[3.19] The Orbital Striker Occultist - Hexblast Chaos Ignites leaguestarter to endgame

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Darkxellmc wrote:

I like on hit because it makes sure we always detonate despair, to have the longer ignites always active.

Yeah true I didn't think of this, nice catch.
Are you planning to take a look at the new cluster hex passives when they come out and see if anything is worth it?

Edit: Does Despair removal means we need to reapply it again right after to have ignite benefit? Or it doesn't matter at all because only the initial hit causing the ignite / initial ignite snapshot matters?

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kwstas778 wrote:

Edit: Does Despair removal means we need to reapply it again right after to have ignite benefit? Or it doesn't matter at all because only the initial hit causing the ignite / initial ignite snapshot matters?

You need to reapply it to benefit from the -% chaos res and the increased damage taken, the flat damage (obviously) snapshots.
Doing so with doomsday was incredibly annoying, now it should be a bit more lenient.

New Cursed Ground Support seems to be perfect then. Making the build even less clunky.

Dark, what you think is the best curse config now?
Which one on blasphemy? Which one is on hit and on aura?

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pkirill wrote:

Dark, what you think is the best curse config now?
Which one on blasphemy? Which one is on hit and on aura?

Despair aura / Temp chains on hit (or nothing while on a budget) / Enfeeble self cast

is imo the go-to setup when using impresence, the amulet is a good option early on.

Later, I really like running enfeeble blasphemy and I don't feel like I need damage for trash (with despair). Despair on hit is a bit clunky (impending doom procs after hexblast's hit, just in case), so I prefer going for temp chains on hit + despair self cast.

HOWEVER. With the removal of doom entirely in 3.20, that means there might be no reason to self cast. Removing a curse from curse on hit will proc the more damage modifier, so having enfeeble blasphemy + despair/temp chains on hit might be a good option. Unless hexblast removes the curse, and I think it will.
The damage boost now also works on blasphemy curses, since hexblast just requires the enemy to be hexed.

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Anyways. This build recieved HUMMONGOUS nerfs. Here's a list:

Despair
- Despair no longer causes enemies to take 25% increased DoT Damage
- Despair no longer adds 46 to 76 Chaos Damage to Hits against Enemies
- Despair Quality no longer causes Enemies to take 0-10% increased Damage from DoTs. Instead, it now provides 0-10% increased Effect of Curse.
(Note: These nerfs to despair about break even on pinnacle bosses with the removal of the legacy 66% less curse effectiveness on them. On everything else, it's a massive nerf, especially map bosses.)
Tree
- Occultist no longer has malediction (10% reduced damage from enemies, and 10% increased damage taken by enemies)
- 15% reduced curse effect on the ascendancy (taking it on tree won't be worth it)
Hexblast
- Hexblast cast time up from 0.6s to 1s (this is a 39% less cast speed nerf, it's going to be very noticeable)
- Hexblast mana cost increased by 50%.
- Doom scaling down from 120% more damage @40 doom to 60% more damage when the enemy is hexed. (60% more damage on trash, 28% less on singletarget)
- Hexblast base damage lowered to 1262 to 1893 at gem level 20 (previously 1397 to 2096, 10% less base damage)
- Hexblast added damage effectiveness lowered from 310% to 280% (10% less added damage)

Overall I think the cast speed nerf is going to feel awful, and the damage nerf means around 42% less damage than before. But it's fine guys, here's a quote from the balance team, so don't panic:

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Broadly speaking, it [hexblast] does less damage at the very top end of gameplay but getting it to a fairly decent level of damage is easier than before.

I am most likely not updating this guide for 3.20. It was already a niche subpar thing to play the investment, but was fun with nice gear progression. With half the damage and being forced to stand still for 1 second to clear a pack of white mobe, I tink I'll pass.

Holy crap that was completely uncalled for. I really can't understand the thought process here. Make us happy to remove pinnacle less curse effect and then completely dumpster Despair. The cast speed nerf. Like, why?

Man I have no build to play now wtf. With Despair nerfs every chaos dot build is nerfed by extension.

Dark, I loved your build in archnemesis and really wanted to check it out in the upcoming league. I saw your breakdown of the skill and your disappointment about what they did. I checked into the patchnotes and they read as follows:

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Hexblast cast 1s, 30 mana, 111 to 166 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 102 to 153), scaling up to 1514 to 2271 at gem level 20 (previously 1397 to 2096), has "100% more Damage with Hits if Enemy is Hexed", "40% more Damage with Ailments if Enemy is Hexed" with 340% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 310%).

And Impending doom in the patch notes reads:

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...deals 102 to 154 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 54 to 81), up to 1654 to 2481 at gem level 20 (previously 868 to 1301) with 370% effectiveness.

Does this change your opinion at all or is the build still dumpstered?

Hi, not sure where to ask this question so trying here. I dont know much about hexblast/impending doom so might be stupid question.

But could you run coc cyclone hexblast with blasphemy + impending doom for mapping and then for bosses swap blasphemy for new cursed ground. Put up 3 curses as ground effect and have hexblast keep removing and applying so everytime trigger impending doom 3 times?

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bayushiara wrote:

Dark, I loved your build in archnemesis and really wanted to check it out in the upcoming league. I saw your breakdown of the skill and your disappointment about what they did. I checked into the patchnotes and they read as follows:

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Hexblast cast 1s, 30 mana, 111 to 166 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 102 to 153), scaling up to 1514 to 2271 at gem level 20 (previously 1397 to 2096), has "100% more Damage with Hits if Enemy is Hexed", "40% more Damage with Ailments if Enemy is Hexed" with 340% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 310%).

And Impending doom in the patch notes reads:

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...deals 102 to 154 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 54 to 81), up to 1654 to 2481 at gem level 20 (previously 868 to 1301) with 370% effectiveness.

Does this change your opinion at all or is the build still dumpstered?

Mate it's dead. I customized the pob lua files to reflect the updated note. It's still 34% less damage than before. The main thing is Despair. It got gutted completely.
Also we have 40% less cast speed and 50% more mana cost. It does significantly less damage and is way clunkier. GGG ruined it, it's insane.

They changed some things around with Hexblast after last nights announcement

New:

Hexblast no longer has any Doom related stats. It now has a cast time of 1 second (previously 0.6), and a Mana cost of 16 at gem level 1 (previously 10), scaling up to 30 at gem level 20 (previously 20). It now deals 111 to 166 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 102 to 153), scaling up to 1514 to 2271 at gem level 20 (previously 1397 to 2096). It now has "100% more Damage with Hits if Enemy is Hexed", "40% more Damage with Ailments if Enemy is Hexed", "This Spell's Cast Time is added to its Cooldown if Triggered", and "Removes a Hex after Damaging." It also now has 340% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 310%).

However the cast speed reduction looks pretty bad still.