Hexblast Ignite Occultist PoB Update #4 [Slightly Optimized Leaguestarter version] (Poe 3.16)

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE GUIDE AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE LEAGUESTART TO GET A GRASP OF HOW TO PROGRESS LEVELING TREES ARE PROVIDED, SIMPLY SELECT THEM IN THE BOTTOM LEFT OF THE SKILL TREE WINDOW Kill all Bandits. Ascendancy Order: Malediction, Profane Bloom, Void Beacon, Withering Presence Leveling: If you want to, you can mule an Onslaught Support from a Scion character, as well as stashing any gear you get from Hillock, the 3 Wisdom Scrolls, and getting an extra check of the vendors for proper linked gear. Look for the following *linked* sockets at the vendors whenever you come back to town: 2x BBG (Blue-Blue-Green) wands or gear pieces. BR (Blue-Red) gear piece. BBB (Blue-Blue-Blue) or BB (Blue-Blue) and another piece of B gear. (The Blue Blue Blue gear should only have 1 link, so Clarity does not get linked with Arcane Surge. Skills: Stormblast Mine - Swift Assembly - Added Lightning Orb of Storms - Onslaught (If muled) - Elemental Proliferation Holy Flame Totem - Infused Channeling - Combustion Frostblink - Level 2 Arcane Surge (Do not level this) At level 10 replace Frostblink with Flame Dash, and add in Clarity Holy Flame Totem can easily carry most of the clear early on. Drop Holy Flame Totem and Orb of Storms, and then spam and detonate Stormblast Mines on bosses. Try to make at least 1 flat lightning to spells vendor crafted wand before Merveil (Magic Wand + Normal Rarity Topaz Ring + Alteration Orb). Also try to wear at least one Sapphire Ring for the Cold Resistance. Both rings can also be crafted from vendoring an Iron Ring + a gem of the corresponding stat (Sapphire = Int Gem, Topaz = Dex Gem, Ruby = Strength gem) At level 16 add Herald of Thunder and Summon Skitterbots to the build and activate them. If you are struggling with mana, level up your Clarity more and deactivate Skitterbots for the time being. At level 20 do the Flat Lightning wand craft again for both wands if possible, but this time using rare Topaz rings which can easily be gotten by using any essences you find on the way to make them rare. Rare rings will add a higher tier of flat lightning to spells with a level requirement of 20. At level 24 add in a Purity of Elements and drop Herald of Thunder. The damage from HoT is nice, but with two wand crafts our damage is more than good enough for simply the next 4 levels. Alsoick up a Malevolence and level it in the offhand. We won't be hurting for damage while leveling once we transition to ignite, but ailment immunity and res will help us a lot in the process. Nothing will change until at least level 28 when we can start using Hexblast and also achieve 100% chance to ignite. When transitioning to ignite, purchase 2 Ashcaller wands with at least 20% chance to ignite each. These wands are fantastic now that we don't use Elemental Equilibirum and the added fire to spells resetting it is not an issue. You can transition to Hexblast immediately at level 28 assuming you've specced out of Lightning Walker and the Witch starting spell damage nodes. This will require 6 regret points, which can be gained by completing the quests A Dirty Job, Through Sacred Ground, and Victario's Secrets. As previously stated, spec out of the Witch starting spell damage nodes and Lightning Walker, as these will both do you no good once we switch to ignite. It won't be until level 29 that we can get Skittering Runes though, so anticipate that damage boost You can now drop the Stormblast, Orb of Storms, and Holy Flame Totem setups entirely. Arcane Surge can also be dropped. Hexblast links (BBBG) should be as follows: Hexblast - Combustion - Unbound Ailments - Deadly Ailments Swift Affliction is *slightly* more damage than Unbound Ailments at this point, but the quality of life of the far, far longer ignites and far, far more total damage per ignite is well worth it. Also PoB is currently broken and doesn't register 'less duration' ailment lines so the total damage per ignite and duration of ignites when using Swift Affliction is going to be far less than PoB states. I simply do not like Swift Affliction at all and advise against it's use in most cases. When you switch to Hexblast also pick up Flammability and Elemental Weakness. Use Flammability to gain doom via Doomsday for now, remembering to re-curse bosses with Flammability after igniting them for extra damage. A Scorching Ray - Spell Totem - Efficacy setup can give some additional DPS on bosses and uses the same colors and links as our previous Holy Flame Totem setup. An additional 1-link of Flame Surge should also be used once a boss is ignited for tons of additional damage. After 1st lab (Take Malediction), you should start using an Elemental Weakness + Bane setup for additional damage on tough enemies. Your other hex skill (Flammability, *not* linked to Bane) should remain as the one to gain doom via Doomsday for clear and bossing. We add Bane to Elemental Weakness so it does *not* gain doom, and therefore isn't removed from the enemy when we Hexblast. It also makes multi-cursing when we get 3 curses twice as easy. Once you get the Sovereignty wheel + the 15% mana reservation efficiency mastery you can try to drop Summon Skitterbots and replace it with Malevolence. If you don't have enough mana to cast Hexblast no problem, but if you do it will be a solid damage increase. At any point in time you can invest in a Doedre's Damning ring for an additional damaging curse, which should be Despair, and should be added to the Bane setup: Bane - Elemental Weakness - Despair Also consider picking up a Pyre ring; it gives a very solid amount of resistance, as well as 60-80% increased burning damage; a massive boon for an ignite build. At level 36 you can buy a Vixen's Entrapment which will give an additonal curse and automate the casting of your additional damage curses, with no need to tap Bane. When you cast Flammability, they will simply auto-trigger with no input from you. Very handy. At level 38 you can swap in Multiple Totems to our Scorching Ray Totem setup for a lot of extra damage, and exposure. Links should be: Scorching Ray - Spell Totem - Multiple Totems These 3 totems in tandem will do very solid damage on their own, help with clear in dense areas, and give 25% fire exposure for great extra DPS on bosses. These will be massively buffed in 3.16, so expect them to be even stronger than advertised. Also pick up Ignite Proliferation, and replace Combustion with it. With 2 20%+ ignite chance Ashcaller Wands you will still be at 100% chance to ignite. At level 39 consider buying a Doedre's Scorn. With 3 curses on the enemy this can give up to 80% increased damage as well as longer curses. Once we pick up both the Sovereignty wheel and its 15% mana efficiency mastery and Righteous Decreem, try to fit Malevolence into the build. If you can't simply wait a few levels until your total mana pool increases. Once a 5 link is acquired, add in Burning Damage support to your Hexblast setup. Once a Blackflame is acquired, you can drop the Scorching Ray totems in favor of Wither Totems, and remove Elemental Weakness from your Bane setup in favor of Punishment. You should then pick up the Corruption wheel at the top of the tree, taking the left side to the notable. Past that, simply gear up as best as you can, following the endgame gear as a rough guide for what to look for. Look for fire DoT multi jewels, add in Cluster Jewels when you can afford them (9 or 10 passives larges with only 2 notables are fine to start with, but 8 passives with 3 notables are optimal), get a 6 link (your endgame crafted chest can wait until much later). Ashcaller Wands are more than strong enough to continue on into maps with. Pick up a Martyr of Innocence as soon as you can afford one as it will be a large damage increase.