Chaos Acolyte [Poison Arrow, Viper Strike, Shock] [IR/EB/MoM/AA] Potential 1.2.0 Tree in Latest Post

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I don't think that you can really "focus" on building viper strike build.

This build doesn't focus solely on Viper Strike, that's just one aspect. It's for maximizing Chaos degeneration overall, and it does work pretty damn well when specialized into.

Really the only problem I find is Chaos resistant enemies, which, despite the common belief, are actually pretty common. I wish there was a Chaos Penetration support but considering Chaos Inoculation exists, there might be some mechanics preventing it.

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iao wrote:

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I don't think that you can really "focus" on building viper strike build.

This build doesn't focus solely on Viper Strike, that's just one aspect. It's for maximizing Chaos degeneration overall, and it does work pretty damn well when specialized into.

Really the only problem I find is Chaos resistant enemies, which, despite the common belief, are actually pretty common. I wish there was a Chaos Penetration support but considering Chaos Inoculation exists, there might be some mechanics preventing it.

Have you tried added chaos damage gem with quality?

20% quality adds "+10% to chaos damage", which, i assume, is global, but im not sure if that will work on viper strike, poison arrow.

But i think this is the same situation as with Explosive Arrow, where you can't modify damage output from EA itself (only damage on hit)

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Ranger21 wrote:

Have you tried added chaos damage gem with quality?

20% quality adds "+10% to chaos damage", which, i assume, is global, but im not sure if that will work on viper strike, poison arrow.

But i think this is the same situation as with Explosive Arrow, where you can't modify damage output from EA itself (only damage on hit)

Sadly normal damage modifiers (increased ___ damage, more ___ damage) do not apply to degeneration (damage over time) yet, or possibly ever. This build was made in mind that they may someday, which would be a huge damage boost for it considering: Added Chaos Damage's 10% increased Chaos damage with 20% quality, Culling Strike's 22% increased damage at level 18, Le Heup Of All's 20% increased damage, etc.

For Viper Strike one would switch from a one-handed weapon and a shield to a two-handed sword to make use of more available links, although at the expense of attack speed and some survivability. I think it's well made up for, though. For Poison Arrow, Lesser/Greater Multiple Projectiles will be replaced with Increased Area of Effect because of the their negative damage modifiers.

Cool build, by the way!

So guess what! These two unique items were released:


I think you know what I'm getting at, here! This is how a Chaos Crusader can make use of Death's Oath to truly maximize Chaos degeneration:

Passive Skill Tree
Level 75

"Deal with the Bandits" Rewards

• Normal: Help Oak for +40 base maximum life.
• Cruel: Help Kraityn for +8% increased attack speed.
• Merciless: Help Kraityn for +1 to maximum Frenzy Charges.

Gem Replacements

• Remove Bear Trap + Culling Strike + Added Fire Damage
• Add Frenzy (level 1) + Faster Attacks + Life Gain on Hit

With The Blood Dance, one can reach 8.5% of maximum life regenerated per second with the possible 5 Frenzy Charges of this build and from nodes on the tree. To passively negate the Chaos damage per second of Death's Oath, one must reach a balance between Chaos resistance and maximum life. Here is a chart of feasible ratios considering the 194% increased maximum life from the tree at level 75:

• 20% Chaos Resistance: 4236 total maximum life, so 1441 base maximum life required.
• 30% Chaos Resistance: 3706 total maximum life, so 1261 base maximum life required.
• 40% Chaos Resistance: 3177 total maximum life, so 1081 base maximum life required.
• 50% Chaos Resistance: 2648 total maximum life, so 901 base maximum life required.

In my opinion the most feasible ratio would be at 30%-40% Chaos resistance, which of course is in reach but somewhat difficult to achieve when also trying to reach maximum elemental resistances.

So, let's look at the Chaos degeneration benefit provided by Death's Oath to see how much of a boost it gives:

A level 23 Poison Arrow deals 1028.5 Chaos damage per second in its poison cloud.
A level 23 Viper Strike deals approximately 730 Chaos damage per second per Viper Charge (this is according to a possibly incorrect listing, but should be around this number). That brings it to 2920 with all 4 on an enemy.
Death's Oath deals 450.0 Chaos damage per second to nearby enemies. That is 44% additional base Chaos damage to those only under a poison cloud and 12% to those with 4 Viper Charges stacked on them.

I guess I might as well document the raw damage while I'm at it!

• In all, under the poison cloud with 4 Viper Charges and near this character, an enemy receives a base Chaos damage per second is 4398.5.
• When the enemy is cursed with Vulnerability, the damage becomes 6157.9.
• When the enemy has 3 instances of Shock, the damage becomes 13547.38.
• When the enemy reaches low life (35% of maximum life or lower) and the character has 5 Frenzy Charges, their damage taken is increased by another 15% and reaches 14471.065.

So there you have it! This build can provide approximately 14471.065 Chaos damage per second, just under 15000! Sure I know that's barely reachable considering all its circumstances, but it's certainly possible.

Ah, really? I always thought of Shock as an additional multiplier, but it seems you're right after reading around.

I'm pretty sure Vulnerability is separate, though. It states that it is increased damage over time, not increased damage taken, but of course that could just mean the same thing but for only degeneration.

I'll make some corrections. Thanks Vipermagi!

Shock is 40% MORE dmg per stack = multiplier.

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Broliciously wrote:

Shock is 40% MORE dmg per stack = multiplier.

Shock is 40/80/120% increased damage taken. It's additive with the Blood Frenzy increased damage taken.

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pneuma wrote:

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Broliciously wrote:

Shock is 40% MORE dmg per stack = multiplier.

Shock is 40/80/120% increased damage taken. It's additive with the Blood Frenzy increased damage taken.

Ah yeah, you're right. I kinda meant to say it's multiplicative with your damage (as in 3 stacks of shock on enemy = dmm*2,2).

Does Red Beak increase DoT? If so, you could still run it with viper strike and blood magic / auras.