POE 2 ✧ Lahkesis Queen of Chaos ✧ "Essence Drain " Guide v0.05 so close (added some shorts)

By the way, haven't talked about Blink before, but it is great QOL improvement for the build as it is the closest thing we can get to phasing.

We, basically, one-shot any pack but it takes some time for dots to actually kill it. Most of the maps are narrow corridors and going around the pack is not an option. Ability to cast dots and blink through the pack to keep running is extremely useful, it speed-ups map cleaning a lot.

Unfortunately blink sometime bugs and in very disappointing way: you cast it, you are locked in cast animation and move slowly, your cd is consumed, but you do not blink.

Also it's a bit tricky to find spirit for it, but it can roll on body armor and amulet, also there is an amulet type with spirit implicit.

Even with this in mind I still believe it's well worth it.

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bonerkill#1301 wrote:

Hello all, I have updated my build guide here for Infernalist.

https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/profile/21a13227-9ec7-4c9d-861b-855520d1d045/builds/4b4775cf-5534-4ad2-be5b-9b5ee1b1a2e3

I am now doing map clear with Hexblast + poisons and using ED to give supplemental DPS on bosses or extremely dense activities like Breach and Ritual.

Ultimately this feels 10x more comfortable to play as you can do 80% of mapping with a single button, 15% with 2 buttons and the final 5% might require 3-4 buttons.

I have left the tabs up for the old style of just ED Contagion, but I highly recommend giving poison Hexblast a try.

Hey Boner, I just wanted to make a post saying thank you for posting the guide. I am running infernalist ED / Contagion and was running out of steam on maps from having to hit so many buttons on every single pack. I am going to try your hexblast / poison variant this morning. Thanks again.

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adavydow#2566 wrote:

By the way, haven't talked about Blink before, but it is great QOL improvement for the build as it is the closest thing we can get to phasing.

We, basically, one-shot any pack but it takes some time for dots to actually kill it. Most of the maps are narrow corridors and going around the pack is not an option. Ability to cast dots and blink through the pack to keep running is extremely useful, it speed-ups map cleaning a lot.

Unfortunately blink sometime bugs and in very disappointing way: you cast it, you are locked in cast animation and move slowly, your cd is consumed, but you do not blink.

Also it's a bit tricky to find spirit for it, but it can roll on body armor and amulet, also there is an amulet type with spirit implicit.

Even with this in mind I still believe it's well worth it.

This could be also achieved using Temporal Rift. As far as I know Apex of the Moment is currently bugged and not doing anything.

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This could be also achieved using Temporal Rift.

Can temporal rift be used to blink forward through the pack?
I thought that it will just return you to the previous posiotion, but I haven't tested it.

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As far as I know Apex of the Moment is currently bugged and not doing anything.

Just tested it (goodbye 35k gold), it definietly works, at least for the movement speed.

I'm currently stocking up on 75lvl baryas really want my 4th ascendacny point and want to have at least 10 to chain-attempt. Temporal Rift is what I planned to take as my 4th, but I think it has very different usecase to the blink.

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adavydow#2566 wrote:

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This could be also achieved using Temporal Rift.

Can temporal rift be used to blink forward through the pack?
I thought that it will just return you to the previous posiotion, but I haven't tested it.

"

As far as I know Apex of the Moment is currently bugged and not doing anything.

Just tested it (goodbye 35k gold), it definietly works, at least for the movement speed.

I'm currently stocking up on 75lvl baryas really want my 4th ascendacny point and want to have at least 10 to chain-attempt. Temporal Rift is what I planned to take as my 4th, but I think it has very different usecase to the blink.

Are you sure about Apex of the Moment? The amount of threads about that in Bug Reports is quite bug. I myself didn't notice any difference so I'm not specced into that.

Regarding blink, I prefer to go back to place where I was instead of forward.

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Regarding blink, I prefer to go back to place where I was instead of forward.

My usecase is not for safety reasons, but for speed clearing. I'm almost always blink forward through the packs, this pushed my map clearing from 3-4 to 5-6 per hour.

