[3.7] SC/HC - ED/Blight Trickster - Up to 10k eHP, Layered Defense, 3m DPS

@Nedieth
Hi,

my six link gem setup is ED, CD, VM, RD, Pierce and slow proj. My question is if I should replace slow proj with empower lvl 3 or wait to get my hands on empower lvl 4?

Thank you.

@Ive0607: Wait for empower level 4. Empower level 3 should be slightly worse than pierce, and Empower level 4 is slightly worse than slower proj. in terms of single target DPS. Empower will still be the better choice if you want to increase your AoE DPS.

@Jouchebag: As occultist you deal with lower chaos resistances and enemies take 10% increased chaos damage. This alone makes it more powerful than the frenzy charges on trickster. For HC I would build the tree the same way, but for SC you can consider dropping Zealot's Oath and path the tree differently (check out Mathil's ED/cont from 2.4), due to Occultists being able to regen ES on kill without ZO.

You can still get frenzy charges with Blood Dance boots, which should be OK to use if you are CI. On my CI char this league I got to 14.6k ES, and was considering dual wielding due to my extreme ES. Then I got one shot, so those plans went out the window.

Decay is extremely strong, especially on lower gem levels and gear. Decay scales with everything we do, and has a higher based damage than a level 19 ED. This makes it a huge asset at lower levels. At ultra end game, poison becomes more interesting again due to double dipping.

@Unk_Particle: If you want to drop Swift Killer for something else, you would be better off rolling Occultist. The easily available frenzy charges is now the primary reason why we stick to Trickster. That is only my opinion however, and Weave the Arcane is still an extremely strong node that enables us to nuke more without a mana flask. 20% chance for the effect to kick in is a bit low in my opinion, making it unreliable.

@m0onknight: If you play ED on a budget, you will rely heavily on gem levels and passive tree points. This will make progress as bit slow when you get to high end maps, but that also applies to most other builds out there. Increasing the budget for the build pretty much only increases your defenses, which in turn lets you play more recklessly. I have done T15 maps on a 4L just to prove a point earlier, and this league I decided not to roll Low Life at all since I cleared everything just fine with my CI 5L.

@JokerC4: Crafting Delirium weapons is extremely expensive. I would consider getting an Opal Wand in addition to the dagger (if you can live without whirling blades), then focus your attention elsewhere with your money. Getting a 6L is a nice 19-20% dps boost for instance.

while leveling flame dash got me killed couple of times because that range. for example panicking in breach clicking too big distance and flame dash not going off. otherwise i wuold be using flame dash.

By holding shift when you press it, you force it to trigger. The movement can get a bit werid if you target it into a huge rock, but it pretty much always manages to put you in a nice spot.

Thank you very much.

I'm enjoying this build so far :)

ofc should have remember from d3, used alot wiht wizard. gonna try wiht wand. Thank you very much for the help and guide.

Would you guys recommend using the essence of decay on a bow + soul strike or a 1h mace + the consuming dark?

In terms of raw DPS, dual wielding > Bow + soulstrike > Consuming Dark + shield > Decay wand. This is assuming you are able to stand still and spam ED.

My personal favourite right now would have to be Consuming Dark + Breath of the Council. My recomendation is still decay wand and a shield. It is the best all-round setup. When you want to switch things up again you can invest in all the different kinds of weapons then. The bow is really nice, but you get locked to that setup as it reqs the ED link in the bow and other links in the body armour. Getting 4G or 3G1R in ES chests is hard enough without swapping around for different playstyles.

The bow version is still one of the strongest versions of the build, but you get stuck with it.

I need some help with my damage output. Right now I find I can get along okay, but kill speed is not that great imo. Are there any changes I can make that would result in a large damage increase ?





That is my current gear. I assume a different weapon could make a huge impact for me ?

you forgot your actual ED link, but based on the rest of the gear, I am guessing you are running a 5L. We don't really get much damage from gear, and it it only at extremely high budgets that we can start to fit spell damage rolls on shield and chaos damage on rings comfortably into the setup. Right now, you would probably notice a pretty nice increase in damage if you swap for a decay weapon. another thing you can consider is to grab the projectile damage nodes at the start of ranger at the expense of some energy shield elsewhere. I also dont know what flasks you run, but a nicely rolled witchfire brew + a sulphur flask is easily over 150% increased damage with witch flask nodes. Other than that we just have to accept that the damage output of ED is rather static, and some boss kills simply takes a few seconds.