Lightning Golem
Elementalist Build

Updated for Patch 3.21

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As is often the case, Minions are restricted to classes like Necromancer or Guardian, but when it comes to Golems one could argue with a fair amount of confidence that the Elementalist would be the best choice. Not many players choose to use Golems as the main damage source in a build, more often than not they're selected for their passive bonuses, but not here. With Liege of the Primordial, Elemancer, Golem Commander Notable, and the Anima Stone with some additional Primordial Jewels, you will be able to summon 6 of these Minions instead of one. Lightning Golems use three Skills: Storm Nimbus Aura which adds Lightning Damage, Orb of Sparks which is similar to Orb of Storms, and the most important - Galvanic Bolt Projectile which deals Lightning Damage. It's a build very similar to Absolution Summoner, but in this case, you won't have to summon these temporary Minions constantly - quite the opposite in fact, you have these Golems of yours up permanently.

The reason to pick Lightning Golem specifically is the potential harvested from Doryani's Prototype Body Armour, one of the most popular chest pieces in the game at this point. It requires you to lower your own Lightning Resistance so that all nearby enemies will share this Lightning Resistance. You can lower it with Melding of the Flesh, Ventor's Gamble, Immoral Flesh, and as many Threads of Hope as you can reasonably accommodate. We have also implemented Divine Flesh and combined it with a lot of Chaos Resistance and Armour to make the character extra tanky. You will also have quite a lot of Maximum Life and Life Regeneration. We've socketed The main Golem Setup in a good one-hand weapon with additional built-in Support Gems and The Squire, but that's optional.

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

1. Gameplay

Summon all the Golems before turning on Auras as even if they die you'll re-summon them automatically shortly after. For a movement key set up Convocation to re-call Minions back to you. If you need to move quicker or avoid damage, use Shield Charge or Flame Dash. Shield Charge can also apply Sniper's Mark on Hit. Molten Shell should be triggered automatically, the same as Desecrate to create corpses. Use Flesh Offering to temporarily boost your Minions' DPS during boss fights. For passive bonuses get one Animate Guardian with some good items equipped, and Mana-reserving Skills - Determination, Zealotry, Tempest Shield, Vitality, and Skitterbots.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

To level up efficiently, you can start as a Minion Build with skills like Absolution. Just follow our Leveling Guide. It's a good and tested build archetype, but it's usually played by Necromancers, not Elementalists. That's why it will be underperforming until you'll reach its full potential - that is after equipping all the necessary items. You could start using Golems as your main damage source even without Doryani's Prototype (as we've proven with our similar build - Flame Golem Summoner), although we recommend buying all the gear beforehand.

Bandits:

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

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

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

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Liege of the Primordial
2. Elemancer
3. Bastion of Elements
4. Shaper of Storms

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 Yugul: 50% chance to Reflect Hexes, You and your Minions take 50% reduced Reflected Damage; 30% reduced Effect of Curses on you

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Summon Lightning Golem setup can be socketed in a weapon + The Squire
	Summon Lightning Golem - The Golem that will follow you around while casting its Spells. It deals only Lightning Damage. You should aim to have 6 of them. Most of the listed Support Gems in this setup have an Awakened version which we heavily recommend.
	Minion Damage Support - More Minion Damage, but less Minion Life - it's not a problem with Liege of the Primordial Keystone.
	Empower Support - Minion Skill Gem Level translates to more damage.
	Spell Echo Support - Minions' Spells are repeated once again which results in a much higher cast rate.
	increased Critical Damage Support - Increases Crit Damage, which is great if Minions' Crit Chance is high too, which it is, especially when combined with  Increased Critical Strikes Support.
	Elemental Focus Support - Trade the ability to cause Shock for more damage. You can Shock with other Skills.
Other recommended Support Gems which can be found as Wand/Sceptres Modifiers (Rune Daggers too, but the pool is more diluted with useless mods there).
	increased Critical Damage Support
	Spell Echo Support
	Increased Critical Strikes Support - Increases Crit Chance, a big factor in overall damage output. Golems' Spells have a base 6% Crit Chance.
	Faster Casting Support - Probably the weakest out of all Support Gems listed, but still good.

[UTILITY] Zealotry setup
	Zealotry - Grants more Spell Damage and increases Spell Crit Chance. it's better than Wrath.
	Generosity Support - Zealotry affects only your Allies and has an increased Aura Effect.

[UTILITY] Mana Reserving setup
	Determination - Adds and Increases Armour, which in this build also mitigates Lightning Hit Damage.
	Tempest Shield - It's used only for the big Spell Block Chance bonus and Shock Immunity.
	Vitality - Regenerates Life over time. You don't have many ways to replenish your Life Pool, other than Life Flask of course.
	Summon Skitterbots - Skitterbots will follow you around Chilling and Shocking all enemies. These cannot be damaged.

[UTILITY] Various Gems
	Flesh Offering - Flesh Offering massively increases the Attack, Cast, and Movement Speed of our Minions.
	Flame Dash - The most commonly used Movement Skill to quickly dash a short distance.
	Convocation - Recall all your Minions to your location and boost their Life Regeneration. Keep it as your movement key.

[UTILITY] Curse setup
	Sniper's Mark - Sniper's Mark is better than Assassin's Mark as your Golems use mostly Projectiles to deal damage. It also enhances your clear speed as these Projectiles Split on impact.
	Mark on Hit Support - Mark is being applied automatically with Attack Hits against rare or unique enemies. It's optional.

[UTILITY] Shield Charge setup
	Shield Charge - An Attack which we've included to allow mark on Hit to trigger Sniper's Mark, and to simply move with greater haste if Flame Dash is out of Charges.
	Faster Attacks Support - Shield Charge makes you travel even faster.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell and Desecrate setup
	Molten Shell - Absorbs a portion of Hit Damage for some time. It can mitigate more damage the more Armour you have.
	Desecrate - Creates a pile of corpses you can use with Flesh Offering in boss arenas where no corpses are available. It doesn't need to be linked with CWDT, you can just cast it manually.
	Cast When Damage Taken - Triggers all linked Spells once you take a certain amount of damage.

[UTILITY] Animate Guardian setup
	Animate Guardian - Use this Minion and keep it alive if you want various interesting bonuses (check the Wiki Page for this Skill for a comprehensive list of items). If you don't want it for this reason, replace it with  Raise Spectre and select ones that grant Charges.
	Minion Life Support - Increases Minions' Life. If it's not needed, replace it with  Feeding Frenzy Support to improve Golems' DPS.

6. Gear Setup

The build implements Doryani's Prototype so the whole rest of your equipment shall possess no Lightning Resistance. The base -60% of it can be further lowered with various Unique items which we have listed as well, but using all of them may not be the most optimal route. Your Chaos Resistance shall be high as we recommend taking Divine Flesh - half of Elemental Damage will be taken as Chaos Damage instead. Eldritch Battery is good with this Keystone so you don't have to worry about Mana Regeneration or Mana Cotst of Skills. Prioritize your own survivability with stats such as Maximum Life, Life Regeneration, Armour, Spell Suppression, and Block Chance. Around 19% (and Charisma anointment) increased Mana Reservation Efficiency will be needed if you don't want to buy Enlighten Support. Dexterity is important too to use Sniper's Mark. Hint - a lot of items can be bought from characters playing a more popular Absolution Build as they share a lot of similarities.

Our recommended items will:

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

(Helmet) Rare Bone Helmet - Use a Bone Helmet with Maximum Life and modifiers that would increase all Minion Skill Gem Levels by one or two. Reservation Efficiency is important too - get it as Eldritch or regular mods.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life +1 to Level of all Minion Gems Optional affixes: Fire, Cold, Chaos Resistance Mana Reservation Efficiency Life Regeneration per second Attributes

Helmet enchantments: Lightning Golem deals 40% increased Damage

(Weapon) Rare Wand or Sceptre - The best weapon would be a Bone Wand with two or three built-in Support Gems and modifiers to Minion Damage. The price of such an item would be very high so settle on something you can afford. Use it with The Squire, but if you don't have it yet, skip the Support Gems we've listed.

