PoE 3.25 Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant Build

Do you want to create a character in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur that utilizes the Kinetic Blast skill in a different way? That’s right, there is another PoE Kinetic Blast build that is arguably much better than the original version.

The Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant has become quite popular recently due to the fact that it can scale damage in a variety of ways. This is a pretty complex build that takes advantage of several mechanics to deliver pain to any monster you come across.

If this sounds interesting to you, we invite you to join us as we look at the power of the Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant in PoE 3.25!

Why Choose the Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant?

In order to understand why this build is famous in the Settlers of Kalguur League, we have to explain its underlying mechanics first. Kinetic Blast of Clustering is a Transfigured Gem that, unlike its base counterpart, only lets you fire a single projectile per cast. This projectile creates multiple explosions when it collides with something, may it be walls, terrain, or other skills.

Speaking of which, that single projectile fired from the transfigured version of the PoE Kinetic Blast can actually collide with another skill, Tornado. When the collision occurs, the projectile forks and results in multiple explosions spread in a circular fashion. You couple that with Returning Projectiles Support and the projectile that has forked will come back to you, which triggers another set of explosions!

That’s not all! You also link Kinetic Blast of Clustering with Sacred Wisps. This will enable you to summon a couple of wisps that also fire the same projectile as you do. In other words, every time you cast your primary skill, a total of three projectiles are going to be fired simultaneously!

It should be noted that Kinetic Blast of Clustering has received a couple of substantial improvements in PoE 3.25. First, its base attack speed saw a 15% increase, making you attack noticeably faster than before.

Second, and most important of all, you gain a huge damage boost when you have some spell damage as well. This is the reason why you are going to utilize two crafted wands with some spell damage and other modifiers as well.

Another way to scale the damage of this PoE Kinetic Blast build is to raise your mana as high as possible. This is to take advantage of the gem’s added physical damage based on 15% of your maximum mana (at level 20).

Because your primary skill deals physical damage, you could add “physical as extra damage” modifiers on your weapon, preferably lightning and cold. Lightning damage can apply Shock, which amplifies your damage even further. Cold damage, on the other hand, has the potential to freeze enemies and shatter them to pieces when hit by subsequent attacks.

Since this Kinetic Blast of Clustering build is a mana stacker, the Hierophant is the only ascendancy class that can take on the role. Divine Guidance provides damage and defense thanks to that huge boost in mana.

Sanctuary of Thought is primarily to help you address the downsides of your equipped helmet. This will be discussed in the “gear recommendations” section of this PoE Hierophant guide.

Here is the ideal order of notable ascendancy passive skills for this Path of Exile Kinetic Blast build:

1. Divine Guidance
2. Sanctuary of Thought
3. Conviction of Power
4. Pursuit of Faith

Additionally, look for these modifiers if you want to improve your damage even further:

• Increased Spell Damage
• + to Maximum Mana
• Increased Maximum Mana
• Increased Attack Speed
• Increased Critical Strike Chance
• + to Global Critical Strike Multiplier

Playstyle

Despite its complexity, the Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant is actually easy to play. First, make sure to activate Arcane Cloak (via Automation) so that you gain the benefits provided by your equipped helmet.

After that, drop some Smoke Mines, which will be detonated automatically for you via the aptly named Detonate Mines Support. This is primarily to give you a huge increase in movement speed.

When you find a group of enemies, simply cast Kinetic Blast of Clustering and it will trigger Tornado immediately thanks to Spellslinger Support. Focus fire on the tornado (not the enemy) so that your projectiles will fork and return to you, causing multiple explosions in the process.

In some cases where the explosions do not overlap on your intended target, drop your ballista totems for even more projectiles. This will fill the screen with damaging explosions, which cause your enemy’s demise.

For monsters that are tough to crack, drop Sigil of Power for some added lightning damage. This skill also reduces the damage you take from enemies that are within its area of effect.

Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant Gear Recommendations

We are going to be honest with you, this Kinetic Blast of Clustering build is quite expensive to put up. One of the main reasons is that you have to craft the gear yourself. You will also need a ton of currency to ensure that you acquire the desired modifiers.

You could shop for deals on PoE Trade because some players might sell crafted items for a cheap price at a later point in the league. However, if you do not have the necessary amount of currency on hand, then go to our PoE Store to get what you need!

