[3.3, Build-of-the-week] Stored Lightning Bolt - CantripN's Lightning Trapper.



Theme: alt-J - In Cold Blood

Thin is the line between mechanical genius and magic!

Next league this, or something like it, is likely going to be one of the meta builds with the Trap buffs. Might as well get used to the playstyle. If you know what you're doing, it works fabulously even now, but it will be truly monstrous next league...

___
3.3 updated!

PoB for MoM Arc (gear not up-to-date) - https://pastebin.com/5PihtXwQ
PoB for Non-MoM Arc (gear mostly correct) - https://pastebin.com/zJs33hxF
PoB for MoM Explosive Trap - https://pastebin.com/ZRmCRLuM


3.3 Gear, tree and links so far (4/7/18, level 95):
Spoiler



You don't need an Elder Essence Worm + Mark of the Shaper, or a chest with +2 gems, or even an amulet like mine to make it work. Those are just things you can get if you want to heavily invest.

Jewels:


Flasks:


PoB: https://pastebin.com/ycsqtJaf

Stats (while using Shimmerons):
Life: 5309 (1267 Regen)
Mana: 2591 (90 Regen)
ES: 650
Acrobatics: 40/41%
Block: 11/28%
Blind: 50%
Evasion: 2128
Arc Tooltip in h/o: 16405 (no buffs other than Wrath)
Throwing Speed: +63%

Pantheon:
Brine King / Solaris / Arakaali (if not MoM)
Ryslatha

Bandit:
Alira

___

Videos (3.2, 3.3 is pure Arc, or Arc + Spire early on):
Uber Elder Deathless in 1:47! (3.3)
Uber Atziri (photo)
Shaper Kill
Minotaur Kill
Chimera Kill
T15 Elder Kill
T15 Basilica Clear
T15 Shaped Siege + Depths
Build of the Week :)
Spoiler

___

Pros:
Narrated by Bex <3
Can run any map mod.
Acrobatics + Blind + Arrow Dancing.
Spell Block + Dodge (effective 46.8% total for spells).
Temporal Chains + Aspect of the Spider (Hinder).
Freeze and shatter while clearing (no porcupine issues).
Clears fast, can use Brightbeak.
Vaporizes bosses, doesn't kite them for hours.
Unique playstyle.
Fairly safe if you play smart.
Scales well with currency spent.
Cheap to start.

Cons:
DON'T ENCHANT YOUR GLOVES! Some of those enchants can crit. This will hurt you. Badly. XXX of Reflection is the only good one.
No good movement skill for bosses. Lightning Warp takes getting used to. Sorry.
No Leech, or Vaal Pact. Sorry.
Not cheap for late end-game. Not sorry.
No more than 6K life pool (or 7.5k with MoM), so if you try to tank risky things you might die. Don't tank things as a Trapper, dummy. Not sorry.

___

Playstyle:
One shot with Lighting Trap for clear.
One shot with Ball Lightning Trap for bosses.
___

Stats (level 95):
PoB = https://pastebin.com/DdWHXQuG

Shaper Ball Lightning Damage-per-hit: ~50k (10 Balls, up-to 15 hits each)
Estimated Shaper damage-per-trap-set (2 throws): 4-8 mil (depends on terrain)
Avg damage per hit with Lightning Trap on Brightbeak: ~70k x1-5
Life: 5738 (will be 5-6k, depending on gear and DPS focus)
Mana: effectively 0
ES: 559 (Eldritch Battery, but not MoM)
Acrobatics: 40/30%
Block: 11/24%
Blind: 50%
Evasion: 2525

Estimated Regen: 787 (assumes 10 Traps Recently, which is often true)
Auras: Wrath + Temporal Chains + Aspect of the Spider (you'll need Enlighten 3 + passive point / Enlighten 4 to run all those)

Gear, links and notes:
Spoiler



Flasks:


Jewels:
On gear -

On tree -


Abyssal jewels are more or less the same as normal jewels, it just depends what you can get.

Gear Explained:
Shimmeron x 2 is by far the highest DPS caster weapon in the game if you're not a physical caster and don't need cast speed. Trappers never deal critical strikes themselves, so the downside doesn't apply. Prioritise Critical Strike Multiplier 10%, Flat Lightning, Spell Damage (in that order).

Brightbeak + Jaws of Agony serve you to clear faster, and get Power Charges before bosses. Not a must at all, but at some point you have enough DPS to clear fine with this.

