*Small Note: The reason I opted for low life instead of CI is because Ball Lightning cannot benefit from a huge “more” multiplier from gems (such as Concentrated Effect) so I thought this would be the best way to maximize Ball Lightning’s DPS. Works well in solo and party play.

Pros

• High damage for only a 4 link setup
  
• Does not require Shavs
  
• Can run 4 auras using only Reduced mana gem and one 4% reduced mana reservation passive
  
• Good synergy in groups because it applies shock status to enemies and your ability to run multiple auras
  
• Relatively strong defensively for an ES build due to IR providing physical mitigation
  
• Approximately 7000 “walking around” armor and 12000 w/ properly rolled Granite
  
• Not socket “thirsty”

Cons

• Lacks high ES pool
  
• Damage on non-crit casts is underwhelming and extremely low
  
• Lack of Shavs will limit you to 4 link
  
• ES is bad in general (player bias)
  
• Can get interrupted combed into death

General flow/gameplay of the build and how it functions. Level 75 map. It clears 78s just as fast, minus bosses.

Skill Tree @ Level 90[www.pathofexile.com]

Skill Tree @ Level 38 - All Normal Passive Skill Points Quest Rewards Acquired - Dash for Iron Reflexs[www.pathofexile.com]


Iron Reflex:
Iron Reflexes as a keystone because I did not want the squishy aspect of not being able to mitigate physical damage. Also, because I knew the build would have a relatively low ES base (due to the lack of Shavs), this option would significantly raise my effective health. Generally, if your ES pool is high, 8-9k+, you have more leniency when taking physical damage, making iron reflex less desirable/needed.

Ghost Reaver:
When taking damage there is a cool down period before your ES will recharge, Ghost Reaver basically removes this cooldown allowing you to instantly leech damage back to your ES. Effective in keeping you alive and allowing you to play aggressive.


Bandits Normal - Passive skill point (kill all)
Bandits Cruel - Passive skill point (kill all)
Bandits Merciless - Power Charge (side with Alira)


I leveled with life based Flameblast until lvl 70 where I made the switch entirely to ES. It was a rough switch, partly because I never played ES before but I still think it was a bit too early. Any lightning based spell would also be suitable for leveling (Arc, Tendrils, etc).

Check out my Fastest and Cheapest Leveling Builds Video Guide below for other options and tips on leveling.

Provides unusually high evasion (nearly 700) and high ES (over 300) for a helm slot. Defensively it synergizes well with an IR and ES build providing high armor and “life”. Offensively it provides +1 to ball lightning which is important to maximizing DPS with only a 4 link. The 50% reduced mana cost allows this build to sustain mana with a relatively low mana pool and mana regen and you will not have to worry about losing your mana from leech. The chaos res is always nice. This items utility/diversity makes it extremely powerful. BEST IN SLOT. If you cannot get a hold of one, stat prioritization is high ES and resistances.




Because this build relies on crit the best option is a dagger, Platinum or Golden based as it provides the highest implicit global crit strike chance of any weapon (80%). Best in slot dagger would look like:

• Implicit 80% global crit strike
  
• Spell damage >= 70%
  
• Spell crit chance >= 100%

This best in slot dagger will set you back around 5ex (varies depending on other stats – mana regen, crit multi, etc).

I was not able to buy a best in slot so I settled on a cheap alternative Divinarius (20 chaos). It has all stats that are desirable and is easier to attain. Because this build only casts one ball (non LMP/GMP) the increase AOE mod on the weapon helps extend its reach. The other mods are irrelevant.




Desirable stats:

• Global crit multiplier
  
• ES/%ES
  
• Resistances
  
• Crit Chance
  
• Spell damage/lightning damage

Dream Fragments - (Self-found)



Low life builds have issues with being frozen when taking cold damage. Your options are to deal with it *shrug*, dodge, positioning, do not get hit, and when you do possibly die or use Dream Fragments/Wanderlust. I tried playing without either because I think both items are a waste of a slot, but it becomes increasingly dangerous at higher level maps 76+ to play without “cannot be frozen”.

Diamond Ring - 15 Chaos



Desirable Stats:

• Dex/Str (depending on what you need and you will need it)
  
• +ES (%ES if you can craft it from master)
  
• Resistances

*Note: If am not mistaken, with patch 1.3.0 it is now possible to roll % ES on rings as a Prefix from master crafting. Therefore, it would be optimal to add this mod to the ring.




