Dark Effigy Contagion Lich Endgame Build

Introduction

The Dark Effigy Contagion Lich takes the top meta Essence Drain Contagion Lich and successfully solves its poor single target by leaning heavily into the vastly superior scaling offered by Dark Effigy.

We scale our Dark Effigy by grabbing as much cast speed as possible, wherever we can. Dark Effigy fires additional projectiles per chaos damage over time debuff applied to its’ target. So our goal is to stack as many chaos damage over time debuffs on our target as we can.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

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Build Mechanics

Our main skill in this build is Dark Effigy. Dark Effigy fires additional chaos projectiles per chaos damage over time debuff on the target. Therefore we use a slew of chaos debuffs including Contagion Essence Drain Envenom and Decaying Hex causing our Dark Effigy to fire hundreds of chaos damage projectiles at all affected targets. This combined with gear and passive tree adjustments centered around cast speed stacking allow us to push into the millions of dps even in single target.

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Skill Rotation

Follow the basic skill rotation below to progress through the campaign and clear groups of enemies in maps.

1. Place Dark Effigy.
2. Cast Contagion.
3. Cast Essence Drain if necessary for additional damage.
4. Alternatively cast Essence Drain immediately into Contagion for weaker packs or if your totem’s projectiles would be blocked by obstacles.

Execute the steps below to optimize damage against bosses.

1. Use Sigil of Power.
2. Cast Despair.
3. Cast 2 Dark Effigy.
4. Cast Essence Drain.
5. Cast Contagion.
6. Maintain Sigil of Power, Dark Effigy, and all debuffs.

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Video Guide

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Skill and Support Gems

This Dark Effigy Contagion Lich build uses the following Skill Gems and Support Gems, listed in order of socket priority.

Skill Gems	Support Gem 1	Support Gem 2	Support Gem 3	Support Gem 4	Support Gem 5
Dark Effigy	Overabundance	Controlled Destruction	Arcane Tempo	Envenom	Ancestral Urgency or Ironwood for clear Concentrated Effect for bossing
Essence Drain	Swift Affliction	Chain	Considered Casting	Chaos Mastery	Zenith if you are casting ED first, otherwise Derange.
Contagion	Unleash	Magnified Effect	Intense Agony	Chaotic Freeze	Hinder
Despair	Decaying Hex	Heightened Curse	Inspiration	Cursed Ground
Withering Presence	Persistence	Clarity
Bonestorm	Lifetap	Perpetual Charge	Exploit Weakness

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Spirit Gems

The Final Spirit Gem setup costs 124 with just Clarity, 139 with Clarity + Mysticism, or 114 with neither. Its highly recommended to use at least Clarity so aim to get at least 24 spirit on your gear. Don’t forget to quality Blasphemy for 6 reduced spirit cost.

Blink is assigned to our second weapon set for extra mobility and is optional. If you are doing this tech make sure to assign all other skills to only weapon set 1 besides: Blasphemy to both set 1 & 2, and Despair Blink only to set 2.

Skill Gems	Support Gem 1	Support Gem 2	Support Gem 3	Support Gem 4	Support Gem 5
Withering Presence	Persistence	Clarity
Convalescence	Ingenuity	Mysticism
Blasphemy	Temporal Chains	Ritualistic Curse	Encumbrance
Blink	Second Wind

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Ascendancy

Lich is the recommended ascendancy for this build and is the best choice. Although, Infernalist may also have some options if you aim to go crit-based and stack spirit for more dark effigy totems.

Lich

1. Soulless Form – 10% of damage taken bypasses energy shield, no inherent Mana Regeneration, regenerate mana equal to 6% of maximum life per second. Base Mana regen in POE 2 is 4% of maximum mana. So as long as your life is at least 66.66%.. (repeating) of your mana this is a buff to our mana regen.
2. Eternal Life – Your Life cannot change while you have Energy Shield. An Incredible defensive layer that causes any damage bypassing our Energy Shield to be deleted while we have energy shield. This in combination with Soulless Form, passive skills on the tree, and the unique helm Atziri’s Distain causes us to delete 25% of the damage we take for free.
3. Eldrich Empowerment – Non-Channelling Spells cost an additional 3% of maximum Energy Shield, Non-Channelling Spells deal 30% more Damage, Spending Energy Shield does not interrupt Recharge. This is effectively 30% more damage for free with little downside. The only problem that can occur here is if you run out of energy shield you will not be able to cast, so be careful taking this node before you have sufficient energy shield recharge modifiers.
4. Crystalline Phylactery – Can Socket a non-Unique Basic Jewel into the Phylactery, 100% increased Effect of the Socketed Jewel, 50% more mana Cost of Skills if you have no Energy Shield. This is what it says a free jewel socket with 100% increased effect with no downside since we will always have energy shield.

