[2.6] Kikazaru's Cursed Occultist--CI Soulmantle RF Totems Uber Iz, Atziri, and Guardians down

Because you love totems, particularly rf totems, but you are tired of playing a squishy life based character. Because you have always wanted to use a soul mantle in HC but feared the negative consequences. Because you like the idea of a build that can not only completely ignore every curse the game can throw at it, but welcomes them for the increased power they provide. (Maps with extra curses of any kind are a delight with this build)

Key Build Features:
1. Uses newly buffed Soul Mantle (free lvl 20 spell totem with 50% increased health link available from lvl 49 + extra totem) for early powered up righteous fire totems (since RF totem damage is based on totem health and totem health is based on totem level) and to generate curses on our character.

2. Uses dual kikazaru rings (40% curse reduction each) coupled with rezzes set to 150 (instead of 135 for a normal merc cap OR 169 for an overcap) to be able to functionally ignore the negative effects of all curses.

3. Uses a 20% increased damage per curse self-flaggellation jewel to further buff the damage of our already powered up totems.

4. Dual blasphemes Flammability and Temp chains with massively buffed AOE for good additional offensive and defensive capabilities.

5. Avoid's Ancestral bond, using dual totems only, to take simultaneous advantage of elemental equilibrium (-50% mob rez) and elemental overload (40% more damage for 8 seconds post crit) via orb of storms.

6. Because of the dramatic extra damage we get from the sources above, wields ephemeral edge and a pure ES shield for significant defense coupled with whirling blades capability.

7. Rounds out defense with discipline, vaal discipline and newly buffed Kaom's roots (yes, kaom's roots on a CI build) which have the advantage of functionally granting us stun, chill, and freeze immunity all at the same time.

8. Has the usual benefits of CI--larger damage tanking pool than a life build (10k+ ES with reasonable gear) and chaos immunity.

Attack: Cannot post you numbers, since none are provided for RF totems, but produces 2 rf totems with sufficient AOE to (together) reach nearly across the entire screen when placed next to each other, sufficient to rapidly melt trash in the T13 hexproof -max rez gorge map I ran just before posting this guide, and sufficient to make Atziri's phases relatively brief (though not instantaneous) when used with conc effect instead of inc aoe. While leveling from 49-69 (pre-ci) melts all enemies so fast there is barely time to put down the totems for non-bosses.

Defense at lvl 83

ES (with disciplione up): 11090
ES Regen (not recharge): 669/sec with stone golem (Because a totem RF build does not leech, ES regen becomes very important for general defense)

Elemental Rezzes: All 150+ (In this build, because of the dual kikazaru rings, 150 res is the point at which you are double-overcapped. That is to say, you can sustain being cursed with both ele weakness and an element specific curse in a red map and maintain 75%+ resistance.

Block: 25%
Armor: 671 5% mit or less
EV: 0 due to boots

Immunity to stun and knockback and ability to continue casting, fighting and whirling at full speed when chilled or "frozen" via kaom's roots. Don't underestimate the value of this in a CI build. I feel that, even though they provide 0 additional energy shield, kaom's roots add tremendous defensive value to the build by handling the stun/freeze/chill issue in a single slot.

Key Uniques:


Soulmantle: Heart of the build. Grants a free link to lvl 20 spell totem with 50% increased totem life useable from lvl 49. Grants an extra totem without the use ancestral bond. Grants us random lvl 20 curses (used to power the self-flaggellation jewel) every time a totem goes down.

2x Kikazaru rings: Key component of build. Grants us a total of 80% reduced curse effect, allowing us to be double overcapped for red maps with elemental rezzes of only 150, and rendering all non-ele res related curses relatively trivial. Incidentally, provide some lightning res and 2ES/level of regen with zealot's oath.

Ephemeral edge: Defensively important. Provides use of whirling blades (best tactical escape in the game imo) and up to 50% increased ES.

