Played something very similar to this in 3.6 and absolutely loved it. I tried two different paths to see which would feel just right, and I've got to say both were great although slightly different.
My first attempt (character name "Cerivo") followed your suggested build more or less. I ended up with 3 curses, CI, between 9-11k ES depending on gear and it felt snappy and safe to map with. Profane Bloom really is awesome. She has my garbage SSF gear equipped if you're curious.
Got lucky and found the sceptre in the Lab, and that improved things a lot. The Fur Shawl dropped randomly while mapping and I managed to link it with about 400 fusings. Good times! The rest is just random crafted garbage, nothing noteworthy. I like to keep things simple, and I heavily dislike trading, so yeah.
Then I made a second char ("Cerife") which went the Frigid Wake route instead because I wanted to farm Delve and all those chills and freezes drive me insane and I couldn't find a Dream Fragments.. So let's make a new char!
This character used only 2 curses (I dropped Enfeeble) and mostly the same gear. She's naked now, sorry, but the tree is untouched.
The main difference to your build is I dropped the curse cluster left of the scion because quite frankly I didn't need them and it's quite a few points to get there. Instead, I grabbed Fingers of Frost in the top right, Frost Walker and some random damage nodes I found enticing, and overall that is quite a significant DPS upgrade. Totally worth it, for me anyway.
My second char also dropped Elemental Overload due to the updated Controlled Destruction (0% crit chance) and you have to grab quite a few crit nodes to make it proc regularly. I didn't feel like it was worth it so I simply skipped it. With better gear I'm sure it's still viable, though.
One big difference also is that I skipped your Bonechill setup and used Shield Charge with Fortify instead. The speed boost and safety that comes with that is unbeatable for my playstyle.
All in all, Frigid Wake is faster and has better damage, but it's not as safe as the Malediction tri-curse route for obvious reasons. For general mapping I'd go Malediction for sure, because of Profane Bloom. Frigid Wake felt absolutely awesome in Delve, though. :)
The one downside I have is that I'm relying on being hit to curse enemies, and that's quite the opposite of my normal gameplay. I'm used to playing evasion/dodge characters, Caustic Arrow is a long-time favorite, and manually dodging stuff is what I do best. :)
But yeah, overall a great build, and truly stress-free. 10/10. :)
Sadly we're getting nerfed pretty heavily in 3.7, it might be quite a bit harder to get to the same ES levels. I'm going to try, though, but likely not my first build. I levelled both my chars as ES from level 1, and went CI super early. The way the Occultist was, it was actually possible. Now, not so much. I probably need to farm some decent gear before attempting this again. :)
hey there dont mean to be rude to the OP and his thread. definitely not trying to hijack it, but if you're interested we have an ongoing discussion as to how to build this for 3.7. it's definitely viable.
the build in this thread doesnt play a curse playstyle, but the points of discussion regarding how to build vortex occultist for 3.7 are all relevant. if you're interested.
It's not rude at all! It's a good idea. I'll take a look myself and see what I should add or take away from the 3.7 version that I'll post tonight.
Thanks!
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
Annnnnd
Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Even though the Defensive side is taking a bit of a hit with 3.7 updates, I'm thinking that this build is going to be much stronger than the previous one. (I'll hopefully finish the 3.7 guide tonight.) Completely cutting out Wicked Ward from the Ascendancy means we have another ascendancy node to pick from! And only damage nodes are left. Plus we'll still get Wicked Ward! Obviously not the old version though :(.
Hey :)
Oh nice, I'm looking forwards to seeing how you deal with 3.7! Exciting.
I think I'm going to try not taking Wicked Ward on the tree at first, see how that feels to play. The "50% less" looks kinda scary, but maybe it's worth it. Needs field testing. I also fear going for 3 curses might require too many points right now, but we'll see. I found that Enfeeble isn't really needed until maybe late into red maps, so there's that.
Thanks for your efforts, and looking forwards to 3.7. :)
Even though the Defensive side is taking a bit of a hit with 3.7 updates, I'm thinking that this build is going to be much stronger than the previous one. (I'll hopefully finish the 3.7 guide tonight.) Completely cutting out Wicked Ward from the Ascendancy means we have another ascendancy node to pick from! And only damage nodes are left. Plus we'll still get Wicked Ward! Obviously not the old version though :(.
