Hexblast Poison
Pathfinder Build

Updated for Patch 3.19

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Poison is a Damaging Ailment that is usually associated with a flurry of smaller Hits, each applying smaller instances of Poisons that eventually lead to a very high Damage over Time effect. It offers immense Single target Damage but usually lacks the upfront Damage which is very noticeable during regular Mapping. However, this Build has a completely different approach to Poison Ailment. Instead of many smaller Hits, we opt for a powerful single blow that inflicts powerful Poison on enemies. We are doing it by using Hexblast Skill. It's a very impressive Spell that is naturally connected to the Hex Skills. By manually applying Hex such as Despair on the enemy, it will gain Dooms stacks over time, increasing the effectiveness of the said Hex. By default, Hexblast is a rather weak Spell that Hits a single enemy, but if you cast it on a Hexed enemy, it will deal massively increased Damage in a larger radius, depending on the amount of Doom generated on the enemy. With proper Items and Passives, it can lead to up to 150% More Damage with Poisons, which is absurdly high Multiplier.

The main feature of this build is Low Tolerance Notable found on Medium Cluster Jewel. It offers a 300% increased Damage with Poison we apply to the non-poisoned enemy, and we can use a multitude of them. In this Build, we use 6 such Jewels and one Mastery in Passive Tree with the same effect. In the end, it grants an insane 2100% Damage increase with a single Poison. We also use a newly introduced Skill, an Alchemist Mark, to more than Double our Single Target Damage. This Mark creates a Caustic Ground based on the single Poison applied to the enemy, in a similar fashion to Burning Ground created by Flame Surge used on Ignited enemy. 

Another thing that works greatly with this playstyle is Pathfinder's Poison Proliferation. It spreads the single strongest Poison from the killed enemy to all nearby monsters. This single Ascendancy Passive grants us very strong and satisfying clear capability on our single target-focused skill. 

With all those amazing Damage scaling mechanics, we can invest a lot into our Defences. Although this build has a pretty low maximum Life, it is still very tanky. It's all thanks to capped Spell Suppression, high Evasion Rating to evade most of the incoming Attacks, and high Armour Rating to reduce Physical Damage.  We also use Purity of Elements, which helps us with Elemental Resistances and takes care of all Elemental Ailments. 

Before you start this build, you should have enough Currency to buy the required Cluster Jewels. Other than that, this build is rather cheap to get started, and you can invest more and more as you progress through the end game. This Build offers amazing scaling, making every small upgrade you make matter. 

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

1. Gameplay

During regular mapping, all you really need to do is to cast a single Hexblast into packs of monsters and quickly move around enemies using Withering Steps. With high enough Damage, you don't really need to bother with casting Hexes and gaining Doom. Divine Blessing turns one permanent Aura into a temporary buff, which you will have to cast from time to time to get a massive Damage bonus. To get maximum Damage for bosses you will have a bit more to do. You will have to cast both our Curses and put down the Wither Totems.  It is a bit of extra casting, but in return, every Boss will melt in seconds!

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling with this build is fairly easy, but because we use a lot of Jewels to scale our Damage, we recommend getting some extra passive skills during leveling and respec them later on. You can start by using Blight until you get Hexblast and Bane in Act 3. Your Poisons will be quite weak at first, but DoT effect from those Skills should be enough to smoothly go through the campaign. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Flame Wall setup
	Blight  - channeling Skills with apply Damaging layers upon the enemy.  You can use Vaal version for additional bursts of Damage
	Efficacy Support - increases the Damage and Duration of linked Skills
	Void Manipulation Support - increases your Chaos Damage dealt
	Infused Channeling Support - it grants more Damage with any Channeling ability depending on the tag of the Skill

Bane setup
	Bane - it applies all linked Hexes and deals increased Damage for every Hex applied that way
	Despair - it will lower enemy Chaos Resistances and increase Damage it takes from DoT effects
	Efficacy Support - gives more Damage and prolongs the Duration of Bane and Despair
	Void Manipulation Support - grants more Chaos Damage for linked skills

Auras setup
	Grace - it will be your main source of Evasion Rating during leveling
	Clarity - grants some very needed mana sustain during leveling

