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

Anyone here have a comment on clearspeed? I'm asking because Mannercookie attributed his choice to go Scion ED/Contagion based on the fact that 100% pierce is a must have (for him) and it is incredibly easier to get as a Scion. My char died before I got a chance to test it fully but I hope I can get a share of your experiences with this build!

I'm playing a variant of this build, hybrid ES/life with Zealot's oath. Works great right now at lvl 72 with awful self-found gear.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMAAAMeBAcEswceCPQOSBEtES8RUBGWE20UCRZvFr8abBslHU8fQR_HIvQkqiaIJpUrCit4LJwtizLRNbk26TpYPV9FR0WdSVFJsUuuTLNSU1KvU1JVS1XGXEBca13yYeJn_GpDbAttGXWedoJ8g3_Gg9uESIfLj_qTJ5Uul5WX9JrgoS-iAKcrp5usmK1KtNG1BLVItzC7Tb6KwFTAZsNtyAzLvc8V0B_VptfP2VvdX9-K37DjauQi5oHpAutj6-7viO_r8B_w1ffB99f5Nw==

3.6k ES, 3.4k HP.

@AureliusAsh

100% pierce is not needed, the skill gem is enough in my point of view, pierce is fine but you dont need it to proc all the time, with this much increased spell damage most of the packs die(normals,blues,yellows) with 1 contagion 1 ED. im actually using the energy shield ascendecy's to get more survivability since i dont think we need the corpse explosion thing, and i rather have the extra curse from the normal passive tree.

Sup guys, this is my version of the Witch skill tree, it's a bit more hybrid HP/ES making profit of the Wicked Ward Ocultist's notable and features 2 jewell slots. Also, chaos immunity items are very apreciated for this tree. If you like it, I can make a lvling path, I'll wait for your repiles!

EDIT: updated with a friend's suggestion, I'll leave both old and updated trees.

The old:

The new:

Here is my atizri run, needs work but shows the build can do it


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjtOWIxXBVg

playing this build in the current challange league, I tried killing Atziri for the first time, did it with no deaths :] very successfull!
my version of the build is sightly different, I run Heretic's Veil and replaced Arctic Armour with a 3rd curse - Enfeeble, my weapon of choice is The consuming dark for the poison, shield is rathpith.
for body armour I went for belly of the beast for the massive hp increase, and I got Null and Void rampage league gloves, because Rampage is fun, considering switching them for winds of Change.

you can see full detail & passive tree (that I changed a little cuz of mana issues) in my profile https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Tomdahan/characters :)

edit: made some changes tonight, dropped vulnurbility curse, don't feel its doing so much, instead i opted for temp chains & enfeeble double curse and clarity for mana regen, that allowed me to drop a total of 8 passive skill points that I spent for the projectile speed & damage and extra life.
also switched Slower Projectiles out and now using Pierce, since it gives the same amount of "more projectile damage" but actually got a benefit.

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Palaryel/characters

Thats my take on the build. As of now I'm sitting on 3k HP, 3k ES (had a bit more with my 5 link chest armor, got 6 link couple of hours ago, didnt manage to roll it properly yet), ED hits for around 3-6k + 23k DoT. The -% nodes mana are needed if you want 3x curse, since I was there I opted going for Method to Madness as well. Moving forward the plan is to take 2 or 3 more jewels (for a 4 or 5 jewels total), Unnatural calm, and Constitution. Ascendancy points went to Void Beacon, Profane Bloom and Wicked Ward.

If I decide going for 4 jewels I'll skip going for Constitution and drop the points in all the nodes in that line apart from the jewel, still not sure tho.

Alternatively there might be an option of dropping the 3rd curse as well (at least as an aura) thus freeing up 11 points from Charisma and Method to madness and getting more HP in the Constitution nodes.

Decided against Poison support gem and Consuming Dark dagger since I prefer more overall damage from a high Spell Damage weapon and Empower.

EDIT: Just realized Consuming Dark might actually proc off Profane Bloom explosions, hence it is a worthy option for high level maps!!!

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Palaryel wrote:

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Palaryel/characters

You have the characters tab hidden, please make it public! :)

Is it possible to use some key stones as some kind of variant of this build (EB, MOM for example)? Or it's just useless waste of skill points and this build doesn't have any problems with survivability.

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Kellhus108 wrote:

Is it possible to use some key stones as some kind of variant of this build (EB, MOM for example)? Or it's just useless waste of skill points and this build doesn't have any problems with survivability.

I haven't tested any keystones so far with this kind of build on Ascendancy, but (theorycrafting) IMO EB/ZO will only be useful(ish) if you go full HP, triple Blasphemy on mana. I still find more profitable to use Shravone's Wrappings/Solaris Lorica (cheaper version of the former) and go hybrid or full ES.