Low Life/ES Based Witch build. It utilizes the powerful Damage over Time of Essence Drain and Contagion Chaos Spells

From level 1, you should use the following link. Explosive Trap. With the setup you are advocating, you don’t want dmg on full HP gem – for that you would have to take Ghost dance + Escape Artist (and even then I’m unsure for HC use – dmg dip is unpleasant). I’m new to PoE and just started a few weeks ago. So this is my first. Regarding gem setup: Clearing: Empower lvl 4, GMP, Combustion, Mirage Archer, Elemental Hit, Element dmg with attacks. Bossing setup: Empower lvl 4, Slower proj, Combustion Mirage archer, elemental hit, element dmg with attacks. The effective total dps is 1.5m with bossing setup and 800k with clearing setup. My crit chance is kinda low at 28.95%. Yeah I find that the default number of brands isn't stated on the gem to be kind of sketchy. For live build/POE discussion and question. If the gem you want to delevel is a quality 20 then it would not be worth it to just buy a new level 1 gem from a vendor cause it most likely would be quality 0. The recipes for reducing levels are all depending on the circumstances. Last edited by Noteefs; Jan 27, 2016 @ 7:52pm #13.

Updated for Patch 3.8

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: medium

Guide notes
September 11, 2019
-Updated for Patch 3.8

Essence Drain is a projectile-based spell that deals very high Damage over Time. The damaging debuff can be spread further to nearby enemies by the Contagion Spell for an even better area of effect and greatly increased clear speed. There are a lot of variants of this build, which is also very powerful as Life/Hybrid build. Our suggested build revolves around Occultist Ascendancy class which grants terrific bonuses to Chaos Damage and Energy Shield, as well as allows you to use three different Curses, boosting both your DPS and defenses. The damage of Essence Drain has been greatly increased in Patch 3.6 making this build even more powerful. On top of increasing its' damage, the skill no longer applies it's debuff to the first enemy hit, but also to targets around it.

This build carries a lot of potentials as a League starter build. It will allow you to start Mapping with literally no unique item requirements, while most of the end game gear can be still fairly easy to obtain. It is suggested to level up and start mapping with ED Occultist as a hybrid Life/ES character. After you can afford Shavronne's Wrappings, you should switch it to the Low-Life variation. It will allow you to use additional Auras that by using Blood Magic Support Gem will reserve your Life instead.

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1. Gameplay

This build has quite unique gameplay mechanics. The Essence Drain is a projectile-based spell, which applies its' debuff to the first enemy hit and other enemies in a small radius around it. You can use your Contagion Spell, which will cause the DoT to spread in a wider area, greatly enhancing clear speed. This combination grants this build very solid AoE damage, which is triggered with only two Spell casts. Your damage can be further amplified by the use of Wither Spell Totem.


0:06 Tier 14 Crimson Temple
0:34 Tier 13 Colosseum
1:03 Tier 14 Palace
1:36 Tier 15 Shaped Belfry
This video was recorded on a level 89 Occultist with Breath of the Council and Heretic's Veil equipped.

It was recorded pre 3.8 - but the gameplay hasn't changed much since


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2. Build's PROS & CONS

PROS
  • high Damage over Time with good AoE
  • good as a League starter build - with no unique items required to start mapping effectively
  • end-game viable with proper gear adjustments
  • good clear speed
  • immunity to reflect mods
  • provides interesting gameplay mechanicsand avery enjoyable playstyle
CONS
  • can feel squishy before you transition fully into Energy Shield
  • requires refunding a bunch of Passives on the Skill Tree when you go Low-Life

3. Leveling tips

Leveling this Essence Drain Occultist is not as smooth as other popular League starter classes. You should start off by using Freezing Pulse (or any other spell of choice - after all the early levels are easy with anything you decide to pick up) and swap it to Essence Drain as you get it at level 12. This is when you reach Merveil's Cavern. At this point, you will have to apply the Essence Drain debuff to enemies and finish them off with Freezing Pulse (or other spells that you feel comfortable with). Since this build requires more links in your main DPS setup than other builds, it is advised to invest in Tabula Rasa.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Essence Drain setup
Essence Drain - your primary DPS Spell Gem
Void Manipulation Support - increases the Chaos Damage dealt with supported skills
Controlled Destruction Support - grants very high Spell Damage at the cost of reduced Crit. Chance
Contagion setup
Contagion - this spell spreads your Essence Drain's DoT, as well as deals additional chaos damage
Increased Area of Effect Support
Faster Casting Support
Utility Gems
Stone Golem - grants extra Life Regeneration
Decoy Totem - another useful defensive Spell Gem. It will spawn a Totem which taunts nearby enemies
Despair - recommended Curse for this build which increases the Damage over Time cursed enemies receive


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Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

31 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Occultist's Dominion 2) Deep Wisdom 3) Growth and Decay 4) Entropy

