Notable Passives:

1. Arcanist [8/8] - +8 Intelligence, +24% Fire and Lightning Resistance. This passive is a good place to dump some points if you want to get a bit further into the Mage passive tree. 
2. Reactive Ward [1/10] - +20 Ward when you get below 70% max Health. This effect has a 12-second Cooldown. This gives us a minor defensive boost and unlocks Warden. 
3. Mage Flurry [5/5] - +15% Attack Speed and +15% Cast Speed. We're mainly interested in Cast Speed from this one. 
4. Warden [5/5] - +50% Ward Retention. This will greatly help us retain our Ward and increase our overall defenses that way. 
5. Ice and Fire [5/5] - 35% Increased Fire and Cold Damage, 35% increased Ignite Chance with Fire Skills, and 35% increased Chill Chance with Cold Skills. This will boost our Ignite Chance quite considerably. 

Mage Tree provides us with some much-needed Fire and Lightning Resistance, Intelligence, Cast Speed (which is quite solid for the build), and a whopping 50% Ward Retention. The "Fire" part of the Ice and Fire node is also solid for us, but that Passive is not really required. 

Sorcerer Skill Tree (73 Points)

Notable Passives:

1. Brainstorm [5/8] - 30% more Spell Damage and 10% Increased Mana Regen. We take this one to alleviate any potential Mana Problems we could come across during gameplay. 
2. Arcane Momentum [5/5] - 25% increased Cast Speed for 2 Seconds after casting a Spell. This is very nice, especially if we are chain-casting. 
3. Pyromancer [8/8] - +48% Fire Damage and +24% Ignite Chance. Increased ignite Chance if what we want from this one. 
4. Lavamancer [5/5] - +1.5% Fire Damage Leech and +15% Fire Penetration. This is a very solid passive that gives us some more umpf while also increasing our overall survivability by a bit. 
5. Whirling Snow [5/5] - 35% Increased chance to Chill Targets and 35% chance to Chill Attackers when hit. While this build is based on Ignite/Fire, we take this Passive as it provides an irreplaceable defensive utility/passive crowd control. It will help us get out with our lives from even the trickiest of situations. 
6. Inferno [8/8] - 64% Increased Elemental Damage Over Time and 16% Increased Ignite Duration. This passive will account for a large portion of this build's Damage. 
7. Arcane Avalanche [2/8] - This makes us Freeze all nearby enemies when we get reduced below 50% of our Health. It fires off 2 small AoE freezes, so it can easily freeze more than 2 enemies (contrary to what its tooltip indicates). 
8. Arcane Insight [10/10] - +10 Intelligence and a 50% chance on Hit to gain Insight. Insight increases Elemental Damage and Ward Retention by 20% for 4 seconds. This should have close to 100% Uptime. 
9. Chronomancy [8/8] - +32% Ignite Duration, +32% Chill Duration, +32% Shock Duration, and +8 Vitality. We see Ignite Duration, we take Ignite Duration. 
10. Elemental Ascendance [8/8] - 16% increased Elemental Resistance, 40% increased Elemental Damage, and 64% increased Stun Chance with Elemental Spells. This is solid and well-rounded passive. 
11. Recollection [4/4] - 20% increased Cooldown Recovery Speed. A must-have passive that will boost our DPS very significantly and allow us to keep our on-hit effects active. 

This is the main Passive tree of this Build, we're mostly interested in the Fire Damage/Ignite Chance-related passives (so, Pyromancer, Lavamancer, Inferno, and Chronomancy) and Cast Speed/Cooldown Recovery Speed (so, Recollection and Arcane Momentum). Other passives that were selected were chosen for their utility, defensive properties, or simply for their great value. 

Notable Passives:

1. Elemental Affinity [6/6] - 30% Increased Elemental Damage and 18% Increased Elemental Resistance. Thanks to Elemental Resistance, this makes gearing a bit easier. 
2. Flame Walker [8/8] - 40% Chance per second to cast a Fire Aura when moving or melee attacking. If you already have a Fira Aura active, the chance is doubled. 
3. Incinerating Aura [1/8] - Increases Fire Aura's AoE by 15% and its Base Damage per second by 3. 

We need 15 points in this Passive Tree to unlock Enchant Weapon. You can spend these 15 points however you like, really, as none of Spellblade's passives are needed. If you don't like the path we've chosen, you can max out Arcane Warden for some Ward and unlock Incinerating Aura with the remaining 7 Points. 