Flame Dash and Withering Steps
	Flame Dash - very useful skill during leveling to travel faster
	Withering Steps - the main source of Withered debuff during leveling
	Second Wind Support - adds an additional Charge for your Travel Skills so you can use them more often

Bandits:

Kill all three bandits to get two additional Passive Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

33 Points Passive Tree
Suggested order of allocation: 1) Wasting  2)Blood Siphon  3)Fangs of Viper  4)Revenge of the Hunter  5) Inveterate  6)Blood Drinker 
 

63 Points Passive Tree
Suggested order of allocation: 1)Atrophy 2)Written in Blood 3)Fatal Toxins 4)Serpentine Spellslinger 5) Whispers of Doom 6)Influence 7)Charisma 8)Careful Conservationist

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - Attributes this Ring can provide are especially useful here. Damage and Elemental Resistances are also good

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

Goldrim - best leveling Helmet, grants tons of 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)

Tabula Rasa - White Sockets allow you to experiment with different setups during leveling.

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

Perandus Blazon - grants Attributes and makes your Flasks last longer

(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

String of Servitude - with proper roll, this belt offers a massive bonus to your Elemental Resistances

<(1-2) Random corrupted implicit modifiers> Implicit Modifier magnitudes are tripled Desired modifier:  48% to All Elemental Resistances

Rare Wand or Sceptre- modifier "+1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems" can be commonly found on low-level wands and will be good enough for the whole campaign and low-tier maps.

+1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems Increase Chaos Damage Increase Spell Damage

Atziri's Foible - this Amulet helps a lot with Mana Regeneration and lowers the Attribute Requirements

(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +100 to maximum Mana (16-24)% increased maximum Mana (80-100)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Items and Gems have 25% reduced Attribute Requirements

Doedre's Tenure - they grant a massive bonus to Damage in the early stages of the game. Try to look for minimum roll on Cast Speed reduction as it can get quite annoying at higher values

+(20-50) to Intelligence 100% increased Spell Damage (25-15)% reduced Cast Speed

Wanderlust - they grant a good Movement Speed bonus and make you Immune to being Frozen

+5 to Dexterity +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

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

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Master Toxicist
2. Nature's Boon
3. Master Alchemist
4. Nature Adrenaline

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 6% reduced Elemental Damage taken if you have been Hit Recently

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

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Hexblast setup
	Hexblast - Powerful Blast that deals increased Damage for every 5 stacks of Doom on the enemy. You are looking to cast it in regular intervals, 1 second after you cast your Curse for maximum Doom, and preferably on non-Poisoned enemy
	Deadly Ailments Support - increases Damage over Time while decreasing the Hit potion of the skill
	Void Manipulation Support - increases Chaos Damage we deal. The awakened version increases the Level of linked Chaos Skill Gems
	Unbound Ailments Support - significantly increases the Duration of your Poison, and increases the Damage it deals
	Empower Support  - increases Levels of Supported Skill Gems. Especially effective in Skin of the Lords Unique Armour
	Swift Affliction Support - makes your Poison last shorter, but deal more Damage in that time

[UTILITY] Auras
	Grace - gives flat Evasion Rating and grants More Evasion multiplier.
	Purity of Elements - an aura that grants a lot of Elemental Resistances and makes you immune to Elemental Ailments
	Determination - this aura is the main source of Armour Rating in this build. It has high Strength Requirements
	Defiance Banner - this banner increases both Armour and Evasion Ratings, as well as reduces nearby enemies' Critical Strike Chance

[UTILITY] Malevolance setup
	Malevolence - this is the main Damage Aura we use in this build. You will have to cast this as a Blessing from time to time
	Divine Blessing - turns Pernament Aura into a temporary Buff which doesn't require a Mana Reservation
	Inspiration Support - Blessing has a high Mana cost, so it is important to reduce it with this Support Gem

[UTILITY] Curse setup
	Despair - this Hex greatly increases the Damage we deal with Poisons. The Doomsday Keystone grants a maximum amount of Doom after 1 second
	Alchemist's Mark - creates Caustic Ground when you Poison the enemy. Helmet Enchant greatly increases its Damage
	Plaguebearer - Divergent Quality on this Skill will greatly boost your overall Damage while infecting with Plaguebearer
	Enhance Support - additional Quality on Despair and Plaguebearer is a great way to deal more Damage

