[2.1] Damning-King - Tri-Curse ED+Contagion | Super Fun | AoE Smasher | ST Melter | Atziri Viable

Update: 28/1/15
* Added some info about requirements to use Belly of the Beast.


Updates History (Since 2.1 and above):





I often visit this thread, so feel free to ask any question in this post and I will answer as soon as I can. I gently ask not to whisper me in game :-)

It is HIGHLY recommended to read the whole guide. I answer common questions, add additional details and explanations, and you better not miss it. I try to make the guide as short and clear as I can.


Essence Drain's DoT dps with Essence Drain gem level 21, and Empower level 4:




Videos (watch in HD quality):
* Ignore the mana flask, it's not needed.

[2.1] Gameplay video (level 80 or so - low tier map):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfzB2Tynee4

[2.1] Gameplay video (level 91 - maps tiers 8-10):
https://youtu.be/MxY73EftCY8


[2.1] Atziri kill:
https://youtu.be/ytu6uMDhwK8

[2.1] Overgrown Ruin map (tier-12) with quite hard mods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeO1fzN9FQ8

[2.1] Abyss map (tier-15) with two bosses:
https://youtu.be/SSN-wyBjkXk

[2.1] Vinktar Square (Unique map level 80):
https://youtu.be/YjJEz9pFH9g

[2.1] Rigwald 80 is DEAD, 0 deaths (picture):




Highlights:

- Very fun, you are very active at the playstyle, unlike some builds that makes you numb to what is going on in the game.
- Can do all maps:
* Curse immune maps may not get the curses but we are also strong without them.
* For No Regeneretaion maps I suggest dropping Vulnerability for extra free mana and using an instant mana potion. Since we don't spam skills, the mana lasts quite long and when you use all the mana, you restore all of it in 1 click.
- Strong for both AoE and Single Target DPS.


Final Passive tree:


* If you want more life from tree itself, you can skip 1 jewel (means extra 3 nodes) and take the HP nodes in the witch area ("Cruel Preperation", need 3 points for that).


*Witch tree variaton:




Passive tree progression by level:

Note: We are fairly defensive during the leveling progression until late 60's. Do not expect to melt things at early game, but prepare your soul to OWN a bit later on ;-)

- The tree has a lot of Jewels slots because we enhance our DPS a lot from jewels.
Recommended stats on jewels: Spell damage, Damage Over Time, Chaos Damage, Spell Damage while holding a shield, Projectile Damage, % to maximum life
Note: Aim for jewels with 2-3 DPS stats + % to maximum life. Since we're using many jewels, the total % to max life from them will be significant.
- We invest 3 points in favor of 12% Reduced Mana Reserved, which solves our mana issues.
- Projectile Damage affects Essence Drain's initial dps AND DoT's dps.
- Area Damage DOESN'T affect any of our skills (this was answered by GGG), therefore this stat is useless to us.
- The benefits from "Skill Effect Duration" nodes:
* Contagion lasts longer.
* Eessence Drain's DoT & spread lasts longer.
* Immortal Call lasts longer.
* Fortify lasts longer.
* Poison on enemies lasts longer, which means they can have more stacks at once.
* Wither's debuff lasts longer.
* Wither's totem lasts longer.
* Abyssal Cry's debuff lasts longer.
Recently many people asked me "Does skill effect duration really that important for us?" as you can see, the answer is YES.



Bandits:
Normal - Help Oak [Life]
Cruel - Kill all [Skill Point]
Merciless - Kill all [Skill Point]


Gems:

Essence Drain - Void Manipulation - Rapid Decay - Controlled Destruction - Poison - Empower
(for 4L drop Poison, for 5L drop Empower).

