Works in 3.20 - Starter Build Guide - Occultist Bane - updated 3.21 PoB

Occultist Bane + ED - Starter version of the build (CI build) If you have any questions about the build you can join my discord server. Discord server invite https://discord.gg/mfRA8fFnvP You can always contact me on discord, I'll be glad to help. 3.21 Changes - Most masteries are nerfed, we now spend those passives elsewhere. Some damage we lost is possible to get back from new weapon passives, pick one that increase chaos/spell damage/damage over time, dot or chaos dot multiplier, + 1 to chaos gems ( if there is such passive). Not sure what passives are possible on shields, most likely we can boost our defense. This starter build is good enough for farming t16 rare maps (u need 6L body armor for Bane, over 9000 es and lv 20 or 21 bane and essence drain. If you want to use 3 curses you will need to use Unholy Authority instead of Vile Bastion. LEVELING You can select different passive trees in PoB as you level up to see which passives to spec in. While leveling, until maps, I use gear with life and some energy shield if possible. The first goal is to reach lv 24 and start using Bane as your main damaging skill. Bandits quest - kill all for +2 passives points Here are the skills I used: (you can use any other skills you prefer) Level 1-4 Rolling Magma - Arcane Surge (keep at low level) Use any other skill you like. At vendors look for (R-B-B) (B-B-B) wands, boots with movement speed and Wands with +1 to level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems. We will need two wands with this mod at lv 24+. Level 4+ Holy Flame Totem - Infused Channelling - Summon Phantasm (R-B-B) Flame Wall - Arcane Surge - Efficacy (Lv 8) (B-B-B) Fireball - Elemental Proliferation - Combustion (Lv8) (B-B-B) Rolling Magma removed Look for wands that increse fire/spell damage (recipes for fire wands are removed in 3.21) Level 10+Smoke Mine (optional) I replaced Frost Blink with Flame Dash Level 16+ Herald of Ash Summon Skiterbots Wave of conviction (optional) Level 18+ Holy Flame Totem - Infused Channelling -Controlled Destruction (R-B-B) Flame Wall - Elemental Focus - Efficacy (B-B-B) Fireball - Elemental Proliferation - Combustion (B-B-B) Flame Dash - Arcane Surge (B-B) Auras : Herald of Ash + Summon Skiterbots Wave of Conviction, Smoke mine (optional) Level 24+ Craft two wands with +1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems ( if you was unlucky to find them at vendors) Recipe = White wand (max at your lv req) + 40% quality of gems with chaos tag (or buy from trade) .Price should be 1-2 alchemy orbs. Use live search if need. Pick wands with implicit: increase spell damage Our main damage: Bane - Despair - Controlled Destruction - Void Manipulation At level 31 replace Void Manipulation with Swift Affliction If you have tabula/rare 6L body armor Bane-Despair - Controlled Destruction - Swift Affliction -Void Manipulation - Temporal Chains (replaced with Punishment curse if you want more damage and less defense) IMPORTANT: If you have 5 or 6L body armor, u can try out HEX BLOOM support gem instead of Void Manipulation. It is up to you if you want to use Hex Bloom. Flame Dash - Arcane Surge (keep at a low level) - Second Wind (optional) - Faster Casting (arcane surge is nerfed, now its buff give just increased cast speed ) Smoke Mine (optional) Main aura - Malevolence second aura - Summon Skitterbots or Vaal Discipline Use on Bosses for more damage: ED - Controlled Destruction - Void Manipulation - Swift Affliction Wither - Spell Totem - Multiple Totems (optional at lv 38+) Look for an enduring mana flask if you have problems with mana At Level 30-35 run your First Labyrinth and pick Occultist Profane Bloom (explosions will make leveling with Bane easy) Optional Aura (instead of Summon Skitterbots) - Herald of Ash - Burning Damage With Herald Of Ash explosions from Bane will burn nearby enemies. Level 38+ Optional defense setup Cast when damage taken Lv 1 - Immortal Call Lv 3 - Increased Duration After you finish act 5, check your resistances. To get 75+ for all elemental resistances use your crafting bench to add resistances you miss or buy cheap gear