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

Skill trees don't load for me?

You have to use the offline skilltree :/ for whatever reason...


Playing this build right now, act 3 normal now, died several times already.
We have to include some kind of defences, otherwise i dont see this build clear merciless.
Only HP wont make us survive without mitigation or meat shields...

Going through all uniques right now to find something

Ok here are some suggestions from first look through item database :

Shield/Offhand
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Victario's_Charity Victario's Charity, Shield
Life,AllRes+ChaosRes, increased Aura radius (does it work with blasphemy aura? )

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Broken_Faith Broken Faith, Shield
12% AllRes,0,4% chaos dmg leeched as life,more dmg when no energy shield and chance to gain unholy might (+chaosdmg)

Helmet
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Heretic's_Veil Heretic's Veil
+ Energy Shield,+2 Level of curse gems,supported by lvl 22 blasphemy,reduced mana reservation (possible another defensive aura?)

Body Armor
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Carcass_Jack Carcass Jack
+Life,+AllRes,+20% Radius of Area Skills

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Geofri's_Sanctuary Geofri's Sanctuary
+Life,+AllRes,Zealoth's Oath and has some armor and energy shield

Ring
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Lori's_Lantern Lori's Lantern
+AllRes,increased lightradius,+ChaosRes and speed on low life + enemies are unlucky


Combination
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Soul_Mantle Soul Mantle
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Atziri's_Mirror Atziri's Mirror

Id suggest these two Items as a combination.
Soul Mantle has + Spelldmg,+Energyshield, spells are supported by spell totem and you can place an additional totem. Thinking of linking another totem with summon skeleton or raise zombie to get some meat shields. Downside would be "Get a random lvl 20 Curse on totem death".

Counter this with Atziris Mirror -> AllRes,Curses on you reduced by 50%, curse reflect.



Everything else would come down to high life and defensive stats on rares i think.

Thought on this?

"

Marthuk wrote:

What about

?

Can give us up to 40% increased Chaos Damage. It may be worth it?

It's a decent option. Unless you're doing something weird with your skill tree (and getting an int node just for 5% damage is a bad idea) it's probably only 20-30% damage which puts it on par with or slightly better than a 2 damage mod jewel and a but under a 3 mod one.

"

Summoner wrote:

Does Mana Gained on kill work with mobs killed by the combination of ED and contagion?

yes it does!

Is it me or profane bloom actually reduces clearspeed? And it's in the way to dual curse occultist node

profane bloom is bugged at the moment. enemies that explode don't spread ED. that's why there are situations where it actually can reduce clearspeed.

"

klinolol wrote:

profane bloom is bugged at the moment. enemies that explode don't spread ED. that's why there are situations where it actually can reduce clearspeed.

I was under the impression this was fixed in either 2.2.1b or c, but the patch notes aren't very descriptive so it's hard to tell.

I'm trying this build. Currently on Cruel third act. So far no survival issues, on the other last character I played was Cold Snapper, which was quite squishy, but survivality came from utility of Cold Snap, that was even more buffed by Elementalist. So I guess I could handle low defenses, but we'll see.

My main concern is, how to handle mana? Regen could be, but I find it kinda lame. On Kill helps a little, On Hit doesn't work, Leech is not an option, so what then? I guess good old fashioned mana bottle could be the solution. Or is using mana bottle too embarassing to use in Merciless XD

I personally erased all mana issues (and made no regen maps a joke) by going EB / MOM / ZO. But it's a completely different approach, you can check my ED build in the Scion sub-section if you are interested.