[3.9] Pure Phys Skeletons & Friends Necromancer — Beginner/SSF/Budget Build

"

kestak wrote:

- Map drop for me it very unlucky OR there is something different that I did not grasp yet. Even in 3.9, at that time my Atlas was completed. Right now, I am barely touching T15. However, I have to say that I had a lot of fun doing lower tier maps to experiment and killing the bosses under delirium. :) It may be why I am a little bit late on my Atlas.

You’re not bloody kidding, I have been mapping on Xbox for five days and still can’t break out of tier bloody three.

"

kestak wrote:

Greetings,

WARNING: I am still experimenting with the build, take with a grain of salt how CoronaDeLioncourt is equipped and the gems used.

Three things that made a significant difference in Delerium encounters:

1 - CWDT + Molten shell
2 - Bone offering for the block given to you and your minions
3 - Blessed rebirth on a medium cluster jewel.

Molten shell seems to make a difference, but when I used a Rumi, it appeared to be the same result in survivability. Up to T10, I just go on with not much care in Delerium encounters. After that up to T14, I need to be a little bit careful. I did a T1 and a T10 5 orbs for fun. Wow.... Just wow. T1 is like a T16 and the T10 is waaaaaayyyyy more than like a T16 on steroids + 8 Awakenings. The only way I was doing dmg with the T10 was thanks to Blessed rebirth.

DMG is still nice. It is not the nuking dmg we had, but as of now no boss was a challenge. Soon I will try a Simulacrum to see how far I can go.

On a side note, here are two out of subjects for those it may interest:
- The 500 maps challenge to kill the boss under Delirium. I am doing it with Jungle, Beach and Cemetary (or graveyard, can'trecall, it is the one with 3 bosses). And it is a pice of cake. In 1 morning playing relax I got 70 more maps to it.
- Map drop for me it very unlucky OR there is something different that I did not grasp yet. Even in 3.9, at that time my Atlas was completed. Right now, I am barely touching T15. However, I have to say that I had a lot of fun doing lower tier maps to experiment and killing the bosses under delirium. :) It may be why I am a little bit late on my Atlas.

I have been following this build as well, had a small investment until I upgraded my chest piece, and now I can complete T16 maps on a 5L. I still use everything from the orginal build as well.

POB: https://pastebin.com/1s0kmVzv

I have sustained well on whites and yellows, reds are okay, but I think I will start to Chisel all of them and alch. I havent been sustaining sextants well either. In 3 levels I would say my build is complete and then I would turn that chest into a 6L and call it good. I am going to use something else for the 5 orb maps. Probably Lac Glad?

I'm struggling to keep my Animate Guardian alive (trying to follow the update advice on page 276). I've lost one with Kingmaker and one with a cheaper set up. Both were to Legion events in a red map. I figured it was safe to use the expensive set up with a level 21 guardian (19 gem, 2 from ascendancy) but that apparently isn't true. Is my issue I have it linked in with Carrion Golem so it isn't getting any minion life/meat shield to help keep it alive?

"

Kirkuss wrote:

I'm struggling to keep my Animate Guardian alive (trying to follow the update advice on page 276). I've lost one with Kingmaker and one with a cheaper set up. Both were to Legion events in a red map. I figured it was safe to use the expensive set up with a level 21 guardian (19 gem, 2 from ascendancy) but that apparently isn't true. Is my issue I have it linked in with Carrion Golem so it isn't getting any minion life/meat shield to help keep it alive?

Knowing what map mod is going to kill your Golem will give you a better idea on how to make him survive. Hall of GM's will kill your golem for sure.

I am following the build from page 1 and there is no use for it, the carrion golem buff this patch should make you want to use that instead.

Has anyone theory crafted the BIS jewel cluster for physical damage skeles?

"

HookTurn wrote:

Has anyone theory crafted the BIS jewel cluster for physical damage skeles?

I posted this in my Cold Skellies guide, but it's probably more relevant to you guys.

"Single large cluster jewel - renewal, rotting claws (optional but expensive third: call to the slaughter): two medium jewels: Both with renewal, one with Blessed rebirth, and one with Feasting fiends. Either two fettle smalls, or just generic ghastlys."

