Level 100 Fire Trap Elementalist^3.23

Notes

General Notes

There are multiple trees in this build showing my progression through the acts.
There are multiple item sets in this build showing my items as I advance them. I stopped playing SSF after getting to white maps as I have already built this character this league and didn't want to play through the same build 2x.
(The second taking even longer as it is SSF)
There are multiple skill sets in this build. 

The build is configured to the end game setup which is set as the defult for all of these.

I tried to be as thorough as possible creating this. The gear section below describes what to work towards in terms of your gear and which stats to focus on. 

From my experience this is a very easy build to play with and a very easy build to league start. It scales well into end game and I've had a lot of fun playing it.

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Act 1

Levels 1-5
Use Fireball with Elemental Proliferation to Level from 1-5
This should get you all the way to the submerged passage.
Teleport back to town and turn in quests. Don't forget to complete the medicane chest quest for your Quicksilver Flast.

Obtain the following gems through rewards and using unknown scrolls to purchase from Nessa
Wall of Flame
Frostblink

Holy Flame Totem
Summon Phantasm Support
Start watching for a 3 link R-B-B

These skills will be used for a while. You will drop Wall of Flame place the Holy Flame Totem on the other side of it and let it kill your enemenies.

Upon reaching the lower prison, go and grab the way point and teleport back to town, turn in your completed quests. One of the skill gems granted should be Combustion Support.
Link Holy Flame Totem with Summon Phantasm Support and Combustion Support. This will be our primary damage for a while and it should be suffiecient for a while.

After before you complete act 1 you should acquire both Clarity and Vitality. This will greatly help with mana and life regeneration. Mana regeneration can be rather painful at a low level. 
Combustion Support is used with both Frostblink and Firetrap in the final build. You should acquire another one of these gems and link it with any spell when you find the currency. 
As you gather more gear/loot save your main weapons and offhand weapons and add more Combustion Support and Frostblink Gems into your secondary weapons for leveling. No need to link these, just three blue sockets each.

*It is not a bad idea to up your cold resistance to as near 75% as possible before fighting mervil. It is not needed but just makes the fight easier.
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Act 2

Holy Flame Totem + Wall of Flame will coninute to server as your primary source of damage over act 2. 
Look for gear with more red and blue sockets in order to add several skill gems over the course of the act. 
Some can be obtained from quest rewards while others can be purchased in town.
Over the course of act 2 you will want to look to add the following skills into the build.
Gems are listed in order of importance but can obviously vary based on the needs of your build.
Clarity - Increases mana regeneration
Herald of Ash - Makes frost blink deal some mini explosions
Vitality - Increases life regeneration
Wave of Conviction - More Damage and fire exposure, I use this skill well into end game until I can craft a pair of gloves with fire exposure on hit in them.
Summon Skitterbots - Shocking enemines for more damage and slowing them down

*In order to apply all auras it is a good idea to Deep Thoughts allocated with the mana mastery that increases reservation efficiency otherwise you will struggle to have enough mana to sustain spell casting clarity also greatly helps with this.
**Use your crafting bench as you come across currency to fill in missing resistances. 
***This is not designed for racing
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Act 3

By the end of act three after completing the library the majorty of skills for this build are able to be purchased. 

Throughout the act you should be looking for 3 and 4 links from the vendor and drops in order to further upgrade your build. 
Once you complete some of the quests you are able to purchase Armageddon Brand which will then serve as your primary damage skill.
Armageddon Brand should be linked with combstion support, burning damage support, and efficacy support.
In order to do this you will need to have completed all of the area quests and cleared the library quest.
From this point switch your skills out before you acend and complete the act boss. 

If possible complete the ascension before the act boss it makes everything through the rest of the game move so much more quickly and smoothly. You will be taking shaper of flames to make all of your damage have a chance to ignite.

Frostblink should be linked with combustion support (act 1 vendor) and cold to fire support (act 2 vendor) by the end of act three. If you can get a 4th link for burning damage support (library reward & purchase) that is even better.
This also will enable frostblink on a three link + herald of ash to clear MOST trash mobs; toss an Armageddon Brand on the ones that don't want to die.
On tougher enemies use wave of conviction to inflict exposure.

You are also able to purchase shield charge at the library. This is extends your movement skill and is also used in the final version of this build.

