Ball Lightning PoE Build, Support Gems

Ball Lightning Ball Lightning is a spell that creates a moving ball dealing lightning damage.

Fires a slow-moving projectile that periodically damages enemies in an area around it with bolts of lightning.

Spell, Projectile, AoE, Lightning. Level: 1–20. Cost: 12–23 Mana. Cast Time: 0.70 sec. Critical Strike Chance: 5.00%. Effectiveness of Added Damage: 60%. Projectile Speed: 400. Radius: 18. Requires Level 28.

  • Deals (2–32) to (47–617) Lightning Damage

Place into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

NameAdditional Effects From QualityWeight
Ball Lightning(0–20)% increased Lightning Damage50

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What is the interaction with Ball Lightning and Anomalous Faster Projectiles? Is the ball not counting as a projectile? Currently the Balls do not return.

The support only gives a chance to return "from final Target". Ball Lightning never collides with any targets, so never meets this condition.

Related Gems

Level Effect

LevelRequires LevelIntelligenceCostDeals 2 to 47 Lightning DamageExperience
12867122, 47199,345
23173133, 58285,815
33479144, 71401,344
43785155, 87554,379
54092156, 105477,437
64296166, 119583,786
744100167, 135710,359
846104178, 1531,355,511
948109179, 1721,138,877
10501131810, 1941,368,233
11521171812, 2191,638,338
12541211913, 2471,956,648
13561251915, 2773,655,184
14581302016, 3123,017,327
15601342018, 3507,759,995
16621382121, 39315,138,193
17641422123, 44026,083,825
18661462226, 49362,620,247
19681512229, 552211,708,088
20701552332, 617
21722436, 690
22742441, 771
23762545, 861
24782551, 961
25802656, 1072
26822663, 1195
27842770, 1331
28862778, 1483
29882887, 1651
30902897, 1837
319128102, 1938
329229108, 2044
339329113, 2156
349429120, 2273
359529126, 2396
369630133, 2527
379730140, 2663
389830148, 2807
399930156, 2959
4010031164, 3119

Skill functions and interactions

  • Strike interval: Lightning bolts will strike ALL nearby targets every 150 milliseconds while they are inside the area of effect of the ball.
  • However, the 150ms cooldown is shared between multiple balls fired on the same cast (such as when using Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support), preventing "Shotgunning".
  • Balls cast by Multiple Traps Support do not share a 150 ms cooldown between each other because every trap is a seperate cast. Likewise for Spell Echo Support.
  • Projectile speed: The base projectile speed is roughly 48 units per second. Reductions to projectile speed such as Slower Projectiles Support can increase the amount of time an enemy spends within the ball's area of effect, resulting in a higher potential number of lightning strikes per cast.
  • Area of effect: Increases and reductions to area of effect will alter the range of the ball, making it hit enemies further away or closer. Modifiers to area damage (such as Concentrated Effect Support) do not apply.
  • Fork and Chain: Ball Lightning projectiles will always pierce, and therefore can never fork or chain.
  • Tooltip damage: The tooltip DPS assumes that the skill will only hit once per cast. A more accurate estimate can be obtained using the calculator on the following link. It is worth noting that the calculation will not be precise for general use, as enemies will move around and the skill will not pass over them using its entire diameter. However, it should be fairly reliable when the skill is used on stationary targets. This calculation is also added to Path of Building Community Fork. Choose "All Bolts in Range" on main skill.

Item acquisition

Ball Lightning can drop anywhere. Drop level: 28.

Recipes

Ball Lightning can be created from the following recipes:

Amount Part Description
13 The Cataclysm Random corrupted level 21 Spell gem
6 The Fox Random level 20 gem
8 Dying Anguish Random level 19 gem with 19% alternative quality
8 The Hook Random corrupted level 21 gem with 23% alternative quality
3 Gemcutter's Promise Random gem with 20% quality
1 Gemcutter's Incubator Random gem with 1–20% quality
1 The Void Random divination card set exchange

Quest reward

This item is given as a quest reward for the following quests:

Class → Witch Shadow Ranger Duelist Marauder Templar Scion
Quest ↓
Sever the Right Hand
Act 3		 ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class → Witch Shadow Ranger Duelist Marauder Templar Scion
Quest ↓
A Fixture of Fate
Act 3
Siosa		 ✓
Sever the Right Hand
Act 3
Clarissa		 ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗
Fallen from Grace
Act 6
Lilly Roth		 ✓

Trivia

Ball Lightning was accidentally added to the game in an unfinished state in version 1.1.0 and was removed shortly afterwards. It was officially added to the game in version 1.1.5. A history of the skill can be found in Supporter newsletter 73.

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Ball Lightning.

