Dark Pact
Occultist Build

Created for Patch 3.22

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

The Dark Pact is an interesting Spell that sacrifices a small portion of your maximum Life and deals Chaos Damage in the Area around you. You can also summon Skeletons and Sacrifice their Life instead, which will greatly enhance the Damage of the Dark Pact by a few percent of their maximum Life, and grant 2 additional Chains. With just a minor investment into Minion Life, you can get very high amounts of added Damage for your Spell, and you can boost it further with the Anomalous Quality of the Dark Pact Gem. It is often more beneficial to increase the Levels of Summon Skeleton Gem instead of Dark Pact to improve your Damage.

The Anomalous Quality creates a somehow unusual situation. If you can obtain both Dialla's Malefaction and Ashes of the Stars you can boost the Quality of your Gem by 60%, which almost doubles the amount of Sacrificed Minion Life scaling of the regular Gem. It is a superior option, but definitely the most expensive one by a far margin. At lower budgets, it is much better to focus on regular Damage scaling via Spell Damage, Cast Speed, or Critical Strike Damage. Increasing Minion Life is also very important even for the regular Gem without Alternative Quality. 

It is also worth mentioning that the popular Path of Building tool doesn't automatically associate your Skeletons with your Dark Pact, you have to input their maximum Life manually into the configuration. Failing to do so may cause errors and frustration with the results when you tinker with your Character. 

The abundance of Power Charge and Critical Strike Notables in the Witch's starting area makes it a pretty obvious choice for how to scale the Damage. The Dark Pact has a rather low base Critical Strike Chance, but it is still fairly easy to reach a 100% Critical Strike Chance against Bosses. On the other hand, it has one of the fastest base Cast Speed from all the Spells in Path of Exile, which is very important for Builds that use a combination of 2 Spells to deal Damage. Stacking lots of increased Cast Speed modifiers will greatly improve your Damage and overall enjoyability of the Build. 

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

1. Gameplay

Summon Skeletons near your target and cast Dark Pact. To Curse Enemies you can use a Curse on Hit modifier on your Ring and Gloves, or simply Cast all your Curses with the Arcanist Brand. The Occultists Ascendency applies Withering Stacks on Enemies every second, but you can use Withering Steps to instantly apply 6 of them at the beginning of the fight. Frost Shield and Steelskin allow you to safely use your Spells while under the pressure of Enemy Attacks. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You can start using your main setup fairly early into the campaign, although scaling Critical Strikes would be rather hard. Use the Petrified Blood Aura to enable Pain Attunement for a massive Damage boost very early on. Don't forget to pick up Summon Skeletons Gem as soon as possible to keep their Life levels relevant to the content you are running when you get the Dark Pact Gem from the Quest. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Dark Pact setup
	Dark Pact - your main Damaging ability, it creates a Chaos AoE that consumes a portion of your or your Skeletons' Life to deal more Damage. When used on your Skeletons, it also Chains between them.
	Arcane Surge Support - spending Mana grants you a bonus to your Spell Damage and Cast Speed.
	Faster Casting Support - improves your Cast Speed. You can replace it with the Spell Echo Support in Act 4.
	Controlled Destruction Support - grants you a lot of Spell Damage bonus but significantly reduces your Critical Strike Chance, which is quite low at the start anyway.
	Intensify Support - grants you a lot of AoE and allows you to gain Intensify Stacks. Those reduce your AoE but grant Damage instead.
	Void Manipulation Support - improves your Chaos Damage.

Aura setup
	Petrified Blood - you can use this Aura to reduce the initial Damage you take from Hits and allow you to benefit from the Low Life status all the time.
	Clarity - provides you with plenty of Mana Regeneration.
	Vitality - it is a very useful defensive Aura that grants you Life Regeneration, which will be your main form of Life Recovery at that level.

