Path of Exile: Caustic Arrow Occultist Build Guide (PoE 3.6 2019)

This Caustic Arrow Occultist build guide is viable for any content in the game including Uber Elder. It is very tanky and deals great single target damage with moderate clear speed.
PoB: pastebin.com/T... (remember to check the leveling trees)
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[@LiftingNerdBro]

Check my Amazon Store for the products I use every day: bit.ly/LNB-Amazon 🖥️ Grab a FREE audiobook of your choice bit.ly/LNB-Audiobooks 📖 *If you cancel the audible trial within 30 days of signing up you wont have to pay anything and you still get to keep the audiobook you picked for free.

[@ВадимСияркин]

Hi, LNB, check character Xiaomi. www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/siyarkinv

[@arharh6136]

was looking forward to this guide. thank you, subs and liked.

[@nachotc927]

Hi, LNB i was thinking since u got that huge faster ES recharge would be possible to use insteed grace- malevolence (or maybe blasphemy-dispair) what do u think? [im new playing ci but im gonna try this FOR SURE!) ty for the videos really appreciate!!

[@ВадимСияркин]

@@nachotc927 The best auras: aspect of the spider, malevolence, discipline. Despair you can apply with selfcast, or trigger with selfcast bane of totem(lol)

[@LiftingNerdBro]

It is definitely possible to use Malevolence instead of Grace, but it is a significant loss to survivability (although it should still prove rather tanky) @@nachotc927

[@ian90041]

ive been waiting for this guide since last time you posted this build like a month ago lol. Finally!!! Love your vids

[@juliuschristianlimbo7984]

Never have I ever had a lab run as smooth as this one. Even though I'm only talking about Cruel difficulty, it's very easy and the damage is insane. Love it! :)

[@bonguero1268]

Thanks for the guide, at first I did not like it, but I trusted what I saw, with the exalted that I had bought the Bow, but the most noticeable change was when I used the empower lvl 4. awesome. Recommended this build.

[@zFStatic]

Started the League with this build and stuck to it the whole way till today. Am lvl 95 now and the build really feels a lot better than i expected. Survivability is great and the Damage got even higher with a new +1 to socketed gems implicit synthezised bow which is an insane boost. This was the first time I played a CI build and i couldnt be happier! well done!

[@Vinqent]

it will be hard to play another builds, such good build xd

[@damasteryu]

Haven't been watching much, but going to leave this thumbs up here. Gotta catch your live streams again sometime. Just crafted my +1 bow and multimodded, now I just need to quickly unlock the other recipes to finish it.

[@sircalmness7083]

Looks like a great build to start my PoE experience on PS4, thumbs up mate!

[@Visionart1000]

Return of the Soul Strike Blade Vortex build from Flashback League! The best build I ever played.

[@Dias75]

PoE truly is the best game ever in its genre ! Cant stop playing/streaming it :P nice vid btw buddy :P

[@dondo1294]

ok had 2 say thanks dude this build is literal god mode

[@Mentico]

Just what I was waiting =) thanks and keep it up bro !

[@SwingingTheDead1]

I decided I love Caustic arrow. Definitely going to try this out.

[@EskiZagra]

CA as main skill, Toxic rain totem + agony felt real smooth.

[@Vinqent]

i was trying this while leveling, end up with only ca, its lack aoe/pierce while leveling, later Voidwalker help a lot

[@camprandy]

finally got to 300k dot dps so far. still cant get that fast regen you have lol. love it.thanks

[@Vinqent]

Watcher Eye gives a lot but is expensive

[@strombolijones4255]

Great guide LNB

[@thecombativemedic521]

I think I'm going to be using some of this on my toxic rain agony crawler build. Though admittedly I went Pathfinder instead of occultist due to the bonus to agony crawler and the improved flasks.

[@robertglade5799]

If you are doing a Toxic Rain/HoAg Pathfinder, Angry Roleplayer has a great guide for the build. I used it in Delve and Lifting featured it in one of his league starter videos. Different skills and Ascendancies can drastically change how and/or what you are scaling and thus what items/nodes to go for.

[@Vinqent]

shouldnt pathfinder be life based than es in this case?

