Manabond Hierophant - Path of Exile 3.24

Grinding Gear Games always allows the community to experiment with unique and awesome builds that are definitely out of the ordinary. The Manabond Hierophant is one such build that is pretty expensive to put up, but is quite refreshing as it is unique in what it can do.

Unlike other builds that reserve mana for auras and whatnot, this build actually encourages you to increase your unreserved mana pool so that you can deal incredible amounts of damage.

If you want to try an unorthodox build, then read ahead. This is our complete build guide for the Manabond Hierophant in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League!

Basics

The Manabond Hierophant is one of the most unique builds in Path of Exile. Its main highlight is for you to increase your unreserved mana so that you can deal huge amounts of damage to the enemy.

So, what are you going to use the mana for? Well, there are some mechanics that you need to be aware of; chief among them is Manabond. This is a spell skill gem that lets you deal lightning damage equal to a percentage of missing unreserved mana. In other words, the more mana you have depleted using active skills, the more devastating your lightning damage will be.

Manabond actually got buffed in Patch 3.23. Its lightning damage calculation has been increased from 44% to 54%. Although you lose the increased AoE when increasing the gem’s quality, this is a fair compromise given that you deal more damage than ever before.

Remember, Manabond’s damage is affected when you use active skills and not those that reserve mana like auras and banner skills. That said, one of the active skills that you need to use is Arcane Cloak. This is a guard skill that uses 65% of your current mana. However, the reason why it does this is that it buffs your lightning damage equal to 14% of the mana spent by this skill’s effect. 

Arcane Cloak also absorbs 75% of the damage you take from hits before your energy shield gets depleted, which is why the Manabond Hierophant is not only quite devastating but it can survive even the most damaging attacks from the enemy as well.

You complement the said guard skill by putting the Coruscating Elixir in one of your flask slots. Make sure that you bench-craft “Used When You Use a Guard Skill” so that it is perfectly in sync with your Arcane Cloak. What this unique flask does is ensure that the chaos damage you take does not bypass energy shield. This effect, however, comes at a steep cost in that your HP will be reduced to just one. Do not worry because you have a ton of energy shield anyway.

Where does your huge amount of energy shield come from, you ask? Well, the bulk of your energy shield comes from The Ivory Tower, Shaper’s Touch, and Indigon. Besides that, you will stack plenty of STR and INT attributes wherever possible, so they, too, can boost your maximum energy shield.

Speaking of Indigon, this unique helmet increases your spell damage for every 200 points of mana you have spent within the past four seconds, up to a maximum of 2,000%! So long as you are spending mana, you are assured of a huge damage boost every time.

We are not done with the mechanics yet! You also need to equip the Mjölner specifically for its unique effect where you trigger a socketed lightning spell on hit. For this reason, you will socket Manabond into this unique one-handed mace, but you still need to trigger it somehow. That is where Cyclone comes in.

Phew, what a doozy! To recap, this build is a STR/INT stacker that deals huge amounts of damage by spending unreserved mana. The more mana you spend, the more damage you will deal. Your Manabond and Shock Nova/Arc are automatically cast thanks to Mjölner and Cyclone linked to CWCS. We hope that this clears things out!

Take note that this build is pretty expensive. So unless you have some PoE currency saved up, do not attempt this if you are not able to secure the necessary items and gems.

Playstyle

If the mechanics of the Manabond Hierophant are very complex, its playstyle is quite the contrary. All you really need to do is activate Arcane Cloak when you have full mana so that you get a burst of lightning damage as a result. Then, you just Cyclone around the map and see your enemies get zapped into oblivion!

Ascendancy

Arcane Blessing gives you a free Arcane Surge whenever you hit enemies with a spell. This effect is activated even if you trigger Manabond or Shock Nova/Arc. Arcane Surge increases your cast speed by 10% and mana regeneration rate by 30% for several seconds.

Divine Guidance provides you with a hefty amount of mana. It grants you the effect of Transfiguration of Mind as well. This means that increases and reductions to your maximum mana also apply to your damage at 30% of their value.

