[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Hierophant Builds That Wreck Hard!

Totem masters. Mana manipulators. Lightning beacons. The Hierophant holds a special place in Wraeclast that none can even attempt defying. Strongest with their totems, and the go-to class for any mana-oriented build, they are unstoppable and relentless. And here are some of the best builds that exemplify the Hierophant’s power!

5 – Cold Shockwave Totem

Shocking Totem against Baran

Throughout the years, as GGG adds more unique items that modify how certain types of skills work, older, forgotten skills resurface, because that was just what that skill needed to be viable. And the Shockwave Totem is no different. With the new (ish) Astral Projector unique Ring, your Shockwave Totem will attack from anywhere in the screen, instead of a nova around itself!

What the Cold Shockwave Totem Excels in:

• Totem playstyle
• A lot of damage
• Freeze everything
• Cheap to start and play with
• Scales well with investment

Cold Shockwave Totem full details:

• Using the Astral Projector to ‘throw’ nova skills around enemies, we bypass the biggest issue Shockwave Totem had, which was targeting and reach. With the ring, the Nova generated is centered around the enemy, and as such, they aren’t pushed away from the damage by the shock waves, which displace enemies.
• This, combined with the freezing capabilities of Phys to Cold conversion, freezes and shatter mobs, making the build, which already has a safe playstyle through the use of totems, even safer. It’s home-guided, aim-less and with just a single button press.
• We achieve our Cold Conversion through a few ways. You can get it from your weapon, which can convert up to 15% of Phys to Cold. Temple mods on gloves, for 25%, Watcher’s Eye Hatred Mod, up to 40%, from the Passive Skill tree mastery, for another 40%. And ultimately, for the easiest, with a Hrimsorrow for 50%. Use what you have available, and you should find success that way as well!

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3200888/page/1

4 – Energy Blade Spectral Helix/Doryani’s Prototype

Energy Blade Ancestral Protector Totems

Energy Blade is a controversial (because it’s still not completely solved) new skill that converts half of your Energy shield into a lightning dealing sword, 1H or 2H, to attack with, replacing whatever you had beforehand. The tankier you get, the more damage you deal. But you have several things to overcome, so it isn’t clear, right now, what’s the best way to go about it.

What the Energy Blade Spectral Helix Excels in:

• You get to look like a Jedi!
• Scales well with investment
• Respectable clear
• Unique itemization

Energy Blade Spectral Helix Doryani’s Prototype full details:

• The way Doryani’s Prototype works is by stacking as much as negative Lightning resistance because then your resistance is transferred to enemies around you, making them take a lot more lightning damage this way. And because we scale a lot of armor, energy shield and mana, we can ignore most forms of Lightning damage, since Armor becomes the primary defense against lightning damage. A defense that mobs won’t have.
• The more energy shield we have, the more lightning damage our Energy Blade will deal, with the second benefit of making us tankier while in the process. In 3.16, with Scourge implicits granting from 15 to 30 negative lightning resist, this made for a fantastic league to try your feet with Doryani’s Prototype.
• Spectral Helix is simply one of the best skills that scales added damage, with a whopping 250% effectiveness of added damage, and we can get over 2000 flat Lightning damage from our Energy Blade!

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3190571

3 – Enki’s Archmage

Enki's Archmage Banner

Enki is probably the most well-known content creator for novice players. They’ve helped most people get started with PoE and have always updated their guides. It used to be the old, famous Enki’s Arc Witch, but after several nerfs and changes, it got changed for the stronger Hierophant. Here’s their take on this build!

What Enki’s Archmage Excels in:

• Linear progression with investment
• Great League Starter
• Decent single target with proper positioning and gear
• Can have a fantastic clearing

Enki’s Archmage full details:

• The Archmage support gem works by consuming a large amount of your mana to power your spells. And by using spells that have massive damage effectiveness, such as Ball Lightning (50% per hit, it can hit 13 times, for a total of 650%), will demolish enemies with a single cast (which is great, because you just spent your entire mana in a single spell!)
• Since we deal more damage per mana, our goal is to scale as much Maximum mana as possible, as well as mana regen, since we consume so much of it, and will need to replenish it.
• While the build can work with most kinds of gear you can scrounge up, you’ll achieve maximum potential with certain Uniques, such as Pledge of Hands for a massive DPS boost, Cloak of Defiance for another massive DPS and defensiveness boost, and the best item for clearing in the game, Asenath’s Gentle Touch, for corpse explosions, improving our clearing sevenfold!

For a more thorough breakdown of this build, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3147914

2 – Siege Ballista

The several Siege Ballista

The Iron Commander is a relic from the past, from before Ballistae were truly integrated into the passive tree and their uniqueness compared to regular spell totems were defined. It stood the test of time, though, and in the hands of the Totem Master, we can reach 17 totems!!

What the Siege Ballista Excels in:

• Massive single target damage
• An army of Ballistae
• Impaling the enemy with thousands of arrows per second
• Safe playstyle

Siege Ballista full details:

• We achieve 17 totems through Iron Commander, which grants one totem per 200 Dexterity, and with over 2000 Dex, we get 10 from it, another 33 from Siege Ballista itself, another one from Pursuit of Faith, +2 from Panopticon and +1 from Watchtowers. Considering every totem up grants us 5% more Damage, plus their own base damage, when we can set up all our damage, every boss gets plucked out of the sky in seconds!
• We convert our damage to Cold, so we can freeze and shatter enemies, as well as make it easier to scale damage with Dexterity, through the use of certain uniques, like Hyrri’s Demise or Fractal Thoughts.
• Our defense comes mostly from everything dying around us without touching us. Keep popping ballistae and hiding behind them and you’ll be safe!

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3227081

1 – Manabond Hiero

Manabond Representation

Mana builds and skills are unique to PoE and there are several different approaches to them. With Manabond, you deal more damage the more missing unreserved mana you have, meaning, low mana = DAMAGE. But this is a tough balance to find, and you need to know exactly how much mana you need to spend and get to deal the most efficient amount of damage possible.

What the Manabond Hiero Excels in:

• Cosplay as Thor
• Over 10k ES and Mana
• Super Tanky
• Extremely strong, can face-tank most content in the game
• Fantastic clearing

Manabond Hiero full details:

• We use a CwC Cyclone in our chest just to help with clearing, since the brunt of our damage comes from Mjolner’s casting Manabond nonstop. By making use of several synergistic items, such as The Ivory Tower, The Indigon, Atziri’s Foible, and Prism Guardian, we scale a lot of mana and convert it to Energy Shield.
• The more mana we consume, the more lightning damage we get from our Arcane Cloak and Sigil of Power. This, combined with how Manabond works, and spending mana to proc Indigon (up to 2000% spell damage), our ideal mana pool should be less than 5% while attacking, despite having over 9k mana, to deal massive amounts of damage.
• The most expensive items will be your Split Personalities as well as getting level 5 Awakened Gems, which will help you Expose the enemy, become immune to stuns and reach the millions of damage this build can get to.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3228343

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