[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Lightning Builds (3.20.2)

Updated:

24 Apr 2023

5 – Lightning Conduit Elementalist

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 a 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

Play Lightning Conduit Elementalist if you Like:

2-button playstyles
Gunning down a boss with several casts
Screen Wide clearing with a single press.

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 defences 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

4 – Doryani’s Prototype Vaal Venom Gyre Deadeye

Also belonging to the new batch of Vaal Skills, Venom Gyre’s new way of playing means it gets a lot more single target damage when you Whirl through enemies. Now able to shotgun it with your massive damage and burst them down!

What Doryani’s Prototype Vaal Venom Gyre Deadeye Excels in:

Insane clear speed
Respectable single target.
Quite Tanky, surprisingly.

Play Doryani’s Prototype Vaal Venom Gyre if you Like:

Clearing the whole screen
Lots of shurikens flying on your screen
Zooming around with Whirling Blades

Doryani’s Prototype Vaal Venom Gyre full details:

We circumvent the issues Doryani’s Prototype brings by using a couple unique mechanics that makes us extremely tanky. The Timeless Jewel’s Keystone Tempered by War means that 50% of Cold and Lightning damage we take (including DoTs) become Fire. And using the ‘200 IQ’ shield, Mahxuatoal Machination, we get Divine Flesh, which makes it so 50% of Cold, Fire and Lightning damage is taken as Chaos instead, and grants us +5% to Max Chaos Resistance. This essentially makes us ‘avoid’ taking actual Lightning and Cold damage.
And since we want to get as low Lightning Resistance as possible, in order to buff up our damage, we want items that lower it. The snag here is the Tempered by War also grants Less Cold and Lightning Resistance, which works on negative resistance as well, making it so we need even more negative Lightning Res to reach the -200% cap.
We’re fully ailment immune, Spell Suppress capped, have a ton of armor and evasion, move like the wind, and deal millions of damage. It’s a pretty well-rounded build.
For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/statistics3/%EC%9D%B8%EC%8B%A0%EC%82%AC%EA%B3%A0%EC%A0%95%EC%A7%80?i=0&search=class%3DDeadeye%26item%3DMahuxotls-Machination&time-machine=week-12

3 –Static Strike Shockwave/Frozen Legion Slayer

A build that, though not discovered by him was made popular by Palstrom, Static Strike Shockwave Strength stacking. Made to easily proc the shockwaves while double dipping on CDR, and having a relatively chill mapping experience and big single target hits. It’s strong, tanky, and can deal a ton of burst damage, but it also does not keel over a single blow.

What Static Strike Shockwave/Frozen Legion Excels in:

Buttery smooth clearing.
Great single target if properly positioned
Very fun to min-max, where every point and item makes a noticeable difference.
Quite Tanky.

Static Strike Shockwave/Frozen Legion full details:

Getting an Iron Fortress is one of the core tenets of any strength stacker. Combined with Battlemage’s Cry and Iron Will, it will make it so your strength bonus, which only increases melee damage, becomes general attack damage, not only 2% per 10, but now 4,5%. This is a massive damage boost for Str stackers, who usually get anything from 1800 to 2500 Str.
Alberon’s Warpath is what makes the build, a build. It’s where we get all our flat damage from. Replica Alberon’s Warpath grants 1 to 80 Chaos Damage per 80 Strength. Though it has a massive variance of rolls, it’s still insanely strong and the bulk of our damage. So always aim to have enough strength to roll over one of the multiples of 80 for optimal damage.
You’ll want % Increased attributes or Increased Strength on all your jewellery, and then craft those with essences to get as high Str as possible and some Int. For example, on the Amulet, besides getting life (always try to get life), you’ll want Crit Multi, Spell Damage, and Attributes.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/ahmadau/ahmadquinbuild?time-machine=week-3&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26skill%3DStatic-Strike%26sort%3Ddps

2 – Accuracy Stacking Lightning Strike

There was no way to go about with a Juggernaut and not mention Accuracy Stacking. The only class capable of such, with as much damage as it can have, able to demolish anything and everything while also using the strongest melee skill in the game and abusing the Nightblade mechanic, which hasn’t been nerfed at all? Though Lightning Strike itself was nerfed, it’s still insanely strong as it ever was for single target.

What Accuracy Stacking Lightning Strike Excels in:

Fabulous Clearing (even after the nerfs)
Insane single-target damage when everything’s up
Unique Playstyle

Pick Accuracy Stacking Lighting Strike if you Like:

Playing with Stacking Mechanics
Using the most unusual sort of items and almost fully unique items
Synergistic mechanics

Accuracy Stacking Lighting Strike full details:

This build uses Doryani’s Prototype, which is how we get as much damage as possible. We can negate most negatives by simply being a Juggernaut and getting insane amounts of armour. We also use Obscurantis, as that’s another way of scaling our LS damage, but also it grants a massive chunk of Accuracy, which scales both our flat damage and attack speed, through Undeniable. You’ll also definitely want the LS Enchant, +2 Projectiles, as after the nerfs, you need to invest in the clearing part of LS.
Stormrider Boots are Ritual Exclusive items that grant damage based on our Accuracy amount. And since we’re stacking Accuracy, we can get a LOT of damage from these pairs of boots. Beyond that, you’ll want resistance, Onslaught, and as much Life as possible.
And for weapons, you’ll want to dual-wield Replica Last Resorts. This is a big source of damage as well as Accuracy. Since we have a ton of flat damage from our boots, and the enemies have essentially negative Lightning resistance, the most we lack is attack speed and % Increased Damage. But dual-wielding Replica Last Resort means that we not only get 400% Increased damage but also 200% increased Accuracy and 50% Attack speed (global). All at the cost of having to be low life. Which we are, with Petrified Blood.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/maxudik1/Pivokinesisssss?time-machine=week-3&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DJuggernaut%26skill%3DLightning-Strike%26sort%3Ddps

1 – Armor Stacking Smite Champion

Quite an old build by now, but one that is still gloriously strong, and made better with the introduction of Vaal Smite, which is bonkers for clearing, and helping out the old issues Smite has. This is the sort of build that truly can scale to infinity if you have the budget for it.

What Armor Stacking Smite Excels in:

Being supremely tanky, reaching anywhere from 500,000 to 2,000,000 armor.
Great damage as an aura stacker.
Insane clearing with Vaal Smite.
Quite fun to play.

Armor Stacking Smite full details:

You’ll be dual-wielding Replica Dreamfeather, which gives 1% increased damage per 450 Armor you have. And when you have over 1 million armour, that translates to over 5000% Increased damage in two items.
Ashes of the Stars enables this build to function well, giving us a lot of Reservation Efficiency and buffing our Alt Quality gems, particularly Determination, Defiance Banner, Ancestral Protector, and Smite. In addition, it boosts our damage a thousand-fold by massively increasing our damage and survivability, all thanks to insane amounts of Aura Effect Stacking.
Doryani’s Prototype used to be the FOTM body armor in Kalandra league but has been essentially forgotten. It shouldn’t, however, because it’s as strong as before. For example, you may not easily get -200% Lightning resistance, which caps out your damage to the maximum, making the enemy have that resistance against you, but you can get really close. And to make things better, your armour becomes your lightning resistance, so with a lot of armour, you will not only be dealing a lot of damage but also be highly tanky against Lightning damage.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/allanz25210/DuelyDuelist?time-machine=week-3&i=4&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DChampion%26skill%3DSmite%26sort%3Ddps