Sanctuary of Thought is a notable ascendancy passive skill that grants some amazing bonuses that can benefit the Manabond Hierophant. For one, you gain extra energy shield based on 20% of your maximum mana. Moreover, the area of effect of your skills is increased by 1% per 50 unreserved maximum mana, up to 100%. In this build, you get the entire bonus! 

Conviction of Power is just the icing on the cake. This grants you the effect of four Endurance Charges and Power Charges, so you get a considerable boost to your survivability, as well as critical strike chance. This node scales them even further by raising your maximum charges by one.

To truly feel the power of this build, purchase the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh Jewels with “Righteous Providence” as the matching modifier. This not only gives you plus 50 to your STR and INT, but it also increases your critical strike chance per point of these attributes, whichever of them is lower.

Gear

The Manabond Hierophant requires some unique items for the build to work. To make the most out of them, you must purchase those that have corrupted implicit mods that can benefit the build. This is the reason why the build is quite expensive to put up.

Weapon

One of the mandatory pieces of gear for the Manabond Hierophant is the Mjölner. This unique one-handed mace is used to trigger Manabond when you spin-to-win with Cyclone as you traverse the map.

It does have a steep STR and INT requirement and that is one of the reasons why this character is built as an attribute stacker.

If you are so inclined, you can even put “Quality Does Not Increase Physical Damage, 1% Increased Attack Speed per 8% Quality” from the Horticrafting Station to increase Cyclone’s attack rate.

Shield

Since you only use a one-handed weapon on this build, it would be a shame to have just a couple of support gems to improve Manabond’s damage, right? Fortunately, you have The Squire to address that.

This unique shield allows the support gems inserted into it to support the skills from your main hand weapon as well. In this case, your Manabond spell skill gem. So, when you equip The Squire, think of Manabond as having five support gems in total for maximum results.

Body Armor

There really is no other body armor fit for the Manabond Hierophant than The Ivory Tower. This thing has all of the goods, including INT, mana, and energy shield regeneration.

However, its main draw is its unique effect where you gain more energy shield per 100 points of reserved HP. As to how exactly you reserve life, it will be discussed in greater detail in the “Gems” section of the build guide.

Helmet

Another piece of mandatory gear for the build is the Indigon. This helmet gives you a huge amount of energy shield. But, what makes it great is that it increases your spell damage for every 200 points of mana you spend with your active skills.

The two skills that you can use to “flush” your mana for Indigon’s unique effect are Arcane Cloak and Cyclone. The former is best utilized if you are still at 100% mana, while the latter is used as soon as you enter a map.

Gloves

The Shaper’s Touch utilizes your STR and INT to great effect. When you wear these gloves, every four points of STR gives you a point of mana. Besides that, you gain a 1% increased energy shield per 10 STR!

How about Intelligence? You get plus four to your accuracy rating per 2 INT. Furthermore, you gain 2% evasion per 10 INT. Thanks to the Shaper’s Touch, your survivability will improve manifold!

Since Manabond and Shock Nova Arc are lightning spell skills in PoE, you can enhance their damage by purchasing a Shaper’s Touch with the “Curse Enemies with Elemental Weakness on Hit” corrupted implicit modifier.

Boots

The boots that you are going to wear for the Manabond Hierophant are a self-crafted pair with a veiled movement speed modifier. You can either opt for the Onslaught Boots or the other one that gives you a 100% chance to avoid being chilled.

If you are interested in learning how to craft these boots, you can refer to our ultimate crafting guide for step-by-step instructions.

For the implicit modifiers, use Grand Eldritch Ichors until you get “8% Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate” and Grand Eldritch Embers for “5% Increased Action Speed.”

Amulet

You have a couple of viable options for the amulet slot. The best, in our opinion, is the Eyes of the Greatwolf, specifically one that has “% Increased Attributes” and “% Increased Maximum Mana” as corrupted implicit modifiers. These are quite expensive and you could possibly spend more than 100 Divine Orbs just to get one depending on its current market value, so be prepared for that.

