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

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Nasitrap wrote:

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Hello! I've been using your build since 3.16 after I started playing PoE again after a long break and planning on using it in 3.17, but I made some changes that I think improve it.
Sorry for a wall of text :)

First of all I think it's much better to take the basic jewel sockets near the Eternal Youth and Unwavering Stance nodes. You can remove the needed skillpoints from the Constitution circle. Constitution circle small nodes provide only 5% hp while common rare jewels can provide both 7% hp and also more resistances/defences/etc in the same jewel. So it has much more value per skillpoint.
(for example I have the 5% life, 9% allres, 15% reduced effect of shock jewel, and the 7% life, 12% fire and lightning resistance jewel, it's much better than a single 5% life node and they both cost the same 1 skillpoint.)

Then I'm skeptical about the Ravenous Horde nodes. Yes the attack speed increase is a great dps increase, but you waste 2 skillpoints on 2 intelligence nodes and the Ravenous Horde isn't great of a buff imo.
The main threat in this game are bosses and other special enemies, more often than not it's just one powerful enemy so the "chance to get Onslaught on kill" won't do much if you are only fighting one big dangerous enemy and there is no small enemies to kill. And the 30% movement buff while being nice doesn't provide any dps.

So I think it's better to take these 6 skillpoints off and put them into the Spiritual Command node (also an attack speed increase without needing to waste 2 points on intelligence nodes) and put the rest in the Redemption nodes which is much better, providing both huge attack speed and a whooping 40% damage.
Also I'd take the 16% dmg nodes near Righteous Army and Redemption because our zombies really need this damage.

(so by removing 4 Ravenous Horde nodes and 2 Intelligence nodes we get -12% attack/cast speed, -30% movement speed and lose Onslaught but putting these 6 skillpoints into Spiritual Command and Redemption nodes (+ one 16% minion damage after Redemption) we get 28% attack/cast speed and 56% increased damage instead which is much better)


Now considering the gems. I had to remove the cwdt-hextouch-voidsphere-vulnerability gems. One of my spectres is a Diabolist, his Enfeeble curse is oh so powerful and I don't want it to be overwritten. Also I find Void Sphere kinda meh, yeah it locks some normal enemies in place but they still can cast their nasty spells at you. I use Enlighten-Skitterbots-FleshAndStone-Pride and also Dread Banner for their both offensive and defensive buffs.
Also I can't for the life of me play without Flame Dash and Convocation :) And I don't have any good unset rings.

I was also using the Determination-Defiance banner combo earlier, my phys reduction was 90% and my Vaal Molten Shell provided me with something like 8000 hp shield! But I feel like the phys damage reduction is not that important for a zombie summoner, I think the most deadly things that damage and potentially kill me the most are enemies' spells. So I end up taking extra +max resistances nodes and taking something else instead of Determination+Defiance banner and I feel a bit safer now. But maybe I am mistaken. Maybe I'll switch back when my zombies start dying without this additional armour.

Anyway this is what my character and passives look like rn https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Nasitrap/characters?characterName=Pozma

I'd like to ask a couple of questions if you don't mind.
I know you addressed this but why exactly do Multistrike and Ruthless are bad together? Wiki says "When supported by Multistrike Support, Ruthless blows work differently, instead of occurring every third hit, it occurs every third multistrike". That sounds amazing though, with all these +attack speed nodes these three strikes are almost instant and all three strikes now deal 98% more damage.
Whatever it is it actually sounds like a great damage upgrade. Or do they interact with each other in some completely different way that makes them worse together? I still don't understand why Ruthless-Multistrike combo is bad, maybe I'm dumb :) Sorry if this has been asked too often.

Another question that interests me for a long time is why do you need Clarity in your build? The skills we use don't cost a lot of mana and the default mana regeneration is enough to regenerate mana between skill uses, not to mention Clarity eats the much needed hp. If Clarity is for spectres' mana then isn't it much better to socket Lifetap to spectres or use Ruins Hellion for his great buff which also adds mana regen. I never used Clarity and have no problem using skills or seen spectres using their skills less often.

Again sorry for this wall of text, I hope it was somewhat useful. Please let me know if some of my thoughts are incorrect. Thank you!

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CelticHound wrote:

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Hey Wrecker - hope things are going okay.

I think I'll be giving the Zombies a whirl in HC SSF this league.

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CapetaDoMal wrote:

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On 3.16 this was my build. In 3.17, this one still will be my build to go, thanks!

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Arkionn wrote:

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Thanks the nice build and guide! I have being using it since the last league and had a great time. As I've learned more about the game I started to try my own tweaks on the build, and the explanations you put for each decision really help in that regard, so thanks for that as well.

One thing that I have been wondering for the 3.17 iteration is how we are supposed to run Pride, Determination, and Defiance Banner together. Won't it add up to 110% mana reservation? Am I missing something?

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Wozmon wrote:

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Thanks for the guide. This will be my SSF league starter!

Will post updates as things progress.

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travenhold wrote:

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Looking good again this season. So far no surprises. :-)