Elemental Hit
Raider Build

Updated for Patch 3.16

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: medium to high

The build presented here is all about using an Elemental Hit, focused on dealing Fire Damage using a Bow. Use Combat Focus - Crimson and Viridian Jewels so that your Elemental Hit can only "pick" Fire Damage. Avatar of Fire granted by the Unique Amulet - Xoph's Blood increases your damage by converting it to Fire Damage, while you focus on increasing your Fire Penetration. 50% of all Lightning and 50% of all Cold Damage are converted to Fire. This includes the flat damage from the Gem. When Elemental Hit chooses fire - which it always will - it will then deal more damage. Your offensive mods can be narrowed to Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, and Fire Resistance Penetration. For better defenses look for Maximum Life and Evasion Rating. Path 3.15 requires you to be more mindful of your Mana Cost, but overall the build remains unchanged.

Elemental Hit Raider is a glass-canon-type build, it's excellent at mapping, and the amount of damage it deals to the single targets is one of the highest you can get. The downside is the survivability - it's going to be a challenge to reach 5k of Maximum Life, and your second defensive layer is Evasion Rating, Armour, and Spell Suppression, all at moderate amounts. Ascendancy Keystones provide you with some defenses, but not too much. Having Phasing, stacking Frenzy Charges, and being equipped with the right gear makes your character move and attack insanely fast, use it to your advantage by dodging foreshadowed attacks and approaching enemies when you're safe to maximize your damage enhanced by Point Blank Keystone. 

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

You're going to use Elemental Hit with Bow. One set up for mapping and the other one for boss-fighting, both 6-linked. Chain and Multiple Projectiles Support Gems offer better clear speed for a price of decreasing your damage, which is usually enough anyway. Hypothermia and Barrage Support Gems are for dealing with tougher opponents. You use Skitterbots to Chill and Shock enemies since your Elemental Strike can deal only Fire Damage. The gameplay is simple, you use a Dash to move around and hit Enemies with your Attacks. Use regularly your Molten Shell Spell. There are a couple of Curses and Wave of Conviction - it will be cast automatically from time to time. Other than using Elemental Hit and Dash - there isn't much to say about this build in terms of gameplay.

This video was recorded on a level 93 Raider wearing Asenath's Chant, Darkray Vectors, and a total of 9 Frenzy Charges. Single-target DPS was at around 15kk - while a bunch of projectiles will miss because of Barrage, you can easily melt all of the Bosses within seconds

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You can start using Elemental Hit right from the start, it's available at level 12, but since your skill tree will be focused on Projectiles and Elemental Damage, Bow Attacks, and Maximum Life, the other obvious choice is Burning Arrow. By level 64 get yourself Xoph's Blood and start using Elemental Hit, if it's your starter character you probably won't be able to afford it, you can use The Ignomon or Xoph's Heart instead.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Burning Arrow setup
	Burning Arrow - use Burning Arrow until you can equip Xoph's Blood, The Damage conversion from Elemental Hit works given you have Avatar of Fire
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - your Attacks will deal more Elemental Damage
	Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support - use do get through Acts faster
	Inspiration Support - it gives you Elemental Damage and Critical Strike Chance while making your Skill cheaper

Aura setup
	Precision - keep it at a level low enough that you can comfortably use your Attacks
	Anger - at the cost of half of your Mana Pool it grants you more Fire Damage

Curse setup
	Flammability - cast the Curse at stronger enemies to increase your DPS against them
	Increased Duration Support - makes your Flammability Curse lasts longer

Bandits:

Having two additional Passive Points is the best option, kill all the Bandits and talk to Eramir

Leveling Skill Trees:

35 Points Skill Tree
Grab some Maximum Life and allocate the Damage from the Bow Cluster

59 Points Skill Tree
More Life, More Damage, Frenzy Charges, and Jewel Sockets are what you want to have after that

Recommended leveling items:

The Ignomon - really cheap amulet that will be enough for the first few Acts

(12-20)% increased Rarity of Items found +10 to Dexterity Adds 12 to 24 Fire Damage to Attacks +(100-150) to Accuracy Rating +(100-150) to Evasion Rating +20% to Fire Resistance

Ngamahu's Sign - decent Ring for Fire Damage builds. Adds a bit of extra Fire Damage but also offers extra Life Recovery mechanic

+(20-30)% to Fire Resistance +(15-25) to Strength Adds (8-10) to (12-14) Fire Damage to Spells and Attacks 15% increased Ignite Duration on Enemies 10% chance to Ignite Recover (20-30) Life when you Ignite an Enemy

Xoph's Inception - Until you can afford a good Rare Bow you'll have to use a substitute. Xoph's Inception is a bow that grants you a lot of Damage, but no Critical Strike-related mods.

