Detonate Dead Elementalist - Path of Exile 3.25

16.07.2024 - 15:02:28
Game Guides , Path of Exile , POE build guides

Detonate Dead Elementalist - Path of Exile 3.25

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There are a lot of builds in Path of Exile that can do mapping and bossing really well. However, most of them require you to spend exorbitant amounts of currency to achieve that. If you want a build that you can run during league start or SSF that is quite competent on a low budget, then the Detonate Dead Elementalist might interest you!

This build allows you to destroy every monster you encounter by conjuring usable corpses and exploding them with your main spell: Detonate Dead. This spell skill gem received a couple of notable buffs in Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League, making it a prime choice for those who want a comfortable build that can slay anything.

If you want to learn more, then read further! This is our comprehensive build guide for the Detonate Dead Elementalist in Patch 3.23!

Learn to Craft the Best Items for This Build

Basics

The core spell for this build is none other than Detonate Dead. In the 3.23 Affliction League, this spell skill gem now has a base radius of 2.6 meters, which covers more ground than ever before. Furthermore, increasing the gem’s quality now grants you a 15% chance to detonate an additional corpse, thus greatly increasing your clear speed.

While you can hurt enemies with the initial explosion, the bulk of your damage actually comes from the Ignites that you inflict thanks to the ascendancy class you are going to choose for the build.

Since the damage calculation of Detonate Dead relies on the corpse’s maximum life, you will include a level 20 (or even a level 21) Desecrate. This will help you “spawn” corpses for use with DD, so you don’t really need to kill an enemy with any other spell.

How about the build’s bossing potential? The Detonate Dead Elementalist is an above-average bosser, meaning, you can definitely run it to defeat the normal version of pinnacle bosses in the game. It is capable of handling Uber Bosses, though you have to be patient enough as you whittle down their HP to zero. However, you will not have any problems getting your Atlas Voidstones since it can deal with the Searing Exarch, Eater of Worlds, Elder, Shaper, Sirus, and the Maven without a hitch.

There are two versions of this build: one that uses Eldritch Battery while the other utilizes Chaos Inoculation.

There are two versions of this build: one that uses Eldritch Battery while the other utilizes Chaos Inoculation.

With the mana changes in Patch 3.24, Eldritch Battery has become quite an appealing choice. What this keystone passive does is it “protects” your mana instead of life, meaning, your energy shield is reduced whenever you cast your abilities. This is quite helpful in the early game when you do not have access to good gear just yet.

The Chaos Inoculation version is suited for the endgame. This keystone passive virtually makes you immune to chaos damage, albeit your HP goes down to one as a result. This helps with your survivability immensely, but you have to scale as much energy shield as possible to make it count. Do not worry, we will go over the gear you can wear to address that.

Anyway, look for the following mods on your gear if you want to increase the damage of the Detonate Dead Elementalist:

  • Increased Fire Damage
  • Fire Damage Over Time Multiplier
  • Damage Over Time Multiplier
  • Increased Burning Damage
  • Increased Elemental Damage
  • Increased Area Damage

Playstyle

The main rotation for the Detonate Dead Elementalist is quite easy. All you have to do is summon usable corpses with Desecrate and then use Detonate Dead to see enemies explode in a fiery explosion!

You will be wearing the Corpsewalker unique boots on this build. It can summon corpses that you can explode with DD, but this is just more of a quality-of-life thing. If you only see one or two enemies, for example, you do not have to cast Desecrate because you will have enough corpses around thanks to the boots.

How about Vaal Detonate Dead? This is just a complementary skill that can aid in improving your clear speed. Use it whenever it is off cooldown.

Whenever you are bossing or fighting against tough monsters, use Arcanist Brand to apply your curses. This should weaken their defenses, making them much easier to kill.

Ascendancy

The Detonate Dead Elementalist is capable of dealing tremendous amounts of damage on a budget thanks, in large part, to the Elementalist. This ascendancy class has all of the nodes that can elevate the damage of Detonate Dead as soon as you take them.

