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

So, I've been playing in Ziz's HC Ascendant only league for the last few days and I just made it to maps. I had never made it all the way to maps in HC or SC without dying at least once, so its a new accomplishment for me.

So why am I posting an Ascendant build here? Well, I adapted Hercanic's build node for node once I spec into the witches start after Merciless lab.

This build is so good that I easily made it to and killed Act 10 Kitava with really bad gears. During most of the leveling process I was 20% to 40% below cap. I did merciless lab just before the Kitava fight and the chest at the end dropped an Aurumvorax, perfect to cap my resist before Kitava.

Here's my gears going into maps



The sceptre and boots was what I had before the Aurumvorax dropped.

The league is modified to not drop Magic and Rare items and this makes crafting and upgrading really difficult. Alts and Transmutes are really hard to come by. I ended up doing every Blight encounter to hoard currencies and essences for end game crafting.

I really enjoy the no magic/rare drop modifiers, it forces you plan differently. It's fun and frustrating at the same time.

edit: Just died doing Piercing Truth

Last edited by IchiMorghulis on Oct 21, 2019, 5:21:09 PM
I found an Intuitive Leap gem... any recommendations on where to put it?
A place where I can get more ES to cover removing Discipline, so i can sub in Skitterbots would be good. Otherwise a spot where there are many nodes so I can free up some more passive points. Suggestions?

Edit: Scrap that bit about removing Discipline. I have and ES on Hit WE so removing discipline will be a very bad idea.
Last edited by Tigytallpants on Oct 21, 2019, 4:39:13 PM
"
Hercanic wrote:
@ Kirian42, Singrave, & ngtrungkhanh:
Full Posts & Proceeding Conversation
"
Kirian42 wrote:
So question on the ES chest:

Is it better to have...

550 ES and 70-100 life, or
650 ES and ~25 life (from crafting bench), or
600 ES and an open prefix for +1 Zombies

Thoughts?
"
Singrave wrote:
first
Life>ES
10 zombies won't save you from one-shot by chaos damage.
"
ngtrungkhanh wrote:
The best is T1 %es, T1 life, and craft gain 10%life as ES. I dont think +1 zombie worth ~1k es from craft 10% life as ES
"
ES chest ... Is it better to have...
Here:
"
Hercanic wrote:
10% of Life as Extra ES craft = ~1000 ES.

100% ES with 100 ES = 789 + 660 ES = 1449 total.

100% ES without flat ES = 489 ES.

100 ES without %ES = 360-384 ES (20-28% quality).

100 life = ~300 life + 75 ES (Spirit Offering) + 50 ES (10% craft) = 425 total, plus benefit of more ES heal per second.

Thus, the best with:
2 prefixes = 1425 from Life and 10% craft.
3 prefixes = 2449 from ES, %ES, and 10% craft.



So I ended up buying a chest with +100 ES, +66% ES, +113 Life, +8% Life. It came with a high INT/Quality craft on it, and I'm unsure if that's worth replacing.



Still trying to figure out the sixth link here. POB seems to want me to grab Cold Pen, which is interesting.

Full POB here if anyone wants to examine/critique/laugh:

https://pastebin.com/ngVknBcA
"
Hercanic wrote:
Since Phantasms deal physical damage, Cold Triad boosts their damage even further relative to Spectres. They deal about 90k each (vs. Shaper). Frost Sentinels deal about 127k each in first stage and 190k in second stage of Ice Spear. So 2 Phantasms = 1 Frost Sentinel.

Spell Echo would be 55% more DPS for Frost Sentinels. This would put them at 296k (3.3 Phantasms = 1 Frost Sentinel). But they wouldn't have Pierce like Phantasms, or Chain to hit around corners, which is similar to how Phantasms function when they spawn in the middle of a pack through a doorway.

90k x11 = 990k
190k x4 = 760k
Total = 1,750k

296k x4 = 1,184k but no pierce/chain.

This means Phantasms give me 48% more damage along with piercing and psuedo-chaining. They are also more reliable as I run ahead and minions spawn on me like a centipede. More minions = smoother spread (number of steps before something pops in to engage the closest monsters).

With enough souls, Soul Eater will overcome the 48% damage difference (~100% cast speed each, so 20 souls x4 Spectres = 80 absorbed kills). but it's less consistent and can't overcome terrain obstructions. If instead of Spell Echo we used Pierce or Chain, we'd have an even bigger damage deficit to overcome with Soul Eater.

