[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Occultist Builds That Wreck Hard!

Updated:

13 Feb 2023

[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Occultist Builds That Wreck Hard!

Occultist, one of the three Witch’s Ascendancy, gained a lot of popularity in Scourge League (3.16) both due to Profane Bloom, which is a fantastic tool to deal with the hordes of demons you’re confronted with, and because GGG revamped the whole defense system in this patch.

As such, here are some of the better Occultist Builds in 3.16!

5 – The Coldslinger

Vortex and Frostbolts

This build revolves around the Spellslinger archetype as well as cold DoT skills, namely Vortex and Creeping Frost, covering all your maps in icy fields.

What the Coldslinger Excels in:

Fantastic League Starter;
Able to clear all content with proper investment;
Stress-free gameplay;
Extremely tanky.

The Coldslinger full details:

As a League Starter, you make your way into Chaos Inoculation (CI), focusing mostly on just Energy Shield and ES regeneration. As you get more currency, you switch into a tankier, armor hybrid build.
You can get upwards of 6.000 ES and over 12.000 Armor, with 64/66 Block chance with Glancing Blows as well as Divine Shield, Aegis Aurora, Wicked Ward, and some ES leech on top of all that.
If you want to go even higher on damage, you can achieve upwards of 3 million damage in the Low Life variant, using a Shavronne’s Wrappings. The LL also has the tankier version at the cost of damage, reaching about 2.3mil damage and keeping most of the tankyness.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2797749

4 – L1uke’s Bane/ED LL

Bane

This all-around build makes use of the heavy focus of Curses and Energy Shield in the Occultist passive tree to achieve maximum damage potential with both Chaos spells.

What L1uke’s Bane ED LL Excels in:

Budget-Friendly to start with;
Can scale to upwards of 6 million single target damage with proper investment;
Great Clear;
Can do most Map mods.

L1uke’s Bane ED LL full details:

The endgame goal is to get yourself a Cane of Kulemak with +3 to Support Gem Level, Chaos Damage, and Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier, as well as a few Empowers.
Your Body armor should have +1 Curses unless you go for Shavronne’s, and in which case, you’ll have to drop a curse.
Your ideal scenario is Punishment, Temporal Chains, and Despair, two of those being linked to Bane in your chest, and the Essence Drain on the staff, for maximum level. A good idea is to get +2 amulets to further boost your ED and Bane levels.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3195874

3 – Caustic Arrow/Death’s Oath Life Occultist

Celestial Caustic Arrow MTX

In a similar vein to the previous build, this one also focuses heavily on Chaos damage over time, but the difference is that we use a Death’s Oath body armor that enables the Death Aura, dealing massive chaos damage around us!

What the Caustic Arrow/DO Excels In:

Cheap to start with;
No need 6 link body armor;
Map clearing is a breeze;
Extremely Tanky.

Caustic Arrow/Death’s Oath Life Occultist full details:

You’ll need a +3 Bow (+2 works too, but +3 makes your Empower way stronger) with Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier as well as General DoT Multiplier. The hardest part of this build is coloring Death’s Oath, but in 3.16, with Tainted Chromatic Orbs, that process is much easier;
This build makes use of Viridi’s Veil, making you immune to critical damage as well as becoming Hexproof. The armor changes in 3.16 make it so all that armor from a whopping 2,2k chest piece, combined with Viridi’s Veil own armor, and a big life pool, as well as new masteries in the tree, make for an extremely tanky build;
The clearing is extremely easy as anything that comes near you dies and with Profane Bloom, you’ll clear packs instantly in chaos explosion chain reactions!

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2990048

2 – Shockwave Cyclone

Cyclone against the Guardian of the Chimera

I’ve written about this build before, but that was pre-3.16 and now it’s only getting stronger! While this build can be very expensive to start, you can incrementally improve your gear bit by bit, and every new puzzle key amplifies both your tankiness and your damage!

What the Shockwave Cyclone Excels in:

Extremely Tanky with over 9k health;
Boasts over 5 million damage;
Fantastic clearing with huge shock-waves and chaos explosions from Profane Bloom;
Respectable Single target.

Shockwave Cyclone full details:

The build works by making synergistic trades in damage and some key unique items. The Iron Fortress body armor makes it so every 10 points of strength, you gain 3% Melee Physical damage instead of 2%. Now, with Iron Will on the Passive tree in 3.16, you convert the 3000 Strength (which translates to 900% increased damage with Iron Fortress) you will then transform those 900% increased damage into spell damage, and with Crow of Eyes, you transform those 900 into 1350% general attack damage.
This boosts the damage of Shockwave and Cyclone, but the strength also gives you a lot of flat chaos damage with the Replica Alberon’s Warpath, and by using Replica Frostbreath, any attack you do when the enemy is chilled is doubled.
The Iron Fortress makes it so you’re automatically Attack Block Capped as well as providing a substantial amount of armor, increasing your tankyness even further.

For more information, click here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3184171

1 – HunterKee’s Poisonous Concoction

Poisonous Concoction against Sirus

This build uses the fresh-out-of-the-oven skill Poisonous Concoction unbalanced and overlapping area damage to deal massive poison damage!

What HunterKee’s Poisonous Concoction Excels In:

Quick ZoomZoom mapper;
Cheap to start with;
Tanky;
Great League Starter.

HunterKee’s Poisonous Concoction full details:

With Ghost Dance now on the Passive tree, we get a somewhat free survivability tool at the cost of having to build some ES on your gear.
You are 100% Spell suppressed, Fully Ailment Immune, permanent phasing and onslaught while mapping and can scale life flask recharge (the source of the damage) extremely high.
With GMP, you can overlap your explosions and shotgun the damage, while consuming your life flask charges of over 4,300 life.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3187344