[3.2] Explosive Scorching Ray Elementalist (and Friends) - cheap - Shaper viable

Dyadus has been butchered and there's no item that comes close to it for this build. I won't update anymore for that reason.

If you really want to, you can still play this build with Doryani's Catalyst instead (use Enfeeble instead of Warlord's Mark because it has leech on it).

The damage will be a LOT lower, about 30-40%.

So I wanted to make a build that produces the juicest explosions possible, but all the ways that have true chain reactions (Infernal Blow, Panquatzalitzi, Obliteration, Profane Bloom) tend to either have mediocre single target or cannot be scaled well enough to satisfy me.

The only thing that came close to this was an Obliteration Dark Pact build, which doesn't work anymore unfortunately.

We can, however, create an extremely large "fake" chain reaction using Inpulsa's Broken Heart.

Normally, enemies killed would die and not shock the remainders.
However, if we shock enemies with a skill that doesn't kill them outright, we can prime a large area to be detonated by another spell that benefits from the first cast.

Here's how this works:

Elementalist:
Since the revamp in 3.2 it is now possible to Shock and Chill enemies with as little as one damage using Beacon of Ruin.
We make use of this by letting an extremely weak Ball Lightning shock and chill every enemy it hits (cold damage is aquired by using an Abyssal jewel). This is then proliferated, resulting in an even larger area of effect.
As a bonus, we also get some extra golems. Their main purpose is to buff you, but they also have the side effect of distracting bosses.

Scorching Ray:
SR does not hit, which means we can use Elemental Equilibrium on Ball Lightning to reduce enemies' resistances by 50% (a lot).
It's also the skill with the highest burning damage in the game, which makes it perfect for single target.

Explosions:
Not only do Inpulsa's explosions get scaled by our gear/passives, but they can also cause an ignite based on the target's life that does ridiculous damage.
To bring this one step further, overkill damage caused by these explosions can also trigger Herald of Ash, which is further amplified by support gems, passives and skill duration.

Dyadus:
This thing is broken and I'm surprised it still hasn't been nerfed.
It makes every enemy we chill with Ball Lightning take 100% increased burning damage, which means Scorching Ray and explosion damage is doubled (actually a bit less because it stacks additively with shock).

Putting all of this together, the end result looks like this:

Pros:
+BIG EXPLOSIONS
+Very easy to gear
+Can do all content up to at least Shaper
+High range
+Comes with 3 friends (golems)
+High effective life pool
+Good life/mana recovery
+Good single target and AoE damage
+Buffs the hell out of other Fire/Burn builds

Cons:
-Needs two buttons to kill things
-Can't facetank a lot, needs to dodge dangerous attacks
-Requires high level uniques to work properly
-Lacks Armour/Evasion, can only be fixed with flasks

The build won't work like it's supposed to until level 69, when you can wear Dyadus and Inpulsa's Broken Heart.

You can complete the story like any other Scorching Ray build, using these two Gem setups:

Scorching Ray - Burning Damage - Efficacy - Elemental Focus
Orb of Storms - Arcane Surge - Increased Critical Strikes - Increased Duration

Linked gems are in order of priority.
Use Scorching Ray to deal damage and Orb of Storms to trigger Elemental Equilibrium/Overload.

For bossfights, especially Izaro, a Decoy Totem can be helpful.

Atziri's Foible can already be equipped at level 16, so use it.
Mostly get life and resistances on your gear while leveling. Also, movement speed on boots.

Useful Items:
Tabula Rasa
Goldrim
Lifesprig (2x)
Wanderlust
Pyre (level 11)
The Searing Touch (level 60)

Don't use Pyre if you have cold damage on your Orb of Storms or else Elemental Equilibrium will buff fire resistances instead of reducing them.

5/6 Link
Scorching Ray - Burning Damage - Efficacy - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction - Swift Affliction

A standard Scorching Ray setup. Gems are in order of priority.
Level 21 on SR is about 12% more damage, while quality increases your range. Both are nice to have.
If you really want to take on endgame bosses without investing into a 6-link, you can swap Inpulsa's for a cheap Tabula Rasa or 6-linked rare just for that fight.

4 Link (Helmet)
Ball Lightning (level 1) - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Faster Projectiles - Elemental Proliferation - (Innervate)

We use this to debuff our enemies and make them explode. Ball Lightning is on level 1 so we don't die to reflect.
This can more than triple your damage, so don't forget to use it for single target aswell.
Innervate is provided by your helmet.
EP and Innervate are there to boost your chance to shock to 55%. If you feel like you shock enough you can swap EP with Faster Casting or Arcane Surge.
Get quality on GMP/FP to improve your cast speed.

