[2.2] Chaos Trickster - Essence Drain Trickster - MoM/Flasks/Block [HC viable]



Facts about the Build

1) Use Essence Drain Contagion combo to clear entire rooms or screens of monsters!

2) Tank hard hitting bosses and monsters with your high block and high effective HP as well as regen!

3) Be mobile with whirling blades and gain more defenses with fortify!

4) Switch curses, golems and links on demand to suite the maps you are facing!

5) Have incredibly potent Flasks that carry you through red maps!

6)How strong is this build? This Strong! (deathless)

__________________________________________________________________________

Passive Tree

EndTree

Leveling:

20 points
Spoiler
The beginning tree is pretty simple. You grab all the chaos damage nodes at the start and branch into life. Somewhere during act2 You grab Growth and Decay which boots your survivability greatly thanks to its life regen.

40 Points
Spoiler
Now you move north, go through Written in Blood for the Str and life and get Atrophy which is a nice damage boost. The Witch's Heart and Soul will be our final goal from here on before we get her Aoe nodes.

60 Points
Spoiler
Once you have Blast Radius you go for Cruel Preparation and suffer through a couple of stat nodes before you can pick up Quick Recovery. While you are close to Mind over Matter, you don't want it yet, because your Mana Pool is most likely very low. Rather go south towards Shaper.

80 Points
Spoiler
Constitution is the best Life Node on the tree, so don't miss out on it! Passing through Sentinel you will pick up Profane Chemistry. It's not a lot of Life, but it boosts your Life Potion significantly. From there on you will suffer once again by picking up stat nodes (though at least it is Dex which you need).

100 Points
Spoiler
The Build is now almost complete, Dirty Techniques is our last major damage node. From now on it is mostly just Mana and Life you want to pick up. Move east towards the Ranger. There you will find Druidic Rite and Primal Spirit, both enhance your Flasks and extremely meaningful ways. Hearth of the Oak gives us more Regen and life as well as some stun avoidance. Arcane Chemistry not only gives you lots of Mana but also great Flasks utility. Deep thoughts will increase your mana regen Which will make MoM finally possible. Also pick up the jewel Sockets and buy some nice Jewels! Occultist Dominion can also be picked up for extra spell damage and cast speed, if you feel like it you can pick it up while leveling as well!

120 Points
Spoiler
The last points you will spend are just fill ins. You will grab more life, the two remaining Damage nodes from the Growth and Decay cluster, Pick up Alchemist (but only if you have a Rumi's Concoction at this point).


Ascendancy
Spoiler


Patient reaper gives you a nice Dps boost in the start. Also the regen is amazing.

By now you can go MoM.

You can reliably keep up 4frenzy charges while clearing maps.


__________________________________________________________________________

Gems and Links

One of the best parts about this build is the fact that you will get almost all gems by doing the quests.
The only exception will be Immortal Call, Increased Duration and Enduring Cry.

Essence Drain (Chest)
4L - Essence Drain - Void Manipulation - Controlled Destruction - Rapid Decay
5L - Essence Drain - Void Manipulation - Controlled Destruction - Rapid Decay - Pierce
6L - Essence Drain - Void Manipulation - Controlled Destruction - Rapid Decay - Pierce - Poison/Empower

Contagion
2L - Contagion - Increased Area of Effect (for leveling you can also add a faster casting)
I personally put Contagion together with Wither, alternatively you can place Enduring cry in it as well.

Whirling Blades
3L - Whirling Blades - Faster Attacks - Fortify

Auras
Vulnerability - Blasphemy (alternatively you can also use Enfeeble or Temporal Chains)
Arctic Armor
Clarity (level 20)

Immortal Call
3L - Immortal Call - Increased Duration - Cast when Damage Taken
the perfect place for this is your Shield.

Golem
Flame Golem
I like to link Culling Strike - Increase Rarity with it. Also Blind is awesome.

Flame dash has to be somewhere as well. I got rid of IncRarity and put Flame Dash in there.
If you get a GG Unset Ring you can also put it there.

__________________________________________________________________________

Stats
Spoiler


Frenzy Charges and some more levels on my (20%) gems and it will even be higher. Empower will push it even more. I suspect max tooltip with this spec is around 25k

Armor can get higher with a better shield and the shield defense nodes. Rumi also buffes it. End charges and Basalt Flask give more phys damage mitigation

With Rumis I have almost 70% block. With a better shield you can get 75 without a problem. Spell block can be increased with uniques.

