Lightning Tendrils
Elementalist Build

Updated for Patch 3.21

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It's a build that uses Lightning Tendrils Skill that has been significantly buffed in patch 3.21. This Channeling Lightning Spell is available at level 1, but the version used in this guide requires this Skill Gem to be of Phantasmal Quality to take advantage of the guaranteed Critical Strikes with Stronger Pulses. Lightning Tendrils consists of regular hits, but every 3 Pulses it releases an extremely powerful one which is the main damage dealer. It allows us to implement Controlled Destruction Support Gem and Marylene's Fallacy Amulet which severely reduces Critical Strike Chance but in turn, grants much more damage. A Critical Strike is guaranteed to occur every 3 pulses anyway. Although the offensive capabilities are impressive, it's the defensive layers that are the most pronounced. You can mitigate over 90% of every type of damage received on top of the over 50% Chance to Block Spells and Attack. It can reach around 200k of Effective Life Pool despite having less than 2k of Unreserved Life that is passively Regenerated over two seconds.

We've decided to use Doryani's Prototype Body Armour which makes nearby enemies have Lightning Resistance equal to that of our character. It can be reduced to -200% and that's the objective. Lightning Damage from Hits will be mitigated by Armour, but that's not enough. There's still Lightning Damage over Time that has to be accounted for. There are a few ways to mitigate it, all relying on redirecting Lightning Damage to be taken as some other type of damage. The cheap option is to use two Keystones - Tempered by War (from Lethal Pride) and Divine Flesh (from Mahuxotl's Machination). This way you will take no Cold or Lightning Damage at all, and half of the Elemental Damage will be taken as Chaos Damage, so you better have 90% Chaos Resistance. The second option is to use the Dawnbreaker shield, Sublime Vision for Purity of Fire, and one of the two keystones mentioned above. We recommend Divine Flesh from Glorious Vanity, as Tempered by War makes it much harder to dig deeper into the negative values of Lightning Resistance. This way you also need only a lot of Chaos/Fire Resistance, and Physical Damage mitigation.

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1. Gameplay

As Lightning Tendrils is a Channelling Spell that's supposed to deal meaningful damage after two first pulses, it may sound like a very poor Skill to clear with. Fortunately, it can be easily improved with enemies' explosions on their death, there are numerous ways to achieve it expanded on later in the item section of the guide. To move around use Flame Dash. As you can accommodate up to three Golems, we suggest using Chaos, Lightning, and Stone Golems which will work as Auras. For your actual Aruas choose Wrath, Determination, and Discipline if you can. If you are limited only to one Aura because of Sublime Vision, use Purity of Fire with non-Aura Spells that Reserve Mana such as Petrified Blood and Arctic Armour. Tempest Shield linked with Arrogance Support will always reserve slightly over 50% of Maximum Life so that you're on Low-Life at all times. For a Guard Spell use Molten Shell and Link it with CwDT if your movement key is occupied by Vortex, which is probably the case if you're using Algor Mortis.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

For leveling, you can use Lightning Tenrdrils, it's a great leveling tool as of patch 3.21. It can deal a lot of damage when combined with Orb of Storms. In Act 2, you can start using Increased Critical Damage and Controlled Destruction Support Gems to immediately benefit from guarantee Crits. Use items with a high Crit Multiplier, Crit Chance won't be important at any stage. The build deals tons of damage at the early stages of the game. In order to switch to the main setup all you need is a gear with no Lightning Resistance and Doryani's Prototype. After finishing acts your Resistances are -60% by default, so that's good enough for a start. You won't need to worry too much about dying often to Lightning DoTs, you'll be probably progressing up to level 90 or so, then you may lose too much exp to random Mana Siphoners and that's when gathering proper items will be needed.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Lightning Tendrils setup
	Lightning Tendrils - Great to level up with. Swap to the Phantasmal variant as soon as you can.
	Added Lightning Damage Support - Adds Lightning Damage to each Hit.
	Elemental Focus Support - Grants more Spell Damage, and inability to cause Elemental Ailments.
	Arcane Surge Support - Arcane Surge is used for more Cast Speed and Mana Regeneration Rat.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - Increases Crit Chance you deal with your stronger pulses.
	Controlled Destruction Support - More Spell Damage and Less Critical Strike Chance.

Orb of Storms setup
	Orb of Storms - The Orb is a supplementary damage and Shock source, as Tendrils with Elemental Focus won't be able to Shock.
	Overcharge Support - Shock is much more effective causing enemies to take increased damage.
	Increased Area of Effect Support - Increased Area of Effect for your convenience.
	Innervate Support - Grants 20% Chance to Shock, adds Lightning Damage, and Innervate buff on Kill for more DPS.

Other Gems
	Flame Dash - Recommended mobility Spell.
	Conductivity - Lowers Lightning Resistance of Hexed opponents.
	Wrath - Grants your Spells more Lightning Damage.
	Clarity - Increases Mana Regeneration Rate.
	Hydrosphere - Use it to cause Lightning Exposure and lower Lightning Resistance.
	Sigil of Power - Stand in the circle for added Lightning Damage. After spending mana it adds more of it.

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

31 Points Skill Tree
Get Maximum Life and Lightning Damage nodes. Cast Speed is good too.

72 Points Skill Tree
Allocate more Lightning Damage, Maximum Life, and nodes for Mana Reservation Efficiency or lower Mana Cost.

Recommended leveling items:

Marylene's Fallacy - At level 40 you can star using this Amulet, it's the best one you can get.

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(80-120) to Accuracy Rating +(210-240)% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +(80-100) to Evasion Rating (10-15)% increased Light Radius 40% less Critical Strike Chance Critical Strikes have Culling Strike

Atziri's Foible - The extra Mana will be useful if you plan to use Tabula Rasa.
(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +100 to maximum Mana (16-24)% increased maximum Mana (80-100)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Items and Gems have 25% reduced Attribute Requirements

Le Heup of All - Perfect choice for most of the characters during leveling.

(10-30)% increased Damage +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Lifesprig - Level-1 Wand that's overall great for any spell-caster.
(8-12)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Spell Gems (20-28)% increased Spell Damage (5-8)% increased Cast Speed +(15-20) to maximum Life +(15-20) to maximum Mana Regenerate (6-8) Life over 1 second when you Cast a Spell

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

99 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique or Cluster Jewels)
121 Points Path of Building (PoB) link
 

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Shaper of Storms
2. Liege of the Primordial
3. Elemancer
4. Bastion of Elements

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Tukohama: 3% additional Physical Damage Reduction per second you've been stationary, up to a maximum of 9%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Lightning Tendrils setup
	Lightning Tendrils - The only damaging ability that's used to deal Lightning Damage with stronger pulses. It's mandatory to use the Phantasmal version.
	Added Lightning Damage Support - Adds Lightning Damage, we recommend the Awakened version for extra Level to Tendrils.
	Controlled Destruction Support - Lowers the Crit Chance, which is insignificant, and in turn grants more Spell Damage.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - Increases the Damage dealt with Critical Strikes.
	Concentrated Effect Support - Lowers your Area of Effect but grants more Damage, which is usually a good tradeoff. If that's something you'd like to avoid, use  Arcane Surge or  Faster Casting Support Gems.
	Empower Support - Empower is the best way to gain more Damage via increasing Gem Level.  Hypothermia Support may also be great but only if you're targeting Chilled opponents.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Wrath - It simply grants more Lightning Damage.
	Determination - Adds and Increases your Armour to Mitigate Physical Hit Damage.
	Herald of Thunder - Adds Lightning Damage to your Spells and strikes nearby enemies, making it great for clearing. Otherwise, it's not very efficient to run this Herald.
	Enlighten Support - Increases the Reservation Efficiency for Linked Skills.

[UTILITY] Alternative Auras setup with Sublime Vision
	Purity of Fire - Purity of Fire is the only Aura you will be allowed to use with the proper Sublime Vision. It grants Fire Resistance and Maximum Fire Resistance.
	Petrified Blood - If you're on Low Life, which you're supposed to be, it makes a portion of incoming damage to be taken as DoT instead. This DoT cannot be mitigated in any way, but it gives you time to regenerate it back. Use the Anomalous version for better effect.
	Arctic Armour - Chills enemies on Hit, which is great with Hypothermia Support, leaves Chilled ground when Hit, which synergizes with Algor Mortis, makes you immune to Freeze, and you take less Fire and Physical Damage while stationary, which you are as you cast Lightning Tendrils.