from trade (for 1-2 alchemy orbs). This will make leveling much easier. Level 42+ Buy one or two Seething Hallowed Life Flask (instant life recovery). This flask makes staying alive much easier. Also, use one flask with immunity to bleeding, one with immunity to freeze and one with immunity to burning. Level 48+ Use augment/regal on your +1 chaos crafted wands Use crafting bench to add spell damage or chaos damage over time multiplier Around lv 55 Run The Cruel Labyrinth and pick Occultist Vile Bastion ( Unholy Authority if you want to use 3 curses) Important info for new Players: any curse linked with Bane is applied to enemies when you cast Bane , you dont ned to self cast those curses = easy play style IMPORTANT : Main curse is Despair, the second and third curse (if you decide to pick +1 curse on passive tree) are up to you. My choice for second curse is Punishment to further increase my damage. You may pick defensive curses like: Temporal Chains and/or Enfeeble. Level 56+ For fun try using 2 x Obliteration unique wands + Herald of Ash aura (it further increase aoe for your Bane) Level 64+ If you don't use 2 x Obliteration unique wands, on trade search for a cheap wand with: + 1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems - minimum 40% total spell damage - empty suffix Use crafting bench to add mod - chaos damage over time multiplier At the start of act 10, look on trade for cheap 5L rare body armor with some life , res, es and replace your 4L. If you have one regal orb and some alterations u can just buy 75+ item level good es base 5L white body armor and craft one yourself. 5L bane = easy act 10, kitava, merc lab Around level 65 (before you kill Kitava in act 10) Run The Merciless Labyrinth and pick Void Beacon Level 72+ Check trade for cheap corrupted gems: Level 20/20 or 21/0 Bane, Despair and Essence Drain (3 most important gems) , later check for cheap 21/20 version of these gems, Use live search if need. Before you start maps, if you have currency, buy all gear that is needed for the CI (chaos inoculation) starter version of the build. When you switch to CI and es gear, you should have minimum 5-6k ES (i had 7k+). You can watch my old video - How To Find CHEAP UPGRADES on Trade - Occultist Bane Essence Drain Build - https://youtu.be/lba57_KIOkk (You can also find these search links on my discord) This video shows how to get cheap es gear. I will also post new video about this topic in 3.16 If you cannot afford to buy this gear, you can farm low-tier maps with life+es without Chaos Inoculation (need around 2k life + 1-2k ES). So be sure to not start using 93 points passive tree until you have energy shield gear. Your first upgrade should be 200+ shield with +1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems Gear for maps: Wand (5-10 chaos) and 200+ shield with +1 chaos gems mod (5-15 chaos) 6L rare 400+es body armor, i usually wait until price drop under 40c (you can use 5L body armor for t1-14 maps ). I prefer to buy white es based 6L body armor and then just craft with alterations + regal. If you can find The Beast Fur Shawl - unique under 80c , this is also good solution, it is better than rare 400es body armor 240+ es rare helmet (5-10c) 140+ es rare gloves, if fingerless silk gloves are cheap, get those) (5-10c) 140+ es boots with 30% ms 5-10c Bated Breath uniq belt - 1 chaos or less Cheap rings with 40+es, lots of resistantce, (1-10c) Cheap amulet with 40+es , 15%es+ (1-10c) Rare cobalt jewels: 8% chaos damage over time multiplier + 8% es , no other good mods = 5-10c - on all items try to get min +40 INT - in 3.21 we can get passives on weapons and shield , pick one that increase damage/boost defense IMPORTANT: I prefer to use Wand + shield ( shield brings really nice defense boost). Instead of wand + shield, you can use Cane of Unravelling staff and respec passive points i spend on shield nodes. Single target damage will be higher (still not enough for any harder end game boss) + you will have less defense (no shield ). Pantheon: Fully upgraded Soul of the Brine King ( solve our problems with stuns (in case u didn't pick vile bastion) and give us immunity to freeze) Upgraded Soul of the