[3.7 Legion] MF Essence Drain/Contagion Monolith Farming Trickster (SC/MF)

Intro:
So I never made a build guide before, but seeing how so many people only consider MF Windripper as a viable MF build, I felt I had to show that it is not.

Please note that this build is made for Low Tier Monolith farming (Particular Glacier spam), and is not very good for high tier maps.

My reasoning behind creating this build, was that I felt my MF Windripper was too bad for Monoliths pre-HH. I simply felt I couldn't clear a whole Monolith very efficiently, so I turned my ED League starter into a speedy MF boi and started running Glacier, with great success.

Short video showcase:
https://youtu.be/c1E8gjnqsnE



I would advice you to level this as any regular ED/Con build, and then transition into the speedy boi later on. Ghazzy made a great guide on leveling as ED/Con Trickster, which you can find here: Ghazzys Amazing Guide For Leveling as an ED/Con Trickster

Pros:
- Very fast Monolith clear. You've probably seen regular ED/Con builds pop a Monolith, and this is no different.
- "Cheap" compared to MF Windripper.
- A Speedy boi - We utilize Queen of the Forest, just as a Windripper build, along with other Movement Speed increasing items and skills.
- Safe gameplay. Since it is mainly focused around Monolith farming, farming T2 allows us to skip some defenses and mainly focus on clear and speed.
- Can do all map mods, Alch & Go means that anything you find after the first alch is pure profit. No need to reroll mods.
- Those annoying Proximity Shields are not so annoying anymore.
- Feels clunky with a HH (Yes, I consider that a pro, since you won't miss it)

Cons:
- Feels objectively bad as a map clearer compared to a Windripper.
- Lacking damage in higher tier maps.
- Missing 15% quant from Windripper.
- Your PC will hate you every time you pop a Monolith.

PoB:
Spoiler
https://pastebin.com/akzs5Yh1


Passive Tree:


Gear:
Spoiler



Also, don't pay attention to the gems in the items. I'm using the gear for other things, so the gems linked in the items are changing. Refer to the gem section instead.

And for our Watchers Eye, we use a "X% Increased Movement Speed while affected by Grace"
(I don't know how to link from passive tree)

Gear Section for if I mess something up with the links
Spoiler

Weapon 1: Breath of the Council
Weapon 2: Zeel's Amplifier
Helmet: Devoto's Devotion
Body Armour: Queen of the Forest
Gloves: Sadima's Touch
Boots: Goldwyrm
Amulet: Rare with Quant
Ring 1: Ventor's Gamble
Ring 2: Ventor's Gamble
Belt: Bisco's Leash



Flasks:
Spoiler




Gem Links:
Spoiler

ED:
6 Link: Essence Drain - Void Manipulation - Controlled Destruction - Efficacy - Swift Affliciton - Empower(3+)

Con:
4 Link: Contagion - Increased Area of Effect - Intensify - Faster Casting

Blight:
4 Link: Vaal Blight - Efficacy - Swift Affliction - Controlled Destruction

Movement:
2 Link: Shield Charge - Faster Attack
1 Link: Flame Dash

Aura:
1 Link: Malevolence
1 Link: Grace

Defensive:
3 Link: Cast When Damage Taken(1) - Immortal Call(3) - Increased Duration

This leaves us with 2 empty sockets for whatever you want. Another Cwdt setup, Portal or just more spots for leveling those Enlightens and Empowers.


Bandits:
Spoiler
Kill... Eeeeverything.


Pantheon:
Spoiler

Major
Soul of Lunaris - Fully upgraded for Defensive Abilities, and also grants us Movement Speed
Minor
Soul of Garukhan - Fully upgraded for Movement Speed


Ascendancy Picks:


Gear Breakdown:
Spoiler
Weapon
Breath of the Council is a great cheap "starter" weapon, and is perfectly viable for what we use the build for. It has A lot of increased Chaos Damage, Chaos Skill Effect Duration and AoE, all of which we use to clear fast and efficiently.

Shield
Zeel's Amplifier is again, damage and AoE. We want as much AoE as we can get to really pop a full Monolith. Also comes with a bit of Life.

If you want to take this build to higher tier maps, you can swap weapon and shield for the following;
A Wand with +X% Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier, Chaos Damage/Increased Skill Effect Duration and Cast Speed
A Shield with Life, Resists and/or Spell damage


(This is more expensive, and should only be done if you don't want to farm low tier Glacier.)

Another option is the Sentari's Answer shield, which has up to 8% quantity. I personally don't recommend this option, simply because the build feels objectively worse due to the decreased damage and AoE you would otherwise get from Zeel's, making popping Monoliths feel bad, and since this build is all about farming Monoliths, I feel it's more important to make the build smooth, while also stacking Quant, compared to just stacking Quant. However, if you don't feel it to be an issue, you can try it out and see. Neither shield is very expensive, although an 8% sentari's is quite more expensive than a Zeel's.

Helmet
Devoto's Devotion is great due to Movement Speed, Attack Speed for faster Shield Charge and Evasion for our Queen of the Forest.

Body Armour
Queen of the Forest allows us to be a Speedy Boi, also comes with a bit of resists and Life.

