[3.5] League Starter - Hierophant | Crit Storm Brand / Lightning Spire Trap

Introduction

Welcome Exiles !!!

First, I would like to introduce myself. I am NEW to the game, complete beginner. I have less than 300 hours in PoE and probably half of the those hours spent for reading beginner's guide, learning PoE mechanics and watching PoE videos through YouTube / Twitch. In my opinion, PoE has the most complexity of ARPG I have ever played.

Below is my own build and I did not follow any build, purely built myself from the help of Path of Building. I post this guide to help others and as well as getting suggestion from others as what I have told you, I am new to the game.

I am also a casual streamer (https://www.twitch.tv/nicsnz), feel free to come and please help me to get better in the game.

Thank you and Tala Moana Warrior !!!

Why Hierophant?

Spoiler
I chose Hierophant over other more popular Ascendancy classes like Elementalist or Inquisitor because its survivability and as well as to give you decent damage.

Arcane Blessing + Illuminated Devotion
These two give Hirophant a perma Arcane Surge with life leech and as well as immune to ALL elemental ailments (save a lot ailments immunity from Flasks). Not only that, it gives 40% more Spell Damage.

Divine Guidance
More MoM that gives you total of 40% of damage is taken from mana before life. And with all of minor skills from Hierophant, it gives you 80% mana regen.

With all these immune to elemental ailments as well as free 10% MoM, Hierophant offers more tankiness than other Ascendancies. Plus, progressing through the game until mapping, I don't feel like I am lacking of Dps, everything seems really quick to kill.


Pro's & Con's

Spoiler
+ Budget & league starter
+ Insane clear speed
+ Offers more survivability
+ Using hybrid flask (save 1 more space for other flask's options)
+ Decent life leech (900 hp / on hit rate), high mana regen for MoM

- Not as high dps than his rivals (Inquisitor/Elementalist)


Path of Building (Passive Trees, Gears, Gems)

Spoiler
To jump right away to this build as well as to see the passives trees, current gears and gems https://pastebin.com/xxk9BsDM


Leveling
Spoiler
Leveling is pretty simple. Please follow the passives allocation every time you gain a level or complete a passive quest. The purpose of the allocation is to provide hp/mana/regen while you have decent dps for leveling.

Gears
Spoiler
Find gears that have (from most priority to least):
1. Life
2. Resistances
3. Mana
4. Crit Chance for Spells
5. Global Crit Multi
6. Cast Speed


Leveling Stage 1
Spoiler
At this stage, try to find gears that has 3L or even 4L, ring that has resistance or buy one from vendor and also gears that provide armour over shield/evasion.

1] Get Freezing Pulse, link it with Arcane Surge + Onslaught
2] Get Decoy Totem and Frost Bomb
3] Link Freezing Pulse with Added Lightning Damage if you have 4L, if not, replace Arcane Surge with it
4] Get Flame Dash for your movement skills, get Clarity if you are lacking of mana regen (in my case, I was 100% fine)
5] Get Storm Brand, link it with Arcane Surge, Onslaught, Added Lightning Damage if you have 4L. At this stage, I threw away Freezing Pulse & Frost Bomb (with Runebinder node, Storm Brand will kill everything for mapping even tough boss).


Leveling Stage 2
Spoiler
Nothing special at this stage, keep finding 4L helmet, armour, gloves & boots. Better 4L rather than high level gears.

1] Get Brand Recall
2] Get Herald of Thunder for extra dps
3] Link your Storm Brand with Faster Casting, Concentrated Effect, Controlled Destruction for 4L (this will be your main 4L, but keep in mind to put Added Lightning Damage somewhere to level up for later use)


Leveling Stage 3 (end)
Spoiler
At this end stage, you should be able to progress through Acts. Keep linking your Storm Brand and other Utilities Gems according to what I have mentioned as soon as you have the access to do so.

1] Get Conductivity and later on link it with Increased Duration
2] Get Minion & Totem Elemental Resistance and link it with your Decoy Totem




Ascendancy

Spoiler
Normal Lab: Sign of Purpose
Cruel Lab: Illuminated Devotion
Merciless Lab: Arcane Blessing
Eternal Lab: Divine Guidance


Bandit & Pantheon

Spoiler
Bandit: Help Alira or Kill all
Pantheon: Soul of Lunaris & Soul of Gruthkul


Gems

Spoiler
> Storm Brand - Increase Critical Strikes - Faster Casting - Controlled Destruction - Concentrated Effect - Added Lightning Damage

> Lightning Spire Trap - Faster Casting - Added Lightning Damage - Increase Area of Effect (with Trap & Mine Damage from gloves)

> Decoy Totem - Summon Ice Golem - Multiple Totem - Minion & Totem Elemental Resistance

> Flame Dash - Faster Casting - Brand Recall

> Conductivity - Increased Duration

> Immortal Call - Increased Duration - CwDT

> Wrath
Last edited by Stallfar_X on Jan 9, 2019, 1:48:36 AM
Last bumped on Jan 12, 2019, 4:21:17 PM
Reserved

Edit 1 (09/01/19): Added section "Leveling", replacing a new pastebin with leveling allocation passives points, tidy up the guide
Last edited by Stallfar_X on Jan 9, 2019, 1:35:55 AM
Hello fellow Adventurer,
I am also new to the Game with under 100 hours played.
I really like your build approach and i am going to test it out on weekend.

