermind of Discord Passive. 

This build also requires Glorious Vanity Jewel, in order to gain the bonuses of Corrupted Soul Passive. It causes the damage you take to be divided nearly equally between your Life and Energy Shield, which allows you to Leech both simultaneously, greatly boosting your defenses. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling up a Witch/Elementalist is very easy. You can breeze through the campaign using Freezing Pulse and Frostbomb (which can be later switched to Crackling Lance/Hydrosphere). You can greatly increase the damage of those two Spells by adding Flat Spell Damage by Support Gems like Added Cold Damage Support and cheap Uniques like Replica Prismweave, Axiom Perpetuum which will let you quickly deal even with the toughest enemies and Bosses. You will also gain high DPS bonuses from Golems starting from Act 4, where you should be able to already have three Summoned for high DPS bonuses. Below you will find the recommended Gem setups and several Unique Items that will be extremely useful on lower levels.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Freezing Pulse setup
	Freezing Pulse - one of the best Spells for leveling. It fires long-range projectiles that deal higher damage the closer you are to your enemy. You should get the First Snow Threshold Jewel for it as soon as possible
	Added Cold Damage Support - adds additional Cold Damage
	Added Lightning Damage Support - adds high flat Lightning Damage
	Faster Casting Support
	Elemental Focus Support - greatly increases Elemental Damage dealt, and its one of the core Gems you will use on higher levels

Frost Bomb setup
	Frost Bomb - creates a pulsing Sphere on the ground which deals a moderate amount of Damage with each tick and applies powerful Cold Exposure to enemies. It will work best against Bosses, but also provides some extra AoE damage against big packs of enemies
	Bonechill Support - increases the effect of Chill and Cold Damage you deal to affected enemies
	Hypothermia Support - greatly increases your Damage against Chilled enemies
	Added Cold Damage Support

Utility Gems
	Clarity - grants increased Mana Regeneration which might be extremely useful on lower levels
	Herald of Ice - the best Herald for this build as it grants damage bonus Cold damage and causes AoE explosions when you slay Frozen enemies
	Dash - the best mobility skill for this build
	Frostbite - the recommended Curse for the leveling phase as it grants the highest bonus to your Cold DPS

Bandits:
You should kill all the Bandits for two additional Passive Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

30 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Frost Walker 2) Heart and Soul 3) Discipline and Training 4) Light of Divinity 5) Devotion

64 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Annihilation 2) Golem Commander 3) Intensity 4) Melding

3.17 PASSIVE TREES AND POBs WILL BE INCLUDED AFTER PATCH GOES LIVE

Recommended leveling items:

Goldrim - one of the best leveling Helmets in Path of Exile as it covers up basically all the needs for Elemental Resistances on lower levels
+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Axiom Perpetuum - one of the best leveling weapons for Spell Casters which adds a ton of flat Elemental Damage to your Spells
12% increased Elemental Damage Adds (2-3) to (5-6) Fire Damage to Spells Adds (2-3) to (5-6) Cold Damage to Spells Adds 1 to (10-12) Lightning Damage to Spells (4-6)% increased Cast Speed (100-140)% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells

Replica Prismweave - an amazing Belt which adds a lot of flat Damage to your Spells (make sure you are getting the Replica one)
(12-24)% increased Global Physical Damage Adds (7-8) to (15-16) Fire Damage to Spells Adds (5-6) to (12-14) Cold Damage to Spells Adds 1 to (30-34) Lightning Damage to Spells +(6-8)% to all Elemental Resistances 10% increased Elemental Damage 30% increased Elemental Damage during any Flask Effect

Praxis - a great leveling Ring that reduces the Mana Cost of all abilities. It makes leveling much smoother as you won't get much Mana/Mana Regen from your Passive Tree

+(20-25) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana (3-6) Mana Regenerated per second -(8-4) to Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit

Victario's Flight - a great pair of Boots that offers very high bonus Movement Speed, Mana Recovery, and extra Attributes
+15 to Dexterity +15 to Intelligence (100-150)% increased Evasion Rating 15% increased Movement Speed (5-10)% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit 10% increased Movement Speed for you and nearby Allies

