Wardloop Elementalist BuildGuide ~ PoE 3.17

Color Code: Section Information Bullet Points Special Info Strength Gems/Supports Intelligence Gems/Supports Dexterity Gems/Supports ******************* Selling Points of the Build *************************** ~ Insane Damage(way more than necessary to kill all content quickly) ~ Can Be played while blind, if you aren't blind yet, you will be soon ~ Makes Any Damage Spell Viable even the bad ones ~ Only is countered by 2 map mods(reduced flask charges and reduced CDR) ~ Ele Reflect Immune / Stun/Shock/Freeze/Chill Immune ~ Giga Recovery based on Damage taken ~ Can get up to about 90-100% spell suppress(51% from boots+gloves+helm 35%from body armour 10% from flask + 8% conditional boot enchant)(I was too lazy to recraft my gear for this but certainly doable with affixes available ~ Good Clear Speed as everything around us dies while we loot ~ Can AFK most content ******************* The Builds Shortcomings *************************** ~ Tanky until its not, basically the build feels kindof immortal but once you hit a threshold of damage mods on a map/heavy hit from boss, things turn into random one shots. Ultimately this build didn't quite meet my comfort threshold for tankiness IMO ~ You can't see anything... Sirus Ground Affects - Maven Memory Game - Atziri Flameblasts... Really makes some fights extensively more difficult as some of the heavy hits that normally are easy to dodge are very hard to see. ~ You are now blind ~ EXPENSIVE( Divergent CWDT / Anomalous Skeletons / high quality well divined olroths resolve ) Some fairly expensive pieces feel pretty mandatory to get the build off the ground decently ~ Have to level as another build(doesn't work at all until you are able to equip some operational ward gear ~ Mediocre movespeed, although we don't have to stop and cast the clear can feel a bit slow at times just because walking at a slow pace feels bad even if we are blowing up the entire screen ******************* Key Piece for Wardloop to be OPERATIONAL *************************** ~ Olroth's Resolve with permanent / all practical use case permanent uptime. This requires a Combination of Increased Flask Charges gained/Flask Duration/Reduced Flask Charges Used AND Flask charges per second from body armour/traitor ect ~ 3 charges per 3 seconds -> Flask Mastery + Body Armour T5 implicit ~ 8 charges per 5 seconds -> Traitor Keystone + 2 empty Flask Slots ~ 74% increased flask charge gain(Cluster(29%)+Timeless Jewel(10% notable) + Mana flask cluster(35%)) ~ 50% Flask duration (Belt(32%) + Cluster(18%)) ~ 20% Reduced Flask Charges Used Belt ~~NOTE: This is not permanent sustain but my olroths will last a couple minutes which essentially ends up being practical permanent flask uptime as every time I get charges via boss fights / mapping the duration of flask is extended ~ Ward of atleast 1500 (technically you could probably get away with lower ward but would need lower level CWDT setups + higher chaos res) ~ 100% global defences from skin of loyal/lords(Cheap) OR grasping Mail(EXPENSIVE) ~ 550+ Ward Helm ~ 400+ Ward Gloves/Boots ~ Survival Secrets(reduces olroth flask effect so its downside takes away less ward) ~ 30% global defences from staff mastery ~ Cast When Damage Taken (alt quality or leveled appropriate for self damage you are taking) ~ Normal Level 20 We need to take 3272 damage per every spell cycle ~ Divergent 20 qual Level 20 2617 damage per every spell cycle ~ Divergent 34 qual Level 21(kane enables level 21 spells via 18 cwdt +3 support levels) 2362 Per spell cycle ~ Self Damage Mechanics ~ Heartbound Loop 1k-1.2k self damage depending on Quality(noxious catalysts) + armour character has(avoid armour at all costs, it bricks our self damage) ~ Fobidden Rite 40% of HP Pool * chaos res(-60 = 1.6) ~2.5k HP -60 chaos res = 1600 ~3k HP -60 chaos res = 1920 ~3.5k HP -30chaos res = 1820 ~4k HP -10 chaos Res = 1760 ~Heartbound + 2.5K HP -60 res = 2600-2800 self damage(enabling lvl 20 divergent CWDT) ~2xHeartbound Loop + 2.5k HP -60 res = 3600-4000k Self damage(enabling regular lvl20 CWDT) (2 heartbounds typically needed to enable budget setup with normal CWDT) ~Ward tanks forbidden rite and heartbound loop separately so you only need like 1500-2000 to completely mitigate all self damage even though every spell cycle you may be taking 3k + from both combined ~ Cast When Damage