Shaper of Flames is the most important notable ascendancy passive skill for the build. This makes all of your damage inflict Ignites on the enemy. Besides that, you deal 25% more damage since the bulk of your damage comes from the fire element.

Shaper of Storms is a complementary node that allows you to inflict the “Shock” debuff on enemies even though your main damage type is fire. This debuff causes affected monsters to take at least 15% more damage from all sources. You can improve this by looking for passive skills or items that provide “% Increased Effect of Non-damaging Ailments.”

Mastermind of Discord works nicely with Shaper of Storms. That is because the Fire Exposure you inflict upon your enemies reduces their fire resistance by 25%. Not only that but you get some mana regeneration every time you inflict Fire Exposure as well.

Heart of Destruction is amazing because it provides you with two effects depending on the situation. If you hit a unique enemy, you will gain the “Convergence” buff that grants 30% more elemental damage for several seconds. Convergence cannot trigger more than once every eight seconds. So, during the downtime, your Detonate Dead gains a 60% increased area of effect, enabling you to hit more monsters with each explosion!

Even though it is not mandatory, you can buy the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewels with “Essence Glutton” as the matching modifier. This lets you regenerate mana and energy shield for each corpse nearby. This helps you last longer on the battlefield, especially when you are taking on the bosses in PoE.

Vile Bastion is another notable ascendancy passive skill you can take from the Forbidden Jewels set. This node is from the Occultist tree and what makes it appealing is that it allows you to regenerate energy shield based on how many enemies you have killed, up to 10% per second. What’s more, you cannot be stunned while you have energy shield on you, which, on this build, is all of the time!

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Notable Ascendancy Passive Skills for Detonate Dead Elementalist

Gear

The main selling point of the Detonate Dead Elementalist is that it can work pretty well without a huge investment. Of course, just like with any other build in Path of Exile, you can definitely elevate this build to new heights if you sink more PoE currency into it.

Buy Cheap PoE Currency and Items

Weapon

When you are still starting out, you can equip the Obliteration wand as early as level 59. This wand is so good on its own that you can use it until you accumulate enough currency to craft a better weapon. Thanks to its unique effect, you can clear white and early yellow maps without a problem.

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Obliteration

When you have the currency, however, the best weapon for the Detonate Dead Elementalist is a self-crafted Oscillating Sceptre. You need this weapon mainly for its implicit modifier that grants you the “Elemental Overload” keystone passive.

To craft this weapon, get an item level 82+ Oscillating Sceptre from the trade website and use Deafening Essence of Misery (Cast Speed) until you get either Damage Over Time Multiplier or Fire Damage Over Time Multiplier.

Then, use Orb of Annulment until you have the cast speed and DoT mods only. If you remove any of the desired modifiers, you just have to spam Deafening Essence of Misery again.

Anyway, put “Can Have up to 3 Crafted Modifiers” and then add “Gain 8% of Fire Damage as Extra Chaos Damage” and “60% Increased Fire Damage, 20% Chance to Ignite” from the Crafting Bench.

Fill up the last prefix with an Exalted Orb and you’re done!

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Self-crafted Oscillating Sceptre

Shield

The Detonate Dead Elementalist gives you the liberty to equip Dexterity/Intelligence-based gear, meaning, you can add spell suppression to improve your survivability immensely.

That being said, get yourself one of those shields that provide spell suppression as an implicit modifier (like Sovereign or Supreme Spiked Shield) and use Harvest Reforge Defense until you get some elemental resistance, attributes, chaos resistance, and spell suppression.

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Self-crafted Shield (Budget)

Once you have enough currency, purchase the Aegis Aurora. This unique shield makes you recover energy shield equal to 2% of your total armor when you block attacks or spells. Not only that but the Aegis Aurora also gives you other good mods, such as increased armor and energy shield, elemental resistance, and chance to block attack hits.

