[2.4 HC | Video Guide] Essence Drain Occultist aka "The Bastion" | 8-link & Iron Will | life based
 First of all i would like to mention that i want to avoid text of walls in this guide, so let's start. English isn't my native language. If you prefer to look a Video instead of reading, here you can find the Video guide --> [2.4 HC | Video Guide] Essence Drain Occultist aka "The Bastion" | 8-link | Iron Will feel free to ask questions and leave Feedback for improvements!!! Idea of the build: --> have FUN --> decent damage / clearspeed --> HC viable Keystones The Ascendancy Class of choice for this build is the Occultist Here you need to pick up Profane Bloom -> Malediction -> Void Beacon. (in this order) Surely by now you’re gonna notice that the remaining ascendancy talents are pretty useless for our kind of build, that means you don’t have to do uber lab! Yeah sure, it’s a little bit unfortunate but i would always pick up Occultist Ascendancy again …. for this kind of build getting dual curses is the best option though...  The Guide also includes gameplay footage: [2.4 HC | Video Guide] Essence Drain Occultist aka "The Bastion" | 8-link | Iron Will more vids soon. Twitch Shaarq --> if u wanna see some live action.  Current gear:
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Gear in general:
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For your gear you primarily need to look for affixes such as Elemental Resistances, Life, Intelligence Armour and Strength on all your stuff. Keep in mind that strength gives you additional life and also a damage increase, it’s basically the number one stat you should aim for! To cover your Intelligence requirements for Repentance gloves, try to get a bit of those attribute on the gear you craft or buy as well. On the jewel sector we are flexible, look for stats like Damage, Chaos damage, Damage over time, Projectile Damage, Strength, Resistances and Life. For Unique items there is, as i mentioned in the beginning of the guide,no mandatory item to make the build work. BUT To perform well even in high tier maps I highly recommend saving currency up for Repentance, Doon Cuebiyari and Consuming Dark. You really wanna get this uniques as soon as possible to compensate the missing Righteous fire. Repentance gloves should be your first investment, they grant us the highly needed iron will, which allows us to push spell damage over strength. We also can replace the reserved Iron Will Gem slot in our main damage setup for another damage support skill like Controlled Destruction! After that try to get a Consuming dark dagger, if you wear this beauty from now on Chaos damage poisons enemies - that means we save up another slot in our main damage setup (in that case poison) and can use whirling blades as a movement skill as well. So basically we end up with an 8 link while using this two unqiues. Finally saving currency up for Doon Cubeiyari. In the fact that we are playing a Strength based build, this weapon is Best in slot for us. Wield it in your main hand! The last optional unique i recommend is Alberon’s Warpath boots which increases your overall strength by up to 18 % … You get a bunch of extra life and damage out of it, the downside is that they have no resists, so getting ele weak capped is a bit difficult… For Flask setup in general check out my Poe Profile. Nothing really special here... Only make sure to get rolls like removes bleeding and curses on your flasks, it’s really essential! recommended uniques
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recommended flasks
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 6 link Essence drain - Void Manipulation - Rapid Decay - Pierce - Controlled Destruction and Empower. 3 Link Temporal Chains - Enfeeble - Blasphemy 3 Link Contagion - Increased Area of Effect - Faster Casting. 3 Link spell totem - wither - faster casting. 3 Link Whirling blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify others Clarity, Golem, Portal, Cwdt, IC etc... The remaining setups are however optional, use whatever you want!  I recommend leveling with a firestorm flame totem setup but you can also use contagion and essence drain. Skill Tree progression is fairly simple, head to Life and damage notes like Occultist’s Dominion, Quick Recovery, Cruel Preparation and Blast Radius at the beginning. Just hold a good balance between damage and life to get a smooth level experience. After you filled out the templar section go straight ahead to dirty techniques. In that time you will grab many strenght nodes, so keep in mind that Iron will support gem become a good option for your damage setup! Finally grab Warrior’s Blood and Heart of the Warrior in the Marauder Area, then Combat Stamina for a great amount of extra Armour and finish up the scion life wheel. The Ascendancy Class of choice for this build is the occultist. Here you need to pick up Profane Bloom and Malediction for dual cursing. In Merciless lab i picked up Void Beacon for some extra damage. Surely by now you’re gonna notice that the remaining ascendancy talents are pretty useless for our kind of build, that means you don’t have to do uber lab! Yeah sure, it’s a little bit unfortunate but i would always pick up Occultist Ascendancy again …. for this kind of build getting dual curses is the best option though... Profane Bloom -> Malediction -> Void Beacon (in this order) tree lvl90 Level Progression: lvl30 lvl50 lvl70  Bandits: help oak - kill all - kill all Last edited by Shaarq on Oct 3, 2016, 12:50:42 AM Last bumped on Mar 10, 2017, 6:44:00 AM
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Very tanki build, i recommend this build. I killed the endgame bosses in this build and the damage is insane.
I'm in love with these boots with 18% strenght it helps alot! Last edited by Xtermination on Sep 28, 2016, 4:52:29 AM
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I know you've got the whole Iron Will thing going on, but what about a Delirium weapon instead of Doon Cuebiyari?
Delerium DoT is the same damage as level 22 essence drain, and all the same support gems will buff it (except empower). Probably going to get nerfed, but until then seems like a no-brainer for any build that has nodes and supports that scale it. |
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" Thank you sir! The build begins to shine with ED lv21 and Empower lvl3/4 and 900+strength. | |
" tbh, first time i heard about this new meta thing was yesterday, seems op as hell... maybe someone can test it out before nerf? ^^^ Nevertheless my main goal is to create builds which aren't rely on temporary league items. | |
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Hi, overall a very unique build. I like to analyze skill tree, so pardon me for pointing out routes that could've yield more benefits. From the witch starting point, you could allocate 3 passive points on Practical Application instead of the 4 int nodes to Cruel Preparation. Unless you need that 40 int, I don't see a reason for not getting avoid stun interruption, 20 str, 20 dex, and an extra skill point which your build needs the most. Also, you could connect Devotion and Tireless with the 2x10 str nodes instead of the 10str and 10dex nodes.
Apologize for being a perfectionist. | |
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In build of the week they use vaal
lightning trap for shock do you think its worth it. How do you handle mana i seem to go out of mana sometimes do you have a solution for this Last edited by Xtermination on Sep 29, 2016, 3:49:40 PM
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Yea, Lightning trap is always a good idea for guaranteed shock apply.
i manage mana with clarity... on no regen / 50% regen maps i use a mana pot instead of basalt flask. | |
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Hey, build look cool. Can you add more detailed leveling passive tree like 32, 58, 87 etc ?
Can this build word without all those unique items ? | |
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