[3.7] MoMMeme | facetank it all | >2.5M Shaper DPS, >13k eHP, >13k eHP/s recovery

We have up to 60% damage taken from mana before life through Cloak of Defiance, Hierophant mini-MoM and optional watcher's eye. The mana is recovered through Mind of the Council, which allows to recover 3% of mana on shocking an enemy. So we want to shock often, and we do so via crits on ball lightning. We also take Shaper rings with "life gain on hit by spells" to recover life, and, optionally, discipline watcher's eye to recover ES.

Offense details:


Defence details:

There are now two versions, so adjust to taste and current market prices.

Void Battery version
More DPS, a little bit less tankiness (still facetanking Shaper) and worse clear.
PoB: https://pastebin.com/8x27g2qq
Maths: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DBoIZsLNkhuNDZU6g3PnUDfr_hLNfS-Oa0I7btHW27c/edit?usp=sharing

Pledge of Hands version
Less DPS, more complicated playstyle (3rd button!), but absurd tankiness and better clear.
PoB: https://pastebin.com/bvXNWZsr
Maths: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1i1e1Lb4nptTPe0o9nEFbv2UJETAXIs1SDqXPyZnMM2w/edit?usp=sharing

Ball lightning DPS
This one allows you to calculate the BL dps (thanks to Vayce): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Rz9F8-PfsijZ_kNUNWURiRQabMCRbuaVGaLTie_oLDw/edit#gid=975172529

*I tried to make the calculations to simulate real bossing situation. I assumed that flasks are up, but there are no frenzy charges, and there is no wave of conviction applied yet.

Main skill
When using Void Batteries or Shimmerons without Skyforth:
Ball lightning - spell echo - lightning penetration - power charge on crit - energy leech - slower projectiles
When using rare wands or Shimmerons with Skyforth:
Ball lightning - spell echo - lightning penetration - energy leech - added lightning damage - slower projectiles
When using Pledge of Hands:
Ball lightning - spell echo - lightning penetration - energy leech - faster casting - slower projectiles

The biggest boost comes from slower projectiles, but it is almost impossible to map with it. Actually, it is only needed for Shaper and friends, so this is why I am posting it as a last link of importance. Try to get 21/20 ball lightning by leveling 6 copies of the gem in the weapon swap. Never-ever use elemental focus – we need to shock.

For clearing you need some replacements of the last one-two gems:
faster casting - always have it while mapping or even for all bosses below ~T14. The extra recovery is great!.
greater multiple projectiles - for open layouts
added lightning damage - for closed layouts

You can see that the mapping and bossing colours are different, but this can be solved by having 6 blue sockets and using Vorici in research safehouse. Anyway, mapping setup is more than enough for T16 (4-link is enough).

Support
Storm brand - culling strike - onslaught - innervate

Permanent onslaught and innervation while mapping. Look at it as +1.5 link added to ball lightning. You can also replace innervate with item rarity.

Utilities
Cast when damage taken (lvl 1) – vaal cold snap (lvl 6) – curse on hit (lvl 20) – conductivity (lvl 20).

The moment you get hit you apply the curse, but also after killing the mobs you get frenzy charges to boost your damage further. For bosses use vaal cold snap to get charges. Conductivity can be replaced with enfeeble or temporal chains.

Cast when damage taken – immortal call – increased duration - wave of conviction
The new immortal call is great! Wave of conviction to boost DPS even further.

Cast when damage taken – summon lightning golem
Golem gives you extra cast speed, but also has a nasty habit to die for no reason. Keep him alive with CWDT.

Flame dash
Escape mechanics or a way to traverse obstacles.

For pledge of hands version
Vigilant strike + The Vigil threshold jewel
25s fortify on top of over 14k life is absurd. Simply absurd. If only sulphite was more available...

Utilities without watcher's eye
If you do not have watcher’s eye (which is perfectly fine) you may want to use:

Herald of thunder/arctic armour – enlighten
More dps or more survivability – depends on you. Enlighten level 3 is fine.

