[1.1.9.4 - 1.2.0.3] Mayhem Unspeakable - Chaos Drain Essence Cabalist [sr][vid]

Hello and welcome to my new crazy build topic! :crazy_face:

Today we talk about another build that is somewhat supported by gear, albeit not directly. It is centered around… Drain Essence turned to Chaos! :rofl: I know, sounds like “Why on Earth would someone do this? Is it some kind of a joke?”. I wish it was :neutral_face:. But this item Mythical Cloth of Unspeakable Invocation - Items - Grim Dawn Item Database says otherwise. An arrogant challenger indeed. As if Crate said: “Come on, try building Chaos DE. You will never succeed!”. Devs did not know one thing though… I like building stupid stuff :smiling_imp:. And here are my results. Behold!

1. Grimtools link.

Overall Drain Essence is a pretty weak skill that is decent only for some dedicated sets (Uroboruuk, Chillwhisper etc.). It needs so much Chaos power. And Energy sustain. This is why I used my most despicable building method - “all-in-damage” (no offense to fellow builders that use similar approaches). Spirit dump, aggressive devotions (Dying God + Abomination). I look at this and ask myself: “So, how to play this? Dying every second?”. The truth is - the build still is playable and even does not break like glass from any decent hit. I do not want to say that it is immortal. But it is manageable to play.

2. In-game character stats.
1.2.0.3_CDEC_general_stats
general stats, only passive buffs and Blood of Dreeg are active. Damage Per Second is for DE

1.2.0.3_CDEC_DE_breakdown
Drain Essence breakdown

1.2.0.3_CDEC_magic_stats
magic stats

1.2.0.3_CDEC_defense_stats
defense stats

3. Gear/Build explanation.
The gear I have chosen provides necessary conversions to make our DE chaotic, as well as skillpoints.

  1. Core items.
    Weapon. Spark of Reality. +1 to both masteries, Aether-to-Chaos conversion, good modifiers for Spectral Binding. Strange but great weapon for so many meme builds.
    Off-Hand. Fiend’s Resolve. Vitality and Aether-to-Chaos conversions, amazing proc, useful Mark of Torment modifier (Chaos RE is garbage, sorry, I tried that setup too :frowning_face:).
    Belt. Sash of the Bloodlord. Fire and Vitality-to-Chaos conversions, great stats, proc is okay. Amazing item.
    These three items together can convert DE and every Vitality/Aether/most part of Fire skills. So try getting the best possible rolls to enable our build!
  2. Mandatory items.
    Rings. Voidheart and Combustion Band. Usual Chaos RR rings, must-have for every Chaos setups without native RR (such as Cabalist).
    Amulet. Conduit of Undying Whispers. +1 to Necromancer, more Chaos RR through Ill Omen (it beats RE in terms of damage and defense, because such build desperately needs to CC enemies). Look for Pierce/Aether/Bleeding Resistances.
    Chest. Cloth of Unspeakable Invocation. The reason to make a build :grin:. Nice stats for Vitality and Chaos DE casters, flat Chaos damage and Attack Speed to make you think about its dubious design :laughing:.
    Pants. Aleksander’s Legguards. +3 to Hungering Reach and Black Death. For all green MIs - look for OA, Pierce, Stun/Freeze Resistances (Demonic, of Cabal, of Shattered Reality, of the Void Harbinger affixes are all great).
    Relic. Eldritch Pact. Cool Chaos relic with fully converted damaging proc, %Elemental Resistance and HP, regen included. Solael’s Decimation goes to trashcan since it aggroes mobs across entire map :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:.
    Medal. Ilgor’s Eternal Vigil. Nice modifiers to DE, Decompositon skillpoints.
    Shoulders. Moosilauke’s Pauldrons. +3 to DE, %Phys Res, %Casting Speed. I have old Impervious prefix with Pierce/Lightning resistances, it is not shown in GT.
    Gloves. Riftwarped Grasp. Also nice modifiers to DE, important skillpoints, %Chaos Damage, OA, %Phys Res. They need %Casting Speed so much, Cabalist does not provide that stat in good numbers (only from Harbinger of Souls exclusive :neutral_face:).
    Boots. Voidwalker Footpads. Good Chaos boots with Sigil of Consumption skill points, Slow Resistance, DA and useful proc.
  3. Can be changed.
    Helmet. Ravager’s Dreadgaze. +1 to All Skills, huge %DA, its active skill is still garbage :unamused:. Any +1 to All Skills helmet works too (like Fettan Mask or Wreath of Souls).