Gloves
Sadima's Touch, simply because we're MF

Boots
Goldwyrm, again, MF

Amulet
Any Amulet with Quantity. You can craft one from an ilvl 85+ shaper base or buy a cheap Talisman with 10% Quant implicit.
The reason I multimodded a Shaper Base, was because it was early in the league and I couldn't find an Amulet with the stats I wanted.

Rings
Ventor's Gambles, simply get as much Quant as possible and whatever resists you can get. This item will most likely be the most expensive, and what you're going to upgrade most to balance resists.

A cheap alternative would be a Thief's Torment. I'd still recommend saving up for nice Ventors tho.

Belt
Bisco's Leash, more Quant and Rampage, which is great. Although it can sometimes mess with your ED/Con combo, I still think it's the best belt for low tier Monolith Farming.
Alternatively, you can get any rare with Life and Resists to balance what you're missing.

A Cheap alternative would be Perandus Blazon.

Flasks
Witchfire Brew is amazing for more Damage, and our sole source of Curse. Also gives 100% Increased Evasion Rating, which is great for our Queen of the Forest.
The other Flasks just have to be a Jade Flask for the 3000 Evasion, a Quicksilver for more Movement Speed, and whatever other Flask you feel you need. I use a Quarts Flask for more defense, and an Instant Life Flask for the "Oh Sh*t" moment (Although I don't think I ever used it..)


Passive Tree Breakdown:
Spoiler

Our tree is mostly centered around Evasion, Chaos Damage and Movement Speed, but there is a few Keystones we utilize.

Eldrich Battery
Since we have 100% mana reservation from Grace and Malevolence, we're using Eldrich Battery to be able to spend our Energy Shield for our Spell and Abilities instead. Without this node, you won't be able to cast many spells.

Acrobatics + Phase Acrobatics
Simply a more defensive solution. If you feel you don't need it, you can simply skip these and put your points somewhere else.

Other than that, the tree is pretty straightforward. We take our Chaos Damage increasing Notables, such as Corruption, Atrophy and Method to the Madness.
Other than that, it's mainly as much Evasion as we can fit, along with some Life (which we don't need much of for T2 Glacier) and Movement Speed. We just want to go fast.

For our Ascendancy Picks;
We chose Swift Killer for Frenzy Charge generation, and increased damage per frenzy charge.
Patient Reaper is mainly for the Life/ES gain on kill, but the increased damage is a great bonus.
Ghost Dance and Escape Artist is our defensive passives, as they give us damage reduction, chance to evade, stun immunity while we have ghost shroud stacks, some movement speed among other things. Just overall amazing defensive stats.


Leveling Tips:
Spoiler

Level as any regular ED/Con build, focus on defenses and damage, once you get to around lvl 85-90, you can switch to the MF version, as it requires quite a bit of passive points to feel smooth.

Gear I would recommend using for the leveling part is the standard:







And a great piece to pick up is a +2 Duration Gem Tabula

It's the most damage you can get for cheap.


Last words:
Again, this is my first build "Guide", I might have missed something, or haven't explained something well enough. If that's the case, feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to answer it.

Also, I still think MF Windripper is the better choice if you got a Headhunter. I've since switched to Windripper myself, after I farmed currency for a Headhunter using this build.

I don't claim to be the best at making builds, and it is possible that this build can be improved, but this is what worked for me. Feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments, and if they're reasonable, I'll add them to the guide :)
Last edited by Retarjoe on Jul 18, 2019, 10:26:51 AM
Last bumped on Feb 7, 2020, 6:43:16 PM
Reserved...

idk.. I see other people do this, so I do it too.
Reserved
Hey, thanks for the guide. I wanted to do this but unsure about tree and stuff. EB was a nice touch.

Have barely over 3k health but fine for glacier with acro and phase

"
BearFact wrote:
Hey, thanks for the guide. I wanted to do this but unsure about tree and stuff. EB was a nice touch.

Have barely over 3k health but fine for glacier with acro and phase



Yea, the build doesn't have much in terms of survive ability, as shown in the short clip provided, we don't get hit anyway ^^

But glad I could help.
Is it not better to use Sentari's Answer and have additional 10 quant?
"
Is it not better to use Sentari's Answer and have additional 10 quant?


Yes, if his AoE is enough to clear the whole Monolith without the Zeel's Amp.
"
Retarjoe wrote:
"
BearFact wrote:
Hey, thanks for the guide. I wanted to do this but unsure about tree and stuff. EB was a nice touch.

Have barely over 3k health but fine for glacier with acro and phase



Yea, the build doesn't have much in terms of survive ability, as shown in the short clip provided, we don't get hit anyway ^^

But glad I could help.



The only thing I regret is the bisco's leash. It really messes with using ed/contagion. Too lazy to fix my resist for the other quant belt.
"
Is it not better to use Sentari's Answer and have additional 10 quant?


It's "only" 8 quant, but you can do that for sure :)

What makes Zeel's a better option, in my opinion, is that this build already lacks damage, so getting the 50% spell damage from Zeel's is amazing, and the AoE makes popping monoliths feel much smoother :)
Last edited by Retarjoe on Jul 10, 2019, 9:08:21 PM
Hey buddy, do you think i can farm burials easily with it ?

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