[3.27] Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist - POE Keepers of the Flame

Projectile-based attack skills have dominated Path of Exile for several leagues now and you are probably tired of the same old meta. Fortunately, Grinding Gear Games added a new class of gems called Transfigured Gems to shake things up.

One of the Transfigured Gems that we are going to talk about today is the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking. When used with the Elementalist, you can just move around the map and see enemies explode thanks to Ignite along with some item and gem interactions.

If you are tired of mapping with a projectile-based character in PoE 3.27, then try this build out! This is our ultimate build guide for the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame!

Basics

The Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist is an interesting build in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame because it utilizes a travel skill to decimate enemies. The transfigured version of Leap Slam has more damage effectiveness and covers a wider area than the original. However, this comes at the cost of a slightly slower attack time and shorter travel distance.

Aside from being able to move from one point to another, the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking always stuns enemies that are on full life. This is great not only for offensive purposes but for defense as well.

Now, you are probably wondering where the bulk of the damage comes from, considering that this transfigured version of Leap Slam is not necessarily known for dealing huge amounts of damage. Well, that is where the Elementalist comes in.

This ascendancy class allows you to ignite enemies using damaging skills. Because of this, you just leap around the map and when you land on the ground, enemies will be affected by Ignite, causing them to take fire damage over time.

Now, it is important to note that this build is primarily made with mapping in mind. The Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist is capable of clearing juiced-up maps without any problems. Although you can defeat bosses with it, you will find that it is not the most efficient in this regard.

Anyway, here are the mods that you should look for if you want to improve the damage of the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist:

• Added Physical Damage
• Increased Physical Damage
• Fire Damage Over Time Multiplier
• Damage Over Time Multiplier
• Increased Area Damage
• Increased Elemental Damage

Playstyle

The Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist has a very straightforward playstyle in PoE 3.27. When you are mapping, you simply just leap around the map and see the enemies explode!

Flammability is automatically applied when you hit enemies with Leap Slam of Groundbreaking. This is because the said curse skill is linked with Hextouch Support.

Ascendancy

For this build to work, you must choose the Elementalist. This ascendancy class is the only option, mainly because it gives you a comfortable and reliable way to inflict Ignite on monsters.

Shaper of Flames is a core part of the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist. This essentially allows your attack skill to Ignite enemies, causing them to take fire damage over time.

Shaper of Storms is a great complement to Shaper of Flames. This ascendancy node causes all of your attacks to inflict the Shock status effect. If you do not have any "increased effect of non-damaging ailments" modifier on your gear, this notable passive skill ensures that your enemies take at least 15% more damage when they are Shocked.

Liege of the Primordial is a must for any Elementalist build in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame. Keep in mind that the Liege of Primordial is nerfed in Patch 3.27, where it only increases the effect of the buffs granted by your golems by 50% (instead of the full 100%). Despite that, this ascendancy node is still quite useful, especially because of its other effects, such as the ability to summon more golems and golem auto-revive.

Bastion of Elements protects you with an Elemental Aegis. With the new enemies that you're going to go against in the Keepers of the Flame expansion, allocating Bastion of Elements becomes mandatory at this point.

Gear

If you think that this build is expensive to put up, you are gravely mistaken. The Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist is actually one of the most affordable builds in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame, with plenty of avenues for upgrades should you take things a bit more seriously later on. Of course, we at RPGStash will provide you with information on what upgrades you can get to take this build to a whole new level.

Weapon

Early on, you can use any two-handed axe or sword that you can find that has some physical damage and attack speed modifiers. As soon as you're capable of completing Temple of Atzoatls, you can farm for the Story of the Vaal in the Crucible of Flame (Tier 3).

The Story of the Vaal is an incredible weapon for this build because it gives you the ability to inflict Freeze, Shock, and Ignite while you're leap-slamming around the map. If you want to get your hands on it as soon as the Keepers of the Flame League launches, you can buy Story of the Vaal from our PoE Store!

Body Armor

Another integral part of the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist is a self-crafted, double-influenced body armor with the "explodey" mod on it.

The general idea is to merge two body armors - one with a Crusader influence and the other with a Hunter influence.

The process of making the "explodey" chest is lengthy. However, you can read our ultimate crafting guide to learn the step-by-step procedure.

If you want body armor that you don't have to craft, then The Covenant is a close second. This is actually preferred by many people, particularly because of the benefits it provides, as well as not having to craft and leave things to chance.

