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

ContEss builds aren't spamming anything wich reduces the value of mana or cast speed

Mana leech IS an option. I usually just swap out one of my green gems for mana leech when there is a no regeneration map.

Yes, it's slower, but you can still clear it.

Also, while cast speed does have diminished value vs. traditional casters, it does have some value. Even more so if you're using Poison.

Solely based on tooltip, the direct damage portion of my Essence Drain is a little under 1/2 the DPS of my DoT component (assuming spamming, of course). So based on this you can think of cast speed as being half as valuable (although again, it assumes spamming), but it also provides utility with flame surge and I've found it useful for using contagion in clearing.

But if you use Poison, just napkin mathing Poison having a 300% modifier or so (this will vary, but it should be close enough for the example) means the damage per cast of the Direct-Damage-plus-Poison will be comparable to traditional casters.

Skill tree in the begining of page doesnt work.. how i can see it ? Tnx.

Can you please update the Passive Tree an give some hints for good gear?

Looking at your build I thought that you can make to it more damage if you get IC. Then you throw out all the Life nods, that gives you pretty many points to get into Dex Tree.

Compared to your build you get a little bit more Dex, a little bit less Str, Much more Int. Much more ES, more Evasion, while a little bit less armour, a little bit more resistances and immune to chaos (which makes you immune to reflect). More Avoid Stun.

There is more Spell damage, more projectile damage. The only cons I see in this, is less area damage and radius.

More movement speed, which makes the game more fun.

It uses 1 more tree point, but this come from bandit reward, as you will not take the Life bonus on normal.

The Tree below for ExileCraft:


So do I miss something?

none of the links to the skilltree work they are outdated please fix :)

This build is great so far, currently finishing up merc and going to attempt to switch to a tri curse variation before jumping into maps.

I don't have nearly enough currency to afford the 4ex heretic veil so I'll be using TC and Enfeeble on blasphemy, with the CWDT - CoH - firestorm - vuln method described in earlier posts.

I didn't learn about the changes to pierce gem until I read this thread so I am stuck with slower projectiles (20q) for now.

I've also taken void beacon, wicked ward, and vile bastion instead of malediction, I don't deal any non chaos damage so the price seems odd for just a +1 to curses, and I lean more on ES than hp currently so the change made sense to me, profane bloom is what I am aiming for once I finish uber lab.

My build so far is





What kind of flasks is everyone using for this build?

Just looking for any comments or advice, I think I won't have any problems doing end game content.

does anyone have a skilltree for this?