[3.9] Bah's Ignite Fireball Elementalist (1M Shaper DPS, Awakener/Uber Atziri/Uber Elder complete)
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Introduction
Greetings, this is my first build guide! Fireball is probably the most basic spell in PoE, and the most iconic spell for RPGs in general. I wanted to try out an ignite fireball build. They used to be super OP during the Bad Ole Days of Double Dipping, had a resurgence a few years back, but I haven't seen any Fireball builds in a while, so I tried my hand in Metamorph. It worked, with consistent ~1M Shaper DPS, and I've cleared all content (L83 Mastermind/Shaper/Elder/Uber Elder/Sirus) except deep delve bosses 2 weeks into the league.
Mechanics
Ignite takes the base damage of a hit, and deals 50% of that every second, for a base of 4s. (https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ignite)
This build uses Fireballs to drop AoE Ignites on monsters. It then puts AoEs on your AoEs with Ignite Proliferation, burning down entire packs. Vaal Fireball with Soul Ripper allows you to run through T16 maps killing everything you run by. Elementalist ascendancy makes any hit cause Shock for 29% about half the time, and Chill for 20% all the time. 4 golems provide damage buffs, tankiness buffs, elemental ailment immunity, and 2 important debuffs on enemies (Taunt and Combustion). Aspect of the Crab with Craiceann's set provides bleed immunity and significant tankiness versus physical damage. This is invaluable this league, with rippy Metamorph physical slams present in practically every map. This build is also immune to all ailments (elemental as well as bleed/poison), which is a significant QoL benefit. Overview Pros: + Good clear with decent single-target DPS + Ignite Proliferation mechanic kills mobs long after the fireballs hit + Vaal Fireball with Soul Ripper deletes several screens + DoT gameplay (up to 12s Ignites) means you can focus on dodging bosses (hi Metamorphs and Awakener!) while only occasionally stopping to re-apply your Ignites + Good physical tankiness with Chaos Golem (18.5% phys damage reduction) and 15 Crab Barriers (30% phys damage reduction) + 28% min shock value adds plenty of damage, and 20% min chill helps with kiting. Even Elder and Metamorphs get chilled from any hit! + The Devouring Diadem solves all mana issues Cons: - Can't do "Monsters reflect X% of Elemental Damage" or "immune to elemental ailments" map mods - A budget build (~20c of gear) will get you to white maps, but this is not capable of clearing all endgame bosses on a budget Videos T16 Canyon in about 2mins, with Legion and Metamorph Awakening level 8 Hunter fight. Skipped the land-snakes phase due to high DPS. Path of Building Pastebin link: https://pastebin.com/88DCpund Note that actual Shaper DPS is higher because I didn't tick any potion, or Shock. This build has a minimum Shock of 28%. Spiritual Aid is an important notable on the passive tree ("Increases and Reductions to Minion Damage also affect you"), as it allows you to use Minion Damage as generic Damage to improve Ignite DPS. The only Keystone allocated is Elemental Overload. Eldritch Battery comes from The Devouring Diadem. Pantheon Brine King for stunlock prevention. Upgrade Glace; the rest don't matter because this build can't be affected by elemental ailments anyway. Upgraded Shakari for poison prevention. Ascendancy Shaper of Desolation -> Beacon of Ruin -> Liege of the Primordial -> Elemancer First two are core. The latter two are just golem improvements for damage and survivability buffs. Shaper of Desolation + Beacon of Ruin means that you periodically shock for 28%, even on endgame bosses. And if you get even a single point of cold damage on your Fireball, you'll always chill on hit for 20%, lasting about 3-4s. This is a huge survivability buff. "Elemancer" makes each golem provide a 35% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments; if you have at least 3 golems then your chance to avoid exceeds 100%, and this provides complete immunity to Elemental Ailments, even from sources like Chilled Ground or Shocking Ground. Levelling I started off with Freezing Pulse and changed to Fireball as soon as as I got Combustion at L8. Add Ignite Proliferation at L38 and you're set. Alternatively, you could also use Elemental Proliferation from the start. The Searing Touch is a cheap staff that's viable for the entire game once you can equip it. Skill Gems and links
Main skill: Fireball 6L
Vaal Fireball - Use a L21 version if possible
Ignite Proliferation - Key to the build. Provides damage and proliferation. Unbound Ailments - More damage, increased ailment duration, and increased ailment effectiveness. Shock/Chill scale off Elementalists's base 15%/10% respectively. What's there not to love? The Awakened version also provies a +10% DoT multiplier. Burning Damage - More damage. The Awakened version also provies a +10% Fire DoT multiplier. Deadly Ailments - More damage. The Awakened version also makes ailments deal damage 10% faster, which is basically a separate multiplier. Greater Multiple Projectiles/Swift Affliction - Either more coverage, or more damage for single-target. The Awakened version also provies a +10% DoT multiplier. Unbound Ailments, Burning Damage, Deadly Ailments and Swift Affliction can be improved using their Awakened versions. I used Awakened gems for all except Swift Affliction. When levelling you can use Combustion until your Chance to Ignite hits 100%.