Utility setup
	Flame Dash - it is a useful Mobility Spell used to travel across the terrain.
	Despair - lowers the Chaos Resistance of your Enemies.
	Steelskin - grants you plenty of protection during its Duration and removes Bleeding effects.

Bandits:

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

Leveling Skill Trees:
36 Points Passive Tree
1) Annihilation 2) Assassination 3) Coordination 4) Disciple of the Forbidden 5) Instability

70 Points Passive Tree
Allocate: 1) Pain Attunement 2) Purity of Flesh 3) Sovereignty 4) Heart of Darkness 5) Corruption 6) Arcane Potency 7) Redemption

Recommended leveling items:

Praxis - severely reduces your Mana Costs and improves your Mana Regeneration. Use it if you have trouble sustaining 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

Le Heup of All - grants you all vital modifiers during the early game - increased Damage and Resistance.

+(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Damage (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Rare Wand - the best Weapon to use would be a simple Rare Wand with a +1 level for your Spells and a bit of Spell Damage.

Recommended modifiers:  +1 to the level of All Chaos Spell Skills +50% increased Spell Damage

Tabula Rasa - it has 6 White Sockets so you can easily boost your Damage with Support Gems as soon as possible.

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

Goldrim - a famous Leveling Helmet, grants you tons of Resistances which is the only defensive modifier that matters during the Campaign.

+(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)

Doedre's Tenure - slow down your Cast Speed, but grant you an insane amount of Spell Damage.

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

Seven-League Step - high Movement Speed is the key to shortening the time you spend on the Campaign.

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

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

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

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Void Beacon
2. Withering Presence
3. Profane Proxy
4. Unholy Authority

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] Dark Pact setup
	Dark Pact - Sacrifices a portion of your Skeletons' Life to deal Chaos Damage in the Area around them. It also Chains to nearby Skeletons, dealing the Damage again. You can use it on yourself, but the Damage will be lower. The Anomalous Quality improves the amount of Minion's Life added as Chaos.
	Spell Echo Support - makes you repeat your Spells at a significantly higher rate.
	Void Manipulation Support - improves your Chaos Damage and disables Elemental Damage. The Awakened version improves your Damage further, but the Divergent Quality grants you Chaos Leech.
	Intensify Support - improves your AoE or Damage depending on the situation.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - grants tons of Critical Stike Multiplier to improve your Damage.
	Increased Critical Strikes Support - help to cap your Critical Stike Chance. If that's not the problem anymore, use the Awakened Chain Support.

[Utility] Summon Skeletons setup
	Summon Skeletons - summons Minions which Life you can Sacrifice to deal more Damage. They deal very small Damage and follow your Enemies so you can focus on casting Dark Pact.
	Minion Life Support - improve your Minion's Life, which means more Damage for your Dark Pact.
	Empower Support - it also increases the Life of your Skeletons. You can Socket this setup in an Item that grants you additional Levels for Supported Gems by 2 Levels, which will boost the Summon Skeletons as a result.

[UTILITY] Aura setup socket in your Helmet
	Petrified Blood - spreads out incoming Damage and allows you to Reserve half of your Life without any downside. It enables the Pain Attunement Keystone for a massive Damage boost.
	Zealotry - grants you Spell Damage and Critical Stike Chance. You can also benefit from powerful Watcher's Eye modifiers while affected by this Aura.
	Grace - grants you a lot of Evasion Rating and scales it further. You can also use the Determination Aura instead, but without lots of Armour on your Rare Gear it won't be as effective.
	Tempest Shield - grants you a decent amount of Spell Block Chance and makes you immune to Shock Ailment.

[UTILITY] Arrogance setup socket in your Helmet
	Vitality - it is a very helpful Aura that grants you a lot of Life Regeneration. The Life Leech and Regeneration is your main way of Life Recovery.
	Precision - Spells obviously don't need Accuracy Rating, but the additional Critical Strike Chance from this Aura is very useful.
	Arrogance Support - linked Auras will Reserve your Life instead of Mana.

