Arc Occultist - extremely fun & smooth character with amazing damage & clear - 3.18 ready!

Hello fellow exiles! :)

I am excited to show and share my favorite build! This is purely my creation and I've had a blast leveling it, clearing the new atlas, min/maxing it and ultimately absolutely DESTROYING endgame content!
I wanted to make a self-cast Arc character that would be fun, strong, had good survivability and was chill/ez to play. Honestly, my expectations have been far exceeded as this turned out to be an amazing build. I managed to kill all bosses in the game DEATHLESS, even Maven (thx to the very high damage and good defensive layers, as well as my mechanical knowledge of the fights, positioning, etc.).
Arc synergy with Profane Bloom is absolutely amazing, you will be exploding whole screens and killing mobs off-screen.
I will try not make a huge opening post as I will be here to answer any questions you might have and to help if you decide to give this character a try.

Some basic stats of the build:
OFFENSE:
- 16M endgame boss damage (over 1M tooltip)
- 10 power charges + 1 permanent frenzy charge
- 100% crit strike chance
- 530% crit multiplier
- 5.92 casts per second
- AURAS: Wrath, Zealotry, Herald of Thunder

DEFENSE:
- over 6k ES
- 4.5k ES recharge per second
- over 30k armour
- 22% chance to block attacks
- 28% chance to block spells
- stun + shock + freeze immunity
- ignite + CB + bleed immunity via flasks
- AURAS: Determination, Tempest Shield, Discipline, Flesh & Stone (sand stance ofc), Defiance Banner + Clarity (lvl11) for utility

Leveling:
- use Freezing Pulse in Act 1
- go for Arc end of Act 1, get +1 chain Mastery ASAP
- prioritize resistances, cast speed, life/es gear
- Bandits: we help Alira for crit multi, mana regen and resistances
- Ascendancies: Forbidden Power, Malediction, Profane Bloom, Vile Bastion (in that order)
- Panthen: Soul of The Brine King (freeze immunity + less chill efect) + Soul of Shakari (to deal with poison)
- transfer to Low Life around lvl 85, depending on your gear, purchase power

PoB: https://pastebin.com/GadZF36G
character on poe.ninja: https://rb.gy/kxp4l0
character profile: https://rb.gy/eommus



BUILD PRICE DISCLAIMER!
You DO NOT need exact gear I have in PoB, you do not need alt quality gems, +1 Shavronne's, nor do you need 10 power charges....., I have killed everything before min/maxing so you can have the build under 30ex
I invested a lot, can't say exact amount but around 250ex but as I said you do not need to min/max as I did to enjoy the build!
oh, btw NO Mageblood here ;) but if you're rich and want it, you can incorporate it easily

Hi, always wanted to try self cast Arc. Is there anything mandatory that will make the build start off well? Items or alt skill gems that progression wise should be acquired first? Thanks!

Defenses look very lackluster...

6k ES with just the bare minimum of block and immunity from flask + shield is not enough of what I would call reliable defenses.

Hey, thanks for the build. Is there any chance you have a video of this build ?

"

Maximus87 wrote:

Hi, always wanted to try self cast Arc. Is there anything mandatory that will make the build start off well? Items or alt skill gems that progression wise should be acquired first? Thanks!

Sorry for the late response.

Nothing is mandatory to progress with Arc, what is really good QOL is +1 chain mastery which you can get early but no specific items are required. If you have other questions I'll be happy to answer

"

Vennto wrote:

Defenses look very lackluster...

6k ES with just the bare minimum of block and immunity from flask + shield is not enough of what I would call reliable defenses.

It is definitely not a HC build, defenses work even though they seem lackluster, ofc you do not want to stand in one place for long for sure. Occasional oneshot can happen but it is rare. I managed to kill Uber Elder, Shaper, Sirus and Maven deathless with this character, yeah, some hits hurt but it is definitely manageable.

"

Observer85 wrote:

Hey, thanks for the build. Is there any chance you have a video of this build ?

No videos as I never record my gameplay. I can show you ingame if you are interested. PM me for that

Hello ! Your build looks really exciting and I'm trying it to potentially league start with it next league. I never really played witch and I'm having a hard time figuring out what nodes to take before switching to low life. Could you please share a leveling tree or maybe a general pathing idea ?

Thanks a lot !!

"

Raphacid wrote:

Hello ! Your build looks really exciting and I'm trying it to potentially league start with it next league. I never really played witch and I'm having a hard time figuring out what nodes to take before switching to low life. Could you please share a leveling tree or maybe a general pathing idea ?

Thanks a lot !!

Hey there, happy to hear you are trying the build out, it will not disappoint :)


I'll make a starter tree and post it soon


Feel free to add me on Discord if you want so I can help with the build, my Discord is: HEXA#3709

Here is the lvl 50 tree on PoE Planner: https://poeplanner.com/b/Z9q

as you can see we go for life nodes and es/life hybrid gear until around lvl 85 when you will have to respec the life nodes and go for the ES ones

here is a lvl 85 tree: https://poeplanner.com/b/Z9s


feel free to ask further questions :)