[2.6] EK NOVA Pathfinder/Occultist Millions of DPS. UPDATED w/ Leveling Guide!

I am currently L93 and just managed to land a 6link Vaal Regalia. Now I am debating of going poison or not... If I want to run poison, I kind of want to run two curses, but getting the +1 curse as a Pathfinder on a bit of a budget (~4ex) is pretty much impossible. Maybe I will figure something out, but I am not even sure if the poison variant can do Guardians and such, as EK's single target is just awful compared to its map clear. Furthermore, chaos damage based builds have pretty much no aura's which are actually beneficial to them, especially because Void Manipulation decreases the elemental damage if one should run HoI/Hatred.

What are your opinions on EK with Hatred, and HoI for the juicy shatters vs. EK with Vulnerability and Projectile Weakness/Temp Chains for the juicy poison damage. Is there also a way to get +1 curse easily? Doedre's Damning is kind of tough, since you have to give up a lot of ES and resists in the ring slot since I am running a Valirium already. The BiS would be a +1 curse Victario's Acuity, but that is 15ex at the moment, something I cannot afford.

This is my first real returning character (I've stopped at the same league as Atziri) and I had a blast. Currently 24/40 at lvl 90 and will prob stop. Greatly enjoyed doing most of the content (didn't try uber atz or guardians + shaper) and they were fairly easy with the build. Stuff I did differently/ thoughts from a returning noob:

Went Shadow Trickster simply cos I wanted to play as one. Leveling up as shadow is probably easiest out of the three. Felt fine in terms of defense and offense. I got atleast 36% increased AS/Cast speed from the ascendancy all the time which greatly helps with the dps and in terms of def I got 8% dmg reduction as well as large bonus to your ES (and evasion I guess). Also very mobile since 36% increase AS/CS effects your mobility skill as well. I used whirling blade + fortify + iAS for mobility + def.

Instead of getting a good 6L vaal regalia I went with a cheaper Skin of the loyal (1.1ex). Since SotL gives a +1 to gems I went for empower for a way stronger EK. I had a fairly cheap (in terms of ES) setup and still had 10K so SotL to me was a pretty legit replacement for regalia. Having high flat ES from Trickster ascendancy helped undoubtedly. Not entirely sure whether its viable on flaskfinder without investing a huge amount of money in good gear but for witch/shadow its prob fine and much cheaper.

Had 0 mana problems even without Vessel of Vinktar or warlord curse. Trickster ascendancy gave a large amount and has the chance to get some back each time you cast a spell. For bosses I still used Vaal clarity if I wanted to facetank but for the really strong ones the combination of the 'undying flesh' talisman (just drop one infront of the boss and most will pick it up) and the boots which gives leech if you kill a mob recently meant I had no mana problem. Undying flesh on enemies gets them to passively cast desecrate (we dont care about chaos damage) and a squishy Raise Zombie constantly. 0 mana problems in no regen+hexproof map as well.

I went with Heretic's veil + additional curse Karui ward for Temp Chains + Vuln. I leveled with hatred but TC + vuln quite noticeably stronger.

Since I wasn't flaskfinder I found juggling potions really annoying and ended up never really using my Vessel of Vinktar in most maps cos 0 mana problems and wanted potions for status removal. Prob should have bought a Kiara's determination but money :(

Never used wither totem because poor link setup and never felt I was lacking in dps. Didn't use frenzy charges cos no Taste of hate for frostbite and didnt feel like I was lacking in dps. Didn't feel like the iAS/CS of frenzy would have been that effective when Trickster already gave so much. I maxed power charges instead.

Thought build was incredibly effective for its price. SotL (1ex), Heretic's veil (.5ex and optional), +1 curse KW (2ex and optional) but every other item I had was 10c or less and prob had an average cost of 3c. Did all the content except for Guardians/Shaper + uber atz but prob needs a bit more investing for the true end game content.

I admit I'm fairly salty that I got a lvl 90 and lvl 75 char and I found 0 exalted/divine orbs entire game. I found my only ancient reliquary key at lvl 89 (and obviously got shit). Easily my unluckiest char in terms of loot rng.

If I do play this build again and nothing effecting this build gets changed (Poison prob gets nerfed though) then I would prob play as flaskfinder or an occultist with Darkscorn bow and Soul strike quiver.

Any thoughts about anything I did right/wrong or questions?

edit: also I thought Heretic's veil looks so fucking bad that I bought a cosmetic to hide it.

the big question: is it HC viable?

What should i update first i'm on low currency btw
gear

skilltree

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Malbec wrote:

the big question: is it HC viable?

You know, I always play HC, and I always die, but it's always my fault. If it was a failing of the build I'd play another build.


@imabang, upgrade your weapon and your belt. use a wand and just run if you're using a quicksilver flask

Hey!

I'm excited to start this build and I'm level 15 right now. I was wondering if you could please put leveling trees up?

Some of the passives do not make sense early on (e.g., Method to the Madness circle, Entropy, etc.). So I was just wondering if you could make some different ones to show pathing while leveling.

Thanks so much for your time.

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i'm a bit confused, maybe you can clarify something for me. you don't pick up pierce on the tree, so you either don't have 100% pierce or you do get it but in a way that i can't see / am unaware of. if you could reply i'd be very grateful because i believe that pierce would be pretty amazing for map clear, but i'm somewhat unwilling to invest into building this until i get an answer. otherwise, the build guide is very well written and i do appreciate you taking the time. Have a good day!

Did anyone ever test if a dagger/wand crafted with essence of delirium offers higher dps?

Also, loving the build so far, thanks for the guide. Around lvl 55.. leveling with skin of the loyal, standard gem setup but empower instead of controlled destruction. I'll probably stick with this when I transition to ES at first and see what kind of ES levels I can achieve.

"

CircAGG wrote:

Hey!

I'm excited to start this build and I'm level 15 right now. I was wondering if you could please put leveling trees up?

Some of the passives do not make sense early on (e.g., Method to the Madness circle, Entropy, etc.). So I was just wondering if you could make some different ones to show pathing while leveling.

Thanks so much for your time.

ring of blades jewel asap (level 11 or so)

18 points www.poeurl.com/beQh
45 points www.poeurl.com/beQs
65 points www.poeurl.com/beQu
85 points www.poeurl.com/beQt