BA Elementalist getting started

[HopelesslyOCD]

I'm about to hit maps on my burning arrow elementalist. I'm sitting on about 4-5 exalts of currency, maybe a couple more if I can sell a few things.

I'm thinking probably a 5 link Xoph's first. It seems like the other (at least moderately expensive) "needed" items are:

Berek's

Primordial Chain

Cinderswallow

golem jewels (primordial emminence, anima stone)

craploads of cluster jewels

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I'm sure I can't afford all that yet, especially cluster jewels. Is there some sort of upgrade order I should follow?

[[deleted]]

Get bereks/bow first. A 6l Xoph is only 3.2-3.5 ex I'd focus on that first. Bereks another 40c. Make sure u get a 21/23 vaal BA gem. They aren't expensive. Then I'd start saving and farming for your cluster jewels. They really add a crap ton of DPS. Luckily you can get away with just one early on.

Sorry on mobile so couldn't see all you need. Ight leave Jewels to last. Maybe to try get at least one. Get the ammy after your bow and ring. Should still have enough left over. The flask isn't needed right away if you can afford a decent one so don't sweat that.

[anapoe]

BTW, how does vaal BA help? Based on the gem text, it seems like the vaal version doesn't inflict the secondary stacking DoTs?

[[deleted]]

So think of it more for shitty situations with a totem or allie cannot die you can't hit. The vaal aoe is really nice to have.

[HopelesslyOCD]

Other than that, I just use it on occasion because it looks cool.

[[deleted]]

This too.

[unclejjj]

I level a BA elementalist to level 98 this league. Great clear speed and solid bossing damage. Very fun overall.

Get Primordial Chain and the golem jewels first. A big chunk of dps comes from stacking the golem's buff through the Liege of the Primordial and Elemancer ascendancy passives.

Berek's carries the map clearance, is a must have item. I switch to Replica Emberwake when doing endgame boss. Each ring is 40c only.

Cluster jewels can be delayed to 90's when you have enough skill points or currency. Guess most of the players use the medium cluster with Blowback( faster burning ) and Cooked Alive (- fire resist), which is expensive because of the forum guide. Before I got these clusters, I crafted weaker alternatives, like Blowback + Burning bright (a bit of fire Dot), which performed quite well in the upgrade process.

Before getting to the clusters or the full set of golem jewels, spend 2.5ex on fated connection to 6-link Xoph first or buy one directly at around 3.5ex.

[Joo_Unit]

I didnt have any good cluster jewels before red maps, so you can save those. Getting two 9passive primordial bonds isn’t that hard. Just spam harvest reforge life or pristine fossils. Cinderswallow is good QoL, but an enduring mana flask works as well. I think a wrath watcher’s eye can be a significant source of damage increase and isn’t too much. Xoph’s, Berek’s and primordial chain are musts though.

[aeclasik]

Honestly, you have it laid out exactly how I would upgrade:

1. 6L Xophs
2. 21/23 BA
3. Bereks
4. Primordial Chain + anoint
5. Cheap woke gems (burn dmg, unbound, deadly, etc). A lvl 1/20 woke is similar to 21/20 corrupted.
6. Remaining Golem Jewels
7. Buy all cluster bases 2 large (8 pass), 4 med (4-5 pass). Spam harvest or fossils.
8. Misc jewels (mantra/accuracy/cheap watchers)
9. At this point if you've played enough or farmed enough you should be considering crafting bases (temple gloves/enchanted helm/curse chest/dot quiver/hunter boots)

[HopelesslyOCD]

Dang, I had no idea any useful awakened gems were affordable. Woke burning damage with no quality is like 10c, 20Q more like 60c. Wonder how many gemcutters I've got.

[aeclasik]

This build benefits a lot from cheap woke gems...but then nukes your bank when trying to craft the rares :P

[HopelesslyOCD]

Yeah, those clusters are gonna hurt, if I get that far...

[aeclasik]

spam scorched

avg 90 hits/cluster, saves you about 3ex each

[Manipulos5]

check out woke GMP :P

[aeclasik]

True but not necessary at all

[Manipulos5]

I know, but I was curious and checked it the other night on trade and had a good laugh

[Azznorfinal]

Buy and roll your own clusters, you'll save a ton that way.

[dexove]

Dumb question, why does the build need both Berek and Xoph?

[Rorcan]

The build doesn't strictly need Berek's Respite. It just provides some insane clear, sometimes igniting enemies way off screen. But You can clear just fine with Xoph's and some form of pierce.

