[3.3] 7k HP warping Sire of Shards Storm burst/CwC/Ball lightning Elementalist


Warping around in T16

Afking in T15 (no flasks or skills used, pure afk)

Hey guys, I wanna share my first build ever with you: a high life Sire of Shards Storm burst / Cast while Channeling / Ball lightning / Lightning warp elementalist.

Some stuff I wrote might need updating because I'm experimenting a lot of new things but I'm going to edit stuff as I play.

Edit 10/08: Added more recent videos (includes an uber elder attempt)

General discussion about the build
Spoiler

I'm a long time player and always followed guides for my characters, but recently I've been wanting to try and create my own build and have it be something interesting.

I had seen a video of a frost Sire of Shards build and I thought this unique looked so cool and wanted to create something with it. I've come up with this idea of using Storm burst together with Cast while channeling to cast Lightning warp to keep moving while killing stuff all around me by only holding one button.

I tried a lot a spells in a Tabula to see what could work nicely and I found that ball lightning would be the best as it had a lot of similarities with Storm burst. Both have the tags Spell, AoE, Projectile and Lightning damage. AoE damage doesn't do much at all though because it only affects Storm Burst's explosions. AoE area applies to Lighting Ball's range though which can help a lot with clear.

I figured I didn't need any attack or cast speed with this setup which would make it possible to spend all my resources on damage and life.

I started looking for all the life nodes first and at first made a version using both kaom’s chest and boots, and tried taking as much life regen as possible but then I figured with the 0.5% elemental leech it would make this life regen not that useful. Ended up looking for another pair of boots and found Windshriek which sounded pretty nice, letting me have a 2nd curse (also curse area) as well as some damage and movement speed, and also another 4link for this new curse.

I tried projectile weakness and conductivity and like the knockback on projectile weakness so I kept it. I tried going for warlord’s mark to get some endurance charges for my immortal calls, as well as more leech. This current setup doesn’t look too effective so I’m looking for help particularly on those utility links.

PoB showed over 7k life with these setups which sounded good to me. I started looking at damage sources after that and found the malachai’s awakening helmet that had a lot of flat damage and spell damage along with some resists which sounded perfect. I wanted to use an essence worm with wrath so no life would be reserved. I went with gloves with slower projectile for projectile damage, amulet and ring with elemental damage and then took a belt with resists that would ensure equal total elemental resists for maximum wise oak use. I went with jewels that had %life, spell damage while wielding staves and either spell damage or projectile damage. I wasn’t going to get any crit because items didn’t allow it so I took Elemental overload since even with 5% crit, the amount of projectiles and hits was going to be enormous and would crit a lot anyways.

For the links, I had 4 slots taken up by the skills and the CWC which left me with 2 slots to improve the gameplay and make it smooth. Since I wanted to warp around, Reduced duration was pretty much necessary. For the last link, I chose GMP because the extra projectile would ensure the whole screen would be covered. I then tried to toy around and find the best single target setup with these green, red and blue socket that remained when I socketed only Storm Burst / Cast while Channeling / Lightning Ball. Slower projectile was a great addition with the synergy with Ball Lightning, Controlled Destruction as well since we went with 0% crit anyway. Empower lvl 4 was a great link as well since it supported both spells.

I chose to kill all the bandits even tough at first I saved Oak for the life regen. At some point I had a setup with about 7.5k life and almost 800 life regen per second I believe, but decided to switch it all because I wasn’t sure this much life regen would make a difference anyway. (I also had a stone/fire golem duo and the golem ascendancy point instead of the pendulum one).

For the Pantheon, I went with Solaris for survivability and the no extra crit damage paired with the Light enchantment on gloves which creates consecrated ground for 5 second when taking a critical strike. Then I went with Shakari but I’m not too sure about that one.

Finally, I’ve been looking at Loreweave a lot because even though I lose 1.5k life (dropping me at around 6k life), it gives the 80 max res roll, damage, and also another 6L. I don’t know what I could use that 6L for though apart from an actual single target but I would need advice on what could work considering I have no cast speed.

This is probably never going to be a boss killer anyway so it might not be that big of a deal to look for a single target 6L.

Edit: haven't re-read all I wrote but I changed a few things as this was the original build I had in mind that completely revolved around the lightning warp being part of the 6L, but without a single target weapon swap it felt a bit tedious to kill rares and bosses so I just went with a self cast lightning warp and 2 additional support gems for my 6L instead. It is still really pleasant to play.


