Hexblast
Occultist Build

Updated for Patch 3.19

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It's an Ignite version of a Hexblast Build for Occultist - Hexblast can Ignite from all damage sources, and with Blackflame Unique Ring, this damage will be "converted" to Chaos Damage. Stack modifiers for Damage over Time for Fire and Chaos - it is especially easy given that there are a lot of easily available Passives for both types of damage. You will play as Occultist - it has great synergy with Curses and Chaos Damage thanks to Withering presence, Malediction, and Profane Bloom. Hexblast works really good when its target enemy is Cursed, especially when the Curse is affected by Doom which comes from Hexes. You can have up to 40 Doom, and with Doomsday Keystone, it will be applied instantly when the effect ends if you cast it yourself, otherwise, it's 10 Doom per second - you can cast the Curses using Vixen's Entrapment Unique Gloves or Bane Skill, and Blasphemy Support to cast them as Auras. Hexblast's AoE can grow up by 120% and its Damage by 320% when the enemy is Hexed by a Curse with 40 Doom.

It's a 4 to 5k Life build with a lot of Armour, Elemental Resistances, Block Chance, high Chaos Resistance, Life Recoup, Regeneration, Recovery on Block, and Divine Shield Keystone with some Energy Shield. The build is very durable, it's unlikely to get one-shotted. Your Damage will be increased by a few Curses, a lot of Damage over Time mods on your gear and Passives Skill Tree, and good Staff - it's heavily recommended to use Cane of Kulemak with increased Chaos and Fire DoT. You won't need Fire Resistance Penetration since almost all of your Damage dealt to enemies will be Chaos Damage. A cheap version of the build can be easily achieved even in SSF, making it a good league starter.

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1. Gameplay

Smaller enemies can be killed with just Hexblasat, although you can target only one enemy with his Spell, when you link it with Ignite Proliferation Support the Ignite will spread to nearby enemies quickly dealing with large packs of monsters. For boss fights use your Wither Spell cast via Totems and apply the Curses, you can use Vixen's Entrapment to do it more efficiently. Recommended Curses are Despair, Punishment, Temporal Chains, and Enfeeble. The Auras and mana-reserving Spells should be Malevolence, Determination, Defiance Banner, a Blasphemous Curse, and Vitality at a low level. Use Molten Shell as a Guard Spell, and Flame Dash to increase your mobility.

This video was recorded on a level 92 Occultist wielding Martyr of Innocence

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Start with Holy Flame Totem and then switch to Armageddon Brand. After being able to cast three Curses, acquiring Blackflame, and after your 3rd Lab, you can start using Hexblast. Begin with default Fire Damage over Time, Burning, and Ignite Damage. You can use Wands, Sceptres, or a two-handed Staff. Use vendor Recipes and Essences for increased Spell Damage, Fire Damage, or Damage over Time.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Armageddon Brand setup
	Armageddon Brand - Brand Spell that attaches to an enemy and constantly summons Fire Meteors causing Ignite on Hit
	Combustion Support -higher chance to Ignite, more Fire Damage, and Lower Fire Resistance of your opponents
	Burning Damage Support - increases your Burning Damage
	Ignite Proliferation Support - causes Ignite to spread to nearby enemies, you deal more Fire Damage and Ignite Damage

Auras setup
	Anger - you deal additional Fire Damage with Spells and Attacks
	Clarity - use for faster Mana regeneration

Curses and Flame Dash setup
	Flammability - Curse lowering Fire Resistance of your enemies
	Despair - it increases Damage Over Time, adds Chaos Damage to Hits, and later will be used to reduce Chaos Resistance of your Cursed targets
	Flame Dash - useful movement Spell to dodge attacks and move faster

Bandits:

Kill all three bandits and be rewarded with two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

34 Points Passive Tree
Look for Spell Damage, Maximum Life, Brand Damage, and Fire Clusters
 

68 Points Passive Tree
Continue the trend of gathering Fire Damage, Maximum Life, and Damage over Time 

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - you deal more Damage, your Elemental Resistances are increased as well as all Attributes

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

Pyre - you gain more Cold and Fire Resistance, and have significantly increased Burning Damage

+(20-30)% to Cold Resistance +(25-35)% to Fire Resistance (60-80)% increased Burning Damage 40% of Cold Damage Converted to Fire Damage 10% increased Light Radius Ignited Enemies Killed by your Hits are destroyed

Goldrim - helmet granting a lot 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 - allows you to have a six-linked setup from the start

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

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

108 Points Final Passive Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels)
119 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Malediction
2. Void Beacon
3. Withering presence
4. Profane Bloom