[UTILITY] Curse setup
	Despair - this Curse lowers the Chaos Resistance of affected Foe. You can also get it via the Curse on Hit modifier on your Gear, which grants only half of the effect, but makes it automatic.
	Assassin's Mark - grants you a lot of Critical Strike Chance and Damage against Marked Enemies. Only one target can be Marketed at the same time. It also generates Power Charges for you.
	Enfeeble - a defensive Curse that lowers Enemy Damage and Accuracy Rating. You can also use the Punishment if you prefer more Damage.
	Arcanist Brand - casting that many Curses manually would be troublesome, but you can automate it with the Arcanist Brand.

[UTILITY] Other Utility setups
	Flame Dash - performs a quick dash in a specific direction, leaving a burning ground on the way. It can store up to 3 charges.
	Withering Step - grants you an Elusive Buff and applied Withering Stacks to nearby Enemies. Shares Cooldown with other Movement Spells.
	Frost Shield - creates an icy barrier that drains a portion of your Energy Shield to power up. It reduces the Damage you take while you stand inside of it.

[UTILITY] Guard setup
	Steelskin - absorbs big portions of the incoming Damage and removes Bleeding Ailments on you. Replace it with the Bone Skin from the Forbidden Flesh & Flame Jewels later on.

6. Gear Setup

There is a plethora of powerful modifiers that work very well for this Build to scale the Damage, and since they rarely are used together, the prices of such items are usually lower. You should look for increases to Spell, Chaos, and Minion Damage, levels of Chaos or Minion Spell Gem Levels, Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier, Cast Speed, or increased Minion Life. Both Dark Pact and Summon Skeletons are Minion Skills, so try to avoid just the Chaos Spell Skill modifiers. You can benefit from the Minion Damage modifiers thanks to the Spiritual Aid Notable picked up on the Passive Tree. Stacking Quality on your Dark Pact via Ashes of the Stars and Dialla's Malefaction is better than a regular setup, but all your other Items also have to be good and well-rolled to make it worth it. Defensively you should focus on getting enough Resistances and maximum Life. Additional Life Regeneration is also useful to have. You should use bases with Evasion and Energy Shield. Try to obtain modifiers that make a portion of the Physical Damage to be taken as Elemental, as you severely lack Physical Mitigation. 

(Weapon) Divinarius - it is a very strong Weapon for this Build, It grants tons of Damage for your Spells, improves the AoE so the overlaps are more likely to happen, and grants Critical Strike Multiplier against Bosses while making your Critical Strike more reliable during Mapping.

(150-200)% increased Spell Damage Gain (100-200) Life per Enemy Killed Gain (50-100) Mana per Enemy Killed 30% increased Area of Effect (200-250)% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells if you've Killed Recently +(60-100)% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells if you haven't Killed Recently

(Weapon) Rare Wand - at first you can use a Rare Wand that improves your Minion's Spell Gem Levels and grants you Spell Damage, Cast Speed, or improves your Critical Strikes. An insanely good Rare Wand would provide more Damage than the Divinarius, but at that level of investment it's not worth giving up on the Quality of Life it provides.

Min. requirements: +70% increased Spell/Minion/Chaos Damage +1 to Level of all Minion Spell Skill Gems +70% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells Optional affixes: % increased Cast Speed +1 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems +30% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells

(Shield) Rare Shield - you should use special Minion-focused bases to be able to obtain specific modifiers. Look for additional Levels for Minion Gems, Minion Life, increased Spell or Minion Damage, and potentially some maximum Life. You can also get one with lots of Spell Damage and Critical strike modifiers and craft Additional Levels for the Socketed Support Gems.

Min. requirements: Minions have 30% increased maximum Life +60 to maximum Life +1 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems Optional affixes: +2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems Life Regeneration Spell Damage Resistances

(Helmet) The Devouring Diadem - solves all problems with Mana regarding sustain and Reservation. With the Eldritch Battery, you will use your constantly recharging Energy Shield instead of Mana to Cast Spells.

