[3.17] Havoc209's Low Life Occultist | Essence Drain | Very Beginner Friendly

I will be attempting to recreate some of these videos in the Scourge league

Level Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ7nArMY31I

Expensive Low Life Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLAT_iurj2A

Trade Website Guide For New Players: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxQ8l19N9Vg

+ FANTASTIC League Starter
+ One of the safest builds in the game
+ Can kill enemies through Proximity Shield
+ Cheap, Safe, Effective
+ Top Tier Farmer
+ Capable of killing EVERYTHING in the game. Can also run EVERY map mod with no issues
+ Able to make this build very cheap.. or very expensive
+ New Player Friendly
- Two casts can be hard to get used to
- Enemies with the mod "Allies are unable to die" are harder for us to kill, because our Essence Drain cannot spread around with these annoying monsters
- Needs levels on gems to have good DPS
- Not the best boss-killer
- Cannot face-tank hard-hitting bosses
- SSF League is not recommended as you NEED a few key items

- First you cast Contagion which FIRST allows our Essence Drain to spread.. and it will also give us Arcane Surge (More damage & cast speed)
- Cast Essence Drain on the monster pack
- Everything affected by Contagion should die and spread
- Every now and then channel Blight for at least 0.6 to 1 second depending on if you have quality on your Infused Channeling to get "Infusion," which gives us more damage and less damage taken by a few types of moves
- Flame Dash away from enemies moves and make sure to try not to get up close to the monsters faces
- Use Wither Totems on Bosses to stack the Wither debuff so the boss will die very quickly
- Do not forget about the Vaal skills. For Damage, we have: Vaal Righteous Fire & Vaal Blight if there is ever someone who will not die.
- For Survavbility, we have: Vaal Discipline

Before we start, make sure you have Path of Building. If you do not; it will help you out immensely. If you have this already just skip straight to the pastebin below.
There is a new Path of Building that is called PoB Fork, it has been added on 6/19/2020 for Harvest League, and this guide has been updated with the new Path of Builing Fork download

Path of Building Download (Make sure to get the "Fork Community" version)
Open this link (Click here and select "Download Zip")
Run The Application Program (Click link)
How To Import Your Build (Adding someone else's build)
How to Export Your Build (Sharing your own build with others)

This Path of Building is the goal to get to. I have a leveling section included below in the section "Act 1-10 Leveling Section"

Level 100 Expensive Low Life Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/zsVDArxs

Leveling Pastebin: It is the same as the leveling one above: https://pastebin.com/hfKkygfr

Level 90 CI Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/nHwCJNBh

Be Informed
There are a few websites and things that you should be aware about before starting that will help you out:
~ Path Of Exile Trade
- This website is used to trade with other players and to find items of something you will need to buy.
~ PoE Ninja
- This website will show currency trade ratio's on the left section, and if you click "Builds" on the top right, it will show each individual players build, and show which build is the most popular at the current league. (Note: This does not update when a new league starts until the 2nd day of the league)
~ Neversink's Loot Filter
- Above is a loot filter. There is just a ridiculous amount of loot in the end game. This is sadly needed in my opinion to fully enjoy the game without the clutter. This filter highlights what to pickup with colors and sounds. You can customize the filter colors and sounds at: Neversink's Filterblade Website
~ Awakened Poe Trade Overlay
- This is the PoE Overlay.
Download this one - Scroll down and click this - Download the Installer here
With this overlay, you can do some advanced searches that IMMENSELY help you out.
~ PoeDB
- This website will show Prefixes and Suffixes for certain crafts. Do not worry about this right now. Bookmark this website for further down the road.
~ Vorici Chromatic Calculator
- This is a fantastic website that will save you Chromatic Orbs. It's used for trying to color an item. It's not 100% accurate but it will give you a rough estimate of the best amount of Chromatic Orbs to use.

Act 1 - Clarity - Keep this gem level 1
Act 3 - Malevolence

Once you get the passive talents "Mind Over Matter" and "Eldritch Battery" at Act 7, around level 54, you can pickup and use Discipline, otherwise mana will be an issue.

Once Act 10 is finished and Kitava has been defeated, I recommend removing "Mind Over Matter" and "Eldritch Battery" and following the "Level 90 CI" setup as you most likely will not have a lot of currency.
However, in order to do this you will need some decent energy shield gear, I recommend at least 3000 Energy Shield for CI to work at all. Check the "Budget Gearing Before Low Life Setup" and the "Budget Gear" section.

