[2.3] Boulz's Grand Spectrum Lightning Arrow Conflux Build (High Budget / HC viable)

The concept of this build makes use of the Grand Spectrum Viridian Jewel in combo with Conflux an Elementalist ascendancy node. The jewel increases both the elemental damage from converting a physical bow damage to elemental as well as the burn caused by Conflux from the bow skill.

I chose LA as a skill of choice from it's inherent spreading ability and the part physical to lightning to make the damage 100% elemental for proper scaling. Burning arrow is also used as a single target/primer for non conflux procs and inherent chance to ignite.

Tooltip for both skills:



Pros:
- Life based
- High clear
- Fast paced
- Not very limited on map mods
- Few uniques (Easy ele weakness cap)
- Shocks/chills
- Leech

Cons:
- No Whirling blades
- Better the faster paced
- Very expensive at current Grand Spectrum prices

Playstyle


The Build makes use of the prolif burn that comes from the Elementalist Ascendancy. You can play it two different ways very effectively. You can use burning arrow to kill a few mobs and then Lightning arrow while conflux is up, which I tend to do in tankier maps (EE, 80% res). This playstyle is much more effective when you have Reach of the Council Bow

Or you can use Lightning arrow without conflux procs and it tends to kill a few mobs with the upfront damage and proccing conflux for the mobs hit subsequently. You can also use a worm flask to facilitate this playstyle which is especially useful in groups.

The flask in question:


For single target you mostly use burning arrow regarless of which playstyle you use, the exception is maybe when you are still getting conflux procs and your Lightning arrow is substantially higher damage. (6L vs 5L)



Items


Grand Spectrum Viridian Jewel


The Core of this build is this jewel, it scales both the front damage as well as the massive burn afterwards. The damage from 6 was good enough for a fast paced dried lake, with 10 it's comparable to meta builds in red maps. 11-12 are needed for the final build, but these are only for level 95/98 respectively.

The Signal Fire


This quiver converts the other 50% of the physical damage to elemental as well as giving extra fire damage for additional damage.

Dyadian Dawn


This belt makes the burn hit 20% faster and is almost comparable to a good res belt. The leech on chill can be useful sometimes, but it doesn't always work, only when hitting closely packed mobs or mobs that require more than one hit to kill.

Thanks to /u/phylaris from reddit for the suggestion.

Bow

Either of these works, the Council Bow is far superior of the two, but I was clearing red maps easily with Lioneye's bow as well.

Reach of The Council


This bow give's a free GMP which frees up a link for Lightning Arrow. The bow also has a crazy base damage which is what we're looking for, better a hard hit once than multiple hits since the burns won't stack. Using This bow means you also need to take Resolute Technique, so do keep this in mind.

Lioneye's Glare


This bow is pretty good to start with since you don't need Resolute Technique to guarantee hits with. It also means you're free to get Elemental Overload, but I found it didn't proc enough to my liking so I ended up not bothering (you could do an iceshot settup to proc it, but I didn't feel the damage needed it.)



Bandits

Normal = Oak
Cruel = Kill all or help Krait
Merciless = Kill all





links


Lightning Arrow with Reach of the Council

Lightning Arrow > Weapon Elemental Damage > Pierce > Slower Proj > Phys Proj Attack Damage > Added Fire Support

Lightning Arrow wit Lioneye's Glare

Lightning Arrow > Greater Multi Proj > Weapon Elemental Damage > Pierce > Slower Proj > Phys Proj Attack Damage

Burning Arrow

Burning Arrow > Chance to Ignite > Weapon Elemental Damage > Fire Pen > Pierce > Slower Proj



Ascendancies


We are Elementalist for this build. The power of Conflux causing burn from all types of damage is just overwhelming with the elemental damage bonus from Grand Spectrum Viridian Jewels.

With end-game lab, the best four notables I've found were Shaper of Desolation, Beacon of Ruin, Liege of Primordial and Paragon of Calamity. Not necessarily in that order of importance.

For levelling I would always rush Shaper of Desolation and Beacon of Ruin since it will make levelling much easier (make sure not to be using Elemental Focus). After that depending on if you are levelling in hardcore or softcore, I would choose Paragon of Calamity and Liege of Primordial respectively. Paragon of Calamity can be kept for last if you get life nodes as a priority over jewel slots first.



Grand Spectrum Jewels




These jewels are pretty weird in how crazy fast they scale up your damage. They not only scale up the upfront damage of elemental, but also increase the damage of your burn. The damage from your burn ends up being pretty crazy.

The way they work is like it says, each duplicate you have of the jewel will make all previous ones you have equipped increase by another 5%.

So for here's a few example:

if you have 4 jewels

5% elemental damage x 4 Grand spectrum Viridian Jewel x 4 Grand spectrum jewels = 80% elemental damage to your upfront and your burn.

if you have 10 jewels:

5% elemental damage x 10 Grand Spectrum Viridian Jewel x 10 Grand Spectrum Jewels = 500% elemental damage to your upfront and your burn.



Current Gear







Auras


I use Hatred and Herald of Ash. Swapping Hatred to Grace in very rippy maps just for safety. Can also swap to purities instead of herald in case you're struggling to get ele weakness capped, but it isn't very hard with this few uniques.



Videos


WARNING: My loot filter volume is several times louder than the game, turn down your volume before watching.

Here's three videos I made to showcase the build a bit.

Sea Witches Courtyard
Showcasing high packsize red map

Gorge map
Showcasing linear pathing speed

Evangelist Shipyard Map
Showcasing "bad" mob types in red maps.



Thanks for reading and hope you've found this guide useful, I'm having a blast playing it.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Edit 1: Added videos.
Edit 2: Changed belt thanks to /u/phylaris from reddit for the suggestion.
Last edited by Boulz on Jun 21, 2016, 7:19:56 AM
Last bumped on Jun 27, 2016, 5:10:35 PM
Videos Added. :)
Pros:
- Life based

lel
"
Harato wrote:
Pros:
- Life based

lel


Heh, CI def has pros and cons, but with the res flask nerfs from a while ago I feel life based is a pro in general esp in a hardcore setting. Well timed seethings can be a life saver :)

Coming from someone that's played 4 of the last 6 toons as ES based.

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