[3.14] Flame Golem 101 - Complete Guide To Golemancy, ✔️All Bosses Down, ✔️Necro, ✔️Elementalist

Thank you mika2salo for explaining it really well, never knew that. Awesome, will use Controlled Destruction :)

Hi,

I have a few noob questions (I "bought" this game one week ago but thanks to this guide I defeated my first T16 map boss yesterday):

1. How is level 28 flame golem possible? 21+2 (corrupted gem + corrupted skin of the loyal) + 3+2 (corrupted empower + corrupted skin of the loyal) = 28, right?

2. Why such huge effort? Just for one or two extra levels? In the wiki is written that the difference between level 27 and 28 flame golem gem is around 10% more minion damage (2157.5 -> 2374.5) and 9,7% more minion life (13166 -> 14448). Is this extra 10% all or what do I not see?!

3. Which gems should be at level 21 definitvly? Is +23% quality through corruption for some gems better then +1 level by corruption?

4. Is the chance for getting +1 level by corruption known or estimated? I read 1/8 (25% that +-1 level comes and then 50% for the +1 level option), is that true?

Thank you for your help!

"

mika2salo wrote:

Hi :)

Gz on nice Uber Elder kill!

Unfortunately Elder is one of the worst bosses showcase 5x TVs powers as there are so many portals and boss adds around and TVs are pretty slow at changing target back to boss. You would most likely have melted Uber Atzuri before last TV got totem up ;)

I actually got inspired to do damage compare video and swapped armor to +1 Vis Mortis and made 4+1+1 Elementalist Shaper Run with 4x TVs. The 4+4 seems to be best number for balance between clear-speed and boss kill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp-PkgFh3zA

There has been some talk that general Spec AI was ninja nerfed in Bestiary league and I felt like they definitely attacked boss from much shorter range than before. Once I kept distance close to boss, they behaved normally and I had full damage.

I think you might be right about minion AI, they seem to derp around if you're not close to the bosses. However, if we're within curse range, they seem to do their job. TVs do seem to take their time dropping their totem.

Saying that, though, with 5 TVs and 3 FGs, the portals in uber fight weren't a problem (you can see there are almost no corrupted ground patches (so the tentacle beast and portals are dying very quickly). My biggest issue was ES recharge, there were several times, I was running around with no ES and 1.5k hp. I like being able to get a 5th minion with midnight bargain, so I might continue with the ES build.


I think the main problem with using a vis mortis is the 20% reduced minion hp; the FGs don't survive uber elder fight.

For comparison, here's a full shaper run with 5 TVs, 3 FGs and my AG. Clear speed is still good with 3 FGs.
https://youtu.be/c1e2j7ihGE4

I think the biggest contributor to my dps output is the AG; my AG is level 27 with 75k hp and 3.5k regen. I have it equipped with two dyadus and icetomb for big burning boost.

"

mika2salo wrote:

"

Ugghh does the OP realize that "reduced" is not the same as "decreased". Controlled Destruction, with 100% reduced Critical Chance, means that the supported spell/skill has 0% chance of having a critical strike. Which results in the crit chance increase from Passive + Shield of 600% to be wasted.

Any alternative support skills recommended in its place?

Hey :)

I checked stats with Pob and here are the results :

Flame Golem, Magma Ball = Crit 5%
Flame Golem, Magme Ball -> Cont Dest linked = Crit 5%

Flame Golem, Magme Ball -> Necro Aegis with power charges up = Crit 35%
Flame Golem, Magme Ball -> Cont Dest linked -> Necro Aegis with power charges up = Crit 30%

Cont Dest has line "Controlled Destruction cannot lower the critical strike chance of a spell below 5%.", from Wiki.

Flame Golems Magma Ball has base crit 5% so it cant drop its chance.

When charges are up, it will drop the chance 100% resulting in 5% base crit drop form 35% to 30%.

You can also use Elemental Focus is you don't want to lose 5% crit from power charges total.

FYI, controlled destruction is not considered as multiplicative (more/less) but as additive (increased / reduced), so it only remove 100% from your increased crit chance, it doesn't put everything to 0. As far as I can remember, "decreased" is not used anywhere but it's always reduced (typical example: armor hidden implicit)
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Stat#Reduced

"

Bushfeind wrote:

Hi,

I have a few noob questions (I "bought" this game one week ago but thanks to this guide I defeated my first T16 map boss yesterday):

1. How is level 28 flame golem possible? 21+2 (corrupted gem + corrupted skin of the loyal) + 3+2 (corrupted empower + corrupted skin of the loyal) = 28, right?

