GhazzyTV - Essence Drain & Contagion (or Bane/Soulrend) Trickster [SC/HC/Uber Elder/Shaper]

Have a few questions concerning the Tabula Chest. I have enough C to pick one up, I am lev 50. First, They have a level req. same as all other gear correct? I only ask this because I read a few places that say there is no level req. which I do not believe is so.

The other question is I should get one that is already corrupted and has plus 1 to sockets yes?

Thanks for putting up with noob questions from me !

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Badtwo wrote:

Have a few questions concerning the Tabula Chest. I have enough C to pick one up, I am lev 50. First, They have a level req. same as all other gear correct? I only ask this because I read a few places that say there is no level req. which I do not believe is so.

The other question is I should get one that is already corrupted and has plus 1 to sockets yes?

Thanks for putting up with noob questions from me !

Tabula Rasa has no level requirement, the only reason you would see a level requirement is if someone linked it with a Skill Gem in it.

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Tabula Rasa has no level requirement, the only reason you would see a level requirement is if someone linked it with a Skill Gem in it.

Thank you for the answer. I was looking at POE Trade btw...I just didnt want to purchase one and not be able to equip. thanks!

What level should I be keeping Arcane surge?

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Badtwo wrote:

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Tabula Rasa has no level requirement, the only reason you would see a level requirement is if someone linked it with a Skill Gem in it.

Thank you for the answer. I was looking at POE Trade btw...I just didnt want to purchase one and not be able to equip. thanks!

What level should I be keeping Arcane surge?

If you hover over the Arcane Surge gem, it should say "Gain Arcane Surge when you spend X Mana with Supported Skills."

The skill you're casting is Contagion so keep the lvl of Arcane surge below or at the mana cost of Contagion.

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If you hover over the Arcane Surge gem, it should say "Gain Arcane Surge when you spend X Mana with Supported Skills."

The skill you're casting is Contagion so keep the lvl of Arcane surge below or at the mana cost of Contagion.

Good deal thx!

Thanks for this great build.

Question, is the recommended belt still better than abyss belt with a jewel?

Hey Ghazzy; once again, thanks for your hard work - your advice in the previous reply helped a lot!

I've reached a stage in the game where I can confidently map the main parts of most low-tier maps, but fighting against bosses is slightly tedious; additionally, I can clear Uber, but it takes a really long while against Izaro and comes with a certain risk factor.

What direction should I take this build if I want it to be a comfortable boss-killer? I don't mind throwing in a few dozen Regrets - such a change is inevitable - or is ED/Contagion/Blight never going to be comfortable killing bosses fast?

Additionally, I've got a surprising amount (900+) of energy shield despite the ~300 bonus my items provide, suggesting that if I dedicated my tree properly, ED/Cont could be pretty good with CI - your thoughts? I know this is supposed to be a MoM build, but I want to keep my options open, and there seems to be no other nearly as popular build on the internet right now for ED/Cont, so I'd like to hear your two cents on the matter :D

yo have u considered Winds of Change Ancient Gauntlets?

Did someone kill shaper and uber atziri using this build?

First, thanks to Ghazzy for putting together the guide, the built is a lot of fun so far! I have played almost exclusively bow characters of various sorts so far since the beta (quite casually, never beat Shaper or Alluring Abyss so far), so this is a welcome change of pace.

I am lvl 87, 5.6k life, 1.4k ES, 1k unreserved mana, 43k tooltip unbuffed ED DPS. Got the essential stuff (Allelopathy, BotC, 6L chest, lvl 3 Empower). Yellow tier maps are easy enough, though focused damage can bring me down quite easily (vast majority of my deaths are from Abysses, heh). However red tier maps are quite a different story, especially on T13s I feel quite outmatched. It feels like yellow mobs basically need help from all the buffs and Blight or they take way too long to bring down. Even some white mobs take a long time to die.

This is my current setup:



Can you see any glaring mistakes or omissions? Got about 140c ready to spend on upgrades. Current plan is to buy Impresence.

I also have several questions regarding the build (as I said, I am very new to caster characters):

1) What is the advantage of Witchfire Brew? Is it dramatically better than self-casting Despair when needed? I currently have Enfeeble Blasphemy'd and self-cast Despair (with Impresence I would Blasphemy both). The flask seems to have little benefit otherwise, considering the opportunity cost.

2) The build mentions Atziri's Step as a high budget option. Why? Aren't good rare boots just better for us, especially considering we are not too concerned about MS? The new Elder/Shaper mods could also potentially save us some links, perhaps a small CWDT setup could be squeezed in even with Allelopathy Blight?

3) Is the 45% skill duration from the Potency of Will cluster really worth the three skill points? Is that just to make the ED cascades reach further? Those 3 SP could buy another jewel slot instead.

4) Is the Grand Spectrum worth it with only three? Three Hypnotic Eye jewels with up to flat 150 mana total, along with three other bonuses per (though admittedly, it is not easy to find one with good rolls and four bonuses relevant to the build).

5) How precisely do instances of Spreading Rot stack? Do the "take 25% increased chaos damage" stack?

6) How much higher can I expect the ED DPS to go, as the build gets more optimized? As I mentioned above, my current DPS feels a bit lacking in red-tier maps.