[3.12] Cyan's Hexblaster Occultist | Work in Progress | Huge Chaos Damage

Notice: This is a work in progress and many things are likely to change and/or be awful.

Hexblaster Occultist:

This build is mostly focusing on the new Curse/Hex system and Hexblast, i'm still unsure on the numbers and utility of bane vs impending doom but for now I am including both and personally running bane as I slowly get through the acts in my spare time.


Pros and Cons:

+/- New Skills!
+ Reflect Immune.
+ Strikes enemies lowest resistances with chaos damage.
+ Can be built fairly tanky(?).
- Itemisation looks like it will be expensive.
- Kinda garbage boss damage so far(?).
- I'm an idiot and have no idea how to build a build or guide.


Combo's / How does it work:

Hex spells will apply a debuff to the enemy, this can be elemental resistance debuffs to slows to weakens, the Bane spell can apply all linked Hexes. Then Hexblast will detonate a Hex and cause an AoE, if using Impending Doom instead of Bane it will detonate with Hexblast causing basically a double AoE burst. Hexblast will deal chaos damage that is resisted by the targets lowest resistance.
Black Hole is used as a big sucker to bring all the enemies in close together to help the AoE damage stack.

Aura's are used for extra damage and maybe eHP as we don't use crazy amounts of mana.

tl;dr - Hex spell/Bane applies debuff -> Hexblast makes debuff go boom in AoE that hits the targets lowest resistances and (If manually Hexing instead of using Bane) triggers Dooms boom.


Videos/Gifs:

Spoiler

Idk I might make some more later.

Bane + Hexblast:



Path of Building: (Updated for 1.4.170.11 - 21/Sep/2020)

Spoiler

https://pastebin.com/2n4M0ABf

This PoB lacks the items and links as well as some deeper thoughts on the skill gems and their supports.
Use this as a guide and ignore the un-enabled skill gems in the skill section.
This also is undecided on using Doom or Bane and both are included for now, in the future i'll either decide or include paths/guides for both options.



Levelling:

Not too sure honestly, focus on upgrading your rings, grab the spells as soon as you can and chuck on those auras.

At the start just take whatever damage spell you want and stick with that until you have enough around act 3/4/5 to start putting the build together.


Bandits:

As with all builds, probably best to kill all. Killing Alira could be an idea though


All Links:

Spoiler

Support gems aren't optimized. Use Despair Doom OR Bane Hex, not both.

Hexblast (6L)
Hexblast - Increased Critical Damage - Increased Critical Strikes - Increased Area of Effect - Elemental Proliferation

Bane + Hexes (6L) (Could use Conductivity, Increased AoE and/or some other supports)
Bane - Flammability - Frostbite - Despair

Despair + Imp Doom (6L)
Despair - Impending Doom - Increased Area of Effect

Black Hole (4L)
Void Sphere - Increased Area of Effect - Increased Duration - Second Wind

Auras (0L)
Zealotry - Precision - Purity of Elements - Discipline



Gear/Flasks:

Spoiler

Gear:
Honestly i'm not sure yet, you want Spell Damage + Crit Damage/Chance + Energy Shield/Life + Resistances

Flasks:




Annointment:

Probably Tranquility or Method to the Madness


WIP Thoughts:

Spoiler

If Bane + Hexes are the focus, should we use staves/staffs for a 2nd 6L or 2x wands? (Likely yes, use staffs)

Bane + Hex vs Despair + Doom

What Aura's?

What support gems are best damage/crit wise and which of the 4 Curses to use for Bane?

Annointment?



Ending Thoughts:

Spoiler

Feels fun to suck everything in, curse it all and then kaboom everything, also debuffs and auras help friends a bit.

Boss damage honestly feels shit but I am also pretty busy this season start and therefore have crap gear and progress.

I haven't done a build before and couldn't find much good info or PoB for this new Hex stuff so thought i'd give it a try.

Heist is fun dont @ me.

Please do comment your thoughts, ideas, improvements and everything else.

If anyone is in OCE and wants to play HMU.

Have a lovely day~!
Australian Summoner-Main
Last edited by Cyan101 on Sep 23, 2020, 11:41:46 AM
Last bumped on Sep 23, 2020, 2:47:02 PM
I tried it.
At first it looks nice but in the end it doesn't look nice.

First. bane is a curse, not hex. Hexblast can't consume bane.
Impending doom can't support hexes which are triggered. You need to cast hex YOURSELF. that means vixen's curses will not have doom counters.
BANE linked curses WILL NOT HAVE DOOM COUNTERS AND WON"T WORK WITH IMPENDING DOOM.

Survival?
I tried adding energy leech. had 1.3% chaos dmg leech amd 1.7% spell dmg leech and it just won't do anything.
Survival so far looks bad.
if you run out of ES your only hope is HP flasks.


so far looks sad :/
"Brutus transformed himself out of fear. Fidelitas did so out of love."


sdfsdfsdf name already exist O_O
Last edited by nevidonas on Sep 20, 2020, 2:09:09 PM
"
nevidonas wrote:
I tried it.
At first it looks nice but in the end it doesn't look nice.