Lightpoacher is, as usual, the best helmet if you have good jewels. Tempest's Binding is even better, but good luck with that and also having the enchant (the enchant matters more than the head!).
*EDIT: Since people can't think for themselves - No, you don't ever get Charges for Lightpoacher, since YOU never kill. Nevertheless, this is the BiS helmet for this and many other builds. Jewels are just that good.*

Tinkerskin is a build-maker for Trappers, letting you spam traps with ease (faster, recovers ES and Life per throw, which you use as Mana since you're Eldritch Battery). Don't leave home without it. Another option is Fenumus' Shroud, which would allow to regenerate Energy Shield, deal more damage, and take less damage. Shroud doesn't let you do slower or no regen maps, though, and doesn't heal you.

Gloves are where your single target resides. You want "Supported by level X Trap + Throw an Additional Trap", "Supported by level X Slower Projectiles", and if possible 30/50/70% Critical Strike Multiplier. Life and Res are great, but less important here.

Boots are the one slot where you can grab a lot of resists without any major competing mod. Do that. Cooldown Recovery is possible here, but not very realistic.

Darkness Enthroned is the best belt in the game for a crit caster. Period. Just get ok jewels and go. Mine is giving me a whooping 17% MORE damage, and 100 Flat Life! Sunblast is amazing for leveling, though.

Rings should be either Opal rings with Lightning Damage / Crit Multi, or (Shaper) Diamond Rings with Flat Lightning to Spells / Spell Damage / Lightning Damage, or other rings with several damage mods. Also, you'll need to grab some resists here, but do try to squeeze in some DPS.

On an amulet you'll want Crit Multi, Elemental Penetration, and this is probably where you'll find a free Suffix to craft Aspect of the Spider. Aspect of the Spider can be crafted using Fenumus (the boss), just buy one if you don't have it, it's not expensive.
Another option for your amulet is a Lightning Impresence - it's downside is losing Temp Chain unless you have one with +1 Curse (even then, an amulet like mine is more DPS by far, but Impresence has Life and decent Res). Might do for early on in the league.

Jewels should be either regular ones with Life + Multiplier (Spell/Elemental/Lightning/Dual-wielding), or Abyssal with Life + Multiplier / Critical Strike Chance if haven't Crit Recently / Flat Lightning / Flat Lightning while Dual Wielding. When you can afford a Watcher's Eye, Lightning Penetration with Wrath is BiS, and anything else is nice to have on top if possible (if you're super rich).

Flask-wise, you want 2 Life flasks for high-content (one instant, one not), a Diamond Flask, a Sulphur Flask (put Warding here for map mods), and eventually a Dying Sun for a major boost to Ball Lightning damage-per-throw. Quicksilver is also an option.

Leveling Gear of note:
Lifesprig / Axiom Perpetuum x 2
Mirebough / Deerstalker
Sunblast
Doedre's Tenure
Goldrim
Tabula Rasa

Notes on Skills:
Added Cold on Lightning Trap is to freeze/shatter mobs, which makes for safer clearing. It's not a must, you can use Elemental Focus and/or Lightning Penetration instead of that and Critical Strikes for pure DPS.
Phase Run can be used along with a Quicksilver to just clear with the wands. It works fine, just costs you a flask.
Single-target options also include other spells, like Cremation / Volatile Dead / Magma Orb. Those all work, but in my opinion Ball Lightning feels best. Cremation is likely the most DPS for things like Shaper, but I kill Shaper with 1-2 trap-sets per Phase anyhow.
Frost Wall or Conversion Trap are usable with this build, just clunky to use.
Vaal Grace is amazing for this build, if you want to give up either a reliable Golem, or CwDT/Immortal Call combo. I find that I do fine without it, and I forget to use it in any case.
Wise Oak is certainly an option if you want to give up a Life Flask and can balance the resists right.
It's technically possible to get Shaper weapons that equal or best Shimmeron if you have a 50 ex Budget. Best of luck with that.

Bandit:
Help Alira

Pantheon:
Major: Soul of the Brine King / Soul of Solaris
Minor: Soul of Ryslatha

Ascendancy:
Normal Lab: Perfect Crime
Cruel Lab: Chain Reaction
Merc Lab: Born in the Shadows
Uber Lab: Pyromaniac

Enchantments / Vaal:
Helmet: Reduced Ball Lightning Projectile Speed if Ball Lightning, Addition Geyser if Cremation, Additional Corpse Use if Volatile Dead (and probably use it on a helmet in that case), Additional Chains if Magma Orb.
Boots: 120% Crit, Flat Lightning, or Ele Pen. Which is best depends on gear.

