Manabond Mjölner
Hierophant Build

Updated for Patch 3.17

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One of Hierophant's specializations is an unorthodox dependency on Mana, with the build that is capable of reaching 10k of it, it will be your most important resource. Your Skill Manabond scales its damage with Mana - your Missing Unreserved Mana and Unreserved Maximum Mana to be exact. That's why you don't really want to Reserve your Mana, but Life instead, so that you can reap the benefits of Manabond's increased Area of Effect. Use Prism Guardian for that purpose. Your Lightning Damage scales with missing Unreserved Mana. With 10k of Maximum Mana, you can spend it easily on Arcane Cloak which's cost is equal to 64% of your Maximum Mana at level 20. An Item that synergizes well with rapid Mana spending is Indigon - it increases your Spell Damage the more Mana you Spend. Almost all of your Life will be reserved, to not die of Chaos Damage use The Ivory Tower - Chaos Damage will be taken from Mana before Life. Your secondary DPS Spell besides Manabond on Mjölner will be Arc Spell cast alongside Cyclone.

The offensive and defensive aspects of the build are both sourced from your Mana - mainly from your Ascendancy, Masteries, and Unique Items. Your Energy Shield can reach 10k - similarly to your Mana Pool. 10% of Damage is guaranteed to be taken from Mana before Life, Your Arcane Cloak is capable of preventing a significant portion of Damage, which also restores your Mana. Indigon combined with Zealoth's Oath and Mana Flask, The Ivory Temple, and Coruscating Elixir can rapidly recover your Energy Shield. Storm Drinker provides you with constant Mana Leech, your other courses of Mana are Mana Flask, high passive Mana Regeneration thanks to Clarity, and various Mana Masteries. Your increases and reduction to Maximum Mana will affect your Shock Effect, while the Manabond Skill combined with Indigon, thanks to the unique mechanics, will result in massive amounts of damage. All the Unique Items are rather cheap, Rare ones might be more Expensive due to the build's Mana-and-Intelligence-stacking nature.

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

1. Gameplay

Use Cyclone with Arc linked to it, it will automatically cause you to cast Manabond via Mjölner. When fighting more vital opponents use Sigil of Power to create an area on the ground that adds Lightning Damage and reduced the Damage you receive. Curses can be applied via Vortex with Hextouch Support. As a Guard Spell use Arcane Cloak - activating it will significantly increase your DPS and reduce damage received. Use Auras that reserve a flat amount of Mana - Clarity, Vitality, and Precision. For Auras that reserve Life use Wrath, Zealotry, and Purity of Elements.

Full gameplay video:   This video was recorded on a level 92 Hierophant with 8200 Unreserved Mana. This allowed us to effortlessly farm pretty much all of the content, and we certainly didn't devastate our budget on all those items

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Start as a Life build. As a Hierophant you have the advantage of having a lot of Mana from the start, it's especially useful with Support Gems like Archmage (linked to non-Arcane Spells) on six-linked setups with Tabula Rasa. Starting as a regular Lightning Spell Caster, Manabond is still the best Spell to use even at the early stages. Swap to ES build no sooner than after level 67 after equipping The Ivory Tower. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Manabond setup
	Manabond - it quickly increases in damage and AoE as you gain more Mana
	Controlled Destruction Support - you have less Crit Chance, but significantly more damage
	Arcane Surge Support - more Spell Damage, increased mana Regeneration Rate as you spend mana on linked Spells
	Added Lightning Damage Support - adds Lightning Damage to linked Spell

various Gems
	Conductivity - use it to lower the Lightning Resistance of your opponents
	Flame Dash - a Movement Spell that allows you to dash
	Clarity - It regenerates your Mana
	Arcane Cloak - transforms a portion of your Mana into a protective shield that reduces the damage you take

Bandits:

Two Additional Passive Skill Points seems like the best option for this build

Leveling Skill Trees:

31 Points Skill Tree
Get Maximum Life and Elemental Damage

71 Points Skill Tree
Allocate Mind Over Matter, go to the nearest Lightning Mastery to increase your Shock Effect, and get more Life and Mana

Recommended leveling items:

Lifesprig - a generic Wand for Spell-casters available at level 1

(8-12)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Spell Gems (20-28)% increased Spell Damage (5-8)% increased Cast Speed +(15-20) to maximum Life +(15-20) to maximum Mana Regenerate (6-8) Life over 1 second when you Cast a Spell

Atziri's Foible - the best-suited Amulet for this build that will be used in its final form

(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +100 to maximum Mana (16-24)% increased maximum Mana (80-100)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Items and Gems have 25% reduced Attribute Requirements