First. bane is a curse, not hex. Hexblast can't consume bane.
Impending doom can't support hexes which are triggered. You need to cast hex YOURSELF. that means vixen's curses will not have doom counters.
BANE linked curses WILL NOT HAVE DOOM COUNTERS AND WON"T WORK WITH IMPENDING DOOM.

Survival?
I tried adding energy leech. had 1.3% chaos dmg leech amd 1.7% spell dmg leech and it just won't do anything.
Survival so far looks bad.
if you run out of ES your only hope is HP flasks.


so far looks sad :/


I didn't say Hexblast consumes Bane? I said Hexblast consumes Hex's and Bane will apply all linked Hexs.

I also said despair + imp doom VS Bane because of the Doom, I didn't say they are being used together I said they are 2 different options/paths to play.


But yes honestly, the damage for bosses seems pretty oof and i'm not sure how well either path will scale into the red maps and i'm honestly expecting to make another character. Survival isn't the best but you do have good range and Void Sphere helps keep huge areas under control especially with second wind
Australian Summoner-Main
Last edited by Cyan101 on Sep 20, 2020, 11:00:49 PM
Someone recommended Wither Totem for boss damage, gonna see how that fares when I get on tonight
Australian Summoner-Main
"
I didn't say Hexblast consumes Bane? I said Hexblast consumes Hex's and Bane will apply all linked Hexs.

To be more specific, Hexblast will consume the hex with the most Doom to dish out more damage, and only hexes that have been self-cast can generate Doom.
"
Dragei wrote:
"
I didn't say Hexblast consumes Bane? I said Hexblast consumes Hex's and Bane will apply all linked Hexs.

To be more specific, Hexblast will consume the hex with the most Doom to dish out more damage, and only hexes that have been self-cast can generate Doom.


Yes, if no hexes have doom though it just chooses a random one, you can test this ingame super easily. Doom isn't a requirement for Hexblast?
Australian Summoner-Main
doom isn't required for hexblast but it gives you an insane more multiplier if you get doom and the maximum amount of it.


i've done mine a bunch different than what i see others trying. mine is NO CRIT and its absolutely molesting the clear. bossing it leaves a bit on the table but my gear is still trash. i think it will be pretty huge in the end.


essentially i stack as much minus cold res as i possibly can. i use vixen's entrapment to auto apply 3 hexes. ele weakness for lower cold res, despair for flat chaos dmg as well as lowered chaos res for impending doom+profane bloom chaos dmg, and punishment for the inc dmg taken at low hp and the overkill damage aoe explosion as well.
i self cast frostbite for lowered resistance and chance to freeze. currently with 40 doom this also gives 40% inc curse effect to frostbite, the best curse out of the bunch.

so i curse frostbite, everything gets 4 curses, then i hexblast and everything explodes.

again the idea is to get the lowest cold res possible vs bosses. that means...
EE: -50
asc: -20
frostbomb: -25
frostbite: -31 (my curse effect+doom then 66% less curse effect for boss)
ele weak: -25 (my curse effect then 66% less curse effect for boss)
awak cold pen: -42
the wise oak: -15
Eye of Malice: 1.5x multiplier on resistance (-208 x 1.5 =)

TOTAL OF -312% COLD RES on the hardest bosses like Shaper, Sirus, Elder. way higher vs anything without that less curse effect.
you COULD get even higher with stacking some more pen by way of using Sambar Sceptre and getting a 10% pen craft on it, as well as anointing another 6% pen on the tree. since essentially all lowered res values are 1.5x their shown value, that is a pretty huge boost in dmg and possibly the best way to scale it overall.

you can also get upwards of 45 doom for a total of 450% more damage, with an alternate quality gem. good stuff!!
Last edited by xMustard on Sep 22, 2020, 2:27:27 AM
"
xMustard wrote:
doom isn't required for hexblast but it gives you an insane more multiplier if you get doom and the maximum amount of it.


i've done mine a bunch different than what i see others trying. mine is NO CRIT and its absolutely molesting the clear. bossing it leaves a bit on the table but my gear is still trash. i think it will be pretty huge in the end.


essentially i stack as much minus cold res as i possibly can. i use vixen's entrapment to auto apply 3 hexes. ele weakness for lower cold res, despair for flat chaos dmg as well as lowered chaos res for impending doom+profane bloom chaos dmg, and punishment for the inc dmg taken at low hp and the overkill damage aoe explosion as well.
i self cast frostbite for lowered resistance and chance to freeze. currently with 40 doom this also gives 40% inc curse effect to frostbite, the best curse out of the bunch.

so i curse frostbite, everything gets 4 curses, then i hexblast and everything explodes.

