Stress-Free PoE! RIGHTEOUS GOLEMS (RF): No Required Items! 1-Button Play! SSF League Start-End! 3.13

The 3.14 version of the guide is out! Here it is! Have a happy Ultimatum! You all rock :)


Alright everyone! Thanks for such a great league! You've all been so kind and helpful to each other and I really appreciate you making this thread a safe place for people to ask questions. Thanks for all your praise and kindness and I wish you the best 3.14!

I won't be responding to this post anymore. I'm moving on to 3.14. But I'll post 3.14's link at the top of this guide when it's ready to go (I'll tweet it too so you don't have to keep coming back to check.) My filters will take a TON of work this league with all of the stuff being changed/added to PoE, but hopefully, I'll still have the time to get my guides out before league launch.



Hey YOU THERE! WELCOME to my RIGHTEOUS GOLEMS guide :)!

SHUT UP Wrecker! I JUST WANT TO PLAY! (3.13's guide in one picture)
Ok! Yikes...you could have at least said "please" or something...

This is my Red Minion Gem guide. This Righteous Fire Elementalist doesn't require any items or mods to easily sustain RF and fly through the atlas! There's a heavy focus on Golem efficiency (so I could call this a "minion" build :) ). Though the golems are secondary skills, they are vital. With your chosen movement skill as your only button, the build couldn't be any easier to play. Just turn on RF and move around. Everything else in the build is automatic! You'll clear the Atlas with a yawn and smile. It's easy 1 button fun! Here's 3.13's gameplay example video and this is my setup if you're interested. (I play the same as the guide unless I'm testing something out.)

My builds don't require any specific/fancy items or mods to play so you can just pick up and play like a good old fashion "dungeon crawler" (SSF). Pure RNG fun :).

For those with similar limitations to mine, I can play this build on both PC and Console.

(Thanks Tagz for always being willing to figure out the Wiki with me.)

Why My Builds Are the Way They Are
All of my builds revolve around my medical situation and my love of old school dungeon crawling (which in PoE Land we call Solo Self Found). So if you're curious about why I design my builds the way I do (the limitations I revolve around), I explain it all in my One Stop Shop. (I have multiple guides. So some information is easier to explain in one location rather than many.)
A Quick Note Players new to Path of Exile
Welcome! PoE is a really in-depth game. Its million different mechanics work together is so many countless combinations that there really are endless ways to play this game. If you love theory crafting (coming up with different combos of skills and seeing if it'll work out), there is no other game that compares to this one.

For new people trying to learn Path of Exile, it's my opinion that the most efficient way to learn the game is by doing things for yourself; trying things out in-game, reading nodes/mods/skills, and making choices for yourself. I understand that some people look to guides for help progressing in the game, while others are simply looking for a neat idea to try out. It is the intent of all my guides to give people a relaxing way to play PoE (no matter their experience with the game) while also helping new people understand what's going on.

So, when it comes to my guides, it is my goal to help new players learn the game, but learn it in a way that you'll really grasp what's happening on your own. I give direction in my guides, but not many "step by step" directions. Nor do I tell you to do things in a certain order. I give lots of detail but it's to help explain and simplify the mechanics and concepts within the build and have you understand what's going on. My guides aren't intended to be the PoE wiki (but I provide many links to it, so don't worry).

My guides are massive because they completely revolve around helping new players understand what's going on. Just be prepared to discover the game and make some choices for yourself :).

I hope the guides help you have a relaxing PoE experience and also help you learn and love the game as well.

Happy slaying!

(I'll reference my One Stop Shop a few times in my guides. It has some Tips for New Players in there that you may find useful.)

Gem Links
PoE restricts which gems are available to each class until Act 3. Until then you can get some gems for free from quest rewards, purchase some from specific NPCs in each town, or find them as loot.

There are two NPC's that sell all purchasable gems: the first one is Siosa in the Library in Act 3 (you have to do his quest first (the Library is connected to The Imperial Gardens)), the second NPC is Lilly Roth in Act 6.

*If I have a level next to a gem, stop levelling that gem at that level. For example: "Cast when Damage Taken (Level 1)". Don’t level Cast when Damage Taken past gem level 1. Otherwise, fully level all gems.



5/6 Link - Righteous Fire (Socket in Chest)
Righteous Fire (Vaal RF if you get it)
- Burning Damage Support
- Elemental Focus Support
- Choose between:
- Inspiration Support
- Efficacy Support
- Concentrated Effect Support
/Increased Area of Effect Support
Righteous Fire and Support Details
Righteous Fire creates a AoE around you that burns enemies. But it also burns 90% of YOUR life per second. (Increasing the damage of RF does not change how much damage you take from RF. It'll always burn the same % of life from you no matter the supports you link to it.) (This skill won't be able to be used right away. You'll need high Fire resists and life regen to sustain it. Follow the tree and you'll be sustaining it in no time. I personally don't wait until I can sustain it. I try running it as soon as I can with life flasks and skills. There's a section under "For New-ish Players" that can help you SUSTAIN RF as fast as possible.)

Now, RF is a DOT (Damage Over Time) skill. In PoE, Damage Over Time does not HIT. It does do damage, but it doesn't hit. So pay attention to mods mods/mechanics that require hits and consider if it's valuable to the build. For example, "adding X Elemental Damage" only applies to hits. The Penetration mechanic only applies to hits. It's not something you have to memorize. The important part is that you remember that RF doesn't hit, ok?

Elemental Focus Support greatly increases damage at the cost of not being able to put an ailment on an enemy. This seems like it would negate RF...but RF doesn't inflict an Ailment. It skips the ailment and jumps straight to the effect, burning. Typically, if you were to throw, let's say a Fireball, at an enemy, it would have a chance to Ignite (which requires a HIT). If the enemy Ignites, they start to burn. So if you had this support with Fireball, you'd never burn an enemy. You'd only hit them with fire damage. RF simply burns enemies. It doesn't have a chance to ignite (because it's Damage Over Time...it doesn't HIT). It skips the "chance to ignite" mechanic and just burns (damage over time). So this is a damage boost with no consequence.

Now, you have options for 4th, 5th, and 6th sockets (There's no wrong choice, don't worry):

Inspiration Support's gem description sounds tricky. Here's how it work with this build: Inspiration Support gives us Inspiration Charges when we spend mana. How much mana? Any amount of mana. Once we've spent any amount of mana 5x you'll have the maximum amount of charges. These Charges last until we've spent a cap amount of mana, then we then lose them, only to gain them back right away. Now, RF doesn't spend any mana. Your movement skill does though. (If you choose Inspiration Support here, you'll also have to link Inspiration Support to your movement skill (which I'll remind you about in that section too.) Having Inspiration charges active will give the Inspiration Support perks to ALL skills that have Inspiration Support linked to it. So, using your movement skill (which, if you choose, has Inspiration Support linked to it) will increase the damage of RF...by a lot (because Inspiration Support is also linked to RF). 7% MORE elemental damage per charge.

Concentrated Effect Support decreases RF's AoE by a good amount but greatly improves RF's damage.

Efficacy Support doesn't increase any AoE. It gives less damage than Concentrated Effect and more than Increased Area of Effect.

Increased Area of Effect Support gives almost no damage benefit but greatly increases RF's AoE.

So you can combine any of the optional support gems above for whichever result you wish. And don't listen to what other people say; do what you want. Increase your fun per hour :).

4 Link - GOLEMS! YA! (Socket in your Helmet)
Summon Stone Golem
Summon Chaos Golem
Summon Flame Golem
- Infernal Legion Support
GOLEMS! YA! Explained
These golems will actually summon themselves once we've selected the Liege of the Primordial ascendancy node. This "guarantees" that our golems will always be up and running. Keep an eye on them until you allocate Liege of the Primordial.

We have four ascendancy points and four passive points on the tree invested into golems. That's not much at all. The primary reason for this investment is because it improves the buff that the golems give us. (Now, a buff is not an aura. If you are playing with people, these three golems will only buff you.) The very small investment increases each golem's buff by over 3.5X! It's insane for the investment cost.

Our Golem limit is actually 4. We only need three. (Initially, all players can only have 1 golem.) But it's not a waste of nodes. Those same nodes give us increases to golem buffs.

**Golem buffs do not stack. So no matter which golem ends up doubling up, you'll still only get the flat benefit of one.

Infernal Legion Support is 100% for fun. If you want, replace it with anything useful like Culling Strike, Blind Support, Empower Support...anything really. I just thought it would be fun to have some RF buddies along for the ride ;). Infernal Legion's RF will do almost no damage as we have no investment into minion damage.

Anyway, it's this set of links that makes this my "red minion gem build". Fun right? RIGHT!!!!???

4 Link - Buffs and Stuffs (Socket in your Gloves or Boots)
Cast when Damage Taken Support (Level 14)
Purifying Flame (Level 18)
Wave of Conviction (Level 17)
- Combustion Support
Buffs and Stuffs Explained
I love CwDT :). Now, this setup is going to conflict with Elemental Equilibrium on the Passive Tree. If we Hit with fire damage, RF will do less damage. But all the awesome "RF helping" spells are wisely made Fire spells by GGG. So, we have a different link that's going to cast Lightning ALL the time. This link here is designed to go off less often than the lightning link. The idea is that we still get the benefits of Elemental Equilibrium but also get the benefits from these fire skills.

We have CwDT at level 14 so that the damage threshold is around 2000 damage taken to cast these spells. Feel free to fully level the gems if you think they still cast too often. Ball Lightning will cast (different link) every 500 damage taken. So the idea is that this link casts often but not as often as Ball Lightning. (This is all revolving around the Elemental Equilibiurm mechanic.)

We have Purifying Flame for the Consecrated Ground it puts on the...ground.

Wave of Conviction gives us Fire Exposure (which lowers enemies' fire resistance). (This exposure is what gives the ascendancy node Mastermind of Discord it's power.)

Combustion helps the linked spells Ignite an enemy. When the linked spells ignite an enemy, this support gem increases the fire damage enemies take from our fire skills, like RF (it lowers the Fire Resists of enemies this skill hits). So because of Combustion, if Purifying Flame or Wave of Conviction ignite an enemy, the enemy's fire resists are lowered, improving RF's damage.

(For this set of CwDT links, Gem order doesn't matter.)

4 Link - Movement and Defence (Socket in your Gloves or Boots)
Cyclone (Level 9)
- Fortify Support
- Infused Channelling Support
- Life Gain on Hit Support or Inspiration Support
Movement and Defence Explained
You can pick any movement skill you like as long as it's melee. The point of the movement skill is to be able to have the Fortify buff which requires a melee HIT to activate it. We have zero investment into Accuracy so make sure what you choose suits your style. I prefer Cyclone, Charged Dash, or Shield Charge.

The provided support gems revolve around Cyclone as it hits A LOT and channels.

Infused Channelling gives us damage mitigation of the damage type of the linked channelling skill. Since I have mine linked to Cyclone, which is a physical skill, it'll give me physical damage mitigation. Sweet.

Foritfy gives us 20% less damage taken from HITS, not Damage Over Time. You have to be in the battle to get Fortify, but it's worth it.

Whether you choose Inspriration Support or Life Gain on Hit Support is up to you. Life Gain on Hit makes sense with something like Cyclone. Every time Cyclone hits, you get a flat amount of life. It really adds up. Inspiration will give RF a lot more damage. Inspiration Support is explained in the RF link but just as a reminder, you have to Inspiration Support in both the Cyclone link and the RF link for it to have any benefit.

3 Sockets - Mana Reservation (Socket in your weapon or shield)
Purity of Fire
Summon Skitterbots
Vitality
Mana Reservation
Purity of Fire Is our most important aura. This aura increases our Maximum Fire Resist. This is the most important part of using RF. The higher our Fire Resist, the better our life regen is, which makes RF easier to sustain and increases survivability. Normally our max resist would be at 75%. This aura increases that to 79%. We'll get two nodes on the tree that'll gives us a total of 81% fire resistance. Happy Days.

PoF also gives us Fire Resistance. Once the tree is filled out and PoF is fully levelled, combined we'll have a total of 25% natural fire resist (which is excluding Endurance Charges). So we'll only need to get 56 total Fire Resist on our gear instead of the normal 135%.

