TbXie's Arc Elementalist Build Guide (PoE Necropolis 3.24)
Disclaimer
Long awaited, long anticipated. We have arrived at Arc buffs!
Honestly, Arc just got a whole lot stronger. Due to its base crit chance being scaled up & the access to what used to be Divergent Inspiration Support things just got a lot more managable and it’s feasible to eek out a lot more damage and especially more bang for your buck! Watch out though, Arc might be a tad popular. As I think that hype will die down, I chose not to tailor the guide to avoid potentially some expensive items such as Replica Dragonfang's Flight. Should the Arc version of this item be unobtainable, anointing Charisma on a regular +2 Neck will solve your problems at the cost of losing some tank.
Introduction
Were you ever looking for a build that suited new players, moderately experienced players, and players who like to min-max their builds to the fullest? Then you’ve arrived at the perfect spot! This build packs a couple milllion boss damage while having over 65.000 Effective Health while mapping, combined with incredible mitigation. It is very easy to to get going even for newer players, as it mostly just requires the set of gems we have put together for you to feel relatively strong overall! It however does offer you some options to go for some mild power charge stacking to get the most outof your build.
Vaal Arc has been a popular skill gem throughout the game’s history, mainly because it has an appealing sound and look to it. After being broken for a couple of leagues, it was heavily nerfed way back in 1.1 and 1.2, after which it was revamped and reworked completely in 3.3, and buffed four times ever since. These buffs firstly introduced its single target mechanic of dealing more damage per remaining chain. This effectively means that Arc has a 165% More multiplier versus single target, which is more than some 6-links add. In addition to that, it had its numbers reworked to fit the current state of the game better and put it in line with other spells.
However, since Arc just isn’t the best single target skill, we’ve incorporated a combination of its vaal variant, Vaal Arc and the use of Vaal Storm Call to deal with tougher opponents while mapping or to burst down that boss you’re trying to kill a bit quicker.
The guide we wrote for Elementalist focuses on stacking some reservation efficiency to try and fit in all the defensive auras without giving up all of its offense. This naturally stems from the necessity to fit in Heralds in pre 3.13 Elementalist and even though that is no longer the case Determination, Defiance Banner and Grace almost feel like a necessity in present PoE. Another necessity nowadays is the usage of Spell Suppression. Generally, grabbing that on Witch builds is fairly hard but we fit in 100% Suppression just because it is that good. Spell casters went through some rough patches over the past few patches but this Arc Elementalist remains a powerhouse that makes use of the best ways of scaling both offenses and defenses and finds a well-rounded balance between both. You will not feel squishy if you pilot this build correctly yet will still feel powerful enough to tackle almost anything you find in your path while mapping.
Since the build has so much recovery, avoidance, and damage, most fights will not take long enough for anything to ever hurt you. To make sure the build does well versus the very endgame bosses, though, it invests significantly into Life, Armour & Evasion to make sure it will almost never get one-shot.
Build Summary
Pros and Cons
Pros
+ The skill functions on any budget
+ Can be incredibly fun to push a character further while it is already powerful
+ Viable in every scenario
+ Scales very well, which feels super rewarding
Cons
– Pushing it to its full power level requires a decent amount of high-end gear
– Can feel a little squishy at earlier stages of gear / levels
– Never uber-viable unless at ludicrous investments
Map Modifiers to be Avoided
No Leech hurts the build too much, so I would definitely roll over it anyway. Otherwise, the build should deal with most mods relatively well unless its a very nasty combination of offensive mods.
Playstyle, Mechanics & Strengths
Vaal Arc is a spell that has its history as mentioned before. In its current state, however, it does a lot of things excellently and is incredibly fun to play. The Vaal portion of the skill itself does a pretty significant chunk of damage, but it also grants you a lucky buff, netting you approximately 25% more Damage for a 4-second window. If you add up everything in that 4 second window, you’re easily going to break 10 million DPS at the high end levels of gear which, for a build that tries to push a relatively underused skill to attention is pretty respectbale.
However, because we want you to have more options while mapping, we introduced a Vaal Storm Call into the mix to have another source of big damage on a one button press. With a few arcs and a single cast of both Vaal Arc and Vaal Storm Call even the thoughest rares will evaporate in a milisecond.
Because of the choice of opting for the most possible QoL, you’re going to have to push a few buttons to maximize your Damage. Worry not, though, this should only be necessary on very high-end end game bosses. You’re expected to press both of your vaal skills as well as making sure you’re applying curse & exposure through Wave of Conviction.
Passive Skill Tree, PoB, and Gem Links
You can find an optimized Path of Building here. Every build I release will use the community fork of Path of Building, which is maintained and updated in a much more regular fashion than the original one. You can find PoB’s Fork, by LocalIdentity, here.
If you are not comfortable with Path of Building, PoePlanner’s website offers you a non-PoB alternative to import the code from the above link. it is highly recommended you install Path of Building to follow builds most optimally.
More information about the Passive Skill Tree, as well as all the Gem Links can be found on our dedicated page.
Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheons
Our Ascendancy, Bandit, and Pantheon Power page goes into detail about all the choices you need to make in these regards.
Gear Summary / TL;DR
A lot of this is explained more in depth in the Gear Page, however we will provide you with a basic idea of what gear you’re looking for in this short summary.
Our recommendation:
Item Slot | Item Name |
Head | Rare Helmet with A power charge corruption and Life/Resistances/Attributes |
Amulet | Replica Dragonfang's Flight |
Chest | Inpulsa's Broken Heart |
Gloves | Armour/Evasion gloves with Suppression, Resistances & Life |
Boots | Atziri's Step |
Belt | Stygian Vise with Life and high Resistances |
Rings | Mark of the Shaper and an Elder Ring with Life/Mana Regeneration and some Resistance |
Weapon | 2x Void Battery |
Questions & Support
If you enjoy my content to such an extent that you’d like to support me and my work, or you have a specific question you request my private time for, you can buy me a coffee over at Patreon. At no point should you feel pressured to contribute, but if you do, your support means more to me than you will ever imagine.
Even though we try to make our guides as complete as possible, obvioulsy it’s possible you still have questions. We have an entire mod-team readily available to support you & your questions on Discord. You can find us on the ARPG Vault Discord. Make sure to open a Guide Help thread so things stay clear in the main channels.
Leveling
Since we are very adamant about trying to give you a leveling experience that lies as close to your endgame playstyle as possible, we will be providing you a way to level up with Arc. If you are looking for the most optimal way to level a character to maps, we refer you to the following guides.
- Our step-by-step leveling walkthrough, which allows even more experienced players to save time and speed through the leveling process.
- Our guide to Unique Items for leveling, which helps you gear up your characters for the leveling process.
In order to level this build as a Arc build, you need to make your way to level 12 to be able to use the gem.
Getting to Brutus & Merveil
For starters, create a Witch in whichever league you want to start.
Pick up an Explosive Trap from the vendor to start your journey and go to kill Hailrake and clear Mud Flats. Set up the following links after Mud Flats:
After killing Brutus, you will be adding an Added Lightning Damage Support to your Frost Bomb.
Level 12 and Onwards Setup
From level 12, after killing Merveil, you’ll be setting up for your road to maps. It might be a little rough for some bosses, but you should eventually be fine with this setup.
- Arc
- Added Lightning Damage Support
- Faster Casting Support
- Elemental Focus Support
- Added Cold Damage Support
- Power Charge On Critical Support
Use the following on bosses:
Run the following auras: