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Lich DoT and Rot Leveling Build Guide

Posted By MinMaxRPG on January 6, 2024
Last updated on January 18, 2024

Overview

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DoT them up and let them rot by using many PrefixDamage Over Time abilities with various status effects like Poison, Ignite and Bleed to deal large amounts of damage to enemies. Through Reaper Form you can further boost your damage and survivability. It's also possible to maintain 100% uptime on Reaper Form through zones while leveling or on monolith runs as you begin endgame. With it's unique additional health pool Reaper Form is safe, giving you an extra life of sorts as you transform back into your regular form when your health pool runs out (which is automatically drained in this form).

Sustaining Reaper Form is made possible by using Drain Life to frequently refill your PrefixHealth, add additional damage and further increase survivability. This is a channeled spell and there is a slight adjustment to "learn" or get comfortable with using the spell without running out of mana. With a little practice you'll easily be able to keep your health full while leaving enough PrefixMana if you need to replenish your health again. This spell also deals surprisingly large damage considering how much health it regens.

Transplant adds more mitigation and increases mobility helping to increase clear speed and allowing you to reach more mobs to maintain reaper form. This ability shares a cooldown with Reap which is gained once you transform but is vital if you happen to lose Reaper Form.

Aura Of Decay provides many sources of damage, ailments and debuffs. This ability also applies Poison stacks to your own character but not the additional ailments you'll get through specialization. You'll need to toggle this on and off to control the number of stacks that build on your character and be mindful Aura Of Decay provides a damage reduction to Poison while it's on. This means you will notice a large spike in damage when you deactivate the aura and takes some getting used to but makes for a very fun playstyle as the aura can deal massive damage once multiple stacks of several ailments are applied to enemies.

Summon Bone Golem is in the build to help for "bossing" or kililng high health enemies. The Golem will distract the enemy allowing you to freely channel and safely stand in range for your Aura Of Decay to stack up. Essentially it allows you to stand still rather than constantly moving and having stacks reset. For trash mobs or clearing to the objective the Golems are a little aimless unfortunately, but you can summon them to reposition them as needed. The choice of which Golem is flexible, feel free to use your favorite. The build video uses Pyre Golem as an example but is in no way limited to that choice.

There are a number of additional ailments that will get applied as you specialize skills providing additional damage and utility but the gameplay will remain the same as they're unlocked.

Pros & Cons

Pros

2nd Life Pool from Reaper Form

Insane Health recovery while channeling (basically unkillable)

Mobile enough to race to objectives or boss and just melt them

Cons

Damage has a "ramp up" time, making it less efficient to kill lots of trash

Playstyle isn't difficult but requires some practice to get the nuances down

Golem frequently needs to be cast to bring it back to life or repositioned during trash

Gameplay / Mechanics

Enter Reaper Form and begin to use Reap / Transplant as mobility. Keep an eye on your Health and use Drain Life as needed to clear enemies and bring your health back to full. Continue moving through the area and activate Aura Of Decay as you engage the objective or boss. Be mindful of your own Poison stacks and toggle it off as needed. It can be reactivated when your stacks are cleared or low enough to be safe. Resummon Summon Bone Golem if it dies or needs to be repositioned. Channel Drain Life for additional damage and to keep your health topped off. Be careful not to use all your mana in case you need to regen health to prevent Reaper Form from ending or need to Summon Bone Golem if it dies.

Skills

Passives

Stat Priorities

Equipment

PrefixDamage Over Time is your strongest offensive stat. Put this on every piece of gear possible. The resistances on the example gear are just for reference, they can be shuffled around. Just aim for ~75% on all of them by the time you reach monoliths (roughly level 55).

Idols

Idol selection might be limited as you level and it's important to use ones that increase resistances where you're lacking. Here are some examples of very good choices that you may want to use or save for later.

Blessings

Timeline
Blessings
The Black Sun

Any

Ending the Storm

Any

Reign of Dragons

Any

The Age of Winter

Any

Spirits of Fire

Any

Fall of the Outcasts

Any

The Stolen Lance

Any

Blood, Frost, and Death

Any

Fall of the Empire

Any

The Last Ruin

Any

Build Variants

Leveling

Leveling should be quick and easy. The build will get progressively stronger as you gain levels making even the final bosses somewhat trivial with your sustain. If you're having difficulty be careful not to spend all your mana, rather use it wisely to keep your health pool topped off and let the dots from Aura Of Decay do the work while you regen mana.

Endgame

This build continues to get stronger as you reach endgame and can be used to great success as you begin the monoliths.

FAQ

Video

Changelog

  • lf link
  • loot filter
  • Build guide was published

Discussion

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