[3.3] Ball Lightning Elementalist

Hi everyone, welcome to my guide. :^) This build actually started out as a Storm Call build, but the damage was booty against single target, so I was looking for another lightning skill that wasn't Arc and landed on Ball Lightning! It's a pretty fun, easy, and powerful build!

Pros
Good at both single target and map clearing
Pretty cheap to get started
Can do up to T15 (maybe higher) with full rares and 5L
Scales pretty well as you get better gear
Endurance Charge generation for longer IC

Cons
Can be expensive to fully gear
Difficult to fight bosses that move around a lot
Can't run reflect or no leech/hexproof maps

My Gear

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Generally what you're going to want on a rare item is Spell Damage, Critical Multiplier, Critical Chance, and flat Lightning Damage. If you can get at least 3 of those you should be okay with whatever weapons you have! Once you have enough money, see if you can get two Void Batteries for extra power charges and damage stacking.


Tabula Rasa is a really good set of leveling body armor that you can actually stick to using even into Red Tier maps, depending on the map mods and your other equipment. A good 5L rare chest with life and resists or a 5L Inpulsa's/Loreweave would be the next upgrade from here before you get your 6L.


Ideally, you would want to have a ring that gives Warlord's Mark on Hit, but if you don't have one, grab yourself an Essence Worm to put Wrath into. Your second ring should be for life, resists, and maybe a bit of damage if you can fit it in.


Another slot for you to stack more resists and life, or if you're fine on both of those fronts, more damage. If you have enough money, pick up a Choir of the Storm, as it synergizes very well with this build.


Here you're going to want either a Stygian Vise with good life and resist roles or if you don't have one, a rare belt with good rolls on it.


Inya's Epiphany is a great damage boost and Kaom's is a great defense boost if you don't have any problems with your resistances. Otherwise, grab yourselves some rare boots with nice life, resistances, and movement speed. For enchants, you're going to want "16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently" for better mob clearing and for bosses you want "Adds 1 to 160 Lightning Damage if you haven't Killed Recently" or "Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently"


A rare with good resists and life is what you're looking for. For enchants you're going to want to get "40% increased Ball Lightning Damage" or "40% reduced Ball Lightning Projectile Speed".


Grab something that has good resists and life. Enhants for this slot don't matter too much, so just grab whatever you want.

You want to get %Max Life, Crit Multiplier, and either Crit Chance or Damage on normal Jewels and +Max Life, +Lightning Damage to Spells, and +Cold Damage to Spells

6-Link:
Ball Lightning - Spell Echo - Lightning Penetration - Hypothermia - Slower Projectiles/Greater Multiple Projectiles - Power Charge on Critical/Controlled Destruction
If you don't have an Inpulsa's just swap out Slower Projectiles for GMP and you should be fine with clearing! If you don't mind losing about 5% crit, swap out PCoC for Controlled Destruction.

4-Link:
Cast when Damage Taken (10) - Immortal Call (12) - Increased Duration - Summon Lightning Golem (12)
Standard CWDT set up. Feel free to delevel this if you want, I just like it at this level so that my golem is a little tankier.

Lightning Warp - Faster Casting - Swift Affliction - Less Duration
Standard movement skill set up. Alternatively, you can use a Flame Dash + Faster Casting set up.

Herald of Thunder - Curse on Hit - Warlord's Mark - Herald of Ice (Optional)
OR
Herald of Thunder - Wrath - Enlighten - Herald of Ice (Optional)
If you don't have a Warlord's Mark on hit ring go with the first set up, otherwise get the second one. Herald of Ice here is just to proc chill when Conflux isn't up. You can get rid of it if you have a jewel that adds cold damage to spells.

3-Link:
Orb of Storms - Arcane Surge (7) - Power Charge on Critical
Use this to proc Arcane Surge and Power Charges if you decide to use Controlled Destruction on Ball Lightning

Vall Haste - Vaal Grace - Increased Duration
Typical Vaal Haste/Grace set up

Spell Totem - Warlord's Mark - Increased Duration
Use this for bosses if you don't have a Warlord's Mark on Hit ring

1-Link:
Wrath
Put this in an Essence Worm if you don't have a Warlord's Mark on Hit ring

Try to grab yourself an instant or partially instant antibleed flask for emergency potting.


These flasks are all good for some extra damage. Try to get a good modifier on them like anti freeze or curse resist. Unique flasks you can try are Vessel of Vinktar with either Spell Damage or Penetration, Wise Oak, or Atziri's Promise.


Defense flasks are really up to you with what you want, but I'd recommend grabbing a Quartz flask for all around usage to help stack with Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics. Alternatively, you can grab a Stibnite flask for the blind or Basalt for the Physical Damage reduction. Quicksilver flasks are mostly just for quality of life, since we're a bit of a slow build.

Level 30
Level 50
Level 70
Level 85 (All Passives)
Level 98 (All Jewel Slots)

For your last two points, you can spend them on whatever you need.

Ascendency: For this build we're going to go with Elementalist for Beacon of Ruin and Mastermind of Discord. Beacon allows for quick spread of your Shock and a minimum shock multiplier and Mastermind of Discord gives you free 25% lightning penetration. I would suggest going with Mastermind of Discord first and Beacon of Ruin after, but either one would work fine.

Bandits: We're going to be helping Alira for the extra Crit Multi and Resists

Pantheon: For Majors you can go either Brine King if you find yourself getting stunned a lot or Lunaris to synergize with Phase Acrobatics. For Minors just go with whatever your preference is.