PoE 3.25 EK Ignite Elementalist Build

Patch 3.25 is heavily focused on improving melee combat, but this does not mean that spells and projectile-based skills have been forgotten. In fact, some of them even got buffed indirectly just like the build that we are going to talk about today.

If you want to create a character that can easily ignite and burn enemies to death, then read further! This is our build guide for the EK Ignite Elementalist in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League!

Basics

Before anything, "EK" is just short for Ethereal Knives. This is a physical spell skill gem in PoE that allows you to fire up to 13 projectiles at gem level 20. EK, at least on this build, is just a vector. The real damage dealer is the Ignites that you can inflict.

This build utilizes Ignites to a much greater extent. This is a fire elemental ailment that deals fire damage over time. With the chosen ascendancy class for this build, you can make quick work of the enemy by firing multiple projectiles.

Speaking of which, there are two skill gems that you can use. In the beginning, you are going to use the normal version of Ethereal Knives. However, once you have gained enough PoE Currency, you can transition to the transfigured version called the Ethereal Knives of the Massacre.

If you are wondering about the differences between the normal version and the Transfigured Gem just mentioned, it is that the Ethereal Knives of the Massacre fires projectiles in a circle.

Of course, you do have the option of just sticking to the base version of Ethereal Knives, especially if you want the projectiles to be fired in an arc in front of you.

The EK Ignite Elementalist is one of the most interesting builds in the game simply because it takes advantage of multiple levels of conversion for maximum damage. You are starting with physical damage, then cold damage, and fire damage after that.

In addition, this build makes use of items that grant extra damage, including fire, cold, and chaos. A crafted double-influenced quiver is one of those items, with some extra fire and cold damage to boot.

If you want to improve the damage output of this build, be sure to look for the following modifiers on your gear:

• Increased Elemental Damage
• Increased Fire Damage
• Increased Damage
• Increased Cast Speed
• + to Fire Damage Over Time Multiplier
• + to Damage Over Time Multiplier

Ascendancy

This build would not be possible if you were not going to choose the Elementalist for the ascendancy class.

Shaper of Flames is the main reason why this build works. This ascendancy node ensures that every projectile that you fire can cause enemies to Ignite. Besides that, Ignites that you have inflicted upon the enemy always deal 25% more damage.

Shaper of Storms is a great complement to the previous notable ascendancy passive skill. This makes your EK projectiles apply Shock, which is a lightning elemental ailment that causes enemies to take increased damage for a brief period.

Mastermind of Discord enhances the Fire Exposure you inflict upon the target to 25%. The added benefit of taking this ascendancy node is that you regenerate 1% of mana per second if you have inflicted Fire Exposure recently.

Heart of Destruction allows you to gain the Convergence buff that grants 30% more elemental damage for several seconds. This buff is active whenever you hit a unique enemy, no more than once every eight seconds.

Playstyle

The EK Ignite Elementalist has a rather easy playstyle. Start by moving around the map with your preferred travel skill to search for huge packs of monsters. After that, simply cast Ethereal Knives of the Massacre and see your enemies burn!

Whenever you encounter a rare or unique monster, use Arcanist Brand to activate Hydrosphere and Flame Surge. The former drenches enemies in water, applying cold and lightning exposure as a result. The latter, on the other hand, creates burning ground whenever you hit monsters within its area of effect. This burning ground deals 25% of fire damage per second of Ignite affecting the enemy.

Gear

Gearing the EK Ignite Elementalist is easy early on. You can make use of items that are cheap to obtain. However, if you truly want to bring the best out of the build, you have to be willing to craft certain items. Fortunately for you, we just happen to have an amazing crafting guide for all of your needs!

Weapon

Obliteration is a unique wand that you can use starting at level 59. This is a unique wand in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur that gives you up to 40% of physical damage as extra chaos damage. But more importantly, Obliteration causes your enemies to explode on kill, dealing chaos damage to nearby monsters.

While Obliteration can be utilized until you reach the red maps, ultimately, you are going to use a crafted bow with some useful modifiers.

To start, grab yourself an ilvl 85+ bow, preferably one that has a low DEX requirement like the Reflex Bow or Ivory Bow. Next, use Blacksmith's Whetstones to increase the quality of the bow, and then spam it with Deafening Essence of Misery to guarantee the cast speed suffix. Do this until you acquire T1 damage over time multiplier.

Go to the Crafting Bench and lock your suffixes. Use an Orb of Scouring after that to remove any prefixes that are on the bow. You may need an Orb of Annulment if you do not have an open prefix for "Suffixes Cannot Be Changed."