+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) Rare Helmet - you can also use a Rare Helmet instead. Fixing Mana requires some extra Passive Points spent on Mana Regen and Reservation Efficiency, but the Rare Helmet can provide you with tons of maximum Life, added Gem Levels for your Minions, and reduction of Physical Damage Taken.

Min. requirements: +90 to maximum Life % of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage  +2 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems Optional affixes: Elemental Resistance Chaos Resistance Nearby Enemies have -9% to Chaos Resistance

(Body Armour) Rare Armour - you should look for a Double-Influenced Armour with modifiers that grant you additional Critical Strike Chance for Spells and generate Frenzy Charges on Hit. It should also grant you Physical Damage mitigation. Avoid Life Modifiers as it raises the price significantly and you can simply use the Life Mastery to get similar amounts of Life.

Min. requirements: +#% to Spell Critical Strike Chance % of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Elemental Damage  Optional affixes: Elemental and Chaos Resistance 10% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Hit % additional Physical Damage Reduction

(Body Armour) Dialla's Malefaction - grants 30% Quality for Socketed Gems, which grants an immense bonus to Dark Pact. The remaining Support Gems also get benefits from additional Quality or Levels. It grants no defensive value. Use Tainted Currency to Link and Colour it. You can roll over White Sockets, which are often being sold underpriced on the market.

Gems can be Socketed in this Item ignoring Socket Colour Gems Socketed in Red Sockets have +2 to Level Gems Socketed in Green Sockets have +30% to Quality Gems Socketed in Blue Sockets gain 100% increased Experience Has no Attribute Requirements

(Body Armour) Replica Dragonfang's Flight - a very powerful Amulet for this Build, improving the Levels of Skeletons by 3 grants more Damage than raising the Dark Pact Gem Levels itself. This Amulet also lowers your Attribute Requirements and increases your Reservation Efficiency.

+(10-16) to all Attributes +3 to Level of all Summon Skeletons Gems +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances (10-15)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills Items and Gems have (15-10)% reduced Attribute Requirements

Recommended anointment:  Doom Cast

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - at the start you can use a Rare Amulet with a bonus to all Skill Gem Levels, Cast Speed, and Critical Strike Multiplier. It should also grant maximum Life or missing Resistances and Attributes.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +50% total Elemental Resistance +1 to Level of all Skill Gems Optional affixes: +15% increased Cast Speed +30% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Attributes +1 to Level of all Chaos Skill Gems % increased Damage while Leeching

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars - you will need a perfect roll on the Quality modifier paired with the Dialla's Malefaction to reach maximum efficiency of the Dark Pact's Alternative Quality. With such a setup, all your previous investments into Skeleton's Life are much more efficient. If your Skeletons can't reach 20k maximum Life, it is not worth it.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10-20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

(Boots) Rare Boots - those are rather simple, look for high maximum Life, Movement Speed, and tons of Resistances or Attributes. They can also make you immune to Freeze, grant Onslaught on Kill, or help you Avoid Ailments.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed +60% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: 100% chance to Avoid being Frozen 25% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments Action Speed Attributes

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - here you should also look for maximum Life and Resistance. They can also grant you a lot of various increased Damage bonuses. You should use Eldritch Implicits that grant you a Chance to Unnerve Enemies and obtain a rather scarce source of Life Leech.

Min. requirements: +80 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes % increased Minion Damage % increased Damage while Leeching % increased Damage during any Flask Effect % chance to Unnerve Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit % of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life

(Belt) Rare Belt - here you can heavily focus on maximum Life and Resistances. It can also greatly improve your Flask sustain. As always, try to use the Stygian Vise Base.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: % increased Life Attributes Chaos Resistance Flask Charges gained/used

(Jewel) Rare Abyss Jewel - the Abyss Jewel put in the Stygian Vise can improve your and your Minion's Life, but also grant you Resistances, Cast Speed, or Critical Strike Multiplier.

Min. requirements: +30 to maximum Life Minions have 10% increased maximum Life Recommended affixes: Resistances Attributes % increased Cast Speed if you've dealt a Critical Strike Recently Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you

(Ring) Anathema - allows you to use much more Curses than usual, and generates Power Charges when you Cast Them directly. It also improves your overall Cast Speed. Try to look for useful Corrupted Implicits, as the original Energy Shield it provides is rather weak.

+(15-25) to maximum Energy Shield +(30-40) to Intelligence (10-15)% increased Cast Speed (10-20)% chance to gain a Power Charge when you Cast a Curse Spell Your Curse Limit is equal to your maximum Power Charges

(Ring) Rare Ring - your other Ring should provide maximum Life and some Resistances, but it can also greatly improve your Damage in various ways. It can increase your Chaos Damage, Cast Speed, or Critical Strike Multiplier; automate the Curse application, or improve the Life of your Minions if you use Minion-specific bases. The last case is only good if you use a Synthesised Base, as the base Resistances for your Minions are useless.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes % increased Chaos Damage Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit % increased Cast Speed #% to Critical Strike Multiplier

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - your Jewels can greatly improve your Damage and maximum Life. They are also great examples of the unusual modifier combinations being useful for this Build, as the Minion Life is never associated with Critical Strike Builds.

Min. requirements: increased maximum Life Recommended affixes: % to Critical Strike Multiplier for Spell Damage % to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Elemental Resistances Minions have #% increased maximum Life

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - on a Large Cluster Jewel you should look for 3 Notables that would boost your Chaos Damage. The Unspeakable Gifts Notable grants you a small Chance to Explode enemies you Kill, which is very useful if you don't automatically Curse Enemies for the sake of Profane Bloom.

Recommended modifiers:  1 Added Passive Skill is Unholy Grace 1 Added Passive Skill is Unwaveringly Evil 1 Added Passive Skill is Wicked Pall

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - use the specific combination of Minion Notables to greatly improve the maximum Life of your Skeletons, and thus your Damage. You can also use Critical Strike Notables if you severely lack that modifier.

Recommended modifiers:  1 Added Passive Skill is Blessed Rebirth 1 Added Passive Skill is Hulking Corpses 1 Added Passive Skill is Pressure Points 1 Added Passive Skill is Quick Getaway 1 Added Passive Skill is Basics of Pain

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - use modifiers that require Zealotry Aura to gain a lot of Damage from this Jewel. You can also find very useful modifiers that require Vitality or Precision, such as Flask Charges on Crit or Life Leech.

(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: (10-15)% increased Cast Speed while affected by Zealotry (0.8-1.2)% of Damage leeched as Life while affected by Vitality +(20-30)% to Critical Strike Multiplier while affected by Precision

(Jewel) Forbidden Flesh & Flame - with this combination of Unique Jewels you can borrow a very useful Notable from the Necromancer Ascendency. The Bone Barrier grants 20% More Minion Life, which means a lot of Damage for our Dark Pact.

Allocates Bone Barrier if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame Allocates Bone Barrier if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh

(Flask) Bottled Faith - it is a great offensive Flask for every Build. It creates a large Consecrated Ground effect upon use, and you will deal significantly more Damage against Enemies standing on it.

(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) Taste of Hate - very powerful defensive Flask. It reduces the Physical Damage you take from Hits by converting it to Cold Damage, which you can easily reduce with your Cold Resistance.

(10-15)% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Cold Damage during Effect Gain (10-15)% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage during effect 30% chance to Avoid being Chilled during Effect 30% chance to Avoid being Frozen during Effect

Suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding Removal Quicksilver with Cast Speed bonus Jade Flask with Evasion Rating bonus  Diamond Flask with increased Critical Strike Chance

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.