again the idea is to get the lowest cold res possible vs bosses. that means...
EE: -50
asc: -20
frostbomb: -25
frostbite: -31 (my curse effect+doom then 66% less curse effect for boss)
ele weak: -25 (my curse effect then 66% less curse effect for boss)
awak cold pen: -42
the wise oak: -15
Eye of Malice: 1.5x multiplier on resistance (-208 x 1.5 =)

TOTAL OF -312% COLD RES on the hardest bosses like Shaper, Sirus, Elder. way higher vs anything without that less curse effect.
you COULD get even higher with stacking some more pen by way of using Sambar Sceptre and getting a 10% pen craft on it, as well as anointing another 6% pen on the tree. since essentially all lowered res values are 1.5x their shown value, that is a pretty huge boost in dmg and possibly the best way to scale it overall.

you can also get upwards of 45 doom for a total of 450% more damage, with an alternate quality gem. good stuff!!


You can get doom counter to over 50!
That is why I use alternate frostbite (+5 max doom) if it’s q20 ... now link it with enhance! + 24 quality so you get 11 max doom ...

Together with the skill tree you have 44 doom + 11 = 55 doom = 550% more dmg

I’m thinking about self casting all Hex (probably only using 4 since despair is only semi good because all you can use it for is the added chaos dmg)

Im able to cast 4 curses in 1 second
And the vixen trigger do t work on hex immune mobs ... (bug)

Also you get a higher effect by stacking doom making the curses more powerful when selfcasted!

Going Crit with hexblast could go well... but it’s a too high point Investment so you might be powerful but your defenses probably don’t survive end game

I went LL to scale Hexblast and auras to cover my resistances and defenses

But it could be much more reliable to selfcast everything!

What I don’t really know is ... do temporal chains and enfeeble still get a 66% less curse effect against Sirus and Shaper?
Since they specially have a rare/unique tag ...

Also reduce the resistances easily below 200% against cold is also a more multi



Going to toss in my input so far. I find the cast curse then cast hexblast to be clunky for clearing. It's too slow even when I had over 70% increased cast speed. I've found that blasphemy plus your primary curse allows you to just run and cast hexblast to good effect. It actually makes it a decent clear build with good feel and mobility. For bosses you drop wither totems and self cast a curse for the more multiplier. I'm running a crit setup and 1 shot t7 bosses right now.

In regards to the crit setup, I do agree that it's point starved. The damage is good and looking at end game gear makes me think I can get good crit percentage/damage. I just see it leaning towards the glass cannon side of things. I did some numbers comparison vs my crit setup in my current gear vs going all in on cold resist like mentioned above. That setup is 11% less damage then what I have now BUT it frees up 14 points on the tree. I could put 4 of those into a medium cluster and get all the damage back and a little more and it leaves me 10 more points for damage or defense.

To summarize:

- Blasphemy + Curse = good clear
- Self Cast Curse + Wither Totems = good boss damage
- Crit is point starved but some may not mind it
Last edited by kan333 on Sep 22, 2020, 3:58:46 PM
"
xMustard wrote:
doom isn't required for hexblast but it gives you an insane more multiplier if you get doom and the maximum amount of it.


i've done mine a bunch different than what i see others trying. mine is NO CRIT and its absolutely molesting the clear. bossing it leaves a bit on the table but my gear is still trash. i think it will be pretty huge in the end.


essentially i stack as much minus cold res as i possibly can. i use vixen's entrapment to auto apply 3 hexes. ele weakness for lower cold res, despair for flat chaos dmg as well as lowered chaos res for impending doom+profane bloom chaos dmg, and punishment for the inc dmg taken at low hp and the overkill damage aoe explosion as well.
i self cast frostbite for lowered resistance and chance to freeze. currently with 40 doom this also gives 40% inc curse effect to frostbite, the best curse out of the bunch.

so i curse frostbite, everything gets 4 curses, then i hexblast and everything explodes.

again the idea is to get the lowest cold res possible vs bosses. that means...
EE: -50
asc: -20
frostbomb: -25
frostbite: -31 (my curse effect+doom then 66% less curse effect for boss)
ele weak: -25 (my curse effect then 66% less curse effect for boss)
awak cold pen: -42
the wise oak: -15
Eye of Malice: 1.5x multiplier on resistance (-208 x 1.5 =)

TOTAL OF -312% COLD RES on the hardest bosses like Shaper, Sirus, Elder. way higher vs anything without that less curse effect.
you COULD get even higher with stacking some more pen by way of using Sambar Sceptre and getting a 10% pen craft on it, as well as anointing another 6% pen on the tree. since essentially all lowered res values are 1.5x their shown value, that is a pretty huge boost in dmg and possibly the best way to scale it overall.

you can also get upwards of 45 doom for a total of 450% more damage, with an alternate quality gem. good stuff!!


Did some more research on this and penetration does not modify enemies resistance. In this case, you finalize the resistance value with Malice and then you apply penetration. Which means it doesn't get the 50% modifier. In this case, instead of 312 you have 291.

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