Malachai's Artifice (elemental Equilibrium) question

Is the ring viable on an Physical Archer build with Herald of Ash, Herald of Ice and Hatred auras ?!
And what would be a good gem inside?!

So you're doing Phys+Fire+Cold. In theory you want to EE with Lightning Damage.

Arc, Lightning Tendrils, Lightning Arrow, Lightning Trap, Ball Lightning are probably the only options to proc the EE, but it would depend on how you like the "feel" of casting them while attacking with the bow.

Arc gives distance at the cost of only hitting 3 targets (w.o links).

Tendrils gives AoE at the cost of requiring you to be in near melee range.

Lightning Trap requires that they stand on it, that it doesn't get blown up from AoE Damage, and that the projectiles actually hit something.

Ball Lightning is on the slow side. It takes time to get to the pack and can only damage something once every 200 ms (5 hits per second IF they are inside the AoE of it, which is small w.o links or passive increases)

Lightning Arrow will only hit 3 targets as well, but has the downside of using your Ash and Hatred which defeats the purpose.

I tought that using Herald of Ash, Herald of Ice and Hatred would work knowing that from fire and ice, one will hit first, lets say ice, then they will take more dmg from the fire, and vice versa (per shot)
So I hit once, and the ice from Hatred or Herald would proc EE and will take more dmg from the Herald of Ash (on the same ONE hit)
Did I get that wrong?

I'm not 100% certain on all of this, but certain enough to post. If anyone knows different please correct me.

All of the damage of a single attack is applied instantaneously, but portions are typed differently. EE is applied AFTER the hit occurs and can not buff/nerf the same attack that applies it.

In your case, you hit with 3 damage types, phys, fire, and cold. the result of that hit is +25% fire and cold, -50% lightning, which lasts for 5 seconds.

If you hit with all 3 types (fire, cold, lightning) the result would be +25% to all 3. But again, it wont alter damage dealt on the attack that procs EE unless its a consecutive attack (EE already being applied by a previous attack).

The part you're confused on is that damage types are not discreet "packets" of damage. One hit applies all the damage types at once.

Thus, EE is used in 2 ways (generally). Characters that deal only one type of damage and use something else to proc EE then hit with a HUGE hit. Or, characters that deal alternating damage, Fireball into Freezing Pulse into Fireball into Freezing Pulse, etc.

That ring allows you to pick an element (generally not one in your main attack as the mob gets res to that element so youre doing less damage) to apply EE only with that attack.

In your case(again) since you dont use lightning damage for your main attack, you can use that ring to proc EE with lightning and increase the other elemental damage you do, similar to using a curse.

Honestly, finding a way to use Elemental Weakness(curse gem) is almost exactly what will happen if you use that ring. Except that the ring allows for full effect on bosses and will stack with the curse, so you can even use both for ~+50% more (multiplier) elemental damage.

TY for the answer.
I tend to use Projectile weakness as a curse. Knowing that I stack lots os Phys dmg.
Am i doing it wrong?

And after the debuff is applied for 5 secs (lets say from lightning orb), does it mean that
the next shot (phys/fire/ice in one shot) will deal % more dmg for the next 5 secs??

Should I change one of these 2 rings with that unique if I am to use Elementl Weakness too?!






with

Projectile Weakness causes "Cursed Enemies take x% increased Damage from Projectiles", this means that ALL the damage that contains the type "projectile" is increased. For bow users this includes ANY damage that is listed on your tooltip for your attack as a projectile is causing the damage (your arrow).

Phys, cold, fire, all of the damage on your arrow is increased (even though it says increased, in this case its a multiplier since the calculation is done as the arrow hits, which is after all other modifiers except other debuffs/buffs on the monster).

Proj. Weakness is a common and very good curse for bow users.

If youre only single cursing, I cant say ultimately which is higher damage/better, Proj. Weakness or Ele. Weakness. It depends heavily on your exact build, gear, and play-style. That said, the difference between the 2 is fairly small generally, which the exception of PW having pierce and knockback which are potentially of greater use than a few % more damage.

After EE is applied any attack or spell will suffer the buff/debuff for those 5 seconds, not just the first shot. In your case the Fire and Cold damage will get buffed. EE will not alter the Phys damage at all, only the elemental portion.

Should you change the rings? It depends on several things. Do you want too? Can you still max your resistances with that ring on? Are you ok with having to both curse and cast a lightning damage skill before you attack?

I cant answer that for you, but I can tell you that youre looking at a fairly major change to your character that is complex and you didnt originally plan to do this with the character. Often times in cases like this it backfires and becomes much harder to play the character. If you want to give it a shot, go for it, just be aware that its not as simple as just moving a gem around or getting a better piece of gear.

I didnt reference the Ele. Weakness curse as a way of saying its something you should or shouldnt be using. I was more pointing out that EE works similarly to it. There are virtually endless ways to combine all this to something useful, the question is how far you want to take it and what you have the ability(in game $$) to accomplish. Dual-cursing, single cursing and EE, EE only, dual cursing and EE, all work with various levels of complexity and investment.

If youre considering using EE, get an Ele. Weakness gem and replace your Proj. Weakness curse with it temporarily. See if you feel it speeds up your clear speed or not, but keep in mind that PW will increase your Phys Damage as well so don't expect to suddenly triple your damage by changing curses. The likely cause of swapping curses here is that you will shock/ignite a bit more than normal, but lose stuns/pierce/knockback. The combination of both curses for you would be huge damage, at the downside of requiring you to find a way to get +1 curses on gear or through the passive tree.

My suggestion (only since you seem to be fairly new or at least not hugely experienced with PoE), finish making your character work as it is. Get some better rings/gear, level up a bit, do some mid-70 maps (when you can, DON'T try this before ~75-78), learn what you like and dont like about the character. Then start looking at the EE ring or altering your curses/gems, and when you do, start small, one thing at a time. Keep what you like, remove what you dont.

If you try to make your character too complex too fast it can snowball into a mess that you cant or dont enjoy playing. Start simple and branch out as you get comfortable.

Thank you very much for your reply and opinion on this. I apreciate.