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

All Conquerors on A8
Sirius
Shaper
Elder
Uber Atziri
Simulacrum (wave 20 prior to 3.16)
T16 maps with any mods
Delve 300+
Heists, Rituals, Ultimatums, Expeditions, Scourges...

2021-04-17 - Updated POB for 3.14, Lifetap support in DO instead of Arcane Surge, Dread Banner no longer used (due to Flesh and Stone reservation increase)
2021-03-01 - Updated PoB with leveling tree
2021-02-14 - Updated gem/gear recommendations
2021-02-02 - Added Inertia jewel for tons of Str (right above Herbalism)
2021-01-10 - Added alternative gems setups, POB updated
2020-11-30 - Published Life based Version and retired CI

3.13 Atoll T16 - https://youtu.be/JK6pfFxb5MI
3.13 Delve Lich Boss - https://youtu.be/maS_ySeuDeo
3.13 Delve Vaal Architect - https://youtu.be/g-7AY_nrgV0

Dealing damage even if you are stunned or frozen
Life recovery on kill
All resists maxed including Chaos
Viridi's Veil with 2 magic rings - Hexproof, no extra damage from Crits, Damage from hits is unlucky

If you wish to tweak the build for either clear speed or bossing, these are the main sources of damage.

We have 3 sources of damage:
* Caustic Arrow - Chaos AoE DoT (initial hit damage is insignificant)
Additional CA "puddles" do not stack
Scales very well with Gem levels
* Death Aura - Chaos AoE Dot
* Profane Bloom explosions - Chaos AoE Hit

All of them directly scale with:
(Chaos) Damage
(Chaos) Damage over Time and Multiplier
Area of Effect Damage
Frenzy Charges
(Chaos) Damage Taken

Indirectly:
Effect of Non-curse Aura - for Death Aura, Malevolence and Aspect of Spider and
Effect of Curses - for Despair
+x Intelligence skill gems - for Despair and Malevolence
+x Chaos skill gems - for Despair and Caustic Arrow
+x Dexterity skill gems - for Caustic Arrow

Flat Added Damage - for Profane Bloom explosions
Damage with Bows/Bow skills - for Caustic Arrow

Area of effect also improves clear speed due to larger radius of Death Aura and Profane Bloom explosions.

Try to avoid:
Multiple damage as Fire/Cold/Lightning mods
No Regen

Without Viridi's Veil:
Crit mods
Player cursed with XXX (or get a flask with Curse immunity)

Best way to start gearing is to get an Inertia jewel, Hidden Potential jewel, Viridi's Veil, 2 Magic rings, Gloves, Belt and Quiver with Life and Res.
Aim to replace the Quiver and Gloves with Rare with DoT/Chaos DoT multi and Belt with Chaos damage (all Hunter influenced).
As a rule of thumb, 25% Increased damage from Hidden Potential is equivalent to ~9% DoT multi.

Armour:
Death's Oath - Required.

This gives us the Death Aura which is a Chaos DoT that damages all enemies around us.

6 Sockets. No links required. 2B,2G,2R or 3B,2G,1R
See skills section for more details.


Weapon:

Crafted bow with:
% Increased Chaos damage (Hunter)
+1 Socketed gems
+2 Support gems
% DoT multiplier
% Chaos DoT multiplier

There are cheaper options with only some of the options, but this one would be our endgame bow. Luckily its easy to craft when you can afford it.


Guide for bow crafting by Path of Matth:
Refer to the second variant for the best bow for our build
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9_Aw28qoW0


Quiver:
Life/Resist, Penetrating base recommended.
Penetration will help with when you have an enemy that blocks your target. Every pierce drops another puddle which increased aoe, but not damage.
Work towards a quiver with DoT multi/Chaos DoT Multi (Hunter).
Starting 3.14, quiver DoT multi no longer affects our Death Aura, but we still need it for boss damage.
Additional arrow is very welcome to increase the AoE of CA. It will not increase damage.

Crafting:
Roll Hunter quiver lvl82+ with Harvest "More Chaos mods". Can roll Max Chaos res, Chaos res and Chaos DoT multi with attack skills.


Helmet:
Currently best in slot is:

Several good unique options depending on your budget:

First 2 have Chaos res which will help you with degen. Viridi and Vertex are the best option when using Enhance+Awakened Blasphemy+Enlighten.




