I love PoE and I'm here to make you fall in love too. PoE is a hard game, but the maxroll team and I can make it easy enough to be your new addiction. Build guides, helpful advice, and a good ass time all on my twitch and youtube channel. Learn how to progress your gear, important Milestones, Budget Items, Earlygame, Endgame & Crafting for the Maw of Mischief Elementalist Build.
Character Progression
Early Game
Mid Game
End Game
Early Game Goal
Throughout our early game progression we focus on having the necessary defenses to complete white and yellow maps.
Your first focus should be to obtain Berek's Respite and an Obliteration to increase your clearing speed.
Milestone 1 - Capped Resistance + Life
Your very first focus when you hit maps is to upgrade all of your gear to have Resistance AND Life on almost every slot. You can do this by picking up every Rare item that has Energy Shield (to make coloring easier), or to find Armour/Energy Shield bases for a bit of Armour and use the following Essences on them:
- Screaming Essence of Greed
- Screaming Essence of Hatred
- Screaming Essence of Anger
- Screaming Essence of Wrath
- Finish the item by crafting Life or Hybrid Elemental Resistances. The Syndicate Hybrid Chaos + Elemental Resistance craft is a very easy way to get your Chaos Resistance to at least 0%.
You also need Dexterity and Strength to equip your gear and Skill Gems. When first starting and leveling, spec into the +30 nodes on the passive Skill Tree. Later on use the following Essences to obtain these mods on gear saving Passive Points:
- Screaming Essence of Rage
- Screaming Essence of Sorrow
Do this throughout your early mapping experience. Track which slot is your weakest and upgrade it through Essences, purchasing from the trade site, or by picking a better piece off the ground. For any gear that isn't an upgrade, throw it in a premium tab at 2 Chaos Orbs each (unless many people PM you for it. Then you must figure out its real price). Later you can vendor all those items for Orb of Alteration if they don't sell.
Milestone 2 - Flasks
Flasks are a significant part of our defence. You need every single one of the following:
- Quartz Flask
- Quicksilver Flask
- Granite Flask
- Jade Flask
- Divine Life Flask
Craft our Flasks by first using an Orb of Transmutation on White Flasks and then alternating between using Orb of Alteration and Orb of Augmentation until we hit the following mods on your Silver Flask, Granite Flask and Jade Flask (any of the below mods can be on any of the flasks you're rolling):
- Increased Evasion during Flask effect.
- Increased Armor during Flask effect.
- Reduced Effect of Curses on you during Flask effect.
- Increased Movement Speed during Flask effect.
When rolling your Divine Life Flask you want Grants Immunity to Bleeding if used while Bleeding. The easiest way to obtain this is through a beast craft that adds an "of Sealing" modifier to your Life Flask after you Alteration spam one of the following modifiers onto your Divine Life Flask:
- 46% reduced Amount Recovered / 135% increased Recovery rate / 50% of Recovery applied Instantly
- 66% reduced Amount Recovered / Instant Recovery
- 21% reduced Amount Recovered / Instant Recovery when on Low Life
After picking up or purchasing 20 Instilling Orbs and Glassblower's Baubles, check the Crafting Bench and craft Used when charges reach full so that you no longer need to press your Flasks, other than your Life Flask, while mapping.
Milestone 3 - Uniques
If they're cheap, purchase a Careful Planning and put it in the Witch Jewel Socket to obtain a MASSIVE amount of Dexterity saving you from having to get it on your gear or the Passive Tree
The single biggest increase in clear speed is the purchase of a Berek's Respite. If you cannot purchase this right away, then make it your #1 item to obtain and grind the Currency to obtain it. Keep the trade link up to remind yourself and to check the prices to see when you can afford it.
Milestone 3 - Weapon
A cheap and easy Weapon upgrade is an Obliteration. If this weapon is expensive you can instead purchase a Singularity or a Sceptre that has 2 of the following modifiers, and finishing it with a craft:
- +1 level of all Fire Spell Skill Gems
- 40%+ increased Fire Damage
15%+ Damage over Time Multiplier- 15%+ Fire Damage over Time Multiplier
Milestone 4 - Energy Shield Bases
You need enough Energy Shield to cast your Malevolence with Eldritch Battery. You can obtain enough by simply making sure to obtain an Energy Shield Shield and Vixen's Entrapment. For your Shield try to obtain one of the following modifiers with some Resistances or Life with room for a Resistance/Life craft:
- 40%+ increased Fire Damage
- +1 level of all Fire Spell Skill Gems
Purchase Vixen's Entrapment to allow you to apply an additional Curse, massively improving your Single Target damage. Put all Curses in here so they all trigger on the boss when you cast one of them.
Milestone 5 - Five-Linked Body Armour
Purchase a Five-Linked Energy Shield/Armour Body Armour. Use a few Screaming Essence of Greed until you hit a 30%+ Resistance. Finish your Body Armour with a Resistance Craft or if you can, the Gravicious Modifier (5-6)% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire and Lightning Damage to help mitigate Physical Damage.
