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

Hey guys,

Pardon the delayed responses, been busy working to make a living since I'm not fulltime streaming. On top of this my student loan is screwing me over completely out of some bullshit.

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Badtwo wrote:

21/20 ED, Empower lvl 4.
I have seen comments on here several times regarding this..what exactly is wrong with this? If you have ED @ 20 and have a plus 1 chest it will be 21/20 right? and same with Empower..so I am confused I guess.

Hey,

Once you get a normal gem to lvl 20 with 20% quality, you can Vaal Orb it which can turn it into a large variety of things.

It can gain a lvl above what's normally achievable such as lvl 21/20 ED. It can also gain 1-3% quality, but then again it can also lose a lvl (can relvl it up to 20, but since it's corrupted you can't Vaal it again), it can lose a ton of quality, believe 10% is max loss...? (correct me if I'm wrong). Some abilities have "Vaal" equivalents such as "Haste" can turn in to "Vaal Haste" which is a common way of making currency early in a league :)

Empower follows the same rules and can therefor be corrupted into a lvl 4 Empower. These gems are obviously still affected by gear that increases the gem lvls whilst socketed in that piece.

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dnates2014 wrote:

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dnates2014 wrote:

Rest of gear:

I recently upgraded my helment, and got an atziri boots .. still having problems with t13+ :( is there anything wrong with my gear?

Looks like the comments you recieved on this one literally covers anything I would mention myself :)
Would however want to point out that the guide is up-to-date, the Sanctity node is a matter of taste if you wish to take it or not.

Thanks, was kind of dabbling on whether or not to redo my skill tree. Everyone else has a different tree, including your old trickster - hence why I was confused .

I replaced tabula with a SoTL and I'm surviving better now.

Mainly because of the large variety of options this build brings. It's truly hard to keep track of everyone and help everyone as most are tweaking the build a bit which can be very confusing for the newer players who do the same without the knowledge of why the tweaks they did are good or not.

Glad things are working out for you! :)

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ooFunky wrote:

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Odd_the_king wrote:

Is there anyone that can se how to spend my currency best?

Ozon_

The next "big" upgrades would be Breath of the Council, Essence Drain level 21 + 20% quality and Empower level 4. With BotC being the cheapest one of the three, so you could get that first. Keep an eye on the increased chaos damage if you buy one. It ranges from 80% to 100%.

Also there is spell damage possible on rings/amulet and Essence Drain enchant from the uber lab on helmets.

Do you need that mana flask? You shouldn't really. Could get a Quicksilver Flask there for a better time doing maps.

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dnates2014 wrote:

Thanks, was kind of dabbling on whether or not to redo my skill tree. Everyone else has a different tree, including your old trickster - hence why I was confused .

Yeah, some of us use different setups/approaches :D I'm trying Windscreams right now so I got the damage wheel instead of the +1 curse one in the skill tree. But yes the finished skill tree listed in the guide is totally fine.

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Suzakner wrote:

Hello, this is my first time reaching maps and level 80+ on PoE, so I'm looking for advice on how to upgrade my gear and general playstyle. I just recently switched to Allelopathy w/ damage gems and Blight threshold jewel.

Got around 5.1k Life, 2k ES, 50% Fire Res and 75% Cold/Lightning, -1% Chaos. Are these defenses good or do I need more HP for later maps and bosses? (Fire res will increase as soon as I get my masters level up)

Also I'm struggling with bosses, since I feel like I'm not doing enough damage. ED tooltip says it's at 30k without buffs, but it feels kinda slow especially for Elder guardians and Elder himself.

For general playstyle, should I use Wither + Totem and manually cast Blight whenever I can on bosses? Or Blight + Totem is safer and just manually cast/ditch Wither? (Or just something else entirely?)

As you can imagine I'm not very rich, but any suggestion goes since I'll consider it an investment.

Thanks!!!

Life looks okayish but could be more. No life on both rings. Low life on amulet but there is spell damage so keep that at first. Low life on boots. Could also get a rare shield with flat life and more spell damage.