Pros and cons
Spoiler


Pros

-Uses cool items like Sire of Shards, Malachai's awakening and Windshriek
-360° clear
-Blood magic = no mana problems
-Pretty tanky witch (high life, lots of life leech, life on spell hit, sulphur/word of light consacrated ground = almost unkillable unless against a boss in which case it's still tanky but you won't recover as much life)
-Double curse
-Can do all map mods
-Can kill shaper
-Uber elder should be doable if you are experienced (I am not)
-Doesn't require Inpulsa's, though I guess you could use it but I personally am getting tired of this chest



Cons

-Not recommended as a league starter
-Requires two 6L if you want clear speed and single target damage
-Can't play on a toaster



Videos
Spoiler

old

T15 Reef https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzEMArZC6dM&feature=youtu.be&t=7s
T16 Forge of the phoenix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiMyDgzlXrc (monster life + boss life + endurance charges)
T16 Lich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5jONkP_YZU&feature=youtu.be
T16 Purifier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88q4YoDzymI
T16 Constrictor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVgQ7tBkHI
Shaper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojmeSwNHYoM
Uber Elder FAIL (first attempt) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G43hyj6D3g

This was the third time I faced Uber Elder, the 2 other fights being on an RF Juggernaut. I still need to learn the fight and the mechanics (you can see that I try to damage the Elder in the first few seconds, this shows how much I know the fight). I feel like the fight should be doable if you are experienced. I also lack boots enchant which could help a bit, and I should probably use kaom's root and a sapphire flask.



Passive Skill Tree, Ascendancy, Pantheon
Spoiler

Path of Building

https://pastebin.com/jxCMAusZ (my character, updated 11/08)

lvl 94 Skill tree (updated 11/08)

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/3.3.2/AAAABAMCAQQHBLMI9AthDlwQWBEPES0TNRZvF6QaOBpsG_Ec3B8YH8ci9CSqJpUnLyt4LJwtfS2LNZI26TpYOtg64TsNPC1Eq0V-RZ1GUkbXTLNN41BCUftTNVNSVEdVS1WuVcZWSFnzYeJmVGjyakNq-mt6bAttGXGFcg92EXyDfq9-x4IQgpuDX4PMg9uFe4w2jRmPGo9Gj6aQVZMnl5WX9Jo7muCdrqEvogCmV6a-pwivbLFCtYW3PrzqvorAZsG0xq7Iv8y3zRbQH9QH1XXVptgk2L3ZX9q52t3cjd2M37DgEuFz42rkIuWL6-7sOO0871Dv6_Af8kX8TP4K_o8=


Still toying around with the tree, currently trying the avoid interruption from stuns just above the Witch start.

Ascendancy

Paragon of Calamity: Leech is super important for us, reduced elemental damage is great, and no reflect is simply too good.

Shaper of Desolation + Beacon of Ruin: Spread ailments instantly to the whole screen, shock increases damage taken by 20% minimum (great because we do lots of little damage which wouldn't shock for much otherwise).

Pendulum of Destruction VS Liege: Liege ends up being better if you can have 2 sockets for golems. It's 40% increased damage + 30% if you use a lvl 20 fire golem which equates to having the Pendulum damage bonus permanently. If you want to use other links than golems, just go Pendulum.

Pantheon

I chose Solaris and Shakari but I'm open to suggestions on this.


Gear
Spoiler

Current gear
Spoiler


Single target:

My choices are discussed in the separate parts under.


Core items
Spoiler



Sire of Shards: One of the two reason I went with this build. Pretty obvious, 360° cast with additional projectiles. A great unique with an actual unique ability.

Malachai's Awakening: The flat damage added is great and adds more damage than any other helmet I looked at. Blood magic is great because we spend next to nothing when casting spells, and it is regen'd anyway. I'd try and get a reduced lightning warp duration enchantment to make the gameplay even smoother but I don't really want to spend ages in Uber Lab. This is what we're aiming for though.

Essence Worm: Huge dps when paired with Wrath but that's not new. Works particularly well with Malachai's Awakening since we need to have 0 reserved life for the extra flat damage.

Atziri's Promise: Great utility flasks which gives extra life leech, damage and chaos resistance.

The Wise Oak: If you manage to have all three elemental resistances at the same amount, this flask is just insane. Great defence and some additional damage.