Craft with Stun/Reduced Freeze Duration (bonus is provided by Malmouth blacksmith in Steelcap District) or whatever you want if your MIs have CC Res affixes.

About Resistance Reduction. Total amount is ~92% (-15% from modified Ill Omen, -10% from Voidheart proc, -8% from Combustion Band proc, -35% from Solael’s Witchblade constellation and flat 24 from Revenant constellation). For Chaos Damage type it is somewhat okay, I wish it could be better :frowning_face:. Reaper and Benn are tough but doable, Fabius hurts much so be careful. Overall heay melee fighters are dangerous for us, do not try to be a hero and catch all punches at once :slightly_smiling_face:.

4. Gameplay.
Always debuff enemies with Bloody Pox and Ill Omen to reduce their Damage output (and OA from Pox) as well as increase yours. Throw Sigils under enemies’ feet for some bit of healing and siphon their vital energy with DE. Uptime Blood of Dreeg, it heals you when leeching is not enough/possible. And, as usual, Mark of Torment for dire situations, Displacement for battlefield movement.

5. Videos.
Mad Queen.

Kra’Vall (do not stand in pools for too long).

Lokarr (dangerously hard, try avoiding his flame wave attacks (even at the cost of DPS)).

Morgoneth.

SR 75 full.

Avatar of Mogdrogen (old video) (potions are in the video, no Aether Clusters. First time I perished while drinking buff pots :laughing:).

Conclusions? It is tough, but doable for some “basic” content :crazy_face:. At least I beat Mogdrogen with it, it is something. Hope you had some fun reading this topic :slightly_smiling_face:. Any feedback is welcome, of course.

Have a nice day!

9 Likes

Reserved for myself.

Cool idea and seems to be optimized perfectly. I really like it.

I think the conversion actually improves your damage a tiny bit since you have 3 times more %Vit than %Fire (3k vs 1k).

Hmm, Chaos RE is not that terrible once you commit to it fully I think (you can stack the most flat damage and modifiers out of all damage types and squeeze in Oblivion for more DPS). Although 1) the dagger was nerfed 2) my toon was a bit fantasy 3) tested only in Crucible (but it was very durable there) so who knows how it feels now :thinking:

1 Like

If you build specifically around it - then yes, maybe Chaos RE is possible. Not for my build. I used Soulcatcher instead of Conduit and it was horrible. Less Chaos RR, more points for RE required, by itself Earth for Damage reduction is not great since it has some activation time and not spreadable. So, more RR and confuse/spreadable effect of Ill Omen is definitely better. And trading Spark of Reality for Bonespike or Pandemic is unacceptable, we need conversion.

1 Like

No changes in 1.1.9.5 :slightly_smiling_face:.

1 Like

Hi! :slightly_smiling_face:

1.1.9.6 has brought just this:

  • Abomination: increased Health to 700
  • Wretch: increased Health to 140

So the build is technically the same. Just healthier. Performs as usual.

3 Likes

Hello! :slightly_smiling_face:

In case someone follows this meme (or even dare to make it :grin:), here are 1.1.9.7 updates to it:

  • Aspect of the Guardian: increased base % Physical Resist by 2% and increased % All Retaliation damage scaling with rank

Aaand… that is it :rofl:. Until next patch!

Greetings!

