[2.4] Theorycraftin' a CI Storm Call Elementalist

Well, I've done life builds for 3.5yr so with the new CI ring coming out, I figured it's finally time to do a CI. I really liked stormcall on my AhfackNoPants inquisitor in Perandus, but he was life based scrub with a Kaoms. He was just too squishy for HLD in standard, so that led me to want to create a Tanky CI Elementalist storm caller.

A couple days ago I started collecting gear and working on a tree. I think all the gear could be used for any build I'd be interested in doing like this with the strategy of being able to swap rings and ammys for multiple reasons whiel maintaining overcapped res. So I'm not going to fully pull the trigger until 2.4 is actually out and I can utilize the Valyrium ring, but I'm thinking this could work well.

Big thanks to Casta, Rup, FireTarpin, DreamScythe, Zander, and even our resident litle mouthy girl Rlowe for all the help. Big thanks to Casta again for lending me a G-frickin-G Chest and Boots until my chest comes in from PSC, and I pull the trigger on my own boots after patch.

Keep in mind this is a work in progress. Only links I have displayed as of right now are my gloves/boots. Feel free to leave notes/comments though. Again, I'm a CI noob, but I feel like I'm okay at streamlining a tree. Might just change some focuses later on. That's the fun part, figuring out what's best! :)



The end goal would be to get a spell damage shield w/ mana regen, and take a hit on ES. Also mana regen on a GG sceptre, then I would be able to eliminate Clarity I think (not 100% if I'll run clarity), but I don't want to make any big purchases besides the chest yet. Might trade up the shield later or even dual wield sceptres all Jorge-style



ES estimation at level 92 with current gear/tree according to the ES Calculator located at: http://poe.hndrk.eu/calc/es/

With +1 Gems chest
ES: 15,845
Res w/ Valyrium: 189 Fire, 166 Cold, 158 Light
Res w/ Call of Brotherhood+Eye of Chayula: 164 Fire, 178 Cold, 170 Light

with casta's chest
ES: 17,695
lol

I know it's hard to gear for CI, and even harder going crit with it, but you will miss out on a lot of damage without it. How are you planning to keep up elementalist penetration?

E: your tree has not enough inc damage imo, your weapon is also low, and non on shield.

Thanks for your comment, I always value your input, man.

I'm at 553% Inc dmg as-is right now not counting the 2 golems (633% w/ golems), 663% with Final shield/sceptre (743% w/ golems).

X-Y is what I'm focusing on, so T1 Flat lightning will be my priority on the sceptre which it has, followed by cast speed/spell dmg/light dmg or mana regen. I got lucky in about 400alt rolling my own so it's good enough for the moment.

Breakdown:

290% tree
123% 3 rare jewels
140% current gear
(250ish w/ final shield/sceptre)
---------

553% Inc dmg
(663% final shield/sceptre)
Not fully counting on, but golems when they're active:
40% light from light golem
40% Cold from ice golem (or global 40% from flame golem)

+1 gems 6L w/ L26 Storm Call & L22 supports

L21 Wrath for 21% More

Activate Cold pen: flame dash (or flame golem)
Activate Light pen: cwdt lvl 1 ice spear (or cwdt lvl 1 ice golem)

Ele overload: When I used cwdt lvl 1 ice spear/gmp on my vortex guy (before using frostbolt), I never had a problem activating Ele overload, so I'm going to attempt the same here.

Let me knew what you think!

Pro Elementalist Tips : just swinging Elemental hit activate the 3 penetration at once (because it count as the 3 elements). it's basically a 10sec 25% pene buff in one gem.

Hahahaha omg that's hilarious. Thanks man, never considered that. I'll throw that in just in case

We figurate at that with a guildie when we theorycrafted a Prism build not involving inquisitor (because reflect sucks for PvE).

The build doesn't seem to be made out of enough glass to use a skill that doesn't completely bypass the t damage reduction ;)

If you want even more es: you can drop the 2 minor templar nodes + quick recovery and grab cruel preparation + heart and soul. You lose the 0,8% regen mod, but the bigger number will still be good for your epeen.

For more return on your passive point investment: drop some minor nodes (the crappy part of the scion es wheel for example) and go for storm weaver + the max mana jewel slot. Es% on jewels is pretty good and more efficient than those minor nodes imo.

Your passive es regen is pretty negligible btw. In my experience it's better to build for faster start of energy shield recharge, instead of a tiny bit of regen.

I think going dual wield with another penetration scepter and a block pen mod craft would be better.

You wouldn't HAVE to use a BCR gem and you'd get that much more penetration (and flat + % spell damage) since you're not going inquisitor.


Also I worry a bit about how often you'll have elemental overload up. With good placement on a caster, you won't get hit much except by offscreeners. I guess you'll have to playtest it.

Yeah man that's another reason why I haven't gone and spent a ton of ex on a spell damage shield, I might dualie it as mentioned in the post. Everything I have besides the chest were sweet brodeals. The initial plan is to use bcr most of the time since the pathfinder train has capped block just by using a flask (balanced) and throw in added cold when I don't need to use it.

And yeah I'll just have to play with the Ele overload uptime. I'll use the 120% crit boot enchant just like with My vortex guy. My vortex EO was up almost all the time using only lvl 1 cwdt ice spear in order to trigger it. Might even replace faster proj with Inc critical strikes in the 4L is I need to.


Edit: just saw runaway's post

Yeah man, we'll have to see I guess. Lol I had more regen until several people told me to drop it for more es since we're in 1shot meta. Plus, I guess I could always throw on vortex and change a few nodes on this character if storm call absolutely blows lol. My inquisitor damage was really good, but I hated the squish factor he had.

2nd edit: I can pull off 750%Inc dmg with final shield/sceptre. Is that not enough? What number should I go for?

I feel that even a maxed out dualwield inquisitor storm caller lacks damage. Your char is a fun idea but I think eventually it will be just outlasted by every char that has even mediocre amount of defense. Im not sure there is a way to get enough damage with non-crit storm call to make it even remotely viable against any of the better builds. A bit sad but mostly true.

I guess another huge problem is the fact that you cant get dodge and high block.. Even with 17k ES you are rather squishy if the massive pool is your only defense. Especially if you are not shock/burn/chill/freeze immune all the time (which is sadly almost impossible for an elementalist). Status ailments are a major disadvantage for all ES builds (something you might not have noticed by playing 10k life builds :P)

But yeah, if you want to shoot some storm calls in sarn and be a semitanky char go for it ;o (not trying to disencourage, just stating out ~facts that I have come across before)