[0.3] Charge Amazon | Infinite Charms, Charges & Surges | Adaptable Concept

This is intended for Build of the Week Showcase. The core interaction of this build is meant to be a fun proof-of-concept that can be modified to fit other builds.

Pros:
+ Easy 1 Button Gameplay
+ Good Clear Speed
+ Good Single Target DPS (Max Pinnacle Viable)
+ Self Sustained (Mostly) Infinite Charm Uptime
+ Rapid Self-sustained Charge Generation
+ Relatively budget due to being Unique Item heavy
+ Core framework of Build can be adapted to other Weapon Sets and Ascendancies


Cons:
- Not Tanky (we have some defensive synergies, but this is more focused on being a clearing/boss melting build)
- Struggles with Simulacrum III if you are not careful
- Takes awhile for build to be fully operational (level 70+)
- Negative synergy with sources of generic damage reduction/having too high maximum resistances



Build Introduction

The focus of this build is to leverage multiple Unique synergies to generate non-stop Charm procs and thus essentially generate an infinite cycle of Charges. This core Uniques of the build are rather budget friendly and can be adapted to any weapon set and Ascendency. However, I am specifically using the Amazon Ascendency so that we can make full use of the constant Charge generation to have permanent Elemental Surge uptime. My preferred weapon combo for this build is the classic Spear + Scepter setup, so we can maintain extremely strong clear speed with Lightning Spear and have powerful Single Target with Storm Lance.

Core Build Interaction

Core Uniques:
Pragmatism - Charms use no Charges
Hateforge - Gain 1-3 (4) random Charges on reaching Maximum Rage, Lose all Rage on reaching Maximum Rage
Bijouborne - 10-50 (61)% reduced Charm Effect Duration
Serpent's Egg - Gain an additional Charge when you gain a Charge
Scold's Bridle - Take 25-100 (122)% of Mana Costs you pay for Skills as Physical Damage
Ngamahu's Chosen - Used when you take Fire Damage, Grants up to Maximum Rage on Use
Valako's Roar - Used when you take Lightning Damage, Grants a Frenzy Charge on Use


Core Passives:
Molten Being - 5% of Physical Damage taken as Fire Damage
Catalysis - 5% of Physical Damage taken from Hits taken as Damage of a Random Element
Fervour - +2 to Maximum Frenzy Charges
The Fabled Stag - Skills have 10% Chance to not Remove Charges but still Count as Consuming them
Walker of the Winds - Mana Leech recovers based on Elemental Damage Types instead of Physical Damage


Interaction:
1) Anytime we use a skill, we take physical damage based on the skill's Mana Cost due to Scold's Bridle. Make sure to use a high Mana Cost to Damage Taken ratio Scold's Bridle, as with capped 75% resists, we barely take any Elemental Damage from Molten Being + Catalysis. I personally use a 70% Mana Cost Scold's Bridle with level 21 + 6 Linked Lightning Spear/Storm Lance (costing about 80-90 Mana on use)

2) A portion of this Physical damage taken is always taken as Fire Damage due to Molten Being. This means we can proc Ngamahu's Chosen, thereby generating Maximum Rage.

3) As we are now at Maximum Rage, Hateforge then grants us a series of random Charges (up to 4 with a good corrupted Hateforge), whilst also causing us to lose all Rage.

4) Each individual Charge generated by Hateforge also produces a separate equivalent Charge thanks to Serpent's Egg. That means we can usually generate at least 2 of each Charge type on using any skill.

5) However, Charms cannot be re-procced while their main passive effect is active (i.e. the +25% to Fire Resistance for 4s). Hence to increase the rate of Charge generation, we need to have Charms come off cooldown more often. So we use Bijouborne to heavily reduce the main Charm effect duration, meaning our Charms end their main effect earlier and can be re-used again sooner.

6) Thanks to Pragmatism, we can proc our Charms for free, so we can infinitely proc Charms and generate Charges.

7) As we mainly consume Frenzy Charges to make our Lightning Spear and Storm Lance always activate with bonus effect, I want to further increase the rate in which I generate Frenzy Charge. With Catalysis, every skill use has a 1/3 chance to cause me to take some of the Physical Damage as Lightning Damage.

8) On taking Lightning Damage, we generate 2 Frenzy Charges thanks to Valako's Roar + Serpent's Egg. With a 3 Charge Hateforge + Valako's Roar + Serpents Egg, you should have more than enough Frenzy Charges generated to enhance almost all Lightning Spear/Storm Lance attacks.

9) By picking up 2x 10% Charm Activation Chance passives on the Passive Tree, we can more consistently proc our Valako's Roar and even proc other Charms with harder to activate effects. The best use of this is to self proc the Rite of Passage Golden Charm in our 3rd Charm Slot, so you can get up to 20s of Azmeri Spirit Possession without first needing to kill a rare or unique enemy. Just keep attacking on the spot and you will eventually proc the Rite of Passage. Synergistically speaking, the duration of the Azemri Spirit Buff is not affected by Bijouborne's reduced Charm effect duration at all.