This is 1.1.9.8 update:

  • Mythical Riftwarped Grasp: increased Health to 440
  • Ravager’s Dreadgaze (Minds): replaced % Crit damage with 8% Defensive Ability
  • Revenant: increased % Health to 5% and Health to 250
  • Sailor’s Guide: added 15% Fire Resist and increased % Run Speed to 10%
  • Solael’s Witchfire: increased Defensive Ability to 40
  • Bloody Pox: increased Bleed damage scaling with rank
  • Wasting: increased Vitality damage scaling at ultimate ranks. Increased % Bleed damage scaling with rank to 144% by rank 12, 264% by max ultimate rank
  • Black Death: increased % Bleed and % Vitality damage scaling with rank to 144% by rank 12, 264% by max ultimate rank
  • Sigil of Consumption: increased Vitality Decay damage scaling with rank
  • Ill Omen: increased damage scaling with rank

The build was adjusted by changing helmet slot to Ravager’s Dreadgaze (Minds) for big %DA. GT link updated. Have fun!

1 Like

Hi! :slightly_smiling_face:

Time to revive this build too for 1.2.0.3. So, what is new?

  • % Resistance Magic Prefixes that offer % Pierce or % Poison with a combination of 1 % Elemental Resist (ex. Pierce + Cold) have been removed from the loot pool at level 70+. Increased the chance of rolling the % Pierce + % Poison Resistance pair to compensate.
  • Ilgorr’s Eternal Vigil: increased Additional Targets modifier for Drain Essence to +3 and added 60% Vitality damage modifier for Pneumatic Burst
  • Mythical Riftwarped Grasp: added 3% Physical Resist and increased Offensive Ability to 144. Increased Vitality damage modifier for Drain Essence to 110.
  • Mythical Voidwalker Footpads: reduced Cooldown on the granted skill
  • Abomination: increased Health to 800 and Offensive Ability to 120
  • Candle: reduced Energy Regeneration to 2.5
  • Dying God: added 8-20 Chaos damage for pets and increased Defensive Ability to 55
  • Ghoul: increased Health Regeneration to 16 and % Health Regeneration to 30%
  • Raven: reduced Energy Regeneration to 1.0 and increased Lightning damage for pets to 9
  • Ghoulish Hunger: added % Increased Healing (Forgotten Gods only) and added % Cast Speed
  • Blood of Dreeg: reduced Cooldown to 12s and increased Duration to 60s. Increased Energy Cost and Health Regeneration scaling with rank. Increased % Heal at scaling at ultimate ranks.
  • Possession: increased % Absorption scaling with rank to 18% by rank 12, 25% by max ultimate rank
  • Drain Essence: reduced Energy Cost scaling with rank and increased Damage scaling with rank. % Attack damage Converted to Health now scales with rank to 10% by rank 16, 15% by max ultimate rank.
  • Hungering Reach: reduced Energy Cost scaling with rank. Increased % Chance of Striking Additional Targets scaling with rank to 30% Chance of 4 Targets by rank 12, 40% Chance of 7 Targets by max ultimate rank. Increased Radius scaling with rank to 4.5 by rank 12, 6.5 by max ultimate rank.
  • Decomposition: increased Energy Cost and Vitality damage scaling with rank. Increased Offensive Ability Reduction scaling with rank to 160 by rank 12, 280 by max ultimate rank.
  • Mark of Torment: increased Energy Cost scaling with rank. Duration and Cooldown are now fixed at 5s and 16s, respectively. % Damage Absorption now starts at 15% and scales to 35% by rank 10, 50% by max ultimate rank.

It is hard now to make viable silly builds :laughing:. Sunder everywhere, reduced life-leech. This build suffers a lot, but still playable thanks to main skill buff. And yes, no %CS on gloves, again :frowning_face:

Anyway, the build is updated (returned to Ghoul devotion, by the way, it is much more usable here), new videos added, except for Mogdrogen.

Until next time!