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Aegis Aurora

Body Armor

One of the keystone passives that you will take for the Detonate Dead Elementalist is Chaos Inoculation. This gives you full chaos damage immunity at the cost of having just one HP. To help you maximize its effects, you should wear the Incandescent Heart.

This unique Saintly Chainmail converts a portion of your elemental damage and dishes it out as extra chaos damage. On top of that, this helps you survive longer because it converts 25% of elemental damage you take into chaos damage. As mentioned earlier, you are immune to all chaos damage, so the armor’s unique effect just works great for this build.

If you want to go on the offensive, you can craft a rare Saintly Chainmail using Essence of Woe (Energy Shield) and then use Grand Eldritch Ichors to obtain the “Malevolence Has % Increased Aura Effect” implicit modifier.

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Incandescent Heart

The Eldritch Battery version of this build is great for the early game to mid-game. Hence, the body armor you are going to use is one that can roll spell suppression and energy shield.

For this reason, acquire a Sadist Garb or Carnal Armour and utilize that as your crafting base. Spam it with Essence of Woe (Energy Shield) until you get spell suppression, chaos resistance, INT/elemental resistance. Bench-craft “6% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire/Lightning Damage.” If you still have an open prefix, use an Exalted Orb to fill it up.

You are not done yet! Spam the armor with Eldritch Ichors to obtain the mod “Grace Has % Increased Aura Effect” and Eldritch Embers for “% Increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from Your Skills.”

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Self-crafted Body Armor (for Eldritch Battery Version)

Helmet

After finishing the main campaign, grab a Vaal Mask and spam it with Screaming/Shrieking Essence of Sorrow (DEX) until you get spell suppression, chaos resistance, life, and energy shield. Bench-craft “8% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire Damage.”

For the implicit modifiers, spam the helmet with Eldritch Ichors until you get mana reservation efficiency and Eldritch Embers for increased cast speed. This helmet should be good enough until you get your hands on the other helmets for the Detonate Dead Elementalist.

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Self-crafted Helmet (Budget)

When you are able to acquire this early, you can transition to Viridi’s Veil. This unique helmet grants some amazing bonuses that can help improve your survivability.

For one, the damage you receive from your enemies is unlucky, meaning, the lowest damage from two possible outcomes will always be used. Moreover, you are immune to hex curses like Vulnerability and Temporal Chains.

While those unique effects are great, there is a catch. You can only avail of them if you wear a Magic Ring (blue item) on the right ring slot. The downside to this is that Magic rings in PoE can only come with one prefix and one suffix. So, you have to make these modifiers count. The ring will be discussed in greater detail in the appropriate section of the build guide.

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Viridi's Veil

Now, if you really like to improve the damage potential of this build, you can craft a double-influenced Blizzard Crown. The full instructions can be found in our ultimate crafting guide

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Endgame Helmet

Gloves

Mastermind of Discord improves the Fire Exposure you inflict upon your enemies, but you still need to equip a piece of gear that will do just that. For this reason, you are going to craft your own pair of gloves with the “Fire Exposure on Hit” mod.

To do this, grab an ilvl 85+ Sorcerer Gloves if you want to maximize your energy shield or some Murder Mitts if you want to roll some spell suppression. Spam the gloves with Essence of Sorrow (Dexterity) until you get energy shield, elemental resistance, and mana or spell suppression (if using DEX/INT-based gloves for crafting).

The implicit modifiers are very important here, so we highly recommend that you invest some currency to buy Grand Eldritch Ichors and Grand Eldritch Embers. Spam the gloves with Grand Eldritch Ichors to acquire the “Inflict Fire Exposure on Hit” implicit modifier. After that, use Grand Eldritch Embers to acquire “+13% to Fire Damage Over Time Multiplier.”

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Self-crafted Gloves (with Fire Exposure and Fire DoT)

Boots

You have two good options for the boots. The easiest and most accessible is the Corpsewalker. These boots leave a trail of corpses that you can explode using Detonate Dead. This helps immensely with clear speed as you do not have to cast Desecrate if you are not dealing with huge packs of monsters.

