For Path of Exile: Heist league, we decided to put few starter builds for any player wanting to start the league, with maximum efficiency. The goal of a league starter build is not to be the best at anything, but rather be the cheapest build to start with in a new league, where you have no currency, no hard-to-get Uniques, nor any complex mechanics. ThisDoom Vortex Occultist Buildwill aim to be easy enough to obtain, simple to scale in terms of damage, and fast to level up. Perfect as a starter build, or an option for those wanting to try their hand a curse stacking.
Path of Exile Heist Doom Vortex Occultist Build
For thisPath of Exile Heist build, our aim is to reach endgame as quickly as possible, and start making currency by doing high level content before most other players, even if you are prefer a more casual playstyle. This build will be best suited to for a Heist League playstyle for 3.12, and provides players a way to to enjoy all the new content without restrictions.
About The Vortex/Cold Snap Occultist
Before we begin our build, let’s talk about the Vortex/Cold Snap Occultist. It has been a classic league starter build for years, and it has evolved several times over the course of the leagues. It has several variants, but in this Path of Exile guide, I’m going to go into detail about a unique iteration of it that will make it perfect for the latest league. Let’s move on to the latest changes and how it will affect your playstyle.
Expansion 3.12 Changes
The changes to curses, and the introduction of Doom in the 3.12 expansion, makes a good utility for cooldown of builds. At endgame, Vortex has a cooldown of almost 1 second, and Cold Snap’s cooldown lasts for 3. This leaves us a good space to self-cast one curse, supported by Impending Doom, to cause on-death explosions. Using “Vixen Entrapment” unique gloves, it triggers three more socketed curses, with Occultist allow stack a maximum four curses.
By having Despair as one of our curses, we get the benefit of increasing both Vortex damage, and explosion damage from Impending Doom. It increases DoT taken by enemies, and reduces their chaos resistance. This allows a fluid playstyle by using one curse at range, rush towards them with Phasing Flask, and drop an instant Vortex on their head without stopping. Occasionally, we use Cold Snap to get a Frenzy charge, and freeze some mobs.
On bosses, the curses stay for a long time, allowing us to stack other Cold DoT Spells such as Creeping Frost.
Doom Vortex Occultist Build: Gems and Links
Below you will find good combinations for Links and Gems that make theBuildfunction for each Skill you’ll be using. I’ve organized them by Skill, so that you can see the progression you might take with each in order to achieve an optimal setup.
You will level withCreeping Frostand keep adding new spells and support gems as you level up.
Our main damage skill, and in late game, it casually becomes our utility spell as well. You would run between packs, dropping
Vortexover them, and just leave them to their doom. It’s an instant spell, so you may use it simultaneously with any other spell, with no delay. It could be used on RMB, and you hold it for infinite casts every 1 second.
The Vortex leaves chilling ground upon cast, which scaled by increasing cold Ailments effectiveness. This helps exploiting the Combination ofBonechillandHypothermiasupport gems, to scale your damage based on chill effect. It’s also a defensive mechanic on its own, by reducing action speed of enemies. Reducing enemy action speed inVortexbuild, and we use other sources to reduce it even further. That’s how we can spearhead through most enemies without paying them any attention, which is exactly what makes a good build to perform Heists with dangerous guards behind well defended narrow doors and corridors.
Note that Vortex can only be cast on your feet, and around you, so you need to be in melee range. Not only that, but right in the middle of packs to get them all into one Vortex. This is achievable with “Phasing” to remove collision with monsters, and go right through them. So don’t go into packs without your Quartz Flask up for Phasing.
You can put
Swift Affliction in place of
Hypothermia, and you would get slightly more damage on all cases. But I still prefer Hypothermia over it, for the improved chill and freeze chance, and the longer duration of the skill. You can also use
Concentrated Effect in place of
Increased Area of Effect during the highest endgame bosses such as Sirus, or the Shaper. These encounters needs raw single target damage, and not coverage.
