[3.16] Caustic Arrow/Death's Oath Occultist [Life based Chaos Autobomber]

Loving this build. Question, I've been pondering if one could add a weapon swap with a 1h and shield that one runs with while caustic arrow isn't necessary, do you think this is worth it at all? I noticed breath of the council can increase chaos damage by 100%, and some shields increase non-curse auras.

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Tetsu_Justicefall wrote:

Any suggestions on what i can improve next ( wanna think something with punishment , but dunno what to replace) ? Can you take a look on my character , please? And also surviveability , how can i improve it?
Thank you for your build , i am having so much fun and feel so free this league!

You are actually pretty well geared already.
I suggest next go for gloves with DoT multi, Quiver with DoT multi (for CA), Aspect of Spider (or Crab for more survivability). Perhaps switch to dual cluster setup. And by the way, it's a bit easier to balance resists in dual cluster since you have 2 more sockets, which can hold jewels wit 40+ resists.

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knfarpflem wrote:

Loving this build. Question, I've been pondering if one could add a weapon swap with a 1h and shield that one runs with while caustic arrow isn't necessary, do you think this is worth it at all? I noticed breath of the council can increase chaos damage by 100%, and some shields increase non-curse auras.

Not for DPS, unless you get 2 Wands or Rune Daggers with almost perfect DoT + Chaos DoT rolls or a Staff. Block is also reduced by 30% by Acrobatics.
So unless you go for something more innovative than I can think of, it's hard to beat the bow setup.

As for Punishment, it is an interesting idea, but I don't think I would sacrifice other auras for it.

On a side note, the new staff from Catarina looks pretty crazy if you can get Chaos damage + Chaos DoT, but that combo pretty expensive.

Thanks for the build. I'm having some trouble with T14+ maps. Feels like there is not much to improve my survivability, other than maybe aspect of the cat. Also my single target dps is not the best as I don't have the bis bow but I manage. How should I improve my build? https://pastebin.com/EXVHnkmc

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f4ward wrote:

On a side note, the new staff from Catarina looks pretty crazy if you can get Chaos damage + Chaos DoT, but that combo pretty expensive.
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Its tempting to try out blight with that staff if only because would give me access to leap slam for movement. I'm just not a fan of blank arrow, it feel so clunky to use and basically only for when I need to cross gaps.

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f4ward wrote:

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Jgizle wrote:

I think the damage is decent, and will be better as I manage to get enough money to craft, or buy more of the cluster jewels. However I find the survivability quite risky. Getting stunned sucks, and I am not sure how I would fit in some stun avoidance. Often the times that I am most likely to die, outside of bosses, is due to being stunned by a hit that freezes my character for a second. As for bossing, also very risky. Just fighting conquerers in T15 ish red maps is super rippy cause almost any hit is near a 1 shot.

Frankly I never felt stun is a thing on this build since we have so much avoidance and we have a bit of ES. Getting more life will help you with that.

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I have all my resists capped, including chaos resistance, and like 4k life, and just getting my character to where it is with 200k degen caustic arrow and 50k ish degen Deaths Oath is quite expensive overall for something I think a simple cyclone character can do better and cheaper. I wouldn't mind the damage is the build had some better survivability.

Importing your character to POB shows 500k CA and 160k DO sDPS.

I don't know how you play, but make sure to:
Use Withering step on CD
Use Enduring Cry on CD (also, link it with lvl 1 Lifetap (Divergent recommended), so it always triggers)

Also:
Get Anomalous Withering step and link it as explained in the guide with Enhance.
Replace Pierce with Swift Affliction.
You can also free some Chaos res, 40-50 is more that enough since we get 25 from pantheon. This will give you points to invest in more life.

Also, all of our major pantheon upgrades are pretty significant for survivability.

And the cluster jewels dont have to be expensive, there is a variety on how you combine the skills.
And speaking of clusters... You don't have ANY life recovery on kill.

Get 2 clusters with Brush with Death (even if it's the only thing on them), or get rid of the cluster completely and get Hired Killer on the tree, until you can get the proper clusters.

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With already like 10 Exalts in gearing, and requiring at least another 10+ exalts in cluster jewels I do not know how viable this is for red maps and onwards. I was really hoping the build would just be good for fast Ultimatum runs, by the damage of deaths aura is still too low to kill the mobs in under 2 seconds. Hopefully it gets better, I am not accustomed to spending so much already on a character that doesn't seem to do bossing or ultimatums well enough, IMO.

Spoiler

All of the things I described above are free or cost next to nothing and will improve you survivability and damage.

I will try these out. My chaos res is high because I simply allocated points into a wheel I will be removing when I get mediums with brush with death. I may get ones with only brushed with death for now since they are cheap compared to 2 notables. I have Withering Step on left click, so that is always going off, and I use enduring cry when I can, since it forces you to stop when you activate it. I didn't check my actual DPS on POB, those were the numbers listed in Game, but it is nice to know it is much higher than listed in game. I'll work on making some more changes and see how it goes.

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Elgoriath wrote:

Thanks for the build. I'm having some trouble with T14+ maps. Feels like there is not much to improve my survivability, other than maybe aspect of the cat. Also my single target dps is not the best as I don't have the bis bow but I manage. How should I improve my build? https://pastebin.com/EXVHnkmc

You could try replacing one of the Conc. Effect gems in the bow with Vicious Projectiles for ~60% more DPS ;)

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f4ward wrote:

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Elgoriath wrote:

Thanks for the build. I'm having some trouble with T14+ maps. Feels like there is not much to improve my survivability, other than maybe aspect of the cat. Also my single target dps is not the best as I don't have the bis bow but I manage. How should I improve my build? https://pastebin.com/EXVHnkmc

You could try replacing one of the Conc. Effect gems in the bow with Vicious Projectiles for ~60% more DPS ;)

Didn't even notice...

how can i improve my build: https://pastebin.com/e36tM8nP
im really lost here, i have like 4 exalted to invest what is the best way to improve my build? thanks

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guillesk8 wrote:

how can i improve my build: https://pastebin.com/e36tM8nP
im really lost here, i have like 4 exalted to invest what is the best way to improve my build? thanks

Too many deviations from the guide. Gem links, items, tree...
Sorry, but I'm not gonna list everything, don't even know where to start. There is a reason I put everything down the way I did, and it's mostly described in the guide. If you want to deviate - you should know why you do that.

thx for the build. best death aura build i've ever played so far. can do everything including 100% deli map. ( cant kill maven coz im ass ) other than dat its Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttttttt.