Life Recoup Forbidden Rite
Pathfinder Build

Updated for Patch 3.22

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Forbidden Rite is a Spell characterized by its self-damaging property. You shoot Chaos Projectiles but with each cast, you're also dealing Chaos Damage to your Character that is equal to 40% of Maximum Life and 25% of Maximum ES. To mitigate it you're forced to invest in survivability. Chaos Resistance, redirecting Hit Damage to be taken as DOT/Fire/Cold, and Damage Recoup are your primary defensive layers. The best way to Recoup Life is to equip Stasis Prison Body Armour for a complete 100% Recoup over 4 seconds. To make a Hit damage you in a more gradual manner, use Progenesis Flask so that a quarter of it will be taken as DOT. These two effects combined will nearly guarantee complete immunity against multiple smaller Hits, but to prevent getting one-shotted you still need a big Life pool. You should also get some Block Chance, Spell Suppression Chance, and Evasion.

The Type of Damage you will specialize in is Poison, it's easy to scale it up while being Tanky as it takes some time to ramp up. Chaos Damage dealt by Forbidden Rite is a convenient feature, but it still requires a 100% Chance to Poison, mostly gathered from the Skill Tree and Divergent Herald of Agony. As you're reliant on Flasks like Progenesis, picking up Pathfinders is an obvious choice. Master Toxicists Keystone increases Poison Damage and improves clear speed. Nature's Boon helps keep Flask Charges active constantly - it will be very important. Nature's Adrenaline increases Movement Speed, and Master Surgeon upgrades Flasks to remove Bleeding and recover 6% of Maximum Life when using any of them. It's overall one of the tankiest builds in the game with decent damage.

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1. Gameplay

Use Forbidden Rite to deal damage. Another Forbidden Rate CwDT setup is used to gain Onslaught and increase the overall DPS. Another Cast when Damage Taken setup is used to automatically cast Temporal Chains and Despair. These will be triggered quite often as the character is taking a lot of damage constantly. To enhance mobility use Flame Dash. For Auras use Divergent Herald of Agony, Malevolence, Purity of Elements, and level 1 Vitality. Another Aura, linked to Divine Blessing, is Haste.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

A compelling leveling guide for this build can be found here: Ranger Leveling Guide with Bows/DoT. It's a build that uses Bows and Toxic Rain, but you're unable to level up with Forbidden Rite anyway, you need to prepare your gear beforehand.

Bandits:

you should kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

31 Points Skill Tree
Start with Maximum Life and Chaos Damage over Time

64 Points Skill Tree
Pick more Chaos Damage, DOT, Maximum Life, Charisma, and some other utility nodes

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

120 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Items, Unique, or Cluster Jewels)
120 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

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

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Arakaali: 10% reduced Damage taken from Damage Over Time

Minor God: Soul of Ralakesh: Moving while Bleeding doesn't cause you to take extra Damage; 25% reduced Physical Damage over Time taken while moving

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Forbidden Rite setup
	Forbidden Rite - The primary source of damage, it deals some Chaos Damage on Imapact and tons of Poison Damage.
	Void Manipulation Support - Supported Skill deals more Chaos Damage, but it's unable to deal any Elemental Damage.
	Spell Echo Support - Spell is being repeated with a much faster Cast Rate but lower damage, resulting in overall more DPS.
	Deadly Ailments Support - Use it for much more Damage with Ailments (Poison) and less Hit Damage.
	Unbound Ailments Support - Ailments last longer and deal more Damage.
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - Fire more Projectiles increasing your clear speed.

[UTILITY] CwDT setup
	Forbidden Rite - In this setup it's used mostly to speed up the CwDT setups and other minor improvements. It Hits enemies dealing low damage. Keep it at level 7.
	Purifying Flame - Divergent version will increase the Damage Taken for enemies on Consecrated Ground which it creates. Keep it at level 1.
	Cast when Damage Taken - Linked skills will be triggered automatically after your character takes a specific amount of damage. Keep it at level 1.

