Update & Cruel Dominus - #72 - Hardcore Chaos Shadow - Path of Exile: Talisman League (v2.1.2b)

Series playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPo00Kvl9Ha2Ri8YCZl51If2F6rG8voyV I'm trying out streaming at http://twitch.tv/narnach please head over there and follow my channel so Twitch can notify you when I'm online (Europe evenings mostly) This is an update on my rebuild of the Contagion/ED Chaos Caster Shadow. I've evolved the build a bit by trying some different things and keeping what was fun and effective. Whirling Blades, Abyssal Cry and a claw weapon with Trigger Skills, for example. The Path of Exile League for December 2015 is the Talisman league. It launched together with path 2.1.0, which counts as a mini-expansion in terms of new content. The upcoming Ascendancy expansion has just been announced to include the Trickster specialization for the Shadow, which is *perfect* for Contagion / ED builds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoCEmzVujXE In the Talisman league, talismans of great power are scattered through the world, and monsters are drawn to them. Monsters that pick up the talisman will be more powerful and will drop it upon being killed. Talismans are pre-corrupted amulets with their own kind of implicit modifiers, so you can not change them after finding them. You can sacrifice multiple talismans at a Stone Circle to summon a monster that is possessed with a talisman of a higher tier. The highest tier talismans is worn by Thane Rigwald, the Wolven King. I'm playing as a Shadow, to take advantage of some new skills that got added, as well as because I haven't played one before yet in a video. Coincidence for the win! My build intends to use the following skills: - Contagion, a new spell that applies a Chaos damage over time and spreads to other enemies. The bigger the radius, the further it spreads. - Essence Drain, a new spell that does Chaos damage, and applies a damage over time effect, as well as stealing some of the inflicted damage as life. If the target dies while affected by Essence Drain and Contagion, ED will spread along with Contagion. - Wither, a new spell that causes a stacking debuff to enemies, making them more vulnerable to Chaos damage as well as slowing them. I have linked it with Spell Totem and Fast Cast to free my hands to cast other spells. - Void Manipulation (support), which reduces a skill's elemental damage, while boosting chaos damage. - Controlled Destruction (support), which reduces a spell's critical strike chance to 0, while boosting its spell damage. - Chaos Golem, because it deals Chaos damage and thus benefits greatly from all passive tree skills, and because it is a decoy for monsters. - Blasphemy + Enfeeble, to reduce damage and chance to hit & crit of monster by a significant amount. In most cases, this is more effective than Arctic Armour, which I still have with me for Hexproof maps. - Decoy Totem, to keep monsters focused on something that is not me. - Whirling Blades. It's a movement skills that requires a weapon, but it responds instantly (no cast time) which makes it superior to Flame Dash, even though it's not a teleport skill. It's an attack, so you can link it to Fortify and Faster Attacks to make it shine. - Abyssal Cry. I have enough strength via items, and it's pretty sweet to explode groups even faster than before! Link it to Increased Area of Effect (along with Contagion) and watch more and more monsters explode in purple clouds. - Discipline, because you never have enough Energy Shield. - Vengeance, Reckoning + Blind. AoE blind, which makes monsters less likely to hit me. Using a claw weapon means life on hit. AoE trigger skills means getting quite some health when you are surrounded and out of Energy Shield, which is when you need it. For passive skills, this is roughly what I'm aiming to for: https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwYAsNii2cgU9W9qjBa_tNHmgSaVyAzLvWHidoJVS7VIbWzrYzY953QRLwMenarbGujWKwofQWyMEHsi6psmXfJirL46wzoyAQ5IieCyGRGWtzDmWMgjz3p_xgceFAmTHwWTkyeVLhNtSRO-imwL74jw1SaIoS_K0yL0-TeP-klRtAxtGdfPXEDquhFQ2VuX9Aj0SbGHyw18NbkbJVJTwFSnm1fJpysdT0uul5U9X2pDdZ4o-ukCTLPPFYLH34pCS9AfBAf56B2-hcXv64PbQYczh9--Vca3PgPuOlj-CvJF2L064TWSplf-j03jm7WExQ== Bandits: Oak on Normal for the 40 HP, kill all on Cruel & Merciless for the skill point. Path of Exile is an online Action RPG set in the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast. It is designed around a strong online item economy, deep character customisation, competitive PvP and ladder races. The game is completely free and will never be "pay to win". - Game site: https://www.pathofexile.com/ - Talisman League: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1478438 Some of my links for the game: - My loot filter: https://gist.github.com/Narnach/79e57e9846851e69eb01 - My PoE profile: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/narnach As always, if you like what you see, please like the video and consider subscribing to my channel. I try to publish at least one video per day, across multiple concurrent series in multiple games.