Corrupting Cry
Ascendant Build

Created for Patch 3.24

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Patch 3.22 introduced a new Support Gem for Warcry Skills - Corrupting Cry. It adds a huge Life Cost Multiplier to the Warcries and makes them apply 4 Corrupting Blood stacks each time it affects an Enemy, up to 10 stacks. Corrupting Blood is a debuff that deals Physical Damage over Time for each stack. The Physical Damage is very rarely resisted by Enemies, but remember that it is not an Ailment. At the very core, it is quite similar to the Corrupting Fever Spell which you can be familiar with already, but it has some distinguishing features. The application of stacks is much more pleasant with screen-wide and fast Warcry, but improving the Damage is vastly different than usual Spells. 

Most DoT Skills scale the best with Gem Levels, but as a Support Gem, it is very limited in possibilities. There are only 3 ways to do so: a special modifier on a Weapon that increases Levels of Socketed Support Gems, Corrupted Implicits on Body Armour, and a Forbidden Shako Unique Helmet. The last option is by far the best, but also the most expensive one. 

Corrupting Cry is a great Skill for Clear, but it will be lacking Single-target Damage before you invest a lot into the Build. To help with that you should use the Reap Spell, which benefits from the same modifiers. To trigger the Corrupting Cry you can use any Warcry, but the General Cry is simply the best one to use as it has the lowest Cooldown. 

It is also a very defensive Build. You will have tons of Armour, high amounts of Spell Suppression Chance, and excellent Life Recovery. You will spend some Life to Cast your Warcry, but you will recover more than that via Warcry Mastery. 

It is a great League starter that has tons of upgrades to grind for. At first, you will have to rely on the Reap for tougher encounters, but with enough investments, it will turn into an Autobomber. 

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

1. Gameplay

You will simply run around your Enemies and use the Warcry to apply Corrupting stacks. Use the Reap for Bosses, and Curse them with the Vulnerability. To move around you can use the Flame Dash or Frostblink Spells. There are a lot of Auras to use: Determination, Malovelance, Pride, Herald of Purity, Vitality, and a War Banner. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling is very easy, although you should use a slightly alternated setup. You can take advantage of the Bleed Bow Archetype, which starts very strong and falls behind later on without investments, at which point you can simply swap for the Corrupting Cry and Reap Setup. You should pick up nearby Bleed-focused Passives and respec them later with the free Points you get from Campaign Quests.   

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Puncture and Rain of Arrows setup
	Puncture - always inflicts Bleeds, and has an inherent Multiplier to the Bleed Damage.
	Rain of Arrows - fires a volley of arrows that fall on Enemies in a great Area. Use it for Clearing bigger packs.
	Chance to Bleed Support - grants plenty of additional Physical Damage, and grants a decent Chance to inflict Bleed for Rain of Arrows.
	Vicious Projectiles Support - improves your Damage over Time with Projectile Skills.
	Efficacy Support - increases the Damage and Duration of your Bleeds. Swap it for Lifetap Support if you have problems with sustaining Mana.
	Brutality Support - disables your Elemental Damage and heavily boosts Physical Damage.

Aura setup
	Herald of Purity - increases the Physical Damage you deal and Summons additional Minions that can tank a few Hits for you.
	Vitality - grants you tons of Life Regeneration which can be life-saving during the Campaign.

Utility setup
	Flame Dash - a quick blink that can be used to travel across terrain gaps.
	Vulnerability - it increases the Physical Damage Enemies Take and increases your Chances to inflict Bleeding on them.
	Steelskin - a Guard Spell that disables Bleedings on you and absorbs part of the incoming Damage.

Bandits:

Kill all Bandits to get additional 2 Passive Tree Skill Points.

Leveling Skill Trees:
30 Points Passive Tree
When swapping from Bleed Bow to Corrupting Cry, respec Bleed Passives and Allocate Warcry-related Passives instead. 
1) Veteran Soldier 2) Vanquisher 3) Savage Wounds 

62 Points Passive Tree
Allocate:
1) Bloodletting 2) Bloodless 3) Barbarism 4) Juggernaut 5) Cannibalistic Rite

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - grants you a bit of everything - Damage, Resistances, and Attributes.

Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Damage (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Praxis - this Ring greatly helps you with your Mana sustain during the campaign, which can be very useful.

+(20-30) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana Regenerate (3-6) Mana per second -(8-4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken Recouped as Mana

Kikazaru - grants you a bit of Attributes, and provides insane Life Regeneration.