(70-90)% increased Physical Damage +(20-30) Life gained on Killing Ignited Enemies Gain 20% of Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage 10% chance to Ignite

Death's Harp - another alternative for a decent Rare Bow. It's more Critical Strike-oriented which will increase your damage. It fires an additional Arrow which is useful

(30-50)% increased Critical Strike Chance (100-125)% increased Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed +50% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow

Goldrim - Goldrim is one of the best leveling Helmet due to the amount of Elemental Resistances it gives
+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Tabula Rasa - Best and most versatile leveling Body Armour in the game

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Ashrend - five-linked Ashrend with the right sockets is arguably better than Tabula for this build, both Tabula and Ashrend are considered bottom-tier Body Armours so six-linked versions are valued at around one Divine Orb

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 10 Added Fire Damage (80-100)% increased Evasion Rating +(30-50) to maximum Life +(40-50)% to Fire Resistance Cannot be Ignited (10-15)% increased Physical Damage with Ranged Weapons -(7-5) Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

84 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels nor Thread of Hope)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Way of the Poacher
2. Avatar of the Slaughter
3. Quartz Infusion
4. Avatar of the Veil

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each
nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Garukhan: 60% reduced Effect of Shock on you

5. Final Gems links

[SINGLE-TARGET DPS] Elemental Hit setup
	Elemental Hit - an Attack that randomly chooses an Element and Deals Damage of that type. In this situation, it will deal only Fire Damage
	Barrage Support - your Arrows are fired one after another in rapid succession, focusing damage output on a single point
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - core Support Gem for all Elemental Attack builds. It grants one of the highest DPS bonuses
	Inspiration Support -  decreases Mana cost, while increasing Damage and Crit Chance of linked Skills
	Elemental Focus Support - more Elemental Damage - Fire in this case
	Empower Support - increases the Skill Gems Level

[AOE DPS] Elemental Hit setup
	Elemental Hit - An Attack that randomly chooses an Element and Deals Damage of that type. In this situation, it will deal only Fire Damage
	Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support - you fire more Arrows in a spread pattern. You don't need the Greater Multiple Projectiles, your AoE is good enough
	Chain Support - Elemental Hit will Chain, bouncing into other enemies
	Mirage Archer Support - creates an apparition that uses the setup that's linked with, but with less Attack Speed and Damage
	Inspiration Support -  decreases Mana cost, while increasing Damage
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - increases your Elemental Damage with Attacks

[UTILITY] Auras and Skitterbots setup
	Anger - use it for more fire damage, there is no better Aura than Anger for that
	Precision - at low levels it reserves little to no Mana while still providing Accuracy and Critical Strike Chance
	Summon Skitterbots -  Summons Minions that Chill and Shock enemies. It is very important to have Skitterbots if you want to use Hypothermia Support Gem. Useful Spell overall.
	Enlighten Support - linking it with skills that reserves Mana decreases their cost

[MOBILITY] Dash setup
	Dash - your mobility spell, having increased quality improves your Cooldown Recovery Rate
	Molten Shell - the best Guard Spell you can use, it decreases the amount of damage you take
	Blood Rage - increases your damage and Life Leech while slowly draining your Life
	Vaal Haste - a brief buff that increases your Attack and Movement Speed, use only the Vaal variant

[UTILITY] Wave of Conviction and Curses (place it in your Asenath's Chant Unique Helmet)
	Wave of Conviction - cripples enemy Fire Resistance by 15% on hit
	Combustion Support - enemies Ignited by Wave of Conviction have their Fire Resistance decreased by another 10-19%
	Sniper's Mark - Cursed enemies take more damage from Projectiles, Hitting them recharges your Life Flasks, and your Projectiles split when you hit Cursed Target. Use  Flammability if you can cast another curse

6. Gear Setup

There are many mods that you can look for, which makes this build really expensive to min-max for you could have great use of all Prefixes and Suffixes. This Build consists of a few semi-expensive Unique Items, so looking for good Rare Items with a lot of Elemental Resistances is a task that will require a decent amount of currency. Take a look at the list of Stat Priorities below and try to find items matching your budget, just remember to cap your Elemental Resistances first.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Asenath's Chant - It triggers a Socketed Spell with a Bow Attack every 0.3 seconds, which is often. This is why I mentioned putting Wave of Conviction and Curse Spells here, so you won't ever have to worry about casting it and focus on not getting hit.

Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Attack with a Bow (10-15)% increased Attack Speed (10-15)% increased Cast Speed +(100-120) to maximum Energy Shield (30-40)% increased Stun and Block Recovery 30% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 5% increased Movement Speed

Helmet enchantments: 15% increased Elemental Hit Attack Speed Elemental Hit deals 40% increased Damage

(Weapon) Rare Bow - A good Bow is the most important part of your gear, so don't be cheap. This is where most of your damage mods will be located, look for Critical Strike, +2 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems, and Attack-related mods.

Min. requirements: +2 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems 15% increased Attack Speed 30% increased Critical Strike Chance Optional affixes: Bow Attacks Fire 2 Additional Arrows +1 to Level of Socketed Gems #% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Attacks with this Weapon Penetrate #% Elemental Resistances

(Weapon) Rare Quiver - The most valuable mods are one that gives you more Life and has more Arrows being fired. Other than that, look for additional Elemental Resistances and Critical Strike-related mods.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow 30% increased Critical Strike Chance with Bows Optional affixes: +#% to Critical Strike Multiplier with Bow #% increased Attack Speed Adds # to # Fire Damage to Attack Elemental Resists

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Having a lot of increased Maximum Life is the most important aspect of Body Armour. Look for Hunter's and Crusader's Influence for you can stumble upon some of their best Mods on Body Armours for your build here.

Min. requirements: +90 to Maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances Attacks have +1,5% to Critical Strike Chance Optional affixes: Elemental Resists #% chance to gain a Power Charge on Critical Strike You can apply an additional Curse Enemies you Kill have a #% chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their Maximum Life as Physical Damage #% increased Area of Effect #% increased Maximum Life

(Boots) Darkray Vectors - And Additional Maximum Frenzy Charge should already catch your attention. With Avatar of the Slaughter Ascendancy, your character can really benefit from it. Additional mods that scale well with the number of Frenzy Charges and other mods are really good for your build.

(40-70)% increased Armour and Evasion +(20-40)% to Lightning Resistance 5% increased Movement Speed per Frenzy Charge +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges 40% reduced Frenzy Charge Duration 25% reduced Light Radius 2% chance to Dodge Attack Hits per Frenzy Charge

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves are where you can focus on Elemental Resistances. Gripped Gloves should be an obvious choice for a base since it grants Projectile Damage.

Min. requirements: 70 Maximum Life 70 Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Increased Critical Strike Chance

(Belt) Rare Belt - As was the case with the Gloves, look for Maximum Life and Resistances. A Stygian Vise is a great option, you can put an Abyss Jewel there. Hunter's influence could increase your Maximum Life even more

Min. requirements: 80 Maximum Life 70 Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: #% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills #% increased maximum Life

(Amulet) Xoph's Blood - Avatar of Fire - this is the reason this Amulet is an absolute necessity. Spend your first hard-earned currency on this particular item. Other than that, its other mods are great for your build too.

+(20-30) to Strength 10% increased maximum Life +(20-40)% to Fire Resistance 10% increased Strength Damage Penetrates 10% Fire Resistance Cover Enemies in Ash when they Hit you Avatar of Fire

Recommended Anointments: Lava Lash

(Ring) Rare Ring - Both of your Unique Rings should provide Maximum Life and Elemental Resistances, you don't need Curses on Hit or other inadequately useless fancy mods. Steel, Diamond, Vermilion, or Amethys bases are desirable.