Taken CDR Breakpoint ~Normal = 250 ms (99% reduced skeleton duration (5 to dust jewels or 3 + anomalous minion speed) ~27% CDR = 200ms(roughly) (98% reduced skeleton duration(5 to dust jewels or 3 + anomalous minion speed) + 51% less duration from less duration support(20 qual lvl 3) ~ normal should be about 4 casts a second while 27% cdr will be about 5 casts a second. You can measure yourself to verify you are hitting breakpoint by socketing in voltaxic burst, counting stacks and dividiong duration by number of stacks ~ 27% CDR ~This can be achieved 4 ways ~(bad)Method 1: 15% CDR from shaper boots(expensive and hard to craft good ward boots this way) + 12% belt benchcraft ~(recommended)Method 2: 12% belt benchcraft + 5-X% eater of worlds boot implicit(lowest tier works) + 12% cdr from anomalous temporal rift+ashes of the stars (this method allows for a much better pair of boots and brittle boot mod for easy crit cap ~(non ashes) Method 3: 12% belt benchcraft + t6 10% cdr eater of worlds boot implicit(expensive to roll up) + 5% anomalous temporal rift ~(how did you obtain this belt?) Method 4: 20% cdr belt that somehow also has flask mods + 7% cdr eater of worlds boot implicit ~ Recoup ~Recoup life nodes on witch are mandatory for most our HP sustain and eventually getting recoup on helm/ring improves sustain greatly ~Recoup mana ring benchcraft + Recoup Mana Mastery on arcane capacitor is mandatory to sustain spell casts. ALSO you may need inspiration support on second 6L or reduced mana cost mastery in addition if mana costs become to high IF running 2 heartbound loops consider getting %reduced mana cost mana mastery into build/inspiration as if mana sustain isn't high enough loop will get broken ~ Trigger The LOOP ~Essence of Insanity two offhand weapons(trigger lvl 20 spirit) ~weapon swap back and forth to begin loop(this spawns spirits and despawns them thus proccing self damage from heartbound loop) ~To initiate loop this may need to be done a couple times at first before self damage mana recouped has come into full swing ~ DOORS BRICK THE LOOP ~Everytime we go through any sort of door there is a grace period put on our character which breaks loop due to taking no self damage ~This requires us the player to weapon swap once on each door to restart our cast when damage taken loop ~ GEM LEVELS MATTER ~ Cast when damage taken supports gems based on level requirement, low level cast when damage takens used to get level 11 summon skeletons and high level cast when damage taken for higher level spells, if a gem is too high level than the skill just won't be procced by CWDT ~ Things That can Brick Build? ~ Determination(any additional armour scaling) will make self damage from heartbound not enough to proc CWDT ~ Shock or Other Effects that increase damage taken(searing exarch passive on atlas tree) this makes shock mandatory and means we have to avoid things like searing exarch passive as us taking additional increased damage will cause forbidden rite to deal to much damage and kill the character ~ Immortal/defense shrine, these stop us from taking enough damage to proc CWDT ~ Elusive(any amount of this) avoid damage can apply to self damage and will stop loop from occuring once avoid damage is procced ******************* Leveling This Build *************************** Simply put, you cannot level this character the way it is, all of the key items to even make this build function the way its supposed to are not equippable till like level 60+. Ultimately I would recommend leveling as something else and respeccing when you can equip the key items of the build: ~ generic spell caster of your choosing(make sure to grab nice leveling gear +1 socketed tabula +1 wands ect) ~ Hollow Palm These options should lead to relatively smooth leveling to get to blood aqueducts and then leveling to the point you can equip the key gear, as long as you have some good leveling gear it shouldn't be too bad. ******************* Gem Link Setups ************************* IMPORTANT: youtube comment: Jason Ebenstein ~ "Yo Lance, pro tip, move the skeletons and forbidden rite to the first socket in their links and you damage spells to 2-6. It'll force the skels and fr to cast first which means you only weapon swap once in a map." ~ this worked and I definitely recommend doing so, only having to weapon swap once is great QoL! MANDATORY GEM SETUPS: ~ Cast When Damage Taken(low level) - Forbidden Rite(low level) - (Assassin's Mark/Snipers Mark/Culling Strike)(low level) ~ (lvl 5)Cast When Damage Taken(low level) - Anomalous Minion Speed(40% reduced duration) - Less Duration(51% less for 27% CDR breakpoint) - (lvl 11)Anomalous Summon Skeletons(Important because skeletons can get killed before cooldown is up and mess up timing with server tick)(Expensive) ~ Temporal Rift (mandatory for hitting 27% cdr, otherwise you don't need this) Recommended Utility/Damage Gems: ~Righteous Fire(divergent) 40% more damage + 50% increased spell damage ~Sigil of Power(phantasmal) A LOT of flat lightning damage + 50% increased spell damage(use on boss fights) ~Flame Dash/Phase Run/inc duration(use what suits you for making mapping better) DPS: ~2 6L damage setups, I recommend 2 damage spells per CWDT gem and then 3 supports besides cast when damage taken. You can potentially do 3 damage gems but screen clutter gets a bit crazy ~ Atleast one of these damage setups will need Arcane surge and one will probably need inspiration to keep mana costs reasonable enough to be sustained ************** Misc Information / FAQ ****************** Bandits: Help Alira or 2 Passives if extra overcapped ele res Pantheon: Brine King(freeze immune + reduced chill effect) and Yugul(Helps us get to 95% curse reduction) Ascendancy Order: Mastermind of Discord -> Heart of Destruction -> Bastion of Elements -> Shaper of Winter Map Mods to AVOID: Reduced Flask Charges Gained & Reduced player Cooldown Recovery Rate(bricks CWDT loop) SSF Viable?: Not at all, way too many key items required to SSF viable Gem Link Space? Getting heartbound with zealotry/wrath saves us a gem link and enables good watchers eye (crit/pen/increased damage) Also hence we use unset ring for second ring to enable more gem spots ************** Budget Doable? ****************** ~Technically yes, but I don't recommend it given you start to sacrifice QoL and total EHP beginning to become very squish on the lower budget ~2 heartbound loops + Skin of Loyal/Lords(this chops off bigger gearing costs and enables regular cast when damage takens instead of divergent) ~Drop voices, just get normal ele clusters with prismatic heart/ect ~alt quality minion speed is pretty non negotiable in my opinion, would require 2 additional jewel sockets without it adding a massive dps cost losing crit multi/life jewels ~alt quality summon skeletons, doable without but NOT recommended(skeletons dying at the wrong times would just brick CWDT loop randomly if killed at the wrong times making for an inconsistent playstyle having loop randomly brick ~Forbidden Flame/Flesh(mostly just good aoe jewels and some Qol for power charge generation) I would just swap in power charge on crit into one of damage links and pick up life+crit multi jewel(will be more life and probably more single target too) ~Craft Runic Gear with dense fossils just shooting for decent numbers not triple T1 then using some eldrtich anul/exalts + block method for okay res suffixes ~belt fracture on bad base probably cheap then craftable with essences but won't be pretty(most likely a big loss in flat life)(if belt fracture too expensive settle for just one flask mod and grab an additional flask duration cluster) ~Olroths mandatory(without this the build does not function) ~Ashes of stars, pretty affordable thanks to being a common drop from ez to farm boss ~Kane of kulemak should be affordable if you start swapping mods like dropping +3 support for % spell damage or other usuable mods ect ect. (can also go for an annihilating light but will have to get a lot more res on gear/jewels if you do this) *********************** Crafting Rares ************************ ~ORB OF CONFLICT CRAFTING ~if you want something like T5 flask gain body armour implicit here is the most efficient way to upgrade to that 1 - roll with lesser(cheapest eldritch currency) till you hit the mod you want 2 - use t4 of opposing eldritch currency(this means orb of conflict will be weighted to upgrade your desired mod) and use orb of conflict 3 - if it takes the t4 to t5, then roll lesser currency till you get mod you want back, otherwise use another t4 currency + orb of conflict, repeat this always making opposing currency a t4 mod for highest odds to minimize orbs of conflict till you hit a high tier of the specific mod you are