Name Level Labyrinth Stats Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Ball Lightning Additional Projectiles 1 75 Eternal Labyrinth Ball Lightning fires an additional Projectile helmet 100
default 0
Enchantment Ball Lightning Damage 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth 25% increased Ball Lightning Damage helmet 100
default 0
Enchantment Ball Lightning Damage 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth 40% increased Ball Lightning Damage helmet 100
default 0
Enchantment Ball Lightning Area Of Effect 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth 16% increased Ball Lightning Area of Effect helmet 100
default 0
Enchantment Ball Lightning Area Of Effect 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth 24% increased Ball Lightning Area of Effect helmet 100
default 0

Alternate skill effects

Ball Lightning has the following alternate skill effects:

Item Effect(s)
Automaton Ball Lightning Effect Your Ball Lightning becomes an Automaton Effect.
Celestial Ball Lightning Effect Your Ball Lightning becomes a celestial effect.
Divine Ball Lightning Effect Your Ball Lightning becomes a divine effect.

PoE Ball Lightning Build

1. Character: 100 Saboteur

Life: 1144 Strength: 98
Energy Shield: 10832 Dexterity: 108
Mana: 1403 Intelligence: 381
Evasion Rating: 1194 Charges: E: 3 / F: 3 / P: 3
Armour: 485

2. Main Skills Build

Main skill: Ball Lightning Ball Lightning. AVERAGE HIT: 63k.

Damage types:

  • Lightning: 97%
  • Chaos: 2%
  • Fire: 1%

Ball Lightning Support Gems:

  • Trap and Mine Damage Trap and Mine Damage Support(Green): 84%
  • Slower Projectiles Slower Projectiles Support(Green): 81%
  • Minefield Minefield Support(Blue): 64%
  • High-Impact Mine Support(Blue): 60%
  • Blastchain Mine Support(Blue): 49%
  • Awakened Added Lightning Damage Added Lightning Damage Support(Blue): 48%
  • Awakened Elemental Focus Elemental Focus Support(Blue): 40%
  • Awakened Lightning Penetration Lightning Penetration Support(Blue): 22%
  • Inspiration Support(Red): 22%
  • Swift Assembly Support(Green): 10%
  • Elemental Focus Elemental Focus Support(Blue): 9%
  • Charged Mines Support(Blue): 6%
  • Combustion Combustion Support(Blue): 4%
  • Lesser Multiple Projectiles Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support(Green): 3%

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3. Skill Gems Build

These are the support skill gems for it:

Body Armour: Ball Lightning Ball Lightning (Blue) (21 / 23), Trap and Mine Damage Trap and Mine Damage Support (Green) (21 / 20), High-Impact Mine Support (Blue) (21 / 20), Awakened Lightning Penetration Lightning Penetration Support (Blue) (5 / 20), Slower Projectiles Slower Projectiles Support (Green) (21 / 20), Swift Assembly Support (Green) (20 / 20),

Helmet: Flame Dash Flame Dash (Blue) (20 / 20), Arcane Surge Arcane Surge Support (Blue) (5), Second Wind Support (Green) (20 / 20), Faster Casting Faster Casting Support (Blue) (20 / 20),

Boots: Enfeeble Enfeeble (Blue) (20 / 20), Summon Skitterbots (Blue) (20 / 20), Enlighten Enlighten Support (Blue) (3), Blasphemy Blasphemy Support (Blue) (20 / 23),

Gloves: Immortal Call Immortal Call (Red) (3), Cast when Damage Taken Cast when Damage Taken Support (Red) (3), Portal Portal (White) (1 / 20), Summon Chaos Golem Summon Chaos Golem (Blue) (20 / 20),

Weapon: Precision Precision (Green) (1), Blood Magic Blood Magic Support (Red) (18), Clarity Clarity (Blue) (5),

Offhand: Vaal Discipline Vaal Discipline (Blue) (21), Zealotry Zealotry (Blue) (21), Wrath Wrath (Blue) (21),

4. Passive Skill Build

Ball Lightning Build

Keystones / Ascendency:

  • Pyromaniac: 100%
  • Bomb Specialist: 100%
  • Explosives Expert: 94%
  • Born in the Shadows: 91%
  • Pain Attunement: 87%
  • Zealot’s Oath: 84%
  • Ghost Reaver: 33%
  • Demolitions Specialist: 15%
  • Acrobatics: 12%
  • Phase Acrobatics: 12%
  • Chaos Inoculation: 7%
  • Avatar of Fire: 7%
  • Mind Over Matter: 3%
  • Wicked Ward: 3%

5. Equipment Build

Body Armour: Shavronne’s Wrappings Shavronne’s Wrappings Occultist’s Vestment

Weapon: Maelström Bite Serpent Wand

Offhand Weapon: Prism Guardian Prism Guardian Archon Kite Shield

Helmet: Blood Cowl Hubris Circlet

Gloves: Machina Mitts Murder Mitts

Boots: Brood Tread Sorcerer Boots

Belt: Fate Shackle Crystal Belt

Amulet: Presence of Chayula Presence of Chayula Onyx Amulet

Ring: Hate Finger Moonstone Ring, Sorrow Turn Moonstone Ring

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