Min. requirements: at least two of the listed built-in Support Gems Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Increased Critical Strikes Socketed Gems are supported by Level 20 Increased Critical Damage Socketed Gems are supported by Level 20 Spell Echo Socketed Gems are supported by Level 20 Faster Casting Minions deal increased Damage Minions deal more Spell Damage +1 to Level of all Minion/Spell Skill Gems

(Off-hand) Rare Fossilised Spirit Shield - If you can't afford a Squire yet, use a Rare Fossilised Shield with generic mods to Resistances, Maximum Life, and an extra level to all Minion Skill Gems.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +1 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems Optional affixes: Chance to Block Spell Damage Fire, Cold, Chaos Resistance High Armour Rating Attributes

(Off-hand) The Squire - Combined with a good weapon you're able to create a Skill with 8 Support Gems, which needless to say, is extremely overpowered for a Minion build.

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) Doryani's Prototype - A core element of the build. With low Lightning Resistance, it's very powerful. You're still vulnerable to Lightning DoT which may be an issue during a Shaper's fight or in Baran-influenced Maps.

(150-200)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(60-90) to maximum Life Deal no Non-Lightning Damage Armour also applies to Lightning Damage taken from Hits Lightning Resistance does not affect Lightning Damage taken Nearby Enemies have Lightning Resistance equal to yours

(Boots) Rare Boots - Try to get a lot of Resistances, Movement Speed, and Maximum Life here - as much as you can afford.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed Fire, Cold, Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Spell Suppression Chance Attributes

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Here too, seek only the most basic stats - Maximum Life, and selected Resistances. You're left with some room for Spell Suppression, Attributes, or Minion Damage increase.

Min. requirements: +50 to Maximum Life Fire, Cold, Chaos Resistance Minions deal 20% increased Damage (crafted) Optional affixes: Armour Spell Suppression Chance Dexterity Attributes

(Belt) Rare Belt - The Belt should provide a lot of Resistance, Maximum Life, and Strength. Once again, there are not many mods that you could implement to increase Minions' Damage.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life 40 Strength Fire, Cold, Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: various Flask mods Life Regeneration

(Belt) Immortal Flesh - This Belt is excellent as it not only lowers your Lightning Resistance, but also grants tons of Maximum Life, Physical Damage mitigation, and Life Regeneration. Heavily recommended.

+(25-40) to maximum Life +(75-100) to maximum Life Regenerate (200-350) Life per second Regenerate (8-10) Mana per second -(25-15)% to all Elemental Resistances -(50-40) Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits 40% increased Armour while not Ignited, Frozen or Shocked

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars - Ashes is very good. All its unique virtues are of use - Extra Gem Level, Quality, increased Reservation Efficiency, and Attributes.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10-20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - What we would encourage you to seek on a Rare Amulet is a lot of Maximum Life, Life Regeneration, Resistances, and Extra Skill Gem Level for the Lightning Golem.

Min. requirements: +55 to Maximum Life Attributes (Dexterity preferably) Fire, Cold, Chaos Resistance +1 to Level of all Intelligence/Lightning Skill Gems Optional affixes: Mana Reservation Efficiency +1 to Level of all Intelligence/Lightning Skill Gems Life Regeneration

Recommended Anointments: Charisma Ravenous Horde

(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings contain a similar mod pool to that of an Amulet, but the Bone Rings are vastly different, introduced specifically to improve Minion builds. Try to get such a Ring with its specialized modifiers.

Min. requirements: +55 to Maximum Life Minions have increased Attack and Cast Speed Minions deal increased Damage Optional affixes: Attributes Fire, Cold, Chaos Resistance

(Ring) Ventor's Gamble - A good Ventor's Gamble will be expensive, but if you could afford one that lowers Lightning Resistance while increasing other types of Resistances, it would be great.