[UTILITY] Aura setup
	Purity of Elements - Use it to get Elemental Resistances, Elemental Ailment Immunity, and some optional Watcher's Eye modifiers.
	Herald of Agony - Divergent version will provide you with the necessary 20% Chance to Poison on Hit.
	Malevolence - An Aura for more Damage over Time and increased Skill Effect Duration.
	Enlighten Support - Linked Skills have increased Mana Reservation Efficiency.

[UTILITY] CwDT Curse setup
	Temporal Chains - Poison will last longer on enemies affected by this Cursse. It lowers Action Speed too.
	Despair - Cursed enemies have less Chaos Resistance.
	Cast when Damage Taken - Keep it at level 20.

[UTILITY] Haste setup
	Vaal Haste - Haste is used for increased Movement and Cast Speed. Use Vaal Haste, and link it with Divine Blessing to make a Temporary Aura out of regular Haste.
	Divine Blessing Support - Haste doesn't reserve Mana permanently, but it still costs Mana to Cast and have it for the next 10 or so seconds. Use the Divergent version if you struggle with Mana.
	Inspiration Support - Use the Divergent version of it to lower the Mana Cost of Haste. With a proper Flask, it should cost little to no Mana at all.
	Increased Duration Support - Increases the Duration of Haste and Vaal Haste.

[MOBILITY] Flame Dash
	Flame Dash - A mobility Skill used to move faster and dodge attacks.

[UTILITY] Vitality
	Vitality - Use level-1 Vitality if you have a particular mod on a Watcher's Eye for instant Life on Hit. If not, use a Guard Spell such as  Steelskin. You can also pick the  Withering Step.

[UTILITY] Despair
	Despair - This Despair is being cast manually to reap the benefits of doing so granted by The Balance of Terror, it will get you Wither stacks on Hit.

6. Gear Setup

The build has some boxes to check before being playable. First, be sure that Forbidden Rite doesn't kill you, it will require you to have Stasis Prison with Rings for Life Recoup. Second, be sure that your Flasks are up at all times - these will lower the Mana Cost of Skills to make the build playable, grant resistances, and mitigate tons of incoming damage. You can then focus on Damage. The Skill Tree and Skill Gems cover up to 90% of Chance to Poison on Hit, the remaining 10% can be gathered from a Weapon, Jewels, and Eldrtich implicit on Gloves. You can scale up this Poison Damage by increasing the Gem Level of Forbidden Rite, or modifiers like Chaos DOT Multiplier, Poison Duration, and Poison deals damage faster. For defenses, seek Maximum Life, Spell Suppression, and Evasion or Block Chance. With Dying Sun and Taste of Hate, you're the most vulnerable to Lighting and Physical Damage, you can find a way to gain Endurance Charges, but redirecting damage to be taken as another type of Damage is by far the most valid option. To reduce the Mana Cost of Skills invest in prefixes on your Jewelry and get some Mana Recouped on Jewels. Don't forget about Attributes like Intelligence and Strength.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - The Helmet is a gear piece where you should get Life, Resistances, and Spell Suppression. You can also get the Eldritch implicit or regular affixes to redirect Physical Damage to be taken as Elemental, as you have little to no Armour, but specific Flasks instead.

Min. requirements: +80% to Elemental Resistances +70 to maximum Life Optional affixes: Nearby enemies have -#% to Chaos Resistance Spell Suppression Chance Mana Reservation Efficiency #% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire/Cold Damage

Helmet enchantments: Forbidden Rite fires an additional Projectile Curse/Aura enchantment

(Weapon) Rare Wand/Dagger/Sceptre - The best Weapon would have two mods to increase your Forbidden Rite Skill Gem by two, even when socketed in Body Armour. You can also seek Poison Damage, Chaos Damage over Time, Cast Speed, or Poison Chance.

Min. requirements: +1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems 100% increased Chaos/Poison/DOT Damage Optional affixes: +1 to Level of all Intelligence Spell Skill Gems Damage over Time Multiplier Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier increased Poison Damage Chance to Poison Cast Speed

(Off-hand) Rare Shield - Intelligence-based Shield can also increase the Gem Level of Forbidden Rite by 1, increase your Maximum Elemental Resistances, and get you more Life, Resistances, Block Chance, and Suppression.

Min. requirements: +80 to Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Chaos Resistance +1 to Level of all Chaos Spell Skill Gems Maximum Elemental Resistances

(Body Armour) Stasis Prison - It's a very important element of the build, as the more Life Recoup you have, the higher your Life restoration capabilities are. This one is by far the best option.

+(20-25) to maximum Mana (140-160)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +(80-100) to maximum Life Temporal Rift has no Reservation (80-100)% of Damage taken Recouped as Life Debuffs on you expire (80-100)% faster

(Body Armour) Doppelgänger Guise - It prevents a lot of Physical and Chaos Damage taken while Sane. As you have almost no Armour, and Forbidden Rite deals Chaos Damage, it can keep you alive.

Grants Level 20 Unhinge Skill (40-60)% more Critical Strike Chance while Insane Enemies Killed by your Hits are destroyed while Insane (40-30)% less Physical and Chaos Damage Taken while Sane Regenerate 10% Life over one second when Hit while Sane

(Boots) Rare Boots - Boots should get you Life, Resistances, Attributes, and Spell Suppression. You're already quite fast, but increased Movement Speed is always good to have. For Eldritch implicits, get ones for an increased action Speed and to make your Poisons deal damage faster.

Min. requirements: +50% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Spell Suppression Chance Attributes Chance to gain Onslaught on Kill

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Use Gloves for, again, Life, Suppression, Resistances. You can also stumble upon Cast Speed, DOT modifiers, and Attributes. Chance to Poison on Hit can be added with Eldritch orbs.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances Cast Speed Optional affixes: Attributes increased Damage over Time Spell Suppression Chance increased Damage during any Flask Effect (crafted)

(Belt) Rare Belt - A belt is extremely important. You have to have your Flasks up at all times, and as Mageblood would solve this issue, it's often too expensive and cannot use Unique Flasks. There are three Suffixes and one Prefix to help you with Flask sustain/increased effect, you probably won't need all of them, but be sure that your Flasks will last long enough to defeat bosses. Micro-Distillery Belt can be useful, but it's not mandatory.

Min. requirements: +40 to maximum Life 25% increased Flask Charges gained 12% reduced Flask Charges used 25% increased Flask Effect Duration increased Flask Charge Recovery Rate Flasks applied to you have 10% increased Effect Optional affixes: Strength Resistances

(Amulet) The Eternal Struggle  - It's a lot of Attributes, Global Defences, and it Kills enemies even earlier than Culling Strike Support with the right implicit. Try to get ones for increased Duration of Ailments, increased Chaos Damage, Chaos DOT Multiplier, and increased Effect of Auras.

<<Random Searing Exarch implicit>> <<Random Eater of Worlds implicit>> +(20-50) to Strength +(20-50) to Dexterity +(20-50) to Intelligence (10-15)% increased Global Defences Critical Strikes inflict Malignant Madness if The Eater of Worlds is dominant Kill Enemies that have 15% or lower Life on Hit if The Searing Exarch is dominant

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars  - If you have Ashes you can definitely use it in this build for more Damage, some Attributes, and Mana Reservation Efficiency.

+(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

(Amulet) Replica Dragonfang's Flight  - Look for a model that increases the Gem Level of Forbidden Rite by 3, it's like having an additional Empower, which needless to say it's superb.

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

(Amulet) Rare Amulet  - If you've decided to use a Rare Amulet, be sure it's a good one. Try to get two modifiers that would increase the Gem level of Forbidden Rite by two in total. That's "of All" and "Intelligence" Skill Gems. Other great modifiers are increased Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier, and some basic ones for defenses.