+(10-15) to all Attributes (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 60% reduced Effect of Curses on you Regenerate 3 Life per second per Level

Rare Bow - use the Vendor Recipe to always have a decent Weapon. By selling any Bow, Rustish Sash Belt, and Blacksmith's Whetstone to NPC, you will get the same base Bow with an increased Physical Damage modifier.

Recommended modifier: % increased Physical Damage  Adds # to # Physical Damage

Tabula Rasa - a must-have for every leveling, it grants you access to a 6-link setup right from the start of the Campaign.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Goldrim - this Helmet gives you tons of Resistance to every Element, which is the only defensive aspect you should worry about.

+(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)

Perandus Blazon - the increased Duration of your Flasks and a bunch of Quicksilvers will allow you to run faster with much higher uptime.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(20-30) to all Attributes (6-8)% increased Quantity of Items found +20% to Fire Resistance 20% increased Flask Effect Duration -2 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits

Seven-League Step - high Movement Speed is the most important modifier if you want to progress the Campaign as fast as possible.

50% increased Movement Speed Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

104 Points Final Passive Tree (doesn't include Cluster or Unique Jewels)
122 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Pathfinder
2. Gladiator
3. 2 Additional Passive Tree Points
4. Champion (and buy Gladiator Forbidden Flame&Flesh Combo)

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds; 30% increased Stun and Block Recovery

Minor God: Soul of Shakari: 50% less Duration of Poisons on You; You cannot be Poisoned while there are at least 3 Poisons on you

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] General Cry setup
	General's Cry - a Warcry with the lowest Cooldown of them all. Its main Effect is disabled, but it still Taunts nearby Enemies. You can keep it at level 1 to reduce Mana Cost.
	Corrupting Cry Support - applies Corrupting Blood stacks through your Warcry. The Damage scales very strongly with Gem Levels. It also tenfolds the Mana Costs, and turns it into Life Costs instead.
	Brutality Support - increases the Physical Damage you do, but disables Elemental Damage. The Awakened Version is more powerful and quite cheap.
	Swift Affliction Support - greatly improves the Damage of your Dots but lowers their Duration.
	Efficacy Support - grants a decent improvement for your Damage and Duration of your effects.
	Increased Area of Effect Support - increases the AoE of the Warcry. You could also use the Lifetap Support to increase the Damage, but it will drastically increase the already high Life Cost of General's Cry.

[UTILITY] Aura setup
	Malevolence - this Aura increases the Damage you Deal with DoT Effects, and makes them last longer.
	Determination - it is a Defensive Aura that gives you a lot of flat Armour Rating and increases it further.
	Pride - an offensive Aura that affects Enemies instead of you. It increases the Physical Damage they take. The effect starts low and increases as you stand close to Enemies.
	Herald of Purity - a very strong Herald Skill for this Build, it increases the Physical Damage you deal.
	War Banner - increases Physical Damage Taken by nearby Enemies. You can place it on the ground to gain an Adrenaline Buff for a few seconds.
	Enlighten Support - a very important Support Gem that lowers the Mana Reservation of all linked Skills.

[UTILITY] Arrogance setup
	Vitality - this Aura provides Life Regeneration. You will need it to sustain using your Warcry.
	Arrogance Support - it causes your Aura to Reserve Life instead of Mana and increases its effectiveness.

[UTILITY] Utility setup
	Vulnerability - a Curse of choice for this Build. It increases the Physical Damage Enemies Take from you.
	Flame Dash - a very quick blink in a specific direction. It can store 3 Charges at once and the first use is quicker.
	Molten Shell - a Guard Skill that increases your Armour Rating and forms a protective shell that absorbs part of the incoming Damage.
	Stone Golem - useful Golem that further improves your Life Regeneration. You may choose to skip using it as it will die rather often.
	Lifetap Support - you will need to spend your Life instead of Mana, as you want to Reserve as much of it as you can. You may need to use 2 Setup with this Support.

[UTILITY] Reap setup
	Vaal Reap - summons a Bloody scythe that applies Physical Damage over Time on struck Enemies. Use it as a supplementation for your Corrupting Cry against tougher Enemies.
	Brutality Support - increases Physical Damage done by linked Spells.
	Controlled Destruction Support - as opposed to Corrupting Cry, the Reap can be improved with the Spell Damage modifiers.
	Swift Affliction Support - grants a lot of Damage but lowers the Duration of Reap. It also reduces the Vaal Soul gain prevention penalty.