[UTILITY] Tempest Shield setup
	Tempest Shield - It simply grants a 26% chance to Block Spell Damage. use the Divergent version for an extra 2%.
	Arrogance Support - Tempest Shield will Reserve slightly over half of your Life instead of Mana, allowing you to reap the benefits of Petrified Blood Skill and Pain Attunement Keystone.

[UTILITY] Golems setup
	Summon Chaos Golem - Use it for 4% additional Physical Damage mitigation. With Anomalous Quality and two Elementalist's Keystones, it grows by 145% to mitigate almost 10% instead (on top of your Armour).
	Summon Stone Golem - Stone Golem Regenerates your Life over Time much like Vitality.  Flame Golem for increased damage can be used instead if you have Vaal Pact Keystone.
	Summon Lightning Golem - Increases the Cast Speed by 10%, which grows significantly with proper Keystones and Anomalous Quality.
	Meat Shield Support - Minions have more Life and stay close to the character so that they won't die too often.

[UTILITY] Flame Dash setup
	Flame Dash - A simple mobility Skill to dodge attacks and move faster.
	Arcane Surge Support - Arcane Surge improves your Cast Speed and Mana Regeneration Rate. Keep it at a low level so that a single cast of Flame Dash will activate it.
	Second Wind Support - Has a very high Mana Cost multiplier, and allows you to store one more Flame Dash charge.

[UTILITY] Vaal Righteous Fire
	Vaal Righteous Fire - Righteous Fire grants more Spell Damage while it's active. You should be able to withstand its Life Drain with your extremely high Fire Resistance and Life Regeneration. Use the Vaal version for a temporary bonus.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell setup
	Molten Shell - Mitigates a portion of incoming Hit Damage. It scales up with your Armour.
	Cast when Damage Taken - Molten Shell is cast automatically after taking a certain amount of damage. It's optional.

[UTILITY] Vortex
	Vortex - Vortex is another optional Gem. It creates a Chilling Area to Chill enemies if need be.

[UTILITY] Enfeeble
	Enfeeble - It's the best defensive Curse - makes the enemy deal less damage to you. It can be found as the on-hit modifier on any pair of Corrupted Gloves. If you need more damage, use  Punishment. Remember that Conductivity does nothing with Doryani's Prototype on.

5. Gear Setup

It's quite a unique build to assemble. Your focus is to reduce your own Lightning Resistance by 140%. You won't take any Cold or Lightning Damage so you won't need these Resistances. Instead, try to gather as much Chaos and Fire Resistance as you can. This includes Maximum Resistances which can reach up to 90%, that's a hard cap. On the rest of your Gear try to also acquire Armour, Maximum Life, increased Life Regeneration Rate, Dexterity, and Strength. The mandatory Unique Items are Doryani's Prototype and Marylene's Fallacy, but we recommend equipping more of them - Algor Mortis, Ventor's Gamble, and Immortal Flesh. Mahuxotl's Machination can be used in combination with Tempered by War from Lethal Pride. Note that Divine Flesh (which we recommend getting) will make Mind over Matter useless when combined with Eldritch Battery, as all damage will bypass ES, which protects Mana. Life Recoup is great with Petrified Blood - get it on Rings or from Vampirism Notable.

If you are looking for cheap PoE Currency, we would love to invite you to visit our PoE Market section that can be accessed via the menu bar on top of the page.

The recommended items from our list will:

1. Help you cap your Elemental Resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS and Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - You will probably need a lot of Dexterity here but don't forget to also get Armour and Maximum Life. Chaos and Fire Resistance may be needed too. Also, try to get the affix to take physical damage as some other kind of damage.

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 70% Fire/Chaos Resistance #% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage Optional affixes: Dexterity Strength Armour increased Life Regeneration Rate

Helmet enchantments: Lightning Tendrils Damage or Area of Effect

(Weapon) Rare Wand - Wand, Scepter, or Dagger with increased Gem Level to all Spell or Lightning Spells will be great. You may also find modifiers for Crit Multiplier, Cast Speed, Lightning Damage, and General Spell Damage.