Weapons

The Imbued Wand is the perfect crafting base for your weapon. For those who do not know, the Imbued Wand has the fastest base attack speed among weapons that have “Increased Spell Damage” as an implicit modifier.

Your goal here is to acquire two influenced Imbued Wands (Redeemer and Crusader) so that you can roll extra cold damage and extra lightning damage as prefixes. Once you have them, you can craft another wand with critical strike chance and attack speed.

After crafting the weapons, use the Recombinator in Kingsmarch for a chance to acquire a godlike Imbued Wand similar to the one in the image below:

The “Haunted by Tormented Spirits” is a modifier that you can add via Runesmithing (also in Kingsmarch). When you are affected by Tormented Spirits, you gain a significant boost in damage and attack speed, making this Kinetic Blast of Clustering build a true powerhouse in terms of map-clearing speed!

Take note that while you can find a similar wand in PoE Trade, you will see them being sold at exorbitant prices. That is why it is better to craft these wands yourself.

Body Armor

We are going to tell you how to craft the endgame body armor for this PoE Hierophant build. Grab a couple of Necrotic Armours; one with the Redeemer influence, while the other with Crusader influence.

Next, use Harvest Reforge Physical on the Redeemer-influenced Necrotic Armour to obtain “Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Cold Damage.” Do the same thing for the other body armor; only this time, the mod you are looking for is: “Enemies You Kill Have a 35% Chance to Explode, Dealing a Tenth of Their Maximum Life as Physical Damage.”

After that, use an Awakener’s Orb to fuse these influenced modifiers together. Keep in mind that this part of the crafting process would result in other modifiers being added in as well. If there is an open prefix/suffix, utilize the Crafting Bench to fill it up.

If you can, use Necrotic Armour with an item level of 86+ for a chance to obtain the T1 spell suppression mod.

Helmet

While your other pieces of gear can be crafted with your preferred modifiers, only the helmet is non-negotiable. The Indigon is what enables the build to take on even the most challenging content in the game.

Basically, this unique item grants up to 2000% increased spell damage for each 200 total mana you have spent in the last four seconds. To aid you in this, the helmet itself increases the mana cost of your skills.

While the increased mana cost can balloon to unsustainable levels, the good news is that you have plenty of ways to address this. The Hierophant’s Sanctuary of Thought effectively balances out the mana needed to cast your skills (even with Indigon equipped).

On top of that, you have mana leech provided by the “Clever Thief” notable passive, as well as a “10% Chance to Recover Mana When You Use a Skill” from the Mana Mastery. Furthermore, if you have the PoE Currency, you can invest in a Watcher’s Eye jewel that grants the ability to recover mana while you have Clarity active.

With all of that said, even though Indigon significantly increases the amount of mana you spend on your skills, these mechanics allow you to recuperate mana, so long as you are constantly attacking the enemy.

Gloves

You need the 60% damage conversion gloves for this PoE Kinetic Blast of Clustering build. Head to our ultimate crafting guide for all the details.

In this particular case, use the Deafening Essence of Zeal to enforce the “Increased Attack Speed” suffix. Do this until you get spell suppression and another desired suffix.

For the implicit modifiers, the Searing Exarch mod needs to be elevated using Orb of Conflict until it reaches either “Exquisite” or “Perfect” tiers. The two points of Rage that you gain per hit can quickly fill up the bar for an additional 30% more damage!

Boots

It is crucial for PoE builds to achieve full elemental ailment immunity. Since our version of the Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant does not use Purity of Elements, you have to get at least 50% “Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments” from the boots. Hence, the need to craft your own.

The said modifier can be enforced by spamming the boots with the Deafening Essence of Loathing and Grand Eldritch Ichors. If you are wondering where the other 50% is, it will be explained in the “Jewels” section of this PoE build guide.

Do you want to achieve the Phantom Boots similar to the image shown above? Then spam the Deafening Essence of Loathing until you get T1 spell suppression and chaos resistance.

Next, lock the suffixes and use Harvest Reforge Life for a chance to get T1 maximum life. After that, put “Suffixes Cannot Be Changed” again and use a Veiled Orb. Unveil that by talking to Jun and you should get a movement speed modifier with an added effect (hopefully, Onslaught for increased attack speed).

Go to the crafting bench and add “+ to Maximum Mana” and you’re good to go!

