Storm Brand Elementalist offers excellent clear speed and capable boss damage. I used it as my league starter for Betrayal league, and it exceeded my expectations.
Gameplay is smooth thanks to the instant cast nature of brand recall, as well as the instant damage from Storm Brand (as opposed to Armageddon Brand). Brand elementalist (Elementalist 3.6 Builds)is a popular build, with several streamers running something similar. My take on the build is fairly defensive, with an eye towards being able to do all map mods and all content, including safely farming uber elder.
PoE 3.6 Update:
1) Damage loss isn't that big of a deal
2) Crit change means it is harder to keep up elemental equilibrium with controlled destruction. I recommend getting the "crit chance if you haven't crit recently" boot enchant from lab, and using something other than lab enchant for your mana solution (several mana solutions are discussed in the gear section). Without the boot enchant or any other source of crit, you'll have 2.2% crit, which may be a bit low (but warrants testing).
3) A wave of conviction for elemental exposure would be a good addition to help boss damage. It could be linked to curse on hit elemental weakness as well, since curses aren't completely useless on bosses now. It does NOT need to be supported by phys to lightning, the added lightning damage on our weapons will make it do more lightning than fire.
Bandits:
Killing all the bandits for that sweet +2 skill points.
Pantheon:
we're not stun immune, so brine king. Whatever you like for minor. Flask refill can be nice, so can poison immune.
Ascendency:
Starts with Shaper of Desolation -> Beacon of Ruin. Beacon of ruin is our power node, and the entire reason to be an elementalist. Prolif and 20% min shock (with increased shock effect, ~33%) is simply amazing.
This build is budget and friendly to play - gearing up requires knowledge of multiple facets in the game. The purpose of this build is to do all endgame content on a budget. Including Shaper, Uber Elder, Hitting Level 100. As a result, this build needs speed, damage and survivability.
Pros & Cons:
+ Super Fast
+ Very Tanky (enough to tank Shaper Slam)
+ Variety of ways to gear
+ Lots of ways to improve gear/build
+ Easy to start up on a budget
+ Very good Single Target DPS with Lightning Spire Trap
+ Excellent AoE DPS with Storm Brand
+ Brainless
+ lexible
- Storm Brand needs LS to help Single Target when not geared.
- Lightning Spire Trap can sometimes not activate if a mob moves.
This build is designed to run fast and clear maps safely. It summons storm brands that shock, freeze and trigger our herald to clear massive packs of mobs both on screen and off. With Brand Recall we can pull the brands with us to a new screen, clear it AND extend the duration of the brands themselves. It has good single target for map bosses because if 2 brands attach themselves to the same target, it increases the damage each brand does by 50% more damage.
PoE 3.6 Update:
Path of Building has been updated. The nerf to Storm Brand was not bad at all! If my math is correct it should be around a 25% dps loss from the nerf. Our damage should still be fairly comparable and fine for doing all bits of content. When we finished this league my PoB on bosses was around 800k dps ON shaper which is plenty of damage.
The only change is once you acquire a jewel with "corrupted blood cannot be inflicted on you" - You replace Master Surgeon with Veteran Bowyer for the extra Elemental Penetration
Bandits:
Kill all for +2 points or Alira - Both are great for us
Gem Link:
4-link
Vaal Storm Call > Less Duration Support > Lightning Penetration > Concentrated Effect
Storm Brand is a skill that was introduced in Betrayal League. Storm Brand creates a magical brand which can attach to a nearby enemy. It periodically activates while attached, firing beams which deal damage to nearby enemies and those around them. The brand will detach if the enemy dies.
Brand Recall is a skill that was also introduced in Betrayal League to go with both Brand skills. Recall your brands to you, detaching them from enemies, then cause them to activate. The brands will have increased attachment range until they next attach to an enemy.
In Path of Exile 3.6 Synthesis, Storm Brand Update has Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 21 (was 20)Now deals 2 to 7 Lightning damage at gem level 1 (from 3 to 8) and 75 to 225 Lightning damage at gem level 20 (from 97 to 290)Now has an added damage effectiveness of 30% (from 35%).Brands are an attachable spell, which every short period of time casts Lightning Projectiles that shoots from attached nearby enemies dealing massive AoE damage and attaching themselves to another nearby enemy after the first one is killed.