Body armour
Spoiler

I've tried both Kaom's Heart and Loreweave but I didn't know what to put in the 6L so I just ran it blank thinking it would only serve as a single target spell. Kaom's heart feels better in my opinion with the 1.5k life you get from it (currently sitting at 6.5k life with it). Might need further testing because the 80% max res and a 6L could be really useful.


Boots
Spoiler


I've tried both of these boots and I'm still not sure about what I'm going to go with. Kaom's bring a nice 600+ life and immunity to stun (which can be a problem because it breaks your channeling). On the other hand, Windshriek has movement speed, damage, resists and most importantly the +1 curse and curse area. It lets you have another 4L.


Rings, amulet, belt
Spoiler


You have to get all the life and resistances you can get with these pieces of equipment.
Look for: Life - Resistances - Spell / Elemental damage.
Try to find a nice ring and amulet and then find a belt that balances the resistances perfectly for the Wise Oak's effect.



I've been trying this ring which has the life gained for each enemy hit by your spells shaper mod to test how tanky I could get. The result is pretty amazing, given how many hits ball lightning and storm burst do per second. I can even afk in packs because I have a ball lightning CWDT.


Gloves
Spoiler


Slower projectile adds projectile damage and works well if you socket a Ball lightning in your CWDT setup. Blind is great because we hit targets a lot of times resulting in a high chance of blinding them.


Jewels
Spoiler


The Watcher's eye is a nice addition but it can get expensive. Otherwise just look for jewels that have +7% life, spell damage while holding staves and spell/projectile damage.


Flasks
Spoiler


Instant life flask as a panick button, sulphur is nice for damage + life regen, Atziri's + Wise Oak add a nice bit of damage and quicksilver flask makes the build super smooth when mapping.



Gems and links
Spoiler

Staves: G-R-B-B-B-B
Sire of shards: Greater Multiple Projectile - Reduced duration - Storm burst - Cast while channeling - Ball lightning - Lightning warp
Agnerod West: Slower projectile - Empower - Storm burst - Cast while channeling - Ball lightning - Controlled Destruction

1st 4L: B-B-R-B
Flame dash - Faster casting - Fire golem - Lightning golem

2nd 4L: R-R-R-R
CWDT (lvl 1) - Immortal call (lvl 3) - Increased duration - Warlord'd mark

3rd 4L: R-G-B-B
CWDT (lvl 3) - Projectile weakness (lvl 7) - Ball lightning (lvl 6) - Culling strike

Curses
We get two curses with the current items. I went with Projectile Weakness (G) for the extra project damage taken and the knockback. The second one I chose Warlord's mark (R) for the endurance charges on kill and the extra 2% life leech. The endurance charges are a pretty nice addition to the immortal call setup. You could go for Conductivity (B) but I feel like the extra leech is pretty nice when doing single target, and extra damage isn't particularly needed when mapping.

Edit: Currently trying a new pair of gloves that seems to work wonders:


Culling strike is a nice addition, blind is nice, slower proj on the ball lightning means more chance for one ball to finish off enemies since it's gonna hit them more times than without slower proj, and I'm trying the avoid interrupt with the extra 55% from the nodes above the witch start. This gives 80%+ chance to avoid interruption from stuns while casting, I can't tell how much it helps but it feels like it does.
Lvl 6 ball lightning does good enough damage (can kill packs in T12). It helps when you get stunned and can't leech from self-cast. The ball has more chance to blind, will knockback enemies thanks to proj weakness, leech, and finish off the enemies with 10% or less of their life thanks to culling strike.


This is the end of my guide, thanks for your attention and I'm now all ears for comments and suggestions to improve this idea.
Last edited by sharkade on Aug 14, 2018, 6:04:18 AM
Last bumped on Aug 28, 2018, 5:02:07 AM
I love the idea, but I think there are a bunch of things you could potentially improve.

I don't love the curse setups, given that you're relying on CwDT to inflict them. Seems better to either forget about them or ditch the Malachai's Awakening and use Blasphemy.

Flame Dash is probably better than Lightning Warp for your manual movement skill. Needs fewer slots and it's a bit faster.

Get a Quicksilver! Lightning Warp uses your movement speed.

Honestly I don't think you should use Sire for single target damage at all. You could keep an Agnerod West in your weapon swap with the single target gems in it. Makes swapping between the setups much easier, and bumps up your damage a lot.

