[2.6] Tentacle Lover Witch - Occultist Soul Strike Caustic Arrow

Disclaimer

The defenses of the build come really late. It is not fit for hardcore.



Summary
  • Idea of the build
  • Gameplay
  • Passive tree
  • Gems and links
  • Gear
  • Ascendancy
  • Bandits
  • Flasks
  • Enchantments
  • Leveling
  • Strength in Mapping and Labyrinth
  • Lategame-oriented optimisation
  • Pros and cons




Idea :

This build is born with my urge to play anything bow-related this league, and the combination between the Occultist's ascendancy Wicked Ward combined with a Soul Strike.

Is the build viable ? I think so. The tedious leveling process is done, I am now lvl 68 and ready to head into maps. The combination of CA's good AoE cleaning and Delirium's mod for single-target makes a better DPS than I expected.

This build cleared Merc lab at lvl 68 with Izaro at full charges, 3 curses active on the player, and tanked Argus really well. This might not be the greatest achievement to sell a build, but to me, clearing merc lab with 4 keys at lvl 68 is quite a good start.

Merc Lab 4keys @lvl68

Izaro full charges and 3 curse fonts active.
Nevermind the life flasks, I still haven't crafted my good utility flasks.
Gear:

Notice the attack speed on gloves even though I said it is worthless. It certainly isn't a DPS boost,
but a survivability one. Attacking faster means you're on the move faster.

Soul Strike and Wicked Ward

The build will also make use of Chaos Inoculation (what a surprise), Zealot's Oath (that one's really a surprise uh ?), and 3 curses. Yup.

What will be required for the build :

Spoilers are awesome
Soul Strike, an unique quiver. The relic version, which gives 150% faster start of ES recharge, is the best, obviously. But for budgets, the standard one is good enough, provided we make some adjustments to the passive tree.



The MTX Tentacle Caustic Arrow (this is a pay-to-win build)



A high level bow, preferably a Maraketh (for the sweet sweet movespeed), crafted with an essence of delirium. The essence will give an "unique" property, a 750 chaos damage over time effect, scaled by our Chaos damage and DoT damage nodes.





How is it played ?

What's the gameplay like ?
The build revolves around Chaos damage, dealt with Caustic Arrow and Decay, and sometimes Essence Drain for bosses.

It is not a one-shot build unless you go play it within normal lab. The whole point of Damage over Time is slowly gnawing at your foes' life, enjoying watching them dying slowly from afar. If you're somewhat cruel, you might enjoy it.

Caustic Arrow is used to spread huge clouds of poison (or tentacles of poison if you have the MTX). Ice Shot is used to spread Curses, as well as Decay in large packs: it does indeed a better job at spreading Decay on multi-target fights. Once your foes are slowed, cursed, and walking in the clouds, you're free to run and watch them die slowly. On really weak foes, Ice Shot with Decay sometimes does the job by itself.

Once you find a remarkable foe that resists you clouds, you may swap to Essence Drain. Essence Drain has a much better single-target damage. But don't neglect your CA clouds ! The best option is to make sure that the boss will remain in your clouds, and the Decay is ticking, then swap to Essence Drain. Once the clouds are down or the boss avoids them, swap back to CA, spread some clouds, and back to Essence Drain. Rince and repeat. Essence Drain also provides health regeneration which is in turn converted to Energy shield regeneration thanks to Zealot's Oath.

Blink Arrow is a great movement skill, with a huge range at the downside of having only 1 charge and a cooldown.

Chaos Golem is the perfect companion for a cruel, chaos-spreading, curse whispering witch. This cute golem can either be your personnal tank when buffing his life and resistances, or an additionnal source of damages when... Buffing his damages.





Now, for the passive tree :

Passive Tree
Full build
This tree take every Chaos damage and Damage over time node available. We're looking at, for the most important bonuses :
Offense :
-184% increased Chaos damage
-124% increased DoT
-30% increased Area Damage
-3 jewel slots

Defenses :
-256% increased max ES
-The sweet sweet 15% more ES from Infused Shield
-15% faster start of ES recharge
-125% increased ES recharge rate
-3% life per second, converted to ES by Zealot's Oath
-8% all Elem Res
-36% increased effect of non-cure auras, which will boost our Discipline (thus giving some more ES)
-Another jewel slot beside the Melding cluster, for an Energy from Within

But why this tree ?

The starting is pretty standard: ES nodes, Blast Radius, Arcane Focus. The Melding cluster is taken for early life, and later ES thanks to an Energy from Within.

Going into the Scion area gives Foresight, a nice 20 flat ES and 14% increased ES, and leads to Shaper, for regen. We also head for Harrier, atk speed and movement speed, and then go forth to a jewel socket and Method to Madness.

Going to the Shadow area from the top side, we have the Growth and Decay cluster, which boosts DoT damage. Coldhearted Calculation, while not the biggest node, is nice as well for the mana regen it provides. The Nullification cluster will boost our ES and Elemental resistances. Evasion is an added but negligible bonus. We then have Fangs of the Viper, a juicy Phys & Chaos damage node with Movement speed on top of that.

Going back to the witch area and heading north-east, we have Chaos Inoculation. But we have, one further point to the east, a nice cluster with Atrophy. Written in blood, just below, is a nice ES boost without investing too much in that cluster. There is the Influence cluster as well, which reduces a little our mana reserved, but most importantly, gives 20% increased effect of non-curse aura. This boosts our ES from Discipline, our resistances from Arctic Armour, and our mana regen from Clarity.

Heading west now, we have Essence Surge, as well as a +30dex a little below, which will greatly help.

Back to the with area, we head north from the Blast Radius cluster to get a jewel slot, and continue our journey onward to the Templar area. Along the way, we grab Deep Thoughts (Higher mana, more int=more ES, and mana regen), Unnatural Calm, and the full Corruption cluster. We will also get Whispers of Doom, for an additionnal curse, and increased effect of all our curses. Zealot's Oath is our goal here. The additionnal ES regen will be greatly appreciated, and make the life regen mods on item a worthwhile mod to get instead of a waste when combined with CI. We also grab Sovereignty, for the reduced mana reserved, and the increased effect of our auras.

The reason to take Zealot's Oath is that the main point of the build is constantly regenerating the ES thanks to Soul Strike+Wicked Ward. We already have some life regen on some clusters, and there are other interesting clusters that happen to have life regen as well. I'm thinking of Shaper, in the Scion area, which gives 40% mana regen (Caustic Arrow doesn't hit except for the initial arrow-Warlord's Mark is no option for sustaining our mana) and 1% life regen. To further justify the detour to Zealot's Oath, just to the left we have Sovereignty. The increased AoE for auras isn't need, and the reduced mana reserved, barely. But we get an increased effect for our non-curse aura, which means we'll get 16% increased effect from our Discipline, meaning more ES, meaning more ES regen from Zealot's Oath.

That's it for the tree, except from the debatable passives that are subject to change.

Please note that I explained the tree in the order I reviewed it while typing this guide. This is not the path to take while doing this build.






And the gems. For the 6L, they are listed by order of importance :

Gems
Head : Discipline-Clarity (Lvl 10), Blink Arrow-Faster projectiles

Discipline is mandatory for ES users. Clarity for a better mana regen. Blink arrow for mobility, Faster projectiles for the skill to be more reactive.

Bow : Caustic Arrow-Void Manipulation-Rapid Decay-Concentrated Effect-Slower Projectiles-Empower

Classic CA links, at least according to me. Empower is a luxury, but a needed luxury to get to high levels. Pierce is debatable: maybe I'll find something better.

Second Bow : Essence Drain-Controlled Destruction-Slower Projectiles-Void Manipulation-Rapid Decay-Empower

This setup is to be used within a second bow, for swapping between CA to spread your clouds and the Decay, and Essence Drain which gives more single-target dps for bosses and such.

Chest : Ice Shot-Curse on Hit-Vulnerability-Temporal Chains-Enfeeble-Chain

Ice Shot is our mean to apply curses. Only a 3L is needed until Whispers of Doom, and a 4L until Uber Lab. Chain is a good way to spread curses. Adding to the curses, Ice Shot also leaves chilling ground.

Gloves : Spell Totem-Wither-Faster Casting, Arctic Armour

Spell Totem will cast Wither, which will slow ennemies and increase the chaos damage they take. Arctic Armor is a layer of defense.

Note: it is really important that you get a 4 sockets with 3 links, as Arctic Armour mustn't be linked with anything !

Boots : Chaos Golem-Minion Damage-Minion Speed-Minion Life

Chaos Golem is another layer of defense. A CwDT-Immortal Call setup could fit as well, but having 4 blue sockets leave a potential space for Vaal Lightning Trap.

Note that the gloves, helmet and boots setup can be swapped.

The colours always match, and Spell Totem is our only Strength gem, meaning little to no investment in strength stat to meet the requirements, and the required colours will be easy to obtain.

Cool gem planner

Another cool gem planner for the second bow






Well, we have our setups, we have our tree. Now what ? Items of course.