If you have currency, feel free to follow the "100 Low-Life" setup. However; in order to be low life successfully, we need to have a Shavronne's Wrapping's, and Presence of Chayula. I also recommend capping Chaos Resistance.

CI Auras: Malevolence - Vaal Discipline - Flesh & Stone - Clarity level 1.
For the CI version you will definitely need the aura mana reduction nodes, (Charisma and Sovereignty, there is also two more that aren't BIG nodes, but they help, they are only 4% mana reduction) to run all of the auras without any issues.

Low Life-Aura's: Vaal Discipline - Flesh & Stone - Enlighten these will be linked with Arrogance level 16 (Due to strength requirement)
Zealotry - Malevolence - Aspect of the Spider (Click the Link) (You will need an open Suffix on a piece of gear and you can buy the beast on the link above.

You will DEFINITELY need ALL the aura reduction passive skills to run every single aura listed on the Low-Life setup. Check the path of building and CTRL F type in "Mana Reservation"

First, I will explain what you need to look for on gear. And then if you wanted to jump straight below to the spoilers, I will have links which will take you to the Path of Exile Trade website, and will tell you what to you should buy. There will be a Budget and Expensive gear section with links.
You will need as high of Energy Shield gear as you can get for as cheap as possible.

Make sure to NOT buy "Mirrored" or "Corrupted" gear, as you cannot modify these or craft onto them like we need to.

So first let me explain the trick if you want to buy gear for cheap:
You will first need to understand the basics of how items work.
An item can have 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes, for a total of 6 modifiers.
Sometimes this changes depending on hybrid rolls, it can be tricky.

You are going to look for high-ish Energy Shield base items with only ONE Energy Shield modifier onto it, and an open prefix.
For example:Look at this item.
Notice how it only has ONE Energy Shield Modifier on it? You can craft another Energy Shield Modifier onto it

Also another AMAZING Stat to look up while you are searching for gear is:
"Total Elemental Resistance." (Click on it)
But like I said, make sure a piece of gear does NOT have crafted Elemental Resistance, unless you really need it.
I highly, HIGHLY suggest looking for Chaos Resistance on gear. Capping Chaos Resistance is HUGE now, ever since Delirium league has been released.

For Helmet: Look for a high energy shield base helmet with resistances. At end game, we will need to buy an iLvl 85 Hubris Circlet that is Hunter's influenced, so that we can craft -9 Chaos Resistance, but this is very expensive and only needed for when you have the currency.

For Armor: So our goal is to get a Shavronne's. This may be expensive early and not the best option until we have high enough energy shield.
We need a High Energy Shield Base body armor. Look for one with about 350-400 Energy Shield and MAYBE some Resistances if possible. We will craft Energy Shield onto this.

For Gloves: Look for Spell Damage, with Energy Shield and Elemental Resistances if possible.
Chaos Damage Over Time is a lot of damage but it is expensive and only recommended for very late game when you are rich.

For Boots: Look for Movement Speed, at LEAST 20%. If you are picky look for 30%. You will need to look for 70-80 Energy Shield with an open Prefix and an open Suffix. The reason for the open suffix is you will use these boots for end game with Aspect of the Spider through beast-crafting.

For Weapons: Early I recommend going for Two Wands. Look for Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplier, with a Spell Damage Implicit. Look for something with NO Spell damage on the explicit so you can craft your own spell damage. I will have a link below in the description.
A Bow is actually better than Wands, however it is not optimal early as there are not a lot of cheap 6-link bows that are on the market.
Buy a 6-Link Short Bow, or The Porcupine Divination cards.
You will use Orb of Transmutation on this bow, and the you will keep using Orb of Alterations until you hit "+1 Level of Socketed Gems."

For Rings: We need one of our rings to have at LEAST 49 Strength on one of them (We need this for the Empower,) a high amount of Maximum Energy Shield, and a high amount of Resistance.
We do not want any resistance modifiers crafted onto it, and we would like an open Prefix to craft "Faster Energy Shield Recharge Rate"
Look for at LEAST 60 Total Elemental Resistance and see if you can find a ring that fits you. There will be a link will below if you would like an example.

For Amulet: Presence of Chayula is going to be the goal, but this is not optimal only until we are switched over to low life with Shavronne's. Look for a high energy shield amulet, with a high amount of resistances on it for now, and if you can, some spell damage would be nice.

For Belt: Bated Breath, Chain Belt corrupted with Malevolence aura. In my experience it's usually not too expensive. I usually get it for 5-20 Chaos.

Budget Gear
Expensive Gear

Passives:

Level 80 Life / Mind Over Matter Passives

Level 85 CI Passives

Level 90 Low-Life Passives

Level 100 Passives
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Bandits: Kill ALL for the 2 passive skill points

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Ascendancy:

Malediction - (Normal Lab): Gives us an extra curse so leveling with Bane is so much easier, we do not need the unique ring Doedre's Damning with this ascendancy point

Void Beacon - (Cruel Lab): Reduces the enemies Chaos Resistance by 20% which is a LOT, the enemies do not have a lot of chaos resistance to begin with

Withering Presence - (Merciless Lab): Gives us a ton of Chaos Resistance (Which is actually obsolete when we are CI - but the damage and Wither on this talent point are both insane, it is a TON of damage and it also inflicts wither on nearby enemies

Vile Bastion - (Uber Lab): We only get this talent point so that we cannot be stunned so we can play the game! There are a few other options to not allow us to get stunned but you LITERALLY can not be stunned with this ascendancy.
You are going to re-spec this ascendancy talent at the end game when you have Presence of Chayula, and are low life to: "Profane Bloom" so that you can hex enemies you can not normally hex (Hexproof), and the enemies have a 40% chance toexplode

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The Pantheon:
These are little buff effects you get to decide what to use after killing the respected boss for their soul. You can upgrade these effects by placing a Divine Vessel along with your map in your map device and killing the boss. A soul item will spawn in the map device after the boss is dead, and you bring it to Sin. He will upgrade your Pantheon powers. (By default the key is Y)

Major God: Soul of Solaris - Damage reduction and chance to take 50% less area damage from hits
Minor God: Soul of Shakari - reduced chaos damage and half poison damage when upgraded.

Tip: If you level a gem to level 20, sell it to a vendor along with a Gemcutter's Prism; the gem will de-level back to level 1 BUT it will be 20% Quality!

END Game 6-Link:
(Make sure these are socketed in your weapon if it has + ANY levels; example look at my bow)

END Game 5-Link
END Game 4 Link
END Game 4 Link

End Game 3 Link

Before Mapping:

After finishing Act 10.. You will lose resistances again. Make sure to cap these resistances by buying better gear with higher resistances and as much Life / Energy Shield as you can possibly get for cheap. Resist cap is 75% once you complete act 10.
I would strongly recommend having at LEAST 3000 Energy Shield to start with CI (Chaos Inoculation) for maps. Make sure you upgrade all of the leveling gear and you replace each flask with newer ones

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Boss fighting:

Before going into the boss room; I channel Blight until I get the Infused Channeling (Infusion) buff.. and then I enter
I start the fight off with these moves for the maximum amount of damage:
Contagion - Essence Drain - Wither - Totems - Run away - Channel Blight for a second "IF" Possible - Contagion - Essence Drain
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Map Mods:

This is my FAVORITE thing about this build. We can do EVERY Map mod possible. The most annoying Map Mod that I would say is "Players Cannot Regen Life, Mana or Energy Shield."
It's not impossible to do this map.. we just need to swap our Sulphur Flask for a Mana flask.. or even take off a Zealotry. Make sure to re-cast before next map though!

Q: - Why do you go after Minion Damage.. you don't have any minions?
A: We grab the node "Spiritual Aid" which increases to minion damage affect us. Lord of the Dead has "Minions Deal 15% Increased Damage," instead.. WE Deal 15% increased damage!

Q: - Where does our damage come from?
A: - The majority of comes from Gem Levels & Wither stacks.
6% increased damage per Wither stack, the enemy can have 15 stacks.
These stacks are reached quickly through the use of Multiple Spell Totems..
6% x 15 = 90% MORE damage

+ level of gems gives a ton of damage with Empower, which gives more levels to Essence Drain.

1+ level of socketed gems, and +2 of supports turns Empower 4 into Empower 7, which gives SIX more levels to Essence Drain.
that makes an Essence Drain 21 turn to a level 28.

Level 21 Essence Drain gives 1683.9 base chaos damage per second
Level 28 gives 3672 base chaos damage per second.

From levels we're looking at a 125% more damage

Q: Why low life?
A: It gives us the best output for damage as well as having great dodge from Flesh and Stone from being in Sand Stance.. so we get great defensive's from it