Note: You can switch up your Ascendancies, Charms, Weapon Sets and Skills to better suit your tastes. Maybe you want to generate and consume more Power Charges? Use the "Breath of the Mountain" Sapphire Charm instead of "Valako's Roar".


Gameplay

Very simple gameplay with minimal buttons. Just use Lightning Spear for map clearing, which with our insane Frenzy Charge Generations, allows for constant bombardment of Splitting Lightning Spear Projectiles. Whole screens can be cleared in 1-2 seconds worth of Lightning Spears, especially when combined with Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder. Elemental Surges also ensure that slightly tankier rare mobs also get melted.

For Single Target, use Storm Lance + Nova Projectile support so that we can shotgun Elemental Surges. Interestingly, even though Nova Projectile Storm Lance fires 5 projectiles, it will only consume 3 Elemental Surges to enhance all 5 Projectiles with their own individual Elemental Surge Explosion. So if you encounter a boss, just cast Storm Lance with the mouse cursor on top of your player so that all projectiles will be fired right on top the player, allowing you to shotgun and burst down bosses with overlapping Elemental Surge Explosions.

Our defense is mainly about having Elemental leech, % HP Recovery on Kill and Instant Recovery HP Potions to sustain ourselves. Most enemies will never get the chance to even touch us due to how strong our clear and single target DPS is. However, to leverage our gear synergies a bit better, we use Iron Reflexes to convert all our Evasion to Armour (Subterfuge Mark causes our ES Helmet to also give us extra Evasion), which is then further boosted by Charge Regulation's % More Defenses bonus being up all the time. This gives us a reasonable 30-40% Physical Damage Reduction against most enemy hits and offers a little more buffer to survive.


Skill Tree and Ascendancy

Skill Tree
Current POB: https://poe.ninja/poe2/pob/d8ad


Recommended Hard to access Passives:
1) Molten Being (Mandatory for main build interaction)
2) Branching Bolts (Enables Lightning Spear to chain, massively improving clear speed)
3) Subterfuge (Enables our ES Helmet to give us Evasion, which can then be converted to Armour with Iron Reflexes)

I would recommend using a combination of a "From Nothing" (Pain Attunement) Jewel to obtain Molten Being, as well as a combination of a "Megalomaniac" Jewel + Amulet Enchant to obtain the remaining Branching Bolts and Subterfuge passives.

Amazon

1. Critical Strike - To help us hit 100% critical hit chance

2. Elemental Surge - Gives us Elemental Surge

3. Mystic Harvest - Allows us to Leech life with our mainly Elemental Damage

4. Surging Avatar - Consistency buff so that we can have more or less 100% uptime on Elemental Surges when using Storm Lance + Nova Projectiles. If you mainly focus on Mapping, then use Predatory Instincts instead


Skills and Supports

There are no "mandatory" lineage supports for this build. That being said Rakiata's Flow does massively boost our damage potential, so it is worth investing in for Bossing.

Elemental Surge (Given from Ascendency and gains levels as your player levels)

1. Rakiata's Flow
2. Concentrated Area
3. Elemental Armaments II
4. Elemental Focus
5. Pinpoint Critical

We will almost exclusively be activating the lightning version of Elemental Surge.

Lightning Spear

1. Elemental Armaments II
2. Pinpoint Critical
3. Rapid Attacks II
4. Lightning Penetration
5. Culling Strike II

Lightning Penetration and Culling Strike II can be replaced for whatever fits your build/playstyle better. As I aim to balance my Elemental damage output with Trinity, I do not recommend to run supports like Innervate.

Storm Lance

1. Rapid Attacks III
2. Overcharge
3. Commiserate
4. Nova Projectiles
5. Rigwald's Ferocity (make sure Spear is in Weapon Slot I)

We are focused on maximizing projectiles per second by using attack speed supports and nova projectiles. Most of the Single Target damage comes from the shotgunning of Elemental Surges on each of the 5 Storm Lance projectile. Overcharge + Commiserate ensures that the Shocked Ground produced by Storm Lance is stronger and also prevents us from being shocked.

Infernal Cry

Used to add additional Fire Damage occasionally

Barrage

1. Inhibitor

Used to add additional burst DPS when needed, without unnecessarily draining all accumulated frenzy charges.

Hand of Chayula

1. Voltaic Mark
2. Temporal Chains
3. Heightened Curse

Using an off-swap Quarterstaff, we can use Hand of Chayula to curse and mark bosses. This helps greatly improve our DPS window effectiveness by delaying boss response and making them take a stronger shock.