Golems 5/6L
Summon Fire Golem - Damage buff. Hits frequently, so it easily applies the Combustion debuff.
Summon Stone Golem - Regen buff, and Taunts enemies every now and then. Basically, makes bosses deal 10% reduced damage to you. Summon Chaos Golem - Physical damage reduction buff. Combustion - All the golems deal fire damage due to the Anger aura. This means that you can let your golems passively apply a debuff that gives enemies -20% fire resistance (L21 gem); it'll be permanently on during bossfights. Empower - Improves survivability of golems, and increases Chaos Golem's buff from 4% to 5%. Culling Strike - I didn't link this myself, but you can get your golems to cull for you. Effectively an 11% more damage boost overall.
Aura/movement
Anger - Damage buff.
Malevolance - More DoT buff. Flame Dash - Movement. Very standard. Faster Casting - Faster movement. Very standard. It doesn't support Auras (which are instant now, and have no cast speed), so it doesn't increase their reservation cost. Socket in The Devouring Diadem for +1 gem levels and reduced reservation.
Buff and debuff
Incinerate - It's a Channelling skill with a Fire tag. That's all really.
Infused Channelling - After channelling for 0.6s, you get a 10% More Fire Damage global buff. That's what the Incinerate is for. Cast While Chanelling - For the next one. Wave of Conviction - Between Anger and the Fire Damage on tree/gear, your WoC does more Fire damage by default. It applies a debuff that gives -25% fire resistance, lasting about 6s. Between Combusion and WoC, many map bosses end up with negative fire resistance ("Vulnerable to fire" appears under their name).
CwDT support
Cast when Damage Taken - I kept mine at L8.
Molten Shell - I kept mine at L14. Periodically provides a shield worth 1.5k hp, helps you survive. Cold Snap - I kept mine at L12. Provides Frenzy Charges every now and then. You can put something else here if you want, like maybe Phase Run or a defensive curse. Increased Duration - Don't know what else to put here. Extends the Molten Shell. Gear
Weapon
Priority stats: +3 to Level of all Fire Spell Skill Gems, Fire Damage over Time Multiplier, Damage. Because I have Spiritual Aid, Minion Damage counts as generic Damage. This one was a failed craft... I wanted to use a Hunter's Exalted Orb to give either "Ignites you inflict deal Damage #% faster" or "Malevolence has #% increased Aura Effect". Budget option: The Searing Touch, which provides only about 15% less damage than this staff.