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Corpsewalker

The viable alternative to that is a self-crafted pair of Onslaught Boots. Onslaught is a buff that grants attack speed and movement speed while it is active. Refer to our ultimate crafting guide for the full instructions.

In terms of the implicit modifiers, spam the boots with Grand Eldritch Ichors until you get the mod “Ignites You Inflict Deal Damage 7% Faster” and Grand Eldritch Embers for “Drops Scorched Ground While Moving, Lasting 4 Seconds.”

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Self-crafted Onslaught Boots

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Amulet

When you are still starting out, you can obtain any of the amulets that grant attributes as their implicit modifier. Then, use Harvest Reforge Fire until you get "+1 to All Fire Skill Gems". The rest of the mods can be anything that is useful for your character, such as elemental resistances, mana, life, chaos resistance, and damage modifiers.

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Self-crafted Amulet (Early Game)

Once you are ready to take this build's damage to the next level, refer to our crafting guide to learn how to create a +2 amulet, specifically an amulet that comes with the "+1 to All Fire Skill Gems" prefix. After the prefixes are sorted out, put multimod then followed by “12% Increased Area of Effect/16% Increased Area Damage” and “16% Increased Fire Damage.”

Although you can finish the amulet by just using a regular Exalted Orb, you could gamble and use a Hunter's Exalted Orb instead. Doing so will give you a chance to obtain the "+% to Fire Damage Over Time Multiplier" suffix if you are lucky.

Don't forget to use Turbulent Catalysts to improve the effects of the elemental damage modifiers.

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Self-crafted +2 Amulet (with Hunter's Exalted Orb)

The Eternal Struggle is a pretty good amulet for the Detonate Dead Elementalist. It provides you with a hefty boost to your attributes and it gives you more armor and energy shield as well.

However, its main draw is that it grants bonuses depending on whether the Searing Exarch or the Eater of Worlds implicit modifier is dominant. The one that should be dominant here is the Searing Exarch mod because it gives you the ability to kill enemies that are at or below 15% of their maximum life. Press the “Alt” key to let you know which of the boss implicit mods are dominant. Remember this hierarchy:

Lesser -> Greater -> Grand -> Exceptional -> Perfect

Be sure to anoint the amulet with Charisma (Opalescent Oil, 2x Golden Oils) for that 16% increased mana reservation efficiency.

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The Eternal Struggle

Rings

Since your main helmet for this build is the Viridi’s Veil, you have to make your Magic Ring count. Obtain an ilvl 85+ Warlord-influenced Opal Ring and spam it with Orb of Alteration until you get the mod: “Curse Enemies with Flammability on Hit.” Finish the ring by going to the Crafting Bench and adding the prefix, “Non-channeling skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost.” Make sure that you put this Magic Ring in the right slot so that you become Hexproof.

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Self-crafted Ring (with Flammability on Hit)

For the other ring, you are going to wear Polaric Devastation. When it is worn on the left ring slot, you cover your enemies in Ash, causing them to take more fire damage as a result. What’s more, you get increased elemental damage, fire resistance, and cold resistance, which are definitely nice modifiers for this build.

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Polaric Devastation

If you are wearing the endgame self-crafted Blizzard Crown, swap the Magic Ring for the Replica Emberwake. This unique ring makes your Ignites deal damage significantly faster, thus improving your map-clear speed by a lot.

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Replica Emberwake

With the mana changes GGG has implemented in Patch 3.24, you might find yourself struggling to cast your abilities due to a lack of mana. If this is the case, one of your rings can be a self-crafted ring with the veiled modifier that reduces the mana cost of skills by 7%.

To craft this, get any ilvl 82+ ring of your choosing like the Opal Ring (Elemental Damage), Amethyst Ring (Chaos Resistance), and Two-Stone Ring (Elemental Resistance), and use that as the crafting base.

Spam the ring with Essence of Delirium (Damage Over Time Multiplier) until you get two good suffixes, such as elemental resistance, chaos resistance (if using the Eldritch Battery version), INT, and STR.

