Level 100 CI Detonate Dead of Chain Reaction Necromancer^3.25

Notes

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  introduction  <<<<<<

-the who:
hello! im Eva the Fairy and this is my version of a detonate dead of chain reaction (CDD) chaos inoculation (CI) necromancer build, ive worked on it since they first showed the CDD skill gem right before affliction league launched.
this has also been the main build ive played for the last 3 leagues, im very invested into its improvement and viability. so if u have any questions, suggestions or feedback let me know through the post ive made on the poe forum or reddit:

- 

- 

- https://poe.ninja/builds/settlers/character/Roflewofle/Kalguur_Fairy (my character with: 518 mil dps, 41k phys max hit and 234k ele max hit (with conditional defenses)

- the why:
i made this build guide after noticing that very few people were playing corpse skills after the very heavy nerfs to the corpse explosion archetype of gameplay in patch 3.25 settlers of kalguur (see GGG patch notes for more info).
so because of these nerfs most people deemed the archetype dead, but i very much disagree. corpse skills are not dead, most people are just building them unoptimally.
some tried to make the archetype work by using archmage support and scale the dps through mana stacking, i think the results are lacking relative to investment.

- the core synergies:
what makes this build really shine is the use of the "soul ascension, carnal mitts" which gives us 275% increased cast speed in combination with the necro ascendancy node "corpse pact" which gives us 168% increased cast speed.
thats 443% increased cast speed combined which will give us a massive cast rate, we also use spell echo in our CDD setup to make the cast rate even higher. do note that corpse pact is supposed to give 200% increased cast speed
from consuming 100 corpses in 4 seconds but due to a bug currently ingame it only scales to 84 corpses or 168% increased cast speed. hopefully GGG fixes this bug soon.
despite the bug this lets us cast CDD more than 10 times a second with minimal investment outside of the core synergies!

- the logic:
this build focuses on single target ramping damage that becomes stronger the longer we fight an enemy, meaning we dont have our full dps potential before 27 seconds into a fight because it takes time to stack our souls.
we do however also have plenty of damage to clear maps at a decent speed, especially once we aquire the "Oriath's end" flask for extra corpse explosions to clear entire packs.
my build takes a different approach than most corpse detonation builds ive seen this league, this build focuses on cast speed, i chose CDD out of all the corpse skills because it synergizes and scales the best with cast speed.
for every cast of CDD the player does we will detonate 4 corpses a second (8 over 2 seconds for its total duration), but we will also hit the enemy 8 times a second (16 over 2 seconds for its total duration),
this is because most corpse skills including CDD have a spell component and a corpse component for every detonation/hit. 
this also has great synergy with on hit effects such as instant leech and "ES on hit" mods, letting us recover thousands of ES per second purely from hitting the enemy that also isnt limited as much by things like leech cap.

- the numbers:
i usually focus on delving and so this build is designed to be very tanky with high dps to tackle deep delving, it will thus have late game between 200 mil dps and all the way up to 1 billion dps plus,
with between 20k to 70k phys max hit and 100k to 500k ele max hit while chaos damage immunity cuz CI. we also have chill, shock and freeze immunity, crit immunity and curse immunity through flasks and mageblood (MB)
the build is very versatile in how much you want to lean into offense or defense, and reaching extreme defensive and offensive capabilities requires high investment, but doing most endgame content requires much less than 50 divs invested.

- the playstyle:
it is the type of build that is designed to facetank most content in the game while having a 2 button pseudo channeling playstyle, the general mapping is tapping arcanist brand and CDD for clearing waves.
for single target we hold down CDD while tapping arcanist brand every 1.4 sec ish to maintain 2 arcanist brands on the target, we try to avoid having 3 brands out since that can mess up mana costs and corpse spawn rates.
as we do our core gameplay you can also use and refresh defensive and offensive skills such as frenzy to maintain frenzy charges, frost shield and sigil of power. you can also automate frost shield and sigil of power through
cast when damage taken (CWDT) links or put them in a trigger crafted weapon slot. you can also run a guard skill for extra conditional defenses, i usually dont because the shield gets destroyed in less than a second in
deep delving and thus will have poor uptime. all of these extra buttons to press are optional and not needed depending on what content you wish to do, only arcanist brand (to cast desecrate) and CDD to detonate the corpses
are mandatory buttons to press for the build to work.

