[3.24] Bane/Blight Occultist Starter

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UndeadSpez wrote:

Hi, I like this guide very much and would like to play with it. But domain pobb.in takes infinite time to load for me (does not load at all). Can you please upload to pastebin?

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Lumiya4814 wrote:

Hi,

The guide looks great, I'm keen to give it a shot, just had a question about the curses applied by Bane. I could be completely blind and just can't see it, but I can't see where on the tree, gear or ascendancy tree you get +2 to curses applied. Ascendancy tree gets +1 curse, but I'm not sure where the other one comes from. I'm sure I'm missing something super obvious but I just can't see it right now haha.

Thanks in advance!

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Xayazi wrote:

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Lumiya4814 wrote:

Hi,

The guide looks great, I'm keen to give it a shot, just had a question about the curses applied by Bane. I could be completely blind and just can't see it, but I can't see where on the tree, gear or ascendancy tree you get +2 to curses applied. Ascendancy tree gets +1 curse, but I'm not sure where the other one comes from. I'm sure I'm missing something super obvious but I just can't see it right now haha.

Thanks in advance!

Hi! The other source is a notable passive skill, Whispers of Doom. I also use an unique ring, Doedre's Damning, before completing Uber Lab or while using a 5/6 link Bane setup with Enfeeble if I want to be extra safe while mapping / still work on my other defenses.

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Lumiya4814 wrote:

Awesome, thanks! I thought it might have been Whispers of Doom but it didn't look like it was allocated in the PoB I was using. Glad to know its the right way to go!

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Xayazi wrote:

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Lumiya4814 wrote:

Awesome, thanks! I thought it might have been Whispers of Doom but it didn't look like it was allocated in the PoB I was using. Glad to know its the right way to go!

Perhaps you came across an older link and the node got unallocated after updating the tree - sorry, I'm looking into finding and changing any that might be left out there. Here's the current one and it will be a permanent link with changing content from now on: https://pobb.in/u/Xayazi/bbocc

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trade123kk wrote:

Having a lot of fun with the build so thanks for that! :)

Just wondering, would you still go dual wield if you where playing on hc?

Giving up a lot of ES etc by not using shield but i guess the damage would be lacking?

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Xayazi wrote:

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trade123kk wrote:

Having a lot of fun with the build so thanks for that! :)

Just wondering, would you still go dual wield if you where playing on hc?

Giving up a lot of ES etc by not using shield but i guess the damage would be lacking?

Hi, that's a difficult question, but I'm leaning towards saying that I still wouldn't use one - at least while progressing through the league as usually. In the end, it's a matter of reaching the thresholds that are necessary to meet your goals, so the means don't matter that much. If you can start with an outperforming wand, then you can pick a shield for more ES. If you don't care about bossing, your probably can accept some trade-off, too. On the other hand, the league mechanic is all about damage & speed, so you'd make things harder for yourself in the Sanctum.

Because of the Mysticism cluster, a shield is also a loss of increases to cast speed and cooldown recovery rate of movement skills, which can further hurt your mobility and Blight damage (stacks applied slower, possibly not able to reach the limit anymore).

ES is important and I'd stress to get as much as you can from other parts of your gear, but I think in HC there are more significant issues to pay attention to than a shield swap - like your map and altar mods, overcapped resistances for Exposure, or removing/negating curses. If you're already on Low Life, Punishment can get you killed very quickly (even with a shield) and there's a risk that your own one will be reflected to you. The adjustment I'd recommend is to replace Punishment with Enfeeble. I like to increase my curse limit before Uber Lab with Doedre's Damning and use Enfeeble early on even in SC.

There are some swaps I utilize for special occasions. I use a Ruby Flask and Rise of the Phoenix for the Exarch's meteors phase. I use a Quartz Flask and a melee weapon for Leap Slam while dragged under by the Infinite Hunger. Sometimes it's just impossible to make mistakes forgivable with any gear though. Otherwise, I think I died maybe 3 times in maps by the time I got to level 99 this league - no shield, but quite a lot of caution :)