The Occultist’s Curse build in POE2 is a powerful and versatile build that focuses on applying debilitating curses to enemies while dealing massive chaos and cold damage over time. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to create and optimize this build, including ascendancy choices, skill gems, gear recommendations, and playstyle tips.
1. Introduction to the Occultist’s Curse Build
The Occultist’s Curse build revolves around the Occultist ascendancy, which specializes in chaos damage, energy shield, and curse effectiveness. This build excels in both mapping and bossing by applying multiple curses to weaken enemies and dealing significant damage over time through skills like Bane and Essence Drain. The build is highly flexible, allowing players to focus on either chaos damage or cold damage over time, depending on their preferences .
2. Ascendancy Choices
The Occultist ascendancy offers unique nodes that synergize perfectly with curse-based builds. Here are the key nodes for this build:
| Ascendancy Node | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Profane Bloom | Cursed enemies have a chance to explode on death, dealing chaos damage to nearby enemies. | Enhances clear speed and area damage. |
| Void Beacon | Reduces nearby enemies’ chaos resistance and prevents life regeneration. | Boosts damage output and survivability. |
| Malediction | Allows you to apply an additional curse and increases curse effectiveness. | Enhances the build’s utility and damage potential. |
| Withering Presence | Applies Wither stacks to nearby enemies, increasing chaos damage taken. | Significantly boosts single-target damage. |
3. Skill Gems and Links
The Occultist’s Curse build relies on a combination of curse skills, damage-over-time (DoT) skills, and support gems to maximize damage and survivability.
Primary Skills
- Bane: Applies multiple curses and deals chaos damage over time.
- Essence Drain: Deals chaos damage over time and heals you based on the damage dealt.
- Blight: Channels chaos damage over time in an area, slowing enemies.
Support Gems
- Controlled Destruction: Increases spell damage at the cost of critical strike chance.
- Efficacy: Boosts damage over time and skill effect duration.
- Swift Affliction: Increases damage over time but reduces skill duration.
- Despair: Curse that reduces chaos resistance and increases damage taken.
- Temporal Chains: Curse that slows enemies and extends the duration of other effects.
Utility Skills
- Flame Dash: Provides mobility for repositioning.
- Discipline: Aura that increases energy shield for survivability.
- Vaal Blight: Temporary skill that deals massive chaos damage over time.
4. Occultist’s Curse build Gear Recommendations
Gear is crucial for maximizing the build’s damage and survivability. Below is a table of recommended gear:
| Gear Slot | Item | Modifiers to Look For |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Cane of Unravelling | +Chaos Damage, +Spell Damage, +Curse Effectiveness |
| Helmet | High Energy Shield Helmet | +Energy Shield, +Chaos Resistance |
| Body Armor | Shavronne’s Wrappings | +Energy Shield, Chaos Damage does not bypass Energy Shield |
| Gloves | Voidbringer | +Spell Damage, +Energy Shield, +Curse Effectiveness |
| Boots | Sin Trek | +Energy Shield, +Movement Speed, +Dexterity |
| Amulet | Presence of Chayula | +Energy Shield, +Chaos Resistance, Prevents Stun |
| Rings | Opal Rings | +Spell Damage, +Energy Shield, +Resistances |
5. Occultist’s Curse build Passive Skill Tree
The passive skill tree for this build focuses on:
- Chaos Damage: Boosts the damage of chaos-based skills.
- Energy Shield: Enhances survivability through energy shield stacking.
- Curse Effectiveness: Increases the potency of applied curses.
- Damage Over Time: Improves the damage and duration of DoT effects.
Key nodes include Whispers of Doom, Heart of Darkness, and Soul of Steel .
6. Playstyle and Tips
- Mapping: Use Bane to apply curses and clear packs of enemies quickly. Follow up with Essence Drain or Blight for additional damage.
- Bossing: Focus on Blight and Essence Drain for sustained damage. Use Vaal Blight for burst damage during critical moments.
- Positioning: Stay mobile with Flame Dash to avoid enemy attacks. Keep Discipline active for energy shield sustain.
- Sustain: Rely on energy shield regeneration and life leech from Essence Drain to stay alive during prolonged fights.
7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is the best weapon for this build? | Cane of Unravelling is ideal for boosting chaos damage and curse effectiveness. |
| How important is energy shield? | Energy shield is crucial for survivability, as it provides a buffer against incoming damage. |
| Can this build handle endgame content? | Yes, the Occultist’s Curse build excels in both mapping and bossing due to its high damage and survivability. |
| What are the best defensive layers? | Energy shield, curses like Temporal Chains, and Withering Presence are the core defensive layers of this build. |
This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the Occultist’s Curse build in Path of Exile 2 (POE2).
You can also check out more POE2 builds.