~28% more multiplier on total damage from rotten claws - outside of aura nodes, it's the most broken new node. Renewal is just a big amount of damage (8-9.5% depending on how much you already have) - and there are three instances here, bringing you from 5% double damage chance to 35% - another ~28% more. The other nodes are support - invulnerability for 4 seconds after summoning, and then leech up to 20% of skellie max life afterwards.

Crit is a trap for phys skellies since you won't have enough multi from stacking hatred/crit jewels on mediums. See my cold skellie guide page 27 for my write up. I wouldn't bother with a second cluster for phys skellies since rotting claws #2 would only be 11% more and renewal 4-6 would only be 22% more.

What exactly raises minion damage the most when looking for a wand?
According to PoB gives me a bigger damage upgrade (by 5k dps) over and I don't understand why.... It has no minion damage or attack speed.... None of the wands are perfect, but I'm just trying to fossil craft a replacement.

Been playing my version of this build since league start. It's honestly.. somewhat frustrating. Just so annoying to have your build feel completely gutted and despite all the time and currency i have put into it I would still not recommend going skellies over baron zombies or spectre focus.

To summarize, skeletons are just super weak now in red maps and on, especially in juiced delirium maps. However I'm still working on optimizing my own way, using a herald and cyclone variant.

Heres my journey with this build:
1. Followed the leash 3-offering variation of this build because I feel it's still stronger than using a stygian as your belt. 1 trigger-spell wand and shield, rumi's, and bone still gives you max block. If you're using a shield I think going a heavy armor variant is optimal, so I like CWDT+Vaal Molten Shell. This actually keeps the builds survivability still actually good.

2. So what to do about improving Skelly dps, I looked into cluster jewels. Rotting claws is amazing synergy with our impale skeletons so I felt I needed to build around that. So I found that the optimal large cluster jewel with Rotting claws MUST also have 2 jewel sockets (explain below), and any choice of Call to the Slaughter/Renewal/Vicious bite. (Do NOT go Skeletal Atrophy).

3. So looking into medium cluster jewels, the bonus to minion life medium jewel notables are just not worth it. Renewal/Feasting Fiends are simply not worth the points. Rebirth MAYBE has the most use to help skeleton stay alive, but why does that matter if you're constantly re-summoning them anyways.

4. Conclusion: minion + herald. If you look at my character I use 2 medium jewels that both have Invigorating Portents and Cult-Leader which could give you a bonus minion damage of (10%, 10%, 20%, 20%, 35%, 35%) = 130% for a total of 8 passives (including the jewel socket).

5. Nice, so skeleton dps improved but how do incoporate a herald. To me, since you just need 1 herald the one that made the most sense was Herald of Purity. I guess in theory you could use any herald just to make use of the cluster jewels, but herald of purity summons physical-damage based minions that help our overall dps.

6. So now I need to be able to do damage to make use of Herald of Purity, here's where Cyclone comes into play. You see a lot of baron necro builds that use cyclone, so why not skellies too. I now use a cyclone with my blood-magic link with the spectres. Also and most importantly that youre not just cycloning for a herald, is you can now make use of summon holy relic which increases your survivability even more. This opens a lot more DPS routes as well, for instance I'm using a ring that has Curse Vulnerability on hit.

7. This is where i'm at now, survivability feels pretty good and I fly through t16 maps. I use flame dash (but maybe with cyclone dash or shield charge could make more sense) and fly around. My mechanics typically look like: summon skeletons to max, hold cyclone, summon skellies as i notice them dieing, keep cycloning. Doesn't feel as smooth as when all you had to was summon skellies and keep moving, but you'd be surprised at the clear speed.


TL;DR Using bonus minion damage with herald cluster jewel, and thus incorporating a cyclone (+summon holy relic) variant.

Well, @anichon, please post here your updated character pastebin. I wanna check/follow your idea. Meanwhile, in Standard is almost impossible to find a decent cluster, so i'm struggling with my legacy items. For all i've said until now after league start, only the Molten/CWDT are a must.
Looking forward, but not so confident this build will be still rock.

Hi great guide. Can someone tell me whats the idea behind increase mana skill points under skill tree and ascended tree.. because i never run out of mana.