PoB: https://pastebin.com/SGSZNSfu

Exsanguinate + Arcanist Brand

From what I saw, Exsanguinate doesn't seem like an amazing spell to self-cast. Spell Totems seem like the obvious solution, but I think Arcanist Brands will provide the smoothest playstyle. Exsanguinate doesn't seem to suffer from its downsides (a lot).

Question: Is the DoT debuff affected by the damage reduction from Arcanist Brand? I can see it going both ways depending on how one interprets the wording. If not, this could turn out godly. If it does, still not the biggest deal when supported by Holy Conquest.

Scion (+ Petrified Blood)

No ascendancy seems to do a whole lot for pure phys spells. Elementalist (ironically) might do the most through Golem buff stacking, but I'm expecting that to be hit pretty hard by the nerf hammer and I'm planning to play SSF anyway. What does seem to be absolutely bonkers is Petrified Blood with Flaskfinder. Regular Pathfinder could do fine, but is far away from all the Brand notes and Scion gets all the bits I care about already. The changes to Labyrinth also makes it much more appealing to start as a Scion.

Question: What ascendancy should I pick secondly? Currently have Champion selected, but that doesn't really offer anything unique.

Passive Tree

So, everyone is waiting for the new phys DoT notes to be released. I'm expecting them to be placed in the Duellist section, but it's pointless to speculate. Regardless, if they're good, it shouldn't be a hassle for a Scion to pick them up. I have about 20 points that can be flexibly rearranged if I want to sacrifice some life. I could even pick up a second cluster jewel. Wanted to add that cluster jewels are pretty solid for global phys (DoT), so this build shouldn't break just on those notables.

Biggest question: Will the gem numbers be good?