[3.16 updated] BRO, DO YOU EVEN SUMMON? Life/ES Dark Pact Skeleton Caster League Starter

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Dwarfy wrote:

I tried my hand at the PoB, I went with more Auras, prism guardian petrified blood to feel tankier, purity of elements for ailment immunity and to reduce need for resistances on gear and trash items you can get day 1-2 into the league (disregard the boots). Is my approach viable or am I going the wrong way about this? Also i do like profane bloom, obliteration for more stacking then i'll be switching to void batteries.

https://pastebin.com/dwe898yM

in really would not miss forbidden power in this build, since it heavily scales with power charges, especially when u get your Void batteries. If u really want to have profane Bloom, then drop malediction. but i would not recommend that. Profane bloom is nice, i love the sound, but Dark pact has a quite substantial clearing area - i think there is no need for explosions. u loose 15% dps ,with no real benefit. no need for anti hexproof.

Well Petrified Blood, i dont know about it. I havent used it yet and also thought about using it. Chaos dmg over time could be an issue but i dont know. I think i will try it out. The reason why i tend to dislike it is because im aiming to do clearing via self-cast, and did so in past leagues. The reduced life-pool is a no go in this case, or at least i think so!? combining with life reservation via prism guardian seems legit since u dont want to have that 50% life anyway.

Good news guys, I've actually updated my guide. :)

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why lightning warp: i think it has no CD with withering Step. ANd well..it seems the slots are left. U could skip faster casting.and i have cool mtx :D

why Withering step and no totem: It applys enough wither with the ascendancy, using anomoulous quality gives even more wither. no need for totems. makes us faster + phasing

Lightning Warp feels good but it's 3 links and also less safe compared to Flame Dash.

I still prefer using WIther Totems. I also prefer Phase Run over Withering Step - doesn't consume Flame Dash charges, gives phasing and can be used with no cooldown.

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I tried my hand at the PoB, I went with more Auras, prism guardian petrified blood to feel tankier, purity of elements for ailment immunity and to reduce need for resistances on gear and trash items you can get day 1-2 into the league (disregard the boots). Is my approach viable or am I going the wrong way about this? Also i do like profane bloom, obliteration for more stacking then i'll be switching to void batteries.

I don't have enough time unfortunately to go into the detail of neither your nor Void_xy's pobs, but the main problem I see at the first glance is low damage. Your pobs are like a few millions of sDPS when my is up to 70m on max dps setup. And in a real life scenario DP damage doesn't feel as great as it looks in PoB. Also I'm not sure if it's viable to keep AG alive as a Dark Pact caster. I have also no idea how would AG wotk in CWDT setup. Petrified Blood is a viable option indeed, however I don't plan use it. I will be using Discipline, Temp Chains and Enfeeble. I've included an updated PoB into my guide so you might check it out guys.

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i think there is no need for explosions

As someone who loves big chaos explosions, I can't agree. :D Without Profane Bloom there is a higher chance that a few single nearby enemies survive long enough to actually hurt us.

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Glad to have you back bro!!!
You and zoNiklv have been good mentors.

Thanks! A lot of credit to Zonik, he has introduced many brilliant DP ideas to me, I really appreciate his support. And I'm also glad that you are still being interested in my DP Occultist. :)

I'd switch profane bloom for maps/aoe and have forbidden power for bossing sirus/maven/feared etc.

CWDT is a 2 link with Immortal call to mitigate some more damage, the AG is linked with meat shield for toughness.

AG would have kingmaker crit, culling, fortify. victarios boots 10% ms. The new gloves Gravebind Hydrascale Gauntlets makes it really interesting having either an explode chest, maybe chains of command etc. Also, you can fit in a -9% chaos helmet.

EDIT - Saw the updated guide, howcome no chain on darkpact is gloomfang enough? Woke chain gives an extra one and Woke Void manip gives +1 to chaos now as well.

I've tried Kingmaker AG in the past but I didn't like it. Kingmaker AoE is so small that Meat Shield is mandatory and that means I can't put him into +3 Minion helmet and so I also gotta add Minion Life. At the end it's 3 other gems I have to swap out for 1 AG and there still would be a serious threat of him dying.

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EDIT - Saw the updated guide, howcome no chain on darkpact is gloomfang enough? Woke chain gives an extra one and Woke Void manip gives +1 to chaos now as well.

The price. Awakened gems are quite expensive and I usually push my build only to like 10-20ex range as I'm aiming to the sweet spot of it being decently strong as well as reasonably non-expensive. But I think I will add a mention about some potential expensive upgrade options to my guide for people who want to push it further thn me.

Isn't woke chain around 5-8 exalts? I don't see it as that big of an upgrade.

How about the normal variant of chain is it viable or the other gems outweigh it in DPS?

I didn't play Expedition so don't know what was the price. Normal Chain is not worth it. I've just checked how it's in PoB:

regular setup - 47.2m dps
Chain - 45m
Awakened Chain - 55.8m

But besides Aw Chain being better on paper it may feel worse in a real life scenario just because of the amount of time that has to pass to all 7 chain begin to overlap. And the more any boss is moving around the worse it is.

Actually the only time I'm using Chain is when I'm farming darkness in Delve with no flares so I get more ES recovery from Watcher's Eye.

1. Charge Mastery: You chose duration? Charges are always up. Take Cannot be shocked instead? With buffs to flasks mods, you can skip grounded suffix for soemthing better.
2.How are you getting frenzy charges?
3. In Skills tab (pob), set DP count to 4 (and check Full DPS above it). This way, you wont have to add 300% more dmg in your amulet.

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brant09081992 wrote:

But besides Aw Chain being better on paper it may feel worse in a real life scenario just because of the amount of time that has to pass to all 7 chain begin to overlap. And the more any boss is moving around the worse it is.

Actually the only time I'm using Chain is when I'm farming darkness in Delve with no flares so I get more ES recovery from Watcher's Eye.

Nice way to use chain in delve.
We have cast speeds of 7+ cps. It will take <1sec for 7 chains to overlap :P

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Charge Mastery: You chose duration? Charges are always up. Take Cannot be shocked instead?

Yess that is my choice. Keeping the charges up after Jun missions, before Incursions, Metamorphs etc is so annoying to me. I wouldn't pick shock immune mastery since I'm too often not at max power charges. But that's the purpose of masteries, let everyone pick what they want.

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How are you getting frenzy charges?

2 charges by weapon swap and 2 more by hitting hydrosphere with frenzy.

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In Skills tab (pob), set DP count to 4 (and check Full DPS above it). This way, you wont have to add 300% more dmg in your amulet.

PoB has always had some issues with auto-sorting items and gems by FULL DPS (although I've just checked if it now works in the most recently updated PoB and it does work indeed so maybe this problem is gone from now).

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Nice way to use chain in delve.
We have cast speeds of 7+ cps. It will take <1sec for 7 chains to overlap :P

And Delve darkness also takes a while before it starts dealing full damage. Just cast DP a few times on pack of mobs and JOHN CENA into the darknes. Keep spamming DP when being in darkness and you should be good.

Currently im using feeding frenzy for skellis so that they rush to the mobs...but it seems they are mostly very split up....which i dont llike. what do you guys think?

I also thought about meatshield...but that could be squishy. could work like selfcast thoguh??!

another Idea:
no meatshield, no feedinfgfrenzy, put unleash with skelletons, so that each summoning is 8 skellis. Nothing needed but convenient.