This is a beginner-friendly, league-starter viable, solo-self-found viable, and comprehensive Storm Brand Inquisitor guide. The leveling section in this guide is meant to take players with a fresh install or in a fresh league and get them into maps and started on a powerful character. Interested readers can find gear priority, stat suggestions, mechanics explanations, and a whole bunch of links that might be useful for newer players.
Path of Exil 3.6 Updates:
- Day 3 Uber Elder Down! - Gear snapshot added and a pure clip of the fight start to finish for those interested. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/394924639
- Loreweave nerfed, Storm Brand damage nerfed. Build still functions just fine. It's still mechanically great.
- Keeping an eye on path of exile currency items, synthesized implicits, and anything else that might be important for the build.
- Added section in Shields about +2 Minimum Frenzy Charges.
Pros & Cons:
+ Beginner and League Starter Friendly. Virtually no gear requirements. Can be done on all rares. 4-link is enough to complete the story and progress into maps. Like all spells, the power comes from the level of the skill gem so progression feels smooth.
+ Brand Playstyle. Cast from range and stay out of danger. Place your brands and watch them pulse and kill enemies while you run around and pick up loot or plan your next move.
+ Mind over Matter. Acrobatics/Phase Acrobatics. MoM is one of the best defensive Keystones in the game. Acro/Phase Acro are great "free lives" while learning the game and helps for times where you just can't move away from damage.
+ Gearing is straightforward. Being Inquisitor makes the range of stats you care about even less. No need to care about the resist of your enemies means all you care about is life, resistances, mana, and crit.
+ Not that many buttons to press. I list this here as a pro because I can't be bothered to keep up multiple buffs, curses, golems, and whatnot. This guide is supposed to be new player friendly. You have your Brand, Brand Recall, and a couple mobility skills. That's it. For newer players this really helps manage flask usage.
- Can't do Elemental Reflect. Even with pantheons or anti-reflect rings you will do too much damage and one-shot yourself to elemental reflect. Look out for this mod when doing maps. Reroll maps with reflect and don't choose maps with reflect if Zana presents you with an option (be careful for unid maps!)
The Following is POE 3.6 Sabotuer Shocking Tri-Element Trapper Shock Nova Builds
3.6 Update:
So, large changes! Nicely, in fact, they're really very simple adjustments, but significant changes, nonetheless. The harm of both Ice Trap and Shock Nova (Shock Nova Builds) has been enhanced drastically, especially using the former. Ice Trap got such a major damage buff, in truth, I wonder if it may outdo Fire Trap for single target purposes! Well, we'll see as soon as I attempt it out. Ice Trap also got an enhanced region of effect, which can be nice. Apparently the high quality bonus is unchanged, sadly. That one particular is still as useless as ever.
But hey, as with lots of other expertise, the transform only can raise the harm output and clearing speed of this make! The damage of both Ice Trap and Shock Nova has been enhanced considerably, especially together with the former. Ice Trap got such a huge damage buff, in actual fact, I wonder if it might outdo Fire Trap for single target purposes! Nicely, we'll see when I try it out. Ice Trap also got an increased location of impact, that is good. Apparently the excellent bonus is unchanged, sadly. That a single is still as useless as ever.
But hey, as with lots of other skills, the adjust only can enhance the damage output and clearing speed of this build!I've looked by means of various Lists of Trapper builds and was rather confused that I've under no circumstances seen a single Tri-Element Trapper since... Goodness me, I believe 1.one thing.
Pros & Cons:
+ Can run pretty much any Map mod (Although no Life and Mana reg can be a major pain)
+ No mandatory Gear
+ Fast screen-clearing
+ Can get a decently high life and ES pool (5k+ life and 2.5k-3.5k ES(Depending on your gear)
+ Atziri, Izaro and High Tier Maps ain't no problem!
+ Can deal with every Guardian! (See Video's for each below)
+ Uber Atziri, Shaper and T15 Elder viable! (Video for latter to come)
+ Loads of fun to play!
+ Everyone loves a Shocker!
= Viable for HC, but can be a pain early on, as this make tends to be pretty squishy in its early stages.
= Mana heavy without Mind over Matter, meaning you need a Mana Flask if you don't skill it.
- The high amount of giant Shock Novas and Ice Traps can get on ones eyes quickly
- Your fingers can get stiff from constantly smashing the keyboard
Bear Trap(From your Shield) + Culling Strike + Enhanced Rarity
Clarity for more Mana regeneration
Golem
Vaal Lightning Trap
Ascendancy:
Saboteur is definitely my preferred a single. You can get Assassin, sure, but Chain Reaction in my opinion outperforms any crit you get from the Assassin abilities!