Kaom's Roots: Defensively critical. Provides our CI build its immunity to stun and ability to ignore the effects of chill and freeze.

Self-Flagellation: Offensively important. Synergizes with soul mantle and kikazarus, providing significant offense with 20% increased damage per curse on us. In the ordinary course of play, without any particular effort, we typically will have 4-6 curses up at any given time. With minimal effort this can be brought up to 8+ curses for boss fights.


My current gear:


Because Soulmantle has relatively low ES for a CI chest piece and we are taking 0 ES on our boots and rings, maximizing the ES in our other slots, particularly helmet and shield is very important for making the build work. The shield particularly will likely be your most expensive piece of gear--well worth the investment imo, but I would not advise trying to run the build without (at a -minimum-) a 400 ES+ shield (500+ better) and a 300 ES+ helm (350+ better).

Also worth noting are that two of the jewels I am using have 50%+ in total rezzes each. Using your extra jewel slots to fill out rezzes in this way is a key component of making the build work, as I would not recommend running it at any point without double-overcapped rezzes. Having ele weakness and another elemental curse up is just too common an occurrence to do anything else. After rezzes, prioritize ES for defense and totem life for base damage.

5L Chest: (Free spell totem)>righteous fire>M&T ele res>Elemental focus>Rapid decay>Inc Aoe/Conc eff.

Note that a leveled M&T ele res is sufficient with a totems base 40% res to reach the 75% ordinary cap. This is enough for the totem to die to RF slowly enough to be effective. Rapid decay does not really reduce the duration further, as the totem already dies to RF before it would make a difference. Ele focus also has no drawbacks for RF totems. Swap conc for Inc AOE for large, relatively stationary bosses (Atziri, vaal, Gorge, etc.) Recommend Inc AOE for Uber Iz.


4S/3L helm: Blasphemy-Flammability-Temp chains Discipline



4L Gloves: Orb of Storms-Inc crit strikes-inc duration-vaal discipline

Orb of storms is a huge damage boost, proccing both elemental overload and elemental equilibrium at the same time. Inc dur restores it to more or less pre-nerf duration. Vaal discpline, even post-nerf, still makes us virtually invincible for nearly 5 seconds when linked to a leveled inc dur.


3L Weapon

Whirling blades-faster attacks-summon stone golem


3L Shield

CWDT (lvl 1)-arctic breath (lvl 4) - GMP (any lvl)

Arctic breath on a low cost CWDT is dual purpose, being an extra way to proc EE and spreading ground ice which, when coupled with our blasphemed temp chains, slows melee range enemies to a comfortable crawl. Very powerful defensive combination, imo.


Boots get no sockets in this build

I do not feel I have optimized flasks for this build yet, but I am currently using:

Perpetual ruby flask of dousing
Experimenter's stibnite flask of staunching
Experimenter's granite flask of grounding
Experimenter's basalt flask of staunching
Experimenter's topaz flask of grounding

The flasks reflect my current feeling that the greatest dangers presented to this build feel like shock and bleed. Bleed in particular can cause our ES to drop with alarming rapidity, and a staunching flask should be popped well before it is needed when coming into contact with enemies that can cause bleed.

http://poeplanner.com/AAYAAOcTAgBx34rpAkuuGyXZW20ZEVA1uacrl_RSUz1fl5VMs9Af7-sEBx8CMjSvt4dlNsXYJFZIpwjr7jLRRUfAZjwF73yf35o7gpsc3I8auJMo-pitj0YdFPrSFy9k51XWgKRmnljlwxOCx_noaHTaYhhWV8kNfOq6tAxGcYMJ4Ygdqv5JytO-iqEvkyfviPk3189JsX_GEZYHHpUu8NVJUcHF7BgsvxXXhq5WYw5ItzDoWiaIflna3Yt6AW_i94RIXGvDbRJpFxxxeZ2uA3WRK18EtzGMdvfBfPCRB0J6enC7_BV-xvd-oQAAAAAA


As I level above 83, there are a variety of good options for future nodes including, but not limited to the Alchemy cluster, the 14% totem damage node below Ancestral bond, the 6% each ES wheel, the first two witch shield nodes, and the Influence cluster.

