Kinetic Blast 3.19: The Ultimate PoE Build Guide
Hey guys! Are you ready to dive into the electrifying world of Kinetic Blast in Path of Exile 3.19? If you're looking for a build that's not only incredibly fun to play but also packs a serious punch, then you've come to the right place. Kinetic Blast is an amazing skill that turns your wand into a rapid-firing projectile machine, obliterating enemies with explosive force. In this comprehensive guide, we'll break down everything you need to know to create a powerful and efficient Kinetic Blast build, perfect for clearing maps and taking on tough bosses. So, let's get started and unleash the explosive potential of Kinetic Blast!
What Makes Kinetic Blast So Awesome?
Before we jump into the nitty-gritty details, let's talk about why Kinetic Blast is such a fantastic skill. First off, the sheer fun factor is off the charts. Watching projectiles zip across the screen and explode, chaining from enemy to enemy, is incredibly satisfying. But it's not just about the visual spectacle; Kinetic Blast also boasts some serious practical advantages:
- Excellent Clear Speed: Kinetic Blast excels at clearing maps quickly. The projectiles explode in an area, hitting multiple enemies at once. This makes it ideal for speeding through packs of monsters and racking up those experience points.
- Good Single-Target Damage: While Kinetic Blast shines in AoE situations, it's no slouch when it comes to single-target damage either. With the right gear and gem setups, you can melt bosses in no time.
- Safe Playstyle: Since Kinetic Blast is a ranged skill, you can stay at a safe distance from enemies while still dealing significant damage. This is especially important for tougher content where getting up close and personal can be risky.
- Versatile Builds: Kinetic Blast can be built in various ways, allowing you to tailor your character to your preferred playstyle. Whether you want to go crit-focused, elemental damage, or even poison, there's a Kinetic Blast build for you.
The versatility of Kinetic Blast means you can really make the build your own. There are so many ways to scale the damage, whether it be through raw elemental damage, critical strikes, or even stacking poison. This flexibility allows you to adapt the build to your playstyle and budget, making it a great choice for both new and experienced players.
Diving Deeper into Kinetic Blast Mechanics
To truly understand how to optimize your Kinetic Blast build, it's crucial to get a handle on the skill's mechanics. Kinetic Blast fires projectiles that explode upon impact, dealing area damage. The explosions can chain to other enemies, creating a cascade of destruction. This chaining effect is what makes Kinetic Blast so effective at clearing packs of monsters. The key to maximizing Kinetic Blast's potential lies in understanding how to scale both the projectile damage and the explosion damage. This involves careful selection of support gems, passive skills, and equipment.
Another important aspect of Kinetic Blast is its reliance on wands. While this might seem limiting, wands offer some unique advantages. They often come with implicit modifiers that boost spell damage or cast speed, which are both beneficial for Kinetic Blast. Additionally, wands can be easily dual-wielded, providing further stat bonuses and the potential for more damage. When choosing wands for your Kinetic Blast build, look for modifiers that increase elemental damage, spell damage, cast speed, and critical strike chance.
The Importance of Gem Links and Support Gems
One of the most critical components of any Path of Exile build is the gem setup. The support gems you link to your main skill can drastically alter its performance. For Kinetic Blast, the right support gems can transform it from a decent skill into a monster-slaying machine. Here are some of the best support gems for Kinetic Blast:
- Greater Multiple Projectiles/Lesser Multiple Projectiles: These gems add more projectiles to your Kinetic Blast, increasing its area of effect and clear speed. Greater Multiple Projectiles (GMP) fires more projectiles but reduces damage per projectile, while Lesser Multiple Projectiles (LMP) fires fewer projectiles with a smaller damage penalty. Which one you choose depends on your preference and the specific build you're aiming for. Typically, GMP is preferred for mapping due to its superior coverage, while LMP can be used for single-target situations where focused damage is more important.
- Elemental Damage with Attacks: Since Kinetic Blast deals elemental damage, this support gem is a must-have. It significantly boosts the elemental damage of your projectiles, making them hit harder.
- Added Lightning/Cold/Fire Damage: These gems add flat elemental damage to your attacks, further increasing your damage output. The specific element you choose depends on your build and the available gear. Often, players will focus on converting their physical damage to a specific element to maximize the effectiveness of these support gems.
- Inspiration Support: This gem provides a stacking buff that increases your damage and reduces mana cost, making it an excellent choice for sustained damage output.
- Barrage Support: At the cost of area of effect this support gem provides more damage.
- Critical Strike Affliction: If you're building a critical strike-focused Kinetic Blast build, this gem is essential. It increases your critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier, allowing you to deal massive bursts of damage.
- Controlled Destruction: This gem provides a significant boost to spell damage but reduces your critical strike chance. It's a good option for non-crit builds or builds that have alternative ways to generate critical strikes.