If the price of the Eyes of the Greatwolf is just too steep for you, then a great alternative is the Three Rat Talisman. Purchase one with STR, INT, mana, and energy shield.

No matter which amulet you choose, make sure to anoint it with Primal Spirit (Sepia Oil, Azure Oil, Black Oil) for that plus 20 points to your STR and INT, as well as a 20% boost to your maximum mana.

Rings

The rings you are going to wear for the Manabond Hierophant are crafted ones with STR, INT, and chaos resistance. However, you can also try the Helical Ring, which gives you the ability to add one more suffix at the cost of only having one prefix.

To craft this, get an ilvl 86+ Helical Ring, preferably with a fractured STR mod to make things a lot easier. You can either spam it with Deafening Essence of Envy (Chaos Resistance) or Deafening Essence of Scorn (Critical Strike Multiplier), whichever you prefer. Do this until you get T1 INT and attributes.

Once you have your suffixes sorted out, you can go with that or proceed to get a better prefix. If you wish to proceed, you have to bear in mind that this is risky because you could remove one of the desired modifiers. However, you will get a much better ring if you take the plunge.

Anyway, use an Orb of Annulment and hope that you remove the unwanted prefix. If you are successful, bench-craft the mod: “+40 to Maximum Mana, 6% of Damage Taken Recouped as Mana.”

Belt

The best belt for this build is none other than the Mageblood. Having the effects of four magic utility flasks active at all times is just a godsend for the Manabond Hierophant.

Of course, you will not purchase a clean version of the Mageblood. Instead, you are going to buy a corrupted one with the implicit mod: “6% Increased Strength/6% Increased Intelligence.”

Due to the number of potential PoE players who will try this build out, expect that this specific Mageblood costs an arm and a leg.

Flasks

• Topaz Flask
• Sapphire Flask
• Jade Flask
• Quicksilver Flask
• Coruscating Elixir

Since the Manabond Hierophant uses an awful lot of unique items, you will have a difficult time capping your resistances. Hence, you will use the Topaz Flask and Sapphire Flask to address any deficiencies you may have with your lightning resistance or cold resistance, respectively.

Jade Flask helps increase your survivability by upping your evasion rating. It might not be a lot, but it can still aid you in lasting longer on the battlefield.

Quicksilver Flask just helps you with mapping and makes the build feel less clunky to use as you spin-to-win with Cyclone.

Of course, the Coruscating Elixir is a core part of the build and should always be included no matter what.

Now, if you are struggling to sustain your mana, you can swap the Jade Flask for a Foreboding Eternal Mana Flask and use that in quick succession to recover your mana pool to 100%.

Flask Mods

• 40% Additional Elemental Resistances (of the Rainbow)
• 60% Increased Evasion Rating (of the Impala)
• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah)
• Regenerate 3% of Life per Second (Bench-craft)
• Alchemist/Abecedarian/Dabbler (prefix, 25% Increased Effect)

Jewels

The Manabond Hierophant is essentially an attribute stacker. Hence, you are going to use some jewels that can give you boatloads of STR and INT when placed inside the jewel sockets on your passive tree.

Split Personality is a staple among attribute-stacking builds in Path of Exile, especially if you place them far away from the Templar’s starting location. Ideally, you should put them in the Large Cluster Jewels placed at the top of the passive tree so that you gain the most benefit. Having said that, grab a couple of these jewels, specifically those with +5 to STR and INT.

Emperor’s Mastery provides a ton of value to the build. This not only increases your attributes, but it gives you improved global defenses (which includes energy shield) as well.

This build deals incredible amounts of damage the more mana you spend. For that to happen, your mana pool should also be huge. Hence, you will use the Healthy Mind unique jewel to increase your mana even further. Insert this into the jewel socket that is adjacent to the Instability node at the top of the passive tree.