Once the prefixes are cleaned, head to the Crafting Bench again and add the meta mod "Cannot Roll Attack Modifiers." Use an Exalted Orb to guarantee the "+1 to Level of Socketed Gems" prefix.

To finish the craft, go back to the Crafting Bench one last time and put the following modifiers in order:

• Can Have up to 3 Crafted Modifiers
• +2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems
• Gain 15% of Fire Damage as Extra Chaos Damage

Offhand

Because Obliteration is a one-handed weapon, you have the freedom to equip a shield to accompany it. Use this slot to address any issues you may have early on, including spell suppression, defenses, life, and elemental resistance.

In the endgame, you are going to equip a crafted quiver using the Vile Arrow Quiver as base. This is for the implicit modifier that gives you 15% of physical damage as extra chaos damage.

To craft the quiver, obtain two sets of quivers: one with a Redeemer or Shaper influence, and the other with a Warlord influence.

On the Redeemer/Shaper quiver, spam it with Orb of Alteration until you get the mod: "Gain 15% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage." Do the same for the Warlord-influenced quiver, only this time, you are aiming for the "Gain 15% of Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage" prefix.

Make sure that at least one of those quivers is a Vile Arrow Quiver. When you have the modifiers mentioned above, simply use an Awakener's Orb to merge the two. It is important to note that you have to click on the quiver that is not the Vile Arrow Quiver first. This is to ensure that the final item uses the Vile Arrow Quiver as the base.

Body Armor

When you finish the main campaign, start saving PoE Currency to obtain Skin of the Loyal. This is a great body armor for the EK Ignite Elementalist because it not only increases the level of socketed gems by one, but it grants 100% increased global defenses as well.

In the endgame, you could transition to Skin of the Lords. What makes this item different from the previous one is that it raises the level of socketed gems by two. It also grants a random keystone passive, so make sure it comes with one that does not brick your build in any way. If you can afford it, grab a Skin of the Lords that has Elemental Overload, though this is expensive given the usefulness of the said keystone.

Both Skin of the Loyal and Skin of the Lords come with sockets that cannot be altered with Chromatic Orbs. Therefore, you must purchase those that contain three red sockets, two green sockets, and 1 blue socket.

Helmet

Since you become an aura stacker later in the game, you need to have as many mana reservation efficiency mods as you can. One way to obtain a couple of them is through a helmet that is crafted using Essence of Loathing.

For the implicit modifiers, spam Eldritch Ichors to obtain another mana reservation efficiency mod. Do not forget to use Eldritch Embers for the increased Flammability curse effect.

Because you no longer use a shield in the endgame, we highly recommend that you grab an evasion/energy shield-based helmet like the new Torturer's Mask. This is one of the many new item bases GGG introduced in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur.

As you can see in the image above, a T1 life modifier on the Torturer's Mask can give you up to 144 HP! That is sorely needed for survivability because the EK Ignite Elementalist is relatively squishy compared to other caster builds in PoE.

Gloves

Remember Mastermind of Discord? It basically enhances the Exposure debuff you inflict. Well, where do you get Fire Exposure on your gear, you ask? Well, that can roll on the gloves, which is why you are going to craft them yourself. Refer to our crafting guide to learn how to craft cold damage conversion gloves.

We highly recommend that you use the new Phantom Mitts as the crafting base as it provides the highest evasion and energy shield values.

Anyway, once you have the explicit modifiers sorted out, spam the gloves with Eldritch Ichors to acquire the much-needed Fire Exposure on Hit implicit modifier. Do the same for Eldritch Embers, except the mod you are looking for is fire damage over time multiplier.

Boots

Grab a pair of Phantom Boots and add the Onslaught mod on it. Do not forget to use the Deafening Essence of Torment to craft the boots. This is to guarantee the "% Chance to Avoid Being Shocked" modifier.

Next, spam the boots with Grand Eldritch Embers to guarantee the shock avoidance implicit modifier as well.

Amulet

There is no better amulet for the EK Ignite Elementalist than the Gloomfang. This is best known for granting extra chaos damage when your projectiles have chained. It also provides increased projectile speed and life leech.

What makes Gloomfang ideal for the EK Ignite Elementalist is that the extra chaos damage it provides is added on top of every step of the damage conversion process. In other words, you effectively get this effect twice!

To ensure that you can comfortably activate all the auras that this build requires, anoint the Gloomfang with Charisma (Opalescent Oil, 2x Golden Oils) to get a 16% increased mana reservation efficiency.

