Scion - Papa's easy beginner essence drain build "ascendancy" - Forum

Ok so this is my first attempt at posting one of my builds even though I have not followed any in the years and accounts I have went through.

This ia a scion ascendancy build.

OVERVIEW

This build uses essence drain as your main skill, you take the hierophant subclass in which you socket wither and contagion to totems, and you take the deadeye subclass in which you can have an extra projectile and they have 50% chance to pierce. "we will discuss later why this is so important".
Other mechanics is using blasphemy, with temp chains and vulnerability and till you get 2 projectiles you will use warlords mark as well. This character utilizes Eldridge battery, mind over matter and ghost reaver.

The skill tree will be the same in the new league so it is a good base to start with and adapt as your play style permits.

TEST RUN
As the talisman league is wearing down I decided instead of doing nothing I would take my current poison bladefall duel totem scion and respec her into the new build just to give it a try...At first it was real trial and error as nothing seemed do go right. but after dozens of regrets and hundreds of chromes I think I finally have a balance that will carry me above the 93 mark.
I have tried it in a rare t12 and found zana that placed me into a t13 dry peninsula map. which segways us into the next part.

MECHANICS

"offensive"
This build rely's on degeneration and proliferation of surrounding monsters. so for it to be effective both of those elements have to be present to be at its best efficiency.
so when you approach a mob first you throw out the two totems and wait long enough for them to activate, then- cast the essence drain...drain will hit 1 target and the damage will spread to all nearby targets. Supports like lesser multiple projections work but reduce that initial hits base damage there fore lowering the damage over time effect which is what is important. With the deadeye skill you will have an extra projectile so that will be taken care of. Also at times you feel safe enough get within aura range of the monsters so they can have the curses activate on them. Vulnerability increases the damage over time, temporal chains will slow them down and make the damage over time longer and warlords mark will leech life and give endurance charges.

You will use leech for a long time, at first it will be in both link and curse because of the 1 projectile hitting 1 monster does not leech a lot of es to your mana pool but 4% leech usually will be enough. Once you get a second piercing projectile i am thinking in theory you can drop both gem and curse since it will be hitting 4 instead of 1 but that is just theory.At the very least you can remove 1..Id say the curse but keep it in back slots to level cause if you are able to get a lvl 3 empower then you will use it to replace the gem in the link.

"DEFENSE"
There is a few things to keep in mind besides the leech if you want to stay alive. so here is the systems this character has in place.
As ALWAYS get your resists and life as maxed as you can by act 3 merciless. remember your dps is a lot less if you spend half your time returning to the area.
Also use atziri boots as soon as you can equip them...they are usually pretty cheap to acquire. And if you get some extra perandus coins up maybe get some corrupted ones with dodge implicit.
You will also use vaal grace for the extra dodge chance.which will give 50% dodge to spell and about 40% to attack with corrupted boots....that is a nice defensive buff. Also once you drop warlords mark you will start using arctic armor.which will give you a good defense to physical and fire. You will also have a couple hundred regen in life with the taken nodes on the tree which is why I did not take vaal pact..I wasn't comfortable having my life globe open with nothing buy flasks to keep it with something in it.

"ARMAMENT"

You will need a 6l armor by the time you are getting to mid tier maps or sooner..A cheap corrupted tabula will work till you can earn enough for a cheap 6l with a few stats mainly energy shield for your eb/mom
It is your choice whether you chose armor or evasion as your secondary stat over es for items that is personal preference...I will just add in this.. If you are standing in the middle of the road and a car is coming at you ...What do you chose to do ?

1 jump out of the way
2 try to jump over it or
3 just stand there and take the damage it does.
now think of your play style...if it is 1 then get evasion..if it is 2 work on more dodge and if it is 3 then armor will suit you.

On weapons try to get cast speed, % spell damage, flat elemental damage to spells and/or faster projectiles. I use wands but 1 handed maces and daggers work as well...and even a bow with a drill neck if you are more creative...

The only 2 uniques I suggest is Atziris step slink boots and Doedre's damming paua ring. that will allow you to have the third curse till you can get the 2nd projectile then you can drop it for a ring of your choice...Although keep it around in case you party with someone that curses you can throw on the ring and your curses wont be over written.

Every other item again is personal preference. you can look at my profile of this character.It is lucrezias_plague and open to all
Keep in mind the weapon and helm will be socketed differently in next league.