(6-15)% increased Rarity of Items found +(0-60) to maximum Life (-10-10)% increased Quantity of Items found (-40-40)% increased Rarity of Items found +(-25-50)% to Fire Resistance +(-25-50)% to Cold Resistance +(-25-50)% to Lightning Resistance

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - There's not a lot of space for Rare Jewels, but you can still use them to patch the build with missing stats. Ghastly Abyss Jewels have a separate pool of useful Minion mods, so use these if you're already suited up.

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Mana Reservation Efficiency Resistances Attributes Minions have increased Cast Speed Minions deal increased Damage if you've used a Minion Skill Recently

(Jewel) The Anima Stone - This Jewel is important. Socket it and met its condition (use two other Primordial Jewels listed below) for two extra maximum Golems.

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

(Jewel) Primordial Eminence - Enhances your Golems - they have extra Armour, increased Buff Effect, Attack, and Cast Speed.

Golems have (16-20)% increased Attack and Cast Speed 30% increased Effect of Buffs granted by your Golems Golems have +(800-1000) to Armour Primordial

(Jewel) Primordial Might - Improves your Golems once again, granting them increased Damage and Maximum Life, especially if they've been Summoned Recently.

(25-30)% increased Damage if you Summoned a Golem in the past 8 seconds Golems Summoned in the past 8 seconds deal (35-45)% increased Damage Golems have (18-22)% increased Maximum Life Summoned Golems are Aggressive Primordial

(Jewel) Glorious Vanity - Get the Xibaqua variant and socket it in a secluded place to transform one of your Keystones into Divine Flesh - your ES will become useless for mitigating damage (that's why you should allocate Eldritch Battery), but half of Elemental Damage will be taken now as Chaos Damage. Maximum Chaos Resistance is increased by 5%.

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

(Jewel) Thread of Hope - These Jewels can be used not only to allocate various nodes but also to lower your Lightning Resistance by 20%, which is a lot. You can use more than one.

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

(Jewel) Fortress Covenant - Put it in a Cluster Jewel Socket to defuse its negative effects. It improves your Minions' Damage and Block Chance.

Minions deal (35-45)% increased Damage Minions have +(10-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage Minions have +(10-12)% Chance to Block Spell Damage Notable Passive Skills in Radius are Transformed to instead grant: Minions take 20% increased Damage

(Jewel) Quickening Covenant - Another Covenant Jewel that you should put in a Cluster Jewel Socket. This one increases Minions' Cast Speed and Spell Suppression Chance.

Minions have (12-16)% increased Attack Speed Minions have (12-16)% increased Cast Speed Minions have +(20-24)% chance to Suppress Spell Damage Notable Passive Skills in Radius are Transformed to instead grant: Minions have 25% reduced Movement Speed

(Jewel) Melding of the Flesh - If you can sustain the reduction of all of your Elemental Resistances, including Maximum Elemental Resistances, definitely put on Melding for a huge -80% to Lightning Resistance.

-(80-70)% to all Elemental Resistances Elemental Resistances are capped by your highest Maximum Elemental Resistance instead -(6-4)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Use two Large Cluster Jewels to enhance Minions' Damage with their Notables or just the small nodes. On the small nodes get more Minion Cast Speed, Damage, Attributes, or Resistances.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Vicious Bite 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal 1 Added Passive Skill is Feasing Fiends Added Small Passive Skills also grant: Minions have 3% increased Attack and Cast Speed Added Spall Passive Skills have 35% increased Effect

(Flask) Bottled Faith - Bottled Faith is not really a required Flask. You and your Golems will benefit only from the Consecrated ground, while the opponent will receive increased damage.

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 Effect

Suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding Removal Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed Jade Flask with increased Evasion Rating Granite Flask with increased Armour Quartz Flask with reduced Curse Effect

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.