Bandits:
Help Alira for more Mana regeneration, more Crit multiplier and some Resistances as a neat side bonus. Either that, or kill all and get 2 skill points, your choice.
Get Perfect Crime and Chain Reaction with your first two batches of points and then Pyromaniac for Life regen and after that Born in the Shadows to blind your enemies with your shocking look.
This build is capable of to do all content with a very cheap gear and there are options for upgrades. I killed all end game bosses with a low budget gear. The build is very strong. I got surprised on how strong it is. Still the same of Synthesis League, untouched and very strong.
Pros & Cons:
+ Cheap
+ Good map clear
+ Tanky
+ Immune to Stun, Chill and Freeze
+ Can do most of map mods (only expcetion is No Life/ES Regen and Elemental Reflect mods)
- Using Flame Dash is not the best movement skill but the Quicksilver Flask helps on that.
- Some endgame items can be more expensive cause Cold Damage Over time builds are a bit hyped.
In 3.6 update, a couple of new Chaos Skills appear, such as Soulrend, Malevolence and Bane. As well as older Chaos Skills get significant boost and revamps!
Using these skills in 3.6 to league start as well as deeper explore different combinations with a well-know Essence Drain + Contagion combo (as Soulrend and ED stacks and count as different sources of DoT).
Pros & Cons:
+ extremely safe (2-3x defensive Curses, 12K+ ES)
+ easy to league start (can run on Uniques with good sustain)
+ requires only 1 6-Link for end-game
+ all mods, even no mana regen is possible
+ no need for Wither totem (when you get Withering Presence ascendancy passive)
- with ED+Contagion you constantly need to cast 2 skills. If you want to spam just 1 and zoom-zoom, this build might not be for you :)
- Not a fast mapper
- End-Game bossing takes a while
- Not super newbie friendly as you need some knowledge on playing life/hybrid builds and then transition to CI and eventually to Low-Life.
Ascendnacy:
Wicked Ward, Vile Bastion, Void Beacon, Withering Presence.
Added a quick gameplay video from early DELVE without DO in SSF
Pros & Cons:
+ Very nice and safe clearspeed thanks to Bane not costing any real mana so you can SPAM this.
+ Thanks to the LARGE AOE you are gonna clear the entire screen in a few clicks, everything that lives the initial hit will melt a few seconds later or get destroyed thanks to Profane Bloom.
+ Death´s Oath while not mandatory is a really nice safe cushion and more dot damage with all other skills combined.
+ Very easy to play with, very easy to gear (All rares totally fine)
This is Path of Exile 3.6 Necromancer Three Latest Popular Builds...
Raise Spectre is a spell that summons a defeated enemy as an allied minion. In Path of Exile 3.6 Synthesis,Raise Spectre has Mana Cost at gem level 1 is now 15 (was 21).Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 28 (was 42). Summon Skeletons is a spell that summons one allied skeleton Minion per cast. Raise Zombie is a spell that summons an allied zombie minion.
The following is Necromancer three most popular skills for Path of Exile 3.6 Synthesis League, Raise Spectre/Summon Skeleton/Raise Zombie, and the main build Guide for these three skills are described below.
PoE 3.6 Necromancer Raise Spectre Build
This summoner build focuses on scaling spectre DPS as high as possible while still maintaining a decent amount of life/es and a fast clear speed. It starts off as a 5-chaos league starter and scales all the way to the endgame (Uber Elder farmer/600+ delver/40 challenges).
This build guide includes a full levelling guide with numbered passive tree for each act, videos on how to summon spectres and a detailed breakdown on gear and gem links. This build focuses on Cannibal Fire-Eaters as they have the highest DPS of all spectres. However, it will work with Solar Guards and other projectile spell spectres.
Pros & Cons:
+ Party Support with up to 6 Auras of your choice
+ High Damage Output - Can reach 3.5mil+ Shaper DPS depending on choices
+ High Survivability* (depends on how you want to build the character)
+ Can have high HP Pool - 8k+
+ Fast Playstyle - not the fastest by far but definitely quick
+ Summoner Playstyle
- Summoner Playstyle
- Positioning is key and can be annoying at times
- Gem Slot Starved - mostly standard for Summoners
Ascendancy:
Invoker (Normal) --> Soul Weaver (Cruel) --> Mistress of Sacrifice (Merciless) --> Commander of Darkness (Uber)
It all depends on your playstyle. Mistress of Sacrifice first is also a good choice due to providing you with Flesh Offering buffs early on!
