[3.15]Archmage Ball Lightning Hierophant, will it work in Expedition?

Pretty solid build, 82 atm.Need to grind some currency for pledge of hands.

Yo need some info on the non-crit hierophant build can we get a update or something? the fever mind got nerfed also...

An update explaining changes to skills we are going to use(Sigil of power,sniper's mark, pinpoint) would be nice. :D

I tried to switch to this from Cracking Lance but I totally bricked my char lol.
Now I don't have any dmg and I always run out of mana.

How much cast speed is recommended for "feeling good" ? Sitting atm at 4.14 and it feels a bit clunky. Or is it just a matter of getting used to it.

I'm having problems with mana sustain. Is any of the uniques mandatory? I just got to maps and can't afford any of them.

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2letterz wrote:

How much cast speed is recommended for "feeling good" ? Sitting atm at 4.14 and it feels a bit clunky. Or is it just a matter of getting used to it.

If you add Unlease (in place of Ele Focus - because easy to shock trash mobs like lvl 20-30 shock) to your BL setup on your PoH, you can hold down your movement key and simply tap your BL cast key and it will fire the 1st BL and the Unlease BL's, and skip the 3 echo's. This means seamless movement with zero animation lock due to spell echo and greater spell echo.

This is what I use for clearing maps. For bosses, you swap back in Ele Focus for Unleash (since it's much harder to shock bosses). At bosses, you typically just hold down BL and flame dash around to avoid being stationary, so animation lock isn't really a factor.

So map clearing: BL + archmage + controlled destruction + lightning pen + GMP + unleash.

Then bossing: BL + archmage + controlled destruction + spell echo + ele focus + slower proj.


Kind of a hassle unless you have 2x Pledge of Hands. OR, you can consider getting a Sire of Shards for your map clearing, instead of a 2nd PoH.

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zoiotromn wrote:

I'm having problems with mana sustain. Is any of the uniques mandatory? I just got to maps and can't afford any of them.

You need an Enduring mana flask (which doesn't stop trying to replenish mana even when you hit full mana), and just continuously crank on that thing when it's run it's duration.

Also make sure you have Dynamo passive to go along with your Arcane Cloak. And after you get Dynamo, go get Battle Rouse. And until you get closer to endgame, you want Mind Drinker anoint on your amulet.

All this + stacking your gear with MR where possible should hold you over.



The alternative to all this is what I posted earlier, which is the Scion Inquisitor/Pathfinder version of this build that makes mana regen a complete non-factor and has permanent FULL mana sustain 100% of time with just a Foreboding mana flask + Pathfinder/flask charge passive nodes (ie. Primal Spirit, Druidic Rite, Arcane Chemisty, and Essence Extraction).

Combined with Agnostic, you're also pretty much invulnerable (except to large one-shots) because you're basically always regenning ~1500 life per second, too (20% of your mana pool turned into +life each second).

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SkylerOG wrote:

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2letterz wrote:

How much cast speed is recommended for "feeling good" ? Sitting atm at 4.14 and it feels a bit clunky. Or is it just a matter of getting used to it.

If you add Unlease (in place of Ele Focus - because easy to shock trash mobs like lvl 20-30 shock) to your BL setup on your PoH, you can hold down your movement key and simply tap your BL cast key and it will fire the 1st BL and the Unlease BL's, and skip the 3 echo's. This means seamless movement with zero animation lock due to spell echo and greater spell echo.

This is what I use for clearing maps. For bosses, you swap back in Ele Focus for Unleash (since it's much harder to shock bosses). At bosses, you typically just hold down BL and flame dash around to avoid being stationary, so animation lock isn't really a factor.

So map clearing: BL + archmage + controlled destruction + lightning pen + GMP + unleash.

Then bossing: BL + archmage + controlled destruction + spell echo + ele focus + slower proj.


Kind of a hassle unless you have 2x Pledge of Hands. OR, you can consider getting a Sire of Shards for your map clearing, instead of a 2nd PoH.

just saved my day. Makes it way more fluid.
I was experementing around with other skills ( thought maybe of selfcast glacial cascade), thats maybe why my links were fucked.
Alright, next step 6link the pledge and get a second one :D

When would u consider transitioning into inquisitor ?

Also saw that ascendant build. But sadly i went as leaguestart for hexblast-archmage hiero :( ;D cheers again

I am level 53 and struggling a bit with being very, very squishy. There are not a lot of tanky nodes on the passive tree I haven't taken just yet (Dynamo and Illuminated Devotion are the big ones). I have 1100 HP, 1900 mana, and 300 ES. I get one-shot constantly.

What is your best advice for getting this build to a point where I can avoid getting deleted by melee hits? Do I need to seek out armor/evasion as well as resists? Sorry if this is a very generic post.

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LazinessEvolved wrote:

I am level 53 and struggling a bit with being very, very squishy. There are not a lot of tanky nodes on the passive tree I haven't taken just yet (Dynamo and Illuminated Devotion are the big ones). I have 1100 HP, 1900 mana, and 300 ES. I get one-shot constantly.

What is your best advice for getting this build to a point where I can avoid getting deleted by melee hits? Do I need to seek out armor/evasion as well as resists? Sorry if this is a very generic post.

Layer's of defense for this build include:

Mind over Matter OR Cloak of Defiance (40% MoM vs 30% from passive node.... which means you ultimately want CoD as soon as you can afford it) + Heiro ascendancy Divine Guidance (is 10% more MoM).

Arcane Cloak + Dynamo + Enduring mana flask. Download a multi-signal metronome from somewhere and use it to help you cast/press skills and flasks on their duration/cooldown timers every time they are up. Eventually it'll be second nature.

Sigil of Power + Increased Duration + Second Wind is a very nice setup for both +damage and some damage mitigation if the mobs are inside the SiP radius. I also add Phase Run to this 4L because it not only gives you a ton of movement speed, but the phasing allows you to run through packs of mobs that might have you cornered (this is really nice in Heists, by the way, where packs of mobs are always waiting for you and boxing you in... although flame dash can get you by those just as easy, too).

Level 1 CWDT + level 7 Wave of Conviction + Hextouch + Enfeeble is also really good for both +damage (the -25% lightning resist exposure from WoC) and damage mitigation from Enfeeble curse/hex. Eventually you'll want Whispers of Doom and/or level 5 Awakened Hextouch so you can get Conductivity curse on a ring (a second curse). In the meantime, some Windscream boots or Windshriek boots can get you a second curse if/when you're ready. But for early on, I recommend Enfeeble or Temporal Chains as a great defensive layer.

Holy Flame Totem isn't necessarily a defensive layer, but it does give you consecrated ground on demand that strips curses off you and gives you 6% life regen while on it. Same reason Word of Light (or any "of light" lab level) is a nice enchant on gloves.

On top of this, Holy Flame Totem + Conviction of Power ascendancy is a perfect way to generate power charges and endurance charges. Which, of course, endurance charges are additional phys and elemental damage mitigation and another good defensive layer, on top of power charges being huge +damage boost.

80% chance to avoid being stunned enchant on boots is really nice.

And finally a basalt or quartz flask in your flask mix early on until you get better gear is always helpful.