{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀

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Hercanic wrote:

If you're proliferating Ignites, and those Ignites get kills, they count as your kills (same as any degen kill), and thus the Power Charge portion of Victario's Charity works. That's why I use a Solar Guard as a third Spectre. It won't happen very much at endgame, but it does happen:




We don't run Necromantic Aegis because we don't need to. It's a waste of 4-6 points for us and deprives us of the shield's block, life, resists, and aura AOE.

/facepalm. Well ok, time to put a Solar Guard in after getting my Tabula.

You're build is so much fun, I recorded some footage, since everyone always shows endgame stuff, I thought seeing how early the build gets to obliterating the entire screen might be useful as well.

Beware, Anime-Lootfilter ahead

This is how the build has been performing since lvl 50-ish. I spend all currency on getting stuff like Brightbeak and Victarios and currently am using Bones of Ullr, but will try to replace those ASAP.

So this is with a 4 link, no Shaper items. Only starter cheap uniques (less than 15 chaos overall I think)

STATUS UPDATE
I've renamed Zone Info to Quest Route, and all acts now have walkthrough maps. I think I've narrowed down my layout, so it's just about filling it with content.

Act 2 is my next challenge. I've run my new character through Act 1 and made notes for the guide while leveling:

• 1. Templar alt run is great. It's fast, easy, and you can use Smite immediately on the Witch instead of Freezing Pulse. You can also buy Phantasms, Zombies (higher XP than Witch quest reward), and Ruthless, too. Having Ruthless as an early red gem for Zombies is nice, especially the stun.
  
  
• 2. Vendors update their inventory every time you level, so you can use this to your advantage early on with how quickly you level. You want to fill up with 3-links of different color combinations, allowing you to switch out to the right colors as needed. 1R-1G-1B chromatic items are especially good to buy because after you're done using them their resale is something valuable.
  
  
• 3. Two Iron Rings will help Smite's damage, and a Paula Amulet helps sustaining mana.
  
  
• 4. Smite with Ancestral Call feels like melee Arc. Its "AOE shape" adjusts to however monsters are spread out, a great advantage compared to static AOE shapes that'll miss various monsters outside its shape.
  
  
• 5. Spawning Phantasms with Holy Relic works, but it's more consistent with Zombies. Sometimes your limited links necessitates one approach over the other (because I wanted to keep using Ruthless on Zombies).
  
  
• 6. Quest reward Quicksilver ilevel is level of quest completion. Does it cap at 4? Or could we get an ilevel 5 if we leveled the Witch to 5 before doing the Mercy Mission quest? If so, we'd be able to add "of Adrenaline" to it.
  
  
• 7. We need Strength sooner than I realized, for Smite and AC. Witch starts with 14 STR and this only covers up to lvl4 Smite. From character level 9 to 11 you want to grab Practical Applications.
  
  
• 8. I wasn't paying attention and underestimated a Betrayal Escort Mission leader in The Climb. My first death was entirely avoidable. Learn from my mistake, don't get cocky with these new encounters!
  
  
• 9. I am loving the tiny zoomed out Overlay Map. Use + and - to adjust its zoom to your liking.
  
  
• 10. Chances are you'll have a pesky unused green socket in one of your minion links. You can fill it with Lesser Poison on Zombies, Phantasms, Holy Relic, or Skeletons. Better than nothing!
  
  
• 11. I feel we need minion regen earlier. Holy Relic isn't always enough. I took the 1% regen node in the Death Attunement cluster for a 2 point detour.

When do you replace Static Strike for a casted ability? I forgot what the one you use is called. Plz help!

@ Viktorious1:

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Viktorious1 wrote:

When do you replace Static Strike for a casted ability? I forgot what the one you use is called. Plz help!

You use Charged Dash + Cast While Channeling Support + Ball Lightning + Lesser Poison @ level 38, after you kill Malachai in Act 4. You can use Charged Dash earlier than this (level 28-30, Act 3's Siosa), but Static Strike is fine, too.

Hey loving the guide! I just wanted to ask a quick question, What is the best third ascendancy node to take? Flesh Binder or Soul Weaver? I couldn't find it in the guide

@ Meister:

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Meister wrote:

Hey loving the guide! I just wanted to ask a quick question, What is the best third ascendancy node to take? Flesh Binder or Soul Weaver? I couldn't find it in the guide

Soul Weaver. We don't want our Spectres to die.

Flesh Binder is our flex ascendancy. You can choose something else if you'd like. I use it for the Physical Damage Reduction, but it's up to you.

A few questions for you Hercanic...

Your build is amazing by the way. Thank you for putting in all the time to set it up! Onward to the questions.

First, I didn't see any part about the order for ascendancies. I went with skeletons for cruel lab and plan to go for spectres after that, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.

My other question is about the Unending Hunger jewel. I noticed that it's only getting 3 intelligence nodes where it's located at the northern most jewel socket. Granted it's extremely close to the 4th node, but when I highlight the socket node the 4th intelligence node doesn't begin to glow showing that it's within the radius. Is this location just bugged for medium radius jewels like this, or do you go one step further and grab the intelligence node right above the socket node?

Thanks for all your replies. Bless your heart! ;D

@ Omaric18:

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Omaric18 wrote:

Your build is amazing by the way. Thank you for putting in all the time to set it up! Onward to the questions.

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Thanks for all your replies. Bless your heart! ;D

You know, after working so much on the leveling guide, the main guide is starting to feel small, heh. I'm glad you liked it! I am enjoying making it the best it can be!

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First, I didn't see any part about the order for ascendancies. I went with skeletons for cruel lab and plan to go for spectres after that, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.

I actually just added a blurb about it in the Act 3 description a couple hours ago.

1. Invoker, because we have no choice.

2. Bone Sculptor, because it is the most dramatic improvement to one of our core skills.

3. Soul Weaver, so Spectres don't die. It feels like they get a hidden damage reduction out of it, seeing as how much more tanky they seem compared to golems with similar life.

4. Flesh Binder, but this one is your choice. I like it for the defensive Physical Damage Reduction.

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My other question is about the Unending Hunger jewel. I noticed that it's only getting 3 intelligence nodes where it's located at the northern most jewel socket. Granted it's extremely close to the 4th node, but when I highlight the socket node the 4th intelligence node doesn't begin to glow showing that it's within the radius. Is this location just bugged for medium radius jewels like this, or do you go one step further and grab the intelligence node right above the socket node?

The INT nodes don't have to be allocated.

GUIDE UPDATE
I have added a new section to More Guides called Crafting. It is intended to help those in a self-sufficient predicament create their own Shaper/Elder items.



Art by Jung Myung Lee

Brace yourself please, seriously noob question incoming...

"The only requirement for this build is one source of flat chaos or physical damage for spells, such as on an abyssal jewel, Elder affix on helm, Lesser Poison support, Herald of Purity, or Envy aura from Aul's Uprising. This is important for allowing Ball Lightning to Poison."

I don't think I've got any of that, so at the moment I haven't spec'd into Elemental Equilibrium. Could you maybe elaborate a bit on how this works (chaos/physical = poison?!)? Also I do have lesser poison, unfortunately I just don't have a spare socket. Does it matter what it's attached to?? Thanks again for this, I'm working my way through Act 5 and already this feels so smooth!