[3.26] NefariousDestiny's Self-Cast Storm Burst Elementalist | League Start to 200m DPS
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Hello! Your resident Storm Burst player here with an in-depth zero-to-hero guide. If you like throwing 100+ BALLS around at your opponents while standing still under 10 defensive layers, this is the build for you.
This build had a previous version as an Inquisitor back in 3.17. You can see that guide here. It is now significantly stronger!
Path of Building Files
These are all actual snapshots of my character during 3.26
Lvl 50 Pre-Maps Lvl 80 Red Maps Ashes of the Stars Swap Uber Capable Mageblood Min-max Mercenary Setup
Videos
New videos currently in progress! Here's a couple from 3.17 for now:
T16 Map w/ Spell Suppression, Extra Life, and Resists Delve Depth 800 Pros:
Cons:
What is Storm Burst? Storm Burst will create orbs that deal Physical/Lightning damage immediately, then again every 0.4 seconds until you stop channeling. When you stop channeling, they deal another burst of damage for every 0.4 seconds they had left. Storm Burst excels in two areas: setup for a boss by channeling 100+ orbs, or burst down mobs in maps with quick 10-20 ball explosions. The core idea is that we want to sustain our channeling as long as we want, setting up defensive layers and damage that reward sustained channeling while standing still.
Damage Scaling
We can scale our damage in the following ways:
1. Duration - longer duration means more active orbs and stronger explosions. Is also Storm Burst's quality stat. This scaling only works in 0.4 second increments. 2. Increased Physical/Lighting/Spell Damage - we can gain large chunks of this stat from several sources. 3. Gain % of damage as additional damage - Physical to Lightning, Physical to Fire, Physical to Chaos, and Elemental to Chaos are powerful sources of this effect. 4. Cast Speed - Scaling up the already extremely fast cast speed on Storm Burst feels great, if we can sustain the mana. 5. Gem Levels - Storm Burst scales pretty well with gem levels. 6. Added Spell Damage - despite the low damage effectiveness, Storm Burst's hitrate makes added spell damage a decent choice. 7. Herald Effect - We use 4 heralds, so scaling herald effect is extremely effective. 8. Golem Buff Effect - We use 4 golems, so scaling golem effect is extremely effective. 9. Area of Effect - Larger AoE means more orbs hit. Storm Burst already has built in AoE scaling per level, so this isn't very important. We are going to use Elemental Overload and Shade of Solaris instead of scaling crit.
Defensive Scaling
We scale our defense in the following ways: 1. Health and Energy Shield with Corrupted Soul - I have 4,000 of each 2. Life and Energy Shield on Spell Hit - Life on Hit comes form Shaper/Crusader Rings, Energy Shield on Hit from a Discipline Watcher's Eye 3. Armour - 10,000+ 4. Elemental and Chaos Resists - 75% without Mageblood 5. Attack/Spell Block - 32% and 46% respectively 6. Vaal Molten Shell + Automation Setup - Extremely Effective with Duration and Cooldown Reduction scaling that we already have 7. Reduced Damage Taken - from Arctic Armour, Infused Channelling, Stone Golem of Safeguarding, and Frost shield 8. Consecrated Ground 9. Greater Harbinger of Focus - Grants immunity to Stun, Curses, Elemental Ailments, and 20% reduced damage taken. Scales well with Runegraft of the Warp. 10. Reduced damage dealt - Sigil of Power, Curses, Malediction (most of this comes from my Mercenary) Breakpoints Storm Burst will only deal more damage for every 0.4 seconds of duration, so you'll need to look at the breakpoints for % Increased Duration when gearing up. It can get pretty confusing with all the quality and gem levels, so I've created an interactive spreadsheet for this exact purpose: Duration Breakpoints Worksheet
Gear
All gear slots will include my leveling gear, higher budget, and min-max varieties. I'll try to include some alternative options too.
Weapon
With Elemental Overload, there's no contest. I used an Unholy Might corrupt to scale any extra chaos damage with free wither stacks.
Offhand/Shield
This one is also a no brainer. The Greater Harbinger of Focus grants Elemental Ailment Immunity, Stun Immunity, Curse Immunity, and 20% reduced damage taken. It has a 4 second uptime and 4 second downtime, but that can be improved with a Runegraft of the Warp. If you don't need the resistance, you can try for a good corruption (gem levels, block chance).
Remember to summon your Harbinger on logging in!
Chest
Sporeguard synergizes really well with our "don't move" and "deal every type of damage" thing we have going. The fungal ground gives us 25% chaos resistance and gives enemies -10% all resistances. Exploding is also a nice touch. More Duration Support gets an extra 1% if you get it to level 23, so keep that in mind for corrupted implicits.
Annoint with Utmost Intellect. We're replacing all our small intelligence nodes with tattoos, so we need this.
Helmet
I'm enjoying this Rage grants Spell Damage tech. Our mana spend is so high that we are almost always capped on Rage. This helmet is an easy way to satisfy the Armour and Energy Shield Mastery requirement while getting the required Reservation Implicit. We benefit from the Strength here too (more on that in Tattoos).
Gloves
There are two really powerful veiled mods that scale well with our duration stat: Increased Damage and Onslaught during Soul Gain Prevention. I also use this to scale Herald of Ash even further, and grant Fire Exposure. If you aren't using a Doryani Mercenary, use Lightning Exposure instead of Fire Exposure. If you don't have Awakened Controlled Destruction, use the Unnerve Implicit instead of Herald Buff Effect.
Make sure the gloves are Armour/Energy Shield for the Armour and Energy Shield Mastery.
Boots
Four important properties on our boots:
1. Armour and Energy Shield 2. Cooldown Recovery Rate Implicit - makes Frostblink feel better 3. Action Speed Implicit 4. Hybrid Attribute Craft The Hybrid Attribute craft allows us to make sure our Strength and Intelligence match. Atleast one or two of your items needs this.
Amulet
Ashes of the Stars with as much quality as you can afford. Annoint with Exception Performance.
Rings
You need a life on spell hit ring. These are Shaper/Crusader exclusive mods. Mana Regen is also very important. Cast Speed is a luxury for when you craft your own.
Dusk Ring is the high budget option because of the implicit. Before you get one, just use whatever shaper and crusader rings give you the most health and resistances.
Belt
Before Mageblood, get life and resistances on your belt. Cooldown recovery is a nice stat too. If you use a Stygian Vise, you can use the Abyss Jewel to help fix your attribute requirements.
I managed to snag a mageblood with increased duration for a decent price.
Jewels and Clusters
WIP
Gem Links
Storm Burst Links. Without mercenaries, Lightning Penetration Support might replace Focused Channeling.
Golem Choices. Aura Choices. Discipline enables the Watcher's Eye mod for ES on Hit. I socketed all three of these in y 90% reservation corrupted helmet. Herald Choices. I'll probably check out Herald of the Hive on Lost Unity and see if it fits better. Guard Skill. Automating this actually makes it cast faster due to the quality from Ashes of the Stars. Animate Guardian's new ability to be resummoned makes it a compelling choice. Linked to Meatshield Support, it survived T17 maps most of the time. Frostblink allows you to move while channelling. Sigil of Power is a nice DPS boost. If you need sources of Arcane Surge, you can use a skill like Orb of Storms. Innervate + Culling Strike is a good option too for extra DPS.
Tattoos and Runegrafts
Runegraft of the Warp
Ascendancy, Pantheon, Bandits
WIP
Mercenary and Animate Guardian Equipment
See the PoB
Leveling
WIP
Map Mods, Content to Run with this Build
WIP
NefariousDestiny#5719 님이 2026. 2. 26. 오후 8:41:48에 마지막으로 편집 마지막 추천 2026. 2. 26. 오후 8:25:15
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What's the deal with MoM?
This build is super mana hungry and has all of its mana reserved, how is MoM not going to have 0 impact but running you oom? |
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" That keystone is conquered by Glorious Vanity and replaced with Corrupted Soul. |
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I am back to playing this for 3.28. The patch notes are full of goodies for this build:
" An obvious boost to clear speed. You can now immediately pop the first orb instead of waiting a full cast interval. " I'm VERY interested in the numbers on this skill. Regardless of the numbers, this could be a fun alternative playstyle or clear skill. " The three coins could be big improvements. You'll trade the double-corrupted Storm Burst for an extra level 1 support. Ideal outcome might be Focused Channeling. Besides our existing gem links, Added Fire Damage, Added Lighting Damage, or Penetration could be good options. " I made extensive use of runegrafts before, so I'll be looking at these new options. " We lose Awakened Controller Destruction for this, but it may open up new options. I'll be looking closely. " Not likely to be better than Elementalist for this build, but I'll check. " Again, not likely to have anything useful for us, but I'll check anyways. |
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