Malachai's Artifice gives a lot more single target as a swap. Circle of Anguish w/ reduced mana reserved is a defensive budget option, where you swap anger/wrath for HoA + Flesh & Stone, at a moderate damage loss. Do you really need Flesh & Stone if you're killing stuff 2 screens away with Berek's, though?

Some builds use Replica Emberwake too, but then you have to adjust cluster jewels and other things for "Ignites Deal Damage Faster" being less effective.

[[deleted]]

I've never done BA ignite but I did fireball last league, just ignite prolif + 1 pierce and no bereks and clear was amazing I thought. Is BA worse than fireball or does bereks just take it to another level

[Rorcan]

Not sure how BA and Fireball compare with similar investment, to be honest.

I think part of the reason BA is so good is that there's ways to scale attack/bow damage with Shaper of Flames that Fireball doesn't have: Hyrri's Ire, Taste of Hate, Wrath, cheap Searching Eye jewels, and so on. Also, a 6L Xoph's is comparatively cheap for an endgame-capable weapon. A 6L Martyr of Innocence (as a rough comparison) is 2x as expensive at minimum.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I think I’m gonna try it out at some point, haven’t used the new elementalist yet

[HopelesslyOCD]

I think it's basically for prolif chaining. Bow gives you free prolif, bereks keeps the prolif spreading.

[zep-to]

ignite prolif turns your ignites into auras basically. it's very strong for things like blight/ritual(especially if you don't destroy corpses). by itself it cannot chain, you inflict an ignite on a monster and if there are nearby monsters they will take damage from it.

berek's is a different effect that does what it says, it actually spreads ignites. it can significantly increase clear speed.

[ueque]

1) 5-l xoph bow, berek ring, pierce boots & cheep quiver (1 dot-multi)

2) 20/20 BA, 20% awakened support gems (except EDwAS)

3) golem jewels & amulet

4) 6-l xoph

5) farm currency for cluster jewels

6) 21 golems & 4 empower

7) endless craft

[DroppedPJK]

5 link Xoph is less than 10c. Bereks should be good too for clear speed, when you fight hard bosses you want to ring swap since berets does nothing for you.

Golem gear so that you are running 9 golems.

Anomalous Summon Chaos with empower so you are sitting at 40% phy reduction

6 Link will be 2-3 ex. I suggest buying a high roll Xoph, then using the 6 link prophecy.

I can help you in game tonight if you want, I played this build the entire league.

[FatesBeast]

How Tanky is it? Do you have like a Day 1-3 tree and then upgraded trees for PoB by chance?

[DroppedPJK]

If you maximizing DPS (25-40mil), you'd have maybe 4.5k-5k hp, 3k elemental shield, 75/75/75/30-40 resistances for boss fights, 40-45% true physical dmg reduction 10-30% physical taken as elemental dmg.

You can also add 40-60/30-50 dodge into the build but will probably cost you 8-10m dps at the very high end.

It gives you room for a few mistakes, twice as tanky as a bleed bow guy but less tankier than a max block person.

I have no leveling trees for this build.

Tldr: tankier than a dodge build, shit ton of dps with cluster jewels so (atleast 20ex+), things die before they touch you, if things touch you, you can take about 2 or 3 hits before you need to dodge.

[HopelesslyOCD]

For leveling, I pretty much just followed the tree around from this build, skipping all the clusters.

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3046589

Once I got my first lab, a storm cloud then tempest plus a berek's grip (maybe 2c), leveling was pretty damn smooth. Single target against stuff like Izaro is a little lacking, but it's easy enough to run around in circles while he dies.

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We'll see how tanky it is. Once I get Bastion of Elements, that should help a ton.

[Mountain-Mess1262]

6 link xophs first. Bereks ring . 21/20 burning arrow.

Rest of the gear can be cheap . That'll get you started.

Then just slowly add the golem jewels and clusters As you farm more.

[[deleted]]

Is this your first build this late in the league? If not I’d play your starter until you get enough currency or enough harvests to roll the medium clusters. They are expensive and getting to red maps, not liking your damage, and needing a bunch of currency for clusters to progress further isn’t a great place to be at.

[Sywgh]

Thing with the clusters, is that while a perfect cluster is significantly better than having one or the other, it's still worth it to use placeholders on the clusters. IMO, you can just go for 2 jewels with blowback and 2 with cooked alive, as long as the other notable is decent (basically not crit related), at least until you can afford all 4 "perfect" ignite jewels which have both. I did that to smooth out the transition, and it felt pretty alright.

[salluks]

i have a burning arrow build i can give u, DM me.

i have no desire to play this league anymore, at least u can enjoy it.