Essence Drain
Occultist/Witch build

Updated for Patch 3.8

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: medium

Essence Drain is a projectile-based spell that deals very high Damage over Time. The damaging debuff can be spread further to nearby enemies by the Contagion Spell for an even better area of effect and greatly increased clear speed. There are a lot of variants of this build, which is also very powerful as Life/Hybrid build. Our suggested build revolves around Occultist Ascendancy class which grants terrific bonuses to Chaos Damage and Energy Shield, as well as allows you to use three different Curses, boosting both your DPS and defenses. The damage of Essence Drain has been greatly increased in Patch 3.6 making this build even more powerful. On top of increasing its' damage, the skill no longer applies it's debuff to the first enemy hit, but also to targets around it.

This build carries a lot of potentials as a League starter build. It will allow you to start Mapping with literally no unique item requirements, while most of the end game gear can be still fairly easy to obtain. It is suggested to level up and start mapping with ED Occultist as a hybrid Life/ES character. After you can afford Shavronne's Wrappings, you should switch it to the Low-Life variation. It will allow you to use additional Auras that by using Blood Magic Support Gem will reserve your Life instead.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right here: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

This build has quite unique gameplay mechanics. The Essence Drain is a projectile-based spell, which applies its' debuff to the first enemy hit and other enemies in a small radius around it. You can use your Contagion Spell, which will cause the DoT to spread in a wider area, greatly enhancing clear speed. This combination grants this build very solid AoE damage, which is triggered with only two Spell casts. Your damage can be further amplified by the use of Wither Spell Totem.

0:06 Tier 14 Crimson Temple 0:34 Tier 13 Colosseum 1:03 Tier 14 Palace 1:36 Tier 15 Shaped Belfry This video was recorded on a level 89 Occultist with Breath of the Council and Heretic's Veil equipped. It was recorded pre 3.8 - but the gameplay hasn't changed much since

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling this Essence Drain Occultist is not as smooth as other popular League starter classes. You should start off by using Freezing Pulse (or any other spell of choice - after all the early levels are easy with anything you decide to pick up) and swap it to Essence Drain as you get it at level 12. This is when you reach Merveil's Cavern. At this point, you will have to apply the Essence Drain debuff to enemies and finish them off with Freezing Pulse (or other spells that you feel comfortable with). Since this build requires more links in your main DPS setup than other builds, it is advised to invest in Tabula Rasa.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Essence Drain setup
	Essence Drain - your primary DPS Spell Gem
	Void Manipulation Support - increases the Chaos Damage dealt with supported skills
	Controlled Destruction Support - grants very high Spell Damage at the cost of reduced Crit. Chance

Contagion setup
	Contagion - this spell spreads your Essence Drain's DoT, as well as deals additional chaos damage
	Increased Area of Effect Support
	Faster Casting Support

Utility Gems
	Stone Golem - grants extra Life Regeneration
	Decoy Totem - another useful defensive Spell Gem. It will spawn a Totem which taunts nearby enemies
	Despair - recommended Curse for this build which increases the Damage over Time cursed enemies receive

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

31 Points Skill Tree 
Priorities: 1) Occultist's Dominion 2) Deep Wisdom 3) Growth and Decay 4) Entropy

63 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Written in Blood 2) Atrophy 3) Retribution 4) Sanctity 5) Method to the Madness

Level 70s Passive Skill Tree as you switch to Low-Life and Shavronne's Wrappings 

Recommended leveling items:

Lifesprig - amazing leveling Wand, may work fairly well for at least 40 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 - great leveling pair of boots. Grant movement speed, and the quite important for this build's defenses, energy shield
+5 to Dexterity (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

Goldrim - the best leveling helmet in Path of Exile. It might be expensive early in a new League, but as soon as you can afford one it's totally worth it
+(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)

Tabula Rasa - Essence Drain builds heavily rely on Support Gems to inflict proper damage. This is why Tabula Rasa is an extremely powerful item starting at level 31 (when a bunch of new Support Gems becomes available)
3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