• Arcane Warden [8/8] (alternative) - 

Fireball - At its base, Fireball is the generic Fire-based projectile spell featured in pretty much every RPG ever made. With our setup, however, it becomes much more interesting. Each Cast of Fireball, with the selected mods, will fire off 3 homing projectiles that have an increased chance to Ignite enemies. Moreover, if three of them hit the same enemy, they will trigger a Flame Burst for even more AoE damage. 

1. Piercing Heat [3/4] - +75% Chance to Pierce at the price of +99% Increased Mana Cost. Having Fireball move through Enemies 75% of the time is worth the mana cost increase. 
2. Winged Fire [3/4] - 21% more Damage from a Fireball and a 36% increase in its Range and Speed. This makes aiming with the spell easier and allows us to cover a larger area in Fireballs. 
3. Fire Spray [1/1] - Fireball now releases 2 additional projectiles in a cone, but costs 6 more Mana. The Damage and coverage increase from this is insane. We need this to unlock Embers (with Embers, this provides 1 extra projectile). 
4. Embers [1/1] - With this, Fireballs are fired in sequence, not in a cone, and can hit the same target, but the total number of projectiles is reduced by 50% and the cast speed is reduced by 10% per extra projectile. 
5. Dancing Fire [2/2] - +2 Extra Projectiles (so effectively 1 extra projectile because of the 50% reduction from Embers). 
6. Conflagration [3/6] - +75% chance for Fireballs to ignite their targets. 
7. Flammability [3/4] - 75% chance for a Fireball to Shred enemy fire resistance. Shred stacks up to 20 times and each point of Shred reduces enemy fire resistance by 5% (2% if it's a Boss or another Player). 
8. Seeker's Ash [1/1] - With this, Fireballs will seek targets by themselves. Turning Fireball into a fire and forget spell is simply amazing. 
9. Flame Burst [1/1] - With this, the Enemy that's hit with 5 Fireballs will be struck by a Flame Burst. Flame Burst deals high amounts of Fire Damage in an area. 
10. Volatile Flames [2/2] - Reduces the number of Fireballs needed to trigger a Flame Burst by 2 (which means that Flame Bursts will happen 40% more frequently and a single cast of Fireball will be enough to trigger a Flame Burst if all Fireballs hit the same target!). 

Meteor - This is our secondary offensive Spell that will hit our Enemies hard, give us some extra Cast Speed, and provide us with solid mana-recovery mechanics (45% mana cost recovery from Meteor Cast itself, and 6 Mana gained from every Fireball cast for 4 seconds after casting Meteor). It will also cover a large area with Shrapnel that deal solid Damage. 

1. Aftermath [3/3] - With this, we will recover 45% of Meteor's mana cost over the next 3 seconds after casting it. This effect can happen once every 3 seconds as it doesn't stack. This is a great Mana-saver. 
2. Carterborn [5/5] - After we cast Meteor, we now gain Craterborn buff which grants 20% increased Cast Speed and 150% increased Fire Damage for 4 seconds. This buff does not stack. 
3. Cycle of Fire [3/3] - Casting a Fireball with Craterborn active now grants 6 Mana and 18 Ward. This gives us a high incentive to weave Meteors between Fireball casts. 
4. Celestial Celerity [3/3] - +60% Cast Speed, +60% Fall Speed, +60% Mana Cost. This makes Meteors much more dynamic but also more costly to cast. 
5. Shattering Star [3/3] - Gives meteors a 100% chance to break into Shrapnel on impact. Shrapnel deal damage to nearby enemies and scale with Spell Damage and Fire Damage. 
6. Piercing Remnants [1/1] - This allows Shrapnel to pierce through Enemies but reduces their Speed and Range by 20%. 
7. Jagged Fragments [1/5] - Increases the Damage of Shrapnels by 60%. 

Teleport - This is our mobility/escape tool that will also provide some nice benefits for 8 seconds after it's used (including a free spell cast!). Thanks to increased Cooldown Recovery Speed from Tunnel Finder, this spell should always be ready when we need it. The best thing about our Teleport setup is that it grants us 8 seconds of Stun Immunity after we use it, making us permanently immune to Stuns, basically. 