- the weaknesses:
dps uptime is lower if target is moving a lot or we are moving a lot, defenses are lower if we have to move around alot. we thrive on standing still hitting targets that also stand still, ive still comfortably cleared endgame content
but its less optimal relative to other meta builds. we dont build any direct mitigation towards bleed or ignite, the reason is ive not had any issues sustaining through them, but if u feel like bleeds might be a problem u can spec
into the soul of ralakesh minor pantheon god. ignites can be ignored.

- the warning:
! this build casts a lot of spells per second and thus will impact your pc's performance, so its suggested to have a decent pc and/or reduce all/most graphical settings to lowest settings and use dynamic culling and dynamic resolution !

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  loadouts  <<<<<<

you can find loadouts in pob at the top right of the pob window:

- Leaguestart, early league in white maps and no core build items or gems.

- Mapping, early mapping including core items and gems that define the build and its playstyle

- Endgame, based on the endgame goal to clear most endgame content including pinnacle bosses

- Mageblood, high end version with mageblood which is capable of clearing the entire game including uber bosses and 2000+ delve depth

- Original Sin, very late game version with original sin that has high defenses and a very high 1 billion dps or more

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  general practical info  <<<<<<

- because most corpse detonation skills hit the target twice, one is a spell hit and second is the corpse detonation, we have 2 sets of detonate skills in the skill section to properly calcuate the damage.
one for the spell hit and one for the corpse explosion, which then gets put together in the "full dps" section

- gem notes: keep arcanist brand level 1 with the highest quality u can get, we max punishment level ingame but keep it lvl 1 in pob to simulate more realistic dps,
keep CWDT to level 1 and linked gems level 1 as well to keep mana cost low, keep arcane surge level in sync with mana spent for 100% uptime (see math section for more info), keep culling strike support at 16 or below for dex req,
replace purity of ele with arctic armor and flesh and stone when aquiring chill immunity boots veiled mod, 

- we want to only have 2 arcanist brands active at the same time, reason is to lower mana cost but more importantly. desecrate summons 5 corpses each cast and can only have a total of  12 corpses summoned combined at a time.
so with 2 arcanist brands we summon 10 out of 12 corpses every trigger, but if we have 3 arcanist brands we summon 15 corpses every trigger and thus erase 3 corpses before they can be detonated.
this can mess up the flow of corpse detonations from CDD, since it detonates corpses in sequences.
u will get used to the arcanist brand refresh "rhythm" but u need to press arcanist brand every 1.4 seconds ish, dont worry too much about perfecting the timing. its better to have 3 brands up a bit more than having only 1 brand up

- SSF/HC? no i dont think its viable but ive never tried, it certainly has the offensive and defensive core to be possible but not recommended

- corpse skill damage varies slightly based on what zone u are in, especially in boss arenas. this doesnt impact this build much in my opinion

- because we cast a lot of spell per second i prefer to keep the game in "predictive mode" (u can change it in game settings), this lets the server process info smoother so it doesnt "skip" inputs and thus reduce our dps

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  Leveling  <<<<<<

- Level with any fire damage skill you prefer, aim towards a talent tree and gem setup shown in the "leaguestart" loadout
- auras: purity of ele, clarity, vitality
- focus on getting key gems and gear such as detonate dead of chain reaction and aegis aurora as early as u can

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  life/ES hybrid to ES CI transition  <<<<<<

- you need to get aegis aurora and gear with Armour and energy shield before you can transition to a CI version

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  mechanical synergies  <<<<<<

- we link CDD with elemental focus so it cannot apply elemental ailments, we scale a lot of our dps on igniting, chilling and shocking enemies.
solution: necro ascendancy applies chill and shock to enemies around corpses we spawn. through a fire mastery we cannot apply ignite through crits, but we deal 100% increased dmg against ignited enemies.
so we get 15% chance to ignite from the tree, then have the searing exarch helmet implicit that adds fire dmg to spells. this combo lets us apply ignite reliably through ball lightning of static which strikes enemies 6 times a second.
to make sure we also apply ignite to a target we want to dps but isnt dealing damage to us (thus not triggering CWDT for ball lightning), we use cremation triggered by our weapon to spawn on top of enemies we target.