[@omfgupos2376]

what a build again easy starter ty yet again

[@TheEpsion]

@LiftingNerdBro - Thanks for this build - rolling 80lvl atm and it feels man good ! :)

[@meowix318]

Playing CA Trickster rn... Guess I'll farm some more maps and reroll to this, Occultist seems so appealing.

[@voidroad]

trickster has more QoL tho , 52% inc AS smoother clear , instant heal upon getting hit 3 times , high evasion , health/ES % on kill to stay full the whole map occultist has higher top end damage , but not THAT much, clearly better ES (but if you count the ghost shroud instant heal it makes up for it and a little better defense with enfeeble malediction (i say a little because you never lose 3 ghost shrouds against big bosses and higher as = lower self lock to attack) both have their advantages clearly , I prefer trickster tho the QoL is just godlike and i don't feel like the higher daamage/tanking on occultist makes up for it , especially considering both are well above oneshotting packs of blue

[@barontran5027]

Wait, you can switch character classes?

[@Shorim1]

@@barontran5027 ZYou can't but he has gear and all the other stuff, so he will just level an occultist and transfer everything on that one

[@barontran5027]

@@Shorim1 Ah, okay. Thank you very much for the reply!

[@robertglade5799]

@Baron Tran Your "character class" only decides where you start on the passive tree and what Ascendancies are available to you. Otherwise you can use any skill/supports/items in the game as long as you meet any level/attribute requirements.

[@bonesssh]

Bro, with such guides we always Nerd

[@djdstanton]

Great video!

[@vojinvmilojkovic7622]

Amazing build bro :O ♥

[@anderspaulsen8091]

"if possible get hyrri's demise for the first 35 levels" .. requires level 45 xD but i will definately try this build. good job!

[@TheAppleskrutt]

probably meant hyrris bite ;)

[@iargaCI]

lol omg i just checked one of your guide from a few years ago with the bow tank char also using soulstrike .... i was checking if i could addept it for 2.6 :P liftingnerd is a freaking mind reader

[@Yahula1edits]

Nice build!

[@vincesundara8579]

Love your vids.. Subscribed and LIKED..

[@godofwarkratoz7426]

Very nice build

[@BlacklLotus]

@LiftingNerdBro can you tell us , if you already looked into it - what we can do about the Ascendancy loss of"Vile Bastion" ? it is a loss of nearly 2k ES and the passive that ES regeneration dont get interrupted while regen.. thats a huge loss of tankyness :c thanks in advance

[@stanalphax7786]

awesome work, thx

[@zorakelol2246]

Well done chief

[@Fa11out]

excellent. been waiting for this. It would be awesome if there was a way to fit malevolence into the build because it would be such a massive DPS increase. but without a lot of other changes i dont see how it could work.I tried to go for the bow craft with fossils. I dont have a ton of currency to keep trying but my second attempt gave me bow +gem lvl bows but only a +2 total with an open prefix for the craft. I'm torn on if i should just use it as is for now. I dont even have the craft unveild to put it on the bow yet, which sucks

[@jetlee88]

thx for the build

[@Saatch1018]

Leveling is so squishy when following the trees in the PoB .. I would suggest picking up MoM at the begining with a ton of life gear .. Otherwise it's a nice tanky build after CI swap

[@marcalpha989]

it remind me the bv occultist in legacy league

[@plzgogankz]

yup my starter build with legacy soulstrike

[@metalsteel5631]

I did the same thing, except with xirgils crank, and HOA. damn near invincible, even tanks shaperbeam.

[@kamilmcki8631]

Forgot to sub,now i am subbed.

[@fulltimewife1075]

I think you completed a map after killing the guardian, but I'm not too sure

[@ucumulbas]

Awesome build, will try it for flashback event. Do you think a mirror archer support is playable ?

[@Vinqent]

it help leveling until you get Voidwalker

[@MrARNOLD]

Can you upload a detailes manual for your build? Like gems for the clothes and others?

[@stoobystoobydoo]

This is a great build with amazing dot. But I think it's a more expensive build with more uniques than the cold snap vortex occultist. Same damage only a bit better survivability with the quiver.