Gloves:

Life, Resists and work towards Hunter with Chaos DoT multiplier. Best base - Apothecary's Gloves.

Boots:
Movement speed, resists, life
Look for "80% Chance to avoid beeing stunned if you killed recently" enchant

Amulet:

BIS - Impresence (Chaos) give more damage and free Despair.
Best Rare option would be a Hunter amulet With +1 Chaos Gems, +1 Dex Gems, Chaos DoT multi and Malevolence mana reservation.



Belt:
Life and resists.
Work towards a belt with Increased damage or Increased Chaos damage (Hunter)


Rings:
If using Viridi's - Magic rings (At least the left one). Try to find a useful Synthesized base or use Viridian/Iolite.
Crafting:
Use Fertile catalyst on White base (only 4 needed in this case), roll t1 life.
Craft resists if needed or Min Endurance charges.
Each endurance charge is 4% phys damage reduction and 4% all elemental res)




Jewels:


Prioritize life and resists until capped.

One of the jewels with "Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you" corruption
After that you can get Chaos DoT multi, Chaos damage, Area damage

Inertia right above Charisma will solve your Str needs.
Transcendent Mind gives us +18% DoT multi.
Watcher's Eye with DoT multi while affected by Malevolence

See the tree in POB for location. Those are not required, but recommended.


Cluster Jewels:
Large clusters, 8 passives:
Unwaveringly Evil + Wicked Pall + Unholy Grace OR Unwaveringly Evil + Unholy Grace + Dark Ideation (not used).
Medium clusters, 4-5 passives:
Unwaveringly Evil + Wicked Pall (or one of those + Flow of life for more life)

Forbidden Taste with "Used when you take a Savage hit" enchant
Instantly recovers all of our life and the Chaos degen we can ignore due to high Chaos resist.
You can use instant life flask, but since 3.16, Eternal is actually good.


Quicksilver is key for fast clearing. Inc. Duration and Inc. Movement speed recommended.


I recommend using Basalt and Granite to reduce Phys damage.

Get Bleed immunity on flasks. Curse immunity is also recommended if not using Viridi's Veil.

Glorious Vanity - Xibaqua:
Divine Flesh - 50% of elemental taken as Chaos and +5 max chaos res
With max Chaos res - this gives us a decent Elemental damage reduction

Skills gems and what level you can use them. Replace with Awakened versions when possible.

Bow 6L:
Caustic Arrow - Quality only affects area, so less important
Vicious Projectiles - Quality not relevant
Void Manipulation
Lifetap
Concentrated Effect
Swift Affliction



- Replace Lifetap with Empower when you have enough mana for a few shots.
- You can replace Concentrated effect with Efficacy for a slightly larger puddle, with some DPS loss, but I found it unnecessary.



Chest (no links required):
Void Manipulation
Efficacy
Lifetap
Concentrated Effect
Swift Affliction
Less Duration - Quality not relevant

- Lifetap is REQUIRED for enabling Swift affliction and Less duration
- Lifetap buff can be triggered elsewhere to receive the buff. Lkfe CA or movement skills.
- Replace Less Duration with Awakened Increased Area of Effect for more area with small dps loss
- With 3 red sockets you can use Arrogance support


Auras setup:
Defiance Banner
Purity of Elements
Malevolence

- Enlighten will have to be added to have enough mana for CA with Empower.

Curses:
Blasphemy
Despair
Enfeeble (or Temporal chains if you prefer)

Movement and Utility:
Anomalous Withering Step
Divergent Lifetap
Blink Arrow
Enhance

Enduring Cry - Extra heal and damage reduction.

- Divergent Lifetap gives longer duration of the buff
- Phantasmal Blink Arrow for additional CD usages. Blink arrow is the only movement skill that doesn't share CD with Withering step, which is why we use it.
- Anomalous Withering Step with Enhance lvl 4 and and +2 Viridi's will give us 13 Withered stacks instantly. I bind this to the movement button, so I don't need to think about it. After 2 more seconds, enemies reach 15 withered stacks due to our Withering Presence ascendancy.
15 withered stacks is 90% increased damage taken, which is a More multiplier.