- ES on hit and instant leech: if we gain 30 flat ES and 10% of leech instantly every time we hit an enemy, that synergizes really well with hitting enemies a lot per second.
our main way of utlizing this synergy is through CDD hitting enemies 8 times a second each cast (see "the logic" section in notes), and we cast CDD between 10 and 15 times a second. that means we hit the enemy
40x2 to 60x2 times a second. so ES on hit and instant leech will gives us in a very low estimate 120 x 40 = 4800 ES per second. in the same manner ball lightning of static will hit every enemy in range 6 times a second
and apply ES on hit every time.

- we have many mechanics that come into effect or become stronger as we stand still, which is why our build is designed to stand still and facetank most incoming damage.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  defensive layers  <<<<<<

ES: as our health pool
CI: for chaos immunity
general defenses: 90 ele max hit, endurance charges, ele taken as chaos, phys taken as chaos, phys damage reduction, armour, 
conditional defenses: block, flesh and stone, arctic armour, plaguebringer, punishment, frost shield, sigil of power, natures patience, (conditional phys/ele reduction), consecrated ground, 
recovery: ES on block, ES on hit, instant leech, leech, ES regen, ES recoup from phys dmg, consecrated ground, 
other: crit reduction/immunity, curse reduction/immunity, stun reduction/immunity, freeze immune, chill immune, shock immune, corrupted blood immunity, 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  flasks  <<<<<<

without mageblood: higher % rolls are always better
flasks recommended: silver/oriaths end, granite, ruby, sapphire, topaz
enchantments: whichever u prefer
prefixes: Gain x Charges when you are Hit by an Enemy (preferred 3 charges, minimum 2)
suffixes: x% reduced Effect of Curses on you during Effect, x% Chance to Avoid being Stunned during Effect, x% additional Elemental Resistances during Effect, Regenerate 3% of Life per second during Effect (veiled mod)

with mageblood: enchantment effect needs to be 70%, prefix rolls will always be 25%, some suffixes needs minimum rolls specified in suffixes below (see math section for more info), if exact % not stated then assume higher = better
flasks recommended: oriaths end, granite, bismuth, sapphire, silver
enchantments: x% increased effect with Gains no Charges during Effect
prefixes: x% reduced Duration with x% increased effect
suffixes: 52% Chance to Avoid being Stunned during Effect, 52% reduced Effect of Curses on you during Effect, x% increased Armour during Effect, Regenerate 3% of Life per second during Effect (veiled mod)
- if u lack elemental resistances u can replace the life regen suffix with the x% additional Elemental Resistances during Effect mod

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  ascendancies and pantheon  <<<<<<

ascendancy order: commander of darkness > essence glutton > plaguebringer > corpse pact

commander of darkness, gives us significant QoL resistances and offense
essence glutton, gives incredible ES regen and mana sustain so we can maintain our high mana cost per second
plaguebringer, great mix of offense and defense
corpse pact, one half of our core offensive scaling (the other being the soul ascension unique gloves)

withering presence (original sin loadout), massive dps increase (over 40% total dps increase)

pantheon prio per loadout:
leaguestart, soul of the brine king for semi stun immunity and freeze immunity. soul of ryslatha for life flask uptime (can pick any minor pantheon based on personal preference)
mapping, unchanged
endgame, soul of lunaris for general defense. soul of tukohama for regen and phys reduction
mageblood, unchanged
original sin, unchanged

at the end of the day pantheons are more about preference, so do what u feel fits u best

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  mapping gear  <<<<<<

core uniques:
- aegis aurora, one of our main sources for many defensive layers such as "gain ES on block" and increased max ele res
- replica dragonfang's flight, get one with desecrate so it can create level 83 corpses for higher damage. also aim for high % reservation efficiency
- soul ascension, our main offensive item that will increase our damage potential many times over, aim for highest max souls u can afford (+10 preferred goal)
- incandescent heart, great mix between offense and defense. aim for 20% ele to chaos for dmg and high ES roll.