92% more vs. Pierce = ~184% cast speed needed = 37 souls each = 147 kills
156% more vs. Chain = ~312% cast speed needed = 62 souls each = 250 kills


Thank you!

The results should be similar with Grip of the Council? Guess I will switch back to Phantasms.
Played Path of Exile for a few years on and off and managed to kill the Shaper and Elder for the first time with this build.

What I like about this build is its survivability and friendliness to fat fingers slow reaction old people like me (well 47).

I do think however with 250 odd pages it really does need a new thread as its somewhat confusing to follow
@Hercanic
about EE, i meant i have "added lightning damage" on weapon and i use slave drivers. PoB doesn't take it into account even without AoF.
Last edited by Singrave on Oct 22, 2019, 11:43:40 AM
Yes you can include my UE kill video (OG version since 3.7) in your guide. This version has +7k life and has Acro/Phase Acro. The Triad Grip version seems to look more tanky or do more dmg, Idk. I don't use Dash/Cyclone but the UE kill video with Triad Grip seems to make things look a lot easier, while I had to press buttons quite a bit more and playstyle looked a bit more exhausting.

I don't think there's any further HoA nerf in terms of decay rate, it wasn't mentioned in patch notes at all. Maybe this has to do with me moving more often and forgetting that Skeletons now are a lot tankier than before (my 11 skeletons have about 16k life with capped resists, which is more than double from 3.7). I also kinda forgot to cast skeletons more often and was busy with Ball Lightning to keep up the agony crawler (while his video shows him casting Skeletons more often and just runs around while his minions do the work).

UPDATE: I have come to a decision to get rid of CWDT + Spirit Offering. Sure it does help against certain things during maps but completely useless against big boss fights that do not leave any corpses. In replacement I slot in Precision lv 1 linked to Generosity and Vaal Grace, while keeping both Shield Charge and Flame Dash. Aside from Precision (my minions already do enough dmg) I am thinking of Stone Golem or Chaos Golem to replace it. It seems to me Stone Golem is very good and probably can edge Chaos golem.

On a meme note, the last gem slot I have can be reserved for Animate Weapon? What do you think of this meme idea? I can have up to 50 animate weapons that move alongside me, beefing up to the total of 130 minions total with Vaal Skeletons. I checked with PoB and each Animate Weapon will have around 38k life total (ilv 86 weapon) with capped ele resists. While this looks to be a solid number, I'm not sure if they'll be able to survive everything especially rippy T16s and stuff, but from what I read resummoning these dudes is painful as hell, as I have to look for ilv 86 weapons to maximize their life. Right? Or a lower ilv like 83 won't affect their total life?
A filthy casual
Last edited by Hologram_o on Oct 23, 2019, 10:16:14 AM
What would be the suggested 5l for going the triad grip route? Probably with frosties, but open for better suggestions there as well.

Edit: I'm also a little confused as for how we use the gems in our gloves and would appreciate a little help on that. Is phase run just for running faster? Do we need to hit our targets with whirling blades? What's the benefit of smoke mine? Sorry if these are newb questions or already answered before. I read through some 20 pages but couldn't find the answers there.

Thanks a lot!
Last edited by tkwondave on Oct 22, 2019, 7:50:37 PM
"
tkwondave wrote:
What would be the suggested 5l for going the triad grip route? Probably with frosties, but open for better suggestions there as well.

Edit: I'm also a little confused as for how we use the gems in our gloves and would appreciate a little help on that. Is phase run just for running faster? Do we need to hit our targets with whirling blades? What's the benefit of smoke mine? Sorry if these are newb questions or already answered before. I read through some 20 pages but couldn't find the answers there.

Thanks a lot!


What's "5l" mean?
Smoke mine for 2x% movement spd buff, and to teleport (which whirling blade can't)
Phase run for 50% movement speed, i prefer using whirling blade though.
@ IchiMorghulis:
Full Post
"
IchiMorghulis wrote:
So, I've been playing in Ziz's HC Ascendant only league for the last few days and I just made it to maps. I had never made it all the way to maps in HC or SC without dying at least once, so its a new accomplishment for me.

So why am I posting an Ascendant build here? Well, I adapted Hercanic's build node for node once I spec into the witches start after Merciless lab.