Min. requirements: 60% increased Lightning/Spell Damage +1 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems Optional affixes: increased Cast Speed +1 to Level of all Lightning Spell Skill Gems Global Critical Strike Multiplier Chaos Resistance

(Shield) Mahuxotl's Machination - There's a lot to unpack here, but to sum it all up - it makes your Energy Shield obsolete, but you need to Leech or Gain it by means other than Regenerating or Recharging if you want 5% Extra Maximum Elemental Resistances. What you're interested in is the Divine Flesh Keystone is only obtainable by Glorious Vanity, and you can't have it this way if you want Tempered by War too.

Corrupted Soul Divine Flesh Eternal Youth Everlasting Sacrifice Immortal Ambition Vaal Pact

(Shield) Dawnbreaker - It redirects Cold, Lightning, and Physical Damage to be taken as Fire. the 20%, combined with 50% from Tempered by War or Divine Flesh makes it 70%. The remaining 30% can be obtained from Sublime Vision.

+(10-20) to maximum Life (150-250)% increased Armour +(20-25)% Chance to Block -1% Chance to Block Attack Damage for every 200 Fire Damage taken from Hits Recently (10-20)% of Cold Damage taken as Fire Damage (10-20)% of Lightning Damage taken as Fire Damage (10-20)% of Physical Damage taken as Fire Damage Scorch Enemies in Close Range when you Block

(Body Armour) Doryani's Prototype - It makes your Lightning Resistance apply to nearby enemies' Resistance too. You might think that equipping this with a lot of Armour would make you good to go, but there are some Lighting DoTs in the game, most notably the Mana Siphoners Rare monsters, Baran's, and Shaper's Attack, and it has to be accounted for.

(150-200)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(60-90) to maximum Life Deal no Non-Lightning Damage Armour also applies to Lightning Damage taken from Hits Lightning Resistance does not affect Lightning Damage taken Nearby Enemies have Lightning Resistance equal to yours

(Gloves) Algor Mortis - It does have some Lightning Resistance, but the upsides make them still the best offensive option. You have to be sure that the enemy is on Chilled ground to deal more and receive less damage.

+(50-70) to maximum Energy Shield +(15-20)% to Cold and Lightning Resistances (20-30)% chance to Sap Enemies in Chilling Areas Enemies in your Chilling Areas take (25-35)% increased Lightning Damage (15-20)% increased Effect of Non-Damaging Ailments

(Gloves) Demon Stitcher - If you're using Mahuxotl's Machination Shield, these gloves will make it easy to gain a lot of Energy Shield to activate the Everlasting Sacrifice bonus.

(15-20)% increased Cast Speed +(100-120) to maximum Energy Shield +(100-120) to maximum Life Sacrifice (5-25)% of Life to gain that much Energy Shield when you Cast a Spell

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - It may be hard to accumulate all the needed Attributes or Resistances, so using Rare Gloves may be necessary.

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 70% Fire/Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Spell Damage Attributes Cast Speed Armour increased Life Regeneration Rate

(Boots) Rare Boots - As was the case with Helmet and Gloves, seek Life, Specific Resistances, Attributes, Armour, and Life Regeneration. Here you will also need Movement Speed

Min. requirements: 50 maximum Life 40% Fire/Chaos Resistance 25% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Dexterity Strength Armour increased Life Regeneration Rate

(Amulet) Marylene's Fallacy - It is simply the best Amulet for a build that has a way to consistently and deterministically strike critically. It has a lot of Crit Multiplier and lowers Crit Chance.

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(80-120) to Accuracy Rating +(210-240)% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +(80-100) to Evasion Rating (10-15)% increased Light Radius 40% less Critical Strike Chance Critical Strikes have Culling Strike

Recommended Anointments: Charisma Heartseeker Crackling Speed

(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings are a great source of Attributes and Resistances. Added or increased Lightning Damage can be found here too, but ultimately Ventor's Gamble Rings are much better.

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 70% Fire/Chaos Resistance Attributes Optional affixes: increased Lightning Damage #% of Damage Taken Recopued as Life Adds # Lightning Damage against Shocked Enemies Critical Strike Multiplier

(Ring) Ventor's Gamble - These Rings are one of the very few ways to reduce your own Lightning Resistance. That is if they're well-rolled.

