Forbidden Rite of Soul Sacrifice
Occultist Build

Updated for Patch 3.26

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The build takes advantage of two new mechanics. One is employing Forbidden Rite of Soul Sacrifice combined with Chaos Inoculation and Whispers of Infinity. The Spell is balanced around taking self-damage, but here you don't have to do that since the Amulet shifts all the Mana and Life costs to Energy Shield. It's a pure ES build with instant Leech, Vile Bastion, major Recoup, and Zealot's Oath, so you will never run out of it. The second trick is using Coiling Whisper with Bladefall of Trarthus and Hex-on-Hit. By reducing the Curse effect, each enemy cursed by the constantly-falling blades will give you some Souls corresponding to their Power. One Soul equals 5% increased cast speed, and you can have up to 45 of them. Reaching this cap is not difficult. This way, you can afford to cast the Spell with reckless abandon, not affordable for builds that have to manage their resources and invest in Cast Speed.

The base damage of Forbidden Rite of Soul Sacrifice is sourced from your own Maximum ES. You will need a lot of it. Then, the damage is increased by capping Critical Strike Chance at 100% and gaining tons of Critical Strike Multiplier. That is usually done with a well-established combination of Void Battery, Malachai's Loop, Ralakesh's Impatience, and Graven's Secret. Willclash is often there too for Block Chance. We can make it our second defensive layer since it's easy to accumulate for characters roaming around the upper side of the Passive Skill Tree. As per usual, the Occultist is a default choice here. It has the Forbidden Power for Power Charge bonuses, Vile Bastion for Energy Shield upgrades, Void Beacon to boost Chaos Damage, and Profane Bloom to enhance clear speed. There is just no other viable alternative for Occultist. Overall, it's one of the best builds for patch 3.26, but it's also quite expensive, so be sure to check the item's prices first.

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

1. Gameplay

Make sure your Bladefall of Trarthus is on. Use the Forbidden Rite to slay foes. Try not to move around too much while casting it. When encountering big enemies, cast Despair to have the Wither-on-Hit effect (via The Balance of Terror). Void Sphere, Stone Golem, Frost Shield, Immortal Call, and Withering Step are automated. Your Auras are Discipline, Purity of Elements, and Zealotry.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Consult our Self-Cast Forbidden Rite Occultist Build; it has a leveling section, and it's a similar build at the start. You should switch to this version if your Energy Shield is high and if you have the required character level for Whispers of Infinity - 74. It would help if, at this point, you had the whole set of unique items assembled already.

Bandits:

Help Kraityn for 8% increased Movement Speed or kill all for a Skill Point

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

103 Points Final Passive Tree (doesn't include Unique and Cluster Jewels)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Forbidden Power
2. Void Beacon
3. Vile Bastion
4. Profane Bloom

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris: 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy, 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Abberath: 60% less Duration of Ignite on You; 10% increased Movement Speed while on Burning Ground, Unaffected by Burning Ground

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Forbidden Rite setup
	Forbidden Rite of Soul Sacrifice - Deals Chaos Damage with overlapping (given you have increased AoE) projectiles. This version scales with ES only, which is what we have a lot of. Its Life cost is negated thanks to Whispers of Infinity.
	Spell Echo Support - Skill repeats an additional time but with reduced damage; a very efficient DPS upgrade.
	Power Charge on Critical Support - More Damage per Power Charge, which you have over 12 of.
	Greater Volley Support - Multiple Projectiles from the same cast can Hit one enemy multiple times - use one Greater Volley to concentrate them.
	Void Manipulation Support  - More Chaos Damage with no drawback affecting this build.
	Intensify Support - While standing still and continuing casting, gain increasingly more and more concentrated damage.

[UTILITY] Reservation setup
	Discipline - Additional maximum ES and its Recharge Rate.
	Purity of Elements - Additional Elemental Resistances and immunity to all Elemental Ailments. There's not much of an opportunity to get it on items.
	Zealotry - More Spell Damage and increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells. It also creates Consecrated Ground below you.
	Enlighten Support - Linked Spells Reserve less Mana.

[UTILITY] Bladefall setup
	Bladefall of Trarthus - Cast it once per map; it will stay on until you leave it. Its only role is to apply a Curse on Hit with a low duration.
	Hextouch Support - Bladefall will inflict linked to it Curse on Hit. Keep it at a low level with no extra Quality.
	Temporal Chains - Keep it at level 1 with no Quality. Its only role is to expire as soon as possible, granting you a Soul (or more) via Coiling Whisper. Temp Chains has the lowest base duration among all Curses.
	Less Duration Support - Lowers the duration of a Curse, very important. In this setup, you may also add Lightning Warp plus Swift Affliction Support if you have your Forbidden Rite setup socketed in Rare Gloves, with built-in local support for Forbidden Rite.

