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

Inc AoE dmg only provides dmg towards Contagion which is horrible in terms of dmg, so no anything regarding area is wasted unless it proves to be "area node vs intelligence node".

If you have more currency to invest you get a +1 corrupted Tabula instead. If you want to spend more you get a lvl 4 Empower, if you want to get more you get maxed out super pieces on every other slot.

Personally I'm not a big fan of Cospri's Will as it serves the same issues the other options provide;
* 6L it
* Not getting +1 gem

However, Lioneye's Vision would be better than both Carcass & Cospri as it indirectly provides another support gem. This is the only chest piece I would consider to use over a Tabula but you have to 6L it first, and preferably vaal it for +1 gem lvl. But it would still be the most optimal chest in a 6L with correct colors. Which is expensive as fuck.
It also provides not just armour but also life, making it better in terms of defensive stats as well.

Love the build. Unfortunately I rip'd from Hardcore Proph to an effing delayed corpse explosion Strongbox(sad times), but I love it so much ima just mess around on Standard until the next league probably.



I switched a few things...went further south into the ranger tree for the large projectile dmg node there, and got a few more ES nodes instead of life.



I'm at 4.8k Life, 2k ES, and my non-buffed/frenzy charge DPS is sitting at 11.6k. It gets up around 15-16k with full charges and pretty much decimates LARGE packs of mobs with lightning fast speed. There is nothing more satisfying than casting 1 ED/Contagion and whirling blading through a map as it chains through almost 50% of it.



Oh and I forgot to add the fact that being able to do literally ANY map mod is amazing. Phys/Ele Reflect, Enfeeble, Temp Chains, Vuln...all of them at once with Nemesis/Beyond on it...so nice.





--- Question Ghaz.....could you make a tree that would be like full glass cannon mode for this build?

Opted to switch to this build, shortly after hitting lvl35, I was using a reaver build and got quite bored. I unfortunately have a ways to go with respecing, but in the end I believe it will be quite worth it. So far I'm really liking this build. Looking forward to pushing through to end game with it!

How is good ed/contagion as leveling skills? I mean how is it fast?

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Wicirelllis wrote:

How is good ed/contagion as leveling skills? I mean how is it fast?

It's quite fast if you own a Tabula (especially if +1), a 20q contagion, elreon jewelry and the hidden potential unique jewel.

Ah, i miss something.

Want to make ed pathfinder in 2 day flashback. So no tabula (till merc, will farm aqueduct), no 20q, no elreon jewellery.

Also maybe there is any other way to level? I see this possible ways:
Until 12 lvl dual-wield cleave/caustic arrow/spark/freezing pulse + fire trap + flame totem.
After 12 level - continue cleave/bow and lightning arrow/blade vortex/firestorm) + fire trap / flame totem (optional).

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Wicirelllis wrote:

Ah, i miss something.

Want to make ed pathfinder in 2 day flashback. So no tabula (till merc, will farm aqueduct), no 20q, no elreon jewellery.

Also maybe there is any other way to level? I see this possible ways:
Until 12 lvl dual-wield cleave/caustic arrow/spark/freezing pulse + fire trap + flame totem.
After 12 level - continue cleave/bow and lightning arrow/blade vortex/firestorm) + fire trap / flame totem (optional).

Yes, it's an option.

The ED / Contagion combo shines if the following conditions are true:

- ED dot component is good
- Contagion radius is good

The first one is achieved through 5-6 linking ED and correctly routing in the passive tree while mantaining a decent and balanced gear (offense plus defense). The second one depends entirely on two main factors: full quality on Contagion and the availability of the Incrased AoE support gem (i.e. lvl 38).

sorry, probably asked before, but what are the gems best to 20% quality?
I'm pretty sure Contagion is #1 choice, but i was looking for additional gem choices as well.

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Tenembre wrote:

sorry, probably asked before, but what are the gems best to 20% quality?
I'm pretty sure Contagion is #1 choice, but i was looking for additional gem choices as well.

Whirling blades and the linked Faster Attacks are pretty important (faster Whirling Blades = more clear speed). The same goes for Faster Casting (linked to Contagion). I'd prioritize these 3.

Quality on Wither is good too.

For more damage, obviously, having full quality on all ED supports helps quite a bit.

Ahh on the support gems for ED, what are the ones that will give the best bang for the buck?