[@m0onKniGht]

I don't know if I did it wrong, but I've tried the cold snap vortex build and the clear doesn't feel great to me. You clear with vortex right? The aoe isn't great, so while it is instant you have to backtrack and wait for the cooldown to get stragglers. Does that sound right or was I doing something wrong? I really wanted to like the build but the clear with vortex put me off.

[@stoobystoobydoo]

@@m0onKniGht i leveled with poets pens and the area of vortex and cold snap takes up the whole screen when used at the same time. I invested in area on the tree then dropped the pens when I got to maps for a 6 link and more damage. But to be honest a 4 link cold snap does insane damage by itself. The area is really good. Vortex whate around you then coldsnap infront of you and the screen is covered. I really liked the build. And I can practically kill bosses just as fast as it's done with this build. And I dont need any uniques for it.

[@robertglade5799]

@m0onKniGht You did something wrong. I did the Oc-cold-tist last league and it was amazing even on a 5 link with no better than 20/20 gems and budget gear. I used cold snap and vortex to clear. Cold snap enemies as they get on your screen and IF they are still alive by the time you get near them hit vortex. I also had Vaal Cold Snap to help in delves and rippy mobs/bosses. Look at ZiggyDs build and see what you had different. The AOE was good, and the cooldown for skills was almost non-existent (by the time I finished the cast animation the cooldown was over) With only 1 ex (140c) invested in my character (gear, gems, jewels, flasks, etc) I was 1 shotting everything but a few bosses all the way through T8 maps/zones. The skill tree changes this league only make the build stronger/tankier.

[@m0onKniGht]

@@robertglade5799 I'm gonna try it again. Thanks for the replies guys!

[@TycoonMK]

nice bro, "respect"

[@gabrielpiche3686]

Any tips on the leveling part? Skills to use, which to link together, etc! Thanks :)

[@lonekyoko]

well, u get caustic arrow literally on lv 2, use it

[@gabrielpiche3686]

@@lonekyoko Not as occulist..

[@lonekyoko]

@@gabrielpiche3686 is that difficult to ya to just use another char to buy the spell and put in the vault? lol

[@Vinqent]

@@gabrielpiche3686 you only need to kill Hillock on the beach as the ranger to get the skill

[@bboy458]

Since you plugged this in your flashback guide can we get an update? The PoB is terribly basic on links and skills.

[@LiftingNerdBro]

+The Gaming Seshion yes! It will be updated tomorrow. I hadn’t realized it had become incompatible with the current version :)

[@naradesho]

@@LiftingNerdBro that would be great! I've been waiting to play a bow build and this one looks like gold! :D

[@Kmx9001]

@@LiftingNerdBro Is this updated yet?

[@LiftingNerdBro]

@@Kmx9001 It is fully up to date yes.

[@Aethereo]

Hey mate!!, Thanks for all your effort like always very helpful videos, Can I ask you about which char you think is better for UBER LAB and Mapping, between Caustic arrow and Ancestral Warchief? :) thanks again I'll wait for your reply

[@bonguero1268]

definitivamente esta Build, pasa por las trampas sin temor, y derrite a Izaro como mantequilla.

[@Aethereo]

@@bonguero1268 Claro, no se porque me fascinan las builds de damage over time hahaha juego vortex, cold snap, pero esta será mi 2da build, gracias

[@remusio]

why did you remove wicked ward on final skill tree?

[@Gozokiller]

Will this build be playable in Legion league ? @LiftingNerdBro pls reply. Thx

[@Time2paw]

only life based, need change tree

[@antifusion]

Instant thumbs up before watching :D

[@ΣτέργιοςΚαντερίσκος]

What about the pantheons lnb? Can you answer please? Thanks! :)

[@Me_Sean]

Major: Arakaali upgraded with Queen of the great tangle. minor: Abberath upgraded with Mephod, the earth scorcher.

[@edgardmunguia]

Thanks for the build, ive been following it and it is a blast, love this caustic arrow. One question though, how do you "buy" a prophecy? I've been looking everywhere but I can't seem to find how to do it. Any help is appreciated!