Desirable stats:

• High ES
  
• MS
  
• Resistances
  
• Str/Dex

Desirable stats:

• High ES
  
• Resistances
  
• Base Mana

Best in slot is the lightning version of Doryani’s Invitation because it provides elemental leech (synergy with ghost reaver), lightning damage, increased chance to shock (pots are constantly used in this build), and elemental resistances. Will set you back about 2 EX.

Doryani’s Invitation




Due to time constraints I didn’t shift my gear around to be able to use Doryani’s. Currently my chain belt locked in the majority of my gear because of the strength dependency.




Note: Shield provides a significant source of ES which helps compensate for the lack of ES on your chest. However, if you did happen to acquire Shavs, I would drop the shield for another best in slot dagger.

• Desirable stats:
  
• High ES
  
• Increased crit strike for spells
  
• Resistances

Because this is a low life build you will have to choose how to tackle chaos damage.

Solaris Lorica (my current piece) –



Besides chaos damage does not bypass energy shield, all the other stats are fairly useless. The biggest weakness of this chest is your inability to use a 5L ball lightning setup. Due to the nature of the chest (pure armor) the probability of rolling 5 blue sockets is highly unlikely. Keep in mind if you chose this option you will never have a 5L setup unless you use an item that has a built in socket like Thunderfists or a 2-hander like a staff. A staff is not recommended because you will lose over 200% crit chance and drop a significant chunk of ES from not holding a shield. (HC viable late game, lvl88+)

• + Least expensive
  
• - Lowest ES Pool
  
• - Limits you to a 4L setup

Shaves –



Best in slot, however, this is extremely expensive and relatively unreasonable for most players. Because a majority of players will not have this option, it will significantly decrease your total ES pool.

• + Allows for 5-6L ball lightning
  
• + High ES pool
  
• +Allows for dual wielding daggers (higher crit chance, DPS)
  
• - Most expensive

Max Chaos Resist –
Max out your chaos resistance and roll the dice that you don’t get hit by huge chaos damage (possible insta-rip to Alchemist w/ powerful crits). Will allow for a 5-6L set up. Moderately expensive. (not HC viable, too dangerous)

• +Allows for 5-6L ball lightning
  
• +Highest ES pool
  
• - High risk of ripping to heavy chaos damage
  
• - Fairly expensive

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Atziri's Promise



Used to leech ES back and increase DPS. Great offensive and defensive option. Not required but highly suggested for Ghost Reaver synergy and general ease of play with build.

Topaz



Used to deal with reflect and high incoming lightning damage.

Quicksilver



Quick movement is always good. I opted for remove bleeding instead of extra MS. You can rip in 1 or 2 seconds to corrupting blood due to the nature of lightning ball hitting very frequently in a small period of time, therefore I recommend remove bleeding on at least two flasks.

Granite



Increased armor and flask charges on crit are probably the best rolls you can utilize.

Diamond



Used for bosses, exiles, the need to crush everything. Charge Recovery is the best roll because the flask only holds one charge and remove bleeding is preference (but have it on at least one flask).

See screenshot below for my flask setup:


In order from left to right with key assignment in paranthesis:
Atziri's Promise (Space) - Topaz (2) - Quicksilver (3) - Granite (4) - Diamond (B)

I prioritize increased crit damage over lightning pen because from what I observed the damage when ball lightning crits is higher than crit on using lightning pen. This is strict observation and not grounded in numbers but if you feel or know otherwise, prioritize lightning pen over crit damage. Generally, lightning pen is supposed to be superior because it is has multiplicative damage implications however, in this case I am no convinced the multiplier out-weighs the insane additive damage of Crit Damage.

(Q indicates you should attempted to max quality)

Ball Lightning Solo Play – In order
Ball Lightning (Q) – Spell Echo (Q) – Increased Crit Damage (Q) – Lightning Penetration (Q) ||| – Added Chaos Damage – Increased Crit Strikes (Q) (Swap this out with Power Charge on Crit for difficult bosses)

The Solo version of this set up does not use Power Charge On Crit as its 4th link because it generates Power Charges from the Assassin's Mark curse.

Ball Lightning Party Play – In order
Ball Lightning – Spell Echo – Increased Crit Damage – Power Charge on Crit ||| – Lightning Penetration – Added Chaos Damage

Herald of Ice – Herald of Thunder – Reduced Mana – Blood Magic
I used Clarity until Herald of Thunder was released. Double offensive auras, significant increase in DPS.

Discipline – Grace – Reduced Mana
Your two main defensive auras.

