- High Dmg Essence Drain Contagion Poe 3.7 2
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- High Dmg Essence Drain Contagion Poe 3.7 Review
- High Dmg Essence Drain Contagion Poe 3.7 Series
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Updated for Patch 3.9
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Estimated budget: medium
| Guide notes |
| December 20, 2019 -Updated for Patch 3.9 |
Essence Drain is one of the most popular skills in Path of Exile, and the best Chaos/Damage over Time Spell overall. When used right after Contagion it melts entire screens of monsters regardless of the current Map Tier. Since your primary DPS comes from Passives and Active Gems, this build is perfect as a League Starter and with end-game equipment, you can reach level 30 on your Essence Drain Gem, which has simply absurd DPS.
On the other hand, this build utilizes Trickster Ascendancy Class for maximum DPS and mobility. This build is optimized for maximum clear speed with the use of Queen of the Forest, which also allows us to scale Evasion Rating up to nearly 50,000, which equals over 70% effective Evade Chance and up to 75% bonus Movement Speed from the Body Armour.
You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right here: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List
1. Gameplay
Essence Drain fires a single projectile which deals insane DoT to the first enemy Hit. While on its own it seems very unreliable, if you cast Contagion first, it will spread to enemies beyond your base Line of Sight and melt everything. For that purpose, we try to maximize Contagion's Area of Effect by linking it with Increased Area Support and Unleash
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2. Build's PROS & CONS
| PROS |
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| CONS |
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3. Leveling tips
Essence Drain is a perfect leveling Skill. It clears entire areas within seconds, and your only concern will be staying alive and increasing your Cast and Movement Speed to progress faster. Below you will find the base Skill Setups and several useful uniques that will help you level up faster. You can also follow the final Skill Tree without the necessity to refund any Passives, saving you a bunch of Orb of Regrets.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
| Essence Drain setup | |
| Essence Drain - your primary DPS Spell which deals insane Damage over Time and is spread by using Contagion first | |
| Void Manipulation Support - increases Chaos Damage dealt with Supported Skills | |
| Controlled Destruction Support - grants very high Spell Damage at the cost of reduced Critical Hit Chance. While Spell Damage applies to Essence Drain's DoT, the downside is negligible since DoT can't Crit anyway | |
| Contagion setup | |
| Contagion - Contagion makes up for this build's insane clear speed by spreading your Essence Drain debuff to enemies in the radius | |
| Increased Area of Effect Support | |
| Faster Casting Support | |
| Utility Gems | |
| Flame Dash - used for mobility on lower levels. Can be linked with low-level Arcane Surge for extra Spell Damage/Mana Regen. before you get Eldritch Battery later on | |
| Malevolence - most important Aura in this build which increases your Damage over Time and Skill Effect Duration | |
| Despair - recommended Curse for this build which increases the Damage over Time cursed enemies receive | |
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Bandits:
We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points
Leveling Skill Trees:
35 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Trickery 2) Fangs of the Viper 3) Growth and Decay 4) Written in Blood
59 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Atrophy 2) Arcanist's Dominion 3) Cruel Preparation 4) Corruption
Recommended leveling items:
| Lifesprig - amazing leveling Wand which grants increased Spell Damage, Cast Speed and Life Regen. which is extremely useful on lower levels | |
| (8-12)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Spell Gems (20-28)% increased Spell Damage (5-8)% increased Cast Speed +(15-20) to maximum Life +(15-20) to maximum Mana Regenerate (6-8) Life over 1 second when you Cast a Spell | |
