[3.16 updated] BRO, DO YOU EVEN SUMMON? Life/ES Dark Pact Skeleton Caster League Starter

Nirdana, how did you get as many chains? Are you using chain support? In my guide setup DP chains 2 times by itself and 1 additional time with Gloomfang so 3 chains in total = 4 hits in total. Multiply it by 2 since spell echo = 8 hits per cast. Let's make some more math, my cast speed is 8.8 but it's including Spell Echo so 8 hits x 4.4 = 35 hits per second on singletarget. If I had 1 ring with +3 mana on spell hit it would give me 105 mana gained per second if all hits connect.

Compare it with mana cost. In my case it's 48 with -7 to mana cost ring. 4.4 x 48 = 211 mana cost per second. One of the options is to swap Controlled Destruction with Power Charge on Kill and then mana cost becomes 40 per cast = 176 per second. The downside is less dps with rare wands - not much of a difference with Void Batteries tho, but these are more expensive.

Basically what I'm worried about the most is how expensive will now be mana sustain. My current non-curse on hit ring has +105 to max life, 66% ele res, 21% chaos res and -7 to mana cost of skills craft and now try to get something similar but also with +3 mana gain on spell hit in a fresh league when it's the only reliable option for thousands of players. And now try to get the second one but also with curse on hit. Damn I hope they introduce some new ways for mana sustain in full patch notes since I want to keep this build relatively cheap and good starter...

My inner pride holds me back from linking Dark Pact with Mana Leech Support but hopefully this build deals so much dps that it may be at least a cheap option for a league start.

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Also, I have a question. Your PoB link is projected for a lvl 97 character, but I would like to adjust this to my reality that is level 90. What 7 nodes would you cut out?

That's a tough question since all clusters are pretty strong for this build. Unless you have some good jewels you might drop 3-point jewel socket and Annihilation.

This is my double corruption result for Intuitive Leap. I'm hoping the new skill tree will give me a good reason to use it. If the jewel node on the right side switched with Mind Drinker, I'd save 2 allocated skill points. So even a small shift on the tree can make a big difference.


For future mana problems: maybe a Lavinaga's Spirit (https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Lavianga%27s_Spirit)?

Lavianga's wouldn't even last more than 2 seconds since the recovery ends at full mana. I would rather use Vaal Clarity over Lavianga's but it's still not a perfect solution because of a lot of phased boss fights lasting longer than VC effect. Also it's a bad option for fights like Shaper / Uber Elder and not an option at all for Elder Guardians and I'm looking for an always reliable solution.

Atm I'm seeing 3 options:

- +3 mana gain on spell hit Elder rings with -(6-9) to mana cost of skills
- Mana Leech support
- reserving only 30% of mana for Temp Chains and focusing even more on dps so
everything gots killed before running out of mana

Each of it has some disatvantages. Mana Leech support would make you deal much less dps. Well rolled +3 mana gain on spell hit rings will be pretty expensive and not available early in a fresh league and you want mana sustain to be one of the first things you implement in your build. Same for the third option, you might not be able to deal that much damage until you had really good gear.

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brant09081992 wrote:

Nirdana, how did you get as many chains? Are you using chain support? In my guide setup DP chains 2 times by itself and 1 additional time with Gloomfang so 3 chains in total = 4 hits in total. Multiply it by 2 since spell echo = 8 hits per cast. Let's make some more math, my cast speed is 8.8 but it's including Spell Echo so 8 hits x 4.4 = 35 hits per second on singletarget. If I had 1 ring with +3 mana on spell hit it would give me 105 mana gained per second if all hits connect.

Compare it with mana cost. In my case it's 48 with -7 to mana cost ring. 4.4 x 48 = 211 mana cost per second. One of the options is to swap Controlled Destruction with Power Charge on Kill and then mana cost becomes 40 per cast = 176 per second. The downside is less dps with rare wands - not much of a difference with Void Batteries tho, but these are more expensive.

Basically what I'm worried about the most is how expensive will now be mana sustain. My current non-curse on hit ring has +105 to max life, 66% ele res, 21% chaos res and -7 to mana cost of skills craft and now try to get something similar but also with +3 mana gain on spell hit in a fresh league when it's the only reliable option for thousands of players. And now try to get the second one but also with curse on hit. Damn I hope they introduce some new ways for mana sustain in full patch notes since I want to keep this build relatively cheap and good starter...

Yes i'm using chain support (150% mana multi) without gloomfang, so that's the 4 chains.

You are right with the amount of casts (i was confused with spell echo mechanic)
So with this cast rate 4.4 and mana cost around 40-48 you need around 200 mana per/s.
With 4.4*10(4chains) = 44 hits
44*3 (one +3mod) =132 and 50 mana/s from regen (with arcane surge) on my character
that's around 182, almost it. Now you can reduce mana multiplier on supports, or use the msater craft -mana cost till you hit 41 mana cost (180,4/s) Which should be enough. Or get the second ring.
In my setup with -7 mana cost the total mana cost would be 43 mana (189/s) where you could get another -mana cost craft, or little more mana regen (arcane will as ES),
pledge of hands (this resulted in -11% damage, lower ES, No flame dash rechagre nodes and need of more strenght and only slightly more mana regen)
Though the new version with one more free cast which mean more free mana might be even better for mana problems.
And yes it is with chain support which might not be optimal if you are using gloomfang.


I don't think the shaped ring with +mana gain on hit will be that expensive (of course you won't get the best mods)

the rings i posted before were kind of cheap for the stats they have but that might be just standard market problems (2ex and 70c for the rings)

It's true you will want to use something else for early game and early maps.
Reserving not that much mana and mana flask for bosess. (for clear Assasin's mark might be enough, from blasphemy i guess)

Also the mechanics of getting mana on hit is not that comfortable as leech whic lasts a little longer even if you are not currently hitting anthing. (high mobile targets are now more problematic)


Update: militant faith, dominus keystone is pretty insane with void batteries, 28% more spell damage.

Definitely trying this for next league as a starter, hope it will be alright!

Maximum 5 Skeletons -> 8 Skeletons
Summons 1 Skeleton -> Summons 3 Skeletons
Summon Skeletons now also summons 3 at a time instead of 1 at a time.
New gem is more good

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Maximum 5 Skeletons -> 8 Skeletons
Summons 1 Skeleton -> Summons 3 Skeletons
Summon Skeletons now also summons 3 at a time instead of 1 at a time.
New gem is more good

I got used to the fact that with each new league (besides Legion) this build is being buffed so nothing new there. ;) But seriously, summoning 3 skeletons at once by default is nice, I'm gonna drop Unleash and put Minion Life support back there.

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brant09081992 wrote:

I got used to the fact that with each new league (besides Legion) this build is being buffed so nothing new there. ;)

Forgot about https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Inner_Conviction ;)

started looking for a new starter for the upcoming league, and this one seems almost perfect for me...

( sorry if discussed somewhere in previous posts, didn`t go through 30 pages )

wanted to ask, is the gloomfang ami best in slot since 3.7? i havent checked POB or anything like that. but i was thinking about essence of delirium, which gives "0.5% of chaos damage leeched as life" for amulets. ( plus, at the time of writing this, they cost only 3 chaos according to poe.ninja ) so, an essence crafted and then multimodded amulet wouldn`t be better? i mean, you can craft life, % max ES, resists and such stuff.
not to mention if you`re lucky with unveiling, there are good damage mods that can be craftable also... ( from what i saw on here - https://pvaass.github.io/poecraft/ )

No, it's definitely is not the best in slot anymore. New Amulet that gives you 7-10 Frenzy Charges depending on your maximum Power Charges is crazy!