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

@ DTBA:

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DTBA wrote:

Nice write up! going to try this in 3.5

Thanks for putting your time and effort into this

Thanks! Writing the guide definitely eats up a good chunk of time, but I always figured I should do it at least once. It's been fun! =o)

I hope to hear your feedback in 3.5!

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@ zoNiklv:

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zoNiklv wrote:

Nice build! Although I'm more into hybrid casters, I still approve.

May I add, since this league (thanks to Strongholds) a pair of Flesh and Spirit gloves is amazing to have while leveling.

Plus as a general idea, Arc is presently so strong that it can pull any build into endgame. And here we have opportunity to scale into minion nodes earlier to give it more juice while leveling.

At least that's how i typically level characters, as self-cast Arc if I don't have access to Poet's Pens. Which is also an option, albeit more expensive.

Interesting idea about Flesh and Spirit! With a level requirement of only 15, you could get a lot of mileage out of them while leveling. They're only 1c right now, too. However, I imagine at league start, since they only drop from Shaper strongholds, that they'll be pretty rare.

Unfortunately, minions do not benefit from Rampage stacks since the end of Rampage League. For years everyone assumed they did, having gone by the outdated wiki that missed the patch notes about the change that followed Rampage League. There was a big uproar on Reddit a month or so back about this, and a GGG dev stepped in to confirm Rampage does not and has never worked on minions for all these years.

So for a pure summoner we'd only get the movement speed and rampage effects. Which are still useful for speedrunning and picking up bonus kills, but the lack of life and resistances are a cause for hesitation. Low density in the campaign might not make the tradeoff worthwhile.

As for Arc, I have two concerns. The first is that it tempts you to stop and attack instead of just running and allowing Zombies to mop up. Second, by the time a Witch can get to Spiritual Aid on the passive tree (end of Act III for this build's pathing) your minions should be powerful enough to handle everything anyway.

At worst, you cast Summon Skeleton (with Melee Splash). It has a 0.5 base cast time, compared to Arc's 0.8. The damage isn't as immediate, but you can continue running forward while the Skeleton slaughters everything for up to 20 seconds (they despawn once you're about ~2 screens away).

Just uploaded a few videos killing red Elder Guardians deathless.
If i could then anyone can with this build, really :P

Park Map (Tier 13) https://youtu.be/WnM1H3qcW7I
Caldera Map (Tier 13) https://youtu.be/55j5KuIO-Ak
Crimson Temple (Tier 14) https://youtu.be/XYBH5r9_LAc
Forge of the Phoenix (Tier 16) https://youtu.be/nBaXyanXwRw

Pls note not a single gem is yet lvl 20 ... ;)

Gear:

PS: Also killed Elder at tier 14 Palace but not deathless (because i suck bad and can't move properly lol)

I feel still a little squishy when fighting hard bosses (like Elder and guardians .. struggling a lot with Minotaur which should be the easier .. oh well) probably due to my low understanding of the encounters mechanic and low practice with summoner class. Hopefully with better gear/gems and practice it'll get better :)

Hercanic if you wish to add the videos to the build (althou they suck) pls do so freely, and thanks again for the fun! :)

GUIDE UPDATE
I've added a new section, More Video, to the guide. Everyone is welcome to contribute!


Art by Tyler James

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@ Yloss:

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Yloss wrote:

Hercanic if you wish to add the videos to the build (althou they suck) pls do so freely, and thanks again for the fun! :)

Thanks a bunch! My game time is pretty limited, so I haven't been able to record these higher end fights.

If you'd like, you could add your current gear to your post to document what you were using at the time.

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Hercanic wrote:

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Yloss wrote:

Hercanic if you wish to add the videos to the build (althou they suck) pls do so freely, and thanks again for the fun! :)

Thanks a bunch! My game time is pretty limited, so I haven't been able to record these higher end fights.

If you'd like, you could add your current gear to your post to document what you were using at the time.

How to Add Items to a Post

Start editing or creating a new post and click in the text field. Wherever the cursor is is where the item codes will be inserted. Now click on your character's portrait in the top left corner of the site, which will open a subwindow where you can explore your characters, their gear, and your stash. Click on any items you want to post. To close the subwindow when you're finished, click its X or outside of its border. In the text field you should see a bunch of new code. Preview that to make sure it's what you wanted, and then submit!

I've added a new section, More Video, to the guide. Everyone is welcome to contribute!

Updated my previous post with gear :)

GUIDE UPDATE
All artwork now has their respective artist properly credited and linked to their portfolio. It was surprisingly difficult to find the original of a few of these pieces, but I finally finished. Now you don't have to go through what I did to find more of your favorite artists' work!

Enjoy!



Art by pencil 1203

So nice build
Big question: how to craft gloves, helm (chaos/fossill?)
And what is the best weapon for this? (can find any with few chaos or have to craft one?)
I spent about 1 ex craft fossil this leg and just got some dump stuffs (im noob for sure). So....
Thank you so much!

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Hercanic wrote:

Unfortunately, minions do not benefit from Rampage stacks since the end of Rampage League. For years everyone assumed they did, having gone by the outdated wiki that missed the patch notes about the change that followed Rampage League. There was a big uproar on Reddit a month or so back about this, and a GGG dev stepped in to confirm Rampage does not and has never worked on minions for all these years.

As for Arc, I have two concerns. The first is that it tempts you to stop and attack instead of just running and allowing Zombies to mop up. Second, by the time a Witch can get to Spiritual Aid on the passive tree (end of Act III for this build's pathing) your minions should be powerful enough to handle everything anyway.

These gloves are best at movement speed and helping vaal skill uptime.

Not trying to advocate Arc being best way to level this build. Just saying I did my Witch summoner with Arc to Level 90 with skill tree barely related to Arc. Also without doing a single Lab, couldn't pick between Elementalist and Occultist)

As for leveling gear, don't forget about our friends - Goldrim, Darkness Enthroned and Brightbeak). Praxis rings can help sustain paired with MoM, can be beneficial!

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Yloss wrote:

I feel still a little squishy when fighting hard bosses (like Elder and guardians .. struggling a lot with Minotaur which should be the easier .. oh well) probably due to my low understanding of the encounters mechanic and low practice with summoner class. Hopefully with better gear/gems and practice it'll get better :)

That's fine, Mino always hated on minion builds. For what is worth, you're not using a single defensive flask and are quite underleveled :) Try Rumi, Basalt and Quartz flask. See how you feel about them)

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zoNiklv wrote:

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Hercanic wrote:

Unfortunately, minions do not benefit from Rampage stacks since the end of Rampage League. For years everyone assumed they did, having gone by the outdated wiki that missed the patch notes about the change that followed Rampage League. There was a big uproar on Reddit a month or so back about this, and a GGG dev stepped in to confirm Rampage does not and has never worked on minions for all these years.

As for Arc, I have two concerns. The first is that it tempts you to stop and attack instead of just running and allowing Zombies to mop up. Second, by the time a Witch can get to Spiritual Aid on the passive tree (end of Act III for this build's pathing) your minions should be powerful enough to handle everything anyway.

These gloves are best at movement speed and helping vaal skill uptime.

Not trying to advocate Arc being best way to level this build. Just saying I did my Witch summoner with Arc to Level 90 with skill tree barely related to Arc. Also without doing a single Lab, couldn't pick between Elementalist and Occultist)

As for leveling gear, don't forget about our friends - Goldrim, Darkness Enthroned and Brightbeak). Praxis rings can help sustain paired with MoM, can be beneficial!

"

Yloss wrote:

I feel still a little squishy when fighting hard bosses (like Elder and guardians .. struggling a lot with Minotaur which should be the easier .. oh well) probably due to my low understanding of the encounters mechanic and low practice with summoner class. Hopefully with better gear/gems and practice it'll get better :)

That's fine, Mino always hated on minion builds. For what is worth, you're not using a single defensive flask and are quite underleveled :) Try Rumi, Basalt and Quartz flask. See how you feel about them)

Thanks, i'll give it a try! :)

Edit: It worked (actually better understanding of the fight and positioning helped a lot) :)

I just killed Shaper but died 3 times due to my mistakes (bad positioning/decisions) and tough luck (orb inside Zana shield ..)
Pls consider it was my very first Shaper fight :P
Feeling is that it can be done deathless already with my sub-optimal gear :)
PS: I have the video if anyone is interested

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BETTERPC wrote:

So nice build
Big question: how to craft gloves, helm (chaos/fossill?)

Both can be done with fossils, ofc. Pick your fossils here: http://poedb.tw/us/mod.php?cn=Helmet&an=str_dex_armour and start crafting :)

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Yloss wrote:

I just killed Shaper but died 3 times due to my mistakes (bad positioning/decisions) and tough luck (orb inside Zana shield ..)
Pls consider it was my very first Shaper fight :P
Feeling is that it can be done deathless already with my sub-optimal gear :)
PS: I have the video if anyone is interested

Congrats! You can run him few more times and record a perfect video ;)