| Wanderlust - amazing leveling Boots which grant high bonus Movement Speed and Freeze Immunity | |
| +5 to Dexterity (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen | |
| Goldrim - one of the best leveling Helmets which covers up your needs for Elemental Resistances | |
| +(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden) | |
| Praxis - a great leveling Ring which makes you forget Mana-related issues during leveling | |
| +(20-25) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana (3-6) Mana Regenerated per second -(8-4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit | |
4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon
Final Skill Tree:
117 Points Final Skill Tree
117 Points Path of Building (PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
- Patient Reaper
- Ghost Dance
- Escape Artist
- Swift Killer
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of Solaris 6% Physical Damage Reduction if there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits
Minor God: Soul of Garukhan +5% chance to Evade Attacks if you've taken a Savage Hit recently
5. Final Gems links
| [DPS] Essence Drain setup (in the recommended +3 Bow) | |
| Essence Drain - your main DPS Spell. In this setup, it can reach up to level 30 which is the maximum possible and has simply insane DoT DPS | |
| Void Manipulation Support- increases Essence Drain's Chaos Damage | |
| Efficacy Support - increases both Spell Damage and Damage over Time, both of which apply to Essence Drain | |
| Empower Support - a must-have in this build. Its level is further increased by the Bow Craft, and you can increase the Essence Drain's level by up to 7 that way | |
| Controlled Destruction Support - greatly increases supported skills' Spell Damage. Since Damage over Time cannot Crit. there is no downside from using this Support Gem | |
| Swift Affliction Support - increases your Damage over Time | |
| [DPS] Bane/Despair setup | |
| Bane - Bane is used to apply your Curse and deal moderate extra Damage over Time | |
| Despair - recommended Curse for this build which increases Damage over Time and reduces affected enemies' Chaos Resistance | |
| Efficacy Support | |
| Void Manipulation Support | |
| Controlled Destruction Support | |
| Swift Affliction Support | |
| [UTILITY] Wither Spell Totem setup | |
| Spell Totem Support - summons a Totem which will cast Wither at your enemies for its' powerful debuff | |
| Wither - applies Withering stacks which increase Chaos Damage taken by affected enemies | |
| Faster Casting Support | |
| Multiple Totems Support - doubles the number of Totems summoned with each cast, and lets you summon up to 3 Spell Totems | |
| [UTILITY] Contagion setup | |
| Contagion - AoE Spell which deals a small amount of Chaos DoT and spreads your Essence Drain effects across the area. It's your initiator which has to be followed up by Essence Drain to melt all the enemies on your screen | |
| Increased Area of Effect Support - increases Contagions Area of Effect | |
| Faster Casting Support | |
| Intensify Support - again used to increase the radius of Contagion | |
| [AURAS] Malevolence (in Devouring Diadem) | |
| Malevolence - Aura which increases your Damage over Time and Skill Effect Duration | |
| Zealotry - grants more Spell Damage | |
| Grace - Aura which increases your Damage over Time and Skill Effect Duration | |
| Enlighten Support - (optional) you can skip Enlighten if you have Charisma Passive, or you can skip Charisma if you have a level 4 Enlighten Gem | |
| [MOBILITY] Dash | |
| Dash - I personally recommend Dash for mobility, however, it's mainly used to quickly avoid big AoE Hits as you will most likely move faster than any available Movement Skill | |
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5. Gear Setup
Below you will find the recommended gear for this build. These are the end-game items based on an at least +3 Crafted Bow, though this build has more budget-friendly variations based on a either Wand and a Shield or a Staff. If you would like to have them included please leave a comment below.
We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit our Path of Exile marketplace. You can find all types of PoE Orbs offered for sale there.