Crafting Your Ideal Kinetic Blast Character: Ascendancy Classes
Choosing the right Ascendancy class is a crucial decision that can significantly impact your Kinetic Blast build. Each class offers unique passives and bonuses that can synergize with Kinetic Blast in different ways. Here are a few of the most popular and effective Ascendancy classes for Kinetic Blast:
- Elementalist (Witch): The Elementalist is a fantastic choice for Kinetic Blast builds that focus on elemental damage. The Elementalist's passives provide significant boosts to elemental damage, area of effect, and proliferation, making it an excellent choice for clearing maps quickly. The "Shaper of Storms" and "Mastermind of Discord" notables are particularly powerful, as they greatly enhance your damage output and elemental penetration.
- Deadeye (Ranger): The Deadeye is another popular choice for Kinetic Blast, offering bonuses to projectile damage, accuracy, and chain range. The "Far Shot" notable is particularly strong, as it increases projectile damage based on distance traveled, allowing you to deal massive damage from afar. The Deadeye's inherent accuracy bonuses also help ensure that your projectiles hit their targets, further increasing your damage output.
- Inquisitor (Templar): For those looking for a more hybrid approach, the Inquisitor can be a solid choice. The Inquisitor's passives provide bonuses to both elemental damage and critical strikes, making it a versatile option for Kinetic Blast builds. The "Instruments of Virtue" notable is particularly useful, as it grants both attack speed and cast speed, while the "Inevitable Judgement" notable ensures that your critical strikes bypass enemy elemental resistances.
The choice of Ascendancy class often depends on your preferred playstyle and the specific goals of your build. If you're aiming for maximum clear speed and elemental damage, the Elementalist is a top contender. If you prefer a more ranged-focused playstyle with enhanced projectile damage, the Deadeye is an excellent choice. And if you're looking for a balance between elemental damage and critical strikes, the Inquisitor can be a great option.
Passive Skill Tree: Key Nodes and Efficient Pathing
Navigating the passive skill tree can be daunting, especially for newer players. However, with a clear understanding of the key nodes and efficient pathing strategies, you can optimize your character's power and survivability. For Kinetic Blast builds, there are several key areas of the passive tree to focus on:
- Wand Damage: Since Kinetic Blast is a wand-based skill, it's crucial to invest in passive nodes that increase wand damage. These nodes typically provide bonuses to physical damage, elemental damage, and spell damage while wielding a wand.
- Elemental Damage: As Kinetic Blast deals elemental damage, nodes that boost elemental damage are essential. Look for nodes that specifically increase lightning, cold, or fire damage, depending on the elemental focus of your build.
- Projectile Damage: Nodes that increase projectile damage will directly boost the damage of your Kinetic Blast projectiles, making them hit harder.
- Area of Effect: Increasing the area of effect of your Kinetic Blast explosions will allow you to hit more enemies, improving your clear speed. Look for nodes that specifically increase area damage or area of effect.
- Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier: If you're building a critical strike-focused Kinetic Blast build, it's crucial to invest in nodes that increase your critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier.
- Mana and Mana Regeneration: Kinetic Blast can be mana-intensive, so it's important to invest in nodes that increase your mana pool and mana regeneration rate. This will allow you to sustain your skill usage without running out of mana.
- Life and Energy Shield: Survivability is key in Path of Exile, so make sure to allocate passive points to nodes that increase your life or energy shield. A healthy life pool or a strong energy shield will help you survive encounters with tough enemies.
When pathing through the skill tree, it's important to prioritize the most efficient routes. This means minimizing the number of travel nodes and focusing on clusters of passives that provide the stats you need. Tools like Path of Building can be invaluable for planning your passive tree and optimizing your build.
Gearing Up: Essential Items and Stat Priorities
Gear plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of your Kinetic Blast build. The right items can significantly boost your damage, survivability, and overall performance. When gearing up, there are several key stats to prioritize:
- Elemental Damage: Look for gear that increases elemental damage, especially the specific element you're focusing on (lightning, cold, or fire).
- Spell Damage: Spell damage modifiers will directly boost the damage of your Kinetic Blast explosions.
- Cast Speed: Increased cast speed allows you to fire more Kinetic Blasts per second, increasing your damage output.
- Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier: If you're building a crit-focused build, these stats are essential. Look for items that increase your critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier.
- Life or Energy Shield: Survivability is key, so prioritize items that increase your life or energy shield. Aim for a healthy life pool or a strong energy shield to survive tough encounters.
- Resistances: Capping your elemental resistances (fire, cold, lightning) is crucial for survivability. Look for gear that provides resistances to these elements.
- Attributes: Make sure you have enough attributes (strength, dexterity, intelligence) to equip your gems and gear. If you're lacking in a particular attribute, look for items that provide attribute bonuses.