Get a +1 to socketed gems corrupted Tabula Rasa and an Empower Level 3 at first. Should be a big step in damage.

And I would take a different belt. Biscos, Belt of the Deceiver, or a rare one with life + resistances.

For playstyle: On bosses you hit your flasks (witchfire for example if you have one.. you should have one :D), drop your wither totem, cast Essence Drain and channel Blight as long as it is safe to do so (since you have to be stationary to cast Blight..)

For general mapping you should be fine using Contagion + Essence Drain and move on.

@ooFunky:
Thank you for helping out, you're starting to sound like @Garyas in here! <3
I appreciate it :)


For the people asking questions, everything ooFunky stated in here, looks solid and is correct.

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

Currently levelling this build. I don´ßt understand why we take the Frenzy nodes early on.
I don´t see Blood Rage anywhere in the setup, or description.
SOmeone please explain. Thanks

Swift Killer, ascendancy node. Don't take Frenzy Charges on the tree till you get this ascendancy node. It generates Power & Frenzy Charges on kill for you :)

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dnates2014 wrote:

Really just can't do t14 vaults with sextants :( hard to survive lol. I suck at the game haha

Since I'm late to the party this round I just checked your gear and it doesn't look like you should have any problems running that, perhaps you changed something since you posted this. Would you mind confirming that things are fine now or do you still need help?

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HucksMcNasty wrote:

Switched over to this build. It's fun finally being able to kill bosses!

Current gear at lvl 85:

Awesome to hear bro! Glad you like it :)

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

Also he seems to have ditched wither for Blight. I´d like to know how that´s working out for him.

Wither doesn't replace Blight and both should be used.

Wither on spell totem, ED self-cast, contagion self-cast, Blight self-cast.

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HucksMcNasty wrote:

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

@HucksMcNasty

Why are you using Witchfire Brew when you are running Blasphemy Enfeeble Despair ?

Because the flask still gives 40% increased DOT damage. I only "need" to pop it for bosses.

Very nice for softcore, honestly didn't think of this myself. Thank you for pointing that out :)

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evedgebah wrote:

I have two setups. A BotC Rathpith one and a 6L Deaths Oath and Cane of Unraveling one. Honestly, I'm fast enough in the latter. Even on high tier maps (up to 13 with life/chaos resist mods). Hit Stibnite flask + Quicksilver and run through trash, tossing 6-linked contagions as I go. Faster than pausing movement to use both ED and contagion. Just make sure you pop ED back in the 6L staff for bosses!

Nice!
Happy to hear this feedback actually, as I've been considering running that myself :D

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

I don´t know if it´s noteworthy but I defeated the Abyss Lich.
I still like this build.


edit: K did it twice now. I think it´s not worth mentioning lol...
As long as one keeps their distance it´s nothing to worry about.

Always noteworthy to me, thank you for sharing your progress with the build. I like hearing how things are going for everyone that is playing it :)

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kevinbrightblade wrote:

Shout out to Hamude! First time I noticed that once you get contagion's aoe large enough for comfort you can spec out of the 2x8% increased aoe nodes on the way to Whispers of Doom and save a passive point.

Also I think I'm going to spec out of the three starter mana/mana regen nodes at the witch start and instead take the three nodes off of Shaper that give 2x8% mana and a gem slot. I'm sacrificing +30% mana regen (doesn't matter late game) and 8% mana for a gem giving a combo of +20-40% damage and life/resists. Although if I was hurting for mana I could do that instead and come out with more mana than the three witch starter nodes.

Lastly, Hamude specs into two gem slots at three passives each instead of a bunch of mana, which I don't think I could do. But I could see my way to sacrificing three 5% life nodes for 20 strength and one jewel slot if I buy a jewel with +5% life and +20-40% damage. Wouldn't that be worth sacrificing 10% life?

Very nice pointers indeed!

Regarding your last section:
It will always as many other things with a build like this, come down to a matter of taste. For hardcore I would prioritise sustainability of my eHP and increasing my eHP if I don't feel the need for damage. Then again, the flat HP modifiers coming from the Abyssal Jewels in the current league are pretty absurd...

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YT_HB wrote:

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

I agree with him speccing out of the witch start and into the jewel near the Shaper Node.

That's what I ended up doing as well. I'm grabbing as many jewel slots as I can at this level and using 10+% increased spell damage/damage over time along with 7%/8% increased life and mana.

When I get another jewel slot at lvl 94 I may drop clarity/enfeeble and use the Clear Mind jewel and run Despair with no reserved mana thanks to the amulet. That'll increase damage another 60%.

Very very nice as well, as the build progresses there are a lot of new options becoming available, such as dropping mana regen, or mana nodes it all depends on the gear you get and the lvl you're at. This is one of the hardest part of making a build that includes MoM as you can tweak the build in so many different ways depending on what state your character is in. I've done my best! :D

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YT_HB wrote:

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

What do you guys do when you took a big hit and your manapool is depleted ?
Currently I´m running a Hybrid Flask, but I´m not sure about that.

I run a mana flask just in case but rarely use it. A hybrid should be fine in that case also. I really only have to use mine on a no regen map (which I try to stay away from anyway) or for the secondary effect such as poison, burning, etc. removal. Once you get the Patient Reaper ascendancy node mana regen should be even faster.

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

Is Breath of The Council the Weapon to go for ? Is it BiS or is it a Dagger with Decay craft and SPell damage etc ?

BotC along with Rathpith works really well until you're able to get a +2/3 chaos staff.

^^^^^
This.

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YT_HB wrote:

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FuzzyBaztard wrote:

Hey guys. Why do people have reserved mana for this build? I dont have any.

Mana is reserved for Clarity and Enfeeble/Temp Chains (using Blasphemy).

^^^
This.

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kevinbrightblade wrote:

IS there any benefit to leveling Shield Charge / Fortify?

Nope :)

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kevinbrightblade wrote:

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Utopia_ wrote:

Hey All

I'm just wondering as to what the first 'big' purchase of this build should be? I've just hit level 69 for Allelopathy and I'm just about to go grab normal/cruel/merc labs (Aether, Swift Killer + Weave Arcane) and then I'll do act 10 Kitava.

I've got a Tab and Allelopathy already - should have general mapping gear from other chara's to cap resists (standard ftw). I'm currently running two Heartbreakers but may look at swapping one out - might look look into some sort of combo of Rathpith's Globe, Atziri's Step and Atziri's Mirror depending upon resists.

My main question is - I've got about 120C to spend. Where should I be going from here? Grab a BoTC? Or should I focus on saving up and getting a 6l Death's Oath (softcore standard)? Or maybe a Cloak of Def? Of grab 3 deliriums and hope for the best on a high base lvl dagger after grabbing a couple of more levels?

If anybody wants to check out my chara/tree, the character is 'ProjectPTDiedForThis'. I've picked up dual curse as I'm running a Witchfire - probably going to spec into MoM after doing the labs and then will head down into the Scion life wheel. Gear/links/flasks are bad because it's levelling gear, I'll be sorting that out over the next few days.

Many thanks for the help all!

BotC and a +1 Tabula will give you the most bang for your buck. And looking at your char I would buy an empower 3 followed by whatever upgrades to your rings, ammy and helm you can afford.

^^^^^^
This.

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thadude251 wrote:

Has anyone tried to use this as a dedicated lab farmer? I want to try this out given I don't have the time nor feel like leveling a boring jugg... Should the build itself be ok to do this or should I make some changes?

It can work fairly well, though for a Lab Farmer there are better options. My Bleed Slayer guide is super solid for it thanks to the 20% culling which pretty much deletes last phase before it becomes dangerous. Then again, there are lab farming dedicated builds that would again, be better than that.

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Utopia_ wrote:

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kevinbrightblade wrote:

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Utopia_ wrote:

Hey All

I'm just wondering as to what the first 'big' purchase of this build should be? I've just hit level 69 for Allelopathy and I'm just about to go grab normal/cruel/merc labs (Aether, Swift Killer + Weave Arcane) and then I'll do act 10 Kitava.

I've got a Tab and Allelopathy already - should have general mapping gear from other chara's to cap resists (standard ftw). I'm currently running two Heartbreakers but may look at swapping one out - might look look into some sort of combo of Rathpith's Globe, Atziri's Step and Atziri's Mirror depending upon resists.

My main question is - I've got about 120C to spend. Where should I be going from here? Grab a BoTC? Or should I focus on saving up and getting a 6l Death's Oath (softcore standard)? Or maybe a Cloak of Def? Of grab 3 deliriums and hope for the best on a high base lvl dagger after grabbing a couple of more levels?

If anybody wants to check out my chara/tree, the character is 'ProjectPTDiedForThis'. I've picked up dual curse as I'm running a Witchfire - probably going to spec into MoM after doing the labs and then will head down into the Scion life wheel. Gear/links/flasks are bad because it's levelling gear, I'll be sorting that out over the next few days.

Many thanks for the help all!

BotC and a +1 Tabula will give you the most bang for your buck. And looking at your char I would buy an empower 3 followed by whatever upgrades to your rings, ammy and helm you can afford.

Cheers Kev - I've got 3 or 4 tabulas kicking about which I guess I can sell to bring in some extra currency so I should be able to afford all of that presuming I can shift the stuff! Been running Pierce as QoL but I guess my Inc AoE on Contagion has levelled up enough now where hopefully the lack of area covered shouldn't be a problem. Out of interest, does Inc AoE on contagion just affect the original area of casting, or does it also affect the area of the 'spread' once ED has done it's damage (I hope that makes sense).

Also - if we can get the resists...envy crafted rings/ammy?

Hey,

It also increases the spread for each target that dies with contagion on (it's the same AoE as the original cast!)

I've never liked using Pierce for this build, even back in the days when Projectile nodes scaled the dmg! We are using the new Allelopathy gloves which help tons vs "Nearby Allies Cannot Die" modded rares and/or Vaal Totems, in which cases the Pierce QoL was used before. So instead of having 2 solutions to 1 possible problem I'd rather use 1 solution and augment the dmg of my main ability instead :)

Envy crafted jewelleries are top tier ofc but make sure your eHP & resistances are sorted!

What if we didn´t take the Dreamer Mana node and spend the 5 Points on Righteous Decree and Dynamo instead ? We would lose Mana Regen but overall would get more Mana and other stats overall.
THoughts ?

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Ghazzy wrote:

@ooFunky:
Thank you for helping out, you're starting to sound like @Garyas in here! <3
I appreciate it :)

Glad to be of any help :) also it helps me understanding the build better and seeing things I can improve on my items, tree and what not.

I got a helm with a built-in lvl 18 inc AoE support and other stats that are decent. Being that I have Contagion in my helm, I can effectively make it a 5L with minimal rework. I was thinking of putting in added chaos, but that only supports skills that hit and Contagion does not. So what would be a good option? Looks like swift affliction or efficacy? (it probably doesn't matter much, as Cont seems to mainly be a vehicle for spreading ED damage, but maybe something useful could be dropped in)

Thanks a ton for this guide, btw. I injured my wrist shortly after xmas and having a build that I can comfortably not have to hammer buttons to play has been very welcome.

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Ghazzy wrote:

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dnates2014 wrote:

Really just can't do t14 vaults with sextants :( hard to survive lol. I suck at the game haha

Since I'm late to the party this round I just checked your gear and it doesn't look like you should have any problems running that, perhaps you changed something since you posted this. Would you mind confirming that things are fine now or do you still need help?

Well, I still have problems with the vault boss. I often times get 1 shot out of the blue..