1. Time Dilation [5/5] - Boosts the Teleport's Stat Buff duration by 100%. This allows us to benefit from the modifiers provided by the teleport for 8 seconds after using it. 
2. Mana Tunnel [1/1] - After using Teleport, our next spell cast within an 8-second window is free, but the Teleport has 6 seconds longer Cooldown. This effect is best used with Meteor as it costs a lot of mana and has mana recovery effects attached to it. 
3. Tunnel Finder [5/5] - Increases Teleport's Cooldown Recovery Speed by 50%, allowing us to use it much more frequently and minimizing Mana Tunel's drawback. 
4. Rock Phase [1/1] - This gives us Stun Immunity for 8 seconds after casting a Teleport. We can have a permanent Stun Immunity thanks to this if we want to. 
5. Resonant Plasma [4/5] - 20% Increased Lightning and Fire Resistance, and 200 Stun Avoidance for 8 seconds after using Teleport. 
6. Decoy Position [1/1] - Teleport now creates a Mirror Image at the spot from where it's used. Mirror Images count as Minions and will taunt nearby enemies for 10 seconds. This makes Teleport even more reliable as an escape tool. It also increases Teleport's Mana Cost by 5. 

Flame Ward - This is the primary defensive tool for this build that will greatly reduce our Damage Taken (both Elemental and Physical) and provide us with a lot of Ward to increase our survivability even further. Thanks to the Dual Aegis mod, we can cast this twice which ensures that we will always have it at hand when needed. 

1. Dilation [3/3] - Reduces Flame Ward's mana Cost by 33% and increases the Duration of Flame Ward and Fire Aura by 33%. More efficiency is always great. 
2. Energize [2/3] - Flame Ward provides 30 Ward per second while it's active. This is a great defensive passive effect. 
3. Recollection [1/2] - +25% Ward Retention when Flame Ward is active. 
4. Prismatic Buffer [3/3] - 30% less Elemental Damage Taken while Flame Ward is active. Between this and other Elemental Damage Reduction effects, we should have enough to don't be scared of Elemental Damage at all. 
5. Barrier [5/5] - 40% less Hit Damage while Flame Ward is active. Another amazing defensive bonus. 
6. Stalwart Defense [2/5] - +80% Ward Gained from casting Flame Ward. 
7. Dual Aegis [1/1] - +1 Flame Ward Charge. This allows us to cast Flame Ward twice before it goes on Cooldown. 

Enchant Weapon - This is a nice support ability that will increase our DPS quite significantly. It provides passive bonuses and can be activated once every 15 seconds to give improved bonuses for 9 seconds. Our setup improves our chance to Ignite enemies, increases Ignite duration, and boosts our Elemental Damage done. 

1. Immolating Strike [4/5] - 20% Chance to Ignite Enemies with Melee Attacks (40% while Enchant Weapon is active). 
2. Eternal Flames [5/5] - 25% longer Ignite Duration (50% longer while Enchant Weapon is Active). This is a highly synergistic mod for this build. 
3. Burst of Fire [1/1] - Hitting Ignited enemies now casts a Fire Burst towards them. Fire Burst is an effect that deals fire damage on hit and scales with increases to both Fire and Spell Damage. Fire Burst can be triggered once every 2 seconds. This is a must-have mod as we have a very high Ignite Chance with this build. 
4. Flameblast [2/3] - Increases Fire Burst Damage by 60% and reduces its Cooldown by 20%. 
5. Concentration [4/4] - Makes Enchant Weapon stay active for 4 more seconds. This mod bumps Enchant Weapon's uptime to 60%. 
6. Efficacy [4/4] - Reduces the Mana Cost of Enchant Weapon by 20 and makes us Deal 40% increased Elemental Damage. 

Stat priority:

To increase this build's offensive potential, you will want to stack Ignite Chance, Increased Ignite Effect, Cast Speed, and (to a lesser extent) Fire Damage. A Chestpiece with + to Fireball would also be great. To improve its defenses, you should cap your Resistances, get some Ward Retention (there's a lot of it from passives and skills, but a bit more won't hurt), increase your Crit Avoidance, and improve your Health/Vitality. 

