[2.1.0] [HC Talisman League] Lightshards's Essence Drain Build

Been playing this build, currently hitting 80s on HC Talisman.
Mediocre gear, no Q on gems and still no MoM/ZO/EB.

Some thoughts so far:

- You need good micro and kiting skills to play Slower Proj. as a 5th link, but boy does it pay off being the 4th in a row 'more' multi. Good Inc. Projectile Speed on weapon (35+) is advised. Tested the Faster Proj. as a substitute but the loss of dmg potential is staggering.

- Wither on totem with Faster Casting is a must, if you are playing Vulnerability as a second curse since it allows for a much more fluid and mobile game. Wither self-cast if you are playing Enfeeble as a second curse because of control over target priorities.

- Tried other Totem variants, with very mediocre results. Best being a simple decoy totem for herding just before Contagion. Totem with Contagion (as mentioned elsewhere in the forums) is a truly terrible choice imo.

- Will def. go AA once I transit to MoM/EB. Not enough mana otherwise.

- I went for a classic Immortal Call/ID config. instead of Molten Shell on CWDT. Have not looked back.

- Cast speed is underestimated. It is in fact a very nice quality of life, if not necessary, mod on weapon/jewelry as it allows you to cast the Contagion/ED combo quite more efficiently, especially under stress/or when swarmed.

- All in all the build is very strong. Staying close running around packs really pays off. The Blasphemy/Temp.Chains/Vuln. is quite OP. Boss fights that were stressful with dot builds pre2.1 are now a joke. Great clearing speed.

My gear atm:



My tree:

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwAAA-4EswceDR8OSBEPES8RlhNtFAkUsBZvFr8YVhhqGmwc3B2-JKomiCaVKPorCjLRM4c2PTbpOlg64TsNPChBh0VHRZ1JUUwtTm1Sr1NSVUtVxlgHXEBd8mHiYqxn_Gh0aPJsjHWedoJ4L3zlgh6Cx4Pbh8uIQo8aj0aP-pSglS6a4JuhnDKcvp2qna6iAKXEplenCKebrJi00bVItzC3PriTu03AZsHFyAzPFdhN2L3aYt1f42rrY-vu7Bjv6_Af8NXyRffX-ej-Cg==

Mostly I agree with eb0nbane.
I switched from Spelltotem/Contagion to ST/Wither and its byfar the better choice.
With the MoM/EB and ZO setup there is no Mana problem at all. I amnow at 1300 ES as MAna and run the 2 curses and a Herold. AA I am still thinking about but have no free socket atm.

Since this build doesn't use Life Leech and doesn't benefit much from Life Gain on Hit either, you guys sustain your life only with potions ?

"

Mostly I agree with eb0nbane.
I switched from Spelltotem/Contagion to ST/Wither and its byfar the better choice.
With the MoM/EB and ZO setup there is no Mana problem at all. I amnow at 1300 ES as MAna and run the 2 curses and a Herold. AA I am still thinking about but have no free socket atm.

Which herold is useful for you mate

Also what u think about this option

"

On top of two curse auras, I also run disipline which is 105% mana reservation. So I have 6% reduced mana reserved from tree. 1 node and conqueror's efficiency jewel.

Ishtaar: a high Life Pool (4500k atm) and 1300 ES combined with MoM/EB/ZO is strong. 2 Life Flask is all I need. And Life on Kill with is but morginal.

sssnnnake: I run HoStorm due to the colour. It gives only a few more DPS Tooltip but with this build you never know ;) And I got enugh Mana to do so.

I see no use in Discipline though. It gives you ES to have more Mana to run, uhm Discipline?
Then better more Eva or armour ...

My Gear and Gemsetup:

"

StorgutBorsit wrote:

Ishtaar: a high Life Pool (4500k atm) and 1300 ES combined with MoM/EB/ZO is strong. 2 Life Flask is all I need. And Life on Kill with is but morginal.

sssnnnake: I run HoStorm due to the colour. It gives only a few more DPS Tooltip but with this build you never know ;) And I got enugh Mana to do so.

I see no use in Discipline though. It gives you ES to have more Mana to run, uhm Discipline?
Then better more Eva or armour ...[/spoiler]

How exactly does a herald help with this build? Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty certain that the +flat lightning damage does not carry over the degen DoT of Essense Drain, but only affects the initial projectile hit. Not to mention that as in most chaos DoT builds, you gain a much more realistic depiction of your clearing speed by looking into the 'chaos damage per second' and NOT in the tooltip, which includes irrelevant stats like casting speed.

tldr; chaos DoT is 99% of your clearing speed --> HoT dmg is not added into the DoT --> HoT is a waste of reserved mana. Mana best spent in running AA which boosts the pathetic passives defenses of the build by a fair ammount.