Hey :)
Oh nice, I'm looking forwards to seeing how you deal with 3.7! Exciting.
I think I'm going to try not taking Wicked Ward on the tree at first, see how that feels to play. The "50% less" looks kinda scary, but maybe it's worth it. Needs field testing. I also fear going for 3 curses might require too many points right now, but we'll see. I found that Enfeeble isn't really needed until maybe late into red maps, so there's that.
Thanks for your efforts, and looking forwards to 3.7. :)
You're very kind. Thank you! After spending the last couple days thinking about this build, I'm REALLY excited with the changes GGG made. I also, really like the new Wicked Ward situation. It lets you get "Uninterrupted" perk REALLY early. And the 50% slower regen has it's pro's too. It'll mean we need to be a little more observant to our health sure, but now it'll spend more time constantly rising.
Thanks for the thanks Ceri! I'll be posting the guide tonight :)
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
Annnnnd
Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Last edited by Wrecker_of_Days#7691 on Jun 6, 2019, 3:57:06 PM
Since there has been some excited activity the last couple days for this build, I just wanted to give you a timeline to the post of 3.7's guide. I unfortunately have a few things that have to get done :( and I won't be able to return for another 11 hours. Since release is tomorrow afternoon, I'll stay up into the early hours of the morning to ensure that this is posted. It always sucks when the guide you want to use isn't ready when you are.
In other words, the guide will likely be posted in 12 or 13 hours. Thanks for your patience. I'll have it out as fast as I can get it out.
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
Annnnnd
Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Since there has been some excited activity the last couple days for this build, I just wanted to give you a timeline to the post of 3.7's guide. I unfortunately have a few things that have to get done :( and I won't be able to return for another 11 hours. Since release is tomorrow afternoon, I'll stay up into the early hours of the morning to ensure that this is posted. It always sucks when the guide you want to use isn't ready when you are.
In other words, the guide will likely be posted in 12 or 13 hours. Thanks for your patience. I'll have it out as fast as I can get it out.
good luck and all the best, hope you enjoy the league start. day 1 uber elder deathless on 5L lets go haha
I'm still trying to slip in sessions of updating the 3.7 guide during a very busy day personally (sorry!). But I've decided on the new tree (gems are the same (though PoB hasn't had a chance to update gems yet). Here's the Pastebin for those with Path of Building: https://pastebin.com/EdFvSi18.
I spent a long time debating Elemental Equilibrium.
I'll let me know when 3.7 is posted.
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
Annnnnd
Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
Last edited by Wrecker_of_Days#7691 on Jun 6, 2019, 11:08:07 PM
I'm still trying to slip in sessions of updating the 3.7 guide during a very busy day personally (sorry!). But I've decided on the new tree (gems are the same (though PoB hasn't had a chance to update gems yet). Here's the Pastebin for those with Path of Building: https://pastebin.com/EdFvSi18.
I spent a long time debating Elemental Equilibrium.
I'll let me know when 3.7 is posted.
Hey Wrecker - so is Cursing Vortex the build you are going with for Legion?
I'm still trying to slip in sessions of updating the 3.7 guide during a very busy day personally (sorry!). But I've decided on the new tree (gems are the same (though PoB hasn't had a chance to update gems yet). Here's the Pastebin for those with Path of Building: https://pastebin.com/EdFvSi18.
I spent a long time debating Elemental Equilibrium.
I'll let me know when 3.7 is posted.
Hey Wrecker - so is Cursing Vortex the build you are going with for Legion?
Hey CelticHound!
I really want to! And I may. But I'm likely going to do one of the two guide ideas I have...Maybe...maybe not...I DON'T KNOW! :) The joys of PoE :).
https://www.ForeverExiled.com/: Forever Exiled, A Path of Exile Podcast
Annnnnd
Wrecker of Days' One-Stop-Shop: Stress-Free Builds (& Filters): 1-Button, HC SSF, Item Freedom: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3467875
