Overview
This is a poison Plague Bearer build on the Acolyte of Chayula, updated for Patch 0.5. Plague Bearer is the real damage source: you charge it up by stacking poison as fast as possible, then unload it near packs or bosses. Spearfield does the charging — hazardous spears that explode on contact — while the spear’s own damage is almost irrelevant, because Plague Bearer scales off its skill-gem level rather than your weapon and even removes the poison stack limit.
To guarantee every hit poisons regardless of damage type, the build runs Splinter of Lorata together with Original Sin, converting damage so it always applies. On top of that, the Chayula ascendancy is the secret sauce: Waking Dream and its power choice spawn purple flame remnants that each grant extra chaos damage — one of the few ‘damage as extra’ sources in the game — while Chayula’s Gift shores up chaos resistance.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Poison stacks essentially without limit, giving huge, scalable boss damage
- Chayula remnants provide rare ‘extra chaos damage’ multipliers
- Runs on cheap uniques and affordable rares, but still uses high-end rares well
- Chaos resistance is easy to cap and you end up immune to poison yourself
Cons
- Damage is gated behind Plague Bearer’s gem level, which is hard to push
- Heavy support-gem restrictions mean Plague Bearer is only used in the right window (broken armour, stacked poison, high rage)
- Depends on Splinter of Lorata and Original Sin — effectively mandatory
- Rotation demands setup before every big hit rather than face-tanking
Key Skills
- Plague Bearer — main damage; charged by poisoning, scales with gem level, ignores stack limit
- Spearfield — applies mass poison fast, generates rage, breaks armour
- Archon of Chayula (ascendancy) — remnant flames for extra chaos damage
- Heralds of Plague & Blood + Blasphemous Repulsion — passive poison spread and pressure
Gear & Anointments
Mandatory uniques: Splinter of Lorata (spear, 100% poison on hit, infinite stacking) and Original Sin (converts damage so added elemental and chaos scaling apply). Perfect Storm runes pair well since Lorata blocks elemental damage until converted. Darkness Enthroned belt mimics glove sockets for magnitude/wither runes; Prism of Belief is a rare way to raise Plague Bearer’s level. Defensively the build stacks energy shield mixed with evasion and deflection, uses Wind Dancer and Ghost Dance, and allocates Subterfuge Mask with Spectral Ward, targeting ~85% chaos resistance. Scepter exists only for spirit plus a persistent skill (socket a Rabbit idol).
Endgame Notes
Mapping benefits from monster density via chain-reaction poison spread; boss damage is the headline, with poison theoretically stacking to millions. Cap chaos resistance and mind attribute/resistance requirements on the uniques.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Odealo. See the source video for the full build’s footage and commentary: Plague Bearer Acolyte of Chayula Patch 0.5 Update.