2. Why such huge effort? Just for one or two extra levels? In the wiki is written that the difference between level 27 and 28 flame golem gem is around 10% more minion damage (2157.5 -> 2374.5) and 9,7% more minion life (13166 -> 14448). Is this extra 10% all or what do I not see?!

3. Which gems should be at level 21 definitvly? Is +23% quality through corruption for some gems better then +1 level by corruption?

4. Is the chance for getting +1 level by corruption known or estimated? I read 1/8 (25% that +-1 level comes and then 50% for the +1 level option), is that true?

Thank you for your help!

1. yep, but lvl 26-27 is enough to do almost everything already ;)
2. i'd say, that's it, but you're forgetting modifiers from passives, so it might be bigger (can't check it on POB right now)
3. FB lvl 21. Most other are either as good as a Q23 and sometimes Q23 is better. Depends on what the level/Quality changes
4. Low. I think all these 1/8 are rather assumptions than verified values, but it gives an idea on how much chance you need. Pray RNG God when you do this :)

What do you think about using:


Magna is +2lvl, life, ES, Armour and additional 1000dmg shield (but lacks freeze/ignite immunity)
Surrender is life, Armour, life on block, armour on block and can be (in some cases) used with Curse On Hit.

"

Kelemn wrote:

Thinking of using this build in 3.3 Incursion.

Any advice ?

Hello :)

Basically you can level up to Specters anyway you like. I recommend using SRS and Zombies as they scale nicely with early nodes and are very tanky with enough HP regen. After getting Specters and maybe Golems you have to focus on few points :

1) Stack EHP (HP + ES)
I have seen too many players with 10 ex worth Anima Stones and Sotls and still using lvl 30 rings with 20+ HP and some resitances. Trade aggressively for better jewelry every 5-10 level. Most jewelry costs 2-5c and will make huge difference in survival. Try to get high ES expecially in rings, amulet, belt (Crystal is best) and gloves.

Also craft something on every piece of gear with masters. Level Elreon, Haku and Tora as soon as possible.

2) Raise Temp Chains effect and radius as soon as possible
High level Temp Chains is propably best defense in the game against trash mobs. 20/0 TC and Blasphemy help a lot alone but you REALLY want quality on gems and "Enhance" with them to break TC. I don't recommend going for curse on hit -> Ball Lightning stuff as it leaves you open for surprise attacks.

3) Raise Golems level
Golems usefulness comes directly from their level. Each level gives Golems roughly 10% more DPS and HP, so try to get 21/0 Flame Golem gem and Empower 3 corrupted (both 10c in league in first week) and try to get Sotl 2r2g2b and link them there for extra levels. Golems will be almost immortal after that point and their damage will be huge. I dont never level Golems from 18->20 myself as they are weak at that point and upgrading straight to 21 costs 10c and gives 30% more DPS and HP.

4) Try to get t16+ tier Specters from someone as soon as you can enter maps

Prioritize 1-3) in the order you feel that is lacking most at any point. That should give you smooth sailing up to T16 maps ;)

"

Don't worry about that. Mistakes is priceless experience :D

I tests much yesterday, and is only1 nice option to me - use any top rare chest /w 850+ es + ci. Need much passives to grab ci and enough mana reservation reduction (or/and inc mana pool) to be able run both curses and discipline from mana, and have 300+ free mana to summon golems in emergency :) so chest must be realy nice, resists will nice too, becous overcap is helpfull on ele weakness maps.

Will try it later, maybe... (have no currency for it atm) idk, build is already so good enough) i newer can kill atziri w/o dies, before run this build (only if luck was on my side), i also can lead a newbie through the labyrinth now (uber with attention). Thx for you work! My build is based on your guide with a little correction considering my gear and playstyle :)

(as always, sry for my bad English...)

Thanks for support ^^

variant looks very unique and safe to play. Will be interesting to see how it can evolve in the future ;)

"

Thank you mika2salo for explaining it really well, never knew that. Awesome, will use Controlled Destruction :)

"

FYI, controlled destruction is not considered as multiplicative (more/less) but as additive (increased / reduced), so it only remove 100% from your increased crit chance, it doesn't put everything to 0. As far as I can remember, "decreased" is not used anywhere but it's always reduced (typical example: armor hidden implicit)
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Stat#Reduced

Hey :)

Np, glad it worked out ^^

Good to know, the wordings are sometimes pretty tricky when calculating all together.

In 3.3 there might also be nice alternative to Cont Dest.

"The Chance to Ignite Support Gem has been renamed to Combustion Support. Enemies ignited by supported skills lose up to 19% fire resistance. At gem level 20, it has 29% more fire damage, 49% chance to ignite, and -19% fire resistance on ignited enemies."

