ELE LIGHTNING STRIKE - ALL T16s, Shaper, Uber Atziri, HOGM, Chayula, Elder

Would you suggest grabbing mind drinker?

I've been playing this build for a week or so now. Just hit 67 and was able to equip my Bringer of Rain and man, what a difference!

Thanks so much for posting the build and guide up, its incredibly well written and detailed. The build itself is one of the most enjoyable I've played (was previously playing discharger, dual spark, freeze pulser, wander and frenzy-flicker strike).

Ceryneian, I'd highly recommend that you submit this guide / build for the second season of Build Of the Week when the topic for the episode is appropriate!

hello, iam currently lvl 48 and was wondering what skill and support gems you used while u were leveling iam currently using double strike and melee splash

Hi all, just a quick update I am still testing the build with Temporal Chains vs. Enfeeble and Dodge vs. More Health and ES. Will update guide as soon as I can finalize my findings on these 2 issues.

Right now I have 3.8K health and 750 ES and if I remove some Frenzy and life nodes and put into Dodge I get down to about 3.2K health and 370 ES with 40% chance to dodge attacks and 30% spell dodge. I will test this and see if I prefer this version vs. the prior version with more health but no Dodge.

This is the current tree I am testing:


Someone asked me why I don't use Frenzy in my videos - I use it occasionally. I have found it very helpful for Oak and Vaal and Titus with their high HP. I also find it useful when you are running a map with Temporal Chains / Enfeeble. However overall, I do not use it that often.

Curse on Hit gem does not really help us as we have to link it to our Double Strike attack.

I am testing Cast on Damage with Enduring Cry vs. Decoy Totem, with Immortal Call on manual activation. Although I think this might be overkill as I hardly use Immortal Call.

Regarding Scion build: there are two ways I see: go the Duelist side for more life/damage/block, or go the Ranger side for more attack speed/evasion/mana. It is probably more ideal to go the Ranger side - get the Scion's attack speed up to Harrier, and then down to Mana Geyser and Charisma before linking up with the regular tree; you can also grab more One Hand physical damage by the Shadow start and work up to the Block nodes by Ghost Reaver, maybe even grabbing the 2nd Nullification node - it will be hard to get close to the Duelist side this way.

Quick update on map content: Dominus level 78 boss is quite tricky. His first form is very similar to Vaal, but with with very fast and high damage on level 78:
- Ice beams like searing bond, that chill
- Some sort of lightning attack similar to the flame doggies
- A heavy smash with extremely high damage, almost similar to Vaal's that seems to do physical+lightning damage
- He also has a flicker strike attack if you move too far away
- As well as a curse that sends minions after you to detonate

It is hard to keep in melee range and DPS his first form down, he also has ES regen.

His 2nd form has a melee attack, a cleave that can puncture if it hits, blood rain that cause you to bleed, and minion summons, however his 2nd form is not as hard as his 1st form - at least on this build.

I'm still trying strategies to do this map boss, however it would be quite difficult to do this level 78 boss solo - as you need a ranged character to deal with his first form, and a melee character to deal with his 2nd form.

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brakthir wrote:

Would you suggest grabbing mind drinker?

Yes, I suggest you grab Mind Drinker for the mana leech as you level in the build progression notes, if not you can get mana leech from your gear as well such as the Slitherpinch gloves that I mention.

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Rakujan wrote:

I've been playing this build for a week or so now. Just hit 67 and was able to equip my Bringer of Rain and man, what a difference!

Thanks so much for posting the build and guide up, its incredibly well written and detailed. The build itself is one of the most enjoyable I've played (was previously playing discharger, dual spark, freeze pulser, wander and frenzy-flicker strike).

Ceryneian, I'd highly recommend that you submit this guide / build for the second season of Build Of the Week when the topic for the episode is appropriate!

Thanks for the note! Happy you are enjoying the build! I will look into submitting it to an episode when appropriate.

"

Kountry wrote:

hello, iam currently lvl 48 and was wondering what skill and support gems you used while u were leveling iam currently using double strike and melee splash

Hi. In my guide I recommend you link gems in this order:
Double Strike -> Melee Splash -> Multistrike -> Life Leech / Life Gain on Hit (I prefer Life Gain on Hit with this build due to high attack speed and instant life regen) -> Blind -> Melee Physical Damage.

You can take out Blind and use a Smoke Trap/Flame Totem linked with Blind/Enfeeble curse and instead add in Faster Attacks in place of Blind. You may have mana issues: so I recommend looking into the mana suggestions I have posted in the guide: Slitherpinch gloves, Mind Drinker node, having a mana flask with +% to mana leech. Hope this helps!

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CrystalTrees wrote:

first of all thanks for the sweet build! I have a couple of questions for you.

Is this build viable with a scion start? im sure scion can do anything, but, maybe you have a suggestion on a passive tree?
also I see you are going to update the build for users without bringer of rain. but would it be possible to do it with a 5L and no bringer of rain or do i need a 6L?

one last question what are your thoughts on other skills, such as dominating blow, or lightning strike?

Yes this build can be made to work with Scion - please see my comment further up in this post about Scion. I recommend going towards the Ranger side, grabbing Charisma/Mana Geyser, and getting the Shadow One Hand damage nodes, Nullification, and the block nodes by Ghost Reaver. It is unlikely you will be able to get to the Duelist side using Scion, unless you choose to go that route first and then work up to the Ranger.

Yes, it is possible to run build with 5L. I recommend you have Blind separate in Smoke Mine/Flame Totem/or use Enfeeble curse, and then follow the gem sequence I outline above.