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

117 Points Skill Tree  (doesn't include Passives from Cluster Jewel and Intuitive Leap)
117 Points Path of Building(PoB) link (includes all Passives and Items)

3.17 PASSIVE TREES AND POBs WILL BE INCLUDED AFTER PATCH GOES LIVE

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Liege of the Primordial
2. Elemancer
3. Mastermind of Discord
4. Heart of Destruction (more AoE/DPS) or Bastion of Elements (defenses/immunity to Reflect)

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Crackling Lance
	Crackling Lance - the primary and build-defining skill that is self-casted in this setup. It builds up Intensity stacks and deals greatly increased damage with consecutive cats. It will have 50% of its' damage converted to Cold so that it generates all types of Resonance stacks
	Trinity Support - hits you deal with Elemental Damage generate Resonance charges of the other two Elements, so if you deal both Lighting and Cold Damage with Crackling Lance, you will generate all three types of Resonance charges, greatly increasing your Elemental Damage
	Intensify Support - grants a very strong damage multiplier based on the number of Intensify charges; basically increasing it when you are stationary, with each consecutive hit
	Inspiration Support - reduces the Mana Cost and increases Elemental Damage of your Crackling Lance
	Spell Echo Support - makes supported Spell repeat itself an additional time. This Gem has an even more powerful Awakened variant
	Added Lightning Damage Support - grants high bonus Lightning Damage added to your Crackling Lance. It also has an Awakened variant

[UTILITY] Golems
	Summon Flame Golem - you are going to use all 5 Golems that actually benefit this build, so only Carrion will be left behind. Flame Golem increases your Damage directly
	Summon Lightning Golem - Lightning Golem increases your Attack and Cast Speed (only the latter matters for us in this build)
	Summon Ice Golem - increases Accuracy Rating (irrelevant) and Critical Strike Chance
	Summon Chaos Golem - grants high Physical Damage mitigation
	Summon Stone Golem - increases Life Regeneration
	Meat Shield Support - makes linked Golem defensive, meaning they will take less damage and Taunt enemies that try to attack you

[UTILITY] Auras
	Zealotry - increases your Spell Damage and Spell Critical Strike Chance. Combined with powerful Aura modifiers you can get from Watcher's Eye, this is the best Aura for this build DPS-wise
	Wrath - increases your Lightning Spell Damage significantly
	Herald of Ice - grants extra Cold Damage to Spells, but why you mainly want to have it, are the explosions it causes when you kill Frozen enemies. If by any chance you don't have enough Mana or your Mana Regeneration is too slow, you may consider removing Herald of Ice entirely from your skillset
	Enlighten Support - reduces the Mana Reservation cost of linked Spells

[UTILITY] Hydrosphere
	Hydrosphere - a powerful AoE utility Spell that applies Cold and Lightning Exposure to nearby enemies. The effect is increased by using Mastermind of Discord Passive
	Awakened Hextouch Support - the Awakened version of this Gem allows you to apply a second Curse via Hydrosphere's pulses
	Elemental Weakness - one of the best Curses for this build. Assuming you are applying Assassin's Mark via your Ring, this is the best secondary one you can use here
	Increased Area of Effect Support

[UTILITY] Flame Dash/Steelskin
	Flame Dash - the recommended Movement Skill for this build. It allows you to progress faster through Maps and avoid heavy damage
	Arcane Surge Support - causes linked Spells to grant Arcane Surge buff when you spend a certain amount of Mana on them. Keep this Gem at level 5 so that it is triggered after each cast of Flame Dash
	Second Wind Support - increases the Cooldown Recovery Speed of linked spells and adds an additional charge on Flame Dash
	Steelskin - grants a protective shield that absorbs incoming damage

[UTILITY] Assassin's Mark (Ring affix)
	Assassin's Mark - the best Curse for this build which increases your effective Crit. Chance and generates Power Charges on kills. It has to be applied by an affix on a Shaper Ring

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find the recommended gear for our Crackling Lance Elementalist. Most of the gear is optional, with only Call of the Brotherhood and Glorious Vanity Jewel being the must-have Items. All the other equipment can be replaced with random Rares and/or Uniques that offer similar stats and utility. Overall, this build can get pretty expensive, but it can be played on a medium budget as well.

