The Ascendancy Stormweaver class in Path of Exile 2 is a potent spellcaster archetype focused on devastating enemies with Lightning and Cold spells. Leveraging the unique Tempest Caller mechanic, Stormweavers summon Elemental Storms upon landing critical hits, combining high damage output with powerful crowd control. This guide provides a comprehensive look at skills, gear, and passives to maximize the Stormweaver’s potential.
Typical Playstyle
The Stormweaver thrives at a distance, maintaining safety while raining down powerful elemental spells. The key aspects of the playstyle include:
- Positioning: Stay at range to cast spells and avoid direct engagement.
- Chilling and Shocking Enemies: Use spells with Chill or Shock effects to exploit Exposure bonuses from the Scouring Winds passive.
- Critical Strike Focus: Build high Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier to frequently trigger Elemental Storms via the Tempest Caller passive.
- Mana Management: Sustain high-mana-cost spells efficiently.
Skill Gems
Main Skill: Lightning Storm
- Requirements: Level 42, 96 Intelligence
- Why it’s effective:
- Creates an AoE that strikes enemies with shocking bolts.
- High Shock Chance, enhancing damage and triggering Exposure effects.
- Benefits significantly from increased cast speed for rapid storm generation.
Secondary Skill: Iceburst
- Requirements: Level 33, 75 Intelligence
- Why it’s effective:
- High base Cold damage scaling with spell damage modifiers.
- Inflicts Critical Weakness, amplifying damage taken by enemies from critical strikes.
- Provides alternative elemental damage for diverse damage coverage.
Utility Skills
- Flame Wall (Level 1): Adds defensive utility and enhances projectiles passing through it.
- Lightning Warp (Level 9, 21 Intelligence): Offers mobility for repositioning and culling weaker enemies.
Optional Skills
- Spark: A low-cost, rapid-firing spell for consistent Elemental Storms.
- Arctic Armour (Level 7): Defensive buff reducing physical damage, useful if survivability is a concern.
Support Gems
For Lightning Storm
- Area of Effect: Enhances storm coverage for hitting more enemies.
- Lightning Penetration: Reduces enemy Lightning resistance.
- Controlled Destruction: Boosts spell damage at the expense of critical strikes.
For Iceburst
- Concentrated Effect: Increases damage within a smaller radius for focused targets.
- Cold Penetration: Reduces enemy Cold resistance for greater damage.
- Spell Echo: Casts Iceburst multiple times for potential burst damage.
For Utility Skills
- Faster Casting: Improves the speed of casting utility spells like Flame Wall or Lightning Warp.
Unique Items (not verified)
Recommended Gear
- Lifespring Wand: Enhances spell gem levels and grants life recovery on spell cast.
- Kito Current Gloves: Boosts Shock effects by increasing Electrocute buildup.
- Innate Mastery Helmet: Improves mana regeneration while reducing maximum mana, ideal for mana-heavy builds.
- Endless Night Staff: Adds levels to Cold spell gems and ignores elemental resistances, making it perfect for Iceburst.
Passive Skill Tree
Focus on the following areas:
- Elemental Damage Nodes: Increase Lightning and Cold spell damage.
- Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier: Essential for frequent Elemental Storms.
- Mana and Mana Regeneration: Sustain high mana costs.
- Lightning and Cold Damage Nodes: Enhance specific elemental damage.
Ascendancy Progression
- Tempest Caller: Core mechanic enabling Elemental Storms.
- Scouring Winds: Amplifies the effect of Exposure.
- Rain Dancer: Reduces cooldowns for more frequent Elemental Storms.
- Constant Gale:
- You have Arcane Surge
- Arcane Surge – grants 10% more Cast Speed and 20% more Mana regeneration rate.
- You have Arcane Surge
Final Tips
- Adapt to Gear: Align your passive tree and skill choices with your unique items and rare gear modifiers.
- Experiment: Test different skill and support gem combinations to refine your build.
- Stay Updated: As the game evolves, leverage community resources for the latest build optimizations.
The Stormweaver offers a thrilling spellcasting experience, blending elemental devastation with strategic gameplay. This guide serves as a solid foundation for mastering this build, ready to adapt as more details about Path of Exile 2 emerge.
