Question RE: Spirit Plague vs Hungering Souls in Necrotic DoT Lich Build

Acolyte
1

Greetings everyone,

I’m finally getting a moment to level and try out Dr3adful’s Necrotic DoT Lich build. Video guides found here:

My question is would Spirit Plague (SP) be better/more effective/more damage vs Hungering Souls (HS)? I ask because I was looking at Maxroll’s Lich leveling guide and it uses SP. Maxroll leveling guide link ==> Acolyte Lich Leveling Build Guide - Maxroll.gg

SP allows one to apply necrotic damage and poison stacks in a single cast that is near instant versus, the travel time of HS. HS has the advantage of casting multiple projectiles thus tagging multiple targets in a single cast, and has a 40% DoT damage buff against affected targets (Inspired Hunger node). HS also has an execute threshold node (Reaper’s Gaze node). HS has a shorter duration (1.5 secs) while SP has a 3 sec duration by default. SP’s duration can be extended by up to 120% without converting its damage to another type (Efficacious Application and Perpetuity nodes). SP applies spell damage at a higher effectiveness (150% / sec) vs HS (45% initial hit, 75% over the DoT duration). HS also has the advantage of large targets being hit by multiple HS projectiles. SP has the advantage of also inflicting bleed when applied, making it a necrotic, poison, and bleed application per cast.

All of the above, to me, says that SP it better against high health targets (longer duration and multiple DoTs), while HS is better against lower HP targets (shorter duration). Would the above be a correct assessment and would it be better to use SP vs HS (especially in the end game)? Keep in mind that I’m open to an alternative node/point allocation compared to that in Maxroll’s guide.

2

Only if you have the staff that allows it to shotgun, it won’t do that by default.

I’ve not used HS for a very long time so I can’t comment on what it’s like now. SP is very effective though.

Lich has a cull passive (Reaper) for any spell (or melee) damage, though it is 15 points in.

HS will be better for clear unless you’re using SP’s spread on crit node (top middle/left-ish) & you’re critting often on the target (minions possibly, along with Bone Curse for moar crits).

Don’t be afraid to try them both out.