Occultist

Occultist

Witch

	Throw off the chains of fear and embrace that which was forbidden.

This page is about the Ascendancy class. For the Ascendant passive, see Occultist (Ascendant passive).

The Occultist is an Ascendancy class for Witches.

Overview

Occultists are suited for Witches with a focus on damage over time with cold damage or chaos damage and curses. Malediction greatly enhances curse specialists, while Withering Presence and Frigid wake amplifies the power of their cold and chaos damage over time. Occultists are well-served by builds that rely on & maximize energy shield. Occultists also may serve as a generic way to generate Power Charges in builds which lack other means of doing so.

Passive skills

Minor skills

This class has the following minor passive skills:

Name	Stats
Energy Shield, Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier File:EnergyShieldChaos (Occultist) passive skill icon.png	8% increased maximum Energy Shield +5% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier [1]
Energy Shield, Cold and Chaos Damage	8% increased maximum Energy Shield 10% increased Chaos Damage 10% increased Cold Damage [1]
Energy Shield, Cold Damage over Time Multiplier File:EnergyShieldCold (Occultist) passive skill icon.png	8% increased maximum Energy Shield +5% to Cold Damage over Time Multiplier [1]
Energy Shield, Curse Effect	8% increased maximum Energy Shield 5% increased Effect of your Curses [1] [2]
Energy Shield, Energy Shield Recharge Rate	8% increased maximum Energy Shield 15% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate [1] [2]
Energy Shield, Power Charge Duration	8% increased maximum Energy Shield 18% increased Power Charge Duration [1]

Notable skills

The class has the following notable passive skills:

Skill	Modifiers	Prerequisite	Preceding Passive
Forbidden Power	+1 to Maximum Power Charges 5% increased Area of Effect per Power Charge 5% increased Spell Damage per Power Charge Gain a Power Charge after Spending a total of 200 Mana		Energy Shield, Power Charge Duration
Profane Bloom	Cursed Enemies you or your Minions Kill have a 25% chance to Explode, dealing a quarter of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage Your Curses can apply to Hexproof Enemies		Energy Shield, Curse Effect
Malediction	When you Kill an Enemy, for each Curse on that Enemy, gain 8% of Non-Chaos Damage as extra Chaos Damage for 4 seconds You can apply an additional Curse 15% increased Effect of your Curses Enemies you Curse have Malediction	Profane Bloom	Energy Shield, Curse Effect
Void Beacon	Nearby Enemies have -20% to Chaos Resistance Nearby Enemies have 100% reduced Life Regeneration rate Nearby Enemies have -20% to Cold Resistance		Energy Shield, Cold and Chaos Damage
Withering Presence	+20% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier +60% to Chaos Resistance Every second, inflict Withered on nearby Enemies for 15 seconds Nearby Hindered Enemies deal 15% reduced Damage over Time	Void Beacon	Energy Shield, Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplier
Frigid Wake	+20% to Cold Damage over Time Multiplier 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	Void Beacon	Energy Shield, Cold Damage Over Time Multiplier
Wicked Ward	+100 to maximum Energy Shield Energy Shield Recharge is not interrupted by Damage if Recharge began Recently		Energy Shield, Energy Shield Recharge Rate
Vile Bastion	1% of Energy Shield Regenerated per second for each Enemy you or your Minions have Killed Recently, up to 30% Cannot Be Stunned while you have Energy Shield +150 to maximum Energy Shield	Wicked Ward	Energy Shield, Energy Shield Recharge Rate

Version history

Version	Changes
3.5.0	New Notable - Withering Presence: +60% to Chaos Resistance, +20% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier. Every second, inflict Withered on nearby Enemies for 15 seconds. Nearby Hindered Enemies deal 15% reduced Damage over Time. New Notable - Frigid Wake: Cannot be Chilled. Cannot be Frozen. +20% to Cold Damage over Time Multiplier. Every 3 seconds, 25% chance to Freeze nearby Chilled Unique Enemies for 0.6 seconds. Every 3 seconds, Freeze nearby Chilled Non-Unique Enemies for 0.6 seconds. Nearby Chilled Enemies deal 10% reduced damage with Hits. Added a small passive leading to Withering Presence which grants 8% increased maximum Energy Shield and +5% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier. Added a small passive leading to Frigid Wake which grants 8% increased maximum Energy Shield and +5% to Cold Damage over Time Multiplier. Void Beacon now also causes nearby Enemies to have -20% to Cold resistance. The small passive leading to Void Beacon now also grants 10% increased Cold Damage.
3.2.0	Minor node Energy Shield, Critical Strike Chance replaced with Energy Shield, Power Charge Duration. Minor node Energy Shield, Curse Duration replaced with Energy Shield, Curse Effect.