Min. requirements: 50 Maximum Life Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier +2 to Level of Forbidden Rite Optional affixes: Attributes Resistances

Recommended Anointments: Corruption Dirty Techniques Toxic Strikes

(Ring) Rare Ring - Use two Rare Rings with a Prefix for reduced Mana Cost of Skill on both of them, you can craft this one after unlocking it first. More Maximum Life, Resistances, and Attributes will be great, but another very important mod is a Suffix for Life Recoup - up to 18% each with the right Catalysts.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances 15% of Damage taken Recouped as Life Optional affixes: Attributes Non-Channelling Skills have -8 to Total Mana Cost (crafted) increased Cast Speed

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - There are plenty of suitable affixes on Jewels. You will probably use two or maybe up to five of them. Look for Chance to Poison if you don't have it, Attributes, Life, Resistances, Cast Speed, and DOT mods for Poison.

Recommended affixes: Elemental or Chaos Resistances Damaging Ailments deal damage faster increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills Attributes Poison Damage Chance to Poison on Hit increased Maximum Life Damage over Time Multiplier Damage taken Recouped as Mana

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - Transform one of your Keystones, preferably Supreme Ego, into The Traitor with a Balbala variant of Brutal Restraint. It requires you to have at least one of your Flask Slots empty, but if you're using a Micro-Distillery Belt, it's already a requirement. It's not necessarily needed, but extremely useful in most cases.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of Balbala Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) The Balance of Terror - On this Jewel, you want only one Despair-related modifier that will make it possible to inflict Wither on Hit after casting Despair manually. It's very convenient.

+(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances <2-3 random curse modifiers>

(Jewel) Forbidden Flesh & Flame - Some of the Keystones you can borrow from a Raider are Way of the Poacher for Frenzy Charges, Avatar of the Chase for a better Onslaught, or Deadeye's Gathering Winds for Tailwind.

Requires Class <Random Character Class> Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame Requires Class <Random Character Class> Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Fesh

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - The best modifier here is Vitality's Life-on-Hit, but Purity of Elements has some of the best ones too. Chaos Resistance or Redirecting Physical Damage to be taken as Elemental Damage are great.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Use two Large Chaos Cluster Jewels for more Chaos Damage. We recommend only one Unwaveringly Evil and Touch of Cruelty Notables.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Unspeakable Gifts 1 Added Passive Skill is Unwaveringly Evil 1 Added Passive Skill is Wicked Pall 1 Added Passive Skill is Touch of Cruelty 1 Added Passive Skill is Unholy Grace

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - Medium Cluster Jewels can once again increase your Chaos Damage over Time, but getting the Flask-related ones may be more useful. Spiked Concoction is pretty much a must-have - it increases Flask Charges gained by 20% and the effect of Flasks by 10%.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Peak Vigour 1 Added Passive Skill is Spiked Concoction 1 Added Passive Skill is Fasting 1 Added Passive Skill is Eternal Suffering 1 Added Passive Skill is Flow of Life 1 Added Passive Skill is Brewed for Potency

(Flask) Progenesis - Progenesis is used to take 25% less Damage from Hits, that's on top of all of your other defenses. You will postpone this unavoidable damage, but due to Life Recoup, you will regenerate it faster than it deals damage to you.

+35% to Chaos Resistance (20-10)% reduced Charges per use (-35-35)% increased Duration When Hit during effect, 25% of Life loss from Damage taken occurs over 4 seconds instead

(Flask) Dying Sun - Use it to take less Fire Damage and to fire more Projectiles. Keep in mind that the increased Flask Effect can nearly double the effects here, that's why redirecting Damage to Fire or Cold (with Taste of Hate) is so great.

+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken (125-150)% increased Charges per use (60-40)% less Duration (10-20)% increased Area of Effect during Effect Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles during Effect

(Flask) Taste of Hate - Tons of Cold Resistance, less Cold Damage Taken, and redirecting Physical Damage to be taken as Cold.

+50% to Cold Resistance 20% less Cold Damage taken (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

Other suggested Flasks: Quicksilver Flask with increased Effect/Reduced Duration and Reduced Mana Cost of Skills Topaz Flask with increased Cast Speed

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.