[3.10] Storm Brand Pathfinder | All Content | League Starter | PoB updated [T16] [UE] [Pathfinder]

Introduction

Hello, I am Kevic. This is my Storm Brand Pathfinder.

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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.

Here are the changes if you have not seen them.


What in the world does this build do?

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.

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Pros
+Pathfinder Ascendency means you have infinite flasks
+IMMUNE TO ELEMENTAL AILMENTS like FREEZE SHOCK AND IGNITE and an increase chance to cause those same ailments by 20%!
+Clears effectively and looks cool as HECK
+Can do all content!

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Cons
-Low hp
-Cannot do Elemental Reflect

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How it Works
Pathfinder = Infinite Flasks + 55% increased flask effect
Storm Brand + Brand Recall keeps your skill around you to re-position without having to stop moving often to cast as Brand Recall is Instant

Skills
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.

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Damage Skills

Storm Brand - Main damage ability

Vaal Storm Call - Boss/Betrayal/Red Beast mob killer ability in conjunction with Vaal Righteous Fire.

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Gear

This build can fill multiple roles including: Boss Killer, Map runner, Uber Lab farm, Delve Farmer

The gear needed changes based on what specific piece of content you want to run. Luckily for us, the swap from Map runner to Boss Killer is very minimal.

Standard Gear for All Builds


Ascendancy


GEM LINKS


The two versions that I play and research the most are the Mapping and Boss Killer.

Mapping


Boss Killer

This is slower than the Mapping setup BUT it still is not THAT slow. This setup is made for being safe while securing the highest possible damage.
(we go from 230% movement speed to 135%)


JEWELS

Watcher's Eye Prismatic Jewel - Lightning Damage is Leeched as Mana while affected by Wrath

This gives us the mana sustain we need.

Rare Jewels that we could potentially fit in are any with Cast speed/Cast speed on Critical Strike, Cold/Lightning Damage to Spells and if you can afford it, Health.

Jewel DPS Mod Tier List
1 - Critical Strike Multiplier: to Spells, with Lightning Spells, Global
2 - Cast Speed/Cast Speed on Critical Strike
3 - Lightning/Cold Damage
4 - Lightning/Cold Damage to Spells
5 - Critical Strike: Global, to Spells, with Lightning Sells

* - Increased Maximum Life - Both Flat and Percentage (IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT)

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BANDITS
Kill all for +2 points or Alira - Both are great for us

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PATH OF BUILDING & SKILL TREE


Leveling Guide

You can easily level as Storm brand even as pathfinder. Since Storm Brand has great clear its perfect for traversing the story. League start you would ideally craft a +1 lightning wand (topaz ring + magic wand + orb of alteration to the vendor) and use Arc until storm Brand (lv12).
Links for leveling until Storm Brand - Arc > Added Lightning Damage > Added Cold Damage Support
Links for leveling once you have Storm Brand > Faster Casting > Added Lightning Damage > Added Cold Damage Support

Leveling Uniques


What is being Worked on?



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Special thanks to Roolstar who has been helping me test everything you see here in the guide!

Thanks for reading everything! If you like my content/guide please give me a follow for more of it!
Storm Call Elementalist|EB/Occultist|CI
Storm Brand Assassin Guide

Feel free to PM me in game

Saved

What's the best way to craft the mace to have only the "enemies killed explode ..." suffix ?
I haven't really spent much time crafting so I'm not entirely sure how to make a 1 affix rare.
The best I could come up with was to start with a white base, craft the cheapest prefix, regal so it turns the item rare and if I hit the suffix I want just remove the crafted mod. If not, scour and try again. Is there a better way ?

Hey! Thanks for posting this question. I realize now that I did not provide the info on the exact process of crafting.

I started with the base, transmute orbed it to have one property and alteration orb until it had the suffix "Enemies killed epxlode...". I would then regal orb it to become a rare mace so I potentially could multi mod it. Now when you regal orb it, it will gain another property and then become a rare with either 2 or 3 properties. You then annulment orb to hopefully take away the other mods you dont need and only have "enemies Killed explode..." on a rare base. Then you can multimod and put whatever you need on it. Ideally you want that specific shaper suffix to happen on the transmute application but a lot of the time it does not. Myself and others that tested this specific craft got it within 20~ ish alterations. I thought it was just dumb luck but I asked others who had done the same thing and they were similar ratio's.

Here is a quick search I did on the pathofexile trade website which may expedite your crafting process.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/YKwgRkHY

There are a few other bases you can fit in instead of petrified club as the strength requirement for Magna Eclipsis is 159. Keep that in mind when crafting this mace. It is probably the worst part about it.

If you are still confused please message me in game.

Thanks for the quick answer.
It'd be great if you added the order of the ascendancy passives too.

Ah yes! Thank you for reminding me about that! I updated the guide to provide that info along with some leveling information!

Thanks again!

First of all LOVE the build. Second you mention currency going towards headhunter.Can you elaborate? Just curious what you shooting for.

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to read through the guide!

So I am allocating any exalts or extra chaos towards attaining headhunter. I am still going to continue sustaining my t16 map pool with whatever map I run be it Fungal Hollow or whatever I change to (Elder Cells). So that currency invested in the maps will basically come back to me.

I really think this build will shine even more with headhunter, but most builds skyrocket with headhunter anyway. This is more-so a personal goal for me i'd say.

But any real upgrade that costs more than an exalt will more than likely not be purchased unless it is an insane deal.

Trying our ur build dude, love the idea.

Quick question, can't we double wield wands? Or am I missing something and the mace and shield are essential for some reason?

And in case it has to be mace and shield, is this a valid base? Just making sure before I spend ex on multi-crafting it.



Thx for the guide :)

Yes, This base looks to be fine because you are multi-modding it. The mods that you craft on it will be for one-handed weapons and those can be the same ones as mine.

The reason we want to use the mace base is because that explosion mod only comes on shaped maces.

For the shield, If you have no resistance issues I would definitely use another dps weapon. BUT the drawback is that we cannot get close to a +7 - +9 brand recall making the CD around ~1.2ish seconds BUT that is something i thought would be an insane quality of life but I personally don't think it is as impactful as before after running around 70 t16's fully juiced with GULL/HH. The damage is definitely NEEDED for bosses and betrayal mobs so this will be something I look into this weekend for sure.

The idea of dual wielding is definitely something I need to check out because the more damage we have the better we are at killing stuff and we just want to clear the map/boss. A lot of other builds use voidbattery/shimmeron and that wouldnt be a terrible idea to try out. Void battery would probably be the better option because more power charges = more crit + MORE damage because of our links - But this is if you are looking for a unique. If you want a rare wand/dagger, I would look for a grouping of mods like - flat ele on spells, castspeed, penetration, spell crit, crit multi. Something to note, Daggers give global crit and wands CAN give cast speed depending on which one you ideally want.

I personally am going to look for a dagger because I lose a ton of spell crit from replacing the shield. I will post updates on it as well AND you are more than welcome to ask questions in my stream. I try and answer everything as accurately as possible.

Thank you for liking the guide! I hope this helped you!