Gem would raise Golems chance to ignite to 55% without power charges and 85% with charges. If the fire resistance is global and TVs will lower fire res for Golems and now Golems to TVs, the interaction will be completely broken.

"

Hi,

I have a few noob questions (I "bought" this game one week ago but thanks to this guide I defeated my first T16 map boss yesterday):

1. How is level 28 flame golem possible? 21+2 (corrupted gem + corrupted skin of the loyal) + 3+2 (corrupted empower + corrupted skin of the loyal) = 28, right?

2. Why such huge effort? Just for one or two extra levels? In the wiki is written that the difference between level 27 and 28 flame golem gem is around 10% more minion damage (2157.5 -> 2374.5) and 9,7% more minion life (13166 -> 14448). Is this extra 10% all or what do I not see?!

3. Which gems should be at level 21 definitvly? Is +23% quality through corruption for some gems better then +1 level by corruption?

4. Is the chance for getting +1 level by corruption known or estimated? I read 1/8 (25% that +-1 level comes and then 50% for the +1 level option), is that true?

Thank you for your help!

"

1. yep, but lvl 26-27 is enough to do almost everything already ;)
2. i'd say, that's it, but you're forgetting modifiers from passives, so it might be bigger (can't check it on POB right now)
3. FB lvl 21. Most other are either as good as a Q23 and sometimes Q23 is better. Depends on what the level/Quality changes
4. Low. I think all these 1/8 are rather assumptions than verified values, but it gives an idea on how much chance you need. Pray RNG God when you do this :)

Hi :)

1) yep

2) The extra 10% affects both Golems DPS and HP so it has double benefit. Also after stacking enough increased damage, its benefits start to diminish. After that point best ways to raise Golems damage are "more" damage, Charges and extra levels.

It's ofc ok to stop at Golem lvl 25-26 but build scales almost as much as you can throw currency at it. Each upgrade in defense or offence is really noticable even at high level / teir, so it's pretty fun to push it to the limit.

3) Flame Golems 21/0 at least is a must. Other nice to have level 21 gem that scale with levels is "Disipline" as you will get boost to ES from it. Empower and especially Enhance are excellent when lvl 4, but can be pretty expensive.

Temp Chains and Elemental Weakness are more useful at q23 than lvl 21.

4) I think 1/8 sounds about right. usually i level 6x Empower or Enhance in alt slots and corrupt all at once. One usually becomes lvl 4 from the 6 gems.

"

I think you might be right about minion AI, they seem to derp around if you're not close to the bosses. However, if we're within curse range, they seem to do their job. TVs do seem to take their time dropping their totem.

Saying that, though, with 5 TVs and 3 FGs, the portals in uber fight weren't a problem (you can see there are almost no corrupted ground patches (so the tentacle beast and portals are dying very quickly). My biggest issue was ES recharge, there were several times, I was running around with no ES and 1.5k hp. I like being able to get a 5th minion with midnight bargain, so I might continue with the ES build.

I think the main problem with using a vis mortis is the 20% reduced minion hp; the FGs don't survive uber elder fight.

For comparison, here's a full shaper run with 5 TVs, 3 FGs and my AG. Clear speed is still good with 3 FGs.
https://youtu.be/c1e2j7ihGE4

I think the biggest contributor to my dps output is the AG; my AG is level 27 with 75k hp and 3.5k regen. I have it equipped with two dyadus and icetomb for big burning boost.

Hi :)

I meant that TVs were so scattered that the total firepower was hard to see form the video. In your second video at about 5:25 and 7:22 the damage can be best seen when all Specs and AG are attacking same mini-boss. Mini-bosses melt in literally few seconds.

Vis can be problem if it starts killing Golems if boss fight. Maybe using Elementalist to get Elemental immune Golems with 4+1+1 mix and still using 5x Specs could work?

AG certainly is huge addon to damage. By adding it and increasing number of TVs you can go from fast kill boss to overkill. With dual Dyadus and Icetome it just needs lots of support gems to survive t16+ boss fights, so freeing slots for it is hard.

"

What do you think about using:

Magna is +2lvl, life, ES, Armour and additional 1000dmg shield (but lacks freeze/ignite immunity)
Surrender is life, Armour, life on block, armour on block and can be (in some cases) used with Curse On Hit.

Hey :)

I'm not huge fan of armor after my test long ago. It seems that from witch start you can go either ES and get some evasion with it, or HP and armor. I have not seen many ES + Armor build yet.

