I've been developing a chaos damage Tactician build [PoE2.ninja] centered around Spire of Ire spear. This is rather something that evolved organically while leveling with a mix of Twister and Crossbow skills once I found the unique spear.

Core Items & Skills

• Twister + Barrage as main damage skills
• Passive tree similar to Twister builds with an outreach to Spaghetthification
• Using Decompose for additional DoT effects
• Tame Beast - Haste Aura (much better than Trails imo)
• Using Maim on companion to slow enemies temporarily

Build & Development Ideas

1. What other skills or legendaries could contribute to this build idea around chaos damage?
2. Unsure what to use the 2 skill slots left.
   1. Thunderous Leap to escape?
   2. Artillery Ballista for some single-target DPS?
   3. Siege Cascade to shoot in between Whirlwinds?
3. I dont really see a point in using Whirlwind Lance - Maybe I'm using it wrong?
4. Ascendancy
   1. The 4 initial points seem most important, particularly the persistent buff cost decrease and Pin.
   2. Currently unsure about the value of full Pin investment - this seems like overkill?At my current damage level, I'm either getting one-shot or surviving comfortably
5. Chaos Damage / Poison
   1. Unsure if chaos damage bonuses affect poison damage, or if poison requires separate scaling
   2. Found that Decompose + Break Armor is effective for physical builds, but less relevant since switching to chaos

Companion Synergy Potential

• Actively looking for a companion with "Always Shocks" modifier for an additional 20% damage increase combined with Haste Aura (then Temporal Bubble / Invulnerability / Break Armour / Always Chill, etc)
• Currently using Maim on companions (in a linked slot) to slow enemies
• Tested companions with volatile plants, empowered volatile plants, and extra chaos damage, but haven't noticed significant impact on my own chaos damage

Future consideration

1. Considering Blasphemy with auras (cheaper due to Tactician passive)
2. Secondary Weapon Set Options - I'm debating between several setups:
   1. Physical spear + shield/focus - For flexibility against resistance mobs
   2. Crossbow - For Acid Cascade while pinning enemies
   3. Hammer + shield - To leverage some warrior skills
   4. Witch/sorcerer spells - To potentially synergize with my chaos cast downs (no experience with these classes yet)

All comments welcome!