[UTILITY] CwDT setup
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - Linked Skills are triggered on taking a certain amount of damage.
	Void Sphere - Hinders enemies around it.
	Summon Stone Golem - 20% increased Defences, including Energy Shield.
	Immortal Call - Massively reduces incoming damage for a very short period. Enduring Composure from a Small Clsuter Jewel grants Endurance Charges, which are spent on Immortal Call, causing it to last longer.

[UTILITY] CwDT setup
	Cast when Damage Taken Support
	Frost Shield - Extra base Crit Chance and reduced damage taken from Hits while inside the dome. It drains your ES, but your recovery will cover it.
	Despair - A Curse that increases your DPS, but with Temp Chains overriding it, it won't do much. Its only role is to activate Balance of Terror's Wither on Hit, so there is no point in using it otherwise, unless your Curse Limit is two by some chance. Make sure it's not linked to CwDT or has a high enough Gem Level not to be Triggered.

[UTILITY] Withering Step setup
	Withering Step - Makes you Elusive and instantly applies several stacks of Withered on nearby enemies.
	Automation - Triggers Withering Step for you.
	Enhance Support - Use for additional Withered stacks for Withering Step.

6. Gear Setup

The build works best with a lot of Unique Items. Add to that that you're only visiting the upper part of a skill tree, and it puts a lot of pressure on the suffixes of your few rare items to patch up your Attribute requirements. Resistances will be needed as well, even with Purity of Elements. It's a pure Energy Shield Build, so try to get a lot of ES on the gear pieces. After that, make sure your Crit Chance is capped and you have Cluster Jewels for increased AoE. Then, get some extra Block Chance, Crit Multiplier, and Chaos Damage. You don't need any additional Mana Regeneration, Reservation Efficiency, or Cast Speed on items. Maximum Power Charges are gained mainly from Uniques, but Rare Rings may roll it as a Synthesized Implicit.

(Helmet) Willclash - Lots of Spell Block Chance, one of your primary defensive layers, and some Energy Shield. You will not lose Power Charges. Try Corrupting it for +1 Max Power Charge.

(350-400)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +5% Chance to Block Spell Damage per Power Charge (3-5)% increased Elemental Damage per Power charge Gain a Power Charge every Second if you haven't lost Power Charges Recently Lose all Power Charges when you Block

(Weapon) Void Battery - Extra Power Charge and increased Damage per Power Charge make it the only sound option for this Power-Charge-scaling build

(36-40)% increased Spell Damage 80% reduced Spell Damage (10-20)% increased Cast Speed (50-65)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +(40-50) to maximum Mana +1 to Maximum Power Charges 25% increased Spell Damage per Power Charge

(Off-hand) Malachai's Loop - +2 to Maximum Power Charges is immensely powerful. The downside does not apply with Ralakesh's Impatience.

(10-15)% increased Spell Damage (210-250)% increased Energy Shield +2 to Maximum Power Charges 20% chance to gain a Power Charge on Hit (12-16)% increased Spell Damage per Power Charge Lose all Power Charges on reaching Maximum Power Charges Shocks you when you reach Maximum Power Charges

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Aim for a Body Armour with the highest possible ES you can afford. The more expensive, Hunter-influenced Armours, may roll affixes for extra damage and durability.

Min. requirements: high Maximum ES +40% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: #% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Chaos Damage (Hunter Prefix) +#% to Spell Critical Strike Chance (Hunter Suffix)

(Boots) Ralakesh's Impatience - This should fix your Power Charges to be always at their maximum. It's mandatory.

(15-25)% increased Movement Speed +(15-25)% to Cold Resistance +(15-25)% to Chaos Resistance Immune to Corrupted Blood Count as having maximum number of <Endurance, Frenzy, or Power> Charges

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - You may go for the very expensive Shaper-Elder Gloves with built-in Support Gems for Forbidden Rite, or regular Gloves with lots of Dexterity, ES, Resistances, and with Eldritch mods for a chance of Hindering and Unnerving enemies on Hit.