4 Link
Cast When Damage Taken - Summon Stone Golem - Summon Flame Golem - Summon Lightning Golem

These guys will not only buff you a lot, but also distract bosses for you. The Stone Golem even has a taunt.
Keeping three golems alive is hard when you're not a summoner, so we link them to CWDT to have them resummoned regularily.

4 Link
Cast When Damage Taken (level 1) - Immortal Call (level 3) - Warlord's Mark (level 5) - Ice Spear (level 1)

Immortal Call is there to protect you from physical damage bursts. Since we cannot reliably get Endurance Charges from Warlord's Mark it's best to just consume them to increase IC duration.
Normally, DoT builds cannot leech, but Inpulsa's explosions will leech life from enemies after they get cursed from damaging you. Alternatively use Enfeeble.
Ice Spear has a high crit chance and is there to help you out triggering Elemental Overload from time to time. Don't try to intentially get hit to get more damage, just look at it as a bonus.

3 Link
Shield Charge - Faster Attacks - Fortify
Use this to move around, but don't charge too far into enemies.

2 Link
Herald of Ash - Burning Damage
HoA does not only increase our Scorching Ray's damage, but will cause enemies killed by explosions to burn everything around them.

1 Free Slot
Decoy Totem, Flame Dash or Portal

These can be placed into an Unset Ring.
Decoy Totem can distract bosses.
Flame Dash gets you over ledges.
Portal saves portal scrolls. (duh)

Skill Tree:
33 Points
50 Points
74 Points
Level 72
Level 81
Level 93

This skill tree is very forgiving.
If you wish to change something out of preference, you can easily do that.
I.e. if you need some more strength early on, just skill Might.


Path of Building:
https://pastebin.com/gRArPdxS

This is mostly just a reference for what gear you can get.
Items have no resists so the important stats are more visible.

PoB currently does not calculate shock and golem buffs correctly (our shock is a little bit weaker than 50%, but the golems give us additional damage, regen and cast speed).
However, the numbers should be fairly accurate.

•Normal Lab: Shaper of Desolation
•Cruel Lab: Beacon of Ruin
•Merc Lab: Liege of the Primordial
•Eternal Lab: Elemancer

Bandits
Kill them all for 2 passive points.

Pantheon
Major God: Soul of the Brine King to makes stuns less dangerous.



Minor God: we stand still while casting SR, so Soul of Tukohama is very nice to have.

Shoot your Ball Lightning into a pack to debuff them and then use your Scorching Ray to detonate.

Always keep your distance. Use your long range to kill them before they can attack you.

Shield Charging into enemies will get you killed so only use it to move around the map or away from something dangerous.

The same goes for bosses, stay away most of the time and let your golems distract them.
Only stand in their face if you're experienced enough to know it's safe.

Map Mods to avoid:
•Monsters have 90% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments
•Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
You can do reflect maps. The explosions do not get reflected.

I wasn't using MoM in most of these clips, so don't mind the low mana pools.

T14 Shaped Vault Map

Shaper (full run)
T16 Phoenix
T16 Chimera
T16 Minotaur

Sire of Shards test
Ball Lightning & Golem AI tutorial

Why is my damage so low?
Check if you have the following things:
•Dyadus
•Ball Lightning with cold and lightning damage, NO fire damage
•Elemental Overload and Elemental Equilibrium
•Elementalist's Beacon of Ruin

Is there any way to automate this?
I've tried a lot of things, but to get the most juice out of your explosions, Ball Lightning is the best option.

Some ideas have been:
•Scold's Bridle -> too inconsistent
•Use Shield Charge to shock/kill -> works, but small explosions
•Use Herald of Thunder to kill, Ball Lightning to shock -> works, but requires extra mana reservation. Should not be used with MoM and is therefore more squishy. Example.

Do you really need a 5L Ball Lightning?
I don't like this setup either, but it's what works the best. If you don't add chance to shock, you'll mostly only cause large explosions when you have the Conflux buff active.
If you only run either Innervate/Proliferation support, you'll still have juicy explosions most of the time, but inconsistency at close range.
Faster Projectiles and GMP is essentially what determines your AoE and Clearspeed, so they are pretty important aswell.

The good thing is you don't really need it to grant Arcane Surge or Elemental Overload. Map bosses die pretty fast without those buffs and for T16+ you can just swap to Orb of Storms.

What about Chaos resistance?
Ignore it. Chaos damage in the game is balanced around you having little to no resistance with only a few exceptions.

How important is Stormfire?
For clear it's absolute S tier. Most of your damage doesn't come from the explosions themselves, but the resulting ignite. Yes, ignite can actually deal damage if you scale it's base damage on your enemies' life.
Herald of Ash also helps here but isn't even nearly as consistent as the ignite.

Why do you pick up all these AoE nodes?
They do not increase Scorching Ray's size, but pretty much everything else:
Ball Lightning, Proliferation, Herald of Ash and the Explosions.