Tornado
Gemling Legionnaire

Updated for Path of Exile 2 Early Access

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The Tornado is a very unique Skill that is widely recognised as fun to play, but challenging to properly scale. It offers an unusual gameplay style that focuses on Damage over time. By default, the Tornado deals only Physical DoT, but by absorbing Elemental Ground effects, it adds double the Damage of that Element to its DoT portion. By simply equipping the Taming Ring, you automatically improve your Damage by 6 times, which makes this Ring a mandatory choice. Despite dealing Elemental Damage now, it still can't apply Ailments, since it doesn't have any Hits. It also means it can't inflict Critical Hits or gain Extra Damage from other sources. To scale your Damage, you can rely only on the most generic modifiers for Spell or Elemental Damage, lowering Enemy Resistance, and raising the Gem Levels.

The Gemling Legionnaire adds special Quality effects to all Skills in the game. In the case of Tornado, it adds extra Limits, allowing you to summon up to 3 Tornados, which is a very important aspect to improve your Clear Speed, but since it is a non-stackable DoT, it doesn't affect your single-target DPS. However, additional Quality for Trinity Buff grants you random Physical Damage Conversion, which allows you to build up Resonance with the Entangle reliably for a massive 50% More Elemental Damage buff. The Entangle is also used to slow down Enemies and activate the Arcane Surge Buff, which massively improves your Mana Regeneration. It also summons Living Lightning Minions, which can be used to fuel up the Minion Pact Gem and Empowering Remains Notable. To further boost your Damage, you will use the typical Frost Bomb and Elemental Weakness combo to massively reduce enemy elemental Resistance. Obviously, you only need it against Bosses. The Gemling also raises all your Intelligence Skill levels by 2, which means roughly 30% More Damage for your Tornado. 

As your main defense, we chose the Mind Over Matter approach, which redirects 100% of the incoming Damage to your Mana, combined with the Chaos Inoculation, which lowers your maximum Life down to 1 and makes you immune to Chaos Damage and Bleeding. It offers a decent amount of effective Health Pool and very fast Regeneration, but you can also easily adjust the Setup for the usual Energy Shield and rely on its Recharge, which offers higher protection against larger Hits but slower recovery. Since it is a DoT Build, you can't use the popular Archmage Skill to boost your Damage, making Mana a purely defensive stat. The Mana Remnants require Elemental Ailments to work efficiently, so you can't reliably Overflow your Mana either. 

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1. Gameplay

Place down Tornado in the middle of the monster pack; occasionally use Entangle to upkeep the Trinity Buff and slow down enemies. Against Bosses, use the Frost Bomb, Elemental Weaknesses, and Sigil of Power to boost your DPS.   

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

This Setup requires high level and complete Ascendancy to perform well. Our recommendation is to level up with the Explosive Grenade Gemling Legionnaire POE 2 Build and change to the final Setup once you can equip all the necessary Items. 

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

Click on the image to open the Passive Tree preview in a new window, or use the Path of Building (PoB) tool, or check the poe.ninja planner.

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Essence of Virtue
2. Advanced Thaumaturgy
3. Implanted Gems 
4. Gem Studded

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Tornado setup Weapon Set 1
	Tornado - a Wind Skill that deals Physical DoT in its radius. It can be augmented by Elemental Ground Effects to deal twice as much Damage of each Element. It does not Hit Enemies.
	Considered Casting
	Swift Affliction II
	Zenith II
	Deliberation
	Concentrated Area/Minion Pact/Mobility

[Utility] Entangle setup Weapon Set 2
	Entangle - a fast-hitting ability used to trigger Arcane Surge Buff, generate Resonance for the Trinity Skill, slow enemies, and create Living Lightning Minions.
	Living Lightning II
	Pinpoint Critical
	Unleash
	Branching Fissures II
	Slow Potency

[Utility] Elemental Weakness setup Weapon Set 2
	Elemental Weakness - a Curse Skill that greatly lowers Elemental Resistance of affected Enemies.
	Heightened Curse
	Mobility
	Efficiency II
	Prolonged Duration II

[Utility] Frost Bomb setup Weapon Set 2
	Frost Bomb - inflicts Elemental Exposure and grants you Cold Infusion, which can be optionally used to create Chilling Ground with Ice Nova.
	Potent Exposure
	Cooldown Recovery II
	Spell Echo
	Efficiency II
	Prolonged Duration II

[Utility] Trinity setup
	Trinity - grants More Elemental Damage depending on the Resonance you accumulate, up to 60%. The Gemling Quality bonus grants global Physical Damage Conversion for your Skills, which enables easy balance through Entangle.

[UTILITY] Blasphemy setup
	Blasphemy - inflicts linked Curse to all nearby Enemies at the cost of moderate Spirit Reservation.
	Temporal Chains - a defensive Curse that greatly slows down affected foes.
	Ritualistic Curse
	Magnified Area II
	Slow Potency

[Utility] Sigil of Power setup
	Sigil of Power - empowers your Spells while standing in the Sigil area. It is hard to gain additional stages with the Mana variant.
	Cooldown Recovery II
	Magnified Area II
	Prolonged Duration II
	Mobility

6. Gear Setup

The Taming Ring is mandatory; it automatically applies all 3 Elemental Ground bonuses to your Tornado. For the Mana variant, you will also need the Dream Fragment Ring to deal with Freeze and Chill. You can scale your Damage only through additional Skill Levels and increases to Spell or Elemental Damage, which heavily limits your possibilities, but also keeps the costs low. A bit of Cast Speed is also useful for smoother gameplay. The Mana is largely sourced from the Eldritch Battery Keystone, which transforms Energy Shield on your Armour pieces into Mana. You will also need quite a lot of Attributes for your Gems, and 53 additional Spirit to use all Reservation Setups.   

(Weapon) Rare Staff - you will need a large amount of Spell Damage and additional Skill Levels. Mana and Cast Speed are useful to have, but not mandatory. You might find a good deal by looking for a Desecration modifier that grants Spell Damage based on your maximum Mana.

Min. requirements: +7 to Level of all Physical Spell Skills 200% increased Spell Damage Optional affixes: #% increased Spell Damage per 100 maximum Mana #% increased Cast Speed +# to maximum Mana #% increased Mana Regeneration Rate

(Weapon) Rare Staff - your second Weapon is used to Cast Entangle and other utility Skills. It should grant you the Sigil of Power Skill and improve your Critical Strike Chance, which is the most reliable way to generate Arcane Surge Buff. Avoid Extra Damage modifiers, as they disrupt Trinity.

Min. requirements: Grants Skill: Level (1-20) Sigil of Power 60% increased Critical Hit Chance for Spells 40% increased Cast Speed Optional affixes: +# to maximum Mana #% increased Mana Regeneration Rate

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - you will need additional Skill Levels for your Spells here. You should also seek large amounts of Mana, Regeneration, or Recoup. You can get Spirit here too, but it is usually very expensive.

Min. requirements: +3 to Level of all Spell Skills Optional affixes: % increased Spell Damage +# to Spirit +# to maximum Mana #% increased maximum Mana #% increased Mana Regeneration Rate #% of Damage taken Recouped as Mana % total Elemental Resistance

(Ring) The Taming - a mandatory Ring that automatically applies all 3 Elemental Ground Effects to your Tornado. Alternatively, they can be applied through complex combos, but it is simply not worth the effort.

+(7—10)% to all Elemental Resistances +(10—20)% to all Elemental Resistances (10—20)% increased Damage for each type of Elemental Ailment on Enemy Wind Skills which can be boosted by Elemental Ground Surfaces can be boosted by multiple Elemental Ground Surfaces Wind Skills which can be boosted by Elemental Ground Surfaces count as being boosted by Ignited, Shocked, and Chilled Ground

(Ring) Dream Fragments - provides a decent amount of Mana, and makes you immune to Chill and Freeze. Due to the CI Keystone, your Ailment Threshold is very low, so this Ring is mandatory for comfortable gameplay.

+(20—30)% to Cold Resistance (10—15)% increased maximum Mana (30—50)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate You cannot be Chilled or Frozen

(Belt) Rare Belt - seek Mana, Resistances, and Strength. Once the base necessities are fulfilled, you should try to include Stun Threshold here. Try to get all 3 Charm slots.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Mana +80% total Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: +# to Strength +# to Stun Threshold

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - you can source your Mana from regular Mana modifier, Energy Shield on your Armour pieces, and Intelligence. The Helmet is a great source of it.  You can also get a bit of Spirit Reservation Efficiency here through Desecration.

Min. requirements: +200 to Energy Shield +100 to maximum Mana +40% total Elemental Resistance  Optional affixes: % increased Spirit Reservation Efficiency +# to Intelligence % increased Rarity of Items found

(Body Armour) Rare Armour - your Body Armour is the biggest source of Energy Shield, but it should also grant you tons of Spirit. You can also obtain Spirit Reservation Efficiency here, or allocate the Profane Commander Notable. The regular Mana modifiers are not obtainable naturally here.

Min. requirements: +500 to Energy Shield +53 to Spirit +40% total Elemental  Resistance  Optional affixes: % increased Spirit Reservation Efficiency +# to Stun Threshold +# to Intelligence

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - another very basic piece of armour, seek combined Energy Shield and Mana. Once Resistances are capped, you should include Item Rarity or Intelligence for extra Mana.

Min. requirements: +100 to Energy Shield +100 to maximum Mana +80% total Elemental Resistance  Optional affixes: +# to Intelligence % increased Rarity of Items found

(Boots) Rare Boots - on your Boots you should prioritise Movement Speed, as it is the only piece that can grant this luxurious modifier. Later on, you can include the Desecrated modifier to reduce the Slowing Potency on you.

Min. requirements: 30% increased Movement Speed +100 to Energy Shield +100 to maximum Mana +40% total Elemental Resistance  Optional affixes: % increased Rarity of Items found % reduced Slowing Potency of Debuffs on You +# to Intelligence

(Jewel) Rare Jewel - there is a very small amount of useful modifiers on Jewels. The most important is Mana Recovery on Kill.  You can improve your Damage a bit, or opt for higher Quality of Life through Duration and AoE.

Optional affixes: % increased Spell/Elemental Damage % increased Area of Effect Recover #% of maximum Mana on Kill #% increased Skill Effect Duration

(Jewel) Split Personality - a mandatory Jewel that allows you to allocate Points across the Passive Tree. You can't move Jewels if the Socket is not connected to a valid starting Point, so you have to travel to the Sorceress starting point manually and refund the unnecessary points later.

Can Allocate Passive Skills from the Sorceress's starting point

(Jewel) Megalomaniac - allows you to pick up additional Notables on the Passive Tree, although the useful choices are rather limited.

<Allocates Random Passive Skill> Recommended modifiers:  Stupefy Arcane Nature random Defensive/Curse Notables

(Jewel) Prism of Belief - the final source of Skill Levels for Tornado. The best variant can be quite expensive, but adding just 2 Levels is already a great value.

+(1—3) to Level of all Specific Skill Skills

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.