This is my notes on links and gems needed you will get them unedited so hope you can work with them

Spoiler

chest-essence drain,rapid decay, added chaos,void manipulation, controlled destruction ( poison replaced with life leech replaced with empower in late game). bgbgbr
weapon- cwdt, descerate, light warp gr-b
weapon- vaal grace ,arctic armor inc duration gr-g
helm- wither,contagion,spell totem, inc aoe bbbr
atziris boots-golem, minion life, fortify added chaos gbrb
gloves- blasphemy,temp chains,vulnerability warlords mark bbgr

6 slots- 2 essence drains, empower, 1 void man , 1 rapid decay,leech

gems locations
essence drain-merville normal Q=1% chaos dam
rapid decay- library normal Q=.5 dot
added chaos and empower found only
void manipulation-brutis normal Q= .5% increased chaos
controlled destruction- poison tree Q= .5% spell dam
faster casting- poison tree Q=.5% cast speed
blasphomy- library normal Q=.5% increased effect
temp chains- lost in love normal Q cursed enenys are 5% slower
vulnerability- lost in love normal Q=.5 increased phys dam "no use"
increased duration marauder,templat,duelist only library normal Q=.5% skill effect duration
lightning warp- brutis normal Q 1% cast speed
wither- brutis normal Q=1% inc duration
contagion-mud flats normal Q= inc aoe
spell totem- brutis normal Q- 1% placement speed
increased aoe- malachai normal Q= increased area dam
golem voll dried lake normal Q= minion dam
poison-library normal Q=1% duration
fortify- library normal Q=duration
cwdt - chamber of sins normal or bought in a4 after malachai
desecrate. poisoned tree normal Q=1% cast speed

mud flats normal- contagion
brutis normal-light warp, spell totem, wither aand 2 void manipulation
merville normal-3 essence drains
sharp and cruel normal-cwdt
poisoned tree normal- desectate faster casting , 2 controlled destructions,arctic armor
clarissa quest- temp chains vulnerability, warlords mark
general- none
library-fortify, rapid decay, blasphomy poison and buy 2 increased durations
voll- golem
malachai- increased aoe
beg borrow buy or steal 2 added chaos, 2 empower

This is the skill tree i am currently using and will be transferred over to perandus league

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwABBLMHHgthDc0OSA-rEQ8RLREvEZYTbRQJFLAWvxhqGYoajxzOJIsmiCaVKworUCycMtE1kjpYOuE8BTwtQYdEq0VHSRNJUUwtUDBSr1WuVcZYB1xAXGtd8l9qYeJn_Gh0aPJtbHWedoJ4L3xLfIN85X_Ggh6DX4PMhEiFMofLiEKJ4I9Gj_qTH5SglS6WdJuhogCnCKebrJitSq9sr6e00bUEtUi3MLc-u03AZsHFwzrDbcT2xq7IDM8V0NDVpthN2L3aYtsL217dX-Qi5ljrY-vu73zwH_DV8kX22vfX-ej7Cf4K_lQ=

As far as bandits help oak in normal, then it is your choice if you would like to halp alira in merciless since the hierophant has the power charge % on laying totem mod you will be takig the spell % spell damage per power mod as well..Personally im taking the charge in merciless and the one above witch to get an additional 20% spell damage....also 5 power charges will give 12.5 percent crit chance. with the base crit that is 17.5 % but you need to take away the 100% crit chance from controlled destruction so it will end up being 12.5% with 5 power charges active currently with my gear i have 5.5% to crit with no charges..

"PITFALLS"
At this time There are a couple pitfalls in the build which I will discuss here and tell how the new expansion will cure some of those.
One if you are looking for a safe build that will make it to end game then this one is for you, but realize it not only rely's on a damage over time effect but also a short wait time for totems to activate. can you 1 shot 2 screens of monsters in 1 hit...yes often...but in doing so you take a few seconds setting it up you don't just go in and bash heads...so if you are a head basher this might not be the right build for you
Now leeching enough life to keep your energy shield full with just 1 projectile hitting 1 monster is an issue that's why i use both leech gem and warlords. those together seems to leech enough for 98% of the time...Once the new league starts then the piercing double projectiles will balance this out since you only throw 1 projectile a screen usually you do not use a lot of mana but you do get hit so its good to replenish it.
Now with all those things set aside there is 1 more huge pitfall in the build which will be at least improved in the new league...Remember I said earlier zana set me in a t13 dry peninsula well it took like 20 minutes to kill the boss...yes doing t13 is lvl 16 gems was not the smartest thing but the same problem i can have with a white mob on the coast in normal....If someone is standing in front of the item that has a minions cannot die mod then the projectile never gets to it to kill it..you have to chase monsters away from it to get them....With the piercing projectiles that will help a lot.
Besides that I see no real downfalls It seems like a good solid build

I am sorry I do not have a computer that can record my gameplay So I have no videos..But would be willing to show you the prototype "with no ascendancy buffs" just message me in game well do a short run.

Thanks for reading

those who know little believe they know much.but those who know much have learned of their ignorance

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