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Are you sure about Apex of the Moment? The amount of threads about that in Bug Reports is quite bug. I myself didn't notice any difference so I'm not specced into that.

99% sure. Just measured the time it takes for a dog in act 1 to reach me with/without point in it. Also, it's noticeable that monsters are slowing down at the same time as they are blinking with wither application (which has same distance as it is also "in your presence").

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ownr11#1535 wrote:

Mate im doing CI ed/contagion chrono right now too but its my 3d character on ED. Could you pls share your build? I really loved ES based builds in POE so im giving a try for it now too.

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slobdog#2920 wrote:

Drop a link to your build? I have 3 different characters all doing ED/Contagion so I'm interested to see how things play out.

Here is my tree and gems: https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/profile/7f9c2d3d-4ba4-4917-9739-308c659919cf/builds/1a9bd2a2-f18e-4c60-8637-063fff9a736e

The green nodes are nodes I originally planned to take but ended up dropping. Purple ones I am planning to take in the coming levels. Currently heading to dark entries, but planning to unspec those points once I have a good enough amulet to justify putting it on there (its expensive...).

I haven't done a major adjustment after dropping the green sections, so there may be some areas to optimize. For example, the points going to enhanced barrier in the top left could possibly be better distributed elsewhere, now that I decided to drop the eldritch will section of that area. Somewhere down the line I am also planning on slowly taking out stun threshold nodes to see how many points I can free up, as I think I am quite overdoing the stun protection right now.

Since it doesnt allow pasting in gear, I only put in where my gear has offensive contribution or spirit. I'm not using dark effigy yet, but that will be my next inclusion.

For the whole staff vs. wand/focus discussion, I just went wand/focus for the ES since I was going CI. I haven't looked too deeply into if there are some affixes only staves can get, but right now I don't see the advantage of going staff unless you really want a staff ability. The total gem levels you get is the same, and I'm guessing the other affixes add up to about the same as well. If you're not using ES then the focus won't really have an advantage either ofc.

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Oaken#2581 wrote:

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ownr11#1535 wrote:

Mate im doing CI ed/contagion chrono right now too but its my 3d character on ED. Could you pls share your build? I really loved ES based builds in POE so im giving a try for it now too.

"

slobdog#2920 wrote:

Drop a link to your build? I have 3 different characters all doing ED/Contagion so I'm interested to see how things play out.

For the whole staff vs. wand/focus discussion, I just went wand/focus for the ES since I was going CI. I haven't looked too deeply into if there are some affixes only staves can get, but right now I don't see the advantage of going staff unless you really want a staff ability. The total gem levels you get is the same, and I'm guessing the other affixes add up to about the same as well. If you're not using ES then the focus won't really have an advantage either ofc.

Yea for sure. If you're going ES 100% use a focus. Worst case your weapon swap can be a shield (if needed) or a staff if you find a big dick spell/chaos dmg staff.

Thanks for the link. I will compare to what I have.


Edit: I do reallllllllllllly like Sigil of Power

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Here is my tree and gems: https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/profile/7f9c2d3d-4ba4-4917-9739-308c659919cf/builds/1a9bd2a2-f18e-4c60-8637-063fff9a736e

If you can stack wither (and effigy max-stacks it almost instantly), Withered Away is the most powerfull cluster you can get (~13.33 multi, + level is less than 12 multi if your levels are high) and it is in very convinient position. Really recommend it.

Even if you are not stacking wither at all, the bottom is 7 multi, which is ok.

Im currently doing low tier maps and pushing forward. No I dont get armor and barely any strength except when needed for support gems. Trick is to stack ES for defense and mana regen. I use hexblast for trash and switch to chaos bolt for bosses to help a bit with single target and mana. Keeping despair uptime and totem and youll slowly wither the boss away safely.

EDIT: this is for bloodmage ED contagion. Im starting to notice that ED is more like a complementary skill and not really a focal point since there isnt a lot of DoT scaling currently. Everything is about hit so my effigy totem is my single target and my hexblast is my main trash clear.