Summon Skitterbots is a self explanatory. The chill it does to enemies is a nice defence, while the shock it gives is a nice offence. The Shock from this skill increases the amount of damage enemies take by 15%. (Increasing the amount of damage that enemies take is different than increasing our damage. Just FYI.)

Vitality is self-explanatory as well. But I wanted to let you know that you should watch your mana. We will have enough mana to turn on all three skills...eventually. But because Vitality reserves an increasing flat amount of mana (instead of a static percentage) just make sure you have the mana for the next level of the gem as you're levelling.

3 Link - Elemental Equilibrium and a Curse (Socket in any 3-Link)
Cast when Damage Taken Support (Level 1)
Ball Lightning (Level 4)
- Any curse you want (Level 5)
Elemental Equilibrium and a Curse Explained
I love CwDT...did you know?

This whole link has 2 purposes. Most importantly it is the link that is designed to be constantly hitting enemies with lightning damage so that Elemental Equilibrium is always working in our favour (improving our Fire damage, not reducing it). But we're also using it to apply whatever curse we want. I'd suggest using Flammability. If you want to be more defensive, consider Enfeeble of Temporal Chains. I use Ball Lightning to apply all of the above because it has an awesome reach and it "pierces" everything. Use whatever non-fire spell you like if you don't like Ball Lightning.

(For this CwDT link, Gem order doesn't matter.)
Gear
This is my setup if you're interested. I play the same as the guide unless I'm testing something out.

USE ANYTHING YOU WANT! - I like having a shield and one-handed weapon instead of a staff. It's just a preference; no right or wrong there.

If you’re new to PoE, check out my One-Stop-Shop. It gives lots of help and tips on gear, mods, currency, levelling, and endgame mapping. Some good to know stuff that you'd hate not knowing.

- Weapon - Anything you like.
- Shield, a Second Weapon, or a Staff- Anything you like.
- Head - Anything you like.
- Chest - Anything you like.
- Hands - Anything you like.
- Feet - Anything you like.
- Amulet - Anything you like.
- Ring - Anything you like.
- Ring - Anything you like.
- Belt - Anything you like.
- Jewel - Anything you like.
- Flasks - Anything you like. I simply use 3 health flasks (that remove bleed) and 2 Quicksilver Flasks that remove Chill/Freeze.


***Now don't go being a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins and think that because this build doesn't require anything specific that you can go and melt end game content with crap gear. Crap gear will clear crap content while amazing gear will clear amazing content. My build/guide style just allows you more freedom to get there...m'kay?

Remember that RF also scales its damage from Energy Shield. So the more energy shield we have the more damage RF does! You may be surprised how much damage is increased by some "ok" ES rolls even though we don't boost ES on the tree. BUT REMEMBER Life is still your life pool. So ALWAYS prioritize good life rolls first. (Your ES will always be burned away.)

My Dream Mods
Here's an example of some of the mods and gear I'd eventually aim for. Since this is Path of Exile, there are obviously a million different combos of mods that would work for any build. So don't think that this is the best or only combo of mods to aim for. This is just my preference for "non-fancy" gear as an example of what I'd aim for Endgame. So these aren't influenced, Delve specific, Essence mods, or anything. Just easy crafting or normal rolls. So obviously you can maximize this even more. Also, these are unrealistic goals as all these mods are tier 1 rolls. (The # at the beginning of each mod is the item level that T1 mod starts rolling at. The # at the beginning of each item is the map level that base-type starts dropping at.) Anyway, here you go:

(68) Void Sceptre(s):
Implicit: 40% increased Elemental Damage
Prefix:
- (78) - +(34–38)% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier (Drops)
- (84) - (100–109)% increased Fire Damage
- (2) - +1 to Level of all Fire Spell Skill Gems (Drops)
Suffix:
- (82) - +(16–18)% to Damage over Time Multiplier
- (76) - (27–30)% increased Fire Damage (Drops)
- (60) - (26–30)% increased Burning Damage


(64) Ezomyte Tower Shield:
Implicit: +(30-40) to maximum Life
Prefix:
- (73) - +(100–109) to maximum Life
- (62) - +(43–95) to Armour/+(29–33) to maximum Life
- ?
Suffix:
- (83) - Regenerate (30–40) Life per second
- (81) - Regenerate (1–1.1)% of Life per second
- (81) - +(31–35)% to Chaos Resistance or (84) +(46–48)% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance


(68) Praetor Crown:
Prefix:
- (64) - +(90–99) to maximum Life
- (62) - +(16–25) to maximum Energy Shield/+(29–33) to maximum Life
- (86) - +3 to Level of Socketed Minion Gems
Suffix:
- (83) - Regenerate (30–40) Life per second
- (84) - +(46–48)% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance
- (81) - +(31–35)% to Chaos Resistance


(70) Saintly Chainmail:
Prefix:
- (86) - +(120–129) to maximum Life
- (78) - +(26–30) to maximum Energy Shield/+(34–38) to maximum Life
- (73) - +(243–300) to Armour/+(69–75) to maximum Energy Shield
Suffix:
- (86) - Regenerate (40–50) Life per second
- (84) - +(46–48)% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance
- (81) - +(31–35)% to Chaos Resistance


(66) Crusader Gloves (Only drops in the Valdo's Rest region):
Prefix:
- (54) - +(80–89) to maximum Life
- (46) - +(11–15) to maximum Energy Shield/+(24–28) to maximum Life
- (30) - +(27–45) to Armour/+(18–22) to maximum Energy Shield
Suffix:
- (83) - Regenerate (30–40) Life per second
- (84) - +(46–48)% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance
- (81) - +(31–35)% to Chaos Resistance


(70) Two-Toned Boots (Only drops is the Tirn's End and Lex Proxima regions):
Prefix:
- (54) - +(80–89) to maximum Life
- (46) - +(11–15) to maximum Energy Shield/+(24–28) to maximum Life
- (81) - (18–20)% increased Movement Speed/Cannot be Chilled - (via Jun/Crafting Bench)
Suffix:
- (83) - Regenerate (30–40) Life per second
- (84) - +(46–48)% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance
- (81) - +(31–35)% to Chaos Resistance