Milestone 6 - Amulet
Your Amulet can be a great source of Strength, Dexterity and Damage over Time Multiplier. Try to purchase an Amulet on a Citrine Amulet base with an Attribute roll and 15%+ Damage over Time Multiplier with an open Prefix to Craft Life.
Anoint Ash, Frost and Storm with the following Oils:
Milestone 7 - Stygian Vise
A Stygian Vise is the best Belt base in the game. Use a few Shrieking Essence of Sorrow until you hit T3+ Resistance or Life, crafting the last modifier based on your builds needs. For your Abyss Jewel just purchase one that has increased Damage over Time while holding a Shield with Life, a Resistance or some Stats you need.
Milestone 8 - Six-Link or Maw Swap
Your last upgrade here is either to purchase a six-link Body Armour or Purchase the 3 Items to swap to the Maw setup outlined here. If you have enough to purchase a six-link Base, you probably have enough to purchase these instead, and should progress to the Maw swap.
Mid Game Goal
Now you swap to the name sake Maw of Mischief providing you a large increase in damage at the cost of some clearing speed and ease.
After finishing the Mid Game Goals, you are ready to start farming bosses like The Maven for her drops, or even selling carries to other players to get them their Ceremonial Voidstone.
Milestone 1 - Mandatory Uniques
Before progressing further through the Milestones you MUST purchase
- Maw of Mischief. Can be farmed through the Cursed Words Divination Cards found in Cemetery Map, Grave Trough Map or Graveyard Map.
- Empower Support at Level 1 should also be purchased and used in the Shield with your Summon Stone Golem
- Invictus Solaris (if this version is expensive a Vix Lunaris or Magna Eclipsis will work too). This boosts your Summon Stone Golem Life by giving it +2 Levels and your Empower Support +2 Levels which in turn gives your Golem another 2 Levels again.
- Berek's Respite (should have been obtained during the Wave of Conviction phase of the build). This is just to increase clear speed, so if you're going to head straight into bossing this can be skipped in favor of a crafted Bone Ring or Polaric Devastation.
- If you've not gotten one yet, purchase a Careful Planning and put it in the Witch Jewel Socket to obtain a MASSIVE amount of Dexterity saving you from having to get it on your gear or the Passive Tree.
Milestone 1 - 6-Socket Body Armour
Next purchase an Armour based Body Armour that has any 3 of the following:
- Any Elemental Resistance 30% or higher
- 20% or more Chaos Resistance
- 5% Physical Damage Reduction
- 35+ Dexterity/Intelligence
- +80 to maximum Life
If you obtained a Body Armour that has Life, then craft the Gravicious Modifier (5-6)% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire and Lightning Damage. Otherwise just Craft Life, then Resistance/Stats based on your builds needs. This Body Armour needs 6 sockets, not links, which is a purchasable craft from the Crafting Bench (350 Jeweller's Orb). Otherwise purchase them or wait until you have enough.
Milestone 2 - Exposure Gloves
So that you don't have to press Wave of Conviction and take up another Socket, obtain a pair of gloves with this trade link. If these are too expensive, you may instead purchase or craft (with Essences) a good pair of Gloves (2-3 Resistances/Stats you need + a Craft) and then use Lesser Eldritch Ichor until you land the Inflict Fire Exposure on Hit, applying -11% to Fire Resistance modifier.
Milestone 4 - Boots, and Ring Upgrades
Upgrade your Boots by purchasing a pair that has the Enchant 120% increased Critical Strike Chance if you haven't Crit Recently enabling higher Elemental Overload uptime. Craft them with Essences until they have 2-3 Resistances or Stats (if you still need them) and Life, finishing them with the Syndicate Unveiled Craft 20% increased Movement Speed + Cannot be Chilled. Use the following Essences:
- Screaming Essence of Hatred, Screaming Essence of Anger or Screaming Essence of Wrath for Elemental Resistances.
- Screaming Essence of Greed for Life.
- Screaming Essence of Envy for Chaos Resistance.
- Screaming Essence of Rage or Screaming Essence of Sorrow if you need Stats.
To upgrade your Ring, simply purchase one from the trade site as rolling these cheaply is harder than other gear slots. Try to purchase a ring with 3 good (30+) Resistances, or 2 Resistance and a Stat that you need, with an open Prefix to Craft Life.
Milestone 5 -Check Point
This is a check point. You must pull over and look at all of your gear. Making sure you have all of the following:
- Rolled Flasks that each have a useful modifier (eg: increased Armour/Evasion rating, reduced Effect of Curses on you). Make sure to use the Crafting Bench to add Use When Full to ALL Utility Flasks.
- 50+ to Maximum Life on each Rare gear slot.
- Stats on your gear instead of the Passive Tree.
- Close to 0% Chaos Resistance
Milestone 6 - Stygian Vise
A Stygian Vise with the modifier Minions have 25-30% increased Maximum Life is our goal here. The only way for you to obtain one is through Essence crafting. Use a Shrieking Essence of Fear until you land 1-2 Good modifiers with room for a 3rd crafted one (Life or a Resistance/Stat). This should take less than 10 Essences total.
