chaotic question about chaos and energy shield

I am considering a shadow build using energy shield and chaos damage (delivered via Viper Strike).

My question is; after taking all of the energy shield and chaos damage nodes around the shadow and finally selecting the keystone node, Chaos Inoculation, do I still need life nodes?

p.s. I am thinking of this attack combination:

Viper Strike + Faster Attacks + Multistrike + Added Chaos Damage

If you're doing CI, you don't need life nodes at all. Just be wary that status effects (shock, freeze, and stun) are based on your maximum life.

Plus, is this setup for single-target? I'm assuming it is, in which case you would really want melee phys. You can also use Melee Phys on Full Life for even more DPS. You don't need Added Chaos, since the chaos DoT applied by viper strike is based off of the total damage of the hit, regardless of the amount of chaos damage dealt in that hit.

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KuteKitteh wrote:

You don't need Added Chaos, since the chaos DoT applied by viper strike is based off of the total damage of the hit, regardless of the amount of chaos damage dealt in that hit.

Maybe he wants to pull off a double dip with that chaos damage investment, he may also have a chaos damage roll on his weapon, alberon boots and some other stuff.

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KuteKitteh wrote:

You don't need Added Chaos, since the chaos DoT applied by viper strike is based off of the total damage of the hit, regardless of the amount of chaos damage dealt in that hit.

Alright, I'll confess to being confused.

Assuming the truth of that statement, what is the purpose of the Added Chaos Damage gem?

What is a good example of the proper usage of the Added Chaos Damage gem?

Added chaos is best used with spells, as long as you scale your spells general increase damage (increased damage, area damage, etc... including spell damage), you want to scale both spell and chaos damage.