[3.4] The magic warrior: EK Nova/Bolt Lightning/Triple Heralds

I am not an expert player (like those Twitchers or the ones who make top ladder). I have a job, a family and a life outside that game. This game is simply a hobby. I have been playing POE only since a few months. I am not that good of a player and not that knowledgeable of the game.

I was sitting in my squad car, bored to death, and I decided to write that post a few months ago:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2178429/page/1#p15665452

One of the answers to my post made me think. The person wrote:

"

...And for a new player it is almost impossible to do this without either following somebody elses build or doing extensive research on the web. (And I dont think this is good design either - but this is how it is.)

I think it is not giving to the designers of the game enough credits. If the game would be simple and would not have the current level of complexity, it would not be the game it is. A thought came to my mind: Why if the current builds meta was created only by a handful of players with the same mindset? That would mean the outcomes would be all alike or around the same mind frame. It is why I decided to give a shot to a Juggernaut spellcaster: The magic warrior.

I did look for a while to find a robust EK Nova with good toughness to alleviate my lack of skill with the game. I enjoyed the tankiness of my THICC JUGG but did not like the clear speed, so I made it a Sunder THICC JUGG. I liked it. Then I made an EK Nova Templar... and I liked the clear speed of EK Nova but kept dying. The Eternal lab was an eternal nightmare (Pun intended) until I hit 85ish and finally made it.

I began to look for a fast clear speed build with THICC JUGG tankiness and could not find one. I decided to try and I can say that now I am quite close to get it working to about 80% of an EK Nova templar or Witch build clear speed.

I also wanted the build to be "relatively" cheap and almost was able to make it. However, I must say that I failed and that the build is not cheap because of the needed armours.

In summary, this is a build with almost THICC Jugg tankiness and almost as much map clearing than Templar EK Nova with a good HP pool that can reach 6.5k.

P.S.:This is not a designed end game boss killer build!!!!!!!!! This build is designed to be a speed clear map and it has the potential to bring you to level 100 with less annoying noob deaths. However, if you want to, you can switch armour and main setup gems and kill bosses pretty fast.

I cannot explain better than what you will get from the following videos. My congratulations to those individuals for the time they spent to explain the game mechanics. I strongly suggest that you watch the following videos from fellow players to understand:

THICC JUGG mechanics : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hn40A0geuY
EK Nova mechanics : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDBhlfy4_Ec
Defense layers : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhAompSttsU
Ball Lightning : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2KxtC3Ks04

If you did not catch it in the EK Nova video, you will need a ring of blade jewel because that makes EK shoot projectiles in nova around your character. It will cover almost the whole screen.

The current tree is for level 90. It is optimized for the equipment that have. Around level 95 I plan to respect a few points and get the Written in blood and Doomcast wheels to make full usage of the critical strikes. Per Path of building, it would raise the current DPS per about 17k and life per about +450.
https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAEBAAGRBAcEswVCBsYLYQxfD8QQWBEtFCAWbxo4Gj4cpx0UJKonLykuKU8snC0fLdIy0TWSNuk62DrhO3w8LT38QZZFR0rITLNQR1OlVcZXDVeUWGNaUl2kXz9mVGaeZ5toZWjybqp2EXase8N8g3y4gpuDX4PMg9uFe4x2jM-OZJBVkc6VIJZsmjuePKIAoqOomq2Nrj6us69sr5u18rb6tzG3PrjKvOrAAcBmwfPEWMT2xq7G2Msez37QH9D10jjVpti92WHd1eFz42rkUevu7DjtPO8O7-vwH_Gs8i_yRfON85v0g_ZI96b60v4K?accountName=kestak&characterName=RichDeLioncourt

Your main clear map is a classic EK Nova in a Lioneye's Vision armour for a 7-link setup:

The added fire damage support is the best gem I found as of now. It can be swapped with Increased critical damage support, Any other elemental support gem or a penetration gem of the element you have the most damage. With the current setup and the usage of the bottom described flasks, packs of monsters explode quite often and most of the time the monsters die in 1-2 hits. If I have a map with the elemental resist attribute (T13 and plus), it takes 2-3 hits to kill the monsters.
Please note my gems are all 20% quality/level 20. I also built the character with all gems being quality 20%.

