[3.16] 🔥 Sanavi's Armageddon Brand | Elementalist 🔥 SSF/HC Starter Viable ✔️




Introduction

Key Mechanics: We are using Armageddon Brand to hurl meteors from the sky at our enemies! With the new Brand Mastery, we have up to 7 brands at our disposal! Wave of Conviction inflicts additional fire exposure and, when coupled with Hextouch, applies a nasty curse to our foes. We take advantage of Vitality (and with the new Mastery, 100% increased mana reservation efficiency) for juicy life regen, as well as Anger & Malevolence for the added damage. We use Flame Surge to finish off our toughest foes. Our staff puts in some work, providing max block chance, max spell block chance, and life/mana gain on block with the new Staff Mastery. Lastly, we make use of Enduring Cry and a Cast When Damage Taken/Immortal Call setup for those big hits, as well as Determination for stacking 30%+ phys reduction.


Updates
3.16

27-OCT-21

After several days of playing the build, I've made revisions from testing. The following sections have been updated accordingly:

- Path of Building
- Gem Setups
- Bandits/Ascendancy/Pantheon
- Gear

Created an F&Q section for the guide.

25-OCT-21

Hey everyone! I'm currently making adjustments to the build based on my testing. The build has succeeded as a league starter (currently in T11/T12 maps), which was my intent. Now it'll be fun to see if I can scale it for Endgame. I'll be providing an updated PoB in a few days. Until then, see below for some notable deviations I've made:

- For stun mitigation, I've gone with the Lab Enchant on boots for 80% avoidance if you've killed recently - I'm using this in conjunction with Soul of the Brine King. Together, I almost never get stunned now. I also have freeze immunity from Brine. This saves a lot of points from having to not path to Unwavering Stance.

- I also went w/ Bastion over Shaper of Storms for the final ascendancy. The survivability is too good.

- I've currently dropped Malevolence in favor of Determination. You get 40% phys reduction when it's maxed, and the tackiness is insane. I'm debating whether I will run Malevolence or Purity of Elements once I get an Aul's to negate Anger's reservation. I'll prob test damage to decide.

- I've dropped Immolate for Ignite Prolif in Armageddon Brand's setup. The clear is really good.

24-OCT-21

- Added alternate PoB link for a Stun Immune build.

23-OCT-21

PoB was updated with the new gem changes and the original build took some hits. PoB link has been revised to offset the changes, which include:

- Removed Liege of the Primordial and Golem support for Shaper of Storms
- Incorporated Flame Surge for tougher rares and bosses
- Changed gem setups

New DPS numbers (Armageddon Brand and Flame Surge together) are roughly:

- Full DPS for Lvl 90 Tree w/ Starter gear is 1.3M w/out Ash, 1.5M with Ash.
- Full DPS for Lvl 100 Endgame Tree w/ Expensive Gear (minus Watcher's Eye) is 6.1M w/out Ash, 7M w/ Ash. With Watcher's Eye is 7.2M w/out Ash, 8.2M w/ Ash.

21-OCT-21
GGG has released the new gem info for Armageddon Brand but PoB is not updated yet. These were the following changes:

Added
- Activates every 1 second while Attached
- Deals 29% more Damage with Hits against Branded Enemy

Removed
- Activates every 0.75 seconds while Attached
- 25% chance to Ignite enemies
- 250% more Damage with Ignite

Modified
- New: Critical Strike Chance 5.00%
- Old: Critical Strike Chance 6.00%
- New: Effectiveness of Added Damage 135%
- Old: Effectiveness of Added Damage 85%
- New: Deals 613 to 920 Fire Damage
- Old: Deals 398 to 597 Fire Damage

Overall, flat damage and effectiveness of added damage have increased roughly 60%, but until PoB is updated we won't have concrete numbers. I will be providing an updated PoB most likely tomorrow (22-OCT-21) before the league launch.

Contents
Spoiler

1. Pros + Cons
2. Videos
3. Path of Building
4. Gem Setups
5. Bandits/Ascendancy/Pantheon
6. Leveling
7. Gear
8. F&Q

Pros + Cons
Spoiler

Pros

- Very Mobile For A Caster
- Very Cheap For A League Starter
- Is SSF/HC Viable (As A Starter)
- Very Defensive


Cons

- Has A High Investment Ceiling (Expensive to Min/Max, Painful For SSF)


Videos
Spoiler

Coming Soon...

Path of Building
Spoiler

Path of Building is a community tool used for designing builds. It can be downloaded here: https://pathofbuilding.community/

3.16 PoB --> https://pastebin.com/8QdVjZKy

There are trees for a non-cluster, low-budget build that goes to Level 100. Then there is an expensive Endgame tree.

I have provided two sets of gear you can choose on the Items screen, one as a Starter set and one as a highly optimized and expensive Endgame set. Simply pair the corresponding set of gear with the type of tree you're previewing.

There are also two gem setups. Choose the Starter gems as your active skills when previewing the normal trees/Starter gear, and the Endgame gems when previewing the Endgame tree/gear.

UPDATE: I've updated the PoB after a few days playing the league. Some revisions have been made to gem setups, passive pathing, and ascendancy choices.

