Path of Exile: How to Craft and Use a Trigger Wand
This guide covers how to craft one, why it’s so powerful, and how to maximize its use in your build.
1. What is a Trigger Wand?
A Trigger Wand is a wand (or sceptre) with the crafted modifier:
“Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill, with a 8 second cooldown”
When equipped, any spells you socket inside the wand will automatically cast when you use any skill—attack, movement, or another spell.
This mechanic is particularly popular for:
Utility buffs (Desecrate + Bone Offering for Necromancers)
Curses (Enfeeble, Temporal Chains, or Elemental Weakness)
Automated debuffs/damage (Wave of Conviction for exposure, Storm Brand for shocks)
2. Unlocking the Trigger Craft
The trigger craft is a bench craft from Jun’s Immortal Syndicate.
Step-by-step unlock process:
Engage with Jun Ortoi in Act 7 or later to start the Betrayal system.
Defeat Syndicate members and manipulate the board until you get Catarina, Master of Undeath as the safehouse leader of the Research division.
Run the Research Safehouse with Catarina as leader to unlock the Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill craft.
Once unlocked, it’s permanently available on your Crafting Bench in your hideout.
Tip: Focus on moving Janus Perandus or other Research members into leadership to quickly reach Catarina.
3. Base Selection for Your Wand
When choosing a base for your Trigger Wand, consider:
Caster Base Types (for implicit spell damage, critical strike chance, or cast speed):
Profane Wand – high base spell damage
Convoking Wand – for minion builds, allows minion mods
Opal Wand – great for pure spell DPS builds
Item Level:
At least ilvl 70 to roll most high-tier caster mods.
For +1 to all spell skill gems, aim for ilvl 82+.
For minion builds like Summon Skeletons or Animate Guardian setups, Convoking Wand is the go-to choice.
4. Crafting Process
Here’s a reliable mid-budget approach to crafting your Trigger Wand:
Step 1 – Acquire Your Base
Buy or drop a high-item-level wand matching your build’s needs. White or magic bases are fine.
Step 2 – Roll Desired Prefixes
Use Alteration Orbs or Essences until you hit one strong caster prefix:
+1 to all spell skill gems
+1 to all minion skill gems (for minion builds)
High-tier spell damage or minion damage
Step 3 – Lock the Prefixes
If you’re happy with prefixes, craft “Cannot roll Attack Mods” to protect your wand from junk rolls.
Step 4 – Fill Out Suffixes
Spam Augmentation Orbs or use Harvest crafting to get desirable suffixes:
Cast speed
Critical strike chance for spells
Elemental damage to spells
Step 5 – Add the Trigger Mod
Go to your Crafting Bench and apply:
“Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill”
Cost: 3 Chaos Orbs (varies by league economy).
5. Ideal Gem Setups for Trigger Wands
The 3 socket slots in your wand should be reserved for automated utility or damage skills that benefit your build without manual casting.
Common setups:
For Minion Builds:
Desecrate + Bone Offering + Flesh Offering
Automates corpse generation and buffs block chance or minion attack/cast speed.
For Elementalist / Spell Builds:
Wave of Conviction + Curse on Hit + Elemental Weakness
Applies exposure and curse automatically during combat.
For Chaos/Poison Builds:
Wither + Spell Totem + Multiple Totems
Creates automatic wither totem spawns when attacking.
The wand does not reserve mana for triggered spells—so you can load it with costly utility skills without hurting your main attack rotations.
6. How to Use in Gameplay
Once crafted, the wand is plug-and-play:
Socket your desired utility or damage spells.
Map your main attack/movement skills as normal.
Every time you use an active skill (including movement skills like Flame Dash or Shield Charge), the wand checks the 8-second cooldown and triggers all socketed spells instantly.
Tip: If your skills require corpses (like Bone Offering), pair Desecrate in the wand so it always spawns corpses before the offering skill fires.
7. Pros and Cons
Pros:
Fully automates utility skills—freeing up your focus for dodging and damage.
Saves keybinds for more important active skills.
Works in nearly any spell-based or hybrid build.
Cons:
8-second cooldown means you can’t spam-trigger constantly.
Limited to 3 sockets—forces you to prioritize.
Requires Betrayal progression to unlock.
8. Advanced Crafting Tips
Multi-Mod for Perfection: After getting a +1 gem prefix, craft “Can have multiple Crafted Mods” and stack Trigger + Cast Speed + Spell Damage.
Influence Mods: Shaper/Elder wands can roll special affixes like “Socketed Gems are Supported by Spell Echo” for extra power.
Fossil Crafting: Use Corroded + Metallic Fossils to bias towards caster mods while avoiding attack mods.
9. Example Build Synergy
Necromancer Minion Army: Trigger Wand automates Desecrate + Bone Offering so you can focus on summoning and boss mechanics.
Self-Cast Elementalist: Automates Wave of Conviction + Flammability for smooth exposure/curse uptime.
Occultist Chaos DoT: Automates Temporal Chains + Despair for maximum debuff layering.
10. Final Thoughts
A Trigger Wand is one of the most impactful quality-of-life upgrades in Path of Exile. It doesn’t just save clicks—it turns passive utility into a constant, automatic buff cycle, giving you more uptime on debuffs, defenses, and cheap POE orbs offensive boosts. By combining smart base choice, targeted crafting, and a gem setup tailored to your build, you can transform your gameplay flow from frantic key-spamming into smooth, efficient destruction.
If you invest a little time into Jun’s Betrayal system, the payoff is massive: a custom-crafted wand that works for you every step of your journey through Wraeclast.
