Stress-Free PoE w/ BONE ZOMBIES! Relax & SSF League Start-End w/ “Any” Items & 1-Button | 3.17

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Anakenandian_Nomesteturjai wrote:

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Since this build uses spectres I thought this might be of interest. He tested 100 different rare spectres and wrote it all up in a Good Doc.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/u23x7x/personally_tested_100_different_rare_spectres/

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Kam0laZ wrote:

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Hi.

First of all, I have to say that I'm a noob at the game. I only have two characters, an Arc Witch based on Enki's build (just finished Act 10, currently on hold for lack of sufficiently good gear) and a summoner Witch based on this build, currently on Act 8. I've never done maps, just unlocked the map device thing with my Arc Witch and left it at that.

I don't know how experienced you are at the game, but, if I understood your post correctly, you seem to have difficulties understanding how this build works. Well, I'm trying it out, as per instructions, and having a blast at it. When Wrecker says that it's simple, it really is. You literally only have to keep your character alive and out of harm's way (as much as you can), and the minions take care of the rest. That's it, really. I'll try to explain how it works, from my POV:

1 - The zombies, golem and spectres are "permanent" summons. Meaning that, once summoned, you won't need to re-summon them unless:

- You unequip/re-equip the gear the respective gems are socketed in;
- You remove the respective gems from their sockets;
- They die (they'll die a lot in the early levels, but eventually they'll become tanky as heck and wreck everything in their path).

At lvl 60, these 3 summons form an army of 11 minions (7 zombies, 1 golem, 3 spectres) that pretty much only disappear if you really want them gone. Cast and forget. Move around and watch them kill everything, unopposed. I have them bound to keys Q, W and E, respectively.

2 - The auras, they are also cast and forget. The banner, it can be cast and forget, or, if you want to play with it (place for taunt, carry just for armor and evasion buff), bind an easy to reach button. These turn off automatically when you die.

Determination and Pride, each reserve 50% of your mana pool, but if you follow the passives tree (stick to the right side, as Wrecker says in the guide), you'll eventually get passives that reduce the mana reservation. At lvl 60 and both gems lvl 10, each reserves 39,06% of the mana pool. Together with the banner (7,81% at gem lvl 15), it totals 85,93% of your mana pool reserved. The remaining mana should be enough for whatever needs. My skeletons cost 13 mana per cast and summon 3 minions, for a maximum of 9 skeletons on the field (I only use them for bosses or very numerous mobs); Void Sphere costs 97 mana with Vulnerability costing 29 mana; Desecrate costs 27 mana, Bone Offering costs 60 mana and Withering Step costs 20 mana. Natural mana regen and Clarity take care of mana regeneration to have enough of a pool for these costs - at lvl 60, with my SSF playstyle and these 3 things on, I only have 123 mana available for everything.

Vitality and Clarity, linked to Arrogance, reserve life instead of mana, at an increased cost. Caution is advised, because the life pool will be reduced by half with both auras active. That's why I use gear with armor + energy shield. Again, these auras are cast and forget, but sometimes one needs the whole life pool available. For example, the Labyrinth. The traps in there are deadly, so I usually turn off both these auras.

I bind the auras to the alternate tab (CTRL+Q,W,E,R) and the banner to my thumb mouse button.

For other binds: left mouse button for move only (no need to attack at all, the minions take care of it all), right mouse button to summon skeletons. My left hand is free to manage the flasks as needed. That's it. As extra, I'm trying to find a way to insert Flame Dash into the build - it's so awesome to get your character out of a pickle.

Thoughts about the Golem:

I chose to use Stone Golem instead of Chaos Golem. Not only does it give extra life regen (much needed when turning off Vitality to cross traps), it also taunts enemies with its slam. I personally find it more useful than a meager 4% increase in physical damage reduction, when I already have 68% from armor and buffs alone. Also, with Meat Shield Support, the zombies and skeletons pull most of the aggro away from me anyway, I can walk around the mobs with almost near impunity.
Another option would be to use Carrion Golem, to buff the other minions even more, but they already kill so much and so easily that I personally don't find it necessary.
Lightning and Ice Golems buff stats that are not really that useful for this build, although one could argue that Lightning Golem could be useful due to its ability to place lightning orbs in the field that attack nearby mobs.