(74) Marble Amulet (Only drops in the Haewark Hamlet region):
Implicit: Regenerate (1.2-1.6)% of Life per second
Prefix:
- (54) - +(80–89) to maximum Life
- (81) - (14–16)% increased Area Damage/(10–12)% increased Area of Effect
- (81) - +(36–40) to maximum Life/Regenerate 4 Mana per second
Suffix:
- (85) - +(33–35) to all Attributes
- (83) - Regenerate (30–40) Life per second
- (64) - (23–26)% increased Fire Damage


(80) Vermillion Rings (Only drops in the Lex Proxima and New Vastir regions):
Implicit: (5-7)% increased maximum Life
Prefix:
- (44) - +(70–79) to maximum Life
- (81) - +(36–40) to maximum Life/Regenerate 4 Mana per second
- Something Cool :)
Suffix:
- (84) - +(46–48)% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance
- (81) - +(31–35)% to Chaos Resistance
- (83) - Regenerate (30–40) Life per second or (50) - (18–22)% increased Fire Damage


(8) Leather Belt:
Implicit: +(25-40) to maximum Life
Prefix:
- (64) - +(90–99) to maximum Life
- (81) - +(36–40) to maximum Life/Regenerate 4 Mana per second
- ?
Suffix:
- (83) - Regenerate (30–40) Life per second
- (84) - +(46–48)% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance
- (81) - +(31–35)% to Chaos Resistance


Flasks:
(60) Divine Life Flask or (65) Eternal Life Flask:
Prefix:
- (2) - +(10–20) to Maximum Charges
Suffix:
- (8) - Immunity to Bleeding during Flask effect/Removes Bleeding on use
(4) Quicksilver Flask:
Implicit: 40% increased Movement Speed
Prefix:
- (2) - +(10–20) to Maximum Charges
Suffix:
- (4) - Immunity to Freeze and Chill during Flask effect/Removes Freeze and Chill on use

Weapon Mods:
RF benefits from:
**Damage Over Time Multiplier (the most powerful mod for DOTs. Don't be without it!)**
- Increased Elemental Damage
- Increased Fire Damage
- Increases to Damage
- Increases to Area Damage
- Burning Damage
- Damage Over Time
- "More" of any of the above. In PoE, the term "More" is much stronger than "Increased". So choose "More" over "Increased" when you can.


RF does NOT benefit from:
- Increased Spell Damage (this does improve your other spells though)
- Adding Fire Damage to Spells (only applies to spells that Hit)
- Fire (or Elemental) Penetration (only applies to Hits)
- (Just FYI, A mod that "Adds Fire Damage" without specifying Spells only applies to Attacks.)


Your goal on the rest of your gear is:
- Maximum life
- Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resists (Chaos too if you're lucky)
- Increasing Maximum Fire Resist
- Movement Speed (Typically on Boots)
- Life Regen (Either a flat # or %)
- Ensuring you have high enough attributes for your skills.
- (Any Energy Shield you get on your gear won't help defensively (it'll burn away) but it's bonus damage for RF. It's not important, just a perk if it's there.)
- Any mod I suggested for your weapon(s) would be welcome on gear too.


***Because we select Elemental Equilibrium on the tree, be sure to never "add" fire damage to your Attacks or Spells. Otherwise, EE will always work against us.

Filters:
- I make my own filters AND YOU ARE REQUIRED TO LOVE THEM! Just kidding...but they are awesome. They will make looting a MUCH more relaxing experience. They only filter gear. So if you don't want to miss out on ANY currency these are perfect for you. One filter is guide specific (it only displays gear relevant to all my guides) and the other is a global filter for any build. There are four tiers of strictness per filter. Details for each tier of each filter are within the filters themselves. Both the "Guide Specific" and the "Everyone" filters are available on all platforms. If you click "Follow" next to the filter that you want, it'll automatically load to your filter list in-game when you login! And it automatically updates upon each login as well!
Passive Tree
Here's 3.13's Passive Tree:


- 3.13's Pastebin - https://pastebin.com/8t8Eir1F - This Pastebin will only work in the Community Fork version of PoB. (Copy the link, open Path of Building, click on “New”, then click “Import/Export Build”, click “Import from Pastebin…”, paste the link.)
- 3.13's Passive Tree on PoE's website.
Ascendancy
As you go through the game you'll come across Trials of Ascendancy. Starting in Act 3 you'll see their value. Once you have completed all 6 of the first set of trails, you'll get to attempt your first Labyrinth (lab). Good luck! Upon completion Choose Elementalist. You get two ascendancy points per lab. There are four labs for a total of 8 points. (Redoing the same lab will not reward you with more ascendancy points if you've already completed it.)

You can spend your points in any order you like. This is my personal order:
- 1st Two Points - Liege of the Primordial. This node is fun. It increases our golem limit by 1 and increases their buffs as well. Some extra perks to this node are that our RF damage increases 20% per summoned golem and it auto-summons our golems so we don't have to pay attention to their survivability at all. They'll "always" be up and running.
- 2nd Two Points - Elemancer. Again, this gives the same goodness as before, it increases our golem limit by 1 and increases their buffs as well. This also gives us a big chance to avoid elemental ailments per golem! The damage bonus for golems doesn't matter cause we only care about their buff that they give us. (This node also makes Golems Immune to Elemental Damage which is where the pointless fun comes in for Infernal Legion Support.)
- 3rd Two Points - Bastion of Elements. The primary point of selecting this node for the defence of Primal Aegis. Primal Aegis gives us a big "bank" of "damage absorption" when active. We have 25 notables on the passive tree selected (once you get there). This gives us an "absorption pool" of 2500 damage that functions sorta kinda like Energy Shield. Defence wins championships. This skill also makes us immune to Elemental Reflect. Reflect is only for skills that HIT (not RF) but it's still nice.
- 4th Two Points - Mastermind of Discord. Mastermind of Discord "buffs our buff" ;). We use Wave of Conviction for its Fire Exposure. The relation to Fire Exposure and decreasing enemy resistances is explained in the "How the Build Works" section. But this is the node that gives Wave of Conviction 50% Fire Exposure instead of 25%...meaning RF does more damage.
Delirium Clusters
I have provided one jewel socket on the outside of the Passive Tree for the sake of Cluster Jewels. In SSF Land you don't know what's going to drop. So the tree is made so that you can clear the Atlas no matter the jewels that drop. You can, therefore, choose which nodes from the provided tree to cut based on what drops. If fire damage drops in a jewel, you can remove it from the main tree. If Max Life drops, then you can remove that from the tree...and so forth. If you're in a trade league, you'll likely know what you're looking for and should have a plan of what to cut from the provided tree as part of your plan while purchasing.
The passive tree is easy to understand:
You'll start as a Witch. We start as a Witch because I wanted to rely upon/revolve this build around awesome "juiced up" golem buffs :). So that means the Elementalist subclass (ascendancy). And to get there, you must start as a Witch. The Elementalist also had some very compatible nodes for easy Elemental resists and damage, along with great options for great survivability as well.


Levelling Path:
This build really benefits from every node we'll select on the tree. I suggest taking every node as it comes up, not really skipping anything. If I was to level this build again, I'd honestly just "hug the right". It'll give you a good balance of offence and defence as you level. You can rush to the increases to Max resists if you like. I'm never in a hurry personally. The Passive Tree I have for you takes you to level 91. That'll be easy to get to. I'll let you choose what to pick after that. Pick whatever you like! Have fun!


Tree Focuses:
- Life Regen - The more the merrier. We want lots to sustain RF. It's awesome to see your life move up so fast without flask help.
- Maximum Life - Besides the obvious factor of "the more you have, the better...", the more life you have also improves the damage of RF.
- Golems - Improving the buffs that Golems give us is the cornerstone of this build.
- Damage - Yup, damage :).
- Jewels - Jewel slots are amazing. Jewels are items you can find that you can actually allocate on your tree. They can give almost anything from health, damage, resists...anything. We will only have 1 jewel slot selected :(. What's really neat is you can swap jewels in and out of your passive tree anytime. As great as jewels are, I find managing them and remembering what I have, exhausting. So I typically only have one jewel slot per character. (For you, however, there are two jewel sockets that are really close to the tree that are easy to select.)


Don't forget about attributes. The tree almost provides all the attributes we need for our skills. You'll pass some nodes on the tree that give +30 Attributes. If you don't have items to cover what you're short in, feel free to select some of these as you pass them. You'll get respec points that will let you remove them later once you have better gear.

Now, feel free to modify this in any way. This is just my preference for easy Solo Self Found.

Take your time to look at each passive node as they come along. Some of the nodes are pretty dramatic.

Some quests earn you respec points in case you regret any decisions you made on the tree. You can also use Orbs of Regret for the same thing.
Pantheon
Major God:
- Soul of Arakaali - It's only for the first perk. The 5% reduced Damage taken from Damage Over Time means we take less damage from RF. (This unlocks when defeating the boss for Act 7.)

Minor God:
- Anything you want.
Bandits
With the Bandits in Act 2, I kill them all for the extra 2 skill points. You, of course, do what you like.
Attributes
You'll get most of the attributes that you require to use your gems from the tree. You'll need a little bit of Dexterity.

You'll Be Short:
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 34
Intelligence: 0


Needing 34 Dex. is nothing. It'll be easy to make up the difference. Amulets are an easy way to help attribute troubles early on while levelling. Though we don't need any Strength from gear, our Strength nodes come late in the tree. So don't dismiss Str. mods pathetically. Don't by shy to use the +30 attribute nodes on the tree as temporary options while levelling.


From the Tree You'll Get:
Strength: 204
Dexterity: 34
Intelligence: 302

Your Gems Need:
Strength: 119
Dexterity: 68
Intelligence: 155

Gameplay (How the Build Functions When It's All Setup)
Once setup, this build is really easy to play.

Quick Version: Move into enemies. They burn. That's it. Everything else is automatic!

The Detailed Version: You honestly just use your movement skill to get close enough to enemies for RF to start burning them.

Your movement skill's supports, along with Primal Aegis and Unwavering Stance (from the tree), will keep you alive as you move from enemy to enemy.

Our golems are constantly being re-summoned by our ascendancy so you don't have to worry about them. They provide Life Regen, Physical Damage Mitigation, and Damage bonuses.

Really though, every other skill is automatic. Purifying Flame and Wave of Conviction will be automatically triggered at around a 2000 damage taken threshold and provide Consecrated Ground (6% life regen) and Exposure respectively. If either of these skills Ignite, Combustion gives RF a big damage bonus against the ignite enemy(ies).

Ball Lighting is set to trigger at the 500 damage taken threshold so hopefully, it's triggering way more often than the triggered fire skills.

Your chosen curse will also trigger every 500 damage taken in a nicely sized AoE.


Without repeating too much of what's in the gem section, EE and EO (listed below) are the next big things to understand (but they're still automatic).

Elemental Overload (EO):
- This Keystone on the Passive Tree procs (turns on) when we hit with a Critical Strike. We don't focus on Crit's at all in this build but with all the skills that we have that Hit, this isn't an issue. Every skill we have has a chance to Crit except for RF. Our Golems' crits don't count towards EO. You'll find that EO is almost always on. Our spells are constantly getting cast. If it's not, it's because we're barely getting hit and we don't need it on anyway.


Elemental Equilibrium (EE):
- EE is Keystone on the Passive Tree that has a big upside and a big downside. If we hit with an element, we deal less damage of that element and increased in the others. So we never want to hit with Fire. We have two skills that auto-cast that deal fire damage and one skill that deals lightning damage. The reason we have those fire skills set to go off sometimes is that they give great defence and offence for the build. So the idea and difference between those links is that we want our lightning skill to go off "all" the time, while the fire skills only occasionally. So once the fire skills are triggered, we'll get the perks of those skills for a duration, while the lightning skill quickly corrects the negative aspect of EE and quickly gives us back the positive side.


Exposure vs. Lowering Resists
Enemies can have their resists lowered in a few different ways. They all stack together. So if Spell A and Spell B both lowered an enemy resistance by 10, the enemy would be -20 to that resist. Exposure stacks with other sources of lowering resists, but it doesn't stack with itself. So if two skills that apply Exposure of the same element are applied to the same enemy, they won't stack. Only the strongest will be applied. (Mastermind of Discord increases our Exposure values of Wave of Conviction.)


See? Easy peasy.

I know I barely mentioned golems in here even though they are the whole reason we're an Elementalist. But their value was discussed in the gem section and was pretty simple. Golems are automatically summoned via our ascendancy so we don't have to worry about if they are alive or not...and their increased buffs are the cornerstone of the guide! Kinda weird that the cornerstone of the guide is so simple that it barely needs to be talked about...**Just remember that Golem buffs do not stack. So no matter which golem ends up doubling up, you'll still only get the flat benefit of one.
Media (Videos/Filters/Tools/Links/Social Media)
Videos:
- Here's 3.13's gameplay example video
- My RIGHTEOUS GOLEMS playlist showing my most recent sessions with the build.
- My broadcast channel. Twitch keeps the last 14 days worth of broadcasts. I don't always play awake, but I'd rather play than not :).


Filters:
- I make my own filters AND YOU ARE REQUIRED TO LOVE THEM! Just kidding...but they are awesome. They will make looting a MUCH more relaxing experience. They only filter gear. So if you don't want to miss out on ANY currency these are perfect for you. One filter is guide specific (it only displays gear relevant to all my guides) and the other is a global filter for any build. There are four tiers of strictness per filter. Details for each tier of each filter are within the filters themselves. Both the "Guide Specific" and the "Everyone" filters are available on all platforms. If you click "Follow" next to the filter that you want, it'll automatically load to your filter list in-game when you login! And it automatically updates upon each login as well!


Social:
- Forever Exiled - A Path of Exile Podcast is a PoE podcast hosted by both Tagz and myself. We talk about everything Path of Exile...and only PoE. If you're looking for a podcast run by casual gamers but lovers of PoE, feel free to check it out!
- My Twitter. I only use my twitter account to give updates on PoE stuff like my guides and filters. I don't use Twitter for anything personal. So if you want updates about when guides are done or filter corrections have been updated, feel free to follow.


Software:
- PoEMate - My primary build planning tool. It's mobile. (If the link doesn't work in your area, just search PoEMate in your mobile store. Hopefully, it's available in your region. Every league it's updated faster than any other tool I use.)
- FORK Path of Building - Another planner I use.
- Yolo Mouse - If you have a hard time keeping track of your mouse during gameplay, try this out. I use it for all my PC games and I'd die 100x more in PoE if it wasn't for this little program.


Build Links:
- 3.13's Pastebin - https://pastebin.com/8t8Eir1F - This Pastebin will only work in the Community Fork version of PoB. (Copy the link, open Path of Building, click on “New”, then click “Import/Export Build”, click “Import from Pastebin…”, paste the link.)
- 3.13's Passive Tree on PoE's website.
The guide continues below.
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Last edited by Wrecker_of_Days on Apr 15, 2021, 2:25:51 AM
Last bumped on Apr 15, 2021, 2:26:24 AM
Levelling
SHUT UP Wrecker! I JUST WANT TO PLAY! (3.13's guide in one picture)
Ok! Yikes...you could have at least said "please" or something...

In my opinion, there are two types of "levellers" in PoE:

1. The first is a player that knows the game well enough that, no matter the guide/build, they have no need for direction.
2. The second is a player that wants to be able to level like the person I just mentioned.

Though newer PoE players may find PoE daunting, I feel the most efficient way to learn PoE is to make decisions for yourself. I think you'll be surprised how quickly you catch on to each mechanic you start playing with. So this section won't be about holding your hand and giving you a step by step process. It'll guide and encourage you to choose between the pros and cons your character will constantly face...while levelling and selecting gear. I know, I know, you hate me. But maybe you'll thank me later? Maybe?

(Remember, I have some tips for new players in my One Stop Shop that'll help in the overall PoE experience that any levelling process will benefit from. Below are tips for levelling this character, not general levelling tips.)

Where to Get All the Gems You'll Need
There are two NPCs that sell all purchasable gems: the first one is Siosa in the Library in Act 3 (you have to do his quest first (the Library is connected to The Imperial Gardens)), the second NPC is Lilly Roth in Act 6 (Do her quest in Act 6).

Act 1 - Enemy at the Gate - Purchase - Level 1 - Purifying Flame
Act 1 - Mercy Mission - Reward - Level 4 - Infused Channelling Support
Act 1 - The Caged Brute - Reward - Level 8 - Efficacy Support
Act 1 - The Caged Brute - Purchase - Level 8 - Combustion Support
Act 1 - The Caged Brute - Purchase - Level 8 - Infernal Legion Support
Act 1 - The Caged Brute - Purchase - Level 10 - Vitality
Act 2 - The Root of the Problem - Purchase - Level 16 - Righteous Fire (until you find a Vaal RF)
Act 2 - The Root of the Problem - Purchase - Level 16 - Summon Skitterbots
Act 2 - The Root of the Problem - Purchase - Level 16 - Wave of Conviction
Act 2 - Sharp and Cruel - Reward- Level 18 - Elemental Focus Support
Act 2 - Sharp and Cruel - Purchase - Level 18 - Concentrated Effect Support
Act 3 - Lost in Love - Reward - Level 24 - Flammability
Act 3 - Sever the Right Hand - Reward - Level 28 - Ball Lightning
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 8 - Life Gain on Hit Support
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 24 - Purity of Fire
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 28 - Cyclone
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 31 - Burning Damage Support
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 31 - Fortify Support
Act 3 - A Fixture of Fate - Purchase - Level 31 - Inspiration Support x2
Act 4 - Breaking the Seal - Reward - Level 34 - Summon Stone Golem
Act 4 - Breaking the Seal - Purchase - Level 34 - Summon Chaos Golem
Act 4 - Breaking the Seal - Purchase - Level 34 - Summon Flame Golem
Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Reward - Level 38 - Increased Area of Effect Support
Act 4 - The Eternal Nightmare - Purchase - Level 38 - Cast when Damage Taken Support x2


(Let me know if you see any errors in the list.)
Which Quests to Do?
- I suggest doing every quest in the game. It doesn't take too much longer and you'll get some nice bonus gear to help the SSF process. For those that just want to rush to the Endgame, here's a link to all the quests that give Passive Points as a reward. You don't want to miss those.