Amulet

All of the crafted gear mentioned in this PoE Kinetic Blast build guide are admittedly expensive. Fortunately, there is a unique amulet that you can wear in the meantime if you do not have enough currency to invest in endgame items.

Atziri’s Foible is an incredible amulet that is a stepping stone for those who want to create a mana-stacking build such as this one. It increases your mana and gives a noticeable improvement in your ability to regenerate the said resource.

Later on, we suggest that you get a crafted Focused Amulet, specifically with critical strike multiplier, life, and mana.

When it comes to anointing the amulet, you could go for these:

• Dynamo
  • 18% Increased Maximum Mana
  • Guard Skills Have a 40% Increased Duration
  • Required Oils: Clear, Sepia, Azure
• Forethought
  • 30% Increased Maximum Mana
  • 10% Increased Mana Cost of Spells
  • Required Oils: Teal, Indigo, Black
• Battle Rouse
  • 15% Increased Maximum Mana
  • 10% of Damage Taken Recouped as Mana
  • Required Oils: Sepia, Verdant, Azure

Rings

To harness the true potential of this build, you have to get synthesized rings, preferably with modifiers that affect mana, life, and global critical strike multipliers.

If you cannot afford those rings yet, grab an ilvl 85+ Cerulean Ring and use the Deafening Essence of Scorn (Global Critical Strike Multiplier) until you get life, mana, and elemental resistances. Bench-craft “17% Increased Damage” if you still have an open prefix.

Belt

Most PoE players would use Mageblood as the endgame belt for their builds. However, the Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant can gain more from the Headhunter, mainly because of its unique effect. For the uninitiated, whenever you slay rare monsters with HH equipped, you gain all of their modifiers for one minute!

Because of your ability to cause multiple explosions, you can clear everything within a few minutes! Once you have equipped our recommended gear, you could even blast T17 map monsters to oblivion!

Flasks

• Diamond Flask
• Quicksilver Flask
• Quartz Flask
• Gold Flask
• Dying Sun
  • This is mainly to increase the number of explosions caused by your Kinetic Blast of Clustering by two.
  • The increased AoE when this flask is active is just a bonus.

Flask Mods

• 55% Increased Critical Strike Chance (of Incision)
• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah)
• 65% Reduced Effect of Curses on You (of the Owl)
• 30% Increased Rarity of Items Found (Bench-craft)
• 40% Increased Duration (Experimenter’s) OR 34% Chance to Gain a Flask Charge Upon Critical Strike (Surgeon’s)
  • Both are prefixes

Jewels

Watcher’s Eye can come with some useful modifiers, which is why it is a commonly used unique jewel in Path of Exile. That said, you can get one with the following modifiers:

• Clarity
  • Gain % of Maximum Mana as Extra Maximum Energy Shield
  • % Chance to Recover 10% of Mana When You Use a Skill
• Precision
  • Increased Attack Speed
  • + to Critical Strike Multiplier
  • Gain a Flask Charge When You Deal a Critical Strike

Glorious Vanity (Doryani) can greatly improve your survivability due to Corrupted Soul. This keystone passive not only grants extra maximum energy shield based on a percentage of your life, but it also makes non-chaos damage bypass energy shield.

While that effect may seem counterintuitive, just know that 50% of your damage is taken from energy shield, while the other 50% is taken from your life and mana (25% each). Insert Glorious Vanity in the jewel socket near “Pain Attunement.”

When you have the crafted boots earlier, you have a 50% chance to avoid elemental ailments. Where do you get the rest? Well, from Ancestral Vision of course!

Ancestral Vision is a unique jewel that grants up to 50% elemental avoidance, provided that you have your spell suppression capped. Not to worry, the pieces of gear we have recommended earlier should help you get there.

Due to the popularity of mana-stacking Hierophant builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewel that have “Inevitable Judgement” as the matching modifier is now being sold at crazy prices.

Be that as it may, we still recommend that you get them because Inevitable Judgement ensures that you deal the maximum amount of damage with your attacks. So, save up some PoE 3.25 Currency and make this one of your top priorities when it comes to later upgrades.

Another thing to take note of is that one of your jewels should have “Corrupted Blood Cannot Be Inflicted on You” as an implicit modifier. Corrupted Blood can easily wreck you if you are not careful. If you do not have access to this yet, you could roll the same modifier on one of your flasks in the meantime.

Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Ramako Shaman
  • +2% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage
  • Note: Only use this if you are not capped yet
• Tattoo of the Hinekora Storyteller
  • +3% to Chaos Resistance

Skill Gems Setup

Body Armor

• Kinetic Blast of Clustering
• Awakened Fork Support
• Increased Critical Damage Support
• Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks
• Sacred Wisps
• Returning Projectiles Support

Gloves

• Kinetic Blast of Clustering
• Ballista Totem
• Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks
• Increased Critical Damage Support

Helmet

• Precision
• Arcane Cloak
• Automation
• Detonate Mines

Boots

• Smoke Mine
• Vaal Haste
• Enhance Support
• More Duration Support

Weapon

• Sniper’s Mark
• Mark on Hit Support
• Sigil of Power

Offhand Weapon

• Tornado
• Spellslinger Support
• Clarity (lvl 1 only)

Pantheons

• Major God: Soul of Lunaris
• Minor God: Soul of Abberrath

Passive Skill Tree

Aside from Corrupted Soul, another keystone that will keep you alive is Mind Over Matter. When this is allocated, 40% of the damage you receive will be taken from your mana. The PoE Hierophant ascendancy class has Divine Guidance which also has a similar effect, albeit only at 10%.

Split Shot is another mandatory node that you should get from your passive tree. This, along with one of the nodes that connect to it, gives your projectiles a 75% chance for an additional projectile to be created when forking.

Even though you initially fire only a single projectile with Kinetic Blast of Clustering, additional projectiles could be created when the original one collides with Tornado and other terrain thanks to Split Shot.

You can find the recommended Masteries for the Kinetic Blast of Hierophant below:

• Lightning Mastery
  • 40% of Physical Damage Converted to Lightning Damage
• Leech Mastery
  • 10% of Leech is Instant
• Mana Mastery
  • 10% Chance to Recover 10% of Mana When You Use a Skill
• Wand Mastery
  • Wand Attacks Fire an Additional Projectile

Tips and Strategies

• Cast Kinetic Blast from a Distance: It is recommended that you fire your KB at a considerable range from your main target. This is so that Tornado can allow the projectiles to fork, causing more explosions. The explosions that occur in this manner can overlap up to several times on a single enemy.

• Run Maps with Walls: This build shines when it is played on maps that have plenty of terrain, including walls and rocks. If you are running a T17 map, we recommend Abomination due to its enclosed layout.

• Transition to INT-stacking Later On: When you have enough PoE Orbs, you could buy two synthesized Imbued Wands with “Adds 1 to 6 Lightning Damage to Attacks with This Weapon per 10 Intelligence” and “1% Increased Spell Damage per 16 Intelligence” as implicit modifiers. Needless to say, you should stack INT and mana to get the most out of them.

• Get Elemental Inversion from the Mastery: If you do not have Inevitable Judgement, allocate points to either “Storm Weaver” or “Forces of Nature” on the passive tree. This is so that you can take the Elemental Mastery that gives you a 25% chance to invert enemy monster elemental resistances.

POB

Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant

Final Thoughts

The Kinetic Blast of Clustering Hierophant does require a high investment to put up. But, what you are getting in return is a build in PoE 3.25 that can explode enemies rather quickly. If you are looking for a build that excels in tight spaces, then this one is surely a champion in that regard!

Take note that this is not a league starter due to the items that make it work. You could purchase them from PoE Trade, but you can save currency when you craft the items on your own. If you need help with this, our RPGStash PoE store has a healthy stock of Divine Orbs and Mirrors waiting for you.

So, are you going to try the Kinetic Blast Hierophant in PoE 3.25? If you do, share your experiences, choice of gear, and some tips in the comments to help fellow players optimize this amazing build!

PROS

• This is one of the only PoE builds that excels in tight corners.

• Achieves multiple explosions despite firing only a single projectile from the main skill.

• Impressive mapper that can even complete T17 maps with relative ease.

• Quite strong defensively due to high ES, Corrupted Soul, and Mind Over Matter.

CONS

• Needs at least one Mirror of Kalandra to get the necessary gear.

• The majority of the items are crafted to obtain the right modifiers.

• Upgrades are expensive due to Hierophant's popularity.