Gearing
For the helmet, we can have a Doedre's Scorn:
While Doedre is awfully ugly, this helmet is quite attractive : free Intelligence (more ES!), more Curse Duration (less time spent refreshing it \o/), and increased damage per curse.

The bow is open to any base bow you might have, but a Maraketh one with the implicit movement speed will probably be the best. But what will make this bow attractive is an Essence of Delirium:
That's right. The Decay provided by the Delirium is a good boost to single target damage, and it scales nicely with all our Chaos and DoT damage nodes. But finding a Delirium crafted bow with +x to socketed bow gems might be hard.
Cheap alternative to Delirium
Now I get it, Delirium isn't that cheap, but you still want to spawn all those tentacles. Don't worry, the answer is Silverbough! This bow gives us +1 to every gems within it, and a +1 to bow gems socketed. This makes an appealing +2 for our Caustic Arrow, which should be enough to help while we gather the currency needed for a Delirium. To sweeten the deal, this Silverbough is the fated version of Silverbranch, a really cheap but interesting leveling item.


The second bow if you use the weapon swap for Essence Drain do not has to be a Delirium-crafted one. As long as you swap between CA to spread the clouds and Decay, and this bow, you'll be fine: both the CA clouds and Decay remain when swapping.
The only mandatory mod on your second bow is the +1 to level of socketed gems. This will increase the damage of Essence Drain, which is another skill that scales really well with levels. It will also increase by 1 the level of every support gem, resulting in more DPS, and an additionnal level for Essence Drain as even Empower will gain a level.
Getting such a bow
Getting such a bow should be somewhat easy. Find or buy any 6L, base item doesn't really matter (Maraketh is still the best), and spam Alteration Orbs until you get the +1 to level of socketed gems. You can keep the bow magic, or Regal it to rare if you want, but unless you need additionnal resistances or intend to craft the bow, a magic one with the +1 is fine.


Note: On both of your bows, a crafted +x% increased Damage over time from Leo is a nice option to have.

The chest is open to any rare you may find. Look for ES, resistances, and well, that's all you need.

Gloves are rare as well. Same thing than for the chest: look for ES and resistances. Don't bother with attack speed: Caustic Arrow doesn't scale with it BUT attacking faster means being on the move faster. AS isn't the stat you should look for, but it is indeed a desirable stat.

Rings can be rares as well. Resistances, ES, you know the song. You can get Life Regen on every rare as well if you want to: it becomes ES regen. The only other juicy stat you may find is increased rarity of items found.

Going back to the uniques with the amulet, a Karui Charge:
With a nice strength roll, this amulet helps with the Spell Totem strength requirement, and our general Dex requirements. The attack speed isn't what we're looking for, and neither is the accuracy (even if it's nice to have). But the last 3 mods, respectively Projectile Speed, Movement speed and Projectile Damage, are really interesting.

And lastly, the boots. Here we have the opportunity to take the Shavronne's Gambit, the fated version of Shavronne's Pace:
While the ES isn't the greatest there is, we get 15% movement speed, and another 20% when at full life. With CI, we're always at full life, meaning we get 35% movement speed from our boots. We also get a 1% of our ES regen by second.
Another option, more late-game oriented, would be some 30% MS with really high ES. But all in all, Shavronne's Gambit should be the best choice.

Finally, the belt. The best option is Auxium. The potential ES is higher than a rare crystal belt, and maxing resistances should be easy with the number of slots open for rare items anyway. The Auxium will also help with Chill and Freeze effects, which is always nice as those things are a pain in the ass when playing CI.

Current gear@lvl 70, not optimised but maxed res








And now, behold our ascendancy:

Behold I said


There it is ! You can admire my mouse drawing/writing skills while you're here.

First we'll take Wicked Ward. This will give 100 ES, and gives the core of the build, the ES Recharge isn't interrupted by damage if recharge began recently. This essentially translate to: if the shield start recharching, nothing will stop it for 4 seconds.

Next stop is Vile Bastion. I do not expect the Cannot be stunned part to be meaningfull (but if it does, damn is that node good), but the %ES regen'd by second for each enemy killed is sexy.

Our Merc Lab should give us Profane Bloom. Time to make everyone explode ! Well not everyone, just 1 out of 5 guys, but hey, it's still good. Oh and I almost forgot the constant increased damage as long as you've cursed the enemy.

Uber Lab will give us Malediction. Our final curse. If you got with the uniques I mentionned, this other curse, will providing its own bonuses, will also grant increased damage.

