[2.1] Essence Drain + Contagion Budget (Nice DoT)

I am having a considerable problems with similar setup starting from act 4 cruel. I am totally fine with boss killing, but for packs and clear speed...

Contagion dropped incredibly fast and although I can push it all the way to still make it kill blues in one cast it does so extremely slowly.

I tried to use ED more, and although damage is okay-ish its usability is annoyingly low. It is hard to hit anything that moves, incredibly long cast poses a lot of danger, and constant distraction from barrels and other objects on its way just make it unbearable at times.

I initially planned this contagion/ed combo for trap to avoid this problem, but since ED will not work with traps I had to drop the idea and now I am starting to fall into the situation when build stops being competitive at all, considering that I am out-gearing a lot of competition.

Love this topic..

I'm plotting to run a similar concept but hybrid summoner (just zom's as a meat shield) then drop some life (as i'm not hardcore) and pick up more spell damage.

Rough idea, though subject to change as I level.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwYA37CCEI-mRKtVriyc7IoRLWvbfINMs-vuBAeXlTLRmuAc3KcIg9tSU0VHRZ24k9kLVcY9X5f0wGZTUij6Kpg6WG0ZPAUEs4LH-oCsmAj0IvSf3-98ogAdvvfXwFRsC5o78B8zh1KvakPJPZMn7Txo8gPurUq_l3_G1aZn_PIeEZYOSAceXfK3MJUuKwoUCfDVES8TbY_6SVHrYyaIXEC1SDY9h8t2gp2qp5vIDGyMdZ600WKszxUWvw-raowmlSSL9W9h4sM6yBSJ4KLZ5liw2JMfSRP56IUy


Leveling as a shadow with ED/Cont from the start basically.. and rolling in zom's as they power up.

Could also level fine as a witch using a more standard leveling spell+minions until you reach the chaos points.

Welcome any thoughts/feedback as I'm only just starting out with it.

"

ichishi wrote:

I tried to use ED more, and although damage is okay-ish its usability is annoyingly low. It is hard to hit anything that moves, incredibly long cast poses a lot of danger, and constant distraction from barrels and other objects on its way just make it unbearable at times.

I initially planned this contagion/ed combo for trap to avoid this problem, but since ED will not work with traps I had to drop the idea and now I am starting to fall into the situation when build stops being competitive at all, considering that I am out-gearing a lot of competition.

Pretty much this. I'm not yet in maps but already see this as a huge problem. Thought ED would work with traps but no.. For some reason ggg decided "no, this skill does not work with traps even tho everyone would imagine so". I don't know how to make this viable without it. Cast speed is awfully slow and projectile is slow as snail. We can't stack cast speed and projectile speed. There simply isn't enough skillpoints if you are going to take dot nodes and life/es, no way.

Shame. Wanted to play with new skills but these just doesn't seem to be viable

Guess I'm playing this until I rip which is probably pretty soon

Been playing this some more, just did Underground river (76, t9). At ~15k ED dot dps I had no issues whatsoever. Clear speed is generally pretty decent, playstyle is fun, overall I like it.

At the moment I'm hybrid life/es spec because it's relatively cheap to get started but I'm really hating the ES mechanic so I'll be switching to scion life wheel soon™ (read: when I get better life gear).

Couple observations from the last few days of playing:

- stun resist while casting nodes are priceless. Trust me on this.
- slower projectiles gem doesn't hinder the playstyle at all. Might just be me on a 16:10 monitor and being used to get into mob's faces though.
- 5L feels crucial. At 10k dot dps (4L) I thought my clear speed was a little slow, at 5L and with a few more damage nodes it feels good
- I'm not too sure about dual curse setup. Atm I'm using cwdt(3)+vulnerability(7)+temp chains(7) and yeah it works sometimes, but not nearly as reliable as having both curses tied to Blasphemy. However, I found Blasphemy a huge downside defense wise, because I had to drop my AA+aura. Aura's not that needed (using disc) but AA is quite nice to have on this setup.

My tree at lvl 81:



I still have the witch's dmg nodes ahead of me, as well as 2 more jewel sockets (don't have any good ones yet). For reference, 10% spell damage with my gear and gem levels translates to roughly 200 dot dps.

I will likely be speccing out of the ES nodes and probably fill out the scion wheel. Dual curse nodes are still up for debate, currently I'm leaning towards dropping it and instead use temp chains in blasphemy setup along with AA for defense.

Bottom line, if you're a solo player this is a pretty good budget build. I really like that the skill gems can be used from early levels with pretty good effect and can carry you to maps on a 4L easily. Probably one of the least gear dependent specs in the game atm.

Also, a protip for buying a 5L chest - get an eva/es one, you need GGGBB and that's somewhat hard to roll on an ES chest.

Tosnl:
thanks for the build. I'm level 33 so just leveling up.

Bawtzki:
I like the "stun resist while casting nodes" on your passive tree. Also am interested in any changes you make in your passive tree respeccing later on.

Playstyle is more interactive than my old dual flame totem build!!

Small update - I've replaced Slower Projectiles with a Poison gem and it's amazing for single target damage. I highly recommend it.

"

Small update - I've replaced Slower Projectiles with a Poison gem and it's amazing for single target damage. I highly recommend it.

Bawtzki, what's your current gem setup with Poison gem? Is it ED + Rapid Decay + Controlled Destruction + Void Manipulation + Poison in a 5L?

That's correct. However with the hotfix to poison damage on Chaos dot abilities (namely, ED) I'm not so sure anymore, I'll have to do more testing.

What jewels are folks using? I'm using the Eldritch Knowledge jewel and sticking it into area's with at least 4 int and one Conqueror's efficiency for the increase in skill duration and mana cost/reserve reductions. Was curious if anyone is using other combinations and what effect that has had to the build.

thank you for the guide! I did something similar and had much fun till level 80 and leveling there was a walk in the park.
currently lvl 81 shadow, talisman standard.

for defense I have evasion (will spec into dodge for higher maps soon), Arctic Armour, chaos golem, but most importantly using dual curse auras tempchains + vulnerability. the tempchain aura slows approaching enemies considerably down. for larger packs I cast abyssal cry, slowing them to a crawl and for bosses I place a Wither totem, slowing them down to a snails pace as well.
even devourers erupting from the ground are slowed to an extent, you can easily run away before they initiate any attack. essence drain leeches life for you, but it's not very notable unless you hit larger packs in a contagion + essence drain combo.


+3k life
36% chance to evade

damage comes from contagion and essence drain. For faster clear speed I have contagion in a six link and essence drain in a 5 link. contagion one-shots every white and most blue mobs already. casting essence drain just makes the kills go faster. for mid and higher maps essence drain becomes more important and should be put into the 6 link.


contagion 3k damage/second
essence drain 3k on hit and +8k damage/second (poison gem damage is not shown in tooltip! but it has great effect on single targets / bosses)


problems:
curse resistant maps and mobs are no fun at all
party play is dull. it makes the damage over time effect feel like you're doing no damage at all and your curses might not help everyone.

gear and gems:


skill tree and jewel: