{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀
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And yes, I apply EE with cyclone because the Cyclone-CWC-Desecrate-Spirit offering combo gives an amazing amount of sustain to eat damage, and I have Fortify on my boots
I'd just assume you're using frost sentinels which means they are hitting stuff waaay before you get there. Staying that close to bosses in this league to apply EE constantly seems pretty ballsy! I think most people use lightning brand.
I'd just assume you're using frost sentinels which means they are hitting stuff waaay before you get there. Staying that close to bosses in this league to apply EE constantly seems pretty ballsy! I think most people use lightning brand.
I played the non cyclone version to level 90, with whirling blades and faster attacks and all I did was run around in circles outsides the mobs reach, which to me is kind of a boring play style, and I couldn't trust (lvl1)Cast When Damage Taken-Desecrate-Spirit Offering to proc as much as I had originally hoped and noticed myself getting 1 shot by some crazy jump mechanic that some Metamorph bosses have thus leaving me at lvl 90 0% of the level for quite some time this league. Since changing to Cyclone-CWC-D-SO today ive gotten to level 92 and I think I've died once to the Poison Conqueror
Frost Sentinels help with map clear and most of the time I'm just hitting my Quicksilver flask and Phase run to speed through the map as my minions clean everything up on the way. Cyclone is more used in boss encounters and Metamorph fights to keep my Spirit offering up
Last edited by Come_Honor_Face on Jan 12, 2020, 1:39:05 AM
Is this for Level 92 or Level 100?
I'm at level 93 and I seem to be missing 5 passive points compared to this PoB. Pretty sure I've done all the passive quests, confirmed with /passives
Currently running the build, however the cyclone, cast whilst chann and arc link does not seem to be procking EE? i do have inc lighning dam on weapon & Ring.
Currently running the build, however the cyclone, cast whilst chann and arc link does not seem to be procking EE? i do have inc lighning dam on weapon & Ring.
Any clues?
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arc link does not seem to be procking EE? i do have inc lighning dam on weapon & Ring.
1. Hitting with any amount of lightning damage will apply EE. Even 1 point of lightning damage. You don't need any Increased %. You just want Flat lightning damage added to anything you want to apply EE with that doesn't deal it's own lightning damage. For example, Cyclone only deals Physical Damage by default, so it would need flat lightning damage on your weapon or another source (ring, jewel) in order to apply EE.
2. Arc already deals lightning damage. It doesn't need any more. Also, just FYI, we don't use Arc in this particular build.
3. Check to make sure the skills you are hitting with (Arc, Cyclone) are NOT dealing any Cold Damage. Or EE will work against Hatred. You can look over what damage types your skills deal by mousing over them in your skillbar or from the Character panel skill list.
4. When an enemy is debuffed by EE, the visual indication is a pinkish red-blue galaxy-like swirl at their feet. There's a screenshot of it in Mechanics Explained in the original guide.
Is this for Level 92 or Level 100?
I'm at level 93 and I seem to be missing 5 passive points compared to this PoB. Pretty sure I've done all the passive quests, confirmed with /passives
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Level 92 or Level 100?
It's a L100 tree. I wanted to show were you could spend all points. The leveling trees will show a progression breakdown.
Basically, you just take less jewel sockets or life nodes before then. The five sockets alone take 8 points. I wouldn't bother with 2pt jewels until the end, unless they're really good.
Last edited by Hercanic on Jan 12, 2020, 8:51:09 PM
Currently running the build, however the cyclone, cast whilst chann and arc link does not seem to be procking EE? i do have inc lighning dam on weapon & Ring.
Any clues?
1. Hitting with any amount of lightning damage will apply EE. Even 1 point of lightning damage. You don't need any Increased %. You just want Flat lightning damage added to anything you want to apply EE with that doesn't deal it's own lightning damage. For example, Cyclone only deals Physical Damage by default, so it would need flat lightning damage on your weapon or another source (ring, jewel) in order to apply EE.
2. Arc already deals lightning damage. It doesn't need any more.
3. Check to make sure the skills you are hitting with (Arc, Cyclone) are NOT dealing any Cold Damage. Or EE will work against Hatred. You can look over what damage types your skills deal by mousing over them in your skillbar or from the Character panel skill list.
4. When an enemy is debuffed by EE, the visual indication is a pinkish deep-blue galaxy-like swirl at their feet. There's a screenshot of it in Mechanics Explained in the original guide.
Is this for Level 92 or Level 100?
I'm at level 93 and I seem to be missing 5 passive points compared to this PoB. Pretty sure I've done all the passive quests, confirmed with /passives
First off thanks so much for this thread and build. You've been so helpful with all the replies.
I'm sort of following your tree/gear setup on your account page here on poe.com with your level 85 metamorph character. I've got a weapon that's adding flat lightning damage to spells, but what are we using to proc EE?
I've moused over my abilities and I'm not seeing anything that says lightning damage so I'm a bit confused as to how to proc EE.
First off thanks so much for this thread and build. You've been so helpful with all the replies.
I'm sort of following your tree/gear setup on your account page here on poe.com with your level 85 metamorph character. I've got a weapon that's adding flat lightning damage to spells, but what are we using to proc EE?
I've moused over my abilities and I'm not seeing anything that says lightning damage so I'm a bit confused as to how to proc EE.
I'm sort of following your tree/gear setup on ... your level 85 metamorph character ... I've got a weapon that's adding flat lightning damage to spells
Oh shoot, I would not follow my Metamorph character just yet. It is no where near presentable. That weapon, for example, is just something I found. The Lightning Damage added to Spells is entirely coincidental. We don't need that.
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what are we using to proc EE?
In 3.8, my Triad character (Hegemon_of_the_Dead) used Storm Brand to remotely apply EE. It was pretty nice for managing three different Blight lanes.
In 3.9, I'm trying out just using Cyclone, with the intention to add Lightning Damage to it (ring, jewel, weapon). EE lasts for 4 seconds, and sometimes the best way to dodge is traveling through to behind the monsters.
We'll have two free sockets (Carrion Golem/Chaos Golem and Holy Relic occupying the slots), so if Storm Brand is preferred there's room.
Right now, my ring has Fire Damage, which works for the moment, but it'll have to go when I add a 1R 3G Triad Grip. I'm just completing the early Atlas (limited playtime), and saving up currency, until I can afford proper equipment.
I'm finally able to have Skitterbots+Bonechill, Cyclone+CwC+Desecrate+SpiritOffering and Hatred+Generosity by coloring GGGR on Triad Grip sacrificing the remaining 25% of cold conversion.
I've found that Bonechill increasing the mana reservation of skitterbots and the loss of Arcane Will in the tree, it is no longer possible to summon all the skeletons with 3 consecutive casts of Summon Skeletons, now requiring a long wait between each summon cast.
For me, it doesn't help that when I Tora-exalted my helm I picked up Burning Damage which only served to increase the cast cost of the Summon Skeletons. Perhaps I should switch Feeding Frenzy to Infernal Legion?
I'm finally able to have Skitterbots+Bonechill, Cyclone+CwC+Desecrate+SpiritOffering and Hatred+Generosity by coloring GGGR on Triad Grip sacrificing the remaining 25% of cold conversion.
I've found that Bonechill increasing the mana reservation of skitterbots and the loss of Arcane Will in the tree, it is no longer possible to summon all the skeletons with 3 consecutive casts of Summon Skeletons, now requiring a long wait between each summon cast.
For me, it doesn't help that when I Tora-exalted my helm I picked up Burning Damage which only served to increase the cast cost of the Summon Skeletons. Perhaps I should switch Feeding Frenzy to Infernal Legion?
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GGGR on Triad Grip
Yep, that's also what I've done in the 3.9 rewrite. The choices were to drop Bonechill (16.5%), Generosity (15.3% + 1pt for AoF), or a green socket. I initially calculated it to be worth 17%, but forgot to factor in the Extra Cold Damage from Hatred and Extra Chaos Damage from Spirit Offering, which change the ratio quite a bit.
In the end, only 10% of our damage becomes Fire with a red socket, for a loss of only ~5%. We can also use one Solar Guard to apply Fire Exposure from Elemental Army, though 10% of 10% ends up as only 1% more damage.
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no longer possible to summon all the skeletons with 3 consecutive casts
Never had trouble on Hegemon. She has +93 mana and +78 INT (=39 mana) on gear. In your case, I'd keep Arcane Will until you level up a bit more or change out your helm. Aligned Spirits is also an option.
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switch Feeding Frenzy to Infernal Legion?
No, even with Burning Damage on your helm, Infernal Legion would be a complete waste. It doesn't stack. You'd be trading out More damage and Dash from 10-11 Skeletons and 40-50 Vaal Skeletons for 1 Skeleton to deal a low-damage burn that doesn't scale with Melee Physical, EDWA, or even attack speed.
As a replacement for Melee Splash it's still trash, because not only does Melee Splash scale and stack, it also grows in damage exponentially when enemies are close together (e.g. Blight lanes), because Strike attacks hit everything they physically pass over and trigger Melee Splash off every hit.
