💀3.15💀 iLL3aT’s Cold Skeleton Warriors/Archers/Mages ❆ League Starter ❆ All Content ❆

"

iLL3aT wrote:

I think the archers do less dmg if vaal summon skellies are anything to go by, but I'm gonna try it out anyways.

It's pretty bad:

https://poedb.tw/us/Summoned_Skeleton_Archer

98% damage mod and 1.2 attack time

https://poedb.tw/us/mon.php?n=Summoned+Skeleton

245% damage mod and 0.8 attack time


Maybe GGG will buff them for 3.12?

Haha I sure hope so otherwise it is pretty useless.

Thanks for the numbers Kay (love your guide btw),

To add to that - ranged phys/phys conversion attacks also have to sacrifice two gems for clearing (G/LMP, Chain/fork/pierce) versus the one for melee (melee splash) so that's another 33% less or so. No intimidate via awakened melee phys either, short of getting it on gloves for AG, or adding woke melee phys to an already socket starved support minion, so another 9-10% less.

Another potential downside is the speed of the arrow - if it's like enemy skeleton archers, it may be too slow to clear properly.

Thomzon, I suspect they will buff the skeleton archers somehow, otherwise that alt gem is just dead in the water.

Gem links:
Required:
skel archer (b) minion dmg (b) elemental dmg w attacks (r)

Gem Swap (bossing v clearing)
hypo (g) vic proj (g)
gmp (g) chain (g)

Flex slot - pick one
deathmark (b) ele focus (b) dmg on full life (r) slower proj (g) cold pen (g)

Deathmark is probably best for the flex slot (as annoying as it is). If a white socket is available, vicious projectiles can be in all the time, and one of the clearing gems can be swapped for a flex slot gem instead.

I hope this will be clear in the patchnotes. I'm not playing summoner if it is clear from the start that archers are not really viable, cause I already started with spectres last league.

Thanks in advance to you for all the detailed experimentation :)

Really love skeletons and your build guide is well！
But i don't know if i can play it in next league or not.
Anyway, thanks for your guide!It help me a lot!:)

"

iLL3aT wrote:

Thanks for the numbers Kay (love your guide btw),

To add to that - ranged phys/phys conversion attacks also have to sacrifice two gems for clearing (G/LMP, Chain/fork/pierce) versus the one for melee (melee splash) so that's another 33% less or so. No intimidate via awakened melee phys either, short of getting it on gloves for AG, or adding woke melee phys to an already socket starved support minion, so another 9-10% less.

Another potential downside is the speed of the arrow - if it's like enemy skeleton archers, it may be too slow to clear properly.

For me it's the attack time. 1.2s is OK, but ranged attack minion don't have repeating support like spell echo or multistrike. I actually never use Redemption Sentry because of slow attack time (feels like long DPS downtime).

I hope GGG makes skeleton archer useful though! And looking forward to what you can do with them :)

Patch notes next Tuesday!

Of the other recent reveals, Frost Shield may be an interesting tech spell - it adds base crit chance to all within the bubble, so it's a possibly a large DPS upgrades for crit minions. If using divine flesh (which bypasses all energy shield), then there is literally no downside at all - assuming it works like I think it does.

@thomzon - I think they hinted at a necro nerf so let's see the fallout of that. Summoners are always a good league starter though!

@roylfeilei - Thanks for the kind words!

@kayella - RS were pretty painful early league for that reason, but once I had some attack speed it wasn't too bad - they have the advantage of a fast projectile and super long range.

To all lazy fellows like me, you can use raise zombies as the primary gem instead of skeletons.

I guess can fit in a baron and strength on gear and spec to utmost might to get zombies leech.

Will be trying this variant in the new league.

Guide updated for 3.12's league start, barring any changes from the patch notes yet to come.

@DanielQ - It's an option, but I am not going to claim it is the best approach (it may be, who knows) - I'll leave that to the zombie guides out there. But, it is an option!

There will be no issue swapping the helm to the Baron, and the build does path pretty far south so there will be a base ~300 or so strength without focusing on it? A lethal pride and some small cluster jewels with % strength may work, but it might also be too many points/too few suffixes.

Hello, I am planning to start Heist with this one. I did some test runs and it feels good through leveling (did only till Act 7/8). How is the experience during T1 to T5 maps? Can it be done on a 4L or 5L with decent clear speed?