[Theory Crafting 2.2] Generic Occultist Build (Some thoughts)

Tree

I´ll focus on lifebased character for the league start which can be played selffound! I alrdy played a Chaos Caster Shadow up to level 90 with deathless atziri so i know that this could work... Heres the Link

Acendancy Points (in this order depending on the mana management):
Profane Bloom
Void Beacon
Malediction

VERSION 1:
Uniques:
None - later Binos
Skills:
ED + Contaigon

VERSION 2:
Uniques:
Pyre + Infernal Mantel + Consuming Dark
Skills:
Frostnova

VERSION 3:
Uniques:
Obliteration + Singularity? + 2x Mings Heart?
Skill:
Bladefall

Feedback pls!

I played a Blasphemy Tri-curse ED-Contagion build just recently. It was quite fun, will probably give it a go with Occultist seeing as Abyssal Cry stacks with mini abyssal cry mod that procs if the enemy dies while cursed.

I'm sure there are better builds, but I'd like to make a strong ED-Contagion build.

Necromancer would also be a good option for Essence Drain:

Mistress of sacrifice. 20% skill effect duration is a nice support for ED. Up to 35% dodge/spell dodge when using bone offering is incredibly good. That alone makes necromancer one of the best classes imo.

Spirit Eater: 30% increased damage when casting bone offering
Beacon of Corruption: 20% increased chaos damage.

yeah ed got some decent choices imo because its really strong for almost no gear that is needed... otherwise i thoght about a bino - consuming - icewave - combo... due to the -20%chaos res that could be really strong...

For my ED/Cont I'm considering going either occultist or necromancer too.

Occultist would be an abyssal cry tri-curse variant, necromancer would be offering variant - both offer the corpse destroying possibilities, I think the bone offering variant would be safer, while the tri-curse (two blasphemy one manual to begin with, probably will stick with two blasphemy for a while until I really need the third one anyway, those points are kinda expensive).

Usual best-case scenario setup would be 6Lstaff / 6Ltorso for 6L cont & 6L ED, but that's only if you want the "serious" version, my talisman ED/Cont got adulterated into a solo MFer that can still clear T10-12 reasonably quickly. And I'm guessing there will be muuuuch better boss slayers. (Waiting for the Scion reveal, but an AoF/WI scion will probably be my go to boss killer, though I'm really considering the whirlwind 'zerker and the flickertrickster)

If you wanna make it more "tanky" though, my best guess would be to go for a necromancer, with the setup

-Wand/Knife - 3L cont (would probably prefer wand)
-Shield - Desecrate/offering/increased duration
-Gloves - enlighten setup*
-Boots - CWDT defensive setup*
-Helm - Any other defensive setup (vaal grace, other cwdt, single off-blasphemy curse, it's a filler slot)
-Chest - 6L ED (ED/Void manip/Controlled/Slower projectiles/Rapid decay/Empower)

The enlighten setup can be enlighten / blasphemy / dual curse if you're running dual aura curse, in which case your CWDT will probably be immortal call / increased duration / frost wall or something (even without charges, a straight IC can negate a lot of physical burst)
Or something like blasphemy / vulnerability (or enfeeble) / arctic armor / enlighten and add CWDT-Firestorm-CurseonHit-Temp Chains (with lvl 1 cwdt and lvl 7 firestorm for perma casts and lvl 20 temp chains). Can also replace the blasphemy by a dual purity aura. It all depends on the scenario

-Dagger (or claw) setup in offhand for whirling blades/faster attacks for the mobility (+4 slots to level up things :p) (I personally use the fastest claws I can find).

The desecrate setup would of course only be useful for annoying af bosses that don't spawn adds for you to reap the benefits of offerings (yes I'm looking at you avatar of thunder, atziri, etc.) Could be swapped for.. Well pretty much anything, for encounters like the trio, where you get the infinite spawns anyway.

That's a low damage high durability setup

High damage lower durability offering variant would be dropping the "filler" defensive setup and going for a 6L +1/+1 staff for the ED and putting a 6L (exactly same links) cont in the chest. Though that kind of staff is expensive af. You then put your offering / desecrate setup on the helm instead, rest stays unchanged. Would probably recommand a single blasphemy + lvl 11-12 clarity in the enlighten setup, and maybe keep the second curse on manual cast (in the boots alongside the offering/desecrate/increased duration setup). 6L lvl 20 cont is a bitch to sustain in terms of mana.

Of course, that iteration is crazy expensive, with 2 6Ls and two empowers.

To go occultist, it's more of the same, except with 3 curses and an abyssal cry setup instead of the 2 curse and desecrate/offering setup. Offers better clear for smaller packs, but the abyssal cry everything goes boom sometimes limit the ED/Cont spread.

hey imo you really dont need a 6l contaigon because its only used to spread ED :D otherwise yeah the necromancer is a viable option for almost every build because of the offerings... with just a 4 link you will gain a hugh amount of offence/defense stats... but my focus lies on the occultist for now... imo having a permanent Abyssal Cry is just epic!

You don't "need" a 6L cont per se, but a 6L cont will deal around 10k+ dps pre-wither/vuln. That's not something to scoff on if you're optimizing for raw damage. (For reference, a 6L ED with iron will is around 25k dps as far as I know. Didn't empower my ed/cont as I played her as an MFer and was focusing on my scion this league ^^)