Think a Glaivelander is strong?! Think a Prismatic Bolter is strong?! Think an Emberquaker is strong?! Well, they're all weak sauce compared to the very electrifying (pun intended) Shocking Orb Embermage! If you want a build that can easily get you through Elite Hardcore, look no further...

Here is the exact build that I used to spank elite hardcore with, and added comments to supplement why I chose what I did and what skills are fundamental or purely optional...


Immolation Aura - (15) points This skill is completely optional to the build. I like it for using 3 less Skulls of Limoany and replacing them with other socketables, and because it looks cool, but if you don't want to deal with always recasting it on yourself, skip this skill. If using this skill, only level it up by the tier or else you're just wasting points that can be used elsewhere while leveling up.

Elemental Attunement - (5) points This skill is optional as well, but I think it helps out Prismatic Bolt when using it to level up before reaching ~Lv50ish when Shocking Orb becomes the main killer skill.

Hailstorm - (15) points This skill is fundamental to the build. It increases the damage that your ice and lightning skills do, and is nifty for when enemies are on a different height level than you are. Only level this skill up by the tier because you're only doing it for the bonuses to ice and lightning damage anyway...

Frost Phase - (1) point This skill is fundamental to the build. You need it to dodge enemy attacks and move around quickly because you are a defenseless pile of ♥♥♥♥ and like to move in and out of battle quickly.

Ice Prison - (15) points This skill is fundamental to the build. It allows you to trap Champions and Bosses inside a ring of ice and deals massive damage to them along with your other ice and lightning skills. It is also nifty for defense as you can stand inside it (or behind it) to keep away from a decent amount of enemies, but beware because certain enemies can still shoot their magical goodness into you by penetrating your circle of safety.

Frozen Fate - (1) point This skill is completely optional to the build, but I thought that it couldn't hurt to add a point into this early on for leveling purposes. Extra crowd control, but nothing special in my honest opinion. Nowhere else to put the points though, so might as well drop at least 1 point into this...

Prismatic Bolt - (1) point This skill is fundamental to the beginning and mid game, but less fundamental in the end game... It's a great skill for leveling and picking off stragglers... 1 point is enough and any further points in this skill are better used elsewhere.

Shocking Burst - (15) points This skill is optional, but I recommend it. Unless you wanna use a different skill instead, but this one electricutes anything that comes close to you and quickly turns it into fried dirt... Meant for weaker enemies that swarm you... Only level it up if there's absolutely nothing else to put points into or nothing else to save points for...

Thunder Locus - (15) points This skill is absolutely essential to the build. It is great for taking care of spawn points and for placing down during a champion or boss fight so you can keep doing damage while you are kiting. No reason not to use this skill.

Death's Bounty - (15) points This skill is optional, but I recommend it. It helps keep your defenseless squishy piece of ♥♥♥♥ character alive (quickly replenishes health bar) and it's really fun watching a bunch of red orbs divebomb your character.

Shocking Orb - (15) points AHHHH, the bread and butter of the build. ALL HAIL SHOCKING ORBS!!!!! Once you get 10 points into this skill, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!!!!!!! Once you get 15 points into this skill..... there's no words that can describe the awesomeness that ensues... You basically fill the whole area around you with a bunch of orbs that shoot bolts of lightning at nearby enemies, and everything (including bosses) dies pretty much instantly... There's no better way to handle endless swarms of enemies than putting out a thunder locus away from yourself and firing off a bunch of shocking orbs everywhere... you're doing insane damage and you can still move around while that damage is being dealt... How can any other build beat that...

Lightning Brand - (15) points This is completely essential to the build. It makes your lightning damage go way up. Way up is a very good thing, especially when almost all of your damage output is lightning. This is a low priority for points though because this just basically adds damage for later game when you have all your skills good to go.

There you have it... You even have 4 points remaining for whatever your heart so desires, but who cares really...

For the early levels, gear really doesn't matter all that much... just change gear whenever you find a better item on the ground than what you are currently wearing, and I personally recommend putting some +HP regen components into your gear, as being able to passively regen your health is a good thing, and will make life easier for you. Use wands or other "magic based spellcasting" weapons at first, but then make sure to use a two handed greathammer once you switch over to shocking orbs. This is essential to the build. For Shocking Orbs, you want the slowest most hard hitting weapon possible, and that would be a two handed greathammer. This will make your Shocking Orbs insanely deadly.

For armor, just do whatever at first, equipping gear you find on the ground which is better than you are currently wearing... you'll want gear with high focus obviously, and slowly start putting in components to get yourself up to 75% damage reduction obviously... and any lightning bonus is good to have. Also very important, probably the most important actually, especially later game once you unlock Shocking Orbs, is your cast speed... high cast speed means more orbs... more orbs means more dead things. By this time, you will want to have a full Sentinel set (the first real set that you aim for) because it gives you a very healthy cast speed bonus, which turns your shocking orbs into deadly blobs of electrical insta-death to all enemies within range of them.

Just Borris (best enchanter) the ♥♥♥♥ out of your gear (I'd say once for the Sentinel set, and then again for your final endgame set) and you are good to go. I put the +X physical damage component onto my weapon to increase the damage my Shocking Orbs do.

For the endgame set, I'd say get at least six pieces of the Transcendent set for the 50% cast speed bonus, then whatever you feel makes your character the best.

For every single level-up, I split my points as follows:

2 Strength (Shocking Orb damage and crit damage)
1 Dexterity (Shocking Orb crit chance and for endgame gear)
2 Focus (Shocking Orb damage and energy and because you are a caster class)
0 Vitality (♥♥♥♥ vitality in this game... enough said)


After Borrising up your gear, you will want to end up with the following:

~1000 Strength (more than that doesn't raise your crit damage anymore)
~500 Dexterity (to be able to use endgame gear and so you can crit often)
~1000+ Focus
BASE Vitality (♥♥♥♥ vitality... enough said...)

Thunder Locus is good to place down right away if against a tougher enemy. Do it. It is also good for placing on top of known spawn points, or to cover a second part of the battlefield.

Use Hailstorm on any tougher enemy so it dies faster when using your lightning skills. It's also good for enemies on different height levels than you are on.

Ice Prison is good defensively AND offensively... put it around yourself, in front of yourself, or trap tougher enemies inside it, all depending on the situation you are facing.

Shocking Orbs everywhere equals everything instantly dead. Do it. Then do it some more. A tactic you will want to learn with these, is to shoot out a bunch of them while slightly out of range of enemies, then use prismatic bolt (or a comparable skill) to lure enemies into your bolts... or run up to the enemies and then move around in a way which you end up "dragging" them into your orbs that you just shot out... That tactic works great against bosses, so that you are still dealing intense damage to them, but yet you can keep your primary focus on avoiding their attacks...


Honestly, that's about it. You will faceroll anything with this build if you follow it correctly and dodge attacks. Dodging attacks is very important because any couple baby hits can pretty much kill you, even with 75% damage reduction.

But most of the time enemies can't even stay alive long enough to get those baby hits on you, so enjoy the game being way too easy for you.

This build will actually be the hardest during the first playthrough of the game... once you get a bit into NG+1, and once you get your full Sentinel set, everything is overly simple from there on out.

So there you have it. A build that can handle anything better than any other build if you know what you're doing and properly gear it up, which is actually very easy to do if you just think a bit about what bonuses are important to have for a build that deals most of its damage based off of weapon damage... NOT weapon DPS... weapon DAMAGE.. there's a big difference... that's why you are wielding a two handed greathammer...

So yeah, enjoy killing the final boss (and any other boss in the game for that matter) the very moment he spawns up instead of running away like a sissy girl and fiddle ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with him for minutes upon minutes upon minutes...

Thank you gakm7!!!!!!!! Thank you for this awesome build!!!!!!!!

(I am not full of myself whatsoever, not even the slightest bit..........)

Enjoy!



edits:

(05/19/17) wording changes throughout the guide for clarification purposes, and adding the
note about casting speed being very important.

(12/01/17) added more clarification concerning weapon and armor choices, noting that the
Sentinel set is a good mid-game set to aim for with this particular build. I also clarified the
fighting tactics section, specifically what to do with your thunder locus and shocking orbs.