If you get rid of Malachai's Awakening you could also go Mind over Matter! There's a Watcher's Eye that gives mana leech while affected by Wrath, or you could use Mind of the Council for mana recovery.

Definitely think keeping the Kaom's on is the right way to go.

But yeah, I really like the build. Might try a version of it one day!
Have you done something awesome with [url=http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Sire_of_Shards]Sire of Shards[/url]? PM me and tell me all about it!
It's an honour to have a feedback from you, thank you. Thanks for creating the Sire of Shards.

"
viperesque wrote:

I don't love the curse setups, given that you're relying on CwDT to inflict them. Seems better to either forget about them or ditch the Malachai's Awakening and use Blasphemy.

"
viperesque wrote:

If you get rid of Malachai's Awakening you could also go Mind over Matter! There's a Watcher's Eye that gives mana leech while affected by Wrath, or you could use Mind of the Council for mana recovery.

I've been enjoying this curse setup even with CwDT, but I would give a shot at trying something else. If I were to ditch the Malachai's Awakening I would lose a lot of damage though (~20%). Going MoM and getting for this watcher's eye would make this a totally different build which I can't really afford to do right now as I almost used all my currency. This is probably a character I'm going to do every league as I've been enjoying it so much, so I might try that approach next league.

"
viperesque wrote:

Flame Dash is probably better than Lightning Warp for your manual movement skill. Needs fewer slots and it's a bit faster.

Get a Quicksilver! Lightning Warp uses your movement speed.


But I like my Lightning warp :(. I've always been using flame dash or shield charge and wanted to try something else. Flame dash is faster but it's also limited in use. I guess I could take out swift affliction and put it instead to have both an instant and a constant movement skill.

I did not know that lightning warp used movement speed, I will try a quicksilver instead of the basalt!

Edit: Just got a quicksilver. It ENABLES the build. It's pretty insane as it makes the Cast while channeling lightning warp actually feel really good. I used to have to travel short distances (I think because casting a lightning warp was too long otherwise and 2 ball lightning would be cast after a lightning warp, or something like that) but now I can just warp to the other side of the screen almost instantly. You made my day, this feels so good.
"
viperesque wrote:

Honestly I don't think you should use Sire for single target damage at all. You could keep an Agnerod West in your weapon swap with the single target gems in it. Makes swapping between the setups much easier, and bumps up your damage a lot.

Definitely agree on this one, and I had my eyes on the Agnerod West as well. The only thing is it means that this is another 6L and 6 gems you want to 20+/20+. This is probably what I'm going to go for right now.

"
viperesque wrote:

But yeah, I really like the build. Might try a version of it one day!

Cool! It's probably easier to see how the build feels by playing it. I'm probably going to try a MoM approach next league, though I'd need to rework a lot of things. It would be pretty great to have both versions available though! I've also been looking at going Inquisitor so I might want to try that also.

Thanks a lot for the feedback.
Last edited by sharkade on Aug 7, 2018, 6:14:27 PM
Looks fun and smooth for clearing, but it's easy to make a build that clears fast. The single target seems even worse than the stuff I come up with :p

It may be fixed if you get a proper weapon swap setup though. I'd like to see a video of that, a boss fight with a 6L or even a 5L on a 2nd weapon built for single target.
Yeah single target is definitely not something I had in mind when making the build! The goal was to make mapping fun while being safe (I hate dying while mapping, especially considering that lightning warp can make me teleport in the middle of a pack). There are plenty of builds that clear fast but I've never had as much fun as I have now. Could be that I'm biased because it's my character though haha.
I never really played any burst characters that could deal with shaper's phases in a matter of seconds, which is probably why I'm not super concerned about the single target DPS. To be honest I didn't even think about trying Shaper at first when I was building the char.

Yesterday I bought an Agnerod West that I 6 linked (500 or so fuses, feels good) and bought a few extra gems I needed to have a full setup. I'm thinking of giving up on a bit of life to get more damage too. I will upload new videos soon which should show a more accurate gameplay (I was only lvl 82 in the T16 videos, I'm gonna be 92 soon).

Edit: added videos including my attempt at Uber elder.
Last edited by sharkade on Aug 10, 2018, 6:41:14 AM
Both the clear and the Shaper look a lot better now! Nicely done. Very tempted to play.
Have you done something awesome with [url=http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Sire_of_Shards]Sire of Shards[/url]? PM me and tell me all about it!

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info