If you are recovering ES with Fenumus Spinnerets and some source of the Aspect of the Spider you may want to use:
Cast when damage taken (lvl 1) – firestorm – increased duration
Provides more hits/s and removes rare freezes - very useful with lag spikes.

Utilities with watcher's eye
Clarity (lvl 1) – discipline – enlighten
Enlighten lvl 3 is perfectly fine as we already have 16% reduced mana reservation thanks to ascendancy and Skyforth.

Progression
Even though this build may look quite expensive, it can start relatively cheap as basically any caster build. The basic uniques are quite popular and affordable. A quick cheat-sheet on gear progression:
1. Mind of the council
2. Shimmerons + Shaper rings
3. Cloak of defiance
4. Fenumus Spinnerets + whatever granting Aspect of the Spider
5. Void batteries/pledge of hands
6. Discipline watcher's eye, Skyforth
7. Discipline + clarity watcher's eye

Body armour
Cloak of defiance

Gives 40% of damage taken from mana before life, and a lot of flat mana. With 3.6 the ES also got boosted, so this is BiS defensive chest piece for this build. When you have cloak of defiance you can also drop MoM and the following nodes from the tree. 4-link is enough to clear T16 and even Shaper.

Helmet
Mind of the council

Another core item for the build. All good. Allows you to recover 3% of mana on shock, which is one of the strongest recovery mechanics in the game. Additionally, extra 30% of lightning damage is taken from mana before life, so things like Shaper’s beam become a joke. This is also why you can run elemental reflect maps (see the notes first). As everybody in the league will eventually run the council, and poet pen is not meta anymore, you can get this helmet quite cheaply. The best enchant is increased ball lightning damage, but this is very pricey. I bought the AoE one for 4ex in std, but it is just for clear. If you are up for such things, instead of enchanting, seek for +1 power charge corruption.

Weapon
Good rare wands will be BiS here, but by good I mean: crit chance, crit multi, cast speed, spell damage. Such wands can be extremely expensive, so either you are a lucky sniper or you can stick to the lesser alternatives.

Shimmeron

Always aim for 10% crit multi per power charge. Fortunately, as people run elder market will be flooded with these so the one I show was only 10c. The lightning damage might seem scary, but thanks to Mind of the council, it will barely touch life. However, the ES will receive full damage, thus, when using Shimmerons you may want to go with Conviction of Power instead of Sanctuary of thought. Dual wielding these wands will give you highest damage.

Void battery

The expensive brother of Shimmeron, but definitely worth its price. While Shimmeron is great for DPS, the Void battery shines at defense. High cast speed (many hits – high recovery), high crit chance, high damage, and even some flat mana. While dual wielding will have around 20% less damage than a pair of Shimmerons, but with over 2M Shaper dps it is not really an issue. Almost the same damage as two Shimmerons can be obtained with Shimmeron + Void battery, so you can upgrade your gear gradually.

Pledge of Hands

The new Pledge is amazing. Since each repetition of socketed spell has bigger AoE and more damage the damage for ball lightning shows quadratic growth. Thus, the DPS is only 10% less than dual-wielded Void Batteries, and there are way more hits for the life to recover. Moreover, while wielding a staff you can equip Vigilant strike + The Vigil to have additional 25s fortify. 100% increased maximum mana is just a cherry on the cake.

Boots
Fenumus Spinnerets + whatever item with Aspect of the Spider
Early version of ES gain on hit when you do not have the discipline watcher's eye, and you feel bad about it. After a few days in a league should be dirt cheap (5c for boots and 1 alch for spider item after 1 week of LSC).

Skyforth

BiS in terms of offense and defense. Makes the stuns calculated based on 500% of mana, which makes you almost stun-immune. Add a lot of flat mana, power charge on crit, and high movement speed, and you have a dream pair of boots. For many leagues they were very expensive, but due to modern PoE power-creep the price dropped a lot. These were bought for 120c. Take your time and run labs few times (with twice enchanted) to get the lightning enchant (yes - you can facetank Izaro and traps). It synergizes greatly with innervate, so either way, you have killed or not, you have flat lightning damage added.

