Path of Exile 3.27: Hierophant Wander Buffed and Better Than Ever

The Hierophant Wander build has received a surprising series of buffs in Path of Exile 3.27, making it one of the strongest and safest archetypes for the new league. While the changes may seem small at first glance, together they create a huge performance boost that pushes Hierophant well ahead of the Elementalist for kinetic wand builds. Let's break down exactly why this is the case - from the direct kinetic blast buffs to new ascendancy synergies and key gear updates.

Kinetic Blast of Clustering Gets a Direct Buff

For a long time, Kinetic Blast of Clustering was already one of the best endgame mapping skills in Path of Exile - fast, smooth, and satisfying to play. However, its damage scaling, especially during early and midgame, was always a bit underwhelming. That has now changed.

In patch 3.27, the added physical damage from Kinetic Blast of Clustering was increased from 15% to 17% of maximum mana. It might not sound like much, but with a typical Hierophant running 7,000 mana in the late game, that's roughly a 16% early-game and 13% late-game damage increase. For a skill that already cleared maps like lightning, this makes the leveling and transition phase much smoother.

Kinetic Blast scales its damage based on added physical damage from mana, which synergizes perfectly with Hierophant's natural mana stacking playstyle. More mana directly means more raw power - and this buff gives that scaling even more punch.

The Wall of Force and Projectile Synergy

A new mechanic in this patch, the Wall of Force, opens up another layer of interaction for projectile builds. Normally, many of your forked or returning projectiles go to waste once they pass through or around enemies. The Wall of Force changes that - it acts as a surface that your projectiles can collide with, creating new explosions or ricochets.

The potential here is huge. If you position the wall behind a boss or a tough rare enemy, projectiles that would normally fly off harmlessly will now explode against the wall, effectively doubling your area-of-effect overlap. With Hierophant's 100% increased AoE from ascendancy nodes, this could lead to absurd burst potential.

However, the Wall of Force's duration is limited, and its exact interaction rules are still being tested. If it works as intended, expect this to become a core mechanic for high-damage wand setups.

Optimizing Projectile Spread and Fork Angles

Forking behavior also plays a crucial role in your damage consistency. In the passive tree, you can pick between increased or reduced projectile fork angles. Previously, most players preferred a wider spread for better map clearing. Now, with the addition of the Wall of Force, a tighter projectile angle might actually lead to more overlap and single-target damage.

This opens up new customization paths - a tighter spread means more explosions hitting the same target, while a wider fork still dominates in large open maps. Hierophant's flexibility allows you to adapt easily between the two playstyles depending on your progression.

Totem Ascendancy? No Longer Needed

In previous leagues, Hierophant players often had to invest ascendancy points into totems to patch single-target weaknesses. With the new buffs and additions, that's no longer necessary. Instead, Hierophants can now take advantage of Bloodline Extracts, particularly the Hunt Leader, which summons spectral tigers that grant bonuses to critical strike chance and attack speed when you crit.

If the internal cooldown is similar to wolves (around 0.5 seconds), these buffs will have nearly 100% uptime, providing roughly +125% increased crit chance and +35% attack/cast speed - all passive and free. This replaces one of Hierophant's previous dead ascendancy points with a meaningful power spike.

Gear and Skill Interactions

Another major highlight is the Grace of the Goddess amulet buff. Its flat elemental damage conversion was increased from 10-30% to 10-50% of physical damage as extra elemental. This roughly equates to a 150% gain in physical-as-elemental damage, making it extremely powerful for physical-scaling wanders.

The amulet also drops more commonly now, no longer being the rarest Maven item - though still costly to divine for top rolls. The new patch also introduces Rune Grafts, which can replace passive masteries with special effects. One notable graft, Refraction, lets projectiles chain and fork simultaneously while limiting the skill to one fired projectile. If this works with Kinetic Blast of Clustering (which technically fires one base projectile), the result would be an enormous power boost - possibly letting you drop Awakened Fork Support entirely.

Power Siphon of the Archmage - The Backup Plan

If Kinetic Blast somehow underperforms, Power Siphon of the Archmage remains a strong fallback. This transfigured gem scales lightning damage from mana instead of physical, providing 27% of maximum mana as flat lightning damage - a potential 2,000+ flat damage boost for a high-mana build.

Its innate Culling Strike also makes it excellent for bossing. Combined with Ballista Totems, Power Siphon can clear maps quickly while supplementing single-target damage when needed. The only caution is interaction with the Wall of Force - multiple totems might destroy your wall prematurely, so proper placement becomes important.

Guardian Start Considerations

There's also some interesting experimentation around starting as a Guardian instead of Hierophant. With Harmony of Purpose now granting 20-second Shrine buffs and Unwavering Crusade providing massive aura bonuses, Guardian can make early progression incredibly smooth. However, since the shrine nodes no longer interact directly with this setup, the trade-offs are real - Hierophant still offers the better late-game scaling for wanders.

Final Thoughts

The buffs to Kinetic Blast of Clustering, new projectile mechanics, and mana-based scaling options all point toward a golden age for Hierophant Wander builds in Path of Exile 3.27. You get stronger early-game damage, smoother scaling, and exciting new tech like the Wall of Force for maximizing explosion overlaps. Ample POE currency amplifies the damage.

Between the Hunt Leader's buffs, Grace of the Goddess improvements, and potential Rune Graft synergies, Hierophant has never looked this appealing. Whether you're a veteran wander player or someone looking for a safe, satisfying league starter, this might be your new best friend in 3.27.

MMOexp POE Team