115 Points Final Skill Tree 
115 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Profane Bloom
2. Malediction
3. Void Beacon
4. Vile Bastion

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Essence Drain setup
	Essence Drain - your main DPS spell. You have to apply it only to one enemy within Contagion's area of radius
	Void Manipulation Support - increases Chaos Damage to supported skills
	Efficacy Support - increases both Spell Damage and Damage over Time
	Swift Affliction Support - another Gem used to buff the ED's DoT
	Controlled Destruction Support - greatly increases supported skills' Spell Damage. Since Damage over Time cannot Crit. there is no downside from using this Support Gem
	Empower Support - increases the level of all active Gems in this setup. Try getting a level 3 or 4 Empower depending on your budget

[UTILITY] Flame Dash
	Flame Dash - a decent movement Spell that will grant you the Arcane Surge buff whenever you use it
	Arcane Surge Support - grants increased Spell Damage and Mana Regen. when you use Flame Dash. Keep this Gem at level 6

[UTILITY] Wither Spell Totem setup
	Spell Totem Support - this skill will let you summon a Totem that will cast the supported spells
	Wither - it will slow affected enemies, as well as increase the Chaos Damage they take
	Faster Casting Support
	Multiple Totems Support - this skill will let you summon two additional Totems which each Cast, allowing you to stack Withered at three times the regular speed

[UTILITY] Contagion setup
	Contagion - AoE spell that deals Chaos Damage, and spreads your Essence Drain DoT effect on all enemies in the radius
	Increased Area of Effect Support
	Faster Casting Support

[AURA] Malevolence and Zealotry
	Malevolence - the recommended (and the only) Aura that we are going to use in this build. It increases your Damage over Time and Skill Effect Duration
	Zealotry - grants increased Spell Damage bonus and creates Consecrated Ground which increases your Energy Shield Regeneration Rate further

[CURSE] Tri-Curse Bane setup
	Despair - this curse reduced Chaos Resistance of nearby enemies
	Enfeeble - the best defensive Curse in Path of Exile
	Temporal Chains - same as above, grants extra defenses
	Bane - Area Spell which deals decent Damage over Time and applies all three Curses

[AURAS] Blood Magic setup
	Blood Magic Support - will make your Auras reserve Life instead of Mana
	Discipline - grants additional Energy Shield. Discipline is an extremely important defensive Aura in this build
	Clarity - grants extra Mana Regeneration. Adjust Clarity's level depending on your Maximum Life

5. Gear Setup

In this section, both the budget-friendly and end-game items are included. We have also provided the required stats for each item.

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:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough Energy Shield and DPS to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - a good option for the leveling/early mapping phase. It will not allow you to use three Curses though

Min. requirements: 220 Energy Shield 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Intelligence Nearby enemies have -9% Chaos Resistance

Helmet enchantment: 40% increased Essence Drain Damage

(Weapon Slot) Rare Sai - crafted with Essence of Delirium, with an increased Spell and Chaos Damage, possibly increased Cast Speed as well. The essence of Delirium guarantees the following attribute on the crafted item: "Your Hits inflict Decay, dealing 500 Chaos Damage per second for 8 seconds"

Min. requirements: 50% increased Spell/Chaos Damage Optional affixes: increased Cast speed maximum Mana Elemental Resistances

(Weapon Slot) Breath of the Council - this unique mace is mighty for this build. It is rather expensive and rare though, and might not be easily obtainable early in new leagues

32% increased Elemental Damage (260-310)% increased Physical Damage (80-100)% increased Chaos Damage 10% increased Area of Effect 40% increased Chaos Skill Effect Duration

(Weapon Slot) Rathpith Globe - good and inexpensive ES/Spell Damage shield. You can always replace this item with a rare piece with possibly better stats (and higher price)