Last edited by Hercanic on Jan 13, 2020, 2:45:35 PM
Ok, Following the Triad version of the build. One thing im a little confused on is the Hungry Loop/Animate guardian setup. I have never used Animated Guardian before and trying to follow POB for it. I have mine with supports: Meat Shield, Pulverize, fortify and Minion Life. He is equipped with Kingmaker, Victarios flight, Bloodbond, Leer Cast, Southbound. But in POB for Triad, its showing some curses and elemental army. Just curious how I should set it up and if there are better supports for it. Thank you for a great build! Have used it last 2 seasons and its my go to to start new league! How do I link my current gear and gems? Would like to include gear and gems. Any suggestions would be great. Also not sure if EE is working and if its not why.
I am just wondering if an Empower 2 is worth much to you at this stage-- would you be better of using another support gem - maybe Elemental Damage until your empower is level 3 or 4?
well its not showing above but because of the +1 on item my tool tip is showing level 3 on empower, giving my zombies a lvl 25. Again no clue, they seem to be doing decent damage even tho I feel squishy at times. Im at 4122 health and 2931 on es. With skitter bots and hatred I have 78 mana unreserved. Can only get off one cast of skele ever 1 1/2 sec or so. Again not sure if im following the triad version as it should be.
Thanks Swaggmann, got one of those flasks and made a world of difference. Feels much better.
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Animated Guardian ... supports: Meat Shield, Pulverize, fortify and Minion Life.
Why Pulverize? It doesn't do anything for the AG. It's 59% more Melee Area Damage, which he has none without Melee Splash, and 34% increased Area Effect, which is beaten by the 49% from Increased Area of Effect Support. Item effects, like Kingmaker's aura, are not affected by increased AOE.
Some item skills can be supported, and are modified by your stats, but this is because they grant the skill to the player. This is different from an item effect because the skill is originating from you and not the item (lab glove enchants being an exception where they specifically cannot be supported). And the Animated Guardian cannot use any item-granted skills, only item effects.
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curious how I should set it [Animated Guardian] up
Hungry Loop:
1. Meat Shield - 24% less damage taken. Defensive AI keeps him close to us so we reliably benefit from his auras.
2. Minion Life - 49% more life. He's too expensive to lose, since all his items are lost if he dies, so we make him super defensive.
3. Empower - Two levels is ~21% more life.
4a. Fortify - 20% less damage taken. Together with Meat Shield, as long as the AG has attacked something within 5.4 seconds, he'll take only 61% of a hit, or 39% less damage. (Note: Kingmaker's aura only applies to nearby allies and not to the wielder.)
4b. Melee Splash - Use this instead of Fortify if you're going to give the AG curse-on-hit and/or Intimidate gloves, so as to apply them to more than a single target. If you'd rather keep your AG tanky, you can personally curse with your own curse-on-hit ring and use an Awakened Melee Physical Damage Support on Skeletons for Intimidate.
Gear:
1. Kingmaker (2H weapon) - Aura that grants allies Fortify, Culling Strike, and +50% crit multi. With Power Charges, minions have 35% chance to crit, but only +30% base crit multi.
2. Mask of the Stitched Demon (helm) - 57%+ life regeneration, due to the "1% life regen per 500 ES" mod and having ~100k life with 30% of Life as Extra ES from Spirit Offering and the Grave Intentions notable. You can bump it up to 73% regen with a rare body armour crafted with another 10% Life as Extra ES.
You can craft MotSD (~350c) by upgrading a Mask of the Spirit Drinker (~60c), found in the reward chest of a T3 healing room of the Atzoatl Temple (upgraded Pools of Restoration to --> Sanctum of Immortality), with a Vial of Summoning (~40c; Vaal Omnitect drop), at the T3 sacrifice room (Hall of Offerings to --> Apex of Ascension).
3. Garb of the Ephemeral (body) - Aura that grants immunity to crits, Chill, Freeze, and Temporal Chains. Alternatives: Sporeguard, creates a ground effect when stationary that lessens enemy damage by 10% and boosts our minions by 8.4% more damage; or a rare body armour crafted with 10% Life as Extra ES for another 16% life regen.
4. Hunter-influenced Rare (gloves) - Intimidate on hit. Ideally corrupted with Elemental Weakness on hit as well. Other stats aren't important. Alternatives: Any EleWeak corrupted gloves; or Southbound, for its 16% increased life (additive with minion life).
5. Victario's Flight (boots) - 10% increased movement speed aura.
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[gear]
As Swaggmann said, you don't need a L2 Empower. It's only worthwhile when it adds +3-6 levels.