Bandits
- With the Bandits in Act 2, I kill them all for the extra 2 skill points. You, of course, do what you like.


The Lord's Labyrinth
- Here's a list of all the lab trials for the first three labyrinths (the trials for the fourth lab are found randomly in endgame maps).


How to Level the Build
You Can't Sustain RF Right Away
- As mentioned, everyone has a different way that they prefer to level. Righteous Fire builds are really tricky to level on paper. It's not that difficult when you're actually in-game, but you will still need to be patient. You can get the RF gem at level 16, but even with all the perfect uniques, you won't be able to sustain the skill. If you're playing SSF, you likely won't be able to sustain RF until you're around a character level in the mid-'50s at the earliest. It'll likely be the mid-60's.

Here's the Part That's Tricky
- Because I design my builds for SSF and not requiring any specific gear or mods, I focused heavily on Maximum Life and Life Regen. There's of course damage on the tree as well but it mostly revolves around burning damage, not fire damage in general. So you'll be levelling with skills you like, but won't be using later on.

What Skills Should You Use Until RF Can Be Sustained?
- One of the many great things about RF and the Elementalist is the levelling. Fire spells are perfect for levelling an RF character because they don't require accuracy. Instead, they cost tons of mana. But mana is an easier obstacle to overcome than accuracy since it's easy to use mana flasks or run Clarity. Any Fire spell that you like is the key to levelling. Some people don't care how they level, they just want to hit maps fast. Others want to enjoy the process which means enjoy the skills they use in the meantime. I don't suggest a fire spell if it isn't 100% fire damage though (some spells are only 25% or 50% fire damage. (Scorching Ray, Incinerate, Flameblast, and Fireball all benefit from either DOT or Ignite damage which we eventually get on the tree.)

The Long Road
- When you saw that RF looks like an aura that magically kills people you looked for a catch. You saw the consequence; the easy endgame comes at the cost of the skill eating your life away...fast. That's not that big of a deal...but getting there takes time. So levelling with skills that don't exactly match our build will require patience. Levelling an RF build isn't as quick as other builds. Be patient, you know the reward is coming. Like I said, without gear, you should be able to sustain RF around the mid-'50's-60's.


Passive Tree
- You can select whatever path you want in the passive tree provided. I personally always "hug the right". No matter which direction/"tree branch" you choose, don't skip any nodes. The reason I suggest not skipping nodes is that you'll need a good balance of life, life regen, and damage. Skipping nodes to focus on only one aspect of the build will leave you vulnerable in another.
- In terms of which Ascendancy nodes to go for first, the choice is up to you. But since the build was planned around the value of golems, picking golems isn't a bad idea.


How To Sustain RF as Early as Possible
- Select all the nodes on the Passive Tree as they come (no matter the branch you choose to start with). If you require direction, hug the right. Don't skip any nodes.
- Equip and start levelling Vitality as soon as it's available.
- Equip and start levelling your Stone Golem as soon as it's available.
- Equip and start levelling your Purity of Fire as soon as it's available.
- Fight on Consecrated Ground if possible (Holy Flame Totem, Purifying Flame, Consecrated Path, Sulphur Flask).
- Hold down the Immortal Call or Enduring Cry skill (they both have their perks).
- By the time you kill Arakaali (the Spider Boss in Act 7) you can select the Pantheon option that unlocks (Soul of Arakaali). Have that and the minor God, Soul of Abberath selected.
- Do the first 2 suggested Ascendancies.
- A Ruby Flask doesn't hurt either.
- Obviously, make sure your Fire Resists are capped (as high as they can be).
- The Soul of Abberath reduced RF's damage to you if you're moving. Not bad for levelling.

These are your easiest, most natural, ways without needing items, to sustain RF. The items you find along the way will help even further.


Sooooo, goooood luuuuuck. RF is totally worth it. Just don't have any money on the line if you're racing your friends to endgame. ;)
Endgame Mods to Avoid
At the end of the game, the levels (maps) you try and clear will have random modifiers (mods) allocated to them. There are A LOT of mods that can go on a map.

There are a few map mods we can't run: No Mana and Life Regen and negatives to maximum resists. We need Life Regen for RF and having increased max fire resist is a must.

Some mods will be inconvenient, but they won't be impossible to run:
- Slower mana and life regen also make life rough for RF but it's not impossible. (I still avoid it.)


You'll learn your personal preferences over time, but only No Mana and Life Regen and negative to resists should be avoided.
My Filters
Oh my goodness! A link! You should click on it. Definitely. WOW! Look at all those pretty green FOLLOW buttons. You should press them all ;).
https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Wrecker_of_Days/item-filters

I LOVE FILTERS! So, I make my own filters! THEY ARE AMAZING ;). For me, making filters is just as fun as playing Path of Exile. If you're looking to cut down on the amount of garbage on your screen but don't actually want to miss anything, my filters are right up your alley. They only filter equippable items. Everything else will show. I've made two types of filters:

1 - A filter that only shows gear relevant to my guides.
2 - A filter for everyone that's relevant for all builds.


Each of the above filters has 4 tiers of strictness you'll want to Follow:

1. Starting Off (Used for levelling until you're mapping comfortably.)
2. Tops-84s-Fancies-Atlas (Used when you are only looking for the top bases of each class.)
3. 84s-Fancies-Atlas (Used when you only care about gear item level 84+.)
4. Fancies-Atlas (Used when you only want Fancy gear like Atlas Drops, Influenced gear, etc.)


The descriptions of each are on the filter page, with all the details you want, explained within.

(Because I have two filters (2), each with four tiers(2*4=8), posted for all 3 platforms (2*4*3=24), my filter list is quite large. So just be sure you're Following the filters you want for the platform you want. It's easy to mix it up with a list that large.)

