Ethereal Knives Ignite Elementalist Endgame Skill Gems, Auras, Jewels & Passive Skill Tree.
Skill Gems
Gems are a fundamental part of our build, getting the correct link setups before taking on content is the main goal. This is what your Gem setup should look like:
Ethereal Knives
Ethereal Knives is our main damaging ability. As we convert all our Physical Damage into Cold Damage, it is essential to use Anomalous Cold to Fire Support to convert 60% of the Cold Damage to Fire Damage. This also ensures that Fire Damage is our highest Hit from our combined damage, activating another 25% more damage thanks to Shaper of Flames.
Anomalous Awakened Unbound Ailments Support boosts not only our damage, but also gives increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments, which further increases our Shock on the Enemy, based on Shaper of Storms. Awakened Swift Affliction Support, Awakened Burning Damage Support and Awakened Empower Support are generic damage increases.
Skill Breakdown
Auras
Hatred is our main active offensive aura. It provides a large amount of Cold Damage, greatly increasing our overall DPS. Determination and Grace are our main active defensive auras. They provide a bonus flat and % multiplier to both Armour and Evasion, to scale up our base defences. Herald of Purity and Herald of Ash are our Heralds of choice, increasing our Damage output as well as our clearing potential. Discipline grants flat Energy Shield as well as an increased recharge rate. Since we are using Eldritch Battery and Mind Over Matter combo, we increase our effective Health Pool as well as our "Mana Pool" to cast spells and activate Haste or Malevolence with Divine Blessing Support when needed. Vitality grants more Life Regeneration as it is levelled up. You might need to keep this gem at a lower level to be able to reserve everything else.
Guard Skills
Since we use Determination, Molten Shell is our Guard Skill of choice, granting us a huge absorb shield which scales with Armour. The more Armour, the larger the absorb shield, up to a maximum of 10,000. Keep in mind that Molten Shell only works against Hit damage, not Damage over Time.
Single Target Debuff
To enhance our single target damage, we use a specific Arcanist Brand setup. This Brand periodically activates while attached, triggering linked spells in order. We link it with Hydrosphere, Flame Surge and Combustion Support. Hydrosphere acts as our target dummy next to the boss to gain a massive damage boost from Gloomfang.
Mobility
Flame Dash is our mobility skill of choice. It allows for swift teleports to zoom from pack to pack or to avoid dangerous mechanics. It also lets us blink over obstacles or dash to higher environmental layers. Since it is dealing Fire Damage and leaves a trail of fire, this can potentially ignite foes and let them explode in the same way our Ethereal Knives does.
Passive Tree Progression
Jewel Locations
Jewel Sockets on the edge of the passive tree should only be allocated after aquiring Large Cluster Jewel. After socketing a Cluster Jewel, allocate all points needed to fully unlock it.
We use a wide variety of unique and rare Jewels:
- Watcher's Eye
- Impossible Escape
- Brutal Restraint
- 3 different Grand Spectrums
- 2x Large Cluster Jewel
- 2x Medium Cluster Jewel
- Rare Jewels
Tattoos
Passive Skill Tree Tattoos redefine character building in Path of Exile! They excel at covering for a build's weaknesses by converting unneeded Attributes into Resistances, damage, and quality of life. Choosing the ideal Tattoos for your build often comes down to your specific gearing choices, to learn more about optimizing Passive Skill Tree Tattoos check out our full guide here.