​A build for the @CohhCarnage community! - Poison Spectral Helix Occultist

==================================================================================================================== GENERAL TIPS ==================================================================================================================== This guide is part of Zizaran's build guides for 3.16. It will be continously updated over the first few days of the league, so check back for updates! Bandits: Kill All You get FREE respec points as you progress through the campaign. Use these to respec your starting Spell Damage nodes when you switch to Spectral Helix The items in this guide are are a GUIDELINE, listed with the main core stats you're looking for. More/higher stats (resists, attributes, etc) are always better! On trade leagues you can search for "Empty Suffixes" or "Empty Prefixes" with a value of 1 for items with open crafting slots Upgrade your Pantheons - Upgraded Brine King is important for Freeze Immunity Keep an eye out on your Strength/Intelligence requirements, especially when adjusting your tree/replacing gear ==================================================================================================================== BUILD INTRODUCTION ==================================================================================================================== This is a Spectral Helix Occultist designed for CohhCarnage and his community to play and enjoy 3.16 with! Spectral Helix is a skill that throws spinning copies of your weapon around you without needing to aim. This build utilizes Occultist's Plague Bearer that, once charged with the poison from your Spectral Helix, allows you to speed around while monsters explode around you from Occultist's Profane Bloom. ==================================================================================================================== Leveling ==================================================================================================================== Since we can not play Poison Spectral Helix from the start, we will start leveling out with Freezing Pulse, into Bane and Blight, and then switch to Spectral Helix later on (around Act 6-7) when you have enough skill points. This happens during the 68 Point Skill Tree. You will want to take "Chance to Poison" as a quest reward in Act 1 to level for later. Complete the Act 3 quest in the Library "A Ficture of Fate"to buy Spectral Helix, Plague Bearer, and Added Chaos. These are the most important things to have leveled when you want to switch. You can place them in weapons in your offhand so they will gain experience while you level with Bane. ==================================================================================================================== Switching to Spectral Helix ==================================================================================================================== When switching to Spectral Helix, you will run Spectral Helix - Chance to Poison - Added Chaos - Unbound Ailments Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks | Flame Dash (Movement Skills) Withering Step (Withers enemies around you for more damage/Defensive Boost, can place on Left Click if too lazy to use manually) Ancestral Protector (Gives you attack speed when placed, use for bosses) Blasphemy - Temporal Chains - Despair (Curses enemies around you, heavily slows them and increases damage they take) Grace (Major Defensive Aura) OR Malevolence (DPS Aura) - Make sure you take the Mana Reservation Efficiency Mastery from Charisma Precision (Gives you accuracy, only level it as much as you can to keep your mana at a comfortable level of reservation) You will want to use the Rustic Sash Vendor recipe to make a claw Buy the best claw from the vendor, sell it with a Rare Rustic Sash (you can use an essence or alchemy on a Rustic Sash from the vendor) and a Blacksmith's Whetstone The vendor should give you a claw with an % Increased Physical Damage mod ==================================================================================================================== GEM LINKS ==================================================================================================================== 6L: Spectral Helix - Chance to Poison - Added Chaos - Unbound Ailments - Void Manipulation - Vicious Projectiles 4L: Blasphemy - Temporal Chains - Despair | Grace OR Malevolence (Read Aura section), Enlighten 3 later on 4L: Blood Rage | Ancestral Protector | Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1) - Immortal Call (Level 2) 4L: Precision (Keep low level) | Withering Step - Flame Dash - Second Wind 3L: Plague Bearer - Increased Area of Effect - Vaal Blight 3L: Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Lifetap (Optional if mana issues) You will eventually want Empower 3 on your Plague Bearer to scale it even further ==================================================================================================================== SKILL GEM LOCATIONS ==================================================================================================================== ACT 1: Mercy Mission: Infused Channeling Chance to Poison Arcane Surge Enemy at the Gate: Blight (You can also corrupt these for Vaal Blight later) The Caged Brute: Void Manipulation Efficacy Wither Spell Totem Flame Dash Withering Step Unbound Ailments ACT 2: Sharp and Cruel: Controlled Destruction Faster Casting The Root of the Problem: Summon Skitterbots ACT 3: Lost in Love: Bane Despair Malevolence Temporal Chains A Fixture of Fate: Swift Affliction (Siosa) Spectral Helix (Siosa) Added Chaos Damage (Siosa) Vicious Projectiles (Siosa) Plague Bearer (Siosa) Ancestral Protector (Siosa) Whirling Blades (Siosa) Faster Attacks (Siosa) Blasphemy (Siosa) Precision (Siosa) Blood Rage (Siosa) Grace (Siosa, you can