Once you are happy with the mods, lock your suffixes and then use a Veiled Orb. Bench-craft "Adds # to fire damage, Adds # to cold damage" and head to Jun. After unveiling, look for the mod: "+55 to Maximum Mana, 7% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills". You may have to do this process a number of times if RNG does not favor you.

After that, go to the Crafting Bench and put "Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost". Use Fertile Catalysts to improve the mana mods for good measure. If you still have an open prefix, use an Exalted Orb.

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Self-crafted Ring with Reduced Mana Cost Mods

Belt

Whether you are using the Eldritch Battery or Chaos Inoculation version of this build, you want to boost your energy shield wherever possible. One way to do that is by crafting your own using the Crusader-influenced ilvl 85+ Crystal Belt as the base. This is so that you can roll the influenced prefix modifier “% Increased Maximum Energy Shield.” The Stygian Vise is a good alternative as well. This is because the belt allows you to socket an Abyssal Jewel to improve your stats.

Spam the belt with Essence of Woe (Energy Shield) until you get the influenced modifier and another prefix (preferably mana). Lock the prefixes by adding the appropriate metamod from the Crafting Bench and then use a Veiled Chaos Orb. Before unveiling, put “% Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate” from the Crafting Bench so that you can block this mod from appearing on the list.

Then, head to Jun to unveil. You are looking for the suffix: “Regenerate 200 Energy Shield per Second While a Rare or Unique Enemy is Nearby.” Head to the Crafting Bench one last time and add any mod that your character still needs.

Don’t forget to use Tempering Catalysts to enhance the defense modifiers on the Crystal Belt.

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Self-crafted Crystal Belt

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Self-crafted Stygian Vise

Flasks

  • Granite Flask
  • Quicksilver Flask
  • Basalt Flask
  • Cinderswallow Urn
  • Quartz Flask or Bottled Faith

The Detonate Dead Elementalist relies heavily on armor and energy shield. For this reason, you are using the combo of Granite and Basalt Flasks to greatly boost your armor. If you opt to wear evasion/energy shield-based gear, you can replace the Basalt Flask with the Jade Flask instead.

Quicksilver Flask is there to enhance your movement speed. This is very useful, especially if you are wearing the Corpsewalker unique boots.

The fourth flask is reserved for the Cinderswallow Urn. When used, the enemies you have Ignited take up to 10% increased damage during the flask’s effect. Since this flask can roll with a random modifier, be sure to get one that has “Recover (1-3)% of Energy Shield When You Kill an Enemy.”

For the last flask, you have two choices. The cheapest would be to use the Quartz Flask for some spell suppression and phasing. Phasing lets you move unobstructed, so you can reposition yourself nicely whenever you need to cause some explosions.

However, you can opt for the Bottled Faith if you have enough PoE currency. This flask allows you to create Consecrated Ground when used. Monsters that are standing on it will take increased damage from all sources. Take note that this flask is usually sold for upwards of 5 Divine Orbs, which from a league start scenario, is a bit out of reach. So, unless you have the currency, stick to Quartz Flask for now.

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Flask Mods

  • 60% Increased Armor (of the Armadillo)
  • 0.7% of Spell Damage Leeched as Energy Shield (of Siphoning)
  • 17% Increased Cast Speed (of the Horsefly)
  • 60% Increased Evasion (of the Impala) (Only if using Quartz Flask)

Jewels

One of the main reasons why the Detonate Dead Elementalist is great to use as a league starter is that there are no mandatory items to make it work. However, you can certainly add items to make the build stronger and the mapping experience a lot smoother.