Herald of Ice

1. Elemental Armaments II
2. Pinpoint Critical
3. Magnified Area I
4. Shock Conduction
5. Shock

Enables better clear in Maps by chaining explosions together with Herald of Thunder.

Herald of Thunder

1. Elemental Armaments II
2. Pinpoint Critical
3. Embitter
4. Frost Nexus
5. Freeze

Enables better clear in Maps, whilst also spreading a lot of chilled ground thanks to Frost Nexus.

Purity of Fire (Gained from Scepter like Sacred Flame)

1. Vitality II
2. Precision II
3. Cannibalism II
4. Clarity II
5. Herbalism II

The Purity of Fire granted by Scepters and the support gems that you have socketed into Purity of Fire do not cost any Spirit. If you do not have a level 20 Purity of Fire for 5 support socket spaces, you can probably drop Herbalism II or Clarity II.

Trinity

1. Dialla's Desire
2. Fire/Lightning/Cold Mastery
3. Cool Headed
4. Strong Hearted (only if you have Rabbit Talisman socketed in Scepter)


With a level 21 Trinity Gem, you want to aim for at least a level 23 Trinity, so that you can get 7% more elemental damage per 30 resonance. I have distributed my extra Elemental Damage gained quite evenly through my item and jewel choices, so I can usually get at least 270 resonance while bossing. While mapping, I usually at least have 180 resonance (even if I pick up an elemental damage shrine).

Charge Regulation

1. Uhtred's Exodus

You want this to be as high level as possible to get the maximum bonuses for always having a Power Charge, Frenzy Charge and Endurance Charge active.



Itemization

Spear
A rare Spear with high Critical Hit Chance + at least 4 Levels to Attack Skills (Elemental Surge benefits from levels to Attack Skills, but not levels to Melee skills and also not levels to Projectile skills) + high Physical DPS. Other worthwhile considerations for Spear affix rolls is having high % increased Elemental Damage with Attacks and high +% to Critical Damage.

Scepter
Ideally use a level 20 Purity of Fire Scepter such as Sacred Flame. This gives us a free 5 support socket Purity of Fire Aura (support gems such as Vitality II will not cost spirit if socketed in this free Aura), a lot of extra Damage Gained as Fire Damage (helps us balance our Elemental Damage with Trinity) and the useful effect of causing Enemies in your Presence to be affected by their lowest Elemental Resistance. If a Sacred Flame is out of Budget, any rare Purity of Fire/Ice/Lightning Scepter or Guiding Palm Unique Scepter should work well. Recommended to socket a Rabbit Talisman inside the Scepter.

Amulet
Serpent's Egg with a solid enchant (i.e. one of the 3 Recommended hard to reach passives mentioned above)

Helmet
Scold's Bridle with ideally at least 70% of Mana Cost Taken as Physical Damage. If your Mana Cost of Lightning Spear/Storm Lance is too low, you will probably need a high % of Mana Cost Taken as Physical Damage.

Body Armour
Pragmatism. I personally went with a Corrupted version with at least 3 sockets.

Gloves
Hateforge with ideally at least 3 Charges gained. End game option is to go for a corrupted version with 4 Charges gained.

Boots
Good rare with high life and movement speed, preferably with Lightning Resistance, Cold Resistance and at least 58% reduced duration of Freeze on you. Ideally you will use an Armour/Evasion/Armour + Evasion base.

Belt
Bijouborne with ideally at least 50% reduced Charm Effect duration. End game option is to go for a corrupted version that further increases the % reduced Charm Effect duration roll to up to 61%.

Optional: Headhunter - If you are lucky enough to have Headhunter, you can use this in place of Bijouborne for mapping with Lightning Spear. You should still have more or less permanent Elemental Surge uptime, but have the added benefit of Headhunter Rare mods.

Rings
Good rare rings with any high flat added Damage, high life, Elemental Resistances, Chaos Resistance and % of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life/Mana. Choose one ring with Life Leech and one ring with Mana Leech.

Charms
Ngamahu's Chosen
Valako's Roar
Rite of Passage (Owl Spirit) - On killing a rare or unique Enemy, get possessed by an Azmeri Spirit for up to 20s. This is optional for the build, but is very powerful as we can self-proc this Charm even in Boss Fights

Flasks
Olroth's Resolve (or any Instant Recovery Ultimate Life Flask)
Ultimate Mana Flask

Jewels
Against the Darkness - % of Damage as Extra Cold Damage + 6% reduced Freeze Duration (when combined with boots this should give 100% reduced Freeze Duration)
From Nothing - Pain Attunement (So as to be able to easily allocate Molten Being)
Megalomaniac - To allocate any of the missing 3 recommended hard to reach passives that you do not already have
Heart of the Well - % of Damage as Extra Cold Damage + % of Damage as Extra Fire Damage
Rare Jewel - Life/Critical Hit Damage/Critical Hit Chance/Elemental Damage/Attack Damage/Spear related bonuses