2.1 "The Empress Of All Maladies" Tanky Hybrid/Low-Life Dual-Curse Chaos Caster
 Yo! So I've been playing around with everything I can think of with the new chaos spells and I think I've finally settled on what I feel is the "best" chaos caster setup. Why is it best? Because it gets good damage in solo play WHILE being incredibly tanky AND managing around a 100+ IIR AND still being useful in party play when supporting your mates (indirectly i.e. not by directly killing stuff yourself). She's not complicated to play either - it's basically a 2-button build (well, we have Wither too for tough bosses, but I hardly ever have to use that). If that sounds good to you, then read on. The build can be made with either a Witch or a Shadow. The Witch will get more damage from her awesome starting Spell Damage nodes, but the Shadow can make up for it in tankiness by taking more of the Scion wheel and Unnatural Calm cluster ES nodes. If playing the Low-Life version, then this distinction disappears and the Witch ends up strictly superior. How much does it cost? This is a mid-price build. The only required unique is Bino's Kitchen Knife, which would cost about an exalt (we don't care about the roll). The main expense comes from getting gear so that we cap (or even overcap if you want, I am) all 4 resists i.e. we get high chaos resist too since we're playing hybrid HP+ES. A lvl 2-3 Enlighten also costs us a bit. The build can work with a 5-link, although a 6-link is HIGHLY recommended. If you want the MF (it makes gearing trickier cos we lose a ring slot and have to counter -20 all resist), then you'll have to buy an Andvarius ring too. All in all, the setup should cost you about 5-6 exalts + whatever the 6-link armor costs, if you can afford one. If playing the low-life version, then of course you'll have to fork out for a 5/6-link Shavronne's Wrappings, which will cost quite a bit. Is this build HC/Atziri viable? Well, at level 83, I'm currently at over 12k eHP, reflect immune (chaos duh!), corrupting blood immune, make everything around me slow as fuck and insta-heal to full ES as soon as any mobs die. So you tell me.
Passive Tree
I have two versions of the passive tree below. One is the tanky hybrid spec I play. The other is a low-life spec that will do a LOT more damage, but is...well, low-life - and so requires a Shavronne's Wrappings to play. It should still be pretty tanky since it takes pretty much all the available ES nodes there are.
Gear
She completely uses ES stuff with high life rolls (unless playing the low-life version, in which case life is useless). Chaos resist on gear is important since we're playing hybrid for the most effective HP (I'm at max chaos resistance atm) - again, this doesn't apply if playing low-life, although chaos resist will still help mitigate chaos damage when it comes. Some helpful uniques in this regard are The Vertex (or The Broken Crown) and Ming's Heart. However, rares will be much better. Also, don't forget to get enough Strength and Dexterity on gear. The tree gets you some, but you'll need the rest on gear. 111 of each will allow you to support all the needed gems at level 20.
My Current Gear
The rolls on Binos' don't matter (well, getting the chaos resist roll high would be nice, but that doesn't add to their price). I forced the 4G colors on that ES armor (Vorici 2G is your best option if doing that), however I'd recommend just getting an EV/ES chestpiece in order to make it easy. As long it has over 400 ES, you'll still be fine. The GG ES shield isn't required - indeed, mine is actually not ideal as it lacks spell damage. Andvarius is for if you decide to add in MF (in which case, try to also get some IIR on other gear). If you're not interested in that, then the free ring slot can make gearing even easier. I'd recommend having at least one Unset Ring so you can hold all the gems, but if not you can remove Inc. AoE from Contagion (don't worry, the spec makes most use of ED + Abyssal Cry so you won't lose much - Contagion is only needed to help deal with those annoying "Allies Cannot Die" packs).
Gem Links
Essence Drain(Quality bonus on it is very good!) - Void Manipulation - Controlled Destruction - Poison - Slower Projectiles - Rapid Decay
(Why no Empower? Cos we have no space, simple. It's not too bad, though. A lvl 3 Empower is effectively a 23% multiplier on our damage. We can do without that. And yes, I know you can use The Consuming Dark dagger to get around that, but it's just not worth losing a shield for imo. Also remember that the Poison support gem adds upto 120% increased poison damage of its own as well. I'm not actually sure which will add more to your damage - Empower or Poison. But I do know that one of them does add a good amount and allows a shield. So my choice is Poison. You're free to choose the other option yourself if you wish) Increased Duration/Discipline - Spell Totem - Wither Discipline/Minion Life - Flame Golem - Flame Dash/Whirling Blades (In the above two setups, you can choose between having duration on your Wither totem or extra life on your Golem. If you wear an Unset ring, then you can place Discipline/Flame Dash in it and keep both supports) Vulnerability - Temporal Chains(20Q) - Blasphemy(20Q) - Enlighten (lvl 3) (Quality on Temp Chains and Blasphemy will give you - along with the nodes on the tree - 30% curse effectiveness. This goes a long way in making mobs a LOT less dangerous to you and so it's highly recommended. Quality on Vulnerability only boosts physical damage and so is wasted) Cast When Damage Taken - Blade Vortex - Chance to Flee/Blind - Contagion (Perfect defense setup for this build. We get into the middle of packs quite often. It'll make white and magic mobs flee while carrying along your Essence Drain and Contagion - which it auto-casts - and Abyssal Cry with them, thereby spreading the damage all over :D. Also keeps them from hitting you, of course. We don't care about Chance to Flee not affecting rares/bosses since we can keep our distance from them anyway since there's usually only one of them. If you don't like the Chance To Flee mechanic, then you can switch it out for Blind instead) Abyssal Cry - Void Manipulation - Inc. AoE - Poison
Flasks
Pretty standard fare. Two life flasks with mods to cancel bleeding and curses. An Ample (a perfect Ample gives 2 uses) Jade of Reflexes to avoid damage. An Ample Quicksilver of Adrenaline to run around. And, if you can afford it, the new Coruscating Elixir unique flask comes HIGHLY recommended (else just put in another Quicksilver or whatever you prefer).
