[LHC] 2.6 Ramona's CI Essence Drain

Hi Ramona, i was recently thinking about going consuming dark with a sai instead of a shield

id have around 9-10k es if i do, i wanted to ask if the damage output would be worth it?



dont get me wrong btw the damage right now is already awesome but i want to try to do shaper and uber atziri more confidently cause idk about the damage that id do to shaper atm

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How good is ED with Uber Atziri and Shaper on HC. I was farming both Shaper and Uber Atziri with Chaos Blade Flurry and I died, so I am looking for something different.

Zizaran made a video where he actually managed to kill the Shaper with Essence drain and did it deathless in HC. You may watch that video and check his gear and tree, he did it pretty easy, but keep in mind that:
- he was running a slightly different version of essence drain as I mentioned above (still the occultist with the same ascendancies anyway, just changed the tree a bit, the gear and the gem setup).
- he reached more than 16k energy shield but had a literally godlike gear, running a level 21 Essence drain, an 800 ES vaal regalia, and other pieces with attributes on it which allowed him to skip some passive nodes and put those on more ES.
- though essence drain didn't got nerfed, Zizaran posted that video in 2.5, before the AoE nerfs and changes. Doing the shaper without picking some of increased radius of aura skills nodes may feel unconfortable at the moment.

imho this build can do the Shaper, picking the spell nodes and running with a very good gear

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RabzH wrote:

Hi Ramona, i was recently thinking about going consuming dark with a sai instead of a shield

id have around 9-10k es if i do, i wanted to ask if the damage output would be worth it?



dont get me wrong btw the damage right now is already awesome but i want to try to do shaper and uber atziri more confidently cause idk about the damage that id do to shaper atm

Hi RabzH,

Using both daggers will definitely result in more damage.
I personally cannot speak to how your defenses will be as I have not played ED without a shield.

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How good is ED with Uber Atziri and Shaper on HC. I was farming both Shaper and Uber Atziri with Chaos Blade Flurry and I died, so I am looking for something different.

Hi Butter0311,

I have not personally killed these bosses but I know they are certainly do-able.
Shaper is probably the hardest encounter for this build and would require an Abyssal Cry setup.
The only big downside is my version of ED would be relatively lacking ES required to safely do Uber or Shaper.
That being said it is definitely still do-able.
I would likely make changes to my gear or skill tree if I wanted to specifically farm Uber Atziri or Shaper.

@Ramona No offense how's this compare to +3 decay bow? I heard that's the best setup for ED but I'n not sure if its true.

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RabzH wrote:

Hi Ramona, i was recently thinking about going consuming dark with a sai instead of a shield

id have around 9-10k es if i do, i wanted to ask if the damage output would be worth it?

dont get me wrong btw the damage right now is already awesome but i want to try to do shaper and uber atziri more confidently cause idk about the damage that id do to shaper atm

Just checked your profile, I think to improve damage, instead of using comsuming dark, it is better to change your chest to skin of the loyal. You will end up with similar ES as consuming dark but much better dps.

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popotm wrote:

@Ramona No offense how's this compare to +3 decay bow? I heard that's the best setup for ED but I'n not sure if its true.

Hi Popotm,

That setup would require a lot of changing in gear, though definitely has some of the highest damage potential.
I'm personally not looking for the most damage possible in my build.
There's no way a +3 decay bow would be close in survivability to having a sai + shield.
Not to mention the costs associated with getting one.
Finally, I honestly haven't seen any top Hardcore ED characters using a bow over sai/shield recently, but I don't check very often.

Hello and thanks for the amazing guide!
One quick question, when would you suggest someone to switch to ED during leveling?

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pantelisf wrote:

Hello and thanks for the amazing guide!
One quick question, when would you suggest someone to switch to ED during leveling?

Hi Pantelisf,

My recommendation would be some time after level 38, when you can run Increased AoE on Contagion.
Honesty though, the later you switch the better it will feel.
That being said I've leveled with ED as soon as you can run ED+Contagion, and it's not the worst thing ever.

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hupple wrote:

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RabzH wrote:

Hi Ramona, i was recently thinking about going consuming dark with a sai instead of a shield

id have around 9-10k es if i do, i wanted to ask if the damage output would be worth it?

dont get me wrong btw the damage right now is already awesome but i want to try to do shaper and uber atziri more confidently cause idk about the damage that id do to shaper atm

Just checked your profile, I think to improve damage, instead of using comsuming dark, it is better to change your chest to skin of the loyal. You will end up with similar ES as consuming dark but much better dps.

hey my dude, i managed to save up some money for a shavs and went ll i had around 17k chaos damage per sec, now im at 23.4k which is a huge boost, once i figure out my shit out and get some lucky drops ill upgrade my armour and get more es + go consuming dark if i felt like i needed more damage

also, thank you ramona for this build it is awesome, glad i got to play ed before 3.0 lol