Path of Exile
Build Guides
Arc / Storm Brand Archmage Scion
Last Updated: December 7th 2023
Trial of the Ancestors 3.22Archived
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Warning: A Mana Stacker Build, similar to other stacking builds, is a high budget build costing in excess of 100 Divine Orbs. This guide assumes that you already reached Path of Exiles endgame and have enough Currency to gear your character as the guide recommends.
The Arc / Storm Brand Archmage Scion is a well-rounded character, that excels in defences but is still able to do all content, including all Uber Pinnacle Bosses.
For mapping, the Arc play style is one of the best Path of Exile has to offer. There's simply nothing more exciting than pressing Vaal Arc and watching the entire Screen disappear, regardless of mob count, due to its built in chaining potential. For bossing, it is recommended to use Storm Brand, due to the high Mana cost of Arc and therefore having less damage uptime.
You can find the Changelog on Page 5.
Sneak Peek
Build Rating
DifficultyAdvanced
MappingGreat
BossingAverage
DefenceExcellent
Skills & Showcase
Arc
Arc is our primary mapping and all-around skill. It is a Lightning Damage based Spell that Chains off targets. It also has a built-in single target aspect: Arc deals 15% more Damage for each remaining Chain, making it a solid skill to use. To improve the clearing aspect, we are using the alternate quality Anomalous Arc to increase the Chaining range as well as Awakened Chain Support, which also increases our single target damage as mentioned above.
Storm Brand
Storm Brand is our primary Bossing Skill. Due to its high uptime, it doesn't require high amounts of Mana to keep the damage going. The Brand play style feels like a Damage over Time ability, since it attaches to an enemy and deals damage for a certain duration. With the Keystone Runebinder, we have two Brands attached simultaneously, doubling our Damage. In order to switch from Arc to Storm Brand, we swap our Support Gems and change a few nodes in the Passive Skill Tree, while the Equipment stays the same.
Arcane Cloak
Arcane Cloak is a multipurpose ability. When used, Arcane Cloak spends a percentage of our current Mana to generate an absorb shield, while also providing additional Lightning Damage based on Mana spent. The more Mana we spend on Arcane Cloak, the better the defensive and offensive benefits of this ability. Therefore, we want to use Arcane Cloak at the highest Mana levels to burst down foes while the buff is active.
Sigil of Power
Similar to Arcane Cloak, Sigil of Power is both, a defensive and an offensive skill. Once activated, we summon a large Sigil on the ground, which gains stages the more Mana we spent within. Each stage provides us with additional Lightning Damage as well as Damage Reduction while enemies are inside the Rune. Sigil of Power has 3 Stages baselines, but we lower the maximum stages to 2 with the Anomalous alternate quality, to ramp our sigil faster.
Lightning Warp
Lightning Warp is our mobility skill of choice for Arc / Storm Brand Archmage Scion. As we are stacking Cast Speed, we can manipulate this skill to be one of the fastest travelling skills available. Lightning Warp has a built-in delay before we teleport to the desired location, but thanks to Less Duration Support and Swift Affliction Support, we can lower that delay to be almost instant. If we link Lightning Warp to Brutality Support, it stops dealing damage, which is used in a Boss Rush strategy as we don't want to kill Monsters before killing the Map Boss.
Wrath
Wrath is our primary Aura. As we don't want to reserve any Life or Mana, we link Wrath to Eternal Blessing Support. This makes Wrath free of reservation, but doesn't let us have any other Auras. Since Wrath's Mana reservation got removed with Eternal Blessing Support, we can use Empower Support and Enhance Support to maximize its benefits, as we don't care about the Mana multipliers any more.
Ascendancy Breakdown
The Scion / Ascendant is our character of choice as it offers Mana and Mind Over Matter enhancements as well as Pathfinder for almost permanent Flask uptime.
Scion is in a bit of an awkward state where the first Labyrinth doesn't provide us with a great power spike like other Ascendancies do. Instead, we get an additional Skill Point and some Stats that help with meeting Attribute requirements.
After Cruel Lab we can allocate:
- Hierophant offers 25% increased maximum Mana, 8% Mind Over Matter effect and an empowered Arcane Surge.
Completing the Merciless Labyrinth provides us with:
- Pathfinder gives us increased Movement Speed during Flask Effect and increased Flask Charge generation.
- Raider grants Spell Suppression, Movement Speed, Frenzy Charge generation and Onslaught while on maximum Frenzy Charges.
The decision to either take Pathfinder or Raider is based on the market prices of Forbidden Flame & Forbidden Flesh. Buy whatever combination is cheaper and allocate the other on the Ascendancy Passive Tree.
Once the Uber Labyrinth is completed, we can allocate the Path of the Ranger to generate an additional starting point in the Passive Skill Tree. This allows us to remove certain travel nodes and provides a better pathing.
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