But in terms of gearing up through the Game, it helps me alot to know at wich stats I should be looking for. Like
" our important stats are elemental dmg and crit" or something like that. Could you add that to your guide too? That would be awsome.

PS: And you could also write how you lvled up. Wich Gem to use first etc. that would be awsome too
Last edited by Aracan87 on Jan 8, 2019, 3:10:17 PM
with a +2 to aoe gems tabula and instead of a decoy totem set up I decided to replace that with a curse on hit herald of thunder + your choice of curse if I want more damage I'll go assassin and could run a blood rage too or defensive could just run an enfeeble for even more tankyness and not include the any other damage options. I think the decoy totem is a nice touch but using 2 addition sockets could provide to better options also a brand recall+ empower+ selfcast conduct with no duration if you choose. Anyways good build :)
"
Hello fellow Adventurer,
I am also new to the Game with under 100 hours played.
I really like your build approach and i am going to test it out on weekend.

But in terms of gearing up through the Game, it helps me alot to know at wich stats I should be looking for. Like
" our important stats are elemental dmg and crit" or something like that. Could you add that to your guide too? That would be awsome.

PS: And you could also write how you lvled up. Wich Gem to use first etc. that would be awsome too


Hi Aracan87, I have added a simple "Leveling" section in the guide as well as edited the pastebin for what passives allocation you should take for leveling. Please re-download the pastebin to reflect that.

"
with a +2 to aoe gems tabula and instead of a decoy totem set up I decided to replace that with a curse on hit herald of thunder + your choice of curse if I want more damage I'll go assassin and could run a blood rage too or defensive could just run an enfeeble for even more tankyness and not include the any other damage options. I think the decoy totem is a nice touch but using 2 addition sockets could provide to better options also a brand recall+ empower+ selfcast conduct with no duration if you choose. Anyways good build :)


I will definitely go for +2 AoE gems on Tabula. But at the moment, I just save up to buy Choir of The Storm amulet :) I feel like Empower is not necessary even I have one at Level 1 and tested it out. It is more safer to cast even just 1 brand to a distance away from you rather than to dash into a pack and get killed for no reason :) I did not choose Herald of Thunder simply because in order to proc HoT, you need to shock and kill the shocked enemy. If there is only 1 enemy (boss), HoT wont even proc. So Curse on Hit + curse of your choice will be a waste. Using HoT also reserve mana, while with this setup I have 2,7K mana 100% up for 40% MoM.
Thank you for your quick response. Keep up the good work.
Hi again.
I have another question for you. I never played Strom Brand before, and I was wondering if its normal that I have to recast Storm Brand every 10 seconds.
I use the Brand recall skill, but the Brands deplete so quick ...
Is there any way to increase its duration in a way that i cast them once to start at a map , and just use recall and not have to cast it again.

I hope this makes sense :D
"
Hi again.
I have another question for you. I never played Strom Brand before, and I was wondering if its normal that I have to recast Storm Brand every 10 seconds.
I use the Brand recall skill, but the Brands deplete so quick ...
Is there any way to increase its duration in a way that i cast them once to start at a map , and just use recall and not have to cast it again.

I hope this makes sense :D


Hi Aracan87, with Level 6 (MAX) Storm Brand and also Sign of Purpose Ascendancy Node, it will reduce Brand Recall down to 1.67 sec. I have tried to use VoidEye ring (+5 to socketed Gem) and Empower Lvl 1, Brand Recall cooldown recovery will be down to significantly that lets you to keep recasting all the brands without it being expired.

But after some trials, I think those are not necessary. Watching Youtube/Streamers, they don't usually keep the brand recall up. My reason why is because you need to dash to a pack of monsters and cast your recall. This is not safe of couse.

This is my playstyle, when you do see a pack, cast 1 brand (it works for me, because it just kill the whole pack even with just 1), or 2, keep moving (do not ever stand still, this is how you survive in any character you playing in PoE), cast another brands to other pack AND whenever the recall is up, keep spamming the brand in just 1 pack. Rinse and repeat.

I will post a video shortly to demonstrate how I play in mapping :)
Yeah a short video should be very usefull. I understand what you mean and that you want to play safe. I prefer that playstyle too :D. I will lvl more and see if i can get the hang on it.

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