Some of the best gear slots to focus on for Kinetic Blast builds include:
- Wands: Look for wands with high elemental damage, spell damage, and cast speed. Wands with implicit modifiers that boost these stats are particularly valuable.
- Shields: Shields provide defensive stats like life, energy shield, and resistances. A good shield can significantly improve your survivability.
- Armour: Armour pieces provide physical damage reduction, life, and energy shield. Choose armour pieces that provide the stats you need for your build.
- Jewellery: Rings, amulets, and belts can provide a wide range of stats, including elemental damage, critical strike chance, life, and resistances. Look for jewellery that fills in any gaps in your build.
Flasks: Your Potions for Power and Protection
Flasks are an essential part of any Path of Exile build, providing temporary buffs and utility. For Kinetic Blast builds, the right flasks can significantly enhance your damage, survivability, and mobility. Here are some of the most useful flasks for Kinetic Blast:
- Life Flask: A life flask is a must-have for any build, providing instant recovery of life. Choose a life flask with the "Seething" modifier for instant recovery or the " bubbling" modeifier to have a medium life recovery over time.
- Mana Flask: Kinetic Blast can be mana-intensive, so a mana flask is essential for sustaining your skill usage. Choose a mana flask with the "Catalysed" modifier for fast recovery.
- Quicksilver Flask: A Quicksilver Flask increases your movement speed, allowing you to move quickly through maps and avoid enemy attacks. Choose a Quicksilver Flask with the "Adrenaline" modifier for increased movement speed and "of Warding" for curse immunity.
- Jade Flask: A Jade Flask increases your evasion rating, making you harder to hit by enemy attacks. This can be a valuable defensive tool for Kinetic Blast builds.
- Quartz Flask: A Quartz Flask grants phasing and increased elemental damage, making it a versatile offensive and defensive option. Phasing allows you to move through enemies, while the increased elemental damage boosts your damage output.
Leveling Up: A Smooth Transition to Endgame
Leveling a Kinetic Blast character can be a smooth and enjoyable process with the right strategies. Here are some tips for leveling your Kinetic Blast build efficiently:
- Early Levels: At early levels, you can start with skills like Spark or Freezing Pulse. These skills are effective for clearing packs of monsters and dealing damage to bosses.
- Transition to Kinetic Blast: Once you reach level 12 and can equip Kinetic Blast, you can transition to the skill. Link Kinetic Blast with support gems like Added Lightning Damage, Lesser Multiple Projectiles, and Onslaught to maximize its effectiveness.
- Leveling Uniques: There are several unique items that can be very helpful for leveling a Kinetic Blast character. Items like the Tabula Rasa (which provides six linked sockets) and Goldrim (which provides resistances) can make the leveling process much smoother.
- Farming Zones: Focus on farming zones that provide good experience and loot. Zones like the Blood Aqueduct and Dried Lake are popular choices for leveling.
- Lab Trials: Make sure to complete the Labyrinth trials as you level. The Ascendancy points you earn from the Labyrinth are crucial for your build's power.
Endgame: Pushing Your Build to the Limit
Once you've reached the endgame, it's time to push your Kinetic Blast build to the limit. This involves optimizing your gear, gems, and passive tree, as well as tackling challenging content like maps, bosses, and the Uber Labyrinth. Here are some tips for optimizing your Kinetic Blast build for the endgame:
- Optimize Gear: Look for gear with high-tier modifiers that provide significant boosts to your damage, survivability, and utility. Crafting and trading are essential for acquiring the best gear.
- Gem Quality: Leveling your gems to level 20 and increasing their quality to 20% can provide significant stat bonuses. This is an important step for maximizing your build's power.
- Cluster Jewels: Cluster Jewels are a powerful way to further customize your passive tree and gain access to unique notables. Experiment with different Cluster Jewel setups to find the ones that best suit your build.
- Anoint Amulet: Anointing your amulet with a powerful passive node can provide a significant boost to your build. Use oils to anoint your amulet with a notable that complements your build.
- Conqueror Exalted Orbs: Using Conqueror Exalted Orbs to add influence modifiers to your gear can greatly increase its power. This is an advanced crafting technique that can help you create truly exceptional items.
Conclusion: Unleash the Power of Kinetic Blast
Kinetic Blast is a fantastic skill in Path of Exile 3.19, offering a fun, fast, and effective way to clear maps and take on tough bosses. With the right build, gear, and strategies, you can unleash the explosive potential of Kinetic Blast and dominate the game. So, gear up, level up, and get ready to blast your way to victory!
I hope this comprehensive guide has given you a solid foundation for building your own Kinetic Blast character. Remember, Path of Exile is all about experimentation and customization, so don't be afraid to try new things and adapt your build to your playstyle. Good luck, have fun, and happy blasting, guys!