Rings

Polaric Devastation is an incredible ring for the build. When you put it in the left ring slot, you have the ability to cover enemies in Ash, which causes them to take increased fire damage for five seconds.

For the second ring slot, you can choose between a rare ring or Replica Emberwake. If you opt for the former, make sure to grab one that has a Warlord influence. This is so that you can use Harvest Reforge Caster to gain the ability to apply the Flammability curse on hit. Alternatively, you can buy a synthesized ring with the said mod as an implicit.

Replica Emberwake contains some useful modifiers, such as increased fire damage and cast speed. However, the biggest reason why this ring is great is that it causes the Ignites you inflict to deal damage up to 45% faster. This makes your mapping experience much smoother.

Belt

Early on, you can use a Stygian Vise to help address any issues that you may have with the build. This is a good source of elemental and chaos resistance, life, and mana. Put any modifiers that you think can benefit your character.

If you have farmed enough PoE Currency, you can grab yourself a Headhunter so that you can take this build’s capabilities to new heights! The Headhunter is a Tier 0 unique item in Path of Exile that allows you to gain all the modifiers of a rare monster when you defeat them. Because of how rare this unique belt is, expect it to cost upwards of 30 Divine Orbs.

Flasks

• Divine Life Flask
• Taste of Hate
• Quicksilver Flask
• Atziri's Promise
• Dying Sun/Oriath's End

Flask Mods

• Corrupted Blood Immunity (Life Flask)
• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah, Quicksilver Flask)
• Used When Charges Reach Full (on unique flasks)

Jewels

The Watcher's Eye is one of the staple unique jewels in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. This is because it grants certain effects that are enabled whenever you have certain auras active. That being said, acquire a Watcher's Eye jewel with any of the following:

• Hatred
• % of Physical Damage Converted to Cold
• Malevolence
• Damaging Ailments You Inflict Deal Damage Faster
• Damage Over Time Multiplier
• Discipline
• Regenerate % of Energy Shield per Second
• Gain Energy Shield per Enemy Hit
• Increased Energy Shield Recovery Rate
• Grace
• Chance to Suppress Spell Damage
• Increased Movement Speed
• Chance to Evade Attack Hits

If you recall, the boots that you will wear on this build have two “Chance to Avoid Being Shocked” modifiers. The reason for this is you want to achieve full elemental ailment immunity without using Purity of Elements. That is where the Stormshroud comes in.

Stormshroud is a unique jewel that makes “Chance to Avoid Being Shocked” modifiers apply to elemental ailments as well. If you are able to reach 100% shock avoidance, you will also be immune to elemental ailments, such as Chill, Freeze, Shock, and Ignite.

Because you are going to use a bow and quiver on the EK Ignite Elementalist, you might struggle to satisfy the DEX requirements on these items. For this reason, you will put Brutal Restraint in the jewel socket near the “Instability” node on the passive tree. By doing so, you will get some dexterity bonuses from the small passive nodes in its radius.

Additionally, the EK Ignite Elementalist can benefit from cluster jewels. Grab one Large Cluster Jewel (Elemental Damage) and use Harvest Reforge Fire until you get the following:

• Sadist
• 15% Increased Elemental Damage if You’ve Chilled an Enemy Recently
• 20% Increased Elemental Damage if You’ve Ignited an Enemy Recently
• 25% Increased Elemental Damage if You’ve Shocked an Enemy Recently
• Prismatic Heart
• +10% to All Elemental Resistances
• 30% Increased Elemental Damage

Get two Medium Cluster Jewels (Herald and Burning Damage). On the Medium Cluster Jewel (Herald), spam it with Lucent Fossils until you get:

• Lasting Impression
• 30% Increased Damage Over Time Multiplier While Affected by a Herald
• Herald Skills Deal 50% Increased Damage Over Time
• Purposeful Harbinger
• Auras from Your Skills Have 8% Increased Effect on You for Each Herald Affecting You, up to 40%

For the Medium Cluster Jewel (Burning Damage), use Harvest Reforge Fire until you obtain these notable passive skills:

• Fan the Flames
• Ignites You Inflict Spread to Other Enemies within a Radius of 1.5 Meters
• Wasting Affliction
• 20% Increased Damage with Ailments
• Damaging Ailments Deal Damage 5% Faster

Gems

The EK Ignite Elementalist is an aura stacker in the endgame. That is why you are going to notice at least several auras in your body armor. There is room for flexibility when it comes to the gems that you can use, so feel free to swap some of them as you see fit.