Start by getting your hands on a Watcher’s Eye jewel, specifically with these modifiers:

  • Damaging Ailments You Inflict Deal Damage % Faster While Affected by Malevolence
  • Gain Energy Shield per Enemy Hit While Affected by Discipline
  • +% Chance to Evade Attack Hits While Affected by Grace

Remember the endgame weapon you have crafted for this build? You can amplify the “extra chaos damage” part by putting in The Red Dream. This unique jewel gives you 10% of fire damage as extra chaos damage. Furthermore, you have a chance to gain an Endurance Charge on kill because you will slot it in the jewel socket that is adjacent to Overcharge on the passive tree. You can farm this jewel by doing Chayula runs or you can purchase it from other players from the trade website.

Cluster Jewels can help boost your damage in more ways than one. Grab at least a couple of Large Cluster Jewels (Elemental Damage) and spam it with Prismatic Fossils until you get Sadist, Prismatic Heart, and another notable passive skill like Disorienting Display. You only need to concern yourself with the first two, so the last passive should be situated in the middle to save a couple of passive points.

Sadist is a great notable passive for the Detonate Dead Elementalist because it gives you a huge amount of elemental damage. The good thing about this is that it actually stacks, so the more Large Cluster Jewels you have with the Sadist node, the better the results!

You can benefit from Medium Cluster Jewels as well. Get two (Burning Damage) and use Harvest Reforge Fire until you get these:

  • Blowback

    • 10% Chance to Ignite
    • Ignites You Inflict Deal Damage 8% Faster
  • Wasting Affliction

    • 20% Increased Damage with Ailments
    • Damaging Ailments Deal Damage 5% Faster

If you find yourself unable to activate all of the auras on this build, you can add a Small Cluster Jewel (mana reservation efficiency) with the Self-Control notable passive skill. This gives you an 80% increased mana reservation efficiency of Discipline plus a 25% increased mana regeneration rate. The easiest way to obtain this is by using the Lucent Fossil.

After acquiring all of the jewels mentioned above and you still have some currency to spare, you can purchase some Grand Spectrum Jewels, specifically ones that provide the following effects:

  • +1 to Minimum Frenzy Charges per Grand Spectrum
  • +1 to Minimum Endurance Charges per Grand Spectrum
  • 15% Increased Elemental Damage per Grand Spectrum

Gems

The Detonate Dead Elementalist is not too strict when it comes to its gem setups. Apart from the support gems that you use for DD, you can use whatever gem you want. Treat every gem in this section as our recommendations, so feel free to swap any of them as you see fit.

Body Armor

  • Vaal Detonate Dead
  • Awakened Deadly Ailments
  • Awakened Burning Damage
  • Awakened Swift Affliction
  • Awakened Unbound Ailments
  • Ignite Proliferation

Detonate Dead is the main skill you use to eliminate any monster you come across with. The “Vaal” portion works the same way as the original, albeit it deals more damage and has a higher chance of detonating an additional corpse. Use it whenever it is off cooldown or if you need to obliterate enemies in a jiffy.

Awakened Deadly Ailments and Awakened Swift Affliction causes your Ignites to deal incredible amounts of damage by upping your damage over time multiplier. Awakened Burning Damage raises the level of your Detonate Dead spell skill gem by one, making it even more potent.

Awakened Unbound Ailments is included in this setup because it increases the effect of Shock on enemies by a whopping 69% at max level. It also causes your Ignites to deal 22% more damage when you increase the support gem’s quality to 20%.

Ignite Proliferation is a support gem in Path of Exile that causes your Ignites to deal 25% more damage at gem level 21. To achieve this, level it up to 20 and then use a Vaal Orb for a chance to corrupt it to the desired level. Ignite Proliferation, as its name implies, causes your Ignites to spread to nearby enemies within a two-meter radius.

Helmet

  • Purity of Elements
  • Determination
  • Malevolence
  • Enlighten Support

Malevolence is just an amazing aura for the Detonate Dead Elementalist primarily because it grants you a huge buff to Damage Over Time.

Determination and Purity of Elements can aid you in improving your defenses. The former provides you with additional armor, while the latter gives you a considerable amount of elemental resistance. Purity of Elements also makes you immune to elemental ailments, such as Chill, Freeze, Shock, and Ignite, thus enhancing your survivability manifold.

