Occultist/Strategy

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Playstyles

The Occultist is one of the most flexible heroes in the entire game. No matter which combination of skillset he has, he is always able to use at least 2 of his skills. Generally Occultist fits into one the role of a offensive support using a combination of Weakening Curse, Vulvernability Hex, Wyrd Reconstruction, Daemons Pull with a stronger focus on one of the following depending on his position:

• Rank 4: Occultist becomes able to deal more damage to the backline using Abyssal Artillery, but misses out on Sacrificial Stab for more single target damage to the front and Hands from the Abyss for a Stun. Usually straight up inferior to Rank 3 Occultist.
• Rank 3: Usually straight up better than Rank 4. He still gets the extra backline damage while also having access to Sacrificial Stab.
• Rank 2: Swaps out the extra damage from Artillery for Hands from the Abyss for a great Stun. He still has access to basically all of his other moves though, placing more focus on Supporting than cleaving down the backline.
• Rank 1: Inferior to Rank 2 if you want his Pull. He keeps all his moves from Rank 2 while missing out on Daemons Pull.

Backline Occultist usually means he is going to help out a lot with damage. If he's mostly going to be doing supportive stuff, it's usually better to have him in the front to utilitze his Stun a lot more. Abyssal Artillery doesn't do great damage baseline, often outclassed by even a single tick from something like Plague Grenade from Plague Doctor. That's why his DPS style of play only really works against Eldtrich enemies which can be found most often in the Cove. There he can actually deal pretty good damage, especially when equipped with Trinkets like Eldtrich Killing Incense or Sacrificial Cauldron while still being able to function as a healer and providing Support. While Sacrificial Stab isn't as great of a damage move on paper due to pretty low ACC and Occ's base damage being pretty medium, it's high crit rate makes up for it. This moves can easily get up to 30% base, which is pretty incredible and often puts him on par with other heroes who focus on other things in addition to being able to deal some damage.

Frontline Occultist is usually the better Occultist playstyle due to his Stun. Hands from the Abyss is easily the best single-target Stun in the game. It's able to target any Rank aside from Rank 4. However Rank 4 Stuns are very rare and only found on two heroes, Plague Doctor with Blinding Gas and Disorienting Blast and on Bounty Hunter with Flashbang. However, they all lack a lot of things Hands from the Abyss has. It deals damage, which means it can crit to gain an extra 20% Stun chance. This will happen very frequently since it has an insane crit modifier. It also gets 10% base Stun chance extra to most other Stuns, capping out at 150%. What really sets this Stun apart from other moves though is it's Trinket support. Demon's Cauldron, Occultists very rare Trinket, can push Occultists base Stun chance up to 180% at lvl 5/6. It also gives some additional crit to allow his Stun to crit even more to get a 200% Stun on a crit. Furthermore, you can amplify his Stun chance with Vial of Sand, up to a 200% base chance and a 220% chance on crit. This allows Occ to Stun pretty much anything which can be Stunned, even Bosses. Aside from his amazing Stun, he also gets basically guaranteed Debuffs, since both Demon's Cauldron and Vial of Sand also buff his Debuff chances, up to a total of 200% base and 220% on crit as well. The risk with frontline Occultist comes with his relative fragility though. He has decent dodge and HP, but if he gets focused by too many enemies it's easy for him to die quickly. This can be offset pretty easily though by simply stunning the biggest threat and keeping it stunned for multiple turns since his Stun chance is so high. The light-lowering property of his Stun is pretty much a nonfactor. Bringing two extra Torches for the upside of his Stun is well worth the 150 Gold.

His other moves

Occultist has no really "bad" skill. All of his skills are usable and really depend on the party. The usual loadout for Occultist includes his heal and either Weakening Curse or Vulvernability Hex regardless of position. Wyrd Reconstruction might seem a bit unreliable, but it's usually able to get the job done. When you have to heal with Occultist is very different healers though. It's usually a good idea to use his heal when heroes are around 50% HP to play around it lowrolling. It also has the advantage of being a conventional heal that can put out good numbers from anywhere, often making it the only healing options in a lot of bossfights. The Bleed doesn't really matter that much since the highest chance it will ever have is 50% against a lvl 0 Leper. At Champion, most other heroes being straight up immune to it since the chance is so low. Weakening Curse is just a solid move to have to stall or lower the Prot of enemies. Vulvernability Hex is usually only used in parties that include one of the other heroes with mark to set it up for them to deal more damage and take out big targets without using up their turn. The rest of Occultists skillset is usually up to personal preference/playstyle. If he's in the front, pick Hands from the Abyss and if he's in the back, pick Abyssal Artillery. Play around with different skillsets and find out what suits your playstyle best.