Gem Setups
Starter Setup

5/6L - Main Skill (Socket in Weapon)
Armageddon Brand 20/0
- Cruelty 20/0
- Combustion 20/0
- Immolate 20/0
- Ignite Proliferation 20/0
- Inspiration 20/0

5/6L - Secondary Skill (Socket in Chest)
Flame Surge 20/0
- Concentrated Effect 20/0
- Controlled Destruction 20/0
- Spell Echo 20/0
- Elemental Focus 20/0
- Immolate 20/0

3L/1L - Defensives (Socket in Helmet)
Cast When Damage Taken 20/0
- Immortal Call 20/0
- Increased Duration 20/0
Enduring Cry 20/0

4L - Curse/Exposure (Socket in Boots)
Wave of Conviction 20/0
- Hextouch 20/0
- Flammability 20/0
- Arcane Surge 5/0

4L - Auras (Socket in Gloves)
- Anger 20/0
- Vitality 20/0
- Determination 20/0
Portal 1/0

1L - Movement Skill (Socket in Ring)
- Flame Dash 20/0

Endgame Setup

6L - Main Skill (Socket in Weapon)
Armageddon Brand 21/20
- Cruelty 21/20
- Awakened Swift Affliction 5/20
- Awakened Burning Damage 5/20
- Awakened Deadly Ailments 5/20
- Inspiration 21/20

6L - Secondary Skill (Socket in Chest)
Flame Surge 21/20
- Awakened Spell Echo 5/20
- Awakened Controlled Destruction 5/20
- Concentrated Effect 21/20
- Awakened Elemental Focus 5/20
- Immolate 21/20

3L/1L - Defensives (Socket in Helmet)
Cast When Damage Taken 20/0
- Immortal Call 20/20
- Increased Duration 20/0
Enduring Cry 21/20

4L - Curse/Exposure (Socket in Boots)
Wave of Conviction 21/20
- Hextouch 21/20
- Flammability 21/20
- Arcane Surge 5/20

4L - Auras (Socket in Gloves)
- Anger 21/20
- Vitality 21/20
- Determination 21/20
- Malevolence 21/20

1L - Movement Skill (Socket in Ring)
- Flame Dash 20/0

Bandits/Ascendancy/Pantheon
Spoiler

For Bandits: Kill all.

For Ascendancy: Shaper of Flames -> Mastermind of Discord -> Heart of Destruction -> Bastion of Elements

For Pantheon: Soul of the Brine King for Freeze Immunity and the additional stun QoL (works nicely with the '80% chance to avoid being stunned if you've killed recently' on our boots. Soul of Shakari for poison QoL.

Leveling
Spoiler

Leveling Setups For Main Skill:

Beginning: Any elemental skill (I prefer Freezing Pulse)
Level 12: Switch to Storm Brand
Level 28: Switch to Armageddon Brand and Have Fun

Gear
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Current Gear:



Current Flasks:



F&Q
Spoiler

Coming Soon...
Last edited by SanaviEronaile#4603 on Nov 2, 2021, 9:33:30 PM
Last bumped on Jan 9, 2022, 12:10:03 AM
Reserved
looks nice. thanks for sharing
How many buttons are being pressed in this build?
My hand has recently started to hurt more and more as I age. Is it a decent one-two button build + movement?
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Jakkt wrote:
How many buttons are being pressed in this build?
My hand has recently started to hurt more and more as I age. Is it a decent one-two button build + movement?


It would be mostly 1-2 buttons, applying your armageddon brands to mobs as you map clear. On bosses, you'd use your wave of conviction to apply curses and exposure (you might do this on beefy rares occasionally too).

Only other ability would be Enduring Cry, but that's your CD for defensive heals if things get sketchy.
Looks spicy been looking for a brand build for next league. This is a contender for sure!
Ignite only lasts .25 seconds while the brand only activates every .44 seconds. Meaning enemy is only ignited for ~57% of the time. I'm not sure how brands activate when there is more than 1 attached via Runebinder. If they activate at the same time this is an issue. But if they activate 1 at a time then you don't have to worry about this at all.
How are you going to keep the EO keystone active? Isn't the chance of criticizing the brand of armageddon low?
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M1nhocaA wrote:
How are you going to keep the EO keystone active? Isn't the chance of criticizing the brand of armageddon low?


Assuming only 1 enemy:
EO lasts 8 seconds. 2 brands hitting every .44 seconds. ie .22 seconds/hit. So 36 hits every every 8 seconds. so 1 - .94^36 = .892 or ~89% chance to crit in 8 seconds. This is the worst case scenario. With more enemies you have a virtual 100% chance to crit in 8 seconds.
Last edited by KaseyM21#1589 on Oct 20, 2021, 11:54:06 AM
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KaseyM21 wrote:
Ignite only lasts .25 seconds while the brand only activates every .44 seconds. Meaning enemy is only ignited for ~57% of the time. I'm not sure how brands activate when there is more than 1 attached via Runebinder. If they activate at the same time this is an issue. But if they activate 1 at a time then you don't have to worry about this at all.


Good observation, I've removed Runebinder because ignites don't stack, so having multiple brands on an enemy isn't going to scale that way. Using 'Holy Conquest' via the Brand Mastery, I'm curious if the brands hopping every .3 sec will improve that window on clear.

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