Affordable Heatbearer Build for Chaos Orb Farming in Path of Exile 2-ELD.gg

Path of Exile 2's Dawn of the Hunt league introduced an array of innovative build possibilities, but none are as creatively devastating-or thematically scorching-as the Heatbearer build, driven by the unique charm Bearer's Anguish. This guide dives deep into the mechanics, gear, and gameplay of a self-igniting POE 2 Currency Orbs, chaos-scorching caster that effortlessly clears entire screens while setting itself ablaze for power.

It begins with a whisper: heat. The screen lights up with fiery novas, explosions ripple through walls, and enemies collapse in purple-tinged flames. This isn't your typical spellcaster or ignite build. Instead of slinging fireballs or burning with conventional damage-over-time spells, the Heatbearer channels self-ignition to fuel massive chaos-based ignites via a charm that activates with every critical hit. If that sounds chaotic-it is.

But it's also remarkably efficient.

Core Mechanic: Bearer's Anguish and Self-Ignition

At the center of this setup is the Bearer's Anguish, a unique charm that releases a fiery nova when you become ignited. Crucially, the nova always ignites nearby enemies and its damage is based on 500% of your maximum life-not spell power, not cast speed, and not gem levels.

The trick to triggering it consistently? Self-ignition via critical strikes, enabled through the Infernalist Ascendancy and the Grinning Immolation notable. With a fast-hitting crit-based spell like Ball Lightning, you can rapidly trigger Bearer's Anguish every time you land a crit. However, since the charm removes the ignite after activation, there's a natural cooldown window until you can ignite yourself again.

This makes cooldown management and life scaling the two central pillars of the build.

Turning Fire Into Chaos: The Blackflame Ring

Normally, ignite deals fire damage over time. But thanks to the Blackflame Ring, that damage is converted into chaos, which opens up an entirely different axis of scaling. Why is this beneficial?

Chaos resistance is usually much lower on monsters than fire resistance.

Wither debuffs can now be used to increase enemy chaos damage taken.

You can shift your curses and scaling from fire penetration to chaos-based debuffs like Despair.

While the ring doesn't "convert" damage in the typical way, it alters the type of damage dealt by ignite-a subtle but powerful distinction. Plus, it turns your fire nova's visuals into an eerie purple blaze. Style points matter.

The Gearing Guide: What You Need to Burn

This build is extremely affordable to start and can be assembled by level 33-making it one of the smoothest campaign experiences available.

Core Uniques:

Bearer's Anguish: Triggers your nova when ignited. Core to the build.

Pragmatism Armor: Removes the need for charm charges. Corrupt it for extra rune sockets and more max life.

Blackflame Ring: Converts your ignite to chaos and increases ignite magnitude.

Bejeorn Belt: Reduces the duration of Bearer's Anguish, letting you trigger novas more frequently.

Alpha's Howl (optional): Grants more area and spirit for smoother gameplay, but requires significant Dexterity investment.

Rare Gear:

Focus all rare gear on maximum life, resistances, and attributes. Some key considerations:

Helmet, Gloves, and Boots: Stack life, resists, and movement speed. Crit bonuses are optional luxuries.

Weapon: Look for added fire damage and damage over time multipliers. Since the nova isn't a spell, crit chance or spell damage modifiers don't help here.

Shield (second weapon set): Use a unique like Alchemer for mana recoup or any defensive shield to help during blink cooldowns.

Jewels: These are critical for max life, ailment magnitude, critical strike multipliers, and life/mana on kill. You can equip up to three of a special life-boosting jewel.

Triggering the Flames: Your Skill Setup

The main active skill isn't what does the damage-it's just the trigger. Ball Lightning is ideal due to its:

High hit rate

High critical strike chance

Low mana cost with a low-level gem

Recommended Links:

Ball Lightning + Ambush + Critical Weakness + Pinpoint Critical

Blasphemy + Despair + Temporal Chains (or cast curses manually if low on spirit)

Blink for movement, swapped in via weapon set if needed

Withering Presence to debuff chaos resistance passively

Malice (from scepter) to stack critical chance

You'll also want to use Mind Over Matter for defense, converting a portion of incoming damage to be taken from mana instead of life.

Playing the Build: Chaos Ignites, Long Range, Massive Clears

Pros:

Incredible clear speed: The nova goes through walls and terrain, obliterating everything in range.

Low button press: Just keep triggering and repositioning.

Boss melting (eventually): Once the crit lands and Bearer's Anguish triggers, bosses melt.No need to scale gem levels or spell DPS.Cons:

Damage inconsistency: If you don't crit, you don't nova.

Low defenses: Requires long-range kiting and dodge-rolling.

Not great against chaos-resistant enemies-though rare in most content.

For map clearing, the build is nearly unmatched. Pinnacle bosses are a bit trickier-you'll need to wait for the nova to proc from a crit, which introduces a little RNG.

Ascendancy and Passive Tree Tips

The Infernalist Ascendancy is the core, as it:

Enables self-ignition on crit

Provides massive critical damage bonuses

Summons an Infernal Hound, which absorbs damage via the Loyalty support

Notable Passives:

Prioritize maximum life, fire/chaos damage over time, and ailment duration/magnitude.

Avoid penetration nodes-penetration doesn't affect DoTs.

Use Mind Over Matter for mana-based survivability.

Pick magnetism/dissipation for managing mana remnants and sustaining your spirit pool.

If you're short on spirit or mana, consider taking the Clarity and Cannibalism passives for minor support boosts.

Leveling Tips and Transition Path

You can equip the build's core uniques by level 33. Until then:

Level with a standard spell setup like Spark or Ember Fuselade.

Focus on hit damage-not ignite-early on.

Don't spec into DoT nodes until your Bearer's Anguish is equipped.

Complete the first ascendancy trial ASAP to unlock Grinning Immolation.

Once the charm, armor, and ring are equipped, the build becomes trivially strong for the rest of the campaign.

Final Thoughts: Purple Fire and Chaos Reign

Even after the bug fix that nerfed the ease of self-ignition on crit, the Heatbearer build remains one of the most unique and satisfying to play in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt. Its playstyle revolves around positioning, patience, and knowing when the purple nova will fire off to melt elites and bosses. It thrives in mapping cheap POE 2 Orbs, demolishes rares, and offers a satisfying "boom" every time you crit.

With affordable gear, top-tier visuals, and unparalleled clear, this build truly lives up to its name.