We guarantee that our list will:

1. Cap your Elemental Resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS, Life, and Energy Shield to start mapping successfully
3. Save you at least a couple of hours!

(Helmet) Crown of the Inward Eye - one of the best Helmets for this build as it grants high bonus DPS since you are increasing your Life/Mana/Energy Shield from various Passives

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

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - always a decent option. You can pick ES base with high bonus Life for high defensive Utility

Recommended affixes: +90 Maximum Life Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Critical Strike Multiplier Attributes

Helmet enchantment: Crackling Lance deals 40% increased Damage Crackling Lance has 16% increased Cast Speed

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - the best all-around Armour you can use for this build. You need to have a Crafted affix that will increase your Maximum Energy Shield based on your Max Life

Recommended affixes: +110 Maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Gain 10% of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield Optional affixes: Attributes

(Body Armour) Carcass Jack - great pick if you want to maximize your clear speed when farming lower-tier content

(120-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +(50-70) to maximum Life +(9-12)% to all Elemental Resistances (40-50)% increased Area of Effect (40-50)% increased Area Damage Extra gore

(Weapon) Rare Staff - The sky is the limit when it comes to picking up your Staff for this build. Simply aim for the highest Lightning Spell Damage bonuses and possibly increases to the level of All Lightning Spell Gems as well. We recommend getting a staff with Attack Block Chance implicit, but if you want to maximize your DPS, Spell Crit. Chance ones will also work.

Recommended affixes: 100% Lightning Spell Damage Added Lightning Damage to Spells 30% Cast Speed Optional affixes: Critical Strike Chance for Spells +2-3 to All Lightning Spell Skill Gems

(Weapon) Agnerod West - quite ok budget alternative to a much more expensive Rare. It offers most of the required stats, but only lacks bonuses to Crit. Chance and Cast Speed

+18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff +2 to Level of all Lightning Spell Skill Gems +(80-120) to Intelligence (30-50)% increased Lightning Damage Adds (5-15) to (100-140) Lightning Damage to Spells 40% increased Strength Requirement Damage Penetrates 20% Lightning Resistance

(Boots) Rare Boots - pick a pair with the highest Life/Resistances combo with at least 25% bonus Movement Speed

Recommended affixes: +70 Maximum Life 25% Increased Movement Speed 90% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Gain Elusive on Critical Strike

Boot Enchantment: 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently 18% reduced Mana Cost of Skills if you've been Hit Recently

(Belt) Stygian Vise - the best option for this build. Get as much Life here as possible, and some extra Resistances

Recommended affixes: +100 Maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Increased Damage (Generic/Elemental/Lightning) Non-Channelling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost Maximum Life %

(Belt) Replica Soul Tether - it grants you a Corrupted Soul, Strength, and a lot of Energy Shield. You can use it as a substitute for Glorious Vanity​​​​​​.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(20-40) to Strength Gain (4-6)% of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield Corrupted Soul

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - the BiS option for this build. If you have problems with Mana you can get the Reduced Mana affix here which should help you easily maintain all the Auras

Recommended affixes: +60 Maximum Life 40 Dexterity 35% Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: #% Reduced Mana Reserved (if necessary) Non-Channelling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost Spell Damage Mana Regeneration Rate

Recommended Anointments: Doom Cast (best DPS) Charisma (in case of Mana issues)

(Ring) Rare Rings - just aim to get high Life, Resistances, and Attributes. You should also get Assassin's Mark on the Rare Ring

Recommended affixes: +50 Maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Trigger Level # Assassin's Mark when you Hit a Rare or Unique Enemy Optional affixes: Mana/Mana Regeneration Rate Attributes