[UTILITY] Wither setup
	Wither - applies a stacking debuff on Enemy that causes it to take significantly more Chaos Damage
	Spell Totem Support - summons Totem to cast this skill for you
	Multiple Totems Support - spawns more Totems for higher uptime on the debuff
	Faster Casting Support - increases the Cast Speed of your Wither Totems

[MOBILITY] Movement  setup
	Flame Dash - teleports you by a  short distance, great for closing gaps and overall Movement
	Withering Steps - grants a short burst of Movement Speed and applies Withered Stacks on nearby enemies

[UTILITY] Molten Shell
	Molten Shell - this Guard Skill creates an absorbing Shield that will take part of incoming Damage, protecting your Life

6. Gear Setup

This build has some mandatory Unique and Rare items to work smoothly. We use Ralakesh's Impatience to generate Frenzy Charges, and then use Olesya's Delight to turn them into Affliction Charges.  By doing so, you will keep them upon movement, as the Unique modifier from those Boots refers to losing Frenzy Charges only. Apep's Rage grants an insane amount of Damage for this build, and since we use Eldritch Battery to cast skills, losing 40 Mana upon casting a spell doesn't affect us at all. Most power of this build comes from Rare Jewels. To get even more Jewel Sockets, we utilize pair of the Voices Unique Cluster Jewels. You need to have Low Tolerance Notable on every Medium Cluster Jewel. You will also need 3 Jewels with Septic Spells Notables on them, in order to get a 100% chance to Poison with Spells.  On the remaining 3 Cluster Jewels, you actually don't need any Notable except for Low Tolerance, as other Notables offer less Damage than getting additional maximum Frenzy Charges on the Passive Tree. With the amount of increased Damage we have for our single Poison, other modifiers simply pale in comparison. If you really cannot afford to get one with both of those Notables, you can use Divergent Herald of Agony instead of one of your Defensive Aura, but it is not recommended in the long run.  On your Rare Jewels, you will get a lot of maximum Life and Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier. You can also get other useful modifiers there, like Elemental Resistances, Attributes, or even more Damaging modifiers. 

(Helmet) Devouring Diadem- this helmet allows you to use all of your Auras. It also grants Eldritch Battery which saves us 2 Passive Skill Points. Ideally, get one with Attributes and Alchemist Mark Enchant

+1 to Level of Socketed Gems Socketed Gems have 25% increased Reservation Efficiency 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

Helmet enchantments: 30% increased Alchemist's Mark Curse Effect

(Weapon) Apep's Rage - this is our Best-in-Slot Weapon for this build. Faster Poisons makes Caustic Ground created by Alchemist Mark much stronger, and losing Mana doesn't affect us as we use Energy Shield to cast Skills anyway. You can Dual-wield them for maximum Damage or use a Shield for more survivability.

(38-42)% increased Spell Damage Adds (90-130) to (140-190) Chaos Damage to Spells (25-30)% increased Cast Speed +(5-10)% to Chaos Resistance Lose 40 Mana when you use a Skill Poisons you inflict deal Damage (30-50)% faster

(Off-hand)Rare Shield - on Rare Shield you can get a lot of useful modifiers to increase your tankiness. You can also get +1 level to your Chaos Spell Skills modifier for some extra Damage.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +10% chance to Suppress Spell Damage +1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems Optional affixes: Regenerate 100+ Life per second Maximum Elemental Resistances Chaos Resistance

(Body Armour) Skin of the Lords - a very strong Armour for this build. Paired with a level 4 Empower Support, it grants a total of +7 Levels to our main Skill. Try to get one with Doomsday Keystone. It causes your Curses to gain maximum Doom after 1 second, but prevent them from gaining any over that duration. If you time your Hexblast properly, it's simply a massive DPS bonus

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Sockets cannot be modified +2 to Level of Socketed Gems 100% increased Global Defences You can only Socket Corrupted Gems in this item Item has 6 Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) <Random Keystone>

(Belt)Olesya's Delight - this Belt grants you additional Maximum Frenzy Charge, and turns your Frenzy Charges into Affliction Charges. Those charges give 8% More Damage with Ailments, such as Poison.