Praxis - another item to increase your Maximum Mana with other Mana-related mods

+(20-30) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana Regenerate (3-6) Mana per second -(8-4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken Recouped as Mana

Goldrim - one of the best unique leveling helmets, it provides you with tons of Elemental Resistances

+(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)

Tabula Rasa - allows you to connect any six Gems right from the start

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

110 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels)
117 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

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

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each
nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Shakari for You cannot be Poisoned while there are at least 3 Poisons on you; 50% less Duration of Poisons on You and additional Chaos Damage mitigation

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Arc setup
	Arc - It's not a setup to deal a lot of damage, but mainly to activate your Manabond socketed in Mjölner, Arc is the best skill for this role
	Cyclone - focus only on landing Hits at high frequency, you will need close to 100% of Accuracy Rating
	Cast while Channeling Support - it triggers Arc every set amount of time when using Cyclone
	Faster Attacks Support - with Faster attacks you will hit enemies more frequently to trigger Manabond socketed in Mjölner more often
	Controlled Destruction Support - less Crit Chance, but increased Damage for linked Skills
	Additional Accuracy Support - if you lack Accuracy, and you probably do, use this Support Gem. If your Accuracy is high enough you can swap it for  Lightning Penetration Support

[DPS] Manabond setup socketed in Mjölner
	Manabond - Manabond is the main source of Damage, it primarily scales with your Mana so it doesn't need many Support Gems. It deals Lightning Damage in an area around the character
	Lightning Penetration Support - Linked Spells Penetrate Lightning Resistance of your opponents
	Controlled Destruction Support

[UTILITY] Life-reserving Spells setup socketed in Prism Guardian
	Wrath - additional and increased Lightning Damage for your character
	Zealotry - additional Crit Chance is useful for Vortex to trigger Elemental Equilibrium more consistently, but the most impactful part is the increased Spell Damage
	Purity of Elements - Additional Elemental Resistances and immunity to all Elemental Ailments such as Freeze or Ignite. Try to find a Divergent version for slightly more DPS

[UTILITY] Mana Reservation setup
	Precision - an Aura for More Accuracy and Critical Strike Chance helping you to deal damage more consistently
	Vitality - Regenerates your Life, or Energy Shield after allocating Zealot's Oath
	Clarity - Aura that regenerates your Mana at a faster rate

[UTILITY] Arcane Cloak and Mobility Skill setup
	Arcane Cloak - Spends 64% of your Mana at level 20 to create a protective layer shielding you from a portion of incoming damage, it's able to prevent as much damage as you have spent Mana on it. It also grants additional Spell Damage based on how much Mana you've spent casting this Spell.
	Frostblink - your Cooldown Recovery Speed for Travel Skills is greatly increased making it a viable option
	Arcane Surge - Arcane Surge grants you more Spell Damage and increased Mana Regeneration Rate each time you use Arcane Cloak
	Enhance Support - increases the Quality of Linked Spells

[UTILITY] Curses setup
	Conductivity - your first choice for a Curse, it reduces Lightning Resistance of Cursed enemies
	Hextouch - linked Curse is applied with a Spell Hit
	Vortex - a Spell that Hits enemies with a Cold Damage and then leaves an area on the ground that deals Cold DoT and Chills

[UTILITY] Elemental Weakness
	Elemental Weakness - a Curse that reduces general Elemental Resistances of your opponents, it has to be cast manually or via Ring Affix

[UTILITY] Sigil of Power
	Sigil of Power - creates a Sigil on the ground, as you spend Mana while standing on it, it grows more powerful granting you additional Lightning Damage and reducing Damage you receive

6. Gear Setup

There are quite a lot of Unique Items that are necessary for the build to run, all the missing Attributes and Elemental Resistances have to be sourced from Rings, a Belt, and Rare Jewels. Mjölner requires a lot of Strength that you should strive to get from Items since your Skill Tree won't offer nearly enough of it. Try to get a lot of Intelligence as it's the Attribute that grants you more Mana and Energy Shield. use Intrinsic Catalyst to get more Attributes out of your jewelry. 

Our recommended items will:

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

(Helmet) Indigon - It plays a huge role in increasing your DPS. As you spend Mana you gain more Damage, but your Skills grow in Mana Cost too - after using Arcane Cloak your Damage is at its highest.