minimum rares:
- helmet (ES), u want: ES, ele res
- boots(AR/ES), u want: ES, ele res, open prefix to craft chill immunity
- belt (heavy), u want: ES, AR and ele res
- rings (2x res), essence craft with dex. u want: ES, mana, open prefix to craft -7 mana cost, ele res cap whichever resistances that arnt capped yet
- any jewel with corrupted blood immunity implicit
- wand with cast speed or sceptre with 40 ele dmg or 6% ele pen, essence craft with minion dmg. u want: cast speed, increased fire dmg, open suffix for trigger craft

>>>>>>  endgame gear  <<<<<<

! get corrupted blood immunity on any of the recommended jewels preferably natural affinity !

new uniques:
- eyes of the greatwolf, we replace replica dragonfang with this new amulet for better defenses after we have the new corrupted soul ascension gloves. it needs to have high physical damage reduction and global defense stats
- thread of hope, large ring with lowest minus resistances u can afford, this saves us a lot of talent tree points
- watcher's eye, with ES on hit closest to 30 roll u can afford. if u have the currency also get one with the mana to ES mod
- natural affinity, great jewel that gives us great defense and offense as we stand still which we do a lot.
- immutable force, go for cheapest to give us much smaller stun duration
- oriath's end, great addition for clearing packs, easy to have full uptime during mapping.

upgraded uniques:
- aegis aurora, new one with discipline aura implicit corruption. if u cant afford to upgrade for more gem slots, u can replace frenzy skill gem with discipline in a ring slot
- soul ascension, new one with either +2 level of socketed aoe or duration gems to increase the desecrate skill gem to level 23 which generate level 83 corpses in level 83 zones
- incandesent heart, new one with 50% reduced crit dmg taken implicit corruption. combined with reduced crit from the talent tree makes us crit immune

new rares:
- large cluster jewel (8 passive skills), u want: doryani's lesson for ele dmg leech, sadist for massive dps increase since we apply all 3 ele ailments constantly, prismatic heart for a mix of dps and defense increases
- small cluster jewel (2 passive skills), u want: enduring composure for endurance charges

upgraded rares:
- helmet (ES), keep upgrading for higher ES and more ele res
- boots(AR/ES), keep upgrading for higher ES and more ele res
- belt (heavy), new with crusader influence. essence craft with strength. u want: high ele res, % increased ES
- rings (unset), new with crusader influence. essence craft with dex. u want: mana regen, open prefix to craft -7 mana cost, ele res cap whichever resistances that arnt capped yet
- jewel, once u have natural affinity with corrupted blood immunity u can get a rare jewel with: spell block, ES, lightning max res (since its the element we are most vulnerable to in the current loadout)

>>>>>>  mageblood gear  <<<<<<

new uniques:
- mageblood, this is the big new upgrade in this loadout that allows us to gain massive offensive and defensive upgrades. its very important to have mageblood and the proper flask setup before
we transition to melding of the flesh for 90 ele max res
- megalomaniac, one with enduring composure for endurance charges and winter prower for cold max res
- melding of the flesh, works in synergy with aegis aurora, a sapphire flask, rare jewel, winter prowler from megalomaniac jewel and cold mastery

upgraded uniques:
- eyes of the greatwolf, simply replace the annointment from nomadic teachings to settling ash for more dps
- natural affinity, upgrade to one with corrupted blood immunity implicit
- thread of hope, upgrade to one with offensive implicit mods that increase our dps. any combo of: ele pen, fire pen, increase dmg, minion dmg, effect of ailments. the highest dps potential is ele pen + fire pen

new rares:
- wand (profane), rune crafted with "haunted by tormented spirits". essence craft with minion dmg. u want: maximum mana, cast speed, increased fire dmg, open suffix for trigger craft
- boots (ES), u want: ES, ele res, open prefix to craft chill immunity, plus int if u can

upgraded rares:
- ring 1 (unset), essence craft with ES. u want: increased % ES, mana regen, open prefix to craft -7 mana cost, fire res, lightning res
- ring 2 (unset), essence craft with strength. u want: dex, open prefix to craft -7 mana cost, ES, increased % ES, lightning res

