[2.4] The Master of Agony - CI / ZO + Tri-Curse Essence Drain / Contagion Trickster
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Evening djnat - just passed away in Prophecy HC and wanted to try my hand at ED/Cog and you have the most throughout and active approach (in replying) I've seen from all the guides so I just want to thank you so much for that!
I've never played CI before, and not coming into this 2nd build with too much $, I'm hoping I will be able to make this work to wrap up the remaining 8 Challenges for the MONKEY :D. From what I can see, 4L 500 ES Chests arent that badly priced (5L's go for 30c) - and I won't be getting a Veil so as you suggested I will need to get a 200 ES Helm and run just 2 Curses (with that in mind do I still go passive for additional curse or wear the ring - maybe a combination until I get to higher level, using the ring earlier?). My last question is around the leveling section, I know your working hard on it, but would love if you could throw anything together - as I've never played CI before I assume (as you've said, but I've never been on this side of the tree before so a little lost) we pick up life nodes on the way up until Merc Dried Lakes then we transition into CI. With all that said - would you suggest this for a NOVICE CI'er/someone on a budget - should I maybe look at the life version of ED/Cog floating around (this is not belittling your build in the slightest)? I'll be guided by you as the pioneer in what seems to be a fantastic new build meta. Last edited by Deathlythoughts#2299 on Jun 9, 2016, 10:08:29 AM
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" The "positive" thing about not using the veil in a first approach to the character is the fact that it does not have resistances on, so you just want to arrange your character knowing that the endgame headpiece will be a no resistances one, i.e. balancing your stats / res around other gearslots. Usually our resistances' powerhouses are: 1. Body armour 2. Gloves 3. Spirit Shield 4. 2nd ring or both rings (both only if using a corrupted +1 chayula, thus not requiring Doedre's) 5. Lightning on Brinerot whalers 6. Jewels To get two curses you use the ring because it has no level requirement so you can use it as soon as you get blasphemy (lvl 31). The +1 curse passive comes a lot later in the game and it is only a damage boost. You are going HC so you prioritize survivability, and getting the third curse later shouldn't be a problem at all. While you "wait" for heretic's veil, if your resistances are capped, you can find a very good ES helmet without res at a very low price. About leveling: there are a lot of life nodes that require little to zero travel pathing to get while leveling. And they should be prioritized over ES nodes until the transition to CI. When the transition is made, all those life nodes get respecced into ES ones. However, if you aren't an experienced CI user, the life version by Ghazzy is extremely solid and good to start, because it requires a lower budget to gear. My CI version requires a slightly higher budget to start but when you get the currencies, at higher levels of gear it really shines (I'm currently aiming at 13-14k ES and 45k Essence Drain tooltip, the defensive stats will be similar to the ones you can see in the opening post, if not better). Remember to go for an alternative aura setup for curse immune / hexproof maps (our curses are Temp Chains, Enf and Vuln - so GBB colours, you want Grace + Discipline + Clarity to match those colours in those maps). CI is the top survivability option to go once you get used with it, but it requires a little practice. It's your choice. :) If you need advices / tips & tricks while leveling, feel free to add me in friend list in game, or simply ask here on the forums, when you want. Last edited by djnat#4628 on Jun 9, 2016, 11:26:00 AM
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Would it be crazy to spec Zealot's Oath earlyish (Say, around level 50-55ish), WITHOUT taking CI? It seems like my life is always full and my ES mostly partly-empty so all that ED regen is going to waste.
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No, it wouldn't be crazy. You can choose the solution that feels more comfortable with your current stats / gear.
If you get zealot's oath earlier, you regen ES with it and you can always refill your HP with a life flask, so it seems to be a good choice. I'll add this specific info into the core guide, thanks for pointing out! Last edited by djnat#4628 on Jun 9, 2016, 3:31:10 PM
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thought about switching the stone golem with a chaos golem. i could take the 30 str node out and could lvl it to 20 (4% phys reduction). any reason i should not do that?
Last edited by Scarfi#8468 on Jun 10, 2016, 12:18:14 PM
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" I guess it's a matter of preference. I find Stone golem really tanky, and the life regen it gives is very good for our character, since it translates into permanent ES regen (exception made for no regen maps) thanks to Zealot's Oath. |
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Good news for all the Essence Drainers!
In the Prophecy League, Brinerot Whalers (usually exclusive to Warbands' League) are cheaper than EVER! Even cheaper than they were in Perandus. So the complete endgame gear setup can be achieved in this league too, thanks to Warbands packs spawning in some prophecies and dropping related items. |
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What you think about Occulist version for ED/Contagion? Occulist offer Void Beacon (-20% chaos res) and high ES regen + I feel it is better if we decide to go for LL (using AA) instead of CI.
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come on man...every damn build now needs a heretics veil, 5ex MINIMUM on even new prophecy league.
Sure, I can run dual curse setup with blasphemy and avoid the helm, but then I have what, 10% mana? is that enough? god damnit. |
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" This is a common question I already answered some days ago. I'll quote that answer: " " As I said in a previous post, Heretic's Veil is a DPS upgrade for the build, and it's not "needed" but "desired". If you don't own / can't afford one, you can go dual curse (Enfeeble + Temporal Chains) with Blasphemy, having plenty of unreserved mana (38%) to use, until you can get the Veil, which you will eventually do. With the Veil you can add Vulnerability to the curse setup and it's like having an extra MORE multiplier for Essence Drain. |
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