Creeping Frost & Cold Snap
Creeping Frostis the first Cold DoT skill you get in Act One, and is a projectile spell. Gather monsters, cast one Frost Bomb, and a couple ofCreeping Frost, then move away. They will die shortly. In later levels, you only use it after applying all other DoTs on Tough Unique enemies, to bring them down faster.
You can placeCreeping FrostinRime GazeUnique Helmet, and link withIntensifyto compensate for AoE. This way, you also get huge damage modifiers if you cast it three times.
In the mapping scenario, with larger groups of monsters, the projectile fromCreeping Frostcollides with the first enemy in its path. This prevents it from reaching the middle of packs quickly, unless we invest in several projectile modifiers, which is useless for our other spells. That’s why we use it for single target with huge life only.
Cold Snapon the other hand, casts exactly at where you place your mouse pointer, even at the edge of the screen behind enemy mobs. So we are more likely to useCold Snapin the middle of larger mobs, during mapping and general clearing. It’s important to chill them, and thin their numbers, before we rush in with our Vortex. It also generates Frenzy charges for easy speed and damage buff. It can share the same links withCreeping Frostin Helmet sockets.
Occultist Ascendancy have a great support for Curse skills, and with the rework introduced in 3.12 Heist expansion, it only grows stronger. Now if you hand-cast a curse, it gains “Doom” per second, up to a maximum, increasing overall effect of the curse. This goes well with Damage over Time spells, and synergies with the Doom explosion that happen upon enemy death from “Impending Doom” support. The longer an enemy takes to die, the longer the Doom effect grows, and the stronger your damage plus explosion damage becomes.
The explosions fromImpending Doomis chaos damage, which is weak in a Vortex Build. However, multiple explosions from multiple enemies overlap on same target(s). We can also increase explosions damage by usingDespairas our 4th Curse, as it helps both: damage over time fromVortex, and chaos damage fromImpending Doom.
Because of curse limit, in early game, we cast one curse. We need this to be the most offensive curse, to cause most damage. This makeFrostbitean absolute must. But at endgame, we goo deeper in more dangerous content, and increase our curse limit. So we switch to hand-cast a defensive spell, and trigger our offensive spell through Unique Gloves. The Defensive spell I recommend casting isTemporal Chains, to reduce enemy action speed further, and make debuffs on them last longer. It’s useful to be used at range, before diving through packs of enemies, and it become more beneficial with Doom effect.
Hand Cast curse
Triggered Curses (In Vixen’s Entrapment Gloves):
Frost Bomb
We useFrost Bombto debuff enemies with Cold Exposure that applies -25% to Cold Resistance to enemies. During earlier leveling, it goes well withSpell Cascadesupport, to cover larger areas. However, in endgame, we place it in a “trigger wand” and automate it entirely.
Flame dash
We useFlame Dashas a movement spell, and it’s an easy way to gainArcane Surgebuff, so we only need these two links.
Storm Brand & Steelskin
As damage over time is degeneration, and not a hit, this build don’t have a reliable way to perform “hits” on enemies. We fix this byTriggeringStorm Brand, a spell that attach itself to enemy, and keep hitting them multiple times. Also chaining between several enemies. Our hits don’t do any noticeable damage, but we need them to get one critical strike every few seconds. This critical hit triggerElemental Overloadfrom passive tree, to get 40% more damage multiplier for 8 seconds. So keep an eye onElemental Overloadand always verify you have Storm Brand to trigger it.
The easy way to trigger Storm Brand in early game is a low levelCast when Damage Takengem, withIncreased Critical Strikesupport. But later in game, we removeIncreased Critical Striketo save sockets, and place Storm Brand in a “trigger Wand”.
Steelskin is a buff that takes a portion of damage inflicted on you, then expire. We use to increase survivability.