Leveling Order (very flexible, this is what I did):
41 points - http://poeurl.com/bSf6
61 points - http://poeurl.com/bSf7
88 Points - http://poeurl.com/bShw
117 Points - http://poeurl.com/bSf5

Testimonials!
Spoiler
"
souljaboi25 wrote:
Here's how things are currently looking at 85:

"


- Cleared all shaper guardians -- mino wasn't deathless but everything else was
- Ball lightning DPS is extremely real, given that the opponent isn't moving. Stationary targets get crunched very hard. Fast moving targets like Shaped Bog t15 are pretty annoying
- Ball lightning is extremely good at clearing Harb / Beast packs
- Lightning trap is amazing to map with, clearing screens upon screens of enemies with a single toss
- Defenses are not bad. Spider / Temp Chains / Blind along with acro/arrow dancing is super solid. I'm only at 4.5k HP though, not sure how you hit 6k although OP does have ten levels on me. A lot of manual dodging is required, which is totally fine with me
- Will attempt Uber Elder once I hit 90. I've cleared it on my moltenstrike character so I know how the fight works. I'll likely swap out one of my rings for Dream Fragments specifically for the Uber Elder fight
- Not sure how viable this is as a (comfortable) starter. Build is very mana-intensive without Tinkerskin/Energy Battery combo, and defenses can be pretty lacking until later. Traps are being heavily buffed next league, but Tinkerskin is typically cheap -- not sure how prices will work out next league
- I bought a few 6-link Tinkerskins to corrupt to try and get +1 socketed gems but no luck yet lol


Art Credit:
High Voltage by Nik-Moskvin

[3.22] 💀The Grim Reaper💀 - Hexblast Poison Mines Assassin
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3347191

[3.22] ❄️⚡CantripN's Hadoken! - Lightning Conduit / Crackling Lance / Arc Permafreeze⚡❄️
www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3229590
Last edited by CantripN on Jul 27, 2018, 9:52:21 AM
Last bumped on Aug 29, 2018, 11:18:55 AM
Finally made a guide, about time!! ;)

Jokes aside, I've often made your builds and haven't been disappointed and this one is no exception. I made an iteration of this trapper (with cremation trap instead of ball lightning, but I definitely agree that BL is superior) and had loads of fun, with some insane DPS.

It's hard to find trapper guides and builds cause all the saboteur on ladder are GC mines, so +1 for that mate :D.

Definitely recommend it!
Seen this beast melt bosses. Its insane!
Great build, one question: how do you generate power charges while clearing? or do you always generate them via jaws? what about blast cascade?
ign: PhrozenFlame
"
cocomoloco wrote:
Great build, one question: how do you generate power charges while clearing? or do you always generate them via jaws? what about blast cascade?


I have Blast Cascade. It's what generates them for bosses. For clear you usually rely on Jaws as a quick swap, or on fast enough clearing (so that Blast Cascade is enough).

For clearing, you don't have any issues clearing even without Power Charges, so it doesn't really matter. You only need the full DPS for bosses.
[3.22] 💀The Grim Reaper💀 - Hexblast Poison Mines Assassin
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3347191

[3.22] ❄️⚡CantripN's Hadoken! - Lightning Conduit / Crackling Lance / Arc Permafreeze⚡❄️
www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3229590
"
CantripN wrote:
"
cocomoloco wrote:
Great build, one question: how do you generate power charges while clearing? or do you always generate them via jaws? what about blast cascade?


I have Blast Cascade. It's what generates them for bosses. For clear you usually rely on Jaws as a quick swap, or on fast enough clearing (so that Blast Cascade is enough).

For clearing, you don't have any issues clearing even without Power Charges, so it doesn't really matter. You only need the full DPS for bosses.


ah ok apologies. Makes sense. I was looking at your leveling trees and there you don't have Blast Cascade. Wasn't looking at the PoB (yet).
ign: PhrozenFlame
I've been mapping a lot this league alongside this Trap build, and it feels like playing with a Pre-nerf Voltaxic archer... who has permanent Vaal haste and 10 million barrage dps. It's clear is so smooth, but the boss killing is absolutely top notch.

Definitely recommend people try this out. Having played with it, I can't believe they're BUFFING traps. Might as well buff Spectres.


Gwath
putting this together now, my two big issues are:

- resists are super duper hard to max
- gloves like yours are super duper hard to come by

will let you know how things go
"
souljaboi25 wrote:
putting this together now, my two big issues are:

- resists are super duper hard to max
- gloves like yours are super duper hard to come by

will let you know how things go


Well, I have some stuff for sale, mostly older gear, if you need.
[3.22] 💀The Grim Reaper💀 - Hexblast Poison Mines Assassin
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3347191

[3.22] ❄️⚡CantripN's Hadoken! - Lightning Conduit / Crackling Lance / Arc Permafreeze⚡❄️
www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3229590
"
CantripN wrote:
"
souljaboi25 wrote:
putting this together now, my two big issues are:

- resists are super duper hard to max
- gloves like yours are super duper hard to come by

will let you know how things go


Well, I have some stuff for sale, mostly older gear, if you need.


that would actually be great, can you shoot me a pm with any gloves/rings/jewels you have for sale with pricetags? currently at work so won't be home for quite a few hours

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