*I have fire trap setup and linked. It does provide a little additional damage on bosses but is not really being used. I am leveling the gems to keep them onpar with the other skills levels.
**Movement isn't the best prior to completing act 3, after this point is build is very smooth and moves through the acts rather quickly.
***Frostblink's cool down time is dependent on the amount of enemines you hit with the spell. The more you hit the more the cooldown time is reduced. If you hit a larger mob the skill is often avialable to use immediately. 
****Shield Charge will be used as the primary movement skill then frostblink into mobs this will also allow you to maintain your quicksilver flask.
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Act 4

There are very few changes left to skills at this point, most of the changes are adding in sockets to items in order to get more skills. You are looking to add the remaining skills into the build. Everything you need to complete the skill sets for this build are available by the end of Act 4.

Hexbloom linked to flambility for bosses and tough mobs.

Add the 4th link into frostblink which should be ignite proliferation support. (If you have burning damage linked move that into a off weapon set for leveling.)

Work in obtaining a G-G-B-R for fire trap
This should be Fire trap - trap and mine damage - combustion - burning damage

Add cast when damage taken and molten shell into the build for an extra defensive layer.

Infernal Cry can also be added in if you have the extra sockets.

*If you are league starting this or using this in SSF you will most likely not have the ability to put all of these gems into your build for a little bit. 
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Act 5

Damage for both frostblink and fire trap scales with gem level as a result we don't need to heavily focus on getting damage nodes just yet. Head over to Eldritch Battery and grab the nodes for light eater while on the way. 
These will be removed later but for now this will stablize our mana and allow us to remove clarity and replace with a malevolence.
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Act 6

As of act 6 all skills are available from Lily Roth in Lions Eye watch Act 6 after you clear the beach.

In order to complete the defensive layers for this build we still need to add several skills to the build in the following order.
Determination
Defiance Banner
Grace
The only way to add all three of these into your build is with a level 3 enlighten support and a 3 node reservation efficiency cluster jewel. It is the only cluster jewel required for the build. But once all these are added the ability to tank becomes immense.

Path around the outside of the tree to the right you will pick up various nodes as you go. You are working all the way around the outside and then back towards Charisma. As you find your damage dropping stop your path and pick up another damage node. 
There are three such nodes available on the left of the tree. This includes the following node clusters:
Breath of Flames
Holy Fire
Acrimony
On the right side of the tree the following clusters can be acquired:
Snowforged
Growth and Decay
Entropy
Elemental Focus

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Act 7-10

Work on obtaining 5 and 6 link for the chest and the right colored sockets to add all gems to build. Don't forget to level gems in the weapon swap slots.
There is not much required to make this build work in terms of gear. 
The only 100% required item to make the build work is a 3 node reservation efficiency small cluster jewel. This can is very easy to roll once you have the jewel.
Use harvest or fossils and hit the jewel with choas mods. You are looking for mortifiying aspect. It is the only mod with the choas tag. This increases chaos resistance and allows you to fit all the auras into the build.

You can achieve a basic 1 mil dps and a moderate tank just from leveling.
The gear present in this guide up to Act 8-10 is from solo self found. In trade league you can easily purchase some basic rares @ around 1c to get the build to this point. 

You can either link or unlink Wave on Conviction to Cast when Damage Taken.
This is initially used to inflict exposure on bosses and tough mobs.

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Skills + Defense

There are several skill gems that are very useful to obtain to enchance this build.
Enlighten Support lvl 3 allows the last aura to be added to the build in conjunction with the previous mentioned eservation efficiency small cluster jewel. 

Vitality is mostly for additional quality of life, you will most likely not be able to run this at lvl 20 and support all the auras.

Both fire trap and forstblink scale with gem level acquiring a lvl 21 version on both will be very useful.
Because of this, an empower support will eventually become needed to link with fire trap to further boost dps. Until then cuelty can be used.

Until you manage to get a stormshourd + Hypnotic Eye Jewel [any will work the metioned is best] with 50% shock avoidance purity of elements is needed.
[This can also be done with multiple Abyssal Jewels and/or a boot craft]

After you manage to do this the builds defensive capabilitys increase darastically the double layer of defense using defiance banner, grace, and determination along with flasks provides a substaintual tank.

Wave on conviction is the source of exposure until you eldritch craft a pair of gloves with exposure.

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Gear

In order to build up defensive layers we want to incoperate Armor, Evasion, Spell Suppression, and ailment immunity all into the build along with some life regen.
[Note: It is possible to use mostly armour/energy shield items until you are able to add grace into the build]

The order i choose to add items is 
Armor (You can use the small cluster armour jewel looking for the uncomprimising node, this has a mana tag so it is relatively easy to roll and has a high weighting) This will allow you to add determination into the build. 
Spell Suppression 
Evasion
Life Regen (this comes from clusters jewels and is very nice in terms of quality of life)

In terms of weapons and sheilds you can craft them by spamming scorched fossils.
In trade league I look for bases of the hardest to get mod and then roll them from there. (or you can obviously just buy the item)

When looking for gear in general ensure you cap all 4 resistiances and have met the strength and dexterity requirements of the build.
After this you are look for spell suppression and more damage.