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TL,DR - How I play this:

1 - Move around the map, watch the minions wreck havoc.
2 - If take damage, be ready to pop life flasks and move out of harm's way.
3 - The CWDT procs make stuff die even faster.
4 - If enemies are tough/very numerous, pop skeletons into the fray.
5 - If minions don't pull enough aggro away from you, place banner and pop skeletons near the offenders.
6 - If faced with deadly traps (Labyrinth), turn off life-reserve auras and be ready to pop life flasks.
7 - ???
8 - PROFIT!!!

Apologies for the wall of text. Hope this helps.

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marclein wrote:

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Hello, I'm enjoying this build so much. I never played SSF before but I give it a try because I started the league very late. I'm playing with the witch called MissMonitos and she is 88 lvls. I just feel that my minions (zombies and spectres) were doing little damage, and I was failing almost every blight encounter.

So, I was wondering if it's possible to use a Femurs of the Saints, I was doing great in terms of survivavility with the capped attack block chance, first with Tituciu's Spam, a lucky drop while leveling (thank's to the easy unique drop system of the league) and after with a Daresso's Courage with that nice chance to block spells and resistances, but that 60-80% increased minion damage and +2 minions gems looks so juicy :Q__, but you know, it's kinda difficult to accomodate all again (I just got the Femours of the Saints today), golem, auras, etc. So, what do you think, it's worth it?

I was testing the Baron just in case I got enough Str to get another zombie, and if it was worth the Str applied to my minions (life and %phy), and I got that 6-l chest today too :D

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Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

Sorry, you were having a rough go. Your gem setup is quite different than the guide's for sure, but having your zombies and skeletons set up the way you do, does give your build a lot more damage. Just be sure that both you and your spectres stay alive. I like what the staff gives to this build. It's all relevent and helpful. So if you're finding the build holds together in maps, I think it's a good choice. Good luck! And nice job finding the unique 5 linked![/span]

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marclein wrote:

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He he, I didn't find the Staff like that, I've been using the harvest crafting this league for links. I'm really sad that prophecies are gone :'c

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[...]and I was failing almost every blight encounter.

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nZain wrote:

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[...]and I was failing almost every blight encounter.

Blight encounters are more about tower choice/positioning and choke points - not so much about your build or items. You can win blighted maps without attacking at all. However, the blight pathing, tower positions, and potential choke points are random or map dependent: you can be lucky with a single choke point, but usually its a mess and you have to defend two or three directions (if its four distinct directions with little shared towers, I usually fail regardless of playstyle).

I would argue blight is 80% about choke points, tower positions, and portal immunities. Watch one or two videos about it and you'll learn that some ring annoints can make a big difference (I prefer scout tower range + meteor burning ground). That said, it can be hard to get started and your own damage certainly helps to get more towers up faster or kill that single lane that is immune to your favorite tower (20%).

When you manage to set up
- Empowering III
- Chilling III
- Seismic III
on a choke point, monsters hardly move at all and you have so much time to kill them. When you don't have a single choke point (usually the case) or portals are immune to chill/seismic then you're better of with the expensive long-range towers (meteor, scouting) plus empower near pump and occasional chilling/seismic to avoid getting overrun. When you have enough dps towers (arc towers are ok as well) the slowing aspect becomes almost irrelevant. Oh, and your build doesn't matter at this point. Keep practicing and you'll find your winning playstyle.

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DeciTM wrote:

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Hey Wrecker --

Have you tinkered with using a level 4 Penance Brand in lieu of Void Sphere? I find that I end up having the entire screen cursed and the clear speed increased as a result.

-- Deci