Vaal Discipline – Faster Casting – Increased duration – Assassin’s Mark
Assassin’s mark is self-cast and puts this build at 60% crit strike w/ max power charges (6). It is also used to generate power charges and damage in solo play. Vaal Discipline is used for sticky situations in which you take huge damage and need ES quickly. Additionally, it is used to deal with reflect because you cannot kill yourself to reflect if you have Vaal Discipline active. It regenerates Energy Shield extremely fast allowing you to mitigate all reflect damage. Faster casting is preference, not necessary but I have extra sockets and it does help cast curses faster.

Vaal Discipline – Vaal Grace – Increased duration – Lightning Tendrils (lvling for testing)
Double Vaal Discipline is a huge defensive boots. Vaal Grace helps with bosses and tough exiles.

Lightning Warp - Decreased Duration - Faster Casting
This is a preference gem/setup. I use it for positioning and to create distance in dangerous situation. Good for kiting aggressive enemies into ball lightning’s travel path.

See below for my personal set up in the skill bar.



In order top to bottom, left to right:

Walk - Vaal Grace - Ball Lightning
Lightning Warp - Vaal Discipline - Assassin's Mark - Vaal Discipline (#2) - Not actively used

Important mechanics note:
One cast of ball lightning hits multiple times but has a 200ms cooldown between each hit, meaning it cannot hit a target more often than 1 time per 200ms regardless of your cast speed. Cast speed will increase the speed at which the ball travels. If you were to use LMP or GMP all the balls cast from one instance of a click share the 200ms cooldown on a target, they do not independently hit the target at 200ms cooldowns . For instance, if you hit a target with 3 (LMP) ball lightning balls at once, the target cannot be hit more often than 200ms from the collective bunch (you cannot "shotgun" with the skill). Therefore, using LMP or GMP will increase Ball Lightning’s reach/AOE but not it’s DPS.


Spell Echo:
The 2nd cast from spell echo does not share the 200ms cool down from the first so both balls will independently hit the target.

Upon reflecting on my experience with the build, a none Spell Echo version of the build could also suffice. The downside to use Spell Echo is you are locked in place for the entirety of both casts and if that cast does not crit, both balls will be non-crit. The conundrum here is more often the not, if you crit will ball lightning the first ball of a spell echo cast will generally one shot most packs and monsters. Therefore, if you remove Spell Echo it can have the same effect and consequently open up a link for greater utility. Where this might not apply is against high life boss characters like Palace Dominus or Shrine Piety. I did not test this alternative option, it was merely a reflection on min-maxing this build. Consider at your own peril.


DPS:
It’s hard to gauge actual DPS because from what I can surmise tooltip DPS isn’t actually reflective of real damage. The reason I say this is because if you increase cast speed it’s a direct correlation with an increase in DPS, however the skill should produce a higher DPS the slower it travels because it allows 1 ball to hit more often, at least that is my assumption. Additionally, the tooltip dps is not reflective of REAL/ACTUAL damage on a critical strike. My tool tip was 6,900 idle DPS (9,800 w/ Max Power charges + Atziri Flask active) and in most cases this was enough to one shot magic packs and melt map bosses.

*Please Note: My views are largely influenced by the experiences of being a "Hardcore" (not Standard) Path of Exile player

Energy Shield is inferior when compared to Life:
ES is less reactive, situationally responsive, and diverse. It’s nice that you can have an insanely high ES pool such as 10,000 ES, however I feel this number is misrepresented and overall effective health is lower than, for instance, someone sitting at 5.5k life who has the option for instant heal. My least favorite build I have played due to ES’ mechanic which is a limiting play style or counter to my preferred playstyle (or both). Additionally, the ball lightning skill is restrictive when compared to other skills and their effectiveness *more on this later.

Personally I would not recommend this build (Low Life ES) w/ Solaris Lorica as a HC viable build. It is much better suited for life based play. Though it is/was an interesting experiment in a SC league.

This build would probably work best with life + cloak of defiance + EB and such would allow you to play it safely HC.


The Duo


The Crew - Say CHEESE!


New Helmet Effect


Testing Lightning Tendrils

You can also find me on YouTube and Twitch.Tv!

YouTube - HeaTGaming

Twitch.Tv Page[www.twitch.tv]

Link to my original guide posted on the official Path of Exile website[www.pathofexile.com]


Thanks to my girlfriend for supporting my gaming habits!

Thanks to the crew I ran with for the majority of this build!

• Thrice
  
• Penitron
  
• R0guemonster

Thanks for all the viewers who support my content!

And lastly thanks to Grinding Gear Games for making one of the most amazingly deep and complex games to have ever graced the genre and medium.