+(600-700) to Evasion Rating +(40-60)% to Cold Resistance (8-12)% increased Movement Speed +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges Modifiers to Minimum Frenzy Charges instead apply to Minimum Affliction Charges Maximum Affliction Charges is equal to Maximum Frenzy Charges Gain Affliction Charges instead of Frenzy Charges

(Boots) Ralakesh's Impatience - those boots generate all Charges while being stationary, and because we actually use Affliction Charges instead of Frenzy, you will not lose them when you Move. They also grant decent Movement Speed and some Resistances

+(15-25)% to Cold Resistance +(15-25)% to Chaos Resistance 30% increased Movement Speed Lose all Frenzy, Endurance, and Power Charges when you Move Minimum Endurance Charges equal to Maximum while stationary Minimum Frenzy Charges equal to Maximum while stationary Minimum Power Charges equal to Maximum while stationary

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - you just need high Life, Elemental Resistances, and Spell Suppression here. With Eldritch Implicits, you can get even more Spell Suppression and some Chaos Dot Multiplier.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +10% chance to Suppress Spell Damage +40% to Elemental Resistances Eldritch Implicits: +(10-20)% to Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier (Searing Exarch) +(5-10)% chance to Suppress Spell Damage (Eater of Worlds)

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - this is a very important slot for our Damage. Look for an increase to maximum Doom on your Hexes, and Levels of your Chaos Spell Skills or Chaos Dot Multiplier. Also, try to get a bit of maximum Life if you can.

Min. requirements: Hexes you inflict have +10 to maximum Doom +50 to maximum Life Optional affixes: +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +1 to Level of all Choas Skill Gems +(15–26)% to Damage over Time Multiplier +(15–26)% to Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier

Recommended Anointments: Skittering Runes

(Ring) Rare Ring - the only good Damage modifier on your Rings is Damage Over Time Multiplier. Other than that, look for Life, Attributes and Elemental Resistances

Min. requirements: +80% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life Optional affixes: +(12-15)Damage over Time Multiplier Attributes

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - you can have up to 9 Rare Jewels in this build. Try to get maximum Life and Chaos DoT Multiplier on every one of them. To push the Damage even further, try to get Poison deals Damage faster modifier. You can also get lacking Attributes or Resistances here.

Recommended affixes: (5-7)% increased maximum Life  (6-8)% Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier  Optional affixes: (4-6)% Damage over Time Multiplier  Damaging Ailments deal damage (4-6)% faster  +(8-10)% to all elemental resistances +(6-12) to all Attributes

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame and Flesh - there is only one combination that would outperform Rare Jewels in this case. It is Focal Point found at Deadeye Ascendency. It is very expensive and should only be considered if the rest of your gear is in a very good state

Allocates <<Random Ascendancy Notable>> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame/Flesh  Good Notables: Focal Point

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - it has some very potent possibilities for this build. For pure Damage, both modifiers from Malevolence Aura are very good. You can try getting them in conjunction with some Defensive Aura modifiers.

(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: (18-22)% Damage over Time multiplied while affected by Malevolence Damaging Ailments you inflict deal Damage (10-15)% faster while affected by Malevolence

(Jewel)Voices - those grants you more Jewel Sockets than regular Rare Jewels. Getting fewer Small Passive Skills than 5 of course is better, but its cost is hard to justify.

Adds 3 Jewel Socket Passive Skills Adds 5 Small Passive Skills which grant nothing

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - you want to have Low Tolerances Notable on every Medium Cluster Jewel you have. You will also need 3 pieces with Septic Spells Notable on top of that. The remaining Notables are rather lackluster for his build.

Mandatory affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Low Tolerance  1 Added Passive Skill is Septic Spells

On all of your Utility Flasks, you can roll Alchemist Prefix to get an increased effect of Flask. As a Pathfinder,  you will have no problem with uptime on them anyway.  Suggested Flasks: Quicksilver Flask with additional Movement Speed Life Flask with Bleeding removal Jade Flask with an increased Evasion Rating modifier Quartz Flask with an increased Armour Rating modifier Silver 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.

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