The recommended items from our list will:
High Dmg Essence Drain Contagion Poe 3.7 2
- Cap your resistances
- Give you enough Energy Shield and DPS to start mapping
Stat priorities on items:
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| (Helmet) The Devouring Diadem - grants Eldritch Battery which saves you three Passive Points. Also increases the level of Gems and reduces Mana Reservation allowing us to use three different Auras. For the Veiled Mod, it's best to pick Elemental + Chaos Resistance for the Veiled modifier | |
| +1 to Level of Socketed Gems Socketed Gems have 20% reduced Mana Reservation Trigger Level 15 Feast of Flesh every 5 seconds (180-220)% increased Energy Shield 10% chance for Energy Shield Recharge to start when you use a Skill Eldritch Battery <One Veiled Mod> | |
| Helmet enchantment: 40% increased Essence Drain Damage 12% increased Contagion Area of Effect | |
| (Weapon Slot) Crafted +3 Bow -a crafted +3 Bow | |
| Min. requirements: +1 to level of Socketed Gems +2 to level of Socketed Support Gems +30% non-ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Cast Speed/Chance to gain Arcane Surge on Kill Chaos Damage +1 to level of Socketed Strength or Intelligence Gems (Fossil Crafted) | |
| (Quiver) Rare Quiver - used to stack as much Life and Elemental Resistances as possible. A Shaper quiver with a chance to gain Onslaught on Kill will be also nice | |
| Min. requirements: 90 maximum Life 110% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chance to gain Onslaught on Kill (Shaper Mod) Increased Area of Effect (Elder Mod) | |
| (Body Armour) Queen of the Forest - has very high base Evasion Rating, decent Life and Resistances, and on top of it, grants up to 75% bonus Movement Speed | |
| (200-240)% increased Evasion Rating +(60-70) to maximum Life +(6-10)% to Fire Resistance +(26-40)% to Cold Resistance +(11-25)% to Lightning Resistance 25% reduced Movement Speed 1% increased Movement Speed per 600 Evasion Rating, up to 75% -(50-40) Physical Damage taken when Hit by Animals | |
| (Boots) Rare Boots - preferably pair with some extra Evasion | |
| Min. requirements: 75 maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed 35% Fire Resistance 25% Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Evasion Rating Dexterity | |
| Boot enchantment: 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently | |
| (Belt) Rare Belt - again, we try to grab one with the highest defensive stats | |
| Min. requirements: 40 Strength 80 maximum Life 25% Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances increased Damage | |
| (Amulet) Rare Amulet - an Elder Amulet with non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time multiplier will be the best in the slot. Some extra Attributes and Resistances will also come in handy | |
| Min. requirements: 55 maximum Life 30 Strength +10% non-ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Cast Speed Spell Damage Elemental Resistances | |
| (Ring) Rare Ring - preferably an Elder Base Ring which will allow you to benefit from Mark of the Shaper's powerful bonuses | |
| Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 110% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance +#% Chance to Evade Attacks (Elder Mod) | |
| (Ring) Mark of the Shaper - grants up to 80% increased Spell Damage if your other Ring is and Elder item | |
| (15-25)% increased Elemental Damage 20% chance to Trigger Level 20 Summon Volatile Anomaly on Kill Adds (13-18) to (50-56) Lightning Damage to Spells (6-10)% increased maximum Energy Shield (6-10)% increased maximum Life (60-80)% increased Spell Damage if your other Ring is an Elder Item Cannot be Stunned by Spells if your other Ring is a Shaper Item | |
| (Gloves) Rare Gloves - once again you should look for an Elder pair with non-ailment Chaos Multiplier | |
| Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 12% non-ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Spell Damage | |
| (Jewels) Rare Jewels - this should provide extra Life and damage bonuses | |
| Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life non-ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: increased Chaos Damage/Spell Damage/Damage over Time | |
| (Jewels) Abyss Jewels - you can use one Abyssal Jewel if you are using a Stygian Vise, otherwise, Rare Jewels will provide more DPS | |
| Recommended affixes: maximum Life increased Cast Speed increased Damage if you have Killed Recently Optional affixes: Evasion Rating | |
| (Flask) Witchfire Brew - a mandatory Flask which greatly increases your Damage over Time and grants extra Evasion | |
| 100% increased Evasion Rating Creates a Smoke Cloud on Use 50% increased Charges used (25-40)% increased Damage Over Time during Flask Effect Grants Level 21 Despair Curse Aura during Flask Effect | |
Other suggested flasks:
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High Dmg Essence Drain Contagion Poe 3.7 1
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High Dmg Essence Drain Contagion Poe 3.7 Review
If you have any other build requests, please leave that in the comments below.
High Dmg Essence Drain Contagion Poe 3.7 Series
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