If you want a more defensive approach, you can replace Malevolence with Grace to greatly enhance your evasion. Aside from that, if you have mostly evasion/energy shield-based gear equipped, you can replace Determination with Grace instead.

Gloves

  • Defiance Banner
  • Tempest Shield
  • Vaal Discipline
  • Enlighten Support

Discipline is a staple in Chaos Inoculation builds such as this one because it gives you a huge amount of Energy Shield when active. The “Vaal” portion of this aura forcibly recharges your energy shield even when you take damage, so use it whenever you are in a tough situation.

Tempest Shield significantly boosts your chance to block spell damage. Besides that, enemies that strike you with a melee attack receive lightning damage in return.

The Defiance Banner gives you even more armor that can factor into your Molten Shell’s bonus. This has the added benefit of reducing the critical strike chance of your enemies by 40% at max level as well.

Don’t forget to slap in a level 3 Enlighten Support so that you will have enough mana to activate these buffs.

Boots

  • Arcanist Brand
  • Flammability
  • Elemental Weakness)
  • Flame Surge

This setup ensures that nearby monsters are affected by Shock and Ignite thanks to Shaper of Storms and Shaper of Flames, respectively. You do not even have to do anything because Flame Surge, Arcane Surge, and Blazing Salvo get cast automatically when you receive a small amount of damage.

Weapon

  • Desecrate
  • Molten Shell (lvl 10)
  • Cast When Damage Taken Support (lvl 1)

Desecrate is a main part of your rotation. You will use it first before you can cast Detonate Dead to cause massive explosions. Make sure to level it up to 20 so that you can summon Level 100 monster corpses with it. This is important because the damage of Detonate Dead relies on the corpse’s maximum life.

The classic combo of Molten Shell and CWDT helps you survive the most damaging attacks in PoE. This is because it gives you a shield that can soak damage equal to 10% of your total armor.

Do not link Desecrate to CWDT so that you can still cast it freely.

Shield

  • Shield Charge
  • Faster Attacks Support
  • Flame Dash

During mapping, you will use Shield Charge to move around the map as quickly as possible. Of course, you should link it to Faster Attacks Support so that it feels a lot smoother to use.

Flame Dash is another travel skill that should be utilized whenever you need to “go over” certain areas. You can replace it with Frostblink if you want. We just recommend the Flame Dash because it gives you three charges that you can use in quick succession.

Tattoos

Yes! Tattoos have finally returned in Patch 3.24! That being said, here are the ones we recommend for the Detonate Dead Elementalist:

  • Tattoo of the Ngamahu Warrior

    • 5% Increased Fire Damage
  • Tattoo of the Hinekora Warrior

    • 3% Increased Maximum Energy Shield
  • Tattoo of the Hinekora Shaman

    • 8% Increased Mana Regeneration Rate
  • Tattoo of the Hinekora Deathwarden

    • 6% Reduced Effect of Curses on You

Passive Tree

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Passive Skill Tree for Detonate Dead Elementalist

POB

Main Setup

Alternative Setup (with Mageblood)

Final Thoughts

The Detonate Dead Elementalist is an awesome build that you can use to start a new league. It can work even on a measly budget and you can elevate its damage as you obtain more PoE currency. The build is also great for SSF since the items are very easy to obtain by yourself.

Thanks to the Elementalist’s Shaper of Flames and Shaper of Storms, your Detonate Dead can make quick work of the enemy. Just cast Desecrate to spawn some usable corpses and make them explode using DD. Of course, there is the Vaal Detonate Dead to aid you in clearing maps efficiently as well.

If you need some crafting advice, be sure to bookmark our ultimate crafting guide as it gives you all of the information you need.

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

PROS

+Amazing league starter

+Can work with a small budget

+SSF-friendly

+Efficient mapper

+Capable of taking on any type of content in PoE

+Still amazing in Patch 3.24

CONS

-Requires two buttons to effectively kill monsters

-Amplifying the build’s damage to new heights requires expensive crafted items

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