[2.3 Video Guide] Tanky Beginners Contagion/Essence Drain Occultist [HC/SC & Atziri Viable]

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Szakal1200 wrote:

Hello
What do you think about abyssal cry in this build?

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LucidCon wrote:

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Szakal1200 wrote:

Hello
What do you think about abyssal cry in this build?

I am actually experimenting with Abyssal cry and I found it is overkill on normal mobs and just one more thing to cast and use my mana. But on tanky blue packs I found it can help. In the end I probably will phase it out.

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LiftingNerdBro wrote:

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LucidCon wrote:

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Szakal1200 wrote:

Hello
What do you think about abyssal cry in this build?

I am actually experimenting with Abyssal cry and I found it is overkill on normal mobs and just one more thing to cast and use my mana. But on tanky blue packs I found it can help. In the end I probably will phase it out.

This was my experience as well. You are already pretty active playing this build and another skill, just isn't worth it as you already deal enough damage :)

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i have to agree and disagree with that statement for the following reasons:
1. i agree if you are playing with rares you should take ed+contaigon
2. i disagree if you are using bino or the bino/consuming dark combo... just watch my video because the abyssal cry exploisons will poison and spread due to binos

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LucidCon wrote:

tldr;
Must get all life in tree before running the lowest of maps
Must get high es gear asap, all gear with mid to high life rolls, not MF friendly early on, ED+contagion combo is clunky and can be a hinderance,
Getting interrupted and stunned is annoying,
DPS is insane even at lower levels,
Played around with blasphemy+vuln+temp chains realized it requires staying inside packs more than i would like

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LucidCon wrote:

Well I feel I can give a rough assessment after getting to lvl 66 and started running t1 white maps.

First thing I drastically notice is getting stunned every time I get hit- I have 2200 hp and 1200 energy shield. The interrupt from stuns makes an already clunky mechanic (ie contagion + ed) even more slow. Even if I go back to dried lake to farm the stuns and intterrupts is annoying.

I think overall the build is fine but it must be the mechanics of the skills that I do not like. It could just be against my playstyle. The fact that you have to use two skills to do what most builds do in one is tiresome. Not that I am lazy but it is due some of the mechanics of the skills I will describe further.

It is great when your combo works and entire packs melt but more often than not your tiny projectile (which is slow to cast and has slow projectile speed) happens to miss, or hit something in the terrain or actually hit a high health mob then you have to do the rotation again just to get the pack down, meanwhile you will be getting chased around getting interrupted and stunned. And if you happen to throw down contagion in the middle of a pack but happen to miss the closest mob to you in that pack, inevitably that mob aggros first which then runs into your ED projectile preventing ED from spreading and you have to do it again.

Again, the DPS is strong, the DOT portion in the tooltip of ED at 66 is anywhere from 8k-12k depending if I am using slower projectiles - which I find way too slow. Even using faster casting gem and getting cast speed on jewels helps but the rotation is still slow.

I then respeced a few points and played around with dual cursing with blashpemy using vulnerability and temp chains, ED+CONTAGION, then whirling blades into a pack, then Abyssal Cry. Seemed ok but the basic problems of survivability remains because you have to sacrifice discipline and arctic armour. Personally, I feel caster's have poor options for defenses, the BS and the hoops you have to go through to get the basic of mediocre defenses is sad. I wonder about an iron will version.

Perhaps if I spend a lot of currency on more ES gear but I still wonder if that would even prevent the stun locking when getting hit cause your health pool is still low. I do still have to get more life in the tree, get better ES gear with high life rolls and so on. So maybe if I hit that magical threshhold of health to prevent being stunned things will improve but I am unsure if I can motivate further. There is definitely a gear barrier and would not recommend this to a new league first char or solo self found as it will require high increased energy shield gear with 60-80+ health per piece.

I also had hoped there would be wiggle room in the gear to allow for magic find. I do think that is possible but not early. The magic find on pieces would be so insanely expensive because if the build requirements. I could not afford wearing any unique MF pieces or rare MF items because of sacrificing sustain, defenses, and dmg. I could see getting more MF going in mid 80's as you could afford it. Note to remember that you can link item rarity but it will only work on the dot that has been on the mob the longest, therefore link it with contagion not ED.

tldr;
Must get all life in tree before running the lowest of maps
Must get high es gear asap, all gear with mid to high life rolls, not MF friendly early on, ED+contagion combo is clunky and can be a hinderance,
Getting interrupted and stunned is annoying,
DPS is insane even at lower levels,
Played around with blasphemy+vuln+temp chains realized it requires staying inside packs more than i would like

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woodyou wrote:

Noob question here: why use slower projectiles instead of faster projectiles? Is it just the +quality bonus? or is there another benefit to using it as opposed to faster projectiles? Thanks in advance!