also corrupt these for Vaal Grace) ACT 4: The Eternal Nightmare: Multiple Totems Increased Area of Effect OTHER: (Trade for these or find them as loot!) Empower Vaal Blight (can also use Vaal orbs on Blight until you get one) Vaal Grace (can also use Vaal orbs on Grace until you get one) ==================================================================================================================== AURAS ==================================================================================================================== Your aura setup will vary based on what items you have access to. To start, pick 3/4: Malevolence (Damage aura, scales your poison) Grace (Defensive aura, lots of evasion for attacks) Blasphemy - Temporal Chains (Defensive Curse Aura, slows enemies around you very heavily) Blasphemy - Despair (Offensive Curse Aura, scales both your Poison and Plague Bearer. Very good if you like running through monsters with Plague) If you want a well rounded character, drop Malevolence. If you want all the damage, drop Grace. If you drop Grace, make sure you drop the Grace Evasion Mastery. Precision is your last aura. Its reservation scales with levels, so only level it as high as you can while keeping your mana sustain comfortable. Make sure you have the Precision Mastery If you get your accuracy high enough with gear, you might be able to drop Precision Mid/Late Game: An Impresence (Despair Variation) will allow you to run Blasphemy - Despair at no cost. If this item is out of your budget range, you have the option of gloves with "Temporal Chains on Hit" corruption/scourge or a Hunter ring with Despair on Hit This will allow you to drop one of your two Blasphemy curses to run Malevolence instead, while still applying your curse on hit with your attacks Consider running Enlighten 3 on Grace and Malevolence once you start running both You can also make a Helmet with 8% Reservation Efficiency using a Shrieking Essence of Loathing if you need a little more wiggle room for your mana ==================================================================================================================== FLASKS ==================================================================================================================== Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching Chemist's Silver Flask of Acceleration Chemist's/Perpetual/Experimenter's Jade Flask of Reflexes Two flasks of your choice with Warding and Heat Granite, Sulphur, Quartz, Aquamarine, Ruby/Topaz/Sapphire are all good choices. Enduring Eternal Mana Flask if you are having heavy mana issues that you can not resolve. This is a good spot for Warding Once you upgrade your Brine King Pantheon, you no longer need Heat Suffix. Once you max out your Chaos Resistance, you can use a Forbidden Taste. Instilling Orb it for "When you take a savage hit" so it can autoheal you ==================================================================================================================== MANA PROBLEMS ==================================================================================================================== Make sure to take the Claw Mastery for "1% of Attack Damage Leeched as Life/Mana" Until then, you can use an Enduring Mana Flask Run Lifetap on Whirling Blades Lower the level on your Precision ==================================================================================================================== Spell Suppression ==================================================================================================================== Spell Suppression is a new defense introduced in 3.16. Our character wants to reach 100% Spell Suppression as we reach higher maps, and enough on gear to ideally drop the Entrench wheel on the tree. This can be done through Atziri's Step and a high Spell Suppression roll on body armour/shield. It can roll on any evasion gear. ==================================================================================================================== Late Game Setups ==================================================================================================================== Offensive Cluster Setup - For those who do not want to bother with Glorious Vanity and want more damage (Recommended) Glorious Vanity Setup - Gives you a large additional layer of defense that synergizes well with our character while still maintaining a good amount of damage. Ghost Dance - Utilizes our high evasion from Grace + The Gravicious "Life as Extra Energy Shield" craft for another layer of defense. Good for those who want more defense but do not want to purchase a Glorious Vanity ==================================================================================================================== KEEP DYING :( ==================================================================================================================== Make sure your resistances are capped Make sure you have your Warding and Staunching flasks Stay close to monsters so they are cursed by your Temporal Chains if you have it on Blasphemy Use Vaal Grace in dangerous situations ==================================================================================================================== Anointment ==================================================================================================================== Early game - Freedom of Movement (Clear Sepia Violet) Mid/Late game - Corruption (Crimson Black Black) ==================================================================================================================== Mastery List ==================================================================================================================== Life Mastery - 10% Increased Maximum Life +50 to Maximum Life Chaos Mastery - +1% to Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier per 4% Chaos Resistance