[2.2] Occultist (Contagion + Essence Drain) Beginner starting build

And why do some people think Occultist+Deadeye is stronger than Occultist? I don't rate pierce at all for my build but I will use the gem in a 6L, witch can get a LOT more dmg from tree + can use 2 curses as well which is - depending on the situation - either +dmg (vulnerability) or defence (enfeeble) in addition to temp chains... I have no clue :-/

Also, what do you guys think of implementing frenzy charges? I might just try it with blood dance boots if I have no problem capping resists with coil equipped.

edit: also one thing I don't get in the passive tree, why do you go through Practical Application? It's basically 3 points for 20 dex 20 str, you could just take 2 int nodes to get to Cruel Prep and connect the tree from there.

I dropped cwdt+arctic breath and wand. Go whirling blades+faster attacks+fortify and your clear speed and survivability will surprise you. You don't need much cast speed anyway, so you'll be okay with a dagger. Just try it.

Just got Atziri down with this build. Favorite one in a while, thanks.

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Hephoran wrote:

What's your opinion on Golems? Right now I'm running stone bro for the life regen. But I'm in doubt between him and chaos golem.

Fire golem for % damage increase.

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PathOfShalti wrote:

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GGZII wrote:

My gear at the moment, level 70, 3.2k life and 4k es.

Think im going to drop the bloom point and go wicked ward. No idea about the curses as never used curses or blasphemy but for me it seems ES gear is best. My damage is slighltly lacking atm. 8K Dps per second is a little lackluster, hope it improves but not sure where the damage is going to come from. I guess I can get 50% damage on gloves, more spell on my shield and my gems with level, plus im only on a 4l.


Fuck, just realised if you want +1 Curse you have to take profane bloom (which frankly is not very good) so looks like im going to invest the 5 passives into the +1 curse and just have a little bit less life.

Honestly, profane bloom IS pretty awesome. Doesn't add all that much to clearspeed, but for bosses that have a lot of adds, the explosions are great.

Also, the 10% increased damage against targets who have curse is probably -not sure about that - an independent multiplier so it'd be 10% increased total damage, not base damage, which is pretty darn awesome too.

I'm playing life-based so I don't have the problem you have - obviously more ES doesn't really appeal to me. But yeah, honestly, I don't see myself dropping bloom.

Yeah I can see it now, I wasn't running curses at the time but I am now for party play so I can see it coming in handy. However the flat +100 es gives me about 700es and then not being stunning is nice. I can definitely see why it has it uses. I think the think with ascendancy points is ANY are good, its just personal preference

After some upgrades, im now on +\- 5k life 2k shield, and i have to admit it, its doing pretty well.

As anyone tryed and CI version of this?
And as far as items, what are you guys trying out so far? im using a dark fiend for the poison who boost pretty heavily the single target if you get to spam it on the boss\mob.

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wills0n wrote:

After some upgrades, im now on +\- 5k life 2k shield, and i have to admit it, its doing pretty well.

As anyone tryed and CI version of this?
And as far as items, what are you guys trying out so far? im using a dark fiend for the poison who boost pretty heavily the single target if you get to spam it on the boss\mob.

Just hit level 87 and my life/es values are same as yours. Using temp chain + enfeeble and feeling pretty safe is PHC.

I dont know about CI but i just planned to swap low life as soon as i get shav in my hands. Im using void beacon, wicked ward and vile bastion in my ascendancy tree and it feels great. My dps is 16.5k (lvl 19 gems and 5l) and im doing just fine without profane bloom. Abyssal cry is enough against blue packs and fatty stuff.

Wicked ward is kinda cool because when u start recharging your es, it doesn't stop even if your es bar is full. So it is basicly 4 sec regen with your recharge rate (581 atm with 2.2k es).

I dont know is this good idea at all but im still going to try it. My es hardly ever drop down to zero even though i have only 2.2k es. Im running t7-t9 maps atm.

My LL setup

very noob question but the link to the skill tree will not open if anyone can tell me what im doing wrong would be a big help.... thanks in advance - pizaro !

So I find it somewhat odd that you're prioritizing life nodes over es nodes so much, especially considering the es investment in the occultist tree. in particular, Unnatural Calm is only 3 points away, and Essence Surge is very close as well.