Jewels
Eldritch Knowledge unique jewel gives 30% pure chaos damage if socketed in the node above the Witch - use it! Besides that, on the others look for -
%chaos damage (best damage mod!) %damage %spell damage %spell damage while holding a shield %damage over time %projectile damage %max ES %max life %resists as needed, including chaos Protip:Any Mana on Hit on jewels works great with the Blade Vortex setup for helping top up your mana pool if facing issues with it. Life/ES on hit, however, are mostly too small to be of any relevance.
Bandits
I always like just going with the passives on Bandits as it saves me regrets when the next reset comes along. If you don't mind that, then I'd suggest taking Oak for life in Normal, but that's it - and only if going not going for the low-life spec.
Playstyle
Run into pack (auto-dual cursing them in the process) and cast Abyssal Cry, then hit the the nearest mob with Essence Drain. Done! As soon as he dies, he'll explode and damage his mates as well as poison them (which, with all our dmg boosts, is going to kill more or all of them). If they don't all die from the first mob, they'll definitely die from the next few to fall. If they hit you, then Contagion is automatically cast and so spreads your ED. This is further supported by your triggered Blade Vortex causing them to run away and spread the joy even more. Then it's really a question of what kills them all first - Abyssal Cry, the ED spread from Contagion or the poison spread from Bino's.
Whichever it is, as soon as they start to fall, any damage you might have taken will be instantly healed up by Bino's awesome regen (Fun Fact: If you kill a Corrupting Blood pack, you'll actually be immune to the bleed degen for half of its duration cos of the Bino's regen boost :D). If you're facing a boss with adds, try to surround him with them and he'll be nuked by his mates when they die to Abyssal Cry. If the boss is alone, then just hit him with Essence Drain, supported by your Wither totem. The "Allies Cannot Die" totems/rares are the bane of Abyssal Cry builds, however Contagion gets around them by spreading even if they don't die. If you come across these packs, then you can either try targeting the offending totem/rare or you can just let em' hit you a bit so Contagion can lead your ED DoT to it. You can also try wading through the pack to the offending rare/totem as your Blade Vortex will cause them to open up a path for you! :)
When in Parties
Your DoT ain't gonna hold up, I'm afraid (unless it's a small party). However, that doesn't mean you'll be useless. Your curses are still helpful, for one thing. Switch out Vulnerability for Enfeeble in parties. Your main task when in parties is to ensure every pack you come across has been afflicted with Abyssal Cry. That'll help speed up their clearing and it's ESPECIALLY helpful against bosses with adds around them.
Map Mods
If you want to run top tier Ele Weakness maps without losing any resists, you need at least 109/110% (for lightning) resists (not chaos, only elemental) in Merciless, which translates to 169/170% while in your hideout. Currently, I'm pretty much exactly at that threshold.
Minus max resist maps don't require any change. Just play a bit more carefully. This is basically a test of your eHP, really. No regen maps are a pain. You'll need mana pots. Not worth it, imo. Blood Magic is fine. We're not using a spammy mana/life-draining skill anyway. Just take more life pots, if needed. Curse immune maps are also fine. You lose the damage boost of Vulnerability and the slowing of Temp Chains, but you're still as tanky as ever. Added Monster Life hurts your Essence Drain, but your Abyssal Cry scales with it. Poison on Hit/Desecrated Ground maps are a joke. :D Reflect? What reflect? We chaos, bro! ;) Well, that's it. Let me know what you guys think. Happy grinding! :) PS: Bonus props for anyone who gets the reference of this builds' name. ;) Last edited by Exile009 on Feb 23, 2016, 7:30:57 PM Last bumped on Apr 11, 2016, 3:13:45 PM
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Reserved
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Updated with new defense setup. We've gained a gem slot as a result so we no longer need to rely on an Unset Ring. :)
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Videos please! :)
"Good thing they nerfed the carto, it wasn't fun to find one in every map." - Haborym
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" I'm afraid the biggest reason I often play tanky characters is simply cos my internet connection sucks so much. I play this game with lag (and even desync as I have no choice but to play Predictive mode owing to my high ping) as a constant companion and my biggest opponent. As such, I don't think I could ever record videos while playing this character to any decent degree. :/ | |
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Wanna try this build but don't have chaos/exalted enough yet and about the name <-< how did you find that ? You know what I mean XD
Waiting a video too~ | |
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Updated gem setup and added a Flasks section.
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when do u think its worth it to get zealot's oath?
IGN: hyrenfreak
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" As soon as you have more ES than life and have more than 30% chaos resistance. | |
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What you think about CI version?
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