Try to cap your Chaos Resistance to get full benefit from this mastery You will want to cap it late game if you transitioning to the Xibaqua setup Reservation Mastery - 15% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills You will need this to fit all of your auras Evasion Mastery - Grace has 25% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency You will need this if you want to run Grace for stronger defense through Evasion Claw Mastery - Enemies Poisoned by you cannot deal Critical Strikes 1% of Attack Damage Leeched as Life / 1% of Attack Damage Leeched as Mana Make sure to take this ASAP for Mana Leech or you will need a mana flask Poison Mastery - Plague Bearer has 20% Increased Maximum Plague Value 20% Increased Poison Duration Optional/good early on: Poisons you inflict on non-Poisoned Enemies deal 300% increased damage Accuracy Mastery - Precision has 100% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency Spell Suppression Mastery - Prevent +2% of Suppressed Spell Damage Optional: +10% chance to Suppress Spell Damage if your Boots, Helmet, and Gloves have Evasion This is a easy way early to help you cap Spell Suppression to 100%, and can be taken instead of above until you get more on gear ==================================================================================================================== Other Uniques to Consider ==================================================================================================================== Impresence (Despair Variant) - Allows you to reserve Despair on Blasphemy for free, dropping the need for Despair on Hit Ring Also much better for clear with Plaguebearer Circle of Nostalgia (Herald of Agony Variant) - Requires you to run Herald of Agony, but can roll incredibly high amounts of Chaos Damage. You would want "Chaos Damage while affected by Herald of Agony" and "Herald of Agony has increased buff effect" while also Chaos Catalysting the ring The Devouring Diadem - Allows you to use your Energy Shield as mana while also giving you more Mana Reservation Efficiency ==================================================================================================================== ADVANCED ==================================================================================================================== Crafting Life + Chaos Dot Multiplier Gear -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many Rare items for this build have Life + Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplier. You can craft a majority of this gear with Harvest Chaos/Chaos more likely rerolls, Aberrant Fossils, and Aberrant + Pristine Fossil Combo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crafting Late Game Claw -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ilvl 83 Elder Imperial Claw - Aberrant Corroded Metallic Fossil Combination 1/10 on average to hit Adds Chaos Damage and Tier 1/2 Damage Multiplier for Poison Once you have these two prefixes: If empty suffix: You can to craft "Prefixes Cannot be Changed" and use an Orb of Scouring Then craft Can have up to 3 Crafted Mods, Attack Speed, and Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplie If no empty suffix: You will need to use the Harvest Craft "Reforge Keeping Prefixes" to reroll suffixes until you have an open one If you are impatient, you can gamble with an Orb of Annulment to remove one of the three suffixes at the risk of removing one of the mods you need to keep. Craftofexile emulation: https://pastebin.com/Ttq4W65Y -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cluster Jewels -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Large Cluster setup is very strong for this build once you have the skill points to use it The generic % Chaos Damage scales both our poison and our chaos explosions Large Cluster Options: Chaos Large Cluster (8 Points) Good notables to look out for are at least two of Unwavering Evil, Wicked Pall, and Unholy Grace Crafting your own: Acquire 8 passive Chaos Large Cluster jewel (preferably ilvl 50-67 helps a lot with crafting), reroll with Harvest more likely chaos or Abberant fossils 1/27 on average with fossils Small Cluster Options: Normal 3/4 Stat jewels % increased maximum life - Surging Vitality, Fettle % increased armour - Enduring Composure - Generate endurance charges when hit. Nice for endurance charges during bossfights, allowing you to utilize immortal call % to Chaos Resistance - Born of Chaos - Used in Xibaqua setup to further scale Maximum Chaos Resistance for more mitigation Tip: Remember that you can get some resistances/attributes you need on Cluster Jewels. You can also swap/augment the resistances (suffixes) using Harvest ==================================================================================================================== Very Defensive Setup - Glorious Vanity Xibaqua ==================================================================================================================== The Glorious Vanity jewel changes nodes around it. Keystones will get changed based on the name on the jewel. The one we care about is "Xibaqua" This gives us the Divine Flesh Keystone instead of Pain Attunement. This makes us take 50% of Elemental Damage as Chaos Damage, while also raising our maximum Chaos Resistance. Since Occultist already gives us a lot of chaos resistance, it is easy for us to cap our Chaos Resistance with a little investment to take advantage of this fantastic layer of defense. This is suggested for those who want to take on harder maps/bosses and want to take their character to the next level This will also randomly change the nodes in its radius, so you will have to remove points from Melding, as they will no longer give Life. ====================================================================================================================