This build have really huge arsenal of buffs and Auras to choose from, and mana is only a small limitation. You can useEssence WormUnique Ring to have one Aura for free, then you have all your mana available for other buffs. The true limitation is the number of sockets, and how many support and utility gems you are willing to sacrifice to gain permanent aura. The most impactful Aura isMalevolence, and that’s what we place inEssence Worm,then we either go offensive withHatredandClarity, or full defensive withVitality,Flesh and Stone, andArctic Armour. I recommend defensive if you are playing Heist, it smooths gameplay, and make Heists manageable. The build already have enough damage to go through T16 with small concern.
Frost Shield
This skill is an optional defensive option, if you can afford the extra socket. It drains your Energy Shield to create a dome with higher life than what it drained. This dome takes a portion of damage done to you, until depleted. This mechanic is useful in certain situations, with dangerous bosses or very crowded confined areas. It’s a good way to use your Energy Shield prior to engaging enemies, and can be exploited in Heist doorways.
Tempest Shield
Another defensive option with a “trigger Wand”, you can use with Storm Brand or instead of it. It passively grants block chance for attacks and spells, which is doubled byGlancing Blows,and also lashes at enemies when you block their damage.
Skill Tree Progression / Path of Building / Ascendancy / Bandits
In this section we’ll take a look at where you will need to place points into your Skill Tree to make this Build function, as well as in what order works best for maximum efficiency. Let’s begin with where to place points throughout the First Chapter.
First Labyrinth (43 points)
When placing points we start at the Witch area, going through spell damage nodes towards “Arcanist’s Dominion”, then we turn right for “Heart and Soul”, “Deep Wisdom” and rest of life and mana nodes. Upwards through area of effect nodes and to “Cruel Preparation”, then turn right to get all cold damage nodes in “Breath of Rime” branch, and stop there for now.
Back to Arcanist’s Dominion, go left from there towards “Quick recover” wheel, for early mana regeneration and life. And make sure to pair it with Clarity Aura to go through the levels smoothly. Go upwards to gain “Elemental Overload”, and left to get “Retribution”, “Discipline and Training”, “Holy Dominion”, and “Light of Divinity”. This path is the easiest way to get both life and damage early on, before we go down the long path in next phase.
Second Labyrinth (63 points)
The goal here to fulfil life and block chance nodes that require a long travel in west part of tree. From “Holy Dominion” we cross to “Devotion” and adjacent life nodes, then get two Strength points down to “Glancing Blows”. Take entire wheel of “Sanctuary” and pair it with a good Shield in your off hand, be prepared to use a shield from now on, for good defensive and offensive bonuses.
Go down, and fill the “Tireless” Wheel, and spend three more points towards “Unwavering Stance” which make you immune to stuns, so you can never be stopped by enemies.
Third Labyrinth (Level 70 with 93 points)
Find shortest way to “Constitution”, and take the jewel socket on your way. Place a rare jewel with life and damage there, or simple putFluid motionjewel to get massive Dexterity boost, which is required to level up some of your gems.
From beneath “Breath of Rime” branch, take the whole path to the right. Get “Whispers of doom” wheel, and keep going right to get “Written in Blood” node, “Arcane swiftness” wheel, and “Fingers of Frost Wheel”. These nodes gives huge damage bonus, especially “Arcane swiftness” which can grant up to 75% increased spell damage. Based on the total block chance you have. You get additional curse from Whispers of Doom, so use a Vixen’s Entrapment gloves by the time you allocates it. This gets you full benefit from your curses.
Get “Mystic Bulwark” for additional chance to block spells, and increased mana regeneration. Then take the rest of the wheel and get “Prodigal Perfection”, for more spell damage. “Prodigal Perfection” gives huge mana bonus, which is better than “reduced mana reservation” nodes. Because of how “Vitality” reserves flat mana, not a percentage, increasing mana pool result in more unreserved mana.
Final Labyrinth (Level 90 with 113 points)
For final Labyrinth I prefer using Cluster jewels rather than taking normal passive skills, they are more flexible and gives strong buffs. I take the jewel socket wheel next to “Whispers of Doom”, and place a Large Cluster Jewel in it. Any dps jewel can work, as long as you get with 8 passives total, with three of them being good Notables. I personally rolled “Burden Projection”, “Conjured wall”, and “Essence Rush” on standard spell damage Jewel, and it was good enough for all content.