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Passive Skill Tree and PoB

Use the following URL for advanced details and calculations on the Dark Effigy Contagion Lich (Keep in mind that POB is still in development for Early Access, and the stats on this sheet are not representative of the actual damage or survivability). Stats such as 25% of damage taken bypassing energy shield and being deleted, or how our dark effigy scales with the number of chaos dots on the enemy are not being calculated yet:

For more instructions on downloading the app, check the guide on Path of Building 2.

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Gear

Equipment Slot and Base Stats	Prefixes	Suffixes	Sockets
Wand	3. Increased Spell Damage 3. Increased Chaos Damage 5. Maximum Mana	1. +Level of All Spell Skills or Chaos Spell Skills 2. Cast Speed 4. Mana Regeneration Rate	Greater Iron Rune
Focus	3. Increased Spell Damage 3. Increased Chaos Damage 4. Total Maximum Energy Shield Value	1. +Level of All Spell Skills 2. Cast Speed 5. Mana Regeneration Rate 6. Resistances	Greater Iron Rune or Resistances as needed
Chiming Staff (Set 2 Weapon)		1. +Level of All Spell Skills
Helmet ( Energy Shield )	Atziri’s Disdain Unique Helmet		Greater Iron Rune or Resistances as needed
Body Armor ( Energy Shield, Enlightened Robe, Flowing Robe, Sacramental Robe, or Arcane Robe base Preffered )	1. Total Energy Shield Value	2. Resistances 3. Attributes	Greater Iron Rune
Gloves ( Energy Shield )	1. Total Energy Shield Value 2. Maximum Life 4. Maximum Mana	3. Resistances 4. Attributes	Greater Iron Rune or Resistances as needed
Boots ( Energy Shield )	1. Increased Movement Speed 2. Total Energy Shield Value 5. Maximum Life	3. Resistances 4. Attributes	Greater Iron Rune or Resistances as needed
Amulet	2. Spirit ( at least 24! ) 3. Increased Maximum Energy Shield 4. + Maximum Energy Shield	1. + Level of all Spell Skills 5. Resistances 5. Attributes 6. Mana Regeneration Rate
Left Ring Slot	4. Maximum Life 5. Increased Chaos Damage 6. Maximum Mana	1. Cast Speed 2. Resistances 3. Attributes 6. Mana Regeneration Rate
Right Ring Slot	4. Maximum Life 5. Increased Chaos Damage 6. Maximum Mana	1. Cast Speed 2. Resistances 3. Attributes 6. Mana Regeneration Rate
Belt	2. Maximum Life 4. Maximum Mana	1. Resistance 3. Attributes

Budget Setups

For a more budget setup grab the waveshaper unique chest with a high es roll. Try for +190 maximum energy shield or above. Socket 2 greater iron runes into it and you have a 500 energy shield chest with 2 resistances and enough spirit to drop spirit on our amulet. All for 10 exalts.

Lower gem levels by 1 on items or drop increased spell/chaos damage on your focus in exchange for energy shield for a huge cost reduction.

Jewels

The beneficial affixes for Jewels are listed below, ranked in order of importance.

• Prefixes
  1. % Increased Effect of Withered. Get this value to a total of 40% or higher Including all your Jewel Sockets. This stat only functions in breakpoints of 20% otherwise the game will round down the value and no bonus will be gained. Aim to get a +10% line in your ascendency jewel socket.
  2. % Increased Maximum Energy Shield
  3. % Increased Chaos Damage = %Increased Spell Damage
  4. % Faster Start of Energy Shield Recharge
• Suffixes
  1. % Increased Mana Regeneration Rate ( Tailor to your mana needs )
  2. Gain Additional Stun Threshold = to #% of your maximum Energy Shield ( Tailor to your stun resistance needs )
  3. % Increased Skill Effect Duration ( Tailor for Totem Duration Comfort )
  4. % Increased Cast Speed

Campaign Buffs

Quest rewards during the campaign offer a selection of buffs to your character. Choose the following buffs for the build:

• Valley of the Titans Altar
  1. 30% Increased Charm Charges Gained
  2. 30% Increased Charm Charges Gained
• Venom Draught
  1. 25% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
  2. 10% Chaos Resistance

For more details, check the guide on Campaign Difficulties and Permanent Stat Bonuses.

Flasks and Charms

Prioritize the following Flasks and Charms:

• Health and Mana Flasks
  Prefix – Increased Recovery
  Suffix – Increased Charges or Charges Gained per Second
• Charms – Stone Charm or Thawing Charm

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Changelog

• April 12th, 2025: Guide created for Patch 0.2.0, Early Access.