6. Gear Setup

Corrupting Cry scales extremely well with Gem Levels, but as it is not an Active Spell or Skill Gem, it is quite hard to improve them. There are 3 main ways to gear up a Build like this. You can use a Cane of Kulemak with increases Socketed Support Gem Levels by 3 or a Body Armour with Corrupted Implicits that increases Socketed Gem Levels by 2 (so up to 4 if you have double Corrupted Armour) paired with proper Staff. You can also get it on the Forbidden Shako Unique Helmet, which can give up to level 35 of this Support Gem. Scaling the Damage is also somewhat problematic, as you can only use Damage over Time Multipliers and increased Minion Damage, which affects you only if you have the Spiritual Aid Notable. The Reap has the advantage of benefiting from additional Physical Gem Levels. Other than that, on your Gear, you should look for maximum Life, Resistances, lacking Attributes, Mana Reservation Efficiency, and Spell Suppression Chance. The Cooldown Recovery Rate is also useful, but with the investments in the Passive Tree, it is not that effective. 

(Weapon) Cane of Kulemak - this special Staff is very random in nature, so getting a perfect one might be troublesome. You should look mostly for the DoT Multiplier and Gem Levels, while the Minion Damage is just a fine addition.

+20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff (60-90)% increased Unveiled Modifier magnitudes Recommended Veiled modifiers:  +2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems Minions deal (50-59)% increased Damage +(44-48)% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier

(Weapon) Rare Weapon - if you have a Double Corrupted Body Armour or Forbidden Shako, you can use a Rare Weapon instead. It should provide you with lots of Damage over Time Multiplier and increase to Minion Damage. You can craft it using Essence of Fear on a base with a Fractured Physical DoT modifier. If you use Reap, you can also look for additional Physical Gem Levels.

Min. requirements: +60% to Physical Damage over Time Multiplier +70% increased Minion Damage  Optional affixes: increased Damage over Time Damage over Time Multiplier Enemies you Kill have a #% chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Physical Damage (Implicit)

(Helmet) Forbidden Shako - this helmet grants you access to a 5-link Setup with a very high Gem level. It can easily double the Damage of the usual Setup, but will also be the most expensive part of your Build.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level (1-10) <random Support Gem> Socketed Gems are Supported by Level (25-35) <random Support Gem> +(25-30) to all Attributes

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - if you use a regular Setup, look for a Helmet that increases your Mana Reservation Efficiency, maximum Life, Spell Suppression Chance, and converts Physical Damage to be taken as Elemental. Ideally, it should also have an Enchant that lowers the General's Cry Cooldown.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life % of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage  increased Mana Reservation Efficiency (Essence + Eldritch Implicit)  Optional affixes: Elemental Resistance Chaos Resistance % increased Life Regeneration rate Attributes Spell Suppression Chance

(Body Armour) Rare Armour - here look for Spell Suppression Chance, Mana Reservation Efficiency, Resistances, and Physical Damage taken as Elemental. You don't want maximum Life here as you would lose the Life Mastery for 15% increased Life. With Eldritch Implciits you can get a lot of Aura Effect.

Min. requirements: Spell Suppression Chance % of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Elemental Damage  increased Mana Reservation Efficiency (Essence)  Optional affixes: Elemental and Chaos Resistance Aura Effectiveness Enemies you Kill have a #% chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Physical Damage

(Body Armour) Double Corrupted Unique Armour - you can use any Unique Armour with two Corrupted Implicits that would boost the Level of Socketed Duration, AoE, or Warcry Gems. Those are rather uncommon at the beginning of the new League but can be found very cheaply after a few weeks, and you can Link and Colour Sockets using the Tainted Currency.

Min. two Corrupted Implicits: +# to Level of Socketed AoE Gems +# to Level of Socketed Warcry Gems +# to Level of Socketed Duration Gems +# to Level of Socketed Gems

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - it is very important to have the Spiritual Aid anointed on your Amulet, as it will enable scaling your Damage with increased Minion Damage modifiers. As for the Amulet itself, it should have DoT Multiplier, maximum Life, and lacking Resistances or Attributes. You could also get additional Levels for the Reap.

Min. requirements: +50 to maximum Life +20% Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Elemental and Chaos Resistance Attributes +1 to Level of all Physical Skill Gems % increased Area of Effect

Recommended anointment:  Spiritual Aid

(Boots) Rare Boots - here you should look for high Movement Speed, maximum Life, Spell Suppression Chance, and lacking Resistances or Attributes. The Eldritch Implicits can provide you with even more Movement Speed and Cooldown Recovery for your General's Cry.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed +60% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Spell Suppression Chance Cooldown Recovery Rate Life Regeneration