- Wither Totem setup can be used while leveling, but is redundant with Anomalous Withering step

Other:
Aspect of the Spider
Slows enemies and increases our damage.
You can craft it on the Gloves/Boots/Quiver or Belt.
Do not use supports that can increase reservation on the same item!

Alternative - Aspect of Crab for 20% Phys damage reduction.

Since 3.16 the build is no longer Dodge based and requires some kind of stun avoidance
- Easiest way is to spec Soul of the Brine King, but there are better pantheons for us.
- Tolerance wheel on the tree - 80% stun avoidance with the mastery for 4 points
- Boots enchant "80% to avoid being stunned if you killed recently" - recommended option

Major:
- Arakaali for Chaos damage, until you get capped
- Brine King for Stun until you have stun avoidance on tree or boots enchant
- Lunaris for clearing
- Solaris for bossing

Minor:
- Shakari - for reduced Chaos damage taken until you get capped
- Ryslatha - for Life flask sustain

Kill all for 2 skill points.

1. Void Beacon - -20% enemy Chaos resist
2. Withering presence - 15% More Chaos damage, +60% Chaos resist and Wither nearby enemies
3. Profane Bloom - Curse Hexproof enemies and Explode on death
4. Malediction - Increased effect of Curses and Malediction (make them deal less and take more damage), additional Curse

Why Occultist?
Explosions, 60% Chaos res, Hexproof monsters.

Why Life and not CI?
Because we can heal using a flask and it's easier to scale than ES. Since we use Death's Oath we don't get ES from body armor and since we use a bow, we can't get a shield with high ES. There is also one quiver with ES (Soul Strike), and it doesn't help our damage.

Why not TR?
Because you loose mobility, TR scaling is slightly different, it has ramp-up time and it uses more mana.
And because it's a CA build.

Blink Arrow sucks!
Yes, it does. But it's the only movement skill that doesn't share CD with Withering Step, which gives us tons of damage.
While leveling I use Smoke Mine + Flame Dash.

You can opt for Flame Dash, remove WS from movement button and cast it manually when needed, allowing FD to recover.

Do I need to max chaos res?
Not really, unless you use Divine Flesh.
35% is enough for max DoT resistance with upgraded Arakaali pantheon.

Can it do XYZ content?
Maybe. Depends on your investment and skill.
The build should be capable of doing any league content GGG throws at us, but may struggle with the highest end content.

I only have 50% chance to hit!
You don't need ANY accuracy. CA doesn't hit, it drops Caustic Ground which deals damage over time.

Can I use X item or Y skill or Z notable?
Do it and tell us about it. Maybe it's better or maybe you will learn a lesson on how things work. You benefit either way.

Start Ranger and get Caustic Arrow after killing Hillock
Stash the Bow, CA and Pierce support

Start a Witch, kill Hillock and take the bow you stashed.

First passive points will go into reaching Alacrity (+30 dex), you need it for Caustic Arrow

When you get to Prison - Get Void Manipulation from quest
After killing Brutus, add Efficacy.

Get Wither+Spell totem for more boss damage

Act 2 get Skitterbots
Act 3 Swift Affliction, Malevolence and Despair from quests. From Siosa - Flesh and Stone, Vicious Projectiles.

Use Flame Dash while leveling. Withering step is for endgame only.
Use Clarity and/or Vitality during leveling

Get a Paua Amulet early to help with mana regen

Get Hidden Potential as soon as possible and run with as many magic items as possible.

Get Inertia jewel towards the end of campaign (lvl 62), when you can finally equip Death's Oath. You will need second ascendancy (+60% chaos res) for DO.

"

xXx_Kamikaze_xXx escreveu:

Seems nice, I actually started my project of a CI DO Occultist a week ago. Why? cause Occultist is an underused Ascendancy unless you play temp chain stacking or vortex.
After 2 days playing and testing with DO only, I tried to add a second 6-link for some better single target, mostly only needed on end game bosses. I went also with a Bow+ES Quiver and a Caustic Arrow setup for bosses.
So far I did all Content with it.

My Gear so far is pretty ok I would say, still need to find some ways to improve the build even more.

https://pastebin.com/Ue9ukPuB

before switching to a bow setup I used

a bit juiced T16 Summit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcJJs-y7Rg0

Sirus A8 kill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlwDUj6ezfw