Don’t forget to include a Watcher’s Eye Prismatic Jewel. Here are the bonuses that we recommend:

• Discipline
  • Gain Energy Shield per Enemy Hit
  • Regenerate % of Energy Shield per Second
  • % Faster Start of Energy Shield Recharge
• Wrath
  • % of Lightning Damage is Leeched as Energy Shield
  • Damage Penetrates % Lightning Resistance
  • % Increased Critical Strike Chance
• Precision
  • % Increased Attack Speed
  • +% to Critical Strike Multiplier
  • Gain a Flask Charge When You Deal a Critical Strike
• Clarity
• % of Damage Taken from Mana Before Life
• % of Damage Taken Recouped as Mana
• Gain % of Maximum Mana as Extra Maximum Energy Shield

That Which Was Taken – a new unique jewel that was introduced in the 3.23 Affliction League, has become a staple in many builds in Path of Exile. That is because it provides you with the effects of several Charm modifiers. Speaking of which, here are the ones you should be looking for:

• + to Strength and Intelligence
• Recover 2% of Life/Mana/Energy Shield on Kill
• Critical Strikes Have Culling Strike
• +% to Chaos Resistance per Endurance Charge
• (6-8)% Increased Effect of Your Curses
• (130-160%) Increased Critical Strike Chance Against Enemies on Full Life
• (71-100)% Increased Critical Strike Chance if You Haven’t Dealt a Critical Strike Recently
• +% to Critical Strike Multiplier per Power Charge
• Damage Penetrates % of Enemy Elemental Resistances
• % Increased Critical Strike Chance Against Shocked Enemies
• % Increased Strength
• Magic Utility Flasks Applied to You Have % Increased Effect
• Gain % of Maximum Mana as Extra Maximum Energy Shield
• % of Damage Leeched as Energy Shield

To further boost your STR attribute, you can get your hands on a Lethal Pride unique Timeless Jewel as well. Find one from the trade website that gives as many +20 to Strength, 5% Increased Strength, and 5% Chance to Deal Double Damage nodes as possible.

The Impossible Escape (Necromantic Aegis) enables you to allocate the Dreamer, Path of the Servant, and Ash, Frost and Storm without being connected to your passive tree. This is a bit costly considering the notable passive skills in its radius, so get your PoE currency ready.

To round out the jewels for this build, acquire a couple of Large Cluster Jewels (Lightning Damage) and spam them with Lucent Fossils until you get the following notable passive skills:

• Scintillating Idea
  • 20% Increased Maximum Mana
  • Damage Penetrates 5% Lightning Resistance
• Prismatic Heart
  • +10% to All Elemental Resistances
  • 30% Increased Elemental Damage
• Storm Drinker
  • Damage Penetrates 8% Lightning Resistance
  • 0.5% of Lightning Damage Leeched as Energy Shield

Gems

There are some pretty interesting things at play when it comes to the gem setups for the Manabond Hierophant. That said, the gems here are tight, which means that replacing them with another gem is a no-go. The only gem that you can swap is Shock Nova with Arc. Unless you know what you are doing, we recommend that you stick to the gems that will be highlighted in this section of the build guide.

Weapon + Shield

• Manabond
• Awakened Elemental Focus
• Awakened Lightning Penetration
• Increased Critical Damage
• Arcane Surge
• Concentrated Effect

Thanks to The Squire, any support gems you insert into the shield will be linked to your Manabond setup as well. Having said that, Manabond is automatically triggered by Mjölner. What’s more, you do not spend mana when it is cast this way, which is ideal if you are to use Shock Nova/Arc as part of your main attack rotation.

The rest of the support gems highlighted above just improve the damage of Manabond in some capacity. If you are wondering why Arcane Surge is included, that is primarily for its “more spell damage” modifier when you increase its gem quality to 20%.

It should also go without saying that all of the gems should have their qualities raised to 20% to gain their specific bonuses. To achieve this, use Gemcutter’s Prism.

Body Armor

• Cyclone
• Shock Nova
• Awakened Cast While Channelling Support
• Awakened Lightning Penetration
• Increased Critical Damage
• Mana Leech Support

Cyclone is just a means of triggering Shock Nova with the help of Awakened Cast While Channelling Support. Shock Nova is a lightning spell skill gem in PoE that casts multiple lightning novas around you, dealing damage to nearby monsters. You can replace this with Arc if you want a slightly faster map-clearing speed.