Helmet

The helmet for this build is another crafted piece of equipment. Grab an item level 85+ Nightmare Bascinet or Pig-faced Bascinet (or better) and spam it with Deafening Essence of Loathing to guarantee the suffix, "10% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills". This modifier is mandatory since you are going to activate quite a lot of auras and golems on this build.

Use the said essence until you get spell suppression, some life, and elemental resistances.

For the implicit modifiers, spam the helmet with Grand Eldritch Ichors to get "% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills" and Grand Eldritch Embers for "% Reduced Mana Cost of Attacks". If you are struggling to activate all of your auras, you can try and elevate the mana reservation implicit by using an Orb of Conflict.

If you want to lean in more towards being a hybrid golem summoner, then you should wear The Dark Monarch instead. The Dark Monarch is a solid choice because this helmet increases your chaos resistance and energy shield when worn. More importantly, however, The Dark Monarch effectively doubles the number of golems that you can summon, which is quite helpful in the endgame

Gloves

The way you inflict Fire Exposure on the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist in PoE 3.27 is by wearing a pair of self-crafted gloves with the Fire Exposure implicit modifier.

You can refer to our comprehensive crafting guide so that you will know how to craft the damage conversion gloves. This is to sort out all of the needed explicit modifiers for the build. Just make sure to bench-craft either the cold or lightning damage convesion to consistently apply Freeze and Shock with Story of the Vaal.

Now for the implicit modifiers. The first thing that you want to do is spam the crafted gloves with Grand Eldritch Ichors to get "Inflict Fire Exposure on Hit, Applying -13% to Fire Resistance". For the Searing Exarch mod, use Grand Eldritch Embers to obtain "Ignites you inflict spread to other enemies within 1.2 meters."

Boots

A self-crafted Phantom Boots are the preferred equipment to use for this build. That is primarily because these boots allow you to get a veiled movement speed prefix, as well as an avenue to address your resistances and life.

So, how exactly do you craft this pair of boots in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame? Do not worry, we have got you covered! Read the "Onslaught Boots" section of our ultimate build guide to learn more.

The only difference here is that you will be spamming the Phantom Boots with Grand Eldritch Ichors for that "Ignite Deals Damage Faster" implicit, and Grand Eldritch Embers for the mod, "39% Increased Effect of the Buff Granted by Your Lightning Golems".

Amulet

The Elementalist's Liege of the Primordial ascendancy node already allows you to summon three golems. What's another three golems into the build, right? For this reason, you'll use The Primordial Chain. Buy The Primordial Chain with a corrupted mod: "You Can Apply an Additional Curse."

For the anointment, go for Dirty Techniques (Amber Oil, Opalescent Oil, Golden Oil) to make your ignites deal damage 15% faster.

Rings

Berek's Respite is not a well-utilized unique ring until the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist came along. This ring allows Ignite and Shock to proliferate, spreading to nearby enemies when a previously affected monster was killed just now.

For the other ring, you can wear a self-crafted Amethyst Ring with some accuracy, elemental resistances, mana, and life. Use Harvest Reforge Attack until you get these mods. Just leave a prefix slot open so that you can bench-craft the non-channeling mod.

Belt

Ryslatha's Coil is a pretty awesome belt. When you look at its mods, you might be scratching your head, figuring out what its unique effects actually do. But, it is very quite simple, really. You see, this unique belt increases the damage range of your attacks. Basically, the higher the increments of damage there is, the better your overall damage output will be.

Now, to make your damage more consistent on the higher end of the spectrum, get a Ryslatha's Coil that has "40% More Maximum Physical Attack Damage" and "30% Less Minimum Physical Attack Damage".

Despite the wording (physical attack), the belt's unique modifiers actually affect Ignite damage as well.

Once you have enough PoE Currency, I highly suggest that you buy a Headhunter. The ability to gain monster modifiers as you leap around the map should help you clear the area of monsters within a few minutes! Definitely invest in an Headhunter as soon as you can!

Flasks

• Life Flask
• Oriath's End
• Rumi's Concoction
• Ironwood Tincture
• Cinderswallow Urn

Flask Mods

• Immunity to Shock or Corrupted Blood (on Life Flask)
• +% to Damage Over Time Multiplier with Melee Weapon Attacks (on Tincture)

Jewels

Aside from a few rare clusters and two unique jewels, the rest of the jewels that will be mentioned in this section of the build guide are optional. We are just going to include them here so that you know which jewels you can buy later on to elevate the damage of the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist.

The Watcher's Eye provides a ton of value for this build. Get one with the any of the following modifiers:

• Malevolence

  • +% to Damage Over Time Multiplier (Best)
  • Damaging Ailments You Inflict Deal Damage % Faster

• Anger

  • Damage Penetrates % Fire Resistance While Affected by Anger

Being affected by elemental ailments, such as Chill, Freeze, Shock, and Ignite can lead to catastrophic results. That is why you should aim to achieve full elemental ailment immunity. One way to do that is by using the Stormshroud. This jewel changes the mod, "Chance to Avoid Being Shocked", to also apply to all elemental ailments. Make sure to wear the self-crafted boots mentioned earlier to maximize the effect of this jewel.

Cluster jewels give tremendous value to the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame. You will use at least one of each (large, medium, and small) to get some notable passive skills that can benefit the build.

Let's start with the Large Cluster Jewel (fire damage). Use Harvest Reforge Fire until you get these:

• Burning Bright

  • 25% Increased Burning Damage
  • 8% Increased Area of Effect

• Cremator

  • 30% Increased Fire Damage
  • Ignited Enemies Killed by Your Hits are Destroyed

• Widespread Destruction

  • 6% Increased Area of Effect
  • 20% Increased Elemental Damage

On the Medium Cluster Jewel (burning damage), use Harvest Reforge Fire to get these notable passive skills:

• Wasting Affliction

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

• Fan the Flames

  • Ignites You Inflict Spread to Other Enemies within a Radius of 1.5 meters

The notable passive skill "Burning Bright" can also roll on the Medium Cluster Jewel. With that said, if you are going to use two Medium Cluster Jewels on the passive tree, put one with Fan the Flames and the other with Wasting Affliction. Burning Bright should be present on both to improve Leap Slam of Groundbreaking's area of effect.

Now, if you want to lean more towards the minion commander route, you could replace the Large Cluster Jewels (Fire Damage) with Large Cluster Jewels (Minion Damage). Make sure that they have the notable passive skill called "Primordial Bond" as it increases your golems' life and enhances the effects of the buffs they provide. You can even put three of these large cluster jewels on your passive tree if you are so inclined!

If you want to take things a step further, you could grab a Megalomaniac with the Primordial Bone passive skill as well.

Gems

The gem setups that will be outlined in this section of the build guide have been optimized for damage and survivability. You can copy all of the gems mentioned here as is. However, there are certain pieces of gear where you can replace some gems with the ones that you prefer using.

Body Armor

• Leap Slam of Groundbreaking
• Awakened Swift Affliction
• Awakened Deadly Ailments
• Awakened Unbound Ailments
• Volatility Support
• Awakened Burning Damage Support

Helmet

• Summon Stone Golem of Safeguarding
• Summon Stone Golem
• Malevolence
• Tempest Shield

Gloves

• Summon Chaos Golem
• Summon Lightning Golem
• Enhance Support
• Summon Flame Golem

Boots

• Flammability
• Awakened Hextouch Support
• Elemental Weaknesss
• Flame Surge

Weapon

• Anger
• Summon Stone Golem of Hordes
• Guardian's Blessing Support

Shield

• Summon Ice Golem
• Faster Attacks Support
• Shield Charge

Passive Tree

POB

Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist

Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist in PoE 3.27: Final Thoughts

The Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist is a fun mapping build in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame that can quickly destroy enemies in an explosive manner. It utilizes the transfigured version of Leap Slam to inflict Ignite on your enemies, causing them to take fire damage over time.

This build can clear maps within a few minutes thanks to the interaction between Flame Surge, Flammability, Elemental Weakness, and Fire Exposure.

The Patch 3.27 version of this build is now a boss killer because of the myriad of golems that you have that fight at your side, as well as the insane damage output with all of the new items you have equipped.

Now, you might think that because this is an effective mapper that it is quite expensive to put up. Well, the opposite is actually true. The items that this build uses are pretty affordable, with only the Headhunter being the most expensive.

Of course, you can choose to invest more currency into it if you want to take this character's damage potential to the next level.

All in all, we can confidently recommend the Leap Slam of Groundbreaking Elementalist in Path of Exile: Keepers of the Flame. Be sure to give this a try and let us know of your experience with it!

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

PROS

+One of the best mapping builds in PoE 3.27 that does not use any projectile-based skills

+Move around the map and see enemies explode

+Although it relies on Ignites to deal damage, enemies die relatively quickly thanks to the interaction between certain curse spells and Fire Exposure

+Items that are needed for this build are pretty affordable

CONS

-Requires some jewels to summon more golems

-May require a bit more time to eliminate bosses

-Reliance on damage over time mechanics may put off some players