To do that, you stack a +1 mod with +2 Supports craft and get a corrupted L4 Empower. That'll give +6 levels, which hits gem level 30 with a L21 gem, +2 from Necro, and +1 from the item. +6 levels is worth 76% more damage, 74% more life, 24% Slam cooldown, and +2 Zombies.
Right now, you're only getting +2 levels out of it. That's worth 21% more damage, 21% more life, and 8% Slam cooldown. You have to hit gem level 25 for +1 Zombie, and level 30 for another +1.
Until then, as long as you are not having any issues with their survival, Minion Damage Support is a solid alternative for Zombies.
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I feel squishy at times.
A big part of this comes down to tactics. You either want to approach monster packs at a diagonal, so you naturally avoid incoming projectiles, or whirl behind them as fast as possible. They generally can't hit you if they're facing the opposite direction and distracted by the entourage of minions in your wake.
Always staying on the move is the best defense. Circling around bosses will cause them to miss with most types of abilities (novas being the exception).
I also recommend CwC Spirit Offering. Its reliable ES heal is fantastic. The 3.9 rewrite is officially using it, which you can see a sneak peek on page 309.
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Im at 4122 health and 2931 on es.
Yeah, you'll want to work on getting more life. 5k minimum. For that, you'll need another 300 flat life.
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Can only get off one cast of skele ever 1 1/2 sec or so.
The Enduring Mana Flask that Swaggmann suggested is a good stopgap, but requires extra attention to manage. For something hands-free, the Arcane Will notable, Aligned Spirits notable, mana/m-regen/INT on gear, and/or a couple jewels with ~40 mana would help.
The real issue is the Less Duration Support mod on your helm. It's 19% more upfront damage, but at the cost of half the uptime on Vaal Skeletons (17 seconds instead of 34), and 20% more mana cost for Skeletons.
First of all I want to say thank you for the guide! I've played this build as my map/blight clearer for the last 2 seasons and it has been more than great. I added my Animate Guardian today in a Hunger Loop with;
Meat Shield, Pulverize, Fortify and Minion Life. Equipped with Kingmaker, Victarios flight, Bloodbond, Leer Cast, Southbound and my t15-t16 maps are a BREEZE but I feel like I don't need fortify in the ring if I've got Kingmaker. is this true or am I wrong?
I Would love some suggestions on my build and what to get next (I've got about 6 Ex to spend)
I am currently sitting at 4704 HP and 2667 ES before spirit offering and 3800-3900 ES with S.O.
I'm not sure how to link my jewels, but I've got an Unending Hunger and 2 Ghastly Eye Jewels each with +25 or more ES and Life, one has %minions taunt and the other has %minions blind with attacks and another Ghastly Eye with +ES, +Life and minion attack/cast speed
Is my Unset ring good enough to enchant Minimum Endurance charges on, or does the fire damage mess with EE?
Also: I kept Enduring Bond (because I take Ravenous Hoard on my tree) on my Amulet because I used a gold oil on it, would you suggest me finding a different amulet to anoint?
Thanks for the advice, I just got myself this new ring
And yes, I apply EE with cyclone because the Cyclone-CWC-Desecrate-Spirit offering combo gives an amazing amount of sustain to eat damage, and I have Fortify on my boots
I'd just assume you're using frost sentinels which means they are hitting stuff waaay before you get there. Staying that close to bosses in this league to apply EE constantly seems pretty ballsy! I think most people use lightning brand.
I played the non cyclone version to level 90, with whirling blades and faster attacks and all I did was run around in circles outsides the mobs reach, which to me is kind of a boring play style, and I couldn't trust (lvl1)Cast When Damage Taken-Desecrate-Spirit Offering to proc as much as I had originally hoped and noticed myself getting 1 shot by some crazy jump mechanic that some Metamorph bosses have thus leaving me at lvl 90 0% of the level for quite some time this league. Since changing to Cyclone-CWC-D-SO today ive gotten to level 92 and I think I've died once to the Poison Conqueror
Frost Sentinels help with map clear and most of the time I'm just hitting my Quicksilver flask and Phase run to speed through the map as my minions clean everything up on the way. Cyclone is more used in boss encounters and Metamorph fights to keep my Spirit offering up
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I added my Animate Guardian today in a Hunger Loop with: Meat Shield, Pulverize, Fortify and Minion Life.
I am honestly perplexed how both you and APlear decided to use Pulverize. Check out my reply to APlear above for more about this.
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I feel like I don't need fortify in the ring if I've got Kingmaker. is this true or am I wrong?
Kingmaker only applies to allies, not the wielder (AG). Most auras say, "You and allies", but Kingmaker only says, "allies". You can also tell because there's no Fortify star on the wielder. But between Fortify and Empower, I would pick Empower.