What makes Occultist unique?

He's extremely flexible. He is able to fill pretty much any role you'd want from a support. He can even stressheal with his high crit-rates. He's not very reliant on position and keeps at least half his moves no matter what moves you have equipped and where he's shuffled to. He also has the best single-target Stun to keep any big threat stunned while the other heroes clean up the rest of the enemies and can even Stun most bosses he can reach. His heal might be a bit inconsistent, but the rest of his kit is some of the most consistent support you will find in the game. A good fit for pretty much any party since having a healer + Support is never really bad. He really likes to be with a secondary off-healer though, so if he ever starts lowrolling his heals, you have a secondary healing option.

Trinkets

A general rule for Occultist Trinkets doesn't really exist. The Trinkets are all extremely dependant on what his Quirks are or what you plan on doing with him.

Trinkets can be Demon's Cauldron for Stunning, Eldritch Killing Incense for a backline Occ in Cove or even just a generally good Trinket like Survival Guide if you lack other options. Other good Trinkets to have to get stats that can be covered by Quirks are ACC Trinkets, SPD Trinkets or defensive options like Fortifying Garlic. Experiment a bit and you'll find a good Trinket build for him.

+Healing skills Trinkets are usually wasted on him. They will only make your highrolls a lot higher while not really helping with his lowrolls. Getting an extra point to a 1 point roll won't make the lowroll less painful. It's usually not worth the investment and just better to get something else.

Class Trinkets

• Eldritch Killing Incense - One of the very best offensive Trinkets you can find early on that isn't ACC. The stats are amazing in Cove and Endgame missions where Eldritch enemies are more common. The upside also doesn't really fall off later on when you gain access to more damage Trinkets.
• Evasion Incense - Gives a pretty great amount of dodge for a common Trinket. The SPD cut really hurts Occultist though, since you either want SPD to kill stuff faster, to set up other heroes or Stun enemies before they can act. Not a very good Trinket in most cases.
• Cursed Incense - It's alright. It doesn't really stand out in any way or is particularly bad. It's a Trinket that's usually outclassed by better generic options.
• Sacrificial Cauldron - It's not as good as Eldritch Killing Incense against Eldritch enemies which you'll most likely use a more DMG focused Occ against. Against non-Eldritch enemies it's a good flat-damage increase with little downside but DMG Occ usually sucks against them.
• Demon's Cauldron - His best Trinket by far. Huge amounts of Stun and Debuff chance and some decent crit for essentially +15% Stress. This Trinket is always worth it.
• Crimson Court Set - The set bonus is good, but just not having the downside from Blood Pact and just having a Dodge Trinket like Camouflage Cloak is usually better.
  • Blood Pact - If you aren't playing Torchless/low Torch this thing is worthless. -25% Bleed chance barely matter unless you get this super early on. Paying 10% Max HP isn't worth this very small upside. If you don't lower your Torch this is usually just worse than Cleansing Crystal - On Torchless this is a pretty good option until you find something else. 4 SPD is really good to have.
  • Vial of Sand - The other part of the Trinket duo that pushes Occ's Stun chance to its maximum. Just a bunch of good stats for no downside. Not a replacement for Demon's Cauldron, but the best thing you can find until you have Cauldron.
• Petrified Skull - A really good defensive Trinket against Eldritch enemies. 30% Prot is a lot to get for a small downside like -20% Healing received. The extra Max HP is nice and helps make Occ just a bit chonkier. The Husk part of this Trinket basically doesn't exist since this Trinket sucks in Endless. Husk sections are usually the easiest parts where you don't care about defensive stuff a lot and since enemies are randomized you often just have this Trinket as -20% Healing received +15% MAX HP.

Notable Neutral Trinkets

• Ancestral Pistol - A big amount of Ranged ACC and SPD to make his Stun extremely good. Doesn't buff the ACC of Sacrificial Stab so it's probably good to skip on Sacrificial Stab.
• Focus Ring - If you are confident you can take the Dodge penalty, this is one of the best ACC Trinkets for Occ. It helps with all his moves and gives him even more crit.
• Cleansing Crystal - Makes him unable to Bleed pretty much anybody while also increasing his defenses. It also lowers his debuff chance though, so be aware of that.