This build is so good that I easily made it to and killed Act 10 Kitava with really bad gears. During most of the leveling process I was 20% to 40% below cap. I did merciless lab just before the Kitava fight and the chest at the end dropped an Aurumvorax, perfect to cap my resist before Kitava.

Here's my gears going into maps



The sceptre and boots was what I had before the Aurumvorax dropped.

The league is modified to not drop Magic and Rare items and this makes crafting and upgrading really difficult. Alts and Transmutes are really hard to come by. I ended up doing every Blight encounter to hoard currencies and essences for end game crafting.

I really enjoy the no magic/rare drop modifiers, it forces you plan differently. It's fun and frustrating at the same time.

edit: Just died doing Piercing Truth
"
Ziz's HC Ascendant only league ... why am I posting an Ascendant build here? Well, I adapted Hercanic's build node for node once I spec into the witches start after Merciless lab.

Neat!


"
edit: Just died doing Piercing Truth

Nooo!

Lab traps are brutal, especially in a panic. I was about to suggest Bone Armour, but then remembered you were an Ascendant. =o[

If it's any consolation, at least Ziz rip'd, too.




@ Tigytallpants:
Full Post
"
Tigytallpants wrote:
I found an Intuitive Leap gem... any recommendations on where to put it?
A place where I can get more ES to cover removing Discipline, so i can sub in Skitterbots would be good. Otherwise a spot where there are many nodes so I can free up some more passive points. Suggestions?

Edit: Scrap that bit about removing Discipline. I have and ES on Hit WE so removing discipline will be a very bad idea.
"

Its radius is small, so there are very few uses for it. For us, grabbing Golem Commander is the only decent use. Anything else and you're pretty much spending the same amount of points just to get the jewel socket, the travel points of which are less useful than the small nodes leading up to the notable, and you're down a jewel socket.




@ Kirian42:
Full Post & Previous Conversation
"
Hercanic wrote:
10% of Life as Extra ES craft = ~1000 ES.

100% ES with 100 ES = 789 + 660 ES = 1449 total.

100% ES without flat ES = 489 ES.

100 ES without %ES = 360-384 ES (20-28% quality).

100 life = ~300 life + 75 ES (Spirit Offering) + 50 ES (10% craft) = 425 total, plus benefit of more ES heal per second.

Thus, the best with:
2 prefixes = 1425 from Life and 10% craft.
3 prefixes = 2449 from ES, %ES, and 10% craft.
"
Kirian42 wrote:
So I ended up buying a chest with +100 ES, +66% ES, +113 Life, +8% Life. It came with a high INT/Quality craft on it, and I'm unsure if that's worth replacing.



Still trying to figure out the sixth link here. POB seems to want me to grab Cold Pen, which is interesting.

Full POB here if anyone wants to examine/critique/laugh:

https://pastebin.com/ngVknBcA
"
I'm unsure if that's worth replacing

8% life is worth another (~2000 * 0.08 =) 160 life and 24 ES (= ~2000 * 0.15 * 0.08). 184 + 425 - 50 = 559 eHP. Not quite the 1k ES from the 10% Extra ES craft. It does result in more ES healing from Spirit Offering, however.

440 more total eHP
vs.
100 more ES healing per Spirit Offering trigger


"
POB seems to want me to grab Cold Pen, which is interesting.

Its value depends on monster resistances. With EE we put even Shaper into the negatives, so aside from ele resist maps Cold Pen will only be worth ~37% more.

I am using Elemental Army with Frost Sentinels. Its -10% Cold Exposure isn't yet accounted for in PoB. You can manually add another -10% cold resistance under "For Effective DPS" in PoB's Configuration.




@ woefulwabbit:
Full Post & Previous Conversation
"
Hercanic wrote:
Since Phantasms deal physical damage, Cold Triad boosts their damage even further relative to Spectres. They deal about 90k each (vs. Shaper). Frost Sentinels deal about 127k each in first stage and 190k in second stage of Ice Spear. So 2 Phantasms = 1 Frost Sentinel.

Spell Echo would be 55% more DPS for Frost Sentinels. This would put them at 296k (3.3 Phantasms = 1 Frost Sentinel). But they wouldn't have Pierce like Phantasms, or Chain to hit around corners, which is similar to how Phantasms function when they spawn in the middle of a pack through a doorway.