Contagion - Faster Casting - Increased AoE - Blood Magic

Wither - Spell Totem - Faster Casting

Blasphemy - Temporal Chains - Vulnerability - Enfeeble

Abyssal Cry - Cast When Damage Taken - Imortal Call - Increased Duration

Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify/Summon Flame Golem

- Although we do not have Endurence charges, the Immortal Call has a base of 0.4 seconds, which is 1.4 seconds in our build with all the duration nodes from the tree.
- Keep your CWDT gem level 1, and Immortal Call level 3.
- Basically, the recommended skills order is contagion -> ED -> Abyssal Cry (Makes our AoE even stronger). If you encounter packs / rares / unique bosses that you want to use Wither against, preferebly use it as first skill.
- Essence drain is very strong for Single Target when linked to Poison.
- If you have enough free mana, you can try swapping Blood Magic gem with Void Manipulation for extra damage to Contagion.
- If using Flame Dash, you can Dash through bosses to deal an additional DoT. It might sound useless, but it's actually quite nice.
- A lot of people use Arctic armour on such build. We don't use Arctic Armour but we have amazing defense from the curses themselves. We have both Temporal Chains and Enfeeble to keep us safe, and Vulnerability for extra DPS. this combo ROCKS!
- Wither is an amazing skill, and he helps alot when killing Blue packs / rares. You can use it also on White packs, but Contagion + Essence Drain alone melt this packs before they even move.


My current gear:



* Can use rare evasion chest (or hybrid with evasion) with life & resistences.
* Can use rare boots, aim for: high life (80+), 2-3 resistences and movement speed (20-30).

* Requirements to use Belly of the Beast:
In order to use Belly of the Beast you will have to sort resistences in a different way, since a rare chest is a big source of resistences. You should aim for resistences on:
* All / most jewels.
* Amulet / Talisman.
* Shield - a very good source for resistences.
* Tweak the passive tree to get the life+all res node from witch area:



Recommanded flasks:



The HP flasks instantly heal you and recharge VERY fast (I use this flasks on all my builds, they are way too amazing to not have them).
The Jade flask is great for much more evasion, I use it alot while farming maps (Also recommend to roll the % increased evasion during flask effect stat on it).

Some of my jewels:



* Atziri steps are awesome if your resistences are capped without resistence in boots (although its hard to roll 4 red sockets or 3 red + 1 blue sockets on evasion only boots).

- Required Uniques: Alpha's Howl, Bino's Kitchen Knife, Doedre's Damning.
- Optional uniques: Belly of the Beast / Lightning Coil (chest), Winds of Change (gloves), Atziri's step (boots).
Note: Bino is great for this build, spreading the poison and making our AoE stronger. However, you can use a rare dagger with decent Spell Damage (+can craft DoT damage with Leo master) for more DPS. This will make your Single Target stronger, but from my tests the AoE is slightly weaker and I like AoE ownage.
- Required stats: As much Life and Mana as you can. Bigger mana pool = more un-reserved mana.
- Minimum recommended un-reserved mana to run comfortably: 100+ for 5L, and 120+ for 6L (can run with less but will have a bit more struggle, but really nothing dramatic).


Additional Details:

- The following gems aren't needed as 20q:
* Vulnerability (quality gives more physical damage which we don't have)
Just keep this gem level 20. quality is a waste.


More builds created by me:



"I was once damned, now it's your turn."

Fixed the passive tree link

Update:
Considering getting a Bino. Can work out great with Poison gem.

Yes. Bino works awesome.

what did u use to lvl up, and at what lvl do u think we should start using essence drain?
thx for the guide ^^.

I have seen this poison gem discussion on another platform and it sounds promising indeed. And thanks for the guide, I think it can provide a good introduction for both softcore and hardcore players. I'll be keeping an eye on this one too.

Would you mind putting a leveling tree?

"

Painsbringer wrote:

what did u use to lvl up, and at what lvl do u think we should start using essence drain?
thx for the guide ^^.

I would start -leveling- them asap. However, they are fairly weak at the beginning.
It started to gain strength when I started taking nodes of Chaos/dot damage, bought decent spell daamge waepon & shield (Jewels enhanced the dps by alot aswell).

I will give further information very soon in the guide + Leveling tree.

Will also make atziri video [you will be amazed how easily he's done with this build. its redioclous].


@Nighus - yes, u have amazing both single target +aoe damage, and also high amount of HP pool.

Also, this is very safe build against reflect since there is no chaos reflect.

Gonna update this guide properly tomorrow.

Looks like a lot of fun! And I just happen to have the required items.

Question: How did you deal with Atziri's curse reflect? Did you just pop curse immune flasks non-stop?