Bandits:Kill All for 2 Passive Points
Pantheon:
Major - Soul of Solaris - Phys & Elemental Damage reduction, no extra crit damage taken from crits recently!
Minor - Soul of Ryslatha - Gain Life Flask Charges and increased flask recovery - pair this with Bloodgrip amulet and Life Flasks are very quick - helped me get out of a lot of sticky situations!
Extremely minor nerf to bone helmets is about the only change that affects the core of this build. An interesting new option that we might want to try is the newly buffed Summon Phantasm Support, which now summons phantasms on hit against bosses as well as on kill. This means they reliably contribute to single target damage as well as clearing, making them potentially attractive as an addition (probably to zombies rather than skeletons, so as not to weaken skeleton damage). I'm not sure whether I'll play this build during 3.6, but if you do and you try out phantasms, could you please PM me your results? Thanks.
Pros & Cons:
+ The easiest million DPS build you'll ever make. At level 80, with 18/0 gems, almost literally no gear and no PoB trickery, the build reaches 1.04 million Shaper DPS if every minion hits the same target. See for yourself. You do not have to spend currency, you do not have to be good at the game, you really do not have to do anything special. All bosses just melt. You'll get at least 2 million Shaper DPS if you push the build with a few ex of currency, and over double that while Vaal Summon Skeletons is active.
+ Cheap. You can get to red maps very easily on 20 chaos of gear, and do all content comfortably on about 2 ex worth of gear.
+ Entirely physical damage, so no issues with high boss elemental resistances.
+ Fast movement thanks to Shield Charge and the huge lump of attack speed granted by the Spiritual Command passive node. You're mostly limited by waiting for your minions to kill things, but clear speed is still above average.
+ Decently tanky. This build doesn't use auras for damage, so we can go Mind over Matter and get about 8k EHP. Of course you also have an army of minions to tank for you, and 10% physical damage reduction courtesy of your zombies.
+ No spectres necessary. This build only uses skeletons and zombies, meaning that you don't have to deal with any of the issues spectre builds do when it comes to raising the right mobs at the right level. And if something dies, you can just summon it right back. No dramas.
Can do all content and all map mods, although phys reflect is a chore and no regen can be a little dangerous.
+ Surprisingly good at lab running. See note in "Playstyle".
- Clear speed isn't going to be quite as good as screen-clearing spectres or golems, especially if you don't have Fear jewelry.
- A couple of bosses just melt your minions instantly and are basically impossible for the build. Atziri trio are the worst offenders.
- Have to level as a different build (SRS) unless you have access to twinking gear.
Ascendancy:
Invoker, Bone Sculptor, Commander of Darkness, Puppet Master
The goal of this build was to make a pure Zombie build that feels as smooth as possible to map with while at the same time is able to do all content in the game.
You dont have to cast any spells with this build, everything is automated, the only thing you have to do is Shield Charge right into everything, you have enough survivability to tank almost everything.
Pros & Cons:
- Minor passive tree pathing optimization to get an extra free 20 Int (shoutout to owowl for this).
- Recommending Holy Relic now instead of Immortal Call.
- Updated the videos.
- Phantasm on Kill Support now works on bosses and can be a good Zombie support gem, they deal around 500.000 dps in this build.
- "Kingmaker" is now a really good defensive option for the Animated Guardian.
- I missed a "Gruthkul's Pelt" buff last league, life regen went from 2% to 5%. This makes it a better option than "Bloodbond" for the Animate Guardian.
- The new "Mask of the Tribunal" helmet can be a defensive option for the guardian, giving you 200-300 extra ES.
The goal of this build was to make a pure Zombie build that feels as smooth as possible to map with while at the same time is able to do all content in the game.
You dont have to cast any spells with this build, everything is automated, the only thing you have to do is Shield Charge right into everything, you have enough survivability to tank almost everything.
Ascendancy:
Invoker, Bone Sculptor, Flesh Binder, Puppet Master.
Bandits:Kill all of them.
Pantheon:
Soul of Lunaris:
The phys reduction when shield charging into enemies and the chain immunity make this the best one.
Soul of Shakari:
Chaos damage reduction and poison immunity is really good for this build, since it uses Zealot's Oath.