[@frosty4350]

Google "Path Of Exile trade" it will come up with the official trade site and you find stuff through there :D

[@LeeZerox]

Hey, you'll be showing how to create a good bow :D

[@derbsmcbergs]

+3 Elder bow with vic proj

[@joshsmith2037]

Yeah the bow isn't actually that hard to craft with fossils. Refer to reddit for +3 tips and specifics, had it done on a 6l Maraketh for ~70c base, plus ~50c craft mats... Serious question, is crafting minion damage onto the bow a decent alternative until I can unlock the non-ailment cdot multi since we point that node? :o

[@LiftingNerdBro]

That works yes :)

[@xGabs95]

whats the order of the ascendancy??

[@itsjay6287]

Great video, do you think Toxic Rain could be good as Caustic Arrow with this build?

[@Vinqent]

no, Caustic Arrow do a lot more chaos damage over time, not with this build

[@fakokero55]

This Build can go well with the New SoulRend and Bane skills???

[@gabrielros1]

Hey, is this build viable in 3.8 ? was it nerfed ?

[@rhunsy92]

Do you think this is viable in 3.8?

[@ProvaBeK]

You can get a +5 bow in synthesis

[@DonnieDarko2584]

you can also win the lottery

[@antime2112]

Can you make the same build for the new league ?

[@gpesios]

Never done a CI built and this is going to be my first, looks like a blast! Can you give any recommendation for any skills for early leveling up to maps? Storm Brand, Arc or just go bow from the start? Also what would be the optimal 4-L? I messed around in PoB and it looks like CA-DoFL-VP-SA and then Conc/Area as 5L or replace DoFL with Conc? Not sure how consistent DoFL will be before the switch to CI. Edit: Judging by the leveling tree there's Projectile Speed and DOT nodes so I'm guessing you're using CA as soon as it's available.

[@Shorim1]

Ca is a great leveling skill by it's own, scales with levels so it's pretty much like leveling with a spell, and if you have some currency laying around first use the regular silverbrough bow and then the upgrated silverbough bow with +2 and 5 link will probably carry you to maps, as lifting suggested, overall the CI leveling experience is somewhat hmm interesting I'd say? but you should be ok for the most part, remember to take the es nodes and not the damage nodes first when doing lab, because it will provide you with a good amount of defences, CI builds are also kinda diffrent in playstyle but with enough faster start of energy shield recharge it's such a blast, and with somewhat better defensive items than lifting, with more ES on them and stuff you will literally feel unkillable, especially after popping vaal discipline, it's a lot of fun.

[@zhenyaowen3097]

I thought you are gonna post a synthesis league strong builds guide vid.

[@jeanpaim22]

nice!!! I have a question. A lot of caustic arrows stacks the damage?

[@Robbie1okay]

nope, only 1 caustic arrow cloud can affect the enemies at a time

[@m1xxx3r]

if you want to suqeeze aboslute most dps you should go for 6l like this : ca,dofl,sa,emp,void manip,,conc and vp from +3,vp bow

[@Miawou543]

What do you think of the new changes for Legion, is the build still playable ?

[@camprandy]

nope!

[@hbs2148]

hey lifing you have lvl procession what item to use and gem what bandits kill or no kill all the up to end game gear +gems ? pasterbin only gives ful tree and end game gear great as a new player :(

[@DonnieDarko2584]

or you learn how to use pastebin. It is all there.

[@xwolfshadow2796]

Hey bro, what about the Pantheon!? :D amazing guid and build!

[@Vinqent]

Arakaali + Queen of the Great Tangle Abberath + Mephod

[@ThePandemek]

Written guide anywhere?

[@fatal9961]

is this build still viable in 3.9 ? because I didnt get to make it back in the days...

[@danielmatakiewicz9847]

Invalid tree link. Can I get this tree please?

[@christiaanungerer3660]

What do u use with flame dash. Or what pairs good with it

[@matissorin251]

Btw witch Pantheon skills do you use ? ty for the build i like it so far

[@crazycdn8327]

Once you get to mapping these change based on the map mods.

[@LavaLamp_]

Bonus objective complete

[@YellowFlamek]

Does it have to be those bases for the bow? If so, why?