Weapon - Opal/Void Sceptre 
There is a massive mod list for this item but there are also some that are better than others the list of mods below is in decending order based on effectivness.
Start at the bottom and build your way up. This can be crafted with fossils on a fractured or non fractured base. Spamming scorched fossils is the cheapest method.
Prefixes
+1 Level to all spell skill gems
+1 Level to all fire spell skill gems
Spell Damage (Also helps frost blink)
Fire Damage
Suffixes
Fire Damage over Time Multiplier
Burning Damage
Fire Damage

Shield - Harmonic Spirit Shield
Increased fire damage, life, and any defensive mod is a great start.
Eventaully you want +1 to all fire skill gems [Ideally fractured]

Helm - (Any base initially)
Evasion Energy Shield base is best as this will transition well into Eye of Malaice which is best in slot for the build.
Until you get an Eye of Malice use this slot to help complete resitainces and add more life and regen to your build.


Body Armour - (Any 6 Link base)
Evasion and armour is preferred as it is easier to roll the socket colors for fire trap.
Life should be your focus followed by defenses.
You can use eldritch currency to add more damage
[Searing Exarch - Increased fire damage]
[Eater of world - increased effect of malevolence]
This should eventually be transtionied into a Skin of the Loyal 
Taking that a step further once more currency is available you can buy once with corrupted implicits to further boost fire trap.

Gloves - Murder Mitts
These are very important to boost clear speed. You can use a fractured base for these ideally with spell suppression.
Spam essences of delirium until you get a result that you are happy with and best supports your needs.
This also becomes your source of exposure which can be obtained by use eldritch embers.
Once you obtain exposure on your gloves you can drop wave of conviction.

Boots - Hydra Scale
Onslaught is great to help with movement speed.
Spell suppression and chaos resitances are ideal suffixes.
Best prefixes are life and movement speed with onslaught.
This is also are source of scorched ground which can be obtained by using eldritch embers.
I normally craft these on a fractured base using deafensing essences of envy.

Amulet - Citrine Amulet 
This helps meet all strength and dexterity requirements for the build.
This should be annointed with whispers of doom which requires 3 gold oil. (This allows the activation of our second curse, elemental weakness)
You are looking for life and resitances to support the defensives layers of the build.
As you are able to acquire better versions you are looking for +1 fire gems and eventaully +1 fire +1 all gems which is a signifigant damage source
Fire damage and damage while leeching (assuming you have the large cluster jewel with doryani's lesson) are also great options.
You can also use a replica dragons flight with +3 fire trap if you can get a hold of one until you manage to craft or obtain a +1/2 amulet

Rings - Amethyst Ring >= Opal/Vermillion Ring > Coral Ring > Two Stone Ring
You are looking to boost your defensive layers with these while getting a bit more damage. 
Essences of Anger allow you to spam fire damage and look for the required defensive mods.
Use the ring to complete your chaos resistance and any needed fire/lightning/cold resistances
[Assuming you obtain a Mageblood, the rings can be changed considerably looking for more damage, rarity, life. Opal, Vermillion, Gold, and synthesized rings then become ideal]
[Sythenized rings are looking for fire damage over time, and ailements deal damage faster for their implicits, anything else is a bonus]
[These sythenized bases are extremely expensive generally speaking]

Belt - Mageblood > Stygian Vise > Leather Belt
Your end objective is a mageblood. 
Until you get it you are using a Stygian Vise this will probably need to have a strength mod on it. From there use it to get more life and resistances. 

Flasks
Life - Immunity to Corrupted Blood/Bleeding
Jade - More evasion
Granite - More Armour
Quartz - more armour or evasion
Quicksilver - duration + movement speed
[The endgame items include my mageblood flasks]

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Mapping

Mods to avoid
[Cannot leech] - This can still be done but not in conjunction with cannot regen and is still very dangerous
[Decreased effect of auras] -This can still be done but it depends on your atlas setup
[Cannot regenerate] - This can be run assuming the map doesn't have cannot leech. You will need to slow down.

Bosses and Combat

White Mobs: Frostblink
Blue Mobs: Frostblink + Fire Trap/Infernal Cry (I normal use fire trap, though frost blink is currently enough)
Rare Monsters: Frostblink + Fire Trap + Flamibility [if needed]
Bosses: Fire trap + Apply both curses flamibility and elemental weakness use forstblink to avoid attacks and provide extra damage