Then we need a Medium Cluster Jewel with “Cold Damage Over Time Multiplier “, which can be strong on its own, but you’re able to also roll two stronger Notables on them. Like “Brewed for Potency” and “Exposure Therapy”, or any stronger option available to you.
I prefer using the remaining two jewel sockets for normal jewels with life, resistances, and some damage. then using excessive passive points on Constitution wheel, to get more life. If you like to push character over level 90, keep getting more life and jewel sockets, and that’s it.
Path of Building
If you need exact specifics of the build, you can copy and import this link in the offline tool “Path of Building” to see the entire character build. Or Open the POE Planner link for an online character planner.
Link of 3.11 build: https://pastebin.com/nvhdjzjv
POE Planner Link (For direct view from mobile):www.poeurl.com/c3RP
Ascendancy andBandits
Occultist has a very strong synergy with Cold spells, and the use of Curses, with very strong defensive bonuses against hit damage. We don’t utilize multiple curses until endgame though, so we spend Ascendancy points on Cold nodes first. Start with “Void Beacon”, then go for “Frigid Wake”. These nodes will reduce enemy cold and chaos resistances and their life regeneration. On top of that, it renders you immune to Freeze and Chill, gives you huge cold damage over time multiplier, and the chance to freeze enemies, plus cause them to deal reduced damage. Safe to say is has many great benefits.
For the next point we will get “Profane Bloom” to curse hexproof enemies, and make some enemies explode upon death. This explosion stacks with"Impending Doom”, and its effect increased by “Despair” curse. For the final point in our Ascendancy, we get to use “Malediction” which causes enemy to deal even less damage, and take more damage. It also gives small additional chaos damage to our hits and explosions, to smooth out clearing huge packs. And it open up a 4th curse on enemies.
For Bandits we kill them all for two passive points.
Doom Vortex Occultist Build: Gear
Below you will find some recommendations for weapons, armor and accessories you can get to better utilize the build to good efficiency early and late in the league.
For league starter builds with a very limited budget, you don’t need to plan around expensive and hard to get items. Your aim is to grab the easiest to get weapons to make this build function, and go from there. You will always use a shield in your off hand, which can be a rare Energy Shield based Shield, or a Unique Shield with some special stats.
Use a Rare shield with +1 to all cold spell skills and some defensive stats, or buyLioneye’s Remorse,orKaltensoulshield withCrystal Vaultchest. The other option is to useZeel’s Amplifierfor pure damage bonus and increased area of effect. A stat which allow us to replace “Increase Area of Effect” support gem with a better damage support.
The ultimate choice for shields in life based builds isThe Surrender,which gives a huge life bonus, huge block chance, massive armor, and insane life recovery on block. It’s not necessary, but consider it as a final chase item if you want to push this build over the limit, and not just a starter build.
For a main hand, we use a rare Wand or Sceptre, with “+1 to all cold spell skills”, cold damage over time multiplier, and some spell damage. It’s all you need until endgame, then bench-craft “Trigger socketed spells when you use skills” on your weapon. This modifier allow you to trigger three spells automatically, so you have less buttons to press. The three spells I use with my trigger weapon are “Frost Bomb”, “Tempest Shield”, and “Storm Brand”.
Armor and Accessories
Use any chest with six links until red maps, then get aCrystal Vaultfor all around defense. It’s a cheap option that can carry you through the entire Atlas up to T16 and low tier Awakener. Which is enough for a starter build. However, you may useBelly of The Beastfor pure life, or a rare chest with useful Redeemer influence modifiers.
Rime Gazeis a super cheap helmet, it’s a great choice from start to end. The only superior choice is perfectly crafted rare Helmet with Redeemer influence, and both defensive and offensive modifiers.