[@Vinqent]

can be any but those have high attack speed, need be at least 64+ itemlevel for +1lvl gems (+50ivl) and +2lvl bow gems (+64ivlv) to craft those, its easy to craft +2lvl bow gems alone by using alch/scor or chaos, but for both need resonator

[@oliverjohn7268]

Hey, im thinking about to play this next league, maybe as leaguestarter(do you think its viable?.). What do you think about shavronnes wrappings to add some blood magic auras like haste? at the same time i'm overthinking how could i play this build with high Movementspeeed (for easy labruns) without loosing too much sustain. greets

[@Vinqent]

not worth, we lose 1k shield, dont need any other auras, haste dont increase our dmg, shavrone cost a lot, better save exalts for watcher eye

[@tasosfragkos1502]

pros and cons for choosing trickster instead?

[@Vinqent]

i think most trickster builds dont use Soul Strike and are life based, even with soul striker energy shield wont recover fast enough when you are hit especially on bosses (not a problem if life based, have pots etc), its like occultist is for lazy person, dont need spam flask all the time to survive, after being hit you recover es in less than 1 sec, endgame gear is cheap (you can buy white 6link bow and craft easy +2bow skill), dont need spell totem/wither thanks to ascendacy, i played it in synthesis event and is awesome

[@jmido8]

Is there a written guide for this somewhere? Thanks!

[@juggy1171]

I'm no POE expert and there is something I don't understand in the build versus other CA builds I saw recently. This build uses Vaal Blight from skill gem (Curse #1), Withered (Curse #2) from the Ascendancy node and Despair (Curse #3) from the Witchfire Brew flask. How is this useful when only one Curse can be applied at the same time ? The passive "Whispers of Doom" is often seen to raise the curse limit to 2, but not on this build. Please enlighten me, because I really want to try this build. Thanks!

[@SuacoRV]

Vaal blight isnt a curse and withered isnt a curse either. Despair is a curse tho.

[@juggy1171]

@@SuacoRV Nice, still baby-stepping in Witch...always been melee.

[@MineCraftingCow]

Why do u take so many minion damage nodes? How does it affect you?

[@GiesbertsN]

The keynode "spiritual aid", to the left of the tree, gives u "increases and reductions to minion damage also affect u". So basicly, after u take that keynode, every minion damage node u take, will also affect your stats.

[@karlendor3398]

Is it still playable in new league?

[@SuacoRV]

I see he has normal blight on his action bar. In what situation do you use that?

[@DnDandVideoGames]

@1:37 what is up with all the maps being completed as you killed that boss? lol

[@robertglade5799]

In standard league after the Atlas has been re-shuffled, if you complete a map from a previous Atlas version, it auto-completes all maps on the Atlas that are lower tiers.

[@anirex911]

Thanks. Noob question. Do you use the flasks manually all the time?

[@anirex911]

@ i see. Thanks bud.

[@camprandy]

what about brittle barrier cobalt jewel? "10 percent damage on full energy shield and 20% faster start of energy shield recharge rate" ?

[@rasmuslindved6737]

its 10% increased dmg tagen, so you take more damage... pretty shit

[@Kay-1234]

not sure if you just forgot to mention it, but since you played and showed the builds damage in betrayal the rot jewel (vaal blight) got nerfed and is now more or less useless. your dmg with this build for guardians and such will be 50% lower than it was before with vaal blight up... i'd consider that quite the huge nerf.. ;/

[@LiftingNerdBro]

Nah definitely not. The chaos multipliers + decent damage rolls on regular jewels are very close to the same amount of damage =)

[@Kay-1234]

a rare jewel can get you 5% more dmg if you're lucky. rot gave you 25% more per jewel, i doubt you could get anything even close to 50% more dmg from 2 jewel slots. all i did was check your pob, unless you changed a lot of other things that i didn't notice since the last video you uploaded. the damage should be substantially lower than before

[@robertglade5799]

The spreading rot jewels now grant wither when blight is used (which increases effectiveness of chaos dots) and frees up gems slots for other utility or more blight damage.

[@Kay-1234]

the ascendancy already does that....

[@ashyeo1690]

how is 1:38 happening ? he completed every single map ?

[@xmesaj2]

standard league, if you played previous leagues and complete any old map boss before atlas reshuffle this will start spamming all the maps you had done in respective league those map model was in

[@ashyeo1690]

Thanks for clarifying. (: Cheers

[@antime2112]

hi guys i am checking the link in the description bellow the video and all it gives me is some kind of text ... so do i need some special program to look at the path of building or what ? please help me !