(Ring) Call of the Brotherhood - a mandatory Ring for this build that allows you to convert 50% of your Lightning Damage to Cold so that you can efficiently this build. Make sure to use Elemental Catalysts here to maximize the conversion effect and DPS bonus

+(12-16)% to Cold and Lightning Resistances +(15-25) to Intelligence (15-25)% increased Lightning Damage (30-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 40% of Lightning Damage Converted to Cold Damage Your spells have 100% chance to Shock against Frozen Enemies

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - once again aim for high defensive stats

Recommended affixes: +100 Maximum Life Optional affixes: Spell Damage Elemental Resistances Global Critical Strike Chance / Elemental Damage if you've dealt a Critical Strike Recently Attributes

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - it's pretty much mandatory to grab a Large Cluster Jewel with Doryani's Lessons (among other Passives) as it's one of the few ways to gain Life Leech in this build

Recommended affixes:  1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Snowstorm

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - if you can invest some extra cash into this build we greatly recommend getting a Medium Cluster Jewel with Master of Fear and Wish for Death Passives. You basically gain Culling Strike and Unnerve enemies on hit when you get it, but it will most likely cost a couple of Exalted Orbs

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Master of Fear 1 Added Passive Skill is Wish for Death

(Jewel) The Anima Stone -  allows you to summon an extra Golem which not only grants bonuses directly from itself but also increases your Damage and effectiveness of other Golems you have thanks to Elementalist's Passives

+1 to maximum number of Golems +1 to maximum number of Summoned Golems if you have 3 Primordial Items Socketed or Equipped

(Jewel) Rare Abyss Jewel - you can get extra Life here and Crit. Multiplier. You can also try getting a Jewel with a chance to Hinder enemies on Spell Hit

Recommended affixes: maximum Life Global Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes:  Chance to Hinder enemies on Spell hit Added Lightning Damage to Spells

(Jewel) Glorious Vanity -  allows you to convert one of the Keystone Passives to Corrupted Soul. It grants you ES and redistributes the damage you take to Maximum Life and ES equally.

Bathed in the blood of (100-8000) sacrificed in the name of (Ahuana-Doryani-Xibaqua) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Vaal Historic

(Jewel) Thread of Hope -  a Medium variant socketed near Instability allows you to allocate notables such as Golem Commander, Arcane Will, Heart of Thunder, Breath of Lightning, and Cruel Preparation

Only affects Passives in Medium Ring Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree -(20-10)% to all Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Nadir Mode - if you can Cast the Spell faster than once every 0.5 seconds, and you lack Critical Strike Chance, it's a Jewels you can use

(20-25)% increased Spell Damage Spells have 30% increased Critical Strike Chance per Intensity Spells which have gained Intensity Recently lose 1 Intensity every 0.5 Seconds

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - we recommend getting a Watcher's Eye Jewel with double Zealotry or Zealotry + Wrath bonuses, which shouldn't cost a fortune, and grant simply massive DPS bonus

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>  Recommended Aura modifiers: Consecrated Ground you create while affected by Zealotry causes enemies to take (8-10)% increased Damage (100-120)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground while affected by Zealotry Critical Strikes Penetrate (8-10)% of Enemy Elemental Resistances while affected by Zealotry (40-60)% increased Lightning Damage while affected by Wrath(40-60)% increased Lightning Damage while affected by Wrath

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - just get Max Life, Crit Multi, and Spell Damage here

Recommended affixes: maximum Life Global Critical Strike Multiplier/Critical Strike Multiplier with Elemental / Fire Skills Optional affixes: Increased Spell/Area Damage Elemental Resistances

(Flask) Bottled Faith - the best Utility Flask for this build. It grants very high DPS by adding flat extra Crit. Chance

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - a great defensive Flask that increases your Chance to Block Spells and Attacks

+1500 to Armour +(8-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Flask effect +(4-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask of Staunching for Bleed removal Diamond Flask with Immunity to Poison during Flask Effect Mana Flask with random ailment removal

If you have any feedback about this build or suggestions for the next one, please let us know in the comments below! 

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