Abberath Flasks with immunity to bleeding, burning Capped 75+ resistances You can equip Bisco's Leash Unique Belt at the start of the maps , kill few mobs = rampage , then switch back to your main belt. With rampage you get: 1% increased Movement Speed per 20 Rampage Stacks 2% increased Damage per 10 Rampage Stacks Anointment on amulet: Overcharged ( Clear Oil + Opalescent Oil + Silver Oil). (8% chance to gain a Power, Frenzy or Endurance Charge on Kill ) Starter CI build is meant for farming Rare T1-16 rare maps except for guardian - shaper and elder maps. Also, you can easily do Maven invitation - 10 bosses. This starter build has low single target damage and it is not meant for farming hard end game bosses. Build can run all map mods: Elemental Weakness mod - replace Malevolence with Purity of elements no mana regen - use enduring eternal mana flask Build Defense: - easy to get over 8500k+ es - high es recharge - to start es recharge by default you need to avoid damage for 2 sec or less (with faster start of Energy Shield Recharge on passive tree and gear you can lower this time) - you can get mod - increased energy shield recharge rate on boots,helmet,gloves,shield and body armor - Vaal Discipline = almost impossible to die with this buff - cwdt + immportal call + increased duration = standard defense , link vaal discipline with this setup for increased duration benefit. - we use Overcharged anointment = 8% chance to gain a Power, Frenzy or Endurance Charge on Kill ( 3 frenzy = 12% more damage , 3 end charges = 12% phys damage reduction + much better Immortal Call) - Any curse you link with the Bane is applied to enemy - for max defense, take Whispers of Doom notable =Temporal chains and Enfeeble on bosses - CI = immune to chaos damage and poison - Wither totem(s) can be used also as a defensive option, to slow enemies and as decoys targets - it is possible to get cannot be chilled on boots. - Pantheon - upgraded Soul Of Brine King + Soul of Abberath = immunity to freeze, You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds - Occultist Withering Presence = Nearby hindered enemies deal 15% reduced damage over time - we use shield = block chance OPTIONAL: I left 3 sockets empty in gear setup, you can use any skill gems you like. (Vaal RF, Vaal Grace, Smoke mine...) TLDR: Most important info for this starter build: 0- At level 24+ start using 2x wands with +1 chaos gems and 4L bane, in first lab pick profane bloom. 1. At level 42 pick 2 INSTANT life recovery flasks + flasks with immunity to bleed, freeze and burning 2. At the start of act 6, if need invest some alchemy orbs and get +75 elemental res 3. When you start maps, go with minimum 5000 or even 6000 es, the more es you have the better. (Run t1-5 maps on life + es until you get currency for es gear, don't start using 93 points passive tree before you get all es gear) Also , upgrade Soul of the Brine King as soon as possible. This will boost your defense. If you already didn't , start using CWDT setup. 4. If you avoid damage for 1.8 -2 seconds , your es recharge will start. If you cannot avoid damage , use vaal discipline. If you dont have vaal discipline ready , and your es is at less than 50%, retreat to safe position, let your es recharge start. 5. You should never die because you are bleeding/burning, flasks are still good enough to prevent this 6. If you still have problems with elemental ailments, replace Malevolence with Purity of elements 7. Don't start farming Red maps before you have over 8000 es, to farm t16 rare you should have over 9000 es. 9. Some monsters apply curse Silence, this can be dangerous if you get suprised by this - avoid damage until curse run off, or get rare jewel with immunity to silence or use flask that remove curse 10. If possible pick all items with 40+ INT , the more you have the better 11. Bane and ED are both range spells, no need to face tank anything :) 12. On Expedition, dont pick mod - Monsters are IMMUNE TO CHAOS DAMAGE and if u have 50% aura reserved on your life, don't pick mod - monsters Kill players with 20% or less life (if u reserve 35% aura on life, you are safe) - this is later if you switch from CI to low life