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

What if we didn´t take the Dreamer Mana node and spend the 5 Points on Righteous Decree and Dynamo instead ? We would lose Mana Regen but overall would get more Mana and other stats overall.
THoughts ?

according to pob getting dreamer and the 3 wioth starter nodes would be more mana than dynamo and rigteous decree atleast if youre going for the soket/frenzy charge on the shadow side

Hey,i like this build so much but i have problem with survivability sometimes i die in a tier 12-14 maps
Maybe its beacuse i dont have alot of hp, i have 4900 hp and 1200 es.
Another question is how to spend my currency i have something like 300chaos.

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Hey,i like this build so much but i have problem with survivability sometimes i die in a tier 12-14 maps
Maybe its beacuse i dont have alot of hp, i have 4900 hp and 1200 es.
Another question is how to spend my currency i have something like 300chaos.

Low life on boots, rings and amulet.

Could get a rare shield with more spell damage, flat life, mana, resists. There even are shaper/elder rare ones (I guess that mod comes from that..) with block chance applied to spells.

Do you have enough mana to get the full effect from MoM (or too much :D)? The calculator for this is in the guide on page 1. It really helps with survivability.

For your currency: Essence Drain level 21, Empower level 4, helmet with Essence Drain uber lab enchant.

You only have two jewel slots in your tree? You should ditch the Grand Spectrums (while trying to sustain enough mana for MoM) and get at least two Spreading Rots while using Allelopathy. With more jewel slots than two you could also put in some nice +%life +damage ones (or abyss jewels with flat life +damage).

What some do for more unreserved mana is not using Clarity at all. It frees a bit of mana and does not have such a crucial effect in the later game imho. Just try a few runs without it to see if you feel the difference.

Last thing I noticed is the mana flask. Why? :D You could use a Rumy there ore a Overflowing Chalize

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ooFunky wrote:

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Hey,i like this build so much but i have problem with survivability sometimes i die in a tier 12-14 maps
Maybe its beacuse i dont have alot of hp, i have 4900 hp and 1200 es.
Another question is how to spend my currency i have something like 300chaos.

Low life on boots, rings and amulet.

Could get a rare shield with more spell damage, flat life, mana, resists. There even are shaper/elder rare ones (I guess that mod comes from that..) with block chance applied to spells.

Do you have enough mana to get the full effect from MoM (or too much :D)? The calculator for this is in the guide on page 1. It really helps with survivability.

For your currency: Essence Drain level 21, Empower level 4, helmet with Essence Drain uber lab enchant.

You only have two jewel slots in your tree? You should ditch the Grand Spectrums (while trying to sustain enough mana for MoM) and get at least two Spreading Rots while using Allelopathy. With more jewel slots than two you could also put in some nice +%life +damage ones (or abyss jewels with flat life +damage).

What some do for more unreserved mana is not using Clarity at all. It frees a bit of mana and does not have such a crucial effect in the later game imho. Just try a few runs without it to see if you feel the difference.

Last thing I noticed is the mana flask. Why? :D You could use a Rumy there ore a Overflowing Chalize

First of all I want to thank you for the fast answer
I dont really understand the thing with the MoM,i have the calculation and still dont get it.
I will change the flask to Rumy flask
For the low life on the boots i already bought Atziri Step just need to get the right colors on it
About the rings and amulet idont really know how to improve them(i would like to get a link of what i need to search on poe.trade if you can)
About the Essence drain lvl 21 no one sell that one,Shold i try to do one alone?

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smeagol01 wrote:

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NoDiscoSisqoOrCalypso wrote:

What if we didn´t take the Dreamer Mana node and spend the 5 Points on Righteous Decree and Dynamo instead ? We would lose Mana Regen but overall would get more Mana and other stats overall.
THoughts ?

according to pob getting dreamer and the 3 wioth starter nodes would be more mana than dynamo and rigteous decree atleast if youre going for the soket/frenzy charge on the shadow side

Why do you mention the 3 witch starter nodes ? I´ll take them as well but they weren´t part of my comparison. It´s 5 skillpoints to get from the Jewel Slot near the Melding wheel to the Dreamer Node.
It´s also 5 skillpoints to get to righteous decree and dynamo. Compare that and leave the witch starter points out of it ;)