For the Abyss Jewel in your Belt, purchase one of these Jewels to put there. Add the Resistance or Stat search functions if you need those instead of more damage.
Milestone 7 - Back to your Boots
Now that you have a bit more Currency spam Greater Eldritch Ember on your Boots if you've made sure to have crafted a good pair (3 good mods + Crafted Movement Speed). You're spamming Greater Eldritch Ember until you hit While a Unique Enemy is in your Presence, Drops Scorched Ground while moving, lasting 5 seconds OR Drops Scorched Ground while moving, lasting 3 seconds. Scorched Ground applies a Resistance debuff to enemies which is boosted by your increased Effect of Non-Damaging Ailments.
Milestone 8 - Gem Upgrades
The last and most easy upgrade to obtain damage is the purchase of Level 21 Gems, or Awakened Gems. Purchase the following in order
- Level 21 Summon Stone Golem
- Level 3 OR 4 Empower Support
- Awakened Unbound Ailments Support
- Awakened Burning Damage Support
At this point all of your Gems should be Level 20, with all damage supports also at 20% Quality. If you're comfortable with how the build plays, you should have more than enough damage at this point to start farming Bosses like Maven, or the Guardian Invitations. You can make a lot of Currency early in the league by also preforming boss carries for the Void Stones, but this requires you to be more than comfortable with the fights, so much so that you can afford to loose a few portals bringing in other people.
Milestone 9 - Final Upgrades
These are the final upgrades you can easily add to your build before moving on to the BOSSING ONLY focused gear, tree and Gem setup for the End Game version of the build.
- Use Lesser Eldritch Ember on your GLoves until you land +7% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier
- Use Lesser Eldritch Ichor on your Boots until you land Ignites you inflict deal Damage 5% faster
- Use Lesser Eldritch Ichor and Lesser Eldritch Ember on your Body Armour until you land Determination has 21% increased Aura Effect and 11% increased effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills
- A Careful Planning provides +100 Dexterity and saves 2-3 Suffixes on Gear or 2+ Passives but may be expensive this league start with the changes to Unique Jewels.
- Polaric Devastation (LEFT RING SLOT ONLY) can used instead of Berek's Respite ONLY when you are bossing or your clear feels like how dog water tastes. Provides some Resistances and Covers Enemies in Ash, providing 20% increased Fire Damage taken. Use Prismatic Catalyst to increase the Resistances gained.
- Purchase a Magna Eclipsis for a protective bubble against ALL Elemental Damage instead of just Fire Damage.
- Purchase a Primordial Might and spend 2 Passives to reach a Jewel Socket. Alternatively you may purchase one of these Rare Jewels
End Game Goal
End game focuses entirely capping Spell Suppression, and hitting the DOT cap of 35 Million DPS.
These upgrades require lots of re-crafting your gear so make sure to follow the steps and have some currency available.
Milestone 1 - Read Before Progressing
IMPORTANT
The end game gear, Gems, and Passive Tree are setup with ONLY bossing in mind since this is a bossing focused build. If you plan on mapping still, do not follow the new Passive Tree, Gems, or gear. It takes away quality of life from your mapping experience. If you still wish to map, complete all the steps of "Milestone 9 Final Upgrades" of the Mid Game setup.
Milestone 2 - Suppression Gear
Throughout this guide you have relied on Spell Block against Spell Damage. Now you must swap to Spell Suppression to have a much better defence layer against Spell Damage.
The following Gear is going to follow an easily recognizable formula. Obtain an item base with a T1-2 fractured Suffix. Use Essences to force a 2nd Suffix to be rolled and spam them until you obtain a 3rd Suffix. Finish the item with crafted Life, or Eldritch Chaos Orb until you land Life, finishing the item with a crafted mod. IMPORTANT There is a Harvest Craft that swaps Elemental Resistances, use this when you need to change one Resistance into another.
Milestone 3 - Upgrading Jewels
Purchase a Large Cluster Jewel with this link that has:
- Primordial Bond as the 2nd modifier shown on the Cluster Jewel when it has only 2 notables
- Primordial Bond as the 1st OR 3rd modifier shown on the Cluster Jewel when it has 3 notables
Purchase this Small Cluster Jewel. Use ~5 Dense Fossil until you land Unstoppable.
You need 3 Jewels total. You can use any combination of Primordial Might and these Rare Jewels.
Milestone 4 - Last Check Point
After this Milestone you should be at or near the DOT cap (34 Million DPS) if you're Level 94. Make sure to have the following and your build is complete and ready to absolutely obliterate bosses.
- Your chance to Suppress Spell Damage should be around 97%+
- Your Chaos Resistance should be 15%+
- All Gems should be at least Level 20, and have 20 Quality unless they're Auras
- Summon Stone Golem should be Level 21 and Empower Support should be Level 4
- All Gems in your Helmet should be Awakened.