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each
nearby Enemy, up to 8%

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

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Hexblast setup
	Hexblast - Hexblast is a Spell that can only target one enemy, you will be using it for boss fights and to run maps; to make it viable for clearing link it with Ignite Proliferation Support, or use Curse before Hexblast. Use the Divergent version for more damage.
	Burning Damage Support - your Burning Damage is increased significantly
	Deadly Ailments Support - Damage over Time is higher, but you deal less damage with Hits
	Added Chaos Damage Support - adds Chaos Damage, linked Skills deal increased Chaos Damage
	Swift Affliction Support - more DoT, but less duration for the Ignites you cause by Hexblast
	Ignite Proliferation Support - Ignites caused by Hexblast spread to nearby enemies, you deal more Fire and Ignite Damage

[UTILITY] Mana-reserving Spells setup
	Malevolence - an Aura to increase your Damage over Time and Skill Effect Duration
	Determination - your Armour is increased by 50%, and you gain an additional 2000 Armour at a high gem level
	Defiance Banner - you have even more Armour and Evasion Rating while reducing enemies' Critical Strike Chance, grants additional bonuses when placed
	Vitality - it regenerates your Life, keep it at a low level, you're going to need Mana to cast your Spells
	Enlighten Support - Lowers the Cost of Mana for Mana-reserving Spells

[UTILITY] Guard Spell
	Molten Shell - your Guard Spell that has a great scaling with Armour, it reduces the damage you take

[UTILITY] Blasphemous Aura setup
	Temporal Chains - lowers Action Speed and increases Curse Duration on the opponents
	Blasphemy Support - you should be able to have one Curse constantly up in a form of a Mana-reserving Spell, Temporal Chains is the best candidate for that

[UTILITY] Mobility setup
	Flame Dash - a regular Dash Spell to move faster and to dodge attacks
	Faster Casting Support - you can cast Flame Dash faster for even greater mobility

[UTILITY] Wither setup
	Wither - applies a stack of Debuff on the enemy causing it to take more Chaos Damage and reducing Movement Speed, enemies won't lose the Debuff if they're Ignited while you're using Blackflame
	Spell Totem - Wither is being cast automatically via Totems
	Multiple Totems Support - you can place more totems to stack the maximum number of Withered Debuff faster

[UTILITY] Despair Curse
	Despair - One of the best Curses for this build, you deal more Chaos Damage with Hits, more DoT, and enemies have lower Chaos Resistance

[UTILITY] Curse setup socketed in Vixen's Entrapment
	Increased Area of Effect Support - increases the AoE for Curses, if you're not using Vixen's Entrapment, put the  Despair Curse here
	Punishment - enemies receive much more Damage while at Low Health
	Enfeeble - enemies deal less damage and have lowered Accuracy Rating, you can alternatively use Vulnerability if you need more damage
	Impending Doom Support - A skill that deals damage when the Hex Curse Duration ends, if you're not using Vixen's Entrapment, use  Bane instead to apply all the linked Curses with just one Spell

6. Gear Setup

To increase your damage look for Chaos Resistance Penetration, Fire Damage, Chaos Damage, and Damage over Time - that's all that there is. You will need also Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, Armour, and Block Chance for survivability. This build requires Blackflame Unique Ring while all the other Unique Items listed here are heavily recommended. You will need at least 155 Strength for Determination Aura and Molten Shell, and 111 Dexterity for Swift Affliction Support Gem - look for these two Attributes on your gear.

Our recommended items will:

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

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - A Helmet with Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, and reduced Chaos Resistance for nearby opponents would be great

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life Nearby Enemies have -9% to Chaos Resistance +60% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Dexterity Armour Global Critical Strike Multiplier

Helmet enchantments: Hexbalst enchantment mods

(Weapon) Cane of Kulemak - This Unique Weapon has the biggest damage potential out of any other Rare ones, look for mods such as +3 to Level of Socketed Support Gems, Fire Damage over Time Multiplier, increased Chaos Damage, increased Fire Damage, and increased Skill Effect Duration

+20% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff (60–90)% increased Unveiled Modifier magnitudes Catarina's Veiled Prefix Veiled Suffix Veiled Prefix

(Weapon) Martyr of Innocence - It's hard to find a Cane of Kulemak that would be better than this weapon, it provides solid Fire Damage while being one of the cheapest Uniques

+18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff Grants Level 15 Vengeance Skill +(12-16)% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff 100% increased Fire Damage Adds (315-360) to (450-540) Fire Damage Battlemage Damage Penetrates 15% of Fire Resistance if you have Blocked Recently Immune to Freeze and Chill while Ignited

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Rare Body Armour allow you to potentially get more Life, Elemental Resistances, Energy Shield, Attributes, and to inflict an additional Curse

Min. requirements: +90 to Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: You can apply an additional Curse Maximum Life as Extra Energy Shield Attributes increased Area of Effect increased Maximum Life

(Body Armour) The Brass Dome - It requires 177 Strength and the upsides are one of the best of in the game: it grants an enormous amount of Armour and Maximum Elemental Resistances which are hard to come by, and you take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes; the only downside is that it reduces your Maximum Life by around 200 - 300

(350-400)% increased Armour +(1-5)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances Strength provides no bonus to Maximum Life Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes

(Body Armour) Doppelgänger Guise - This body Armour grants a meaningful buff while you're sane - less Physical Damage taken and a massive boost to Life Regeneration when Hit.