Min. requirements: high Maximum ES +40% to Elemental Resistances Dexterity Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Faster Projectiles (Elder Prefix) Socketed Gems are Supported by Faster Casting (Shaper Suffix)

(Belt) Graven's Secret - Lightning Resistance, Energy Shield, one extra Power Charge, and Absorption Charges that recoup Elemental Damage as ES.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(60-70) to maximum Energy Shield (16-20)% increased maximum Mana +(40-60)% to Lightning Resistance +1 to Maximum Power Charges Modifiers to Minimum Power Charges instead apply to Minimum Absorption Charges Maximum Absorption Charges is equal to Maximum Power Charges Gain Absorption Charges instead of Power Charges

(Amulet) Whispers of Infinity - Causes your Forbidden Rite of Soul Sacrifice, and all the other Skills you have, to cost no Life and no Mana, but Energy Shield. You can Reserve all your Mana and allocate Chaos Inoculation to suffer no cost of casting your main damaging ability, which otherwise would deal a lot of self-inflicted Chaos Damage.

(10-15)% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge (5-10) to (20-25) Added Attack Chaos Damage per 100 Maximum Mana +(200-400) to maximum Energy Shield (60-40)% reduced maximum Mana Skills Cost Energy Shield instead of Mana or Life

Recommended Anointments: Window of Opportunity Force of Darkness

(Ring) Rare Ring - You will need a lot of Attributes and Resistances from your Ring, especially Strength and Dexterity, since you're not getting it from a Skill Tree.

Min. requirements: +80% to Elemental Resistances +80 to Strength and Dexterity Optional affixes: Maximum Energy Shield Global Critical Strike Multiplier

(Ring) Coiling Whisper - Be sure to reduce the Duration of your Curses and skills in general to harvest souls via this Ring. At 45 Souls, the maximum, it increases your Cast Speed by 225%.

+(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance (50-25)% reduced Area of Effect of Hex Skills Targets are Unaffected by your Hexes When 90% of your Hex's Duration Expires on an Enemy, Eat 1 Soul per Enemy Power

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Patch up your Attributes and Resistances, then go for Maximum ES and Crit Multiplier.

Recommended affixes: increased Energy Shield Elemental Resistances Attributes Critical Strike Multiplier Critical Strike Chance

(Jewel) Militant Faith - Change Hex Master into Inner Conviction with the Dominus variant of Militant Faith. Don't let it change Instability into some other notable.

Carved to glorify (2000-10000) new faithful converted by High Templar (Avarius-Dominus-Maxarius) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Templars Historic

(Jewel) The Balance of Terror - You want to inflict Withered on Hit. You can do it by casting Despair and having a specific version of Balance of Terror.

+(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances <2 random curse modifiers>

(Jewel) The Light of Meaning - It's an expensive upgrade, but The Light of Meaning can increase your Maximum ES by upgrading nearby notables.

<Random modifier that grants bonus stats to passive skills in radius>

(Jewel) The Red Nightmare - This one can be socketed near Overcharge. With Holy Dominion and tattoos over Strength nodes, it will grant you some additional Attack Block Chance.

Gain (6-10)% of Fire Damage as Extra Chaos Damage Passives granting Fire Resistance or all Elemental Resistances in Radius also grant Chance to Block Attack Damage at 50% of its value

(Jewel) Nadir Mode - Increased Crit Chance per Intensify (from Intensify Support). Its downside is not that bad with a very high Cast Speed, which you do have.

(20-25)% increased Spell Damage Spells have (30-50)% increased Critical Strike Chance per Intensity Spells which have gained Intensity Recently lose 1 Intensity every 0.50 Seconds

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - These will get you two jewel sockets and three good Chaos Damage notables - Unwaveringly Evil, Touch of Cruelty, and Unholy Grace.

Recommended Affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Unwaveringly Evil 1 Added Passive Skill is Unholy Grace 1 Added Passive Skill is Touch of Cruelty

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - You will increase your AoE, which you have to do, with two Magnifier and two Vast Power notables from two Medium Cluster Jewels.

Recommended Affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Magnifier 1 Added Passive Skill is Vast Power

(Jewel) Small Cluster Jewel - Enduring Composure will grant you Endurance Charges. You're constantly hitting yourself with Forbidden Rite to keep them coming.

Recommended Affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Enduring Composure

(Flask) Bottled Faith - Increased Crit Chance while on Consecrated Ground. Enemies on it take increased damage.

(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

(Flask) Wine of the Prophet - You can roll some upgrades with Wine of the Prophet; a great deal of them will improve your performance, and none of them will do you any harm.

60 to Maximum Charges (20-100)% increased Charges per use Grants a random Divination Buff for 20 seconds when Used

Suggested Flasks: Jade Flask with increased Evasion Silver Flask with increased Movement Speed Diamond Flask with increased Critical Strike Chance Quicksilver Flask with reduced effect of Curses on you

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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