Please let me know if you have any feedback or see any errors you may find within the filters...otherwise, I hope they enhance your PoE experience!

If my filters interest you, once you've clicked on the provided link, click "Follow" next to the filter(s) that you want. It'll automatically load to your filter list in-game when you login AND it automatically updates upon each login as well!
Forever Exiled - A Path of Exile Podcast
https://www.foreverexiled.com/

If you're looking for a Podcast that's 100% Path of Exile, my buddy Tagz and I have exactly that! A podcast that is 100% about Path of Exile! We put out an episode once a week and talk about all things Path of Exile 100% of the time.

Tagz started playing Path of Exile 100% of the time in Beta (April 2012) and I started playing Path of Exile 100% of the time in 2014. We play Path of Exile completely different, 100%. (His ways suck 100%, mine don't...100%. (In other words, he crushes Path of Exile 100% and I hate him for it...100% true.))

If you check out the podcast, let us know what you think. We've grown like crazy! 100% Serious. It's insane. So the more feedback we get the better.

Thanks 100% for the listens!
Awesome. So if you have any questions let me know and I'll respond the best I can. Don't feel embarrassed. Ask anything you like. It's easy to miss/overlook details in the guide or on the wiki. Likely someone else wants to know the answer too :). (I likely won't have time to evaluate characters (sorry!) but I've listed in general what mods to look for on your items so you know what to look for and improve upon. Don't forget to check my One Stop Shop for tips if you're new too.)

Replies: Feel free to respond to other players' posts! The more that's out there, the more we learn. Please be kind, respectful, and theoretical (not a Know-It-All) when helping others out. I will happily respond to questions but please note that I have multiple guides and I'd like to respond to each equally. I’ll do my best to get back to you as quickly as possible but set your expectations that I'll respond to each guide once a week. (Too much time responding to guides makes an unhappy spouse...an unhappy spouse means less time for guide replies...less time for guide replies makes an unhappy me...Unhappy spouse + unhappy me = an epic hockey fight with sweet uppercuts which I would obviously lose...a lost hockey fight against my spouse = busted hands that I can't type with, no teeth to voice type with, and black eyes that I can't read with. So one build a day, m'kay? K.)

Here's a list of my OTHER GUIDES if you're interested :).

OH! Don't forget, to support GGG by buying a skin for all your favourite skills you use. They last forever, you look rad, and it keeps PoE going too :).

Double OH! I make a new thread every league for every guide I do. So all the comments, questions, and answers you read are all relevant for this current expansion. (At the end of a league I post links in the previous guide to guide players to the newest rendition of the build.)

Tripple Oh! Please let me know if you see any errors. I'll fix them as soon as possible!

Change Log (for Returning Players)
No ascendancy change this time ;). You're welcome. But hey! Elementalist got buffed pretty good for us hey?

The only changes to this build are:

- of course the Ascendancy, which was GGG's revamp so nothing I could do about it there. We went with Golems, defence, and Exposure.

- And I removed Enduring Cry and Immortal Call for Cyclone-Fortify-Infused Channelling-Life Gain on Hit Support

- Oh! And I raised the damage threshold of the CwDT fire skills. So check your gem levels.

LOVE YOU!
K. Done. Happy gaming :).
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Last edited by Wrecker_of_Days on Jan 13, 2021, 11:29:46 PM
You're the best.
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast

Annnnnd

Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Can't wait! Appreciate all your guides, this will be my first build branching away from SloMo Zombies!
Awesome, can't wait to give this a try.

I wonder how much difference it will make to leave purifying flame out, so i have space to apply flammability via hextouch instead, so i can use the curse at max level.
This will be my starter!
Hi RF-ers,

Thought I'd share some of my findings on the "leveling" side of things for those trying an RF build, perhaps for the first time. (The below is from 3.12 but since the build and tree haven't changed much at all - it should be legit)

I'm working on my 2nd RF toon - it's a great build, I highly recommend! (added bonus - you never have to "target" an urn/pot/basket again!)

As noted, leveling an RF character can be "slower" than others due to the "thirst" RF has for your life pool and typically can't be sustained until mid-50's+

Fret not!

You just have to alter your perspective on "leveling". That doesn't mean massive respec from "Leveling as a _______" or different gear etc. You can follow the tree as shown and look for complimentary RF gear as you progress.

Just use Purifying Flame as your main skill until you can run RF.


The support gems for RF support PF in the same manner, the fire damage buffs from the tree also support PF as does the other suggest gear (generally speaking) and mods. You may need to run Clarity for mana, but you don't need to be running Purity of Flame before you have RF up anyway.

As for tree progression itself, I found going immediately to the right (Blast Radius), then north to Breath of Flames & Cruel Preparation, then Southwest (Sanctity) will aid in getting you going. I did hold off on moving to Golem Commander until I could equip those gems and picked up Anointed Flesh and Quick Recovery before moving on.

I suggest saving some of the northwest skills (Holy fire, Purity of Flesh) for later, as well as WoD's suggestion of adding Constitution much later on.

For RF, more life = more damage, so don't overthink taking life nodes instead of damage, especially early on.

For those curious about gear - I ran basic caster gear: Tabula Rasa, Wanderlust, Axiom Perpetuum, Wurms Molt until mid 50's when I could equip/afford much better. Was sustaining RF as soon as I could equip Stone Golem.

Hope this helps someone out there!

BURN ON!

p.s. if you want more life regen/running RF sooner, swap Summon Holy Relic in for Summon Skitterbots.
Last edited by Rex_Urhole on Jan 14, 2021, 12:21:44 AM
Hey, sounds like a relaxing build!

it seems very good as a lleague starter, but it seems a bit slow, with the slow movement of cyclone? is it good for early fast mapping (not fast like, everything explodes instant, but nicely)

Also: for faster movement, i would try leap slam (with sceptre) do i lose some benefits then?

thanks!
Check the POB again.

Items seem unequip on mines.
Hey Wrecker,

will certainly start the new league with your build. Only 1 thing I am in doubt about : the aegis buff, will it be worth it? On paper it seems nice, but the 60% more AoE sure does look nice too (and we can get 30% more damage when fighting bosses).

That aegis buff won't buff our RF damag right?

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