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I am currently sitting at 4704 HP and 2667 ES
Same advice as above. ES is good, but secondary to Life. Our Spirit Offering heals scale off of Life, after all.
If you've got a Kingmaker AG, you could trade out your Fortify boots for ES boots with high life. This depends on how comfortably the AG is keeping up with you, though, as there may be cases where it's better to have your own Fortify.
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does the fire damage mess with EE?
It does. It won't break you, since our proportion of Fire Damage is only ~10%, but it would be better to get a different ring in the long run.
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I kept Enduring Bond (because I take Ravenous Hoard on my tree) on my Amulet because I used a gold oil on it, would you suggest me finding a different amulet to anoint?
You lose 20% life, 50 flat life, 1.8% regen, and 20% stun threshold (only relevant when not using Cyclone, as it gives us stun immunity).
If you sacrifice the northern jewel slot to a Medium-radius Thread of Hope jewel, you can remotely allocate Ravenous Horde.
Since the author mentioned not having much time I thought I'd chime in with my experiences with the build.
I didn't like the idea of replacing the cyclone/ball lightning CwC with movement skills for the triad variant. I like playing a more active build and enjoy popping a QS flask and diving head first into packs with cyclone, so I stuck with the 3.8 build and...
I cut through T16 corrupted with 4 awakened sextants like butter. There's a few mods that are more annoying than problematic, and nothing I've encountered is impossible. I have 8.5k life before Spirit offering, and the only time I die is when I try to see if I can face tank metamorphs for lulz. Spoiler: you can't, at least not in endgame. My strategy for metamorphs is to pop all skeles, apply EE and spin around the outside. I'm even making currency by selling off my higher value 20/20s as I get them and buying levels ones...I'm sure that's not something most builds can do.
My gear is not great, especially my jewels. Most of my pieces were bought for ~10-20C, or found. Yes the Watcher's eye was expensive, but holy god does it feel worth it.
My build is not optimal but honestly I haven't felt the need to change anything just because the content is so easy. I think Summoners really hit the sweet spot with this league with being just generally powerful, and the fact that running around avoiding damage while minions kill the boss for you is EXACTLY what you want to be doing in this league. I fully expect summoners to be nerfed for next league, I just hope that they take into account that the league mechanics work in our favor and don't kill the build.
As far as other things I'd like to try, I've been thinking about Kitava's Herald to take advantage of Grip/Hatred more than the solar guards I have now. That also gives you a reason to run phantasms, which are cool. Also others mentioned putting Carrion Golem in the weapon with zombies and empower...that seems interesting, but IDK if a few points of physical damage and a little life is worth making zombies worth. Also Chaos Golem is probably better than carrion in this league, but carrion golem has a cool factor. I'm currently set up for a lvl 3 empower to give me an extra zombie, but I'm not sure how much better, if it all, it would be than the melee phys I have now. MP is cheaper for sure though and I had to save for that eye lol. I also haven't tried purifying flame.
Also wanted to try the slave drivers everyone is talking about. Wondering what fire skill to replace BL would work best with that? I feel like both magma orb and firestorm just wouldn't hit as often, effecting the ES/life on hit. Maybe Avatar of fire would be the way to go there.
Part of the issue is that since it seems no matter what I do, everything I see blows up instantly, so it's tough to tell if anything is really "better" than anything else outside of spreadsheets, and even then I find myself wondering if it matters. I'm mostly doing whatever seems the most fun/epic.
Big thank you to Hercanic for by far the most fun time I've ever had getting to endgame in PoE.
Edit: After some initial testing: Herald - Bad. Slave Drivers - Good. Maybe even better than solar guards. I'm not sure if the DPS cut you take from avatar of fire would be worth it, though. Also having far less health than solar guards was noticable, as they did die on me.
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I thought I'd chime in with my experiences with the build.
Great write-up! I'm glad to hear the 3.8 build is performing well for you in 3.9. =o)
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Carrion Golem
In the 3.9 rework, a L23 Carrion Golem's buff is worth:
Phantasms = ~7% (equivalent to ~35% increased minion damage)
of the Grave = 6.8%
Frost Sentinels = 3.4%
Skeletons = 2.5%
L30 Zombies = 1.9%
Holy Relic = 1%
So it's mainly beneficial to Phantasms, who have a hidden 50% multiplier to added damage. Two more levels (e.g. +2 ring) would give another 1% more to Phantasms.
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I'm not sure how much better, if it all, [Empower] would be than the melee phys I have now.
Check out my response to APlear above, about their gear, for some details on the value of Empower.
Last edited by Hercanic on Jan 15, 2020, 4:37:32 AM