Rumi's lasts over 7 seconds, My Silver Flasks lasts over 11sec, my Basalt lasts 9sec.

__________________________________________________________________________

Bandits

Oak / Kill / Kill (you need all the points you can get but if you really want a charge either pick up the endurance or frenzy charge)

__________________________________________________________________________

Gearing

This is what your Ideal Gear looks like
Helmet
Spoiler

Chest

Gloves

Attack Speed increases your Whirling speed
Boots

Movementspeed is not needed, because we Whirl.
Weapon

Should be a Sai. Also craft DoT from Leo on it.
Shield

Highest Block Chance on an Armor Shield
Belt

Duration actually goes up to 20. Str is also good if you can't get 2 flask nodes on it. Alternatively have 2 Resist on it. but at least get duration or reduced charges used on it!
Amulet

Ring

Cast Speed is actually 7%.


Uniques:
Spoiler


LifeSprig
It's fantastic for leveling and will carry you until you get your first Prong Dagger or equivalent.


Karui Ward
For the start it is okay, but you should not use it for endgame.

Stone of Lazhwar
For engame Scenarios this is actually pretty Strong. The cast speed is amazing, It also gives Mana and you get more Spell Block both from your Rumi's and your general Block.

Atziri's Foible
Mana, Mana Regen etc are all great, especially if you want to go MoM early.

Shaper's Seed
Not super amazing, but it fits the build theme a bit.


Perandus Blazon
Very strong for leveling, the stats will help you with your dex and str issues in the start, and flask effect duration is probably the best stat you can have on your build.


Le Heup of All
It has all you need.


Ventor's Gamble
Obviously amazing if rolled well.


Hyrri's Ire
Not the best, but if you have for any reason a 5L or 6L of it lying around or get it very cheap, it is pretty strong. Especially since you can roll the colors on it with ease.


Tabula Rasa
I would almost say don't get one, because a 6L is just too amazing. However, if you are new in a League and get one, damn, just use it and replace it later by a 5L.


Cloak of Defiance
It almost seems redundant to use Cloak of Defiance, since you are literally 1 node away from Mind over Matter on the tree. However, if you can save 1 node, that means you have 1 more node to spend on damage or anything else. Also mana and mana regen are damn great on this chest.
Sadly it has no resist or life...
A good rolled Carnal Armor is always better though.


Carcass Jack
Life, Resist, Area of Effect and Damage, Carcass has it all. A 5 or 6 link can easily be your endgame chest. But again, I think a well rolled Carnal Armor is still better, thanks to its implicit mana and mana you can roll on it.


The Blood Dance
If you can manage to get enough life and resist elsewhere, Blood Dance are perfect. Especially if you can corrupt +1Frenzy Charges on them.


Rainbowstride
Mana, Spell Block, Resist, all great, but no life and movementspeed is just okay if you are in town.


Winds of Change
Projectile Speed and Damage as well as Life, make WoC pretty good. But I prefer an Evasion based piece of Gloves with Resist more.


Null and Void
If for some strange Reason you get them, they are also pretty damn awesome. Rampage is fantastic as a buff, especially since you are fast and clear lots of monsters. But they also have str, life and manaregen on them.


Lioneye's Remorse
If you can't get your hands on a decent armor shield, and don't need res on it, damn Lioneye's Remorse is the best alternative!



My Current Gear:
Spoiler


Jewels:

%Life, %Mana, %Mana Regen, Block Chance, Spell Damage, Cast Speed, Chaos Damage, Damage over Time, Attack Speed, %Damage, Area Damage, Projectile Damage, Projectile Speed

Alternatively you can get Stats, resist, %evasion, %Armor,

__________________________________________________________________________

Videos

Lab Run

Springs Map

More to come!

Got any Questions?

Ask me Ingame under OrsonisNeverTrickdAgain

Updates
2016/04/24 - My Characters Gear
Last edited by KenshiD on Apr 23, 2016, 7:03:40 PM
Last bumped on Jun 30, 2016, 2:35:35 PM
nice guide, i always wanted to play a chaos caster for a change
thanks!
nice guide!

