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PoE 2 Build

sprEEEzy's Poison Spiral Volley Acolyte of Chayula - Endgame Build Guide

Monk

Acolyte of Chayula

End Game

Creator

By spreeezy

Updated on Dec 23, 2024

Dec 23, 2024

Build Overview

Acolyte of Chayula - Untapped Potential

Clear the whole screen while facetanking with this unique Acolyte of Chayula Poison Bow build, using Spiral Volley as the main AoE damage dealing skill to kill almost everything in a single use, with Rain of Arrows serving as the enabler skill. Main advantage over similar Deadeye builds is that you can have a relaxed playstyle, as you basically cannot die while you're actively fighting.

Chonk is one of the tankiest classes in the game, and we're utilizing its Energy Shield (via nodes like Patient Barrier and Chaos Inoculation) and ES Leech capabilities (via Consuming Questions) to stay alive against anything we encounter in T15+ maps, all while scaling Attack damage, Critical strike and Poison. Leech scales only with Physical hits, while Poison scales with the sum of both Physical and Chaos damage hits, which means that we can combine them together very effectively. Multiple movespeed nodes make sure we can keep up with the best builds out there.

When to spec into this build?

The build is viable from early mapping to super-juiced maps in late endgame, and is able to farm all league mechanics. For bossing, an alternative skill setup is available. It's not a super fast pinnacle bosser, but it gets the job done with minimal risk (e.g. tanks multiple Xesht hand hits).

The main disadvantage of the build is the fact that there aren't many suitable physical damage skills in the game (without any conversion), meaning the choices are very limited. Using e.g. Toxic Growth as main DPS for bossing is a bit clunky. As more weapons and physical skills get introduced, the build is likely to get a lot stronger (poison daggers OP?).

This build is not in its final state, so stay tuned for updates and optimizations!

Build Variants

Early Endgame (Level 67+)

Late Endgame /w Crit (Level 82+)

The First Taste of Poison

After completing the campaign, you’re ready to transition to this build. It doesn't matter what build you've used up to this point (even if you played e.g. Quarterstaff). As long as you have enough gold saved up to respec passive points, and some Exalted orbs to buy the most basic gear, you're all set!

Since you’re likely not focusing on Energy Shield just yet, it’s crucial to gather all the required items for the build before making the switch.

The biggest impact items are:

High Physical roll Bow (200+ phys DPS)
High ES roll Body Armor (500+ ES)
High ES roll Helmet (250+ ES)

Initially, you're going to be scaling Attack Damage with nodes like Killer Instinct, and Poison with Building Toxins and such, while Critical Strike is a goal you're going to be working towards as you go higher in waystone tiers. Crit scaling is covered in the Late Endgame build variant, which requires a bigger investment, as well as character level.

Early Endgame (Level 67+) Variant

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Equipment

Set 1

Set 2

Most important stats (by priority)

Helmet

X% increased maximum Energy Shield, X to maximum Energy shield

Weapon

Adds X to Y Physical Damage, X% increased Physical Damage, Leeches X% Physical Attack Damage as Mana

Quiver

Adds X to Y Physical Damage, X% increased Damage with Bow Skills, Accuracy Rating, Attributes

Gloves

Leech X% Physical Attack Damage as Mana, Resistances, Attributes

Belt

Resistances, Mana, Charm Slots, Attributes

Rings

Adds X to Y Physical Damage to Attacks, Leech X% Physical Attack Damage as Mana, Mana, Resistances

Amulet

X% increased maximum Energy Shield, X to maximum Energy shield, Spirit, Resistances, Attributes

Budget Anoint choices: Freedom of Movement for cheapest defense / Serrated Edges bossing damage / Blur decent mix

Boots

Movement speed, X% increased Evasion and Energy Shield, Resistances, Attributes

Body Armour

X to maximum Energy shield, X% increased maximum Energy Shield, Spirit, Resistances

Note on Spirit: You only need 140 Spirit to do the core build, and even 130 will do. That means you can get it on either the amulet, or the body armor. Bonus if you get it on both!

Flasks and Charms

Flasks with extra recovery rate of any sort, charms for stun and/or freeze immunity.

Jewels

Emerald: Poison Chance, Poison Magnitude, Increased Damage with Bows, Increased Damage with Hits against Rare and Unique, Increased Mana Leeched...

Early Endgame (Level 67+) Variant

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Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 20

Dex 90

Int 50

Spiral Volley

Rain of Arrows

Toxic Growth

Despair

Herald of Plague

Ghost Dance

Wind Dancer

Combat Frenzy

Into the Breach

Contagion

Grim Feast

Stormcaller Arrow

Mapping setup

Spiral Volley is the main AoE damage, screen clear, kills everything up to Map bosses. Uses one or more Frenzy charges to inflict giant Poisons which spread with Herald of Plague.

- This skill is your first 5 and later 6 link priority, spend currency on it

- Bursting Plague can be replaced with Longshot, but lacks consistency

Rain of Arrows is the main support skill. Applies Wither and Pin, breaks armor, generates 1-2 Frenzy charges every 1.7s.

- Withering Touch only after you have a source of Chaos damage on Hit, like Reality Rending and/or Waking Dream. Before that, you can use Dark Effigy with Withering Touch to apply Wither.

- Lockdown is mostly there for bossing, as the pin buildup may not be as good on them. Can be replaced with Leverage

Toxic Growth is the skill we want to avoid using as much as possible, but it is our best burst damage versus tanky rares and bosses. Alternatively, you can try using Barrage with Snipe (good luck with that!).

Despair provides a big damage boost for Rares and Bosses.

- Expanse only if you're using Contagion, otherwise Magnified Effect

Herald of Plague spreads biggest poisons on kill, makes sure everything on screen dies if you inflict a big poison

- Precision if you have 10 Spirit to spare

Ghost Dance - Nice sustain after getting hit. High evasion makes for huge ES heals

- Herbalism if you have 15 Spirit to spare

Wind Dancer is an incredibly powerful skill which gives you a whole lot of Evasion, and can kill packs by itself. Soul Thief guarantees a heal after getting hit, similar to what Ghost Dance does.

Combat Frenzy generates Frenzy charges whenever we Pin with Rain of Arrows, which can happen every 1.6s at most. It's a consistent way to generate Frenzy charges during mapping.

Optional Skills

Contagion is a skill that works great with poison and curses, but Spiral Volley is so powerful in conjunction with Herald of Plague that we just don't need this effect anymore. If you feel like you need more consistent map clear (damage), use this skill.

Grim Feast doubles your Energy Shield if you think you're not tanky enough. Insanely good for mapping early! Affordable if you have +Spirit on Amulet and Body.

Dark Effigy with Withering Touch is a good way to apply Wither (up to 50% more Chaos damage taken), in case you don't have a source of Chaos Damage on Hit.

Bossing setup

Stormcaller Arrow provides a nice 35% damage boost from Shock, as you're not going to be using Spiral Volley.

Toxic Growth takes Deadly Poison and Envenom instead of Comorbidity.

Grim Feast and Contagion are no good for bossing.

Despair - replace Hex Bloom with Persistence.

Early Endgame (Level 67+) Variant

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Passive Tree

main:

122

set 1:

set 2:

Main passive nodes

Main Keystone of the build: Chaos Inoculation - complete immunity to both Poison and Bleed, as well as about 20-30% of total raw monster damage. You lose about 1,000 Life, but it's absolutely worth it on Acolyte of Chayula.

Eternal Youth follows along the plan - Life isn't a thing anymore, so let's refill our Energy Shield with the life flask. This is vital against degens while out of combat, as well as quick recovery after big hits. You won't be using the flask all that much, tho.

Building Toxins and Escalating Toxins are the pillars of our poison damage. Add Crippling Toxins and Leeching Toxins and you have a very good conversion from Phys + Chaos hit to Poison damage.

Defensively, we're scaling Energy Shield from our items to incredible numbers. Patient Barrier is easily a top 5 notable in the entire game. Subterfuge Mask provides a rediculous amount of Evasion, so make sure you get a good ES helmet.

Note on Stun Threshold: It's based on your Max Life. Since Life is set to 1, we need to scale it via Energy Shield somehow, otherwise we get stunned from any hit (extremely annoying to play!). Asceticism seems to be enough to keep the annoying stuns away, all the way until most juiced maps.

Ascendancy point order

Assuming you have between 4 and 6 points (2 or 3 notables):

Ravenous Doubts
Consuming Questions is the reason why this build actually works. The leech you get is insane, as you can boost it to almost 100% of Physical damage dealt (with a big investment).
Waking Dream for more sustain or Reality Rending for more damage

FAQ

- Wait, where's the Critical strike you've mentioned earlier?

You want to start scaling with critical strike chance (and bonus damage) once you have good enough base damage and enough poison nodes to make it worthwhile. In early mapping, you just don't have enough passive points to spend on this endeavor, so it's better to focus on pure damage - as that scales your ascendancy well too.

- Why not use a high DEX Body Armor with Beastial Skin and Spectral Ward to aim for Acrobatics ?

The point investment seems to high for what you get. You get quite a bit lower ES than the standard ES Body Armor route, and you're not really struggling with survivability anyway.

- What about Stacking Toxins, isn't that great for Poison builds?

Yes, that Notable is amazing, but it's just too far on the tree for our build. The end goal is to anoint it, but it's one of the most expensive anoints in the game.

Early Endgame (Level 67+) Variant

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Atlas Tree

First priority: Constant Crossroads

If you're feeling strong, but lack currency, get Fortunate Path

How it Plays

Mapping skill rotation

It's very simple: 1x Rain of Arrows to generate 1-2 Frenzy charges, then use Spiral Volley until you're out of charges. Repeat.

High HP rare monsters can be met with Despair and multiple casts of Toxic Growth.

Bossing skill rotation

Keep Rain of Arrows, Stormcaller Arrow, Despair and optionallySniper's Mark constantly on the boss. Whenever you can afford it, spam Toxic Growth that will explode on the boss.