3.6 (dead) Storm Brand Summoner, Shaper/Elder/Uber Elder down. Cheap/Easy League Starter.

3.7 Update: TBH this build is probably dead, perhaps playable. But the nerfs to storm brand and herald of agony make me feel pretty bad about playing this build or suggesting it to anyone now. Your ability to build up stacks on HoA is far worse, and now HoA has far less damage. And I'll be honest it was a big part of your damage. This build already felt pretty low on damage, especially for clearing fast (still cleared decently fast), now it will just even lower. In short, this build is dead, I will keep the post in case it gets fixed and can make a comeback.

Hello Exiles! This is my second league ever, and I still love it! I league started with the idea of utilizing the reworked summon phantasm on kill gem. I ended up with decently tanky ranged character with high mobility, between 1.4 and 1.8 mil shaper dps (depending on virulence stacks), that spends less than 1 second of casting for full dps. This build shares some in common with other herald of agony/purity builds, but its use of storm brand to activate summons with phantasms is unique to this league. I took it through maps easily, have delved near 200, done a lot of memory map stuff, killed Shaper/Red elder and Uber Elder.

This build can easily clear maps up to 16 on a budget. The two uniques you really need cost 1 chaos after the first few days of a league. However, I made quite a bit of currency from the memory nexus and delve as I progressed. This allowed me to six link rather quick (right before I fought Shaper), however I am certain that you could clear all the game content on 5 links and gear just there for defenses.

Leveling
Spoiler
Passive Tree Progression
Start with whatever elemental spell you like: www.poeurl.com/ckMo
Once you get storm brand, use it. As well as once you get your heralds: www.poeurl.com/ckMq
This is where we transfer out of personal damage for more minion damage and survivability, make sure to get the respec quests done as you go: www.poeurl.com/ckMs
This is when you flesh out the last important bits, as well as pick up dex nodes as needed to level up herald of agony.
At level 90 this is about how your tree should look, if you don't have jewels yet pick up cast speed nodes: www.poeurl.com/ckMw


Bandits
Help Alira at league start for res and mana regen, but switch to 2 passive points at around 90.

Ascendancy Order
Radiant Crusade
Unwavering Crusade
Bastion of Hope
Time of Need

Gearing While Leveling
Go for health and resistances while leveling. I felt pretty comfortable leveling, easily killing everything with very few deaths due to personal error. On self found gear I killed merciless lab before fighting Kitava, and killed it easily. After that I mapped until I felt weak, bought the uniques (which I will talk about in a bit) to make the build work and gear to fill out my resistances.


Passive Tree I killed Uber Elder With
Spoiler
Poeplanner: www.poeurl.com/ckMA
Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/7RmQt2fx
(I put virulence stacks at 30 on my pastebin, since that is what I sit at on single target, I stay around 40 with 2 or more enemies)
Side-note: I feel like this build has quite a bit of choice in it, that being said, this specific build seemed to work out best for me out of the ones I tried.


Gems
Spoiler
links in order of importance:
Staff: Storm Brand / Summon Phantasm On Kill Support / Minion Damage Support / Faster Casting support / Lesser Poison Support / Controlled Destruction Support

Helm: Herald of Purity / Minion Damage Support / Melee Physical Damage Support / Maim Support

Helm with Minion Damage Support: Herald of Purity / Melee Physical Damage Support / Maim Support / Ruthless Support for bosses or Melee Splash Support for clearing if you really feel like it (I always used ruthless though).

Chest: Herald of Agony Support / Minion Damage Support / Damage On Full Life Support / Pierce Support / Vicious Projectile Support / Vile Toxin Support
Side note: If you are having trouble with chromatics (which you will). Added Fire Damage Support is also decent. Do not use Vile Toxin until you have Lesser Poison Support on your Storm Brand. Between Storm Brand and your phantasms' poisoning there is always poison to make this good, even on mapping. You could switch out pierce for boss fights with slower projectile support or something, but I found no real need to.

Gloves/boots: Cast When Damage Taken Support (level 1) / Desecrate (level 1-7) / Flesh Offering (Level 8) / Immortal Call (level 1-3)

Gloves/boots: Flame Dash / Faster Casting Support / Vulnerability / Stone Golem or Chaos Golem

Essence Worm: Vaal Haste
Side note: Hatred has slightly higher dps, but Haste offers increased cast speed for more consistent procs and move speed for better mapping, as well as a vaal skill CD.

Explanation
One could link stuff to storm brand to increase the phantasm's damage much higher. However the cast speed is important for consistent procs out of storm brand, and the poison is important for the herald of agony. Despite these links, the phantasms will still output respectable damage.
I fell in love with flesh offering on a cast when damage taken, it speeds up clearing easily.
Sadly there is not enough links for vulnerability to be cast on hit, so we self cast.
You Really do not need level 21 Gems, but if you level them up in your weapon swap or decide to buy them, Herald of Agony are Purity both gain a lot of damage from it. Summon Phantasm on kill is a special case, the minion's damage and life is based on the storm brand, but a a level 21 Summon Phantasm on Kill will yield an extra minion.