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Your boss killing setup with be Ball lightning with an Inpulsa's broken heart armour:

The ball lightning is doing an awesome DPS. T10 bosses are going down in less than 10 seconds (2 flasks usage). T12-T13 bosses take about 20-25 seconds. Please note that my gems do not have any quality and as of this writing, they are level 19/quality 0%. I wanted to see how this setup would perform with a normal path of building. I am convinced that once the gems are level 20/Quality20%, the bosses will be going down in half the time.
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Now, let's talk about an extra DPS that makes a HUGE difference in map clearing:

Lightpoacher triggers level 20 Spirit Burst, which is affected by socketed support gems. You need to use GMP-Increased critical strike support-Physical to lightning. (I did not try any other setup because other players who know more than me use that setup in many other builds.) For each abyssal jewel, you get one more spirit. The lightoacher will trigger a Nova of those spirits like your EK Nova. Many times it will be triggered when you are using Shield charge and it will kill the monsters around and you do not have to use AK (A little bit like an autobomber). Everywhere I can, I put abyssal jewels.
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This build is using 3 heralds: Herald of thunder, Herald of ash and Herald of ice. I tested with Wrath or Anger or Hatred with 2 heralds in a 15% less mana reserved setup and it was very disappointing.

Please note that you get a little effect of Autobomber with the shield charge. Right now, on maps T6 and under, depending of the map mods, I barely use EK. I charge the monster pack and they explode.
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For movement, the build has a classic setup of shield charge:

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For defensive, the build has a classic CWDT-Immortal call-Tempest shield-Blind:

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I use Lightning golem for the added attack speed.
I use Blood rage for the frenzy charges and added attack speed. However, be careful of the level of the gem because of the dexterity required.

Everything is pretty self explanatory except the rings (If I see in the comments that some people need help with explanations, I will add more details about the items to the guide).

I use two elder rings. One with curse Warlord's mark on hit to generate my mana. You can use boots (or any other item) with mana leech instead. The mark of the shaper gives a boost in DPS with the elemental damage, increased spell damage because I use another elder ring. It also gives a nice HP boost. But the best is the volatile anomaly: Because I like the sound.....whoooooooosh!

The only two mandatory flasks are Atziri's promise and Wise Oak. Atziri's promise will give you a good DPS boost with a most needed leech.

Wise oak needs a little bit of explanation. At best, you want all the uncapped resistances (Uncapped resistances refer to the number in parentheses (next to your resistances) in the defense tab of the character sheet.) to be the same to be able to get the damage reduction and damage penetration for all the elements. This flask gives you a very good defensive buff to the uncapped resistances that are the lowest and a nie penetration buff the uncapped resistances with the highest value. You need that penetration.

Those 2 aforementioned flasks do a huge difference in your perceived DPS. They are the difference between 1 EK to kill to 2 EK to kill or to 3 EK to kill.

I also noticed that having 3000 evasion is better than having 3000 armour for damage mitigation. I also like the damage mitigation given by the consecrated ground and the 40% increase damage buff. It is why I use a Jade Flask and a sulfur flask. I found out that I ran a few times (very seldom) out of mana. It is why I do not use a pure life flask and I use an Hybrid flask with of course the usual bleeding removal attribute.

Ascendancy: Juggernaut of course. I prefer that order: Unflinching, Unyielding, Unrelenting, Unbreakable,
Bandits: Kill them all for the 2 points.

If you are using a lightpoacher, I strongly suggest to use only rare abyssal jewels with the following modifications in order:
- # Maximum life (Try to buy/use 45+ life)
- Any type of Spell Damage as long as it applies (i.e.: spell damage with shield)
- Attack speed (for shield charge)
- Critical Chances or critical multiplier

The blue dream: Gain 5% of Lightning Damage as Extra Chaos Damage. Passives granting Lightning Resistance or all Elemental Resistances in Radius
also grant an equal chance to gain a Power Charge on Kill.

...or if you are rich The blue nightmare:Gain 5% of Lightning Damage as Extra Chaos Damage. Passives granting Lightning Resistance or all Elemental Resistances in Radius also grant Chance to Block Spell Damage at 35% of its value.. Passives granting Lightning Resistance or all Elemental Resistances in Radius also grant an equal chance to gain a Power Charge on Kill.

The power charges are nice and easy to be generated with those gems. The extra damage is nice also. The blue nightmare grants a chance to block spell damage.

I do not think this guide can be followed like a cake recipe. But it shows a few points:
1 - EK Nova is viable with a Juggernaut.
2 - You can kill bosses with spells with a Juggernaut
3 - For fun, I just switched to a Volatile Dead's Poet's pen by just switching the shield and weapon, moving the heralds and equipping that armour . It worked and the DPS was satisfying.
4 - I am currenty testing a blade vortex setup instead of Ball lightning. It looks promising.
5 - I am testing the current build by replacing the Hybrid flask by a Dying sun or a Vessel of Vinktar for boss killing. I am hesitating to use both and getting rid of my 3000 evasion. Using a Skarjonka as helm is not an option because the Abyssal jewel used in the Lightpoacher and the helm itself gives good HP and DPS for bosses.
6 - This is the first of my character that I seriously plan to bring to level 100. I just need to figure out how to sustain T-14+ maps. hehehehehe