Crackling Lance Hierophant - Path of Exile 3.24

Among the many support gems in PoE that received changes in Patch 3.24, Archmage Support definitely stands out above the rest. It is now so much better that more and more builds can utilize it to increase their damage output manifold.

However, we believe that the best build to use this newly buffed support gem is none other than the Crackling Lance Hierophant.

So, if you are interested in building a character that scales damage really well, then look no further! This is our comprehensive build guide for the Crackling Lance Hierophant in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League!

Basics

To understand how this build works, we must first discuss the important mechanics at play. First off, Grinding Gear Games has buffed Archmage Support in Patch 3.24. 

You see, this support gem used to require you to spend a ton of mana to deal insane amounts of damage. However, in the Necropolis League, you no longer have to do that. Instead, you just have to scale your mana as high as you can to enjoy the damage bonus this support gem provides.

At level 20, Archmage Support grants you added lightning damage equal to 19% of your unreserved maximum mana. Besides that, increasing the gem’s quality to 20% gives you an additional 10% boost to spell damage. Because of this, it would be wise to grab 20 Gemcutter’s Prisms immediately to get the most out of Archmage Support.

Aside from its amazing damage potential, this build is capable of taking devastating hits from the enemy thanks to the multiple defensive layers being used.

For one, you get the effect of the Mind Over Matter keystone passive via the Cloak of Defiance. Thanks to this keystone, 40% of the damage you get from monster attacks is taken from your mana before life.

In addition, you are going to allocate a passive skill point to acquire “The Agnostic.” This keystone passive removes all of your energy shield, but in exchange, you sacrifice 20% of your mana per second to recover your HP. This effect occurs whenever you are not at full life.

As you can see, mana cost is no longer the focal point here. Instead, you should aim to increase your maximum mana and mana recovery rate as high as possible – both for offensive and defensive purposes.

For your main skills, you have Crackling Lance for bosses and Arc for mapping. You only need to replace two specific gems on your main gem links depending on the type of content you are tackling.

When you are mapping, you should use Arc and Awakened Lightning Penetration Support. Then, when you are fighting against pinnacle bosses in PoE, you should replace the said gems with Crackling Lance and Intensify Support.

Other than the gems mentioned, the rest of your gem setups remain consistent; with some room for flexibility.

We would say that this is a medium-budget build that does not require a lot of PoE currency. At the time of writing, you can put this character up by spending roughly 40 to 50 Divine Orbs, but that depends on the market, as well as the pricing on the trade website.

If you want to scale the damage of the build to new heights, look for the following mods on your gear:

• + to Maximum Mana

• % Increased Lightning Damage

• % Increased Spell Damage

• % Increased Damage

• % Increased Cast Speed

• % Increased Spell Critical Strike Chance

• + to Critical Strike Multiplier

• + to Maximum Life

• % Increased Mana Regeneration

• +1 to Maximum Power Charges

Playstyle

The Crackling Lance Hierophant has a dynamic playstyle, thus making it one of the more fun builds to play in Path of Exile.

When you enter a new map or area, summon your Lightning Golem to increase your cast speed and activate Righteous Fire for a boost in spell damage.

Scour the map for huge packs of monsters and when you encounter some, cast Arc until they get destroyed to oblivion.

If you are fighting tough monsters and bosses, put an Arcanist Brand on them to apply Elemental Weakness and Conductivity. These curses should weaken them considerably. 

After that, cast Sigil of Power to give you a significant boost to your lightning damage. Then, you simply cast Crackling Lance and see them get obliterated in a jiffy!

Ascendancy

If you want to get the most amount of mana possible in PoE, then there is no better ascendancy class for the job than the Hierophant.

Arcane Blessing is a notable ascendancy skill that grants you Arcane Surge whenever you hit an enemy with Arc or Crackling Lance. If you are new to the game, Arcane Surge provides you with a 10% increased cast speed and a 30% increased mana regeneration rate for several seconds. These are, of course, very useful for the build.

Conviction of Power is a good one because it not only raises your maximum Power Charges and Endurance Charges by one, but you get the effects of four of these charges at all times. This means that your critical strike chance and physical damage reduction are amplified simply by taking this ascendancy node. Isn’t that incredible!?

Divine Guidance is a godsend and works really well for this build. Do you want to know why? Well, that’s because this notable ascendancy passive skill increases your maximum mana by a whopping 30%. Additionally, 10% of the damage you receive from monsters is taken from your mana before life, which makes you survive longer out there. More importantly, you gain the effect of Transfiguration of Mind as well. This passive skill states: “Increases and reductions to your maximum mana also apply to damage at 30% of their value.” In other words, raising your total mana boosts your damage, thus giving you more incentive to do so.

This build does not rely on a fourth notable ascendancy passive skill. As a result, the last two remaining points should be allocated to the smaller nodes that connect to Sanctuary of Thought and Illuminated Devotion.

Notable Ascendancy Passive Skills for the Crackling Lance Hierophant

Gear

All of the pieces of gear to make the Crackling Lance Hierophant work are relatively affordable. This build has a good mix of unique items and crafted ones. If you need some guidance with crafting in Path of Exile, be sure to bookmark our ultimate crafting guide for future reference.

Weapon

A huge chunk of the damage of this build comes from stacking Power Charges. So, what better way to do that than to equip a couple of Void Battery unique wands?

This Prophecy Wand has all of the mods that can benefit the build. First and foremost, it increases your maximum Power Charges by one. Since you’ll be using a couple of these, you are going to have two additional Power Charges right off the bat.

Then, you gain 25% increased spell damage per Power Charge. If you have, say, 10 Power Charges in total, that is a whopping increase of 250%!

Other mods that this weapon provides include cast speed, crit chance, and maximum mana.

Void Battery

Body Armor

The Cloak of Defiance works wonders for the Crackling Lance Hierophant. This body armor increases your maximum mana by a considerable amount. But, the main draw of the Cloak of Defiance is that it grants you the effect of the Mind Over Matter keystone passive. This greatly increases your survivability as discussed earlier in the build guide.

Cloak of Defiance

Helmet

For the helmet slot, you actually have a couple of viable options to choose from. The Mindspiral is a unique helmet that gives you a flat amount of mana, which is always good for the build.

In addition, the Mindspiral takes a small portion of the damage you take and recoup that as mana. Because of this, you will never run out of mana so long as you get hit on a consistent basis.

Mindspiral

The other unique helmet you can use is the Crown of the Inward Eye. If the previous helmet provides you with a flat amount of mana, this thing gives you up to 21% life and mana instead.

On top of that, the Crown of the Inward Eye grants you the three “Transfiguration” mods, namely:

• Transfiguration of the Soul: Increases and Reductions to Maximum Energy Shield Also Apply to Spell Damage at 30% of Their Value

• Transfiguration of Body: Increases and Reductions to Maximum Life Also Apply to Attack Damage at 30% of Their Value

• Transfiguration of Mind: Increases and Reductions to Maximum Mana Also Apply to Damage at 30% of Their Value

We recommend that you wear the Mindspiral early on and then transition to the Crown of the Inward Eye once you get your hands on better gear.

Crown of the Inward Eye

No matter which helmet you choose, make sure to get the “+1 to Maximum Power Charges” corrupted implicit modifier to get the best results.

Gloves

In the beginning, you will craft a pair of gloves using ilvl 85+ Crusader Gloves. If you have problems sorting out your elemental resistances, then spam the gloves with Shrieking/Deafening Essence of Anger (Fire Resistance), Hatred (Cold Resistance), or Wrath (Lightning Resistance) until you get life, elemental resistance, and mana. If you still have an open prefix, bench-craft “28% Increased Damage During any Flask Effect.”

Self-crafted Gloves

While the gloves mentioned above are already pretty good, you can take things a step further by crafting a better one. You will still use the same crafting base; only this time, you are going to spam the gloves with the Deafening Essence of Greed (Life). Do this until you get mana and hybrid armor/energy shield + life.

Once you have acquired the said mods, lock the prefixes, and then put “% Increased Attack Speed and Cast Speed While Focused” from the Crafting Bench. After that, head to Jun and unveil.

The modifier you are looking for is: “30% Increased Elemental Damage if You’ve Dealt a Critical Strike Recently, 22% Increased Global Critical Strike Chance.” 

When you have the desired veiled modifier, head to the Crafting Bench once more and put any mods that you like. Use an Exalted Orb to fill up the remaining suffix.

For the implicit modifiers, spam the gloves with Grand Eldritch Ichors until you get lightning exposure and Grand Eldritch Embers for “25% Chance to Unnerve Enemies for 4 Seconds on Hit.”

Self-crafted Gloves (Endgame)

Boots

You still need to have a bit of DEX on your character and you can address that by wearing some self-crafted boots. This is to ensure that you won’t run into any problems using items that are necessary for the Crackling Lance Hierophant.

Anyway, craft a pair of Onslaught Boots so that you’ll have a chance to get the buff that increases your cast speed and movement speed when you kill enemies. Refer to our ultimate crafting guide for the full instructions.

The idea is to use Deafening Essence of Sorrow to guarantee a T1 DEX mod on the boots. When you are happy with the suffixes, put “Suffixes Cannot Be Changed” from the Crafting Bench, and then use a Veiled Orb to acquire a veiled prefix.

How about the implicit modifiers? Well, spam the boots with Grand Eldritch Ichors until you get “7% Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate” and Grand Eldritch Embers for “5% Increased Action Speed.”

Self-crafted Onslaught Boots

Amulet

Atziri’s Foible is the best amulet for the Crackling Lance Hierophant. This unique amulet has all of the juicy mods that can benefit the build, including flat mana, increased maximum mana, and increased mana regeneration rate. And oh, it also has a unique effect where the attribute requirements of your gems and items are reduced by 25%!

When it comes to anointments, you have a couple of options. Anoint Whispers of Doom (3x Golden Oils) if you want to use Arcanist Brand to apply both Elemental Weakness and Conductivity.

On the other hand, you can anoint Disciple of the Unyielding (Violet Oil, Crimson Oil, Opalescent Oil) for that “8% Increased Damage per Endurance Charge” effect.

Atziri's Foible

Ring

Grab a couple of synthesized rings with the implicit modifier that says: “7% Increased Spell Damage per Power Charge.”

Spam the ring with Deafening Essence of Scorn (Global Crit Multi) until you get cast speed and chaos resistance. Lock the suffixes and then use a Veiled Orb. Bench-craft “Adds # to # Fire Damage, Adds # to # Cold Damage” before unveiling. After that, head to Jun and unveil. Look for the mod: “+60 to Maximum Life, Regenerate 5.3 Mana per Second.”

You are not done yet! Go to the Crafting Bench and put “+54 to Maximum Mana.” Just use an Exalted Orb to fill the last prefix if you still have any. 

Spam the ring with Fertile Catalysts to enhance the mana and life modifiers on the ring. If you’ve followed the above instructions to the tee, you should have something like this:

Self-crafted Ring

Belt

You would think that you’re going to use the Mageblood for the Crackling Lance Hierophant given that this is a medium-budget build in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. However, that is actually not the case!

In fact, you will only wear a self-crafted Stygian Vise with a Redeemer mod! To craft this thing, grab an ilvl 85+ Redeemer-influenced Stygian Vise and spam it Lucent (Mana) and Pristine (Life) Fossils until you get a T1 “% Increased Mana Recovery Rate” suffix.

The other mods can be anything that your character needs, such as mana, life, elemental resistance, and chaos resistance. If you still have an open prefix, you can bench-craft “17% Increased Damage.”

Just like the self-crafted rings, spam Fertile Catalysts to boost the effects of the mana and life modifiers on the Stygian Vise.

Self-crafted Stygian Vise (with Mana Recovery Rate Mod)

Flasks

• Diamond Flask

• Amethyst Flask

• Quicksilver Flask

• Divine Life Flask

• Bottled Faith

The Crackling Lance Hierophant is a Power Charge-stacking build, so you want to capitalize on that by using the Diamond Flask as well.

Additionally, you want to get your chaos resistance up to improve your survivability. For this reason, you should include the Amethyst Flask as part of your setup.

The Quicksilver Flask is just there to help you move around the map much faster.

Although this build is incredibly tanky due to its many defensive layers, you still do not want to leave everything to chance. That is why we recommend that you also use a Divine Life Flask just so that you can recover your HP quickly when needed.

For the last flask slot, you can go for the Bottled Faith. This leaves a Consecrated Ground when activated. Enemies that step on it will receive increased damage from your Arc or Crackling Lance.

Flask Mods

• 17% Increased Cast Speed (of the Horsefly)

• 55% Increased Critical Strike Chance (of Incision)

• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah)

• Corrupted Blood Immunity (Life Flask)

Jewels

Militant Faith (High Templar Dominus) is a staple for Power Charge-stacking builds like the Crackling Lance Hierophant. When placed on the passive tree, it converts the nearest keystone into Inner Conviction. This keystone passive grants 3% more spell damage per Power Charge, which is why it is an amazing addition to the build.