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) (40-60)% of Block Chance applied to Spells (40-60)% increased Spell Damage 10% increased maximum Life (120-160)% increased Energy Shield +25% to Lightning Resistance

(Body Armour) Shavronne's Wrappings - the best in slot item for this build (the low-life variant). It is rather expensive, but worth every bit of it. It allows you to use a few additional auras with Blood Magic Support Gem and makes you benefit from the Pain Attunement passive

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) (3-10)% increased Spell Damage (100-150)% increased Energy Shield 10% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge +(30-40)% to Lightning Resistance Reflects 1 to 250 Lightning Damage to Melee Attackers Chaos Damage does not bypass Energy Shield

(Boots) Rare Boots - get a pair with the highest maximum defensive stats you can afford

Min. requirements: 120 Energy Shield 25% increased Movement Speed 39% Fire Resistance 39% Cold Resistance Optional affixes: Intelligence

(Boots) Greedtrap - new Fated Unique item introduced in patch 3.2. It increases the Quantity of Items found, which greatly helps you accumulate wealth while farming low and mid-tier maps. They also provide very decent Energy Shield and Movement Speed bonuses. Using this pair of boots may require you to adjust Elemental Resistances on other parts of the gear

+7 to Strength +9 to Dexterity +10 to Intelligence +108 to maximum Energy Shield 12% increased Quantity of Items found when on Low Life 20% increased Movement Speed

Boot enchantment: Adds 120 to 180 Chaos Damage if you've taken a Critical Strike Recently

(Belt) Rare Belt - again, we try to grab one with the highest defensive stats

Min. requirements: 40 Strength 45 maximum Energy Shield 44% Lightning Resistance 32% Cold Resistance

(Amulet) Presence of Chayula - best in the slot amulet for this build

+(10-16) to all Attributes 30% increased Rarity of Items found +60% to Chaos Resistance Cannot be Stunned 20% of Maximum Life Converted to Energy Shield

(Amulet) Rare Amulet

Min. requirements: 30 maximum Energy Shield 12% increased maximum Energy Shield 15% All Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: maximum Mana maximum Life Attributes

(Ring) Rare Ring

Min. requirements: 25 maximum Energy Shield 40 maximum Mana 35 Dexterity 25% Fire Resistance 13% All Elemental Resistances  Optional affixes: Mana gained on Kill

(Ring) Rare Ring

Min. requirements: 45 maximum Energy Shield 40 maximum Mana 25% increased Mana Regeneration rate 25% Fire Resistance 10% All Elemental Resistances  Optional affixes: Attributes

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - you should alter the required Resistances to cap them with this pair of gloves

Min. requirements: 120 Energy Shield 40 maximum Mana 33% Fire resistance 33% Cold resistance Optional affixes: increased Spell Damage

(Jewels) Rare Jewels - this should provide extra ES and damage bonuses

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Energy Shield increased Chaos Damage/Spell Damage/Damage over Time Optional affixes: Attributes

(Jewels) Abyss Jewels - you should use at least one Abyss Jewel for the Hinder on Spell Hit effect

Recommended affixes: maximum Energy Shield Added Chaos Damage to Spells Added Chaos Damage to Spells while holding a Shield Chance to Hinder enemies on Hit with Spells  Optional affixes: Mana Regenerated per second

(Flask) Witchfire Brew - mandatory Flask for this build. It increases your Damage over Time by up to 40% during Flask effect. It also grants Despair Curse Aura on use which means you could skip this Gem in your curses' setup and have higher unreserved Mana pool

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

(Flask) Kiara's Determination - provides the Onslaught buff and immunity to 4 different status ailments for the duration

Onslaught Immune to Freeze, Chill, Curses and Stuns during Flask Effect 60% reduced Duration

Other suggested flasks: Perpetual Quartz Flask of Staunching (immunity to Bleeding) Ample Sulphur Flask of Heat (immunity to Freeze) Experimenter's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline (increased Movement Speed)

If you have any other build requests, please leave that in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.