Interesting you mention other skills, I like Double Strike a lot - it helps significantly against reflect, and synergizes very well with Blind (blind linked to attack is applied based on a %chance per hit), as well as Life Gain on Hit. You could try and rework the build to use Frenzy / Dominating Blow / Lightning Strike - although you might have to tweak the tree to optimize use of those skills.

regarding temp chains vs enfeeble - i think i prefer enfeeble for the lower dmg. it seems to be a better helper than TC.

TC is great because its a dex gem instead of int, which im very SPECIFICALLY spec'd at the exact amount needed for other gems, so i can't have a high level enfeeble anyway. the quality helps for the accuracy but the -dmg suffers in that way.
i dunno, i just don't see temp chains helping much at all. plus it doesn't last very long. mine isn't currently very high lvl, i think lvl 12 right now? but it is 20%.

even with enfeeble only level 6 (i have MAXIMUM 83 int) it still lowers damage by 27%. lets face it, the only time the curse is effective and usually even USED is against bosses. i just don't see the slower move/atk spd helping as much as the lower dmg. it expires too quickly

What base axe type would you suggest I start crafting with?

to comment on mind drinker:

I am a new player this is the third build I have played (2 to like 15, and 2 to 50 which is the only two i really count). I really think if you can't get some of the uniques mentioned you have no choice but to go mind drinker for quality of life. It is so annoying using mana potions all day long. You want to atleast be at a point where the only time you need a mana potion is on bosses.

Other thoughts:

I really recommend waiting to start this build until you get a perandus shield (1-3 chaos), and multistrike. Why multistrike? Honestly because it autoattacks mobs around you and it makes the visual appeal of the build so much better. It feels really boring until you get it. You really also want to grab the mightflay dagger...It takes alot of pressure off of worrying about a good damage weapon. Only now at 51 am I starting to want a new weapon.

I just finished cruel and I can tell you that I have taken no life nodes and have gone for all of the shield nodes and decided to snag the dodge and then up to the other shield nodes above it (8%), and I rarely get hit if ever. Beware however if you do not have max resist and over 1kish health (lots of health of gear for me) you may find yourself being one/two shotted at the end of cruel by harder hitting mobs.

Hatred is your best friend as it will really buff that damage, try to snag that mana reduction gem so that you can make use of this. Also if you can make it work grace is huge! For example my evasion is 41% (at level 51)right now if i pop on grace i go up to 59% evasion.

This build can easily be done without bringer of rain, and even the amulet at lower levels (especially if you take the dodge nodes). My goal is to not be stuck with any given unique and be able to take upgrades as i see them.


This build is really great fun and its kind of funny to watch as other melee and classes get pounded on where as you will stand there and your health bar hardly ever moves. I have to say this is my favorite way to play the game so far.

I look forward to reading further theorycrafting!

awesome thanks for the replies regarding the scion start. It looks like the ranger is hands down better than the scion no matter how you slice it though.

two builds i am considering, are like you said:

towards duelist side first
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgABvrz0xkUKNdYxnqZXTeP-jzWStfJuqkrIhNluab6nWNtT35uDrK_STcAP1e1qk7ZBTipbr90N_MVW-u4OPeJI7niuG63TfrM_T1Ye3-96fXX-ugOHlWY_JypNFSAs6eeRw4Z0QXfXfyvWigSxTGAa2_ljFfAF-aOKmyYyAbIZz3ro1usUjb95SCEDu3xl8d722j0nYQbpCSHndGHih9vrY5matvemf-1BsbO1SDpYBH6HGbcXOJZnoId2Sn06swBeGY7tgwgum40RLw==

or going towards shadow side first
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAtAEfgSxBukILgkhES8V8BrbG60byCEDI_YmlSdhMHwyATY9OJY6WDqzPeI-z0MxR35I7kp9TGBOKlFHU99VS1b6WNtaGlpIW69eE2HiZU1l8WegbXtuaXSudO14rnlIeu99dX8rhNmE74cZh3aH242_kAqVZpkrmZqbJpuDm42ly6Z_q8Wsr6_rsbOyGbVItkG297cXt9O7fL2Bvea-p8OGz3rTftaK18vaPdtV3Q3e9ud055Ho1usU62PtQe4O7_D5Y_zF_ro=

since i cant really see myself getting to level 70 any time soon, in your opinion which looks better for level 50ish?
maybe i am kidding myself and i should just build it out of the ranger, but had wanted to make a dual claw ranger, and i have no scion. eh either way, thanks for your input.

Awesome build dude!

I started a max block/max armour/spectral throw Scion on Nemesis, but ditched as the dps was low (1hand), and also damage mitigation was low too!

So I got to this post and now my ranger is at lvl 61 and it has been a blast! I was soloing at lvl 61 in the lvl 58 feit pool in mers act 1 and the amount of rhoas I can keep up was incredible!

Also the dps is just through the roof!



As a tip:
1) Cast when damage taken, you can actually link it to multiple skills and they all cast at the same time! I had it linked with portal and enduring cry and both got cast when I took 440 damage (lvl 1 cwdt gem), so I would probably link it in a 4 link to CWDT/decoy totem/enduring cry/molten shell. Only problem is all these are red gems, and it would be hard to get RRR on a EVA shield or 4 link armour...

2) maybe use spectral throw on phase 1 of Dom fight??

I have 4% mana leech from gear and I'm still running into some mana issues with sustaining Double Strike. I'm running Tempest Shield and Hatred with a 20 reduced mana. Any ideas? I don't want to run Clarity on mana or on BM gem.