63 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Written in Blood 2) Atrophy 3) Retribution 4) Sanctity 5) Method to the Madness

Level 70s Passive Skill Tree as you switch to Low-Life and Shavronne's Wrappings

Recommended leveling items:

Lifesprig - amazing leveling Wand, may work fairly well for at least 40 levels
(8-12)% increased Spell Damage
+1 to Level of Socketed Spell Gems
(20-28)% increased Spell Damage
(5-8)% increased Cast Speed
+(15-20) to maximum Life
+(15-20) to maximum Mana
Regenerate (6-8) Life over 1 second when you Cast a Spell
Wanderlust - great leveling pair of boots. Grant movement speed, and the quite important for this build's defenses, energy shield
+5 to Dexterity
(20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
+(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield
20% increased Movement Speed
Cannot be Frozen
Goldrim - the best leveling helmet in Path of Exile. It might be expensive early in a new League, but as soon as you can afford one it's totally worth it
+(30-50) to Evasion Rating
10% increased Rarity of Items found
+(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances
Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers
Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)
Tabula Rasa - Essence Drain builds heavily rely on Support Gems to inflict proper damage. This is why Tabula Rasa is an extremely powerful item starting at level 31 (when a bunch of new Support Gems becomes available)
3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden)
Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden)
Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

115 Points Final Skill Tree
115 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

  1. Profane Bloom
  2. Malediction
  3. Void Beacon
  4. Vile Bastion

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

Gem
[DPS] Essence Drain setup
Essence Drain - your main DPS spell. You have to apply it only to one enemy within Contagion's area of radius
Void Manipulation Support- increases Chaos Damage to supported skills
Efficacy Support - increases both Spell Damage and Damage over Time
Swift Affliction Support - another Gem used to buff the ED's DoT
Controlled Destruction Support - greatly increases supported skills' Spell Damage. Since Damage over Time cannot Crit. there is no downside from using this Support Gem
Empower Support - increases the level of all active Gems in this setup. Try getting a level 3 or 4 Empower depending on your budget
[UTILITY] Flame Dash
Flame Dash - a decent movement Spell that will grant you the Arcane Surge buff whenever you use it
Arcane Surge Support - grants increased Spell Damage and Mana Regen. when you use Flame Dash. Keep this Gem at level 6
[UTILITY] Wither Spell Totem setup
Spell Totem Support - this skill will let you summon a Totem that will cast the supported spells
Wither - it will slow affected enemies, as well as increase the Chaos Damage they take
Faster Casting Support
Multiple Totems Support - this skill will let you summon two additional Totems which each Cast, allowing you to stack Withered at three times the regular speed
[UTILITY] Contagion setup
Contagion - AoE spell that deals Chaos Damage, and spreads your Essence Drain DoT effect on all enemies in the radius
Increased Area of Effect Support
Faster Casting Support

1 Gem Level Vs Dmg Poemas

[AURA] Malevolence and Zealotry
Malevolence - the recommended (and the only) Aura that we are going to use in this build. It increases your Damage over Time and Skill Effect Duration
Zealotry - grants increased Spell Damage bonus and creates Consecrated Ground which increases your Energy Shield Regeneration Rate further
[CURSE] Tri-Curse Bane setup
Despair - this curse reduced Chaos Resistance of nearby enemies
Enfeeble - the best defensive Curse in Path of Exile
Temporal Chains - same as above, grants extra defenses
Bane - Area Spell which deals decent Damage over Time and applies all three Curses
[AURAS] Blood Magic setup
Blood Magic Support - will make your Auras reserve Life instead of Mana
Discipline - grants additional Energy Shield. Discipline is an extremely important defensive Aura in this build
Clarity - grants extra Mana Regeneration. Adjust Clarity's level depending on your Maximum Life


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5. Gear Setup

In this section, both the budget-friendly and end-game items are included. We have also provided the required stats for each item.

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The recommended items from our list will:

  1. Cap your resistances
  2. Give you enough Energy Shield and DPS to start mapping

1 Gem Level Vs Dmg Poe Games

Stat priorities on items:

  1. Energy Shield
  2. Elemental Resistances
  3. Chaos Damage/Spell Damage/Damage over Time
  4. Cast Speed
(Helmet) Rare Helmet - a good option for the leveling/early mapping phase. It will not allow you to use three Curses though
Min. requirements:
220 Energy Shield
60% Total Elemental Resistances
Optional affixes:
Intelligence
Nearby enemies have -9% Chaos Resistance
Helmet enchantment:
40% increased Essence Drain Damage
(Weapon Slot) Rare Sai - crafted with Essence of Delirium, with an increased Spell and Chaos Damage, possibly increased Cast Speed as well. The essence of Delirium guarantees the following attribute on the crafted item: 'Your Hits inflict Decay, dealing 500 Chaos Damage per second for 8 seconds'
Min. requirements:
50% increased Spell/Chaos Damage
Optional affixes:
increased Cast speed
maximum Mana
Elemental Resistances
(Weapon Slot) Breath of the Council - this unique mace is mighty for this build. It is rather expensive and rare though, and might not be easily obtainable early in new leagues
32% increased Elemental Damage
(260-310)% increased Physical Damage
(80-100)% increased Chaos Damage
10% increased Area of Effect
40% increased Chaos Skill Effect Duration
(Weapon Slot) Rathpith Globe - good and inexpensive ES/Spell Damage shield. You can always replace this item with a rare piece with possibly better stats (and higher price)
3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden)
(40-60)% of Block Chance applied to Spells
(40-60)% increased Spell Damage
10% increased maximum Life
(120-160)% increased Energy Shield
+25% to Lightning Resistance
(Body Armour) Shavronne's Wrappings - the best in slot item for this build (the low-life variant). It is rather expensive, but worth every bit of it. It allows you to use a few additional auras with Blood Magic Support Gem and makes you benefit from the Pain Attunement passive
3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden)
(3-10)% increased Spell Damage
(100-150)% increased Energy Shield
10% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
+(30-40)% to Lightning Resistance
Reflects 1 to 250 Lightning Damage to Melee Attackers
Chaos Damage does not bypass Energy Shield
(Boots) Rare Boots - get a pair with the highest maximum defensive stats you can afford
Min. requirements:
120 Energy Shield
25% increased Movement Speed
39% Fire Resistance
39% Cold Resistance
Optional affixes:
Intelligence
(Boots) Greedtrap - new Fated Unique item introduced in patch 3.2. It increases the Quantity of Items found, which greatly helps you accumulate wealth while farming low and mid-tier maps. They also provide very decent Energy Shield and Movement Speed bonuses. Using this pair of boots may require you to adjust Elemental Resistances on other parts of the gear
+7 to Strength
+9 to Dexterity
+10 to Intelligence
+108 to maximum Energy Shield
12% increased Quantity of Items found when on Low Life
20% increased Movement Speed
Boot enchantment:
Adds 120 to 180 Chaos Damage if you've taken a Critical Strike Recently
(Belt) Rare Belt - again, we try to grab one with the highest defensive stats
Min. requirements:
40 Strength
45 maximum Energy Shield
44% Lightning Resistance
32% Cold Resistance
(Amulet) Presence of Chayula - best in the slot amulet for this build
+(10-16) to all Attributes
30% increased Rarity of Items found
+60% to Chaos Resistance
Cannot be Stunned
20% of Maximum Life Converted to Energy Shield
(Amulet) Rare Amulet
Min. requirements:
30 maximum Energy Shield
12% increased maximum Energy Shield
15% All Elemental Resistances
Optional affixes:
maximum Mana
maximum Life
Attributes
(Ring) Rare Ring
Min. requirements:
25 maximum Energy Shield
40 maximum Mana
35 Dexterity
25% Fire Resistance
13% All Elemental Resistances
Optional affixes:
Mana gained on Kill
(Ring) Rare Ring
Min. requirements:
45 maximum Energy Shield
40 maximum Mana
25% increased Mana Regeneration rate
25% Fire Resistance
10% All Elemental Resistances
Optional affixes:
Attributes
(Gloves) Rare Gloves - you should alter the required Resistances to cap them with this pair of gloves
Min. requirements:
120 Energy Shield
40 maximum Mana
33% Fire resistance
33% Cold resistance
Optional affixes:
increased Spell Damage
(Jewels) Rare Jewels - this should provide extra ES and damage bonuses
Recommended affixes:
increased maximum Energy Shield
increased Chaos Damage/Spell Damage/Damage over Time
Optional affixes:
Attributes
(Jewels) Abyss Jewels - you should use at least one Abyss Jewel for the Hinder on Spell Hit effect
Recommended affixes:
maximum Energy Shield
Added Chaos Damage to Spells
Added Chaos Damage to Spells while holding a Shield
Chance to Hinder enemies on Hit with Spells
Optional affixes:
Mana Regenerated per second
(Flask) Witchfire Brew - mandatory Flask for this build. It increases your Damage over Time by up to 40% during Flask effect. It also grants Despair Curse Aura on use which means you could skip this Gem in your curses' setup and have higher unreserved Mana pool
100% increased Evasion Rating
Creates a Smoke Cloud on Use
50% increased Charges used
(25-40)% increased Damage Over Time during Flask Effect
Grants Level 21 Despair Curse Aura during Flask Effect
(Flask) Kiara's Determination - provides the Onslaught buff and immunity to 4 different status ailments for the duration
Onslaught
Immune to Freeze, Chill, Curses and Stuns during Flask Effect
60% reduced Duration
Other suggested flasks:
  1. Perpetual Quartz Flask of Staunching (immunity to Bleeding)
  2. Ample Sulphur Flask of Heat (immunity to Freeze)
  3. Experimenter's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline (increased Movement Speed)


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