(6-15)% increased Rarity of Items found +(0-60) to maximum Life (-10-10)% increased Quantity of Items found (-40-40)% increased Rarity of Items found +(-25-50)% to Fire Resistance +(-25-50)% to Cold Resistance +(-25-50)% to Lightning Resistance

(Belt) Rare Belt - A belt with a lot of Maximum Life, Strength, and Resistances will do fine. Armour and Flask modifiers are common here, these might be of use.

Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life 90% Fire/Chaos Resistance 50 Strength Optional affixes: increased Maximum Life Armour

(Belt) Immortal Flesh - The Belt we would recommend if you're not using Mahuxotl's Machination, it makes the enormous bonus to Life Regen useless. It has a lot of Maximum Life and can reduce Lightning Resistance by another 25%.

+(25-40) to maximum Life +(75-100) to maximum Life Regenerate (200-350) Life per second Regenerate (8-10) Mana per second -(25-15)% to all Elemental Resistances -(50-40) Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits 40% increased Armour while not Ignited, Frozen or Shocked

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - We recommend two Large Cluster Jewels to make space for four Small ones. You may find the notables listed here useful.

Recommended Passives: 1 Added Passive Skill is Overshock 1 Added Passive Skill is Thunderstruck 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction 1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Conjured Wall

(Jewel) Small Cluster Jewel - Born of Chaos increases your Maximum Chaos Resistance by 3%, Antivenom by 1%. With Divine Flesh, three Born of Chaos, and one Antivenom, your Chaos Resistance is 90%.

Recommended Passives: 1 Added Passive Skill is Born of Chaos 1 Added Passive Skill is Antivenom

(Jewel) Lethal Pride - The Rakiata variant can get you Tempered by War Keystone. It's not very good with Doryani's Prototype, but still good if you value defenses more than damage. It's also cheaper than acquiring Sublime Vision.

Commanded leadership over (10000-18000) warriors under Rakiata Passives in radius are Conquered by the Karui Historic

(Jewel) Glorious Vanity - The Xibaqua variant gets you Divine Flesh. It redirects 50% of all Elemental Damage to be taken as Chaos, +5% to Maximum Chaos Resistance, and makes your Energy Shield useless (but you can still benefit from it with Eldritch Battery).

Bathed in the blood of (100-8000) sacrificed in the name of Xibaqua Passives in radius are Conquered by the Vaal Historic

(Jewel) Thread of Hope - Thread of Hope allows you to allocate passives disconnected from your tree and lowers your Resistances by up to 20%. You probably won't need it, but it can be used in various places. Medium Ring near Endurance/Overcharge lets you allocate Divine Judgement and Arcane Capacitor.

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

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Proper Rare Jewels are extremely powerful, seek Critical Strike Multiplier in here.

Recommended affixes: increased Maximum Life Attributes Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells Critical Strike Multiplier with Elemental Skills Critical Strike Multiplier with Lightning Skills

(Jewel) Melding of the Flesh - Melding of the Flesh massively lowers your Lightning Resistance, but be careful, it will lower your Fire and Maximum Fire Resistance too, which may lead to your downfall.

-(80-70)% to all Elemental Resistances Elemental Resistances are capped by your highest Maximum Elemental Resistance instead -(6-4)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Increased Lightning Damage with Wrath, or any Discipline or Determination modifiers are good. The Purity of Fire mod you want is "(6-10)% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage while affected by Purity of Fire"

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Sublime Vision - "30% of Cold and Lightning Damage taken as Fire Damage while affected by Purity of Fire" is an extremely valuable variant of this Jewel. If you can afford it, it'd be great.

<Aura bonus modifier>

(Flask) Oriath's End - It's good only for clearing as it grants 35% Lightning Resistance. It's the easiest way to increase clear speed.

+35% to all Elemental Resistances (20-40)% increased Charge Recovery Enemies you Kill during Effect have a (20-30)% chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Damage of a Random Element

(Flask) Progenesis - Extremely good Flask to mitigate incoming Hit Damage. It pairs well with Life Recoup or simply Life Regeneration.

+35% to Chaos Resistance (20-10)% reduced Charges per use (-35-35)% increased Duration When Hit during effect, 25% of Life loss from Damage taken occurs over 4 seconds instead

Suggested Rare Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed Granite Flask with increased Armour Ruby or Basalt Flask with increased Cast Speed

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below.

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