[3.3]♥ Low Life Poet's Volatile Dead ♥ All Content Down + Videos
  3.3 Update: I'm running Occultist this league, Check my profile/import my character to see my progress (character name is Illyaink). The guide is now based off Occultist.
Reason I'm running Occultist
Okay so I'm running this build as Occultist now because it's easy to get lots of ES, double curse on a 6 link shavs, No nessasary to get chayula ammy/watchers eye/helm enchant (the 3 items the make this build expensive but if you can afford them, get them) and
massive ES regen. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2165728 for Occultist thread.  First things first! It’s always good to see a build in action before you decide if you want to play it or not. Here is a variety of end game bosses and a shaped vault map. Videos were made with Scion Varient. Occultist has the same damage but is tankier. Inquisitor will kill the bosses quicker but is much more squishy. Shaper Kill: https://youtu.be/uoAiHt6JncE Chayula Domain Clear and Kill: https://youtu.be/-bjTac1VxZY T14 Shaped Vault (Double Beyond + Full Sextants: https://youtu.be/irYrvytfczI Red Elder Kill: https://youtu.be/_8JonFxK4f0 Hydra Kill: https://youtu.be/rJzwZjt5bwg Minotaur Kill: https://youtu.be/Ft8wGO-YDFQ Atziri Bosses: https://youtu.be/OP2KgG8c8Q4 Chimera Kill: Coming Soon!  My Average End Game Gear/Tree: https://pastebin.com/zvY2XRdK This is a program that will show you every think you need to know about the build. Import the pastebin link above to see my tree, skills and gear.
How to download and import my build into Path of Building
Download path of building here: https://github.com/Openarl/PathOfBuilding/releases/download/v1.4.73/PathOfBuilding-Setup-1.4.73.exe
Install the program Import build by pasting the link here   This build works by using 2 of the Poet’s Pen wands to cast Volatile Dead (our main damage spell) and Unearth (a spell that creates corpses as Volatile Dead needs corpses to work). The wands cast the spells socketed inside them with a 250ms cooldown. To get maximum casts per second you need to aim for just under 4 attacks per second if you are using 2 spells (Do not go above 4 otherwise it will skip casts). Right now the wands are bugged and will skip casts if you have more than ~3.8 attacks per second so play around with your attack speed and go with what feels good to you. Increased cooldown recovery speed mod on shaper boots and belts can be used to reduce the 250ms cooldown. At the moment I’m using 19% increased cooldown recovery speed and I find that 4.31 attacks per second is where I don’t find the wand skipping casts. This build has more DPS then the life variants because Pain Attunement gives us 30% more damage when on low life. We also don’t have to travel as much on the tree to get DPS/EHP.  Pros ✓ Insane DPS ✓ Only needs a 4 link ✓ Can do all content (Need to tweak gear for Atziri) ✓ Easy Shaper farmer ✓ Doesn't leave any stragglers ✓ Pretty Tanky with 7-8k ES and many aura choices ✓ Extremely easy to level Cons ✗ Expensive ✗ No good movement skill ✗ Can’t run Elemental Reflect, No leech and Temporal Chains feels bad  I am now using Occultist as it is more tankier then the Scion with a bit more damage. If you want to run scion, choose: Scion: Assassin – Occultist/Elementalist Assassin for the base Critical Strike Chance Occultist/Elementalist Occultist is the budget option as you won't need to run a Presence of Chayula (though I would recommend wearing one as it gives you an insane amount of ES). Elementalist can be really strong if you build with the class in mind. Having lightning damage added to attacks on your rings will let you shock the enemy for 10% more damage. You can also run elemental reflect maps. With Scion, you can use the same tree as the Witch and spec into the points that let you start at Templar/Witch or Shadow. The only difference is you can point one point at the scion start to get the benefits from pure talent and you will need to pick up the +1 curse on the tree if you choose Elementalist. TLDR: All 3 classes have insane damage but Occultist is tankier so i much prefer it to the Scion and Templar
Order to Take Occultist Ascendancy points
It really doesn't matter.Just get Malediction last
 Lv 63 https://bit.ly/2yg4Ljj Lv 79 https://bit.ly/2LXKnWn My personal lv 91 Tree: https://bit.ly/2JLvJEP Lv 96 https://bit.ly/2Mtg0Ia  Bandit Choice: Alira for Critical Strike Multiplier and the Resistances makes gearing easier. Pantheon Choices:
Ideal Patheon Powers when running Blood Rage for increased Life Leech rate
This setup can be run of you have a Cast When Damage taken – Blood Rage – Immortal call Setup Major: Soul of Arakaali Capture Arachnoxia’s soul for "50% increased Recovery of Life and Energy Shield if you've stopped taking Damage Over Time Recently". This means every time your Immortal Call procs, the Damage over Time from Blood Rage stops and you get 50% increased life leech rate. Minor: Soul of Ralakesh Reduces the damage taken from Blood Rage while moving.
