With the arrival of Path of Exile 3.28 Mirage League, players are once again delving into various build options to prepare for the new season. Among the highlights of early community discussions, Shock Nova of Procession Hierophant Build has garnered significant attention.
This guide will break down this build in detail for your quick and easy in-game use.
Shock Nova
Shock Nova has existed in PoE for years, but it has rarely been considered a top-tier skill. The original skill required precise positioning within melee range to maximize the damage overlap caused by its ever-expanding shockwaves. This often made the gameplay feel somewhat clunky and difficult to execute, especially in fights with high enemy density.
However, Transfigured Shock Nova appears to significantly improve the experience. According to early videos in the developer preview, the spell is now more like a fast-moving lightning clearing tool, releasing multiple shockwaves on the screen. The overlap mechanic remains, meaning precise positioning can significantly boost damage.
This creates an interesting dynamic: in open areas, the skill can be used for quick map clearing, while in confined spaces or corners, overlapping lightning waves can stack to cause extremely high burst damage. Excitingly, this seems similar to the mechanics of popular skills like Spark.
Hierophant Build
This build recommends Hierophant class, a powerful mana-based caster ascendancy class. Its core design revolves around stacking a large amount of mana and utilizing Archmage Support.
Hierophant converts a portion of the player's unreserved maximum mana into additional lightning damage. In this build, 16% of unreserved mana is converted into fixed lightning damage for spells. Due to this damage bonus, traditional spell damage scaling becomes less important; maximizing mana is key.
Therefore, this build is very easy to set up. You just need to pay attention to the following:
- Stack as much maximum mana as possible
- Use Mind Over Matter to convert mana into effective survivability
- Scale damage through Archmage rather than traditional spell scaling
This is a crucial concept for new players. Many beginners instinctively prioritize spell damage or elemental damage bonuses. However, in this build, mana is the primary damage stat, meaning gear choices should prioritize mana and mana-related bonuses.
Leveling Strategy
Since Shock Nova of Procession gem isn't immediately available, some temporary skills will be needed during leveling.
Most players choose Rolling Magma as their starting skill, a common early-game leveling spell that provides consistent damage and good coverage throughout the campaign. Another viable option is Holy Flame Totem paired with Fireball, a combination that can help players easily navigate the early chapters.
Around level 28, you can choose to specialize into Shock Nova or Firestorm. Extensive testing has shown both are viable, but Firestorm is slightly faster in terms of campaign completion. For example, completing Act 10 with Shock Nova takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes, while with Firestorm it takes approximately 3 hours and 10 minutes.
Due to this difference, some players might choose to level up using Firestorm first, then change classes after obtaining Shock Nova of Procession gem. Others might prefer to use Shock Nova from the start to fully learn the skill's mechanics. Either way is fine; you can choose according to your preference.
Backup Plans
Since this skill is a new spell, there's always the possibility of it underperforming. Fortunately, Hierophant offers several strong alternatives.
Possible transition directions include:
- Totem builds, such as Storm Burst Totems or Explosive Totems
- Ball Lightning of Orbiting, another popular Archmage skill
- Other mana-stacking caster builds
Because these builds have a high degree of overlap in their Passive Skill Trees, you can easily transition without completely reworking your character.
Gear Progression
One of the biggest advantages of this build is that it's very suitable for the early season. You hardly need any special gear; you can easily get started with basic rare gear.
However, as the build progresses into the late game, certain special equipment can significantly enhance its performance. For example, some powerful mana items and rare drops, such as:
- Pledge of Hands
- Anathema ring
- Void Battery alternatives or high-end wands
These items increase damage scaling and maximum mana, but are not essential for early game progression. For solo players, some of these items may be difficult to obtain due to their high rarity.
If your requirements are not high, you can use only regular equipment. However, if you want to use this build in the late game, you can buy Path Of Exile 1 Currency at 8% off from EZG.com with code MIRAGE to acquire it more quickly and efficiently to exchange for the equipment you want.
Defensive Setup
This guide also highlights two main defensive strategies: Blocking or Spell Suppression with Evasion.
Blocking equipment setup is relatively easy because it has lower requirements for equipment affixes. Spell Suppression requires extremely high agility, and almost every piece of equipment must have suppression modifiers.
However, it's important to note that Blocking is completely random. Theoretically, you can block multiple attacks consecutively, but you can also fail multiple times in a row. It's entirely based on luck. However, for most players starting out in the season, Blocking is still recommended because its equipment requirements are relatively simple.
Mobility and Utility Skills
This build also benefits from some powerful support mechanics. One noteworthy option is Frostblink of Wintry Blast, an improved version of Frostblink that effectively eliminates its cooldown when casting speed is high enough.
Additionally, since Archmage build itself accumulates a high casting speed, this movement spell becomes extremely smooth and responsive when clearing maps.
Another important defensive skill is Arcane Cloak, which converts mana into temporary protection and additional damage. With the right gem affixes and cooldown reduction bonuses, Arcane Cloak can maintain a very high duration.
Overall, Shock Nova of Procession Hierophant Build is primarily designed for clearing large areas of monsters. Its rapid lightning effects and stacking mechanics allow for efficient clearing of large groups.
That concludes this introduction to Path Of Exile Shock Nova of Procession Hierophant Build. Have fun playing!

















