Hey there Exiles!

Since I was PMed and asked about my build by some people (since I posted here). I am running this since week 1, I promised to make a showcase and a concept breakdown, as well as some crafting advice.

(initially I wanted to write a full guide, but when I searched for HoT guides I already found plenty - so I just wanted to share the concept instead - if you have any further questions, feel free to ask in this thread)

Video Showcase and PoB:

• T16 Lycia, Herald of the Scourge with 30% more monster life affliction

• Casually clearing a Sanctum floor 4 room

• Alch&Go mapping for storing up Sanctums (while watching a movie on the side)

• My current character PoB in Sanctum league link

Why I wanted to play this version of HoT Autobomber in Sanctum:

• very quick Alch&Go mapper for stacking up Sanctums fast
• perfect build for Sanctum runs due to fast movement, good damage with permanent uptime, auto aim, no need to stand still and able to focus on dodging mechanics
• not meta (especially my version) so gear was not in demand and not that expensive to get
• does not require many buttons to click and is easy on the hand to play
• doesn't require being a particularly skillful player
• more effective HP and actually more durable than other HoT Autobomber versions on Elementalist - >100% overcaped elemental resist + immune to chaos damage for mapping, so Altar farming and map mods are no problem.

General Concept and thoughts about the build archetyp:

HoT Autobombers are around for a while and there are enough guides out there that explain the basic concept behind it (so I won't go into much detail here)

What my version does differently is how the build deals with Storm Secret rings self damage. On top of investing into regen, max lightning resist, I wanted to make use of Graven's Secret and 6 minimum absorption charges, which are provided by using Grand Spectrums. This gives the build 76% energy shield recoup for elemental damage taken, which constantly happens when Herald of Thunder is hitting while wearing Storm Secret rings. This paired with other recovery methods leads to a much more comfortable play style when compared to other classic HoT builds on Elementalist. You do not have to split your life pool with MoM, don't lack recovery and do not run out of mana, life or ES when you are not killing stuff - this approach also allows the build to go CI, which solves a big problem of most HoT builds, which usually lack chaos resist.

What that leads to is a much tankier and durable version of HoT Autobomber on Elementalist with higher effective HP compared to established versions which tend to utilize Glorious Vanity and MoM - the top end of this version of mine is also a lot higher if you want to invest big (also, this is a non-Mageblood build which is a welcome change I feel)

TLDR: HoT Autobomber, but with great single target damage, even better clearing, which actually can tank a few hits and has actual sustain compared to all the other popular squishy, mapping only HoT builds out there, which struggle on bosses.

Some math behind sustaining Storm Secret damage and recoup:

Storm Secret damages your character every time HoT hits an enemy (which is up 8 times a second with well rolled rings) for 250 lightning damage/hit. When wearing 2 rings, that is 2 instances of that damage taken.

So we are taking 500 x 8 = 4000 lightning damage/second, without considering mitigation and resists. This build in particular mitigates this with 5 different layers.

• lightning resist and max lightning resist
• a Topaz flask with permanent uptime (enabled with Traitor timeless keystone from Brutal Restraint)
• elemental damage recoup for ES from Graven's Secret belt + Grand Spectrums for permanent minimum absorption charges
• ES regen
• ES leech

So doing the math: 4000 x 0.18 x 0.8 x 0.24 = 138 lightning damage taken per second, when recoup is in full effect and ramped. On my current setup I got constant 675/sec ES regen + 575/sec ES leech, which nets me >1100/second net ES recovery while leeching and >500/second ES regeneration while not leeching, which is plenty to sustain and great recovery for just running around and dealing with mechanics. This can be pushed even higher with more investment if you want to.

Other general mechanics utilized on the build:

Nothing really new here that wasn't done before, just a quick rundown of other interactions used on the build:

• Brutal Restraint Traitor timeless keystone + 2 empty flask slots + %flask charges gained for permanent flask uptime even while bossing (this build does not need more than 3 flasks, since it can't use them effectively anyway)
• CWDT 6-link setup for auto-shocking the full screen, Immortal Call and culling strike
• extreme Inpulsa's Broken Heart explosion scaling paired with good AoE scaling which leads to full screen explosions if only 1 single monster dies
• Anomalous Arctic Armour with prolif for freezing and chilling half the screen when getting hit by an enemy, chilled ground provides an up to 30% action speed slow due to massive ailment scaling on the build
• Phantasmal Lightning Warp and permanent Phase Run uptime for getting around fast (also great for clearing annoying "allies cannot die" totems, by just warping on top of them)
• Weapon Swap setup for bossing (quick and easy, only 1 button press) - if you don't like that or don't do mindless Altar farming like I do, you don't have to use that
• Enduring Composure small cluster for permanent Endurance charges and to fuel Immortal Call
• Sapped or Brittle Ground on boots (whichever you prefer) scaled with ailment effect

Crafting Gear:

People will look at my gear and think that it is crazy expensive - I will try to prove you wrong here, since crafting decent CI gear is actually not that hard (and it is not meta currently, so you can get good bases cheap)

Crafting Helmet/Gloves/Boots:

• the cheapest way is to go Rog crafting: pick ES bases, reroll and upgrade until you get 2 resists + int as suffixes, prefixes do not matter (you can get lucky and get GG items too you do not have to craft further as well) - or, just buy a base with suffixes already done from the market
• apply a single eldritch ember and use eldritch currency to roll flat or %ES as a single prefix
• suffixes cannot be changed + Aisling T4 for any affix you need (movement speed for boots, damage during flask effect for gloves etc.)
• craft missing ES mod from bench and you got yourself some really decent ES gear for cheap.

This can be done with chests too btw - ES/CI builds are rather cheap to get good gear for with the current state of crafting.

Crafting the Amulet:

• for the amulet, just spam fundamental + metallic fossil combo until you hit 2 good suffixes (preferable on a fractured base with any useful suffix, but you can go without it), with one of them being attributes + an open prefix - suffixes must be full
• clear prefixes with suffixes cannot be changed + scouring orb
• craft suffixes cannot be changed and do Harvest augment lightning (you will get lightning to attacks almost all the time but we do not care about that)
• do the last step again, this time, with lightning to attacks in place you will slam +1 lightning guaranteed and preferably remove lightning to attacks
• craft %ES from bench and exalt slam if you have an open prefix left, otherwise you are already done

I got my amulet from trade for cheap (was a steal I felt when I bought it), because someone either dropped it from a Heist curio or made it with Rog by the looks of it. That said, +1 lightning is a luxury, an amulet with all attributes, resist and %ES does the trick and those cost a couple chaos.

You can go for a +2 with all attributes etc. but those are very high budget to make and only for min-maxers with a lot of currency (I could have made one, but I did not felt the need for it with my current DPS numbers) - if anyone is interested I can post the crafting approach for a +2 one with attributes here, just ask.

Crafting Cluster Jewels:

• for large clusters just spam fundamental + dense combo + exalts until something decent, for mediums just harvest, reforge crit until you get the 2 notables you want, for small one just harvest reforge defense until Enduring Composure and something good (the one I got is insane, don't expect something like this)

That's probably it - if you have any questions, feel free to ask, thanks for reading!