Need help with exsanguinate damage

I am playing an brand that casts exsanguinate. Before I dive into deeper, I need some clarifications.

1. Does Large Cluster jewel +Increase Physical damage improve BOTH the initial hit and the damage over time?

2. Does 5% chance to deal double damage improve BOTH initial hit and dot?

3. There is Medium jewel for Increase Physical Damage over time but mostly for Bleed. This would be a bad choice for exsanguinate eh?

I know that +spell damage increases dot portion. What about Add Physical damage to spell? Does it improve damage over time?


I am asking because I am not sure if I should improve the initial hit or the dot portion of it. Ideally if I can do both, that will be great!


Thanks

1. Yes

2. No, hit only

3. phys damage over time works for the damage over time portion

4. added physical to spells only increases the hit

scaling both is generally the way but AFAIK the DOT portion is the easiest to get to a very high value with spell damage/ physical damage over time multiplier.

So, if I take more Critical damage, it only affects the initial hit and not the DoT part of it right?

I am trying to figure out which Large Cluster to get.

1. I see under Spell Large Cluster, there is a notable called Conjured Wall. Does casting Brand count as Casting Spell?


2. Is getting Block chance against Spell important? I see more Block chance against Attack. Take Sirus boss for example, are all this attacks "spell"? It seems that way.

Crit will only work on the hit portion, not the DoT

Brands count as casting, pretty much as long as it has the spell tag it counts as casting when you use it.

spell block is better than attack block IMO but harder to get, 75 spell block makes Sirus pretty trivial.

A common method is to take the glancing blows keystone and use a recovery on block shield, this provides a good bonus to defence and makes block/spellblock much easier to cap in return for blocks not being as effective. On smaller hits this is negated by the on hit recovery.

Oh. Thanks for the tip. I have no idea you can even achieve max block in this game. Is it 75%? I don't think I am even close. I see most people use Staff because it gives 18-20% block against Attacks.

My goal is to beat Sirus. :(((( he one shot me all the time in 2nd stage.


Looks like I am going to stack two Conjured Wall. I like Cluster jewels.

Getting more spell block is a good way to help with Sirus, since his Die beam is a spell. Most people can't survive all 3 hits from it but if you have ~50% spell block and >5000 life you should be able to survive 1 or 2.


Anyway I'd suggest mainly scaling the DoT portion of the ability and not worry too much about the hits. If you want a physical damage spell for the hit damage, I believe ethereal knives is better. Ensaguinate's hits, at least for how I use it, is just icing for things like leech and corrupted fever application.

capped attack block isn't too difficult, capped spell block is very investment heavy unless your playing a gladiator and yes its 75.

If your goal is Sirus you're probably better served by just getting comfortable with the fight, his phases are pseudo tutorials for when the fight actually begins (at 40%)

Each time he gets back on his comfortable armchair and flies around trash talking he'll add a new mechanic when he comes down, the meteor maze gets bigger or he'll start doing the bowling alley attack etc.

once he comes back down after hitting 40% is when the fight really begins and is where players need the practice usually but what the entire fight comes down to is can you dodge die beam. The sound cue is very accurate for this attack so the best strategy is to flame dash as the line finishes, this ensures he misses except for the rare occasion that you dash towards him when he's offscreen.

If you just want to outgear it spell block is the way to go, once die beam is unlikely to kill you the fight becomes pretty trivial. Don't be afraid to look for a guide if you want to get a good idea beforehand there are some great written/video guides for Sirus because he was such a challenging and/or simultaneously bugged boss.

So it's better to scale the DoT part of Exsanguinate than the initial hit then. I may just try to stack Spell damage and Physical damage to spell.

1. I am using Moonsorrow during level up. It has 275% Physical damage but I don't think it's added to the spell. I think that 275% physical damage is only for the physical wand attack? I should be seeing a lot more damage increase since I am using dual Moonsorrow. lol Is it true that most %+ Increased Physical Damage doesn't increase Exsanguinate? You mentioned that the 12% Physical damage from Large Cluster should improve both Initial hit and DoT?


I panic during Sirus last phase when 4 big beams coming out. When I try to dodge that, I die to the 3-hit beam. :(( I try to dodge but it's so fast!!!


I like the idea of Arcanist brand but the attachment range and projectile range are severed reduced. I chose Physical because there is no Brand skill that does physical or chaos damage. Using Arcanist with Exsanguinate means I don't need to worry about using my health at all.

You've been very helpful!

Weapons with "increased physical damage" (or attack speed, or critical strike chance) are always local to that weapon's attack unless explicitly stated to be global. Yes this is confusing; I'd prefer they did it the other way around.

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chinesefoodverygood wrote:

I panic during Sirus last phase when 4 big beams coming out. When I try to dodge that, I die to the 3-hit beam. :(( I try to dodge but it's so fast!!!


I like the idea of Arcanist brand but the attachment range and projectile range are severed reduced. I chose Physical because there is no Brand skill that does physical or chaos damage. Using Arcanist with Exsanguinate means I don't need to worry about using my health at all.

Use a headphone when fighting Sirus and deactivate all sounds except voicelines, so you can hear him talking.

If he teleports offscreen he will start talking and using a headphone allows you to locate him roughly which makes it significantly easier to dodge his beam.


Also finish merci lab and work your way towards "Illuminated Devotion" for 2 reasons:
1. Life leech from spells will counter the life drained fom exsanguinate, so you dont have to use Arcanist Brand anymore and add a dmg support gem instead.
2. Arcance Surge will be activated once you hit something, providing ailment immunity besides extra dmg and cast speed.
Ailment immunity pretty much cuts the dmg from Sirus beam in half if not more. You cant be shocked, chilled or ignited anymore and thats huge.