ARC 1-Button Build? — Question from a former player

Hello,

I played a fair bit of PoE2 a while back, but ragequit at update 0.2.0e when they changed Arc so that it could no longer apply Shock.

Up to that point, my whole goal was a one-button "chain lightning build" which was working very well with Arc (+Shock mechanic) and I was happy with my damage as I upgraded my gear etc. However, losing Shock completely killed my damage output and thus build viability altogether.

I've read through all patchnotes relating to Arc (from 0.2.0f to 0.4.0), and the thing that stuck out to me the most was "Arc is now a Projectile, and no longer a payoff skill".

The problem is, my overall skill/build knowledge is now very out-of-date, so I have no idea whether that Projectile change is a big enough deal to make up for the original loss of applying Shock or not.

My question is:

Is the current Projectile version of Arc (combined with any other synergistic mechanics) possssibly strong enough to be a 1-button build again now?

I'm not looking for an exact build or super specific setup here, but if anyone might be kind enough to give me some starting points to look into as a build... I would be extremely grateful!

Cheers!

theres a full arc Bloodmage build on youtube. it looks okay i havent tried it.

i had arch in my dueling wand, without any damage support gems. i cast it like 4 times on a fully buffed citadel boss and it took him down to half health. actually not bad lol

Have you considered wearing Call of the Brotherhood and making your Arc freeze? That's pretty fun for me. I get it, if that's not your thing though.

Hey,
it is possible though still worse than Spark.

The main reasons for that are Arc requires manual aiming, direct line of sight, lacks synergy with other skills and needs high monster density to make use of chaining (within the 6 meter distance). (The cursor targeting option can help a bit.)

The skill is very weak without lightning infusions too.
The best way to generate them (imo) is using the Elemental Equilibrium keystone with (automated) Living Bomb casts. (Potentially Snap, Siphon Elements or simply Orb of Storms with: +1 to orb limit (via Secrets of the Orb), Stormweaver's infusion ascendancy skills and high cast speed would work too.)

Finally I would recommend following (lineage) supports:
Dominus' Grasp (doubles chains)
Efficiency II
Sione's Temper (Wildshards and/or additional projectiles from the passive tree & rune (Thane Girt's Rune of Wildness) /Fork / Multishot)
Rakiata's Flow (expensive! inverts resistances of monsters)
Zenith II (30% more damage on full mana & mana efficiency)
Freeze (great with conversion to cold from Call of the Brotherhood)

Feel free to check out my Cold Spark build to see some good passive tree options (since I used Arc for leveling for it's theoretically superior damage over Spark).
Link: https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/profile/cfc54fe1-a958-4414-92fb-0ebfd13e8c9c/builds/53c2f8d1-b5db-4adb-bfa1-04dffe8d5a59#passive-tree-0