Also, you are wrong in that Discipline is of no use. If your +%ES from tree/gear is sufficiently greater than your +%mana then you end up with a net gain of pseudo-mana that you can use to more reliably mitigate dmg with MoM. While not the best choice of a third aura, Discipline still vastly outweighs the benefits of a herald.

Finally, by looking into your gear/gem choices, I'd like to make a suggestion. If you drop the HoT for AA and your chaos golem for a fire golem, you gain a great deal of both offense and defense, with no drawback whatsoever.

I also think that AA is most reasonable choice for third aura.Also i was thinking about using flame dash with combination of fire penetration and Increase burning damage.Flame dash will benefit from spell damage and fact that always ignites enemies.I didnt tried it yet but i will.Please if u test it already share your thoughts.
And any ideas for useful uniques for this build ?

"

eb0nbane wrote:

"

StorgutBorsit wrote:

Ishtaar: a high Life Pool (4500k atm) and 1300 ES combined with MoM/EB/ZO is strong. 2 Life Flask is all I need. And Life on Kill with is but morginal.

sssnnnake: I run HoStorm due to the colour. It gives only a few more DPS Tooltip but with this build you never know ;) And I got enugh Mana to do so.

I see no use in Discipline though. It gives you ES to have more Mana to run, uhm Discipline?
Then better more Eva or armour ...[/spoiler]

How exactly does a herald help with this build? Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty certain that the +flat lightning damage does not carry over the degen DoT of Essense Drain, but only affects the initial projectile hit. Not to mention that as in most chaos DoT builds, you gain a much more realistic depiction of your clearing speed by looking into the 'chaos damage per second' and NOT in the tooltip, which includes irrelevant stats like casting speed.

tldr; chaos DoT is 99% of your clearing speed --> HoT dmg is not added into the DoT --> HoT is a waste of reserved mana. Mana best spent in running AA which boosts the pathetic passives defenses of the build by a fair ammount.

Also, you are wrong in that Discipline is of no use. If your +%ES from tree/gear is sufficiently greater than your +%mana then you end up with a net gain of pseudo-mana that you can use to more reliably mitigate dmg with MoM. While not the best choice of a third aura, Discipline still vastly outweighs the benefits of a herald.

Finally, by looking into your gear/gem choices, I'd like to make a suggestion. If you drop the HoT for AA and your chaos golem for a fire golem, you gain a great deal of both offense and defense, with no drawback whatsoever.

Hmm, these are good arguments. And I will check this out. Thanks for your detailed input.

I've been playing similar build in Talisman HC and I'm level 87 at the moment. It's been pretty good solo build but the Zana dailies I've done in parties suggest its party viability is rather low.

I currently use Poison as my 5th link. It does seem to help with high life target quite a bit and it doesn't have undesired side effects like Slower Projectiles. Used to use Faster Projectiles but Poison seems better overall.

I haven't gone MoM/EB/ZO but it's still under consideration if I get enough ES on gear. Gear is mediocre (partly self-found meaning I haven't sold anything but have bought few cheap items - 1c to 6c range if I remember correctly).

Clear speed is OK (good in some maps, a little under average in others depending on mobs and density). In general damage has been enough to run up tp T10 maps (only done few T8 - T10 due to bad map drops).

Current gear:


Current skill tree:
https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwYBAx4EswceDkgRDxEvEZYUsBZvFr8XLxhqGmwc3B9BJKomiCaVKPorCjLRNj026TpYOuE7DUGHRUdFnUlRSbFMLU3jTm1Sr1NSVUtVxlXWWAdcQF3yYeJirGTnZ_xo8mqMbIx1nnaCeC985X_GgKSCHoLHg9uHy4hCjxqPRo_6kyeVLprgm6GcMp2qna6iAKLZpcSmV6cIp5usmLDYtNG1SLcwtz64k7tNwGbBxcgMyBTPFdfP2L3dX-Nq6FrrY-vu7BjviO_r8B_w1fJF9W_31_k3-ej60v4K_o8=

So I testing now AA andFlame Golem. Since Flame Golem makes no use of Fortify it getting killed more often than the chaos Golem. The only Downside. AA is working quite good though.

sssnnnake: good uniques for this build are for sure +1 to curse ones (Doedres Damning, Windsream etc). Also I am planing of using a 5Link Cloak of Defiance so I have another free skillpoint.