Normal: Help Kraityn (We need every bit of help with rezzes we can get on this build and the extra 10% rez all here is great)

Cruel: Kill all or Kraityn (I went for the skill point, but the extra atk speed would improve whirling blades speed--also a reasonable choice)

Merc: Kill all (No charges used in this build)

Wicked ward (Excellent defensively, makes build feel better while leveling as a hybrid until the switch can be made to CI

Profane Bloom (10% inc damage taken on cursed enemies is a nice boost)

Malediction (Allows us to maintain two curses without needing whispers of doom

Two 8% ES nodes (Because it is our totems doing the killing 99% of the time, we get more defensive benefit from simply taking two 8% ES nodes than from any of the remaining Ascendancy keystones)

1-19: Choose your favorite aoe spell skill. Really anything will do. My personal favorite is the combo of orb of storms and lightning tendrils. Begin by pathing up to deep wisdom, turn left to grab the aoe nodes, then make your way down toward retribution in the templar area. As you are leveling, you will want to pick up the most efficient life nodes you find yourself near, temporarily. This will make your leveling process far easier than trying to go straight CI from the beginning, which is not advised.

20-48: Grab two axiom perpetuum sceptres, a hrimsorrow gloves and any pair of berek's rings (cheap ones, usally pass and grip). all of these add flat damage to spells. If you are using orb of storms and lightning tendrils (with a recommended decoy totem) you will be able to laugh at your enemies through most of this section of leveling. Grab the rest of the central templar nodes, then proceed to sovereignty in the upper left. Leave zealots oath until after you are fully CI. Leave Holy fire and the two totem nodes for the last nodes you take prior to hitting 49. Ele equilibrium can wait until later, it is not really needed until maps. Proceed across foresight and grab the leadership cluster, which will significantly boost your blasphemed curse's aoe. You may consider speccing up to whispers of doom to run both curses until you can spec back out after merc lab when you get malediction.

49-69: At 49 you equip soulmantle and the kikazaru's and the game is on. Now is also a good time to grab ephemeral edge. Make sure you are double-overcapping your rezzes at this stage. I recommend speccing into the purity of flesh cluster, as you are going to be at your most fragile to chaos damage during this section, when you are effectively running as a hybrid. Consider also looking for a little chaos res on at least one or two pieces of gear during this part of the process. Begin to fill out the ES portion of your tree. Grab kaom's roots at 62

69+: You are ready to respec into CI. Equip your ES shield and helm (crystal belt waits for 79), spec out of your life clusters and take the entire CI cluster at once, also grabbing zealots oath on the opposite side. Then start to fill out your ES and regen nodes--Growth and decay is an excellent multipurpose attack/regen node at this stage. The additional fire damage nodes can be taken when you get up to high maps, as you wont feel much need for them until then.

http://poeplanner.com/AAcAAP8TAAB934rpAkuuGyXZW20ZEVA1uacrl_RSUz1fl5VMs9Af7-si9GwLkyd_xsHF7BgsvxXXhq5WY4hCHdlDVPRxvorqug18oS9XySj6mK24kxzc6-58g6eUXl3R_Y8apwiPRh0UEmkXHHF52CRWSPrSZp5Y5cMTWityD5RvZlSdrgN1kStfBFnzrKpyqfcy6hj46xRxDjwsp_aueGnE9sauEMwrtoxG-JM3g6brLKY3ZjQKNsWLegFv4veESFxrw233wdrd891oZfObVw3SIZ7NpzCfyxcvZOdV1oCkytO0DEZx4Ygdqv5JcLvZEy9vu_wVfnzwkQdCenpwxvcaSAAAAAAA