1. Ignite Chance 
2. Ignite Duration 
3. Cast Speed 
4. Resistances 
5. Ward Retention 
6. Fire Damage 
7. Crit Avoidance
8. Health/Vitality

Recommended Unique Items: 

(13-19)% chance on hit to gain 2 Ward per Ignite and Damned on the Target and 30 Ward per Ignite and Damned on You (1-second cooldown) (6-13)% increased Cast Speed  +(13-30)% Ward Retention  (30-76)% increased Fire Damage  (30-76)% increased Necrotic Damage

Ashes of Mortality - This ring (or preferably a pair of these rings) is a must-have for the build. With it, you'll have a chance on Hit to gain 2 Ward per Ignite on the Target and 30 Ward per Ignite on You. With 2 of these, our Fireball Sorcerer is almost immortal. If you want to benefit from the 30 Ward on from Igniting yourself part, you could try pairing this with the Immolator's Oblation Unique Belt. 
 

(20-80)% increased Fire Damage  150% chance to ignite on hit with fire skills  When you kill an enemy with a fire skill you take 4 fire damage over the next 2 seconds  (5-10)% increased Fire Cast Speed

Calamity - This amazing Unique Jewelled Circlet increases our Chance to Ignite with Fire Skills by a whopping 150%. It pairs extremely well with Ashes of Mortality and allows us to stack Ignites much faster. 

(15-20)% increased Movement Speed  (25-35)% Increased Ignite Effect  (25-35)% increased Fire Damage  +(25-35)% Chance to cast Fire Trail when you are crit (fire trail leaves patches of burning ground behind you as you run, each patch applies 4 stacks of Ignite per second)  +(5-15)% Chance to Receive a Critical Strike  (75-85)% less Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes

Fiery Dragon Shoes - These incredible Unique Boots not only increase our survivability by making us take much less Damage from Critical Strikes, but also synergize extremely well with our Ignite-related items and effects. 

(2-4)% increased Health  (2-4)% of Overkill Damage Leeched as Health  (20-40)% increased Damage Leeched as Health  (20-40)% Increased Leech Rate  +100% Critical Strike Avoidance

Woven Flesh - If you're looking for Life Leech, Crit Avoidance, and some extra Health, you won't find a better item than Woven Flesh. If you're using Fiery Dragon Shoes, you might consider using another Chest, however, as +100% Crit Avoidance becomes much less relevant in such a case. 

130% increased Fire Damage  10% chance to inflict Spreading Flames on Hit  -3 Mana Cost for Fire Spells  Fireball has 2 additional projectiles

Cinder Song - With this Unique Wand, our Fireball will create 1 additional Homing projectile and our Fire Spells will cost 3 less mana (making the build much less mana-hungry). 

+(60-70) Health  +(120-210)% Chance to Ignite on Hit with Fire Skills and Necrotic Skills  60% increased fire damage if you have killed an enemy recently  100% increased armor while ignited  100% of Hungering Souls Base Damage Converted to Fire  Hungering Souls Ignite on Hit instead of Possessing

Soulfire - This Unique Grave Lantern can give us up to a +210% Chance to Ignite on hit with Fire Skills, which is insane. It synergizes extremely well with the whole build and we'd go as far as to say that it's a must-have. 

Idols:

Idols can increase your Chance to Ignite enemies; you should take advantage of it by using Large Arcane Idols or Huge Arcane Idols with "Chance to Ignite on Fire Hit". Another worthwhile modifier that can be gained from Idols is the Increased Ignite Effect that comes from Large Arcane Idols and Stout Lagonian Idols. Stout Lagonian Idols can also be used to increase your Health and Elemental Resistance. If you're lacking Void Resistance, you can also use Humble Eterran Idols with Void Ress. 

Recommended Blessings:

• The Black Sun: Chance to Ignite on Hit is the absolute best Blessing you can get for this Build and it comes from this timeline. You should definitely go out of your way to obtain it (it's called "Flames of the Black Sun). 
• Reign of Dragons: This Timeline offers Blessings called "Resolve of Humanity", which grant an increase to All Resistances. If your Resistances are not capped, these will definitely come in handy. 
• The Age of Winter: Increased Physical Resistance that you can get from this Timeline can be life-saving. "Grand Resolve of Grael" can give you up to 75% Physical Resistance! 
• Spirits of Fire: This Timeline gives two bonuses that are worthwhile for the build (but not amazing). One of them is "Flames of Calamity" which increases Fire Damage and the other one is "Breath of Cinders" which gives a chance to Shred Fire Resistance on hit. The choice is yours. 

END NOTE

This is the beta version of our Fireball Sorcerer Build for Last Epoch. It is one of the most powerful builds we've ever tested and will remain powerful for as long as Ashes of Mortality remain unchanged. Obviously, as the game gets new content updates, we will be updating this guide regularly, though it may be impossible to be done after each Patch.