Get Boots with highest movement speed possible, and useVixen’s Entrapmentfor Gloves slot. Put all of your extra curses on the gloves for auto catsing them.
For Accessories, we resort to rare Amulet and one rare ring, to cap our resistances and get as much life as we can. We can useDarkness Enthronedbelt with perfect two jewels with life, resistances, and damage. Otherwise, use Stygian Vise with one jewel.
Use a Quicksilver Flask from start to finish, preferably with Increased movement speed during Flask effect, or increased duration. Then pair it with Quartz Flask for Phasing, this one is a must for our playstyle. Then pick a life Flask of your choice, and Enduring Eternal Mana Flask. For the final slot, useRumi’s Concoction,or a rare Granite Flask. In all cases, make sure to have Bleed, Poison and Ignite immunity on your flasks, also preferably, a curse immunity.
Typically,Soul of Arakaalito cover the Ailments you are not immune to, such as shock, and non-ailment DoT. If you take damage over time (from poison for example), and stop taking that damage by using your immunity flask, you will trigger a buff with 50% increased recovery rate for life and Energy Shield. This is great for sustaining high damage over a period of time, which fits more into our playstyle.
For Minor Pantheon, I’d go withSoul of Abberath.Thus, ignite become less dangerous, and burning ground become beneficial rather than harmful.
Final Tips
Doom Vortex build is not only a starter build, but a build with lot of potential. If built right, it can challenge even the toughest encounters the game throws at you. Whether it’s a deep Delve, a Unique synthesis boss, or a high end pure Breachstones. In worst case encounters, you don’t have to stop and attack or cast at enemies. This allows for greater mobility, with Vortex being an instant cast. If survival is prioritized, you can keep dancing around bosses holding Left and Right mouse buttons together, or bind Vortex to left mouse button to spam on cooldown. The freedom to move all the time is priceless in endgame encounters.
Push DPS For Your Secondary Skills
If you decide to push for the best gear in game, consider high end items likeCrest of Desireunique Helmet, for insane DPS on your secondary spell. Use level 21 corruptedCold SnaporCreeping Frostin its one socket, and use “+1 level to all cold spell skills” modifier on all of your Amulet, main hand, and off hand. This results in a gem with a level up to 32, which then deals double damage. The damage of a secondary skill like this will be very much comparable to your main DPS skill, and because it’s damage over time, you need to only cast every now and then, no need to spamit. But this setup makes you pay the price for having less sockets, so you need to find creative solutions to compensate. One solution is using a Shaper Amulet with level 22VitalityAura, which saves you one socket.
Consider Using Elemental Equilibrium
Elemental Equilibriumis a keystone with an interesting mechanic. It causes your elemental hit to increase enemy resistance of that particular element that “hits” it, and reduces enemy resistances towards other elements. This encourages alternating between two spells with different elements, but because our damage over time doesn’t “hit”, we can exploit it in a different way.
If we trigger bothStorm Brand, andOrb of Stormsfrom our wands, they will keep multiple enemies, multiple times. The hits from these spells do pure lightning damage by default, so they decrease enemy resistance towards cold. Our Cold spells do hit once, when it’s first cast, then damage over time doesn’t “hit” for the duration. So the increased cold resistance caused by one hit fromCold snapfor example will be quickly overridden by any of the hits ofOrb of Storms, and changes to negative enemy cold resistance. For this to work all the time, we need to verify we have no “added cold damage to spells” from any source. It’s a useless stat, because it doesn’t help damage over time, and the benefit fromElemental Equilibriumis far better.
If you’re curious for more Path of Exile builds you’re able to check out nextPath Of Exile Starter Build For Heist 3.12 – Chaos DoT Trickster. If you’re just starting your Path of Exile: Heist adventure be sure to read ourPath Of Exile Heist Getting Started Tips: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Played.
If you found this build useful and want to check out more of ourPath of Exilecontent, be sure to watch ourPath of Exile: Heist Expansion Overview. Or if you are interested in our guides, check ourPath of Exile Builds.