Levelling Pantheon Powers
Major: Soul of Lunaris
We take this for the Physical Damage Reduction as we need all we can get with this build. Make sure you capture Lycius’s soul to help avoid dying from a projectile chaining between you and your Golem. Minor: Soul of Gruthkul Again for the Physical Damage Reduction. 
All My Gear
Weapon 1: Poet's Pen Mandatory For this build as we use the “Trigger the socked skill when you attack” to cast out main dps skill Aim for 12% attack speed to make capping it easier. Just bless to 15% spell damage. Volitile Dead – Concentrated Effect – Elemental Focus Comments: Try to get a 21/20 Volitile Dead, it adds a lot of damage. Other Options: Replace Elemental Focus with Fire Penetration if you have cold damage on your build so that you can chill/freeze/shatter for a more defensive option. Weapon 2: Poet's Pen Mandatory For this build as we use the “Trigger the socked skill when you attack” to create corpses for our main DPS skill. Again, aim for 12% attack speed to make capping it easier. And bless to 15% spell damage. Unearth – Power Charge on critical – Greater Multiple Projectiles Other Options: Replace Power charge on kill with Bodyswap for yellow maps and below. It teleport s you around the map as you attack. This will help you level and do low tier maps fast!
Weapon Swap (Weapon 3&4 For Atziri)
Wand 1: Firestorm - Elemental Focus - Concentrated Effect Wand 2: Cremation - Unearth - Concentrated Effect When Levelling Enlightens use a Haku Weapon with 6% increase gem quality: Chest Shavronne's Wrappings Mandatory For this build as it allows you to go low life when you have all your auras on. Bless up to 10% increased spell damage. Frenzy – Faster Attacks – Greater Multiple Projectiles – Curse on Hit – Flammability - Elemental Weakness Comments: Get quality on Greater Multiple Projectiles and Frenzy if you need to cap your attack speed. Helmet Rare ES Helmet Or The Vertex You can run any helm in this slot. The Vertex has high es, and the +1 gems gives me more mana (as it makes my Lv 3 Enighten Lv 4) and gives me more damage/es from my anger/disipline. Enchant: Volitile Dead Destroys up to 1 additional corpse. This is a huge DPS boost but a very expensive enchant. Disipline – Enlighten – Anger – Arctic Armour Comments: If you have a Vitality leech watchers eye, replace Anger with Vitality. Only Lv 2 Enlighten Needed but 3/4 saves a points on the tree. Other Options: Arctic Armour can be swapped for Herald of Ice if you want more DPS and corpse shatter for porcupines. Gloves Rare ES Gloves Not much to say here. Fingerless Gloves or Sorcerer gloves work best.
Mod Priority
ES Attack Speed Elemental Resistances Int Life Enchant: Do not enchant if you have Fingerless Gloves, “of Spite if you have other gloves”. Herald of Ash – Blood Magic – Enlighten – Purity of Ice[/b] Comments: I went with Purity of ice to help balance my resistances for my wise oak. This can be replaced with Purity of Lightning, Purity of Fire or any other 35% reservation aura. Boots You can run any boots in this slot. I went with Sin Trek because it was an easy way to get High ES with 30% movement speed. Rare shaped sorcerer boots with increased cooldown recovery speed mod would be better. Other options: Inya’s Epiphany, Skyforth, Rare ES boots, Steppan Eard, Brinerot Whalers (if you need lightning resistance. Enchant: Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently Cast When Damage Taken (lv 1) – Immortal Call (lv 3) - Summon Ice Golem (lv 3/0) - Blood Rage (lv 7/23) Clarity (Lv 1) Comments: Clarity can replace Summon Ice golem if you have a ES Clarity Watcher’s Eye. Summon Ice Golem can be Lv 3 if you want it to auto cast or Lv 20 for self cast. Other Options: Optional Skill gems include: Summon Lightning Golem, Increased duration (for your Immortal Call), Vortex, Blood Rage. Amulet Presence of Chayula Pretty much BiS for any low life build. This Coverts our 20% of our life to ES, this is the only reason life is on the rare stat priority list. Other options: Rare amulets with Fire Leech, % increased ES, flat ES and crit multi like the amulet below: Rings Opal Ring + Essence of Anger This is the best way to get DPS from our ring slots as increased fire damage can only roll 22% on rings normally but with a Deafening Essence of Anger, you can roll a maximum of 33%. Opals give us 25% already for a total of 58% x2 rings = 116% increased Fire damage. Other Options: Well rolled Diamond Rings.