Body Armor

• Ethereal Knives/Ethereal Knives of the Massacre
• Awakened Burning Damage
• Cold to Fire Support
• Awakened Unbound Ailments
• Awakened Swift Affliction
• Empower Support (lvl 4)

Ethereal Knives of the Massacre is the primary skill gem for this build. When used, it prompts you to fire multiple projectiles in a circle, which inflicts Ignite on monsters that are hit. You do have the option of choosing the regular Ethereal Knives skill gem if you want the projectiles to be fired in an arc.

Awakened Burning Damage is just the better version of Burning Damage Support. At level 5, this thing raises the level of all fire skill gems that you use.

Earlier, we mentioned that the EK Ignite Elementalist uses multiple layers of conversion to deal damage. Well, Cold to Fire Support allows that to happen. This support gem converts half of your cold damage to fire damage.

Awakened Unbound Ailments enhances the Shock effect on enemies by as much as 70%! It grants 23% more damage with ailments at level 5 as well.

Awakened Swift Affliction greatly increases the damage over time multiplier of the Ignites that you inflict. Do not worry about the less duration of damaging ailments because you continuously fire EK projectiles anyway.

Spell skill gems like Ethereal Knives and Ethereal Knives of the Massacre scale their damage really well with higher skill gem levels. That is why a level 4 Empower Support is included in the setup because this gem adds four levels to EK.

Weapon

• Herald of Ash
• Hatred
• Malevolence
• Discipline
• Enlighten (lvl 4)
• Grace

These are your main auras for this build. In case you are not aware, Hatred has been rebalanced in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. More specifically, it no longer converts physical damage to cold damage. It now gives extra cold damage based on a portion of your physical damage, which is still quite helpful for the EK Ignite Elementalist.

Helmet

• Immortal Call
• Automation
• More Duration Support
• Flame Dash

Immortal Call is the preferred guard skill for this build since you do not have a ton of armor to work with. This causes you to take reduced physical and elemental damage for a brief period.

Increased Duration Support is now known as More Duration Support. As you can tell by its name, it makes Immortal Call last a lot longer than before. This change was implemented in Patch 3.25.

Automation, in this setup in particular, just makes it so that Immortal Call gets cast without user intervention. The reason why you should use Automation instead of Cast When Damage Taken is that the latter requires that you get hit before the said guard skill gets activated. Since the HP of the EK Ignite Elementalist is not that high, CWDT is not recommended.

We recommend Flame Dash as your travel skill because it gives you three charges that you can use one after another. Frostblink of Wintry Blast is a good alternative, though this skill gem costs a lot given its popularity in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur.

Keep in mind that whatever travel skill you will use, do not link it with Automation Support. This is to allow you to use the travel skill on a whim.

Gloves

• Arcanist Brand
• Combustion Support
• Flame Surge
• Hydrosphere

Use Arcanist Brand on tougher enemies so that it activates both Flame Surge and Hydrosphere.

Flame Surge creates a wall of flame that causes ignited enemies to create a burning ground that deals more fire damage over time.

On the other hand, Hydrosphere drenches monsters in a sphere of water, applying Cold and Lightning Exposure in the process. This will weaken your enemy’s defenses against elemental damage, making them a lot easier to kill.

Boots

• Vitality
• Herald of Ice
• Herald of Purity
• Enlighten (lvl 4)

The EK Ignite Elementalist truly is an aura stacker with the number of auras it needs to flourish in the endgame. Having said that, Herald of Ice gives you added cold damage, while Herald of Purity provides you with more physical damage. The latter is quite helpful since the first step of the damage conversion process involves physical damage being converted to cold damage.

Vitality provides you with some life regeneration. Level this up as long as your STR and mana permit it.

Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Hinekora Storyteller
• +3% to Chaos Resistance
• Tattoo of the Hinekora Warrior
• 3% Increased Maximum Energy Shield

Passive Tree

POB

EK Ignite Elementalist

Final Thoughts

Despite the lack of meaningful changes, the EK Ignite Elementalist is still an excellent mapping build in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur.

This build would not be possible without going for the Elementalist. This is because this ascendancy class has Shaper of Flames, which causes every projectile from your Ethereal Knives skill gem to apply Ignite on hit.

The items of this build are relatively accessible, though you have to dabble into crafting if you want to fully maximize its potential. Be sure to bookmark our ultimate crafting guide for future reference.

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

PROS

+Incredible mapper

+Kill enemies with damaging Ignites

+League starter

CONS

-A bit squishy without the endgame gear

-Uses some expensive crafted items later on