aiming for Example: t1 flask t4 whatever -> orb of conflict t2 flask t3 whatever -> eater of worlds t4 currency t2 flask t4 whatever -> orb of conflict t1 flask t5 whatever -> orb of conflict t2 flask t4 whatever -> orb of conflict t3 flask t3 whatever -> eater of worlds t4 currency t3 flask t4 whatever -> orb of conflict t4 flask t4 whatever -> eater of worlds t4 currency t5 flask t3 whatever -> SUCCESS ~ BELT: 1 - Buy a belt with fractured flask duration or reduced charges used(20%) 2 - Spam prefix essences till you hit other flask mod(reduced flask charges or flask duration(t1) 3 - anul third suffix + benchcraft CDR 4 - if you must have life multimod + suffixes can't be changed + reforge life more common 5 - repeat step 4 till acceptable life ~RING: 1 - buy ring with fractured recoup 2 - spam crit multi(scorn) essences till 3rd good suffix 3 - suffixes can't be changed + reforge life till good life (quality with fertile catalysts) 4 - benchcraft mana recoup + mana mod ~BOOTS: 1 - buy ilvl 84 Runic boots(base percentile 100% = 117 base ward) 2 - spam dense fossils till t1 flat and t1 % ward 3 - anul 3rd prefix 4 - prefixes can't be changed + aisling(repeat till prefix unveil for movespeed(best onslaught > chill > other) (repeat step 2 through 4 till happy with prefixes) 5 - make eater of worlds dominant with eater of worlds currency on implicit 6 - Eldritch anul to clear suffixes 7 - block suffix you don't want(benchcraft dex/fire res/life regen ect. ) 8 - eldritch exalt 9 - if bad mod, then remove benchcraft and eldritch anul and repeat from step 7 else go step 10 10 - eldritch exalt again, if bad then remove benchcraft and attempt eldritch anul(either you remove bad mod and go again or have to go back to no suffixes / step 7) 11- benchcraft 3rd suffix 12 - roll eldritch searing exarch for brittle ground(+5% base crit whenever you walk onto enemies) 13 - roll eater of worlds implicit for CDR(just 5% necessary to hit 27% breakpoint) Recommended Eldritch Implicits: Brittle Ground(5% base crit) + Cooldown recovery rate ~GLOVES: 1 - buy ilvl 84 runic gloves(base percentile 100% = 117 base) 2LIFE - Spam Essence of Greed till T1 flat ward + T1 %ward 2WARD - Spam dense fossils till triple t1 ward(t1+t2+t1 probably sellable) 3 - Follow boot craft steps from step 6 onward to 11 4 - eldritch searing exarch for unnerve on hit 5 - eldritch eater of worlds for exposure/spell suppress Recommended Eldritch Implicits: Unnerve + Spell Suppress ~HELMET: 1 - buy ilvl 84 runic crown(base percentile 100% = 189 base) 2 - Spam dense fossils till triple t1 ward(t1+t2+t1 probably sellable) 3 - Follow boot craft steps from step 6 onward to 11 4 - eldritch searing exarch for %damage per power charge/Recoup %phys damage/spell crit 5 - eldritch eater of worlds for spell damage/reservation efficiency Recommended Eldritch Implicits: Power Charge damage/spell crit/phys recoup + spell damage/mana efficiency ~Grasping Mail Craft: 1 - buy grasping mail with 100% global defences mod 2 - eater of worlds currency to make eater dominant 3 - eldritch anul off all suffixes 4 - beast split to hopefully get magic base with % global defences(if 2 prefixes this is guaranteed, if 3 then you will have to anul extra bad prefix off(if anul successful skip to step 7, if not go back to step 1) 5 - imprint %global damage grasping mail 6 - regal grasping mail, if extra prefix, anul(if global defences removed, use imprint to go back to magic base and repeat step 5) if anul successful go to step 7 7 - make eater of worlds dominant and eldritch exalt till 2 suffixes + global defenses prefix 8 - Benchcraft prefixes can't be changed + Aisling (if aisling gives prefix go to step 9, otherwise eldritch anul and go again) 9 - if veiled prefix(longer text) then benchcraft on %block spell damage for high chance at unveiling % life%mana(if not then attempt anul and go back to step 9 or step 5 10 - now that you have %life + global defenses follow step 6 through 11 of boot craft except go for 3 suffixes instead of 2 with benchcraft because we shall be benchcraft flat life on prefix 11 -follow orb of conflict crafting steps till gain 2 flask charge every 3 seconds then use eater of worlds currency for second desirable implicit Recommended Eldritch Implicits: 2 flasks per 3 seconds(t5) + all res/wrath aura effect ***************************************************************************