The Slormancer Mage Build – Manareaper Guide

hello! Indie here.

This is my first guide for Slormancer. I’ve reached about Wrath 3 with this build only because the level requirement of Arcane Breach is later into the game/expeditions. It does however, slap.

We are playing the Mage class.
We use the Devoted Scholar specialization.

Main Skills: Arcane Missile and Arcane Breach

Path of Exile reference: Plays like Orb of Storms and no chain Arc Archmage.

Pros:

• Good AOE, Arcane Breach is DoT
• Slaps like a truck when you do it right.
• Going the Time-Lock route means stuns for a loooooong time.

Cons:

• Damage scales off enemy pack size.
• Single target maybe an issue due to this.
• Damage drops off rapidly. Arcane Breach uptime is key.
• Slightly squishy.

Playstyle: Drop Arcane Breach, FOCUS THE BOSS with Arcane Missile.
Arcane Breach kills fast, keep the burst damage up while you still have it.

In bold are key masteries. You must spec them for this build to feel good.
<F> means that Mastery level is flexible. The core build mechanics do not really change.Arcane Missile
M1: Incomplete Missile (-35% Cooldown Time)
M2: Conflux (Additional Damage = 10% of Maximum Mana)
M3: <F> Remnant Copycat (fires a Remnant behind the first shot)
M4: <F> Remnant Lock (Applies Time-Lock aka Stun for 3 seconds)
M5: <F> Not So Lost (Time-Lock damage proliferates to other non-“stunned” enemies.)

Arcane Breach
M1: Reap What you Sow (10% Mana and 23 Mana Regen PER enemy in area of effect)
M2: Multi-Breaches (-50% Cooldown Time, 500% Mana cost since we use always use arcanic)
M3: <F> Almighty Remains (40% Crit Chance on Remnant shots)
M4: Arcane Explosion (when Arcane Missile touches the Breach, explodes and spreads to other breaches)
M5: Gravitational Force (Vaal Cyclone. Sucks everything in for Arcane Explosion.)

It is really hard to take screenshots of how the mana bar expands whenever you cast Arcane Breach, but it should be 2x or 3x your current mana pool cap depending on how many mobs are in effect.
Mana regen also should recover relatively quickly.

9 times out of 10, you go Devoted Scholar.

Devoted Scholar
M1: Endless Stocks (180 flat mana, 20% max mana)
M2: <F> Determination (Tenacity, less CC time)
M3: <F> Magic Mutation (Thorns for defence) or Safety Bolt (Time Lock)
M4: Slow Awakening (Elemental Damage based off 25% of missing mana)
M5: <F> Invigorate (50% elemental damage depending on killing time locked enemies)
M6: <F> Wall of Termination (Projectiles hitting wall are destroyed)
M7: <F> Double Cylinder Lock (Time Lock lasts WAY longer)
M8: Eminent Scholar (5 Emblems)

Phlegmatic Caster
I wouldn’t go this route unless you have the Manabender slorm reaper, but still maybe don’t.
You have 20% increased elemental damage and increased mana regen, but that’s about it.
The Manabender scales more damage with mana regen, but Devoted Scholar scales damage way better.

Manabender
Obviously Manabender is great.5% Damage based off skills’ mana costs.
10% Raw (Skill Damage) based off mana regen.
It comes with a nice ancestral skill that gives life regen over 8 seconds.
It doesn’t have an evolution path so you don’t have to grind more.

The Ancestral Legacy
Probably the other one I would use.

1% Elemental Damage per level.
Reaper damage is added to elemental damage instead of skill damage.
Like Inner Fire, it generates crystals that orbit around you dealing 30% elemental damage every hit.
Every evolution increases the crystal # up to 3.

If you do not find these, no biggie. Use whatever feels good.

Main Damage Stats:
+Flat Mana
+% Max ManaMinor Damage Stat:
+Flat Elemental Damage
+% Elemental Damage

We do not scale damage off Critical Strikes, mods above are better, but crits are still nice sometimes.

Main Defence Stats:
+Flat Life
+% Max Life
+Armor
+Elemental Resistances

Nice to Have Stats:
+Life on Hit
Elemental Penetration (Epic)
Damage to Elites

Scaling Evasion on a Mage class is terrible. There are no mastery nodes to improve evasion.

Currently the cap for attribute points is 40 in Early Access.
You want your first 10 points into Willpower. This is +32% Max Mana.

The next 30 points are flexible.
Zeal for damage, Determination for Elemental Resists, Toughness for Life, Bravery for Magic Find.

Not to be confused with the Slorm Reaper,
The Ancestral Legacy tree is quite free in terms of what you want to do.Personally, I am currently using Air Conditioner to slow enemy attacks.
Neriya’s Shield also for Elemental Resistance and chills nearby enemies.

These together gives enemies -30% Movement Speed and a -45% Attack Speed multiplier.
We’re always in close contact to mobs due to current game system.

I triggered some OCD people just now 🙂

We do not have access to Heart of the Wizard as of this stage
in Early Access since we only have 2 Ancestral stones to socket.
This node gives 10% max mana as well as mana on kit and kill.

Elemental Swap, also a 3 stoner is HUGE. INSANE.
+60% Elemental Damage and Mana cost of skills DOUBLED.
This means we are missing more mana faster,
hence more flat elemental damage.

This build is current as of patch 0.1.093 in Early Access. 04/08/2021.
This build is subject to balance changes and itemization changes upon Full Release.