Gear
Spoiler
Necessary Uniques:

That staff is nice on many levels. First of all it gives a massive amount of damage to your Phantasms, second it gives you a lot of mana, third it lets you quickly double cast storm brand, leading to less time standing around. The chest allows you to use both your herald to their limit.

Suggested Items/Uniques:

The important part of that second ring is that it has life on spell hit. With how often storm brand hits, you get quite a bit of life while clearing.

Items I killed Uber Elder With, And Discussion:


Other than the gear I have already pointed out, the only important piece is the helm. A helm like mine is fairly expensive early, but not necessary. You can easily use a +2 to minion gems with minion damage support elder helmet to clear the whole game.

Other than that you are looking for dexterity, as you will be dex starved (using dex nodes in tree as needed). Max resistance is a given, and as much life as possible. After that look for cast speed, but that is it.

Other Possible Items:
The new unique herald rings could be good, but I haven't used one yet. You would replace the shaped ring, giving more damage but less suitability on maps.
Another ring I've been thinking about, but haven't tried, is using a Hungry Loop with another minion on it. I was thinking zombies, specters, or a golem could all be decent choices. But if you went this route I would probably go with Vaal Summon Skeleton. With that you would have a powerful vaal skill and skeletons to cast during the immense downtime you have on bosses.


Lab Enchants
Spoiler
I didn't use them. Anything that is good for Herald of Agony is going to be best, followed by Herald of Purity. I stress again that they are unneeded.


Flasks
Spoiler
For Mapping:


For Uber Elder/Shaper/Elder:


I run two health flasks because in many situations, especially before you get the shaped ring, you need to spam them if you get low since you have no leech. There really isn't any good damage flasks other than the cast speed from onslaught, so you can just run another defensive flask if you feel like it.


Jewels
Spoiler

Jewels I am Currently Wearing


Explination
Health is important. Flat damage on abyss jewels is generally worse than percent from cobalt. However, you do need %chance for minions to taunt and %chance for minions to blind on hit, these make your mapping much more safe. You should get these asap. If you can pick up dex or resistances, in addition to health and damage, its always helpful. Another nice stat is cast speed, for more consistent summons and virulence.


Pantheon
Spoiler
Mapping: Greater = Lunaris, Lesser = Shakari
Uber Elder/Shaper/Elder: Greater = Lunaris, Lesser = Yugul



Kill Videos


Edits
Spoiler
3/17/2019: Added jewels to the jewel section.


Final Note
If you read all the guide and enjoyed it, thank you! This build was very fun and an easy league starter. It felt like a ranged version of my dominating blow build (https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2298078/page/1), which I absolutely loved. I will be continuing to make builds this league, and if you have any questions or suggestions I would be happy to answer them. Final plug, I do stream my play much of the day, you can hang out or ask questions there as well (https://www.twitch.tv/bigboilegarto). If you try this build out and enjoy it please tell me! If you have problems please ask for help before getting mad at me. See you next time exile!



Last edited by Legarto on Jun 6, 2019, 4:45:28 PM
Last bumped on Jun 2, 2019, 8:35:39 AM
Storm Brand+Summoner <3 Definitely gonna try this build out this league.
Awesome guide boss. I'm giving this one a shot and I really enjoyed your dominating blow build too!

Correction: I'm giving this one a shot using one of the new Purity rings to reduce the mana reserved. I forgot that a calamity is not easily off colored. :(
Last edited by neganox on Mar 23, 2019, 10:58:36 AM
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neganox wrote:
Awesome guide boss. I'm giving this one a shot and I really enjoyed your dominating blow build too!

Correction: I'm giving this one a shot using one of the new Purity rings to reduce the mana reserved. I forgot that a calamity is not easily off colored. :(


Thank you :D, yeah this one is fun. Feels very similar but ranged with more free time. Yeah my calamity took about 3k chromas to get the 6 link right, doing the 5 link is not to hard though! I do think those herald rings are pretty cool though. Anyway tell me what you think! And sorry for the late reply, I've been a little busy!
Last edited by Legarto on Mar 24, 2019, 8:01:24 AM
I modified it slightly and took Harmony of purpose instead of bastion of hope. With the ticks of storm brand being so fast I'm always running at max power/frenzy/endurance charges.
What about using a soulwrest staff?
Hello, I want to run this build as starter for flashback event and push for level 95. How did you level this char? I was thinking storm brand, go through templar damage nodes, rush double brand node and minion damage wheel under it. After cruel lab and getting calamity I would fully specced into agony and purity heralds. Also how tanky is it for red maps? I am worried about sustain, because you get only block and regen node from guardian ascendancy.

Edit. never mind, just found leveling section in your guide :)
Last edited by knedlik85 on Apr 29, 2019, 9:25:07 AM
Hi nice build. New player here, on ps4. Sorry for bad english... your poe planner link is broken i cant move forward on my tree. Can you fix plz? Really loving this build! Thanks!
Hi sorry I have been away for a while. I will look into things soon. Sorry that I didn't reply.
Hi, I pushed this build to Uberelder and got pretty smooth kill. I wouldnt use it as starter, its okay otherwise. I eventually switched ascendency regen nodes for charges on hit to increase clearspeed from frenzy charges and phys mitigation from endurance charges. I was worried about tankiness of build, but its no problem.

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