>>>>>>  original Sin gear  <<<<<<

new uniques:
- original sin, an amazing damage upgrade that lets us achieve and exceed 1 billion dps. it does require a lot of changes to utilize

upgraded uniques:
- eyes of the greatwolf, simply replace the annointment from settling ash back to nomadic teachings

new rares:
- large cluster jewel (8 passive skills), u want: touch of cruelty for hindered take increased dmg (which we apply with 2x hindered on spell hit tattoos), unholy grace for dmg and cast speed, 
unwavering evil/dark ideation as filler (its very important to have this mod combo so unwavering evil or dark ideation is at the back of the cluster jewel so the 2 mods we actually want are closest)

upgraded rares:
- wand (profane), same crafting process but with mana regen in addition
- helmet (ES), replace cold res with int
- ring 2 (unset), essence craft with strength. u want: dex, open prefix to craft -7 mana cost, ES, increased % ES, all ele res

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>>>>>  the math  <<<<<<

how to calculate sustained dps in relation to corpses consumed/cast speed/mana cost:
- start with 4 detonations per sec ("counts" of CDD in skills tab).
1. look at CDD casts per sec, multiply by 4 (cuz 4 corpses detonate per sec from 1 CDD cast)
2. insert number in "counts", take said number and multiply by 4 again then put said number in config under "corpses consumed recently (recently = last 4 sec)
3. combine desecrate cost x2 (cuz we want 2 brands max active) + CDD spell "mana cost per sec" variables in the build then see if its higher than "mana regen", if higher then go back and reduce "counts" until sustainable. u now have ur avg dps.
4. if lower than combined "mana cost per sec" the spell rotation is sustained. 
5. look at CDD casts per sec, if changed from number at step 1 then repeat this 5 step process until it doesnt change or u hit 84 corpses consumed per sec (avg high uptime corpse detonation calculation)
example: corpses consumed
15 x 4 = 60
60 x 4 = 240
meaning we detonate 240 corpses per 4 seconds, so we set corpses consumed to 84 (the limit)
example: mana cost sustain
32 x 2 = 64
64 + 260 = 324
430 - 324 = 106
so we regen 430 mana per second, our main cast loop costs 324 mana per second to use, we have more mana regen than cost thus sustaining the spell rotation


how to calculate 100% arcane surge uptime: the minimum recommended desecrate mana cost is 5 per cast!
desecrate cost per second 2x (cuz we will have maximum of 2 brand on a single target) x 4 (arcane surge lasts 4 sec, so we have 4 sec to spend the required mana amount)
example:
32 x 2 = 64
64 x 4 = 256
so we can have arcane support level 17. if u are unsure how much mana is required for each arcane surge support level u can find the info on poewiki.net/wiki/arcane_surge_support
u can reduce the level of a gem with 1 by selling the gem to a vendor with an orb of scouring
u can remove all the levels of a gem down to level 1 by selling the gem to a vendor with an orb of regret



with mageblood loadout we get 95% increased flask effect, meaning for suffixes that give stun and curse immunity we need to reach 100% or more, thus we need at least 52% to reach 100%+ for us to be immune to stuns and curses
example:
52x1.95=101.4



corpse stats in a standard delve biome:
low life
cave weta: 28815
- 10% increaed corpse life: 31696

median life
lightless grub: 54428
- 10% increaed corpse life: 59871

high life
cavestalker: 168088
- 10% increaed corpse life: 184897

(31696 + 184897) / 2 = 108296
averaged corpse life to use for dps calculations: 108296

- these corpse life numbers are about the same in most map zones as well, because most zones in the game have low, medium and high life monsters in them with around the same range between them.
if u feel like the number we use to calculate our dps is too high u can always lower it in the config settings. it wont change our dps ingame tho.




<






























































------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------