Min. requirements: 90 Maximum Life 90 Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Non-channeling Skills have (-7–-6) to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Added Fire Damage to Attacks +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges (VERY expensive Synthesised Implicit mod)

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - They should provide extra Life and Critical Strike. You can try your luck by Corrupting one and hoping for immunity to Corrupted Blood.

Recommended affixes: 7% Maximum Life Critical Strike Multiplier mods Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Critical Strike Chance with Fire Skills increased Critical Strike Chance with Elemental Skills increased Global Critical Strike Chance

(Jewel) Abyss Jewels - exact same case as with other Rare Jewels, focus on Life and Elemental Resistances.

Recommended affixes: Elemental Resistances Critical Strike Multiplier Mods Maximum Life Optional affixes: increased Global Critical Strike Chance Global Critical Strike Multiplier Added Fire Damage with Bow Attacks chance to gain Phasing for 4 seconds on Kill

(Jewel) Intuitive Leap - place it between Herbalism and Survivalist to take all the Notables in radius - they are all very useful.

Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree

(Jewel) Combat Focus - Viridian Jewel, place it near Golem's Blood to activate it. You really want to Hit only with Fire with Your Elemental Hit.

(10-15)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills With 40 total Dexterity and Strength in Radius, Elemental Hit and Wild Strike cannot choose Lightning With 40 total Dexterity and Strength in Radius, Elemental Hit and Wild Strike deal 50% less Lightning Damage

(Jewel) Combat Focus - Crimson Jewel, place it near Mind Drinker to activate it. You really want to Hit only with Fire with Your Elemental Hit.

(10-15)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills With 40 total Strength and Intelligence in Radius, Elemental Hit and Wild Strike cannot choose Cold With 40 total Strength and Intelligence in Radius, Elemental Hit and Wild Strike deal 50% less Cold Damage

(Jewel) Thread of Hope - Put a variant with the Large Ring near Fervour, there are now 7 Notables worth picking in the range of the ring

Only affects Passives in Large Ring Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree -(20-10)% to all Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye -  You'll have two Auras - Anger and Precision. Look for Watcher's Eye with at least one mod matching your Auras

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura modifiers: Anger: Fire Penetration Anger: Inc Crit Strike Mult Anger: Inc Fire Damage Anger: Phys Added As Fire Anger: Phys Converted To Fire Precision: Inc Attack Damage Precision: Inc Attack Speed Precision: Inc Crit Strike Mult

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewels - Two Cluster Jewels are what you're looking for. What I recommend is having one Fire Damage-based and the other Damage with Bows-based. The first one gives you Doryani's Lesson - to Leech Life, the Second one provides you with Fuel the Fight - for Mana Leech. Both Cluster has their Unique Notables which makes them more preferable than the others, you can use both Bow Damage or both Fire Damage Clusters, it's not really that important if you already have your Leech needs covered

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Cremator 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Prowess 1 Added Passive Skill is Fuel the Fight 1 Added Passive Skill is Calamitous

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - with four of these in the final version of your build there are only two Notables worth mentioning - Pressure Points and Quick Getaway. You can find them on Critical Strike-based Clusters.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Pressure Points 1 Added Passive Skill is Quick Getaway

(Flask) Bottled Faith - the Critical Stike Chance and Consecrated Ground effect are extremely good in almost every build, especially in this build

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (20-40)% increased Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect

(Flask) Dying Sun - most of the build using Projectiles crave this flask for it is really good with its additional Projectiles and Fire Resistance

+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken (125-150)% increased Charges used (40-60)% reduced Duration (10-20)% increased Area of Effect during Flask Effect Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles during Flask Effect

(Flask) Cinderswallow Urn - Great offensive and defensive Flask. Look for Recover (1-3)% of Life when you Kill an Enemy during Flask Effect.

Onslaught +90 to Maximum Charges Recharges 5 Charges when you Consume an Ignited corpse (175-200)% increased Charges used Enemies Ignited by you during Flask Effect take (7-10)% increased Damage

Other suggested Flasks: Alchemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline Perpetual Diamond Flask of Warding (Immune to Curses)

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.