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - if you use the Reap Setup, use the Essence of Delirium to get 30% More DoT for socketed Gems here. If not, focus on Minion Damage instead. It should also provide maximum Life, Spell Suppression Chance, and Resistance or Life Regeneration.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Socketed Gems deal 30% more Damage over Time Increased Minion Damage increased Damage during any Flask Effect Elemental and Chaos Resistance

(Belt) Rare Belt - Belt can provide you with lots of maximum Life and Resistance modifiers. It can also give you some Cooldown Recovery Rate if needed. Any Flask modifier is also useful, as with the Pathfinder Ascendency you will have great uptime on your Flasks.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes % increased Life Life Regeneration   Cooldown Recovery Rate Flask Charges gained/used

(Jewel) Rare Abyss Jewel - if you use the Stygian Vise as your Belt, you can make use of one additional Jewel, on which you should look for maximum Life, increased DoT, and lacking Resistances or Attributes.

Min. requirements: +30 to maximum Life Recommended affixes: Resistances Attributes % increased Damage over Time  Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you

(Ring) Circle of Guilt - this Ring greatly contributes towards your Damage. You can also use the non-optimal modifier to reduce the Mana Reservation of the Herald, which will make it easier to use all recommended Auras on a low budget.

+(10-20) to all Attributes Adds (8-10) to (13-15) Physical Damage +(350-400) to Armour Recommended modifiers:  Herald of Purity has (40-60)% increased Buff Effect (40-60)% increased Physical Damage while affected by Herald of Purity Herald of Purity has (30-40)% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency

(Ring) Rare Ring - a Rare Ring will provide much less Damage than the Circle of Guilt, but it can give you tons of maximum Life and Resistances, especially the Chaos ones. You can get some DoT Multiplier if you craft it using Essence of Delirium.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes Chaos Resistance Damage over Time Multiplier

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - with the use of Rare Jewels you can get plenty of Damage by utilizing the rather uncommon combination of DoT Multiplier and Minion Damage. It should also provide you with maximum Life. If you don't need Resistances or Attributes, aim for Life Recoup or Mana Reservation Efficiency.

Min. requirements: increased maximum Life Recommended affixes: Resistances Physical Damage over Time Multiplier increased Minion Damage Mana Reservation Efficiency

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - those provide a very efficient way to increase your Physical Damage. Look for two Notables that would increase your Damage by 35% and a third one that would be put in the middle slot so you can skip it.

Recommended modifiers:  1 Added Passive Skill is Battle-Hardened 1 Added Passive Skill is Master the Fundamentals 1 Added Passive Skill is Iron Breaker

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - here you want to use 2 different setups. The Warcry setup provides you with a permanent Onslaught Buff and all Charges. The Minion setup simply grants a lot of Damage. You can also use the more usual DoT setup that grants less Damage but also boosts your defense.

Recommended modifiers:  1 Added Passive Skill is Lead By Example 1 Added Passive Skill is Mob Mentality 1 Added Passive Skill is Cult-Leader 1 Added Passive Skill is Lasting Impression 1 Added Passive Skill is Flow of Life 1 Added Passive Skill is Student of Decay

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - you will use a lot of Auras, so you can find plenty of useful combinations. The Pride modifier is quite similar to the Malevolance in terms of Damage, but much less popular.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura mods: (40-60)% increased Physical Damage while using Pride +(18-22)% to Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame&Flesh - you can cheaply get this combination of Jewels for the unpopular Gladiator Notable, and spec into the expensive Champion Notable by yourself.

Allocates Gladiator if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh/Flame

(Jewel) Elegant Hubris - it is a more advanced Timeless Jewel, as it completely changes all Notables in its radius. The Scion starting area has 8 easily accessible Notables that could be turned into 80% increased Damage modifiers. To find a correct Seed you will need to use an external tool like Path of Building. Most Seeds have up to 4 useful Notables.

Commissioned (2000-160000) coins to commemorate (Cadiro-Caspiro-Victario) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Eternal Empire Historic Recommended Timeless Notables:  80% increased Physical Damage 80% increased Minion Damage 12% increased Effect of Non-curse Auras 10% increased maximum Life

(Jewel) Impossible Escape - use it with the combination of the Elegant Hubris to easily access converted Notables. It will allow you to allocate them without wasting Passive Points on the travel Nodes.

Passive in Radius of Conduit can be Allocated without being connected to your tree

(Flask) Bottled Faith - a usual offensive Flask that creates large Consecrated Ground upon use. Monsters standing on it will Take increased Damage from all sources, while you will have improved Life Regeneration.

(30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect

Suggested Flasks: Life Flask with improved Life Recovery Quicksilver with Movement Speed bonus Granite Flask with Armour Rating bonus  Quartz Flask with Reduced effect of Curses on you

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