(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%

Helmet enchantments: Manabond enchantments

(Weapon) Mjölner - it triggers Manabond on Hit with Cyclone every 0.15 seconds with increased Damage making it a required item for this build

15% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold Trigger a Socketed Lightning Spell on Hit, with a 0.15 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

(Weapon) Prism Guardian - a Shield that allows you to have 3 Auras with increased Gem Level that reserve almost the entirety of your Life in total, which is not an issue as you're relying on ES only

+12% to all Elemental Resistances +2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems Socketed Gems Cost and Reserve Life instead of Mana Socketed Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency +(20-30) to Dexterity +25% to all Elemental Resistances

(Body Armour) The Ivory Tower - besides the obviously good stats it provides, it's also necessary to protect you from Chaos Damage - just be sure you have a lot of spare mana when dealing with Chaos Damage

+(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) The Stampede - Increased base Movement Speed, Energy Shield, Mana Regeneration Rate, and Cooldown Recovery Rate of Travel Skills. You can also anoint an additional Notable.

(100-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield (30-40)% increased Stun and Block Recovery (50-80)% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate of Travel Skills (30-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate while moving Your Movement Speed is 150% of its base value

(Gloves) Algor Mortis - with Vortex you can now Sap enemies and make them take more Lightning Damage, your Shock Effect is increased, you have more ES, and Resistances

+(50-70) to maximum Energy Shield +(15-20)% to Cold and Lightning Resistances (20-30)% chance to Sap Enemies in Chilling Areas Enemies in your Chilling Areas take (25-35)% increased Lightning Damage (15-20)% increased Effect of Non-Damaging Ailments

(Gloves) Shaper's Touch - It grants you a lot of Accuracy Ratings and increased Evasion Rating from Intelligence, while Strength increases your Energy Shield and Mana.

(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 - a Stygian Vise or Crystal Belt with Mana, Elemental Resistances, and some mods that grant you Attributes is a good enough choice - you should look for a Hunter-influenced one with an Affix for increased Attributes

Min. requirements: 70 Maximum Mana +50% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Elemental Damage Maximum Energy Shield increased Damage increased Attributes Strength increased Lightning Damage

(Amulet) Atziri's Foible - In terms of Maximum Mana and Mana Regeneration there is no better Amulet. As a bonus, it also reduces Attribute Requirements for Mjölner. Use Fertile Catalyst for more Mana.

(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +100 to maximum Mana (16-24)% increased maximum Mana (80-100)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Items and Gems have 25% reduced Attribute Requirements

Recommended Anointments: Arcane Capacitor Primal Spirit Divine Judgement

(Ring) Rare Rings - Aim for Attributes, Elemental Resistances, and Energy Shield. If you have allocated Whispers of Doom try to get a now with a Curse on Hit. Use Intrinsic Catalyst for Attributes.

Min. requirements: 50 to Strength 50 to Intelligence +60% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Maximum Energy Shield Accuracy Rating increased maximum Mana Non-channeling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Curse Enemies with Conductivity on Hit Curse Enemies with Elemental Weakness on Hit

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - look for Affixes with Maximum Energy Shield, Elemental Resistances, Attributes, or Maximum Mana

Recommended affixes: Maximum Energy Shield Elemental Resistances increased Lightning Damage Strength Intelligence Maximum Mana

(Jewel) Healthy Mind - The Jewel alone is already good, but you can get even more Mana from it by putting it in a socket next to Instability and taking Cruel Preparation

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

(Jewel) Split Personality - The modifiers to look for are Intelligence, Mana, and maybe Strength - you can place two of them on a Cluster Jewel next to the Eldritch Battery Keystone

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

(Jewel) Unnatural Instinct - There is a great place for it - it's near Shaper Notable. You can then get a lot of Mana and Intelligence making it a heavily recommended Jewel.

Allocated Small Passive Skills in Radius grant nothing Grants all bonuses of Unallocated Small Passive Skills in Radius

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye -  Lightning penetration from the Wrath Aura is probably the best option for a mod you can find on your Watcher's Eye.

(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 Jewels - Storm Drinker is a great source of ES Leech. Scintillating Idea is pretty much an obligatory Notable since it increases your Maximum Mana and grants you Lightning Resistance Penetration.

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

(Flask) Bottled Faith - one of the most expensive Flasks, it's worth its price as it significantly increases your Damage

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (20-40)% increased 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 - adds more Armour and more Block Chance against Attacks and Spells

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

(Flask) Coruscating Elixir - If you're fighting against opponents dealing mostly Chas Damage and you run out of Mana - this Flask can save your life. Chaos Damage won't go through your ES during its effect.

+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken Chaos Damage 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: Mana Flask of Staunching for Bleed removal Basalt Flask with Immunity to Poison during Flask 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.