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 - choose Rare Boots if you need to increase your Ignite Damage and for more Maximum Life and potentially more Elemental Resistances

Min. requirements: +50 to maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed +50% to Elemental Resistances Ignites you inflict deal Damage 10% faster Optional affixes: chance to gain Onslaught o Kill You have Tailwind if you have dealt a Critical Strike Recently chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike

(Boots) Windshriek - besides the decent stats, these allow you to apply an additional Curse which is a really good trait

(200-250)% increased Armour +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances 25% increased Movement Speed (10-20)% increased Elemental Damage You can apply an additional Curse 60% increased Area of Effect of Hex Skills

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Apothecary Gloves with mods to increase your DoT can be a better option than the Unique Gloves in terms of Damage, Maximum, Life, and Resistances

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances 25% increased Damage over Time Optional affixes: Dexterity Fire Damage over Time multiplier

(Gloves) Vixen's Entrapment - with these Gloves on you will be able to cast three Curses with just one cast and apply an extra Curse on your enemies, a heavily recommended gear piece

Trigger Socketed Curse Skill when you cast a Curse Skill, with a 0.25 second Cooldown +(50-90) to maximum Energy Shield 0.2% of Spell Damage Leeched as Energy Shield for each Curse on Enemy You can apply an additional Curse Curse Skills have (10-20)% increased Cast Speed

(Belt) Rare Belt - a belt with increased Chaos Damage and regular defensive stats should do

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances 15% increased Chaos Damage Optional affixes: Attributes increased Maximum Life

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Try to get an Amulet with increased DoT Multiplier, and increased Maximum Doom. It's also a good place to look for Attributes, Maximum Life, and Resistances.

Min. requirements: 80 Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances 25% to Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Damage penetrates Chaos Resistances Hexes you inflict have +# to Maximum Doom Attributes

(Amulet) Solstice Vigil - you can have Temporal Chains as a Blasphemous Aura for free which is a big upside, it also has some decent stats and Shaper's Presence for your Skill Effect to expire slower

+(10-16) to all Attributes (30-40)% increased Damage +(50-70) to maximum Life Regenerate (8-10) Mana per second Temporal Chains has no Reservation if Cast as an Aura Gain Shaper's Presence for 10 seconds when you kill a Rare or Unique Enemy

(Amulet) Impresence (Chaos) - Impresence can allow you to use the Blasphemous Despair Curse for free - a significant upside when you're struggling with Mana sustain and Reservation Efficiency.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (30-40)% increased Damage over Time Adds (17-19) to (23-29) Chaos Damage +(50-70) to maximum Life +(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance Despair has no Reservation if Cast as an Aura Gain Maddening Presence for 10 seconds when you Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy

Recommended Anointments: Dirty Techniques

(Ring) Rare Ring - it's simply an increase to your Maximum Life, Elemental resistances, and Attributes, it's highly recommended to look for a Synthesised Implicit mod to make your Ignite deal damage faster, as is the case with a mod on your Rare Boots

Min. requirements: +80% to Elemental Resistances +80 to Maximum Life Ignites you inflict deal damage 12% Faster (Synthesised Implicit) Optional affixes: Damage over Time Multiplier Attributes Non-Channelling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost (crafted)

(Ring) Blackflame - Obligatory Item, it makes your Ignite Damage Deal Chaos Damage, note that it is not a damage conversion, it works only on Ignite Damage, not on all Fire Damage. Your Wither won't expire as long as you're hitting enemies, and it grants some additional Resistances and Damage

+(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance +(8–12)% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier 50% reduced Ignite Duration on Enemies (10–15)% chance to Ignite Enemies Ignited by you take Chaos Damage instead of Fire Damage from Ignite Withered does not expire on Enemies Ignited by you +(20–25)% to Fire and Chaos Resistances

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - these should increase your Maximum Life and Damage over Time, you can easily fix your Resistances and Attributes with these Jewels too

Recommended affixes: 7% Maximum Life Elemental Resistances Damage over Time for Fire and Chaos Attributes

(Jewel) Intuitive Leap - put it in the socket near Instability and allocate up to four useful Notables

Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - increased Damage over Time while Affected by malevolence is the best mod to seek, additionally, look for Determination, and Vitality mods

(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 Jewels - it's an optional addition to your build to grant you more damage if you happen to stumble upon a base with Fire or Chas Damage

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Drive the Destruction 1 Added Passive Skill is Cremator 1 Added Passive Skill is Smoking Remains 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Burning Bright

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - use this Flask for more Armour and Block Chance, both very useful stats

+1500 to Armour +(8-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Flask effect +(4-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Freeze immunity/removal Mana Flask with random ailment removal Granite Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal Quicksilver Flask with random ailment removal or increased Movement 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.