[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Chaos Builds (3.20.2)

Updated:

24 Apr 2023

5 – Death’s Oath Caustic Arrow

This lovely old build continues to be a treat to play, especially if you can afford a Headhunter and just zoom around without a care in the world. It got significantly buffed this league, as Caustic Arrow got its new Vaal Version, which has a baseline 3 times as high as regular CA!

What DO Caustic Arrow Excels in:

Fantastic Clearing, you clear as you walk
Good single target with investment
Can do most content
Perfect for League Starting

Pick DO Caustic Arrow if you Like:

Builds that essentially play by themselves
Play the same build right from level 1
Purple and massive BoomBooms

Death’s Oath Caustic Arrow full details:

Death’s Oath is an Aura that degens you for 450 Chaos damage per 3 seconds after killing an Enemy. While this seems like a lot, when you’re an Occultist and have easy access to a lot of Chaos res, at 75% Chaos Res, that 450 Chaos Damage becomes a measly 133 (ish) Damage, which can easily be out-sustained. That’s not even considering if you have a Sanctified Relic that grants Max Chaos Res!
The new Vaal Caustic Arrow has a damage ceiling that easily tops all other DoT base gems in the game, overtaking Fire Trap for the first time in over 4 leagues! It also has 2 charges, so you can have near-permanent upkeep of it during bossing, and it’s a delightful build to play.
This type of build promotes investment and a lot of movement speed, and there’s no better movement speed belt than Headhunter. You could use a Bisco’s Leash or a Mageblood if you have it. Otherwise, a regular, strong Stygian Vise will serve you well.

For more information, check: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Clavinova89/DoktorSchniepelmatz?time-machine=week-3&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DOccultist%26skill%3DVaal-Caustic-Arrow%26sort%3Ddps

4 – Cast on Crit Forbidden Rite

While it has fallen out of favour a bit, since Sentinel league, with the nerfs to % Global Defense and other, stronger meta-skills popping up, FR is still one of the most powerfull skills, mechanically, in the game, and it is, personally, the strongest build I’ve ever played.

What Cast on Crit Forbidden Rite Excels in:

Immortal build.
Can do any content, even Uber Bosses with Height of Hubris and insane Mods.
Perfect Simulacrum Farmer can play while watching a show or a movie without needing to focus.
More than respectable damage and clearing.

Pick FR CoC if you Like:

Having a build that can do everything and anything without gear swaps.
Able to play a build without more than a button press, gliding across the screen cycloning.
Face tanking pretty much everything without a care in the world.

Cast on Crit Forbidden Rite full details:

It’s a build that can do any content, any of the Uber Bosses (which I’ve farmed Uber Maven now so much that I’ve gotten 2 Woke Enlightens!), 100% Delirious Maps, The Feared, Sanctum, you name it.
Forbidden Rite gets its damage scaling off 5% of our Energy Shield (we’re CI), so the more ES we have, the more damage we deal. This means you’ll want to be as tankier as possible because you’ll be dealing the most damage potential.
As such, things like Global Defense Fractured Chests are the way to go, as you can scale your FR’s level insanely high with Faceted Fossils and get a ton of ES from your Grasping Mail.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/jmsplat/Waiter?i=0&search=class%3DOccultist%26skill%3DForbidden-Rite%26sort%3Ddps

3 – Poison Spark Occultist

With the introduction of Nimis, and the resurgence of poison builds, combined with the vastness ‘overpoweredness’ of Occultist, it makes sense Poison Spark would also return to the meta. And all you need is an Ashes, a Nimis and a Mageblood (I’m kidding, you don’t need a MB, wink-wink).

What Poison Spark Excels in:

Fantastic Clearing
Great at Sanctum, can hit behind walls.
Insane amounts of damage.
One of the best Maven Invitations Farmer because of the arena.
Quite tanky.