Even though the only aura you are going to activate is Wrath, you still want to get your hands on a Watcher’s Eye unique jewel. Search the trade website for one that has the following mods:

• % Increased Lightning Damage While Affected by Wrath

• Damage Penetrates 15% Lightning Resistance While Affected by Wrath

The next upgrade would be to put two Large Cluster Jewels on the passive tree. Start by getting a Large Cluster Jewel (Lightning Damage) and spam it with Lucent Fossils until you get Scintillating Idea, Widespread Destruction, and a third notable passive skill. The last one should be situated in the middle so that you can save a couple of points.

On the other Large Cluster Jewel (Spell Damage), use Harvest Reforge Defences until you get Sap Psyche, Practiced Caster, and a third random notable passive skill. If you’re wondering what these passive skills give you, here is a rundown:

• Scintillating Idea

• 20% Increased Maximum Mana

• Damage Penetrates 5% Lightning Resistance

• Widespread Destruction

• 6% Increased Area of Effect

• 20% Increased Elemental Damage

• Practiced Caster

• 20% Increased Spell Damage

• 5% Increased Cast Speed

• 35% Chance to Ignore Stuns While Casting

• Sap Psyche

• 20% Increased Spell Damage

• 30% Increased Mana Regeneration Rate

• Regenerate 1% of Energy Shield per Second if You’ve Cursed an Enemy Recently

When you have enough PoE currency, purchase The Adorned from the trade website. Make sure to get one that is close to 150% increased effect to make the jewel count.

The rest of the jewel slots on your passive tree should be populated by corrupted magic jewels. This is so that you can use The Adorned’s unique effect to your advantage.

That being said, you have to spam the magic jewels with Orb of Alteration until you get “% Increased Maximum Mana” and “+ to Global Critical Strike Multiplier.” Don’t forget to corrupt them using Vaal Orbs.

Gems

The gem setups for the Crackling Lance Hierophant are pretty straightforward. There’s room for flexibility here, so if you want to change some of the gems that will be outlined in this section of the build guide, you can do that without a problem. This build also uses some of the new gems that were introduced in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League!

Body Armor

• Crackling Lance/Arc

• Archmage Support

• Awakened Spell Echo

• Increased Critical Damage

• Power Charge on Critical Support

• Intensify Support/Awakened Lightning Penetration

The active skills you are going to use depends on the type of content you’re tackling. For mapping, you want to use Arc and Awakened Lightning Penetration. When you are fighting against the pinnacle bosses in PoE, switch to Crackling Lance and Intensify Support.

Archmage Support is an integral part of the build. This newly buffed support gem gives you added lightning damage based on 20% of your unreserved maximum mana. Because of this, you want to raise your total mana as high as you possibly can.

Awakened Spell Echo enables your Crackling Lance or Arc to repeat an additional time. Even though you can use the normal version of this support gem, you want to get your hands on its awakened version as soon as you can. This is so that you’ll have a chance to deal double damage on the final repeat.

Increased Critical Damage is a support gem that grants a significant boost to your critical strike multiplier. To add to that, you have Power Charge on Critical Support that enhances Power Charges to also grant 4% more damage per charge.

Intensify Support grants up to 45% more damage for Crackling Lance, making it a great addition to the gem setup. Since you’ll be getting the Caster Mastery that says: “Spells Which Can Gain Intensity Have +1 to Maximum Intensity,” the damage of your Crackling Lance is further amplified to 60%!

Awakened Lightning Penetration is only used in conjunction with Arc. This makes Arc penetrate 39% lightning resistance at maximum gem level, allowing it to tear through the enemy’s tough exterior, making them so much easier to kill.

Helmet

• Wrath

• Eternal Blessing

• Righteous Fire

• Empower (lvl 4)

Wrath is the only aura that you need for the Crackling Lance Hierophant. This not only provides you with flat lightning damage, but it grants more spell lightning damage as well. This is linked to Eternal Blessing Support so that it will be active without reserving mana.

Righteous Fire is included in the setup mainly for that “more spell damage” modifier. Don’t forget to activate this as soon as you enter a new area.

Empower Support raises the level of Wrath and Righteous Fire by three at gem level 4. You can either corrupt a level 3 Empower Support for a chance to raise its level by one or you purchase it from the trade website. If you go for the latter, make sure that you have enough PoE currency on hand because it is usually expensive to buy one.

Gloves

• Sigil of Power

• Summon Lightning Golem

• Frost Shield

• Cast When Damage Taken Support

You want to be able to cast Crackling Lance or Arc as quickly as you can. One way to achieve this is by summoning a Lightning Golem. Since you are not a Necromancer, you must keep an eye on the said minion and resummon it when it dies.

The Sigil Power prompts you to place a large sigil on the ground when used. Whenever you step on the sigil, you gain a considerable amount of flat lightning damage, which factors into your total damage output. Utilize the Sigil of Power when you encounter tough enemies or bosses.

Frost Shield is mainly for defensive purposes. When active, it soaks some of the damage before your mana or life, thus greatly improving your survivability. It is linked to Cast When Damage Taken Support so that it’s automatically activated when you receive enough damage.

Boots

• Arcane Surge

• Arcane Cloak

• Increased Duration Support

• Automation Support

Arcane Cloak synergizes really well with the other mechanics of this build. When it’s used, it spends 65% of your current mana in exchange for a buff that soaks a significant amount of damage. Besides that, this buff grants added lightning damage equal to 15% of the mana spent activating Arcane Cloak.

Arcane Surge grants you a 20% increased cast speed and a 58% increased mana regeneration rate at gem level 20. This is further amplified by the Hierophant’s “Arcane Blessing” ascendancy node.

Automation Support is a new gem that was added in the 3.24 Necropolis League. As you can tell by its name, Automation Support activates both Arcane Cloak and Arcane Surge whenever they are off cooldown. This alleviates the need to use more buttons while mapping or bossing!

Weapon 1

• Elemental Weakness

• Conductivity

• Arcanist Brand

Elemental Weakness and Conductivity are curse spells in Path of Exile that reduce the lightning resistance of affected enemies, thus making your Crackling Lance and Arc hit a lot harder.

Arcanist Brand is there to apply both of the said curses on your foes. Use it whenever you encounter more challenging monsters.

Weapon 2

• Enduring Cry

• Call to Arms 

• Frostblink/Flame Dash

Enduring Cry is a warcry skill in PoE that provides you with a reliable way to generate Endurance Charges. It also amplifies Endurance Charges, granting you 2% physical damage reduction and elemental resistances per charge.

Call to Arms is another support gem introduced in Patch 3.24. This works similarly to Automation Support, except for warcry skills. In this case, Call to Arms activates Enduring Cry automatically whenever it is available for use.

Frostblink and Flame Dash are popular movement skills in the game. Just choose whichever you prefer.

Tattoos

Even though GGG has removed the Wildwood Ascendancies in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, the company has brought back Tattoos to compensate.

Anyway, there are only two viable Tattoos that you need to concern yourself with and they are:

• Tattoo of the Valako Shaman

• 5% Increased Lightning Damage

• Tattoo of the Hinekora Shaman

• 8% Increased Mana Regeneration Rate

Passive Tree

Passive Tree for the Crackling Lance Hierophant

POB

Crackling Lance Hierophant

Final Thoughts

The Crackling Lance Hierophant is one of the best builds in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League due, in large part, to the newly buffed Archmage Support. This support gem no longer requires to spend exorbitant amounts of mana to deal insane damage. You just have to raise your mana as high as you can to get the most out of it.

What’s appealing about this build is that you only need a considerable amount of PoE currency to put things together. This is because the items that this build needs are relatively affordable. However, the price of these items may change depending on how popular this build is in the current league.

Furthermore, by swapping a couple of gems, you can maximize this build’s potential whether you are mapping or fighting bosses.

All in all, the Crackling Lance Hierophant is a build that we can definitely recommend in the 3.24 Necropolis League!

With all that said, good luck on your adventures in Wraeclast, Exile!

PROS

+Relatively affordable to put up

+Utilizes the newly buffed Archmage Support to great effect

+Deals insane amounts of damage just by stacking mana and Power Charges

+Great for mapping and bossing

+Incredibly tanky due to its many defensive layers

+The Hierophant ascendancy class makes stacking mana easy to achieve

CONS

-Not a league starter

-True power is unlocked only if you have enough pieces of gear equipped