[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Elementalist Builds That Wreck Hard! (3.20.2)

Updated:

16 Feb 2023

5 – Maw of Mischief Ignite Golem

This whacky build revolves around a unique item that will kill your minions and make them explode, dealing a portion of their life as AoE damage. And we make use of that damage by igniting enemies and proliferating it across the screens and melting bosses in instants.

What the Maw of Mischief Ignite Golem Excels in:

Very Tanky.
Can melt any bosses on a relatively low budget.
Easy to play and can do all content.
SSF and League Start viable.

Maw of Mischief Ignite Golem full details:

The build revolves around a unique item called Maw of Mischief, a helmet that grants the spell Death Wish. When channelling it, you will instantly kill your minions and deal a portion of their life as an explosion around the minions. And because Ignite scales off high base damage, we try to scale our minions’ lives to the highest possible.
We do that through a few items. Skin of the Loyals with +4 to Socketed Minion Gems to boost our damage further (IE: the minions’ life), combined with an Empower 4, Minion Life Support as well as most possible gem levels from our sceptre and amulet.
For better clearing, we use Berek’s Respite, with its fantastic ignite proliferation mechanic, and for our defensiveness, we use Aegis to help sustain our lifepool.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/MafukasLT/Tokeronas?time-machine=week-3&i=1&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DElementalist%26skill%3DDeath-Wish%26sort%3Ddps

4 – Vortex Ignite

You might realize a theme, but Ignite has become even stronger in 3.20 due to the changes to Curses and how they affect bosses. As such, we have a resurgence of ignite builds, including different takes of old ones. And this is one such build.

What Vortex Ignite Excels in:

Fairly Tanky.
A lot of single target damage for a DoT build
Fantastic clearing
Buttery Smooth playstyle.

Vortex Ignite Full details:

Because of how Vortex works, where increases to Spell damage also increases the DoT portion of the skill, this also means that ignites originated by this skill will get increased by spell damage too, which is not a normal thing since they removed double dipping.
To make this build excel, you’ll want to get as high gem level as possible, with reaching at least level 28 on your Vortex (Can scale to over 30 with some investment). And because of how much Exposure Elementalists get, you can get insane amounts of negative Enemy Resistance by using Eye of Malice, which increases Enemies Resistances by 50%, but also increases the negative portion of it. So if the enemy has -50% Res, it suddenly becomes -75%. And this works with bosses much better now!
Most of your survivability comes from being fully Spell Suppressed and the crazy amount of slows and freezes from your Vortex, chilling and reducing action speed to up to 40%, as well as a respectable amount of Armor and Evasion.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Melt1337/SadSadSadEnjoyer?time-machine=week-3&i=3&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DElementalist%26skill%3DVortex%26sort%3Ddps

3 – Lightning Conduit

Despite some big nerfs from last League to now, Lightning Conduit remains strong and able to do all content. It’s an acquired taste of an build, due to the playstyle, but many people enjoy it, and you can get some insane damage if you spec properly into it.

What Lightning Conduit Excels in:

High Single Target damage
Good Clearing
Fairly Tanky
Unique playstyle

Lightning Conduit full details:

The skill works by shocking enemies and then consuming the shock to deal a massive burst of damage, scaled up based on the Shock effect. This means you want an Orb of Storms or Storm Brand with as much Shock Effect (or Non-Damage Ailment Effect) scaling as possible to reach 65% Shock on even strong bosses.
Our defenses come mostly from a lot of Armor, Evasion, nearly block capped without the use of Glancing Blows, as well as killing enemies faster than they can hit us!
You’ll want to get as many gem levels as possible since that’s the best way to scale your damage, and since we don’t need a unique shield, we can get a ton of damage from it, as well as a +2 from our amulet and sceptre, plus a corrupted Skin of the Loyal for another +2 with an Empower, reaching over level 30 Lightning Conduit!

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Azit_zero/azit_c?time-machine=week-3&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DElementalist%26skill%3DLightning-Conduit%26item%3DSkin-of-the-Lords%26sort%3Ddps

2 – Explosive Arrow Ballista Ignite

Obviously one of the best builds in the game, both for league starting and uber bossing farming, EA Ballista ignite has dominated the meta with the sheer ease to deal millions of damage while running around and dodging skillshots.

What Explosive Arrow Ballista Ignite Excels in:

Tankyness.
Can reach the DoT Cap (~37 million damage) easily.
Very cheap to get started with, and can do all content
Perfect for league start.

EA Ballista Ignite full details:

Because of how Elementalist works, any source of flat damage becomes fodder for your ignite damage. As such, you’ll want as much Flat damage, physical, chaos, elemental, doesn’t matter, as possible. In fact, you don’t want Flat Added Fire damage to attacks, because that would brick Elemental Equilibrium and cost you millions of damage.
The name of the game for EA is attack speed, combined with Faster Ignite. You must reach 20 stacks on the enemy, explode, and then do it repeatedly. The more ballistas you have, the quicker you get there, increasing your overall damage per second.
Since the ballistas can cost a lot of mana, as EA has one of the highest base cost skills in the game, you can either use Lifetap or go with a Devouring Diadem, which also helps increase the amount of damage you deal, allowing you to fit in an extra aura, as well as providing you a lot of damage with a Focus button.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/gladkopls/Pain_Sanctum?time-machine=week-3&i=3&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26skill%3DExplosive-Arrow%26sort%3Ddps

1 – Ethereal Knives Ignite

Similarly from the Cast on Crit, this requires a massive budget, and when you have it, it’s glorious to see in action. This is the stronger, better looking, faster brother to Wave of Conviction Ignite, and often what you play as before transitioning to EK.

What Ethereal Knives Ignite Excels in:

Amazing clearing
Feels great to play
Explosions with Oriath’s End
Can clear all content

EK Ignite full details:

Being an Elementalist means that all types of damage you deal will matter for your ignite. And since Ethereal Knives is a physical spell, you want to convert it to an element to get as much damage as possible out of it, since % elemental damage would then increase both the hit and the ignite damage you dealt with it.
This also double dips with Cold to Fire Support, so your cold damage gets even more fire damage and is converted to fire. You get your conversion from Phys to Cold through a mastery as well as a glove mod, and with a good Watcher’s Eye, since you’re specced into Hatred, for more Cold Damage (as well as Gain Phys added as Cold), for another 35%.
And as an ignite build, you want as many Faster Ignites as possible to reach your total dot quicker, reapply, and deal more damage faster. If you equip a Headhunter, your build becomes insanely tanky (which is an issue for this otherwise squishy build), especially when your only source of real defence is 30k armor and evasion, as well as spell suppression.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/LiQu1n/LiQuinEK?time-machine=week-3&i=1&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DElementalist%26skill%3DEthereal-Knives%26sort%3Ddps