Also benefit from armor seems to lower when entering higher level areas, so armor has to be stacked in huge number or it doesn't seem to matter much. However i'm not expert in armor in general so it might have changed.

Magna Eclipsis is pretty nice, but Physical damage is more of a problem than elemental damage.

Comapered to "The Surrender", with "The Anticipation" you can also "Permanently Intimidate Enemies on Block", so you could also boost minions damage while protecting yourself.

For self protection I prefer Shield with huge ES and block chance applied to spells. Rathpitg and Shaper shields are very good as they raise block chance with Bone Offering when using Necromancer.

With Elementalist I would most likely use Victarios for extra damage as you want faster kill more than some extra survival.

With Occultist I might get some nice (preferably legacy) 450-500+ ES shield to really raise the ES regen into ridiculous level. Any block chance or resistance would be just extra as stacking EHP would be shields main goal.

Thanks for your guide, I'm playing occultist version for flashback..still have a lot of gear to improve.
I'm trying to add animated guardian, would the recommended version work well if I'm not running bone offering? I was looking to maybe run dyadus for the bonus to TVs, is it possible to run singularity+dyadus or does it have to be 2x dyadus?

Thank you for the guide,very detailed, the leveling guide is exceptionally awesome, im currently 53 lv, still rely on spectre to clear and skeleton to boss, may i ask when will i be able to switch to golem, which gear enable it?

Many thanks once again Mika.
First build i have to kill 4 guardians and Shaper deathless.
Keep checking POE trade as it is amazing what you can buy at a relatively cheap price, and hey i got my helm enchant in only about 30 uber runs, a record for me.
I never swap out any gems/shields either, maybe that is bad on my behalf but who cares?
If i can ever get that elder on a T15 map i can try uber elder but as of now i think he hates me.

"

thinklater wrote:

Thanks for your guide, I'm playing occultist version for flashback..still have a lot of gear to improve.
I'm trying to add animated guardian, would the recommended version work well if I'm not running bone offering? I was looking to maybe run dyadus for the bonus to TVs, is it possible to run singularity+dyadus or does it have to be 2x dyadus?

Hello and thanks for support ^^

Animate Guardian is pretty tricky to balance around defense so that it can survive endgame bosses. It can usually survives 99% of content even with low defense and then dies from 1-2 shots in guardian or Shaper with bad luck and blocks. I like to run AG with Necromantic Aegis and its own shield giving it at least 50% block chance. Bone Offering raises block to max, but can be left out if wanting to run Flesh Offering for DPS.

AG should(?) be able to dual wield Dyadys and Clayshaper as both are melee weapons. Order of equipping can be tricky as Dyadus has to be off-hand but both items are cheap so the order can be simply tested. I think is should be first main hand (mace) and then offhand (axe).

Dyadus are huge DPS boost, so it's definitely worth trying if you can find a way to keep AG alive with that setup. If Necro Aegis, Bone Offering and extra support gems fail, you can go back to default setup.

Advancing Fortress might also work instead of Singularity if AG can equip it with Dyadus.

"

Thank you for the guide,very detailed, the leveling guide is exceptionally awesome, im currently 53 lv, still rely on spectre to clear and skeleton to boss, may i ask when will i be able to switch to golem, which gear enable it?

Thanks for support! :)

I recommend switching to Golems when you can summon 4x Golems out. You need to have Anima Stone or be Elementalist to do that. Elementalist can go earlier for Golems, but Necromancer has so powerful Specters that they can easily clear maps up to t15 before needing Golems.

If you can buy Anima Stone and can summon out 4x Golems, you can switch to Golems right away. When you reach level 70, I recommend buying 21/0 Flame Golem gem as it costs only 10c and gives huge DPS and HP boost to Golems.

"

Many thanks once again Mika.
First build i have to kill 4 guardians and Shaper deathless.
Keep checking POE trade as it is amazing what you can buy at a relatively cheap price, and hey i got my helm enchant in only about 30 uber runs, a record for me.
I never swap out any gems/shields either, maybe that is bad on my behalf but who cares?
If i can ever get that elder on a T15 map i can try uber elder but as of now i think he hates me.

Hi and thanks for support ^^

Gz on helmet enhancement, you got very lucky with that ;)

Yep, most of the endgame gear is pretty cheap once you know what to search for and how to balance resistances out. 10-30c can buy some powerful stuff.

I have tried spawning Elder in T15 for 30+ times now. Golemancer guild members, friends and even their grandmothers seem to have done it with the build already. I'm simply skipping the Uber Elder and really hope that GGG wont gate more endgame content behind pure rng wall in the future -_-

Btw, Gz on amazing gloves o_0