The Elementalist is a spell-casting class that excels at manipulating all forms of elemental damage. This guide focuses on the Wave of Conviction skill, which sends out a wave of energy that deals with physical and elemental damage, converting a portion of physical damage to fire, cold, or lightning, depending on which element has dealt the most damage recently.
Build Concept
This build capitalizes on the Elementalist's ability to enhance elemental damage, particularly fire. The Wave of Conviction skill will be used primarily for its fire conversion, with the aim of igniting enemies for additional burning damage over time. The pros of this build include high area damage and strong ignite, while the cons are relatively lower single-target damage and a dependency on specific gear to reach its full potential.
Skill Gems and Links
For the main skill, Wave of Conviction will be linked with Controlled Destruction for increased spell damage, Elemental Focus for more elemental damage, Combustion to increase the chance of igniting enemies, Fire Penetration to reduce the enemy's fire resistance, and Intensify for increased area of effect and damage when casting the skill repeatedly.
Auras and Curses will play a significant role in amplifying damage. Anger will substantially increase fire damage, and Flammability will lower enemies' fire resistance, making them more susceptible to ignites.
Utility skills like Flame Dash linked with Arcane Surge will provide mobility and a spell damage boost, while Enduring Cry will grant endurance charges for survivability.
Passive Skill Tree
The passive skill tree should focus on increasing fire damage, area of effect, and critical strike chance. Key nodes include Elemental Overload for more elemental damage if you've dealt a critical strike recently and Elemental Equilibrium to lower enemy resistances when hit with a different element than the one they were previously hit with.
Ascendancy points should be allocated to Shaper of Flames to ignite all hits, Mastermind of Discord for reduced mana reservation of heralds, increased exposure effect, and Heart of Destruction for more area damage.
Gear and Flasks
Recommended gear includes Carcass Jack for increased area of effect and area damage, Searing Touch for increased fire damage and burning damage, and rare items with increased fire damage, life, and resistances.
Flasks are crucial for survival and damage output. A Divine Life Flask of Staunching for instant life recovery and bleed removal, a Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline for increased movement speed, and a Diamond Flask for increased critical strike chance are recommended.
Playstyle and Leveling
While leveling, focus on obtaining gear with life and resistances. Use leveling skills like Fireball or Firestorm until Wave of Conviction becomes available. In the endgame, position yourself to hit as many enemies as possible with Wave of Conviction, igniting and clearing them quickly.
Conclusion
The Wave of Conviction Elementalist build is a powerful choice for players who enjoy setting the battlefield ablaze with fire damage. With the right gear and skill setup, this build can efficiently clear maps and take on challenging content. As with any PoE build, flexibility and adaptation are key, so feel free to tweak the build to suit your playstyle and the gear you find.
This expanded guide provides a more detailed look at each Wave of Conviction Elementalist build aspect. Remember, the effectiveness of any build is highly dependent on the player's gear, skill, and familiarity with the game mechanics. Happy building!