Mod Priotity
ES
Increased Fire damage Elemental Resistances Attack speed Int Life Mana Other options: Gifts From Above Belt Shaper Belts that are iLV75 or above can also roll the increased cooldown recovery speed mod so I went with a Chain Belt.
Mod Priority
Cooldown recovery ES STR (unless you managed to get some on your other rare pieces as this saves a few points on the tree) Increased Flask effect Duration Reduced Flask Charges Used Elemental Resistances Life Armour **Craft increased movement speed if there is nothing better to craft Unique Jewels Watcher's Eye Mod 1: Fire damage leeched as life while affected by Anger. The main way we get life leech! Cheaper option: Damage leached as life while affected by Vitality. If you can’t afford either, you will have to replace elemental weakness with warlords mark in your frenzy link. Mod 2: Gain % of mana as energy shield while affected by Clarity or +(20-30) Energy Shield gained for each Enemy Hit while affected by Discipline Optional mod: Take % of physical damage as fire/cold/ice while affected by purity of fire/cold/ice. This just helps us out defensively as we are already running the aura. Note that this is limited to 1 so make sure you get the 2 mods you want on the one jewel and that the values can be divined, not the mods. Energy From Within Aim for a 6% one.
Place is this socket
 Pure Talent This gives us base crit by grabbing the Elemental damage at the shadow start.
Rare Jewels
Rare Abyssal Jewels:
Mod Priority
+ES
Added fire damage to spells Added fire damage to spells while duel wielding Crit Multi Increased attack speed if you have crit recently Added cold/lightning damage to spells Added cold/lightning damage to spells while duel wielding Increased damage if you haven’t killed recently Rare Standard Jewels:
Mod Priority
Increased ES
Crit multi for spells Crit multi for elemental skills Crit multi for fire skills Crit multi while dual weilding Global Crit multi Attack speed while dual wielding Attack speed with wands Increased fire damage Increased area damage Increased damage Increased attack speed Increased attack and cast speed
Flasks
Wise Oak With this flask you need to get your fire, ice and lightning overcapped resist to be the same number. If you can't balance all your overcapped resistances, at least make sure Fire is the highest. Atziri’s Promise Just aim for a 15% ele as chaos roll. Alchemist’s Basalt Flask of Heat There is not much Physical damage reduction on this build so I run a basalt. Can be anti bleed or freeze.. Or Alchemist’s Sulphur Flask of Heat Can be anti bleed or freeze. Experimenter’s Diamond flask of Staunching Needed to increase your crit chance. My anti bleed flask. Note that the basalt flaks could be of Staunching and this flask could be of Heat. Alchemist’s Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline My Movement Speed flask Alchemist of Adrenaline is the best mods for it. or Rotgut This may give you inconstant attack speed  This character was actually one of the easiest characters I’ve ever levelled!
Gear to help with Leveling
Buy some low level abyss jewels with added damage to spells and socket them into the Darkness Enthroned Belt. You dont even need a Tabula Rasa unless you're leveling with Firestorm/Fire Nova Mine Pre lv 12: Use pretty much anything. I normally go with Fire Trap + Freeze Pulse We start using both Poet's Pens from level 12 with Volatile Dead – Added Cold – Added Lightning socketed in one wand and and Unearth - Lesser Multiple Projectiles socketed in the other. Just use your Default Attack to proc the spells.
Other Options if you don't have your Poet's Pens yet
You can level with any of the 3 setups below until Bood Aqueducks in Act 9:
Volatile Dead – Spell Cascade and Desecrate – Spell Cascade (Volatile Dead + Spell Cascade + Elemental Focus + Fire Penetration + Critical Strike Chance + Concentrated Effect) Fire Nova Mine and Flame Totem (Fire Nova Mine - Minefield - Elemental Focus - Fire Pen - Increased Critical Strikes - Trap and Mine Damage) Firestorm and Flame Totem (Firestorm - Spell Echo - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction - Fire Penetration - Concentrated Effect / Spell Cascade) At Lv 16 pickup Frenzy and use that as your main attack. I also pick up Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder for a bit more DPS At Lv 18 Pickup Concentrated Effect and Elemental Focus and replace Added Lightning and Added Cold in your wands and that should carry you to maps  What's the minimum gear you need to run this build? 2 Poet's Pens! You can play as life or hybrid and swap to low life when you feel you have enough Energy Shield. Do I need the helm enchant? No, but it does help with dps Do I need the Presence of Chayula and Fire Leech Watchers Eye? No, Just get yourself a Incursion Fire Leech amulet. Why ES over Life? More damage from low life, another flask slot and less traveling on the tree. How much unreserved mana should I be aiming for? Anything over 50 mana feels good. How much attack speed should I be aiming for With 19% CDR, 4.31 feels good to me. I’m not too sure with other values of CDR, just test by attacking twice at a medium distance and see if your volatile dead casts. What expensive items should I get first? Poet’s Pen x2 > Shavronne’s Wrappings > + 1 Helm Enchant > Watcher's Eye > Presence of Chayula. Can I use other skills in the Poet’s Pens? Yeah any spell is fine, Just spec out of the fire damage on the tree and you can use any other elemental spell. How good is this build after the helm enchant nerf? It is still the BiS enchant as it adds 4 balls from 3 for each cast. Probably the strongest helm enchant in the game at the moment. Why don't you use Bodyswap in your Poet's Pen? I don't like it but feel free to use it. How can I kill Atziri without dying to reflect? Run 2 Poet's Pens in a weapon swap or swap before the fight. Cremation is insane for stationary targets. Second best option would probably be firestorm. So the links would be: Wand 1: Firestorm - Elemental Focus - Concentrated Effect Wand 2: Unearth - Cremation - Concentrated Effect Is this Hardcore Viable? Yes!
