The Occultist is an Ascendancy class for Witches. The Occultist is a Witch class that specializes in cold and chaos damage over time (DoT) effects as well as curses, with a minor affinity for both energy shield and power charges. The class is capable of reliably generating said Power Charges without needing to trigger on-kill effects, using Forbidden Power. Malediction and Profane Bloom are a great boon to builds that utilize curses in any form, though to bring out their full potential you would ideally combine them with other sources of non-chaos damage. Withering Presence and Frigid Wake, the two specialized damage over time nodes behind Void Beacon, amplify the power of chaos and cold damage over time respectively. Historically the Occultist has been one of the most resilient Ascendants, utilizing many forms of damage mitigation and energy shield generation. With the removal of its notable Wicked Ward and the power down of Vile Bastion, it still retains its powerful defensive layers in either Frigid Wake or Malediction but is no longer the be-all and end-all for energy shield durability.
| Name | Category | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Shield, Curse Effect |
Basic | 6% increased maximum Energy Shield 5% increased Effect of your Curses |
| Energy Shield, Cold and Chaos Damage |
Basic | 6% increased maximum Energy Shield 10% increased Chaos Damage 10% increased Cold Damage |
| Energy Shield, Power Charge Duration |
Basic | 6% increased maximum Energy Shield 15% increased Power Charge Duration |
| Energy Shield, Energy Shield Recharge Rate |
Basic | 6% increased maximum Energy Shield 15% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate |
| Profane Bloom |
Notable | Cursed Enemies you or your Minions Kill have a 40% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage Your Hexes can affect Hexproof Enemies |
| Malediction |
Notable | You can apply an additional Curse 15% increased Effect of your Curses Enemies you Curse have Malediction |
| Vile Bastion |
Notable | Regenerate 2% of Energy Shield per second for each Enemy you or your Minions have Killed Recently, up to 10% per second Cannot Be Stunned while you have Energy Shield Regenerate 40 Energy Shield per second |
| Void Beacon |
Notable | Nearby Enemies have -20% to Chaos Resistance Nearby Enemies have 100% reduced Life Regeneration rate Nearby Enemies have -20% to Cold Resistance |
| Forbidden Power |
Notable | +1 to Maximum Power Charges 6% increased Area of Effect per Power Charge 6% increased Damage per Power Charge Gain a Power Charge after Spending a total of 200 Mana |
| Energy Shield, Chaos Damage |
Basic | 6% increased maximum Energy Shield 10% increased Chaos Damage |
| Energy Shield, Cold Damage |
Basic | 6% increased maximum Energy Shield 10% increased Cold Damage |
| Withering Presence |
Notable | 15% more Chaos Damage +60% to Chaos Resistance Every second, inflict Withered on nearby Enemies for 15 seconds Nearby Hindered Enemies deal 15% reduced Damage over Time |
| Frigid Wake |
Notable | 15% more Cold Damage Cannot be Chilled Cannot be Frozen Every 4 seconds, Freeze nearby Chilled Non-Unique Enemies for 0.6 seconds Every 4 seconds, 33% chance to Freeze nearby Chilled Unique Enemies for 0.6 seconds Nearby Chilled Enemies deal 10% reduced Damage with Hits |