Rings:
You will want to have at least one Shaper ring (two strongly recommended) with “life gain on hit by spells” for life recovery. The other stats are: life + mana > cast speed > flat damage > lightning damage.

Flasks


Diamond flask - the biggest source of offense, but also defense through multiple crits.

Atziri's promise is important as it is the only source of chaos resistance, which is the most threatening damage to this build. Also DPS boost is great.

Wise Oak - run it if you can min-max your resistances.

You can use basalt flask once you get tanky enough.

Rest of the gear
This is where you cap your resists. Remember to have at least 10 dexterity somewhere on gear or take one node on the tree.

Amulet:
Generic ring with life, mana and crit multi. Cast speed is also nice, but you can easily craft it.

Gloves:
Fingerless silk gloves with life, mana and some resists.

Belt:
Generic stygian vise with life and some resists.

Jewels
Rare jewels with life + mana > crit multi > cast speed > damage > AoE.

Healthy mind – high mana boost. Equip it once you have you have 50-60% of damage taken from mana before life. Put it above witch starting point.

The Vigil - when using Pledge of Hands and Vigilant strike. With this you can go to 25s fortify.


Watcher’s eye – I personally hate builds showing watcher’s eye as their core elements. Fortunately, the clarity watcher’s eye is highly undervalued, and you can buy one dirt cheap. It is not even needed for the build to fully function – it is just a nice to have.

That one was 80c, and I actually bought it for another build for freeze immunity.

You can also sacrifice some eHP for ES recovery through discipline watcher’s eye. These ones are more expensive, but are not mandatory at all for the build to function. Around 5ex in the league, 9ex in standard.

Please keep in mind that most parts of the gear were scrapped from another build (poet’s pen elementalist). Thus, some stats are irrelevant to this build.

I have created this build in standard where I already had lvl 91 hierophant. Thus, I can only give you an approximate guide how to level, and hope that somebody will post more detailed instructions.

Trees
Path to Elemental Overload first. Level ~15 (18 skill points): https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.0/AAAABAUCAASzMtFFR1ZIgpuEg4uMogCnCK7_wGbVptgk5n3r7u8h8B_53Q==
Go right for more damage and cast speed. Level ~30 (35 skill points): https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.0/AAAABAUCAASzCPQQWBEtHYMi9CycMFsy0UVHRZ1TUlZIakNsC20ZdhF8g3_GgpuEg4uMkyea4KIApwisl67_vOrAZtWm2CTmfevu7yHwH_nd
IMPORTANT: Start going crit and respec Elemental Overload! Level ~44 (49 skill points): https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.0/AAAABAUCAASzBUII9A5IEFgRLRGWFr8W8x2DIvQmPCaVKgssnC-dMFsy0UGWRUdFnVNSVUtd8mHiakNsC20ZcFJ2EXyDf8aCm4SDidOLjIw2kyea4KIArJeu_7zqwGbQ9dWm5n3r7u8h8B_53Q==
More life and crit for mapping. Level ~66 (85 skill points): https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.0/AAAABAUCAAQHBLMFQgceCPQOSA_EEFgRLRGWFr8W8xo4G8gdgyL0JjwmlScvKgssnC-dMFsw-DLRNj06WDrYO3xBlkVHRZ1JUUyzU1JVS1XGXfJfKmHiYqxqQ2wLbIxtGXBSdhF8g3_GgpuD24SDidOLjIw2j_qQVZMnlS6a4J2qogCio6yXrrOu_7jKuZO86sBmwwnP3dAf0PXVpuOE5n3r5Ovu6_XvIe_r8B_w1fGK8h353Q==
Choose either you go staff or wands.
Void battery/Shimmeron tree Level 92 (113 skill points): https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.0/AAAABAUCAAOaBAcEswVCBx4HYwj0DdEOSA_EEFgRLRGWFr8W8xhdGjgbyBzcHYMgbiL0JjwmlScvKU8qCysmLJwvnTBbMtE2PTpYOtg7fDzvQZZFR0WdSVFMs1AwUw5TUlVLVcZd8l8qYeJirGNDZlRqG2pDa7dsC2yMbRlwUnFidSp2EXyDf8aBj4Kbg9uEg4V7hX2J04uMjDaPGo_6kFWTJ5UumuCdqp4-oS-iAKKjpAWnNKyXrfGus679rv-4yrkCuZO86r6KwGbAnMMJy73P3dAf0PXVptte44Tmfevk6-7r9ewu7DjvIe_r8B_w1fGK8h353f6z
Pledge of hands tree Level 92 (113 skill points):
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.0/AAAABAUCAAOaBAcEswVCBx4HYwj0DkgPxBBYES0RlhNxFVYWvxbzGF0aOBvIHMQc3B2DIvQmPCaVJy8qCysmLJwvnTBbMPgy0TY9Olg62Dt8QZZFR0WdSVFMs1NSVUtVxliuXfJepV8qYeJirGZUahtqQ2wLbIxtGXBScWJ1KnYRfIN_xoGPgpuD24SDhXuJ04uMjDaPGo9Gj_qQVZMnlS6a4J2qnj6hL6IAoqOkBacIpzSsl63xrrOu_a7_uMq5ArmTvOq-isBmwJzDCcu9z93QH9D10sXVpuOE5n3r5Ovu6_XsLuw47yHv6_Af8NXxivId-d3-s_75