Changelog
14/06/2018 - Rewrote the build for 3.3
12/01/2018 - Added Vault and Hydra Videos 13/01/2018 - Added perfect gear section into FAQ 16/01/18 - Updated tho whole guide. Assassin/Pathfinder seems to be the best option 18/01/2018 - Added Red Elder/Chayula kill video 23/01/2018 - Atziri vid up _______________________ Thank you for reading! -Illyaink _______________________ Last edited by illyaink on Jun 16, 2018, 6:53:10 AM Last bumped on Sep 8, 2018, 9:45:53 AM
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Looks great, I have about 20 Ex to invest in a new character and I think this one is it. So I can get a shav's right away... is a 6L not necessary? Also, I think I would get the necklace above the jewel since it's in my price range and it will give a lot more EHP...what are your thoughts? And with this being LL, and having the necklace, do I still purchase rares with life on them?...*I've never used the necklace before*.
What would be your next priority for items after the shav's and necklace? | |
" That's right, you only need a 5 link shavs. I bought all the div cards for 50c a few weeks back, 6 socketed it then bought the Jewelers Touch prophesy for 22c. Getting the ammy first is fine because as you said, it adds a lot of EHP. I think it's around 6ex atm? I personally bought it last just because I got lucky and got all the other items cheaper. I think it added around 1200es? Just check my path of building and remove the ammy if you want too see exactly how much es it adds. The price of the clarity jewel will go down soon because the bug that causes it to the op with guardian was mentioned today by ggg and they said the fix is in a upcoming patch. You can pick up a Vitality leach Watcher's Eye for around 2-3ex for the time being, or run Warlords Mark over ele weakness (maybe fit in a +1 curse and run Warlords over culling strike). The only issue with Warlords Mark is that bosses like Shaper have 80% reduced curse effectiveness. I haven't tested myself but I'm guessing the leach will still be decent with the amount of damage the build puts out. Each cast of 4 balls should be about 1000 life leached compared to 3000 with Watcher's Eye. Don't actively search for life. ES or damage is always better. Life only adds a small amount of ES since the tree doesn't have much increased maximum life to scale it. Last edited by illyaink on Jan 10, 2018, 8:03:54 PM
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" Sweet, thanks for the quick reply. I've managed to unload almost all of my ED/Contagion characters gear for the same and a little bit more in some case than what I paid for them., so I'm sitting at around 30 ex right now :D, and I still have a lvl 4 empower to sell *w00t. I've basically played each character until I can kill shaper then I reroll, this one looks like a lot of fun to try, also looks really strong against bosses as well... Shaper was tough with the ED/Contagion even though I had a 21/20 ED and lvl 4 empower. Would you suggest I get the helm enchant after, shav-ammy-vitality leach watchers? And what gems would you suggest getting as 21/20's in this build? | |
" If you look at the PoB I edited it to show what's best at 21/20 and what's best at 20/23. Volitile Dead is the only gem that makes a big dps difference if it's 21/20 so if you have the money, pick up one of them. The helm enchant adds 33% damage (4 balls from 3 with each cast) and is the biggest dps item you can have. I would get one asap as it is a rarer item then the ammy. Looks like ES ones are 5-10 ex atm. Last edited by illyaink on Jan 10, 2018, 7:46:43 PM
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Awesome! Thanks for the tips, I'll probably hit you back up once I get to mapping stage
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How can we have 4 spells by second with only 3.8 as ? I don't understand ...
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" Every attack casts a spell. With 4 attacks per second you cast 4 spells. Unearth - VD - Unearth - VD. With 3.8 aps you will cast just under 4 spells per second. | |
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How did you notice a bug when we are above 4 as ? If i have more than 4, that will really skip a cast ?
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