Ky's Arc Elementalist Build Guide (PoE Secrets of the Atlas 3.26)

July 19th, 2025, 00:42

Disclaimer

I am currently playing the new Challenge League and a lot of things have been added of which no mention can be found in this guide?

While I would very much like to give you all the ins and outs of the new powercreep in the new Challenge League, it saddens me to let you know that no Early access is given out, and we thus have no more information than anyone else when updating our build guides before the new patches. We try our utmost to make sure everything is as close to perfect as we can, but we cannot forecast which special mechanics/interactions might exist in new Leagues. If something of tremendous power is teased or announced beforehand, you can find specific League specific remarks in the section on the Gear Section

What to Expect

🔸 T16 Maps ✔️
🔸 T16 Maps w/ a few Atlas Mechanics or some scarabs ✔️
🔸 Pinnacle bosses when playing well ✔️
🔸 T17 Maps ❗
🔸 Uber Content ❌
🔸 Uber Content when investing well beyond the guide ❗

Arc

Arc Arc is a fan-favorite spell that allows you play like a Ranged Caster. Its mechanics mostly revolve around chains, which allows it to be used as a clearing skill and single target skill simultaneously. It operates with a certain amount of set chains, whilst dealing more damage if it has nothing to chain to. The lightning caster archetype usually falls really well with beginner and veteran players alike, cause who doesn’t like feeling a bit like Thor?

Playstyle

As mentioned just now, the build plays like a Ranged Caster and is thus not expected to be in the fray too often. It is tailored to be able to take a hit but in no circumstance should you be finding yourself surrounded with enemies. After all, a fragile Witch isn’t well suited to be taking shots & hits from a lot of scary archers & spiders, is she? Other than getting to hold your distance, the build has a smooth playstyle & leverages a lot of Cast Speed to make it feel really solid while mapping. When bossing, as per usual with casters, you have to pick your moments. Fight when you can, Dodge when you must.

Build Assessment

Pro’s & Con’s

➕ Fast & Satisfactory
➕ Gets of the ground easily
➕ Explosions

➖ Requires more gear than some builds to feel great
➖ Never becomes a super tanky build, but elementalist buffs in 3.26 do help a lot.
➖ Investing is required to push further & further.

Viability in Numbers

🔸 Ease of Transitioning: ★★★★★
🔸 New Player Friendliness: ★★★★☆
🔸 Playstyle: ★★★★★
🔸 Ease of Gearing: ★★☆☆☆
🔸 Easily Executable: ★★★☆☆

Map Modifiers to Avoid

While certain combinations of modifiers are generally just bad, such as, for example, a couple of damage modifiers combined with Critical Strike Multiplier, these are things you are supposed to get a feel for yourself and test out. Just make sure not to combine too much crazy things together. Modifiers the build cannot run are listed here.

❗No Leech ❗Elemental Reflect ❗Less Recovery rate ❗Less Effect of Auras

Damage & Defenses

Mechanics

This build uses some benefits of Power Charge stacking to enable its Wands which in turn return you with enormous amounts of damage. Most of the other pieces of the puzzle focus on generic increments of damage or layering defenses. What does stand out in this build is the source of Explosions which will make PoE gameplay so much more enjoyable. Overall, we have tried to provide a very solid all around character which is capable of getting up there in terms of Damage whilst providing a reasonable amount of safety for its archetype.

Scaling & Layers

This build focuses on unconditional mitigation sources & a reasonable amount of HP Pool. It does so while trying to give up as little QoL and damage as reasonably possible.

🔸Reasonable chance to Evade Attacks
🔸Endurance Charges via Enduring Composure
🔸Capped Spell Suppression
🔸Mixture of Offensive & Defensive Flasks
🔸Capped Chaos Resistance
🔸40% of enemies Physical damage dealt taken as fire
🔸Permanent Chill to anything
🔸15-20% less damage taken depending on chill effect.
🔸Explosions to avoid on-death effects

Build Resources

Leveling the Build

Leaguestarter or Transitioning

This build has the Leaguestarer tag. This means we will be holding your hand right from the get go until you reach the pinnacle of your power and finish the guide. In order to maximize your experience, please make sure to follow the Path of Building leveling sections accordingly. We will be providing multiple skill trees & gem sets to ease your progress to endgame maps.

You can find the Path of Building link on the Path of Building, Progression, Skill Gems & Tree Page