Skill / useful items
Thanks to Benep. Level: skill / useful items (requirements; quest/gem acquisition):
* Level 1: Spark (-; Nessa: Enemy at the Gate)/ Tabula(-), Goldrim (13 Dex)
* Level 3: Wanderlust (11 Int)
* Level 10: Flame Dash (29 Int; Nessa: The Caged Brute), Faster Casting (33 Int; Yeena: Sharp and Cruel)
* Level 12: Storm Brand (33 Int; Nessa: The Siren's Cadence) / Storm Prison (47 Int)
* Level 16: Herald of Thunder (41 Int; Yeena: Intruders in Black)
* Level 24: Reverberation Rod (83 Int)
* Level 28: Ball Lightning (67 Int; Siosa: A Fixture of Fate)
* Level 31: HoT + Culling Strike (33 Dex; Yeena: Sharp and Cruel) + Onslaught (-; Nessa: Mercy Mission) + Innervate (52 Int; Clarissa: A Fixture of Fate??)
* Level 32: Shavronne's Pace (59 Int) / Shavronne's Gambit(59 Int)
* Level 34: CwDt (27 Int;Petarus and Vanja: The Eternal Nightmare, 40 Str) + Summon Lightning Golem (35 Dex, 50 Int; Petarus and Vanja: Breaking the Seal)
* Level 36: Amplification Rod (83 Int)
* Level 38: CwDt + (Vaal) Cold Snap (18 Dex, 26 Int; Yeena: The Root of the Problem) + Curse on Hit (63 Int; Petarus and Vanja: The Eternal Nightmare) + Conductivity (58 Int; Clarissa: Lost in Love)

* Level 52: Cloak of Defiance (76 Dex, 76 Int)
* Level 57: Mind of the Council (64 Dex, 64 Int)

Useful quests
Quests to watch out for because of quest rewards:

Act 1 : The Marooned Mariner
Act 1 : Mercy Mission (quicksilver flask)
Act 1 : The Dweller of the Deep
Act 1 : The Way Forward
Act 2 : Deal With The Bandits (help Alira)
Act 2 : The Great White Beast (second quicksilver flask)
Act 3 : Lost in Love (conductivity)
Act 3 : Sever at the Right's Hands (ball lightning)
Act 3 : Fixture of Fate (energy leech, lightning penetration, slower projectiles, lesser multiple projectiles, etc.)
Act 3 : Victario's Secrets
Act 3 : Piety's Pets
Act 4 : Breaking the seal (lightning golem)
Act 4 : An Indomitable Spirit
Act 4 : Eternal Nightmare (spell echo, cast when damage taken, curse on hit)
Act 5 : In Service to Science
Act 5 : Kitava's Torments
Act 6 : The Father of War
Act 6 : The Puppet Mistress
Act 6 : The Cloven One
Act 7 : The Silver Locket (diamond flask)
Act 7 : The Master of a Million Faces
Act 7 : Kishara's Star
Act 7 : Queen of Despair
Act 8 : Reflection of Terror
Act 8 : Love is Dead
Act 8 : The Gemling Legion
Act 9 : Queen of the Sands
Act 9 : The Ruler of Highgate
Act 10 : Vilenta's Vengeance
Act 10 : An End to Hunger

