[3.0] Self-Cast Dark Pact Occultist - over 3mil Shaper DPS

If you are going to use The Covenant body armor go for 2-Passive Points.
Otherwise, Alira.

Dark Pact, when self-cast, does 6% life damage to the caster and than the (gem chaos damage + 6% of that life) * (multipliers from passives & other items) is dealt as AoE damage around the caster. So we take damage using the skill. We solve this by leeching life back with each hit. As a Witch we do this by using Warlord' Mark curse which provides Life/Mana Leech of 2% each based on damage done. We take the Vaal Pact keystone to make the life-leech instant so we don't die as we have very fast cast rate with this build (7-8 casts per second).

At lower levels, pre dual wielding Apep's Rage (level 62), you might have an issue where you don't out-leech the self damage, specifically on solo mobs (like bosses without supporting packs/spawns). To mitigate this up your damage by linking in Increased Critical Strike Chance and/or popping a Diamond Flask.

For example:
If you have 2000 HP, self-cast damage is (2000 * 0.06) = 120 Health. To Leech 120 Health using Warlord's Mark (2% damage leeched assuming now curse resistance) you would have to hit for (120 / 0.02) = 6,000 damage

Act and Map Bosses have an innate 60% curse resistance. That same 6000 damage would now need to be (6000 / (1-0.6)) = 15,000 damage

Guardians and Shaper have an innate 80% curse resistance. That same 6000 damage would now need to be (6000 / (1-0.8)) = 30,000 damage

Another example:
A more realistic Shaper attempt is with a hero of 5000 HP. So self-cast damage is (5000*0.06)=300. Needed damage to out-heal the self-damage is: (300/0.02)/(1-0.8) = 75,000 damage

Things to avoid:
Obviously, hexproof mobs and maps are hard as we can't leech via curses. You can do it with swapping in a life leech gem into the mix (although red socket would mean you have a 2nd 5 or 6 link laying around) or you just take many hybrid flask and spam them. (Berserks don't have this problem as their life leech is not a curse). A single mob is not that bad as most things die in 1-2 casts so you won't even notice, but a hex-proof pack can surprise you.

Be weary with the boss of the Tier 9 Crypt Map - he does a huge AoE damage spike at time when he is cursed (and we run dual-curse and are in melee range). Avoid this on HC.

The Tier 15 Dark Forest Map boss is "curse immune". You can still kill him and heal through damage while Atziri's Promise is running, but port out in between. This is the one boss I think you should trigger Vaal Haste + Atziri's Promise + Diamond Flask (while having Wither Totem running) all at the same time, instead of cycling them.

I'll level up as Firestorm or Freezing Pulse until Act 3 when we get Dark Pact. Once you switch to Dark Pact remember it is all about spell damage, not elemental dmg so switch out your Scepters for Wands.

Your First 20 pts

Next we rush for Vaal Pact (43 pts)

Dark Pact will feel clunky at first until you get good DPS numbers (meaning you will not out heal the 6% health hit). Get a Doedre's Ring when you can (they are less than 1 chaos) so you can run Warlord's & Assassin's both. Then just use life flasks as you see fit. I highly, highly recommend a Diamond Flask for boss fights. Initially your Dark Pact won't be hitting hard enough to out-heal the damage it does, Diamond Flask will highly improve this, if not fix it all together.

Vaal Haste should only be used once your Dark Pact damage is sufficient that 2% of it is greater than 6% of your health (meaning you out-heal via Vaal Pact the self-inflicted damage from it). Otherwise, you are just killing yourself faster.

Buy 2 x Apep's Rage Wand at level 62 (they are typically around 4-5 chaos on PoE Trade). These are your end-game weapons until you are really farmed and can afford Void Battery (x 2) which are BiS.

Your Level 62 tree - when we get Apep's

Spec out of MoM once you hit Act 10!!!

Level 85 Tree
We add lots of life and prep for major Power Charge upgrades (they are most important once we get Void Batteries.

Your Level 100 Tree
Everything dies

Major: Soul of the Brine King - if you don't have Kaom's Roots
Stuns/Freezes can be the death of us as we need to be hitting things so we continually heal.
This is the first one you should be upgrading with Divine Vessels (1-2 chaos on PoE Trade)

Major: Soul of Arakaali - since our lowest resist is Chaos and Chaos AoE will hurt us the most. Although, not set in stone and you could go with something else.

Minor: Soul of Abberath
With Vaal Pact we don't life regen - not taking burn damage is a QoL improvement. This is the one to use on Burning Ground maps for sure.

Body Armor:


Weapons:


Head:


Belt:


Gloves:


Boots:


Amulet:


Rings:

So this is variable and depends on some decisions you make.


If you choose to use Soul Tether Cloth Belt do not go Wicked Ward -> Vile Bastion (they don't work together well). Instead go for 2nd curse from Profane Bloom & Malediction. You can then drop the Doedre's Ring (it's really a crap ring in all stats except we need it early for 2nd curse) and get quality ring.

If you have a good +1 curse corrupted amulet then go for Wicked Ward -> Vile Bastion with good ES gear for heavy ES defense. If you are fine with going end-game with Doedre's Ring same stands (although you have the option to take just Profane Bloom and then at uber lab just Wicked Ward if you don't need Vile Bastion).

If you chose to go for Whispers of Doom (keystone within 4 passive points of our path) you can take above advice and do as you please as you don't need Malediction - unless you really want to go creative and go tri-curse.

You will be taking these:
Void Beacon & Forbidden Power (order doesn't matter - up to you)

For new players I recommend: head for Malediction first, then Void Beacon, then ultimately Forbidden Power

In order of Priority for each mod:

Maximum Life is paramount!!!

Prefixes: (hope to get at least 1 of these, ideally 2)
7% increased Maximum Life (5-7%)
16% increased Spell Damage while Dual Wielding (14-16%)
13% increased Chaos Damage (9-13%)
5% increased Cast Speed while Dual Wielding (3-5%)

Suffixes: (hope to get at least 1 of these, ideally 2)
15% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells (12 - 15%)
12% increased Area Damage (10-12%)
14% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells (10-14%)
4% increased Cast Speed (2-4%)

Here is the conditions on PoE.Trade I use (unfortunately you can't have logical ORs or ANDs) so you still have to filter manually the results (i.e., you really really want maximum life on it plus other conditions). If you ever see one that meets your price approval, buy it.
PoE.Trade Search URL

Jungle Valley Boss (T1)
Just a boss kill on a 4-link to show speed - not the most ideal as the boss doesn't spawn right away.

Acid Lakes Boss (T4)
Just a boss kill on a 4-link

Racecourse Boss (T6)
Just a boss kill on a 4-link

Full Strand Run (T6)
Full run on a 6-link with no life/mana regen. Wanted to show how you can get in trouble if you don't use Dark Pact properly to target as you won't leech mana and have to drop gems (or use portal). Easy boss kill.

Full Bog Run (T8)
Full run on a 6-link. Nothing special, double bosses. Forgot to enrage them. Sorry I'm new to making videos...

Full Maelstorm Unique Run (T8)
Enjoy the breach at the end...

Poorjoy's Asylum Breach Fun

Full Terrace Run (T10)

Precinct Run (T11)

Baazar Run (T11)

Ivory Temple (T12)

Maze (T14) Full Clear
Mistakes were made...

Colosseum (T15) Clear
Boss mistakes as I was rushing... stupid

Beachhead T16 Full Run
Longer video as it was my first time there and I explored a bit. Still working on getting more health, just need levels now.