90k x11 = 990k
190k x4 = 760k
Total = 1,750k

296k x4 = 1,184k but no pierce/chain.

This means Phantasms give me 48% more damage along with piercing and psuedo-chaining. They are also more reliable as I run ahead and minions spawn on me like a centipede. More minions = smoother spread (number of steps before something pops in to engage the closest monsters).

With enough souls, Soul Eater will overcome the 48% damage difference (~100% cast speed each, so 20 souls x4 Spectres = 80 absorbed kills). but it's less consistent and can't overcome terrain obstructions. If instead of Spell Echo we used Pierce or Chain, we'd have an even bigger damage deficit to overcome with Soul Eater.

92% more vs. Pierce = ~184% cast speed needed = 37 souls each = 147 kills
156% more vs. Chain = ~312% cast speed needed = 62 souls each = 250 kills
"
woefulwabbit wrote:
Thank you!

The results should be similar with Grip of the Council? Guess I will switch back to Phantasms.
"
The results should be similar with Grip of the Council?

Yes, just to a lesser degree. Hatred will have less effect on Phantasms. They lose Bonechill, but gain Maim back. The real loss, though, is all the -res stacking with EE, Frostbite/Elemental Weakness, Elemental Army, and -res helm on Animated Guardian.




@ mrjonno:
Full Post
"
mrjonno wrote:
Played Path of Exile for a few years on and off and managed to kill the Shaper and Elder for the first time with this build.

What I like about this build is its survivability and friendliness to fat fingers slow reaction old people like me (well 47).

I do think however with 250 odd pages it really does need a new thread as its somewhat confusing to follow
"
250 odd pages it really does need a new thread

The Change Log has links that encapsulate the start and end of each league, so you can jump to posts from the latest league from there. You can also click on my name to see my profile, then click "Recent forum posts" to read just my own posts.




@ Singrave:
"
Singrave wrote:
about EE, i meant i have "added lightning damage" on weapon and i use slave drivers. PoB doesn't take it into account even without AoF.

Yes, PoB ignores ele damage on your weapon, because PoB has no way of knowing whether you are hitting with that weapon or using a spell, or even which spell. That's why PoB's creator made it manual.




@ Hologram_o:
Full Post
"
Hologram_o wrote:
Yes you can include my UE kill video (OG version since 3.7) in your guide. This version has +7k life and has Acro/Phase Acro. The Triad Grip version seems to look more tanky or do more dmg, Idk. I don't use Dash/Cyclone but the UE kill video with Triad Grip seems to make things look a lot easier, while I had to press buttons quite a bit more and playstyle looked a bit more exhausting.

I don't think there's any further HoA nerf in terms of decay rate, it wasn't mentioned in patch notes at all. Maybe this has to do with me moving more often and forgetting that Skeletons now are a lot tankier than before (my 11 skeletons have about 16k life with capped resists, which is more than double from 3.7). I also kinda forgot to cast skeletons more often and was busy with Ball Lightning to keep up the agony crawler (while his video shows him casting Skeletons more often and just runs around while his minions do the work).

UPDATE: I have come to a decision to get rid of CWDT + Spirit Offering. Sure it does help against certain things during maps but completely useless against big boss fights that do not leave any corpses. In replacement I slot in Precision lv 1 linked to Generosity and Vaal Grace, while keeping both Shield Charge and Flame Dash. Aside from Precision (my minions already do enough dmg) I am thinking of Stone Golem or Chaos Golem to replace it. It seems to me Stone Golem is very good and probably can edge Chaos golem.

On a meme note, the last gem slot I have can be reserved for Animate Weapon? What do you think of this meme idea? I can have up to 50 animate weapons that move alongside me, beefing up to the total of 130 minions total with Vaal Skeletons. I checked with PoB and each Animate Weapon will have around 38k life total (ilv 86 weapon) with capped ele resists. While this looks to be a solid number, I'm not sure if they'll be able to survive everything especially rippy T16s and stuff, but from what I read resummoning these dudes is painful as hell, as I have to look for ilv 86 weapons to maximize their life. Right? Or a lower ilv like 83 won't affect their total life?
"
Yes you can include my UE kill video (OG version since 3.7) in your guide.

Thanks! =oD


"
I don't think there's any further HoA nerf in terms of decay rate, it wasn't mentioned in patch notes at all.