Bandits
Help Alira – resistances, mana regen, crit multi – all good.

Ascendancy order
This is
1. Illuminated devotion – life leech, more damage and more AoE, which is both offense and defense for this build.
2. Arcane blessing – get rid of the elemental ailments the moment you hit enemy. Simply great!
3. Divine guidance – a lot of flat mana and 10% of damage taken from mana before life. Great defensive node.
4. Sanctuary of thought – another good defensive node. By this time, you should already have quite some mana to make it worthy.

If you constantly end up without energy shield, like in Shimmeron case, you may also take Conviction of Power as the 4th one and then respec later once you have better gear.

Major
Soul of the Brine king until you get Skyforth. From then on, either Lunaris for mapping or Solaris for Shaper and friends + especially dangerous maps.

Minor
Situational. Usually I use Gruthkul, Tukohama or Yugul.

This build can run all map mods, but several precautions have to be taken.

Elemental reflect mod
I usually reroll such maps, but here is the guide, if anybody really needs it.

All your reflected damage is lightning one, which means that even 90% of it is taken from mana before life (extra 30% from Mind of the Council). This means that you need to match your hit damage with your mana recovery (3% per crit + high regeneration). You have to replace your weapons with something fast, but not with high damage like dual Apep's rages. You also need to reduce the damage in your main link, so use Ball lightning - spell echo - faster casting - increased critical strikes - added chaos damage - greater multiple projectiles. Also forget about your ES, replace this link with purity of lightning, and to balance the life/mana damage disactivate clarity (we need 80% of lightning from mana and 20% of lightning from life). You should still have enough damage to run all map tiers, but it will take more time, and gearing is simply annoying.

No mana regenaration
This one is tricky, as you may not even notice it due to high overall mana recovery. However, it may leave you in situations where you have very little mana after some encounter, and you get prone to one-shots. If you notice this map mod, just be more careful, and when you see that your mana is drained – move back, wait until your ES fully recharges, and you are free to spread BLs further at no mana cost (due to ascendancy).

Most of the time you do not have to change anything in the set-up, but there are few exceptions.

Hall of Grandmasters
HoGM is manageable with this build, but be careful. Take into inventory reduced block chance support and faster projectiles, which you should swap as the 6-th link for BL. Never use slower projectiles here! Start every wave by placing storm brands, running to the enemies, and using flame dash to teleport back to safety. Just after you teleport, start spamming ball lightning, and hope that you killed everything. By default use faster projectiles, just to make sure you can hit enemies off screen. If you see that some enemy cannot be killed like that, try reduced block chance support. If this fails (mull gubben most likely), fry them with scorching ray from balefire, which you should bring as a weapon swap. Also bring Brinerot’s flag with a warcry in the weapon swap to generate charges, if needed. Watch out for chaos damage!

Temple guardians and delve bosses
Surprisingly one (or maybe a few) of temple guardians have one-hits stronger than the Shaper’s slam. The same applies to delve bosses. With these encounters you should stay mobile with flame dash and kill them from distance.

Can I change this or that?
Sure. The build is work in progress, and all improvements are very welcome! It's also my first build BTW, so I would like to learn more.

SSF viable?
No.

HC viable?
No idea. It definitely has a potential for hardcore, but I never played this mode.

Gear checks?
Do not PM me, but post your gear in the forum. I will try to help you, but since I am a very casual player, there is high chance that some other players might help you quicker.