Armour
Craiceann's set for Crab Barriers, which provide tankiness versus physical attacks (especially Metamorph slams) and damage. The Devouring Diadem for Eldritch Battery, +1 gems, reduced mana reservation, and periodic healing. With just "6% reduced Mana Reserved" on the tree, you can fit Anger, Malevolance, and Aspect of the Crab on 98% of your mana, which you won't be using anyway because of Eldritch Battery. My Devouring Diadem also has the veiled mod "117% increased Duration of Ailments you inflict while Focused", which allows for 12s ignites. Budget option: Rare equipment. If you don't have The Devouring Diadem (which is expensive early in league), drop Malevolance and equip a mana potion. The rest is pretty budget anyway, with the gloves/boots at 1c and the chest at about 30c currently. A few weeks into league, all 4 will probably cost under 50c.
Amulet/Rings/Belt
Priority stats: Cap elemental resists and have enough dex for requirements, then life, then get whatever damage you can. Two new Conqueror amulet mods can give you +1 to your Fireball: either "+1 to Level of all Intelligence Skill Gems" as a Hunter prefix, or "+1 to Level of all Fire Skill Gems" as a Warlord prefix. Maybe one day, someone will use an Awakener's Orb to craft an amulet with both these mods??!! In the post-Blight era, you can allocate Constitution or some cheaper notable on your amulet. Also, Catalysts can improve jewellery stats. Budget option: Cheaper rare equipment. Really, all you need is elemental resists, stats for requirements, and life.
Jewels
Watcher's Eye, with the mod "Damaging Ailments you inflict deal Damage 15% faster while affected by Malevolance"
Rolling Flames for better AoE coverage. Mine's corrupted with 5% Minion Damage for some extra DPS. Get an Abyssal Jewel with some added cold damage to spells, so every Fireball hit chills for 20% (due to Beacon of Ruin and Unbound Ailments). "20-30% increased Critical Strike Chance if you haven't dealt a Critical Strike Recently" also helps to keep Elemental Overload up. I also use a Lethal Pride in the Templar socket (5 nearby notables allocated). It satisfies Strength requirements, and mine gives me 4% max life/20% burning damage/20% armour/5% of physical damage from hits taken as fire damage. Budget option: Skip the Watcher's Eye and Lethal Pride, use rare Jewels/Abyssal Jewels instead.
Flasks
Life flask. Actually I don't need the bleed immunity; it should be curse immunity or something instead. For repeatedly casting Vaal Fireball. Also, it gives more damage to Vaal Fireball's Ignite, and I suspect the damage "snapshots" even after the flask runs out. So if you pop all flasks and Focus, it's a 12s boosted Ignite on bosses. Cinderswallow for damage, Onslaught, and healing. Use whatever veiled mod you want. Damage and defence (smoke cloud). Gotta go fast. Last edited by MagosBiologis on Dec 28, 2019, 10:18:14 PM Last bumped on Jul 15, 2020, 11:17:29 AM
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Im gonna try it, was just looking for a good fireball build last night and this seems good, two questions.
do you think golems is THE way to go? do you think is HC viable? | |
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Link to Video is not working.
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Mariox93: 1) Yes, the other ascendancy options don't do much, and the defensive buffs + taunt + elemental ailment immunity + 177% increased damage for merely having them up, is too good to pass. Even endgame bosses sometimes target the Stone Golem.
2) Probably not. daiur: Fixed! |
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Hey, I'm really interested in this build. Have you done Sirius with it?
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" Yes, I downed Sirus recently. He's actually quite easy once you're familiar with storm management, as he has no adds at all, so you only need to look at him and dodge him. |
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Just wanted you to know I was the one asking about this build over on Reddit. I've been leveling it all evening and having an absolute ball. It's super fun and this is the easiest I've found bossing so far this league.
Almost to maps! Thanks again. | |
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Did you use jeweller crafting for 4B on gloves?
Last edited by N1le on Dec 29, 2019, 3:26:55 AM
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Thanks for fixing the video. How are you doing on juiced up T16s on that build, aka defensewise? Is the phys reduction with stone golem reg enough to keep from getting one shot?
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Rie: Thanks!
N1le: Yes. daiur: Depends on what you mean by juiced up. Stuff like multiple added elemental with -max resist still kills me. Regular increased damage or vuln is still ok. |
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