GGG has omitted, probably unintentionally, certain changes in the past. It's also known that they silently tweak drop rates.

When I was testing the original build more recently, it felt harder to maintain 40 stacks on single targets than what I remember. This could easily just be my mistake, or the result of some circumstance I hadn't considered. Since the algorithm for Virulence decay isn't known, and the way it decays being dynamic, it's hard to say what we should expect.


"
I have come to a decision to get rid of CWDT + Spirit Offering.

I would honestly try to work in Desecrate to make it consistent on the original build. Even with Acrobatics, it's still ~1k ES healed every 528 damage (with MoS ascendancy, of course).

Put CWDT + Spirit Offering + Desecrate in the shield links. You can get boots with Fortify to save a socket with Shield Charge.


"
In replacement I slot in Precision lv 1 linked to Generosity

Minion accuracy is through the roof now. Precision is kind of useless for us. Check your values in PoB. Just 3k accuracy = 100% chance to hit. L30 Zombies in the 3.8 Update build have nearly 10k accuracy.


"
Stone Golem or Chaos Golem

Recovery vs. One-shots. The higher your phys reduction, the more value the Chaos Golem will add.


"
Animate Weapon? What do you think of this meme idea?

In the 3.8 Update build, one variant uses Cyclone + CwC + Raging Spirit + Minion Damage/Melee Splash + Fortify (boot mod). But you could easily swap Raging Spirit for Animate Weapon. It'd be a fun addition to clearing, but overall there are many places that drop nothing for AW (Delve, Blight, Incursion, zone transitions like Elder Guardians).

Carrion Golem's buff would be really good for Animated Weapons.


"
I'm not sure if they'll be able to survive everything

Their survival shouldn't be an issue. Heavy AOE might be another matter, like an Acceleration Shrine with Act 10 monsters or a bunch of Templar Legion rares, but those are few and situational.


"
from what I read resummoning these dudes is painful as hell

Pretty much, which is why automating it would feel best. Totem, CwC, maybe Unleash, etc.




@ tkwondave:
Full Post
"
tkwondave wrote:
What would be the suggested 5l for going the triad grip route? Probably with frosties, but open for better suggestions there as well.

Edit: I'm also a little confused as for how we use the gems in our gloves and would appreciate a little help on that. Is phase run just for running faster? Do we need to hit our targets with whirling blades? What's the benefit of smoke mine? Sorry if these are newb questions or already answered before. I read through some 20 pages but couldn't find the answers there.

Thanks a lot!
"
5l ... frosties ... triad grip

You can drop either Minion Damage (pure damage), Elemental Army (cold debuff for Zombies/Skeletons), or Faster Projectiles (hit speed & phantasm range).


"
gems in [Triad Grip] gloves

1. Phase Run = 2.5-8 seconds of +45% movement speed (4 second cooldown). It excels when I have Quicksilver up and minions (with Necromantic Aegis + Victario's Charity) are earning me Frenzy Charges so Phase Run can stay constantly on. You can bind it to Left Mouse to automatically trigger it when moving. Only issue is in town, but you can still click on objects to move normally and type /hideout.

2. Smoke Mine = Teleport and 7 seconds of +29% movement speed. It is bound to E, and Detonate Mines bound to R. I push E then R in rapid succession to teleport myself across gaps or gain 29% bonus movespeed on-demand, like when Phase Run is on cooldown. Good for immediately blinding Minotaur, Izario, etc. You can also throw one before opening a Strongbox, or before you backtrack to pick up an item to immediately return to where you were. It has a lot of flexibility.

3. Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks = Dodge and reliable alternative movement. I prefer Whirling Blades to Phase Run when everything is dead (no Frenzy Charges) and Quicksilver is tapped out. It has no cooldown, so I know I can always count on WB when I need it, which is important for a dodge skill. I can also continue to use it when casting Skeletons. It ignores terrain effects, like Tar, and is not affected much by Temporal Chains.

In narrow or cluttered terrain, WB can get stuck and not feel too great. So I use Phase Run, and in the gap of its cooldown I throw Smoke Mine to stack their bonus movement speed. Basically each skill has ideal situations, so by having all three I can freely lean on one when appropriate to maximize my mobility. It's like having a Sprint, Jump, and Combat Roll.
Last edited by Hercanic on Oct 28, 2019, 6:30:02 AM

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