[2.4 Essence] The Current State of Cospri CoC Discharge

- My character is in Essence Softcore.
- I'm not nearly as rich or as good as crafting as other cutting-edge coc discharge players so my gear's mostly poor-person stuff.
- I didn't even consider publishing until I had decent progress in the game and before I was confident about what is optimal, but I wasn't going to sit idly by while these other coc discharge guides mislead people.
- My guide may also mislead you since I'm still not sure what the best choices are.
- This build is expensive, but I don't think it is more expensive than coc was last league when a well-regaled Vagan dagger cost 10ex (Cospri's is half that), Voll's devotion was 15ex (now it's 1/3 that), and a good es shield cost 15ex since essences didn't exist.
- All screen shots are taken using my level 94 in-game skill tree ( http://poeurl.com/Pau ) which differs from the guide.

-Offense-
Shield charge with 6 power charges: http://i.imgur.com/4N18PTr.png

Cyclone with 6 power charges: http://i.imgur.com/4V0kcgI.png

Discharge - controlled destruction - increased area of effect: http://i.imgur.com/7tvPxLN.png

Discharge - controlled destruction - concentrated effect: http://i.imgur.com/ClHIuBq.png

-Defense-
Only with auras (Purity of fire, purity of lightning, discipline): http://i.imgur.com/YHCeJ3X.png .
I'm missing at least 100 flat energy shield by not having any on my belt. That would push the es closer to 10k.

Base assassin tree:
http://poeurl.com/Pba
* The left side of the tree has place-holder points for Intuitive Leap (unique jewel). The 3 intended points are +1 Power Charge, Faith and Steel, and +1 Endurance Charge.

There's a couple points leftover which can be used to fill out whatever your weaknesses are at the time. Some ideas as to where these points can go:
- The tree doesn't have enough dexterity to equip Cospri's Malice (requires 212 dex). The 30 dex node between witch and shadow is enough if your gear doesn't have dexterity.
- If you have low energy shield (es), you can fill out the scion es wheel and/or go for Unnatural Calm like so: http://poeurl.com/Pbc
- More attack speed improves your clear speed. http://poeurl.com/O93
- More spell crit/multiplier increases your tooltip. http://poeurl.com/Pa9

-Weird stuff section-

Normal: Kill all (+1 skill point) - for min/maxing.
*If the math in my personal skill tree or screen shots don't add up, it's because I helped Kraityn in normal for the +10% all resistances. It was a budget choice made so that I could purchase higher es gear that had less resists at a substantially lower price. If I ever get over-resist capped enough, I'll respec to get the skill point.

Cruel: Help Kraityn (+8% attack speed)

Merciless: Help Oak (+1 endurance charge) - if not using a +1 endurance charge belt.
Help Alira (+1 power charge) - if using a +1 endurance charge belt (not recommended).

Assassin
In order (first to last): Unstable Fusion, Deadly Infusion, Ambush, Assassinate.

Elementalist
No particular order: Shaper of Desolation, Beacon of Ruin, Liege of the Primordial, Paragon of Calamity.

Pathfinder
No particular order: Nature's Adrenaline, Nature's Boon, Master Alchemist, Master Surgeon

Trickster
No particular order: Walk the Aether, Ghost Dance, Shade Form, Swift Killer

* It is important that you don't have added fire or lightning damage anywhere (gloves, rings, enchants) because it will mess up Elemental Equilibrium.

-Absolutely necessary-
NO ACCEPTABLE REPLACEMENTS


Percent attack speed is the most important stat on this item (max is 14%).


5L is acceptable. You can get a 6l one of these by using chance and scouring orbs on what you get from the Emperor of Purity divination cards.


-Important gear-
Not build enabling but very important

"Can't I play this build without Voll's Devotion?" "Your defense will suffer greatly without it."


The 16% increased attack and cast speed enchant is best for clear speed, but all the Death's Door's I've enchanted landed leech first, and I wasn't going to roll over it.


Having 2 Elreon rings and one +2 mana gained on hit jewel is enough to reliably cast in no regen maps. If blade flurry is used instead of cyclone, a +2 mana on hit jewel isn't needed. A second Elreon ring may also not be needed when using blade flurry because the 6l will only cost 7 or 8 mana depending on your gem choices; shield charge would have to sacrifice increased aoe to get it down to 10 mana cost.
Diamond Elreon rings with accuracy are what people think are best in slot, so they're grossly overpriced. I just bought pre-crafted rings which cost even less than crafting my own rings.


-The rest of the gear-

The unfamiliar Attack and Cast speed mod on these gloves is from using the Essence of Insanity to craft. Gloves with that mod are highly recommended for clear speed.