That's it for the ascendancy. Forbidden Power is a no-no as we'll never crit, and Void Beacon should not be taken in my opinion. The chaos resistance penetration might be interesting, but we're playing a ranged witch, with lots of movement speed: no one should ever come close to us.





Now the bandits:
Kill all in every difficulty. We won't gain anything from them anyway.




TODO: Jewels




Which flasks are good ?

Flasks
Definitely Sulphur flasks. Consecrated ground provides 4% health regen/s while standing on it converted to 4% ES regen/s, and 40% increased damage. Drawback of this flask is staying in one spot to get the ES regen. Obviously they have their situations where they shine.

Whichever utility flask you wanna use besides that is good. Special mention to Quicksilver flasks for movespeed, and any Immune to chill and Freeze flask is really needed.

Apart from that, a Witchfire Brew is quite nice.





Enchantments:

Enchantments
For the helmet, the increased Caustic Arrow damage is the best choice. Increased duration is worthless (clouds don't stack), and so is increased AoE.

The boots have the "Regenerate x% of life and mana per second if you were hit recently", which highly benefits us with our conversion of life regen to ES regen. The enchantment scales from 1 to 2% per second.

None of the high level gloves implicit benefit us in any way. The best enchant to look for is "of reflection", which creates a clone that stays 5s and will act as a distraction, much like the blink arrow clone.





Leveling process

Leveling

Act1 Normal
The beginning is, not surprisingly, annoying. We begin with ES nodes and intelligence nodes, so nothing to really scale our damage. Starting Caustic Arrow is possible, though. While it requires helping Siosa in order to be able to buy it with the Witch, CA is a reward for Breaking some eggs for the Ranger, so it's easy to make an alt and grab the skill gem.
At level 5, Silverbranch and Karui Ward, two cheap items (1alc each) become available, and are more than recommended to level smoothly.
Other useful leveling uniques are Hyrri's Bite (1alc), Wanderlust (1alc), Asenath's Mark (1alc), Sadima's Touch (1alc or some chaos for the shiny relic version) and a Blackheart (1alc)

As far as the passive tree is concerned, head for Deep Wisdom then straigth to Coldhearted Calculation. Start grabbing the Growth and Decay cluster afterwards.

For the skillgems, we get Rapid Decay. We can also grab Clarity, to help with mana regen.

Act 2 Normal
After retrieving Maligaro's spike we get our second support gem, Concentrated Effect. Rescuing Helena rewards us with Arctic Armour. Herald of Ice can also be used for some additional damage.

In the passive tree, we finish the Growth and Decay cluster, and head south for Fangs of the Viper. Afterwards we go back to the northern area, heading for Atrophy.

Act 3 Normal
Find Tolman and get Discipline. We equip it to level it up. For now, HoI and Arctic Armor are still better for clearing.

In the passive tree, we get Atrophy, and the Melding cluster. We then proceed from Deep Wisdom to the jewel socket above.

Act 4 Normal
Monsters start doing some damages. Time to give up the Herald of Ice, and from now on use Discipline and Clarity. We do not have enough mana regen from the tree yet.

On the passive tree, we get the Jewel slot, continue north and then west to Corruption, and begin our journey to Sovereignty.

We should also be able to equip Doedre's Scorn and Sharonne's Gambit from now on. It might also be good to upgrade, if possible, the Silverbranch to Silverbough


Cruel
Try to get some resistances as those begin to be reduced by game difficulty.

Take every point until you get to Sovereignty. Ignore Zealot's Oath at the moment. You can also invest 3 points to Corruption. Once you have Sovereignty, go back to the beginning of the tree and make you way until Foresight and Shaper in the Sion area. Harrier is really close and useful, so take it. Start grabbing the Influence cluster, and Deep Thoughts back in the witch area. With those two clusters, you should be able to use Discipline, Clarity and Arctic Armour. Never level Clarity past lvl 10, it provides enough mana regen already.

Doing normal laby should be safe by now as well.


Merciless
As usual, try to keep some resistances. You should also start preparing for going CI at level 64, when Soul Strike becomes available. Grab Unnatural Calm, Arcane Focus, Essence Surge, Zealot's Oath and don't forget to keep 4 points aside to take CI and the Infused Shield cluster at the same time. Once you're done with that, go for what remains on the tree : Method to Madness, Entropy, Whispers of Doom, and complete the clusters that need to be completed. Congratz, you're done, enjoy the maps !

Once you are CI, have your quiver, and a somewhat good bow, do the Laby in Cruel and Merciless whenever you feel comfortable.






