[2.4] The Master of Agony - CI / ZO + Tri-Curse Essence Drain / Contagion Trickster

Is it worth using The Overflowing Chalice instead of a normal Sulphur Flask?

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Muspelful wrote:

Is it worth using The Overflowing Chalice instead of a normal Sulphur Flask?

It can be used, but I don't see big advantages in doing it.

A "magic" sulphur flask can have two useful mods (usually experimenter's + staunching or heat) which are probably better-suited into this build. And it lasts even longer. I usually have 100% uptime on it, since it has three charges.

The overflowing chalice cannot have 100% uptime because of its inner structure.

is Piercing Shots that important? i mean do u really value chance for ED to pierce an additional time so much, since it will spread out anyways? or do i miss sth here? :)
thanks in advance!

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randagast wrote:

is Piercing Shots that important? i mean do u really value chance for ED to pierce an additional time so much, since it will spread out anyways? or do i miss sth here? :)
thanks in advance!

I think it's quite important.

If you played - just like me - Essence drain since its existence (Talisman league start), you certainly know how much of an annoyance totem maps or "other allies cannot die" mobs can be, since you need to hit them first to take all the pack down. And when they are grouped with a crazy ton of other foes, this issue can immensely slow clear speed.

Now we can use the Pierce gem because it gives a solid more multiplier since 2.2. With Piercing Shots we go to 100% pierce chance so our clearspeed isn't nerfed hard in those situations. You can always hit whatever you are aiming to, and for me this is a very good QoL option to have. Plus, it comes with a nice 16% projectile damage increase, which double dips with poison damage on single target fights, so it's not that bad. :)

Seriously I wonder about trying out Occulist CI version. I know It is much slower because Whirling Blades got nerf (now they are slower 18% then in 2.2) but I was thinked to throw away Consuming Dark Dagger and use Breath of the Council anyway.

The idee is ... instead of whirling blades using quicksilver flask. Wanna pick up Alchemist node from passive skill tree so my flasks (Basalt, Quicksilver and Granite) get buffed by 40%. That means 56% increased MS from Quicksilver (instead of 40%) and 28% Physical Damage Reduction from Basalt (instead 20%).

That new chaos Sceptre plus Void Beacon should give me extremely high damage.

This is my tree:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMBAN-Ku_x88H6h6QIVfpEHadhLrhsl2VttGRFQIvQ1uWwLpysdT5MnLR--in_G74hMs6EvytMRlsHF-TdFfrQMDkjsGIhC188OXOq6XfK3MI_6cLssv05tHdlJsWr6DXwrChQJ8NVcQBXXpcRDVFfJES8DHhNtSVGHy4aunDL0cSj662MfQSaIp5tWY4LHuJO1SHWeHb756BzcdoJtbM8VM4dBh-vujxrIDOd0A-6cvqcI2xro1g0fj0adrhB7Iuo8KJuhGmy-OsM6GGr31_fBieAZipu1eC-ESFKv5liXBvsJhMV85Vxru02TH8Si9tpYB8Nt3V9JE9-YGo9n_GJaxveSdA==

I know it is 121 points skill tree but I can throw away some of them like Pothency of Will. I don't need that 3 points which give me 45% increased skill duration since new Sceptre offer: 40% increased Chaos Skill Effect Duration.

It's, obviously, a possible solution.

You are going to lose:

- 100% pierce chance and go down to 50% (!)
- 2 jewel sockets (!!)
- 56% chaos damage
- 10% damage over time
- 16% spell damage
- 24% projectile damage
- 150 base ES (250 from trickster's ascendancy vs 100 from Occultist's)
- 60% spell damage, 40 int (=20 base mana and 8% increased ES) AND the free Poison (!!!) from Consuming dark
- all Trickster's defensive utilities and QoL / offensive options
- Whirling Blades
- Fortify (!!!!)
- an utility flask

to gain:

- some minor ES from the tree (about 20% increased)
- the Alchemist notable
- 10% radius, 40% chaos duration and 80% chaos damage from Breath of the Council
- the Essence Surge utility which synergizes well with the Occultist's ES recharge one
- some curse efficiency (30%) and radius (20%)
- the Occultist's Void Beacon
- a Quicksilver flask
- Three free gem sockets on gear

So you will end doing less tooltip damage, having no poison (your single target will be a lot worse) and less final ES / defense, no full pierce and no whirling blades, but you should at least compensate the tooltip damage loss with the Occultist's utilities and curse efficiency (in non-curse immune maps).

In my opinion, it's perfectly doable, but in the end you will lose some single target damage, defense and clearspeed (apart from the movement skill boosting, Trickster has a ton of free cast speed in its ascendancies, plus you are not taking Coordination in your passive tree, losing another 6%).

If you go the Occultist way, I suggest these gem tweaks:

- add Fortify in the Golem setup in place of Vaal Discipline
- add Flame Dash in the Contagion setup in place of Vaal Lightning Trap
- put Vaal Discipline and Vaal Lightning Trap in the weapon and link them to Increased Duration

Have fun! :)

May I ask why you don't pick up witch AoE? It's pretty good for contagion clearing, unless you just rely on Q Contagion + Inc AoE gem.

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AuraZed wrote:

May I ask why you don't pick up witch AoE? It's pretty good for contagion clearing, unless you just rely on Q Contagion + Inc AoE gem.

It's an alternative that can be chosen. The path of the Savant route can be sacrificed to get the witch AoE nodes, but I've found them to be not as mandatory as I thought. We're talking of 15% radius, which isn't even a half of what the support gem gives... and that 15% costs four passive points, it seems to be really a big investment.

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djnat wrote:

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AuraZed wrote:

May I ask why you don't pick up witch AoE? It's pretty good for contagion clearing, unless you just rely on Q Contagion + Inc AoE gem.

It's an alternative that can be chosen. The path of the Savant route can be sacrificed to get the witch AoE nodes, but I've found them to be not as mandatory as I thought. We're talking of 15% radius, which isn't even a half of what the support gem gives... and that 15% costs four passive points, it seems to be really a big investment.

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Yeah that's understandable. Thanks for the fast reply!

Hello again :) - took the weekend to level my first ED/Cong build following the wonderful advice by DJNat and it's been going swimmingly well. Currently 76 on PHC and farming Dried Lakes @170 million P/hr with no notable gear other than Consuming Dark + Brinerot's + 5l ES/Eva chest - currently playing hybrid still (this will be first time CI so alittle terrified plus wanted to get my Labs out of the way).

If anyone is interested this is how I leveled/what my tree looks like currently (while DJ is still sorting leveling section) - aiming to get 4 more levels (80), finish the Corruption wheel and then respec CI/ZO:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYCALDYrounK_66u-NiWt-YdoLIDLTRgsco-sM6j_oNfOvucNR0gQkgo6M8tto7-aRMg-q6YeJVSyaVYqydqmyMj0bXz_k374hJsbQMXfJsC5uhHb4D7jOHaoz1b8gUV8l1nlxAh8unm88VCPTAVLzqGYrmWIngSROTHx9B62MDHhEvKwr316cID6s2PRNtJoi3MBQJakMWvyL0vorK06EvEVA1uR1Pwuy0xfnoJ6nEopUuSVHw1QcetUi4kxzcjxoki5MnDkh_xm0ZKlt59kM2UuwRlpcGotkAAA==

@DJNat - was wondering your thoughts on LL, it'd give us a nice boost in damage without much defensive lose (nodes behind CI keystone can be replaced elsewhere for a 3 node of max ES)? Obviously an expensive Shavs will be needed (or I guess cheap Solaris for non-HC).

Thanks!