I do not think the enchant is that important if it is costing you too much energy shield. Then again, I've never played this build without the enchant so I'm just guessing.



I do not actually use this belt. This is just a random belt I found earlier in the league that has the stats you want: reduced flask charges, resists, and flat energy shield - on a crystal belt base (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Crystal_Belt). I recommend not having a +1 endurance charge belt this league and instead having a high-es crystal belt with the aforementioned stats.


-Flasks-

The Dying Sun can be replaced with a Rumi's Concoction or just a regular ruby flask.
Only the penetration Vinktar will not screw up Elemental Equilibrium.


-Jewels-
Unique jewels:
- Intuitive leap (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Intuitive_Leap) is used to acquire 3 notables in the left-most jewel socket like so: http://i.imgur.com/UAcxCvd.png


- Energy from Within is used in the socket between Witch and Shadow like so: http://i.imgur.com/mNCU2Ia.png
- Inspired Learning (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Inspired_Learning) can be used in the top socket above Witch, but it is not recommended.


Rare jewels:

Crit multi jewels make your tooltip look bigger to impress the ladies.


Attack speed jewels increase your clear speed. For those unaware, not all attack speed rolls are created equal. Attack speed for swords can go up to 8% while the attack and cast speed mod can only go up to 4%. So with only 2 well-rolled mods, you can get up to 14% attack speed which can make these jewels quite cheap.


Having one jewel with +2 mana gained on hit is enough to reliably cast in no regen maps provided you also have two -8 Elreon rings. If blade flurry is used instead of cyclone, then a +2 mana on hit jewel is no longer needed.

Non-assassin gear

Non-assassin classes suffer from lack of crit. One possible remedy is using "Horror" gloves (crafted with the Essence of Horror) to bolster the crit chance of cyclone. The links would be cyclone - cast on crit - blade vortex - additional accuracy/power charge on crit. I've found that using increased crit as the 4th link is overkill.

Main hand: Discharge - Controlled destruction - Increased area of effect / Concentrated effect (swap for single target).

I have tried other gems besides controlled destruction:
I am finding that controlled destruction does the most damage due to status ailments.
The life leech gem is extremely weak and adds very little on top of Vinktar's leech.


Gloves: Shield Charge - Faster attacks - Fortify - Increased area of effect.

Auras: Discipline - purity of fire - purity of lightning - enlighten (at least level 2).
If the aura nodes on the tree look strangely unfinished, it's because you only need 25% aura effect to change the +4% max resistance on a level 20 purity to +5% max res.

Chest: Cyclone/Blade Flurry - Cast on critical strike - blade vortex (level 1) - increased critical strikes - additional accuracy - power charge on critical strike.
The 5l is without either additional accuracy or power charge on crit depending on how much accuracy you have between your rings, gloves, and helm. Dropping power charge on crit hurts because it affects both cyclone and blade vortex, so you should try to keep it.
Cyclone level doesn't matter much since Cospri's Malice doesn't have any physical damage by itself, but I would advice keeping blade vortex at level 1 to reduce physical reflect damage.

Blade flurry is faster than cyclone and has substantially less mana cost - no much so that the mana multipliers on its links don't even matter, and there's also no need for a +2 mana on hit jewel with it. This opens up the possibility of using faster attacks instead of additional accuracy since mana multiplier doesn't matter anymore.

Vaal haste - Vaal discipline - increased duration.
An ancestral protector gem swap can be made here in place of increased duration in fights where you don't have vaal skills (e.g. Izaro).

Cast when damage taken - immortal call - Warlord's mark

Flame dash


-Non-assassin links-
One of the biggest arguments against going a non-assassin class is that the links are different and arguably do less damage. You also have to chose between Horror or Insanity gloves.

Main-hand: Discharge - Increased crit strikes - Inc AoE / Conc effect.

(Horror) Gloves: Cyclone - cast on critical strike - blade vortex (level 1) - additional accuracy or power
charge on crit.
I found that increased crit strikes as the 4th link was overkill.

The rest is up in the air.
As a warning to aspiring elementalist coc dischargers, having 2 golems and horror gloves means you'll have too many gems that you'll want to include and you'll have to sacrifice important gems.

My favorite way to level this league is with dual flameblast totems, but unfortunately, shadow is too far away from the Ancestral Bond keystone, so I leveled as blade vortex instead. These are some good leveling weapons that I recommend duel-welding:

Some other nice leveling uniques are:
which I use in combination with the Mind Over Matter keystone just for leveling.

Level 72 is the earliest you can use a level 21 gem, so at that level you can respec into a tree like this http://poeurl.com/PaV (this version has all the dex on the tree in case your gear has none).