Strength (and weaknesses) of the build, both in mapping and within the Lord's Labyrinth

This section will remain a WIP as I experiment, feel free to share your experience.

Lord's Labyrinth
While I did not reach the Uber Lab yet, I can still see where my build will shine and where it will not.

Argus

Argus hits really hard. But the huge investment in ES gives a high enough effective HP pool to soak some hits. With the proper kitting when he's enraged, the distraction provided by both the golem and the totem, and the high ES recharge, Argus isn't a huge threat.

Traps

Traps usually do their spike of damage, and then you have some time before they do it again, which is perfect as it leaves our ES the time to start its recharge, and then Wicked Ward proc and we're protected. As long as you do not stand in constantly damaging trap, the gauntlets within the labyrinth shouldn't be much of an issue.

Izaro

Izaro's damages and abilities are slow and predictable. As long as you keep the Decay, curses, the Wither totem active, and some clouds along Izaro's way, the encounters should be fine. Just don't expect to one-shot him: playing with CA is playing with DoT, which by nature slowly eats the enemy's HP.

Here are my opinions as far as Izaro's weapons are concerned:
  • Izaro double wielding would be the worst case scenario. Higher attack speed and overall higher hits/sec can make it difficult to back off and let the ES recharge kick in. Beware of its Radiant Slash when you're kitting when the ES is recharging.
  • Izaro wielding a two-hander would be fine, really. If he hits you, you'll take a huge chunk in your ES, but he shouldn't have enough AS to prevent your ES from starting its recharge. Ground Slam is a really predictable move, avoid it at all cost.
  • Izaro wielding a shield is probably its weakest form damage wise. I might be wrong though. Shield Charge is another slow and predictable attack, that has to be avoided.


And for the encounter mechanics:
  • Charges become dangerous when combined with Izaro's dual wielding. Otherwise, just be even more careful to dodge his big hits.
  • Conduits pose the only threat of adding Cold damage to Izaro's attack, which will freeze you if you do not have an Auxium yet. Any "of heat" flask is strongly advised. Otherwise, the added Elemental resistances are nothing to our pure chaos build.
  • Elemental Essences are essentially the same as Conduits. Izaro will have an inceased chance to apply elemental ailments. Ignite and shock are annoying, freeze and chill are deadly.
  • Gargoyles Beware of the Quicksilver gargoyle, especially when combined with a dual wielding Izaro. You should also be careful of the Basalt gargoyle combined with Radiant Slash, Ground Slam or Shield Charge.
  • Fonts are a pain in the @#$ for the curses they inflict. Being slowed makes kitting so much harder.
  • The Idols aren't a real threat unless you stay in one place and never move out of the explosions.
  • As with every Elemental mechanic, Lieutenants pose the threat of elemental ailments, the Lieutenant of the Mace (Cold damage) being the worst.
  • Once again, the Summoning Portals pose the freeze threat, but the additionnal number of target within the fight will provide more ES recharge through Vile Bastion. Beware of the cold ones, but you will have enough time to swap between applying your DoTs on Izaro, and killing the summoned monsters for flask charges and ES regen.





Lategame-oriented optimisation

Here are the possibilities when looking to improve the build even further:

Vaaling stuff


If your bow is a Maraketh base, with Movement speed, I'd advise to keep the movement speed. If it is anything else, a Vaal orb can provide the following good implicits:
  • Culling Strike to cut short boss fights
  • Adds an additional Arrow is good for clearing.
  • (5 to 10)% chance of Arrows Piercing is also good, but not on par with the other ones.
  • If you get a Gems in this item are supported by level 1 Fork, then rip your bow. Forking might seem good, but Fork support comes with a 30% less projectile damage at lvl 1, greatly cutting the damages.
  • Any other implicit is neither good nor bad, just pointless and bad luck vaaling.


If you have enough dex already from other pieces and you do not need the dex provided by Karui Charge, then here are the good vaal implicit you might get :
  • The top tier is Enemies can have 1 additional Curse. Nothing will beat it, as it will allow you to either spec out of Whispers of Doom, or, even better, sacrifice the curses spread from Fork and get Projectile Weakness as a 4th curse. Optimal: keep Fork for AoE and switch to Projectile Weakness for bosses.
  • (2 to 5)% increased Movement Speed, (-17 to -24) Physical Damage taken from Attacks, +1% to all maximum Resistances, (10 to 20)% chance to Avoid being Frozen and (10 to 20)% chance to Avoid being Ignited can be somehow valuable but nowhere near the utility provided by an additionnal curse.
  • Grants level 8 Clarity Skill is an OK vaal implicit to get. It frees one slot in your items. Might be replaced by an Empower to boost Discipline. That's the last "ok" vaal implicit you can get, the rest is... Trash.


