Vaal Storm Call
Architect of Chaos

Created for Legacy of Phrecia 

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The Architect of Chaos is an Ascendency exclusive to the Legacy of Phrecia Event League. It offers massive bonuses for all Vaal Skills, not only Damage-wise but more importantly lowers the Soul Gain Prevention time and lowers the Soul Costs of your Vaal Skills, which is crucial for continual usage. However, it won't be enough to make any Vaal Skill work by itself. 

The Vaal Skills are special versions of regular Skills that can be obtained by Corrupting Skill Gems. They require Souls to be used, which you obtain by killing monsters or damaging Unique Enemies. Using Vaal Skill also triggers a Soul Gain Prevention timer that stops you from gaining new Souls. This timer varies on each Skill and scales with the Duration modifiers. 

One such Skill is the Vaal Storm Call. It summons a marker that strikes nearby enemies with lightning bolts. Just like the regular version, modifying Duration is very important, although for different reasons. It always strikes 24 times - if you lower its Duration, it will strike enemies in shorter intervals, but the total amount of Hits won't change. As mentioned, lowering the Duration will also lower the Soul Gain Prevention timer, and you can even remove it completely. 

Thanks to this combination your single use of Vaal Storm Call will usually kill enough enemies to instantly fuel your next use. However, it won't be enough for Bosses. To help with that you will need the Soul Ripper Flask, which grants you Vaal Souls upon use, effectively converting Flask Charges into Souls. To gain Charges during longer fights you should use The Traitor Keystone granted by Brutal Restraint Jewel, which grants you Flask Charges for each empty Flask Slot. 

Finally, to scale the Damage of your Vaal Storm Call you can use any typical method for Spells, as long as it doesn't interfere with the Soul Setup. We opted for stacking lots of maximum Life for the Rathpith Globe Shield, which grants you tons of Spell Damage and Critical Strike Chance in return, but also causes you to Sacrifice 10% of your Life when you use a Skill. The Dissolution of the Flesh is mandatory here - it grants you tons of maximum Life but changes the way it works. You will now Reserve your Life instead of losing it, and removing it if you don't take Damage for two seconds. By doing so it removes the downside of Sacrificing your Life. It is a very effective way to scale your Damage, but it is not mandatory. If you dislike the playstyle of the Dissolution, you can take a look at our other Guides to find inspiration for Building up a Spellcaster and apply it here. 

You can also check all our Guides for the on-going Event right here: Best Builds for Legacy of Phrecia

1. Gameplay

The regular Storm Call will be used to kill the first pack of enemies on the map. After that, you are ready to rely only on the Vaal Storm Call, which covers a massive area. The Build involves Soul and Flask Charge management - your Soul Costs increase with each use in the last 8 seconds, so you should avoid spamming it if unnecessary. The best Movement Skill here is Lightning Warp, which is a rare choice. It scales greatly with the global reductions to the Skill Duration. As your Curse you should use Assassin's Mark - it increases your Critical Strikes and generates Power Charges. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

The leveling process for Templars is very smooth and easy, but the Build requires multiple end-game gear pieces, for leveling you will need a more usual Spellcasting setup. Without the Rathpith Globe, you would severely lack Damage if you would invest only in maximum Life. You can use the regular Storm Call and occasionally use the Vaal version to burst Rare and Unique Enemies. You can check out our Templar Leveling Guide for PoE using Lightning Spells for more tips and ideas on how to speed up your leveling process. 

Bandits:

We recommend helping the Alira Bandit for the bonus Elemental Resistance. 

Leveling Skill Trees:
36 Points Passive Tree

Your start guarantees easy access to many useful bonuses for Elemental Damage, maximum Life, Mana Regeneration, and Reservation Efficiency.  

77 Points Passive Tree
Pick up Critical Strike Chance for Spells, Power Charges, and generic Elemental Damage bonuses. You will also need a bit of maximum Life for better survivability. 

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

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

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in the order:

1. Depose Order
2. Chaos Reigns
3. Forbidden Secrets
4. Impure Blood

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Abberath: 60% less Duration of Ignite on You; Unaffected by Burning Ground

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Vaal Storm Call setup socketed in the Helmet
	Vaal Storm Call - creates a mark that strikes nearby Enemies with Lightning bolts 24 times. It can store up to 30 Souls.
	Less Duration Support
	Lightning Penetration Support
	Critical Damage Support

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Wrath - grants you more Damage with Lightning Spells.
	Zealotry - improves the Damage of all Spells and increases their Critical Strike Chance.
	Petrified Blood - half of the incoming Damage will be taken over time, and enables the Low Life status for 30% More Damage.
	Enlighten Support
	Herald of Ice - grants a bit of Cold Damage and creates explosions when you Shatter an Enemy. You will need Rare Jewels with Reservation Efficiency or a second Enlighten Support to use this Skill.

[UTILITY] Movement setup
	Lightning Warp - marks a destination and teleports to it after a Duration. It scales with your Cast Speed, Duration, and Movement Speed.
	Less Duration Support
	Faster Casting Support
	Swift Affliction Support

[UTILITY] Guard setup
	Immortal Call - reduces all incoming Damage for a short moment. You should use a low-level version to match the Support Gem Level.
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - triggers linked Spell based on the incoming Damage. Low levels require a lower amount of Damage to trigger.