Mana Leech is a very important support gem because, without it, you will be unable to sustain mana while you are spinning around the map. It is important to note that you only use Cyclone when there are enemies nearby. Otherwise, you are just wasting your mana for nothing.

Helmet

• Wrath
• Eternal Blessing
• Arcane Cloak
• Increased Duration Support

Arcane Cloak is a crucial part of your rotation. Use this whenever you need to burst a tough monster down or if you are facing a pinnacle boss in PoE. This is supported by Increased Duration so that this guard skill lasts longer.

Wrath is linked to Eternal Blessing. With this interaction, Wrath is no longer a permanent aura but a buff that you can activate on a whim. Utilize this whenever you encounter more challenging foes.

Do not worry about Eternal Blessing’s downside because you won’t be reserving mana when you activate the other auras on this build.

Gloves

• Precision
• Clarity
• Arrogance Support
• Frostblink

Precision and Clarity are auras that naturally reserve a flat portion of your mana. Since you do not want to take away from your mana pool so as to not affect the total damage output of Manabond, you link both of these aura gems to Arrogance Support. This is so that you reserve life instead of mana when you activate them. Take note that the level of these gems should be adjusted only until you achieve one HP with all of the other auras enabled.

Frostblink is the preferred movement skill for the Manabond Hierophant and there’s a good reason for it. You see, Frostblink is the only travel skill in Path of Exile that you can use while you are spinning with Cyclone. So, whenever you are in a rough spot and you need to reposition yourself, don’t forget to utilize Frostblink.

Boots

• Vaal Discipline
• Tempest Shield
• Enlighten Support
• Arrogance Support

To reduce your HP significantly to make the Coruscating Elixir more potent, you will link Vaal Discipline and Tempest Shield to Arrogance Support. Enlighten Support is included to somehow mitigate the HP reduction as a result of activating Discipline and Tempest Shield at the same time.

Now, the “Vaal” portion of Discipline helps you survive on the battlefield as it forces your energy shield to recharge even if you are actively taking damage.

Secondary Ascendancy

There are just so many Charm modifiers that can benefit the Manabond Hierophant, which is why taking the Wildwood Primalist as your secondary ascendancy class for this build is a no-brainer.

Speaking of Charms, the best ones are those that give you +40 to STR and INT and 7% Increased Strength. If you can purchase a few of these, then you should be good to go! Obviously, such Charms are quite expensive, so here are other modifiers you can consider:

• Damage Penetrates % of Enemy Elemental Resistances
• % Increased Effect of Non-Damaging Ailments You Inflict with Critical Strikes
• Gain % Increased Attack Speed for 20 Seconds When You Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy
• +% to Critical Strike Multiplier per Power Charge
• (130-160)% Increased Critical Strike Chance Against Enemies on Full Life
• Flasks Gain a Charge Every 3 Seconds

Passive Tree

POB

Manabond Hierophant

Final Thoughts

So there you have it! The Manabond Hierophant is a unique build that you should definitely try if you have the PoE currency. It is a fun build that is meant to survive even the most damaging hits from the enemy. In fact, you can even do deep delves with it, provided that you have already secured the necessary items.

There are so many mechanics at play here, but you only need to concern yourself with spinning to win. Whenever you enter a new map, just use Cyclone on every monster you encounter and see them die shortly after.

When you are fighting pinnacle bosses, simply activate Arcane Cloak to gain a significant damage boost and make quick work of the enemy! Be sure to bookmark this build guide, as well as our comprehensive crafting guide, for future reference. If you need clarifications, just visit this build guide at any time.

We at RPGStash hope that you like this build. Be sure to try it out and let us know of the results!

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

PROS

+Endgame build that can decimate anything in its path

+Can go beyond Depth 2,000 in the Azurite Mines

+Is incredibly tanky thanks to the many mechanics at play

+Simple playstyle

CONS

-Requires an awful lot of unique items to work

-Some items are pretty expensive

-Not a league starter