On your quiver, there is only one Vaal implicit that is worth it: Adds an additional Arrow. Vaaling your quiver is really recommended as you gain nothing from the % crit implicit it has by default.

If you're here you probably do not need this one, but still: never vaal your helmet. The enchantment is just better than anything you could get by vaaling.

On your chest piece, you could get:
  • +1 to Level of Gems in this item to boost your curses.
  • +1% to all maximum Resistances and (10 to 20)% chance to Avoid being Frozen are good defensive implicits as well.
  • The rest is neither good nor bad. Just meh.


Gloves can be Vaal'd, as the enchantment are not really that strong for our CA build imo. But many of the Vaal implicits will fuck your gloves up !
  • +1 to Level of Gems in this item is the best one as I am running my Discipline in my gloves. Beware of the increased mana reserved from Clarity if you get it though.

And now, for all the vaal implicits that you do NOT want:
  • Curse Enemies with level (10 to 12) Temporal Chains on Hit, Curse Enemies with level (10 to 12) Vulnerability on Hit and Curse Enemies with level (10 to 12) Elemental Weakness on Hit. Those will all probably override your own curses spread through Ice shot.
  • Grants level 10 Assassin's Mark Skill is less of a concern as you can just ignore the skill.


If you get the life and mana regen enchant on your boots: do not vaal them.

If you have an ES belt, or the Auxium: do not vaal them.

Rings vaal implicit are not of any use: do not vaal your rings.


Passive tree
Some of these suggestions are courtesy of Kwitch

  • Just after Shaper, you can invest 3 points to get the life regen nodes and the jewel socket.
  • On the Arcane focus cluster, you can take the last %ES and ES recharge rate node.
  • Always in the Witch area, you can invest into Heart&Soul and Cruel Preparation, and use the jewel slot for an Energy from Within. Speccing into Heart&Soul will probably make it possible to spec out of Deep Thoughts, if you have enough mana regen.
  • Just after Entropy, you can spec into Coordination and go down from here. This way, you can spec out of the 3 dex nodes just after Harrier.
  • It is possible to get the jewel slot between the Witch and the Templar area, but keep in mind that we already have more than enough Intelligence, and that the % life regen after Shaper are thus a better investment.
  • Complete the Foresight cluster for more ES.
  • Complete the Unnatural Calm cluster for more ES.
  • If you can afford a relic Soul Strike, you can spec out of Essence Surge if you want. But keep in mind that Essence Surge also boost the recharge rate, to make up for the 40% decreased recharge rate from Soul Strike.
  • On the Leadership cluster, take the first point and only this one. Effectiveness of auras means a better mana regen and more ES.
  • Sniper, as well as Ballistic Mastery, are possible nodes that boost Projectile damage.


Those are suggestions if you completed the passive tree and want to push further.





Well now, time for some pro's and con's

Pro:
  • Getting started is cheap. A lot of the uniques used are cheap (some alc for the quiver, maybe 1alc for the amulet).
  • It should have a lot of ES regen, through the core idea of the build, and Zealot's Oath. It has indeed. Sulphur flasks are good.[/s]
  • Going CI means every belt spot available for utility flasks.
  • Room for improvement: the relic version of Soul Strike, the core of the build, is a game changer. Corruptions are also good.
  • [/li]Lots of movement speed.[/li]
  • Tentacles !
  • Bows !


Con:
  • Might be weak to stuns, depends on how good the Occultist ascendancy is in that aspect. I expected Vile Bastion to be worse than it is in that aspect. It is still kinda weakish to stuns, but not as bad as I expected.
  • Some required items could be expensive. Probably not for beginners (especially not with CI). It might work with lower bows, with only the +x to socketed (bow) gems, but a Delirium-crafted one is certainly mandatory as it adds so much.
  • Scaling CA is a pain in the ass imo.
  • The spread of Chaos nodes on the tree makes for lots of travelling to get to interesting nodes. That travelling keeps being worth with the proximity of interesting nodes besides the chaos ones. Only Method to Madness is the worst in that aspect. If it weren't for the needed Dex that leads to it, I might have drop it entirely.
  • First levels suck hard, only ES and intel nodes for a while, level as standard caster if you can't afford a good leveling bow/quiver/etc etc.
  • Waiting for a Caustic Arrow MTX promotion if you don't already have one.


Well thanks to anyone who bothered reading this far, I'm quite excited to keep this updated as it looks pretty solid to me. I'd be happy to read any feedback you might have.