Quick question. What are you using to level with this build concerning you are taking all the chaos dmg in the beginning?
Just got into maps and really liking your build man!
"
mihi wrote:
nice guide!

Quick question. What are you using to level with this build concerning you are taking all the chaos dmg in the beginning?


I am leveling with ED Contagion as soon as I get it. (that is level 12)

Until then use fire trap and ek, freeze pulse, spark (choose which you like the best)
Just wanted to add some feedback/help/discussion on your build.

im playing a 94 essencedrainer in perandus league, thats just for reference, that i have some knowledge on that skill =)
tooltipp is 37k essencedrain dps. im lowlife and using consuming dark, i had more with redbeak but thats besides the point. i might not have as much ehp if you count in block but i survive more spike damage than you. es vs block discussion, dont need to talk about that one really.
i've also taken down uber already with my version.

charakter is "Violet_Usagi" (at the very bottom) in case you want to see my version of the skilltree and my gear. but i guess your pathing is different anyway since your lifebased.


So first, why im against vulnerability. its "Cursed enemies take 33% increased damage from Damage Over Time effects" for alot of mana reservation. and 33% isnt that big, compared to enfebee and/or tempchains, which will save your ass a ton of times.
since youre lifebased idk if you can easily replace your helmet with heretics veil for the reduced mana, but i have one 4% reduced mananode from tree and with the 12% reduced, im sitting on 284/889 with 2 def blasphemys. so, you should easily be able to run them. maybe enlighten level 2? i run my clarity off of life.


secondly, and REALLY important: use consuming dark.
the damage increase is really substential again single target (which you need to kill first anyway). it's less damage against trash, but with essencedrain you have more than enough damage to clear every pack with one combo. and consuming still gives some spelldamage. this also frees up your 6th link for an empower, which is huge for spells.
on my charakter i cant really notice the difference against trash, but its huge on atziri or redmap bosses. go get it, you wont regret it =)

those are just my 2 additions if you run a lifebased version, i cant really say much about the rest, and so i wont :P
Last edited by iHaku on Apr 7, 2016, 11:32:49 AM
Well I was planning on building a LL version as well, but it would be a 100% different build.

I would be an Occultist. Would run double Blasphemy, not run MoM, get all the sweet flask effectiveness nodes that I go for, not focus so much on block and so on.

I would say that the two builds are almost 100% different in their conception, that the only thing in common they have is using Essence Drain.

My build is extremely budget and can easily be done in a start of a league, or by any new player.

Shavs, Heretics, OP es gear and so on are all much more expensive and while in the end your build would be better than mine which I totally agree with, it's simply not an easy to build version.

I will eventually make a LL Essence drainer, I might see what i would do different than you then :P
i know, thats exactly why i wrote "those are just my 2 additions if you run a lifebased version, i cant really say much about the rest, and so i wont :P"

but weapon and curses are the 2 things a life and lowlife version whould do exactly the same. the mainhand weapon of choice doesnt change by going lowlife.
ofc you whouldnt be consuming at the start of a league. i didnt do that aswell. and for low/mid level mapping a leomodded dagger is better. but once you get damage, you should invest in a consuming =)

and the same with the curses. tempchains prolongs the duration of ed/contagion.

also, with double def curses, not only do you survive alot better, but you can cast your combo, run trough the pack and take no damage because they are basicly frozen and clear alot faster.

ofc you whouldnt be using consuming at the start of a league. i didnt do that aswell. and for low/mid level mapping a leomodded dagger is better. but once you get damage, you should invest in a consuming =)
I value 6% block higher than poison on my weapon. Also Leo mod is an additional 30% damage that I wouldn't get.

"
and the same with the curses. tempchains prolongs the duration of ed/contagion.


I used Temp chains when I started this build in 2.1
Didn't like it, switched to enfeeble.

Also running enfeeble has a clear advantage over temp chains, you can swap it out for vuln without changing the colors of your gear.

"
also, with double def curses,


Then I couldn't be MoM anymore, and I couldn't run AA either.

Last edited by KenshiD on Apr 7, 2016, 11:49:20 AM
First time playing a chaos damage and it's been great!
Last edited by silverprogressive on May 17, 2016, 3:54:43 PM

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info