[@Vinqent]

yes its a program you need to download

[@the777john]

No Malevolence? It gives a decent damage boost to all dots, even RF.

[@paoboonjinnz]

this build doesnt have that much ES, you need more survival ability from Grace

[@judas9909]

updated for 3.7?

[@Exhorion]

Phanteon choices? I maybe lose it but i cant find they in the guide. Ty a lot.

[@Vinqent]

Arakaali + Queen of the Great Tangle Abberath + Mephod

[@kazermontana5162]

How can I have grace and discipline at the same time activated? Please help

[@Vinqent]

you should reserve only 85% mana, Grace reserve 50% and Discipline 35%, dont link those with other supports it will increase reserved mana

[@Imperium83]

When does single target start to feel good? When you get a +3 bow or when you fill out the damage on the tree? I'm level 59 and clear speed is great, but single target still feels beyond awful.

[@LiftingNerdBro]

I can’t really remember l, but a 5 link and adding in conc. effect for bosses works great :)

[@Imperium83]

@@LiftingNerdBro Yeah it was a struggle to level but once it hit maps it started shredding bosses. Thanks.

[@Vinqent]

@@Imperium83 while leveling craft bow +9ilvl with +1lvl bow gem, while starting mapping buy cheap 6link and craft bow +64ilvl with +2lvl bow gems and save money for +3. you should get those first

[@TheDeadb3ar]

Does this work in 3.9

[@MatthewAdams23]

I might have missed it, god powers?

[@jerikhox]

sry for the question, noob here, how do you check the leveling trees for the build?

[@carstensj79]

download path of building and copypaste the code into it

[@GamersVault2011]

Why are Cold and Lightning now capped in PoB? Did i miss something?

[@GamersVault2011]

i meant "Not capped" !

[@Vinqent]

@@GamersVault2011 it should. somehow i did 95% on every res. have free suffix on gear and dont buy/craft bow that req +200dex

[@mortaob2]

how did you get 4 Red sockets on a body armor with 194 INT ?! it's like impossible :X is there anything i'm missing here?

[@GiesbertsN]

U should use the jeweller orb trick, instead of spamming chromatics. Only downside is, this could cost some jew orbs. For example, in your crafting bench, craft 1 socket and make it red, then use the crafting bench to craft 2 sockets, if the 2nd slot isnt red, craft 1 socket again. The first socket will always stay red this way. Once u have the 2nd slot red, craft 3 sockets with the crafting bench, if the 3th slot ain't red, craft 2 sockets again. This way, your 2 first sockets who were red, will stay red. Continue till u have 4 red sockets. If this is confusing, u should check out some guides on getting the colours u want with jeweller orbs. Getting 4 red sockets on a dex item is almost impossible with chromatic spamming, or u need to get extremely lucky.

[@mortaob2]

@@GiesbertsN thanks for the quick reply man, much appreciated :)

[@TheAnimeSounds]

ending music? i know there is a link to yt channel, but not gonna seach throught all of them just to find this one.

[@LiftingNerdBro]

That one is specifically made to me by Vindsvept and is not otherwise available afaik, sorry mate =)

[@archwayglow]

Been trying to get the +1 and +2 on my 6 link thicket, but after 8 tries still nothing.... feelsbadman

[@Vinqent]

craft +2lvl bow gems with alch,scor/chaos first if you didnt, remember that bow must be +64ilvl. if that not a problem then try crafting +3 yourself but it cost 2ex

[@archwayglow]

@@Vinqent Yeah I just had bad luck. It finally went through at 11 tries. I also later crafted a +4 bow with the synthesis crafting and landed it after 3 tries.

[@saschab.104]

Is there a leveling guide for this Build somewhere ? Wanna start this build on PS4 release

[@davep5788]

There are leveling trees on the PoB link. They don't include the ascendency order though.

[@zsno]

Can I use toxic rain instead of caustic arrow?

[@Vinqent]

this build focus only on chaos damage over time which is best for caustic arrow, do 6x more chaos damage over time than toxic rain