Pick Poison Spark if you Like:

Instantly exploding everything in sight
Dealing millions of damage without a worry in the world
Purple Explosions with Profane Bloom

Poison Spark full details:

Nimis makes it so all projectiles you fire go off in random directions at the benefit of them returning to you at the end of their flight. This means your sparks will hit the enemies very often because whenever they bounce, they reset their enemy count, and once again, when they return to you.
And you need Ashes of the Stars to increase your Phantasmal Spark’s quality to over 50%, meaning you get to convert 100% of your lightning damage into chaos, enabling the total damage of your spell as a poison application.
You also use the borderline broken Incandescent Heart interaction with CI, making it so you take 25% reduced elemental damage for free. And not only that, but you also gain 20% of your Elemental (Lightning) damage as Chaos, for even more poison damage.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/poepenguin/sanctPenguin?time-machine=week-3&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DOccultist%26skill%3DSpark%26item%3DNimis%2CIncandescent-Heart%26sort%3Ddps

2 – Strength Stacking Chaos Venom Gyre

An insanely strong build that, through some incredibly synergistic items, can reach millions of damage while being entirely comfortable to play and quite tanky, despite being a Berserker and not wearing a Mageblood.

What Strength Stacking Chaos Venom Gyre Excels in:

Ridiculously tanky
More damage than you need to do all content
Insane clear speed
Fun to min-max

Pick Strength Stacking Chaos Venom Gyre if you Like:

Attribute Stacking builds
Shouting all the time with Warcries
Infinite Berserk uptime
Blowup your screen without a worry

Strength Stacking Chaos Venom Gyre full details:

One of the core tenets of any strength stacker nowadays is the Iron Fortress, which, combined with Battlemage’s Cry and Iron Will, makes it so your strength bonus, which only increases melee damage, becomes general attack damage, but not only 2% per 10 but now 4,5%. This is a massive damage boost for Str stackers, who usually get anything from 1800 to 2500 Str.
You’ll want both elevated Accuracy Rating Equal to Strength, and Nearby Enemies have -9% Chaos res, as that gives a bucket load of crit chance for free and increases damage taken. Then, getting as much Strength and life as possible.
Your boots are what make the build a build. It’s where we get all our flat damage from. Replica Alberon’s Warpath grants 1 to 80 Chaos Damage per 80 Strength. Though it has a massive variance of roles, it’s still insanely strong and the bulk of our damage. So always aim to have enough Strength to roll over one of the multiples of 80 for optimal damage.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/T_Speed/OuroKroniiLoveI?time-machine=week-3&i=4&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DBerserker%26skill%3DVenom-Gyre%26sort%3Ddps

1 – Chaos Strength Stacking Power Siphon/Kinetic Blast

If you’re Jeff Bezos, this is the sort of build, you can sink your teeth in and spend as much as you want, and it will scale infinitely with investment, reaching over 200 million DPS.

What Chaos Strength Stacking PS/KB Excels in:

Ludicrous amounts of damage
Fantastic Clearing
Amazing single target
Tanky and essentially immortal, as nothing can kill you since it’s already dead.

Pick Chaos Strength Stacking PS/KB if you Like:

Min-maxing to your heart’s content.
Attribute Stacking builds
Destroying whole screens of mobs within the blink of an eye
Have Ubers Per Second amount of damage!

Chaos Strength Stacking PS/KB full details:

As with all Chaos Strength Stacking builds, they revolve around Battlemage’s Cry, The Iron Fortress, Iron Will, and of course, Replica Alberon’s Warpath, for its insane amount of Added Flat Chaos, Increased % Attack Damage, and all the other benefits from stacking Strength.
You want the strongest ring possible, and if you can afford it, a Kalandra’s Touch to mirror your ring, so you don’t have to craft two!
It’s the sort of build where the Mageblood isn’t even the most challenging piece to acquire, so it’s perfect for whoever wants a long-term project and a massive currency sink, as it will gobble up your Divines like no one’s business.
We use two attack setups, one for Clearing, Kinetic Blast, and a powerful pseudo-8 link pair of Gloves, with Power Siphon in there, for our single target.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/X_MrMiracle_X/DivineStrengthStacker?time-machine=week-3&i=1&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DBerserker%26skill%3DPower-Siphon%26sort%3Ddps