[UTILITY] Other Utility setups
	Frostblink - an instant teleport with a short Cooldown. Use it to supplement the Lightning Warp when you need to dodge incoming Damage.
	Assassin's Mark - increases your Critical Strike Chance and Damage against Marked Enemies. It also generates Power Charges on Hit.
	Frost Shield - increases your Critical Strike Chance when you are covered by the Shield.

5. Gear Setup

The Soul Ripper Flask and corresponding Jewel and Belt are mandatory to sustain your Vaal Souls. You also need a specific Ring setup to lower the Duration of your Skills. The rest of this Setup is centered around the Rathpith Globe Shield that grants tons of Spell Damage and Critical Strike Chance based on your maximum Life. It uses the Kaom's Heart for the massive flat maximum Life it grants, so you will need a Rare Archdemon Helmet to supplement a pseudo 6-link setup. The rest of your Damage comes from Critical Strike Multiplier available on Jewels. You will use a lot of Unique Items or Rares with specific modifiers, so all other resources should be used to cap your Resistances. 

(Weapon) Divinarius - the best Weapon fo this Build. It grants you tons of Damage, increases your AoE, and improves your Critical Strike Damage against stronger foes.

(150-200)% increased Spell Damage Gain (100-200) Life per Enemy Killed Gain (50-100) Mana per Enemy Killed 30% increased Area of Effect (200-250)% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells if you've Killed Recently +(60-100)% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells if you haven't Killed Recently

(Shield) Rathpith Globe - this Shield provides all the increases to your Spell Damage and Critical Strike Chance you will ever need just by stacking maximum Life, which also makes you naturally more tanky.

(10-15)% Chance to Block Spell Damage (120-160)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life Sacrifice 10% of your Life when you Use or Trigger a Spell Skill 5% increased Spell Critical Strike Chance per 100 Player Maximum Life 5% increased Spell Damage per 100 Player Maximum Life

(Body Armour) Kaom's Heart - grants you a massive amount of maximum Life, but doesn't provide any Sockets. You should look for useful Corrupted Implicit, such as increased maximum Life or protection against Critical Strikes.

Has no Sockets +1000 to maximum Life

(Amulet) Replica Dragonfang's Flight - it grants a lot of Damage via additional Gem Levels. You need a total of 10% Reservation Efficiency to use all Auras, which can be obtained here and on your Jewels.

+(10-16) to all Attributes +3 to Level of all Storm Call Gems +(5-10)% to all Elemental Resistances (5-10)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills Items and Gems have (10-5)% reduced Attribute Requirements

(Helmet) Rare Archdemon Crown - this base increases the Levels of your main Skill by 2. At first, you will only need a single mod obtainable by Essence of Hysteria, later on, you should look for Shaper Influence which provides extra Hypothermia Support. Do not settle for Concentrated Effect Support, it ruins your Clear Speed.

Min. requirements: +2 to Level of Socketed Skill Gems +1 to Level of Socketed AoE Gems Socketed Gems deal 30% more Damage while on Low Life Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Hypothermia Socketed Spells have +#% to Critical Strike Chance +# to maximum Life

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - here look for high maximum Life and Elemental Resistance. It can also provide a bit of Damage or AoE with crafted Prefix modifiers. Use Eldritch Implicits to apply Unnerve and Lightning Exposure with your Hits.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental and Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Inflict Lightning Exposure on Hit, applying -# to Lightning Resistance % chance to Unnerve Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit #% increased Damage with Hits against Chilled Enemies % increased Area of Effect % increased Damage with Vaal Skills % increased Damage while Leeching % of Cold Damage Leeched as Life

(Belt) Rare Belt - use a Stygian Vise Belt with high bonuses to maximum Life and Flask Charges gained. It should also provide Elemental and Chaos Resistances. Later on, you can upgrade it with Hunter Influence to increase your maximum Life further.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental and Chaos Resistance 30% increased Flask Charges gained Optional affixes: % increased maximum Life (Hunter Influence)

(Jewel) Rare Abyss Jewels - use the Abyss Jewel to get important utility. You will need Reservation Efficiency, and bonus Avoidance for Bleed and Poison to make Dissolution of the Flesh more comfortable. It can also grant lacking Resistances or Attributes.

Recommended affixes: +# to maximum Life % to Global Critical Strike Multiplier #% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills #% chance to Avoid Bleeding #% chance to Avoid being Poisoned Resistance Attribute

(Boots) Rare Boots - here you will want high maximum Life, Movement Speed, and lots of Elemental Resistance. It should also provide some avoidance against Bleeding or Poison.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +40% to Elemental and Chaos Resistance +30% Movement Speed Optional affixes: #% Action Speed (Exarch Influence) Onslaught on Kill #% chance to Avoid Bleeding #% chance to Avoid being Poisoned

(Ring) Rare Dusk Ring - a Dusk Ring is a special base that lowers the Duration of your Skills when equipped on the Left slot. It can be obtained from Reflecting Mist. Look for one that grants a high bonus to maximum Life and positive Resistances without too many downsides, or sell 5 bad ones to the vendor to receive a clear Crafting base.

Min. requirements: Left ring slot: 15% reduced Skill Effect Duration +150 to maximum Life +40 to Elemental and Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: % to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +1 to minimum Frenzy/Endurance Charge

(Ring) Timeclasp - with one Dusk or Timeclasp Rings you will lower the Prevention time to 0,1 second, which is hardly noticeable. To remove it completely, you will need both Rings. That way you only need 9% Reduced Duration here, so you can try to get useful Corrupted Implicit more reliably.

+(15-25) to maximum Energy Shield (10-15)% increased Attack Speed (10-15)% increased Cast Speed (6-12)% of Damage taken Recouped as Life (6-12)% of Damage taken Recouped as Mana (-20-20)% increased Skill Effect Duration Unaffected by Temporal Chains Recommended Corrupted Implicits:  % to all Elemental Resistances Bleeding cannot be inflicted on you Cannot be Poisoned Cannot be Ignited

(Jewel) Dissolution of the Flesh - a very important part of the Setup. It grants tons of maximum Life but removes your Energy Shield. It makes you very durable against single Hits but removes any means of Recovery during combat. You will need to avoid taking Damage for two seconds to Unreserve all your Life at once, which requires immunity and Avoidance against DoT effects. The Damage prevented by Petrified Blood will be nullified by Life Recharge from Eternal Youth Keystone and optionally Leech.

Removes all Energy Shield Life that would be lost by taking Damage is instead Reserved until you take no Damage to Life for 2 seconds (20-30)% more Maximum Life

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - with this Jewle you can convert Keystones in radius to The Traitor, which grants you Flask Charges for each empty Flask slot. It also adds extra bonuses to nearby Notables, look for increased Flask Charges gained, or Frenzy and Onslaught on kill.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of Balbala Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - you can get an immense amount of Elemental Penetration when using both Wrath and Zealotry. Other modifiers can also be useful, although not as powerful.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended modifiers:  Damage Penetrates (10-15)% Lightning Resistance while affected by Wrath Critical Strikes Penetrate (8-10)% of Enemy Elemental Resistances while affected by Zealotry Consecrated Ground you create while affected by Zealotry causes enemies to take (8-10)% increased Damage

(Jewel) Forbidden Flesh&Flame - you can borrow a lot of useful Ascendency Notables from all Templar base Ascendencies. The Arcane Blessing is cheap and universal.

Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifier on Forbidden Flesh/Flame

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - you can use many Notables here. Increases to Damage are not very effective - you should look for bonuses that grant utility such as Leech or AoE. If you want Damage, you should try to get Lightning Penetration.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Scintillating Idea 1 Added Passive Skill is Storm Drinker 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction 1 Added Passive Skill is Overshock 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart

(Jewel) Rare Jewel - here you should focus on maximum Life and Critical Strike Multiplier. You might also need the Reservation Efficiency or lacking Resistance and Attributes if you can't get it elsewhere.

Recommended affixes: % to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spell Damage % to global Critical Strike Multiplier  % to Critical Strike Multiplier with Lightning Skills % to Critical Strike Multiplier with Elemental Skills % increased maximum Life % increased Mana Reservation Efficiency

(Flask) Soul Ripper - a necessary Flask to grant you Souls during Boss encounters, but also helps during Clearing. Aim for the lowest Maximum Charges possible - you can use it only when it is fully charged. Against particularly dangerous Bosses, you should unequip all other Flasks, so the Traitor Keystone can generate tons of Charges. Make sure to automate it with Instiling Orbs.

+(-40-90) to Maximum Charges Loses all Charges when you enter a new area Consumes Maximum Charges to use Gain Vaal Souls equal to Charges Consumed when used

(Flask) Soul Catcher - optionally, this Flask can be also useful to reduce the Soul Gain Prevention timer. It also boosts the Damage of your Vaal Skills, and the Mana downside is irrelevant here.

Cannot gain Mana during effect (60-80)% increased Critical Strike Chance with Vaal Skills during effect (60-80)% increased Damage with Vaal Skills during effect Vaal Skills used during effect have 10% reduced Soul Gain Prevention Duration

(Flask) Oriath's End - this Flask greatly helps with Clear Speed, as the Vaal Storm Call can Hit a limited amount of Enemies per cast. It could be used to cap your Elemental Resistances, as you will easily sustain it at all times, but it lowers your potential Damage against Bosses.

(20-40)% increased Charge Recovery Enemies you Kill during Effect have a (20-30)% chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Damage of a Random Element

(Flask) The Overflowing Chalice - increases the Flask Charges you gain during Clearing. Against Bosses, it is better to remove it so the Traitor generates more base Charges.

(40-60)% increased Charge Recovery Gains no Charges during Effect of any Overflowing Chalice Flask (50-100)% increased Charges gained by Other Flasks during Effect

You should avoid using any other Flasks to maximize the gains for the Soul Ripper. Notably, it means you won't have a Flask with Bleeding Removal, so you need to get Bleeding Avoidance or Immunity from other sources.

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.