Changes
    li]After a bit of reading, Added chaos damage support does nothing for the cloud. Replaced by Concentrated Effect.[/li]
  • Some changes to a better pathing within the tree.
  • Replaced Shavronne's pace by its fated version.
  • GTFO Vaal Discipline, you don't provide any bonus ES anymore, making it a really poor choice as this gem is basically a triggerable and less potent Wicked Ward effect.
  • Ditched the increased duration nodes when I realised that even with Rapid Decay, clouds remain for 3s. Ditched the life regen nodes just after Shaper as well as they really are inefficient imo.
  • Gave up the Empower linked with Discipline, chose Clarity instead for mana regen. Replaced Faster attacks with Faster projectiles for Blink Arrow.
  • Added the enchantments, flasks and some corrections.
  • Small adjustments for the chest Curse on Hit setup. Basically, Chain support is better than pierce here, as we do not care for damages that much. Replaced Projectile Weakness with Vulnerability. I didn't know Vulnerability made target take more damage over time. This way we have an intel chest with 3G 3B (easier to obtain).
  • Added endgame optimisation options.
  • Replaced Pierce (10-19% more) with Slower Projectiles (20-29% more).
  • Added a weapon swap option with Essence Drain. Added a gameplay section.

Last edited by Distaeri on Apr 14, 2017, 1:39:38 PM
Last bumped on Jun 25, 2017, 10:17:01 AM
I've been mulling over a CA build myself, so thanks for the insight. One thing, though, I don't think MoM works with CI, or at least it doesn't according to the wiki. Has it been working in-game for you?
Well... I forgot to check the wiki for MoM. Thanks for mentionning it, I guess I'll have some adjustments to make now.

With those points freeing themselves I'll look into Vitality aura. I don't know if it's a worthy one, and will require some strength investment, but increasing my ES recharge might be worth it. I'll see. Anyway, MoM is no option, that makes me sad.

Edit: Done, got rid of MoM. I'm really unsure about my auras now, so that's something I'll experiment with.
Last edited by Distaeri on Apr 6, 2017, 7:55:55 PM
small changes to the passive tree I could recommend, if it strikes you:

The pathing through Harrier is 5 points for 30 dex, 10 int, 9% IAS and 5% MS.
Pathing through Coordination instead would be 4 points for 20 dex, 10 int, 10 str, 12% IAS, and 10% DoT. Seems like more, for less.

It may not seem as much fun, but the original pathing that drove past MoM may be superior to the 20 int and 6% ES node, to instead permit an additional jewel socket for damage/defenses. Jewel sockets tend to be BiS point allocation when possible, especially for chaos builds. Doing this would open up the possibility of also acquiring Quick Recovery, which can be converted into ES similarly to the Melding wheel. 3 points in QR for 0.8% ES regen with ES conversion is likely better than 2 points for Shaper 1% ES regen for 2 points and no ES. Again completely optional / afterthought, but potential.

Thinking along these lines, you also have the opportunity to pick up cruel prep / heart and soul in the witch area for energy from within conversion with that socket, should you so choose. It is a significant amount of ES conversion. If you go left from the 'central' witch int node that connects to the alchemist wheel, and path through your cruel prep / deep thoughts area instead of out through the jewel socket, you save a point.

I didn't dig deeper into the itemization section of the build yet, just simply the skilltree. I plan to review all of the builds posted to both witch and templar forums on friday, but wanted to stop by and spend what little time I had today starting on your guide first. Looking good so far, keep up the good work!

Cheers
Hot Flashes: poeurl.com/bPZT
Balance: poeurl.com/btzp
Shocking EleHit: poeurl.com/bZXo
"
Kwitch wrote:
The pathing through Harrier is 5 points for 30 dex, 10 int, 9% IAS and 5% MS.
Pathing through Coordination instead would be 4 points for 20 dex, 10 int, 10 str, 12% IAS, and 10% DoT. Seems like more, for less.


I agree, it may seem better, but Dex is really needed to get a bow build rolling on a witch, especially when so much of the tree pathes through intel nodes. I highly value movement speed for this build, as once the CA cloud is down, you have to move : attacking permanently won't change much as the hit damage of CA is low compared to the cloud. In addition to the dex provided, the jewel socket is 1 point invested through this route. Nice idea though, it is still a possibility if enough dex is provided by the items.

"
Kwitch wrote:
It may not seem as much fun, but the original pathing that drove past MoM may be superior to the 20 int and 6% ES node, to instead permit an additional jewel socket for damage/defenses. Jewel sockets tend to be BiS point allocation when possible, especially for chaos builds. Doing this would open up the possibility of also acquiring Quick Recovery, which can be converted into ES similarly to the Melding wheel. 3 points in QR for 0.8% ES regen with ES conversion is likely better than 2 points for Shaper 1% ES regen for 2 points and no ES. Again completely optional / afterthought, but potential.


The pathing within the Sion area never changed, I just happened to pick MoM coming from the center of the passive tree when I thought MoM would work with CI.

As far as Shaper is concerned - I originally took it as it is a really good mana regen node, and it was just besides duration nodes that I intended to take as well (until I realized how long the clouds remain even with Rapid Decay). Regenerating ES and mana when your build doesn't have any hit prevents you from going Warlord's Mark, which is why I run a Clarity, which is double-boosted by mana regen and aura effectiveness on the tree. Shaper is also the reason I went Zealot's Oath. If I were to need another jewel slot, there is one just after Shaper. I originally took them, but the 0,7% ES for 2 points seemed really low, and I dropped them. Having Shaper still leave them open when all the more important points are taken, though. And obviously the jewel socket.

"
Kwitch wrote:
Thinking along these lines, you also have the opportunity to pick up cruel prep / heart and soul in the witch area for energy from within conversion with that socket, should you so choose. It is a significant amount of ES conversion. If you go left from the 'central' witch int node that connects to the alchemist wheel, and path through your cruel prep / deep thoughts area instead of out through the jewel socket, you save a point.


I would gladly do that, as it is a nice boost. In the meantime, Energy from Within is really expensive and having one everywhere will get out of hand real fast, so I'd consider Heart&Soul+Energy from Within a really, reaaaaally late game optimisation. I won't save a point, the 8% mana node that is taken below Deep Thoughts is a mistake, I'll fix it right away,

"
Kwitch wrote:
I didn't dig deeper into the itemization section of the build yet, just simply the skilltree. I plan to review all of the builds posted to both witch and templar forums on friday, but wanted to stop by and spend what little time I had today starting on your guide first. Looking good so far, keep up the good work!

Cheers


Thank you very much for reviewing it, I'll keep your suggestions in mind, and most likely put them in a more lategame-oriented section :)
Last edited by Distaeri on Apr 12, 2017, 6:26:10 PM
You should consider adding essence drain to the build somehow. You can either put it on a 4link, or weapon-swap in an Essence of Delerium-crafted bow for that sweet, sweet decay. Whichever way you do it, your singletarget dps will skyrocket.
"
wrajjt wrote:
You should consider adding essence drain to the build somehow. You can either put it on a 4link, or weapon-swap in an Essence of Delerium-crafted bow for that sweet, sweet decay. Whichever way you do it, your singletarget dps will skyrocket.


That is a really interesting idea. I'll try to play around that to see how it will turn out.

Ok so I have two options in mind. One is weapon swapping, the other is getting rid of the minion gems and instead put Essence Drain, but only a 3link then. Options, options...
Last edited by Distaeri on Apr 13, 2017, 6:51:24 PM
one thing to note ... void beacon is bloody amazing u should get it (i played the build myself up to T15 maps ) void beacon says "nearby enemies"
.. in this case nearby is nearly the edge of your screen >.<

http://imgur.com/KZGbDrx

the monsters with a black circle = void beacon




some stuff i'm selling thats usefull for this build btw :P
Last edited by crusadion on Apr 14, 2017, 10:53:46 PM
Thanks for the info for Void Beacon, the "nearby" was the reason I ditched it and went for another curse. I actually expected it to be a melee-kinda passive, it's good to see how far it goes. I'll definitely play around that for some other build-but this one was designed to make use of those 3 curses, I don't really want to change that.
Hey Distaeri,

Really good guide, I really like how in-depth and detailed you are, all that lab info was super helpful and you definitely didn't have to do that!

I am currently dismantling my Blade Vortex Occultist and plan to fully respec her into your Caustic Arrow build. Plan is to push her from 96 to 100 with CA. Pretty excited to try it out.

Couple questions...

1) Would Sin's Rebirth help this build at all? Or does it not do enough phys damage to be worth it?

2) I had no idea the ascendancy could protect you from stuns. I'm used to using an eye of Chayula, is the ascendancy good enough for stun protection, or do you have trouble with bosses or Guardians?

3) By any chance do you know what the chance of +1 curse on Karui Charge is? There's only one for sale on poe.trade and he hasn't been online in forever.

Thanks again man, you made a really great guide!

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